Sell you a Bridge chapter 201

March 18th 2016 Doomhallow Hall 12:00 PM EDT

I  had no fucking idea where I was supposed to find a theme park. Luckily,  I DID know where to find a Circus, though it wasn't exactly the same  thing. Gotham had a pretty famous one in town, and after summoning  another five Soulless Knights, making sure to keep a thousand points on  me for emergencies, Dreamer and I officially left for our date, with Zee  basically shoving us out the door with enthusiasm. I could have sworn  she was more excited than I was, but honestly this was kind of getting  me hyped.

I hadn't done much dating. A month with Annabel  and like a few dates with Zee, but this felt...different. This was a  date with expectations. I was already having sex with Dreamer and she  was all wrapped up in my life and Zee's life too, so I had to make sure  this was a good date. We ended up the circus pretty easily. I shadow  ported us there. The corridors of darkness were free but harmful to  people who weren't me, so I burned a hundred points on our trip across  the bay to Amusement Mile.

When we arrived I looked around  until i finally found a place that sold Mango Bubble Tea, and managed  to get her one after standing in line for twenty minutes. She took a  long deep sip and gave a hmmmm of satisfaction, and I didn't bother to  hide my smile as I asked fondly. "Wow, you really do love that stuff  don't you?" She blushed prettily and I took her hand, pulling her into  the crowd toward the games. "So, is this like the amusement park you  went to? I remember how much you loved that."

She gave me a  happy smile, pulling off her overly large boba straw to beam at me. "It  is. I enjoy this very much. It is...it is beautiful to see so many  people relaxing, to see them concerned with only happiness. Back on New  Genesis, despite having well developed modes of entertainment we were  always cognizant of attacks. Everything revolved around preparation in  some way. We had no places dedicated to only leisure. Even recreational  spaces were set up for training or with consideration for easy defense."

I  nodded, she had intimated as much during our last serious talk. It was a  sad thing to consider, but I could understand why places like this were  so wondrous to her. She wasn't used to people just...having fun. I  smiled and dragged her over to one of the games. I picked the dumbest  least strategic game possible. Skeeball. I gestured grandly to the  thing. "Here we have a classic amusement park game. The only goal here  is to roll the ball and get it in the hole with the number on it. It's  pointless nonsense give it a try."

I passed her the ball  and she grinned happily rolling the thing gently up the slope and not  putting enough behind it. She was clearly trying to to accidentally  throw it too hard and underestimated the curvature. I grinned. "Good  instinct but you don't need to hold back that much." She giggled a bit  and I forked over a ten for another few balls so she could try more than  once or twice. She did much better on the second roll, not center ring  but pretty good, and then got closer each time until she managed to sink  it, jumping up and down in glee as she turned to kiss me.

I  laughed at the enthusiasm. "Well I think you've mastered this one, how  about we try the ring toss next? Or maybe get you some cotton candy?"  She was definitely a warrior and she had the aim to prove it, but she'd  been approaching this one trying to seem human, holding back, and it  seemed like that fact made her victory all the more satisfying. It was  wonderful seeing that beautiful smile bloom across her face as the ball  thunked into the right circle, and the little dance she did when we got  to pick her prize was adorable.

She blinked in confusion.  "Cotton candy? I was under the impression cotton was a material for  making clothes, not for consumption. It certainly sounds interesting,  let's try it." I grabbed her hand and pulled, taking off for the snack  booth and dragging Dreamer behind me with a little squeak. When we  finally got there we had to wait in line for a bit but I showed it to  her proudly.

I pointed up at the pink cloud on the sign.  "That is cotton candy. They also have hot dogs, nachos,soft serve,  funnel cake, corndogs, which seem at first glance to be similar to hot  dogs but are actually much different, and soft pretzels." I pointed to  each dish in turn, letting her know what everything was. Then I turned  to the guy behind the counter. "I'll have a funnel cake and an order of  Nachos." I turned to smile at Dreamer. "How about you?"

She  worried at her bottom lip with her teeth, staring up at the menu with  deliberation. She pointed to the pink cloud on the sign. "You mentioned  cotton candy. I'll try some of that. And then...nachos for me as well. I  don't know what they are but they certainly sound interesting. I look  forward to giving them a try." I laughed and paid and then helped her  carry all the food to a nearby table where we sat down to eat.

I  held out my funnel cake. "You want to try this? It won't last long so  if you do you'll need to take a bite now." She rolled her eyes, taking a  bite of the fried dessert, and her eyes widened in delight as she  covered her mouth. It was adorable. "yeah it's good stuff, I love funnel  cake, I always get it when I come here, though I haven't been in years.  Mom brought me once for my fifth birthday. I ate four corndogs and then  threw up and we had to go home. She always did let me do whatever I  want on my birthday."

Dreamer giggled, snorting a bit  around her food. "She sounds like a wonderful mother. I didn't really  know mine. She was killed in a raid by Apokalyptian forces when I was a  small child. Dancer and I were raised by our father until I was old  enough to take care of her on my own, then he joined the front lines of  the war. He never got over what happened to my other." Her pretty face  wilted in sadness. "He died a few years later, when Dancer was only  fifteen summers old. It broke her heart to lose another parent."

I  put my hand on hers, squeezing gently. "I'm sorry, that sounds tough.  You and your sister must be close though, I know you said you cam  rushing back to be with her when she was injured, what happened to her,  if you don't mind me asking?" We hadn't met Dreamer's sister when she  was there, she'd already checked in when she arrived and the few times  she went to see her  she didn't bring anyone along.

That  got another giggle. "What else, she was dancing. There are several  acrobatics troupes that the field operatives use to stay limber between  engagements, they're considered a back route into the special operations  divisions. Dancer decided she was good enough to try her hand at it and  injured her knee performing a routine. She was fine, I just  overreacted. She was always reckless when we were children, so I worry. I  came back more to prevent her enlistment than because of the injury in  any case."

I winced in sympathy. "Yeah after losing your  parents in the war I could see why you would. Did you manage to talk her  out of it?" I briefly wondered if a few million Soulless Knights would  tip the scales in New Genesis's favor. It might be a decent investment  considering how absolutely fuck off evil Apokalips was supposed to be.

Dreamer  sighed, looking down sadly. "I don't believe I did. I spent much of our  formative years after father left waxing poetic about him. I didn't  want Dancer to feel abandoned, and hoped hearing stories of the good he  was doing on the front lines would make her feel safe and cared for  rather than tossed aside. I suspect I did my job too well. Dancer  idolized father and desperately wanted to follow in his footsteps." She  smiled ruefully. "She considers me flighty and unreliable for my  explorations. Says they lack substance."

That was  unpleasant. "Sounds like she needs a reality check, but also like you'd  really prefer she never gets one. I can understand that mentality. I  hope that she remains safe, and if there's ever anything I can do to  help all you ever have to do is ask. I may not be a god, but I have  power in my own ways. I'm sure with enough time to save up I could swing  some kind of game changer for New Genesis and finally put that shitty  war to bed."

Her eyes widened in surprise, as if she  hadn't even considered that. "I...I don't know what to say to that. I've  seen your power do absurd things, things that shouldn't be possible.  But to speak so casually of an end to a war that has waged since your  worlds sun was an ember on the cosmic winds is...staggering. Even more  staggering is that given a few years to grow I suspect you might  actually be able manage it." She shook her head." It is just mind  boggling. Like someone told you the sky might vanish."

I  nodded sympathetically. Her world was much nicer than Gotham (in places)  but in some ways they were similar. The battle never ended, the  darkness never truly receded. There were bright spots to be had, but the  shadows always came creeping back to swallow the light eventually. To  hear me claim that I could banish that abyss from her planet all on my  own when generations of gods couldn't, to even theorize that I might be  able to, and to actually believe that claim, must be shaking the  foundations of her world.

All I could do was shrug.  "Honestly your guess is as good as mine. I can't make any promises about  managing it, I can only promise to try. I've done some crazy things, so  maybe I can pull it off, but even if I can't I'm willing to go to the  mat for you Dreamer. You've done so much for us, been there for so much  even in the short time we've been together. I dont know what my life  would look like without you but I'm guessing it wouldn't be better. I'd  be isolated and confused, I'd be lashing out at everyone, and I'd  probably hate myself. I was lost before you showed up, and you got me  back on track. As far as I'm concerned you belong here."

Her  eyes were shining with hushed tears as she gripped my hand. "I never  thought I would fit with anyone but the forever people. I never expected  to find a place of my own with people I cared for on some tiny planet  in the back end of the multiverse. I'm glad I found you. Glad we met  when and where we did, because if we hadn't I wouldn't be who I am now  either. Being with you and Zatanna has changed me too. You've shown me  how to be more than just a spare warrior in the endless conflict with  Apokalips. How to just...be. It's peaceful and intoxicating and I can  never thank you enough."

I held her hand there, at the  table, smiling into each others eyes and scarfing down really low  quality nachos, and I was happy. I was home, I was with one of my girls,  I knew my family was safe and sound and I had a plan going forward. All  in all this was as good as things were going to get for me I was pretty  sure and I was happy with it. Now I just needed to take care of The  Reach so I could stay that way.