19938/Games and Confessions

Games and Confessions
Date of Scene:	25 January 2025
Location:	Atlantic City - New Jersey
Synopsis:	A flaming skeleton and a very lucky alien win at carnival games and talk about the past
Cast of Characters:	Dr. Phosphorus, Longshot

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Dr. Phosphorus has posed:
Dr. Phosphorus is walking along with Longshot, while he eats cotton candy. He is not entirely successful in this, the stuff melting and carbonizes on his face. In disgust he throws the confection in a trash can. He'd finished his liquor and is in a grouchy mood.

"I thought were just supposed to kill the Great Emu. Easy enough. Burn through an ankle, he goes down and I grab him around his neck. Then Muscle Man butchers is and we have tenders for a month. Marriage, negotiation... pfft. In my day you'd state what you wanted and remove anyone not cooperative. repeat till you got someone with a little brains."

Longshot has posed:
"I didn't realize Flamingos got that big!" Longshot is having far more success with his cotton candy than his companion, pulling the floss out slowly to watch the tiny strands disentangle before finally eating it one bite at a time. However, he is immediately tripped up by the word Emu, glancing at the flaming skeleton beside him with surprise, "What's an Emu? Is that like Emo? The music? I think there was a place with pirate music around here if we're supposed to check on music as well."

Longshot has really, truly been having a lovely time. He normally has a good time most places he goes, but this trip has been particularly filled with Good. For starters, the company has been great! Multiple of his friends and the potential for new ones! Like this one! Secondly, so many new experiences and sights not seen outside of movies prior to now. Finally, the world is a lot bigger than he realized was possible. That, is just exciting in general.

"Your day sounds pretty rough, I think the marriage idea is sweet. I like that we're helping some misfits have a happy ending!"

Dr. Phosphorus has posed:
Dr. Phosphorus ponders a moment. "Riiiight. Emu! I meant to say Flamingo. Big whoop. Oh let them go elope. Why are we still doing this? We got away. People can always make more gnomes and flamingoes can make more emu... flamingoes! I really don't care. I have problems of my own. I don't even have a garden. In the joint, I spent time playing Jenga." Despite the sunshine, or perhaps because, he suddenly misses Gotham. There's always someone moving and shaking to make some money. That may as well be him!

Longshot has posed:
"Elope?" Wait, Longshot does know what that one is, "That would be nice! I hope even if we can't help out, they do elope! Without the war-part, of course!"

Longshot perks up at the mention of a game, "I can play Jenga with you if you want! I don't really have anything else going on, but if you need help with whatever it is Doom Patrol is borrowing you from, I'm sure Cliff would be up to helping you out when we are done here."

Another puff of cotton candy is pulled out and eaten, Longshot's attention being successfully dragged toward the game kiosks and he'll point, "Or there are games here! Come play!" He doesn't wait for protest, already breaking away from the walk to run toward the line of colorfull lights and chipper music that still sounds of carnival-esque rather than water-park.

Dr. Phosphorus has posed:
Dr. Phosphorus smirks. Cliff helping him could get him five to ten for aiding a fugitive. Surprisingly he hasn't heard of any APBs. That probably means Waller spoke to the Arkham administrators and told them not to bother. Yeah, let Batman beat the shit out of him and save the taxpayers some money. As if.

Phosphorus follows the young alien to a kiosk with three stacked piles of metal bottles. A sign advertises '3 Ballz for $1!!!.' A little curious, the skeletal man slides a dollar over to Longshot, curious about what he can do. The doctor points to other carnie goers trying to knock over the bottles, and swearing. "This round, the balls are on me."

Longshot has posed:
"Wow! Thanks!" Longshot will take the dollar and offer it to the tired-looking individual manning the station. The paper is exchanged for cheerful bright yellow balls that Longshot tosses up and down a few times. These will fall into a cadence of juggling quickly, less to get a feel for them and more because he's been handed three balls and juggling with what you do when you have three balls handed to you.

Looking at where the good doctor indicated, Longshot nods, "Knock over bottles, got it! Which one of the prizes do you want?" He will point, in turn, toward the line of stuffed animals and bubble guns, never dropping a ball nor losing the tempo to his juggling, clearly very confident in winning, "Or what do you think Rory would like?"

Dr. Phosphorus has posed:
Dr. Phosphorus says, "Nothing there for me. Get Rory a plushie, or win something for that little chippy, Kara. She very cute, and looks of a similar age and disposition. Why don't you try to get her the big pink bear with the heart shaped sunglasses. You only have to knock down three in a row. You have three." Yeah whatever. Equal parts matchmaking, getting the two super chipper people to let him alone, and being a shit stirrer on principle. The bear is nearly Karas size. This could be hilarious.

"Hey... did you always have only eight fingers?" How does he do such wonderful juggling?

Longshot has posed:
"Thing for Rory and thing for Miss Danvers, sure! I can play twice." Longshot nods, his juggling continues, looking over to the bottles and without much of a thought, certainly no visible attempt to aim, one ball is thrown.

The sunny ball hits the bottle on the side, but the thing topples without resistance. Just the right amount of force and just the right spot! The trick bottles of carnivals never fall when hit straight on, not that Longshot would know that. Longshot himself moves the three-ball cascade to a simple two loop with one hand, "One! Oh, I'm an interdimensional refugee! Just found out last week!"

Longshot pauses and looks at Dr. Phosphorus thoughtfully, "Actually, I guess I wasn't counting fingers of other people when we visited Mojoworld, maybe that's not the reason. I haven't thought about it. But I have the right number of fingers for me! So Yes! Always had this many!"

Another ball is thrown without looking at it and another bottle topples. No Pause, but this time Longshot does look, aim and throw. Down with the third bottle! Longshot cheers and immediately points at a giant plush that just so happens to be a robot, "That one please! For Rory!"

The person running the stand does not look pleased, but will start to get the robot.

Dr. Phosphorus has posed:
Dr. Phosphorus is smiling. Nothing new. The man comes back with the bear and says, "We closin' for lunch affer dis." Phosphorus deliberately sets nine more singles out on the counter. "My friend finishes first. And if we get one hint of a 'hey rube' from you, I'll serve you up as shish kebob. Besides... look how happy you made blondie over here!" As he speaks Phosphorus traces a happy face on the counter, leaving a scorched face behind.

"I mean I thought I smiled a lot but... I keep looking for the line running nitrous into this kid." And raw sugar most likely.

Longshot has posed:
The is put safely aside and exchanged for the cotton candy that perviously had Longshot's attention, starting to fish in a pocket for his own money. Eyes widen as Dr. Phosphorus slaps down more cash and Longshot will immediately abandon the candy in favor of an arm-full of balls from the Very Unhappy Stand Attendant. Being threatened by a flaming green skeleton vandalizing the stand seems enough to spur sullen silence.

Longshot is grinning from ear to ear, "Thank you! You didn't have to pay, I have money!"

He doesn't. It's either Cliff's money or his roommate back in New York's money, Stirling.

Longshot topples another three bottles in short order, and with six more balls has settled on getting a plus for everyone that he can. Kara, Rory handled. Which means, three more giant plushes. Larry surely would like one. Doreen, Longshot KNOWS likes plushes, and-

"Okay, You guys REALLY need to go now!" Some confidence seems warranted after watching every throw be a hit, "It's my lunch break!"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Longshot will promptly hand the last balls back, dollar be damned, and scoop up the giant plushies and beam at Dr. Phos, "That was fun! Did you want to play? Maybe one of the other ones?"

Dr. Phosphorus has posed:
Dr. Phosphorus says, "No thank you. You can give mine to Doreen or whomever. We can just head back to the bus. Then maybe some of the carnival folks will come around and we can play hide under the coats and be really quiet. Anyway I don't like to gamble. I play poker. Poker is not gambling. Not the way I play." He pats Longshot on the shoulder.

"Hey if we swing by the liquor store, I could teach you to drink AND gamble while we wait."

Longshot has posed:
"Okay!" Longshot will have to abandon the last of the cotton candy to heft all the plushes up, listening brightly and nodding, "Oh sure! I know how to play poker! I didn't realize you could do that without gambling, but that's wonderful! I'd love to learn how! It's a fun game, but I haven't played recently."

"Have you always been a skeleton on fire? I don't think I've met any others and I wasn't sure if that was 'weird' or not. It's been really unclear what 'weird' is here." The words are easy, relaxed with a simple curiosity. The bus is easily achieved, plushies stacked in the seats of their intended and secured away before Longshot is back out, with an over dramatic bow to Dr. Phosphorus, "Lead the way! Liquor and new kinds of poker!"

Dr. Phosphorus has posed:
Dr. Phosphorus turns and stares at Longshot. "No one has asked me that. No I'm not exactly a skeleton. I have glowing translucent flesh. I'm not on fire, this harmless minimal radiation. And no, I wasn't always a monster. I was once a doctor named Alexander Sartorius. I had a family. They were murdered. I became this."

"It used to be a lot weirder, then before you knew it we had a whole biker gang of flaming skeletons riding around. For a while I convinced the guards I was one and kept managing to sneak out of my cell. I drove them crazy for a while."

Longshot has posed:
"So you're just a person." It seems Longshot is capable of sobering up, a quietly contemplative expression settling across his face as he listens, "I'm sorry for your loss. That sounds like a lot, but I missed the part where you became a monster?"

He pauses, clearly trying to digest this well, "Would you prefer that we call you Dr. Sartorius? Or Alexander? I don't think anyone would care if you wanted us to call you your name."

"I'm glad you haven't been alone then." The mention of a cell will bring some bristling from Longshot for the first time, "Guards and cell? Were you a slave?"

Dr. Phosphorus has posed:
Dr. Phosphorus looks at Longshot again. "I was locked in a nuclear reactor and became this. then I went after the men who killed my family."

    "That was when I became a monster."

"The killers blamed me for the murder of my family, then said I committed suicide or tried by locking myself in a reactor. But then I found them and I... I killed them all. As badly as I knew how. My medical training finally paid off. I might have offed a few people more juuust to be sure. Que sera, sera. You know?"

Longshot has posed:
Longshot doesn't know.

Longshot has two months worth of memory, almost to the day, and learned that he has never won the battle that he's apparently done hundreds upon hundreds of times last week. Last Week, Longshot felt Hate for the first time and doesn't know why.

Still he just looks at Dr. Phosphorus blankly in silence while turning this new information over. No expression, barely a readable thought behind blue, blue eyes.

Finally.

"I don't know if I can help with that, but I could try. Can I give you a hug?"

Dr. Phosphorus has posed:
Dr. Phosphorus looks at Longshot.

"Hugging me is bad for your health. There's nothing to help. What is done is done, Longshot. I'm Dr. Phosphorus. Sartorius is dead. His family is dead. Hey! Churros!!" Doc heads over to a stand,

Longshot has posed:
"Well, I'm glad you're here with us now. Doom Patrol is full of really sad people." Longshot will follow and not push the topic. He will, at least, have in his pocket exact change for churros for both of them and will just happen to arrive at the stand in time to pay.

"Poker then?" Longshot is fine to help steer them back to a more fun thing.

Dr. Phosphorus has posed:
Dr. Phosphorus says, "I don't feel like gaming right now. I'm gamed out. I think I just want to get back to the bus and glare at people walking by. I'll teach you about card games tomorrow. Maybe learn you on craps and roulette. You seem a lucky sort." He regard Longshot more carefully.

"What's wrong?" He puts a very warm hand on Longshot's shoulder.

Longshot has posed:
"Oh, I'm very lucky! Craps and Roulette? I don't know what those are, but yeah! Happy to learn more games. Tomorrow is good!" Longshot's attention flickers from the churro to the pile of plushes that need to be moved then to the touch on the shoulder with a clear surprise. Here he was willing to move on, despite being bothered and now they were back tracking?

He doesn't speak right away, the surprise melting into a shrug and a much more bittersweet smile.

"Oh, I-um-well I just wanted to say I'm sorry you lost your family. You did some bad things, but you're not doing that now." Longshot shrugs again, "I don't remember anything prior to arriving on Earth, and it doesn't bother me very much. I'm here now! It's a good thing, I'm here now and I think I'm where I'm supposed to be."

"But, I don't think I ever had a family, but I hope someone misses me, you know? I thought I knew Miss Rita Farr when Cliff told me about her, I didn't then, but I do know her now. I don't think the past should define us. I think it does, but it shouldn't. But wow, wouldn't it be nice if someone out there is looking for me? Missing me? If I have a family, I hope they know I'm doing okay and I'll be back when I can be."

"I don't think about the future much either, but last week I found out that I've done the same thing for a long, long time, but I don't remember why or what that thing really is. But, if I can't be missed by someone then, I hope I get to win some day at least."

"Hey, thanks for listening." Longshot stops, the smile brightening again, "Come on, Bus to get to and people to glare at, right?"