Stark Industries, Tuesday

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

Jessica was back at work today and found herself sad to officially shut down the portal completely. She wasn't going to scrap it. She worked hard on it and you never knew when something like that would be helpful someday. But it was going to move to it's new home all the way at the back of the shop to free up space for more immediately useful projects.

Like the one Jessica was working on right now involving a waste paper basket and some crumpled up papers. Hard at work.

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[notconflicted]

"Hard at work, I take it?" Sia greeted her when she came in.

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"Doing my best not to be," Jessica said. "And succeeding wildly. You got here sooner than I thought you would."

[notconflicted]

"I can make things happen when I really need to," Sia said. "Need a hug?"

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"Desperately," Jesica said, getting out of her chair and walking over to get the hug. "Thanks for coming."

[notconflicted]

"Of course," Sia said, hugging her tightly. "How are you doing?"

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"I don't even know. Like, this is what I already knew was going to be the case, so it's not a surprise," Jessica said. "But actually knowing that I'm the last part of my world in all of existence is tougher to process than I thought it would be. That definitely says something about me. Probably not anything flattering."

[notconflicted]

"I think it says you're normal," Sia told her. "You are living through the worst case scenario for your world, and handling it better than most everyone in existence would."

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"I meant the fact that I thought I'd actually be okay," Jessica said. "I apparently think very highly of my coping abilities."

[notconflicted]

"Well, look at your history. You're not wrong," Sia pointed out.

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but different scales," Jessica said. "Although I guess I got off easy. The two guys who created Battleworld had to worry about way more than their own mental states. There's definitely a benefit to being the most self-confident supervillain ever."

[notconflicted]

"A supervillain created the world?" Sia frowned.

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"A group of nearly all-powerful beings destroyed a whole big section of reality," Jessica explained. "This guy, Doom, was inspired to figure out how to kill them, take their power, pull together the scraps of whatever remained, and hold it together through sheer force of will. All things considered, it's better than the alternative."

[notconflicted]

"And you're sure none of your world survived in that patchwork?" She had to ask.

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"Doom said it didn't. I don't have any reason to doubt him on this," Jessica said. "And from my research, there are only a few dozen domains there. I catalogued hundreds of worlds that don't exist anymore before it got too depressing and I had to stop. So it's not like I can count on the odds that he might be wrong. I have to accept it."

[notconflicted]

"I'm so sorry, Jessica," Sia said, knowing that was pretty hollow.

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"I know. And that means a lot," Jessica said. "How are you? Hopefully space things are going space-well?" Look at her space-change the subject there like a space-pro.

[notconflicted]

"Space-busy." She would never ever admit that she'd said that. "It's been unending work."

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"I can only imagine," Jessica said. "And that's the kind of stuff that makes you an even better friend, worthy of the comfiest couch in my apartment."

[notconflicted]

"Is it the only couch?" Sia wondered.

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"I don't see how that's relevant. The important thing is that you're an amazing friend for being here," Jessica said. "And the couch is plenty comfy."

[notconflicted]

"You have me as long as you need me," Sia promised. "Or until I get a link in my neck."

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"Right now I'm going to claim you forever, but I'm pretty sure that number will go down and I'll just want you around that long," Jessica said. "But I won't necessarily need you, so you'll be free to leave."

[notconflicted]

"This is why it's important to get this sort of thing stated clearly at the beginning," Sia told her.

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"Always gotta play the technicalities. Speaking of which, I'm technically the manager here, so if you're hungry I can just close up and we can get dinner and nobody will complain," Jessica said. "I can give you the full story there."

[notconflicted]

"We can do that," Sia agreed, "if you can tear yourself away from work."