1 [voice]

[anunluckypenny]

[Maybe the amplified ticking that only just stopped had gotten to her. Maybe the reality of her situation took five days to hit home. Whatever the reason, Penny doesn't sound particularly chipper. One might go so far as to say that she sounds outright shocked.]

Oh my god. This is all completely real, isn't it? Not just the City, but all of it. What Hammer said, the death ray, Billy, dying, coming here... all of that actually happened.

The City and the dying--that I can deal with. Death happens like everything else, right? But Billy's a supervillain... a real villain with a death ray and everything. And Hammer's supposed to be a hero and he actually told everyone that we slept--oh god. Laundromat-frozen yogurt-shy Billy has a death ray and Captain Hammer's a total... a total jerkface, and he never did care about the homeless, and why does that bother me more than Billy being Dr. Horrible? But Billy--Dr. Horrible--didn't actually shoot anyone, and Hammer made the death ray explode...

And then--

[There's a long pause, but the recording continues. Penny's quieter when she speaks again, as if she's not talking directly into her network device.]

That really happened. All of that happened.

Billy's sweet and a supervillain, Hammer's--and then what happened to the shelter when the death ray exploded? Who else...?

[Another pause. This time the pause stretches into silence until the device times out.]

Comments

[dr_conscience]

It's really not that difficult to be fooled by someone who's only pretending to care. And in a relationship... it's even harder to pick that out, because you never want it to be true. And as for a friend being a supervillain, I actually haven't ruled that out yet.

No, I'm not just saying anything.

[anunluckypenny]

Okay, I have to ask--which friend is this? I'll steer clear of him.

Then would you mind dinner sometime? Nothing fancy, just a friends-talking-over-dinner kind of thing?

[dr_conscience]

Doctor House. He's... not that awful, but he's awful enough that most of my other friends spend a considerable amount of time asking why I put up with him.

Of course I wouldn't mind. It sounds like a plan.

[anunluckypenny]

Well, he can't be too bad if you're friends with him.

Great! Just let me know when you're free?

[dr_conscience]

No, he's not that bad. Though if you do meet him, don't tell him I said that.

Sometime this weekend, maybe? Or a night next week, if you prefer.

[anunluckypenny]

Right. If I meet Doctor House, I'll pretend I never heard anything.

This weekend would be really good.

[dr_conscience]

This weekend it is, then. Have a preference on which day? I'm on call Friday and Saturday, but those are early shifts.

[anunluckypenny]

Nope, no preference here. My days are pretty much wide open.

And seriously, Doctor Wilson, thank you. You have no idea how much it means to have someone to talk to.

[dr_conscience]

Well, why don't we see when the curses fall and finalize it then? We can go for the first uncursed day that comes up.

And it's really not any trouble. Of course, I'm a firm believer that everyone should have someone to talk to.