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[ Steph has set up this PSA perfectly framed so that everyone can see the exasperated expression on her face. Not angry, thankfully that whole ordeal is over, but deeply unimpressed by her fellow interdimensional travellers. ]

I'd like to take a moment to remind everyone of Murphy's Law.

You may not call it that. You may not know it exists. But I promise you, it holds true for every culture, in every time period, in every universe:

Anything that can go wrong, will.

Does it seem like a bad idea? It is. Is there a chance it'll blow up in your face? It will, and probably everyone else's face too. Is it going to make strangers mad at you? Don't do it.

[ She looks the camera dead in the eye, glaring as though she can stop people from being stupid by sheer force of will. She will damn well try regardless.

There's a pause while she hopes that sinks in. ]

Also, this may be an unpopular opinion, but I'm sharing it anyway:

Necromancy is never the answer.

That's all. I'm out.

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[ Minako is quiet, listening to the other. It's hard to tell why she's taking this in such a more cynical way. Maybe it's because of what happened to her during the entire thing, making it clear exactly just how serious all of it was. Maybe it's since she always had to be the hard one, in order to protect her princess' softness.

It leaves her quiet for yet another moment, even after Steph has finished, before she speaks on. ]

This isn't just a mistake, though.

[ Sure, maybe some people let themselves be lead on by others. But-- ]

They could have seen something like this coming, if they'd mess around that badly. It's not like they were pulling off some harmless little prank. Doing stuff like that has consequences. People could have died. Some probably did die.

[ Steph listens with the utmost sympathy and understanding. She's felt those exact things way too many times before not to empathize. She lets the silence sit for a moment before responding, to make it clear that she hears what Minako is saying and isn't trying to disagree. ]

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it wasn't serious. Just, I've dealt with criminals all my life, and it doesn't end. There's always going to be someone.

And, well...

[ She looks away, feeling immensely awkward. She knows that none of that condemnation is aimed at her, but no matter how much time passes she can never seem to fully escape her own guilt. ]

I've made worse mistakes myself.

I know you're right.

[ That there's always going to be someone, that is. Minako knows that's true. She's not naive enough to think that the world is any different from that.

(She will refrain from commenting on Steph's own mistakes for now, since the other probably knows more about those than Minako herself does.) ]

But even so.. So many of us here already had to deal with situations like this back home. You'd think people would know better. [ She pauses, briefly, and then adds: ] You'd think people would learn from mistakes.

[ Surely Steph has, right? Minako at least has that much faith in the other girl. Then why didn't the people who did this learn already? ]

Not... necessarily...

[ The lessons Steph learned from that particular mistake were mostly pretty warped by the aftermath. The good lessons she learned were mostly "Batman is an asshole". ]

I mean, haven't you ever learned a wrong lesson? Like, a guy's a jerk to you and you figure that you did something wrong, not him?

[ Minako is quiet for a few moments. Partially because she's tired and talking like this is taking quite a bit out of her - or more than it usually would, anyway - and partially since she is seriously considering this. ]

.. I don't think so. I won't claim I haven't made mistakes.

[ Who hasn't, after all? Minako is far from perfect. ]

But I'm pretty sure I've learned the right lesson from it each time. The key to that is making sure to think well about it and discuss it with the other people involved. [ Hey, Minako can be pretty mature.

When she tries. ]

[ Steph doesn't really want to argue what is objectively a very good point. She doesn't want to defend a bunch of people she doesn't know for doing something she doesn't know about, either. All she can think about is that horrible week 5 years ago.

She looks down and her voice turns quiet, almost defeated. ]

I'm just... not in a position to judge.

[ She remembers so vividly the terror of watching her plan fall so violently apart, the horrified guilt when she realized what had happened, the utter despair at the knowledge that there was nothing more she could do, that she was going to die, that nobody was looking for her, nobody even knew she was in trouble. The dead feeling that followed her for so many months afterward while she barely went through the motions of staying alive. Even the fear of returning home, prepared for everyone she cared about to hate her for what she'd done. And maybe they hadn't hated her, but even knowing that not all the blame fell on her shoulders they had never forgiven her for it. She could only barely forgive herself.

Just thinking about it now pulls her so deep into her memories that she finds herself unconsciously rubbing at the scar on her left shoulder from where she was shot. ]

[ Minako breathes out, and then makes sure to switch the feed to private. Not so much for her own sake as much as she's doing it for Steph's sake, since this is clearly something that's hard for the other to talk about.

And a little consideration can't hurt. ]

Hey. You're not the one who did this. No one who's mad about this is mad at you.

[ Even though she can kind of grasp the situation here. The way Steph can identify with whoever did it, because something very similar to it must have happened to her - most likely back home. ]

.. not even all mistakes are born equal in the first place, you know? It's all about intention as well, and the people behind this-- Even if some of them might not have known, there's got to have been at least one who did know. There's just no other way.

[ Minako can't imagine it.

She pauses, then frowns. ] Whatever you did, I'm sure it wasn't with bad intentions. You're not that kind of person.

[ At her friend's gentle tone Steph sighs, exasperated with herself. Her hand moves from her shoulder to rub at her temple, like the past is a headache she can push away if she presses hard enough. ]

I'm sorry. I'm just...

[ Just what? What is she even saying anymore? Get it together, Steph. ]

I'm not trying to- [ Argue? Yes she is. She huffs another sigh. ] I don't know.

[ Finally she meets Minako's eyes again, dismissing whatever apology she was attempting with a truly pathetic smile. ]

You're making exactly my point though, Mina. The body count was in the hundreds, injuries in the thousands.

It was stupid. I was stupid, and it nearly killed me. Five years later I still find myself making some of the same mistakes.

Why though?

[ Minako asks that, pauses, and then seems to realise that she might need to elaborate a little bit here. If Steph is having such a hard time, then the least she can do is make things a tad easier for the other, by not having to figure out what exactly Minako means. ]

Why do you think that you keep making some of those same mistakes?

[ It has nothing to do with arguing. Minako isn't even making a point of her own anymore by now, nor is she trying to.

She just wants to give the other the floor to speak on this. Maybe it might make Steph feel a little bit better, or it might help her try to work through what's bothering her.

And Minako? Well, she never minds listening. She's been stuck in bed quite a bit lately anyway, so it gives her something to do on top of it. ]

Because I'm human?

[ Steph shrugs. As far as she's concerned, all of that is in the past. This is the behavior of an emotionally healthy young woman who has adjusted well to her own trauma and has no personal issues to address. She just has trouble stringing thoughts together sometimes, that's all. ]

Because I'm me. I don't know when to quit, or when to ask for help. I just... do the best I can. And sometimes that goes sideways.

And...

[ She looks down, trying to pin down a thought. She thinks back not to the day she 'died' or the long months of recovery, but to her decision to come back to Gotham. To the way she thought, and the way people treated her. ]

It's not something you can really discuss with people, or... think about well. Something like that, you can't think clearly. When you hate yourself so much, you don't want to give people the chance to join in.

[ She meets Minako's eyes again. ]

People don't give you the benefit of the doubt.

.. but isn't that exactly the time to speak up?

[ She really knows that it's not that easy. But even though it's not easy, it's still important. It's still worth doing, even though it's hard. That's what Minako fiercely believes in. ]

So people won't misunderstand you. So you can tell people that you need help, before you instead just keep on pushing through, and making things accidentally end up with the worst case result. [ It's more of a general 'you'. Heck, this could apply to the people who caused all of this in the first place. Minako definitely believes that at least one of them must have done this on purpose, with this end result in mind, but the others.. ]

I've seen trouble come up again and again because of that. For thousands of years already.

[ And it's so tiring after that long. ]

[ Steph frowns, looking away again. How can Mina have thousands of years of experience and not understand the kind of guilt that paralyzes you? The hurt of looking to someone for understanding and seeing disgust on their face instead? How does she even explain something like that? ]

If you knew you needed help before it was too late, maybe. I didn't even know what was happening until well after the city had turned into a war zone.

After, what's the point? Speaking up won't change anything. There's nothing anyone can tell you that you don't already know. You don't think they misunderstand, you think... you think there's something wrong with you. You think you're a monster. And monsters can't be helped. The only way you can make sure it never happens again is to remove yourself from the equation.

Of course speaking up changes things.

[ Not that she doesn't get that human minds often don't work in the most rational of ways. And that it makes it hard to speak up sometimes.

But she doesn't think speaking is useless. ]

Even when your mind tells you it doesn't, then you just have to find a way to push through that. [ Granted, this is all coming from the perspective of someone who is 100% used to shoving your humanity aside to get things done - so. You know. It might not be the best perspective either. Or the most healthy one.

But it's always worked for Minako. ]

You think my mind doesn't make things difficult for me sometimes? But I've never let that stop me from doing what's right. Even if it's hard. That's what it means to be someone who fights for what's right.

[ That last hurts like a punch to the gut, and Steph struggles to keep her emotions off of her face. She feels inadequate, worthless, a weak little girl told all her life she wasn't good enough no matter what she did. For a moment she's furious, with her father, with herself, with all the people who have ever made her feel this way and told her it was for her own good, that they cared about her and only wanted to protect her.

When her head starts to spin she realizes she stopped breathing and takes a slow, deep breath. Mina doesn't mean it like it sounds. She wasn't there, she doesn't know. She's Steph's friend, she doesn't mean to hurt her.

She manages to keep a somewhat neutral expression, but she can't keep the anger from her low, steady voice. ]

Not everyone is a hero. Some of us are just doing what we can.

[ Minako isn't stupid.

She can tell that there's more going on here. Even though Steph is trying to control her tone, there's that momentary instinctive reaction that tells Minako absolutely everything. Maybe not the details of why exactly this is painful for the other, but it at least tells her that this topic isn't a good one for Steph. ]

.. I'm sorry. I'll stop talking about it.

[ Minako takes a deep breath, trying to relax herself as well. She doesn't want to push, especially since it feels like it's hitting a sore spot on the other's part - and that's something Minako doesn't want to do. Why would she cause a friend unnecessary pain? ]

If that's better for you.

[ She tries to let go of that overwhelming wave of emotion, form some kind of coherent, reasonable explanation, but Minako is right. This is just too much for her right now. ]

...That's probably a good idea. I... should get ready for work anyway.

[ Why does she bother making such transparent excuses ]

Don't worry about it.

[ Transparent as the excuse might be, Minako lets the other get away with it. If it's better for Steph to not talk about this stuff, especially right now, then she will grant the other that space without question. ]

Okay. [ So Minako easily agrees. ]

I'll talk to you again sometime later.

[ Not necessarily about this. Just in general.

But if the other ever does want to talk more about it - well, Minako can listen. But for now she just turns off the feed. ]

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