Freeze your brain

"No, not here. That'd be loud and awkward. If you're going to do it, do it somewhere no one is going to come running wondering if you're being murdered."

But back to Zora. Right. Rory couldn't say she felt bad that Zora was likely going to end up in jail. She wasn't going to say it, but the thought was there anyway. Broen's pain was practically tangible.

God. This. Was. A. Fucking. Mess.

She couldn't fault him for wanting to kill the attacker. She'd said the same damn thing. "This place doesn't have the death sentence," she said under her breath. Which felt like answer enough about that.

"Even if Zora went to jail, I doubt it'd be for long..."

Rory could have probably gotten a list together about what good things Broen could do, but 'magic' would always beat him. Besides, lists were more Jude's thing. Rory worked better on the fly.

She stood watching him, lips pursed and arms crossed. "You're more than the physical things you can offer, Broen. But, if you want your powers back we can find a way to do that. There's no better place than here, on magic fuckin' island. I'll look into it."

Rory finally got tired of standing and watching him. She took a seat, staring at the wall. Fuck he was right. It certainly felt impossible, but all Rory had was time anymore. She could find weapons, maybe, but those weren't powers and they weren't his powers.

She growled under her breath.

"Surprisingly, yes. You're good at conversation. You're interesting. That's why people like you. Honest, too — another positive." And to his dick comment, Rory snorted and shook her head. "Still not in love."

She let it settle, practically burning a hole in the wall with her gaze. "Okay, maybe we can't get your powers back but we could probably find something. Would that work for you? Or do you want your powers back exactly? That's going to be... fucking near impossible, but I'm not about to say it absolutely can't happen."

And Rory figured he wouldn't appreciate her pointing it out, but she was going to anyway. It was relevant. "You thought you'd never get your emotions back, either, but that happened. Nothing is impossible."

"I think I'm immune," she told him with feigned disappointment.

She lied back next to him, mostly so she could give him a little boop on the nose with her index finger. "No, they didn't like the old you. There's God knows how many people who haven't met you yet and you'd be surprised how forgiving people are when you tell them sorry. It's actually a little crazy."

And, okay, he was for it. But ah, shit. Rory didn't know where that left her. She didn't exactly have any contacts off the top of her head who could do anything about this. Maybe she'd ask Officer Genovese. Maybe Erione. Shay. Hm. Okay. Those were plans she could work off.

"Well, that settles it then doesn't it? I'll do some shit, bring you back a list or a something. Don't even ask me what the hell my plan is, I'm winging it."

And then she looked at him and grew more serious. Voice soft, Rory said, "hey. You're going to be okay, you know that right?"

"On it, boss," Rory said in a poorly voiced New York accent that had boss sounding like 'boise.'

She wanted to reach out and stop him from gnawing on his lip like that, but Rory held strong against the urge.

"Awe shit," Rory said suddenly. She almost shot up. Almost. "See that's the exact opposite thing you say after 'I know I'll be fine.' Blowing your head off is not fine!" She scrubbed her face with her hands, smiled somewhat loopily as she thought over their options. "Okay. No. Okay. I've worked miracles under worse circumstances. Noted.

"But fuck, Broen, you don't need to be the most powerful person in the room to be useful. You don't even need to be powerful. Be smart. Be resourceful. Be charismatic. You have all those things in you."