And You And I

S201 (U1): Comfortably numb

Author's note:

Hello everyone, I am now officially back from my holiday to Yharnam (I played Bloodborne and got my platinum trophy, woo-hoo!), via a short stay in Mordor (Shadow of War) and a very brief stint as King of Leon (Crusader Kings II). Anyway, without further ado, welcome to season two of And You And I. Before we get started, a massive thank you to everyone for all your support throughout season one and in the weeks since it wrapped up. The reception this story has had really has been phenomenal and it means the world to me that so many people have enjoyed it.

I've been working hard on season two for a few weeks now and am making good progress. For the benefit of everyone who started reading after I posted the last update of season one, I'll just quickly explain how I do things. After deciding that this was going to be more than a one-shot (yeah, I really didn't think things through before I started writing), I came up with a rough plan for the story (short and long term). However, I allowed Kim and Shego's actions to dictate the direction it went in as I wrote. Hence, when they did something I did not plan on that necessitated an extra chapter or two, or an even a bigger change to my plan, that's what happened. Even though I have a much firmer handle on things moving into season two, I will still be allowing Kim and Shego the same level of freedom to influence the story and its direction. In that respect, instead of posting single chapter updates, each update will normally consist of multiple chapters (usually between two and four). This allows me to ensure the continuity is good, that I don't have to go around retconning things left, right and centre and ultimately, a higher quality story, which is something I'm sure we all want.

Throughout season one I posted an update once a week, typically on a Wednesday or Thursday. However, given the pace at which I wrote that season was ridiculously quick (twelve weeks total), I'm going to be a little more conservative this time and aim to post an update every two weeks; again on Wednesday or Thursday. I have already written most of update two, so that will definitely be with you within that timeframe (I like to be one update ahead of you guys as an extra assurance on the continuity and story direction). After that, I'll base things on how quickly I'm able to write.

One final note, as requested by someone, I'm going to put a little identifier at the start of each chapter title, so you guys know what update each chapter belongs to. As I will also be starting the chapter numbering from one, this little identifier will be a better way for me to keep track of the chapter numbers, should I need to refer to one in a future note. So, for season two chapter one, the tag will be S201 (U1), with the U1 part referring to it being part of update one.

Right, with all that out of the way, let's move on to season two. Like season one, I'll be continuing to take the chapter titles from song titles or lyrics and up first is chapter one: Comfortably numb. For anyone who knows Pink Floyd, you'll probably recognise this chapter title immediately and for those of you who don't, it is the name of a song from their 1979 masterpiece The Wall. The reason, you'll soon see. Enjoy.

##

Grey. That was perhaps the simplest, yet most accurate description of the colour pallet used by the interior designer of the prison facility. Pick any cell inside block D, or any other block for that matter, and you would be confronted by grey walls, door, furniture and bedding. At some point, either someone had decided that colour was too expensive, or that the inmates should be kept as downtrodden as possible. In fact, the only things not on the greyscale were the prisoners' clothing: orange jumpsuits with white underwear and shoes. A concession perhaps made grudgingly and purely because of the need to have the inmates easily identifiable against the drab backdrop.

It was in one of these dreary cells that Shego currently lay. Due to an 'incident' that had occurred the day prior to her arrival, Captain Brooks had decided to punish her collective charges with a two-day lockdown. Thus, from the moment she had first rested her head down on the bottom bunk on Saturday evening, she had been left there virtually undisturbed for the remainder of the day and night. So long as she wasn't dead, no one gave a rat's ass about her. This included her cellmate; Bonnie Rockwaller, who had arrived a day before her. Indeed, the Middleton born former cheerleader, now branded sidekick to supervillain Señor Senior, Junior, had completely ignored her after finishing a long recitation of the cell rules. If she had been able to think straight, Shego may have wondered how on earth the girl had been able to compile such an extensive list of bullshit, given that her collective time spent within the prison system had amounted to exactly one day. The answer to which was a few days at cheer camp, where she had been cabin-mates with her schoolyard nemesis; a certain hero by the name of Kim Possible. The experience for both individuals being tantamount to serving time in jail. However, given the almost zombified state that she had been in at the time, Shego had simply laid down on the bottom bunk and gone to sleep.