[Dial tone]

[Pickup]

ROSLYN: You've reached the Love and Luck Podcast.

[Music]

[Beep]

[Pickup]

[Beep]

KANE: Hey honey, are you still at the hospital? I hope Ricardo is doing well. I miss you. Do you think you'll be coming home soon?

[Hangup]

[Beep]

JASON: Hey, it's me. I'm going to stick around a little longer. Ricardo's doing pretty well, but he's pretty emotionally fragile, which is understandable.

I'm going to stick around until he's discharged, I think, and then I'll probably bring him home with me. He doesn't want to be alone right now, which makes sense. I asked if he had family or something, but he just shook his head and didn't want to talk about it, so I dropped it.

I don't, uh... I don't know where we'll put him exactly, when I bring him home, since once Eileen gets there, all our spare bedrooms are taken... but I'm sure we'll figure something out.

I miss you too. Seeing you for less than an hour just every now and then when you have time to come by is hard. [Sighs] Sorry for being gone so long. I just... I don't know. I feel like being here is really important, somehow. Like... if I didn't stay here with Ricardo when he needs someone, what's even the point of the bar, of trying to make the world better, if I can't sacrifice a few nights in my own bed for someone who's been through something so horrible, you know?

I love you. Talk soon.

[Hangup]

[Beep]

KANE: Hey, it's okay. I mean, I miss you. I miss you like hell. But I get why you're sticking around there. And I mean... it's not exactly easy to be upset about "oh, my boyfriend is such a good person he wants to be there for someone who's gone through something traumatic".

[Sighs] I really do miss you though.

Oh, Pat came by today and dropped off some lollies they made, which was really nice. They said they'd probably drop by the hospital with some for you and Ricardo, too, so keep an eye out for them.

Okay, I gotta go be a responsible adult now and like, take care of my customers. I love you.

[Hangup]

[Beep]

KANE: Hey, Helen offered to watch the bar for an hour or two so I could come have lunch with you, so I'm on my way now. See you soon.

[Hangup]

[Beep]

JASON: Yep, it's official, I definitely miss you even more when I see you briefly than when I haven't seen you all day. Lunch felt like it only lasted two minutes rather than twenty. [Sighs] I love you.

[Hangup]

[Beep]

KANE: Hey, just letting you know that Eileen got here safely. She's a bit tense, but she's having tea with Helen right now and they're having some kind of mutually calming effect on each other, which is good. I'm trying to add some magic to the soothing pot as well, so to speak.

Things are pretty good here, otherwise. Or, as well as they can be without you, anyway.

[Hangup]

[Beep]

JASON: Hey, I'm glad Eileen got there okay, and that she hit it off well with Helen. But then again, who doesn't hit it off well with Helen?

Ricardo's sleeping better now, and actually sleeping rather than just dozing from all the drugs or whatever, so that's a really good sign.

You know... at some point, we're going to have to decide what to do about all this. We can't let this stand, we can't let this shit just... keep happening. We can't let these bigots keep hurting people. And, like I said, with Eileen's info, we now know enough about at least one of them that I reckon we can find him with magic.

We need to do something. The question is, what?

[Hangup]

[Beep]

KANE: [Sounding tired] Hey... yeah. I know. I know we have to do something. Something more active. It's not enough to just clean up after the mess any more. We need to try and stop this shit before it happens.

I just... I just don't know what, though. I don't know how we could solve this. We could go to the police, I guess, but... I don't know, it's not like I've ever felt the cops are particularly on our side, when it comes to being queer, I guess. Plus there's Michael to worry about... I couldn't live with myself if he ended up in one of the detention centers.

What do you think? Because I... I have no idea.

[Hangup]

[Beep]

JASON: Hey. I agree, I don't think cops are the best idea. I don't think it's a safe choice for us or our people, to be honest.

[Sighs] Look, babe. I know you don't want to use our powers to hurt people, I know that using magic for anything less than happy things upsets you. But... I think we should consider it. We've tried peaceful means. We've tried protecting people passively. And we've failed. There have been two gay bashings, there have been months of homophobic propaganda being posted all around our neighbourhood. People are scared, we're scared, and we're right to be.

We can't peaceful our way out of this, Kane. I think it's time to make an exception. To do the right thing, to do the good thing in this situation, I think we have to consider a more aggressive move.

There's precedent for it, in your mundanity rule, if it helps. Bashing back in order to secure the safety of our people isn't exactly an unheard of thing in queer history.

Just... don't say no immediately, okay? Give it some thought.

I love you.

[Hangup]

[Beep]

KANE: No. Absolutely not. We can't be a part of the violence, Jason. That doesn't solve this, it just escalates it. No.

[Hangup]

[Beep]

JASON: [Sighs] Yeah. I had a feeling you'd say that.

[Hangup]

[Music]

Love and Luck is written by Erin Kyan, and produced by Passer Vulpes Productions. Kane is voiced by Lee Davis-Thalbourne. Jason is voiced by Erin Kyan. Credits spoken by Roslyn Quin. Recorded by Kermie Breydon.

For more information about Love and Luck, check out our website, loveandluckpodcast.com. You can also find us on facebook as Love and Luck Podcast, and follow us on twitter, at @LoveLuckPodcast.