A/N: This scene takes place at the end of the season finale of Season 3. If you haven't binge-watched that far just yet, you may not want to read this until you do.
Brook Soso should have felt happy. Here she was floating in a lake. An actual lake filled with actual water outside of the stupid gates of stupid prison. But even this unexpected moment couldn't chip away the emptiness. Stuck in prison, no friends, nothing to believe in, no help in sight. Even Meadow had just made it worse. She would say that she had never felt so low, but that wasn't true. This wasn't a low feeling. This was a nothing feeling. In her old life, she'd never dreamed she could feel this way.
Brook felt a hand in hers. She looked over numbly to see Poussey floating alongside her. She grinned that wide, toothy grin only she could pull off, and suddenly Brook was smiling, too.
"This is nice, huh?" Poussey laughed. Brook smirked again and looked back up at the blue sky.
They floated in silence for a little while, holding hands. "Listen, Brook," Poussey began. She sighed and took a deep breath. "I've been where you're at. A couple of times, actually." Brook looked over.
Poussey met her eyes and looked back up. "This place. This stupid place. It'll beat you down. Seems like every day is some new bullshit you gotta face. Even when you do have something to believe in, sometimes it gets ripped away." Poussey glanced over to the shore where she saw her friends splashing each other. Taystee was laughing maniacally, checking her head wrap every few moments to be sure it hadn't fallen out. Poussey grinned again and looked back at Soso. "But then you find it again."
Brook sighed and sat up in the water. Poussey sat up, too, and faced her. "I thought I had something to believe in with Norma. She was so kind and so calming. And then it got ripped away."
Poussey took Brook's hands again and smiled. "I know all that stuff with Norma got real fucked up and everything, but it didn't get ripped away. I don't know if Norma does have any actual gifts or anything, but I've been thinking a lot about it and I think I learned something anyway."
Brook nodded intently for her to go on. "Look, even as calm and shit as Norma could make you feel, she wasn't actually doing anything. I think the whole point with that stuff was to remind us that we could feel calm and peaceful and shit. All on our own."
Poussey squeezed her hands and looked out at the mass of inmates playing in the water and relaxing on the sand. "I think what we have to remember is that… even when you don't have anybody in the world to count on, you always got yourself. You can't lose you, ya know? Even when it's all you got, it's still something."
Brook nodded and faced the sky again. She noticed for the first time all day how warm the sunshine felt on her skin, how cold the water felt.
Poussey stood up in the water and spread her arms out, soaking up the taste of momentary freedom. She looked back down at Brook and held out her hand. "But for right now, you got you and me, alright?"
Brook smiled and took the outstretched hand, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. She didn't really feel better. But she felt… something. And that seemed like an improvement.