driftfleet

Entry tags:

001

Who: Jason Todd and YOU!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: The Marsiva
When: A few hours before the shuffle.

[ The broadcast begins with a close-up of a man's face, brow furrowed, head tossing slightly in the throes of some flavor of bad dream. His mouth shapes words that could be no and Mom. When he starts to move more energetically, the camera zooms out and pans down, giving the audience a good view of the thrashing and -- yep, that's actual fighting, pure muscle memory and surprisingly good technique, given that he's unconscious. Probably a good thing this guy's sleeping alone, because anyone in bed with him would be being beaten pretty badly right about now. By the look on his face, though, the fight he's dreaming about is one he's losing, no matter how good he might be.

There's a sharp indrawn breath when he wakes up, but besides that, the biggest clue is that he goes perfectly still for a moment. Then he takes inventory, eyes still closed, flexing his ankle to test for the feel of the boot knife, stretching and moving in ways that would let him locate weapons by feel, rather than just reaching for what he should have on him and letting anyone watching know just where he hides the goodies.

...Nothing. He opens his eyes, reaches for the ones that would be less obvious -- nope, even the garrote wire's gone. Whoever searched him was thorough.

Though somehow his jacket's back, and in one piece. Huh.

He sits up, looks around for a minute, and then speaks to the empty air. ]

...Hey, Bats, if this was your idea, consider me incredibly unamused.

[ Or, wait, no, that's not right, there's something... he knows something... ]

Wait, I'm in space?

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[ She jumps a little, pulling back from the camera a bit. Well that was creepy. ]

How did you know-- Steph's fine. Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

...apparently. [ So she's been told, anyway, and she trusts Tim on that. She still feels like she died.

And she's not stupid. He could have meant heroes when he said one of us, but as familiar as he apparently is with Batman... she doubts it. ]

No one ever told me your name. You feel like sharing, or do I just have to call you Robin #2?

You were the poster girl for the "why Daddy Bats is a bad, bad man" campaign after the gang war. That's how. Someone outed you to the whole city, used your death to stir up public sentiment against him. [ The look he's giving her now isn't completely unsympathetic -- if she really survived what happened to her, then someone fucked her over but good. ]

And it's Jason. I'm a little disappointed he didn't use me as some kind of object lesson. You know, "Here lies Jason Todd, who got crowbarred and blown up. Eat your vegetables and follow orders so you don't end up like him!"

[ Her mouth drops open slightly as she takes that in. Oh man. Well that's even worse than she thought, and suddenly she feels queasy. Way to go, Steph, continuing to cause problems for Batman from beyond the grave. ]

Yeah, no one... mentioned that part. Awesome.

[ And she winces at the quip about his death. She didn't know that either, about the second Robin, but she can't imagine talking about what happened to her so flippantly. ]

It's probably not about you, if it helps. I never really got to be part of the Batfamily's circle of trust and secrets, so... [ Shrug. ]

[ And the look on her face, the way she's wincing... if it's an act, it's a damn good one. He relaxes a little, and his voice goes almost gentle. ]

Hey. That's not on you. That's on the asshole who decided to use you against him. You're a pretty blonde white girl, and that makes you super-attractive to the media. [ He shrugs. ] That's not your fault, either. It just is what it is.

...Though you might have to explain how you get to be Robin and not be part of the circle of trust. Pretty sure that was supposed to be the whole point of Robin. [ He already knows Bruce doesn't care about him. Bruce made that clear when he chose to take Jason down and save the Joker. But if he's pulling this shit with some girl who died for it... Yeah, Jason's going to have a whole new list of things to be angry about. ]

Nnnn. Pretty sure it's at least a little my fault, unless you missed how that whole gang war got started... Thanks, though.

[ She sighs, and boy does she love explaining this. ] I was on probation. I screwed up, annnnd then I wasn't Robin anymore. I think he expected that. [ For her to fail.

And it's fine. She's fine. She's not bitter or anything. ]

Actually, I did. That doesn't sound like the happiest of stories, though, so let's shelve that for the time being, and focus on what the hell is wrong with him that you were on probation but still out there wearing the suit. Because that sure as hell wasn't how it worked in my day, and I'm pretty sure I'm the patron saint of Robins who screw up.

[ He leans in, completely earnest. ]

And it took a whole lot of screwing up before he benched me. But with all the training and studying and weird tests that you don't know are tests until you pass or fail... by the time I got the scaly green panties, we both knew I'd earned it. And I know for a fact that's how it worked for Robin #1, too. So if you got something different, blame the Bat, because he should know better than to pull shit like this. Robin is Batman's partner. Period.

[ And okay, maybe that was a bit of impassioned speechifying but GODFUCKINGDAMMIT BRUCE, what is wrong with you that you're going through Robins like kleenex? ]

[ She doesn't answer for a moment, frowning into the camera. Her eyes flick to the doorway, making sure Tim's not about to walk into the room or anything. He'll see this conversation, eventually, but she doesn't want him being part of it right now. ]

I don't know. He never really wanted me in the costume. Any costume. I thought it'd be different, after he let me be Robin, but... it wasn't. Maybe...

Never mind. [ No reason to drag Tim into this. Whatever Bruce was thinking, even if he was just using her to get Tim back in the uniform, it wasn't his fault.

And it's time for a totally unsubtle change of subject. If they're continuing this conversation, they're at least doing it later, off the comms. ]

Would it be rude to ask why you're not dead?

[ Hint taken. But don't worry, Steph, if there's anything like privacy around here, Uncle Jason will sit down with you and share ALL BRUCE'S SECRETS. ]

Now that's an interesting question. The answer to how would be that no one actually knows -- I just sort of woke up in my grave one day. Not fun. Don't recommend it.

[ Not fun is an understatement, and anyone who's good at reading people may get a flash of just how haunted he still is by that -- but making light of trauma is a coping strategy that's served him well so far. Sure, he'll break down eventually, and it'll be ugly... but it's not here and now, and that's what matters. ]

As far as why... as far as I can tell, something brought me back to put things right. To do what he couldn't. [ And there's something scary-intense in his eyes for a second there, when he looks into the camera. ] He and I don't agree much these days. Just a bit of warning. We've got some fundamental differences in our definitions of "too far" and "not far enough". So if you want to shun the nonbeliever... [ He shrugs again, with a wry grin that says he's used to it. ] Shun away, baby bird.

[ Steph is torn between being a little unnerved at that brief, weird intensity and the warm feeling in her chest at being called baby bird. It's one thing when Tim and Cass tell her she deserved better - they're her friends, and they love her. It's something else when someone she doesn't know, the Robin she heard about when she was little, treats her like it was real. Like she counted. ]

You haven't done anything to deserve shunning yet. Not to me. Disagreeing with the boss-man doesn't really count.

Can't make any promises about the other two. They're the good kids, after all.

[ That gets an actual smile out of him. ]

Good to hear. ...Though if my replacement's here, he probably won't be too thrilled to see me. Just sayin'.

So who else is stuck here? [ Best options are Barbara and Dick. Worst option: Drake. Knowing his luck, it's probably Drake. ]

[ ...well this is awkward. ]

Iii'm guessing by 'replacement' you mean Tim. He's on my ship. Cass is here too.

[ There's a little bit of tension in the set of his jaw for a second, quickly smoothed over. He may have reached the point of grudging respect for Tim after their little scuffle, but he's still not happy about... well... Tim's entire existence, pretty much. ]

...I guess not all the Gotham imports can be cute and charming.

Is Cass the new Batgirl? I've heard of her, but we haven't met.

[ She'll have to ask Tim later what the deal is with him and Jason. She can let it go for now. ]

Well he's one of those things... [ Her tone's sweet and innocent, knowing Tim's going to see this later. She loves you, Tim. ]

Yeah, that's her. She's pretty great.

So you think he's cute? Is that Bat-romance I smell in the air? [ griiiiin ] Sorry if it's old news, but you know how it is -- die for a little while and you miss all the gossip.

...Really, though, I'm looking forward to meeting Cass. The things I heard made her sound terrifying. [ And somehow, that's not a bad thing, and it's evident in his tone. ]

[ She flushes pink, but there's a tiny private smile too. It's a recent development. Re-development. Whatever. ] He's my boyfriend. So... kinda, yeah. If you really want, we can get together later and I'll catch up you on gossip when we're not actively broadcasting to the fleet.

And... I don't know if terrifying is the word for her. Spooky, sometimes, but she's a sweetheart. She's better than any of us, though. Way better.

[ He really likes this girl. A lot. It's a shame she's Tim's girlfriend, because that's going to get all kinds of awkward pretty soon. ]

I'm looking forward to it. [ And in return, although he won't say so publicly, he's going to give her the Robin orientation she should have had. ]

Makes sense. Most of what I was hearing about her didn't exactly come from upstanding citizens. Spooky and better in a fight than the rest of us little birds sounds like something that would give your average Gotham thug nightmares.

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