bodilesswarrior | TLV 1

TLV 1 - Video

[Barbara is sitting in her wheelchair, hands folded in her lap as she smiles wryly at the camera.]

Hey there, Barge. You've got another Warden. My name is Barbara.

Nice to meet all of you.

[Her smile fades as she leans forward, just slightly.]

I know a lot of you aren't here by choice. If it were up to me – [she shakes her head] - but it's not. We're all working with what we have.

That's no reason not to take the chance now that you've got it. A lot of people don't. And I'm here to help with that, if you'll let me.

[She leans back again, arching her eyebrows.]

So – these headaches. Is this a normal thing around here?

((Hell yes she's affected.))

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She was- [And he hesitates for a moment, trying to figure out how to really explain it.] Intense.

[There's no good way to put this, so he decides to go for just ripping the bandaid off.] In her world, her parents were killed when your dad intervened to help the Waynes. They took you in, and you grew up to, well [And lol this is so hypocritical right now. :c] basically be Batman.

She was here as an inmate. Her warden - Faith Lehane - is probably going to want to have words with you, and she's not really the most subtle person, so. Sorry about that.

[Barbara slumps back in her seat, eyes wide. She wouldn't be open with most people, but - it was always easier, with Dick, when she let it be.

She knows what it is to lose her parents. She's done it three times now. The idea of losing Dad - because she knows it had to have been Jim Gordon, who saved the Waynes - and of not just drifting from Barbara, but seeing her fall...

She takes a breath, deep and calming. She hasn't. She didn't.]

I - can imagine. What she'd be like.

[A bit terrifying, probably. A rueful little smirk quirks her lips.]

I'll...deal with Faith when it comes to it. [She frowns.] So - she didn't graduate? What happened, then?

Sometimes - [And he hates saying it like this, really, because it sucks that this is so much a part of life here that there's really no other option but to brush it off and keep going as if everything's fine.] People just vanish without warning. It happens to inmates and wardens, there's no real pattern to it, and allegedly the Admiral has no control over when it happens.

[You're getting an altogether different sort of stare now, Dick.]

So he's either incompetent or cruel.

Funny, that wasn't in the job description.

Incompetent. He's a terrible driver. The headaches right now are a side effect of a flood, which is basically a temporary disturbance with varying effects that range from waking up in the wrong body to not being able to lie. Occasionally we'll stop into ports, which can be basically a vacation on another planet or a catastrophe, and there's usually no way to tell which one it's going to be until you're actually down there, and sometimes we'll crash into the fabric of another reality entirely and think we've spent our whole lives as cowboys in the old west.

It's kind of a wild ride.

...That's one word for it.

[She didn't expect any of that coming it. But she can roll with it.

She peers at Dick, then.]

And you've been dealing with this for two years?

Just about. Tim's been here for about three. He's... older. [Compared to the scrawny little teenager you're used to. :c]

A lot's happened since the Joker broke out.

[Tim.

There's an aching, helpless sort of concern in her eyes, just for a moment. She knows Tim can defend himself just fine, but - she's supposed to be there to support him.

And he's been here for years.]

...I'm not surprised. It's never slow for us, is it?

Edited 2012-09-08 22:58 (UTC)

[And for most of them he's had Cissie and/or Dick around to make sure he's not doing anything stupid. :c]

No. But I mean he's like, physically seventeen. We don't really age here.

[Good. :c]

...Makes sense, I suppose. [As much as anything about this ship makes sense.] Disconcerting, though.

How's he been doing?

Fine. We're both fine. [Which... is kind of a lie, so hello again, increasingly irritating headache. Thank God Bruce taught them how to mask this kind of thing, right?]

Have you talked to anyone else yet?

[Barbara arches an eyebrow at that, but she lets it lie - for now.]

Steph. [A stunned sort of smile.] Batgirl, huh?

Yeah. Like I said, a lot's happened.

And apparently us being here and finding all this out doesn't irreparably damage the time stream.

It doesn't.

[And he hesitates for a good long while before asking:] How much do you want to know?

[Barbara pushes a hand through her hair, looking decidedly uncertain.]

I'm not sure, honestly. What was it like for you, learning about the future?

Hard. But I can tell you pretty confidently we figured out everything works out okay.

Good to know.

How's everyone back home?

That kind of depends on when you're asking about.

[But okay sigh you might as well just know since we all suck at keeping secrets here, and you're bound to find out eventually.] At some point in the future, everyone thought Bruce was killed in a fight with Darkseid, but he was really just lost in time. Tim figured it out. In the mean time, I was Batman and I gave Robin to Bruce's son, Damian, who apparently has been around basically this whole time but Talia waited until maybe a couple months from where I was before I got here to let us all know. Cass went to Hong Kong on Bruce's orders and gave Batgirl to Steph, Tim became Red Robin and changed his codename to Redwing recently, and eventually Bruce came home and apparently things are more or less back to normal. So, I guess everyone's fine, unless Tim's been lying.

... Between floods and ports, and people recognizing us from comic books and movies where they're from? A lot of people know the secret. We don't really go around telling people oh by the way, I'm a vigilante, but circumstances have made it so it's not really something we have the luxury of hiding anymore, for the most part. You'll probably be able to fly under the radar for a while, but as soon as you mention Gotham, people usually start making assumptions.

[Okay, that's a lot to take in. Bruce has three kids now? Four, including Cass - five, including Tim. Dear lord. And that makes four Robins.

Three Batgirls. Her lips quirk a little at that - she never thought she'd be forging her own legacy, when she started.

She's willing to take Tim at his word; boy's a good liar, he could probably lie to Batman if he had to, but somehow she thinks he'd have a harder time with Dick. Besides, he should know better than to protect them from the truth.

It's the next information that really throws her. Another son - Talia's son - that's a shock. Bruce lost in time, stranger things have happened. Cass in Hong Kong is still weird, but Bruce must have had his reasons.

But knowing her identity is compromised...]

Think I could keep it to Batgirl?

[She can deal with that. Admitting that much could make people stop questioning.

Unless they've read the right comic books, apparently, and that's just bizarre.]

Just how accurate are these comic books?

They're really accurate. I wouldn't recommend reading them. And you could probably get away with it. Most people ask if I'm still Robin. [And he hesitates a little before continuing, because, well. This isn't exactly an easy thing to say to a Barbara he actually knows.] A few months ago, we stopped by an alternate Gotham where Bruce was missing in action, so I might have put on the suit, and now most people - if they figured it out - think I'm Batman, and I haven't really corrected them.

[She's doing a lot of staring, it's starting to make her head hurt.]

You - really?

[Well, he was Batman for a while after Azrael, when Bruce was still recovering, but - no, it's still weird.]

So - what, do you just alternate now?

[He shrugs, smiling a little.] I guess so. I don't know, it hasn't really happened for me, yet. Back home, I mean.

[And, man he really does feel shitty for doing this but. Again, better for it all to be out in the open.]

We broke up. It was mutual, and we're still friends, but- I just don't want things to be weirder than they already are, between the time difference and how messed up this place is. Not telling the truth tends to catch up with people, here.

[Her expression changes, then, into something - something more vulnerable. Something most people wouldn't see. Her voice is quiet when she speaks.]

I'm glad you told me.

[She is, truly; she appreciates the honesty, no matter how painful and awkward it is.]

We were - well, we were more off than on anyway. [A slight, rueful smile.] You know how we are.

[Like moths to a flame, circling and darting away and dashing back, over and over.]

A clean break - it -

[She glances down, pushes a hand through her hair. It's for the best, she wants to say, but she can't quite force the words out. Instead she looks up again, her smile warm and her gaze wistful.]

I'm glad we're still friends. I'd never want to lose that. [Having Dick in her life somehow - that's more important than anything else.]

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TLV 1 - Video

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