EVENT ONE: JUNE 21ST-28TH

[luminals]

TAKE BACK KNOWHERE
When: June 21-28
Who: Everyone.
Where: All over Knowhere, ending in the Continuum Cortex and Observation Deck.

Event details are here, IC announcement is here.

Prose & Action brackets are both acceptable ways of posting to these comments, please be mindful of what threads you are posting under!

Comments

[xuffasch]

( if damian was prone to using the colloquialisms typical of his age, he might answer with "because you suck." he's never had a particularly favorable view of jason, and every encounter he's had with the former robin has only made matters worse. )

Why do you think? I don't like you.

( everything about his tone makes it clear that it's worse than that-- he despises jason. even if he ends up being the only other gothamite on this entire station-- the only other person from their universe-- damian still wouldn't be inclined to count him as an ally. )

What is wrong with you?

[uneulogized]

[Jason doesn't take long to locate his gun, fingers wrapping around the butt of it, but he doesn't move to do more than that, and he sure as hell isn't going for the trigger. But he's prepared for this going ugly, because he's used to a whole lot of ugly. The fact that this little Robin knows who he is unsettles him. Had Bruce trained him by using videos of him? Had he taught him the ways to not be Jason Todd? It seems likely, because there aren't a whole lot of other ways for him to know.

But the problem is, how could he tell? And that quickly? Jason hasn't looked (or, frankly, sounded) that young in years.

There are other reasons why this kid knows who he is, and the biggest one is that his return has been announced in advance. Was it Thomas Elliot? Did he decide not to bank on using Jason Todd? Odds are in that favor, but Jason's intel still doesn't line up with another Robin. That seems like something Talia would mention, right? That seems high on the list of things, anyway.

He starts standing slowly, keeping his back pressed against the pillar as he rises up.]

Starting to wonder if this is a case of mistaken identity, Robin. [It's said quickly, but there's a certain intensity to his tone. Jason doesn't like any direction this is going in. Any of the potential realities for why this is a thing at all don't look like they're his idea of a good time. Not one bit.] So you're gonna tell me who I am, how you know that—[The intensity breaks there, becoming a touch too incensed.]—and then we're gonna deal with that.

[Maybe not now, but they would.]

[xuffasch]

( if it were anyone else, damian might be concerned that he'd been forgotten. but it's todd, so he doesn't bother to dwell on it. he certainly doesn't look the way he did the last time damian saw him, and there might be any number of explanations for that. bruce had managed to go through time, after all. and if this place is pulling them in from across space, maybe time isn't so far off...

but there's no time to think that though. todd is a threat, no matter how much he knows. and right now, damian has the advantage. so he smiles, slowly and deliberately, showing all of his teeth. )

Or what? You'll throw a tantrum?

Why shouldn't I know? You're a predecessor, aren't you?

( he's too wary of keeping up robin's identity to spell it out more than that, but he trusts that jason will know his meaning. )

[uneulogized]

I did my homework. You aren't the one who picked up the boots after me. [And added in pants, for that matter. Sure, Jason hasn't had a chance to meet the guy, but he's seen the pictures of him. He wouldn't admit it (he can't admit it), but he's memorized every inch of that face. He's looked into him, too: smart kid, does well in school, has it all worked out for him. He doesn't come from the same roots as Jason.]

Or maybe Batman is looking into an army of brats. New kids to do his bidding so he can use 'em until they bite it. Jason's careful about his phrasing, careful not to let his own biases seep in. But he's almost too careful. The words are sharp and pointed, delivered quickly, but not with the same casual ease as he might on other occasions.] Could be a new thing, but that isn't like him. That's too many people in his network, too many ties that can be cut or severed or messed with. [He shakes his head.] That just doesn't seem likely.

So it's something else. You know me. That isn't something you pick up from videos. The ageing would throw anyone, and it hasn't thrown you. [There's a pause as he pieces it together.] So, time travel.

[xuffasch]

You actually don't know. ( that's said with a bit of surprise, but mostly a kind of vindication. he can use this, can't he? he can have the upper hand for once, instead of falling to todd's chaotic nature like he has in the past. he just has to think of how to play this.

but there's another, less logical, side of him. and that side is demanding that he throw the facts in jason's face. that he says exactly who he is, and see how the other deals with it. if he can, at all.

thankfully, that side doesn't win out just yet. he only scoffs. )

I'm the best of them. Not dead, not a failure. And since you were both, I'd say that makes you the worst.

[uneulogized]

[There's an uneasy feeling in his stomach and in his head at the kid's words. Dead and a failure. That's how this kid had come to know him, but Jason can see posturing and playing around when he sees it. It might be what he thinks, but there's something more to it. There's some element of having this information dangled before him.

He just needs to keep a steady head. He needs to keep pushing this to find out what he needs to know.

(But the temptation to take the butt of his gun and smack it against Robin's mouth is very high. Some would say it's too high.

Some people aren't Jason Todd.)]

I wonder what Alfred would say to that. [It's managed more as a way of recovery.] That's the kind of egotism that he liked to take care of. Bruce, on the other hand, he's only attentive when it matters. So, how much do you matter? How much until you die next? 'Cause the guy before you, he had to go somehow, right?

[And at no point is he going to say "you're right, I don't actually no." That isn't very tactically sound.]