[Open]

[acro_bat_ic]

Who: Barbara Gordon, and OPEN
What; Reacting to the arena
Where: District 11 quarters. Also, common area.
When; The final week of tournament
Warnings/Notes: lol this is late. ;; (RL things happened.)

There was a surprising amount of numbness involved in coming back to life. Barbara's eyes opened, but she didn't pay attention to what she was seeing. People were rushing all  around her, but she didn't pay any attention to what they were saying. At some point she got up and started walking. 

Eventually, she became aware of something, beyond the fuzz of people walking by. A dark pulse of energy beating beneath her surface, like a second heart. Harder. Larger. She turned it over idly in her mind's eye, imaginary fingertips skimming across the surface. Anger, pain, hurt, grief. she felt a little sob trying to work its way out of her throat, catching in her sealed lips. She trembled.

Why was this so hard?

Comments

[the_hit_list]

Watching Barbara from a distance is the national pastime of Robins, apparently. This one actually looked pleasant right now; he's just so relieved that she made it back to the Capitol and didn't vanish into the ether. She's definitely the wrong Barbara Gordon, if there was any question left of that - seeing her in person confirmed it. Tim reminded himself that he wasn't in a position to be picky, and, at the age she was right now, it was going to be a hard sell that he had been Robin.

Hell, she was young enough that she might not know Jason yet.

That could work, though. Maybe, if he overloaded her with so much information, she wouldn't ask too many questions about her own role in his version of Earth. Because right now, that's what was keeping him on this side of the room. Tim knew that he couldn't keep dragging his feet. If she saw him and came over, she could already be on the defensive, and it would be that much harder to convince her that he wasn't lying. Stop analyzing and get it over with; it wasn't a hundred percent chance nightmare.

Tim jumped down from his perch on the back of a sofa and jogged towards the redhead. "Barbara!"

[acro_bat_ic]

"The one and only," she promised, injecting a bit of chipperness into her voice. ...She knew the statement wasn't true. But. It seemed to hold well enough among the tributes, so far.

She clearly had no idea who he was, from the way she looked at him. She didn't know who Jason was, either - she'd only known Tim for the last year.

Hence the looking him and down, waiting for him to continue. "Let me guess. You're a fan?"

[the_hit_list]

"No," he replied quietly. Damn. Tim had suspected that she wouldn't know him, but there had been a million-to-one chance. Sometimes, he got lucky, but this was going to be hard.

He'd gotten off easy with Bruce, who had been different but still managed to identify him without having to convince him. Steph and Damian had known him, as had Diana. Even Harley was able to recognize him as Tim Wayne, and he didn't even want her to. Where was he supposed to start?

Start with her, at the beginning. She was going to think it was creepy, but it was either this or blurt out that she's Batgirl and he's the third Robin. "You're Barbara Gordon. Your father is Jim Gordon. You're from Gotham, like me."

[acro_bat_ic]

Unfortunately, Barbara was probably too young for that - even if she had been from their world. She hadn't had more than one Robin, and she'd had him out of order.

So when he said no, it wasn't a look of sudden understanding he got. It was simple confusion, eyes traveling up and down, searching for some bit of recognition. Another tribute, maybe?

The listing of her personal history didn't make things any better. It brought to mind new levels of creepy that she knew him so well. "But you're not a fan?"

So what are you, creepy mystery man?

[the_hit_list]

"Not anymore. I was, but not since I was twelve," Tim chuckled a little. Now and then, he remembered when he was just a fan of Batman and the rest. In hindsight, it seemed so odd to read the newspaper to find descriptions of Bat sightings. The press was a damn nuisance - they always put in whatever details they could find. Some things needed to be kept quiet, or else they lost the element of surprise and...

See, there it was. Look at how everything had flipped around in five years. He couldn't even claim to be a fan of Batgirl anymore. "It's more like friend, now."

Tim offered her his hand. "My name's Tim Wayne. I bet you can't guess my nickname."

[acro_bat_ic]

"...Any relationship to Dick?" she asked, choosing on purpose to avoid Bruce's name. Not that she thought Dick was the kid. But it was the closest she could come to asking "Another sidekick?"

He was getting another look over, too, this time for muscles. He seemed to have the figure for crime fighting. She wished she could see him in a gym, know whether he could do flips.

Maybe it's better that she doesn't, though. She can tell herself she's probably way better than him.

[the_hit_list]

"Dick Grayson is my brother," Tim said easily. There's less of a cautious veneer now, much more heartfelt. The statement was completely true and not being made to divert attention from anything. He has absolutely nothing to hide in regards to who he considered his family. "We were both adopted by Bruce Wayne."

Come on, Barbara. Connect the dots. Tim noticed the appraisal and stood straighter. He pointedly reached up and rubbed his neck, just behind the thin, pale scar along the side. There's a larger, rounded one on the underside of his forearm and others besides that. With his arm bent like this, the muscles all along it flexed. "You know what this city needs more of? Ledges and gargoyles. That's what I miss about Gotham."

[acro_bat_ic]

"I didn't think Bruce needed more kids." Barbara's not stupid. She's already got that, and she rolls her eyes faintly before turning it into a look at the buildings. At least he seems well built, she guesses. She wonders how - and from who - he got those scars.

Studying the roofs in earnest, she wondered whether they could climb up there. It would be nice to roof hop, in costume - above the buildings, they might even get away from the worst of the scrutiny. Or get all the capitol's resources pulled on them.

Besides.

"I heard they use force-fields here."

[the_hit_list]

She saw them, and he knew it, so he let his arm fall back to his side. Those were just the ones that were visible right now, mementos from the Red Hood and the Rising Sun Archer. There were more, some faded almost to invisibility, some worse and over vital organs. They weren't proof of being Robin, but they were what you'd expect to find on one.

"It's not just about him being lonely. We need him, too." Tim didn't care so much about revealing codenames to Panem. That wasn't why he danced around things so carefully, framed sentences to appear as if he's just talking about a philanthropist who adopted lots of troubled kids. He didn't want Quinn to know that he was Red Robin and Bruce was Batman and all of the others as well, and he certainly didn't want the powers that be in the Capitol to know that they were highly trained vigilantes. It didn't seem prudent. "Anyway... we all grow up eventually. Move out. Dick doesn't live at the Manor anymore, and it's too big for just Bruce. So yeah, he needs us. He's lonely."

Bruce will have his head for that.

[acro_bat_ic]

She'd probably want to talk to Batman about the whole proof thing, later. But he knew an awful lot for someone who wasn't Robin; and he hadn't done much to raise her suspicions - yet. At the very least, it seemed like he was something more than normal.

She didn't much relish her little secret getting out, either. So she relaxed her muscles, tried to look calm. Just a red head going out for a stroll with a... whatever they wanted to call him.

“He stop the performances?” she asked, plucking the word from the fly. Their acrobatics, at least, didn’t seem like much of a secret.

[the_hit_list]

"When does he ever stop anything," Tim muttered. It was mostly to himself, really, but audible enough. Bruce barely stopped to sleep. Okay, they all hated sleeping, but he was the worst.

He couldn't ask for clarification on 'performances.' Tim had assumed that she meant Batman, Inc - the Batman/Robin/Batgirl/Batwoman/Red Robin thing that had grown up around Bruce. He wished that she had picked some other word, because now he has to figure out how to fit performances into the convoluted mess of half-truths that he's been telling from Day One. Some sort of sponsorship - dance, performance artists. Yes, that would be fine, if anyone ever asked about it. My father is rich, and he is fond of the arts.

Come to think of it, Tim thought there actually was an art endowment with the Wayne name on it. Thank you, Bruce, for being richer than Midas. Tim preferred the truth; it rolled off the tongue smoothly. "No, he hasn't. Bigger and better every year. So, you know Dick, but not me. What about Jason?"

[acro_bat_ic]

While he was at it, maybe he should try to work in the full truths she'd told. The fact that she was Commissioner Gordon's daughter, for example. The fact that she was an Olympic hopeful gymnastic. She for one thought it was a very smart word, to use - it allowed people to use other words such as "tights," without raising an eyebrow.

But if Tim wanted to mess with it, she'd just have to roll her eyes some more and not even bother to pretend it didn't bother her. It wasn't her real issue, anyway. It was more about another hero on the scene.

Wait. Her red brow shot into her hair, so fast she was surprised it wasn't lost in the strands. "How many kids does Bruce need?"

[the_hit_list]

He will, after she's told him about it. Tim will sit down and think out the best way to present a cohesive front for all of them so that they can flaunt their affiliation and friendship. He told Damian that, with this many people here, they can be a Gotham three ring circus to entertain Panem, and he meant it. To do that, they needed to be on the same page, because what one said would impact all of the others. Yes, they're not all from one world, but they were on the same side. Even word choice mattered, and he would be impressed that she had picked performance so that tights would also be fair game.

How many kids? That was the million dollar question. Tim pondered the best answer, clicking his tongue off the back of his teeth as he gestured towards a nearby seat. "You're probably going to want to sit down after this one. In my world, right now... he's up to five. Seven, if you want to count you and Cassandra."

Well, he'd planned on overloading her with information until she had no choice but to believe him. If she only knew Dick, that was going to be a doozy.

[acro_bat_ic]

They'll have to talk about it, later, when they have a little free time. She'll roll her eyes somewhat about how heavily he was analyzing this, but she'd play along. For one reason or another, none of them really wanted to get caught out. Except maybe Harley.

The word seven hit her like a ton of bricks, nearly making her stumble. Seven. Way to give a girl an inferiority complex, Tim. She'd thought she'd been enough for him, once upon a time, but....

Cassandra? "Wait. He brought more Batgirls?"

[the_hit_list]

He has to analyze this, all of this, because, if he can't control any of it, Tim can at least make himself feel better by knowing as much about the situation as possible and having several reactionary plans in place. It's just how he handled what life threw at him.

That's the reaction that he had expected. Tim had suggested that she sit down. Going from one Robin and one Batgirl to seven was huge leap down the timeline - if all of them would ever exist in her world.

There's the subtlest shake of his head at the word Batgirl. Yes, there were times when codenames were necessary - getting a message to Wonder Woman, for example. But talking to a former Robin? It was unneeded and unwanted. Tim has very real concerns about Harley and about whatever new arrivals may turn up. If Killer Croc shows up tomorrow, he doesn't want it common knowledge. "Yeah, he did. I told you - we grow up. We get too competent, too adult, and he needs us not to be there yet. He needs someone that he's not willing to risk."

And he's only 17 and already been replaced.

[acro_bat_ic]

She was Eighteen. But considering she started out by herself - singlehandedly breaking him into the idea of even accepting a combat in partner... She thought she had a right to be miffed about all the people he seemed to be inviting into the fold. Not that she couldn’t see what Tim was talking about, but... Her Bruce was far better about things like that than Dick's. She lacked a proper frame of reference.

Still, she had the grace to grimace at her use of a super hero identity. She was just so surprised. Uncertain whether to be honored that it got carried on, or insecure about her own position.

"Yeah. Because all those dangerous tricks..." her voice was a little weak. She was trying for casual, but badly.

[the_hit_list]

"Are sometimes a little too dangerous," Tim confirmed. He didn't want to keep tiptoeing around everything, but to come out and say the sort of stuff they did on a nightly basis - the Capitol would never run the risk of their interfering, would they?

There was no way to be sure. Ever. "You can either trust me, or you can't. The only proof I have to offer you is that Bruce and Harley both recognized me. Harley knows me as Tim Wayne. It's been in the papers. I understand if you don't want to believe it completely - I just want you to know you have allies."

He offered her his hand to shake. "Fair deal?"

[acro_bat_ic]

She stared at the hand for a moment, before taking it. She gave it a little squeeze. Though she was honestly still trying to wrap her head about everything.

"So where does that leave us?"