(closed) you better watch out. you better watch out

[eggplanting]

Who: Steph Brown eggplanting, Bart Allen, Cass Cain, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Kon-El, Jon Kent
What: Slumber party with the DC vigilante/hero kids
When: Mid-December
Where: Bart's farm in Little Love
Content Warnings: hopefully none!
Notes: Threadjacking is encouraged, as is vaguely waving our hands at the concept of linear time so that we don't have to think too hard about logistics



'Twas the night week before Christmas, when all through the house...

Pretty much everyone was stirring, because there's a party to enjoy.

Calling it a party may be a slight stretch, when there's really only a handful of them and they're not going to get up to anything more intense than playing Mario Kart and watching movies from the 90s, but Steph thought that labeling it a sleepover might sound a little immature. The idea had percolated over the last few weeks; there's a good handful of them now, from roughly the same universe, but not all of them know each other well, and while Steph might not be as tactically minded as someone like Tim, it had seemed sensible that they do a little team building.

Also, it should be fun. That's very important.

With Bart being the only one living in a space that could actually be considered a house, she'd reached out to ask if he'd be cool with hosting, and had sent out texts to the rest of their friends once she had his approval. Not being a jerk, she'd also promised to swing by early to help set up, for all the set up that needs to be done when a handful of people in their twenties hang out. Mostly it involved grabbing a few extra bean bags, setting up the TV and game consoles, and adding a few seasonally appropriate holiday decorations.

The invitation texts served the secondary purpose of assigning everyone some kind of snack or beverage to bring, most of it falling into typical junk food fare. Chips and dip, soda, pizza rolls, pretzels (the soft variety, of course), mozzarella sticks, popcorn. People are welcome to get fancier, but she'd mostly suggested things they could eat as is, or food that's easy to pop in the oven. This isn't a gala thrown by Bruce, after all. And with none of them being particularly big drinkers, she'd just told everyone it was BYOB if they want to get alcohol involved in their evening.

It's unlikely any of them would want to get wasted. While they're all strictly off duty for the evening, 'drunken misadventures' isn't really the vibe Steph is going for with this whole thing; it's meant to be a relaxing, fun evening, where they can eat, watch movies, and get into unnecessarily heated arguments about video games before crashing wherever they can find a soft surface at the end of the night. As if they're normal young adults and not a gaggle of traumatized vigilantes and lab experiments.

Later in the evening, after they've all poured outside to make s'mores around an improvised firepit, she'll probably break out some silly party games, like Never Have I Ever, or worse, card games like Uno. Because nothing says fun like arguing over whether it's morally right to use two skips in a row.

Some people just want to watch the world burn.

Comments

[robintohood]

Right. Bart did mention to Jason before about coming back thanks to the Speed Force.

"It was traumatic for Tim and this guy showing up is likely setting off whatever issues he's got," Jason says patiently. "Doesn't matter if he's from a different point in time."

[kid_flash_found]

"It does when your best friend is trying to wrap you in a safety bubble. Guess you got to avoid all that."

[robintohood]

"Yeah, the only team I was ever a part of was the Titans and that was only until Dick came back to them," Jason says. "How bad is Tim taking this?"

[kid_flash_found]

"He wanted me to take a month away from the farm. Or more. Because I'm easy to find here in Little Love," Bart said, figuring he'd start with the first demand.

"I mean, I get that there's only so much he can do to fight someone like Inertia, and even Kon's not that fast, but...we don't have to do that dance again. Nobody's pulling those strings."

[robintohood]

Jason hadn't meant for it to happen but he now finds himself understanding where both sides are coming from.

He understands the need to protect his closest friends from a known murderer, especially after being traumatized by such an event before. On the other hand, Bart's understanding seems more personal. Plus, if there was going to be another fight, he would have a better chance than Tim or Kon to fend off Thad anyway.

Then there was the state Thad was in when Jason personally talked to him.

"When I talked to him, he didn't seem interested in killing anyone. Instead, we talked about moving forward and away from a controlling parent."

[kid_flash_found]

"Mom's side of the family is definitely on the controlling side. He means her dad, though. The reason I'm in temporal exile."

[robintohood]

"Yeah, he specifically said a controlling father," Jason says. "Seems like he was angry at not knowing what to do next, not at you."

[kid_flash_found]

"Yeah, I'm just a convenient punching bag if I allow it. Which I'm not going out of my way to do. Inertia remembers Impulse, and I haven't been him in years."

And that's part of what he hopes will make the difference, eventually. "I only mentioned him to the people who I'd really talked about him with. Or who have prior history. Otherwise, I hope he's just going to...find his way."

[robintohood]

"Hopefully he will," Jason says. "Seems like it'll be the most ideal solution for everybody."

Then there was the matter with Tim. Being a Bat means having multiple contingencies. It's never just the one plan or just one step involved.

"What other stuff did Tim want you to do?"

[kid_flash_found]

"I suspect he wanted to track my every movement, which he mostly can already. I've got telemetry and proof-of-life sensors built into my ring and even more in the suit thanks to being friends with a technopath," Bart said. "Tim's got full access any time he wants, and it will update him instantly on a loss of signal."

[robintohood]

Sounds like all your bases are covered already, or as much as they can be. There's only so much to be prepared for anyway.

[kid_flash_found]

"I know. Tim's just being...extra Timmish."

[robintohood]

Jason couldn't help but be a little morbidly curious.

"'Timmish' meaning he prepares for plans to such a degree that he makes Batman look sloppy?" He asks.

[kid_flash_found]

"Not sure about sloppy, but possibly inattentive to details," Bart said, sighing just a little. "Each Robin is very different. Tim's just very big on detailed analysis, planning, and preparation. I think my nonchalance offended his sensibilities."

[robintohood]

"To be fair to him, it comes with job. He just apparently takes it to a more extreme degree than I did or more than Dick did," Jason says. "You guys come to a compromise or you think he's got something up his sleeves?"

[kid_flash_found]

"I'm just trying to keep things clear. To keep him from having to worry unless I do something. Besides, for the time being Thad's probably taking the free ride from the guilds, so he's not staying here."

[robintohood]

"Unless he's suspicious enough not to trust the guilds for that," Jason adds. The Bat-level paranoia that was instilled in him is hard to shake off.

[kid_flash_found]

"The guilds are hinky as shit. Why not bilk what you can," Bart suggests. He'd signed up to be able to look closer. Not because he drank the Kool-aid.

[robintohood]

"True. Alliance ever looked too closely at your expenses?" Jason asks.

During his own two-month grace period, Jason had been careful about purchases he made using the Alliance's card and which expenses were better done through nearly untraceable cash.

[kid_flash_found]

"Oh, I never did anything that isn't in character. Buy enough random shit that you actually do things with and nobody can tell what doesn't belong, Bart points out. "Chickens, video games, heirloom plant starters..."

[robintohood]

"Not suspicious when you're living out here," Jason agrees. "When'd you join the Alliance?"

[kid_flash_found]

"I arrived with the first Confluence, and signed up a couple months after that. Because someone needed to keep an eye on them, and I have certain advantages that I don't advertise," Bart said. "It was before Kon and Tim showed. I might have made different choices if they'd been here, too."

Mostly because he can't go out on patrols with them, and has to work to make it seem like his non-Alliance friendships are for the goal of helping to keep folks in line when asked. He knows he can do the double agent deal fine, but it doesn't mean it isn't slightly uncomfortable.

"They're my best friends. I'd do anything to keep them safe, and they feel the same. We just all have weird ways of showing it."

[robintohood]

"That probably comes with the job," Jason says in a matter-of-fact tone. "When you got access to stuff you know most people don't have, you want to take full advantage of it, even if it's weird or runs up against some boundaries."

Jason would know from personal experience as Robin and as the Red Hood.

[kid_flash_found]

"Just means pretending I'm not that much smarter than one of my scouts."

Which some people might say is still the case.

[robintohood]

"How do they work anyway?" Jason asks, curious. "Speed Force?"