grab your hat, get your coat, the cellar door is an open throat (open/closed)

[overlyprecocious]

Who: Tim Drake overlyprecocious, others
What: catch-all post for late April/early May. some post-Jason fight things.
When: late April, early May
Where: Dick's apartment, other places tbd
Content Warnings: dissociation, references to childhood neglect and abuse, (so far) light reference to food insecurity

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let me down, let me down, let me down gently (closed | forceforlight)

[overlyprecocious]

It's not the first time he's - gone away like that - but usually, it happens at home with his parents. Usually, he comes to himself alone, and he cleans up whatever mess is left over from his parents' fight, and he moves on with whatever's left of the day like nothing happened. That's what usually happens.

It's different this time. He's still a little fuzzy-headed and unsure of what happened, but instead of coming back to himself in some random room of whichever property his parents decided to stay at for their visit this time, he's in bed, a blanket tucked around him (and wasn't he wearing the Robin suit? he thinks he was, last time he was fully aware of himself, but he's wearing a soft shirt and pants now) and a small body against his side that turns out to be Haley, curled up and contentedly chewing on a little pig toy he bought her when he visited Kansas. Nothing feels 100% real still, but she's warm and her fur is soft when he moves his hand out of the blankets to pet her, and it's nice.

[forceforlight]

Kon hadn't stayed long when he dropped off the younger Tim. Which isn't surprising, because there aren't a lot of people who would have sent him off. And he probably wanted to get back to the older Tim to deal with...whatever had caused this.

He'd find out that soon enough.

Still, Tim's greeted by a lick to his hand as Haley twists around at the pets. And there's the scent of coffee in the air and the sound of somebody moving around in the other room. But Dick doesn't come to the door, intent on giving Tim the time he needs to sort himself out.

[overlyprecocious]

Haley's tongue when she licks him is wet and a little rough and almost startlingly real against his skin, and he finds himself blinking at her in something like confusion at the gesture. He doesn't remember how he ended up here - he feels like his thoughts are running at a lag compared to the rest of the world - and it takes him some time to realize that he's smelling coffee and there's someone else in the apartment in another room.

Haley still feels like the realest thing in the room, so when he finally does stand up, he scoops her into his arms and keeps her safe against his chest as he wanders out of the bedroom to see who else is here.

[forceforlight]

Dick's in the kitchen, clad in long pajama bottoms and a t-shirt for some band on this world. So, his normal sleeping clothes. The coffee pot gurgles softly to the side as the toaster pops and Dick pulls them out, getting out some butter. He glances over at the movement out of the bedroom and smiles. "Hey," he says, voice pitched low and nodding toward the couch in...what counts as a living room. Really, it's pretty open plan other than the bedroom Tim came out of and another door that's probably the bathroom. "Go ahead and sit down. I'll bring you over some coffee in a moment."

the great escape (closed | demigoth)

[overlyprecocious]

Tim's not sure exactly when he hit the end of the grace period where the Guilds were willing to accept too traumatized by multiversal kidnapping as an excuse to not go to their high school, just that at some point, he had to start dodging truancy officers and caseworkers. And he was doing a good job, really, between his Bat-training and his new meta ability, but you have to slip up sometime. Unfortunately for him, that sometime is after Jason's death-day fight, when he's not feeling his absolute best.

So it really doesn't help to be sitting on a bus that's set to take him to a high school run by people he doesn't trust, in a place he can't escape on his own in an emergency. Thus, he's currently sitting in the seat he was personally escorted to, looking like he's about to vibrate out of his skin.

[demigoth]

Nico gets on the bus after only one “hurry up, kid!” From the driver. It’s their own routine, one final daily burst of stubbornness so that he can feel like they’re working for it. He can slouch onto the bus with his head held high and drop into his normal seat.

Except today. Today, there’s someone in his usual spot. Not a huge deal, there’s other empty seats, but he goes to shoot the usurper a lightly annoyed look. And stops. Because that’s the cat kid from the other night.

He… doesn’t look so good. Nico had been about to find another seat, but he drops down next to him. “Hey. Tim? Never seen you on the bus before.”

[overlyprecocious]

"Yeah. I'm new to it."

Seeing as how he finally let himself be caught. Bruce would probably not be proud of that. (Would Bruce want him going to the school here? Maybe. He's pretty sure Bruce would at least sympathize with his reasons to be suspicious of going. It's not just paranoia if the suspicion is reasonable, he's pretty sure.

[demigoth]

“I’ve been going since September.” He says this like he’s comparing their sentences.

It should also be noted that, for someone 8 months into the school year, he’s not carrying a backpack. “Summer break is less than two months away, and the Starfallen kids are okay.”

the ghost of our future's awake in the attic (open)

[overlyprecocious]

Despite - everything - that happened with the Jasons, and the fact that Tim's decided that since then, they're all probably better off if he stays out of their way and avoids provoking them, there's still the matter of the Descendant Bar and the attic safehouse. Because yeah, it belongs to the Red Hood, who probably still doesn't like him very much right now, but it's also still a resource in a world where he needs resources.

So he compromises. He waits until he definitely knows that Jason isn't in the building, and after scoping out the outside of the building for a bit to work out where the safehouse is located, he manages to let himself in through the window. It's surprisingly nice inside, and he sets about checking what resources are already stocked in the room.

[codicies]

Meanwhile, others in the building enter the attic the normal way.

Somehow, despite the two traumatic incidents happening here, the vibe of the attic hasn't been tarnished for him — this is still a safe place for him.

He's not used to finding strangers in the attic, though. Dylan drops his backpack by the door and spots the teen looking around the room.

"Oh. Hi there."

His tone isn't charged with any particular emotion, though he definitely looks surprised.

[overlyprecocious]

It... shouldn't be a surprise that someone else enters the safehouse, given that Jason gave him a list of names that also had access. Only three of them were referenced as being kids, and he already knows Nico, so that makes this Dylan or Hunter, probably.

"Hi. I was just looking around." 'Looking around' here meaning 'examining the food stash and trying to decide if it's adequate'. "Jason invited me." And hopefully that invitation is still good.

[codicies]

Well, he knew enough to namedrop Jason right away, at least. Dylan looks him over, trying to get a read on the stranger.

"Okay, cool," he says, trying to sound casual. "How do you know Jason?"

[definecat]

Sleeper doesn't normally spend much time in the attic when Dylan isn't there, but sometimes being a bar-cat is work and even an alien shapeshifter who's only mostly pretending needs some time out. Also, there may have been a big 80s hair band thing going on in the karaoke rooms and even with the soundproofing, all the screaming guitars is a strain after a while. So they decided to slip in and claim a nice spot on one of the beds or an available lap.

What they didn't expect on oozing under the door was to see an unfamiliar teen checking the place out. "I really hope you aren't here to rob the place. I came here for a break from helping security."

[overlyprecocious]

He was warned about Sleeper, to be fair. Well, warned is a bit much. Jason dropped the name with him, and he'd stumbled on pictures online. So it's not like it's a complete shock.

Still. There's a difference between seeing alien cat online and seeing alien cat in person, oozing underneath the door. "I. No? Jason said I could be here."

[definecat]

"He sure keeps collecting strays for someone who swears he's not getting attached," Sleeper says, amusement clear in their voice.

Still, there's something to be considered as they give the new kid a circle to see him from all angles.

"Not that I'd really call my brother and I strays..."

[qualityfriend]

Dana thinks she sees someone around the safehouse roof, and then hears someone moving around later, but she waits until closing to check.

She teleports to right outside the door and knocks.

"Hey, want some leftover bar food while it's still warm?"

[overlyprecocious]

Well, that's - a surprise. Tim startles at the knock, pretty sure he didn't hear anyone moving around outside just a moment ago. This is a pretty innocuous question, though. Maybe it's normal? "Uh, sure?"

[qualityfriend]

Dana doesn't recognize the voice, but that's not a big concern; Jason's probably picked up a new arrival. She teleports back down to the kitchen to grab a plate, then back up to the attic, knocking on the door less than a minute later.

"Room service!"

go over every inch of space with the patience of a saint (closed | mostdangerousbird)

[overlyprecocious]

Tim's not dumb enough to think that TJ inviting him out is just about being shown the cool stores and hanging out. The Jasons fight ended horribly, and he's fully expecting a debrief of some kind at some point, though it doesn't happen immediately. They take some time to play normal big brother/little brother, and Tim's carrying a few things TJ insisted on buying him even though he's still on the Guild's credit card and there's not much he thinks the Guild could glean from him getting a couple roleplaying books.

To anyone else, the two of them settling down finally with some ice cream in a semi-secluded area would just look like a couple brothers taking a break from shopping and enjoying the weather, but Tim is aware that this is the first time today that they've been strategically stopping in a place where eavesdropping isn't a major concern. He's feeling polite enough to let TJ start the conversation, though.

[mostdangerousbird]

If TJ wants a full debrief, he’ll strongarm it out of a Jason (figuratively). Tim is not the right person to ask, given how he’d reacted before TJ lost track of the conversation.

He’s been giving space for Tim to say something - anything - to open up dangerous topics, but they’re both too careful. He’ll have to do it himself.

“We always have sundaes or shakes for movie night,” he says as he swirls the hot fudge into his ice cream. That puts family on the menu. “I miss it.”

[overlyprecocious]

"Well, Alfred makes everything extra-good." Tim's not entirely sure how he manages to make just ice cream amazing. He doesn't think Alfred makes it himself. Maybe he just gets the really good stuff? Tim's never looked into it.

[mostdangerousbird]

Oh. He might’ve known that would come up. Still, it’s not like Tim hasn’t heard a lot of talk about Alfred since he died. With Dick’s charity, the Pennyworth name is hard to avoid. “Yeah. He does.”

Alfred made everything better, not just food. He spoke everyone’s language. “And it’s nice to have that time together. We all complain about making time, but … no one misses an invite. I’ve been thinking about asking Dick to organize one.”

an outside perspective (closed | lowercase_el)

[overlyprecocious]

As requested, Tim heads to the donut place in about an hour to meet with Conner - well, he heads to the area around the donut place to scope it out first, because he's a Bat. And because he's not 100% sure what to expect from this meeting. The Conner here really doesn't act that much like the Conner he's familiar with, and he's not sure if he should expect another Conversation about how he freaked out and had to be taken to Dick's during the Jasons' fight, or if this is just - something else. Maybe it's a "take the not-exactly-little-brother-of-your-boyfriend-out-for-donuts" thing.

Maybe.



Probably not. Anyway. He's conspicuously in the area at the right time.

Re: an outside perspective (closed | lowercase_el)

[lowercase_el]

[Kon rolls up rocking his usual gym bro look, complete with track pants, short sleeve hoodie, and shades.]

[It absolutely is not the kind of thing his Conner would wear at home and yet it is also perfect camouflage. Nobody bats an eyelash at a 6'1" muscle dude looking like some gym douche and in fact expect he probably goes to the gym a lot to maintain that physique.]

[It also heavily contrasts the squeaky clean image he's trying to maintain as Guardian, since he's trying to give both clones and Unaligned a good name.]

[He gives Tim a wave, then nods in the direction of the donut place.]

C'mon, we can't get there too late. They run out fast in the afternoons. I'll treat.

[overlyprecocious]

What do they have?

[Tim is Not Judging Conner's look because he knows it's about Maintaining an Image. It's so much easier to get away with a fake identity if you can give people some kind of stereotype to focus on. So. Not Judging.]