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

Entry tags:

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

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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"But nothing else... weird?" he can't help but ask because, well. You can do a lot of crappy things by gathering all your meta kids in one place.

“Like turning into a manticore? No. They’re all human or metahuman or whatever. Not Starfallen. I think they’re all from this place?”

He’s less concerned with what they are after ruling out monster in disguise. “I don’t cut class off campus so I don’t know if that’s a full detention? Worst that’s happened to me is they sent someone to make me get on the bus the first day of school, but I had told the social worker I wasn’t going and posted online about it too.”

"There's been an officer after me for a little while. I was doing a pretty good job of avoiding him, but I guess I lost concentration today."

It doesn't help that he still feels kind of. Shitty. After the other day. So.

"I can only shadow travel so much before I just can't do it anymore. He caught me, and it sucked to get through the day. Fell asleep in my first two classes. I had detention by lunch."

Nico considers Tim for a moment. "You going to be okay in class today? What year are you?"

"Ninth grade. I'll be fine," he says because that's what he usually says. He's fine, don't worry, he's always able to handle himself. Please forget about how freaked out he looked when Nico first started talking to him.

Yeah, he's not buying it. Nico knows what trauma looks like, okay, and maybe he doesn't know what the root of this is, but Tim was spooked when Nico showed up. And it wasn't because of Nico.

"I'm in 10th grade, but they put me in the 9th grade English class, so you'd have at least one person you knew in one class." Probably not enough to get through the day, if it's that bad. "Why didn't you get your guardian to call you out sick?"

"I don't have a guardian on file with them."

Yet. He suspects there's going to be a lot of paperwork happening the first day, and he's not exactly looking forward to that, either.

So he’s… what would that make him? At the mercy of some social worker? Who checks if he’s sick?

Nobody, probably. Same as it is with Nico. The only reason people now something’s wrong is if he tells them.

It’s hard to ask for help, too. Nico hates it, even if it’s a friend. What if this is the closest Tim can get to asking for help? What if he’s like Nico and will take on the entire Legion before he asks for help?

“There’s still time for you not to go to school.”

"I'll be okay."

It helps a bit, knowing that there's someone he could potentially go to in order to get out of the school if he needs to. It still sucks, but there's an exit strategy in place. So that's good.

Sincerely, this Tim kid is pushing his luck with these weak responses, like Nico doesn't know what 'I'm fine' and 'I'll be okay' really mean. "Even if I bail right now?"

Because he will.

He can't quite stop himself from stiffening, even if he feels kinda shitty about it. Nico doesn't need some kid he only kinda knows wanting to use him as an escape hatch. "I - wouldn't be able to stop you," he says, which is sort of neutral even if his body language says please don't.

Nico holds out his hand, his other making a shushing motion.

"I'm not asking you to stop me. You're going to freeze up in the hallway if you go in like that." Because he's going to leave, and he doesn't want to kidnap Tim. The guy's gotta make his own mind up. "The native seniors will shove you in a locker."

"If you're going, take me with you," is what he ends up saying (although he objects to the assessment that he'd get shoved into a locker; he might, if it came down to it, but only for the purpose of Maintaining His Cover). Because when it comes down to it, he Doesn't Want To Be Here, and if his one way out is threatening to leave without him -

That's enough of a yes for Nico, who takes Tim's hand before sliding quickly down to the floor in the gap between their seat and the one in front of them.

Or - it looks like that's what he's doing, at first. Tim might have just enough time to see the shadows there start to enfold Nico before he's drug down into the shadows.

The sensation isn't pleasant. It's been described as freezing and melting your flesh from your bones at the same time, but it's mercifully quick, with no lingering side effects for anyone other than Nico.

He looks around, blinking at the canals. "... sorry about this. I wanted to go home, and I did but... the wrong one."

Welcome to Venice?

Tim’s experienced a few different types of teleportation in the past, so the good news is that - while Nico’s method is somewhat unconventional and a little bit painful - he adjusts pretty quickly. The location, however?

That’s unexpected. He didn’t think Nico would take them this far. He wasn’t even aware Nico could take them this far.

“This is… impressive, actually. What’s your range like?”

“With another person? This is about it, without passing out right away,” he says with a yawn. They must’ve been over the eastern seaboard to make it here. “More people is less. I went to China once. Slept for a week afterwards.”

Nico looks around at the mid afternoon crowds of tourists. “Venga con me, let’s get something to eat and find somewhere to sit. I can’t take you back right away.”

"That's cool."

It is, though he's casually going to be keeping an eye on Nico's well-being now. He doesn't look hurt. Maybe winded. Tired. Hopefully not so exhausted they'll have to stay overnight, because while Tim could probably manage to find them someplace safe-ish to be, he'd rather not. Maybe call in the cavalry in the form of Bart if it came down to it.

His phone goes off, and he takes a moment to shoot off the first yes I'm in Italy and yes I'm okay text of the day. "Something to eat sounds good."

He’ll be able to get them home; he’ll just fall asleep whether he wants to or not. He’s hoping that he can avoid the nap if he gets something to eat. “What do you want? You pick, so it will be touristy. The tourist restaurants take foreign currency.”

The lessons of being an international ragamuffin. “That way nobody knows we’re here.”

Tim doesn't really care that much what they get, so he mostly scans the area for appropriately touristy-looking restaurants before finding one that appears to have an actual tourist group on their way in. "There? We can probably camouflage with the group."

“Perfect.” Nico starts walking over to the restaurant.

It’s nice to be back in Italy without hordes of monsters or the risk of being turned into corn, but messing up Tim’s day weighs on him. “Thanks for being cool about this. It’s better than class?”

"Sure. Probably more educational, too."

101 class: how to manage in the European country you accidentally teleported to unexpectedly. This particular situation isn't exactly something Tim's been trained for, but he hasn't... not been trained for it, either. Zeta tubes can malfunction, after all.

“It is?” Nico looks around at the shops and restaurants as they walk into the outside patio area of the cafe.

“Can we have a table for two? Un tavolo per…?” He points back and forth between him and Tim. If they’re tourists, he shouldn’t use too much Italian, but he wants to when it’s all around him.

“Are you going to want a tour,” he asks as he slumps into a chair and the waitress puts the menu in front of him.

"Sure. How To Sneak Into A European Country Without a Passport 101."

Don't worry, he did not drop that tidbit without first confirming that no one's within earshot or paying any particular attention to the two of them.

"I don't need a tour if you're too tired for one."

"It's not sneaking. It's more like gatecrashing."

The menu's in English and Italian, so there's no need to translate for Tim. Good thing, too - Nico's understanding is buried under 80 years of language evolution and frozen at a grade school level. Food trends have changed a lot. So has Venice. "Most of what I remember is really outdated. And from another universe."

"That's cool. If you want to explore later, we can do that."

He's not going to tire Nico out even more than he already is, both because he's Nico and also because it would be strategically a terrible idea when he's Tim's ride home. Though he could call in an alternate ride if it came down to it.

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demigoth - 2023-07-02 18:47 (UTC) - Expand

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