[ The message is simple the day it finally goes out to all of her family and friends. It comes from a brand new, secondary username that hasn't been seen yet here, but will be entirely familiar to everyone from back home. ]
Prioritize getting yourself a second earpiece. I'm testing a new, private, secondary network now.
Pass the message along to anyone else you consider trustworthy and willing to fight for all of the worlds. You know the drill.
[ What is needed to know, and what hasn't ever been. ]
Close. A regent is closer to an appointed administrator--think like a business company president--appointed in place because there isn't a king or queen.
[ Barbara pushes back from the desk, and heads down a level to make herself a new pot of coffee.
None of the things she's used to having in the apartment are here, but everything that should be in the Clocktower is. The way it's been since she kept working there, but started spending her night and weekends more than not with Dick after moving out. They are still here for missions, and both stay here when in Gotham. One place in each city. But most often in the other.
And now it was here. She doesn't feel balanced about it. But she doesn't think she can turn it down. ]
[Because she'd been out swinging Cass enters the clocktower through a window letting herself in to look for Babs. Memories flooding back from the time she'd spent in the actual one in Gotham before all this dance in her brain for a brief moment before she pushes them aside. ]
You here? [She calls out heading in to look for her.]
[ Which has a limited amount of things in it so far. But it has coffee, and Barbara is only too glad to drink too much coffee even when there is not quite enough food yet. Still, she is making a sandwich out of the things she convinced Dick to pick up on his way out here the first time. ]
I didn't pull you away from anything important, did I?
[ Sometimes her temper gets the better of her. Just because she didn't snap while Bruce was here, doesn't mean it wasn't there under things. It would have been better to ask Cass about that part at the beginning. (Just like she's starting to wonder if having Bruce come here was a mistake. Showing it to someone she hasn't been given a reason to trust in three months.)
There you are. [She finds Babs where she says she is but still says it anyways. She's not really sure why she does. Nothing has quite felt right since she's been here which is probably why she's mostly been avoiding a lot of the family.
Everything about this is weird, but Babs calls and of course she's going to show up.]
No. [No additional details given of what she's been up to though.]
Like every other building here, I'm not sure how it's here, or why it has everything it does have in it.
[ More things that itches at the back of her mind. ]
But I found it a few days ago, and the upstairs setup has only been since yesterday.
[ There's a small beat, before she adds, in between the updates part of this conversation. It's not avoidance or redirection. She just wants to know before she cleans up. ]
Do you want a sandwich while I still have everything out?
Edited (skipped a word ( :O )) 2024-07-08 01:30 (UTC)
Food is good. [She moves to push herself up to sit on the counter and watch Babs carefully taking her in and trying to get a read on whatever's going on here.
It's easier to try to do that by watching then by asking questions for Cass anyways. Besides, people's bodies don't lie nearly as well as their mouths. ]
[ It's hard to say whether it's predictably Barbara or not, but she reaches out and scoots the plate with the first sandwich she'd finished toward Cass. Not making her wait, and turning herself toward the second, because it'd be just sitting there while Babs made the second anyway. ]Dick and I were discussing that not long ago. I think we're going to keep both. I'll probably be here more than the apartments, with how the setup everywhere is starting to progress—
[ Over a dozen people, and the dominoes were going out, as people were pulling in others. Not to mention that she'd already started placing hidden cameras in several public places. ] —but Damian is still mostly with the other!Bruce in the Tower, so it makes sense that Dick would want to keep both.
[ She looks up, gaze over her glasses briefly. ]
I wanted to offer you and Steph your rooms if you wanted them. Maybe Dinah, too. Given there's so little we can trust here.
[If things had gone smoother here the answer would be great! Sure! Of course! Instead however, Cass shifts a little uncomfortably on the counter. She's not comfortable with any of this since coming here. Everything has been thrown up in the air since they got here.]
Steph doesn't even remember living with me. [She says as if that's an answer to the question. It's not, but it's clearly something that's been crawling under her skin for a while.
Maybe even more so than Bruce himself who she hasn't made an effort to meet yet. It's easier when it's just a different person with the same name.]
[ It's calm, quiet, methodical. Except for the barest hint in her voice that maybe Cass alone could catch the wrinkle underneath. Dick would know it was there without seeing it, decades into knowing how she carries everything she does, no matter how heavy or how unending, but it's there. The smallest whisper of it. It's pinned under the mountainous problem with Bruce, but it's still the same kind. The disassociation from the known in some dearer than words could qualify. ]
But I can't just leave her out in the cold, either. She's still Steph, even if she appears to be from so much earlier.
[Her tone is blunt with a hint of annoyance as she shoots Babs a look that's something straight out of years ago when she'd first ended up living with Babs. It is a little bit indictive about how she's been feeling here. Like she can't settle down and get a handle on everything.
Cassandra very much thrives in being in control and isn't enjoying anything about this place. There is a very small hint of besides you have Dick. Hidden somewhere back behind her voice that she hasn't even registered herself. ]
[ Barbara's look up from her sandwhich is moderately slow, and her eyebrows are peaked briefly at Cass' snap. It lasts long enough for Barbara to make eye contact with the girl sitting higher up on the counter before she returns to her sandwich. ] Nor would you.
[ Ask.
Or consider it. ]
I know, in some ways, it's even harder with her than with Bruce. [ They're so close after all these years, and that's a rarity for Cass. ]
[She's not wrong and yet Cass doesn't even want to think about it. It's upsetting, it's not that she didn't like Steph back then. It's just they've been through so much and it's weird and different and not right. She's not sure how she'd feel about living with everyone again when things aren't right. ]
I haven't met Bruce.
[The comment is cold, like there's a hint of annoyance at the idea. She's been avoiding it on purpose since everyone mentioned it. ]
[ Barbara had wondered, but she'd decided she would have heard about it long before now. There's a careful pause as Barbara decides how to say what she's going to say—because with Cass, she's always going to say it; she knows Cass is already reading it in her body language, the faintest shift of anything instinctual she hasn't even realizing she's done before getting to the thought of it even. ]
I am sorry for that, and— [ There's a vague nod to one side. ] —maybe even more sorry that it's probably for the best at the moment. Things... aren't going all the easily with him on any angle for anyone.
[ Even Damian has pointed out he was young, emotionally vulnerable, and nothing like the man they all knew Bruce Wayne to be. And Etraya's never seen much of Batman in the field besides the labyrinth. But Cass' second comment shuts down the first tread of a hamster wheel. She can't stop her brain from retreading too often. ]
It's not okay. None of this is okay, Cass. None of us are okay with any of it.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
un: oracle
It comes from a brand new, secondary username that hasn't been seen yet here,
but will be entirely familiar to everyone from back home. ]
Prioritize getting yourself a second earpiece.
I'm testing a new, private, secondary network now.
Pass the message along to anyone else you consider trustworthy and willing to fight for all of the worlds. You know the drill.
[ What is needed to know,
and what hasn't ever been. ]
un: smallbat
I regret to inform you I have only made one friend. She is the queen for Mars though. I will continue to monitor and figure out if we can trust her.
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Close. A regent is closer to an appointed administrator--think like a business company president--appointed in place because there isn't a king or queen.
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More like having three names, and what I did when all the green-beasties attacked recently, and that I have too many secrets.
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[ Until, of course, none of them were in the city proper anymore.
For the next three weeks, while she spent it thinking of just this. ]
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[She's not actually bothered by the idea, it is just a clarification.]
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They'll know when I've decided to be hostile.
If they don't want people looking for information,
they should be more forthcoming.
Or better yet, avoid kidnapping people altogether.
un: barbaragordon
Southern-most middle island.
[ Yes. It's short. She's feeling short.
Thanks, Bruce. You suck sometimes. ]
Re: un: barbaragordon
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[ S i g h. ]
You should come see it.
If you aren't currently busy.
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[ A beat. ]
Just me.
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{ Action
and heads down a level to make herself a new pot of coffee.
None of the things she's used to having in the apartment are here, but everything that should be in the Clocktower is. The way it's been since she kept working there, but started spending her night and weekends more than not with Dick after moving out. They are still here for missions, and both stay here when in Gotham. One place in each city. But most often in the other.
And now it was here. She doesn't feel balanced about it.
But she doesn't think she can turn it down. ]
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You here? [She calls out heading in to look for her.]
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[ Which has a limited amount of things in it so far. But it has coffee, and Barbara is only too glad to drink too much coffee even when there is not quite enough food yet. Still, she is making a sandwich out of the things she convinced Dick to pick up on his way out here the first time. ]
I didn't pull you away from anything important, did I?
[ Sometimes her temper gets the better of her. Just because she didn't snap while Bruce was here, doesn't mean it wasn't there under things. It would have been better to ask Cass about that part at the beginning. (Just like she's starting to wonder if having Bruce come here was a mistake. Showing it to someone she hasn't been given a reason to trust in three months.)
At least she's asking now? ]
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Everything about this is weird, but Babs calls and of course she's going to show up.]
No. [No additional details given of what she's been up to though.]
How long has this been here?
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Like every other building here, I'm not sure how it's here,
or why it has everything it does have in it.
[ More things that itches at the back of her mind. ]
But I found it a few days ago, and the upstairs setup has only been since yesterday.
[ There's a small beat, before she adds, in between the updates part of this conversation.
It's not avoidance or redirection. She just wants to know before she cleans up. ]
Do you want a sandwich while I still have everything out?
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It's easier to try to do that by watching then by asking questions for Cass anyways. Besides, people's bodies don't lie nearly as well as their mouths. ]
Are you going to move in here?
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[ Over a dozen people, and the dominoes were going out, as people were pulling in others. Not to mention that she'd already started placing hidden cameras in several public places. ] —but Damian is still mostly with the other!Bruce in the Tower, so it makes sense that Dick would want to keep both.
[ She looks up, gaze over her glasses briefly. ]
I wanted to offer you and Steph your rooms if you wanted them.
Maybe Dinah, too. Given there's so little we can trust here.
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Steph doesn't even remember living with me. [She says as if that's an answer to the question. It's not, but it's clearly something that's been crawling under her skin for a while.
Maybe even more so than Bruce himself who she hasn't made an effort to meet yet. It's easier when it's just a different person with the same name.]
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[ It's calm, quiet, methodical. Except for the barest hint in her voice that maybe Cass alone could catch the wrinkle underneath. Dick would know it was there without seeing it, decades into knowing how she carries everything she does, no matter how heavy or how unending, but it's there. The smallest whisper of it. It's pinned under the mountainous problem with Bruce, but it's still the same kind. The disassociation from the known in some dearer than words could qualify. ]
But I can't just leave her out in the cold, either.
She's still Steph, even if she appears to be from so much earlier.
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[Her tone is blunt with a hint of annoyance as she shoots Babs a look that's something straight out of years ago when she'd first ended up living with Babs. It is a little bit indictive about how she's been feeling here. Like she can't settle down and get a handle on everything.
Cassandra very much thrives in being in control and isn't enjoying anything about this place. There is a very small hint of besides you have Dick. Hidden somewhere back behind her voice that she hasn't even registered herself. ]
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[ Ask.
Or consider it. ]
I know, in some ways, it's even harder with her than with Bruce.
[ They're so close after all these years, and that's a rarity for Cass. ]
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I haven't met Bruce.
[The comment is cold, like there's a hint of annoyance at the idea. She's been avoiding it on purpose since everyone mentioned it. ]
How can you all just act like this is all okay?
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I am sorry for that, and— [ There's a vague nod to one side. ] —maybe even more sorry that it's probably for the best at the moment. Things... aren't going all the easily with him on any angle for anyone.
[ Even Damian has pointed out he was young, emotionally vulnerable, and nothing like the man they all knew Bruce Wayne to be. And Etraya's never seen much of Batman in the field besides the labyrinth. But Cass' second comment shuts down the first tread of a hamster wheel. She can't stop her brain from retreading too often. ]
It's not okay. None of this is okay, Cass.
None of us are okay with any of it.
I'm not.