tushanshu_logs | Don't run away. 'cause that's the deal with it

Entry tags:

Don't run away. 'cause that's the deal with it

Characters: Stephanie Brown and you! Also Brandon I guess.
Location: Earth Sector, Metal Sector, everywhereelse Sector.
Situation: A day in the life! Feel free to pick from one of the many places mentioned in the log, if you want, you can put time/place in the header!
Warnings/Rating: Vague references to physical/sexual child abuse.

Life is weird.

Steph tries to keep that in mind as she deals with her new existence in Tu Vishan. She's met aliens, she's travelled to magical dimensions to punch witches, and she knows people who have travelled through time, but somehow none of that compares to the current situation. A city on the back of a giant turtle is just taking it one step too far, and when the hostility of the locals is added on top of that, Steph ends up spending her first night sleeping underneath her bed, with the blankets pulled down with her like a nest. It's a coping method she developed when she was eleven, and this is the first time she's had to do it since coming back from Africa. But she manages to sleep without dreaming, so it's worth it.

Upon waking the next day, she resolves not to let the fear and weirdness get to her. It's a hostile environment, but she spent most of her life living in a hostile environment, and at least now she has allies (friends might be pushing it) in the form of Bruce and Damian, and she's going to work on befriending the other superheroes that have been brought here. If the Kedan turn against them en masse, she'll be ready, but until then she's not going to let fear control her.

The first thing she decides to do is shopping. She's already bought one set of clothes, but she'll need at least one more, and probably a set of shoes that aren't her Batgirl boots. Being in the Earth sector makes that a easier, what with the fact it's a textiles based area and she spends a few hours in the morning walking through shops, finding the cheapest places to pick up what she needs, and then lingering at the more expensive places over nice fabric and sewing machines. Logically, she knows she can't afford to splurge on a machine before she gets a job, but that doesn't stop her wanting one; in the end she just buys needles and assorted thread, hand-sewing will take longer and won't look quite as nice, but she'll survive.

When she passes a little stationary shop, she goes in to buy a notebook and some pens. For all her training, Steph has little experience in maintained fake identities, and she doesn't want to risk getting caught out in a lie by anyone here. Her best bet is to keep everything written down, in code of course, so that she can keep track of the identity she's building for herself in the city.

Her next stop is a market in the Water Sector - after someone in one of the clothes shops recommended it to her, and after a rather considerable walk - to pick up some basic foodstuffs. It's not often she only buys groceries for a single person, and the thought hits her with a wave of homesickness. She treats herself to some chocolate in between buying serious items like bread and vegetables, and spends the rest of her time at the market popping pieces of the confectionary into her mouth and trying to decide if it tastes that different from chocolate back home. (The results are inconclusive; she'll have to buy more later to test again). When she's done, she runs the expense of hiring a small rickshaw so that she doesn't have to trek all the way back to her suite.

By the time night falls, she's ready to go out again, dressed in the black lycra underlayers of her Batgirl costume, and the hooded cloak she made herself during the day.

For the first time in a very long time, Steph goes dumpster diving. It's something she learnt a long time ago out of necessity, and with the city the way it is right now, after the attempted executions, she wants to get back into practice, and to search out the best spots in Keeliai. If push comes to shove, she wants to know where she can get food for free, and she wants to know before she gets desperate. It rankles a little that she has to, and she does her best to stick to the shadows and stay hidden, out of fear that another "foreigner" will spot her; she's seen how quickly people's opinions can change when they discover someone is willing to eat discarded food. (She has a lot of arguments about how it can be perfectly sanitary and actually nice if people know where to look, but she wishes it wasn't necessary).

She doesn't take anything, because it's going to be a long night, and she doesn't want to be carrying food around for it, but it settles her nerves to find a few good spots. Restaurants and grocers are always fairly reliable when it comes to throwing out edible food, as are bakeries, though often she's found those donate their leftovers to shelters, because while a self-respecting baker won't sell day old bread, there's actually nothing wrong with it. She could go around her neighbourhood in less than hour and come home with a few days worth of meals for herself and her mom, but it takes her longer in Keeliai, despite the fact she sticks only to the Earth sector for the first night.

After around two and a half hours, she brings out her grapple gun and moves on to more general reconnaissance. It's rare for her to work anywhere but Gotham, where she grew up, the streets that she knows like the back of her hand, so she knows that learning the lay of the land in Keeliai is important. As much as she hates to admit it, even to herself, she could be trapped for a long time, and it's going to be vital to be able to navigate through the city quickly and easily.

In moments of freefall, where the wind rushes past her before she catches herself with her line, Steph is confident she can survive this.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's the movement she notices first, that particular arc of motion that comes from leaping into thin air, falling before the line catches and swinging back up... It's so familiar, something she's been missing at her side since she got here, and Rikki pivots on one foot as she touches down on one rooftop, turning to follow before she actually makes a conscious decision to do so.

It can't be Anya. Anya's not here and she doesn't really want her to be. She knows that, God, she knows, but what if...

It's not Anya. The flutter of blonde hair, as soon as Rikki gets close enough to see more than a flicker of movement and a silhouette against the backdrop of the city's lights, is confirmation enough, and she'd expected that - but Rikki's heart still drops a little.

She tries to ignore it, changing her course again to head for a higher rooftop where she can watch from a safer distance rather than pursuing directly. She's not Anya, but she's also not one of the rooftop gang Rikki's become familiar with, and seriously, how many costumed types are they going to drag in here? It's starting to get a little alarming.

At least Steph technically isn't in a costume, though she took a cue from Bruce and made a simple domino to accompany the hood and cape. She misses her Spoiler costume, the full face covering would be a relief right now in such a strange place, and she wonders if she should cut her hair again, to make it easier to hide.

She also probably shouldn't have shown her face all over the network, but it's too late to take it back.

It's clear that Steph hasn't noticed anyone watching her, and it's also clear that her movements are purposeful, that they're following a pattern. She'd started at the edge of the sector, and has been making her way in a spiral, gradually circling inwards, though occasionally she stops on a rooftop, taking a break and a chance to look around and get her bearings.

Rikki keeps an eye on her for a while, crouched at the edge of her high perch where she can mostly keep the girl in her line of sight no matter where she goes. Occasionally she loses track of her behind other buildings, or in the rare patches of shadow, but silhouetted against the glow of the turtle's shell, it rarely takes long to pick her out again.

This looks more like reconnaissance than a regular patrol; probably one of the new arrivals, then. Whoever she is, she's obviously practiced at this method of getting around - and while not all the possible reasons for that are necessarily good, as long as she's stuck here, she's theoretically an ally. Might as well go say hi, now that she can do it without sulking over the fact that she's not Anya.

Rikki waits until the girl's settled down in one place and marks that position in her head before she pushes off her rooftop and takes off running, barely touching down in one place before she's springing into the air again. When she gets within a few blocks of the last place she saw her, she starts slowing down, bleeding momentum in flips and rolls until she can come to a stop across the street from the other girl's rooftop, close enough to be noticed without accidentally scaring the crap out of her.

She catches herself at the very edge of the roof, just short of hurtling into the street, and laughs a little breathlessly, giddy with the momentary rush of adrenaline. Still grinning, Rikki waves a hand at the girl across the street. "Hey."

Just a friendly rooftop buddy, nothing to be alarmed about here...

The laughter is the first thing to catch her attention, and it helps to put her at ease when she looks around to see Rikki waving. It's not that she doesn't take what they do seriously, but she always appreciates someone who can take pleasure in the better parts of being a vigilante. Of course, she's not going to let her guard down just yet, but she keeps her hand off her bo staff and is happy to be friendly until there's need not to be.

"Hi," Steph waves back, her voice is a little different than normal, not the growly Batman tones that the boys use, but she makes an effort to disguise her accent, to sound more controlled, "Are you following me?"

That's a guess, but it seems likely considering she hadn't spotted the other girl until now, having been more focused on the streets than the rooftops. And as much as it's possible they just happened to run into each other, she's willing to assume that Rikki spotted her a little while ago and has been waiting for a chance to say hello.

"Uh... well, technically, I guess you could say that," Rikki answers, her grin turning a little apologetic.

"But not in a creepy stalker way, I swear. I just noticed you up here and thought I'd come say hi. The kedan don't use the rooftops much - not like this - so I figured you had to be one of us."

She pauses before asking, "Mind if I come over there so we don't have to yell across the street? I promise I'm not a crazy axe murderer or anything. Don't even have an axe."

Or any visible weapons, for that matter, as she holds her hands up to demonstrate. She's still got the knife she took off that kedan, tucked into one of the long pockets at the back of her belt, but except for that (okay, and the two flashbangs that just look like part of her uniform) she really is as unarmed as she looks. Cap - her Cap - almost never carried any weapons but his shield either.

The whole spiel gets a laugh out of Steph, "I didn't think you looked much like a creepy stalker."

She remembers Damian mentioning 'Nomad', how he pinned her at about Steph's age, and then Tommy AKA Speed addressing Rikki on the network by that name. It's not hard to put two and two together, and it leaves Steph quietly amused at Rikki's offer of safety in numbers.

"Come on over," She steps back with a bit of a flourish, gesturing for Rikki to jump across, before adding, "But if I see an ax I'm sending you back to your own rooftop, and I'm pretty sure it's not as nice as mine."

She hopes her guess about Rikki is right and this isn't a trap of some kind; she really doesn't need the lecture it'd result in.

Rikki laughs and throws her a teasing salute in response to the warning before she backs up just a little to get a running start and springs easily across the street. This time, she manages to land neatly and without nearly stumbling off the roof, and as soon as she catches her balance, she offers her hand to shake.

"I'm Nomad. Are you new here, or have I just missed running into you until now?"

The name confirms her guess, although Rikki's appearance helps make her entirely sure, and Steph shakes the offered hand.

"Spoiler," It feels weird to say that name, but while she's not wearing her Batgirl uniform, and with Batman here, it's better to use it for now, "I've been around for a bit, but I decided to lay low after the festival. You?"

Lying never used to come so easy to her, but she barely even thinks about covering up that she's a new arrival. Rikki seems nice enough, but Steph isn't quite ready to make vigilante friends, especially when Bruce is probabaly looking for excuses to judge her.

Huh. Interesting choice of a name, and it makes Rikki frown for a moment while she considers it. Some identities, like Captain America or Spider-Girl, are easy enough to explain. Others - like hers - have baggage, and she gets the feeling this is one of those times when she should maybe not ask.

"Spoiler. Nice to meet you. I feel like I should be keeping a list of all the costumed people running around here, there's so many of us. Not that I mind - it reminds me of home more than anything else here, and either there's a distinct lack of supervillains, or they're all behaving themselves for now."

She flashes Spoiler a quick smile at that last comment. Does she have any proof she's not a supervillain? No. But she'd like to give her fellow kidnappees the benefit of the doubt.

"I've been here since we first started showing up here. Almost a month ago now..."

Steph wisely chooses not to comment about lists, since she's fairly sure Bruce is doing exactly that, except he probably also has people's strengths and weaknesses listed alongside their names and codenames. That's just how he is.

"I hope it's the former, I'm really not a huge fan of supervillains," That's sort of a joke, at least in that she's aware most people don't like supervillains. It's also - presuming Rikki will take her word for it - confirmation that Steph isn't one of those.

"You've got a few days on me, then. You got any theories about why we all showed up around the same time?" Might as well cut straight to the thoughts everyone is having.

"Uh..."

She pauses for a moment, rubbing at the back of her neck uneasily. So far, she's kept what the Emperor told her to herself, other than informing Steve and Bucky, and she's been trying really hard not to think about the whole thing. Steve will know what to do, it's not her problem anymore, she doesn't have to sit around brooding about her chances of surviving whatever they're supposed to be doing here... but it's not exactly fair to keep it from the other costumed types running around here. And if she's going to directly ask...

"More than a theory, actually. Turns out we're not exactly here by accident. Which I guess really isn't such a surprise, but I got confirmation from the Emperor, so..."

After her conversation with Damian, Steph had decided to skip the meeting with the Emperor. Damian could ask the questions Steph would, and she trusts him to pass the information back to her. So she'd figured it might be a good idea to save an audience with royalty for a rainy day, there's no point overstaying her welcome in the throne room when she doesn't have to. But she hasn't had a chance to talk to Damian since then, so Rikki's annoucement piques her curiosity.

"Huh," She's curious, but like Rikki said, not too surprised. It was unlikely that they were brought here by accident, not when there'd been infrstructure built to accomodate them, "The Emperor's behind it, then? Does she have a reason?"

Rikki blows out a disgusted sigh, glowering in the direction of the palace like maybe she can sense Rikki's resentment. She probably can't, but man, Rikki is not happy with that woman and her selfish, high-handed crap. She could at least be a little ashamed for kidnapping them, let them know what they're supposed to be dying for, but no. That would be too easy.

"She does," she mutters darkly. "There's something we're supposed to save them from, or fight, or whatever, but she wouldn't tell me what it is." She looks back to Spoiler, and smiles a little. "She's kind of a jerk."

It probably says a lot about Steph that she finds Rikki's disdain for the Emperor to be endearing. Not that she personally knows much about the Emperor, but there's just something about royalty that gets her hackles up. She maes a note to work out how exactly that all works here, are titles inherited?

"So, she dragged us here, decided to keep information from us unless we specifically asked, and even then is trying to keep us in the dark. And we're supposed to want to help?"

The problem is that of course they'll help. The Emperor might be a jerk, but the citizenry of Tu Vishan are innocent people, and they made a good decision to bring a lot of vigilantes.

"Yeah, pretty much." Rikki smiles a little at the fact that Spoiler seems to share her opinion about the whole thing - not that many people would exactly be happy with the news. "Apparently the free lodging and the locals'... gratitude is supposed to be incentive enough for us."

She runs her hand through her hair, grimacing a little. That's the problem with abducting a bunch of heroes to help you, though. It doesn't matter if the circumstances are unfair, if they didn't have a choice in all of this. There are people here who deserve to be protected, whatever their emperor's done, and Rikki knows that she, at least, is going to be doing just that in the end.

"Gratitude is definitely gonna help me if I get killed in their fight, I'm sure my mom will appreciate it," The sarcasm is strong in this one.

They should have just asked, and Steph knows she would have come to help, but dragging them here against their will, presuming they're going to fight their battles for them...

It's frustrating, and it makes her resent the Emperor and anyone else invovled in this scheme, which doesn't make her keen to help.

"Yeah, I'm definitely finding it a comfort," she snorts. "Maybe they should've stuck to kidnapping people who're dead back home. At least we actually owe them something..."

"'We'," Her tone is gentle, almost-but-not-quite a question. It could just be a quirk of speech, but it seems more likely that Rikki counts herself among the people who are dead back home.

Sometimes Steph wonders if what they're doing is really the right thing, sending children into the line of fire, building memorials and digging too-small graves when they inevitably get killed.

(A good soldier.)

"I don't think giving someone a second chance at life necessarily means they owe you," The comment is there to give Rikki something else to respond to, in case she doesn't want to address that 'we'.

Rikki sighs softly, looks at her sidelong for a long moment, and then shrugs her shoulders in a loose, casual gesture that's starting to become a habit, like it doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter.

"Yeah. We. Or me, anyway." She swallows hard, scrubbing awkwardly at her forehead with one hand. "And... I don't know. 'Cause saving someone's life, that's kind of the big, 'indebted for life' sort of deal. Bringing someone back from the dead is going above and beyond. And it's okay, it's just... not really fair to the rest of you who still had your own battles to fight."

Yeah, they're definitely doing the wrong thing, letting children fight in this war. Steph doesn't know how long she'll be in the vigilante business, but she decides right there and then that she will never have a sidekick who isn't old enough to vote.

"It's not like you asked 'em to, though, I really don't think you owe them jack shit," Well, there's that, "This isn't fair to any of us."

It's not that she isn't glad people like Rikki and Yue can get a second chance, but she doesn't think it makes them indebted to the Emperor.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Don't run away. 'cause that's the deal with it

Nighttime

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject