longestnight_old | welcome wagon

welcome wagon

It hasn't been an exceptionally busy night. Robin's stopped a couple muggings, a robbery, and even returned a runaway dog to his owner, and "he" is now considering having one more loop around this section of the city before turning in for the night. Which would have been a perfectly nice and doable idea if it wasn't for the fact that the city just stopped being Gotham. She's ground-level in a much smaller city instead, surrounded by people who apparently have not noticed or do not care that a Robin just popped into existence.

Someone walks through her while she's trying to get ahold of Oracle or Bruce or Alfred or anyone, without even apparently noticing, which is. Fine. It's not like that's a recurring nightmare or anything. Tim's just going to start looking for anything she can use to gather some information about what's going on and where she is, dodging anyone in her path because no, she has no desire to be walked through like a ghost again, thank you.

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"I never got much beyond the basics in sewing," Cassie says to Honey Lemon as the two of them prowl the streets of Burgess looking for whoever just recently got sucked through the cracks into this universe. And dodging other pedestrians, because walking through people is really unsettling.

"I can sew a button back on, or repair a ripped seam, but my limit on modifying my clothes is pretty much ironing stars onto my jeans, or stenciling a 'G' on my Wonder Woman T-shirts back when I first became Wonder Girl. How'd you start designing clothes?"

She checked an alley as they passed it by, scanning for someone freaking out in the shadows or for signs of Fearlings lurking.

Honey was beaming brightly as per usual, clad in a breezy summer dress the exact color of sunflowers. Her phone was on and she regularly darted her eyes down to check it before turning her attention back to Cassie.

"Oh! Well I started when I was in grade school, my Abuela had a trunk of old clothes I found while she was baby sitting me and I fell in LOVE with the patterns! I tried to use paper and crayons to make the same patterns for my dolls but the paper never lasted long." She explained as the phone gave a ping and she stopped in place studying it again. Holding it out in front of her she turned slowly left, then right and it pinged once more pointing between two buildings.

Leading the way down the alley without an appropriate level of caution she continued "When Abuela saw what I was doing she sat me down and started to teach me the basics. When my mother came home she joined in and the three of us made that our weekly tradition. We'd come together on Wednesday nights, watch soap operas and sew things or knit things. By the end of the year I had made scarves and socks and hats for everyone in my class and immediate family." She chuckled. "Eventually they asked me to stop because they didn't know what to do with all of the extras! So we started donating them to charity."

Chatty thing isn't she? At least the story carries them halfway through the alley.

If nothing else, her cheerful chatter and the odd way they move (avoiding contact with anyone else would be normal enough, but no one else seems to be adjusting their paths to prevent collision) is more than enough to catch Tim's attention. She stays carefully out of sight until she recognizes the blonde who isn't explaining her adventures in clothing design.

Where a second ago you could've sworn there was nothing, there's now a Robin. It's a Bat thing, don't worry, you'll get used to it. "Cass?" There's a voice distorter she hasn't turned off yet that renders her words considerably lower and less recognizable, but the red and black Robin costume is pretty unmistakable.

"That's cool. My mom and I--"

Cassie cut off mid-word, hands popping up reflexively to either start blocking or throwing punches, but then she recognized the costume.

"Robin!"

Not Red Robin, not Tim-in-the-Batsuit from home, but recognizably a Tim Robin. Cassie face broke out in a grin and she threw her arms wide for a hug. "Robin! Fantastic! It's so great to see you!"

While Cassie's instincts were to block or throw punches, Honey's were to spring back and put some distance between herself and the potential attack. Thankfully she only had the time to jump back about two feet before she saw that there was no danger to be had.

"Oh wonderful we found you!" Her phone gave a cheerful sounding ping in reaction and she brought it up with lightning fast reflexes to take a picture of the two of them together.

Tim is mildly distracted mid-Cassie-hug by the companion. "You were looking for me?" That would explain why they were wandering around. Just. A few more questions. "Who are you? And do either of you have any idea why I'm selectively immaterial?"

Get the important things done with first.

"This is Honey Lemon," Cassie says, releasing Robin and jerking a thumb in the other woman's direction. "We were looking for you because of why you're selectively immaterial. Here's the run-down: We're in another reality. We got pulled here because the big bad thing beyond space and time that spawns all the darkness and evil got a toe-hold here and started chewing, weakening the walls of reality here. Because of that, the kids here were unconsciously able to reach out for people who make them feel safe -- and since stories can pass through the walls of reality when the walls are at their strongest, people like us got tapped for protection duty.

"The reason no one can see you is because we were brought here through stories. We're effectively modern myths, which means here that kids believing in us makes us stronger, adults can't see us unless we've got at least one kid believing us and we want them to see us. We're also more durable and heal faster -- well, you will be, I'm working on getting back up to my usual durability.

"We were looking for you because the guy who Oracles over everything can tell when a new person who's on our side pops up and has a general idea of where they are." Yes, Cassie is hedging around bringing up how their 'Oracle' is the Man in the Moon. Tim probably isn't going to take that well.

"Bad news, we can't really get back home until we deal with the problem. Good news is that time passes more quickly here than when we get home, so we shouldn't miss much." She thinks for a moment, then sighs. No help for it, he's going to find out sooner or later:

"And we're working with the Easter Bunny. Honey Lemon, anything I missed?"

Honey took a moment to run down a mental check list counting on her fingers.

"Only that our head quarters is Santa's workshop at the North Pole." She chuckled and extended a polite hand to Tim.

"And we're so pleased to have you with us!"

"So we're working with the Easter Bunny... and Santa Claus."

Coincidentally, two childhood myths that Tim's not sure she ever believed in as a child. Tim sighs and tugs off her gloves so she can get at the vocal distorter and shut it off. Normally she wouldn't when there's a civilian around, but she trusts Cassie's judgement, and Cassie seems perfectly comfortable around this Honey Lemon.

"So who's our information source? The Great Pumpkin?" she says, with her newly-revealed, distinctly not male normal voice.

Edited 2015-07-03 03:55 (UTC)

"The Big Bad has Santa Claus," Cassie says, pushing her hair back behind her ears. "We're just camping out at...his..."

Okay, maybe this isn't the weirdest thing Cassie's ever seen (far from it), but does knock her for a loop -- probably because, up until this point, this Robin had been pretty much what she expected of a Robin from her past. The voice definitely indicates something different from her expectations.

On the other hand, the fact that they'd gotten this far before running into a speed bump indicates that this Robin probably isn't all that different from the Robin Cassie's familiar with. Which probably means that she-slash-he-slash-they-delete-whichever-pronouns-are-inappropriate probably recognizes the expression on Cassie's face from whenever her counterpart got brought in on this part of the secret identity.

Cassie shakes her head to rattle herself back out of her thoughts and on track.

"Man in the Moon, actually," she answers. "Less chatty than Oracle, more with the pictograms. Bunny and Jack -- the Easter Bunny and Jack Frost -- generally translate for us newbies."

"Oh gosh that's so great!" Honey declared in approval of the voice modulator and seeing what a difference it made "you know I was just starting to wonder how my team should handle secret identity issues before I arrived here. Did you make that yourself?"

Clearly Honey was in no particular hurry despite the possibility of impending enemy attack the longer they hung around.

"The Man in the Moon," Tim repeats blandly. "Well, good. I was worried for a moment that I'd have to quantify what counts as a 'sincere' pumpkin patch."

She makes note of Cassie's... odd... reaction, but it's apparently not important enough to pause the conversation. "I didn't design it, but I'm familiar with how it works. Who's your team?"

"Very few pumpkins so far, sincere or otherwise," Cassie answers dryly. "And she's not from our universe, so you're not going to know her team."

She glanced around and pointed back the way they'd come. "Maybe we should talk and walk to the sled at the same time. The Pole has cocoa, and other people we should introduce you to."

Like, uh. Kon. This Robin was still Robin; and if their universes were anything alike, Robin was wearing those colors out of mourning.

Whoo boy. Athena, give her strength.

"That's a very good idea, we are usually supposed to do these sorts of things quickly." Honey agreed checking her phone once more. This time it was silent and she smiled in appreciation.

"The bloggers have been calling our team "Big Hero 6" though I'm not sure what inspired it other then our being heroic and having six of us. We'd only just barely started defending the city before I came here to join the effort."

Walking and talking, two of Honey's favorite not science related things. They turned onto the street and she let out a little squeak as a pair of children ran through her obliviously.

"Ahem...anyway a member of my team came here with me but she's been sent back which happens it seems. Meanwhile another friend of mine who is the older brother of our team leader appeared which was...well a miracle."

She would however refrain from explaining exactly why it was that. That was Tadashi's story to tell.

"How do you two know each other?" She added and then corrected herself "Or at least your universes versions of one another?"

Your universe's versions of each other. That would make sense. Tim spares a moment to wonder if Cassie's Tim is actually male or just never got around to explaining. Hopefully the former. The latter's a little awkward and wouldn't bode well for their friendship.

"A mutual friend, initially, but we've been on various teams together for a while." And she did not miss that, Cass. "Anyone I already know, or am I about to be introduced to these childhood myths in person?"

"When we started working together, I was fourteen and wearing a wig and goggles to hide my identity," Cassie says with a chuckle as she drifts between Honey Lemon and Robin. This Robin probably doesn't like being surprised in front of strangers any more than the one back home.

"Little of both," she says. "Bunny and Jack are there, but so is mostly everyone else. But Nightwing's there too, a couple of members of the Legion of Superheroes, and a version of Superman. Harley Quinn's on our side, too." She takes a deep breath to center herself and lets it out, glancing over at Robin. "And Superboy."

Surprise?

The sled came into sight exactly where they'd left it and from the sounds of that last part, Superboy must have some significance to the two of them.

Part of being a good friend is knowing when to talk and when to fall silent, so as Honey reaches the sled she politely makes a point to look at her phone in case this is something that needs discussion.

Surprise.

She's absent-mindedly cataloging the list of names at first. Legionnaires, Superman, Dick, those will all be helpful. Harley Quinn less so. And. And.

"He's alive? He's here?"

"Yes," Cassie says simply. "From his and my perspective, he's been back awhile. Kid Flash too, though he hasn't shown up here yet."

They might not be this Robin's Kon and Bart, but if they came back, hers (his?) might come back too.

"Oh gosh." Honey could help herself looking surprised.

"I had no idea he'd...died." She honestly felt a little guilty having not heard that with how much she tried to socialize.

"I mean I knew that...there were others." She had to catch herself from saying his name out loud and outing Tadashi as a member of the recently deceased.

"Does that sort of thing happen often in your world? Superheroes coming back from the dead?" She had an inkling it might if only through memories she had of Fred telling her about the entire history of some of his favorite comic book characters.

"Sometimes. Not everyone," she says, sounding a little far-away. Kon and Bart are alive. There's no way she's going to let herself react to that in the presence of someone she doesn't even know. Her face smooths out under the mask, shifting back into Robin mode.

The sled is also a helpful distraction.

If Cassie had known that the new arrival was a Robin (even a variation on the Robin she knows), she'd have snagged Nightwing or Superboy instead of Honey Lemon for just that reason.

She hops into the driver's seat again, gathering the reigns up in her hands.

"It's not really something we talked about much," she says to Honey Lemon. "Like I said, from his and my perspective, he's been back awhile. And like Robin said, it happens, but there's no guarantee."

She glances back at Robin. "Better strap in, this thing goes fast. The belts are fresh and new and everything, apparently Santa's used to riding with people who aren't afraid of falling out."

Honey was already making a point to strap herself in. While she had developed a taste for adrenaline and danger since becoming a superhero she was no where near as daring as some of the others.

"Well we're just fortunate then to have this opportunity." She mused in her ceaselessly bubbly way. "I'm sure the sooner we get back the sooner there can be talk and...while that might end up being a little uncomfortable it'll turn out for the best in the long run."

For a scientist, she was putting a lot of that out there on good faith.

Tim accepts the usage of seatbelts gracefully, because she has no desire to fall out of a sleigh. At least, not without a plan in place for not doing at the end (although she does, as always, have her grapple).

"I'll assume you have experience driving."

Is driving the right word? She'll stick with that. And it's probably a better topic right now than talking about people dying.

"Not a lot yet, but it seems to stress the Yeti out less when I take the sleigh instead of flying off on my own," Cassie says, cracking the reigns over the backs of the reindeer. "Yahh!"

'On Dasher, on Dancer' isn't necessary to get things moving, but boy do these reindeer move. Cassie's not the speed-junkie Bart is (no one could be), but she does get a bit of a kick out of being in charge of the flight. They take off almost fast enough to leave the jingling sound of the bells on the harnesses behind.

Wind in her hair Honey can't help but laugh with giddy delight at the sudden rush of speed. She had an adrenaline junkie in her life as well and she thought perhaps she might have caught a bit of the addiction if only by proximity and superheroics.

"We also sometimes travel by magical snow globe portals." She laughed delighted at just how utterly strange her life had become. "I'm still trying to quantify the cells of magical energy it uses."

"Of course you do," Tim mutters. "Because why have a single method of transportation that makes sense?"

All right, that's a little unfair. After all, the first team she was in had the Super-Cycle. God knows that didn't make much sense. "Any luck with it?"

"Better get out your equipment then, Honey Lemon, because we're about to hit portal altitude!"

Cassie gathers the reins in one hand so she can rummage through the bag at her feet with the other. She pulls out a snow globe and gives it a shake, tossing a grin over her shoulder at Robin and Honey Lemon.

"Everybody ready? All right, let's go -- the Pole!"

The snow globe glows in her hand and she pitches it out ahead of them with the excellent form she'd kept up since her days as the star pitcher for the Holliday School For Young Ladies intramural baseball team. It vorps into a hole in reality, surrounded by a glow like the northern lights and showing snow-covered mountains and glaciers on the other side. The reindeer know their home when they see it, and Cassie barely has to steer them into it at all.

On the other side of the portal, she brings the sleigh around to give them a view of the enormous wooden lodge build into the side of a mountain.

"It's not a building shaped like a giant 'T', but it's still pretty cool!" Cassie calls back over her shoulder.

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