hello hello I don't know why you say goodbye I say hello [largely open]

[thegoshdarn]

Santa Claus' workshop is simultaneously incredibly surprising and not surprising in the slightest. It's certainly a new experience, but its design and decoration make it essentially exactly what she'd imagine if she was asked to imagine what it would look like. Admittedly, she hasn't really believed in its existence since - did she ever believe in its existence? Hmm.

At least the red in her suit sort of fits in with the general color theme. The vocal distorter's off but the mask is still on, so she's really just what you'd expect from your third Robin up until she starts talking.

Which, to be fair, she's not doing a whole lot of compared to glancing around with interest while she waits for Cassie to find her brother and Kon and whoever else she deems appropriate.

Comments

[matchmadeinhell]

Nobody escapes the Konnish Hugsquishition! He came out of practically nowhere, zipping down from above at a speed most more mortals weren't capable of, only stopping just short of slamming into the unsuspecting Robin at speeds that were dangerous to squishy people.

"Tiiiiim! Buddy, am I ever glad to see you."

He hadn't seen his best friend since throwing him down over the bay outside Gotham and making it look like he'd killed him (a confrontation that Tim had safely glided away from with hints that "Match" wasn't what he said he was).

Before that, he hadn't talked to his best friend in over a year in a half and that year and a half had been a living hell. So yes, he was hugging the crap out of him, lifting him right off the ground.

And no, he hadn't stuck around long enough for Cassie to explain that this Tim wasn't their Tim and wasn't a him. She'd gotten to saying they'd brought in Red Robin and Kon had whooshed off at superspeed looking for him before she'd even finished the sentence.

[thegoshdarn]

On this occasion, Tim has no problem with any kind of Kon hug short of one that actually breaks ribs. Although she may be... mildly in shock. It's one thing to be told he's alive, it's another to go from being alone to being crushed in a Super-hug in .3 seconds. She doesn't even know what to say - she's kind of afraid if she tries to talk it's going to come out embarrassing and awful and possibly make her start crying, so for now she's just going to cling hug back.

[matchmadeinhell]

That is okay, cling away lil' chum.

It finally occurred to Kon that Tim's outfit was back to "I'm punishing myself by wearing the costume of the 'bad' Robin" so he finally put Tim down and squinted in confusion.

"How come you're back to the old, easier-to-confuse-with-Doctor-Midnite duds? Are you from a different time than me and Cass? You look teenier."

Because, as Tim would probably notice now that she wasn't being squooshed, Kon definitely looked older, just like Cassie had. Not that much older, but his early twenties had finally come calling.

[thegoshdarn]

"And you look older, although I wasn't going to bring it up because I'm too polite." With the voice distorter off, it's pretty obvious that this isn't the Timothy Drake he knows. "I'm a little insulted you think I'm the bad Robin, though."

Upon closer inspection, it's not the Red Robin suit she's wearing, just the Robin suit with more red and black. The stylized R is still present, too.

[matchmadeinhell]

"Whoa, haaaang on." That was a full recoil, not of disgust or anything. It was a surprise recoil. "You're a lady?"

Soooo, not his Tim? He squinted, holding her at arm's length but still holding on.

"You're a lady Tim!" He tilted his head. "A...Timberly?"

He didn't seem that weirded out by it, but hey this was a guy that'd met roughly a kajillion alternates of himself. Including a girl version.

"You must be an alternate dimension Tim. Except a girl." He paused. "Am I girl where you come from? You didn't look surprised I was a dude but Cass could've told you. I met a girl version of myself once. She was blonde but just like me besides that, and she was super hot. Naturally. It was very confusing."

Saying whatever stupid crap pops into the top of his head. Yep, definitely a version of Kon like her own.

[thegoshdarn]

Timberly. Ugh, why. "It's Timothea." Because just, no. And she'd sort of guessed he wasn't the Kon she knew, given that he's a fair amount older, but it's nice to have... well, maybe not nice, but it's confirmation.

"And no, you're still male where I'm from." A slight pause. "And dead."

So there's that.

[matchmadeinhell]

"Awwww." He couldn't help it, he knew how much his death had hurt his loved ones. Kal, Ma, the Titans. But Cassie and Tim had been hurt the worst. Especially since they lost Bart not long after.

"I got better, though. Lemme see how similar our realities are. If they're similar, you'll probably get your Kon back, too. Were we all Teen Titans in your world after we were in Young Justice? And what was the lineup? And did I die in the Crisis fighting Superboy Prime? And did I hang with the Legion of Superheroes in the future for a little while?"

If it was all the same or similar, some of the good things might be the same or similar, too.

[circusbat]

In general, Dick's never that difficult to find. At least, when he's not trying not to be found. So it doesn't take Cassie long to track him down and let him know about the new arrival. Since she also told him that she'd found Kon first, Dick figures he's got a little time to go and clean up.

So it's a while later when Dick arrives, leaning up against the wall and watching his little brother. Erm...sister. "You know. The weird thing is, you look exactly like our Tim."

[thegoshdarn]

He does have time. By then, she's at least removed the face mask, so that's less of a distraction, although the Robin suit and body armor are still doing a lot to obscure the actual shape of her body. "I'm guessing we'd basically be twins, genetically speaking."

So. Not that weird, from a certain perspective.

[circusbat]

"Certain chromosomes not withstanding." No, it's not that weird. Dick's seen weirder, after all. "So, you'll just have to put up with me calling you little brother for a while until things sink in properly."

[thegoshdarn]

Dry: "Why break the habit of a lifetime?"

She's very good at putting up with him. It's a talent.

"So. Santa's workshop."

[circusbat]

Dick pushes away from the wall, breaking out into a full grin. Partly at the dry snark, partly at the question. "Yeah. Santa's workshop. Weird, right? How much of the run down have you gotten?"

[thegoshdarn]

She ticks off points on her fingers. "We're here as myths that run on belief; the Man in the Moon is providing us with information; the Great Pumpkin is so far uninvolved. Have I got that right?"

[circusbat]

"The third is unconfirmed but I wouldn't be surprised to find out later down the line." Dick nudges her shoulder. "So far, so good. Though the Man in the Moon isn't terribly talkative. Or maybe we're just not on the right wavelength. So far, what we know is that there's a darkness from beyond the dawn of time--" And yes, he deepened his voice to intone that. "--that's trying to take over reality and if it can't have all of reality, it's fine with making certain the rest of us don't. It's also going after little kids, trying to feed off of their fear and take away belief from the Guardians of this world. Which is...kinda what we are, now."

[mark_in_the_sands]

"Sorry about Kon," Cassie says, approaching Robin with two mugs of steaming cocoa. "I tried to give him a heads up, but he zipped off the moment the words "there's a version of our Robin here" were out of my mouth."

She held out one of the mugs, handle out for Robin to take.

"So, now that we're not standing in front of a complete stranger, what's the pronoun situation here?"

[thegoshdarn]

"Hm?" She accepts the mug automatically and blows on it a little to cool it so she won't burn her tongue on the first taste. "It's all right; we managed. And - generally, female when I'm not..." She waves a hand vaguely. "...on duty."

[mark_in_the_sands]

"Of course you managed," Cassie says wryly. It is Robin after all, managing is what Robins do.

She saluted the other young woman with her mug. "Awesome. I figured I should go ahead and ask instead of making guesses and putting my foot in my mouth."

With that important question out of the way, and with a now-greater degree of privacy, Cassie had a few other questions about her new/old buddy. But she didn't want to hammer on the "you're stuck here with alternate reality versions of the people you care about" topic, so:

"You got any questions I can clear up?"

[thegoshdarn]

"You're... what? In your twenties now?"

Because her best friends going off and growing up without her is something she would like to deal with, thank you.

[revvinguptheharley]

Having taken up the job of helping test toys with the elves, Harley is racing along one of the many open walkways in the workshop with a pack of elves chasing her. They are waving padded foam nerf melee weapons and shooting little nerf guns while she shoots back at them dodging around Yeti and other heroes who happen to be in the way.

In retrospect this probably should have been done outside or somewhere with a lack of Yeti trying to work but Harley and the elves were not big on foresight.

Crashing through a pile of meticulously painted toy planes causing the Yeti who had been painting them to roar in fury Harley didn't even see Tim until they were practically ontop of each other.

"WHOA! LOOK OUT!"

[thegoshdarn]

With the warning and a little bit of instinct, Tim manages to guide their falls somewhat so they don't end up as quite as much of a tangled mess. Which is the good part. The bad part is that then she has a second to realize who it is that just ran into her.

"...Harley."

Even if she's been assured that Harley is on 'their' side now, it doesn't make her feel any less exposed for not having her mask and voice modulator on.

[revvinguptheharley]

While Tim managed to grace up their fall a bit Harley is still a practitioner of the art of pratfall and landed face down and butt in the air. Hearing her name she rolled around sitting on the grown, legs sprawled out in front of her looking up hopefully.

Nope, no one she knew but the face was strikingly familiar...

...then she saw the suit beneath the face.

"Ooo a new Robin!?" She sprang to her feet as well as a conclusion. It did not even occur to her to note it was in fact a female addition to the flock of bird themed sidekicks.

[thegoshdarn]

"No," she deadpans. "I'm just very fond of cosplay."

What is the possibility that she can just walk away now? About 3%? Not good, she's guessing.

[revvinguptheharley]

"Well that is a GREAT costume!" She declared "I bet even Superboy would be fooled. Have ya run into him yet?"

She was beaming brightly making it unclear if she was just playing along or actually believed the deadpan lie.

"Sorry about the crashing into bit. Those little elf mutant things are a lot more co-ordinated then you'd expect them to be."

From the grunt of a nearby Yeti and the way the elves were scrambling to pick up their toys, they probably weren't.

[thegoshdarn]

"Yes, he certainly was."

Until she started talking, anyway. At least the 'by the way, I'm a girl' conversation went better here than it did in her reality. He'd thought she was telling him she was an imposter. Awkward all around.

[revvinguptheharley]

Ah, the stoic quiet type? Harley seemed to think so and to compensate spoke even more.

"Ohmigosh he really was fooled? What happened? Oh I wish I coulda seen his face when he realized...I mean no offense but I'm pretty sure his Robin is all boring and male."

Ah there it was.

"So was the one I met too, but I ran into like two Batgirls in the last universe I was in."