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I should hope so. I'm not even trying to be quiet.

[ Barbara is still coming across the last ten or fifteen feet towards where Jason's been hunkered down for days (which she has memorized down to the coordinates even though Jason's tracker just blipped out). She'd decided to give him space and time—and asked the boys both to, too—but four days was a good bit of time. Time enough to know he was still hiding and hadn't left the area even for provisions.

She also has a handful of those in her bag. ]

I'd worry more if you didn't.

Edited 2025-07-04 12:39 (UTC)

[Jason turns on the spot to see someone who is familiar in an uncanny way, but not quite fully recognizing her. It takes him a moment as she approaches before realizing who she is.

And, naturally, the first words out of his mouth are,] How the fuck are you walking?

[ She's not all that surprised those are the first words out his mouth, but it definitely throws an interesting comparison between the second and third Jason again—where the other had noted, but not asked, until they were flung into unasked for sharing of Joker memories. At least she's grown accustomed to this question since arriving in Etraya over a year ago. ]

An experimental surgery. [ Plus, the four she caused. ] There's a neural implant connecting my lower spine to my brain. It didn't fix my spine, but I have a better ability to be mobile as long as it lasts. Which could be for a few years, or it could stop tomorrow. There are no promises that come with it, and I still need my chair from time to time, even here.

[ Beat.

Because it's Jason.
Any Jason. Every Jason. ]

I still went through the same circumstances as your Barbara. With the Joker.
[ The exit and entrance wound from that bullet are still clear and present on her body forever. ]

Wait, you're serious?

[Because when did any Bat, no matter distantly related to the family, do anything 'experimental.' He watches her move and is absolutely fascinated for a moment or two before he remembers his manners. It's not nice to stare after all.]

Okay. So you're what here to bring me in? Tie me up like I'm some kind of medieval delinquent?

[ Oh, you'd be surprised, Baby Jay, just what her world has tried. She doesn't mind the surprised traction of not being able to stop looking at her, and she goes about puling her bag around to one side and starting to unzip it ]

Completely serious. Got a long line of spinal scars to show for it.

[ Please don't make her show you. It's not that she wouldn't, instantly, if he demanded it, if he ~needed~ it, she was ready-ish to, she accepted a good number of potentials coming out here as a peace offering. It just still makes her ... uncomfortable. Even just in her own skin. Even with the people she doesn't mind losing all of her clothes for. It's just. What it is. ]

Actually, I was thinking maybe we could just talk. I brought some water, beef jerky, fruit, sandwiches, etc. Nothing fancy, like Alfred made, but I'm no slouch when it comes to buying the nice things when I can find them here.

Don't-- Don't need to see that. [Don't worry Barbara, Jason is just. Not here for that. Even if it was purely a medical demonstration, Jason is already uncomfortable just thinking about it.

He remains on his side of the tiny clearing and moves closer, but just do his usual morning tasks, like clearing fallen leaves and sticks off of his tent. That's not his stomach, it's the process of running his fingers over his tent as he works.]

There's nothing to talk about. I got jumped by that lunatic for apparently walking too close to their Arkham. That's it.

Edited 2025-07-04 13:43 (UTC)

[ Barbara totally did not hear the rumbling of his stomach. Or at least, she totally continues rummaging in her bag, as though she'd been too distracted to notice herself. ]

I'm not going to disagree with you there. [ Any more than she's not disagreed with Jason and Dick's concerns over both of the younger boys and what happened. The speculation and consideration. But even if it is true? Coming at either of them forcefully isn't going to work. It never has. Not in any world she knows of. ]

Damian's new to Etraya again. A lot younger suddenly than he was last month, or back home. Back to a time when the most important thing to him was proving he was useful and belonged. Which, for a long time, came out at some drastic extremes first, like you already saw.

[ Then. Conveniently.
With a gesture to a fallen log. ]

Do you mind if I sit? It was a bit of a walk getting here.

So jumping me was useful? [A roll of his eyes, despite the fact that Jason feels both of those urges deep in his soul. He ran off partially because he anticipated that he would be seen as useless again.]

Whatever, do what you want, I don't care.

[Jason finishes brushing all the detritus off of his tent before remaining standing near it.]

[ Barbara takes a seat, and starts pulling things out, laying them on the log next to her and the wide open other side of it. Water bottles, those sandwiches, and the rest. ]

No. I'd classify it more as 'desperate,' 'ill-timed,' 'ill-planned,' and 'missing concrete evidence for action,' though I would ask you not to repeat that. I want us to be honest, but I'm not here to lie about my opinions on any of it, or provide you with ammunition that could hurt my family members, whether they've acted deplorably or not.

That's putting it nicely. [And Jason shrugs noncommitally.] Whatever, I won't tell anyone you think they suck. There?

[Jason doubts the same conditions are being applied to any conversations about him, but he doesn't say it out loud.]

[ Barbara's not sure she considers that putting it nicely, and she knows that it wound, and insult Damian somewhat at the level where he needs deeply to be accepted by all of them at this age. Where the slightest implication of 'not being good' only equaled that 'no one would keep him' in his mind. They've come so far, and it's easier to identify so much of it in retrospect. In a lot of ways, both boys are so incredibly alike, she's starting to think. ]

Thank you. [ She took one of the sandwhiches and started unwrapping it. ] I acknowledge that it's all been greatly mishandled, and what happened never should have happened to you, but there are people here who care about what you're going through. There've been people being pulled in from our worlds since Etraya first opened, and most of the time, it's almost too assumed we're all ready to work together from the first blush.

Edited 2025-07-04 14:49 (UTC)

Oh fuck off. [Jason rolls his eyes again at the mention of people caring. He knows Chrissy cares and that's about it. When has trusting people ever gotten him anywhere?] I'm not gonna listen to this crap. Don't come out all this way just to spoon-feed me garbage.

[Jason shakes out his tent again and is about two seconds from going back inside and ignoring Barbara's presence.]

[ She takes, and finishes, a bite of her sandwhich before responding. Showing that she's in no hurry to be huffy or hurt by his words. She raised two wildly different Batgirls and basically 'parented' them through their roughest and most triumphant times. You can't have one without the other. Not among their family.

(Not unless you were Barbara Gordon.)

You can't expect an abandoned person to embrace you. ]

Would you rather I came out here to tell you off for a fight you didn't start?

Edited 2025-07-04 15:39 (UTC)

Didn't stop them. [Jason hisses back, lingering near the opening to his tent.]

I'm not them.

[ It really is that simple.
She's not, and she never has been.
She had her own trajectory always. ]

Neither are you.

It's not a bad thing,
it just is what it is.

Thanks, Leslie. [Another eye roll before Jason starts to duck back into his tent to start packing up again.] Any other great advice?

[ Barbara eats another bite of her sandwich slowly, not panicking in any visible fashion as he keeps getting nearer and nearer to disappearing into the tent. Half of the boy's problem four days ago was that they kept pressing even after he'd shut down entirely.

She doesn't ignore it. She's watching Jason do it.

Calmly. She swallows. Doesn't move. ]

Yeah. Just one.

Make sure to see a doctor or one of the medbots before the end of the week.

You've six to eight weeks before it fully heals, but going without a nasal splint, at least while you're sleeping, or consistent medical verification and repositioning will increase the likelihood of your nose healing crooked. You don't deserve to be staring at that in every mirror, thinking about this for the rest of your life.

[Jason pops his head back out of the tent at the medical advice. He's expected a lecture about being nicer to the bats or some other absurdity, but this is actually helpful. He fully emerges from the tent and gently feels around his nose.]

When I get back into town I'll do that.

Yeah.

[ There's a small nod, and shift of one shoulder.
An easy-ish shrug to go with her relaxed posture. ]

Most of the puffiness should be gone now, but it's no fun having it re-cracked to get it re-set because you decide you're too cool for medical advice. [ A beat. Then. ] Speaking from experience here. No insult intended. [ Not that you can tell, even close up. But that's the point. She got it fixed. She followed the stupid rules. It just hurt like a bitch letting a medical team break, again, first. ] I'm guessing this is your first?

Yeah. [Jason starts, then stops.] I mean, I've gotten hit in the face like a dozen time, but this is the first broken nose.

[He shifts to possibly sit on the log opposite her before changing his mind to focus on the dwindling fire.]

[ Barbara doesn't let the edges of her mouth twitch.
She takes another bite of her sandwich. Nodding again. ]

First is the worst—just a kind of red haze blinding. Not saying any later ones are better, or that anyone needs more than one, but you don't worry about those smaller floating bone fragments as much. The occasional difficulty breathing during it becomes normal, and you already know to expect bloody noses. And the punch-dodging, which you're also going to need to get good at in the next two months.

If the time clock holds and our next mission is right in the middle of that.
There's no telling whether we'll have anything like medical out there.

[ She makes a mental note to have backup medical supplies for him in her pack. ]

[That's a lot of information that Jason soaks up.] Chrissy already reset it.

[Or tried to. Jason doesn't realize that he's revealing someone he trusts to a Bat he doesn't trust.]

I don't think it's too bad. It's the concussion that has me fucked up.

[ Well. That narrows one list. ]

Not really the best place for the rehabilitation of one of those, either. [ Barbara looks around the open grounds of the forest. And the little tent. Consideringly. It's shitty. But it could be worse. He got to the light-intensity activity early on getting out here, which is a good sign. Even his moving around right now is. It's flat ground. It's sunlit but with cover. (Not on fire, not being trampled, idiots won't come for him in the night here.) Before going back to him. ]

You're moving slowly but not inhibited. Your senses are still sharp.
I'm assuming the dizziness and headache are a yes, in general.

Any memory loss or changes to your vision? Taste? Smell?

Uh. [Jason feels a bit uncomfortable with saying anything that might come off at a weakness to someone who is clearly connected to the belfry that assaulted him.]

Yeah, got a headache. Some dizziness. Got some issues trying to focus my eyes on stuff. Like a single point. Can't seem to get my eyes to work together.

[ Her mouth presses for a moment.
It's not anger, but concern. ]

That's not great, Jason.

[ Her voice strives for evenness,
but she can't quite tell if it hits. ]

It usually falls under brain fog.

Do you have anyone checking on you out there? [ She raises the hand—with the sandwhich (which flops about a little)—to ward off his first response. ] I'm not asking for names or times or anything. Just—do you have someone coming by regularly to make sure you're still able to wake up while you're recovering from it?

[ Someone who has any chance of moving him if he suddenly doesn't. ]

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