we're sick with worry these nerveless days (closed)

[cassassin]

WHO: Cassandra Cain and Tim Drake
WHERE: Wayne Manor
WHEN: early January
WHAT: TDM continuation, family reunion
WARNINGS: the kids aren't alright



[ that gets her to look up at him, brows raised. yeah, she knows she comes back to gotham eventually, she knows that steph takes batgirl, and it makes sense that she'd leave again, but... ]

... I don't... speak Cantonese?

[ .... yeah that's where she's starting. but after a beat she shakes her head. she had just been desperate to change the subject when she asked him that, and it doesn't. quite. seem like tim's eager to give her glimpses of the future. ]

Actually, umm. Want me to... catch you up, first?

Comments

[alreadywon]

You manage. [He can't tell her the details because he doesn't know the details, exactly, but she wouldn't be there if she couldn't handle it.

The request, though - that's what he needs.] Please. Apparently it's been... a couple years since I was here last.

i thought i hit send on this like 20 minutes ago

[cassassin]

[ she nods. ]

Right. [ siiiip. ] I, uh... Bruce got hurt. Back in February. Mission in space. Was in... a coma, for about a month. After that, for a while... amnesia...

[ she shrugs. ] You know what happened. Worn it for almost a year. Uh... Bruce left a while ago. A Jason's here. Not ours. Barbara was here... [ and there's a little bit of a wince at that. she looks at her fingers and flexes them a bit, wishing she had one of her fidget toys on hand as she tries to rattle off the other quick hits that aren't public record. ]

Jaime's... still here. And a Justice League. We're running it.

[alreadywon]

[Okay, that's... a lot, in not very much detail, but it gives him an idea of what he needs to get more information on. The space mission is intriguing, but he'll get back to that in a few minutes or something.]

Is Jason someone we need to be worried about?

[cassassin]

He's... behaving. Hasn't been a problem.

[alreadywon]

[Yeah. Tim's... suspicious of that.] Not taking over any gangs?

[cassassin]

[ she shakes her head. ]

I'd know.

[alreadywon]

Okay. That's... news, at least.

[Tim will have to keep an eye on it.]

What about this mission in space?

[cassassin]

[ a nod and a hum of acknowledgement, as she looks down towards her coffee. ]

I wasn't... okay, when I came back. Bruce grounded me for a while. Until I could... get my head right. There was a mission, weeks after. Armed satellites to take out. [ her mouth twists at the memory. ] Wasn't ready to... do this, again. And I got pinned down. He got me out, but he...

[alreadywon]

[He's quiet while she talks, letting her take her time and trail off when she wants to.] We don't have to talk about it now, if you don't want.

sorry tims so fucking ugly in this icon

[cassassin]

It's... [ she sighs, running a hand back through her hair. ]

Yeah. Let's move on. Sorry.

[alreadywon]

[Did he call that wrong? Crap.] Nothing to be sorry about, I just didn't want to push you to talk if you didn't want to. [He's trying to be emotionally intelligent okay!! It doesn't come all that natural to most Bats.]

[cassassin]

No, no, I... don't. Not that. [ a nod. ] But when I took Batman, I... started therapy. With Harley. She ported out though, still have to... [ little wave of her hand. ]

[alreadywon]

[Thank god he hadn't just had a sip of his coffee because they almost had A Mess there.] With Harley?

[cassassin]

Could've been Crane. [ sip. just saying, tim. ]

[alreadywon]

There are more therapists available than those two.

[Then, quieter:] I started seeing one.

[cassassin]

[ she reaches across the table, resting a hand on tim's wrist. ]

Good. More of us... should, probably. They're good?

[alreadywon]

I guess so. Yeah. I don't really have much of a basis for comparison, but things got... bad for a while.

[And now they're better. Kind of. Things are weird again, what with losing two and a half years and all.]

[cassassin]

What happened? If you... want to talk about it.

[alreadywon]

[Well.

He had been trying a Thing where he actually talks to people he trusts, honestly, about his problems instead of balling everything up until it manifests in clinical depression. And that still applies or something, right?]

Like I said, things were bad. And - I was in this coffee shop, and an empath came in and - felt what I felt, I guess? So she came over and told me she was worried and offered me her card if I thought I might want to talk to someone or get help finding someone. And... I took her up on the offer, eventually.

[cassassin]

[ she nods. not the part she'd meant, but--y'know what, it's something, she'll take it. ]

Good. And you can... always talk to me, too.

[alreadywon]

Thanks, Cass.

[He appreciates it, honestly. He might even work on taking her up on it.]

And you can talk to me about stuff, too.

[cassassin]

[ she nods with a little smile, and considers for a moment. just a moment.

yeah, fuck it, she'll tell him. it's not something she's been hiding in the slightest, after all. she can just see it going in a couple of different awkward directions, if he asks any "how'd you figure it out" sort of questions. and not telling him would-- really, what would be the point of that? cassandra gestures with a roll of her wrist, kind of a nonverbal segue into what she says next. ]

I'm gay, Tim.

[alreadywon]

[ - Well, he did tell her she could talk to him about stuff. This isn't what he expected, but it's not bad or anything. He's just... surprised, and he has no doubt she can tell even when he's kind of trying to hide it.]

That's - that's cool.

[cassassin]

[ yeah she realizes as soon as she said it that it was probably too out of left field. cass laughs a little. ]

Too much?

[alreadywon]

Just... unexpected. Um. [Don't fuck this up, don't fuck this up.] How long have you known?

[cassassin]

[ she blows some hair out of her face, thinking. all good so far, tim. ]

March.

[alreadywon]

Well, um. It's cool that you told me.

[He's nailing this. Right?]

[cassassin]

Would've... found out either way. Not a secret.

[ more or less. and she's... also very bad at this, tim. is that obvious. it should be.

wait. something occurs to her. something she should have thought to ask before. she waves a hand, expression shifting, turning a little more grim and worried. still just as abrupt. ]

Kon. Is he...? [ you know. alive or dead. ]

[alreadywon]

[Well, that sure is an even more abrupt change of topic, and it catches him off-guard again.] He's alive. I actually saw him not that long ago. Did no one tell you...?

[cassassin]

[ that gets her to relax. ]

No, um--I didn't know he died. Until Barbara told me. But when I... first got here, he remembered the Crisis. Was from after. And didn't... mention it, so I wasn't...

[ she had been left horribly unsure if that kon was even theirs. ]

[alreadywon]

There was a Kon around from the Young Justice days for a while when I was here last. But yeah, he's back at home. Rejoined the Titans. And, uh, so did I, recently.

[cassassin]

Remember him, too. That was weird. [ that gets a look, though. ] How's that going?

[alreadywon]

I don't know. It really only just happened, but - good, I think.