[OTA] They say this is the city of angels

[spoileralert]

WHO: Stephanie Brown
WHERE: The Inn
WHEN: Dec 21
OPEN TO: All
WARNINGS: Violence, a noose necklace, breaking bones (in link and text)

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Steph is sitting down to eat lunch in the dining room for a change when the message arrives. She frowns to see the sender section left blank. Who would be contacting her anonymously? She doesn't know all that many people, and she's made a bit of a point not to stand out herself.

Naturally curiosity gets the better of her, and the video begins to play as the message is opened.

Her face peeks out of a tattered cowl, the bat ears the only parts that don't look like they've seen better days. Steph herself has definitely seen better days-- she looks maybe an inch from unconsciousness, the beginnings of a bruise already showing next to her bloody nose.

Above and behind her stands a man in brown linens, what appears to be a fitted burlap sack over his face and a noose hanging limp around his neck. There are holes for his eyes and mouth, though the mouth is stitched into the shape of an ugly grin. There are ropes tied around his arms and legs too, seemingly decorate in nature. His voice is high pitched and grounding, like his throat has been torn from too much screaming.

"Shh," he tells her. "I'll make this quick."

A voice sounds, distant, like a recording in the girl's ear. It's a woman's voice, insistent, with just a touch of fear tinging it.

"Batgirl! Wake up!"

Steph rallies with a gasp, her eyes shooting open just as the Scarecrow raises his foot to stomp on her skull. She snatches it just as it begins to lower.

"Maybe not," she says, and snaps his foot sideways with an audible crack.

It's only 15 seconds of footage, but she has to play it again. She stares at the watch, trying to wrap her head around any part of what she just saw. The one coherent thought that arises is Babs called me Batgirl.

Her lunch sits untouched for several minutes.

[ Later ]

In the evening she can be found on the inn's roof, playing the message over and over. It's given her a lot to think about, most of it questions. She doesn't know how she feels, only that she feels a lot. It may not be the most private of places to think, but the height gives her that touch of comfort she needs to process.

Comments

[spoileralert]

She raised an eyebrow at him, half amused.

"They say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. You were trying to do something good, weren’t you, when things went wrong? Besides, for all you know I make fun of you behind your back.

[plate_builder]

"They went so far beyond wrong..." Reeve answered, and the way he slouches, the darkness in his gaze, the way his hands fold in his lap and his fingers grip at each other.

This was not a subject he was going to go in to at this time. He could not. Maybe... Maybe another day.

"I do not doubt that you do, Steph," he answered as he tried to calm himself, to banish the memories of what he had wrought by improving mako reactors so much. And all the things he failed to protect. And not being able to stop Deep Ground. All the lives time and time again lost, and how many could be laid at his feet?

His mother's for one. His father's.

"You remind me very much of a friend of mine. Her name is Yuffie Kisaragi, and she's a princess. Also a ninja. And a talented thief. Those descriptions of course I would not apply to you," he continued, seeming to brighten a bit at the reference to the other young woman he knew. And, of course, he didn't know how some of those could apply to Steph. "But she would talk about anyone behind their backs. Sometimes it just meant she cared."

[spoileralert]

Steph empathized deeply, feeling her own heart wrench as she remembered the gang war, the bodies, the fires in the streets. Maybe this wasn’t Hell, but she felt she’d just barely avoided it. She reached out to put a hand on his arm, just to let him know she understood. She drew it back when he changed the subject, smiling weakly.

"Of course you wouldn’t. I might ninja-kick your ass. I wouldn’t talk about you for any bad reasons, at least."

[plate_builder]

"So are you implying that your talking about me behind my back is a good thing?" Reeve countered. "What if I don't want my reputation to proceed me? What if I want to sneak up on people?"

But at least he's got something akin to a smile at this point.

[spoileralert]

"It's for your own good," she informed him sagely.

"You clearly need a chaperone."

[plate_builder]

And now Reeve was laughing. Hard. How wonderful of an idea. He needed a chaperone.  “I would think I am at least a decade your elder, my young friend, if not two. I have gotten by on my own so far.”

[spoileralert]

"Gotten by, sure, but still clueless and out of shape," she reminded him. He had given her plenty of ammo in their conversations.

I think this one might be good to wrap too

[plate_builder]

"Hey!" Reeve protested. He wasn't out of shape. Just not in the sort of shape she expected of him apparently. "Unless you think you can improve my conditioning, I challenge you to come up with a better routine for me."

o7

[spoileralert]

"Challenge accepted," she declared, and leaned forward to focus the conversation on Reeve’s exercise needs.