bodyreads | 001: entrance (video)

Entry tags:

001: entrance (video)

[The video starts rolling with Cassandra peering intently into the camera, knowing she'll have some sort of audience. She may not exude any sort of insecurity in the way she looks at the feed, but she does seem curious enough. She's been around, watching people be pirates ~~and being one herself~~. But now that that's all finished with, she can finally address the group at large.

The trouble is that Cass has never been much of a talker. She's not going to get any better in front of several strangers.

Instead of shying away from the prospect, however, she does her best. She lifts a hand in greeting.]

I'm Cassandra. I'm a new warden here.

[A warden without an inmate, since she doesn't add anyone onto her description just yet.]

I'm still...learning this place. [Seeing, knowing where to go.] I'll get it eventually.

[She found the gym, what more do you people want.]

But I'm here to help. And...I'll be around.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Hey Cass, have a familiar face! Who maybe looks a little younger than the guy running around back home right now ~~who the hell can tell with these comic book ages anyway right~~ but yes. It's Dick, hello, he's happy to see you. c:]

Fancy seeing you here.

[He gets her attention almost immediately, and she starts to say something when she pauses. Why does he look so young?]

Dick?

[Questions linger in her gaze.]

You're here too.

[Safe. Happy to see her. Younger.]

[He's basically used to the whole "you're from the past and we're used to you being a literal dick" thing by now, so his expression changes to border on apologetic, or maybe just sheepish.]

Yep. I'm a little bit time displaced compared to most people from our world on board, but it's me. [And then swapping filters just in case.]

[Private]

What brings you here? [What horrible stuff is going on back home that means you decided to come here. :c]

[She looks him over with avid curiosity, mostly from her conversation with Stephanie. He doesn't seem particularly worried about her uncertainties.

After a moment, she relaxes and gives him a smile, albeit faint.]

Yeah, it's you. [Can't mistake that sheepish smile.]

I...came to help. To be a part of something. [To make her own path now that she's no longer 'Batgirl'.]

[Well, that's a relief, at least, that she's not here because someone was in danger or another city had been destroyed, and so Dick relaxes and smiles more honestly.] Glad to know I pass inspection.

And don't let Steph fool you, I've been brought up mostly to speed. [He thinks, for the most part, but who really knows considering Tim's level of Paranoid Freak.] At least with most of the big stuff.

[That gets him another smile, one more at ease this time.]

What was the last thing you remember from home?

I was just getting back from the trip Bruce, Tim and I took after that whole fiasco with Alexander Luthor and Superboy Prime. I didn't really know what I was planning on doing with myself, so when the Admiral offered me a deal, I said sure and I've been here for a little over a year, now.

[Though the timeline discrepancies bother her, it's more that he, Steph, and Tim have been here for so long and she never noticed. How can they be switched out without anyone taking note, not even Bruce?]

That's a long time.

[So maybe it's time for another question.]

Are you...all of you...okay?

[There's a beat where Dick considers how best to answer that.]

Yeah, I think so. I mean, this is no Gotham and there are times I'm really homesick, but we all do okay, for the most part.

But...nothing's happened to you.

[No one's been grievously hurt, no one's been killed, and she doesn't have to think about her family being dead...right?]

[Don't worry Cass, you never have to hear about the time Tim was evil and shot and killed Dick as we are never speaking of that again. :U]

I'm fine, I promise. And don't worry, Tim and Steph are pretty good about keeping themselves out of trouble.

Or, you know, getting in trouble and keeping things under control anyway.

[What. No. What happened there? |( ]

Yeah. That...sounds like them.

[And that's a very genuinely pleased smile on her face. It might have been some time since she's seen them, but it's still good to be back with her family and to know they're safe.]

What have we been doing to help the people here?

[HORRIBLE, UNSPEAKABLE THINGS. ~~Meaning Titans Tomorrow Tim~~.]

Well, a lot of stuff, I guess is the best way to put it. Tim's graduated an inmate already, and Steph and I are working on it with two of our own. Steph is assigned to Wanda Maximoff, I'm working with a guy who goes by Rorschach, Tim's waiting for his next assignment. We try to help out when crisis situations pop up - which they do, every once and a while - and I've been offering self defense lessons to anyone who wants them, which I'm pretty sure Steph and Tim have been doing too. We're all on call with the infirmary in case they need extra hands to patch up injuries for whatever reason, and then really just being here and talking with some of the inmates or even other wardens helps out a lot.

[And Steph's told her the extent that people know their identities and have reacted to it. The only problem is that Cass has a great deal fewer social skills than they do, but she's also more of a fighter. It might be harder for her to keep what she's capable of a secret...but she can still provide assistance.]

Okay.

[She'll get it, slowly but surely.]

How dangerous have your inmates been?

[Pffft Dick has no room to talk, he might have in a time of everything falling apart worn his suit on a mostly public video feed. >>]

Not very. My first one was a former undercover cop from Boston. We'd fight sometimes, but - not to toot my/our own horns - he wasn't anywhere near what we're capable of. He wasn't a killer and honestly, I really don't think he deserved to be here in the first place. He needed help, but not the kind of help you get here. More like a stable environment with people who care about you and not feeling like you need to keep looking over your shoulder because someone's coming to kill you. [Which is. The opposite of what this place does, usually.]

Rorschach... is a slightly different story. He's from a world kind of like ours, and he was a vigilante, but he doesn't have our "No Kill" philosophy, so he's definitely capable of being extremely dangerous if he wants to be. But he doesn't go around attacking people, he's definitely not Harvey Dent level crazy, and I'd say we get along really well. I've liked working with him so far.

[Niiiiiice, Dick.]

He doesn't sound like he should be here. Or be an inmate.

[The cop just sounds like a misguided person. But Rorschach... Cass looks thoughtful before she says anything about him for a moment.]

You two are opposites. It's going to be a challenge. [Dick can do it, she knows.]

[HEY IT WAS A CRISIS AND TIM WAS IN DANGER :c]

Yeah exactly. He's not anymore. That happens, sometimes, to wardens and inmates. They vanish without realizing it even happened. Sometimes they come back and sometimes they don't. [And Costigan hasn't but THAT'S OKAY because any emo feelings about that have been repressed.]

And yeah, it's definitely been interesting. But I'd like to think we can all be a positive example for him. I mean, we've all been through a lot, but I'd like to think we're all still pretty positive people, when it really comes down to it.

[NO EXCUSES. BRUCE WOULD BE DISPLEASED.]

And they...don't remember?

[That makes rehabilitation a little harder but it also puts a strain on the idea that they might not be able to keep the friends they make here.

At his 'positive people' comment, Cass smiles once more.]

He knows the others too?

[Hey Bruce told Crane he was Batman and got pissed when Dick yelled at him, he has no room to talk here.]

It depends. Everything's very situational here when it comes to that sort of thing. Most of the graduates remember, and wardens who have completed deals. [Which makes it a little easier, but it's definitely crummy to know he's going to go home eventually, do crummy things and then have to make up for it all all over again.]

Not exactly? He knows Tim's my younger brother, and I bet he's at least seen Steph around, but I'm not sure how much he's talked to either of them. He does know what I actually do for a living, plus that I used to be a cop, which is what I tell most people if they ask. A couple people know the whole story - off the top of my head, Jim Kirk, Shego, Parker, the Doctor, Buffy Summers knows parts of it and I guess Claire Bennett does now too, somehow - but most people seem fine with just accepting I'm a cop and Tim and Steph are very competent high school/college students.

[SIGH. You boys.]

That's...good.

[If most people remember, then there's less of a chance for things to get screwed up. But she nods, listening as he speaks.]

Very competent students.

[Hoo boy, that's a good one. But she's still going to need to be careful.]

And the Riddler?

[SINCE HE'S MAKING ASSUMPTIONS...]

[Dick doesn't quite make a face about that? But his expression definitely makes it clear how annoying/frustrating he finds that whole thing.]

Yeah, he knows. Basically everything. There's an alternate version of Jonathan Crane on board too who- [Bruce told too much to for no good reason but NOT GETTING INTO THAT TRAINWRECK Dick is still mad about it. :V] Knows some stuff about us and might be suspicious of you, but he shouldn't know who you are.

Riddler was here as a warden, but I'm pretty sure he's come back as a inmate. I don't know what's going on back home with him, but he should be closer to you timeline-wise than he is to me. [Which kind of begs the question of shouldn't you know that already, are you not in Gotham anymore, why is the future so awful but. Mostly good at ignoring that angst by now. :c]

I'm pretty sure Steph's told her inmate, and Tim's old one, David, knew a lot. Actually, to be honest, he knew way too much because apparently - and I've seen them, it's weird - we're comic book characters in his world? And he really didn't understand that just because we were fictional where he was from doesn't mean we're actually fictional. People are usually not that bad about trying to tell you you're not real? But I've kind of taken to not introducing myself as Dick Grayson from Gotham City until I get to know the person better.

[Because she's not in Gotham anymore and she doesn't even know if he knows HER... IT'S NOT AWFUL, SHE PROMISES sort of.

But really, she takes the information in stride, remembering.]

You can...be a warden and then come back as an inmate?

[Cass is silent on the next part for a long, long time.]

...Comic book characters.

Apparently. It doesn't happen often, but then again Riddler wasn't really a great warden, so. [Honestly he isn't all that surprised about it, so moving right along.]

Yeah, hold on-

[He gets up, but leaves the video feed still running to go rummaging around in his apartment for a few minutes, before coming back with a copy of Nightwing #25 and holding it up to the camera.]

It's seriously the weirdest thing. There are also some movies, too, and a TV Show, but they're all pretty bad and not really accurate at all, and the three of you aren't in them, from what I've seen.

[She peers curiously down at the comic book, one eyebrow slowly lifting in skepticism. Comic books. TV shows. Movies. It's a little mindblowing, but at the same time, he did say that they weren't accurate.

She frowns.]

How many people are aware of these? And us?

[He lowers the comic and puts it off to the side. He honestly doesn't like to think too hard about what the other ones must be like.]

I couldn't really give you a full count. Most people don't seem to have an encyclopedic knowledge of it, but every once and a while someone will raise an eyebrow about Gotham or something.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

001: entrance (video)

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]

[video | private]