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[prodigaljaybird]

It's strange to be outside again after so long spent indoors; first the endless dark of Rapture, and then the shuttered quiet of his own bedroom. He's seen the sunlight in bits and snatches, trickles through the slatted walls of the hut and shining through the door, but no more than that.

It feels good. Warm on his face when Jason tips it skyward, comforting. It feels good to know that in spite of the whole world ending, the sun and sky, the trees, the island is still here.

And going on as normal, if the sounds that greet Jason as he shuffles down the boardwalk are any indication. That feels good, too, and Jason feels better for every step he takes. In many ways, he feels like he's been ill, like it was a fever that's kept him indoors and not his own insurmountable dread. He feels raw and worn out, too hollow, but under the sun again...Bucky was right. He feels better.

He has no aim for where he's walking. There are faces he wants to see, but even now, he's afraid to seek them out. What will they say to him, what have they heard, or worse, what if they didn't care to notice he was gone?

The familiar hurt turns in Jason's stomach, and he takes the path not to the Compound, but down to Robin's Gym. Outside of class, the place is like a graveyard, but the wooden structures are familiar and sunlit. As ever when he's here alone, Jason thinks of Tim, and he smiles a little. "Way to miss the fireworks, little brother."

[ooc: wide open to familiar faces~ find him at Robin's Gym or on the way there]

Comments

[curiously-cora.livejournal.com]

Coraline doesn't let go, not when he put his hands up or his arms around her. She's not letting him go not ever. She'd drawn him, the light in the dark and that was what he was to her.

"You can too," Coraline argued, pressing her face against his chest. Jason was one of the few people on the island taller than her and it made hugging him all that easier. She didn't have to crouch for once. "I'll find someone and then they'll come and ground you and you won't be able to do anything fun and it's rubbish. Really, really rubbish."

Coraline sighed, looking up at him curiously with her eyes suspiciously red. She wasn't going to cry. "Where were you?"

[prodigaljaybird]

"Rapture," says Jason. As much as he doesn't want to talk about it, he wants to worsen her distress even less. He doesn't even have the heart to peel her away. "I just needed some time to myself," he says and adds, much quieter after, "Batman's here."

[curiously-cora.livejournal.com]

Coraline normally would have stressed at the unfairness that he got to go exploring Rapture but she was too busy hugging him. He'd de-cling her eventually or she'd let go for now she was quite content to make sure he was all there.

"Well, next time you leave a note saying 'Hey Coraline, I'm going to Rapture and I'm bummed you can't come because people suck but I'll bring you back a keyring or a magnet or something.' You don't just go," Coraline said looking up at Jason with big eyes when he said Batman was here. She knew it. She knew he was Robin. So cool. "Batman? As in Batman-Batman?"

[prodigaljaybird]

"Yeah," Jason exhales, caught up for a moment in the honest wonder in her face. He's spent so long resenting the man, he'd forgotten what it's like to be where she is, where he used to be, lost to hero worship. The goddamn Batman.

"The real thing. We used to know each other."

[curiously-cora.livejournal.com]

"You knew him? I knew it, I knew you were Robin. You are, aren't you?" Coraline asked more in awe of him than Batman. Coraline was fan of Robin not Batman. "You're Robin, Jason, you're Robin. I might forgive you for leaving... might. So cool."

[prodigaljaybird]

Jason looks down at her, mouth hanging stupidly open, and thinks to himself with a mental shake not to underestimate Coraline again. "I was," he says, "I was Robin, but I haven't been for a long time. Me and Batman don't get along anymore."

[curiously-cora.livejournal.com]

Jason got an extra tight hug for that, her eyes mostly dry now that she was in awe of Jason. Pulling away Coraline looked up at Jason brightly, making a face at him.

"You don't stop being Robin. I mean, you can but you can't not really. You'll always be Robin, which is a good thing because Robin is the coolest thing ever. Much cooler than Batman." Coraline said honestly. "Does Batman get on with anyone though?"

[prodigaljaybird]

Jason bursts out laughing. "Point," he says when he has his breath, wrung out from it but pleasantly so this time. Bucky was right, it's good for him to be out and among people again. "He doesn't, really." Just Alfred. "My name at home was the Red Hood. Call me that if you want, I don't think he'd be too thrilled with you calling me Robin."

[curiously-cora.livejournal.com]

"He can be not thrilled with me. You're Robin too," Coraline said, making a face at the idea of calling Jason anything but Jason or Robin. Even Dick was always Robin to Coraline. Nightwing was a stupid name. "Is Red Hood a bird too? I'm going to call you Jason unless you're wearing a costume. Do you have a costume? Is it as cool as Robin's?"