(no subject)

[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

[prodigaljaybird]

Jason shakes his head, moving forward on the path now that she's caught up. Stupid as it is, he feels better for not staying in any one place too long. "We don't get along," he says, then, wetting his lips, adds, "He's Batman."

[madeofstories.livejournal.com]

"What do you mean 'he's Batman'?" Grace asks, not following. Does he like to dress at Baman? Maybe Jason's father actually thinks he is Batman. She can't really imagine what it'd be like to have a father who's gone mad, but she can only imagine that id' be awful.

[prodigaljaybird]

"I mean he's the Batman, Grace," says Jason. There are people on the island who react like they've heard of him, even when they're not from Jason's world, like somehow, Batman's legacy is so big it reaches other universes, in myth if not in reality. He'd thought she'd be one of them, but maybe not.

"We're from Gotham. He adopted me when I was eleven."

[madeofstories.livejournal.com]

"Wow," Grace replies, and while she's certain that it's rude of her to frown as she is at his confession, the expression comes to her face without her meaning it to. Of course she's heard of Batman, even if she isn't a reader of comic books at all. It'd be impossible to not hear of him.

But in truth, despite Jason's obvious displeasure with this most recent turn of events, Grace can't help but think that there's an element of it that's not altogether awful. At least, from an outside perspective.

"Would you hate me if I say that's actually kind of cool?" she adds, with a tentative smile.

[prodigaljaybird]

She's even prettier when she smiles, but Jason finds he can't look for long. He shakes his head. "I won't hate you," he says, all his energy for hatred stored up for someone else, but neither will he agree.

[madeofstories.livejournal.com]

"Okay, good," Grace replies, and breathes a small sigh of relief. The horrible thing about it though, is that if her own father had been on the island and someone had called him cool, she's not sure that she would have had the same reaction as Jason's.

"Sorry, it's just that we don't exactly have a Batman where I come from."

She doesn't add on the fact that he's just a character from films and comic books; she's not sure if anyone's told him about all that, and she doesn't want to be the first if that's the case.