dualislogs | They say it's your birthday.

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They say it's your birthday.

WHO: Tim Drake and OPEN
WHAT: It's Tim's birthday. That doesn't mean he has to acknowledge it.
WHERE: Various Locations through Dualis
WHEN: July 19
WARNINGS: None yet!

Tim hasn't actually forgotten that it's his birthday. It's happened before and he'd been roundly mocked for it, but that's not the case today. It's just that he doesn't want to do anything about it. He gets up early and ducks out so that Cissie can't rope him into a birthday breakfast or something, and decides to spend the day really getting to know the new city he's found himself in.

It's not Gotham--nothing else could be--but there are parts of it that almost seem familiar, and he doesn't think he's going to have a chance to get bored here. People are people, no matter where and when they are, and there's always going to be something for a civically minded vigilante to do when they get together in numbers like these.

He finds the chess players in the park and watches for a while, then plays a few rounds with some strangers. He wanders through neighborhoods, and eventually even makes his way to a beach. Opts not to go swimming.

He knows he can't avoid Cissie and Steph and his birthday forever, but he feels like he's doing a pretty good job right now.

[Feel free to find Tim at any of the locations listed above, or any other place you think he might wander! He'll be eating foods and looking around getting to know the layout of the city, so anything is game! Even potentially rooftops if it's late enough!]

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Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne

where. are. you.

[Busted.]

Um. The park?

And did you sleep in the park?

No...I got up a little early? Nice sunrise today.

[Get up early? Stay up all night? It is a mystery.]

So what you mean is that you didn’t sleep at all. Did you even come back to the dorms last night?

[I am shocked. Shocked to find that there is gambling going on in this institution.]

What? Of course I slept!

So you waited until you knew I would be asleep before you came back to the room, and then you got up like an hour later to get up and out before sunrise.

...I feel like I'm in trouble right now. Am I in trouble?

You’re in trouble if you were trying to avoid me.

I wasn't avoiding you. I mean, if I were, I probably wouldn't have told you where I was when you asked, right?

[Cissie? No. Birthday stuff? Hell yes.]

That depends. Are you still in the park? Are you planning on staying there all day? Or would you be elsewhere if I were on my way to you right now?

I am still in the park and I can stay here if you're on your way.

But no, I wasn't planning to be here all day.

I'm just saying it sure feels like you were actively trying to avoid me

Just getting some fresh air and a better handle on this city. I swear there are places that look almost like Gotham until you look again and it's different. It's weird.

That's funny. I've thought the same thing, just not about Gotham. It's weird.

[Don't look now, Tim, but Cissie is on her way to find you in the park. She's a little annoyed, because dammit Tim, she had a good birthday surprise for you. But she's also not terribly surprised, given--Tim. She spots him and takes a small bag of gummi candies out of her pocket, tossing them at the back of head.]

[Tim knew that Cissie was eventually going to come and find him, but he'd somehow been under the impression that she would tell him she was on her way. The bag of gummi candies lands, and bounces off his head. He turns to look at her, raising an eyebrow.]

"Hello" would probably have been just as effective.

[He stoops to rescue the bag of candy and gives her a little grin.]

Thanks.

[ Steph isn't far behind. Surprising Tim has always been kinda 50/50. She doesn't have a bag of candy, though- she has a box of cupcakes in a bag and a 'brick' of Hershey bars taped together in one hand. ]

Aww, I was gonna do that.

[ She drops the chocolate back into the bag. ]

You're such a spoilsport, Tim.

[Cissie shrugs, looking anything but apologetic, though she does smile over her shoulder at Steph.]

I'm sorry, Mr. Doors-Are-Too-Boring-For Me, but some days call for more than a "hello." We were going to make you a birthday breakfast, but you spoiled that one. So it's candy to the head for you, instead.

Doors are too boring for me. [He grins at them.] And even birthdays can start with a "hello." Thank you for the candy. And the... hopefully candy? brick. [He smirks a little at Steph.]

Only one way to find out.

[ There are definitely more ways to find out, but she offers Tim the bag. The cupcakes are appropriately birthday themed. ]

Technically, birthdays should start with "Happy Birthday." And you didn't even ask what was for breakfast.

[She moves to sit on a nearby bench, watching him open the bag from Steph.]

What was for breakfast?

[The question is genuine as he opens the bag and looks inside to see the chocolate and the cupcakes. Ooh, cupcakes. He takes out the box and opens it, offering it toward them.]

Want one?

[Because he is definitely going to have one.]

You know I do.

[ She definitely didn't buy cupcakes specifically because they're both portable and easily-shared. She picks a chocolate one carefully out of the box and takes a bite that is 100% icing. ]

Yes, please. [Cissie also takes a chocolate cupcake from the offered box and shrugs, smiling innocently at Tim.]

I mean, there were probably going to be waffles. Definitely omelettes. Fruit. Maybe some bacon. But now, we may never know.

Tim takes out a cupcake for himself and puts the box back in the bag. "Well, now I feel like I made a terrible mistake wandering the city instead of sleeping in." No, he will not admit to avoiding birthday celebrations on purpose. "Waffles and omelettes would have been eggcellent."

Don't throw your cupcakes at him for that. It would be a waste of a good cupcake.

Edited 2019-08-13 03:43 (UTC)

[ Steph groans and rolls her eyes, but she's smiling. Being a sucker for a bad pun is basically a prerequisite for being Robin. ]

There were definitely going to be waffles.

Rooftops after dark are always a part of cities that feel familiar to Jason. It was the same in Wonderland and the unnamed village - why wouldn't it be the same here? Dualis, for all its oddities and differences, still feels more like Gotham than the rest of the places Jason's landed for the last couple of years, and that's a weird thought to recognize.

Gotham is just one of the things on Jason's mind as he sits at the edge of the roof, thinking (not brooding, thanks) with one leg dangling over the ledge and the other bent to prop up his elbow. A half-burnt cigarette rests between his fingers - a bad habit, one he's mostly given up, but Batgirl's not here to chew him out for it this time, and tonight, he just doesn't care.

He senses someone else on the roof with him when Tim arrives, and there's only a select few he can think it might be. Tim is, of course, at the top of that list, so Jason guesses it's him, though it makes no difference to him whether it's Tim or Steph or a stranger come to shove him off the roof.

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the worlds," he says, quietly, with his usual dry tone. He doesn't look to see who's behind him. "You here for the view?"

"I've seen worse."

He can't say he's completely surprised to see Jason up here, any more than he would be to see Steph, or even Cissie (who has been out of the game for a while but it's not like you have to be an active vigilante to enjoy a good rooptop). He moves up next to him, looking out.

"So what do you think?" It's a broad question, but this whole situation is kind of a lot. New city, new world, maybe new universe? Not to mention the dynamics within the city here. And... he's curious about Jason's take. They don't talk. Much.

They don't talk much, and Jason would be inclined to say that's mostly his fault - him and the other Jason Todds of the worlds who've been complete shitsacks to their respective Tim Drakes. Jason never met Tim before Wonderland, but he was told what his alternate selves did, and the secondhand guilt of that knowledge has effectively kept him from trying too hard to approach Tim. What would he say? "Sorry you got stuck with my evil twin"? Nah. Better to just stay out of his way. It's simpler for everyone.

But it's not Jason's style to run away, either, so he makes no move to leave when Tim asks his question. If there's a tentative, awkward peace between them, Jason means to keep it, even if he keeps his intention to himself.

"Tim," he says, acknowledging his successor's presence, and flicks the ash off the end of his cigarette, watching it drift into the wind current below winding around the building. The question is a curious one, and Jason traces his thumb along the edge of his bottom lip as he considers his answer. "I think ... this is the third place I've been tossed since I left Gotham, and at this rate, I dunno that I'm ever gonna go home again." He laughs dryly under his breath; yes, Gotham is his home city, but as far as a home? It's been a long time since he had that, and he's fairly certain it doesn't exist for him to return to anymore.

"Maybe that's for the best." He pauses to take in a lungful of smoke and slowly breathe it out, then glances to Tim and returns his question: "What do you think?"

There's a temptation to comment on cigarettes being bad for one's health and lung capacity, but statements like that are meant for some other Jason in some other time and place. Someplace where they have a history, where maybe he's not trying to make friends.

He lets it go.

"Second for me. Third, if what Cissie says is right, but I guess I got to go home after that one." He doesn't remember it. That doesn't mean he doesn't believe her, but it's hard to claim a shared experience when he can't recall any of it. "I guess the interdimensional travel train keeps on rolling, whether we want it to or not." He should probably be more mad that Cissie and Steph had dragged him along on a new adventure, rather than letting him go back to Gotham, but he's not. Gotham is in good hands. It will still be there when he gets back.

Probably. Assuming he makes it back, which is certainly not a guarantee.

"Hard saying without more information. I know I don't trust the beings in charge here. Kidnapping doesn't exactly bring out my warm and fuzzy side."

"Kidnapping's definitely not the best way to ingratiate yourself with people." Jason nods, thinking back to Gotham and his own stint of kidnapping the Joker to lure Bruce to Crime Alley. That, of course, was different. Jason didn't give a shit about making a good impression, just an effective one.

He pauses to take another inhale from the cigarette, slowly exhale, tap the ash off the end. Should he say what he's thinking of saying? If he were in Tim's place, with memories missing, Jason would want to know. So he continues:

"You were there in Wonderland with us. Damian too, but he disappeared soon after I got there. You were just a kid, and I had no idea who you were."

Jason stares out at the illuminated skyline, remembering that meeting in the library as the lit end of the cigarette smolders and the heat climbs closer to his fingers.

"It's probably better that you don't remember being there, 'cause I wasn't exactly the nicest guy in the world when you told me who you were."

He smiles thinly. "The more things change." He shakes his head a little. It's possible it could have gone as badly as it had in the past Tim does remember, but he feels like Cissie probably would have said something about it by now if it had. "As long as it didn't devolve into any major injuries, it probably went better than the ones I do remember."

And the less said about Damian the better, so--

"Sounds like you've been all over the Multiverse."

Yeah, Jason wasn’t overly enamored with Damian, even if Jon did say that Damian considered both him and Tim brothers. And while he may’ve said that to Jon, Damian was nothing but abrasive and confrontational with him, so. Yeah, the less said.

Jason frowns, looks down at his cigarette, and grinds it out on the rooftop ledge next to him. “Nah, no injuries,” he says, tone even more deflated. “I said I’d use your face as a punching bag if you got in my way, and you said you didn’t make a good punching bag, ‘cause you fight back.” Jason huffs a nearly-silent laugh and leans back with his hands propped behind him, both legs now stretched out to dangle over the ledge.

“Cissie told me what happened back in Gotham when I came back and found you wearing the suit.” He shakes his head. “That was real shitty.”

Which is about as close as he can get to an outright apology, at the moment. Happy birthday?

He blinks in surprise. It must be his birthday, because this is not a conversation he could ever have imagined having with Jason, even considering their current circumstances. He'd wanted it, or something like it, but had never been able to envision it, considering how well they didn't get along every time they happened to be in the same room.

He gives Jason a wry smile. "I got a few of my own in. Younger me was right--I don't make a very good punching bag. And that sounds exactly like something I would say if you had said that to me, so points for it probably being this version of me, rather than some other Tim Drake." Which is possible, but he can't help thinking about what Billy had said--about how it might not be that unusual for people who were scooped up in some weird multiverse adventure to keep on landing together in similar adventures. It seems to make some sense. He and Cissie and Jason had been together in Wonderland, then the Village, now here with a lot of the people from there. Maybe they'll just keep rolling down the hill of the Multiverse, collecting more and more people like some kind of freakish snowball.

He shakes his head, dismissing the thoughts. "Anyway, what happened back home? It was a long time ago."

Jason huffs a quiet laugh. "I would expect nothing less from another Robin."

For once, it doesn't hurt as much to acknowledge that he and Tim both held the same title, even if Tim did get to a point of considering both Dick and Bruce his friends, while Jason only had the bitter taste of disinterest left in his mouth from his post-resurrection interactions with them. Jason's always been an outsider, after all, so maybe it shouldn't have been so much of a shock to discover (in his perception) that he'd been unmourned and his death remained unavenged. And with time and distance to mull it all over, he can see that none of that is Tim's fault, so he shouldn't be punished for it simply by association.

"Besides, it sounds like I'm the one who started shit, so I'm sure I deserved it."

Tim... can't argue that. For all that he has been a willing participant in his and Jason's little feud in the years since it started, he definitely had not initiated it. There's been so much between them that hearing Jason call him Robin instead of "Replacement," and without sarcasm, is surprisingly affecting. It gets past his guard more than any of his other interactions with Jason have done, and he give him little grin. "One does what one can." His tone is pure Alfred, inviting Jason to share the joke.

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