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[Steph bites down on a laugh, the sort of laugh that means she's thought of something she probably shouldn't say out loud and is currently debating whether or not she should say it.

....

She's gonna do it.]

It'd be great reading material for someone if you're ever getting railed.

[STEPHANIE.]

( he's quiet for a moment, giving steph a look that says i can't beliebe you went there. before he's giving a loud, barking laugh. a laugh that makes him glad their thugs have left, because they definitely would have heard it. arm around his gut like he's expecting to lose it kind of laugh.

give him a minute to catch his breath. )

That'd sure impress them, wouldn't it? Exactly the kind of impression I'd be wanting to leave 'em with.

Edited 2023-03-09 03:45 (UTC)

[She's going to get a good grade in befriending ex-Robins, something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve.

The fact that she's laughing along with Jason has more to do with her being amused at her own audacity rather than the joke itself.]

Nothing says I'm gonna take this guy home to meet my mom like a confusing tramp stamp message.

( it definitely wasn't something he expected out of her mouth. the laugh dies down but the stupid wide grin stays. congrats steph, he was busy brooding, but jason's not in the mood for it any longer. )

I'll make sure to get it done by an amateur. Messy, bleeding lines. Maybe a butterfly. Just to add to it.

Oh my god.

[They're the worst at stakeouts, it's official, they'd give themselves away within five minutes from all the laughing, because it's Steph's turn at that now.]

A girl at my school got one of those and it was so awful, the butterfly looked like it was drawn by a drunk three year old. If only we could track down her tattoo artist for a repeat performance.

I'll take it.

( hold on he's gotta--raise a hand up to his eye, to shove his palm against it. )

Think we can find someone who could do a convincing temp? Not Robin, that'd ruin it.

There's gotta be someone with illusion powers or something, I'll put some feelers out.

[This is an important use of the connections she's built since arriving in this world.

She wants to ask Jason what superpowers he ended up with, but she realizes a friendly conversation doesn't mean he's going to trust her. Best not to push it in case he gets cagey.

There are more important things to address, anyway.]

Are you expecting you'll get a chance to show it off?

[Why is she like this.]

Nah. 'm all done with that. ( he's still grinning, even if it is a shit topic. at least he's feeling relaxed enough for that. ) I had someone. Not back home, somewhere else. Someone I'd wait for, for as long as it took.

( the he's done makes it pretty clear he's not expecting miracles. )

But showing up to the BatGym ( junior just said gym. but batgym sounds more appropriate. ) with a shoddy tramp stamp just to see their faces when they saw it would be hilarous.

[Add another count to the list of surprising things that Jason has told her. She glances at him with a small, thoughtful frown, trying to decide whether or not this is something she should comment on. From what she knows of Jason, he isn't the type to want pity.]

Sounds like there's a story there.

[It's a gentle opening; he can take it or leave it without needing to worry about ruffling feathers.]

That would be pretty fucking funny, even if it might get you labelled 'tramp stamp Jason' instead of like 'buff Jason' or whatever we decide to go with. Is that a risk you're willing to take?

( it's an avoid unless facts relevant to it are needed story. he already has enough people here who are aware of it, the pity party is inevitable enough as is without adding more people. )

I think the reward is worth the risk. But we might wanna work on establishing which Jason gets what name before it gets messy.

[The lack of further comment tells Steph everything she needs to know, so she just files away that piece of information about Jason with zero plans to bring it up again unless he does first.]

Well, he's been going by Jay at the bar. You can go by 'Son.

[She thinks she's sooooo funny.]

Cute.

( cute as in, fuck that. but he's rolling his shoulders in a loose shrug. so his name's been claimed. not like he uses it much in a legal sense anyway. )

Went by Mal for the better part of the year. I can go back to that.

['Mal' is... a name. Steph seems to be considering it for a moment or two, before she asks the most important question:]

Short for Malarkey?

[Who even uses that word anymore.]

Malory. Maleficent. Malcom. ( it was an "i'm here, assholes" that worked out great in his favor. but it won't have. the same effect he was going for here. ah well. trash malone, he can use it for something different. saves him from adjusting to answering to another name like it's his own. )

Or just Mal. Parents can be pretty fucked up these days.

Edited 2023-03-13 03:13 (UTC)

One of the kids I went to college with has a little brother named Sasuke.

[Does that count as parents being fucked up? Steph doesn't know enough about anime to actually tell exactly how mean that name is.]

Mal does kinda work, not that you actually have to pick another name. We'll figure it out.

[Names are important, and she doesn't want Jason to feel like he has to lose a part of his identity just because someone else was here first.]

I still expect you to call me the ultimate Jason. The Jason to beat all other Jasons.

( steph's reference point of one is sad, but jason can help with that-- )

This's my third. One was a nineteen year old newbie Robin. Second never died, ( well. this is a significantly more serious conversation than he was intending to get into but he opened his mouth first, didn't he? it's fine, they can just laugh it off like they always do. ) but got way more fucked up. That one might've been more of a tie. But I bet I could take this one if I really tried for it. He's still tiny.

[This is certainly not how she anticipated this conversation going, but here they are.

There are about a million questions she wants to ask before deciding that Jason probably won't want to answer them, so she wrinkles her nose instead.]

Please don't try to fight this Jason. You could probably take him, but I actually like him and he'll get all weird and shitty if you guys fight.

[That's a bit of an assumption, though one based on having worked fairly closely with Jason for the past six-ish months. She'd like to think she knows him well enough.]

Boring.

( he'd say i'm not going to fight him but at some point one of them is going to open their mouths and be an asshole and a fight's going to break out. it's the law of being jason todd: at some point you're going to fight with yourself and also everyone else around you. he's learned to accept it for what it is. )

But I'll try not to.

Thank you.

[It does, in fact, sound sincere, although it's slightly undermined by the fact she blows him a kiss.

She'd give him an actual kiss on the cheek, but isn't sure if that would result in a mild stabbing.]

There's plenty of other assholes to pick a fight with. You'd be everyone's new best friend if you kicked Fantastic's ass.

( an ugly snort, but it's whatever. he did say try. steph should know how well that'll go. )

I'll put Fantastic at the top of my shitlist. Needed a new one anyway, since no one on my old one's around to fuck with. ( well actually. ) Aside from Iron Man. But he's more third tier material.

[That adds some confusion to the mix, as Steph squints at Jason.]

Do you mean The Presser?

( they would be so shit at patrolling together.

jason laughs, less obnoxiously than before but it isn't quiet by any means. )

I wish. I'd glue an iron to his hand but the guy's a cheat. ( it'd be less fun because he'd get it off in two seconds flat and just look down at it with disappointment in his eyes. if it's not an effective prank why bother. ) Tony Stark. He's not very secretive with his ID, spoiled it on ourpowers not long after he got here. Red and gold mech suit. We have history.

( stark wouldn't let him murder someone who deserved it and jason's going to be angry about it until it suits him better to not be angry about it. and then he's going to remember he was angry about it the next time stark pisses him off just to add more flames to the fire. he's got a system, it works well for him. )

Wouldn't call him an enemy, but I do want to get a few good hits in. Break a rib maybe. We can call it light vengeance. Just a pinch. ( he even holds up a hand, making a small space between his index finger and thumb. see? this much vengeance. )

[Note to self: check this Tony Stark guy out later.

She's more curious about the slight — oddities in what she's heard from Jason so far, the little things that don't match with what she'd expect, if he was just a short while in the future. It might not hurt to compare notes with Tim later, since she's unsure what she can get away with asking directly.]

Aww, are you guys like frenemies?

[Things she won't do: ask Jason questions about how he met Tony Stark.
Things she will do: tease Jason about Tony Stark despite knowing nothing about him.]

Should we be worried about this guy at all, or is he one of the hero types?

He's a hero type who's made shit decisions before.

( there's the whole, how much of tony's shit should he share with everyone else bit when tony doesn't even know he knows, but. they're all snoops, stark has plenty of people here who know him back where he comes from. and it's not shit he'd hide from the others anyway. )

There was a whole thing back on his Earth. Stark'd been one of the ones trying to enforce everyone with a superhuman ability to register with the government. He'd cloned an Asgardian to lend a hand, which didn't go well. I don't know a lot about it, but I'd put him as trustworthyish. ( clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth, before he's--pulling himself up to his feet. ) He knows about me, Nightwing, Nightwing the second, and Robin. I'm not worried about it, yet. An' I'll keep an eye on him.

( a hand out, offered over to steph. she doesn't need him to pull her up to her feet, but he'll offer all the same. )

Get a good read on me?

Edited 2023-03-23 17:41 (UTC)

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