TEST DRIVE #6

[fairyfoes]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping to EACHDRAIDH? Why not give the setting a test run here! OPTIONAL SCENARIOS 01. ARRIVING IN THE DRABWURLD. The Seelie and Unseelie courts welcome you with mirthful revelry and hearty food. After you have been briefed on your purpose here, you will find an endless feast and a night filled with entertainment to placate your concerns. Mingle with new arrivals, sneak down the castle halls and make sure your eyes are always on your glass; fairies and imps have no bias when it comes to tricks! 02. THE STATION. Looking for a little slice of home? The Station gives you all that and more. Take advantage of the wifi, have a cup of fairy-brewed coffee (the one they didn't spit in) or sit back and relax on the patio. You can even move your things into one of the available rooms! 03. WILDCARD. Your own scenario! Explore the Drabwurld or simply take advantage of your Locket!

Comments

[uneulogized]

A lot must've changed from what I remember before. [The language is careful, cautious. He has met her before, and he assumes that the contradiction there doesn't preclude his time on the Titans before his death. This whole thing is weird, but he's not going to discount it.

Besides, it could have its uses. That's what he tells himself, anyway.

(What lies beneath it, whether he likes it or not, is the fact that she does seem determined to know him. To rekindle a bond he doesn't remember. Some part of him, like it or not, aches for that. But he's become good at muffling that feeling, ignoring it and pretending it's something else. He's on a mission. He's going to complete it. Or he was, anyway.)]

But you're right. You could say I have a penchant for it. I've gotten pretty good at getting out of the way. Of course, if I'm not shooting first. [Sometimes, he's not shooting first. Life, it has its occasional suckage!

Or more than occasional. Because he's Jason Todd.]

[fiamme]

[Trigger happy. That's not changed much at the very least. Being careful with what she says is new enough to her that she struggles, has to pause to consider every turn of phrase and word with a level care she's not used to. Trying to coax information out of Jason Todd can be like drawing teeth, she knows. Unless he's being cocky.

(That, in particular, he has in common with Roy, she thinks.)

She hmmm's. How many times has she picked Jason up and flown him to safety? He remembers none of that. It leaves a sad, bitter taste in her mouth. Her mood fluctuates quicker than she can keep up with; of all people, she hadn't prepared herself for Jason forgetting her. She had prepared for it being the other way round. ]

I can tell you what it is that I remember about you, Jason Todd. But I think that you will not believe me.

[Because she has no proof. She has no red mask, nothing of Jason's to offer. ]

But please believe me when I say that I am a friend.

[Roy is much better at the friendship speeches. ]

[uneulogized]

[The irony is that he does remember that. A version of that. He had been younger and more hormonal, more caught up in the entire experience of being on the Titans. It had been nothing but a brief stint, but he had savored every moment of it. He hadn't been as flashy or as brilliant as the others, but his youthful exuberance had driven him.

But now he looks upon it all with a sense of bitterness and distance. (But hey, at least he doesn't know they didn't erect a fucking statue. Not yet.)

Still, he goes along with what she's saying. The idea of just being friends with someone seems foreign. Those very same Titans aren't people he'd consider friends, except maybe with the exception of Donna. They spoke to each other. And Roy—he'd be close, if he hadn't been troubled by his own crap. But the rest, they all saw him as the young tag-along, the one left behind to run "recon," which really just meant sitting there half the time.

He's not certain he's ever had a friend in his life.]

The Jason you know. Does he accept friendship like that? Because to me ... [There's a beat.]

It sounds really off.

[fiamme]

When we first met he pointed a gun at me and I melted it.

[So, no. Probably? He's mellowed out a lot in the time he's spent living on her Island. The weather probably agrees with him. That and the complete isolation.

Gently:] When we met, we were both no good at trusting people. But in time, I came to trust him. I would trust Jason Todd with my life.

[A beat. ] Is is what Roy would call 'totally weird' for you, isn't it?

[uneulogized]

[Jason is starting to piece it together slowly. "Trust him with my life." That's the way that it was supposed to be for him and Bruce, but it hadn't mattered. He hadn't mattered enough. That thought repeats in his head. What does it matter to trust him with a life if the favor isn't returned?

A familiar, angry fire bursts in his stomach. He hates it.

And the odds are that things are the same here. But for some reason, she's so damn insistent.]

And Roy's a part of our merry band, so if he's calling it totally weird, he definitely wouldn't be wrong. All of it is weird. Off, even.

Besides, you should know better than to put your life in my hands. That must've been what I was telling you.

[fiamme]

[She pauses and then, after a few fumbly moments with her locket, she switches to video. The face that appears is definitely younger than what Jason will likely remember -- but the eyes and the orange glow of her skin are still the same. Gone is the wild perm, too. But Kori has the same face and it's twisted into a look part frustrated and part concerned. This what friendship does, she's starting to remember. It makes you fond, no matter the circumstance. It makes you care and gets deep into your bones. Tamaranians live long lives and they burn with ever emotion; Jason Todd hasn't been her friend for years or decades, but long enough that watching him revert back to distrust shatters her.

For a long moment, she doesn't know what to say. Jason's always been capable of being horribly cagey, but this can't be solved with an affectionate hug or a tender touch to the face. ]

Roy thinks we are a merry band -- Jason that is not important. You are always so stubborn with it comes to the inner angst!

[The words don't come out like she wants them too. She chews the inside of her mouth. This is so much easier with Roy backing her up. ]

What is the last thing you remember? About me; about anything?

[uneulogized]

[What she'll notice is an entirely different look. While his face maintains some of the same youthfulness that he can't seem to be rid of, gone is the pristine uniform with the red bat on his chest. He doesn't wear a brown jacket, but instead, there's a leather one. But anyone with a keen eye can see that it's armor. It's not meant to look like much, but it is.

As for her question, there are a lot of directions that can take, and he doesn't think she'll like any of them. He has a date with Batman. He's going to go in there and have a chat, and when the time is right, he's going to roll the hell out, switch out with Clay Face, and figure out what to do next. That's the plan, anyway. But he isn't there yet. He's here, and he already knows he has to shift gears. Telling someone, even someone claiming they're on the same side, that he intends to rain hell down on Bruce Wayne just sounds like a bad idea.

He makes a gruff sound, and smirks slightly.]

I was leaving the Titans. It was years ago. [For both of them.] Before that, Dick and Raven were all tied up in Brother Blood's comeback tour. We had swept in to try and save them. And you ... you in particular couldn't focus on anyone but Dick. Still, we saved the day, as the Titans do. [He carefully extracts himself from the latter half of that statement.]

See, it's been ages since we've chatted. A lot's changed. [Understatement of the century.]

u can 100% ignore this, i just wanted to reply for maximum sad

[fiamme]

[There is a sudden grimace on her face as the name Dick echoes in her head. It comes with a pain, a memory locked away that she's been fighting to forget for longer than she dares to recall. Jason looks like him, she remembers that. The eyes and the hair and the build -- they were similar enough that Kori had let Jason recover.

She places her hand to her hand and frowns, just so. ] I -- I don't remember who that is. I don't know any Raven.

[The Teen Titans, though, she remembers them. ]

But the Teen Titans I have never been apart of. They are -- Red Robin is their leader.

[uneulogized]

I'm not your Jason.

[The realization strikes quick, and it seems like it's going to keep being obvious until they hit an impasse. Why not bring it on faster?]

[fiamme]

No. You're not.

[It's obvious, now. Her jaw tightens, resigned. A stranger with Jason's face and name and it stings more than she'd like to admit. The Koriand'r he knows, with a team and with friends -- that seems absurd. It seems too surreal.

She considers just hanging up immediately, but there's always been something about Jason Todd that has tugged at her heart strings. It crosses universes, apparently. ]

But I think that you and he are the same, despite that.

[uneulogized]

Why isn't that a done deal for you? [Though he asks the question out loud, it's one that would have been better kept to himself. There is a hint of wonder to his voice. Why isn't that enough?]

We aren't the same. I'm not—I don't have friends. Too much of a liability. [He doesn't know what it's like to have friends.

Not anymore.]