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[forceforlight]

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[reneger]

Can I break the cue sticks over their heads?

( he's betting they do, because who the fuck plays pool in a shit bar without making stupid choices? but it's--not a shit idea to find something that isn't sit around vibrating to do.

jason raises his glass and tips it over his mouth, finishing it off before waving the bartender down for a beer. he doesn't want to get drunk-drunk, a little tipsy wouldn't hurt. )

You're taking custody of Tiny Tim?

[forceforlight]

I wouldn't lead with it, no. But it might be an option later on in the fight.

[Dick sips at his drink, watching the room before glancing to Jason.]

I've offered. He'll have to take one of us up on it, unless he really wants to go back to living in dorms. I don't think he does, but that doesn't mean he won't be stubborn about it to start with.

[reneger]

He could come on with me. I've got a great track record with keeping track of kids.

( haha get it, because he absolutely does not. who would trust jason with a tiny crime fighter who wasn't damian? and he only gets away with damian because damian is. damian. )

I've got a place up in NYC. Another in Newark.

( kyle's couch in central city, along with a trashy old warehouse he's still working on making livable. )

[forceforlight]

Decided to branch out a bit?

[It does make sense. Dick did the same thing, after all. Gotham was too small for so many of them. Or felt that way. Central, on the other hand, has more than just the Bats. And there are always places that need more folks watching out for the common people.]

It's a good choice. You always did like New York.

[reneger]

It's homey.

( it's an easier conversation than the one he's avoiding having, so jason doesn't mind sticking through it for a bit. the beer he'd asked for slides across the bar, and jason reaches a hand out to pick it up. takes a good drink, before he's pulling himself up to his feet and taking the beer along with him. )

An' I don't think Central City needs a second Hood.

[forceforlight]

[Dick picks up his beer as well, leaving a bill for the drinks before following Jason.]

Probably not. And it's probably better for the two of you to give each other some space. I think you both known too much about the other to keep from getting angry at each other sometimes.

[reneger]

You saying you don't trust me with myself? Wow, Dickie.

( not that he's wrong, and jason's snarky tone makes it pretty clear he knows dick isn't wrong. this is jason vs jason round three as far it goes for him, and he'd beaten the shit out of the first one, then stabbed the second. he was actually fond of his minime, nineteen, angry, and still brandishing the robin sigil. his other copy--he was less fond of. but the feeling was mutual, and they'd never quite gotten over it before jason had been pulled up and out of new amsterdam over to here. probably better that way.

the beer gets set down on the edge of the pool table, before jason's moving to reach for one of the cues. )

[forceforlight]

[Not that Dick knows about it being round three, but he can get the gist.]

I know better than to keep accelerants in the same place.

[Dryly said, but he had picked up on Jason's snark.]

[He sets his beer on the other side of the pool table, getting the rack to set the balls up.]

Do you want to get into why you really texted? Other than the fight?

[Meaning, what had brought it on.]

[reneger]

( public spaces are shit because everyone can see everything. they're also better because they are in public: they know better than to be too loud where everyone can see everything. dick goes to set up the table, and jason looks at the cue stick like he's considering how good it'd be in a fight. )

Even when I'm trying not to start shit I'm still--starting shit. ( he rolls his eyes, like it's nothing serious and more of an annoyance, but it's. riding the line there. ) Picked a fight with Rayner the other day. Picked one with Tim mostly on accident.

[forceforlight]

I think it says a lot that it's bothering you that those fights happened.

[Not just that he'd picked them. Both Kyle and Tim could avoid joining in the fights, after all. Though, sometimes, easier said than done.]

I know a little bit about the one with Tim. [Because he'd seen the public stuff. Hadn't gone looking for things when it went private, even though he could have.] The public stuff and Tim texted me later as well.

[He steps back after racking the balls, going to pick out a cue.]

[If he picks one with decent balance for hitting with...well, he's playing pool with an antsy Jason.]

Do you know WHY you're starting those fights, though? I know you said Tim was mostly an accident, but that's still only mostly.

[reneger]

( smart to always be ready for a fight. jason always is, even when he's not consciously planning for one. he knows himself, he knows how quick his temper is to light and how long it takes to get it to simmer down. the mostly an accident comment has him rolling his eyes at dick, because. he was hardly instigating a fight, it didn't really turn into a fight-fight. what's a little teasing between brothers, really?

jason raises the cue to rest it against his shoulders, watches as dick goes through his choices. )

It's that time of year again.

( a week out at least. jason doesn't give two shits about his birthday, but there is a day that gets him antsy as it approaches. a reminder of his shit decision making skills, the day that'd changed everything. destroyed the kid who jason todd was. )

[forceforlight]

[Dick freezes for a moment, tilting his head as he works through things in his head. Then he curses softly under his breath.]

I always forget it happened a week before I think it did. I didn't find out until I got back from my trip.

[And that entire thing had gone SO well.]

[He shakes his head, turning back to the pool table with his chosen cue.] Well, that does explain a few things, I suppose.

[reneger]

Wasn't really focusing on the date myself when it happened.

( given he was busy dying and all. dick picks out his stick, and jason grabs onto the rack to put it back up. grabs onto the cue ball to place it in front of the balls, and gestures over to it. dick's turn first. )

An' I'd finally settled where I had been. Before here. I had Roy, little D, people I'd never have met if I hadn't ended up there. I'd get into stupid fights all the time, but I'd--rather have those back than be missing the people I left behind. ( the real problem, buried in numerous fake problems so he can carefully cover it up and hope dick doesn't nail down what jason'd actually called him out here for, even if he did specifically call dick out to talk to him about it. ) I had someone, someone important, who Roy and Damian got along with, who got me. Y'know? An' unless they show up here, unless I find a way back, I'm not getting that back.

( a breath, just a short pause, enough to let it sit for a moment before jason's dropping the pool stick from his shoulders so he can press the bottom of it against the floor. )

An' there's what the clown pulled with Tim. I'm betting he's still here, watching, waiting. Pissed B is gone. Finding the right opportunity to take it out on all of us. And that day is coming up. It'd be perfect timing, wouldn't it? But maybe that's just what he wants me to get stuck on, waiting for it. Maybe he doesn't give two shits about any of it and he's just running on his own agenda.

[forceforlight]

I've been assuming he's still here.

[Dick sets the cue ball, then leans down. Form sloppy, even if his eyes are calculating. Make the plays look bad, lure somebody into playing against them and losing big. So the break happens, but it's just not very good.]

[But he listens to all of it. Everything that Jason says. Because he needs to get this out, first, before anything else can be addressed.]

You and Roy being such good friends is still a little weird. [Because Roy had been Dick's friend, first. They'd kicked each other out of a lot of ruts and helped out and it just is never going to not be a little strange. But the world literally changed at some point. They're all still getting back to where things were before the world broke. Thanks, Barry.]

I wouldn't count them out so quickly. Anybody who made that much of an impression on you, who was somebody that both Roy and Little D liked? That's probably somebody who will do their best to find a way back to you. I mean, you'd do the same, right?

[They could get back to the Joker in a little bit. Somehow, he has a feeling that the Joker is actually only a small part of this overall feeling that Jason has.]

[reneger]

Roy an' I have a lot in common.

( both the family disappointments, both having gotten the shit beaten out of them by their father figures at least once, both kicked out at some point or another. maybe roy was more dick's gen than his own, but it's not as if jason had many sidekicks come in during his own. it was dick's or tim's. jason was the weird middle child without many new pals to hang out with who hadn't met robin the first yet. there was kori, too. donna and kyle before them. though whether or not he really considers kyle a friend depends on his mood. they're leaning more friendly than not lately.

jason takes the space of time between his first sentence and the next to walk his way around the table. watches to see if dick manages to pocket any of the balls or if he's playing at being extra bad. )

He's already here, Dick. But he doesn't remember any of it. He's not the same and it pisses me off. ( it makes him angry because anger is easier than being depressed. anger feels better. burning hot feels better than burning cold. )

[forceforlight]

Okay, yeah, I can see that.

[Sure, Roy was older, but Dick can see how the two would have a lot to bond over.]

[None of the balls go in. Dick's not trying to play well. Lure the other guys in, then actually show off. It's usually a good way to start a fight.]

[He steps aside, then pauses as his brain cycles through that. Not that the person Jason's talking about is a he. That's absolutely not much of a surprise, other than Jason just coming out like that. No, it's the rest of it sinking in and Dick grimaces, leaning against the side of the pool table.]

Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty understandable. [Anger feels better when there's nothing you can do. He remembers that from the past year.] Is he the same person or is it a different version? Not that it really matters that much in the grand scheme of things.

[reneger]

( right. he takes his own cue sticks and lines it up with the cue ball. leans down over the table and carefully aims it for the opposite side of the table. it hits a couple balls, but only knocks in one of the solids. )

According to the people who came from the same place I did, he's one and the same. Just not--y'know, the same one that was there with us.

( which makes it worse. he's met other lokis, kind of. he doesn't give two shits about the older one. he and his loki had talked about other selves, before--between the few other jasons that had shown up during their time and loki's own identity. . thing. he knows about the kid, he knows about the old man, and it'd have been different if it'd been them: they're not the same, just different lokis in the cycle of loki's lives. )

[forceforlight]

Shit.

[And what else can he say to that? That he's sorry? That's a cop out, and he knows it. So, instead, he watches the balls for a moment and grumbles a little when the solid goes in. Like he's used to this and they aren't, actually, very evenly matched when it comes to pool.]

Same world, split timeline or something? That's about five kinds of suck.

[reneger]

Split timelines. He ended up in New Amsterdam in one, and didn't in another.

( which. fine. he could have ignored his existence. pretended it didn't happen, pretended it wasn't a thing he thinks about most days. jason's fine. a little worse off than he had been before he'd gotten here, but he's gained a lot even if he's lost a lot, so it could be worse. right? )

Wanna hear the real kicker? He's with Tim here.

( which isn't on tim, he's not taking it out on tim, he doesn't even want tim to know any of this.

thus, the need to go out and potentially start gang wars. )

[forceforlight]

[Dick sucks in a breath through his teeth, grimacing. He can at least empathize with that, if not offer full sympathy. He's never been there, after all.]

Okay. Well, that explains a few things, yeah.

[And Jason may be trying not to take it out on Tim, but it would be hard for it not to affect things a little bit.]

[reneger]

Don't bring it up with Tim. ( or actually-- ) Or anyone. Little D already knows, he was there, but--

( he lifts his shoulders in what's supposed to be a loose shrug, but jason's tense. it doesn't work as well as he'd like. but he's rounding the table to line up his stick with the cue ball again. hits it into another solid, but it ricochets off the corner next to the hole and doesn't quite go in. ah well. )

I don't want my shit to be a thing more than it already is.

[forceforlight]

Yeah, no, I won't.

[It's not his to say, after all.]

[He moves around the table, looking awkward as he bends over the table. Like he's only rarely done this at behest of the other man. Enough that he's garnering some interest from at least one other set of players in the bar. Something that gets more notice when he manages to pot a ball: the solid that Jason only just missed getting in.]

That's not what I wanted to do.

[He huffs a sigh and steps aside, obviously knowing that much of the rules.]

And I get that. Though, to be honest, I'm pretty sure all of our shit is a thing at one point or another.

[reneger]

I've given up on having a private life. No point in really trying to hide anything when everyone I know knows how to dig into my business an' it'll eventually get around.

( rude of dick to play up being stupid and make jason look better. but it's fine, if he wants to be terrible jason will enjoy the two seconds of superiority he has over dick grayson. he lines up the cue stick, leans down over the pool table to get the angle just right. )

But this's across universes, so I doubt it'll come up if I keep my mouth shut.

( well-- )

And 'long as the five people here who were there with us do too.

[forceforlight]

[Honestly, Dick is mostly trusting that these guys don't know that it takes skill to look THIS bad. Just lure them in and take their money. Or, more importantly for tonight, get them good and mad about being tricked.]

[For Dick, it's important that the other guys start the fight. Jason needs to throw some hands, but for the safety of the Starfallen, let the other guys go first.]

Well, I won't say anything. And I know there's no way for you to get the others to necessarily comply, but I hope they will. I don't think either of you need to be dealing with that more than you already are.

[reneger]

( dick goes for a reasonable fight. because he's not like jason, he doesn't go out looking for violence when he's in a mood. jason doesn't often either; usually he has people lined up to go after, a whole list of people he needs to fuck up because they're shit. here, in this city, he doesn't have any of that. this isn't his turf, it's junior's. which, frankly, just pisses him off more.

he's had other selves before, but they were always second, or third. the ones who showed up after he'd had time to establish himself, and they were both--younger. here, he's second. he's fitting himself in around what's been pre-established, and he doesn't like that. sure sucks to have the shoe on the other foot.

but it's fine, he can work with this. )

Bucky Barnes, Tony Stark, Stephen Strange, Jyn Erso, and our youngest. ( pausing, lips pursed and brows furrowed. ) Who ain't even close to being the youngest anymore. Given his time here, he'd be second oldest. ( also pisses him off. he'll have to remember to ruffle damian's hair and call him baby bird more often, just to remind him he's still their little brother. damian already has an ego, no need to let it get bigger. ) Tim knows the list too. They've all got my number. Barnes, Stark, and Strange have yours too. As a heads up. But they're trustworthy, they won't cause problems.

( they're all assholes but they're people jason puts trust in, and he rarely trusts anyone. which should say plenty of their character. he finishes naming off names, shifts his hold on the stick, and--shoves it back into some drunkard walking behind him, hard enough that the guy yelps and wraps his arm around his ribcage defensively. starts yelling at jason about how he should watch where he's aiming that, how he'll show jason how it feels as he stumbles over to grab onto a cue stick himself. jason, still leaning over the table, hits the cue ball. throws a feral grin up to dick while it hits into another solid, rolling it into the direction of another solid, ricocheting off of it into a pocket while the other goes into the pocket on the other corner.

mr "I'll show you" raises his own cue stick, and whacks it into someone else when jason takes a step back with a foot to trip him into drunkard number two--who curses, then raises a fist to drunkard the first.

no need to piss someone off over a game of pool when this is so much quicker. )

Bet I can take down more of 'em than you.