[closed log]

[hellofist]

Who: Tim Drake and Cass Cain
What: Hanging out in the hot hotness
When: Sunday
Where: The guan


She hasn't been avoiding him, not exactly. Scarce, yes. But she hasn't gone out of her way to avoid Tim since learning about Steph disappearing. Everyone's dropping away like flies, it was unfortunate, sad, but losing seeing Steph for that brief moment and then finding out she's gone again?

It was hard. She didn't want to talk about it, so she didn't.

But Tim loved Stephanie, she should have been there. She goes to find him now, in a tank top and shorts because of the heat, hair tied back because the feel of it sticking to her neck was starting to drive her crazy. She knows where he is, it's where she would have gone too if it weren't for... okay, maybe she had been avoiding him a little.

Either way, she finds him in the guan. She wants to smile at him, but it's too hot. She just raises a hand to wave at him, a grave look on her face.

"Not melted yet. Good. Hi Tim."

Comments

[detectivewonder]

"Hey."

The guan is dark; windows covered in electrical tape, which makes it a little cooler, but even so Tim is sweating and out of breath, fatigued not just from the temperature but from the laps he's been doing around the room on crutches and leg braces, chair folded in the corner, as he sneaks in every extra moment of physical therapy he can.

It isn't penance, and it isn't mourning, but it feels like both. And both come to mind, because he knows why she's here. It doesn't take detective skills for that.

[hellofist]

Cass keeps her eyes on the floor so she doesn't have to read him, have his pain added to her sense of loss. She's trying to convince herself that the Stephanie she saw here was just another ghost, just another attempt to have her back, her head playing tricks on her one last time. It's easier that way, but Tim's body language makes it nearly impossible to go on pretending.

She goes to the middle of the floor and sits down, legs folded up and hands on her knees, palms up. It's a meditation pose, one she's sure he'll recognize.

"Good to practice. Have to... know limits, though. Respect them. Don't make it worse, Tim."

[detectivewonder]

"...I know. I'll take a break. I can't cross my legs like that right now, though. Can't sit seiza, either."

He can't read body language, but reading behavior is something different. Avoidance is one of the ways all of them deal with problems. Solitude. It has a lot to do with why he's here now. It's what she's been doing for days. Coming to find him now... it means he should pay attention.

He moves to the chair, unfolds it, wheels it forward from the corner, and sits, facing her, trying not show just what a relief to his legs it is.

[hellofist]

He can try to hide it, but it would be obvious to her no matter how well could manage to keep his face blank. She frowns at him, reaching out to lightly tap his knee.

"When was last break? Last time... you rested?"

[detectivewonder]

He winces, reflexively, but her touch doesn't hurt his knee, and certainly not more than the hot ache in his calves does.

"...It's about eight o clock now?" That's a guess, but close to accurate. He takes a few deep breaths, thinking, reaching his answer almost right away but waiting a moment before he admits it, because he knows what the ultimate conclusion of it all is. He's pushing himself too hard; and he started on the day Steph was released.

"Two, maybe two and a half hours."

[hellofist]

He knows, so she doesn't have to say it for him. It's better that way because she'd only be a hippocrite, telling him to pace himself, to take it easy when she doesn't do that herself. She keeps going until she can't anymore, so lecturing him would just be dumb.

She can still admonish him a little, though.

"Too hot for that. No more, tonight."

[detectivewonder]

"I'll take it easy." That's almost the same as agreement - he won't push himself, won't do laps, he'll use the chair on level ground. He accepts the restriction easily, watching himself for any flare of stubbornness or resentment. He doesn't find any.

It surprises him, just a little. Maybe he's just tired.

Anyway, he's pretty sure she didn't come here just to look after him, although she and Dick have both been exceptionally conscientious about it, without ever quite making him feel smothered. Cass can probably see when she's approaching that line; and Dick gets it, by instinct.

"How are you settling in?"

It's a safe non-question, a way to draw her forward into talking about anything she feels is important right now.

[hellofist]

"I miss Bruce." It's a quick answer for an easy question. "Alfred too." And Barbara and their Dick and Gotham in general, those are all the easy surface answers. They don't reveal anything substantial.

"But, not so bad. Kind of boring. Very hot." She leans forward a little, elbow on her knee and chin in her hand. "Is it... always this hot, now?"

[detectivewonder]

"No, this... this is a new record. The weather getting weird... it's just another one of the curveballs the island throws at us." He lets out a sigh, sagging forward in his chair as well.

"Bored, though... maybe that we can work on fixing?"

[hellofist]

"How?"

She doesn't look entirely convinced. Her ideas of fun will be vastly different from his and it's a little hard to believe he'll be able to come up with something that might work.

[detectivewonder]

"Well, for a start... until I can suit up again, I want you to be the field leader for the Titans."

From the look on his face, he's aware what kind of bombshell he might be dropping, there.

[hellofist]

He should feel accomplished, he actually manages to catch her off guard with that.

"You..." She frowns at him, looking him over a little more closely now. "Do you... have heat stroke?"

Has he gone crazy or something?

[detectivewonder]

"I mean it. With... our current line-up, nobody else has the experience you do. Dick would be my second choice, but he doesn't feel like he's ready. I don't know Kara or Zatanna... but even if I did, if I had to trust one of you four to get into trouble and get out again with everyone alive and the mission objective intact... there's no other choice."

[hellofist]

It means a lot, seeing him mean all of that, have all this trust when he had been so wary of her in the beginning. He does believe in her now, and it's... it's nice.

It's still a strange feeling knowing she's the best option he has, but it's not like anything can be done about that.

"We'll have to hope... no fields needed, til you're better."

[detectivewonder]

"We're not exactly in the hope business," he says after a moment, shaking his head. His posture shows anticipation - he has more news, a surprise, something he's hopeful about.

"I'd like you to help run some team exercises. Just in case. Get them used to your style of command, make sure everyone can communicate clearly. I know... tactical exercises might be fun for you, but communication drills won't be. But they won't be boring, either."

[hellofist]

She's frowning again, the heat maybe making it harder for her to listen to him with an open mind, with patience.

"Not boring. Impossible. Can't- communicate, Tim. Tried... talking fast, with Barbara. In heat of moment, I..." She's not looking at him now, just frowning at his knees as she remembers desperately trying to work fast and failing. "Can't talk fast. People will get hurt."

[detectivewonder]

"Maybe. But 'impossible' is like 'hope.' You don't need to talk to me. The team will be with you. We can work with gestures, single-word commands... we can train specific tactics and formations so that you should never need to say anything complicated. And as long as I'm still on the line, and I have eyes on the situation, I can take over. This is all just in case electronics get fried and you have to go in blind with no setup. It's not likely... but you know what Bruce would say if we didn't prepare."

It probably doesn't help, just now, that he can talk enough for both of them when he's got an idea. But he stays facing her, keeps his body language open, and he speaks at a steady pace,

[hellofist]

He's got her there, that's impossible to deny.

"Did you... practice this speech?"

[detectivewonder]

"That obvious, huh?"

He shakes his head. "I have a lot of time on my hands right now. And... a lot of things I miss. I know this isn't an exciting place for you, Cass. But I will bet anything you name that I can find a way for you to have fun."

[hellofist]

Inevitably she thinks of Steph and Cass' face clouds a little. She doesn't say me too, she only nods and moves forward so she's on her knees in front of him.

"Know it's hot. Going to... hug you anyway."

[detectivewonder]

"...Okay."

He reaches out, putting his hands on top of hers, as far forward as he can safely lean right now.

He'd been worried she'd turn him down, at any stage of this.

[hellofist]

She squeezes his hands and then lets them go so she can put her arms around him, leaning over his knees a little awkwardly so she can reach to hug him. It's not really a gesture that's meant to be an answer, a way to tell him she's agreed, but she's aware it comes off that way a little bit.

"Temporary." She tells him, resting her chin on his shoulder. "Not really interested... in being leader."

[detectivewonder]

"I know." He hugs back, a little awkward because of the chair, because of the heat. But Steph would have hugged her. Steph would have hugged him. And until she was back... doing things she would have approved of, making things work in the awkward, haphazard way she did (but they did work, and reliably)... that's important.

Cass is important.

"Two months, and I'll be back, or Dick will be ready. In the meantime, well, if you wanted a Robin..."