IC Inbox for TS
Aug. 8th, 2013 09:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
backinakidflash
"If you were trying to reach Bart Allen. Well. I've got good news and bad news. Good news: this is he. Bad new: this is a pre-recorded me. Because I got bored waiting for people to call and went to do something cool. More good news though: I'll be back to check my messages before you know it. Probably. Usually. Sometimes. Occasionally. Look, it's a better plan to just post a feed that I can tap into anywhere, OK? Hang a sign in your window that says "Bart stop here" is gonna be the fastest way to flag me down. But if you must, leave one."
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Date: 2014-02-04 05:01 am (UTC)Hey.
[There is an entire planet of things that he wants to say, and exactly none that he feels comfortable saying. It's not that he isn't allowed; he lacks the appropriate vocabulary to express these emotions. He doesn't think he can say he feels like everyone abandons him. That's never been the case. He knows that. Logic isn't very comforting.] Ever want to blame people for stuff that's not their fault?
[Bart looks horrified as soon as the words rush out if his mouth. Of all the ways to say it to Hayley…] I mean. Me. In a normal way. As normal as I get - I cannot make this make sense. Ok. Starting over here. I keep losing family.
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Date: 2014-02-05 05:36 am (UTC)At his question, she grimaces slightly and then immediately forces the expression into a lopsided and embarrassed smile. It fades as he continues. Her eyes pass over her shoes and pants before she finally looks over to him.]
It sucks, losing people you're close to. [Donna Mauer is the only person Hayley remembers truly hurting over losing in her entire life, but it's enough.]
[Fidgeting with the zipper on her red jacket, she glances out at the room and says something just ambiguous enough to hint at a deeper meaning.] Especially if you might be following in their footsteps.
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Date: 2014-02-06 04:37 am (UTC)She didn't freak over his terrible word choice. To call it a Freudian slip would give him too much credit - he hasn't been dwelling on her and the kryptonite mess. He's just an idiot.
Bart nods at the statement. It sucks. That pretty much covers it. Anything that he could add is a waste of words, but the way she tacks on that bit… no, he can't go telling her everything because Barry isn't here. The rules still apply.]
With the police academy? Yeah, I guess, but that was - I'm used to him not being around. He was in the witness protection program.
[The official party line never sounds right when he says it, although, for once, he didn't mess it up too badly.] I hope he - they really went home.
[And so much for not tripping over cover stories. He's supposed to still be missing his friend, who's now here again as Todd Richards. Maybe he can get a pocket watch and hypnotize himself, forget the name Tim Drake entirely. It's been a long time since he's had to use an alias for someone. ]
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Date: 2014-02-06 05:02 am (UTC)I know he was a Flash. [She sighs, sounding dejected at having to state it outright. Still not looking at him, she falls back against the back of the couch, awkwardly slouched and frowning. It's one of the more juvenile displays she allows herself.
When he corrects himself, it takes her a moment to realize who else he might mean. Tim. She's not used to knowing so many people. The only ones she misses are Clark, who's still around, and Lex Luthor, whose games were bordering on addictive to the girl. Not that she'll admit as much to the sea of people here who hate the man.]
And I'm sure they did. Go home, I mean? There's nowhere else to go.
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Date: 2014-02-06 05:58 am (UTC)Maybe she put it together from something? Ugh. What had he screwed up there?]
You think he was the Flash. [Half correction, half question. He isn't sure the distinction exists, but he has to pretend it does. Bart trusts Hayley; that isn't the problem. There are people who trust him to keep his big mouth shut. Keep them safe. And he loves them and will risk looking like a hypocritical liar for them.] I can't prove he isn't. All I can do is argue.
And. There are other places he could be.
[Trapped on the other side of those horrible Death arches. Trapped in the speed force. There's nothing to prove it either way.]
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Date: 2014-02-06 06:09 am (UTC)He told me, Bart. Relax. I wouldn't have told you but he said you know. [After the declaration, she shimmies her way to sit up on the couch while remaining plastered along the back. Then she pulls her feet up onto the couch in front of her, tucking her knees to her chest.]
He was worried about you and Superman and everything. We had this random talk and it was.. cool. [She sounds vaguely surprised by that.]
I'm sorry he's gone, but you have to just believe that he's where he needs to be or you'll spend a long time going crazy about something that might not even be true. I mean, you still have people here that you like, right? Isn't it better to worry about them?
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Date: 2014-02-07 02:59 am (UTC)[The words come out clipped and hushed because, caught as he is in a bold-faced lie, he's finding it tough to relax. Barry told Hayley that he was the Flash? ...Bart doesn't get it, at all. He had thought that his grandfather was one of the secretive, stodgy ones, and, to realize that isn't the case, well, it stings. Right where he's already sore.]
I didn't think he'd be down for that. He - I don't know my grandfather good, really. I kinda hoped that maybe here I could fix that I-know-all-about-you-but-don't-know-you thing, but… it was. Weird. He's cool, but. I think I'm always gonna be the future kid. Sometimes, I don't think I'll ever fit with the rest of them. When he came back, I yelled at him for not being Max. Four months here, and I still didn't say sorry.
[Bart has been avoiding eye contact, and he's turned his head away by the end of this, addressing the view through the window.]
Anyway. 'S not like I wanted to lie. It's not my secret. I was protecting him.
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Date: 2014-02-07 03:59 pm (UTC)Okay, first of all? I cornered him for an answer. [Her voice is soft. After a moment's thought, she decides lying is better here. She prefers making herself look bad to tarnishing Barry's memory. He's not here to defend himself after all.] I may have kind of lead him to believe I already knew and he accidentally confirmed it. It's not like he just.. trusted me. People trust you.
[She shifts uncomfortably. This is not her forte and his woes are almost entirely unfamiliar.] Maybe not fitting in is a good thing.
[Hayley allows a small pause before addressing the latter, withdrawing her hand back to her lap. She wants to yell at him about how much of superheroes' time lying to her is spent claiming it's for protection. Her protection, some other person's. She's sick of it.]
Ya still lied. I'm not.. I mean, okay, I'm a little upset about it, but everyone lies. I didn't expect it from you and that was.. [She laughs dryly, quietly.] ..stupid. I was stupid for thinking you wouldn't when you told me you do. But that's it, okay? We don't need to argue about it or whatever.
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Date: 2014-02-08 06:41 am (UTC)Bart makes a conscious decision to let everything related to Barry telling Hayley go. He, too, is not in the mood for an argument, and he'd like to talk about normal things normally for awhile, without their traditional haranguing over ethics and disclosure and Benjamin Franklin.
Although, come to think of it, that last one might have happened only in his head. He's surprised she hasn't pulled the liberty & safety chestnut on him yet.]
I dunno. They're cooler than I give them credit for. [Which says a lot, because Bart usually says they're pretty awesome, unless he has a bug up his butt about something.] And you're not stupid. Sorry bout the lie.
[He's technically sorry/not sorry. He'd do it again, if he had to, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't feel guilty for trying to mislead her. Anyway. He was supposed to be letting this go.]
Anything fun and exciting in the life of Hayley Stark?
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Date: 2014-02-09 09:11 pm (UTC)At his question, she snorts a single laugh at how ludicrous it is. It's an innocent inquiry from the closest thing she has to a friend. It's still ridiculous. Outside of time spent with Jason - and Bart too, on the rare occasion that they're not arguing -, Hayley has all but forgotten it's possible to have fun on this stupid turtle. That's what it feels like, at least.]
Not really. [She looks at her friend the wall again.] You?
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Date: 2014-02-11 01:02 am (UTC)The abrupt laughter catches him offguard though. He's not sure what he's said that's so funny. If she doesn't accept the apology, Bart doesn't want to know. There's nothing he can do to fix it, and it would gnaw at him forever. It's gnawing at him for now, because that might've been one of the first times he's heard her laugh and he wants to know why.]
Same old, same old. Cabin fever vs. freezing outside. Feels like I've been counting down to spring since October. Oh wait. I have been.
[He's not about to let her off the hook so easily though, because what Bart had really meant was 'how are you?' - a question that she had missed entirely. He nudges her with an elbow.]
And what's boring and dull?
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Date: 2014-02-11 09:26 pm (UTC)Looking over at Bart again, she playfully elbows him in response to his nudge. Her tone is lighter.] Nothing. I've been working and.. I mean, I told you about the thing with Kon and Superman.
[A beat.] It's nice just.. working and learning and not having to stress about everything.
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Date: 2014-02-12 12:34 am (UTC)[Bart rubs at the knee in question, considering the 'thing' with Superman. He holds his tongue, miracle of all miracles, because... it's like the Barry thing. Best to let it go, if he wants to have company to enjoy.
But Hayley never really provides a lot of topics, it's Bart who is usually the chatterbox. Outlawing so many recent happenings has caught up to him, and he finds himself with nothing to say. He wants to talk more about Barry (depressing), ask her if she's spoken to either of them since then (fastest way to a fight), and tell her about how Tim is back and how it feels almost strained, this re-arrival (so offlimits it isn't funny, given how this Tim presented himself as 'Todd'). It still weights on him, like he declared his allegiance to the prior version of his friend - when they might be the same.
All he can do is pick out the one thing she says that's only sorta boring.]
Learning? [He makes a face at this.] Don't tell me they suckered you into joining their school.
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Date: 2014-02-17 12:34 am (UTC)[Her smile widens with his question again. She knows there's more on his mind than he's talking about, oblivious to Tim but having a pretty good feeling he wants to talk more about both Barry and Clark. There are things she kind of wants to talk about too, like the way Bruce has been after Hannibal and Jason Todd telling her that it's only a matter of time until she kills people. But she somehow doubts those would help his mood and she's trying to avoid a fight as much as he is.]
I didn't even know there was a school. No, it's like.. Don't you miss learning new things? There aren't even movies here or too many books from my world. I don't want to go back and be a year behind in school. Besides, it's a good excuse to meet people and hang out, you know?
[She looks out at the wall again, more emotion creeping into her voice.] You have tons of friends here. I need to find more people too.. Have a sleepover, start dating, try drugs. The normal teenage experience.
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Date: 2014-03-01 06:22 am (UTC)I don't miss learning new things. I haven't learned new things in high school for a long time. Eidetic memory. I told you that. And nobody ever slept over my house, and the ones that I've been to - I dunno if they count as 'normal' sleepovers.
And drugs? Are you crazy? Why would you do that to yourself? [If he's going to say anything right now, he is saying this, because he can't believe she's actually idealizing it. Calling it part of the teenaged experience.] Let me tell you about drugs, ok? They're for people with self esteem issues who want to fit in, made by people who want to take advantage of them, and you have no way to know if what you're putting in your body is what they say it is until it's too late.
Example: I used to have this friend named Rose. Til one day, she shot herself up with chemicals because her dad didn't love her. And they messed her all up. And for what? [He almost spits that question out. It still burns him, what happened to her.] Her stupid, crazy father? She was better off without him. He's the one who put a shotgun to my knee. Which answers your first question. I have an artificial knee.
[He turns to look at her now.] So c'mon. Tell me how you don't mean anything hardcore. Just a little pot, right? Only how do you know it's not laced or dipped? Gonna carry around a lab kit?
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Date: 2014-03-02 02:38 am (UTC)Her smile fades appropriately with the gravity of the anecdote though and then she's defensively and unconsciously pulling her arms and legs more tightly against herself. The idea of Rose's father shooting Bart begs more questions, but she remembers Mark's words about always pushing too much.
Meanwhile, her feelings about Rose are frustrating; it makes her angry that the girl got pushed to that level and doesn't fault her for it. But that means her dad won. If Hayley was in Bart's world, Rose's dad might be someone to look into. But she's not.]
Okay, I won't do drugs. [She answers simply. It's not like she cares that much. Drugs, like getting drunk or breaking into a stranger's pool, are just one of these teenage experiences she expects to encounter at some point in her life. Hayley is rarely one for escapism.] But I'm still going to date and have sleepovers.
[And look at all those questions she's not asking about why Bart didn't mention dating or what happened to Rose or her dad or any of it. Mark would be proud.]
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Date: 2014-03-05 03:49 am (UTC)The reason why he didn't mention dating is simple, really: he has no argument to it. Dating is nice - when it's not frustrating - and he's got no reason to tell her not to. He wasn't arguing against sleepovers; he had only meant to point out that they aren't part of everyone's teenage years.]
OK, date and have sleepovers? I'm not gonna talk you out of those. I'm your friend. Not your dad.
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Date: 2014-03-13 05:16 pm (UTC)And hey, I slept here once. Doesn't that count as a sleepover? Or is that one of those less than normal ones you were talking about?
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Date: 2014-03-13 08:55 pm (UTC)That was not normal. Unless your normal includes asking friends to let you crash in their room because you're scared. I know mine doesn't include sleeping on a mattress on the floor cause there's a girl in my bed. There's not even girls in my < I>room that often.
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Date: 2014-03-13 09:49 pm (UTC)Almost immediately after dismissing the nearly automatic response of before, she realizes it's Bart, the friend that she kind of wants to know everything about.]
If I'd known it was so abnormal that you were on the floor, I would have offered to share the bed. So, okay, next time, we do it without a crazy killer, we'll share the bed, and- wait. Are you a virgin? Is that why you don't have girls in your room and you-
Wait, are you gay? Oh my god, are you crushing on Tim or Kon and that's why.. oh my god. I mean, I'm not judging you. I think that's awesome. But you mentioned Valerie, so I kind of thought.. wow.
[Boundaries: 0, Hayley: 1. She mocks a surprised face, half teasing and more than half genuinely curious.]
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Date: 2014-03-13 11:37 pm (UTC)I - Look. Everything after 'share' is way off track.
[Which only makes it sound like he's dodging the questions, and, so, he has to press on, because he doesn't want her to think that he doesn't like girls. It's not that there'd be anything wrong with that; it's that it's the wrong assumption.]
But. No, I- just no on the first one. And on the second. Then all evidence to the contrary, and then definitely no. Just because you're good friends with someone doesn't mean 'ohmygodsecretcrush!!' We're friends, and it's not like that. And. Yeah. I dated Val.
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Date: 2014-03-14 12:08 am (UTC)There's something about his insistence that friends don't mean crushes that rubs her the wrong way, but she can't even begin to figure out why. Well, there are lots of reasons why, most having to do with feminism, but she's not sure which it is.]
Wow. Way to go, Bart! [She nudges him again.] Who was the lucky girl? How old were you anyway? And what like, magical evidence is there here? Because I haven't seen you dating anyone.
[Not that she's paying attention to his dating life, but Hayley feels like it would have been mentioned by now. At least she has the respect for him not to bring up how he didn't even tell Val he came back to life.]
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Date: 2014-03-14 12:43 am (UTC)There's not any evidence here, I guess. It's not really... I dunno how to put it. Nobody's dating anybody. Not that I've heard about anyway - not any of us. I'm sure the kedan do, but they live here. We're tourists.
[He can only hope that she leaves the other things alone, because they make it complicated and weird. He liked being normal with her, and, every time he had to say something like 'it happened when I was older than I am now, it only highlighted that he was a bit of a freak.]
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Date: 2014-03-14 02:04 am (UTC)[She wants to bring up an example, but her memories are failing her. Because he's right. The only people she knows that are dating here are the ones who were already together before they arrived. It makes her frown a little and his avoidance doesn't help. She's not upset, but this isn't quite going how she'd hoped.]
You're seriously not going to tell me how old you were? This is what friends do.. Ask ridiculous and personal questions and banter about school and dating and whatever else there is to talk about. I won't judge. I mean, this girl I know, Dana, lost hers at thirteen and she's still cool. So unless you lost yours at like, twelve, there's really nothing to be embarrassed about.
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Date: 2014-03-19 05:11 am (UTC)I'm not not telling you. You're not asking a specific enough question for a one word answer. I dunno how old I am. Not really. So it's like. I guess 21, physically. Mentally si- let's go with seventeen. And chronologically. Um. Anywhere between 5 and 10. It depends on how you wanna count.
[Pocket dimensions can be tricky that way.]
So. How does that fit in with your nothing-to-be-embarrassed-about? I'm not. I mean. I am. But not because it happened. It's more the abstract age and having this conversation with you.
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