Barbara Gordon [Oracle | Batgirl] (unbrokenbat) wrote in change_channels, @ 2017-11-06 01:10:00 |
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Barbara hadn’t checked the network all day, too busy with teaching her class at the university and then coming home and straight into lesson planning for the next day. It was a job she enjoyed doing for the time being but it did tend to cut back her time for social interaction. Not drastically, otherwise she wouldn’t continue on with the teaching job. But it did put her behind when it came to announcements, like the one The Trickster had made that day. Getting up from her desk, Barbara padded into the kitchen and turned the kettle on, preparing to make herself a cup of tea. The radio played softly in the background, a song Barbara didn’t recognise nor did she have any inclination to seek out who the artist was. Grabbing her phone that was sitting on the kitchen bench, Barbara started checking her messages while the kettle boiled. There were two from Tim. The first one to apologise for missing class. The second one to say he had finished repairs on the phone with the smashed screen she gave him and has replaced it with a shatter proof one. Barbara shot a quick reply and then went about making a mug of tea for herself. Suddenly, she heard a noise at the window and she began reaching for the cutlery drawer to throw something sharp at the possible intruder’s direction. Of course, with the friends she had the noise could very well be one of them but, given her past, it may not have been either. After the announcement on the network Dick had completed the rest of his shift on a knife edge. He knew that there was one Lucifer running around town, but now there was another, who was more hostile. Jason had already been visited, Dick had held his brother for hours, at first trying to get his breathing under control, then just to offer seldom sought comfort to the younger Robin. He hadn't seen Jay so shaken up in a long while, and it had frightened him. Something must have shown in his demeanour because even Dr. Sexy had asked him if he was okay. (In the locker room of all places) But Dick didn't really want to go into an explanation, so he'd said he was tired and bolted as politely as he could. Heading home, he checked on the network, noticing that Babs hadn't commented on the announcement post. Maybe she hadn't seen it? A text to Tim let him know that both Reds were together, so he just needed to check in with Batgirl. A quick swing by his place to feed Kent, and he was climbing over the balcony and down the building to Babs’ apartment. No reason why he couldn't keep up his skills even if they weren't needed and his Nightwing gear was inaccessible. Slipping through the window, he held his hands up as he saw the redhead reach for the drawer. “Don’t fork me.” Barbara’s hand clenched around the handle of one of the utensils, not bothering to see what it was as she pulled it out of the drawer. Her muscles tensed, getting ready to fling the object in her hand, when that familiar voice stopped her. She sighed, berating herself inwardly for being so paranoid. Nothing had harmed her here yet. In fact, it was starting to feel like it really could be ‘paradise’. Looking down in her hand, Barbara had to chuckle to herself as she turned around to face Dick and held up the piece of cutlery in her hand. “How about I spoon you instead?” Turning back around, Barbara pulled another mug out of the cupboard and started making tea for Dick without even asking if he wanted one. She knew exactly how he liked it, so she didn’t need to ask that either. Instead she asked the other obvious question. “Thought you’d be too tired after to work to drop by. Not that I mind, but is there a special occasion? Or am I just special?” “You know I've never refused a spoon from you, but maybe not that particular one,” he grinned, closing the window behind him as Barbara continued to make tea. Her reaction was an alien one, previously she’d been so used to his method of dropping by that she wouldn’t have reached for the closest weapon but since he’d been shipped off to Spyral obviously a lot of things had changed. Or maybe, she’d read the news. Maybe not. “You’ll always be special to me, but have you been on the network?” Dick sidestepped the tired comment, feeling tired was the least of his concerns, especially as they could be targeted while they slept. “Loki… Gabriel, whoever he’s identifying as today, made an announcement, you should read it.” Slipping his phone from his pocket, he pulled up the post and handed it to her. “Sorry. I should have known it was you.” That charming wit and that grin, they were disarming as always. But Barbara still berated herself for being so paranoid. In the past she had been used to Dick just dropping by but with him off globetrotting with Spyral back in their world, she had grown used to his absence. But honestly here in Paradise City, she really had no excuse to be so jumpy. Dodging the tired comment with complimenting her was a typical tactic and Barbara knew better than the press the issue. Judging by his question and the shift in tone, there was something else far more important going on. “No, I haven’t,” she confessed, finishing making the two mugs of tea and casting a concerned frown in Dick’s direction. Passing the mug of tea she made for Dick with one hand and taking the phone off him with the other, Barbara then read the announcement. All manner of playfulness disappeared from her voice, this other Lucifer character sounded like he meant business. “What’s the plan, Dee? We stay awake until he is caught? Or do you want to take sleeping shifts watching over each other and should we see signs of trouble, wake each other up?” Shaking his head at the apology, he gave her a fond smile, “no need to apologise, Bee.” So far in Paradise, other than escaped zoo animals, there hadn’t been much in the way of threats. But now, Dick was grateful that Barbara’s defense instinct was still there. Moving further into the apartment, he took his mug of tea as Babs offered it, trading it for his phone. He took a sip of the soothing liquid as Barbara read the post, observing her reaction closely. Three questions in quick succession was typically Batgirl and he was grateful that they were on the same wavelength, as the two proffered courses of action were the options he had also come up with. “I’m not sure I want to risk sleeping… even if you are here with me. There are more than a few dark memories he could drag up, for both of us.” He took another sip, cradling the mug in both hands. “Jason already dreamed of him,” his voice was quiet, the tone uncharacteristically sombre, “I haven’t seen him so upset in a long time.” Barbara nodded in understanding before putting Dick’s phone next to her’s on the cordless charger, figuring Dick would want to have his phone charged in case his brothers called. “So we stay awake.” The decision was an easy one to make but Barbara knew it wasn’t going to be easy to accomplish. Picking up her mug and taking a sip, Barbara’s eyes filled with concern when Dick continued. “Will he be okay?” She assumed Jason had said no to the devil but could only imagine the horrors he may have been tortured with. “If you need to get back to him, I understand.” Barbara didn’t believe herself to be as big of a priority to Dick as his brothers were and would never stand in the way if he believed they needed him. “Yeah, we stay awake.” Dick let Barbara put his cell onto charge, knowing that he’d recognise the tones he’d set for his brothers even if the phone was in a different room. They’d made their decision, now all they had to do was see it through as best they could. Both of them had gone without sleep before, one of the perks to vigilantism. But this was different. Without adrenaline, and Gotham’s rooftops to play on, he doubted staying up all night would be easy. Especially coming off of a fourteen hour shift. “I stayed with him after it happened.” Dick wandered through to the lounge as he spoke, toeing off his shoes and climbing onto the sofa, folding his legs under himself. “It took a while to calm him down, haven’t seen him have a panic attack like that in years. But he’s as okay as he can be now. The little birds are together, and they’ll call if they need us.” Another soothing sip of tea was taken before he looked at Barbara, expression questioning, “movie marathon? What time do you need to be in work tomorrow?” Barbara followed Dick over to the sofa, sitting at the opposite end, drawing her knees up in front of herself. “Okay. I’m glad he isn’t alone.” Her voice was somewhat relieved but still worried over Jason. Although, Tim seemed more than capable of distracting Jason from his dark thoughts. “First class is at ten but I like to be in to prep about an hour beforehand.” Babs answered the second question after taking another sip of her tea. “But if everyone has the same idea we have, I’m not sure how productive class is going to be.” She wouldn’t cancel it, though. The class would probably provide a reason to stay awake despite the lack of attention her possibly sleepy students will have. “Movie marathon sounds good though.” She dropped her legs off the sofa and placed her mug on the table before standing and moving to a bookshelf where a small pile of DVDs were stacked. Picking them up, she moved back to the sofa and sat close to Dick so he could see the covers. “I haven’t got many, just a few I found in the sales rack at the Gas-n-Sip. But I do have your favourite.” She held up a copy of Brave and looked to Dick to see his reaction. “Yeah, me too,” Dick’s eyes drifted to his cell phone again, as if checking it was still on the charger. He knew that his brothers would contact him if they needed or wanted anything. But he had faith that Tim and Jason would look after each other perfectly. The two were a lot closer than he was to either of them. He nodded at her answer, knowing that their course of action would definitely be copied by a lot of Paradise’s residents. Though he wondered how many of them would actually be able to stay awake. Or how many would exhaust themselves and end up ill because of it. “You never know, keeping busy does help some people. Though maybe keep things simple in the lesson plan.” He gave a half hearted smile before taking another drink from his mug. Dick tracked Babs’ movement as she stood from the sofa and crossed to the shelf. The collection of dvds wasn’t as large as his own, though that too was significantly smaller than it had been. With all the moving around he did, he couldn’t afford to lug his entire movie library with him. Most of it was still at the Manor, absorbed into Bruce’s collection. He’d kept his favorites of course, his Hanks and the movie Bee was now holding up. “Perfect! We should have chocolate or something sugary to keep us awake too, I can run out for supplies once I finish my tea.” She nodded, agreeing with him that being busy might help other but also a simple lesson plan was probably best. “Maybe you could come in and show them how to work a DVD player.” Barbara suggested, not really thinking he would take up the offer. Dick had enough on his plate without her adding to it. Besides, they were her students and Barbara was never one to pass off her responsibilites. Despite having a photographic memory, Barbara still enjoyed watching movies even if she had seen them before and knew every detail of the plot back to front. It was more so the fact she always had company when watching movies and enjoyed having another person’s presence and seeing their reactions. “Are you forgetting who’s apartment you’re in, Dee? I have my secret stash.” She grinned, eyes darting back toward one of the top cupboards in the kitchen and then back to Dick. “Have you had dinner yet? We could order something and get it delivered. Or we could go out.” While Babs did indulge occasionally in sugary treats, she’d rather have something sustainable first. But, if Dick had eaten, she could always cook herself something. “I could do that, though DVDs are old here, they have 3D, BluRay and 4K.” Dick shrugged one shoulder, knowing Tim would be more up on the new tech than he was. There had been a time when he was the most tech savvy one in the family, in fact the League still asked him to do computer stuff up in Watchtower, but of the Bats, Tim had taken over his role. Chuckling, Dick feigned a facepalm, “of course, what was I thinking, Bee’s place means Bee’s sugar stash is available.” He caught the quick look and smiled, “still using the top cupboard for it? Good to know.” Finishing his tea, he frowned very briefly as he tried to remember when he’d last eaten. “Uh, no, I did have lunch though… it was a hot dog. Either option is good, I’ll need to run upstairs for my wallet and a jacket if we do go out.” |