Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Nein."

Gordon, Barbara Gordon (batgirlbabs) wrote in snapthread,
@ 2019-09-27 13:40:00

Entry tags:

barbara gordon, dick grayson

Who: Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson
What: She's jumping on that Dick
Where: Around town
When: Immediately after this

It wasn't exactly like the day she arrived, she'd run into Dick without even meaning to that day, but he'd been right there and Barbara had practically thrown herself at him hugging him tightly before she'd let him explain anything. And then he'd gone and she'd been alone since then. Well not alone, not really - she'd made friends there were people here, but it wasn't the same.

And now Dick was back. But not quite back either by the sounds of it, he didn't know this place. But it didn't matter, it was still Dick and where he was that's where she was going to be. She'd practically dropped her phone and went running. The town wasn't so big that it would take her long after all. And there he was, just like he'd said right by the fountain, Dick. Whether he was hers or not didn't matter.

She ran at him, throwing her arms around him as soon as she was close enough and pulling him against her squeezing him tightly. "Oh god, Dick. I didn't - it's been so long." She wasn't going to cry about it, no matter what the stinging in her eyes might suggest. She'd missed him, any version of him. And he was here now, it was good and it was terrible and in that moment all she cared about was that he was here.

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batgirlbabs
2019-09-27 07:39 pm UTC (link)

Barbara didn't ever want to let go of him, not when Dick wrapped his arms around her in return, holding on to her even though he must have a million questions about all of this, he didn't ask them all - at least not to start.

"It's - god Dick it's too much to explain, it doesn't make sense." None of it ever had, she'd just learned how to make peace with not understanding. She hadn't allowed herself to get quite as apathetic has Dick had been initially, but she'd found a way to exist here that didn't make her crazy.

She finally pulled back enough to really get a look at him, though she still kept her hands on him, like he might just disappear if she let him go. "This place is - they've been calling it a pocket universe." She told him, "We were pulled out of our world and brought here and we're stuck, I've been here for..." She had to stop and think, she wasn't even sure anymore, "It's been months. No one - the people here, they've never even heard of Gotham. They're all from other universes, dimensions maybe. It's-," She huffed softly and lifted her shoulders, "It's complicated.

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ohboywonder
2019-09-28 12:24 pm UTC (link)

This was a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Dick had been through and seem plenty of weird shit in his life, in every stage of his life. He was born into a circus family, after all. He'd seen the batcave as a pretty much a kid. It only got weirder from there. This probably still was in is top three weird shit that's happened to me lost, though. He kid of wanted to freak out, but something he'd learned a long time ago was adaptability. He had to stay calm and deal with the situation for what it was.

Man, but what it was sure was a doozy. Pocket dimensions? Damn. Bruce was gonna be pissed.

Dick could tell she was overcome with emotion. The way she was touching him, holding onto him, like she was scared he'd vanish or maybe that he was a dream and she needed to be sure he was real. Months. She said she'd been here for months. He felt the urge to spill an onslaught of questions again but he held back. This was more important.

"I'm here," he said. "Too bad I didn't bring any 'wish you were here' postcards from Gotham to hand out to these people. They don't know what they're missing." He did frown a little. "You've been here for months? But.. I just saw you four days ago, Babs. Before I left with Bruce and Tim. We.. We were.. Four days. How's it possible?"

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batgirlbabs
2019-09-28 07:50 pm UTC (link)

The more she talked the more she felt, the loneliness of being the only person from the world she was from, of the people she did get close to here disappearing, of missing the people she cared about most in the world. And then there was Dick, who was maybe not exactly as she'd left him but still perfect as he said he ought to have brought postcards from Gotham. And those tears she was definitely not going to cry welled up all over again as she laughed softly rubbing at her eyes. "No idea." She agreed.

"Maybe five or six months? I've lost count," She admitted, "It started getting too depressing keeping track of it all." She told him, in the beginning she'd been so focused on getting back and keeping an eye on her brother that the time had been all she could see. The longer she was here she had to stop focusing so much on James for her own sanity. She'd deal with him when she got home, but until then she was here, she was trying to have a life here and keeping track of the time like that felt too much like a count down.

"It doesn't make sense, the timelines are all weird and the dimensions have all been mixed up here. I don't even know for certain if you're my Dick." She wanted him to be, she hoped, "When I arrived you were here too, but you weren't the Dick I know, you weren't... I don't know, we were from different dimensions, I was paralyzed where he's was from, I never got my legs back." It was complicated and confusing and it hurt to think too much about how close and yet just how far this all was from what might have been entirely perfect.

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ohboywonder
2019-09-30 02:22 pm UTC (link)

Pocket universes, alternate universes -- Dick wasn't a stranger to it but he just didn't really.. well, he just needed a minute. It hadn't been that long ago he'd almost died and regained the ability to walk again (mostly thanks to Barbara being by his side). He needed a second to really grasp that this was happening, and happening to him. The other thing that didn't sink in until she actually said it was the possibility that she was a different Barbara. A totally different person from another world.

Holy alternate dimensions, Batman.

"Well, you weren't paralyzed when I last saw you. We kinda thought I might be for a little bit but then I started walking and cartwheeling so we figured I was okay. Not dead or immobile, at least." He wasn't going to go into the engagement. Yet. They were both kind of (a lot) overwhelmed and he didn't want to complicate it that much more. He'd tell her, but he needed a minute to take a breath.

"How do we figure out if I'm.. I'm yours? Is there a place to get a drink and talk? So we can see if our lives match up?" That was kind of a hard question to ask because standing there staring at her, yeah, he was hers. He had to be hers, right? Even if he wasn't hers? If they were stuck here, couldn't he be? "Even if I'm not, not from the same world I mean, we're in this one now together, right? So can't that count anyway?"

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batgirlbabs
2019-10-01 07:01 am UTC (link)

"Well that's an improvement on things." She breathed out a small sigh of relief because just talking about that possibility, of that being the her that he knew and expected? She hated that, hated that some other version of herself had gotten stuck in that chair. Like Babs had done she was certain that other version made the best of it, maybe even more than she had, but she couldn't imagine being trapped like that again.

She didn't like the idea of him possibly being trapped like that anymore though. Dick couldn't be still like that, it felt too wrong to even consider it.

"We can go to the bar," She suggested when he asked about a place go to. "I've got a house too, and a couple of bottles of whiskey." She added, because well - her boys might not have been here long but they'd managed to get certain things stocked fairly well and Barbara took ownership of it all once they had gone back home. At least that's what she told herself about where they went. She couldn't stand to think of it being anything else.

"Of course we are," She added with a flood of relief, it didn't matter to her that Dick might not be from her world, from her particular dimension, he was still Dick and she was still Barbara and they were in this together. "It counts for everything, especially in a place like this." He was always going to be hers.

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ohboywonder
2019-10-01 05:55 pm UTC (link)

Although there were things, memories, he wasn't sure he really wanted to go into, Dick didn't think they had to dive too deep. If they found some inconsistencies on the surface of events taking place in their lives, then they'd know they were from different worlds. It was overwhelming enough as it was to be in this place -- he couldn't imagine how overwhelming it was for her, having been here as long as she said she'd been around. Going too far into the past might be too much. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable, or alienate her.

The one thing that he knew for certain, was that if they were both here, then they were in it together now. He could be someone familiar, no matter what the context was between them. And she seemed to be in agreement of that. If nothing else, they had each other. Dick was pretty sure she was right; in a place like this, that counted for a hell of a lot.

He was going to need to get his bearings, figure out where things were, but before he did that he wanted to talk to her. She was more important than his sense of direction. "Good, let's roll with that." He smiled a little and gave her another squeeze -- god that was nice. "Okay, lead the way to this bar. We'll figure this out together."

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batgirlbabs
2019-10-02 03:13 am UTC (link)

"It's not far," She promised, it was incredible having him here. Like being thrown a life preserver after treading water for months now. She hadn't realized how much work she'd been doing to keep herself afloat until suddenly she realized she didn't have to. Dick knew her, some version of her, he understood her and he was on her side, and that counted for everything.

She took his hand because even if she wasn't going to stand there holding him for the rest of the night she wanted to keep hold of him, it felt like this was all a sort of dream. She'd made peace with being here in this place, caught up in this life she'd had no say in starting, but the arrival of Dick was new and she wasn't sure if she could trust it just yet.

"Here we are." She said holding a hand out with a small teasing sort of smile on her face as she presented him Pancho's, less than 30 paces from where they'd been standing. "This place is kind of tiny." She told him, at least Peter was behind the bar today, she grabbed them a couple of drinks before she and Dick were settled at a table together.

"You've got questions." She said because of course he did, he had to - no one showed up here without questions. "Let's see what we can do about making at least a little bit of this make some kind of sense."

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ohboywonder
2019-10-02 05:52 pm UTC (link)

It really wasn't far at all. Much shorter than the Illiad/Odyssey type journey he'd been on with Bruce and Tim before he arrived in this mystery town. Everything was strange, but he didn't feel like he was in any sort of danger. Barbara hadn't made it sound like this place was anything like Gotham, either. It should've been more relaxing, right? To know that? But he felt unsettled, unnerved even. Still, having her there was enough to keep him grounded and calm. Dick was anxious, but not to the point of visibly showing it.

The drink would help, too, and the guy who gave them out seemed pleasant enough. He didn't ask any questions, anyway, and right now that was a good thing. Dick had questions, he was sure Barbara had questions. There was much room for anyone else's curiosity right now.

"Sure, er.. Where to start. Uh --" The history was long and detailed. Dick wasn't even sure he'd remember everything, but he needed to, right? Because even if one little detail was off that'd mean they were from different worlds. So he started from the beginning. The Flying Graysons, the abusive group home, being Bruce's ward, Robin, Bruce being a dark moody asshole after Dick was shot by the Joker, meeting her, their relationship, the Teen Titans, Starfire (with a tad bit of cringing) Nightwing, Jason Todd, Tim Drake. Conner Kent's sacrifice. Reuniting with her. It was a lot, okay? It definitely took more than one drink to get through it.

"Any of that sound familiar? And if it doesn't, then I guess.. Can I ask, where do I-- or the Dick you know, where does he stand with you?"

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batgirlbabs
2019-10-02 08:08 pm UTC (link)

Leave it to Dick to tell her everything like that, so she could see where their lives met up if he was hers or if it was full of events that she'd never known. And as she listened it became obvious that Dick was not hers, it started off similarly enough the Flying Graysons, Bruce and his moodiness, but the rest? It was both familiar and not, some of it made her think of Jason, some of it was entirely new.

"Sort of?" She said lamely with a soft sigh before she shook herself and gave him a gentle smile. "Some of it I know, I've heard and lived with you, but some of it? Hasn't happened, at least not where I'm from. Or not with you." She suspected as much, but it was a little bit of an ache to have confirmation of that fact.

As for her relationship with Dick back home? It was a little complicated, especially now. She couldn't imagine what he thought about her being gone like this. "Before I ended up here things were - well they were good." She admitted with a small smile, thinking of the night she and Dick had spent together just a week before she'd ended up here. It was months ago now, and that sobered her a bit. "We tried in the past and things just, you know how it is, this life? It worked on pushing us apart and then there were others between and those times we thought we'd try again there was always something that got in the way. But right before I came here we decided we might try again, watching Bruce and Selina fall apart made us both feel like we should stop and think about what we wanted. No names, no expectations, we were just going to see how things went." She gave him a sad smile. All of it was just a little bit wrong.

"Welcome to the multiverse," She said taking a breath and raising her glass because she needed another drink to deal with all of this.

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ohboywonder
2019-10-03 05:42 pm UTC (link)

That was kind of a punch to the gut. It wasn't the worst thing in the world. Some of the things lined up, maybe, and some didn't. And from what he was gradually beginning to understand was that it was far more likely that they weren't from the same place than if they were. If there were more alternate universes out there, the statistics would skew that much more. It wasn't anyone's fault, except maybe whoever it was that brought them there. She'd not made mention of anyone being responsible, so it wasn't like he could go beat down a door and demand for answers.

He listened intently as she explained about the relationship she had with the Dick she knew, though, and a lot of that at least kind of measured up to what he had with the Barbara back home. The lives they led, yeah, they weren't necessarily conducive for a healthy relationship but at the same time, who else could understand the other better than them because of that lifestyle? It was a double edged sword but one he'd fall on because when things were good? It was all he wanted. She was. That was how he felt before, when he left. But she'd been right when she gave him the ring back, temporarily. He needed to find himself just as much as Bruce did.

Funnily enough, that journey led him to this place. And right to her.

"Cheers to that," he said, and clinked his glass against hers. "That's um.. Well, where we left off with me was a bit more.. Well there was a lot left unsaid but plenty that was written on the wall." Dick swallowed down a big swig of the liquid and ran his free hand through his hair. "We were engaged, but then kinda not, but sort of had the intent."

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batgirlbabs
2019-10-03 07:40 pm UTC (link)

She wasn't surprised to hear that she and Dick were doing a similar dance in another universe, it kind of set her at ease to know it wasn't just something that was her doing, that it was the sort of thing that was true regardless of what universe they were in.

"We actually made it official?" She couldn't help but smile at the idea of it, she liked that at least one version of herself had managed to get that far. "We've been circling around it for years now sometimes I think it will never happen, and then other times..." She trailed off, Dick really was the one that she saw herself with when she took the time to think abut what she really wanted, about her ideals. His perfect wedding was something decidedly not Gotham, something peaceful, her perfect was someone she knew would always be there for her, and out of everyone she knew, out of the many different relationships she'd had the good and the bad, she knew that person would always be Dick.

"I guess this doesn't really make any of it easier." It was complicated, all of this. And she didn't know how either one of them were going to navigate this.

"So this place -" She said because if she sat here thinking about her relationship with Dick she really would end up overwhelmed. "We've got people from all sorts of different universes, places I've never heard of, people who are aliens, and wizards, I think one of them is a robot?" She wasn't totally sure about that, but it was near enough. "We've been setting up shops and things to try and make sure our basic needs are covered. There's a house too, on the edge of town." It was all crazy, it didn't matter how many times she tried to explain it to someone new it never made any more sense than the last time she'd tried it. "The doors lead to alternate dimensions, I guess. Or other worlds? It's hard to say what they are really. We go through to collect things, food and furniture and bits and pieces. God, Dick this place is just... there's no explaining it."

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ohboywonder
2019-10-03 07:58 pm UTC (link)

Yeah. They'd made it official. Then unofficial but still a thing. But it was really fucking difficult to think about that when she was sitting right there next to him and it was her but she was saying it wasn't actually her. Right. Best to focus on the explanation -- or at least the attempt of an explanation -- about this place. That was safer. Easier even, if one could actually believe that given the subject matter. It was overwhelming in a different way. A needed different way so he latched onto that and tried to absorb it like a sponge.

He was quiet for a moment as he tried to process everything she was saying. Different universes, shops, doors, a robot? Yes, it was crazy. She had to probably feel crazy saying all of that out loud. But Dick had seen plenty of crazy shit in his life. This was just another instance. Definitely ranked up at the top of weird things that had happened to him, but he was trying to at least be calm about it.

Dick took it to mean that the doors she spoke of -- the alternate dimensions they pulled up, never led to anyone's home. Just a multitude of alternate realms. That was unsettling. "Yikes," was really all he could say. He ran a hand over his face, then let it drop to the bar. "I guess it's best not to try to explain it further than that," he said, and smiled a little at her. "I guess if no one really understands it, then I'm already on a level playing field with the rest of the crowd here, right?" Dick let his hand wander over to close over hers. "I won't leave you, Babs. Okay?"

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batgirlbabs
2019-10-03 09:44 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah," Yikes was about all any of them could really say about it. They had people here who were supposed to be geniuses, hell she was a genius in her own right, and she certainly hadn't been able to figure out anything more than the rest of them. They were just stuck until they were suddenly not, and hopefully they just went home when they stopped being stuck, she didn't know where any of them went. And she didn't want to think about it either, especially after she'd lost Jason and Dick so early on.

But Dick was here again, perfect and wonderful and she just wanted to throw herself at him again and never let him go. "Yes, you are. We're all just doing our best here." Which was a little bit more than she could say about her real life, there were less balls to juggle here, it was easier to do better here than she had back home.

When he let his hand move nearer to hers, Barbara didn't hesitate in taking it in her own. She wouldn't have said it before he'd shown up, but she'd been lonely, not because she didn't have friends here, or that she didn't talk to people and interact, but because no one here new her, or her world. But Dick? He knew her better than anyone, and she'd bet that was true even if he wasn't hers.

"You don't know that," She blinked back tears again, suddenly overwhelmed by the thought of losing him twice. "No one here does. But-" She took just a moment, she didn't want to fall apart. "Thank you for saying it."

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ohboywonder
2019-10-04 11:48 am UTC (link)

Maybe it wasn't fair for him to say he wouldn't leave. If they weren't in any sort of control over whether or not they stayed or left, he couldn't really promise her. But he had to believe that he'd been brought here for a reason (again? or not really since he wasn't the same Dick from before), and maybe it was so she wouldn't be so alone. If he could offer himself to her, as her companion, her friend, or more... Whatever capacity he could be there for her, he'd give her that. What he was very curious about was whether or not he was actually still on that journey with Bruce back home. As in, had he just somehow been duplicated, spliced, or cloned and brought here? Or was he really just plucked out of one reality and placed in this one? That'd probably drive him crazy to think too hard on so he left that thought alone for now.

"I'm choosing to believe that I was brought here for a reason; that everyone was. And so long as I'm here, so long as you're here, we don't have to be lonely. Okay? You always have me, Barbara." He squeezed her hand and used his other to brush his thumb across her cheek. To look at her, she looked just as she had when he last saw her, even though it wasn't her. "Regardless of where we're from, it sounds like the constant that is a reoccurring theme here is that we are the constant for each other. This is our new reality, right? But that part shouldn't change. Whatever happens, we're still us."

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batgirlbabs
2019-10-04 09:09 pm UTC (link)

It had been a long time since Barbara had something like, like Dick. There was no one in the world like him, of all the people she knew, all the people she worked with, all the guys she'd dated, there was only one person she knew would always pick up when she called. And it was Dick. And that seemed to be true even now, the universes didn't matter the pocket universe didn't matter wherever they were together they were still who they always were. And that was a surprising comfort in the midst of all of this.

"Yeah." She agreed, tipping her face just enough to press a little more against the warmth of his thumb against her cheek. "We are, we have been since you first started following me." She said with a soft laugh, in those early days she'd been annoyed by the idea of it, like Batman hadn't trusted her do take care of herself and sent Robin to check up on her. But she'd learned pretty quickly that Dick didn't really work like that. And after that? They'd always been there for one another.

"You're going to stay with me, right?" She asked him, because in her mind she'd already decided, Dick was going to be living with her, because they were them, but she might have been rushing into things. "I mean you don't have to but - I've got room."

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ohboywonder
2019-10-07 03:23 pm UTC (link)

There was no one like Barbara. Dick had always known that. Whether they were together or not, she was always who his mind went to, and who had never left his heart. She had a place there, and always would. Whatever they'd been through, whoever else they'd been with, nothing could break what was always going to be there. No one knew him the way she did. Despite the relationships he had with other people, be it Bruce or Starfire or anyone else, it was Barbara who knew him best and Barbara who could call him out or talk him down or whatever he needed -- she always knew what it was.

It was settling to know that even though they were from different universes, they both felt that way. This was their world now, they were together in it. What they did with that remained to be seen, but Dick was relieved that she was there. He grinned at her little jab; yes, he did remember Bruce wanting him to babysit her a bit but that was not the dynamic that grew between them. There was a difference between taking care of someone and having that person's back.

When she posed the question about him staying with her, his eyebrows raised in thought. For as many questions as he had and still hadn't asked, that was one he hadn't quite reached. "If you're offering, I'm not turning that down," he said, and smiled warmly at her. "I don't think I could stay anywhere else knowing you were here and I wasn't with you."

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batgirlbabs
2019-10-07 09:24 pm UTC (link)

Barbara was relieved, in a way she hadn't realized she'd needed to be until he'd agreed to stay with her. She'd understand of course if he wanted a little distance, to figure things out here, to have his own space even. There were any number of reasons that he might want to get his own space, Jason had when he'd shown him after all, right next door of course, but still. Maybe he'd want that.

But he agreed and she'd felt something loose inside her and she smiled. "Of course I'm offering. I don't think I could stand it if you were anywhere else." Which maybe was a little crazy, but she felt just a little crazy seeing him again, in a good way, the kind of amazing happiness that came from being with someone who you knew always had your back.

"Do you wanna," She tipped her head in the direction of the door, "We can talk more there, get you settled and all of that. I can answer more questions while we figure things out." She was just glad he was there, that he was going to stay with her, that they were together again, everything else was just details.

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