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[baedalites]

Who: EVERYONE.
What: Swap meet.
Where: The Apache and surrounding environs.
When: Sukkardi the 14th of Haneden
Notes:

• Swap Meet Spreadsheet: Pre-chosen swaps are green. Assigned are blue. There were a few characters that were selected more than once, so objects were assigned on a first-come first-serve basis. If you have any issues or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the mod team.
• For objects that might not be immediately apparent as belonging to their owners, there may be a picture or name attached, or players are welcome to have their characters ~just know~ it's for them. Drr drr drr, bb.
• Party post nights are a great time to come join the chatroom.
• The topic threads are just suggestions; if you've got somewhere else that your characters simply must be, make your own thread.

Warnings: None yet. Please put warnings up on individual threads.

The Apache is much the same as it always is: dimly lit, with the jukebox playing in the background, and the bartender serving whatever's on tap.

Comments

[controlledvariable]

Steph, dressed in black and orange, has claimed a table for herself and the wooden box she'd woken up to this morning. She'd tried, experimentally, to open the lock but after getting nowhere with it had given up rather quickly. Partly because she doesn't want to piss off the gods, and partly because she wasn't sure exactly what was in there. Better to just leave it for the owner to deal with.

So it's still locked, resting on a table with Steph seated nearby, drink in hand and content with people watching for now. She'll go look for her object after she's given the box to it's rightful owner.

[heardmermaids]

While he was sitting and waiting for the owners of his objects to appear, Sebastian caught sight of a young woman carrying over a wooden box. It takes him a little while before he's able to piece together what it is and why it's so familiar, but once he does, he and Velcro quickly make their way over Steph's table.

"Excuse me, but is that yours?"

[controlledvariable]

"Nope," with a wry smile, she'd watched him approach, placed him as Sebastian-the-handy-man that she'd talked to on the network once and has, for now, slotted him into the 'fairly harmless' category.

"You recognize it?" It makes the most sense, since he can't actually see what's in the box and know it from that.

[heardmermaids]

"I think so. May I?" For the time being, he's tucked away Professor Burbage's wand and the metal disc which leaves his hands free to run over the box, paying special attention to the lock and the hinges. Sebastian doesn't look particularly pleased, which could mean that either it's not what he'd expected or it is what he's thought and it's not want he wants to see.

[controlledvariable]

"Of course," she shifts her seat back rather than pushing the box closer to him; it's heavy, okay.

She watches him inspect it, trying to be subtle about that fact but probably failing. She feels bad that he doesn't seem to like it, both because she just - does, and because it might mean that the gods aren't feeling particularly nice and maybe she'll get something Not Great, too.

After a moment, "Do you think it's for you?"

[heardmermaids]

"I do," he says standing back and frowning at the box. It's certainly for a witch or wizard and it could be for Hermione, but Sebastian has a gut feeling that if he's right, it's not hers. "There's one way to check."

"If this takes my hand off or worse, I'd appreciate it if you got me back to the Hellsing Guild Hall." Laying his injured right hand over the lock, Sebastian steadies his breathing and whispers the appropriate spell. Without delay, there is a click and the lock swings open.

[controlledvariable]

Steph gives a sharp nod, setting her drink on the table and standing. She's positioned behind the box, clearly ready to move in response to whatever happens, the lines of her body tense. It just sounded like glass (bottles? Something else, maybe) was in there, when she'd lifted it, but obviously it's something more dangerous than that.

She sees his mouth move and puts two and two together to get 'magic', but fortunately nothing seems to have exploded yet.

"Is it safe?" An important question, considering they are in a crowded bar.

[heardmermaids]

"I think it's better to say that it's dangerous, but only in a very specific way. Nothing here will hurt the bar or its patrons."

Calmly, he opens the rest of the catch and lifts the lid, revealing a box that is somehow a foot deeper than it ought to be. The sides of the box are lined with numerous unlabelled small, gold and glass bottles filled with a curious liquid that looks like melted moonstones and resting on the bottom of the case there is a smooth, silvery dish.

[controlledvariable]

"Well, that's - alright," She thinks? She's not sure she approves of the gods giving Sebastian something that could hurt him.

But still, she can't help peeking into the box, curious about what it might be, "Can I ask...?"

What they are. And while curious, her tone suggests she'll back off without protest if the answer is no.

[heardmermaids]

"It's a tool called a 'pensieve' that a wizard can use to hold excess memories," he says a touch absently as he selects a vial at random and holds it up to the light before uncorking it. The scent of tea, lemon sherbet, and ink fills the air around them.

[controlledvariable]

"Oh," Both for the explanation and the smell. She thinks she understands what he meant by it being dangerous in a specific way. If that's a box full of memories, it could do a lot of harm, depending on what the memories are.

"It sounds fascinating and kind of creepy," No offence, wizards, Steph is just being honest.

[heardmermaids]

Slipping the cap back on the vial, Sebastian returns it back to its place in the box and shuts the lid, relocking it before he addresses Steph, "You're not wrong. Thank you for bringing this and taking such good care of it."

He's a bit cool, but it's nothing to do with here so much as it's the sudden glut of Dumbledore's private pensieve and memories. What is he to do with all this information? When he knows that no moral argument will stave off his curiosity, should he even worry about what he now owns?

[controlledvariable]

"That's alright, I hope it's--" What? Not entirely terrible? A fun trip down memory lane? Everything she could say seems kind of ridiculous, "I hope you find a use for it."

There, that's reasonably sensible. Even if the memories already in there aren't ones he'd want, he can use it to store his own, maybe? Steph is going to have to ask Hermione more about pensieves.

[thenormalsquint]

The moment Angela realized what she had in her hand, she realized who it belonged to. Or who she thought it belonged to. Tags? Who reads tags anymore? Not Angela. No, why should she when she knows who Batgirl is and realizes the uniform looks too familiar to be passed over as just another costume? It's so much easier to just walk up to Steph, as she does, with a drink in one hand, the costume in nice gift bag, and a giant smile on her face.

"I have something that belongs to you," Angela grins as she slides into the chair next to Steph, pushing the bag towards her.

[controlledvariable]

That gets a raised eyebrow, "Do you?" But she smiles in greeting and pulls the bag to sit in front of her, carefully peeking inside to see what it is. She almost pulls it out before she realizes it's a costume and then decides it's better if only her and Angela know what it is.

It takes another few seconds of investigation before she finds the Bat symbol, and then the boots and - Oh. Her expression shifts dramatically, looking something that could be described as heartbroken; she knows she's going to have to give this to Babs.

"No," Her voice is quiet, reverent, "This isn't mine." She should explain more, but she doesn't know how.

[thenormalsquint]

That look on Steph's face is not the look Angela was expecting. She was looking for excitement or something close to it, thinking it's an old version of Steph's costume. This is far out of left field and Angela's left wanting an explanation of what she did wrong this time.

"It's not?" she asks, clearly confused. "Whose is it then?"

[controlledvariable]

It takes her a while to find her voice, but before that she carefully neatens up the costume in the bag and pushes it slightly away from herself. It doesn't feel right to look at it, like it's something private.

"I shouldn't..." It's not her secret to tell, especially when she knows Babsand Angela are close. Instead, she gives a look around to make sure no one's eavesdropping.

"I'm the third Batgirl. This costume belonged to the first, before she quit."

[thenormalsquint]

Steph's behavior is weird, to say the least, and all it does is leave Angela more confused until the short explanation comes.

"Oh, well, then. Who is she?" she queries, pulling the bag back to her side. Angela could do the smart thing and just look at the damn tag but where's the fun in that? It has to be somebody in Baedal because who's just going to get an item that's not a resident's. Maybe they haven't showed up yet. Maybe they've decided parties weren't their scene. There's a lot of maybes, but until Steph says who the first Batgirl is, then none of them will come to certainties.

[controlledvariable]

There's more silence, for a long time as Steph weighs up whether or not to tell Angela. She could just offer to take the bag to it's owner, but she has a feeling Ange won't let that fly.

She hopes Babs doesn't kill for this.

"Barbara," her tone quiet, her gaze focused on her drink in front of her, "Babs was the first Batgirl."

[thenormalsquint]

This doesn't help quell Angela's curiosity about what the hell goes on in Gotham at all. It adds whether or not Babs quit because of what landed her in the wheelchair or if she quit before that and who is the second Batgirl and why did she quit and why, why, why.

"What happened?" She asks this quietly, both for a measure of privacy and because it seems like such a sensitive topic that clearly Angela is too nosy to just let go.

[controlledvariable]

"She quit," repeating what she said earlier, but more firmly, "I'm not - entirely sure why, but I think she was just ready to move on to different things in her life."

More silence, but the kind that means something more is coming, "Has she told you about what happened to her?" Referring to the fact Babs uses a wheelchair now. Angela's answer will affect what else Steph says, because telling her about Batgirl is one thing, telling her about something so - intense and private as what the Joker did to Babs is something different.

Something like showing pictures of Steph's injuries to Misfit. But she won't think about that.

[thenormalsquint]

Crimefighting the way Batgirl does (or Batgirls do) could be emotionally draining to the point where one wants to give up. That much Angela can think about. She doesn't know how Booth does it when her part of the work stomps on her emotions daily.

Angela nods, just before adding, "She told me she was shot." Of course the finer details of who, how, and when wasn't told to Angela, but the little she does know explains the why Babs is in a wheelchair now. The bag sits on the table between them and Angela reaches out to finger the string handles. If what Steph says is true about Babs just wanting to move on with her life, would the uniform be an unwelcome gift?

"You think she'd want this?"

[controlledvariable]

She wonders how much Angela knows, but what she says is enough for now. Babs can tell her the rest when she's ready to trust Angela with that knowledge. It's something Steph and Babs have in common here, that no one they meet will know about their past trauma (everyone knew about the commissioner's daughter getting shot).

"It wasn't because of Batgirl," She thinks that's at least a decent partial explanation for some of the questions Angela might have. She's not sure, though, whether Babs would want it, "I think she should have the choice to keep it or not."

There, a compromise. Although she isn't looking forward to the possibility of making Babs sad by showing her the costume, "Do you want to give it to her?" Obviously the gods thought she should, but - well.

[thenormalsquint]

It's an explanation that works. Even if it's not detailed, it's one that works coming from somebody that isn't the subject of the conversations. If Babs chooses to tell Angela such a painful secret, Angela will appreciate it. If she doesn't, it doesn't matter. She'll still appreciate Babs for being Babs.

Angela shakes her head in reply. "Not if it'll upset her." She's never seen the bad side of Babs, but maybe Steph has. "I'm not sure how she'll react to something from her past."

[controlledvariable]

"I think--"

She remembers Babs looking at her costume in a case, in the Cave and how sad she looked. But it was an old kind of sadness, the type that never really goes away but isn't neccesarily bad, just a reminder of a life lived.

"She should have it. It belongs to her." Decision made, Steph feels better about the situation and she manages to look back at Angela, "I can take it to her, if you don't want to."