multiversallogs | Running is something that I've always done [open]

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Running is something that I've always done [open]

Who: Steph Brown. Open
What: Training/stress relief
Where: Mog Hill, anywhere else you might wanna run into her
When: Newdi evening, after work
Notes: Feel free to run into her at any point during her evening.
Warnings: None yet.

Meditation has never really worked for Steph; she hates sitting still and when she tries, she ends up getting too distracted by all the movements she wants to make to actually relax. Running has been her form of meditation, so it's what she plans to do when she finishes work for the day and finds herself still feeling stressed out.

She heads home, changing into her work out clothes - the under layer of her Batgirl suit, a loose, long-sleeved shirt and sneakers - then goes out again. She wishes she had her iPod with her, just because it'd make it easier to tune out the city sounds, but she manages without. The thoughts that have been troubling her the last few days slip away, leaving her with nothing but the thump of her footfalls, the controlled rush of her breathing and the prickle of sweat as she pushes herself to run harder.

Her route takes her out of Mog Hill and in a loop through the nearby neighborhoods until she's back near the Valhalla Inn. Rather than going straight back to the Inn, she stops at a park close by to warm down. She stretches first, then starts going through series of kata; she doesn't get them perfect, but they help work out some of the tension. She would normally practice on bad guys, but she's too tired to risk patrolling tonight; Babs would yell at her if she got herself killed. Babs would probably yell at her for doing something like this in public, but it's not like martial arts is all that exotic, so Steph figures she can just say she learned all this at self defence class or something.

She'll be there until late, until her muscles are sore and her mind is clear, then she'll walk the rest of the way home.

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"Not even for time travel? I think I'd be a lot more willing to put up with them for time travel." She put up with Bruce to be Robin, and he's like the king of the jerks, in Steph's opinion.

"Not first hand, but I'm familiar enough with it that I don't feel completely overwhelmed." She slows for just long enough to let Kaitlyn catch up, then goes back to a regular pace.

Steph nods, matching the seriousness, "Sometimes our superheroes clash with the government, but usually they just let them be as long as they were only going after criminals. It was a lot nicer back home than it seems to be here."

"Oh, good. Thanks." He hauls 'Bandit' back by the collar, shooting Steph the sort of shy-hopeless look he's sure other guys have given her before, the look that says I'm too easily embarrassed to approach you or talk to you more, and ducks his head as he urges the dog toward the fountain.

That could be the end of this, and he kind of hopes so, because seriously? Seriously? He doesn't do this. He prefers gathering his information through good old-fashioned stalking. But Stephanie isn't a target, meaning ruthlessness is not warranted. Nor is she 'family', per se. She is, but they've never met and they're not even vaguely close, so he simply doesn't feel right following her around at night. (But it's perfectly all right to do that to Dick or Tim, and once upon a time, Bruce. JASON LOGIC.) He doesn't have an agenda with her, and he doesn't want to make his case like he did with Mia. So it's either stalking, or more painful sessions as a blond goofball named Nate, with a dumbass dog that doesn't belong to him. No. No way. Stalking it is. And he should have done that from the beginning, but that feeling, that this-isn't-right feeling, and maybe curiosity (did she die? Did she come back, like him?) brought him to this dumbass situation.

She smiles, easy and open, almost an answer to his unspoke look in the form of it's okay, I don't bite, but she's not going to stop him if he wants to leave.

"I never got your name." It's part question, said before he's out of earshot. The act fairly is convincing and Steph is responding like she usually would - with friendliness. There's still some lingering suspicion, and she's wondering whether she should follow him for a bit, just to confirm his story.

"Nice to meet you, too, Steph," he says, shaking her hand. "I've been here... God, it's five months now, about. What about you?"

He doesn't mind the question; he's used to it, and likely would've asked it himself if she hadn't beaten him to it. It seems to be the shared gauge of experience here. You ask and you know whether to offer help, seek help, or just commiserate.

He laughs softly, shaking his head, as he goes on. "And I'm not a police officer. Military officer, is probably the closest thing. I'm a ship's captain, where I'm from."

He hesitates at the fountain, glancing at her sidelong in a cautiously optimistic fashion. The dog stands on its hind legs and tries to drink from the stream of water.

"Nate," Jason says, the small smile appreciative of her friendliness. Nate is a twerp. But at least he's not Brucie. He turns the smile down at the fountain, focusing on letting the dog have its drink. "You?"

"I'd be willin' t' put up with them for time travel if it'd actually been fun. But when it just ends with you gettin' pistol whipped or thrown into a wall by a guy with superspeed all the time, it stops bein' fun," and that's just the tip of an iceberg Kait just does not feel like getting into. "I'd do it again, I guess," she remarks as she rubs at a phantom pain in her side, "but if I ever do, I hope it goes better."

She chuckles a bit, a small smile on her face. "Well, that's pretty awesome, at least. Where I come from, just bein' Evolve- er, having powers pretty much was enough to get you branded a criminal. At least that's how they made it feel." She rolls her shoulders a bit, exhaling sharply. "In that respect, I guess I'm glad t' be away."

She falls quiet for a moment, just running along, until she closes her eyes for a moment and grimaces. "Thanks for talkin' with me, by the by. Haven't had that chance since I got here. It helps a lot."

"Two weeks, going on three," It's always a little disheartening to find out how long some people have been stuck here for, "Five months is a long time."

"Oh, that's pretty cool," She doesn't have any feelings one way or another on the military (aside from the militia here, but that's different), "So you were in the navy? It must drive you crazy to be stuck in one place for so long."

At least Steph is used to being in one city - she rarely left Gotham back home - but she imagines someone use to captaining ships would get around a lot.

"Steph," And then because she's got nothing to lose by asking, she adds, "Are you from the ceidary blue network? It's just that you look kinda familiar."

"Oh, so you're pretty new here." That always breaks his heart a little, knowing the place is still dragging people in. "Are you settling in okay, do you need anything?"

He smiles again. "It does drive me a little crazy to be stuck in one spot, yeah. I'm not in the Navy. I'm in Starfleet. I'm captain of a starship." And it's clear he's proud of that, but not in a boastful, what a badass am I sort of way. It's different, it's subtle, it's more along the lines of what an awesome thing I'm lucky enough to do.

"So, yeah. One city feels kinda confining."

"Yeah, can't say I ever enjoyed being pistol whipped," like Kaitlyn, Steph is speaking from experience, "I hope it goes better too, time travel should be fun, not filled with asshole speedsters."

"It helps that they've saved the world so many times the general population kind of owes it to them to not be dicks," she frowns slightly, something between concern and confusion as she puts the pieces together; she's starting to suspect Kaitlyn is talking from personal experience here, but doesn't comment on it just yet.

Steph doesn't interrupt the silence, it seems like Kaitlyn needs time to collect her thoughts and she's happy to give it. At the thanks, Steh smiles, "You're more welcome, I'm always willing to lend an ear to someone who needs it."

"I'm fine," there's a hint of amusement in her voice and her smile, it's mostly directed at herself, because her first thought had been annoyance at the offer of help before she reminded herself that she'd have done the exact same thing, "I've got a job and everything, and I'll be moving into a proper apartment once I find somewhere suitable."

Have Steph just staring in wide-eyed wonder for a moment. Because starship in space! She knows Tim has been in space before, and Kara's from space, but the idea of someone being captain of a starship is still really awesome, "I'm upgrading my original assessment of 'pretty cool' to 'ridiculously amazing'."

And then she realizes it must be even worse for him being stuck and winces sympathetically, "I'm surprised you haven't tried to build your own spaceship yet to try to get outta here."

Maybe this is something Kaitlyn is still a bit bitter about, pursing her lips as she runs along side step. "You'd think that'd be the case, wouldn't you?" she grumbles again. She lets out a quiet sigh and shakes her head.

"Okay, enough about that, or I'm going t' depress both of us, and that would be totally lame." She a bit, moving a bit to the side away from Steph as she extends her arms out why they run, almost as if she were pretending she's an airplane. "What've you been doin' since you got here? You make it sound like it's not that hard t' get settled in, that's nice to know."

"I'm sorry they're not so understanding in your world. I've never gotten the point of hating people just 'cause they've got powers," The bitterness in Kaitlyn's voice pretty much confirms Steph theory, and now she wants to assure Kaitlyn that she isn't like the people in her world.

Steph huffs out a laugh, watching Kaitlyn with amusement, "I've been working and exploring, mostly. Whoever's in charge seems to want us to get settled, so they make it easy to. The two weeks free accomodation helps, and there seem to be plenty of jobs to go around."

Kait flashes a smile back towards Steph at her reassurance, but doesn't comment more on that particular topic. She really would rather avoid depressing herself, much less her new acquaintance, if she can help it.

"A job? Oh, right, the pamphlet mentioned that, I think. I guess some things never change no matter where you are, eh?" Her smile widens into a big grin, her arms falling back to her side as she moves back over towards Steph. "I'll have to get on that tomorrow, I guess. Then finding a place that won't cost me nightly." She wrinkles a nose at that, it sounds odd to already be looking for a new place.

"I guess I need to stop bein' lazy, get off my arse, an' start gettin' used to being here, at least for the time being."

"You're expected to get a job eventually, otherwise you'll end up on the street," there's an edge of gentleness in her voice, she's not trying to scare Kaitlyn, just warn her, "There's an employment office that can help you out, or you can ask on the network."

"Settling down kind of feels like giving in, but I think it's just something we're all gonna have to do."

"You sound like my mum, just so you know," Kait teases, laughing a bit at Steph. "Yeah, yeah, I know. It just wasn't really the first thing on my mind. I'll have to swing by there soon.

"Well... no. It doesn't have t' be giving up," she remarks after a moment, holding a finger up. "I mean... we have no idea how long we're going t' be here, right? No harm in at least bein' here and, you know, being comfortable and not on the streets. That's how I see it, I guess. Better than just frettin' about it and feeling uncomfortable all the time."

"You're not the first one to say it." She's fine with teasing, and she does have a bit of a habit of trying to take care of people.

"You're right, it just..." she trails off with a shrug, not sure how to word it, "It's been a while since I've had to play at being content with a shitty situation, I'm more used to yelling at someone about it."

So not doing that feels like giving in, somehow, even though she knows that's not very logical.

Kait offers a small shrug, though she doesn't mean to seem dismissive. "So yell at someone if it helps. I mean, if there's someone who'll listen. I mean... I guess it's not that easy, but..."

Her lips form into a thin line as she pauses, thinking about what to say. "I dunno. I guess I think it just helps to do what you need t' do to make things easier. You know, within reason? So if you need t' yell, yell. Lord knows I would if it would help me cope."

She watches Steph for a moment, before smiling again. "If you haven't found anyone to yell at, you can always come by my room in the inn, or whatever."

"I wanna yell at the people actually responsible, and that would end badly for me." What she'd really like to do is find some militia to beat up, but that would end even worse than yelling.

"But I get what you mean, and I'm trying to remind myself that making myself comfortable isn't giving up on finding a way home," she smiles, a little wry and self-deprecating to show she knows how silly she's being.

"Thanks for the offer, I probably won't take you up on the yelling part, but I'd like to come visit sometime."

Finally nudging the dog away from the water, Jason attempts to splash a bit on his face, wincing (as Nate would) at the cold.

"No, Palm. Not that I ever use it anyway." He hesitates and then makes a shy attempt to continue the conversation. It's possible he may have to resort to being truly socially stupid to get this to end quickly, but that might also be memorable. Probably it'd be best just to let this come to a close as naturally as possible. "Do you attend TeeMuu?"

Steph frowns slightly, but it's more in confusion because seriously where does she know him from?, but it clears when he mentions the university, "I don't, but I work at the library there. You're a student?"

That would make sense. She's probably seen him around campus.

"Oh. Well, yeah, I imagine that might not go well..." Kait laughs a bit nervously, she should have realised that's what Steph meant. Chastising herself internally, she nods and smiles. "Yeah. That's what's keepin' me from gettin' real upset. I'm pretty sure I can make due here and still keep tryin' to figure out a way home." If such a thing even exists. People can get trapped other places in time, why not universes? That worry, though, she's keeping to herself.

"Sounds like a plan, if you don't mind a bit of a mess. Keepin' clean's also one of those things that hasn't really been at the top of my agenda. And if you don't mind cats." There's not much to be a mess, but there definitely is a cat. "Inger wouldn't mind someone else to bother, I'm sure."

He nods, seemingly pleased to learn of this connection and letting the socially awkward elements of Nate's persona loosen a little at the prospect of some shared familiarity. "Chemistry."

That's a subject he can thoroughly bullshit, at least. But Jason doesn't really want to answer more questions for Nate. There won't be any opportunity to ask the questions he really wants to know, but casual conversation might yield something like her age.

"Did you just start...?" The direction of his eyes moves just noticeably upward and to the left, where people sometimes look when they try to remember things. Nate is something of an open book, after all.

"I don't have any plans to run afoul of the militia," Not yet, anyway. She might form a plan eventually, "I've heard of people going back and forth, but it doesn't seem to be controllable." She's been watching the network carefully, and there were some open discussions about people having left Baedal.

"I can deal with mess, you should've seen my room back home. And I like cats." She seems to have had a lot of exposure to pets recently, but so far she thinks they're great.

"Chemisty always went over my head," It's true enough, she was never great at that part of Bat-training, "Do you like it?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty new to Baedal but I got a job early, so it's been good." She's lucky that it was Kate who came to let her out of the arrival room, it worked out well.

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Running is something that I've always done [open]

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