Not quite the local gym...

[cursedhyacinth]

The gym doesn't have a lot of people in it. It's never been the most popular of settings in this place, and the folks who pass through the Hub -- or even make it a home for however long -- are more the type to set up a home gym.

But that's part of why Jacinda likes it -- quiet, but not entirely lonely, and something zie doesn't have to maintain on zir own time. Show up, work out, go.

Zie is currently fiddling with the setup on the lat pulldown machine, increasing the number of weight plates that will be engaged.

Comments

[cursedhyacinth]

"Time runs weird here," Jacinda replies. "It's been a while. And it was the Faerie goddess of Summer, Aine. I got a little too punchy with someone who invoked the goddess before a heist, and She took exception."

There's a wry smile on Jacinda's face when zie answers the next question.

"Funny thing about it... you ever stop to think how close some of 'the family' comes to killing, and how often? How Cass can go on a rampage and because it was drugs it's fine? How Dickie-bird can work for Slade or beat a man to death but be real real sorry about it afterward and it's fine? How fucking Tim can straight up kill Captain Boomerang for revenge but he's not a lost cause?

"Maybe some of them just need the right push. Maybe if you figure out who'd be willing to go that far, you can get them to take the heat for you, because B will look the other way for one of them."

Of course it's not right. Of course it's not fair. But when has life ever been fair to Jason Todd? Since when has he ever not worked under the handicap of people's double standards? May as well make it all work for him... one way or another.

[red_hood_rat]

"... huh," Jason finally says, after processing it a long time. "I can't decide if that sounds to me like giving up or if that's the most brilliant Goddamn idea I've heard."

"Faerie goddess of Summer... let me guess, Mr. Freeze?" Jason drawls sarcastically. "But actual guess... Poison Ivy?"

[cursedhyacinth]

"If it sounds to you like giving up, that's exactly what I want it to sound like."

The sarcastic guess makes Jacinda snort. "Close. Her girl."

[red_hood_rat]

"... I don't know Jack about this weird fucking multiverse nexus, or if I'll ever be back here or whatever, but if it works, and you and I meet again? Let me know."

Jason's eyes dart back and forth a few times as he adds that up, then scowls.

"So you've been cursed by an evil goddess, to boot."

[cursedhyacinth]

Jacinda shrugs. Who knows if he'll ever be back. Who knows what motivates a goddess to hold a grudge?

"There are definitely several reasons that I'm not Aine's biggest fan. But enough about me... you said that Chase was dead, and now he's back?" Zir brow furrows. "Was it... was it like... us?"

[red_hood_rat]

Jason shakes his head.

"The CBI has... resources, apparently. His soul was stuck in some fucking Borg assimilation across reality, but they had mystics and his DNA. His parents made a deal and got his soul summoned into a clone body or something."

[cursedhyacinth]

Jacinda lets out a breath, relieved.

"Good. That's good. Nobody should go through that shit." Jacinda curls zir hands into loose fists, tucking in the fingers as if to protect them from the remembered sensations. Zie gives a slightly shaky smile. "I hope his parents are just as cool in my world. Might be a reason to actually go back... even just to apologize."

[red_hood_rat]

"It's possible," he says. "Danny kept it quiet when he came back... I found him basically by accident. He didn't want the Titans to know."

"As for apologies... the Titans owe him a lot more than you do."

[cursedhyacinth]

"Just because someone was more of an asshole than I was doesn't mean that I suddenly have less reason to apologize for being an asshole."

[red_hood_rat]

"... that's a surprisingly emotionally mature point," Jason snarks. "You sure you're another version of me?"

[cursedhyacinth]

Jacinda's face goes blank in the face of what zie perceives as mockery. Zir voice is measured, deliberately calm, when replying, "How's it go? 'Be the adult that you wish was around when you were a kid', or something."

[red_hood_rat]

"See? Now we're two for two," Jason says, before perceiving how deliberately blank Jacinda just went.

"... you're right, though," he says. "Danny and I already did the 'I'm sorry/You're sorry? I'm sorry!' dance not long after we met back up. Still pissed at the Titans, though. Both of us."

[cursedhyacinth]

"Seen enough self-hating Jasons running around here," Jacinda replies, still in a very measured tone. "Aside from that, there's plenty of other people that assume 'crazy' is the way we all go, and we're a lost cause for it. Speaking as one who came back from crazy, I don't think personal growth is impossible, no."