IC: Corrections

[cursedhyacinth]

background info here

[[OOC: I'm using another one of my muses to progress the storyline... Grey Arrow is one of two muses that fits the criteria I need that Jacinda didn't veto right off the bat. But they've got one interaction in the Hub that didn't go quite so well. Got some fences to mend.]]

Things have been quiet for a long, long time. Always hard to say how long, in the Hub, given the flexible nature of reality, but...

After the Shift, when most of the activity in the Hub seemed to cease, there were still odd... flickers of action. Jacinda would catch glimpses of people zie recognized from the Hub -- usually the Question, some versions of Drake or zir own uncursed self -- but they never reacted to Jacinda. When zie tried to touch them, give a little push just to test if zie was being purposely ignored, Jacinda would instead find zir hand going through their forms -- as if they were ghosts.

A few of the Oracles who remained studied the phenomenon and decided that it was a vibrational frequency shift. The Hub was still the Hub, but some people remained aligned to the original "coordinates" and others had been moved to a slightly different place. Those who had made a home in the Hub were largely unconcerned with the change, as long as it didn't harm anyone. It was annoying, sometimes, but Jacinda had learned to recognize when someone in the Hub was "here" with zir or "there".

Jacinda had nothing waiting for zir in the home dimension. After getting kicked around by transphobes, dealing with almost everyone in the family acting weird around zir (Cass and Alfred being notable exceptions), Dick-from-home's entirely unwanted attraction... Jacinda was over it. The Hub wasn't much of a place, emptied of people as it was, but it was less stressful than going back.
----------------------------------------------------

The Fallen Leaves Taphouse is the same as ever. Jones is still a decent guy, and Jacinda finds less and less reason to growl at him -- now, when he decides zie'd had enough to drink, Jacinda is inclined to agree. (There felt like less reason to get blackout drunk when there was no real pressure to go back "home".)

Jacinda usually claims the same booth when zie visits, and is sitting there now. There's a college-age Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne, maybe from the same universe, playing darts on the far side of the tavern. Maybe they don't even realize they're in the Hub.

Comments

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

[Connor walks into the Taphouse without realizing that he's entered the Hub. He wasn't here for very long before, after all, and has limited experience with the place. But he does stop, and turn around, as if expecting someone to follow behind him. Then he gives his surroundings another (confused) look.]

["New to the Hub?" Jones calls out, from behind the bar. Connor furrows his brow, trying to remember where he's heard that before, and then his expression clears. He walks closer to the bartender, to keep their conversation to a normal volume, rather than yelling across the room.]

It's been a long time, and I wasn't expecting to come here.

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

Ah, no one ever does! [Jacinda calls out from zir seat in the booth.] Jonesy, get the man a drink and put it on my tab.

[The bartender grabs an empty glass and gives Connor an expectant look, awaiting an order.]

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

Er... a rum and soder, if you'll go light on the rum.

[Jones nods, then pours a single shot of rum into a tall glass (more room for the mixer) and tops it off with Soder Cola. He passes the drink over to Connor. Connor takes the drink and looks over to Jacinda in the booth, and raises his drink slightly in a toast.]

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

You can sit, if you want, [Jacinda says, gesturing to the empty side of the booth.] It's usually quiet in the Hub these days. The people here are mostly the ones who chose to stay.

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

"Chose to stay?" [Connor repeats, as he takes a seat across from Jacinda.] I don't know what that means.

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

So there's this whole theory of the multiverse that the different worlds all occupy the same space, but everyone is just moving around at different vibrational frequencies, so the different worlds don't usually interact.

[Jacinda takes a drink.]

The same thing happened in the Hub — some people have called it "the Dreamwide Shift". There's us here in the "original" Hub moving at one frequency, and then there's other people moving at a different frequency. We don't get those weird instances of Hub magic happening anymore, like the Hub redirected all that stuff to the other place.

I'm not even sure if time works the same here anymore. Maybe we're just all living the same week over and over, in a loop.

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

That's... a lot to take in... [Connor says, and sips at his drink.]

But... no unexpected animal transformations or sex pollen attacks does sound nice.

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it is. [Jacinda absently rubs high on zir chest, and along one shoulder.] The Poison Ivy who was responsible... she went out with a bang.

[beat]

Pun not intended, as hard as that might be to believe of a former Robin.

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

[Connor almost snorts, but he was in the middle of taking a drink and manages to stop himself. He gets the implied pun — he's been spending enough time with Mia to understand innuendo, even if he'd rather pretend he doesn't.]

Sounds like there's a story behind that comment.

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

The short version is — Earth scientists shouldn't go mucking around with alien plants, even if they are connected to the Green.

[Jacinda drains zir glass, then grabs the nearby pitcher of beer to refill it.]

Only Ivy could tell you what the hell she was trying to accomplish, but for whatever reason she decided to cross-breed the plants that produce sex pollen with the Black Mercy. Everyone in range of the resulting spores passed out for days — it gave ya some pretty wild and involved sex dreams, too.

We were lucky, though, because regular Black Mercy gets weaker over time, and people can eventually break the illusions that it casts. This hybrid Mercy had the same feature. I think the Night Lantern — this guy who's, like, half Hal Jordan, half Dick Grayson — was the first one to wake up.

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

[Connor wrinkles his nose at the thought of being incapacitated like that.]

And he helped the others wake up, too? What happened to the Poison Ivy who made the hybrid Mercies?

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

Yup. He woke up some people, they retreated to one of the Batcaves and got protective gear, then started pulling the rest of us out of the spore zone. Clean up took forever, even with Aloe Vera — a good Ivy alternate — working in the quarantined area.

Well... we didn't find her until afterward. Or rather, what was left of her. There were three or four of the hybrid Mercies growing out of Poison Ivy's corpse. [Jacinda shudders, remembering the sight.] Eventually, someone managed to get the original creator of the Black Mercy plants into the Hub? And Mother Mercy did... something. Handled the hybrids, got them out of the Hub.

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

That sounds awful. I'm glad I wasn't in the Hub for that.

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

I think most of us — even the ones who are usually chill about sex and Hub magic — would've rather been out of the Hub for that one. It was... [Zie rubs at zir shoulder again, absently.] It was rough.

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

[He watches Jacinda's movements with predatory focus for a moment — the inner wolf too used to cataloging the weakness of prey — then shakes his head slightly and takes a deep swallow of his mixed drink.]

I never got your name, by the way.

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

Huh? [Jacinda blinks, eyes focusing back on Connor a moment later.] Oh, sorry. I'm used to everybody knowing everybody, with how small "the community" is nowadays.

[Zie reaches a hand across the table, to shake.] I'm Jason Todd. Most people call me by the alias "Jacinda", to distinguish between all the Jason Todds that pass through.

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

[Connor shakes Jacinda's hand firmly.] Connor Hawke, Grey Arrow.

[He's trying to figure out what the deal is here — introduced as Jason Todd, who Connor knows is a man, but doesn't look like the Jason Todd that Connor knows of and is using a woman's name as an alias. He also has a vague memory of seeing this person, probably during his first foray into the Hub, but the specifics escape him.]

[Would it be rude to ask? But it would be more rude to assume, right?]

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

[Jacinda watches Connor's expression, practically able to see the wheels turning in his head as he thinks this over.]

You called me "miss", once. [Jacinda takes a drink of beer.] I wasn't in the right frame of mind to hear it. I'm not a "miss" or a "ma'am" or a woman. On the outside, I might look it, but... [Zie reaches up with zir free hand and taps at zir temple,] up here, I'm still a man.

It's just easier to go by "Jacinda" because it's a pretty unique name, all things considered.

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

Oh, I... I'm sorry. For being rude the first time we met.

I was... struggling with my own mind then. I was less... thoughtful than I should have been. [He taps his fingers against the tabletop, a little nervous.] That's not an excuse, just an explanation. I was still wrong.

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

Yelling at everyone and storming off wasn't exactly polite of me, either.

I'm willing to let bygones be bygones, if you are, Connor.

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

[He nods, and the smile he gives Jacinda is relieved (if a little fangy).]

That sounds good to me, Jacinda.

timeskip

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

...so, you know, really — just par for the course of my shitty life. I'm worried about starting to transition... these gods can just-- [Zie snaps zir fingers in demonstration] snap their fingers and start me back at square one. Female body, no modifications. Half of me says "what's the point" and the other half is dying to just... do something.

[Jacinda squints at the empty pitcher of beer.] Gahd, I've been rambling too fuckin' much.

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

[Connor shakes his head.] You're not rambling. You've had a lot on your mind.

I can... relate. In a way. [He rubs his thumb against the side of his empty glass. It's been empty for a while, but he turned down the offer of a refill.] The wolf side... in my head. Sometimes I feel like... it's chipping away at what makes me... me.

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

You wanna... unburden your mind, then? [There's a sympathetic light in Jacinda's eyes.] I can listen. Dunno if I'll have any useful suggestions, but... I can still listen.

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

I'm... not really used to talking about it. It's weird, and I don't like... [Connor trails off, his thumb stops idly moving against his glass, and he actually looks up at Jacinda.] People look at me like I'm dangerous, when they know that I was bitten by a werewolf.

They're not wrong, really, but I hate that they don't trust me anymore.

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

Aw, trust. Who needs it? [Jacinda flaps a hand, as if dismissing the very idea, but sobers up at the unhappy expression on Connor's face.]

Sorry. Been there. S'kind of a defense mechanism, acting like it don't matter.

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

But it does. [Connor says, in a bleak tone,] How can I work with other vigilantes if they don't trust me?

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

There are things that can take you down, when you're all wolfed out, right? Like... I dunno... [Jacinda thinks back, to the last time zie looked through old case files on the Batcomputer — which zie does sometimes, when feeling particularly bored.] I think silver was the big weakness for Anthony Lupus.

You could absolutely team up with other heroes along with Speedy or Arsenal or Green Arrow. Just make sure they have some silver arrowheads in there with all the trick arrows for a quick 'werewolf takedown' measure...

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

...His name was Anthony Lupus and he just happened to turn into a werewolf?

[Perhaps there are more important things to focus on, but Connor is a little stuck on that. He shakes his head.]

I don't know. It feels... off. Having to depend on other people to be considered "safe".

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

Batman keeps a kryptonite ring in reserve in case Superman goes rogue. And Zatanna could presumably take him or any other Kryptonian down with her magic. In fact, Zatanna might be the only one we could depend on to stop Wonder Woman if she turned on all of us.

When you have power, you can be dangerous. When you're dangerous, there's always going to be someone who thinks up ways to take you out, just in case. That's the name of the game, Grey Arrow. [Jacinda points at him and scowls in an exaggerated fashion.] And don't you be focusing on me calling it a 'game'. I know it's serious business.

And on the subject of names... you're a friend of the Flash, right? He's probably told you stories about tangling with the Rainbow Raider — alias Roy G. Bivolo. It happens all the time. The guy who rediscovered Greek fire and used it to become a supervillain — Lyle Byrnes. "Burns"!

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

.... [Connor sighs.] You have a point.

I shouldn't expect to be treated any differently than the metahumans and other powerful superheroes. I guess... I guess I just feel... [He scowls, and ducks his head, rubbing a hand against the back of his neck.] Maybe I don't know how I feel about it.

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

Fuck feelings. Feelings never improve anything.

So you're dangerous. So people look at you like you're a bomb that might go off at any moment. Welcome to the fucking club. You gotta learn to live with it, or it's gonna drive you crazy.

And I've been crazy. That doesn't improve anything either.

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

You've got all the answers, don't you? [Connor growls.] Always some kind of smart remark to tear somebody down.

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

[Jacinda bares zir teeth right back.] Fucking spare me the big bad wolf impression.

I'm not bringing your baggage into the conversation — that's you. All I'm saying is that I've been the dangerous one, the crazy one, the one that nobody trusts. And caring about how other people see you makes it worse.

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

[Showing your teeth, not the smartest move. The wolf in Connor's head bristles at the challenge — and it takes a moment for Connor to remind himself that humans have disagreements that don't end in brawls, all the time.]

....

You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?

[cursedhyacinth.livejournal.com]

[Jacinda taps the side of zir nose and leans back in the booth — 'you got it'.] Big scary wolfman didn't maul me for being a jerk. How dangerous are you again?

[hawke-the-wolf.livejournal.com]

[Connor asks dryly,] You sure you should be describing yourself as "crazy" in the past tense?