January/Arrival Log [Open]

[timmers]

who: Tim + You
what: Getting settled, mapping/exploring the city, meeting people at the community center, shopping for clothes, potential paintball/catchall log. 
when: January, after the Glow Ball
where: Mostly around and about the inner city. May branch out for wildcards.
warnings: None at this time!

Action or Prose, both are fine, just lemme know which!

I. Mapping the City

A. Tim balanced on the balls of his feet as he looked over the city, perched on the edge of a rooftop covered in leafy vines. It's night, but it feels brighter here than it ever was back home. It had to be the big blue orb in the sky, or maybe just how much greener it was. No fog or smog to hide in. Nobody much but birds up here, too, and the occasional apartment resident smoking below. He kind of wonders if any of them are fliers. Hopefully not. 

B. Once he has a good idea what the height is like, it's time to explore downward. Tim will be wandering around, all suited up. He may be riding on top of the sky tram, investigating the nooks and crannies of the business and residential districts, and/or on his way out to the abandoned city area.  

II. Community Youth What?
Tim's first day of the job mainly consists of checking around the government building and finding a spot. He's not really sure where everything is yet; and can be found checking out the other offices and figuring out if there's any secret rooms or people to run into.

[Closed to Tony Stark (MCU)]: A helpful person does point him towards where the Community Head is, though, so he makes his way to the workshop of one Mr.Stark, knocking on the door. 


III. Shopping for Clothes
Tim is in dire need of something other than his uniform, a fancy suit, and one t-shirt to wear.

He can be found wandering the shopping district or in the mall. His first stop is the secondhand shops for any hidden gems, but he does need a suit that isn't embroidered, so he'll be browsing the upper mid-end shops for formal wear. 

A. Tim sifted through a pile of clothes, coming up with some serviceable plain tops and a couple of pairs of pants that wouldn't fall off his hips. Loaded up, he might not see anyone  in front of him over his armful of clothes. 

B. It was almost refreshing not having salesclerks fawn over a Wayne. That being said, it made shopping harder. He didn't technically need a nice suit for what work he's planning to do, but it was always nice to be prepared with a good one. Tim window-shopped as he thought about what would work best, pondering the merits of a three-peice over a business casual look. 

IV. Wild Card!
[[If you have anything in mind, let me know!]] 
 

Comments

[timmers]

"...You're kidding. Like 'America the Beautiful'? That America?" He hadnt' thought anyone would've had the guts to name themselves after a country, before. Sure, there were a lot of near things. "That's pretty bold," Tim mused, half-teasing.

Still, he definitely fit the bill. "It's special, then." Tim looked on curiously, noting the cocentric design and the star emblazoned at the middle. The colors were unmistakably thematic, as much as any of their own Bat-goods. "May I take a look?"

He raised a hand towards it, hovering for permission.

[livingsymbol]

"That America," Steve said. He smiled with a slightly wry turn of his lips, but there was amusement in the expression too. The blond was aware of how ridiculous it could sound, but that was also who he had been for a long time. And for a lot of people, Captain America meant hope and encouragement to be better. The name was a symbol more than he was a man. "You get used to it."

He held out the shield to Tim, letting him take a better look at it. It's a simple weapon, nothing complex or advanced, but that also fit. Steve was never that into anything too complex. Even changing from the shield felt wrong a lot of the time. It was funny that until recently he'd been using the SHIELD energy projection version. Now that he got the old one back again, it was almost like he had never given it up.

[timmers]

Tim tapped at the metal. He couldn't really tell much with just his hands, of course, but it was clearly extremely durable and not just plain steel. There was a tempered rippling through it that suggested strength.

He held it out, lining up the circumference to the moon. "It's well-loved." That was for sure. "So how did you get the 'Captain' part?"

[livingsymbol]

Steve smiled fondly at Tim's words. The shield had certainly been through a lot, broken and put back together again and again, not unlike its owner. That was probably why he was so attached to it, despite being able to use any variety of weapons. He understood it and felt that the shield, much like himself, was a surviving piece of the past that should remain as-is. They had earned that.

"It's a nickname. It used to be part of a promotional image. Something to bolster the hopes of soldiers when the odds were too high. And it stuck."

He was well passed those days, but the legend lived on, and he'd gotten used to that too.

"Where did Red Robin come from? That's one I haven't heard before."

[timmers]

"...That seems like a waste for a guy like you," Tim observed. Steve was clearly fit and very athletic- if they had some kind of battle going on, they'd only be crippling themselves. "I'm guessing you did more than hand out flyers, though," he smiled to take the sting out.

"That's... well, its kind of complicated," Tim paused, searching for the words. "I was... in a bad place, and I needed to do things I normally wouldn't," he said haltingly. "I took the name because I knew nobody would miss it. But now... I guess it's just that I don't have anything else." He hadn't been ready to leave being Robin.

[livingsymbol]

Steve smiled at Tim's assessment. He was aware that the image of Captain America used by the military for promotion back then seemed almost comical now, with the corny narrations and staged lines they'd made to make him sound like a well-washed advertisement. Bucky had scoffed at the reels back in the day, and Steve remembered them with mixed fondness and exasperation.

"They were for show, but the name stuck. I didn't mind too much as long as I was able to do some good." And then he'd woken up and the whole thing felt even more put-on. Almost like it wasn't him at all, because the legend had built up since he'd gone down in the ice and others had taken his place. Steve shook away the discomfort the memories brought up and turned his attention back to Tim's story.

"Sometimes you can't leave them." He knew all too well how hard it was to find a foothold without the mask. What was left after the hero was sometimes a person he didn't necessarily like, and that was a frightening thought. "It's a good name. A good start." He wanted to tell Tim that more would come. That he would be able to find something else, eventually, with time. But saying it always felt like hollow comfort. "Is that why you're up here now?" Running, like him. Trying to find a rhythm and a place.

[timmers]

"Isn't that we all want, in the end? To make a difference..." Tim mused. "I...I never thought I'd be here, now. I thought I'd go back to normal. But... I don't have anywhere normal to return to. Nobody there." His family was dead. His civilian friends didn't know who he was anymore- he saw it in the distance when Ives talked about his cancer remission or the new girl he liked.

Tam was... well he couldn't involve her any more than this, surely. He'd just disappeared on her again. Way to go, Drake. Maybe it was for the best that he was out here. Gotham didn't need him. Maybe somewhere else did.

"I guess I'm trying to find a way to make myself useful. Not much work for heroes in this place, though."

[livingsymbol]

Making a difference. It was comforting to hear someone else voice those words. While Steve worked with plenty of people who were making a difference and keeping the city safe, sometimes he wondered how much of a difference any of them were making. They'd all left their respective worlds behind for a time and although that was probably temporary for most of them, it felt to him like maybe they weren't able to make the difference that they used to. Or maybe that was just his selfish wishes coming to the front.

"Maybe there's more work for us than we think. It's not... exactly what we're used to, but we can do good if we're working together. Quiet cities aren't always perfect."

And as for going home, he wasn't sure now if he would. It was a difficult decision that became harder the longer he remained in the Quarantine. As people came and went, Steve felt more and more that the good he was going to do had to matter there before it could matter anywhere else.

[timmers]

"I guess not, it's just a lot quieter than I'm used to. And with the perimeter guard handling the outside, I'm kind of just twiddling my thumbs out here." Quarantine ran like a fairly well-oiled machine, so far- no major disruptions, everything so clean it might be squeaky. He supposed this was what Metropolis was like on a Tuesday.

He leaned back, looking at the alien firmament. "When I first got here, I was wondering if I'd died and the afterlife just looked a lot like home. With some of the same people in it. But they're different. I guess it's better that way. I mean people seem content here." Tim gives Steve a questioning glance.

[livingsymbol]

"Yeah, I can see that. It's quieter than we normally get where I'm from too, but maybe that's just our worlds." Steve couldn't in good conscience say he missed the world-threatening disasters and attacks that had been such a constant for him before, but he felt the quiet more often than others. That showed for both of them standing on the rooftop looking for potential issues that apparently didn't come up. Steve met Tim's eyes, returning the look the other hero gave him.

"It might be. But there are always things that need to be taken care of. We just need to figure out how things work here. I haven't been any place that never saw trouble."

For better or for worse.

"Why didn't you join the Perimeter Guard?"

[timmers]

"I've done some military training, but it's not really for me. We tend to plan and act alone or in small groups." Granted, the guard seemed a lot more lax than any army he'd seen so far. He just hadn't enough information to justify being tied down when they'd been interviewing him.

Besides, civilian Tim Drake, if anyone ever came by who knew him, couldn't easily explain how he came by his martial prowess. "I did get offered a job, though- government job. Kinda ironic for a vigilante."

[livingsymbol]

"We?" Steve did on some level expect that Red Robin must be part of a larger superhero community wherever he was from, but that was because he was so used to his own world taking superheroes for granted. They were just accepted as integral to the existence of everything he'd come to know. That knowledge just made him want to know more about the community Robin came from. After all, if Robin was there, maybe more heroes from his world would show up.

"I guess it is. I didn't have a reason to refuse when we first got here. There was a storm that left people in need of help and it seemed like the best way to get out and do something, but I can understand why you would want freedom."

They needed that. It was better for them all if some didn't join the official groups.

"But I'm sure there are still people who could use your help here. As you are."