riverviewlogs | Log: You and me... we're in this together now.

[ She could hear... water. Waves? The ocean? Was she suddenly back in Busan, just in time to face down the next omnic attack arising from the juncture between the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea? Was she there with MEKA, with her squadron?

No, it was... far too warm. Hana always knew the water on the shores of Busan to be cold. As if the sea itself was dead, ready to pull into it the destruction that the colossal omnic that rose out of it time after time would bring down upon her country. She felt far too warm—

Her eyes opened with a jolt.

She wasn't just hearing the water - the fact that she could feel it all around her meant she was in the water. She gasped, immediately covering her mouth to keep herself from choking on and drowning in the water - but she realized that in spite of that, she didn't feel the need for air.

A dream, then.

And it was light in here, almost as though the water had an inherent glow to it unlike the dark sea at Busan. Where am I—

Looking down at her own body as she began to tread the water she realized, too, that she was wearing a black hanbok. White trim... like they would wear to funerals. It wasn't long after that realization that she heard the sound of thumping and something banging against something and as best as she could underwater and wearing something like a hanbok she tried to find the source of it.

A box.

The sounds are coming from a box. And somehow even in the water she could hear... a voice?

Not another moment is spared before Hana sprung into action, moving her arms and legs and trying to swim down to where the box was. Even knowing this was a dream, she couldn't exactly make herself wake up from it nor was she just going to wade around in the water as someone ostensibly dream-drowned below. As she got closer to the box, she felt like she could almost recognize the voice yelling from within, too, or make out the words she could hear until the voice went silent.

She propelled herself once more with her legs. Reaching out, her hands found purchase on the edges of the planks comprising the makeshift coffin and she began to pull as hard as she could. ]

[ The brilliant green glow of the water was a lovely contrast to the hanbok. The water was warm but something about it made everything feel wrong. Like things crawling in the skin, and a burn the longer one was there.

AS she pulled the plank, it moved with ease despite the one inside trashing like they couldn't break it, once the wood grave way Jason came sitting up almost to fast, like he was screaming in the water he was drowning in.

His hair was floating around him, much like hers, dressed in a simple black suit but clearly the man she knew. Not the boy he had been when he died. Dreams were odd. After a moment of eye contact, pure chaos burning in his eyes, which seemed more green in that moment than blue. He pushed himself the rest of the way free. Towards the surface.

This was fear. ]

[ As the boards gave and Jason emerged out of the box, Hana pulled back, bubbles coming out of her mouth as she gave another gasp that in real life would have had her choking on water flooding into her lungs. But this was a dream, and— that was Jason.

Jason, with eyes that she'd never, ever seen on him before. Those were eyes of someone who was scared, and she'd never seen Jason scared (not including the younger Jason of the memory she'd seen months ago).

When he began to make his way up back toward the surface, she followed. The longer she was in this water, the more she could feel her skin crawling, a low burning sort of sensation. It wasn't warm in a comforting sense at all, not anymore. He was fast and she couldn't quite catch up in her heavier garments, but she made it eventually, and when her head broke the surface she found herself gasping and panting for air even when she hadn't felt the need for air underwater. Dreams were odd, indeed.

As soon as she opened her eyes she could feel that burning sensation around them and she cried out in pain for a moment before she waded about with half-opened eyes, searching— ]

Jason?! Where are you—

[ Jason throughout his life had survived on one thing; Bravado. Even as a kid he put on a tough guy act to keep himself and his mother safe. Being the son of Willis Todd didn't get him any street cred, not that he knew of. So he had to build himself up and the walls he erected meant that nothing could bleed through.

Those who he cared about, they could see through the cracks in the wall, but otherwise he was as Bruce had written on his memorial case. A Good Soldier. The boy behind the wall was softer, someone that no one remembers these days. Not with the shadow of the Red Hood cast over a forgotten child of Gotham. A little boy like hundreds of other forgotten children of Gotham.

When Hana reached the surface Jason had already pulled himself onto the rocky edge hacking out the green liquid from his lungs, he was soaked to the bone and coughing it out, it burned like wild fire in his lungs. Hearing her voice yell his name he looked up, almost chaotic again.]

Hana! NO!

[ It was only once he realized she was wet to that he found the inner strength, not seeming to realize yet that it was a dream, to push himself up to move quickly to her.]

Why are you here! [ Worry in his tone, his walls still down out of fear for her, what would the pit do to her?]

[ Somehow, hearing his voice responding to her felt like such a relief, such that she could open her eyes all the way to find where he was. She moved, too, intending to meet him halfway as he tried to move toward her. Even knowing this was a dream, she felt - panic. Not that she was afraid of drowning, but it felt more like a fever slowly taking over her - and that told her that she needed to get out. Once she was close enough she would try and grab a hold of Jason and pull herself up, but she would need help. ]

Jason—

[ Once she was out of the water and on the rocky edge he'd been on, herself, she would just - hold onto him. Her thoughts were fighting with each other on her mind, the awareness this was a dream against the frenzy she felt in the water. ]

We're— [ she managed to choke out her words in between trying to catch her breath. ] Dreaming.

[ As she came to the edge he reached down with that same desperation, using all the stregth he could to pull her out. Boy those clothes felt heavy, but beautiful. He knew enough of the cultures of that part of the world that he knew what she was wearing.

He held onto her as well, his blueish-green eyes staring at the green water. Wishing he could set the damn thing on fire.]

This isn't a dream, its a fucking nightmare... This is the Lazarus Pit, Hana. It's evil.

[ She was still panting in his arms - but the shortness of her breath had less to do with having been in the water at this point and more to do with the panic she could feel. She very rarely felt this sort of anxious rush and she hated it; as she clung to Jason, her grip on his arms was strong and desperate. ]

What the hell - is the Lazarus Pit?

Jay, I feel— bad. What's happening? Is it because of that pit?

It's what fixed me when I was broken, Hana. Theres so much you should never know... and this is one of them.

[ Jason Todd was many things, and when it came to his true fears he could show how broken he truely was, but when someone needed help, everything he is and was took a back seat.]

It is, I'm so sorry Hana, wrap your arms around my neck, I'll get us out of here somehow.

[ The fear still burned in his eyes, but she was more important in that moment. The hero in him needed to get her out of there.]

[ The thing, though, was that as far as Hana was concerned?

They were in this together. Sure, this seemed to be Jason's nightmare they were trapped in, but they were both there. They're going to get themselves out of here somehow. It wasn't all on him.

They were friends. A team.

Even with the panic she felt, she found it in her to move and wrap her arms around Jason - this time more of an embrace than a desperate grasp. ]

Stop— talking like that, you idiot. You're my friend. I'm going to help you.

[ In Jason's experinace team work usually meant a bad ass lady saving his ass when he got in to deep, or a a friend to keep things from being to serious. Things had changed between Kori and Roy, and Artemis and Bizzaro. But all in All, Jason still always saw himself as the leader, Batman's training and all.

So even in it together, he felt the weight on him to get her out of his horrors.

Why did this world like to force Hana into the horrors of his life? Seeing his mom had been bad enough, but the PIT no. That's not cool. He held her a little tighter than he would anyone else. Worry making his heart race as he pulled himself to his feet. Moving in steps he knew even with his eyes wide. He could almost see Talia standing in his white dress with that predatory smile. Probably because as it was a dream, she was standing there. Not moving just watching with very dead eyes, and a strange hole in her forehead and blood drained down like someone had shot her.]

You do help, Hana, you are helping...

[ He spoke as the specter of Talia moved again, tipping her head watching them.]

[ Hana squeezed back as Jason held her, but as soon as his arms came loose as he stood up, she pulled herself up with him, too. She cast a glance around their surroundings, trying to remember if she'd seen any place like this the last time they had ended up in a dream together, but no dice. At last, her gaze would fall on the ghostly-looking woman in white standing still. When the woman's head pivoted as she moved, her sight lever leaving them, she felt decidedly unsettled.

Hana reached out for Jason's hand. Maybe it would help remind him that this wasn't real. And that she was here with him. ]

Who is that?

[ Jason's hold on Hana tightened him as his hollow eyes locked with the dead eyes of the woman watching them. It wasn't true fear, but more of a self-deprecating fear. That was his fault... he could have saved her.

When Hana asked, the woman gave a cruel smile, blood on her teeth as well, internal bleeding. ]

She wont hurt us... that's Damian's mom...

[ Something in Jason's tone spoke something deeper, his grief seeping free in his tone as he started to lead her towards the tunnel he knew to be near Talia.]

[ Hmm, well, the bloody teeth and everything else about the sight before them were very decidedly Creepy, like something out of horror games that Hana wasn't all too fond of (perhaps, one of the only kinds of games she didn't really like) and her eyes narrowed at the ghost - but when she heard Jason's words, she looked at him, surprised. ]

Damian's mom?

[ She could hear those tones in his voice, and she swallowed thickly before she asked, almost hesitantly but still in a quietly demanding way, ]

Why is she here, Jay? What's she doing in this nightmare?

[ Talia remained, her dead eyes moving to Hana. She didn't look pleased, yet Jason kept his arms around Hana, leading them both to the trail near her. Jason heard Hana, nodding ar first to confirm.]

Yeah. Talia Al Ghul.... B's ex.

[ That tone stayed though, as he answered on finally reaching the stone hall leading out towards the woods.]

She's the one who helped me Hana, She's here because I couldn't save her. I let her die after she saved me.

Edited 2018-02-14 23:39 (UTC)

[ She kept her eyes on Talia, entirely unsure of what this all meant. So they were in Jason's nightmare, and this time they didn't seem to just be a captive audience for memories to play out in. They were in it, as active participants. Except this couldn't really be a memory, then. ]

So... is that it, then? If we help her now, maybe we'll get to leave this dream?

[ Jason shook his head some. ]

We can't help her, she's gone... I mean she's here but her body's in another dimension, even back home. Her crazy fucking father sold her and Damian's bodies to a big bad that would take hours to explains. We got little D back... but left Talia behind.

[ No one was thinking about Talia when they went to save Damian... they were there for Alfred, for Damian even... fuck Bruce for the shit he did to all of them before hand.]

We get out of here and we should be able to leave... that's usually how it works... but with more assassins... I don't know why we haven't been attacked yet.

'Cause this place is weird about dreams. That's why.

Though maybe they're waiting to ambush us outside?

[ Hana moved, pulling herself away and out of Jason's arms, but opting to hold his hand instead. That way they each had a free hand in case... of something. Not that she was sure what they could do about it in this weird dream. She wasn't armed with her pistol, and it's not like her mech could cross planes and enter a dream world or whatever this was. She gave Jason's hand a squeeze as they continued walking through the hall. ]

Man, and I thought my world had crazy things. Yours is just weird.

A man's horrors should be his own... not played at the globe like a Shakespearean tragedy...One of these days Im going to find the powers that run this place and shove my boots so far....

[ He cut himself off as she said it... damnit. He sighed and nodded letting her go, all but the one hand as he reached down realizing he was unarmed... well he was never really unarmed but thats fine.

Sadly, there was nothing waiting but a cliff face just outside of the hall, and Talia floating along behind them, as if curious of the new comer.]

It's pretty normal until you see the things that roam the night. Your worlds probably just as fucked.

It probably is, but in a totally different way.

[ Hana would admit that even she doesn't have a complete understanding of her world - she knew, with the existence of organizations like Talon, that there were more nefarious things afoot that she likely didn't know about... but she still doubted that they would have magic pits that brought people back from the dead and such. Though with her over here, in the Quarantine and moreover in one of Jason's dreams, it hardly mattered. ]

Come on, Jay, we'll get out of this together somehow. We can figure it out.

Count yourself lucky, the lucky ones don't see the shadows move.

[ He spoke, just a touch bitter. He never really got the chance to not see in the shadows. One didn't grow up practically alone in crime alley without seeing some heavy stuff. Even before the Bat and all the bullshit that followed.

He wanted to argue he knew the way, he does this all the time, but no he just nodded and moved along with her. Towards the end of the tunnel was a light and a small outline of a tiny figure in a cape. The close they get no features come into light as it it was just a moving shadow. Until they got close enough that the shadow ran at them both, flipping in the air and aiming to kick them both in the face.. with tiny pixie boots. Luckily even in dreams shadows are shadows, though this one left a cold feeling. Nearly bone deep.]

Log: You and me... we're in this together now.

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cw; dead ghost of Damian's mom....

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