riverviewlogs | [Mostly Closed] August Catch-All

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[Mostly Closed] August Catch-All

who: Anyone that wants to interact with Ed during August (Hit me up to request a top level at

TransmutedSelf or post your own!)
what: Various
when: Anytime during August
where: Floor six, the Gardens, The General Store, Trixie and some nice burger joint in the city
warnings: Amnesia effects August 12th-19th, nightmares, religious talk etc. The nightmare thread has the potential to get pretty dark, warnings will go in individual tags.

Top-levels will be posted below.

Ed also has an open mingle posted if that's your thing.

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Blinking at what the other two say, Nico finds himself shocked. He drains his rum and coke, ordering another one and pushes his fries towards Jason to share. But his mind is on the thought of killing a sibling. Nico still can't imagine ever doing that. He'd never have been able to hurt Bianca, and the thought of harming Hazel scares him. And then Ed says he wasn't in control of his body at the time and it all clicks in.

It wasn't Ed at all. In fact, it was whatever was controlling his body and Nico is familiar with spirits taking over and forcing a person to do something they'd never do.

"If it was like that, it's not your fault. I can't speak for Jason, but if you couldn't control your body, then you're not to blame. It's whatever took control," he says, quickly picking up his new drink and sipping at it.

Ed watches Jay grab the fries, glancing at Nico as he pushes them closer but not getting involved in that interaction. Thankfully, because if he'd had something in his mouth when Jason spoke next he probably would have choked.

His blood ran cold, practically glaring at Jay's suggestion. "It's not that it didn't make sense, it's that there just wasn't one." At all. Ed had no motivation to hurt his brother in any sense of the word, outright murdering him? It would have been unthinkable except for the fact that it had happened. The idea that Jason had with his own intentions gone after his brothers left a cold pit in his stomach and suddenly he didn't have a taste for much of anything.

Nico's words aren't all that reassuring either, he had heard them before. Everyone in Purg had begged him to reconsider leaving after it had happened. Like he was in charge, like he was the most capable person there to handle the situation when he'd also been infected. "Watanuki said that, too..." If he was so capable he wouldn't have hurt Al to begin with, it was no control of his own that he snapped out of it after it happened as far as he was concerned. A short reprieve that gave him the chance to take care of the problem, nothing more.

"I should have stopped it." He should have been in more control, he was in control for so long, just enough to make him think he was fine, actually. Leading up to Al's death there had been some other behaviors that implied he really hadn't been, but he wasn't aware at the time. "I should have stopped it before Al had to die, because of me." He sighs, taking a drink before adding softly, "Everyone had to keep it a secret from him, what I did after he died. No one else really thought it was a good idea, either."

It would be easy to blame it on Talia, the way she baited him, showing him pictures of Tim and clips of things the Joker had done before turning him on Bruce, a lot of what happened with him and Talia didn't make sense, why had she saved him? Why did she have him trained to be a world class assassin before sending him after her baby daddy who she loved so very much...why had she slept with him in that volatile point in his life. It would have been easy to blame Talia, but he thought the world of her even with her dead now.

"I didn't do it because I aimed to. I didn't come back right." Blame the pit, it felt better. "The Pit brought me back basically rabid, it's taken years of training to be the man I am now, I merely meant if you had no reason I could understand... but you can't blame yourself for shit outside of your power. That's victim blaming and I refuse to accept that. "

"I agree with Jason," Nico piped up, taking another sip of his drink. If Ed couldn't control what he'd done, then it wasn't his fault and there was no arguing that in Nico's mind. He glanced over at the blond, trying to decipher the expression he was making and decided that Ed had enough stewing in his own agony.

"This sucks," he said, hoping to turn the attention away from Ed, to give the older guy a break. "You know, I once met Cupid and he forced me to out myself. I think that was one of the worst things remembering again. That I'm gay and too creepy for anyone to like. And I could've still been hiding it, if he hadn't made me confess."

Jason is going to get the brunt of his glare even if Nico agrees, but Ed doesn't argue the point. He'd been told not to blame himself so many times, after everyone blamed him initially, he was used to it. He wasn't going to dwell on it, either. With how long it had been, and how he had been trying to work on getting past it up until this happened, the loss and rediscovery of the memory made it easy to backtrack on some of that progress.

"I don't even know what that would be like." Dying, and coming back different. He'd died before and he knew he was going home to do it again, but he hadn't come back any different, he couldn't imagine feeling that way. Jay also left out a lot of details, which was going to skew the perception of his experiences no matter what.

He glances at Nico again when he shifts the topic, trying not to look as pathetically grateful as he feels for the shift of focus. He knew talking about things was not exactly easy for either of them - Ed was used to it, had been doing this sort of thing for years now, by this point - but seeing Nico especially open up was a strange experience. Not only because of how closed off he seemed, where Ed and Jay shared stories already, but because Nico's experiences were so far removed from anything he would have really been able to grasp if not for this whole multiverse experience.

For one thing, he couldn't imagine that being worse than the other things Nico had shared, but it was Nico's personal situation so obviously he'd know best. Or, so Ed assumed - sexuality had literally never even occurred to him. "You're not too creepy for anyone to like," Honestly, that part just sounded like nonsense to him but that was probably because he found Nico far less creepy than the average person seemed to. "Being forced to confess something you're not ready to talk about is never easy, but what kind of fucked up world do you live in where who you care about matters that much?" There's another skewed perception, he never really thought about it at home but in Purg no one talked about sexuality and no one cared about who or how many people were gay. Most of the guys Ed knew in that place were invested in other guys, and in Attollo it didn't matter who you were with or how, as long as it was with someone. "What'd he care, anyway? It's not anyone else's business."

Jason kept his eyes on Ed at first, with that 'fight me' look in his eyes. He let a lot of things go, but when it came to his opinions on victims he would stand his ground. As someone continually blamed for his own murder he had strong opinions. Of course it was the 15 year olds fault that a grown ass man in clown make up took a crowbar to him. Well it was but not to that extreme.

"It fucking sucked is what it did. There's nothing worse than dying then coming back and wanting nothing more than to kill the one person that ever gave a fuck about you. Or to desire to kill the one that took your place." He shifted his eyes to the office again, another drink taken before he shrugged. "The Lazurus pit does that, it will make you damn near immortal if you bathe in it every few years... but theres a price to pay. It either drives the users made or rabid." Jason had already had a temper, the pit just tossed gasoline on it.

Like with Ed his eyes shifted to Nico. He squinted a bit as he took another drink. "Yeah, what Ed said. Your not creepy. Hell you just look like one of those emo band singers all the girls are crazy about." He didn't mean it to sound insulting. Hell if Nico was older, and if he wasnt hung up on someone and refusing to be serious with... well anyone, he'd have made a comment. But he's still new at this whole guy on guy action. He was holding out for a hero, the one he hoped might one day come, the one whose heart he broke to spare the guy a life of pain.

"Emo band singers..." He said with mild skepticism. Nico wasn't even sure what he meant, but he knew he didn't want girls to be crazy about him. That wasn't his kind of thing. Still, if his looks could draw someone too him (which he doubted), he supposed that wasn't too bad.

He glanced at Ed, catching the grateful look that he'd changed the subject and figured he'd roll with it. If he could give Ed a break, that was good. Then, he glanced at Jason, realizing that this "Lazarus pit" was what he'd sensed on the older man. It made sense; it sounded vaguely like Tartarus, and Nico felt bad that Jason had to have experienced it.

But it was Ed's question that brought him back to the discussion at hand. Nico hedged a little bit, not the type to explain things about his life like this, but eventually he sighed.

"Cupid had a scepter I needed for a battle, but in order to get it, I had to reveal myself to him. I didn't like it. That god is an asshole, but I guess he had a point about not hiding anymore. Admitting I'm gay isn't so hard now."

He wasn't remotely interested in fighting Jason on the topic, but the glare remained when Jay met it with one of his own. The two situations were hardly comparable, but that was irrelevent at this point.

Ed swallowed the rest of his drink as Jay talked, ignoring the irony that he'd literally just talked about killing Al and he couldn't even imagine the thought of what he was saying. Losing control was one thing, like Nico said, but to want to? It's different in this context. Jay had said he went after his brothers, but Edward wasn't so myopic to think everyone cared about their siblings. Wanting to kill his brother was one thing, saying he wanted to kill the only person that ever cared about him? That was a completely different concept and this conversation was only serving to make him feel more and more uncomfortable. He's nearly content to say nothing at all until Jay mentions the pit so casually, practically blurting out "It makes you want to kill your family, and people bathe in it?"

What the fuck is wrong with your world, Jay? He doesn't ask though, instead letting the conversation move on. Ed almost lets the statement pass when Jason says something about emo bands and girls, but then Nico repeats it so he turns back to Jason again with a raised eyebrow. "What the hell does that even mean?" Was that supposed to be a compliment? Ed had no frame of reference, but it sounded like it from Jay's intention. Some days he really hated this whole multiverse thing.

"He sounds like an asshole." Ed agreed, taking a moment to order another drink before shrugging. "Something like that shouldn't even matter anyway, he was just picking on you." Which obviously rubbed him the wrong way, Ed practically bristled at the thought. At the last part he just smirked, "Good. You should be able to just be yourself. Hiding who you are only makes things more complicated, it can't do anything but add to unhappiness."

A pause, because this was way more interesting and possibly less depressing. "What did you need the scepter for?"

As soon as Nico said it Jay fished his phone out, typing in something and sent Nico a message with a link before slipping his phone back away. Jason ran a hand through his hair and nodded when Ed blurted out.

"Yeah, but only one family gets to use it. The Al Ghul's, it's keep old Ra's alive for hundreds of years, it was his daughter that tossed me in. Only that family is allowed to bathe in the Pit's waters through. it's hard to explain, but if you know what Absinthe looks like, it looks like that but constantly bubbling." He sat back again, thinking about Talia in that moment, she had meant well, at least at first. He didn't know what her endgame had been but, he had mostly made peace with it. The image of her falling dead played again in his mind. He felt like it was his fault she had been shot.

He snapped and pointed to Ed as he snapped out of his thoughts. "I agree with him. Guys an asshole, and fuck anyone who thinks less of you for being who you are. Sexuality isn't a choice or a sickness, we all like what we like, and fuck anyone that judges that." He had opinions, strong ones which he felt this was not the time to be voicing them so he went quiet again, ordering another drink just after Ed even though his wasn't done yet.

While Ed and Jay are talking, Nico opens up the text and plays the video. To his surprise, the music isn't bad, even over the tinny speaker of his device, nearly drowned out by the sound of the music of the club and people talking in the background. And the way the group looks... well, he can't really disagree with Jason. He does look a bit like them.

But that doesn't matter much to him. He turns his attention back to the discussion at hand and looks between Ed and Jason. Should he explain what happened that day? What he considers to be the worst day of his life after learning his sister was dead. Sighing and taking a gulp of his rum and coke, he shrugs.

"I know that now, but back then, I had a hard time accepting what I am. I was born in the 30s, you know. So I guess you could say a lot of my thoughts and opinions about stuff were formed because of that. But I needed the scepter from Cupid to fight a war."

Another sigh and he takes another gulp. "Sounds like all of us have been through Styx. I guess it's a good thing we're here, getting drunk."

Edited 2017-09-10 21:25 (UTC)

Okay, well the idea that the use was restricted was more reassuring, but still. The whole thing didn't settle well with him, and he's going to ignore Jay's description for the the part that sticks out to him most. The fact that it was keeping someone alive for hundreds of years. "Doesn't sound like something that should be messed with by anyone."

When Jay agrees Ed can't help but note he seems a little passionate about the topic, which makes him wonder what the situation was like in his own world. Considering Ed had never really thought it before now he wasn't sure he knew well himself.

His eyes narrow thoughtfully at Nico's words, because at least he was able to accept it now but the next part obviously has some importance to the kid and he's missing it completely. "The 30's?" The expression on his face probably shows just how confused he is by the notion that they should just 'know' because of that.

At the last part though he looks back at his drink, sighing softly. "I guess so." He doesn't really agree, the longer they're there the less sure about it he is, actually.

Emo singers were kind of becoming a rage while he was ripping Gotham apart when he returned home after all his training. So he had soaked a lot of it in while he set traps and dealt with problems. Nico looked a bit like them in his mind.

"I agree wholeheartedly." He spoke as he made eye contact with Ed, reaching for the pitcher.

Jason had just started refilling his glass again when Nico spoke the decade he was born in. "Fuck... you look good for shit, nearly eighty?" He knew about time travel, and multiverse but it was often hard not to think of ones now, as the main now.

Jason lifted the beer and nodded. "Seems so, I guess we're the dead guys club." He shrugged some, making a bit of a face. "I cant offer much insight on what happened between me losing conciousness and me waking up in the Pit. there is flashes here and there but it feels like someone walking over my grave." he visibly shutters when he says it. As much as he jokes about his own death, somethings he says have a natural reaction with him. He denies it, but he remembers waking up in the coffin, digging himself out and stumbling from the graveyard, past that as he said it was all flashes. He had had massive frontal lobe damage when he died.

"Eighty-seven, to be precise," Nico grunted into his drink, eyes on the bar. He knew it wasn't quite accurate since he was considered seventeen by most people, but when it got to the point, he was an octogenarian. But the thought only lasts for a few seconds as Jason continued. Nico glanced at the other men, brows furrowing as he focused on their auras. True enough, both Ed and Jason had died some point in their lives, but Nico didn't consider his "stroll" through Tartarus as a death.

"That club is really only the two of you. I've never died. I mean, sure, Son of Hades, can raise the dead. But I'm not dead, myself. I came out of Tartarus alive. Unfortunately..."

At this point Ed is completely lost in this discussion so he just looks between them curiously. "You guys from the same world or something?" Just the idea that Nico threw out a random date and suddenly Jay knows his age seems to come out of nowhere for him with the lack of context. It just didn't add up with the dating system he was used to.

His eyes narrow some at the conversation about death, "Hey, I'm not dead yet. Death isn't exactly permanent in Purg, it's not like it happened on my home world either." He knew it was only a matter of time, but it was weird to think about it like that. He hadn't died and been brought back or anything like Jay had, he gestures vaguely as he speaks again. "Purgatorium worked sort of like an underworld, we weren't really living to begin with. It was some weird half-life, we were basically frozen in time, death wasn't permanent and no one aged a day while we were there."

"You dont look a day over seventeen. So, Ed brings up a good point, Nico, you ever heard of the Justice League or Batman?" He asked. "Or, the Amazons of Themyscira?" He figured going with the supers, and good ole Bats was a good way to see. "Because I doubt it. I think we just have similar years. It was 2017 for me." He explained with a wave of his hand as he sat back.

"The place you were before sounds real peachy keen, Ed. It sounds like what the name says, Purgatory, like Dante's Divine Comedy, Purgatory." He explained with a shrug. Then he sat back and took a drink of the beer looking down into it as he listened to Ed. Eh, fuck it. Not like his identity really mattered here. "Seem's I'm alone in the died and got better group." looking into the beer he sat the glass down and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I got in a fight with B, a real bad one, he thought I killed someone so he benched me..." No context more given there. "I ran off like the genius I am, and ended up running into one of my moms old friends, she kept a box of my families stuff from after mom died and my birth certificate was in there. Turned out, mom wasn't my mom... so I hunted down my real mother to Qurac, it was the happiest I've ever been." He looked pretty sad for a moment. His brother's would be proud he was talking instead of quipping about it. "Turns out, my real mom was a crook to, she was working for the Joker, and my dumbass thought she needed saving... so I gave up my secret Identity. I showed her I was Robin and tried to save her." He explained to Ed what Robin was when the memories were messed up, but not that he was Robin. "She gave me over to the Joker. She watched as he took a crowbar to me. That alone nearly killed me but... when he left he left a bomb and despite how bad it hurt I had to save her, she was my mom...The door was locked but I tried. I failed. We both died."

After speaking all of that Jason lifted the beer back up taking another drink.

Edited (wordings) 2017-09-11 14:17 (UTC)

Ed's question brings up a very good idea to Nico, but Jason gets the jump on it before he does. He listens as Jason rambles off some names and sure, some of them sound familiar ( like Batman, whom Nico had assumed was only a comicbook character), but it's the mentions of Amazons that make him frown but nod. "I've heard of some of them. Amazons are up in Seattle now, running the Amazon corporation. My sister had a run in with them once, and I got captured by a few of them when a friend and I were transporting a statue to New York. They're not bad, but I don't like how they treat guys."

He snorts, polishing off his drink and ordering a new one. Then he focuses on his fries. "Jason's right. It does sound like Dante's Purgatory, only maybe worse. But it's good you got out of there. I'd hate to be trapped someplace like that." Especially after his travels through Tartarus. Sighing, he shrugs and takes a sip of his new drink when it arrives.

"I think this stuff is starting to affect me. It's hard to tell with demigod metabolisms."

At the year Ed makes a face as if Jason just started spouting nonsense. “2017…” He looks at Nico, considering the ease in which the math could be done there. “So, you’re talking about the 1930’s? Our dating systems must be completely different, 1930 is over a decade away where I’m from… and I don’t know anything about Amazons.” He’s completely lost on that topic, but he was getting used to being clueless during this discussion so he just listens to the other two until the conversation turns back to Purgatorium.

“That place was no comedy.” Another reference he doesn’t get, but Ed is from that awkward time period in his life where he has suspicions about Dante that aren’t confirmed yet so the familiar name does get his attention, even if it’s not the same person. “Who’s Dante?” This conversation was only getting more and more out of his realm of reality as they talked. “The names are similar enough, that’s not surprising, them sounding the same.” Maybe Purgatorium was worse, what would he know about that? “We were there to suffer for our sins, and we did.” Simple, straight forward. “I don’t know how lucky I am to be out of there, though.” Everything about it had been easier than Attollo, which he never would have gone to if he hadn’t left Purg. “It probably sounds messed up, but- it felt like home.”

When Jay noted that he was alone though, Ed shrugged. He finished off his drink before setting the glass down again, keeping his gaze focused on the bar rather than either of them. “For now, maybe. I die back home, and Al brings me back it just… Hasn’t happened yet. I’m not sure how those memory canisters work, but if I get one of them at least my memories will be caught up.” He’d been considering it for a bit, now, although he was still undecided on whether or not he wanted to do it. Not only because he wasn’t sure he wanted them, but because it would just complicate everything about him further. He still won’t have technically died, as far as he’s aware but he’ll remember it like it happened.

Okay, so Jason was Robin and that meant Jason also knew Batman and all of this was definitely registered but it was hardly sinking in as the story continued because Ed is focused on one thing. “You found your mother again and she turned you over to get killed?!” Drug addict mother, mother with intent to murder. This guy sure didn’t get any breaks. He couldn’t blame Jay for trying to defend her after though, he’s not sure he wouldn’t have done the same exact thing in that position. It’s not exactly a time for thinking, instinct takes over.

After a moment he orders another drink, hunching slightly In his seat at Nico’s words. “I don’t know anything about your metabolism but I don’t normally drink much.” Or at all, this was definitely getting to be a record already.

"Doubt their the same Amazons, but the idea of Arty and Diana running the Amazon corporation is funny as hell to me." He spoke managing a chuckle despite the pain of speaking his death always gave him. He had the urge to get up and go outside for a smoke but he ignored it. "The amazons are a group of powerful warrior women made by the greek gods. I know three of them back home. Artemis, Diana and Donna." He explained. "I'll grab you a copy of the book when I go back to the bookstore, but he was an old poet."

Jason refilled his glass once more, finishing the pitcher off in the process. "I don't trust those canisters." Granted, Jay didn't trust a lot of stuff. As Ed questioned his story to took a drink. "Two different women. Catherine is who I thought my mom was, she's the one who OD'ed, Sheila's my real mother and she's the one that handed me over. Call me skeptical but I don't really trust Sheila's sob story now, so I don't know what happened there or why I was never told. Their all dead so, I doubt I ever will." He died for a woman he didn't know simply because she gave birth to him.

"Maybe he gave you something strong enough for a god, I know a lot of the meta-humans back home normal booze does nothing for them." Jay was still sober, but he had a high tolerance for beer which was why it was his drink of choice when he talked to people.

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[Mostly Closed] August Catch-All

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