exsiliumlogs | [open] this time I'll be a little smarter

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[open] this time I'll be a little smarter

Date & Time: First two weeks of Feb
Location: Training area, rooftops, other places!
Characters: Stephanie Brown AND YOU
Summary: Steph's finally settling into a routine in the city; see threadstarters for options or make up your own c: Or PM me if you want to work out something specific!
Warnings: Violence, will update if necessary

It's been over a month since Steph first stepped off that damn platform and into the Initiative Hold, and she's still struggling with it more than she' d like to admit. Time travel and the multiverse and strange creatures aren't exactly new to her, but they're all things she had minimal contact with, they're the things that the Justice League deals with. Batgirl might be a bigger player in the vigilante game than Spoiler was, and she's certainly noticed a shift in the sort of situations she finds herself in, but it's nothing compared to being pulled into another city to fight a war. That stuff happens to Superman, or Wonder Woman. Steph doesn't have the training for it.

But even if she's struggling, she refuses to let it show, and puts on a brave face to deal with life until things start making sense. Exsilium is depressing, with the constant rain and cold temperatures, with the citizen living in poor conditions, and all the Transports and their nonsense. It takes her a while to warm up to using the network, and to warm up to the idea of even getting to know the other people here, but she's getting there, and starting to maybe, possibly, sort of make friends.

That doesn't mean she likes it in the city, but at least she doesn't actively hate it anymore.

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Well, Steph can't fault that logic, though she files away the fact that apparently Collette isn't limited to simply being a bat, "What about an owl?"

They're cuter than bats, which is clearly all that matters.

And she gives her own answer a moment of thought, it's harder to explain when Batman isn't a thing, "Do you know what vigilantes are?"

< Gotta acquire one before I can. It's on my to-do list! >

She means it, having considered over time what's more practical given her general limitations. An owl would be something like how Cassie moved at night, completely silent fliers with far greater control than a bat could afford.

Batgirl's second question tickles her fancy. Did she know what a vigilante was? Sure, she said to herself. And I'm half in love with one.

< I've heard of them! I know a few around here, too, but before that, not so much. You're one? >

Maybe there was an animal naming theme to vigilantes that she just hadn't really pinned down before...

"Can I ask how that works?" She's using someone like Gar as a baseline for how animal shifting works, and as far as she knows he can do anything he wants. There's Vixen and Animal Man, but they mimic an ability rather than actually transforming.

She wants to ask which vigilantes Collette knows, but decides to limit her questions for now, "I am. There's a guy called Batman back home, he picked the theme because bats are kinda scary, you know? And Batgirl's the spin-off franchise."

Since 'sidekick' wouldn't be the right word.

< Sure, though I can't explain all the science behind it. I'm totally not a scientist, and even if I were, the technology that lets me do this is alien in design. >

Adjusting her hold on the staff, Collette twists her head around to look toward Batgirl's face. < When I'm me, anything I touch that's living and with some kind of nervous system is something I can kind of acquire a copy of it's DNA. Once I have that code, I can turn into it's perfect clone. And I do mean perfect! No scars, physical defects, anything like that carries over. But a genetic tendency? Yeah, it'd still be there. >

Laughter comes bubbling forth again at the name of another vigilante from Batgirl's world. < Batman? Are you serious? > The animal theme was particularly amusing to her, given the nature of what she was, and what the Animorphs did.

If only they were around for her to laugh with, pointing out the pleasant hilarity in these other worlds. But that was neither here nor there.

That's not entirely what she expected, but she looks thoughtful as she considers everything Collette has said. She'd thought the girl might be a metahuman, but if it's some sort of technology that allows the shifting, that probably makes her a baseline human.

"That sounds pretty damn awesome," It's the most genuine she's sounded so far, talking a little more normally rather than using her more controlled Batgirl voice.

She huffs a little at the laughter, "You wouldn't laugh if you met him." Most people don't, although Steph enjoys mocking him openly, she's had a while to get used to the Batglare.

"There's also a Man-Bat, but he's, uh, more like a were-bat."

She held her opinions on what she would or wouldn't laugh about to herself. A tendency to be amused by people rather than afraid was part of what made it easier to convince herself that heading into the fight when they were asked was going to be fine. It let the edge of adrenaline carry her that much further for that much longer.

It's a moot point at the moment, considering they're not being bombed, invaded, gassed, or even mildly inconvenienced by the UE. Unless they were, but the new AI probably had something to do with everything being sorted out in regards to the technology the UE had been forcing into malfunctioning after the Transports had been tossed into New Mexico.

< Were-bats? Like a normal sized one, or a big massive one? I've met were-wolves and were-bears, but a were-bat is a whole new category. >

Amusement comes across with her words, even if she's not giving it the particular cadence of someone close to laughing. < Morphing's the best. Totally crazy, but there's nothing more amazing that's happened to me in all my life! >

For all of what it meant, and for why she and James and the rest had been given the power to change form like this, the most important part was the thrill of freedom. Flight, breaking past the boundaries of your own physical drawbacks? She doesn't regret a moment of what followed from eavesdropping on the Animorphs, confessing her own life-structuring lies, or facing down her first Hork-Bajir armed with a dracon beam.

She won't even regret the end. < Not that it's all fun and games! It's totally the grossest thing to watch in the world, and I can't stay in morph forever. >

Technically both truth and a lie. She could -- if she forever wanted to become something other than what she was. Collette has no such desires, but... she can see where some would.

"Like big enough to carry my weight when he decides I'm enemy number one for the night," She's still a little annoyed about that, especially considering she ended up in the sewers, which is never a fun way to spend a night.

It's a little strange to think of a power like Collette's coming from technology, rather than being magic or her being a metahuman. She's not as much of a scientist as the rest of the Bats, but she wonders how the whole 'conservation of mass' thing works. It's probably not worth worrying about.

"That's pretty much how I feel about this gig," It's not all fun and games, but it's definitely one of the most amazing things that's ever happened to her. And then, a little more concern in her voice, "What's your time limit on a morph? Don't let me keep you if you need to change back."

Collette referenced her own mental clock, knowing it was more trustworthy these days only due to extensive practice. She had time, but it was better safe than sorry.

< Mind setting me down on the roof? >

She sidesteps answering the exact time, curious in a different way about what someone used to were-creatures and all sorts of... what even existed in these superhero heavy universes? What someone like Batgirl will think about what she does.

Sure, she knows what Al thinks, but that'd been a whole different introduction to the concept in the first place. It leaves a very striking impression when you leap in, tooth and claw, just to get shot up and carried off before demorphing back to a whole, complete, untouched human girl.

< Though I warn you, there's probably nothing you've seen that morphs like we do. It's seriously gross! >

Steph crouches down slowly, so that she can gently set the staff down on the roof for Collette to hop off. She doesn't miss the lack of an actual answer to her question, but she also knows she has no real right to the information, so she won't ask again.

"I've probaby seen grosser," There's a morbid sort of humour in her tone, and she takes a couple of steps back to give Collette enough room to be human sized again.

She's not staring, but she won't look away, either, her curiosity winning out over her politeness.

Once in range of the rooftop, Collette loosens her hold on the staff. An attempt to gracefully transfer ends in failure as her claws slide and she falls down with an unheard thump and a protesting flap of her wings. Her mental ooph! stays private, collecting herself into an awkward, almost seated bundle of elongated arm-wings and tiny hing legs and overlarge ears.

Demorphing fails to get less disorientating for her as a mental exercise. The image of herself is easy enough to hold in mind, but the randomness of the changes, the lack of consistency, always feels and looks deranged. Tonight it's as grotesque an absurdity as ever, size changing first. Fragile seeming wings become stretched, joints rearranging with almost audible pops. The tines of her fingers take a sudden turn toward human, fur retreating as the thin membranes of the bat's wings remain, stretching thinner and showing retreating veins by merit of how thin the tissue becomes.

Eyes move to their proper position, still small, one bulging forth and settling back into the changing sockets while the other soon follows suit.

Collette catches herself with a spindly fingered hand as she loses balance, legs thrusting forward like some strange growing protrusion that resolves into bare, taloned feet and legs covered in patched black leotard-like material revealed after disorienting moments where fur clumps and pulls back in to resolve into the smoother material.

The stretching, cracking, shifting, untrackable nature of the changes slows and steadies as wavy, dark hair pushes up across the top of her almost entirely human skull. Bat's pointed, ribbed ears continued shrinking, the shell of something more recognizable showing even as the tumble of wavy hair soon hides them away.

Awkwardly supporting herself on one hand, legs splayed beneath her, Collette smiles and shifts almost apologetically.

"Ta-dah," she says at last, straightening up and nonchalantly pulling her wayward leg in to better support her new seated position. "I'd bow, but it looks way less impressive when you're sitting down."

Way more ironic, too. Nonetheless, she gets a good look at her batfriend now, entertained and amused by what she can see of the costume. "I like the ears!" she comments, using one hand to indicate the general space on Batgirl's head.

Steph might have been wrong about that I've seen grosser. She's seen more awful things, of course, corpses in varying states of decay, after having been put through varying sorts of violence. Still, the morphing is high up there on the list of unpleasant things, mostly because it looks painful, and she can't help wincing sympathetically as she watches.

Once Collette is fully human, Steph registers that she's only wearing a leotard and automatically starts unlatching her cape from around her shoulders.

"I think I'll take your word for it next time, on the whole 'gross' thing," Steph steps closer and sits down opposite Collette, holding out the cape for her, if she wants to put it around her own shoulders to keep off the rain. The way Collette moved her leg, the way she's holding herself, hasn't escaped Steph's notice, so she's putting herself at the same level to save Collette having to look up.

And she smiles for the comment about her ears, "You might be the only one, apparently they aren't bat-like enough for some people."

She wants to laugh. Back home, it'd been all the same sorts of kids in the same situation. People didn't have jackets or coats or capes to offer each other when they demorphed. How the Animorphs had handled the frozen tundra in the Arctic was nothing short of a miracle.

Then she ends up here, where people practically threw clothing at her when faced with the elements. It's nice, in an amusing way. Probably better for her health too.

"That's what people usually say," she said, not bothering to hide some of the smugness in her tone. "After ignoring me the first time."

Collette takes the offered cape, shooting Steph a smile that's more thankful for the quiet way in which she's come to sit down across from her than for the cape itself. There's a lot of perception in what Batgirl does. Collette appreciates that even as she pulls the cape on over her shoulders.

Looks like she's in for a conversation, brief or extended as that may be.

"I'd comment about the nose first," she admits, rubbing some of the cape's material between her thumb and forefinger. "Bat's don't have cute little noses. Stylized ears just make sense!"

Steph laughs, shrugging in a you win sort of gesture, acknowleding that she probably should have listened to Collette about the morphing. Not that she regrets it too much, her curiosity is sated, at least.

"I'm not known for listening to advice," Which is true enough, ignoring people is a problem of hers.

The cape is a blend of kevlar and nomex, and heavy, it's thicker than her suit, since they have to sacrifice protection for maneouverablility when it comes to how thick they can make their suits. But the capes can be a little more sturdy.

"Are you saying I have a cute nose?" She's smiling, her demeanour much more relaxed now that she's confident Collette isn't planning to hurt her, "I'm glad someone appreciates my fashion sense, at least."

Not that she made the uniform, but still.

"Sounds familiar," she says, laughing in return. Collette's not known for paying the best mind to the wisdom of others. Not when it stands between what needs to get done (or on occasion, the things she simply wants to do).

The heavy material is an interesting study, keeping her fingers busy testing and getting a sense for the heft of the material. She pauses, to pull her hair out from under the weight of it, not liking how it made her head feel trapped. Misting rain on her head wasn't going to do worse than it already had done over the months.

"Could be," she grins, winking. Compliments were easy enough. "I never really appreciated the merits of skintight clothing until, oh, say, just about a year ago now. Amazing what shifting perspectives do for you. Been at rooftop hopping long?"

Well, she can certainly appreciate that, and she idly wonders just what it is Collette gets up to back home. So far it seems the Initiative is fairly accurate, when it comes to bringing in people who are actually useful to a war effort, and while the morphing alone could be handy, Steph suspects there's more to it.

Especially when a paraplegic girl is willing to sit exposed on a rooftop with a near stranger. That takes a fair bit of bravery.

"Flattery will get you everywhere," Not that she really thinks that what Collette's aiming to do, but that never stops Steph making a smart ass comment, "You wear it like a natural." Speaking of compliments.

"I've been doing this for about four years now, on and off," There have been times she's had to stop, for extenuating circumstance, "What about you, with the shape-shifting?"

Her lips quirk up again, amused at the compliment in turn. "Flattery will get you everywhere," she quotes right back, though it makes her straighten up, shifting again to a more relaxed posture.

How long has she been an Animorph? The answer has gotten more complicated the longer she's been in Exsilium. "One year, thereabouts," she says, small shrug of her shoulders almost lost. She includes her time here, extending a lifetime contract because it's the honest answer. "Though it's not a vigilante thing, obviously. Talk about a weird way to try and fight crime! Though I won't say all the animal-themed vigilantes aren't making me laugh every once in a while."

Batman. Batgirl. The Robins. Really, all she wants is to meet someone named the Honey Badger, or someone with the curious insight to be Crocodile Girl.

Just as long as they weren't villains. Reptiles always got the short side of the representation stick.

Steph winks for the quote, her grin just a little bit cheeky, and she feels a little guilty all of a sudden, because she's going to have to lie to Collette, about the connection between Stephanie and Batgirl.

A year doesn't seem very long at all, to have so little time before being brought into a war, thought she reminds herself how much of a different a year made to herself, when that included training for months with Dinah.

Something like annoyance crosses her expression at the comment about it being a weird way to fight crime, "Sometimes it's the only way that works."

It's probably not fair to focus on that point, but it feels like a criticism against vigilantes, and Steph's never been great at taking criticism.

Masks were great at distorting expression, if not completely. Collette finds herself smiling again, small and amused by what she sees. "Weird doesn't mean bad." In fact, most recently in life it's been the opposite. "And you're right about the creative solutions being the only ones sometimes. Of course, if you want to get into a discussion on corruption and the benefits of direct action, I'm all for it."

She smiles, lopsided this time. "Though I'll probably be a better listener than anything else."

"Not always, but there's generally the implication of it," In her experience weird, or strange or odd usually means not right, which is just another way to say bad.

And she's a Gothamite, weird is how they talk about most of their rogues gallery.

Still, she forces herself to breath out slowly, softening her expression, and when she speaks again her tone is more amicable, "I'm guessing whatever you do isn't exactly legal, either."

"You've just hung out with the wrong crowds." Or the healthier ones. At the hospital, weird was more often normal; normal was more often weird. And then sometimes, you just earned titled in plain odd. "Or you haven't had people tell you that your whole life."

Though she frames it as more of a question. She doesn't know -- maybe Batgirl has. She can only frame it in her own experience. Collette had to choose not to see herself as being something bad a long time ago, for all the frustrations in limitations that came along with it.

Still, it isn't a pleasant thought, and she lets it slide away like so many droplets of water in a gutter drain. Down, out, then gone.

"You could say it's definitely on the shady side of legal. Is war legal if people refuse to admit it's happening? What about guerrilla warfare, is that technically legal? I feel like there's some political answer in there." She snorts, wrinkling her nose. "I dunno. It's war. People worry about the legalities after someone's convinced they've won. Until then, it's doing what you have to, and that's usually never legal when... okay. Nope, nothing legal here."

She holds up one hand, a stopping motion paired with something of an apology. "Freedom fighter's the term I'd prefer, though, so if we get to labels, I'm totally sticking with that one. You know, over 'those Andalite bandits!'"

Steph pauses over the wording, the way Collette frames it; it makes it seem like there's a little more to it, "I'm used to hearing words like that applied to the people I fight." And her wording is careful there, the implication that it's others not herself, that talk about them that way.

The explanation is interesting, and Steph listens carefully, then takes a moment to actually think about her answer.

"I think the answer changes depending who thinks they're in the right," Not who wins, necessarily, but the ones fighting for the 'right' cause. She knows people sometimes think of vigilantes as soldiers, she knows she likes to think she's doing the right thing, but there are plenty of people who disagree. It's part of why she finally started listening to Bruce's rule about killing. If they don't cross that line, they keep themselves seperate from the murderers and psychopaths that they go after, at least in the eyes of the public.

At the mention of preferred terms, she adds, "One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist, after all." It's not a criticism, simply reframing her point, and it's her way of saying that she doesn't really have an answer to Collette's questions.

"Wouldn't Jerks work just as well?" she quips, lips twitching upward. She's amusing herself considering what Steph is saying, though in the end she inclines her head to the Batgirl and has nothing further to say. Criminals, people who sought to create pain and strife, they did count as pretty weird. No argument on that front.

"Perspective is crazy." There's more she can offer on the subject, but she's said about as much as she's willing to on her world, the war, and the conclusion only Vanadi's word has provided. He may be as much of a liar as she is, or as she often is out of a defense against the world and a decision on how to view the events around her, but she and he had stopped that dance some time ago. She felt he knew, from the Collette in his improbable world-crossing home in Cittagazze. The girl who lived, and the war that was won. If she had to settle for only one of those truths for herself, well, the war would be won. As long as she was here, the other would also hold true.

"It's got to be the worst for people who aren't sure what they're doing is right." The Yeerks who didn't want to fight, who wanted peace or coexistance, or to be nothlit as something beyond themselves for the rest of their natural lifespans. "How's the rooftop cruising going around here? Is there much to really vigilante with?"

Steph's brief, wry smile matches Collette's. Jerks is a little too broad for some of what Gotham's villains are like, but she doesn't really see much point in arguing for the sake of arguing, when they're not really in disagreement about anything.

"Maybe, but maybe they're the ones who end up actually doing the right thing," Anyone who stalwartly believes they can do no wrong, well, more often than not they end up making things worse. Lex Luthor genuinely believes that Superman is a menance, that Lex is doing the best for their world, but all Steph can think about is the kids he's killed. Seeing the world in black and white never really works.

As for the question, she shrugs, "There might as well be crickets chirping, seeing as how quiet it is compared to back home."

Gotham's soundtrack might as well be sirens.

Collette won't say otherwise. In her opinion, people questioning themselves were better off as leaders than the ones who never questioned, and didn't stand for people questioning their ideas. That a leader had to pick a plan at some point and stick to it, without showing hesitation then -- that was a different sort of burden.

Anyway, it's all complicated and something Collette understands and is thankful never to have to be. Hah! Anyone looking to her for leadership was going to be in a tough spot, and fast!

"Gotta wonder what it'd mean for this city if it was screams and shouts all night long. Not from bombing, either." There'd been some rough moments that first day down in the catacombs. "For an island made up of the law breakers and exiles, it's funny to see people generally being better than they could be."

Not laugh out loud funny. Collette shifts under Steph's borrowed cloak, turning her head to look off in the general direction of downtown. "That'll all change eventually, if we keep doing what the Initiative has us doing."

The whole city is getting to her, and she realizes how badly when her first thought in response to people generally being better than they could be is to come up with alternate explanations for why the crime rate is so low. She'd like to think that's what it was, to have a little faith, but it's hard right now. So she just shakes her head, the corner of her mouth twisting up in something that could be the start of a smile, or a grimace.

"I know some anarchists who'd have things to say about it all," It's not really a disagreement or an agreement, she's just thinking of what Anarky - the real one, not fucking Ulysses - would make of it all.

Anyway, the thought of how it's all going to change has more of her attention, since it's something that's been weighing on her mind, "Aren't they creating a paradox?"

Time travel isn't really her thing, but she's sure the number one rule is don't mess with the past. If they go back and make things better, so that the United Earth never gained as much power, will the Initiative as it is ever exist to send people back to fix things?

Thinking about it gives her a headache.

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[open] this time I'll be a little smarter

i feel like i took a wrong turn and ended up in a bad porno

caught in a bad pornmance???

.... the most appropriate use of those lyrics tbh

a cornucopia of giving, that lady gaga

she is occasionally useful

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