From our window we could see

[velveteened]

Date & Time: June 24, 8 pm
Location: Unit 403
Characters: Kate Kane, Gilbert Nightray, and Oz Vessalius
Summary: Gilbert offers to make Kate dinner. Oz wants to meet his mysterious lady friend.
Warnings: SHENANIGANS

( he'd been curious.

gil had been acting really strangely, oddly surprised at oz coming to the apartment at this time. oz had only wanted to ask about something trivial and not so important it needed to really be dealt with now; but the fact that gilbert had asked just that -

if it really can't wait, if oz can't make do for a bit, he can't go anywhere right now but later...!

- had made oz decide to change his plans.

so gilbert is now off to search nearby shops and stalls for a local specialty, because rhubarb berries are totally real and being sold nearby but if he doesn't hurry he'll miss out for the whole rest of the summer!!!! - and oz waits to investigate just what it is gil had been expecting. )

Comments

[retraced]

M-mmh.

[Right. Kids. She's supposed to be younger, and he'll forever refer to her that way even though she'd grown taller and older in his absence. But Kate won't know the difference either way, and explaining a lapse in time might make sense in a place like this where the past can be altered, but...

No. It's not polite dinner conversation.

Discussing war and angst isn't either, but.]

Are you the only one from your world?

[gevurah]

No; my cousin's here and so are some [ other vigilantes ] others. I've never met them before until here.

[ But Bette will be gone soon. ]

[retraced]

There's a few I hadn't met before now either.

[And a few he still hasn't met at all.]

Are they all from the same...ah, time?

[gevurah]

Oh?

[ She arches an eyebrow initially, but then his question gets a bit of a sheepish pause from her. Oh yeah, their timelines are a bit all over the place. Some she's aware of. ]

Bette's a couple of months behind me. It's not so bad.

But one of them is... [ She looks away for a moment like something else has caught her interest before she focuses on her stew. ] He's only a few years younger than me back home, I think.

Here he's more than half my age.

[retraced]

That much earlier?

[He sounds a little surprised, even though two of the people here are from 100 years in the past for him. Sort of. Timelines...]

[gevurah]

Or he's from a different universe. It's hard to know for sure. [ Never forgetting redhead Robin. ]

[retraced]

Wait - how can he be from a different universe if you know him?

[Timelines he can do. But different universes, that he doesn't have a whole lot of experience with just yet.]

[gevurah]

[ Kate looks up, genuinely surprised by his reaction. ]

We're from different universes, Gil.

[ Didn't it occur to him? Or not... ]

It seems some universes have... alternate versions of themselves. I'm not exactly sure how else to put it. There's some similarities and differences.

Like one kid I met here said the Kanes didn't exist where she was from, despite it being Gotham.

[retraced]

[Different universes made sense for people that he didn't recognize, but no one has claimed to be from a world where Reveil and Sablier were real but he wasn't. Though he wonders now if he just hasn't met enough people yet.]

Alternate versions-?

[He repeats as he attempts to picture an alternate version of himself. It's a little terrifying.]

How is that possible?!

[gevurah]

There's probably someone here who can explain it, but it's above my pay grade. [ Kate you don't have a pay grade you're a billionaire vigilante. ]

[retraced]

[What if there had been a universe where he and Oz had never met? What if Oz left and another took his place, one that didn't recognize him, or despised the person that he'd become somewhere else? What if he'd grown up at Jack's side and never met Oz at all? The idea of it makes him sick to his stomach, and he puts his spoon down as his face twitches in pain. Damned headaches, why now.]

I think I understand it, but it's still...

[gevurah]

[ Her own spoon hovers in midair as she surveys Gil. ]

Gil?

[retraced]

--Huh?

[He turns to look up at her, and though he still looks slightly pained, his expression turns more concerned.]

S-sorry, did you need something else?

[gevurah]

No.

[ She tilts her head, squinting at him. ]

You got quiet.

[retraced]

Oh. Ah...

[He tilts his chin down, staring into his half-finished meal.]

I was just thinking...how upsetting it would be to be told you weren't remembered by someone, or learn that somewhere, you're not the person you thought you were. It would be upsetting to anyone, right?

[gevurah]

Yeah. [ She thinks about her family and Renee and her heart sinks at the idea. ] It would be, I guess.

[retraced]

Sorry.

[He replies, his voice a little stronger now.]

This is terrible dinner conversation, huh.

[gevurah]

I can think of worse ones. [ That involved grisly murders. ]

[retraced]

I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing...

[But at least the ache in his head is better enough now that he'll continue on with his meal.]

[gevurah]

[ She takes another spoonful of the stew. ]

Comes with the job, that's all.

[retraced]

[Right. He's been wanting to ask about the whole mask thing, but he's afraid to get hit again.

But since she's sort of brought it up.]

What is it that you do, exactly...?

[gevurah]

[ Of course he wouldn't know what her tattoo represented. Special Forces have only been active since 1952 in her world. ]

I'm a soldier.

[retraced]

[He knows better than to question that title vs. the fact that she's a woman, even though it's the first thing that pops into his head.]

Fighting against what?

[gevurah]

[ She looks at Gil, surprised by the question. ]

Your country doesn't have its own military?

[retraced]

[He hesitates a moment. Everyone had their own terms for military, police forces, but 'soldier' sounds more like an agent of Pandora than a random member of the standard military. Nobility problems.]

Oh - ah. I guess they do.

[itscomplicated.png]