Bat-Family Christmas!

[foreverbouncing]

WHO: Bat-family! Tag yourselves in. Threadjacking encouraged! No posting order.
WHERE: Oracle's Place.
WHEN: Christmas Day, All Day!
WARNINGS: ...Bat-Family Christmas?
SUMMARY: It's Christmas! There are gifts and way too many decorations and Christmas cookies and Christmas dinner and it will be awkward and awesome and Christmasy.
FORMAT: Whatever?

Comments

Illegal Other Category: Outside

[deadredbird]

About halfway through the party, in as far as one can calculate these things, Jason shows up outside. He looks at one hidden camera, then another, snorts loudly enough to be picked up by the microphones, and sticks his hands in his jacket pockets. It's not his usual jacket, because coming back to this from Africa was a little (though he would never admit it) daunting. So it's an honest to god real winter jacket and he seems to be irritated about that, or, perhaps, he's merely irritated about any number of subjects he would be happy to expound upon should you inquire.

He is also a little tan and has a black eye (left).

Though he doesn't look at the cameras anymore, it's clear he's waiting. Waiting for Dick, perhaps. Or, waiting for the nerve to go inside. Or waiting for Bruce. Jason leans against the wall, then paces, animal restless, kicking occasionally at the snow and then standing very still, staring out at nothing.

Re: Illegal Other Category: Outside

[catofprey]

About halfway through the party, or at least Helena prays it's halfway over, she steps outside to get a breath of fresh air. Most of the guests are nice but it is way more teenage girls and Batmen than she is used to. Though considering she's used to one teenage girl and no Batmen that isn't saying much.

She spots Jason and recognizes who it is, but she doesn't say anything right away, just gives a nod of her head. Angry-person-with-Batman-issues solidarity and all that.

"Looks like your party was more fun than mine," she finally says, jerking her chin in the direction of his eye.

[deadredbird]

He must have been expecting someone, because his shoulders stiffen when he hears the door. They're slow to relax even when he recognizes Helena. That same restlessness makes him a curious sort of wary animal tonight, but he has no intention of being rude.

"I walked into a door," Jason says dryly, making fleeting eye contact before studying the snowy streets.

[catofprey]

"Must have pretty big doors there in Africa," she said, playing along. Even knowing Jason as little as she did it was probably more like a building falling on him.

[deadredbird]

"The biggest." Troubled as he is, his devious smile is genuine. "I'm headed back tonight." The end of that sentence fades into a darker tone, and he shakes his head. "This fucking family. I'll sit through two fourteen hour flights in the space of two days just to make a goddamn point."

But Jason doesn't sound angry so much as frustrated. "They managed to get you in there, though." It's a bit of a taunt, but he doesn't mean it.

[catofprey]

Helena liked him. She probably shouldn't, and maybe that's part of the reason she did, but whatever the reason she liked him. That didn't mean she thought he was a good person or anything like that, but she liked him.

"Well, I can't let all those impressionable young girls in there thinking his way is the only way, right?" she said. Also, her mom was here, but even if Selina hadn't come, Helena would have. Because that family (she refused to think of them as hers) was fucked up, and she was pretty sure Charlie and Steph and some of the others were better off with her guidance than Batman's, as messed up as that was.

[123youreit]

At some point during the party, and not because he checked the camera feeds in passing and spotted Jason standing out there - okay it totally is because of that, but shut up, it's expected - Tim slips outside, careful to make enough noise opening the door and scuffing the snow with his boots. Rather than creeping out of the window or trying to appear from the shadows or anything. He doesn't have his jacket on, but he's warm enough from inside still, though his breath immediately forms a little cloud of mist in the air and his cheeks start going slightly pink from the wind chill.

He nods to Jason, only slightly awkward and tense. "Glad you showed up. Here," he holds out a present in simple silver wrapping paper, tentatively.

[deadredbird]

Instead of making a big deal about it, Jason just appears annoyed and takes the present, shoving it in his coat pocket. He looks at Tim sharply for just a second, eyes cold and closed off as if considering saying something. But then he dismisses the idea with a simple turn of his head, staring out moodily at the snow-covered streets. Talking will make Tim stay longer, and he's not in the mood. Well, he's never in the mood, but he's especially, emphatically not in the mood right now.

[123youreit]

Tim stifles a sigh and considers his options, trying to judge Jason's mood. It's obvious he doesn't really want to talk - at least, not to him, maybe Bruce or Dick will have more luck with that - so he should probably just leave him alone. Still... "If you want me to steal you something from the buffet, speak now or forever hold your peace."

[deadredbird]

"Go inside." It's three syllables of intense dislike, as if he's ordering a disobedient dog around. Jason doesn't bother to follow it up with a threat, or to even look at Tim. 'Get out' would have been shorter, but they are outside, so, best to be location specific.

[123youreit]

Alright, so that was a waste of time. And he would have brought Jason cake and mulled wine even though he's still kind of underage for drinking, SO THERE. With an annoyed huff of breath that lingers in the air and a muttered, "should have gotten you coal," he turns and heads back inside.

[girlyboywonder]

Whether she's slipping out for a second just because parties are strange and generally foreign things to her, or because she'd caught sight of Jason on some screen inside isn't entirely clear -- but either way, she doesn't look surprised to see Jason there. There's a tiny smile hiding between the frames of her green glasses (small civilian edition tonight) and her jacket's collar as she pulls it a little tighter, and she steps out toward him with a telling crunch of snow.

She'd be lying if she didn't admit to herself that it wouldn't be Christmas if the guy that hadn't made it so high on her list of favorite people didn't show, but that doesn't mean she has to say it out loud.

[deadredbird]

When Jason glances at Carrie, it's somber, the way he always looks when he's remembering mistakes he's made with her, but it also contains a shuttered sort of frustration, like the glow of lights past drawn curtains. He entertains the notion of trying to smile for her for about half a second; that's just not going to work out well, so he doesn't make the attempt. Taking something small from his coat pocket, he almost shoves it at her, saying tonelessly, "It's your present."

The little stone leopard is a bit crude, but there's something in the curve of muscle and the line of its back that is sleek and powerful. It's not really painted, but there are a few dark daubs that represent the markings, which trail off as if its creator figured that you got the idea.

Even though he's standing still now, it's not difficult to see that he's tense and agitated, almost ready to leave.

wait... i KNEW there were too many negatives in that sentence. if the guy that HAD made it so high*

[girlyboywonder]

She takes the thing with a little surprise (but then oh, right, Christmas), turning it over a few times in her hands. It's convenient that the examination keeps her head bowed and the warm smile mostly hidden, and she's managed to tone it down to something a little more subdued by the time she looks up at Jason again.

There's something else in her hand when she holds it out, silently demanding he do the same so she can drop it into his palm. Something silvery and light, which she had suspected might be not nearly masculine enough for a guy like Jason. What kind of guy wears a necklace, right? Thunderbird charm or no. It'd been about the closest thing she could find to "badass graduated Robin", though.

"Trade you," came the equally monotonous explanation.

HAHA I read that a few times like "heyyy :<"

[deadredbird]

Reaching out for it, he examines the necklace seriously in what light there is, passing his thumb over the charm. He recognizes it for what it is, though he's not sure Carrie is implying anything too deep here. Though Jason's never been the kind of guy to wear a necklace, he doesn't feel opposed to it. It's more like it was never an issue. First he was a street kid, then he was Robin, and then he was dead. All the parts of his life are so neatly segmented and so close together, sometimes he still doesn't know how he figured out who he is. Or if he has

surprise, carrie actually doesn't like him at all!!

[girlyboywonder]

She freezes for half a second, but only for surprise. Jason had never exactly struck Carrie as the type to give out hugs, after all. But then that half of a second is up and she's raising both arms to wrap tightly around him. It never crosses her mind to read the speed and suddenness of it as violence -- her trust is absolute.

Jason's warm, even through the coat. She'd noticed it the first time, too. He's warm, he's reassuring, and suddenly showing up at this party where she knows barely half the people without really knowing any of them is worth it.

"You're not coming in, huh." It's a statement more than a question. She turns her head to rest it against his chest so it won't come out too muffled, unwilling as she is to give up the hug quite yet.