at the crossroads a second time, make the devil change his mind

[metallonkardia]

Who: John Connor and you.
What: Avoiding the T-X, scoping out the barge, running into people!
When: Friday-ish.
Where: Various locations about the barge.
Warnings: Swearing? Creepy atmospheric stuff?
& Notes: Trying my hand at a day in the life post! Any format you like is good with me.

Comments

On deck.

[metallonkardia]

The burned leaves and ash falling from the - what, the sky? - the ceiling of reality is unsettling at best, but to John, it's perversely familiar. He'd avoided it, expecting it to disturb him and pull him back to those first nightmarish years... but he feels settled, out here. Arms resting against the railing, looking out into the abyss of wherever the fuck they are. His thoughts drift even while his senses stay anchored with a rusted-closed grip to his surroundings; outside time itself. Fucking amazing.

Re: On deck.

[batmanschmatman]

Dick had been heading back to his room from the CES when he spotted John on deck, and actually seeing him in person is just as jarring - if not more so - as it had been to hear him talk. He's been here long enough that people showing up with identical faces shouldn't be something that bothers him anymore, but the fact is, he misses Bruce like crazy and someone showing up who looks like him but isn't actually him feels profoundly unfair. And it certainly doesn't help that this is definitely not Bruce. The face and voice might be the same, but the rest of him - the posture, hair, clothing, he's almost certainly armed - is distinctly different. Preston, back when he'd been around, had looked slightly more similar.

Still. It's strange, and sort of hard to see, but after a long moment of hesitation, he approaches, intending on apologizing for the mistake. He's still shorter than John, and dressed casually, sneakers, jeans, and a worn out navy blue sweatshirt over a t-shirt.

"Hi."

[metallonkardia]

He doesn't move when he notices someone coming over to him, but there's a slight sense of his attention shifting - even in this seemingly relaxed pose, there's a weight to him that speaks of awareness. John looks at him without turning around, making eye contact but not responding verbally. It's acknowledgement, maybe even an invitation - Well? Go on.

[batmanschmatman]

That... is more freakishly like Bruce, which isn't really helping the awkwardness of this situation. He manages a not entirely forced small smile, meeting his gaze levelly.

"Dick Grayson. I wanted to apologize again for the uh, misunderstanding earlier."

[metallonkardia]

If it helps: John doesn't feel awkward, and nothing about his body language suggests he does. He's trying to process the increasingly bizarre phenomenon here with as little frustration as possible; best to save his energy for dealing with feelings of being overwhelmed.

"It's fine."

Finally he moves, and extends one hand. "John Connor." Now they've met properly - surely that's a step forward.

[batmanschmatman]

"Nice to meet you." He accepts the handshake, still trying to distance himself from the situation, and more or less accomplishing it. It gets less weird the longer he's exposed to it. "So, am I allowed to ask about the robot assassin?"

[metallonkardia]

Just wait until he starts swearing, that'll help.

"The T-X warden is from my world." Which explains a lot of his questions and skepticism about the warden-inmate selection; he moves back to lean his forearms on the railing, though he seems to expect Dick to join him.

[batmanschmatman]

Batkids really are the Swiss army knives of the superhero world, and again, given who he hangs out with, it's not really surprising that he can read what John is expecting him to do. So, he goes to stand next to him, leaning on the railing and watching the stars drift by.

"I won't lie, I really don't understand some of the choices he makes."

[metallonkardia]

"Probably some existential point of view bullshit," he says, sounding distant. The pause between that and when he speaks next is oddly timed, but not awkward - out of practice, maybe. (It's easier over text, where he sounds a bit more normal.) "Sorry about your father."

[batmanschmatman]

He smiles faintly. He's also used to the socially out of practice, although in Bruce's case, it was probably more just awkward. "It's okay. It just caught me off guard."

He hesitates slightly himself before saying the next piece. "My younger brother's on board, too. And I wasn't kidding when I said he was here before, so don't be surprised if people recognize you as him."

[metallonkardia]

"Is the likeness that fucking close?" He's still caught on that a little, and it edges his nerves. He doesn't like the idea of doppelgangers, and the fact that Dick is taking it with relative ease suggests it's not a new thing. With the existence of skinjob Terminators, having a keen eye for telling people apart is important. John can pick apart identical twins in a heartbeat, so this - all it does is make him think about the T-X, the T-1000.

[batmanschmatman]

"Yeah. It's pretty common around here." He shrugged before glancing over at him, trying to figure out exactly how to explain this. "I mean, there are differences. You don't dress the same way, your speech patterns are a little different, but facial structure, height... You look a lot like him."

"There are a couple other people on board, but it's pretty easy to tell them apart. Rex and Arthur - Arthur's more clean cut and a warden, Rex is really into science and an inmate. Crane and Capa - Crane has glasses and is a lot creepier, he's an inmate, he'll definitely recognize you, and Capa's a scientist and has longer hair. There used to be more of them. Sometimes one looks younger or they've just got extremely different personalities. I apparently look like someone who used to be here named Nick, and another guy's college roommate, who I don't think has ever been here before."

[metallonkardia]

He's quiet for a while, watching the stars and whatever the fuck else. He wonders, when people time travel, do they see the echoes of it here, streaking across the sky?

Finally: "That's deeply fucking weird."

Disapproval grates in his voice, but it's not like either of them can do anything about it. A leaf, only just no longer smouldering, flits past down near his hands, and John picks it up, cracking the burned part away absently.

[batmanschmatman]

He laughs softly, eying that leaf. He hadn't been around for last fall, but he remembered the snow that had been on deck during the winter, and he couldn't help but wonder if that would be some kind of horrific perversion on the season too, or if they were just getting lucky this month. "Yeah, that sums up this place pretty neatly."

[metallonkardia]

He lets it go after the dead parts turn to ash, drifting away in the inexplicable atmosphere. Nothing smells like sulfur or burning bodies, though he expects it to. He's trying not to anticipate it.

"What'd you do at home? Police work?" John doesn't think he's military. But he's too observant to be a civilian.

[batmanschmatman]

"Yeah, I was a cop back home. Bludhaven, New Jersey." It turned out to be the handiest cover ever for the Barge, because he could get away with being observant and good in a crisis situation without getting asked too many questions, although by this point, a lot of people knew what he actually did with most of his time.

"What about you?" He could give him an educated guess, but Dick wasn't Bruce, and didn't like waving around how much he could put together unless he had to.