Let me lift from the ground like my soul is in flight

[teambatgirl]

“I don’t want to insult you, O, but the fact that you’ve never seen Showgirls is an abomination.  It’s an amazing, glorious piece of truly terrible cinema.  It’s awesome.  We’ll have to have a Batgirl movie night.  Put that in the priority one file.”

Stephanie Brown is flying.  The line is strong and steady in her hand, the night breeze cool against

Comments

[highf]

"Yeah, uhh..."

He accepts the papers with a gracious smile and a nod of his head, but the expression washes away from his face quickly enough as he's faced with the prospect of explaining to someone else the nature of the island. Because, frankly, he's only beginning to wrap his head around it himself. And still isn't entirely convinced (part of this is for his own sanity, he's sure) that this place is real, that he is truly and completely trapped on an island with no way off and made to waste precious weeks, months, even years somewhere his talents can't be fully utilized and his dreams realized.

She might be in the very same boat, strange though the costume is, and Kurt finds his throat growing dry at the very thought.

"Okay, when I said prepare yourself, I don't mean for a long walk or a hitchhike. I mean, like, you're... not going to get back to Aparo Park anytime soon. At least, not by choice. The both of us are standing on an island right now, called Tabula Rasa, and no one's been able to find a reliable way off. Or even know where we are relative to the rest of the one or many universes."

[teambatgirl]

"That's-" Ridiculous. Unbelievable. Unacceptable. Not impossible, Stephanie knows impossible things happen semi-regularly, but still pretty damn unlikely. Universe bending things happen to Green Lanterns, to Batman, not to her.

If this kid is even telling the truth at all. She could have been kidnapped and taken somewhere else, even if she doesn't remember losing consciousness. Teleported, maybe. She glances around to inspect the rooftop and the cover of the trees for eyes watching them, some sort of threat. There's nothing she can see, which doesn't mean it's not there.

For the sake of a civilian, she has to stay calm. "This- this is not great. Tabula Rasa, really? That's a bit on the nose." She takes a deep breath. "Who brings us here then?"

[highf]

"I have no idea," Kurt replies immediately, with wide eyes, lips pressed together in resignation. "And before you point out the fact that any normal, sane person would either scoff at this kind of description or completely lose his or her mind, believe me, I've done the former. It's sheer denial and willpower that keep me from completely falling into the second." His smile brightens for a moment, though it's forced, and he stares up at the girl, trying to get a read on her own reaction. It's far more muted than he expected for it to be, but then again, with the things that some people on the island are convinced that they've done all their lives, maybe that doesn't come as too great of a surprise.

"As far as we know, you just... show up. Although there does seem to be evidence that there's, I don't know, a conscious mind or choice behind it all, as Tabula Rasa frequently throws hurdles at its citizens in ways that don't seem entirely random. Once again, these are things that I usually ignore, more often than not."

[teambatgirl]

"I am definitely rocking the willpower right now," she says as she slides the closed bo into it's sheath at her belt. No point in having a visible weapon out right now, but she does slip a batarang out to hold surreptitiously against her palm. Just in case.

"Okay, so, let me see if I got this right." She takes a deep breath and starts ticking things off on her fingers. "You show up literally in mid air, no one knows where we are, and no one knows how to leave. Assuming this is all true and this isn't some sort of prank the Batgirl joke. What am I missing?"

[highf]

"Well, personally, I showed up with both feet on the ground, but seeing as how I'm not exactly the most acrobatic person around, and also seeing as how the island decided to deposit me in that building there-" Kurt points to the Compound behind her. "-I'm sure that it's just the island, or whoever it is puppeteering, being practical about not breaking everyone's legs as soon as they come in. But aside from that, you've got it about right. Show up randomly, don't know where we are, don't know how to leave."

His brows furrow, a hand raising as he backtracks against his thoughts. "Wait..." he murmurs. "Did you just say 'prank the Batgirl'? You are just wearing a costume, right?"

[teambatgirl]

She puts a hand to her hip and glances down at herself. Her first Spoiler uniform had been a black bodysuit and eggplant fabric she'd bought from the fabric store and sewn up herself. She'd said it was for an early Halloween costume. Everything up until Robin had been something she'd cobbled together herself.

Her Batgirl suit is bulletproof, insulated, made to withstand extreme temperatures, and generally designed to withstand as much as ass kicking as physically possible. It fit her like an especially badass second skin. She loved it completely.

"I like to think of it as more of a uniform, honestly," she says with a shrug. "But costume is not inaccurate."

[highf]

"Okay," he nods slowly, understanding dawning upon him. It's not a costume to her. It's a uniform. It's a uniform, because apparently wherever she's from, Batman exists. Gotham and Metropolis exist. Unfortunately, as his eyes travel over to her length of blonde hair, he can't quite put his finger on who she is, not nearly familiar enough with the franchise to say. But he supposes that this is no stranger than the Harry Potter kids being on the island, or any of the other classics. Broadway characters, even. Bearing that in mind, he tempers his smile, trying for something reassuring. "Can't say I'm personally familiar with Batgirl, but uh- I know a little bit, I guess, about the Batfamily? Anyway."

He shakes his head, patting the spot next to him and waiting for her to sit. "Sit. Unless you'd rather head inside, it's probably cooler there, and your... outfit doesn't look quite weather-appropriate."

[teambatgirl]

"The Batfamily, huh? I haven't heard that one before." This kid has no idea how accurate that is; they were this dysfunctional little family. Not that she was really a part of it as so much of a red-headed stepchild no one really wanted to deal with. She tries not to let it bother her.

She glances around the island and then shrugs. The suit is warm in the sun and she's starting to sweat, but she's put up with Gotham's August heat waves for years. Still, might be a good idea to start getting the lay of the land. "Let's head in." She nods to the largest building. "I take it that's headquarters?

[highf]

"Kind of." Kurt tilts his head back and forth, hemming before he heaves a sigh and nods, just a touch. "Yeah, it's... the closest thing we've got to headquarters, I guess. Everything's kind of in there, the Island Council, who are kind of recordkeepers and decisionmakers for us here on Tabula Rasa. There's the clinic, pretty sure the island police department has people there, the school teaches students, etcetera. If you ask me, we'd be better served by trying to space some of these institutions apart, but then again, resources are pretty limited on the island and all of the above seem to demand nice air-conditioning and relatively bug-free zones, which the Compound provides, in spite of the eyesore that is cinderblock and concrete."

He slides off the side of the trampoline, careful to gather his notes in his arms before rounding the building and waiting for her to follow. "I'm pretty sure there are some people you might know around here, but uh."

Pressing his lips firmly together again, he chances a question. "How do you feel about multiverses?"

[teambatgirl]

"This is- quite the tropical island operation you got going here," she offers lamely as she looks around. School, clinic, governing body, what else could you need on a place completely divorced from the rest of the universe? If that's even true. The scenery matches the story. "How many people live here? It sounds like a pretty big crowd? Do you know how big this place is?"

Stephanie bounces off and lands neatly on the ground, managing to resist the urge to do some unnecessary flips just to make herself feel better. "I feel annoyed if the multiverse is about to make my life more difficult." She's Batgirl. She can handle this. "What do you mean people I might know here? Is Batman here?"

[highf]

"Um... last I heard, we have over two hundred people on the island? Possibly closer to three hundred, but I'm not on the Council so I wouldn't know the exact numbers. People obviously appear and vanish on a fairly regular basis," Kurt ponders as he leads them to the entrance, opening the front door for her. "And the island's about ten miles across, so not all that big, but plenty for all of us to live together. Most people live in huts, but a few people actually live in the dorms inside of the Compound. A lot of the Compound's underground, too, so don't let it fool you into thinking that it's tiny, it's really not."

Pushing inside, the two are met with a cold brush of air; Kurt suppresses a shiver and holds his papers closer to his chest. "As for people you know, I mean like, I know Clark Kent's here. Not as sure about Batman..." He glances for a moment in her direction, deciding that it's probably better not to mention the fact that he knows Bruce Wayne is Batman. (Or at least, the original Wayne.)

"So did you want food? Clothes? Or am I supposed to hand you straight off to the Council?"

[teambatgirl]

"People vanish? When we say vanish what exactly do we mean by that?" She asks as she follows him up the steps and into the building. The air inside has the familiar artificial coolness of air con far and away from the rich scent of the island outside. She takes a deep breath and keeps glancing around her as they walk through the building as she absorbs what he's saying. The people here were mostly adults, mostly white, mostly speaking English. The accommodations are definitely not cobbled together, so there was at least some sort of industry capacity.

"I should probably talk to Clark Kent...since he is such a reliable and knowledgeable Daily Planet reporter." She worries her lip for a moment and tries to plan her next move. If Superman is here, he'll know what's going on. Or maybe she should get some civvies first. "Right, let's do clothes first. And, I'm sorry, you're being so helpful and I didn't catch your name."

[highf]

"I'm probably not the best person to ask," he confides first, because it seems like the only reasonable thing to do. He shouldn't be getting her hopes or concerns up, not when it's already clear (if he can believe in her being as real as the Harry Potter characters walking around the island, the Broadway stars caught in the mindsets of their roles) that she's far more experienced than he is in assessing these types of risks and opportunities. But it's also hard not to share what amount of knowledge he does have, on the off-chance that it might help her. On the off-chance that she cares what he has to say. "But I think it's just... you know, they leave without a trace. Where they go to, no one's completely sure, but we do know that people who arrive later than the people on the island never seem to notice anyone missing back home. I have a couple of friends who've been on the island for months, supposedly, but I don't remember them missing a single day of school that they wouldn't have normally. Anyway."

While the last thing that he feels is helpful, Kurt doesn't like to abandon decorum if he can help it, so he holds out a hand and offers a weak smile. "I'm Kurt. Kurt Hummel. And I'm rather glad you opted for clothes first, by the way; that happens to be my favorite part of the island, hands-down. Although not all people seem to have as much luck with our collection."

[teambatgirl]

"We can appear or disappear at random and there's time stuff so that no one's timelines line up." She lets that sink in for a few seconds just in case it's going to make more sense once she's thought it over. Nope. Pressing her lips together in a line she says very dryly. "This place sounds completely awesome with absolutely no drawbacks."

Despite the time space continuum conspiring to ruin her day, she offers a smile and shakes his hand. "Nice to meet you, Kurt. I'm Batgirl. And I'm judging from your reaction and outfit that I'm not going to wind up with a palm tree skirt and a coconut bra?"

[highf]

"At the very least, you could argue that this place is the closest that anyone's come to living in a socialist utopia," Kurt points out with a small quirk of his lips, wry to match her own. "Although I'm pretty sure the fact that we also have a partially self-restocking pantry takes away the true impact of that. With the bulk of our staples being provided without very much work, with the majority of our citizens able to focus on the work they like best, of course we're all willing to chip in. Anyway. You've hit it on the head. Random travel to and from, and horrible luck with timing."

He crosses his arms briefly after pulling his hand back from the shake, before then leading the both of them inside, heading for the basement. "Pleasure's all mine, though I do wish that I had an actual name, and not a title, to go off of," he remarks offhandedly. "Feels a little uneven otherwise. But no, we're not decking you out in Hawaiian tourist fare; you'll get over the novelty of tropical island pretty quickly, trust me."