Party on the Meatship [ OPEN!! ]

[voiceofserenity]

Some cheer was definitely needed on this ship. Whatever chance meeting had brought Kaylee and Claudia together in mechanical mischief had also set their minds to turning over what they could possibly do to get some smiles back on the faces of those onboard

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[beyondgotham]

Even though he had the habit of falling asleep in a corner when he went out dance with Dana, Terry had never really complained about it. Really, he liked parties, at least to an extent. It helped when he hadn't just finished up a shift as Batman. So, even though he'd been doing a good job of isolating himself recently, he was willing to go to a party.

He wasn't in costume, though. He got enough of those back home - both on him, and the people he fought. He felt weird not getting at least a little dressed up, though, so he'd at least put on what was, to him, a vintage suit.

He showed up a little early, and took up a place over in the corner, arms crossed. It was the first time in a long while he'd been to any kind of party alone - though, at least here, people wouldn't give him funny looks like most people did back home, because he was the kid who'd been in a gang.

[static_shock68]

"Dude, sweet suit!" Virgil said, walking over. He was dressed in his original costume; if not now, when would he ever have the chance for a bit of nostalgia? "Hadn't seen you around lately; beginning to think you'd vanished off the ship! How the heck've you been, man?"

[beyondgotham]

"Hey," Terry said with a nod. "Y'know, it's almost impossible to find suits like this in my time? Nobody wears lapels anymore. The only suits like this I've seen are in closest in the old man's mansion." Which he had happily raided. Because really, if you have to bodyguard at shway events, you have to dress nice, and taking the various Robins' stuff was cheaper then renting.

"Yeah, I've kind of just... needed time to myself. I guess." He shrugged. He'd been feeling guilty about telling Tim about the future, and he'd actually been missing home. It was hard, knowing people on the ship, but not the same versions he was familiar with.

[static_shock68]

"Really? Savages." Static stretched a bit in his costume. "Of course, I can't really talk... Man, I can't believe I used to think this costume looked good! Memory really does lay tricks on us..." He shook his head. Looking back on his history as a crime fighter was apparently a stupid thing to do. Not a lot of good choices there, really.

"Well, it's nice to see you out and about now. You know, if you do ever need anyone to talk to, I'm there for ya, man. I mean, you're like the only person I can share the experience of of telling people their futures with. I think, at this point, half the Justice League wants to kill me, not to mention Robin... You know, you tell the guy he goes off the deep end a bit, you'd think you were telling him he becomes Todd..."

[beyondgotham]

"Hey, it's not that bad. I think it's better then the costume you wear in my time, actually." Terry wasn't going to comment on his own past. He'd done a lot of stupid things when he first started out as Batman.

"Trust me, I know what it's like to have the League want to kill you," Terry said with a grin. But his face quickly fell. "You mean Tim, don't you? What did you tell him happens to him?" Tim was actually one of the people he'd been trying to avoid, since he'd told him about the Joker.

[static_shock68]

There was a pause while Static weighed things. Surely Batman wouldn't try to kill him for telling Terry; Terry was from the distant future, and the facts weren't about him. In fact, they kind of proved that Terry's universe and his weren't quite the same...

"Um, well, I kinda told him that when Batman died he abandoned the Titans, stole a costume from Jason Todd, and started running around Europe as Red Robin." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Telling someone they start to turn into Jason Todd is not exactly my finest moment."

[beyondgotham]

Terry frowned. He didn't know much about Jason - other then his death was eerily similar to the experience the Tim Drake of his time had gone through - but from the bits he had heard about the guy, he didn't really sound like all that great a person. And he knew the rest of the Batfamily well enough that none of them would abandon a team they worked for without something really bad happening.

"I should have kept my stupid dreg mouth shut," he said after a few moments of silence. "Everyone keeps telling Tim about the things that might happen to him, and none of them are good. I think he's allowed to get angry over that."

[static_shock68]

"I'm not sure he has a chopice. But, the way I saw it, by telling him this about himself, he can try to reign it in better. Having a close friend say 'you're loosing it' has a different feeling than a complete stranger. And after his stuff when he met a creepy evil future version of himself, trying to keep it together is more important. If anyone can handle that, it's Time. He's one of the best heroes I've ever known."

He sighed. "We probably did overstep, but you know what? What's done is done. All we can really do is push ahead, right? Now that he knows, we help him deal with it."

[beyondgotham]

"That's the thing, though," Terry said bitterly, "he didn't just loose it in my world. The Joker messed him up bad, and then used him. And the worst thing is, I don't want to stop that from happening, 'cause if I did, who knows when the Joker would finally get shut down." He felt like the world's biggest jerk saying that - Tim had become like a brother to him in the time he'd been on the ship. But Terry was putting Gotham first. Though, maybe that just came with being Batman.

[static_shock68]

"Which makes sense, I suppose, but I'm still tempted to call douchebaggery. But, that's not this Tim anyway. This is my universe's Tim, from not too long before Bruce died. That's how we know it can't be the same universe, right? Still, it must suck to learn that, no matter the universe, something bad happens to you... kind of like having proof the universe hates you..."

Static drifted off.

"Wow, we're dicks. We both put the safety of civilians before Tim's feelings. Drink?" He smiled and gestured to the punch bowl. They'd done the right thing, and he was sticking to it.

[beyondgotham]

"Heh, I guess we are," Terry chuckled, but it was a hollow kind of laugh.

"Yeah, sure," he said quickly. "So... how'd you become a superhero?" He needed a subject change so much that he wasn't even going to attempt a logical segway.

[static_shock68]

"Eh, not a special story. Gang violence. Just so happens that my gang war took place at what's called the Big Bang; a gas called Quantum Juice was released into the middle of the fight and mutated everyone there. I just happen to be the only bang baby who wanted to do good with it, that's all. 'With great power comes great responsibility' and all."

Static shrugged. In his mind, it really didn't seem all that unusual. Then again, he was all about comics.

[beyondgotham]

Terry's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You were in a gang?" He said incredulously. He was honestly shocked by that. Static was one of the most powerful superheroes in the world. He had a hard time believing another superhero could have been like him, and been involved with gangs.

[static_shock68]

"Oh, no, I wasn't in either of the gangs." He started rubbing his neck nervously. "I kinda.. sorta... went-there-with-a-pistol-to-shoot-the-leader-of-one-of-the-gangs." He said it all in one breath, fast. This obviously was not one of his better moments.

"He was a guy called Biz-money-B. Stupid, I know. He was a bully at school, a real bad guy, and I'd had enough. So, I went to Paris Island to kill him. Lost the nerve to do it, too. As I was heading back, I got gassed into Static, and he was turned into Hotstreak. It made things... complicated."

[beyondgotham]

Terry did his best to keep his face neutral. So he really didn't have something in common with Static. It was a bit disappointing, really. He would have liked to know that another hero had a dark history like he did.

But, wait, Static was still talking. "It's not that stupid," he said, regarding the name. "I used to be called 'Tiny Terry', or 'Tee-Tee' by Ch-... a friend." He didn't want to think about Charlie. That was still a pretty fresh wound. "But... I can kind of understand wanting to do something like that. When I found out who was behind my dad's death, I wanted to kill him. I almost did, but then he turned into Blight. Which... made things complicated."

[static_shock68]

"Yeah, see, you had a good reason; He killed your dad. Mine just beat me up. I probably woul've ended up in one of the gangs, too, but we'd just moved, so I didn't really know that many people yet. At my old school, it was gangs or, well, die." He paused to consider something.

"Wow, creepy thing to have in common; we both tried to kill someone and ended up creating super villains."