It would have been easy to miss her if Barry hadn't been keeping an eye out. She wore a dark cloak with a silver clasp and had her hood drawn up over her head. The crowded streets of Neverwinter— Neverwinter, why was he in Neverwinter again?— pushed them past each other but for a moment, they caught eyes. He got the shortest glimpse of her face, aged, and stressed, and focused— and then recognition. Surprise.
He knew her. No, he didn't.
Fuck, wait, yes he did.
So Barry did something he had recently discovered he was very good at doing: He ran. The crowd helped him along, pushing him forward as he stumbled over his own two feet. He kept his head low, trying to get cover from the people around him. He crossed the street, and then went left, and crossed the street again, trying to drown himself into the crowd. He kept going until he was reasonably sure that he had lost her and then ducked into an alleyway.
Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Barry twisted his bag, fumbling for his inhaler. Good fuckin' Gods. This day and gone from bad to worse. He took a hit of it (and someone in his head told him to stop saying that he "took a hit" of his medication) and leaned against the alley wall, trying to breathe deeply again.
He dug through his bag, finding the little gold coin he kept with him. He was… gods, Barry wished he knew what was happening anymore. But he couldn't— he couldn't lose focus. He was looking for someone. He was supposed to be looking for someone, but, well, this attempt had hit a dead end. And, for the first time (?), Barry had come across the person who was looking for him.
He pressed a little notch on the coin, flipping back through old recorded messages until he found the right one. The coin buzzed a little, like a staticky radio line, but crackled to life with a message in Barry's own voice. One he didn't remember leaving, but he knew the words by heart by now. They were important.
"— and— and another thing— there's this… Geez, I don't wanna call it an issue, but it's kinda an issue. There's a— there's a woman looking for you. Not the one we wanna find. On purpose, I mean. God, I hate this. It's making her sound like some sorta villain and she's no— well…"
The coin sighed.
"Her name is Lucretia." There was a shuffling noise in the background of the recording, as if someone was adjusting papers. "She's— she's part of the family you don't remember. But it's— I can't stress enough how much of a no-go talking to her is. Like, even more than the others, so, so much more. In fact, if you ever see her just— I don't know, just fuckin' run, I guess. That's— Gods."
The coin was silent for a moment. Barry took another puff of his inhaler.
"There's nothing good that you can get by talking to her right now," the coin continued. "And if you talk to her, she might— I mean, I don't think she'd do anything to you besides talk, but that's— that's enough sometimes, y'know? She's… she's the reason we're in this mess. Why we can't remember ###—" Barry winced at the static. "I don't— I can't physically explain what she did, but don't— don't talk to her. If you see her, just run. Just go."
The coin went on to describe some of Lucretia's features— her eyes, the white hair, her age ("—because she wouldn't fucking listen to me about Wonderland and #### ###### ##—"). Barry thought back to the glance he had caught of the woman he passed by and just barely managed to swallow his fear about it. He hit the notch on the coin again, shutting it off. Sometimes, it would delve into static for a while, especially when talking about Lucreita. He put the coin back in his bag, along with his inhaler.
He peeked back into the streets and then pulled back into the alley. He could still slightly see from his space between the buildings, but hopefully, she couldn't see him.
Lucretia had lowered her hood, and was looking around. The crowd had thinned some, just enough for her to stand in place without being pushed around. But her eyes never found his hiding spot and, after a moment, an orc woman jogged up to her. Barry could barely hear them over the hustle and bustle of Neverwinter, but he caught wind of,
"— just started running! What gives?"
"I thought I saw…" Lucretia scanned the area once more. Barry scooted back a bit to hide himself, holding his breath. "No, it was nothing. It's— I'm a just little on edge today, I suppose."
It was obvious the orc woman didn't believe her, but she must have known Lucretia enough to not question it. Or at least, not to publicly question it.
"You're gonna be late for your meeting," the orc woman said after a moment's pause.
Lucretia turned and while Barry couldn't hear the curse word, it startled a laugh from the orc woman. They retreated back the way they had come. Barry sighed, relaxing a little.
Okay. Okay, time to regroup. Refocus. Once he felt it was safe, he stepped back into the street again, carefully retracing his steps to regain his bearings. From here, he'd go to Farnfoss. There was an enchanted forest that supposedly protected some powerful magic items— it was a better lead than nothing.
As long as he made it there alive, at least.
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actually, here's more trans jason todd thoughts
he had some inkling when he was younger but he really understood his feelings when he came to the manor and had the time and freedom to worry about that and not his survival in the streets
he talked about it with dick first, and he gave him the robin costume to help him feel accepted. robin gives him magic and also the means to express his true self
bruce and alfred helped him transition socially and taught him men things like shaving and dressing up and social code even if he was too young for that yet to make him more confident and self-assured and also feel supported
bruce helped him find his new name, he chose it with his family in mind, something they might have liked too, but also one bruce liked. he wanted all of his loved ones to approve of it
talia helped him transition medically, during his years of training she got him doctors and appointments when he asked for it thanks to her network. she also went with him for surgeries
he's super into his looks now, as a kid he was kinda shy about it without even adding the whole dysphoria thing to the plate (robin hiding in his cape my beloved) but now that he's transitioned and has the body he wants and worked for? shamelessly showing off and appreciating it, to everyone it looks like annoying chad behavior but to the ppl who know he's trans it manages to somehow be endearing how much more comfortable he is now, especially if they knew him before
still annoying when he pauses what he's doing to check out his guns and flex in mirrors and glasses
because he is very private, few people know he's trans and he likes it that way, only those who knew him young (bruce, dick, barbara, alfred, ...) and the ones who need to know now or are close enough for it to be relevant/important to tell
and the self-indulgent one: there's a shop in gotham he goes to for his bikes when they need repair where he hangs out with the butch who owns it. they sit around a beer for gossip and book club from time to time
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TCF/TBOAF reaction fic ft people from the sealed god’s test except TBOAH!Cale has this dimensional pouch filled with a variety of ranged weapons + poisonous needles/knives and the only one who knows the contents is Og!Cale.
And as a (semi-)responsible adult-ified version of TBOAH!Cale, Og!Cale tries (and fails) to convince him NOT to shoot TCF!Clopeh.
Like, every time TCF!Clopeh opens his mouth and starts talking(which usually is just him preaching abt ’Cale-nim’), TBOAH!Cale just starts reaching out for his pouch for a gun or even his crossbow but Og!Cale would always stop him.
And whenever TBOAH!Cale looks at Og!Cale wondering ”WHY?!?!”, Og!Cale just turns to TCF!Cale is like;
“Hey, do you mind if Clopeh dies or get injured?”
“…Which Clopeh?”
“The one from your world, obviously.”
And most most of the time, TCF!Cale says he does mind cuz yea Clopeh is currently getting on his nerves with all the praises but it isn't all THAT bad.
Until at one point, TCF!Clopeh starts praising Og!Cale and TBOAH!Cale. And since TBOAH!Cale is still an emotionally constipated teen, he just snaps. Like;
TCF!Clopeh: [Preaching abt ’Cale-nim’]
TBOAH!Cale, on his last fucking straw: [Whispering] I’m at my fucking limit
Og!Cale, who’s tired of TCF!Clopeh’s bullshit: You know what? I’m not even going to stop you this time.
So TBOAH!Cale just stands up and goes ”YESSSSS” and everyone’s like, “wtf is wrong with the kid??”
But then TBOAH!Cale pulls out a fucking shotgun and before anyone, even the dragons, could react, he shot TCF!Clopeh on the shoulder without taking that long to aim.
Everyone ofc just goes ”…what?” bcs what the fuck? what the actual fuck?
Even TCF!Cale and SGT!Kim Rok Soo didn’t expect that. Meanwhile, Og!Cale is just;
“Yep, that’s mini-me, who’s also me. That’s what I did after Ron left. Shooting people in the face and back whenever they annoy me. With nobody to stop me.”
While everyone was still staring in shock, Clopeh was already on the ground clutching his shoulder while in pain whilst TBOAH!Cale was already readying his next shot.
Og!Cale, who knows TCF!Cale still has uses for Clopeh, tries to stop and reason with mini-him.
It succeeded.
…….somehwat
(this stuff is also filed into my nonexistent Reaction fic :’))
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