tushanshu | (no subject)

[Bart has gotten clothes that fit and has finished internally flipping out enough that he can handle making a console post. He saw how crazy the posts had been earlier, and he was so not up for that. ]

Anyone who points out the obvious and says omigod you're older will be ignored until I figure out how to ban them.

[um. Maybe he's still not all that up for it.]

Has everyone been accounted for? I know a lot of people are in a tizzy right now, but... there's people I haven't seen in the past 24 hours, and I really want to make sure there's no 9 month olds crawling into a well.

[There's a little cringe at the thought.]

Sorry for the mental image. In other news, I'm thinking of teaming up with Dick to make chili cheese dogs. Anyone have suggestions for meat and preservative substitutes?

[Private to Dinah]

If you aren't spitting fireballs or glowing like Three Mile Island or dealing with extra body parts and you're between the ages of say 16 and 50, could you squeeze me in for a few lessons at the Dojo? Might as well get something out of all of this.

[encrypted 50% to Barry]

I... kinda need a favor. Zee's spell screwed with more than ages, and Tim's a little hyper. It's not a good look on someone that uptight and wound. So - look, I know that there's probably nothing you can do, but if you could drop by, I'd owe you one. We're at ME-2B.

[He rubs at the back of his neck. Bart really hates having to ask for help. It's like admitting that they can't handle it. Plus, it's Barry, so it really doubles that. He doesn't want to look like a screw up in front of the Flash, especially when Barry barely knows him so there's not a huge body of evidence to be judged on. The lack of a relationship makes asking for a favor even harder. He feels like he's being an intrusion.]

You know, if you have time.

[Private to Kon]

You wanna just crash here for now? I'd feel better about this whole deal.

[Encrypted to Tim; 50%]

Stop eavesdropping and hacking. I know you're doing it. Don't lie. You're bored.

[Baseline encryption to Hayley]

[He's had some time to cool off and draw some parallels to friends of his, and now Bart feels like mud for crapping on her friendship, sven if it WAS Lex.]

I'm sorry about what I said the other day. It's not fair to judge him on what he was in my world. Maybe he'll never be that. I hope that's the case.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[This is the second day in a row that Tim has woken Bart up, and Bart is going to have to talk to him if it happens a third time. But that will come later, because getting woken up by shaking is enough to make anyone jolt up. When it's interrupting a nightmare, it's even worse, and Bart's suddenly awake and a little wild-eyed under the tangled mop of hair.

No, it's fine. It's only Tim being a spaz. He probably melted the fridge door shut or something. Bart rubs some of the sleep out of his eyes before he says anything, and even with that delay tactic, he still sounds groggy.]

Tim, wh- is it weirder than yesterday? Because if it's not weirder than me being older, you stealing my speed, people turning into other people or into other genders... if it's not weirder than that, I am pulling this blanket over my head and going back to sleep.

[He pauses. Okay, no, in comparison to yesterday morning, this is just... personally weird, not wide-spread weird, and now he actually feels a little bad waking Bart up for this. Especially considering how much he usually cherishes his own sleep.]

It's not weirder than yesterday. It's. My scars are gone and it's weird.

[The last part comes out in more of a rush than he'd intended but he's kind of embarrassed now.]

[Bart is not used deciphering rushed speech. He's always the fastest mouth and ears in the room, so it's never a problem. Today? Not the case, and it takes him a bit to let the mushed consonants roll around in his brain until the vowel sounds expand. It's like listening to a license plate abbreviation.]

Your cars are go- your scars are gone?

[He'd been halfway to sitting up, hoping to go back to bed, but forget that. Bart kicks his feet off the bed and sits up, already reaching for one of Tim's arms. Granted, Tim's arms have been covered most of the time they're together, and he's never paid that much attention to the specific layout of all of the marks on Tim (he hates to think about it, really). However, he's seen him in short sleeves enough back home and here to know that there should be particularly nasty one on Tim's forearm.

And right now, he can barely make it out. Bart misses the obvious explanation.]

Did you let Zee try out a counterspell on you?

[He shakes his head, frowning.]

No, I just... woke up like this.

It's weird.

That is wei- we are both morons.

[The tumblers all click into place on his head. He pulls his right leg up with bent knee, planting a foot on the bed so he can roll up his pants. His knee - the one that Deathstroke put the muzzle of a rifle to and blew apart, that surgeons kept cutting to put the artificial knee in, that Dr. Light ripped back open - looks like it's never been so much as skinned.]

You're a speedster. Accelerated metabolism, remember? It's more than how much you eat.

[Tim stared at him for a moment, then actually hit his forehead with the heel of his palm. He knew that. He knew it, and there was no reason at all is shouldn't apply to him while he had Bart's powers. Even though he hadn't really considered it at all.]

I can't believe I didn't think about that.

[There are too many emotions flirting around in Bart's head to be handled at such a mundane speed. Like, the running around and fast talking are obvious effects of being a speedster, but somehow they didn't bug Bart the way this does. This is now down to a cellular level, and it's physically altering Tim.

And Bart is suddenly jealous. His best friend is currently wearing a good chunk of his self identity like a cheap suit - no, like a hat. The suit is still in the ring in Bart's finger, and he doesn't care how long Tim has his powers. The ring is his.

Bart would like things to be normal now. It's easier to find the bright side when you're Kid Flash (you can always be on the bright side of the planet in no more than .05 seconds, no matter where you are). ]

It'll make going undercover easier, anyway. You won't have to hide them.

[Honestly, Tim isn't actually any happier about this than Bart is. It's been difficult enough just adjusting to having powers when he's used to knowing exactly what he can and can't do with his body, and now this.

Scars aren't exactly pretty, but they are a side effect of what he does and who he is. And all of them are things he's survived and gotten better from. Seeing all but the very worst suddenly gone as if they were never there is unsettling. At best. And definitely uncomfortable.]

Yeah, you're right.

[Bart is quiet and, yes, staring at Tim, who is also pretty quiet, but Tim is always on the silent side of things. But Bart had expected him to get chattier as a speedster. Tim doesn't have as much of the frustrated need to rush the conversation that he does.

Or maybe he's thinking about the same thing that Bart is: that this side effect of Zatanna's spell is going to be permanent. If When Zatanna fixes this, it's still not going to re-scar Tim. He might get new ones, but the old ones are gone. Bart'd be pretty freaked out to wake up without any freckles. There's a group on his shoulder that look like Orion's belt. He'd wind up with sun poisoning before he got those back.]

Sometimes I am.

[Bright sides are all we have.]

We need to get Zee to fix this before anything else happens.

You can stop staring. I'm okay.

[He glances over at him, smiling a little.]

That is a really, really good idea, though. I mean--what if you suddenly turned into a little kid like Kyle?

[Trying for a joke. It's funny, right?]

I wasn't staring as long as you think I was.

[No time like the present for getting used to subjective time. Bart meets Tim's smile with a reassuring one of his own.]

It's also a really obvious one, so don't worry - I didn't snag your IQ in the deal. I think if I'd gotten younger, everyone'd be kissing Zee's feet for making you the speedster. Who would've started the pool to see how long it was before I forgot and blurted the name out?

[Let's be real. There wouldn't have even been time to get a spread drawn up.]

Oh--right. [Subjective time is the worst.]

[He pauses for what feels to him like a long moment.]

Definitely not me.

[It wouldn't have been worth it.]

[Bart folds his arms and shakes his head.]

So... what are we going to do?

[It's obvious that they're going to do something.]

Well, offer her every and any help we can for a start. And if that fails...

[He frowns. He really doesn't want it to fail.]

Well, there's always the science option.

[Bart cracks his knuckles.]

Let's not talk about it failing. Science and magic don't mix, man.