backinthsaddle | (no subject)

(no subject)

Cole hasn't spent so long in another universe in quite some time. He hasn't been here the entire time of course, he's had to go home to check up on the kids and make sure everything's okay, but he's spent more hours than he cares to count sitting in this uncomfortable hospital chair. He'll be damned before he lets Victor go unguarded, not after what happened last time.

Her valiant protector may also be having a teensy bit of a nap in said uncomfortable chair, dozing while keeping half an ear out for if she makes any noise.

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"Certainly not! But I might compose a sonnet or two. Or send him flowers. What kinda flowers do you think he'd like? I'd figure him to be a cactus kinda guy."

"I think you should probably wait until you're introduced before you start sending stalker vibes, actually." He can't fault her for being excited though. This is like a dream come true by Victor standards.

"You're right. I've gotta wait 'til we're acquainted before I start bein' a creeper." She threads her fingers with his, and even though her stitches pull a little she's smiling.

He takes the opportunity to use his free hand to get her hair out of her face. "Aside from the Bat-euphoria, how're you feeling?"

"Other than the pain, I'm feelin' itchy, but that just means I'm healing." She tilts her head into his hand, giving his palm a quick nuzzle. "Emotionally... kinda screwy. I think I'm gonna be wearing a lot of makeup in the future."

"It doesn't look that bad," Cole lies. Even if she was okay with mirrors, he wouldn't be letting her anywhere near one right now.

"It's not that I'm vain or anything, I just... it's my face. The only part of me that isn't--wasn't all screwed up. I can't really explain it. I mean, everythin' else I can cover up if I want, but my face is naked, everyone'll see."

"Not if you've got your mask on." Although he's not going to encourage her to go out heroing in this world anytime soon.

"I can't have it on all the time. I can't have it on when I go to the grocery store, or when I'm going to the park with the girls."

"Yeah, that would look a bit conspicuous."

"Yeah, it would," she says, glumly. "Remember when I first wore the mask, just to leave the house?"

"Yeah, I do." He really hopes she isn't going to regress back to that impulse, even if she makes herself not act on it. She shouldn't need to hide her face.

"I think the best I can do is wear a lot of makeup," she says. It's the closest to wearing a mask that she can get. And she learned how to do stage makeup taking theater in high school.

"Not until you heal up a bit more. If you get anything in the wounds, they might scar even worse."

"Oh yeah, absolutely. I won't be putting any gunk on a scab."

"The kids will want to know what happened." He hasn't told them any details, not wanting to scare the girls. Jude's old enough to know that something's up though.

"I... I've never had to explain any of that to them. The girls were just babies when I died, they don't remember. Well. 'Thena does, probably. I... um. What do I say? That it's just a boo-boo? That I ran into trouble at work?"

"That might work for the girls, but Jude's smart. He knows there's something I'm not telling him."

Her fingertips slip up to brush against her cheek, the rough scabs there, so new. "You could say... that there are bad guys out there. That that's why you and I are heroes. That he's safe, and we love him very much."

"Do you think he'll let you stop at that?" Cole asks, and he's not trying to push, he just doesn't know. She programmed Jude to be curious and want to learn, and he has no idea how he'll react.

"I, I don't know. It's, um, it's delicate, I don't wanna hurt him, or introduce feelings of hatred and revenge. He's so young. And I don't necessarily want him to be like me, and take the sort of risks I take for my ideals. I don't want him to get himself hurt. So how do I tell him that I made a choice I don't want him to ever make? And how do I tell him that I was tied to a chair and tortured; I can't tell him that. But you're probably right... he'd want to know, and he'll ask."

"We'll need to tell him something. I don't think he'll buy that this happened to you on accident."

"Then, it happened on purpose because of a bad guy, no names here, we'll just explain that he doesn't exist in our universe, and that I'm gonna be okay, it's just part of the job sometimes. Rarely."

"And hopefully he'll let it go at that." Cole's not so sure though, and he's worried about what she'll say if Jude asks for details, or figures some of it out on his own. He's young, but not completely naive.

If anything, Victor's more naive than Jude is. "I have a feeling he won't. And I have a hard time lying to the kids. Hm. Guess we just cross that bridge when we get to it. He'll ask, I'll answer what I deem is appropriate for him to know."