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[controlledvariable]

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[controlledvariable]

I went after him, actually. He had a girlfriend when we met.

[And then he didn't C:

Steph you homewrecker.]

[werewolfing]

Ooh, that explains it.

[it's okay, steph, peter's girlfriend more or less decided that she was going to get with him come hell or high water or logic too.

he's just smart enough to bang her. a lot. even though she's pregnant with someone else's kid.]

[controlledvariable]

I think he finally learned that girls exist this year, got himself engaged and everything.

[Sort of...

She mostly just sounds amused, anyway, even if she'd been angry at the time.]

[werewolfing]

[peter raises a very eloquent and bushy eyebrow.]

Man, did he get a training montage or something?

[controlledvariable]

I think a bunch of his friends dying might've changed his perspective on some things.

[a beat]

Uh. They came back.

[so it's okay to make jokes like that????]

[werewolfing]

Well gosh, I guess if they came back then it's an after-school special in the making.

[dry, deadpan, like that's not profoundly disturbing on several levels.]

[controlledvariable]

Mm. [She gets that tone, even if death isn't such a permanent thing where she comes from.] Bart and Conner were as good as new. I was back, too, but I'd never actually been dead, so.

[ok steph]

[werewolfing]

[he's starting to wonder if she's not exaggerating her survival, yep. but there is nothing that will be made better by pursuing the answer to that, so he's sure not gonna.]

Best way to come back, I guess. Hard to say, people usually stay dead where I'm from.

[except you, peter. and all those other exceptions.]

[controlledvariable]

The paperwork was hell.

[Because there's paperwork for that, in her world.

Of course there is.]

You get to come back if you're important enough, usually. Superman, Flash, Green Arrow, they get second chances. We've even got, uh, Lazarus Pits. You toss a dead body in and they'll come back, though it gets kinda fucked up sometimes.

[Jason.]

[werewolfing]

I don't even want to imagine the paperwork.

[the mention of lazarus pits makes him shudder a little, though.]

That's kinda jacked. Convenient in some ways, I guess, but that has to fuck with your head.

[controlledvariable]

I think the worst part is not knowing. If they'll be back, I mean. It's hard to mourn for someone if you keep waiting for them.

[Like Tim with Bruce, even if he'd been right.]

[werewolfing]

Yeah.

I wonder if it makes life more or less valuable if you can just get it back like that.

[controlledvariable]

I dunno if I'm really qualified to answer that, almost everyone I know is a vigilante.

[And god knows they don't value their lives.]

[werewolfing]

[he ruffles her hair.]

No offense, but I'm going with no. Heroes.

[controlledvariable]

[That manages to draw a small smile.]

We're kind of fucked up like that, yeah.

[werewolfing]

[now it's time to go about smoothing the hair that he scruffed up.]

Luckily you have plenty of other charming attributes.

[controlledvariable]

[She doesn't mind her hair being messed up, but the physical affection is nice.]

Usually when boys say that they're just talking about my tits.

[s t e p h]

[werewolfing]

[well if she's bringing them up he's gonna look, but not for too long.]

Well, they're definitely charming too.

[controlledvariable]

I know.

[well at least she's confident about some things.

But she falls silent, and the levity is gone from her tone when she speaks again.]

I don't actually have a death wish, you know.

[werewolfing]

[he puts his chin on her head and sighs, but his voice is still somewhat light when he speaks.]

I'd say there's a pretty broad line between a death wish and not considering life the precious thing it is. I can kinda see it from all the way over here in actually-valuing-my-own-assville.

[controlledvariable]

I think life's precious.

[Hers and everyone else's, that's why she does what she does.]

But I think what I do is more important than my own skin. If I die helping people, I'm okay with that. And hey, I'd probably be dead by now anyway, if I hadn't become a vigilante, so if anything it's lengthened my lifespan.

[werewolfing]

[he snorts softly.]

Yeah, nobody's ever accused me of being an altruist. Tried it once under duress, can't say I ever want to do it again. I like being alive. Where I'm from, teenaged vigilantes would just lead to a bunch of dead kids, and half of 'em would probably get downed by the cops.

[controlledvariable]

[quietly:]

It leads to a bunch of dead kids anywhere.

[She's seen the hall of statues in Titans Tower, commemorating all their dead.]

[werewolfing]

[that makes him sigh and shift his chin on her head to the side of his jaw instead. there's something bitter on the tip of his tongue about how people value life, bringing the superheroes back and leaving the teen vigilantes dead. but he doesn't know the details, so he doesn't say it.]

My friend, Roman, he thinks that playing hero is how you get to ignore all the darkness, how you get people to look at you like you're special. That it's what other people believe that matters.

[controlledvariable]

I guess that's part of it.

[She's not sure if that's supposed to be a bad thing or not, it's just how it is.]

That's what being Robin was like for me.