[oopfsb / darkest timeline] Curtis

[stilljustandrew]

It's not that he hasn't been eating. It's that he hasn't been able to muster the energy to do much more than unwrap a granola bar or a stick of beef jerky or open a packet of chips, once or twice a day. And even at that rate, he's run out.

He made himself take a shower yesterday, which means his clothes have only been slept in once, so he can probably make it through the bar without attracting too much attention. There's a baseball cap to hide his bedhead, and obscure his face a little. If he's lucky, maybe he won't run into anyone he knows.

Down the stairs, one step at a time, and towards Bar.

Comments

[2goodarms]

So much for no pity. Curtis looks away, with another awkward shrug.

It's not like Batman's the worst thing he lost. Pretty damn far from it.

"So did you meet him here...?" he prompts.

[stilljustandrew]

"Y-yeah. But. The thing is." He swallows. "The reason he becomes Batman in the first place is because when he was a little kid, his parents were killed in a mugging. He was there, he saw it happen. And ... I didn't meet him here as a grown man, I met him as that little kid. Like, only a few months after. And ... all I could think was here was this hero I grew up reading about, and how cool it was that I got to meet him, and ..."

Another swallow. The old shame has never quite left him.

"I scared him. I didn't mean to."

[2goodarms]

Well, yeah. That'd do it.

"What'd you do after that?"

(Because that's the important part: what comes next.)

[stilljustandrew]

He swallows.

"I had a little help clueing in. And ... I told him I was sorry. And left him alone after that."

[2goodarms]

Still quiet:

"Doesn't sound like you screwed it up that badly, then."

[stilljustandrew]

Low: "I mean it could've been a lot worse I guess."

[2goodarms]

"Yeah. It could have been," he says.

If Curtis found out that, a few universes over, the story of his life was being viewed as entertainment...he's not sure how he'd react. Anger, certainly.

Resignation and helplessness, after everything that happened over the course of the rebellion, seem like pretty likely candidates, too.

"You were talking like it was a permanent screw-up."

[stilljustandrew]

"I mean it kind of was, though." Subdued. "Not a huge one maybe, but ... I screwed up the thing I wanted."

[2goodarms]

Curtis considers that for a beat.

"You got to meet other fictional characters, though, right?" he asks. "That wasn't a thing that just stopped."

[stilljustandrew]

"... yeah," he admits. "And made friends with a lot of them."

[2goodarms]

He turns over his hand, gesturing to Andrew as if to say there you go.

"Not a big, permanent screw-up."

[stilljustandrew]

"I guess."

He tries for a smile. "Sorry. I'm still kind of ... not in a great headspace."

[2goodarms]

"Because of the magic?"

Or have there been other developments? the question implies, not without sympathy.

[stilljustandrew]

The attempted smile dissolves and falls away.

"That, yeah." Low. "And the, the guy who did it."

[2goodarms]

Curtis nods. He shifts a little, without thought, making himself more comfortable on the floor.

"He doesn't know how good he's got it," he remarks, almost conversational. "Shithead."

[stilljustandrew]

The look Andrew gives him is startled, and a little wary -- as though not sure where that's come from, or where it's leading.

[2goodarms]

"He has magic."

Curtis' jaw has begun to set.

"That's more power than most people get. He could do anything, and he used it to steal people's energy."

[stilljustandrew]

"I don't ..." Slowly. "I don't know if he could do anything. He never got any training on how to use it."

[2goodarms]

Curtis shakes his head, not looking too convinced.

"I'm sure he could get the training."

[stilljustandrew]

"He said ..." Slower still, almost reluctant. "He said he's the only person he knows who has it. And the, the guy who's been guiding him ..."

He shakes his head.

[2goodarms]

"It sounded like he knew what he was doing when he drained you," says Curtis, eventually. "Am I right?"

[stilljustandrew]

He swallows.

"I heard him tell someone else," and his voice is softer than he means it to be, "that he didn't mean it to get so bad. That he -- he knew he was doing it, but -- "

[2goodarms]

"I'm sure nobody ever means for it to 'get that bad.'"

Flatly, as he looks away.

[stilljustandrew]

"Yeah."

He's looking away too, blinking.

[2goodarms]

"So yeah," he says at last. "Earlier assessment stands. Fuck that guy."

If the phrase sorry not sorry had survived Earth's second Ice Age, it might apply here.