trans_9 | downtime. honest. [open]

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downtime. honest. [open]

In light of his injuries, Tim hadn't been doing as much work as he honestly would have liked to-- he was supposed to be taking it easy while he finished healing, and thus had spent more time around as himself, as opposed to as Red Robin.

Of course, he still had a lot of on his mind. Even without that taken into consideration, he wasn't a fan of idling. He'd spent a fair amount of time as 'Tim', at least, but beyond that-- well, if his work was being limited (though he could work on his own private things, as well), at least he still had training. He considered it physical therapy.

He had to be careful of course-- he was already probably moving himself too much-- but exercising was still important, after all. Even if it was lighter than he would normally allow himself. At least he was being sensible about it.

((ooc: Because of his injuries, Tim Drake is going to be around more than usual! While Red Robin is still in his usual haunts-- working with Engineering, Programming, Neuropathy, Security...--and with a decent amount of training mixed in. So feel free to run into him anywhere, as either, though those are the most likely places. c: ))

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"It seems like such a simple thing to come to terms with, but people fight and backer all the time, and then there's so many factions on the ship, with a council and captain and such. So how do you get all these people to look out for each other when they don't even trust each other?"

Tim frowned, and nodded. They still had a lot of issues, as a crew, to work through. Not that he had room to talk. "Hopefully that gets solved soon. We're not really going to be all that effective if we don't start to shape up a little. At least there's nothing too seriously going on, right now, though." Meaning no extreme cases of physical violence against crewmates.

"Well now, no, but its only a matter of time, right? All you need is just the right issue. If I were a villain, it'd be pretty easy. All you'd really have to do is play the characters morals against each other in just the right situation. The easiest way to do it would be the killing issue. We have a bleeding heart on the council: how easy do you think it'd be to manipulate her? Its weird, being on the ship and knowing at any time, someone will slip and then we'll be played against each other, or similarly not care."

Hints, Robin. She knows even YOU would see something like this coming. The clone planet and recovering the kidnapped was enough for that.

"Of course," Tim replied, sobering up somewhat. Even his 'civilian' self couldn't take something like that lightly, though internally he was quietly taking note of just how introspective this girl was-- and how she was analysing things in a way that most people on the ship seemed they never would. He was curious about her, and wondering if she were getting at something in particular or speaking generally. He'd have to get more from her.

"There's too much conflict on the ship, from what I've seen. And you're right, the morality of it is certainly a big part of that. I think we're kind of in a precarious situation. You're right that it'd be a bit too easy to tip over the edge, one way or another. Unity is a big issue here."

"An issue in that its temporary, and always JUST temporary," she said. "I've seen dad bring work home, telling me about why one gang wants another one gone, and what their deal is. It barely amounts to anything actually important, but they kill each other anyway. Now here, on the ship, you have mutants and wizards alongside demons and humans. We avoid conflict barely, just barely, because we're all in this together and all. And that might be enough, if missions didn't happen.

"But they do, all the time. A superhero and wizards will never take a life if they can spare it: but humans and demons, for example, are different. Both are used to killing to achieve a victory, and then there's always fear. So there's that conflict. The we know nothing about our leaders either: suspicion breeds more conflict. And then comes our leaders, our council. I think their mess ups are pretty self explanatory."

Man it was hard to say all this without cursing.

"Precisely," Tim agreed again. She'd clearly been exposed to a lot, through her father or otherwise, and it was all stuff that he himself was familiar with. The petty fights over territory or otherwise. That was what his work was all about-- both of his jobs. "Gang problems were pretty common back home, so I've seen a lot of the awful fights that break out. And, when I've been able to discern, rarely for any good reasons." He shook his head.

And he knew that conflict well. His entire training was about avoiding the loss of life, whether directly or indirectly, but he had seen his fair share of those who didn't think that way. He'd had his own conflicts because of it. "There are too many points of contention, with a crew this diverse. Moral conflict is the big one, like you've touched on. And the lack of trust. We have some records, statements, and analysis of members of the council and leadership, but it's not comprehensive and we only have their word on a lot of it." And that was hardly a valid piece of evidence, when not backed up. Not that he was any better, when it came to telling the truth or to trusting others. "And the psychological evaluations only became mandatory, from what I've read of records, after the first elections were held."

He softened, having come a bit too close to the 'Red Robin' personality than he would have liked. He smiled a little sheepishly, then said, "You're a smart girl. If that doesn't sound too condescending."

"You want to believe that these things have a reason, but if you've been watching as long as I have, some people just love to cause conflict. And then, keep in mind that not all people on the ship want to help: some of them were villains in their worlds, so they plan to just cause trouble, over and over again."

Mindy made a face. "Psychological evaluations are limited: the person giving them expects to be told the truth, and if you're planning to do nothing but cause strife to the crew, are you really going to go and tell them that? I understand why they do them now, but there are going to be those who are from different worlds where that doesn't exist and don't want them. Trust...well. I don't think I have to tell you about the trust part, you have that figured out."

Yup, this was Robin, all right: always thinking, analyzing, learning. "Not really. Kids on the ship gleam things from adults, but a lot of the time can't put two and two together. It's the kind of thing I do to make sure I know exactly where I stand, and what I have to do. Thanks."

"Right," he said. "Sometimes there is no answer, as much as you'd like there to be." Senseless, needless violence sometimes just happened and that was the sort of thing he sought to prevent. Especially with his own life and those he cared about. "And that is also true-- for whatever logic 'Stacy' has, there are some definite problems there."

Tim smiled a little. "To be fair, the job of the psychoanalyst is to be able to figure out when people are lying, too. The idea is to read into that, and to see what's not there as well, or else what's out of place." It wasn't that different from deduction, in the end. "It's not a perfect system, certainly not, but it's better than nothing, isn't it?"

He nodded. "Fair enough. Still, it's a useful skill, regardless. You have to know where you stand here-- and anywhere, really."

"I'm starting to see that's the case," Mindy said, shaking her head, still rooting through pieces of Grand Central Station. "But as far as I'm concerned, daddy isn't here, and I'm not going to be useful depending on anyone else, right? So better for me to get started on stuff right now."

Mindy shook her head. "Who is that good? I know a few people on the ship already who could probably fool a good psycho whatever, because they're just that good. It makes sense to think that if a superhero is good at being a good guy, a bad guy is even better at what they do. And one of those things is lying."

Hit Girl, after all, was a GREAT liar, and she wasn't even a bad guy. "Yeah, I know. And so far, its that skill that makes it so I'll have another day on the ship."

"Right," Tim said, smiling a little warily, looking over what she was doing. "It's unfortunate, but given the situation..." He didn't like the thought of someone her age having to grow up this fast, but what could he do?

"Naturally, but we do what we can to take precautions. We can't tell who is necessarily going to warrant caution, but-- if nothing else, the analysis is a good place to start, rather than be completely basis." And of course, Tim himself didn't trust either-- there was a reason he kept an eye on his crewmates.

"I don't have to time to think about what's fortunate or not fortunate: it just is. And when you're faced with a 'just is,' you figure out a way to find something that you can do, right? So you adapt, like every person on this ship is doing: anyone worth mentioning anyway."

"Well I hope so, but the big issue is making sure they show up and all, right? There are some people who don't want to have anything to do with the evaluations, and the doc might mistake that reluctance for something else. I get that I'm not very young, but if I can see the pretty obvious flaws, so can anyone else, right?"

Tim nodded quietly. "I don't think it hurts to know that a situation isn't right-- but that doesn't mean you should dwell, no. You just have to fight to take as much control as possible, right?"

"We can force people to go to an extent-- but with the size of the crew it's not that hard to stay under the radar for a while, I think. And with being made to run mazes and the like, as well. It certainly has flaws, like you've said, as a system, but it's what we have for the time being. It'll just have to be improved."

"I like to know as much about something as I can, that way I can prepare. I don't know what other kids on the ship do: I see them, and sometimes we can hang out and all, but its not like this is a place for us, right? You can't just play pretend when, say, you have Steve getting possessed by some virus thingie, or when your friends are being taken over by some evil spirit. This place is just not meant for us if we're trying to keep our innocence."

Which she had always thought the moment she came to the ship. It's not like she really got that whole "kids are full of joy and laughter" shit. Those kids that wanted her lunch money that one time sure as hell weren't. So she had to teach them what happened when you picked on someone you THOUGHT was weak but wasn't. They learned the hard way.

Mindy shrugged. "The question then is who's gonna do it, and then, do you have the time before another mission or an attack on the mission? I think the best thing to do is use the time as best you can, and keep an eye on people you know are probably going to be up to no good."

Tim shook his head. "No. It's not the best place for children-- no offense. I don't like the thought of kids in this situation but... what can you do? This is what we're dealing with. So we have to deal with it." He frowned.

"Of course. Security could help but then they're distracted from their main duties. Medical on its own can only do so much. It's a balance that is kind of hard to maintain given the situation-- which makes it kind of cyclical, honestly." A grimace. "It's unfortunate that so much of this is a 'make do' situation."

"Exactly: what can I do? That's the question I'm trying to answer. Whatever that is, I'm going to do my best to get started: whatever I was doing in my world, it was just living because I had that luxury. Here, you sorta have to earn it along with any comfort you can get."

That was definitely a Hit Girl philosophy.

She nodded. "All of them are pretty strained, and we have a lot of gifted people on the ship. If we have those Dalgiggy guys on the ship, hopefully they'll be able to give is some help, right? I mean, aren't we fighting this war with their help?"

"I did social work back home-- I saw a lot of that... luxury versus earning thing." He grimaced. "This is just another version. We have the basic necessities, but we have to work to make it here, don't we?"

Tim frowned. He didn't want to show his cynicism on the subject, but all he said was, "We'll see. We are supposed to be working together."

"Well here I see a lot of people who jump at the chance to have some pageant or a party or something. I don;t have anything against that, but more and more I worry about the warm because its not as if we have a set day where we go, or know even when the net attack will come. There's something to say about constant vigilance."

Yes, she stole that from Harry Potter, so what? Moody was the shit anyway.

Mindy gave him a probing look. "That's adult speak for 'I definitely have feelings I don't want to get into.' You don't trust the Dali gigs, do you?"

Tim nodded quietly, listening to that. "Right. People need to relax sometimes-- you'd go crazy if you did nothing but work and prepare, right? Even if sometimes it's necessary. But if people find balance..." Not that he was one to talk. This was what he considered his breaks. Analysing.

Then he grimaced. "Well, I'm not sure many people on the ship do. We're still missing a lot of information, if nothing else."

"I get the whole relaxing thing when you have the time, but not all the time. We still have an end goal we have to keep. If the Ohm were to go and attack us, like, tomorrow, how would we be able to defend ourselves? How many people would die? A kid like me, I have to think about this kind of stuff, because this is the only home I have now."

And even thought she was playing up the kid part, that concern was real.

She shrugged. "I might not either, but what other choice do we really have? If they wanted to interfere with us, wouldn't they have already?"

Tim nodded. "We can afford some-- just not constant. But I think there are a fair few on the ship who are working hard, at least, so there's that. The rest of the crew... well, we'll see, right?" He grimaced. "It's awful we have to think like that, but... well, war isn't pretty, after all." He watched her closely, pulling apart the genuine from what he doubted. Still, she was earnest, if nothing else.

"I'm not saying we have one, or that we don't have to trust them, to an extent. I don't know if they have any intention to 'mess' with us, but... again, we'll see."

"So you're saying that we're going to have to depend on the people who have strength to fight," she said, which was pretty much exactly what she thought was the case anyway. She had an idea that Tim would be all the more motivated to know that a little kid could figure that out. As it was, of course, she was one of those people who was going to be working hard to do her part. There seemed little reason to do anything else.

"But you are saying we have to be careful when it comes to what they know about us," she said, watching him. "Because even if we have no reason to think they're plotting something, we don't know everything about them still."

"Unfortunately? We might have to," he replied, with a frown. "We either become the people who can fight or... we don't really have any other options." Tim shook his head. Still, he was interested in this girl's intuitiveness. Most girls her age-- though he really only had an estimate of age-- wouldn't think like that. A cop parent explained it to an extent, but still, it was curious.

"Right. We're in the dark about... more things than are comfortable. We maybe have to trust them, but it's still reason for caution."

Mindy gave a sort of derisive laugh. "That's pretty bleak. Then again, we're talking about an alien species that are directly targeting the demise of many people and planets among the stars. I guess you don't really get any more real than that. I guess that's why you guys keep stressing that kids keep their innocence: wouldn't be able to get a bit of sleep thinking of that."

She nodded. "I think so too. If the captain doesn't trust them and the council doesn't, we don't really have a choice."

"Like you said-- it's a pretty bleak situation." He grimaced. "Definitely worse than anything I've dealt with before. We didn't even cover 'alien invasion' in my workplace safety meetings, let alone 'intergalactic war'." A poor joke, but no one ever said he had a good season of humour. "It sucks to have to grow up fast, though. Really."

"Right. So now we just play it safe and be careful."

Mindy shrugged. "Hey, you don't get to pick and choose how you grow, like, ever. What's the point in crying over something you won't get back? You take what you can get, and hope for the best. You have to live. That's about all you can do, besides putting your hands over your ears and pretending everything is ok."

She nodded. "I plan to. It was nice talking to you Tim. You see like a nice man. Who knows? We might cross paths again sometime."

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battorch - 2011-10-12 19:43 (UTC) - Expand

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downtime. honest. [open]

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I totally meant "I'm not that old," gah...

no worries! I figured as much. :)

Re: no worries! I figured as much. :)

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The "warm?" Christ. Gotta watch the typos.

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