( Teasing, almost. But questions occur to her; would Stephanie even have known she called herself the Bat, or was that like some secret that they never spoke about within the inner sanctum? That Huntress had dared to wear the symbol, had marred their precious mythology with her handiwork. Don't disgrace the name. )
I'm still in once piece. ( A visit to the clinic may be in order. ) You?
I wasn't trying to - you know, get in on your thing or anything, it was just a spur of the moment sort of... decision. And only with Atlas. It's kind of a long story but I should probably correct him, it's just-- [Stop, breathe.] Sorry.
[She said it was a compliment. Calm down, Stephanie.]
Um. [right.] A little bruised, nothing worth writing home about.
[It sounds like she cares a lot, but Steph is smart enough not to point that out, especially when she knows what it's like to feel bitter about reputation.]
I just meant-- [No, okay, that's enough. Helena isn't going to bite her head off, and this isn't even about the name, it's about everything.] Okay.
[Okay what, exactly, she isn't sure, but it's a start.
After a moment of slightly awkward silence:] Sometimes I miss Spoiler.
( There's a long silence on this side, Helena pinching the bridge of her nose as she wrestles those feelings down. She'd rather have kicked something into the wall, but there's nothing to hand. )
It is. ( A beat, and she could just leave it at that and hang up, but-- )
I convinced some boys once that the only reason hoods said Batman was because they were too afraid to say a girl beat them. ( There's a smile in her voice, but it's fragile, and she's angry with herself in the next moment. As if those had been glory days. Her voice remains calm, her anger is for herself alone. )
In Gotham the Bat means more than any other symbol could. It's-- primal. It speaks to all of us.
( Going back to Huntress had been hard; she does not think Stephanie would enjoy losing that symbol, not when the Bat has been so much more a part of her life than it has for Helena, so definitive. Spoiler, Robin, Batgirl. She's carried Nightwing's mantle, and Oracle's. They both went on to become something separate, but-- the reasons were different. )
Question is, what do you want to do? Be ambiguous? Be frightening? Do you just want to stop people talking down to you because your name suggests you're a child? What?
[Steph's quiet for a while, weighing all that up, especially the question, and deciding what she wants to say in return.
She'd smiled at the idea of Batman being a real myth, because people were too scared to admit a woman was beating them up, but it's not really the important part of the conversation.
What does she want to be?]
I want people to take me seriously. [Isn't that what she's always wanted? And it seems out of her grasp, no matter what she does or what uniform she wears.] I never would've thought of being Batgirl if Cass hadn't given it to me, and then I had to fight so hard to keep it. [Because of Babs and Dick, becaues of Bruce. And she hates the fact that Bruce's approval, that he said she could keep Batgirl, means so much.] It's just complicated, you know?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
controlledvariable) wrote2014-02-02 07:59 pm
voice.
( A brief pause, deliberate, but it's amused. There's room for that, with the bombings past. )
Nice work out there.
voice.
Welp.]
Ye-es?
[That wasn't supposed to be a question, but it came out as one anyway.
Smooth, Brown.]
Thanks. You make it through okay?
perma the thing.
( Teasing, almost. But questions occur to her; would Stephanie even have known she called herself the Bat, or was that like some secret that they never spoke about within the inner sanctum? That Huntress had dared to wear the symbol, had marred their precious mythology with her handiwork. Don't disgrace the name. )
I'm still in once piece. ( A visit to the clinic may be in order. ) You?
( She better have. )
no subject
[She said it was a compliment. Calm down, Stephanie.]
Um. [right.] A little bruised, nothing worth writing home about.
no subject
( She cares about other things tied up with it, but not Stephanie using that name. It meant something to her, but she was always the interloper.
The sting is always there. )
Good.
no subject
I just meant-- [No, okay, that's enough. Helena isn't going to bite her head off, and this isn't even about the name, it's about everything.] Okay.
[Okay what, exactly, she isn't sure, but it's a start.
After a moment of slightly awkward silence:] Sometimes I miss Spoiler.
no subject
Why?
no subject
[It invokes a specific image, and she's not sure if she's okay with that, anymore.
She misses Robin, too, but that's not something she can say.]
no subject
I convinced some boys once that the only reason hoods said Batman was because they were too afraid to say a girl beat them. ( There's a smile in her voice, but it's fragile, and she's angry with herself in the next moment. As if those had been glory days. Her voice remains calm, her anger is for herself alone. )
In Gotham the Bat means more than any other symbol could. It's-- primal. It speaks to all of us.
( Going back to Huntress had been hard; she does not think Stephanie would enjoy losing that symbol, not when the Bat has been so much more a part of her life than it has for Helena, so definitive. Spoiler, Robin, Batgirl. She's carried Nightwing's mantle, and Oracle's. They both went on to become something separate, but-- the reasons were different. )
Question is, what do you want to do? Be ambiguous? Be frightening? Do you just want to stop people talking down to you because your name suggests you're a child? What?
no subject
She'd smiled at the idea of Batman being a real myth, because people were too scared to admit a woman was beating them up, but it's not really the important part of the conversation.
What does she want to be?]
I want people to take me seriously. [Isn't that what she's always wanted? And it seems out of her grasp, no matter what she does or what uniform she wears.] I never would've thought of being Batgirl if Cass hadn't given it to me, and then I had to fight so hard to keep it. [Because of Babs and Dick, becaues of Bruce. And she hates the fact that Bruce's approval, that he said she could keep Batgirl, means so much.] It's just complicated, you know?
[She thinks Helena will understand.]