[ when he gets there, it's roy that answers the door, in a heavy metal-working apron, thick gloves, and a welding mask that he tilts up to squint at this dude on Casa Jaybird's doorstep. and his pie. ]
Yo. Nice pie.
[ tilting back, he shouts to the rest of the interior: ]
( he's joking. it's evident enough by his tone if--if looking at gene doesn't make it obvious enough he didn't come here to strip. the door opens, gene offers out his pie, and jason--idly gestures back towards the kitchen before he's moving to step around roy and take off. )
I'll be back in a couple hours. Thanks for the pie, Agathine. Don't be a dick, Harper.
( jason absolutely gets a smack to the back of the head for that one, as gene swans past him carryin' that pie an' jay heads for the door. )
Don't you pay no nevermind to this vagabond, he thinks he's hilarious.
( there's an obvious fondness to his tone even as he's giving jason shit. gene wears his emotions on his sleeve an' it ain't ever occurred to him he ought to be more clandestine about it all. )
Name's Eugene. Friends call me Gene. You're Roy, yeah?
Strippers come with complementary pie now? Thoughtful.
[ this dude just said 'no nevermind' unironically and roy loves him a little already. yeah, ok, he'll accept this babysitter-stripper, thanks friend. jason squeezes past them at the door and roy yanks off one of his heavy gloves to smack his ass with it on the way out (as if challenging jason's left ass cheek to a duel), as you do. ]
Okay, honey, don't talk to strangers, look both ways before you cross the street.
[ peace, bro, see ya. roy's attention is already diverted to this new person, and once jason's out the door, roy's trailing after gene and his pie. ]
Right, it's Roy. [ and he's quick to dive into the next topic. ] Stripper beat aside, you're surprisingly wholesome for a Jason Todd contact, Gene. How'd that happen?
( gene laughs outright as he sets the pie down on the counter, and starts opening cupboards to look for plates. he ain't been here before, but he apparently feels at home enough among jason's things that he ain't bothered by what may well be perceived as snoopin' about. )
Oh, you know. He was put off by my southern charm, tried to rile me up some. Didn't work, an' now I follow him around makin' sure he's eatin' well an' ain't gone too long without sleepin'.
( normally he'd be more cagey when it comes to sharin' information about other folks, but he's assumin' that jay an' roy are pretty good pals, an' that jay won't mind the tellin' so much. )
[ if he misses the plates cupboard on the first or second try, roy will open up the correct one and give a sharp whistle for his attention. right here, buddy. ]
Hey, sounds kinda like the gig I had back home. [ roy grins, pulling out one of the kitchen chairs and plopping down into it, backwards, chest pressed to the seat back and arms folded on the top edge while he watches this new person move about the kitchen. ] Except I think it was more a community effort for us. You know, trade off who needs to hold the Functioning Adult baton for the day.
[ they're not perfect people but they did save the world a couple times so, it's probably okay. ]
( he nods his thanks to the plates, an' then sets up a couple with folks an' the like. the pie is one of those southern delicacies that needs ought be baked by a genuine southern hand else it ain't all that much — buttermilk, or near as close he can get with how scarce real dairy is.
he folds a piece onto a plate an' pushes it towards jay. )
Alabama. Conecuh county, little town called Agathine. 'Bout two hours north-east'a Mobile, if'n you happen to know whereabouts that is. 1947.
( they'd had barely three hundred souls before the war. despite that, they'd had nineteen dead an' near twice as many again injured. it's a lot to carry, even now. )
But I lived in New York some five, six years near-abouts, just before the War broke out if'n you're a man of history.
( there's a bare handful of 'em here that lived through the era he knows. he doesn't hold much to hope that folks will know it, much less have been there. )
[ roy's immediately digging into the pie, eyes going heavenward at first as he lets out a pleased groan - well done, gene, it's delicious. he does have the courtesy to finish chewing and swallow before he starts talking again. ]
Yeah, yeah, I know where Mobile is. Small town living. [ he's driven through it before, alabama isn't known for being terribly packed. ] I grew up in Arizona, Navajo Nation. My folks were park rangers, helped out around the reservation when they could.
[ and then they both died, and the reservation took care of him when he was left behind. ]
Depends which War you're talking about. Is '47 before or after the one you mean?
[ roy's guessing he probably means WWII, as that's the closest one to that time frame, but just checking. ]
( he knows there's ones that come after. it's human nature. hell, even in his day things are heating up in korea. you hear things from the dead when you speak their language. he's wondered often if he'll muster up if the call comes a second time in his life. ain't like he's old.
he lifts one shoulder as he forks down into his pie. arizona, huh? )
[ roy shovels a bit more pie into his mouth, nodding at the years gene mentions as he swallows. ]
Oof, you caught the worst one, buddy. World War II. [ in case they weren't calling it 'world war II' back then yet. ] If any war's gonna be The War, yeah, it'd be that one.
[ 'war to end all wars', well that didn't really happen, but he could see how people might've thought that back then. especially after the bombs dropped on Japan. kind of changed war forever. ]
Vietnam was pretty brutal too, but not on the same scale. [ horrific chaos and death, but buried in jungles and covered in bugs, plus napalm. ] But, as someone from the safe and free future, thanks for your service, man.
( he hesitates a little, fork halfway to his mouth. his fingers flex, an' then he completes the gesture. chews thoughtfully. swallows. then: )
Ah, I didn't see the worst of it. I was just a medic.
( truth be told, it's the first time anyone here's said thank you for your service an' it turns the stomach some. he knows it's well-meant, but all he can think about is albert with his arm blown off, dark bruises beneath his eyes, screamin' bloody murder at the world. even his three little girls an' that sweet wife of his ain't a balm for that sorta horror. )
Don't hardly matter in any case, I'm a veterinarian now.
( even if livestock's hurt bad, they can't cry out for their mommas. makes it easier. an' he's still helpin'. )
[ talkative and hyper as roy may be, he's far from unobservant, and even while he's yammering, he's watching people. roy catches the pause, the flex, the deflection. yeah, that seems about right for someone who saw a bloody war. roy doesn't mention that being a medic probably means seeing the worst of it, as you're the one with guys dying in your arms.
but this dude didn't come here to have his trauma triggered, so roy drops it, munching down some more pie before moving on. ]
Yeah? Probably don't get much work for that here. Not a whole lot of animals roaming around.
[ do people do house cats and dogs here? is that still a thing? ]
( it gets a laugh. roy ain't the only one makin' observances — most folks press on. he remembers holdin' his breath once when a little boy asked al how many japs he'd killed. folks like to know.
the ones that don't ask either have more sense or they've been in it themselves. so he eases into subject change with an acknowledging nod. )
Ain't all that much call, no. I teach dance here, if'n you can believe it. Learned in Harlem.
[ that gets a surprise from roy, and a light chuckle. what a cheerful alternative career path, this dude really has some interesting and varying talents here. ]
Dance. That's a big step from medic or vet, man.
[ and honestly, roy would be down for learning some dance. sure, why not. he have to check out the classes. ]
( he laughs, clearly pleased as punch that someone pegged the right manner of dancin' for the era. )
Ah, it ain't so much a step as all that. Learned dancin' before the War, kept up on it in the thick of it — you get a good turn on the radio an' you can roust a whole company, near abouts. Fellas who didn't know how sure learnt!
( it's obviously a good memory. truth be told. the little moments that lived between the fights. folks think war is often one thing after another after another, but even after husky they went to ireland for months, trainin' for normandy. an' all the boys would gather at the public halls an' if there weren't no band playin' someone would skive off an' find a guitar or a violin or a goddamn tambourine an' make music enough that they could dance. how many nights did he end filthy and sweat-drenched, laughin' with jasper an' alex an' angel an' all the rest? those nights'd become fewer, the further they got into the war, but all the more precious for their rarity. lord, the trouble they'd all gotten into after france!
his smile remains, though it gains a rueful bent. )
Good way to pass the time, anyhow. Lotta soul in dancin'.
[ gene laughs and roy slouches in his seat, relaxing back as he grins, watching this war vet talk about dancing like it could heal the world. It’s sweet, and it’s unexpected, that something so much about art and expression can thrive in a place like a world war II front. ]
Can’t say I’ve ever tried learning any formal dance, but you make it sound like some kind of magic, dude.
[ martial arts, archery, parkour, sure, but no dance, not in the oliver queen school of sidekicking. Maybe the batman school had it. He’ll have to ask a robin sometime. ]
This town could use some extra soul. Say I wanna learn - could you show me some?
[ as in, now, he means. Like, here, in jason’s kitchen. ]
( magic. maybe now it's just a way to remember reggie, all the more now that he ain't here. somehow it was always a little easier to put off the pain of grievin' while gene could still talk to him, but new amsterdam ain't so charitable as all that.
there are little moments between heartbeats where a fella can feel his mood start to slip. he got real good at catchin' himself in the war before a slide turned into a moment of blind combat hysteria, but somehow this man he's only just met says the exact right thing to pull him on outta it, an' gene blinks at him a bit, an' then shakes his head with a rueful grin. he holds his hand out, palm-up. )
'Course. But I ought'a charge you for it. I'm a damn fine teacher if I do say so myself.
[ roy's been chatting with child soldiers since he was, well, a child soldier. feeling out and dancing around trauma buttons you don't want to push that hard on is something he's become accustom to, and after you're best buds with two bat-kids, you get real used to avoiding the ones that'll make a dude implode. especially with jason, though they tend to have their own shorthand and comfort levels when it comes to the morbid side of what they do and how they ended up where they are.
look, you can't just tell roy you're a dance instructor and expect him not to take you up on it at some point, this is the kind of nonsense he loves, so when gene offers a hand, roy bounces up to his feet, a loud clap sounding as he slaps his hand into gene's enthusiastically. ]
Put it on Jay's tab, I'll tell him it was a necessary educational cost.
( ah, fuck, he forgot to mention the empathy bond. gene don't mind it much, but he doesn't like to spring it on new folks without warning so don't mind him as he twitches his hand back some and holds it up in a flat-palmed 'hold on' gesture. )
Wait a tic. Forgot somethin'. Jay told you about the empathy bond at all?
[ Roy holds up a finger - one minute - and scampers back towards wherever he left those thick welding gloves he slapped Jason's ass with.
He comes back with them tugged onto each hand, looking a little ridiculous with them coming up most of his forearms, but hey, it saves them getting uncomfortably emotionally cozy. Because yeah, chill as Roy may outwardly seem, the empathy bond still makes him nervous as hell. ]
Ever dance with a welder? I can put the apron and mask on too.
By trade? Sure. By gear an' dress? Not so much. First time for everything, though.
( he does take up roy's hands proper now, directin' him as to where to put them with an easy confidence that speaks to just how much he damn well loves dancin'. )
Let's get you learnin' the Lindy. It's one'a my favs. Now, the important part is makin' sure the steps are right, an' —
( don't mind him as he launches into a beginner-friendly crash-course in swing dance that the writer is absolutely not going to babble about at length. )
[ funny thing about martial arts: you think it prepares you for dance because of the physicality and body control. spoilers, it doesn't. it doesn't save roy from fumbling his steps a few times or bumping awkwardly into gene when he goes the wrong way once, but roy's a good sport, ready to laugh at himself when he screws up, and having a good time besides. gene's a good teacher, and while roy might not be the best dancer, he listens and he has a wealth of patience for picking up new skills.
once he starts to understand more of the dance, roy gets more confident, moves a little faster, tries to stop looking at his feet so much. ]
So when's the part where one of us gets to throw the other in the air?
[ roy pipes up once he's starting to get the basic steps down. he's pretty sure that's a swing thing. is it a lindy thing? are they the same? no idea, he just wants to defy some gravity. ]
( doin' tosses are always one of his favourite things in the dance scene, but it's one of those things he's leery of teachin' to someone who ain't got the foundational skills to back it up.
though, roy's at least in as good'a shape as jason, an' jason would'a bulldozed him right over even straight off basic when he was a hundred an' fifty some-odd pounds of muscle an' not an ounce of fat to be seen. so gene steps back some, cocks his head an' gives roy a once-over. little taller, a bit more broad. he's got a good sense of his feet, which is rare enough to start an' a boon to dancin' smooth.
ah, hell. why not. )
I ain't got the first clue why you'd want a skirt made outta poodles, but all right, I'll show you a throw-out. Just don't practice it with anyone else green as you, else you might be in for an injury.
( he's been showin' him both sides of the dance, lead an' follow steps, mostly on account'a there havin' been no one to really regulate it back when he an' love company were all dancin' together in the halls. more men than women mostly, so the boys danced too, an' it weren't ever no big thing. now, he re-arranges roy so he's back to followin'. there's a quick explanation that follows — the move itself is simple enough, but — )
You gotta nail the landin' or you'll blow an ankle. I won't toss you up to start, just get the pattern down an' we'll do that a few times before we try gettin' you any air. Then you can try it on me after that. Just remember to let the lead direct your momentum. Takes a bit'a trust.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2020-07-12 10:58 pm (UTC)it's underground, as a warning
don't want you getting claustrophobic on me
no subject
Date: 2020-07-12 11:02 pm (UTC)Be there soon.
( he's going to bring pie, you mark his words. )
hello hi i've brought The Boy - (action;)
Date: 2020-07-13 01:39 am (UTC)Yo. Nice pie.
[ tilting back, he shouts to the rest of the interior: ]
Jay, did you order delivery pie?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-13 02:18 am (UTC)( he's joking. it's evident enough by his tone if--if looking at gene doesn't make it obvious enough he didn't come here to strip. the door opens, gene offers out his pie, and jason--idly gestures back towards the kitchen before he's moving to step around roy and take off. )
I'll be back in a couple hours. Thanks for the pie, Agathine. Don't be a dick, Harper.
( bye have fun kids. )
no subject
Date: 2020-07-13 06:30 pm (UTC)Don't you pay no nevermind to this vagabond, he thinks he's hilarious.
( there's an obvious fondness to his tone even as he's giving jason shit. gene wears his emotions on his sleeve an' it ain't ever occurred to him he ought to be more clandestine about it all. )
Name's Eugene. Friends call me Gene. You're Roy, yeah?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-13 06:45 pm (UTC)[ this dude just said 'no nevermind' unironically and roy loves him a little already. yeah, ok, he'll accept this babysitter-stripper, thanks friend. jason squeezes past them at the door and roy yanks off one of his heavy gloves to smack his ass with it on the way out (as if challenging jason's left ass cheek to a duel), as you do. ]
Okay, honey, don't talk to strangers, look both ways before you cross the street.
[ peace, bro, see ya. roy's attention is already diverted to this new person, and once jason's out the door, roy's trailing after gene and his pie. ]
Right, it's Roy. [ and he's quick to dive into the next topic. ] Stripper beat aside, you're surprisingly wholesome for a Jason Todd contact, Gene. How'd that happen?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-13 06:53 pm (UTC)Oh, you know. He was put off by my southern charm, tried to rile me up some. Didn't work, an' now I follow him around makin' sure he's eatin' well an' ain't gone too long without sleepin'.
( normally he'd be more cagey when it comes to sharin' information about other folks, but he's assumin' that jay an' roy are pretty good pals, an' that jay won't mind the tellin' so much. )
no subject
Date: 2020-07-14 05:28 am (UTC)Hey, sounds kinda like the gig I had back home. [ roy grins, pulling out one of the kitchen chairs and plopping down into it, backwards, chest pressed to the seat back and arms folded on the top edge while he watches this new person move about the kitchen. ] Except I think it was more a community effort for us. You know, trade off who needs to hold the Functioning Adult baton for the day.
[ they're not perfect people but they did save the world a couple times so, it's probably okay. ]
What part of the south're you from?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-14 03:31 pm (UTC)he folds a piece onto a plate an' pushes it towards jay. )
Alabama. Conecuh county, little town called Agathine. 'Bout two hours north-east'a Mobile, if'n you happen to know whereabouts that is. 1947.
( they'd had barely three hundred souls before the war. despite that, they'd had nineteen dead an' near twice as many again injured. it's a lot to carry, even now. )
But I lived in New York some five, six years near-abouts, just before the War broke out if'n you're a man of history.
( there's a bare handful of 'em here that lived through the era he knows. he doesn't hold much to hope that folks will know it, much less have been there. )
no subject
Date: 2020-07-14 03:48 pm (UTC)Yeah, yeah, I know where Mobile is. Small town living. [ he's driven through it before, alabama isn't known for being terribly packed. ] I grew up in Arizona, Navajo Nation. My folks were park rangers, helped out around the reservation when they could.
[ and then they both died, and the reservation took care of him when he was left behind. ]
Depends which War you're talking about. Is '47 before or after the one you mean?
[ roy's guessing he probably means WWII, as that's the closest one to that time frame, but just checking. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-14 03:55 pm (UTC)he lifts one shoulder as he forks down into his pie. arizona, huh? )
After. Talkin' about the one from '39 until '45.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-14 04:25 pm (UTC)Oof, you caught the worst one, buddy. World War II. [ in case they weren't calling it 'world war II' back then yet. ] If any war's gonna be The War, yeah, it'd be that one.
[ 'war to end all wars', well that didn't really happen, but he could see how people might've thought that back then. especially after the bombs dropped on Japan. kind of changed war forever. ]
Vietnam was pretty brutal too, but not on the same scale. [ horrific chaos and death, but buried in jungles and covered in bugs, plus napalm. ] But, as someone from the safe and free future, thanks for your service, man.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-14 04:37 pm (UTC)Ah, I didn't see the worst of it. I was just a medic.
( truth be told, it's the first time anyone here's said thank you for your service an' it turns the stomach some. he knows it's well-meant, but all he can think about is albert with his arm blown off, dark bruises beneath his eyes, screamin' bloody murder at the world. even his three little girls an' that sweet wife of his ain't a balm for that sorta horror. )
Don't hardly matter in any case, I'm a veterinarian now.
( even if livestock's hurt bad, they can't cry out for their mommas. makes it easier. an' he's still helpin'. )
no subject
Date: 2020-07-14 06:27 pm (UTC)but this dude didn't come here to have his trauma triggered, so roy drops it, munching down some more pie before moving on. ]
Yeah? Probably don't get much work for that here. Not a whole lot of animals roaming around.
[ do people do house cats and dogs here? is that still a thing? ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-14 06:54 pm (UTC)the ones that don't ask either have more sense or they've been in it themselves. so he eases into subject change with an acknowledging nod. )
Ain't all that much call, no. I teach dance here, if'n you can believe it. Learned in Harlem.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-15 08:39 pm (UTC)Dance. That's a big step from medic or vet, man.
[ and honestly, roy would be down for learning some dance. sure, why not. he have to check out the classes. ]
What kinda dance? Swing? Is that your era?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-16 02:11 am (UTC)Ah, it ain't so much a step as all that. Learned dancin' before the War, kept up on it in the thick of it — you get a good turn on the radio an' you can roust a whole company, near abouts. Fellas who didn't know how sure learnt!
( it's obviously a good memory. truth be told. the little moments that lived between the fights. folks think war is often one thing after another after another, but even after husky they went to ireland for months, trainin' for normandy. an' all the boys would gather at the public halls an' if there weren't no band playin' someone would skive off an' find a guitar or a violin or a goddamn tambourine an' make music enough that they could dance. how many nights did he end filthy and sweat-drenched, laughin' with jasper an' alex an' angel an' all the rest? those nights'd become fewer, the further they got into the war, but all the more precious for their rarity. lord, the trouble they'd all gotten into after france!
his smile remains, though it gains a rueful bent. )
Good way to pass the time, anyhow. Lotta soul in dancin'.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-21 05:49 am (UTC)Can’t say I’ve ever tried learning any formal dance, but you make it sound like some kind of magic, dude.
[ martial arts, archery, parkour, sure, but no dance, not in the oliver queen school of sidekicking. Maybe the batman school had it. He’ll have to ask a robin sometime. ]
This town could use some extra soul. Say I wanna learn - could you show me some?
[ as in, now, he means. Like, here, in jason’s kitchen. ]
no subject
Date: 2020-07-23 12:44 am (UTC)( magic. maybe now it's just a way to remember reggie, all the more now that he ain't here. somehow it was always a little easier to put off the pain of grievin' while gene could still talk to him, but new amsterdam ain't so charitable as all that.
there are little moments between heartbeats where a fella can feel his mood start to slip. he got real good at catchin' himself in the war before a slide turned into a moment of blind combat hysteria, but somehow this man he's only just met says the exact right thing to pull him on outta it, an' gene blinks at him a bit, an' then shakes his head with a rueful grin. he holds his hand out, palm-up. )
'Course. But I ought'a charge you for it. I'm a damn fine teacher if I do say so myself.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-28 03:21 pm (UTC)look, you can't just tell roy you're a dance instructor and expect him not to take you up on it at some point, this is the kind of nonsense he loves, so when gene offers a hand, roy bounces up to his feet, a loud clap sounding as he slaps his hand into gene's enthusiastically. ]
Put it on Jay's tab, I'll tell him it was a necessary educational cost.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-28 04:26 pm (UTC)Wait a tic. Forgot somethin'. Jay told you about the empathy bond at all?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-28 04:48 pm (UTC)[ Roy holds up a finger - one minute - and scampers back towards wherever he left those thick welding gloves he slapped Jason's ass with.
He comes back with them tugged onto each hand, looking a little ridiculous with them coming up most of his forearms, but hey, it saves them getting uncomfortably emotionally cozy. Because yeah, chill as Roy may outwardly seem, the empathy bond still makes him nervous as hell. ]
Ever dance with a welder? I can put the apron and mask on too.
no subject
Date: 2020-07-28 05:00 pm (UTC)By trade? Sure. By gear an' dress? Not so much. First time for everything, though.
( he does take up roy's hands proper now, directin' him as to where to put them with an easy confidence that speaks to just how much he damn well loves dancin'. )
Let's get you learnin' the Lindy. It's one'a my favs. Now, the important part is makin' sure the steps are right, an' —
( don't mind him as he launches into a beginner-friendly crash-course in swing dance that the writer is absolutely not going to babble about at length. )
no subject
Date: 2020-07-29 04:12 pm (UTC)once he starts to understand more of the dance, roy gets more confident, moves a little faster, tries to stop looking at his feet so much. ]
So when's the part where one of us gets to throw the other in the air?
[ roy pipes up once he's starting to get the basic steps down. he's pretty sure that's a swing thing. is it a lindy thing? are they the same? no idea, he just wants to defy some gravity. ]
And should I be in a poodle skirt for this?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-29 07:25 pm (UTC)though, roy's at least in as good'a shape as jason, an' jason would'a bulldozed him right over even straight off basic when he was a hundred an' fifty some-odd pounds of muscle an' not an ounce of fat to be seen. so gene steps back some, cocks his head an' gives roy a once-over. little taller, a bit more broad. he's got a good sense of his feet, which is rare enough to start an' a boon to dancin' smooth.
ah, hell. why not. )
I ain't got the first clue why you'd want a skirt made outta poodles, but all right, I'll show you a throw-out. Just don't practice it with anyone else green as you, else you might be in for an injury.
( he's been showin' him both sides of the dance, lead an' follow steps, mostly on account'a there havin' been no one to really regulate it back when he an' love company were all dancin' together in the halls. more men than women mostly, so the boys danced too, an' it weren't ever no big thing. now, he re-arranges roy so he's back to followin'. there's a quick explanation that follows — the move itself is simple enough, but — )
You gotta nail the landin' or you'll blow an ankle. I won't toss you up to start, just get the pattern down an' we'll do that a few times before we try gettin' you any air. Then you can try it on me after that. Just remember to let the lead direct your momentum. Takes a bit'a trust.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From: