thearena | [Closed]

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Who| Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, Rapunzel, and Some
What| Tim's wounded, and he knows there's a healer in the arena. Two of the Batkids go looking for her.
Where| Fantasyland.
When| Week 5, before this post.
Warnings/Notes| Mild description of injuries.

Trudging was the best way to describe Tim's progress through Disneyland. He knew that he was slowing them down, that Steph was better off going solo and leaving him to this search. He had dropped a few subtle hints to that effect but, well, here she was. Still. He should know not to bother. Sometimes, he can't keep his mouth shut.

He had to at least try to find Rapunzel again. The wounds weren't bleeding - couldn't bleed, they'd taken care of that. But the burns hurt just as much - maybe more, the tender skin and overloaded nerves took every brush of cloth into a cheese grater. The splint was holding, keeping his arm straight enough to wound eventually. Eventually was weeks from now though, and he was probably going to need to defend himself in the interim. It was better to do that with two arms. She might say no, but she might say yes.

There was a wider spot in the road that seemed familiar. Tim closed one eye and took it in, imagining the heavy night darkness. "I've been here before."

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Stephanie didn't say anything. Partly she was frustrated with Tim's self sacrificing attitude. Yeah, she picked up all his hints about her leaving him to whatever fate may have in store but she easily ignored those hints and went right on playing bodyguard. Hell, ignoring Tim was a long honed skill of hers.

Harsh.

No, nope, she wasn't going to let even a sliver of past feelings pop up while they were looking for Tim's girl wonder or whoever this person was suppose to be. Steph wondered if the girl was pretty and if Tim liked her. Steph wondered if she should have her head examined.

She shot a glance at Tim with a raised eyebrow. "Lead the way, Prince Charming."

There's something in that response that is more dangerous than anything else in the arena, Tim thought. She was teasing, and he knew it. Tease her back.

Yeah, not going to do that. She could misinterpret and think he was flirting, or she could misinterpret and leave...

Which was actually what she should do, except that she can't, and he knew that she couldn't, because he could never leave her behind injured or over her head.

"I told you, I'm not sure which way we went," Tim said as he turned down the most likely path. "I couldn't see after the firework went off in my face. We can't just start screaming out Rapunzel and expect her to show up."

"Close your eyes." She moved behind him and lowered her voice. "Backtrack. Before you were here were you running from the left or right?"

This was a familiar exercise. She remembered Bruce berating her for not having the same memory sense that Tim had. It hurt to think about that time, so she doesn't. Instead she imagines O running her through the same drill and actually giving her a bit of praise. What would O do?

"Remember Tim. Push everything out and think about your steps."

Now, that felt familiar. Good work, Stephanie, turning yourself into him like that, just in that step behind and voice over his shoulder. Tim shut his eyes. If he could retrace a chase through Gotham in the middle of the night, he could do this.

Start in New Orleans Square.
West is the arena's edge. No.
East is the river. No.
North is a dead end.
Southeast, cutting through Adventureland to the Cornucopia.
Fantasyland is directly north.
Then, he was here.

Tim took a step forward and stopped. The ground had a slight slope to it, leading towards Frontierland.

When the disoriented wander, they almost always head downhill towards a water source. Both of them had been disoriented. Couple that with the fire raining down on them.

"This way," he said and continued on, hugging the ruins on the left side of them.

Being on the ground wasn't working all that well for Rapunzel thus far, and being inside was a nightmare more often than not, so she'd decided to try height instead. Climbing was easy, after all the times she'd climbed her hair it was practically second nature - and it gave her somewhere that was at least a little safer, when Some wasn't next to her.

And that's where she was, on top of a partially ruined building, when she heard the soft voices. She crept towards the edge of the roof, peering carefully over.

The boy with black hair looked as though he could, at least, be familiar.

It was easier to be around Tim when they were in work mode. Granted, it wasn't as entertaining as seeing Tim run around in Doctor Mid-Nite's cast-offs, but it was another step to keeping them alive for that much longer.

She followed Tim silently, leaving him the headspace needed to hopefully find this magic girl. They really had all kinds here. It made her wonder how they were keeping so many Metas in one space without one of them going all Bizarro or something. Mysteries on top of mysteries and Steph was stuck without her O or Proxy.

"So, is she cute?" Heh, so much for being quiet.

He stops walking for a second and gave Steph an odd look. Why would that even matter? Why is she always asking about any other girl that he knows? Tim is fairly sure that every answer is the wrong answer, so he opts for the truth.

"I don't know. I couldn't see - it was before dawn, and I was still flash blind. I didn't stop seeing stars for hours," he says with a hint of defensiveness that he can't quite suppress. Steph is good at throwing him off. "I kinda had more important things on my mind, like how she was burning. Cute wouldn't have made a difference."

Tim starts walking again only to stop immediately. He puts a finger to his lips and then raises it slightly upward. There's someone about to drop in on them.

They were talking - quietly, she couldn't hear the words, but it was enough for her to notice when they stopped, especially since he stopped moving at the same time. When he seemed to be motioning to the girl he was with.

Rapunzel tried to slink back as quietly as possible, not quite far enough that she couldn't see them, but hopefully enough that they wouldn't see her.

Steph confirmed Tim's spot with a knowing look and kept walking ahead, slowing her pace and keeping things casual.

"Cute always makes a difference, Tim."

Once she was far enough from Tim that they both wouldn't become an easy target, Steph spun and ran at the building. Jumping and climbing wasn't easy with the skirt, but these movement were so second nature to her that she easily compensated for the bulk and weight. The roof was in horrible condition and after Tim's accident she knew a little extra caution wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Hey! Hey, come out, come out." Steph had left the bow and arrows on the ground, but the knives her easily reachable; for now her hands were empty and raised to show she meant no harm.

"For your information, I have known cute girls that I haven't been interested in." Tim made no attempt to list these girls, because the only ones that sprang to mind were all from Young Justice and that was years ago.

It wouldn't have mattered anyway, because Steph had to take the pro-active route, didn't she? She couldn't just let Tim try and coax Rapunzel out, if it was her. Now, he's stuck on the ground - there's no way he can duplicate that move with his broken arm, and Stephanie was out of his line of vision.

Dammit, woman. That's an unnecessary risk that left them both in vulnerable positions. Anyone could be up there with her.

"Rapunzel?" Tim called up. "If that's you up there, this is Tim. That's my friend Steph. She won't hurt you, we just - I need your help, if you would give it."

That was something that she hadn't been expecting. Apparently the roof wasn't safe either.

Rapunzel scrambled backwards with a tiny little noise, only just saved herself falling through the roof, and wildly grasped at the bit of iron bar she'd kept with her for the past few days. It was useful. It was longish - well, not very long, but at least it had a bit of length - and very hard and could be used to hit things. That was all it really had to do, because Rapunzel was much more interested in running than trying to really hurt anyone. Behind her, her hair lay in great loops and coils like spun gold.

The girl in front of her was holding her hands up, which Rapunzel wasn't sure if she trusted, but it was something, because at least she wasn't holding a weapon at the moment. And the boy still on the ground was speaking, this time loudly enough for her to hear.

He sounded familiar, but Rapunzel wasn't entirely sure she should trust it. She wasn't sure she should trust anything, not anymore.

"How did... how did you find me again?" She spoke loud enough for Tim to hear her too, slightly calmer than she'd been a few seconds ago, but still not quite sure if she trusted the girl - Steph? - or she trusted all of this not to be a trick to get close enough to see down again.

But, then, how many people in here knew her name?

"Magic." The girl was cute in that totally helpless sort of way. Steph was going to tease Tim for days. "Actually we were looking. Tim's hurt and he was hoping you could help." She kept her smile as she inched closer. "I really do promise we're not here to hurt you."

They were putting a lot of hope and trust in this frightened girl. If it was any other sort of injury they could have let it go, but Tom was out of commission with his arm broken. "If you don't want to help then we can leave, right Tim?"

"If you don't want to help, me and Steph'll go," Tim confirmed. He really hoped that Rapunzel would help, but there was little reason for her to do so. Except that he'd helped her, and she may feel like she owes him. "And it wasn't magic, we're good at finding people. But if you want us to not look for you, we won't."

This was ridiculous, talking loud enough to be heard by them up there. Tim had kept his voice low the entire time since he arrived. It was prudent. Here, with only Steph as a known fighter, with himself injured, it was stupid to make noise. He wanted to keep this gathering exclusive. "Could you come down here if you're going to hear us out? I fell out of the treehouse."

And people had landed on him, and he'd been bitten up by fish, and swallowed water that had to have been contaminated. "My arm's broken. I can't make it up there."

Rapunzel edged away from Steph, when the other girl edged forward, throwing little darting glances in all directions as though searching for inspiration. The promise that they weren't there to hurt her sounded good, at least. And not many people had actually tried to hurt her yet.

Eyeing the other blonde warily, Rapunzel crept closer to the edge of the roof, until she could peer over, to confirm that the person below was who it sounded like.

It was. That was comforting, she guessed. And he... he'd said he was hurt. Rapunzel turned a little less wary as she stared harder down, trying to see the extent of his injury, but...

He'd helped her. It was only fair for her to help him, if she could, right? It wasn't like he didn't already know.

Rapunzel gave Steph one last glance, then looped her hair around a protruding bit of something, tossed the majority off the side of the building, grabbed it, and jumped off the edge. She certainly had enough climbing and even sliding down her hair (she had to do something for entertainment), and was on the ground in a few seconds. With a flick of her wrist, the rest of her hair slithered after her.

"All right." She took a handful of her hair and began to wind it gently around Tim's arm.

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