usedacrobatics | ROBIN √ 001 √ 3-19-13

[The gear snaps on after falling out of the bag. Heard in the background is the sound of a Pokeball releasing its occupant, and wings flapping. The Pokemon, a Taillow, nudges the Pokegear towards the edge of—yes, it’s a roof. The bag was tossed up on to the roof of Mom’s house, the gear and Pokeball were jostled by the impact, and they are now both looking over the edge at a boy dressed in a red and black bodysuit, with a yellow and black cape. He’s climbing out of the bedroom window. The Taillow focuses the camera on the “R” logo on the kid’s chest. It looks important!]

Ooookay. Definitely not in Kansas anymore. Kansas would be so good right about now.

[He edges a little further out, seating himself on the windowsill, back towards the outside, and sizing up the roof. He catches sight of the bird holding the camera and grins, the eye lenses of his domino mask widening to reflect slight surprise. He doesn’t realize that it’s recording yet.]

Me not being in Kansas anymore must make you Toto, huh? Or Dinah. Birds holding cameras seem a bit more Wonderland than Oz, but I’m not the expert. So long as you’re not Cheshire, I think we can work with it, though.

[He looks back up at the roof, still grinning. He grips the edge with both hands, and pulls himself up with a grunt, and mutters:]

Since when does this require effort?

[Another grunt of exertion, and Robin forces his body upwards into a handstand, trying to balance on the edge of a sloped roof, before turning a quick tumble into a crouch.
It… doesn’t work that way. His legs are wobbling slightly, and when he tries to swing into the tumble, his balance shifts and he topples over with a brief yell of shock.

In the opposite direction.

Off the roof.

Shocked yell out of the way, Robin begins trying to grip something, anything on the wall while the Taillow squawks in distress and drops the camera. The Pokegear rights itself on the ground just in time to see the bird grasp the Boy Wonder’s cape.
It slows his descent, but the weight is too much for a small, level 5 Taillow and the two crash into the ground, Robin groaning as his knees absorb the impact. He gives the bird a pained, but grateful look.]

Well, you have Superman’s color scheme down. We can work on the rescuing thing.

[He flops over, lying on his side. Taillow uses his wings to shade his eyes from the sun, and Robin gently strokes the bird’s breast. Annoyed:]

I cannot believe I just fell off a roof. Nobody saw that, right? I just fell off a roof.
Batman would kill me if he knew I actually fell off a roof. I mean, there goes my reputation. Say nothing of the mystique. A roof. Not even a big roof. It’s only two stories—and—

[He notices the Pokegear Taillow dropped. It’s lit up.]

Why is that thing—

[Click!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Astrid hasn't really noticed being any weaker, but she was just a normal viking back home.]

...They did take my axe away.

[And she'll never forgive them.]

Well, I also lost a lot of weapons. Explosives, projectiles, escrima sticks, a taser, trip marbles, knockout gas pellets, handcuffs...

They're stripping away pretty much everything I've worked for and replaced it with this bird.

[He glances around, off-camera and adds:]

No offense, Johnny.

Nobody has any weapons here. You aren't even allowed to get in a fistfight!

[Which is stupid sometimes people just need punching.]

At least they didn't have a sense of humor with yours. They took my axe and gave me an axew.

My name is Robin and they gave me a bird. They might not have had any sense of humor about that, but they had it about other stuff, trust me.

...That's not as bad as the axe thing, at least.

[A pause.]

I'm Astrid.

Nice to meet you. I thought it was at least a more creative pun.

...I guess.

We'd both be better off if they hadn't bothered though.

There are more useless Pokemon.

What's that one fish that only learns Splash and Tackle?

Magikarp.

But it turns into a dragon.

With a double weakness to Pikachu.

There are other options, is what I'm saying.

How do you know that if you just got here?

This is a... kind of game where I come from.

[A game that's older than he is, but his cousin played it.]

..Oh right. People said this was a video game.

[She's honestly still not sure what that means.]

Yeah. Super popular. It was a genuine phenomenon for a while.

Not to the degree of permeation it is here, however.

Yeah, we don't have anything like that back home.

So that's not a Halloween costume. Gotcha.

[Like you are any one to talk, Boy Wonder.]

Where are you from?

What's not a costume?

Berk.

It's a little island nobody has ever heard of.

Never mind.

[...and his head tilts.]

You're right about that, anyway, I haven't.

Well if you had video games you're probably from the future anyway.

Maybe Berk isn't even around anymore.

It could also be in a parallel dimension. I mean, why would this place be the only one? Your world could have nothing to do with mine, nothing in common, except that Astrid's a pretty name in both places.

[That throws her, but only for a second. Nice try boy wonder.]

Maybe. I'm still not sure I understand that stuff, but did vikings exist in your world? Or dragons?

[He's only a little bit shameless.]

Vikings are a historical fact, but I've never actually seen a dragon. That's probably a question for Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel, they've got the magic thing, and dragons are more magical than not, right?

Uh. Well ours aren't. They're just big animals.

I mean they shoot fire, but it's not magic fire or anything.

Really?

I thought the whole being able to produce fire within the body was generally a magical thing.

Not that I know of.

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