Some puns should stay unspoken.

[the_hit_list]

[ A few minutes after this.

Tim appears on the mirrors, looking uncomfortable, but that’s not as noticeable as the fact that he is currently glowing like a Tim-shaped nightlight - or Timkerbell, if you’re feeling unkind. He considered staying offscreen (off glass?), but at least three people, if not more, have already seen it. It’s hardly a secret, and he wants to get to the bottom of this now. ]

It’s stating the obvious, but something is affecting me, because I don’t have metahuman abilities.

[ And he doesn’t want or need them. Tim would like to go home and not get runout of Gotham. Sparkling is not an option. ]

If anyone else is glowing, feel free to chime in. If this is your doing, please stop if you can. It doesn’t hurt, and I’m not mad, but let me know if you can’t make it stop?

[ He rubs the back of his hand, but it doesn’t dim the light. Tim starts putting his gloves back on. ]

I’d feel better if I knew this was someone in the camp.

[ He’ll continue to glow for another minute or two before it fades. As for Tim, he’s staying on the outskirts of the encampment until he feels confident that he knows what’s going on. He’s been told it has a healing effect - but he knows healers who also have heavy-hitting attacks. ]

Comments

[the_hit_list]

[ Kon would be ideal, if his own powers weren’t malfunctioning. Tim wouldn’t have even posted this; he would’ve run straight to Kon. The chances of being suddenly strong enough to hurt Superboy in any real way are slim (but he’s not so super now). ]

No, it’s fine.

[ It’s not; it’s crushing him to turn down the help. Tim’s promised to not do exactly this sort of thing, refusing the help of friends, not giving them enough information to help, and he’s pretty much traded demands of “you need to come to us with things like this” with Kon.

But this is the right choice. ]

I’m going to keep to myself until we’re sure that nothing else will manifest.

[ It’s a choice between guilt over feeling like he’s let down his end of the bargain, or never forgiving himself if it went wrong. He’d rather tell Elle he changed his mind. ]

[konman]

[Kon just gives him a skeptical look.]

It's not just going to magically go away.

And if you're worried you have something destructive, I can keep my distance.

[the_hit_list]

It magically appeared, didn’t it?

[ There has to be some examples of superhuman abilities fading through disuse, like any skill.

After a long moment, he nods. ]

If you keep your distance.

[ That’s not an unreasonable request. It’s not as if he’s banishing himself to Smallville. ]

[konman]

Why don't we find a good, big space, like a meadow in the woods or something?

And you can try to figure out what it is, and I'll stay real far away and we can just use our outside voices to talk.

Or the mirrors.

[the_hit_list]

Not the mirrors.

[ If they’re going to talk, Tim would prefer to be able to cut back on what he can’t say and hear someone say it’s okay. ]

I’m on the west side of camp. I’ll try to find somewhere to be. Do you know that healer at all?

[konman]

[He talks as he walks, annoyed as anything that he can't just fly over.]

Which healer? I don't think I've met anybody who can do it - or at least didn't know they could.

[the_hit_list]

[ Tim restricts it what she’s discussed with him and nothing he’s assumed or overheard else where. ]

Her name’s Elle, and she said she can heal herself and turn into a cat.

[ Raging cat monster was the phrase used, but he’s being nice. ]

Dark hair, about our age, too classy for you. You had to have seen her.

[konman]

Oh yeah, her.

[He finally gets there and pockets his mirror. It doesn't seem to deactivate the things because sometimes you can hear other people but if they're tucked away they don't seem to broadcast.]

I thought you were asking if there were other healers around camp because you thought your glow worm power was a healing power or something.

[the_hit_list]

[ Tim also puts his away once Kon is there, although he distrusts this magical comms nonsense so he keeps his voice relatively low. ]

I do think it’s a healing power. I only have one person’s opinion to go on, and I don’t know if that’s all it does.

[ They both know people who can both rain destruction and heal quickly. ]

She was offering to - I don’t know. Let me test it out on her, because she can heal and turn into a “raging cat monster” that sometimes berserks. Because that’s comforting.

[konman]

[Kon leans against a tree, casually crossing his arms.]

Some of the people here are straight up werewolves, although it seems like they try to do good with it, Wendy the Werewolf Stalker style.

[Some of Wendy's supporting cast were werewolf good guys.]

Not reassuring that they might try to rip somebody apart but if they're from weird supernatural worlds with denizens of the dark, it's probably normal there.

Could be a problem here.

[the_hit_list]

[ Tim has to clarify. ]

I meant that I don’t want to test whatever’s making me glow against someone who compared herself to a berserker the last time we talked. It’s not going to be a decent test if I’m worried about not triggering a berserker rage. Berserkers aren’t exactly known for their control.

[ Being berserkers and all. ]

Outside of that, she’s fine.

[konman]

Yeah, I count you as one of the somebodies they might rip apart if they try to be guinea pigs and lose it. They probably know their limits and she wouldn't volunteer if she didn't, but we need to get to know them better first to be sure.

[He knows that Tim isn't going to trust anyone else to look into this, not really.]

Look, why don't we see if you can activate the power again? I'll keep my distance, but edge in bit by bit to see if it has a bad effect on someone or gets more dangerous.

I may not have powers but this place put me at like peak good shape and about as sturdy as you can get without 'em. It might just be light-based, or a healing thing.

[the_hit_list]

We’ve gone up against werewolves before.

[ Tim swallows a frustrated groan. He is absolutely stuck between not trusting anyone but Kon and Dick, and having them be the last two people that he’d ever want to accidentally hurt. He feels like a freak, but he knows he can’t stay out in the woods, alone, forever. He can’t cook, and hunting with a bo would be more hands-on than he would like to get. Not to mention inhumane.

So. Here they are, and Tim is going to go about this bleeding anxiety everywhere. He crosses his arms and shrugs against their folds. ]

Okay. I’m going to try and… do whatever I did. You keep an eye on me and - your priority is you. Singular. You.

[ Tim fixes Kon with a glare. He may not be Robin, and they may not be Teen Titans right now, but it’s an order nevertheless. Tim has been asking friends for help lately rather than order, but not when he’s rushing to experiment with a completely unknown variable and a depowered Kon. ]

[konman]

I solemnly swear I will run and dive behind a tree if things start looking bad, scout's honor.

[He holds up a hand like he's taking a vow.]

And that's like...big blue boy scout's honor, so that's even more potent.

[the_hit_list]

I’ll hold you to that.

[ He does what seems like the natural place to start: trying to put himself back to the moment it happened, as much as he can. Tim takes a steadying breathe, closes his eyes, and pictures the chaotic scene. Where he was, where they were. ]

The yellow-eyed man was there. Leaning on the old man for support. He was still bringing up blood. You could see it here. And maybe here.

[ Tim indicates with his hands where much of the blood was. ]

I was pissed because most of my gear got swapped out for junk. I wanted to fix it, more than anything.

[ He can feel the frustration creeping back up, because there’s nothing Tim hates so much as being unprepared and therefore helpless. ]

Maybe I thought about Kid Crusader trying to do that to Eddie, and how that kind of internal bleeding feels like you’re drowning…

[ And then he doesn’t have to try and force the memory of Crowley coughing up blood, because Tim’s brain goes on autopilot and coughs up an entire montage of bloody mouths and beaten bodies. Sometimes his. Mostly not. Tim’s starting to glow again. ]

It was an assault in the middle of camp, and there were not enough people intervening. So I did.

[ It was more important than flying under the radar. Tim’s worked himself up to a similar state of health-related frustration, and the glow is bright enough that he can tell through closed eyes. His voice falters. ]

..Kon?

[konman]

Yep, you're going full lite brite again.

I'm going to come closer, alright? Stay still. I'll just inch it a little at a time.

[He starts to walk towards him very slowly, and very near some trees in case he needs some shelter.]

[But as he walks, he can already tell what this is because of the effect it's having on him.]

Tim, I think this is a healing power.

[Overworked muscles are soothing. His feet, which never touch the ground this much and are no longer invulnerable, have blisters that feel like they're going away.]

I've had a twinge in my back ever since we had to butcher all those animals.

[An actual twinge.]

That's gone. I can't feel the blisters on my feet anymore. [He reaches up to where one of the largest cuts on his face from the faire was, and it visibly heals before his fingers ever reach it.]

[He inches a little closer and little scabbed over cuts and areas of cracked skin from all the butchering (and handwashing) he did visibly close over.]

And there go a few cuts I had from the fight and from when I was cutting all that meat up. Look.

[He holds up his other hand, which had the largest cut of them all on his palm. It seals up and disappears.]

You've got some kind of healing aura. That'll be pretty handy here.

[the_hit_list]

[ When Kon comes closer, Tim stays still. He’s going to treat this with an appropriate level of caution; random development of superhuman abilities just isn’t a thing.

Kon’s diagnosis is nice, but Tim wants it measured, quantified and signed off in triplicate. He wants it blessed by Zatanna if it’s magic, and Bruce if it’s science before he relies on it.

Tim grabs the offered hand - ignores how he’s glowing again (like being a metahuman wasn’t enough, must it be so noticeable as to hang a sign around his neck - to get a better look at the healed cuts. He frowns at the healthy pink skin, but refrains from poking it directly. He is the furthest thing from sanitary. Everything… seems fine. No crazy side effects, aside from the security risk of glowing and the feeling that he’s just had a good workout. There’s some energy being used - it’s worth seeing exactly how much he can do and what happens if he pushes it too far, but not today. ]

You’re right. It’s handy here.

[ Here. And Tim resolves right then to just put aside the rest of the anxiety and fear, envisioning the ways Bruce could react and mapping out how he maneuver through each.

That’s all contingent on seeing Bruce. On getting back to the right - dimension? Universe? Time?

They have next to nothing to go on, and so… no more complaints. If Kon can handle his own power issues, Tim can handle this. He has to. ]

Looks like I’ll be practicing on you so that you don’t get tetanus. Or scurvy. You’re sure you’re not feeling any negative effects?

[konman]

[Kon lets Tim have his hand as long as he wants, knows he must be freaking out even more internally at such a huge shift.]

[The Bats are weird about metas in Gotham, thanks to Bruce being...Bruce. This has to be a big adjustment.]

Nah, I feel great. And not in a weird way where it feels fake? [It doesn't feel like a high or something.] I usually don't get sore feet or achy muscles or cuts and scrapes. Rather than being something weird, it's more like it's just making all that small stuff go away. Like pulled muscles.

I'm back to how I usually feel.

[He puts a hand on Tim's shoulder in reassurance.]

You'll probably need to practice but this is a good thing, Timbo. Look at all the times Raven's healing has kept us on our feet.

And healing's good for being one of those powers that's helpful but doesn't risk going out of control and hurting people.

I don't know what it's like to go from baseline to meta. [Because he's always been a meta.] I bet it probably feels weird.

But I at least know that having all that power there can feel natural. Since you started out without it, you'll probably just need some time to adjust.

Even if something outside gave it to you, now it's a part of you. You get to control it. You get to decide how it's used and use it for good. Eventually it can feel a natural as breathing.

[the_hit_list]

[ He doesn't hang onto Kon's hand for an uncomfortably long amount of time - there's only so much to learn by examining his hand without any equipment. It's not like Tim can palmread. ]

That works out for both of us. I can keep you how you usually feel, and you can help me practice safely.

[ The upside is, if Tim can keep his health meter topped up, then Kon won't have to learn to deal with the aches, papercuts, and the bruises that people just grow up with and adapt to. As long as Kon doesn't brag to the whole group that his feet never hurt because Tim is keeping him healed, Tim has no reason to deal with Kon's whiny side.

Not that Kon is whining at the moment - he's actually been handling everything since they've arrived with aplomb and somewhat surprising maturity. Like right now. He's reading Tim like a book, and there's an immediate urge to curl inwards and close off. ]

I'll be all right. You and Bart were born with it, but everyone else...

[He means the majority of the Teen Titans. ]

They've all handled it so well, but Raven is what I'm worried about. She isn't just a healer. Just - keep an eye on me, please.

[konman]

If it turns out there's an edge to it, I've got your back.

Powers control stuff is something you can help someone else with even if you have different powers.

[The older Titans had been good at it even with wildly different powers and they wouldn't be hard to emulate.]

[A lot of the calm and control and concentration was the same across powers. Or, if it was different, it wasn't that hard to figure out. Like Starfire's powers being tied heavily to her emotions.]

You already have an idea of what's behind it. It looks like it's tied to your emotions a little. It seems like what tripped this off was because someone had hurt someone else. You were upset about it. You wanted to help.

[Only now does he finally let go of Tim's shoulder, as he realizes he's hold onto it for a while.]

[the_hit_list]

[ Tim nods, first at the agreement (mostly unspoken), that Kon would do what was needed to not let Tim hurt anyone, and then again at the rest.

Even Tim was good with training with the metahumans on the team - just because you didn't have powers didn't mean that you couldn't see how to help them out. Kon might be strong, and Bart may be fast, but Tim's punches had form that they could learn from. ]

This is where I miss Bart, because you need him to follow up with the joke that I don't have any emotions so everyone's safe.

[ It's not malicious - Tim knows that it would just a joke, and that Bart wouldn't mean to offend and Tim wouldn't take offense. He misses that pinprick to burst the mood. ]

[konman]

Well, Bart's not here.

So I'll just say it's fantastic you have powers linked to your secretly tender and heartfelt emotions.

[He moves his hands around his head in the vague shape of a bonnet.]

We'll need to get you one of those old-timey nurse bonnets.

Then again we're in a super old-timey fantasy place, so what are you feelings on plague masks?

[the_hit_list]

Bats don't have marshmallow centers.

[ Tim absolutely has a gooey marshmallow center, and so does Dick, and so does Bruce... ]

I am not dressing up like Florence Nightingale. No more nurse covers.

[Moving quickly on.]

Plague masks are basically cowls with long beaks, but they don't actually work for their intended purpose and can actually cause more infections. Maybe we don't contribute to the poor medical knowledge of the time period by introducing plague masks to a world that might not think of them.