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maculategiraffeTitle: A Matter For the Goddess, OR, Babysitter of Themyscira!
Fandom: JLA/Teen Titans
Summary: Alternate universe. After the events of Infinite Crisis, Wonder Woman took Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) back to Themyscira to recover from the Crisis and from the death of Superboy (Conner Kent). Four years later, Cassie has built a life for herself on Themyscira. When Diana, still acting as Wonder Woman, brings back a homeless waif to Cassie's adopted home, Cassie is furious, until drastic action by Queen Hippolyta forces her into a closer understanding of her visitor's demons.
Rating: R for language and concepts.
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
I thought at first that I was going to have to carry Ian home, and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do that without my powers, but he rallied pretty quick, considering. I kept my arm around his waist, though, as we walked through the falling dusk. It was a coolish night, with a bit of a breeze, crickets singing; the weather here is pretty much always perfect, courtesy of the goddess, and the grass felt good on my feet, between the straps of my sandals.
It was funny, having my arm around a boy's waist again. Ian was wiry and skinny and wobbly; it was kind of like walking an animated scarecrow home. If you'd just put the scarecrow through minutes of pure detox-plus agony with spooky powers acquired from the evil queen so she could study his responses.
I always used to say somebody should make a movie of my life, but in my mind it would have ended once Diana's plane touched down on Themyscira. Wonder Girl 2: Trainspotting in Oz didn't seem likely to be a blockbuster.
"I'm really sorry," I said eventually.
"It's okay," he said, and cleared his throat. "I asked you to do it."
"I know, but-- I mean for everything," I said. "For this spell and stuff. You've been through enough."
"Haven't you?" he asked, and I looked up at him, surprised. He was smiling a little. "I mean, there's a long story I haven't heard, but I don't see a girl like you giving up the world to come here and throw pots, if there weren't some good reason."
"Yeah, well, sixteen might have been a little young to expect that nothing exciting would ever happen to me again." I was most interested in the fact that he knew the term throw for what I did. "You're a potter?"
"No," he said, "but I read. Do I get to hear the story or what?"
"Sure." I considered. Plot synopsis for Wonder Girl Vol. 1: Tales of a Plucky Blonde Sidekick. "Once upon a time there was a little girl named Cassie Sandsmark, who lived with her mom, because her dad was the king of the gods."
"Your dad is who now?" said Ian.
"Zeus. Jupiter. Jove Himself. King of Olympus. Ruler of the sky."
"You're kidding."
"That's what I said," I said truthfully. "Not that he even bothered to tell me, the first time he met me. Granted me superpowers, sure, but he managed to leave out that one tiny detail. I didn't find out until after I'd already joined Young Justice– which I only did because I had a crush on Superboy, by the way. Never join a teen superhero league because of a boy."
"I thought you weren't going to give me orders," said Ian. I pulled away and looked up at him; he was smiling, slightly.
"Sorry," I said, as seriously as I could, "but that one stands. I'm looking out for you, kid."
"Yes, ma'am," he said, smirking a little. "May I join a teen superhero league because of a girl?"
"That one's your call." I watched him for another second, liking his smile, before I kept going. "Anyway, Young Justice broke up after Donna– my friend Donna– well, my mentor really; she was the first Wonder Girl–"
"The first Wonder Girl?" Ian repeated. "There's more than one?"
"I was the second one, yeah."
"You're Wonder Girl?" he demanded, and I realized I was taking way too much for granted, here. Like that Diana would have bothered to even sketch in the picture for him before she dumped him off on me.
"Was," I said. "I'm retired. Well, re-retired. First time I gave all this up was after Donna wiped out and Young Justice broke up. But then, because Superboy was there and I was a teenage girl and had zero impulse control, I joined the Teen Titans. Which is when I finally found out who my dad was. And my brother-- Ares. He's the one who gave me my powers-- back. After my dad took them away."
"Ares?" Ian repeated. "That's a Greek god too, right?"
"Of war. He's not so bad, though. Not that I'd say that where the Amazons could hear– he's their big nemesis. I had to renounce all the powers he'd given me before Hippolyta would let me come live here, and even then I don't think she'd have said yes if Aphrodite hadn't interceded for me."
"Aphrodite?"
"You know," I said, smiling a little. "The goddess."
Ian nodded. "The one whose priestess put this-- thing-- on me?"
"Well, yeah," I said, my smile fading as I thought about what Hippolyta had said, about the nature of Aphrodite's bindings, and the submission of love. I didn't really want to think about that in any great depth, anyway. "She's the patroness of the Amazons. Goddess of, you know, love. I think she liked me because of the whole Conner thing."
"Cassie," said Ian, "did anyone ever tell you you suck at constructing a coherent narrative?"
"Well, if people wouldn't keep interrupting me--"
Ian sighed elaborately. "What whole Conner thing?"
"Conner Kent," I said, and when that obviously didn't ring a bell, "Superboy."
"Oh, right," said Ian. "You joined the Junior League because of him."
"Young Justice!" Then I noticed he was smirking again, pretty broadly, and I smacked him in the arm, which made him jump for a second before he grinned at me full-on.
"Alliance of Miniature Superheroes," he continued. "Wonder Girl, Superboy, Tiny Batman--"
"Also known as Robin," I said, cracking up. "Shut up. I mean-- oops. I mean-- speak freely."
That slip-up sort of killed the joking mood, and it took a second before I remembered where I'd been in my, okay, not entirely coherent narrative.
"Superboy," I said finally. "He did finally notice I existed, amazingly enough, and we... dated."
Ian nodded. "Takes one to date one, I guess... So what happened? He still in the picture?"
I looked down. "He, um, he died. Was killed. Saving the world, so that was nice, but still."
"I'm sorry," Ian said quietly.
"Yeah," I said, aiming for so over it but landing somewhere in the vicinity of tell me about it. "It sucked... pretty bad. I was sort of a wreck. I don't know what would have become of me– I probably would have lost it completely, started building little Superboy shrines and writing on the walls in Kryptonian or something– but my mom was so worried about me that she got Diana to... kind of kidnap me, and bring me here. I mean, I could have fought back, she wouldn't have-- but I was so fucking tired."
"Like me," said Ian.
"Yeah," I said, looking up at him, but he didn't have any particular expression. "Not as bad, though. I bet. And I mean, I'd never been here before, but I'd at least studied classical Greek, I was into all that stuff. Though I've got to say studying it wasn't the same as hearing a bunch of Amazons scream it over your head. They were all kind of freaked by having an outsider here, and Hippolyta was yanking my lasso out of my hand and yelling about how I was Ares' champion and would destroy them all." I glanced at him again. "But at least nobody put an obedience spell on me."
"Well," he said reasonably, "why would they need to? You seem so naturally meek and submissive."
I squinted up at him; he was grinning again. "Oh, don't you just crack yourself up."
"A little," he said. "Sorry, go ahead."
I was trying not to grin myself. "Well-- they couldn't agree on whether I was going to be allowed to stay, so it was a matter for the goddess. Most of the gods have withdrawn from the mortal plane now, and Aphrodite mostly has, but she still visits Themyscira. We're not exactly the mortal plane, anyway."
"What are we?" he asked. "I mean, you? I mean-- here?"
"We're-- hers," I said vaguely, not really wanting to go into the metaphysics of it. "Aphrodite's. The Amazons are, I mean. But she-- accepted me. I'm hers now, too."
There was a brief silence before I went on, "She said– well– because there was this one night, before Conner died, when we– were together. She said–"
Suddenly I didn't really want to repeat what she'd said about me and Conner, in case Ian laughed, or thought it sounded creepy, or something. It wasn't funny or weird, but I can't ever say it the way it sounded in her beautiful voice, her odd ornate Greek, her eyes holding mine, her finger under my chin.
"She said I could stay," I simplified. "So I gave back the lasso, and I gave up my superpowers. I was just-- like I said. So fucking tired. And it's– peaceful– here."
"Was till I got here, anyway," Ian said. "Sorry about that."
"Not your fault," I said. "Here we are." I unlocked the door of my little house, fumbled for the matches by the door and lit the little oil lamp, holding it up as Ian followed me in. "Home sweet home."
Ian borrowed one of my English-language books to read by lamplight at the kitchen table for the rest of the evening, which was fairly short. We go to bed early-- places without electricity usually do-- so it wasn't long before I was yawning over my own book. Ian looked pretty bushed, too. It had probably been one of the longer days of his life.
Actually, given what he and Diana had told me about his past, maybe not.
"I don't have a guest bed," I said as easily as I could, "so you can sleep in my bed. I'll sleep on the floor."
"No," Ian protested, startled. "I'll sleep on the floor. I don't mind at all."
"Well, I do. You're my guest. And I've got way more cushioning on my bones than you do. Don't– I mean, I would appreciate it if you didn't argue."
He swallowed hard. "Okay."
"Good. Do you have anything to sleep in besides those jeans?"
"My underwear, I guess," he said, looking down.
"I'd offer to lend you some PJs, but–" I gestured vaguely at our relative heights and breadths. "I do have a bunch of spare toothbrushes, since they don't make them around here. Grab yourself one, they're under the sink. Just let the water run till it's clear first– but it's safe to drink and everything, we have good sanitation. You can take a bath if you want, too, or a shower. I put in the showerhead myself. Soap and shampoo and everything are in there. Diana keeps me stocked up. And razors. Just girl razors, though. I don't know if they work on boys."
He had gone all red for some reason. "Okay. Th– thanks."
"Ian," I said gently, and he looked up swiftly, expectantly. "I'm sorry I was a bitch earlier, when Diana showed up with you. You didn't ask to get dumped off on a strange island and put under an obedience spell, any more than I asked– but I hope– I'd like us to be friendly. Friends."
"Of course," he said, still rather flushed. "You're being really nice. Thanks."
"It's no problem. I bet you're tired. Everything's back through there– bathroom and bedroom and all. Make yourself at– I mean, mi casa su casa, okay?"
He went, with a strange glance over his shoulder, and I heard the shower running, brushing teeth, and finally the creak of the bedsprings as he climbed in. I slept fine on the living room floor.
I wasn't going to wake him the next morning-- I figured he needed his rest, and I'd just leave a note and an attempt at food for him before I left for the studio. I was just starting some half-remembered yoga stretches to get the morning slept-on-the-floor kinks out of my back, when I heard his voice from the doorway.
"Are you, um, trying to do the Salute to the Sun?" he asked from the doorway, with a valiant but failed attempt not to stress the word trying.
"What's it to you?" I'm not a morning person. "Why the hell are you even awake? Why aren't you exhausted? Go back to sleep."
I was barely in time to catch him as he fell, simply, like a marionette whose strings had been cut; skinny as he was, I nearly fell myself under his unresisting weight. Oh, fucking hell.
"Ian," I whispered, maneuvering him to the floor, his shoulders heavy against my torso. His face was slack, almost peaceful. He'd tried to shave with one of my razors; there were a couple of small cuts on his face, crusted over with blood.
I didn't know what I was going to do if he couldn't hear me to obey me in his sleep. Would he ever wake up? Was it possible I was incapable of having a houseguest for twelve hours without accidentally killing him?
"Wake up," I whispered, like a prayer.
His eyes flew open and he gasped, bolting upright like the end of a nightmare sequence. "Holy shit!"
"I'm sorry," I said inadequately as he scrambled backwards and away from me, staring at me, his eyes huge. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-- I was-- I'll-- I'll make us some breakfast."
Fandom: JLA/Teen Titans
Summary: Alternate universe. After the events of Infinite Crisis, Wonder Woman took Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) back to Themyscira to recover from the Crisis and from the death of Superboy (Conner Kent). Four years later, Cassie has built a life for herself on Themyscira. When Diana, still acting as Wonder Woman, brings back a homeless waif to Cassie's adopted home, Cassie is furious, until drastic action by Queen Hippolyta forces her into a closer understanding of her visitor's demons.
Rating: R for language and concepts.
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
I thought at first that I was going to have to carry Ian home, and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do that without my powers, but he rallied pretty quick, considering. I kept my arm around his waist, though, as we walked through the falling dusk. It was a coolish night, with a bit of a breeze, crickets singing; the weather here is pretty much always perfect, courtesy of the goddess, and the grass felt good on my feet, between the straps of my sandals.
It was funny, having my arm around a boy's waist again. Ian was wiry and skinny and wobbly; it was kind of like walking an animated scarecrow home. If you'd just put the scarecrow through minutes of pure detox-plus agony with spooky powers acquired from the evil queen so she could study his responses.
I always used to say somebody should make a movie of my life, but in my mind it would have ended once Diana's plane touched down on Themyscira. Wonder Girl 2: Trainspotting in Oz didn't seem likely to be a blockbuster.
"I'm really sorry," I said eventually.
"It's okay," he said, and cleared his throat. "I asked you to do it."
"I know, but-- I mean for everything," I said. "For this spell and stuff. You've been through enough."
"Haven't you?" he asked, and I looked up at him, surprised. He was smiling a little. "I mean, there's a long story I haven't heard, but I don't see a girl like you giving up the world to come here and throw pots, if there weren't some good reason."
"Yeah, well, sixteen might have been a little young to expect that nothing exciting would ever happen to me again." I was most interested in the fact that he knew the term throw for what I did. "You're a potter?"
"No," he said, "but I read. Do I get to hear the story or what?"
"Sure." I considered. Plot synopsis for Wonder Girl Vol. 1: Tales of a Plucky Blonde Sidekick. "Once upon a time there was a little girl named Cassie Sandsmark, who lived with her mom, because her dad was the king of the gods."
"Your dad is who now?" said Ian.
"Zeus. Jupiter. Jove Himself. King of Olympus. Ruler of the sky."
"You're kidding."
"That's what I said," I said truthfully. "Not that he even bothered to tell me, the first time he met me. Granted me superpowers, sure, but he managed to leave out that one tiny detail. I didn't find out until after I'd already joined Young Justice– which I only did because I had a crush on Superboy, by the way. Never join a teen superhero league because of a boy."
"I thought you weren't going to give me orders," said Ian. I pulled away and looked up at him; he was smiling, slightly.
"Sorry," I said, as seriously as I could, "but that one stands. I'm looking out for you, kid."
"Yes, ma'am," he said, smirking a little. "May I join a teen superhero league because of a girl?"
"That one's your call." I watched him for another second, liking his smile, before I kept going. "Anyway, Young Justice broke up after Donna– my friend Donna– well, my mentor really; she was the first Wonder Girl–"
"The first Wonder Girl?" Ian repeated. "There's more than one?"
"I was the second one, yeah."
"You're Wonder Girl?" he demanded, and I realized I was taking way too much for granted, here. Like that Diana would have bothered to even sketch in the picture for him before she dumped him off on me.
"Was," I said. "I'm retired. Well, re-retired. First time I gave all this up was after Donna wiped out and Young Justice broke up. But then, because Superboy was there and I was a teenage girl and had zero impulse control, I joined the Teen Titans. Which is when I finally found out who my dad was. And my brother-- Ares. He's the one who gave me my powers-- back. After my dad took them away."
"Ares?" Ian repeated. "That's a Greek god too, right?"
"Of war. He's not so bad, though. Not that I'd say that where the Amazons could hear– he's their big nemesis. I had to renounce all the powers he'd given me before Hippolyta would let me come live here, and even then I don't think she'd have said yes if Aphrodite hadn't interceded for me."
"Aphrodite?"
"You know," I said, smiling a little. "The goddess."
Ian nodded. "The one whose priestess put this-- thing-- on me?"
"Well, yeah," I said, my smile fading as I thought about what Hippolyta had said, about the nature of Aphrodite's bindings, and the submission of love. I didn't really want to think about that in any great depth, anyway. "She's the patroness of the Amazons. Goddess of, you know, love. I think she liked me because of the whole Conner thing."
"Cassie," said Ian, "did anyone ever tell you you suck at constructing a coherent narrative?"
"Well, if people wouldn't keep interrupting me--"
Ian sighed elaborately. "What whole Conner thing?"
"Conner Kent," I said, and when that obviously didn't ring a bell, "Superboy."
"Oh, right," said Ian. "You joined the Junior League because of him."
"Young Justice!" Then I noticed he was smirking again, pretty broadly, and I smacked him in the arm, which made him jump for a second before he grinned at me full-on.
"Alliance of Miniature Superheroes," he continued. "Wonder Girl, Superboy, Tiny Batman--"
"Also known as Robin," I said, cracking up. "Shut up. I mean-- oops. I mean-- speak freely."
That slip-up sort of killed the joking mood, and it took a second before I remembered where I'd been in my, okay, not entirely coherent narrative.
"Superboy," I said finally. "He did finally notice I existed, amazingly enough, and we... dated."
Ian nodded. "Takes one to date one, I guess... So what happened? He still in the picture?"
I looked down. "He, um, he died. Was killed. Saving the world, so that was nice, but still."
"I'm sorry," Ian said quietly.
"Yeah," I said, aiming for so over it but landing somewhere in the vicinity of tell me about it. "It sucked... pretty bad. I was sort of a wreck. I don't know what would have become of me– I probably would have lost it completely, started building little Superboy shrines and writing on the walls in Kryptonian or something– but my mom was so worried about me that she got Diana to... kind of kidnap me, and bring me here. I mean, I could have fought back, she wouldn't have-- but I was so fucking tired."
"Like me," said Ian.
"Yeah," I said, looking up at him, but he didn't have any particular expression. "Not as bad, though. I bet. And I mean, I'd never been here before, but I'd at least studied classical Greek, I was into all that stuff. Though I've got to say studying it wasn't the same as hearing a bunch of Amazons scream it over your head. They were all kind of freaked by having an outsider here, and Hippolyta was yanking my lasso out of my hand and yelling about how I was Ares' champion and would destroy them all." I glanced at him again. "But at least nobody put an obedience spell on me."
"Well," he said reasonably, "why would they need to? You seem so naturally meek and submissive."
I squinted up at him; he was grinning again. "Oh, don't you just crack yourself up."
"A little," he said. "Sorry, go ahead."
I was trying not to grin myself. "Well-- they couldn't agree on whether I was going to be allowed to stay, so it was a matter for the goddess. Most of the gods have withdrawn from the mortal plane now, and Aphrodite mostly has, but she still visits Themyscira. We're not exactly the mortal plane, anyway."
"What are we?" he asked. "I mean, you? I mean-- here?"
"We're-- hers," I said vaguely, not really wanting to go into the metaphysics of it. "Aphrodite's. The Amazons are, I mean. But she-- accepted me. I'm hers now, too."
There was a brief silence before I went on, "She said– well– because there was this one night, before Conner died, when we– were together. She said–"
Suddenly I didn't really want to repeat what she'd said about me and Conner, in case Ian laughed, or thought it sounded creepy, or something. It wasn't funny or weird, but I can't ever say it the way it sounded in her beautiful voice, her odd ornate Greek, her eyes holding mine, her finger under my chin.
"She said I could stay," I simplified. "So I gave back the lasso, and I gave up my superpowers. I was just-- like I said. So fucking tired. And it's– peaceful– here."
"Was till I got here, anyway," Ian said. "Sorry about that."
"Not your fault," I said. "Here we are." I unlocked the door of my little house, fumbled for the matches by the door and lit the little oil lamp, holding it up as Ian followed me in. "Home sweet home."
Ian borrowed one of my English-language books to read by lamplight at the kitchen table for the rest of the evening, which was fairly short. We go to bed early-- places without electricity usually do-- so it wasn't long before I was yawning over my own book. Ian looked pretty bushed, too. It had probably been one of the longer days of his life.
Actually, given what he and Diana had told me about his past, maybe not.
"I don't have a guest bed," I said as easily as I could, "so you can sleep in my bed. I'll sleep on the floor."
"No," Ian protested, startled. "I'll sleep on the floor. I don't mind at all."
"Well, I do. You're my guest. And I've got way more cushioning on my bones than you do. Don't– I mean, I would appreciate it if you didn't argue."
He swallowed hard. "Okay."
"Good. Do you have anything to sleep in besides those jeans?"
"My underwear, I guess," he said, looking down.
"I'd offer to lend you some PJs, but–" I gestured vaguely at our relative heights and breadths. "I do have a bunch of spare toothbrushes, since they don't make them around here. Grab yourself one, they're under the sink. Just let the water run till it's clear first– but it's safe to drink and everything, we have good sanitation. You can take a bath if you want, too, or a shower. I put in the showerhead myself. Soap and shampoo and everything are in there. Diana keeps me stocked up. And razors. Just girl razors, though. I don't know if they work on boys."
He had gone all red for some reason. "Okay. Th– thanks."
"Ian," I said gently, and he looked up swiftly, expectantly. "I'm sorry I was a bitch earlier, when Diana showed up with you. You didn't ask to get dumped off on a strange island and put under an obedience spell, any more than I asked– but I hope– I'd like us to be friendly. Friends."
"Of course," he said, still rather flushed. "You're being really nice. Thanks."
"It's no problem. I bet you're tired. Everything's back through there– bathroom and bedroom and all. Make yourself at– I mean, mi casa su casa, okay?"
He went, with a strange glance over his shoulder, and I heard the shower running, brushing teeth, and finally the creak of the bedsprings as he climbed in. I slept fine on the living room floor.
I wasn't going to wake him the next morning-- I figured he needed his rest, and I'd just leave a note and an attempt at food for him before I left for the studio. I was just starting some half-remembered yoga stretches to get the morning slept-on-the-floor kinks out of my back, when I heard his voice from the doorway.
"Are you, um, trying to do the Salute to the Sun?" he asked from the doorway, with a valiant but failed attempt not to stress the word trying.
"What's it to you?" I'm not a morning person. "Why the hell are you even awake? Why aren't you exhausted? Go back to sleep."
I was barely in time to catch him as he fell, simply, like a marionette whose strings had been cut; skinny as he was, I nearly fell myself under his unresisting weight. Oh, fucking hell.
"Ian," I whispered, maneuvering him to the floor, his shoulders heavy against my torso. His face was slack, almost peaceful. He'd tried to shave with one of my razors; there were a couple of small cuts on his face, crusted over with blood.
I didn't know what I was going to do if he couldn't hear me to obey me in his sleep. Would he ever wake up? Was it possible I was incapable of having a houseguest for twelve hours without accidentally killing him?
"Wake up," I whispered, like a prayer.
His eyes flew open and he gasped, bolting upright like the end of a nightmare sequence. "Holy shit!"
"I'm sorry," I said inadequately as he scrambled backwards and away from me, staring at me, his eyes huge. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-- I was-- I'll-- I'll make us some breakfast."
