Y’all know that concept where if a ghost is injured enough they retreat into their core? And you know how that can apply to halfas? Well consider the following:
Halfa!Jason who’s like right next to dying, and as a last-ditch effort to survive, his core forces him to retreat into itself. Mans is bleeding out in an alley somewhere, and then very suddenly he isn’t, and he also isn’t really aware of anything.
Meanwhile one of the Crime Alley kids, who was about to go get help, just watched Red Hood turn into a weird version of Robin before becoming an orb. This is really fucking weird, even by Gotham standards, but Red Hood is an orb now so at least he’s not bleeding out anymore???? After about three seconds of pondering how A) expensive the orb looks (plus it could be some magic quick-healing or stasis orb or something), and B) this thing may be very fragile, and sure Hood is a crime boss, but he takes care of them and makes sure his people get what they need whenever he can, and if it breaks then there’s the distinct possibility that it would seriously hurt him while he’s in there.
So, the kid picks it up, and takes it home. The kid stashes it away when they can’t afford to keep it on them, but otherwise they keep it hidden in them somewhere.
Maybe Jason gets passed between a few different Alley kids that kid #1 trusts, maybe he stays with one of the Girls at some point, or maybe ends up being communally taken care of by whoever was told. Maybe the residents see the orb and feel an urge to protect it, or they get a little feeling in the back of their mind that tells them protect-guard-keepsafe because it’s Jason’s haunt that they live in.
Either way, the Alley is his haunt, so he and the kid/kids he’s with end up very narrowly avoiding serious trouble because he’s low-key exerting his influence over it to keep his very vulnerable self out of danger. Maybe being in his haunt results in him being aware of his general location before he can take in his immediate surroundings. Who knows, he might even realize that there’s not something wrong with him as much as it is other the more he becomes aware of what’s going on.
Meanwhile the bats are having a stroke looking for Jason because the last place they know he was is an alley with no cameras, and he was very clearly bleeding out before he seemed to just disappear.
Listen, I just wanna see Crime Alley and it’s inhabitants protecting Jason, even if most of them don’t realize it.
yes this is inspired by Robin’s Egg. If you don’t know what that is, I strongly suggest you check it out, it’s by @arzuera!
