93. Gotham: Desert
101.
This feels so weird, Jason Todd thought.
It's like seeing a therapist, but therapists usually sit you on a soft sofa, hand you hot cocoa or something, try to get you to open your heart in a comfortable enough place, and then use language as a scalpel to open up those festering wounds and blisters - expose them, and then heal them.
Of course, there are gentler methods. But no psychologist would squat in front of you with a bag of tissues, tell you a bunch of weird things about plants, and then hope that you will feel better after crying - at least he hasn't seen it.
Language was too pale and powerless to describe his past, and Jason Todd didn't believe that anyone could immediately embrace the sun and walk towards a bright and glorious life without any back or leg pain after listening to teletherapy, but Aria's slightly silly words did make him feel a lot better.
Jason reached out and took two tissues from the farmer's holdings, and when she thought he was about to cry, he covered the corpse of the ancient fruit with his hands with an expressionless face.
"I don't think my relationship with it is that close yet," Red Hood said, weighing the injured plant with his head down. "I won't cry at its funeral."
"Hello!"
The farmer didn't like what she heard. She opened the coffin of the ancient fruit and tried to make a final effort: "Are you really not going to consider saving it?"
"How to save him?" When Jason said this, his eyes became serious. He probably didn't realize that at this moment he was unexpectedly similar to that person, with a bit of control and overprotection.
"Are you planning to go straight to the Assassin's League and ask them to lend you the Lazarus Pool?" No matter how precious the ancient fruit was, Jason Todd didn't think it was more important than his friend's life: "Aria, don't think that transcending death is easy, and don't think that the Assassin's League is a charity. There are more scheming people in it than you can imagine." Even if they helped her temporarily and agreed to that ridiculous plan, it was only because the farmer had something more valuable than the Lazarus Pool.
Red Hood held her shoulders, trying to convey his strength to make her understand that this was going to be a very difficult journey: "...When I woke up in the pool, I was lost for a long time...There was desert all around, and it was as difficult as climbing to the sky to leave."
"...I don't want you to get stuck in this." At least don't fight alone.
Jason Todd swallowed the second half of his words and cursed in his heart - of course he had seen the farmer walking on water, and it was still uncertain who would win or lose against the Assassin's League.
Just like he was unwilling to let Bizarro take risks in Luthor Group, even though Aria had all kinds of strange abilities, he instinctively resisted her from getting in touch with deeper and darker things.
But this time, Aria still showed that damn confident smile, which made Red Hood regret that he had revealed too much information during his persuasion: "Desert? That's a coincidence! I was planning to go there to get my sword!"
The farmer gave him a friendly hug, and when he stood up, Aria was facing the light. The sunlight penetrated the boundary between the farmer and the world, and faintly embedded a circle of blurry halo around her, making it difficult for him to see her face for a moment.
"I forgot if I've told you this before, Jason," she said, not being used to pronouncing his name, the ending tone a little unclear: "I won't die and I won't feel any pain, so there's nothing to be afraid of in this world, and you don't have to worry about me!"
Aria still smiled: "I have already thought about what gift to give you when we meet next time! You can start looking forward to it from now on!" Of course, she still had to give the antidote before setting off.
If there were a free bed in Arkham Asylum, Red Hood would be eager to throw the garrulous farmer in there right now.
...How can I not be worried?
…
Selena woke up surrounded by cats.
She lay on the bed on the second floor, with a splitting headache. Those poor little ones had obviously not seen her for a long time, and they jumped onto the bed with meows, and a few cat hairs of different colors flew in the air. Selina watched the cat hair slowly fall to the ground, blinked, and suddenly realized that she had been away for a long time.
Her memories of becoming a cat are vague and fragmented, mostly spent on the farm. Those were the days she'd gather around the fireplace, listening to the crackling flames; the wet smell of the earth filling the air when it rained; and, of course, the most vivid memory was the subtle clinking sound of her own bowl as food touched her...
She sighed softly, put on some clothes at random, picked up a long-haired cat, and made room to get out of bed. As soon as she heard movement, Holly ran up quickly.
"Selena!" Holly rushed over excitedly and hugged her tightly almost immediately. A small part of her clothes was instantly soaked - this silly girl cried: "Great! I finally see you again!"
During this time, Holly received photos specially taken by the farm owner. Although she knew that Selena was doing well on the farm and even looked a little fatter in the photos, Holly still couldn't help but worry about her.
Selina, now human again, felt less furry, and the soothing effect was greatly reduced. But she still sighed and embraced the little girl who had been supporting the family alone for a while, patting her gently twice. After the farmer's 'special training', this level of comfort was now easy for her. "You've worked hard these days, handling so many things in the studio by yourself." Thinking of that annoying name, Selina couldn't help but frown. "Did Stan give you any trouble?"
"It's not hard at all!" Holly raised her head proudly in Selina's arms. The sound insulation for going up and down the stairs was not very good. In order not to embarrass the person involved, she deliberately lowered her voice when praising Aria: "Stan did come here once before, but after I told Aria, he never bothered me again." Although she didn't know what means Aria used to scare a Gotham veteran like Stan, as long as the result was good, she would be the number one good person in Holly's mind.
"Even though she sent me a lot of pictures of you," Holly pulled out her phone and showed it to Selina: the farmer didn't seem very good at taking pictures, and the big cats in the pictures were always frozen in rather strange poses—big cats flying, big cats burrowing underground, big cats with their backs sending distress signals to the universe, and other pictures blocked by the Silly Farmer who had strayed in. "But I still want to know how you feel."
"How have you been lately?"
It would be fine if she didn't mention it. As soon as Selina mentioned it, she thought of the farmer who tried to feed her with two basins of water. God knows why such a person without common sense actually opened a farm, but the cat food she made later was quite delicious...
Ahem, I'm getting off topic. Selina took Holly's phone under her concerned gaze and said gently, "Now that I'm fine..."
Catwoman couldn't help herself, and the second half of the sentence came out through gritted teeth: "There's no need to keep these things, right?"
Delete them all!
…
Aria felt a bit awkward seeing Selina in her human form. After all, she'd been accustomed to her free and agile cat form for a while now, and now she felt a bit uncomfortable. The nervous farmer hadn't noticed that Selina Kyle shared the same feeling—it was just that her anxiety was more sophisticated, masked by her hardened defenses. And when she sensed the farmer's retreat, the space vacated by the push and pull of the crowd was where she began to dance.
"So?" Selina hastily put on a coat and turned around under Aria's slightly nervous gaze. Her eyes were wilder than before, and the cats at her feet were meowing around her as if she was their king.
She approached the farmer, and when he leaned back slightly at her sudden proximity, she forced a confident and charming smile. "What? Am I not your cat now?"
Aria didn't expect this question. She actually thought about it for a moment. After all, being her cat involved the issue of inheriting the farm. However, it seemed unlikely that she would die, so the succession seemed far off. "...If you don't mind the high probability of not inheriting my farm, then I think it's okay?"
Selina, adept at her social life, sat down beside her with a raised eyebrow, and only after she lost eye contact with the farmer did her words carry a hint of sincerity: "So I owe you a favor."
It didn't seem like that was the way it was? After all, the farmer didn't seem to have done anything special. It was Batman and his team who developed the antidote, and it was Red Hood, who was her teammate, who rescued Catwoman. If you really calculated it, wouldn't she owe a lot of people a favor? "It was just my own choice. It doesn't really count as a favor..."
!
"Wow!" Aria was caught off guard by the soft touch on her face. She covered her face and jumped away like a hamster that was pulled out of a small roof.
There was a lipstick mark on her cheek. When the farmer realized this, his face also turned a little red. He was almost speechless for a long time: "You, you, you!"
The people in Zuzu City are terrible! Do you all thank people with a kiss on the cheek?
Compared to her panic, Selina Kyle propped up her face and shook her phone, looking back at her with a serious look: "This is my reward."
The farmer felt around her - she hadn't put her phone in the box today, and she hadn't expected it to be taken away.
For others, a mobile phone may be a very private thing, but for a farmer who rarely uses a mobile phone, it is just a tool for communication. She is a little confused about what Selena is going to do. Is there anything in the phone that is worth all the fuss?
It took little effort to open the phone. Selina was a little surprised that the farmer didn't set a password, but she quickly calmed down.
There's nothing in the album.
"Do you want to delete the photos you took?" Maintaining a safe distance, Aria finally came up with a more reliable solution and confessed honestly, "I deleted those photos after sending them. I even emptied the Recycle Bin."
"You don't have to take it like this," Aria said, looking genuinely confused. "Just tell me and I'll give it to you."
Selina spread her hands innocently: "Sorry, it's cat's nature to be suspicious."
This sounded like the most sincere apology Catwoman could give, so Aria immediately forgave her: "It's okay, Selina."
Aria slowly moved back to get her phone, and after she received it steadily, Catwoman took out the makeup remover wipes with great interest - the farmer was half a head taller than her. Selina pinched half a corner of the wipes, ready to clean up the "traces of crime" for her. The farmer thought she was going to do it again, and finally let out a scream like a bat, and pushed open the door and slipped away with the same escape speed as Lewis who jumped out of the grass.
Holly just went downstairs with the clothes she had made for the farmer, but the farmer disappeared. A real question mark slowly emerged in her mind, but seeing Selina so calm, she swallowed the question.
Selina knew what she was going to ask, and tilted her head slightly and said, "Little Pumpkin Long Legs ran away... You know, cats have a strong sense of revenge." Let's put one thing in another. When she was still a cat, the farmer kept sucking her blood, and he still hadn't settled the score with her. How could he not pay her back?
"What about this dress?" Holly held up the dress in her hand, feeling a little regretful that she couldn't express her gratitude.
Selina casually shook it open. The toga and the matching skirt, simply cut to the farmer's size, shone with a moon-white sheen under the light.
"Are you planning to make her a goddess of Athens?"
Holly was also amused by the scene: "To be honest, I don't know why I came up with this style, but I just think it suits Aria very well."
Selina laughed dumbly: "It's missing something. Perhaps adding a laurel wreath would be better."
"Just use the things she gave me to decorate it." Catwoman raised her finger and pointed at the box hidden by the mannequin: "She underestimates cats."
Holly walked over and opened it. Inside were several diamonds, aquamarines, and more amethysts. She picked up the box and it jingled.
Selina smiled, but Holly felt that there was more of a sigh in her smile: "...I finally understand why she is always so poor."
…
Back at the farm, Aria chopped down a pile of hardwood with an axe, then went down into the mines to retrieve the skull key and the star fruit, feeling an unshakable connection with Star Valley*.
After making a few totems to teleport home, the farmer found Kara.
"I looked all over town but couldn't find any Junimos buses," Aria said cheerfully, "but it doesn't matter. At least one of us can fly."
"Today is our first test flight!"
I saved up so many materials to make a farm teleportation totem, and this time they finally came in handy!
————————
Aria heard: iajfajanca desert akjcbabck
Aria: Yeah!
*When you write "Stardew Valley" (in English and with correct capitalization) in the Favorite Thing column, you will feel an unshakable connection with Stardew Valley when you eat the Stardrop.
Other characters will appear in the next chapter
Also, I want to ask if you are willing to watch the Christmas extra on Christmas Day? If you want to read it, I will write an irresponsible Christmas extra, the theme of which is probably Bi's Christmas, Aria really turns into Bi, etc.
Because I expect this book to be finished in about 400,000 words, the progress may not be in time for Christmas...
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