“Stealing? Curses? Tabitha Kyle, you better hope I misheard because if you’re involved in any gang nonsense then you’re in big trouble!”

“Stealing? Curses? Tabitha Kyle, you better hope I misheard because if you’re involved in any gang nonsense then you’re in big trouble!”

Confusion washed over Damian, which soon turned to a mixture of shame and annoyance at Selina’s reprimanding and authoritative tone.

“Ugh, I was just talking about my webcomic. Jesus, mom. No need to get so worked up.”

The words spilled from Damian’s mouth before she could think, and caused Selina to roll her eyes.

“Do not get snappy with me, young lady. And don’t let me catch you getting up to any nonsense. Now finish eating, I got some errands I need to run and you’re coming too,” she explained as she grabbed a long white coat.

“Ugh… fine.”

As Damian obeyed Selina, her mind went back over the exchange. There was truly something the matter, Catwoman was acting far unlike herself while Damian was feeling a growing compulsion to adhere to whatever instruction she gave with only snark as resistance.

Perhaps she was merely mocking her? But this did not seem like Cat… Woman’s usual mockery, the name of Selina’s alternate masked identity requiring a moment of effort to recall, and she showed no signs of halting this act.

In a daze she suddenly found herself following mom out the door and down the stairs of the building. There was something odd about all this. Selina Kyle had become quite well-off from her dishonest lifestyle, but these halls were seeming more akin to a typical middle class apartment complex than whatever condo or upscale apartment she’d been living in.

So lost in her thoughts, Damian paid no mind to the slow shifting of her clothes as she walked out to the parking lot. She shuddered briefly as the early morning chill washed over her skin and down her spine, only for newfound warmth to be found as her leather jacket seemed to grow woollier, and her jeans lost their rips and tears. The material itself was also becoming more modest, and affordable to a single income household.

“Seriously, where is that amulet…” she muttered as she tried to think of where she might’ve placed it. Without that infernal thing, how could she hope to figure out a way to turn back?

“I keep telling you to take better care of your stuff, Tabby. If you need to replace anything, it’ll be coming out of your allowance. Remember.”

The stern words caused a flush of embarrassment on Tabitha’s face. Since when was Sel- mom the responsible type anyway? Sure, she was always reminding her to clean her room after gaming sessions, and do her homework when she had campaigns to plan, or do the dishes when it was her turn but… uh… what was her point again. She shook her head and tried to focus as she followed mom down the road towards the East Side Market.

While her mom’s heels clicked against the pavement, the clicking of her own gradually came to a stop as much tamer white boots took their place. Damian might have been grateful, had she been focused enough to notice the growing changes.

“I… do not recognize this part of Gotham…” she mumbled, trying desperately to focus her mind on anything familiar to push past the increasingly fuzziness of her mind.

Mom shot her an odd look.

“Goth… ham? Weird name for a brand, I think I’ll stick to our usual brand though, sweetie.”

“Huh?” she asked. Goth… ham… yeah. It was an odd name. Where'd she hear that again? Some ad? Probably. She didn’t have time to waste on the ridiculous decisions of meat companies, she needed to fix this and return herself back to Damian Kyle. No wait… Tabitha Wayne… not. Ugh. Surely there was someone, anyone, in Los Angeles who knew something of magic? Well there was mom’s friend, Anna Zachery, but she was just a stage magician with a bunch of kinda lame parlor tricks… but… Wait, was mom’s hair turning… blonde?

“Mom?” asked… Damian… the term of endearment feeling more and more natural as even the name Selina was growing fuzzy alongside much of the rest of her mind. “...your hair it’s…”

“Huh? Oh got a leaf stuck. Thanks, Tabby,” she said, brushing her hand through her growing hair, the locks turning a golden blonde before her eyes. Damian was so shocked at the blatant alteration that she did not even notice as the blonde strands of her own hair were growing as the hair itself neaten and styled itself to a ponytail.

She rubbed her forehead, feeling almost queasy before looking back up at her mom’s blonde bob cut. What was it that she’d noticed that was strange about it again? She could’ve sworn something was off, but it looked the same as it had always been.

Anyway, what was she thinking about again… magic places…? Oh right, she needed to go buy the new card deck, plus the latest tabletop expansion from the gaming shop. As she continued to ponder this, she absentmindedly followed mom into her favorite cafe right on the edge of the East Side Market.

“Not the freshest bagel, sorry,” apologized Carlos, a cashier who mom was fond of. “Next bake is in an hour…”

Mom flashed a smile at him, which Tabitha couldn’t help but groan internally at. Ugh, she knew mom and dad were divorced and stuff but did mom really need to go flirting so much? Especially when they were together. It was so embarrassing. What if Claire or any of her gaming club happened to be passing by?

“That’s fine. I like them chewy. Besides…” said mom, interrupting Tabitha’s thoughts. Mom seemed getting ready to leave, but not before giving a wink to Carlos.“...It's your smoked salmon I’m really after.”

Wait, who was Claire? Well, only Tabitha’s BFF of course. Duh. Jeez, did she hit her head on something? How could see forget the co-writer of her very own webcomic and classmate of so many years? No… wait… she needed to remember…

“Have a good day, Irena! And your daughter as well.”

“We will, Carlos!” said mom in return. Tabby blinked and snorted out a giggle, waving goodbye at her mom’s boyfriend. Heh, a perk of her mom dating the manager of a cafe meant they always got a friendly discount. Although what did he just call mom? Irena?

Wasn’t mom’s name… Selina… Kyle…? No… that sounded like a strange name…. Her mom’s name though…. Was… Sel… Irena Dupuis. Right. Why was she evening thinking of her mom’s name anyway, that was weird. Anyway, she had better things to worry about, like if Claire was up to running a D&D session. Tabby was the forever DM and so she’d been itching to be a PC for ages now.

Wait what was D&D again… Dungeons & Dragons, of course… Memories floated in her mind, this game seemed akin to that Serpents & Spells tabletop Maps kept trying to get Damian to play… wait… Maps… maps… oh yeah! She’d been drawing up a map of the world of her webcomic, she should get finished on that-

Wait no. She had to remember. Her name was Damian… Wayne… Robin. Huh? Damian, Wayne, Robin. Those were three different names, the first two clearly boy names. Why’d she ever be called something like that? Ugh, her head was like a whirlwind right now.

_“You feeling okay, Tabby?” _asked mom. No, her mom was Tal… rena. Irena Dupuis. Obviously. Duh.

“Yeah.. just still kinda hungry…” she said without thinking, prompting mom to hand her a delicious smelling salmon bun. She was… Damian Wayne? And this woman was supposed to be Selina… Kyle… she had to remember… Kylie… was a super annoying cheerleader who kept saying Tabby would look prettier if she wasn't so 'nerdy' and stuff. Tabby tried to avoid her, and so pushed the name from her mind.

There was still something off about… something. Something tugging at the back of her head? Something about an amulet… yes… a cursed amulet which changed her into this-

Such a thought was promptly derailed by the euphoria brought upon as she sunk her teeth in the salmon bun and swallowed its contents. Oh god this was so good. What had she been worrying about just now…? Something about an amulet? Oh right! The next big arc she’d been planning with Claire, the Heroes of the Elderforest against the terrifying Dread Overlord and his minions… secretly controlled by a cursed amulet! That was going be so awesome once they drew it up.

She continued chowing down, taking a break on a bench while mom spoke with some friends nearby; Anna Zachery, Tiffany Bronze and Scarlett Taylor. They seemed to be talking about their recent dates or something boring like that. Whatever.

Crossing her legs, she took out her phone and texted her BFF Claire, asking how her DM prep is going.. Hopefully Claire’s overbearing older sister Linda wouldn’t be there, or Linda’s friends… Amelia in particular, she’d always had a strange special annoyance for the carefree surfer girl. Linda and her friends thought D&D was lame and always kicked them out of Claire and Linda’s shared room to try on dresses or talk about cute boys. Urgh. Boring.

Hm, they might have to meet up at the library again. Their other friend Disha was walking as a part-time junior assistant librarian there, so it wasn’t difficult to find a quiet spot to set up in so long as they promised not to be disruptive or anything. Yeah. That would be a good plan. She sent a quick follow up text to Claire with the idea.

Seems things were shaping up to be a day like any other.