etrayalogs | ( closed ) bred, born, and raised to kick your ass

( at that, bruce turns around. faces clark. cape gently flowing behind him in the breeze that drifts by. )

I didn't do anything. I don't even know you.

[ clark smiles faintly. ]

Which is why I'm asking, not assuming.

Lucky me.

( dryly said because, of course it would be. )

[ that prompts a soft chuckle from clark. ]

I think you are, though you may not realize that yet.

I'm not here to force my opinion. You'll have your own, I'm sure. But by that same conceit, so do I.

[ this is his tolerance more than his kindness, in a way. he's willing to extend the chance, but that chance is on shaky ground. he really doesn't want to wake up one morning with a spear aimed at his chest for no good reason. ]

So the choice is yours.

That wouldn't be a thinly veiled threat, would it?

( him not realizing how lucky he is for clark to be asking and not assuming. )

[ his brow furrows as if baffled by bruce's confusion before it clears up and he seems bemused. ]

Obviously not, but maybe you need to meet more people if that's what you jumped to.

[ also proving clark's point about assumptions, but he'll let it slide. ]

I'm not here to meet people. I'm here to save Gotham and the people in it.

( alfred is who he mostly has on his mind there. he's been trying to save gotham on his own for two years now and it just... keeps getting worse. now this. being here. not just with gotham's fate on his shoulders, but apparently the world's. his world. no pressure. no reason to be stressed or wary of others. not at all. )

But you can't do it alone.

[ said rather simply. clark doesn't add anything else to it as he rises back into the sky. ]

Then you don't know me at all.

( can one person make a difference? who knows. maybe gotham's destined to fall. but he has to keep trying. for every corrupt cop and unjust thing that happens, he has to believe there's still good people within it. people that deserve a chance. that deserve better.

regardless, he turns and makes his way back to the manor, cape following behind him as he does. )

( bruce passes the entrance into the manor moments before damian's dropping down from the ceiling and carefully, mostly gently landing on his shoulders. boots cross over his collarbone, but he's not moving to attack him as he had last time.

he's just sitting. comfortably. )

He's not wrong.

( with the sudden added weight across his shoulders, he takes a second to balance himself and, while damian might be unable to see the roll of his eyes, the huff he gives under his breath can be heard.

rather than move, he stands there. )

Did you get what you wanted out of that?

( damian had been the one who wanted to investigate kent after all. )

I got what I was looking for.

( an arm lays on top of the cowl, so damian can slouch forward onto it. yawns. )

Kryptonians come from the now usually decimated planet of Krypton. Our yellow sun is what gives them their extraordinary capabilities. Kryptonite is a stone of their home world that weakens them exponentially and is able to penetrate their defenses. Stimulating a red sun environment can also lower them to normal human capabilities.

( so damian is just going to chill right there is he? alright, well. bruce will start walking through the manor to the room damian takes for himself here. )

Do you think you can trust him?

Superman isn't a liar.

( it's spoken. . . carefully. it's too early to judge how much they can trust him. but the interaction was positive, for them. for as early as they both seem to be from. )

He is powerful enough he could have killed us before we ever saw his face, and yet he answered your call. He knew your voice, your name, and did not raise a hand when I threatened him. I would rather treat him as a potential ally than a threat.

Yet he doesn’t know either of us

( he didn’t recognize damian and when he saw bruce, he looked to him rather puzzled. as though he were expecting a different version of bruce to him. )

He doesn't know us as we are.

( the protégés comment has him interested in just who clark is familiar with, but that's an issue damian can approach another day. without bruce around, most likely. )

But he recognizes who we are meant to be.

He still holds the potential to be a threat here. Especially if it means choosing his world over yours or mine.

( a concern, obviously.

he pushes open the door to damian's room and makes his way inside with him, heading over to the bed for damian to hop down to. if he wants, that is. )

( he does get down, but not to go to his bed.

instead, damian presses a palm against the top of the cowl, uses it to climb off of bruce's shoulders and drops down to the floor in front of him. walks over to the single night stand in front of his cot and pulls out a sketchbook that had been hidden under it. takes out a pencil after, and sits on top of the cot with the sketchbook opened to an empty page. )

Clark Kent is not the kind of man who would choose one world over another, even if it involved his own. If he was willing to make the decision, that would be enough of a sign he is not one to be trusted.

( it's still a risk for bruce. one he's not so sure he's willing to take, given everything— everyone at stake.

he lets damian crawl down. watches him as he goes over to the night stand then to the cot. quiet. mulling over everything that he's been told about clark kent and the interaction they've just had together out in front of the manor. )

Would you?

( he asks then, softly. )

Choose yours over another?

( he's sketching. it's the rough shape of a face, an oval with a line going through the center, two intersecting. but damian doesn't get very far, before he - stops. presses his lips together has he mulls it over. it's something he has thought of a lot since arriving here, but hasn't been able to--hasn't been able to make that choice, even internally to himself. he would choose his own, to save his family, but that's not the right choice to make. he knows that. )

I would lose regardless of the choice I make.

( is the answer he settles on instead. )

If I let other worlds perish to save my own, I may save those I've left behind, but I'll lose Damian Wayne. If I choose not to, I lose those who have made holding onto Damian Wayne important.

( his gaze lifts, settles on damian, and he's silent as he watches him. watches the way he stops his sketching and takes a moment to consider that. consider the one thing so many of them here may be forced into at some point. he hopes that isn't how it'll go, but. it's not as if he's ever been in this position— this situation before. he really doesn't know what to expect. )

I'm sorry you've been put in this position.

( it's not fair. especially for a kid. )

I would say it's better me than others, but unfortunately, we've had an influx of new arrivals I am familiar with.

( some he knows have already run into bruce, and now there's kent, too. damian returns back to his sketching now that he's. . . given an answer, even if it's an unsatisfactory one.

it's a young man, somewhere in his mid to late twenties. damian roughly shapes the eyes out before covering them with a domino mask. carefully traces out the shape of dick's nose, the curve of his jawline, before moving onto the mess of hair on top of his head. )

Yeah. Seems like it.

( he's run into a couple of them himself and, like with damian, doesn't know them.

quiet again, he turns some. doesn't leave, just. turns. looks around the room slowly. the one damian has here for himself in this rendition of the manor. it's only after a moment that he slowly looks in the other's direction, even if his gaze is dropped. he takes a second. bites the inside of his cheek. )

At least you have them now.

I already have you.

( his hand raises. moves to grab hold of the cape bruce is wearing to tug on it, towards him. the hand holding the pencil pauses above the page; without his other hand holding the paper still, it'll slide, and he doesn't want to make a mess. )

We're going to go over the new arrivals, including Clark Kent. It will be a lot of information at once, but I am certain you would prefer that over learning unexpectedly.

( damian tugs on his cape and bruce lets him. takes one step towards him there on the cot, blue eyes just barely looking to him through the grease paint that still wears fresh under his cowl. )

Is that what you're doing now?

( with his scribbling and all. )

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