( closed )

[brat]

WHO: bats & co
WHEN: April 30th-ish.
WHERE: Wayne Manor
WHAT: an important meeting.
NOTES\WARNINGS:

( with the announcement comes a need to prepare; one that, unfortunately for most of their group, requires planning together. thus, those from gotham and close associates either receive a ping on their devices, coded with instructions of when to meet up, or - a note left where they'd find it, equally coded, because no one's leaving obvious meeting notes behind.

the manor's massive living space is where everyone settles, rather than the cave. not all of them arrived in uniform, and considering goliath has made himself comfortable and is taking a nap - well. it's best not to disturb him. )

Comments

[brat]

Hellspawn.

( sounds promising. or maybe damian's just being sarcastic, which - is a lot more likely, really. damian rolls his eyes, but settles back onto the couch. idly sifts through his utility belt, taking stock of what he has left. )

I suppose you can make your own choices.

( he'll just judge a lot from the sidelines. )

[cohero]

I usually do get to make my own choices, but it doesn't look like this place is allowing us the luxury of choice in a lot of ways, so we gotta do the best to help out where we can.

[He glances up, and looks over at Damian and thinks for a few minutes. ]

You know Bruce invited me to live here. I know you live here too. I'm thinking about it possibly after we get back, but I don't want to be in a place that's over-crowded or where I'm not welcome. What do you think about the idea.

[brat]

( rude of bruce, considering this is damian's manor, but. the look he throws dick is more questioning why he's bothering to ask than anything else. because, well, )

It's only Father and I currently staying in the Manor. ( so it's not particularly crowded. ) Pennyworth would hate to see so many rooms unused.

[cohero]

I didn't know who was staying here.

[He only knew for sure that Bruce and Damian were, and that's why he wanted to run it by Damian because Damian's opinion mattered to Dick. He didn't want to just show up without warning.

This helped him feel a little more at home with the idea. He really didn't trust the apartments, and while he didn't know Bruce and Damian they were better than whatever bots and watchdogs might be roaming the hallways.]

Alfred ... [Dick goes silent for a minute. The man who was far more a role model for Dick than Bruce, and the one he kept in constant contact with during the years Dick pulled away. The thread that held his Bruce Wayne together. He can still feel the void. There's a quietness to his voice, even if his face doesn't give much away.]

...I lost him two years ago.

[brat]

( i lost him two years ago.

alfred is still back home as far as damian is aware, but he knows bruce is very, very concerned for his alfred. knows there was an incident with riddler that left him hurt. damian's expression - shutters for a moment, before he stretches his legs out under him and gets up to his feet. reaches a hand out for grayson's wrist, and grabs hold of him to drag him out of the living area.

less for grayson's well-being and more for bruce's own. hopefully, grayson hadn't already shared that information with him and he didn't overhear it. )

[cohero]

[After all that happened to his Bruce after he lost Alfred, one thing that Dick would never do is burden this one with that news. It's a deep wound in Dick's life and he'd never had shared it if he didn't think that Damian would have been able to understand it--, in as much as the fact that they are all exceedingly different and no one universe is like another.

Even so, Dick would never had said it loud enough to where Bruce would hear. He's already heard the younger Batman speak fondly speak of the butler. Plus, Bats tend to not deal well with loss. It's a part of who they are.

Being pulled aside Dick raises his brow and looks down, leaning against a structure wherever they end up. It's Damian's turn to speak, since he obviously called this meeting]

[brat]

( damian called this meeting, and he's taking it - just a little away from the grandfather clock that still works as an entrance to the cave below. his hand releases dick's wrist, turns around to face him, and - doesn't leave much breathing room between them. it does mean damian's tipping his head back to have to look way up to dick, but he doesn't seem to mind that much at all.

he's used to it. )

I'm sorry for your loss. ( the sorry sounds a little foreign on his tongue, but damian says it regardless. means it, in this context. ) But do not say that where Father can hear you. He is already overly concerned for the Pennyworth he'd left behind.

[cohero]

[Dropping down to Damian's height takes nothing for Dick and so he does it in order to talk. He's sincere with his tone and the eye contact that he makes.]

I know. That's why I didn't say it loudly. I'd never say it aloud near any Bruce after watching what mine went through.

[brat]

( his tongue clicks against the roof of his mouth, an irritated little tt noise when grayson lowers himself. because he doesn't need others to lower themselves to his level, thank you. he's not that small. one day he'll hit his growth spurt. outgrow drake, finally. catch up to grayson. today is not that day. today is instead the day when he scrunches his nose up in response to grayson dropping down, but doesn't voice a complaint. yet. )

There's space in the manor. Just don't invite Drake in. He's been staying in the side cottage.

( it's not that he's banished to staying there. it's that he's banished himself and damian's not going to encourage him to come inside. )

[cohero]

[There's that stubborn pride again that Dick feels like he knows so well. Dick doesn't know Damian's age, but god he was close to it when his own set in. They've lived totally different lives but that look, that singular look he can feel. There's a twist in his heart that makes him wish for a brief second that he'd one day know a Damian in his own world, but he knows that won't happen. His Bruce is too far beyond that, it's not meant to happen. Plus, there's no one like this Damian. He already knows that too-- no two people are ever alike, really.

Twisting his lips into a half smile, he nods. ]

I would never invite anyone else here. It's not my place. I will probably move in after the labyrinth though. It feels better than the apartments. Thank you, for everything.

[He knows he didn't need to say it, but manners are important and Damian has offered him a lot tonight.]

[brat]

( there are many ways to respond to a thank you. a simple you're welcome which is obviously not what he's going to do. instead, damian stays where he's at. looks over this version of dick grayson, who is significantly different from his own. )

You are not my brother. ( it's stated like it's simple fact, because it is. this isn't the dick grayson who became batman and named him robin, this isn't the one who damian had gotten himself disowned from the al ghuls for. who had left him behind with his father, because he wasn't ready for the kind of responsibility having damian round would take. but who had considered it regardless, as if it had been an option - because grayson would have made it one, if he could have handled it. ) But it doesn't make us enemies.

( no, that's the nature of the game they've been stuck in. save your world by proving what it's worth, thus destroying - everyone who was chosen as unworthy. but they're not currently facing off against one another, and damian doesn't look forward to that happening. )

Pennyworth would be disappointed in all of us if we decided to treat each other as such.

( two years gone, for this dick grayson. damian doesn't even want to ask how the rest of them are handling it. )

[cohero]

[Trust Dick, he knows very well that he's not Damian's nightwing. He knows that he's no where near it. It's hard for him to be here in the house, but he's doing his best to try and be true to himself. He's had conversations about it-- and while Damian's words are quite a smack to his face, despite him not meaning them that way. Dick stands and blanks his face. ]

I would never try to be your brother, or your enemy. I'm sure I will see you after the labyrinth then.

[He glances down and nods quietly. There's an ache in his heart for home, and since it's been days and not a month gone, Dick is still getting used to the fact that he's alone here. There are names that he knows, but no faces. He's trying to make connections but the birds and bats are a squirrely lot and he knows it well.

They like to keep to their own. He honestly doesn't feel like he fits in, but that doesn't mean he won't stop trying.]

[brat]

( he isn't like the richard grayson damian spent the last three years with. that's already obvious, but becoming more so by the minute: grayson covers emotions with a smile when he's able, when he's in a mood bad enough to not show any emotion, it usually means he's angry. damian has been on the other side of grayson's. . . irritation before. his exhaustion, but his anger has almost always been directed elsewhere.

and this? damian's words weren't meant to anger, and he sincerely doubts that's what's happening here either. it's something else, which means - damian is going to spend a not unsubstantial time digging into this grayson, figuring out what makes him tick, why damian's words were enough to get him to close down like that.

but he nods his head in return, )

We'll reconvene after.

[cohero]

[No, he'll never be the other. He's never smiled through emotions. That wouldn't feel real to him. If he's angry, he lets it out and probably too quickly and without thinking. It's another thing he's been working on. He's gotten so much better too. This. This is what he's used to doing so that Bruce never accuses him of having emotions. He wasn't allowed to have them. When he smiles, it lights his face and always softens his eyes. It's always a real thing. Dick can't hide anything in a smile.

Damian can do what he wants, but hopefully by the time this month is over Dick will have exhausted his anxious feelings and figured himself out. If not, then there will be the next month, won't there. It will happen eventually.

He'll eventually feel bad about being short, but right now there's not much more for him. ]

I look forward to that. If I don't see you before then.

[at least that much he knows is true.]