( open ) it started with a spark

[brat]

WHO: Bats, birds, and friends.
WHEN: Late April into May
WHERE: Wayne Tower
WHAT: A Bat-Mingle.
NOTES\WARNINGS:

In the Northern section of Nova City, Wayne Tower stands tall above the multiple empty buildings that make up the cityscape. The top two floors consist of the Wayne Penthouse in gothic architecture while the lower floor and main entrance are largely abandoned and home to a number of fruit bats. A basement serves as a work in progress Batcave, complete with hidden elevator to the penthouse.

And within the Tower itself? Who knows how many bats and birds may be found wandering about. After all, it has WAYNE written in big bold letters right across the front of it. That means it's free real estate, right?

Comments

breakfast » open

[brat]

( damian's still healing from taking an arrow straight through his collar during the aphaia mission. it's not so bad anymore that it's obvious, but anyone watching him long enough will notice how he's careful to avoid doing too much with his right arm.

like how when he swings the fridge open in the morning to grab the milk, he uses his left arm to yank it open, his left hand to grab onto the carton, then his foot to shut it behind him so he can pour an excessive amount into the glass he's pulled down and scooped ovaltine into, for his usual breakfast of frosted tarts and chocolatey milk.

is it three am? three pm? who knows, time doesn't apply to robins. and any time after he's woken up is a good time for frosted tarts, which is why he's jumping up onto the countertop with his hair still going in every direction possible to sit, quietly, and eat. )

[mostdangerousbird]

[ It's nearly 4, honestly, but that's good enough for morning. Tim slinks into the residence in a hoodie with the hood up to cover up a bedhead. Coffee cup already in hand as he rummages in the freezer. The carriage house is out of food, and the tower is arguably closer than any of the stores that reliably have food and has a better chance of having food that Tim likes at any given time.

Case in point, he has scored a burrito. The good counter spot's taken, so Tim will sit at the breakfast bar to eat with a grunting nod in Damian's direction. ]

[brat]

That's my burrito.

( is it. is it really. damian likely would not have called claim to it two seconds ago, but since tim has his grubby little hands all over it, damian has decided to proclaim it was his.

not that he's moving off the counter to try and take it from tim, or even putting down his own breakfast to make moves towards him. instead, he's still groggily taking bites out of his frosted tarts, even if there's a half-assed glare thrown tim's way. )

[mostdangerousbird]

Is it?

[ He hums and inspects the burrito, even going so far as to pry it open and rewrap it. After snugly rolling it back up, Tim takes a bite of the burrito. ]

You gotta be careful with that disappearing ink. It causes more problems than its worth.

[ Meaning, your name's not on it, bud. ]

[brat]

( damian's eyes narrow, watching as tim inspects the burrito.

he knows where he's going with this before he even starts his second sentence, but tim finishing it doesn't help his disposition at all. if anything, it makes it worse. damian's scowling, and the look he's throwing tim's way makes it obvious enough he's a good two seconds out from tackling him to the floor over the burrito.

except they both know it's not over the burrito. )

Who invited you here?

[mostdangerousbird]

[ Sometimes, playing to expectations puts people at ease. "At ease" with Damian isn't how most people would define it, but they don't have a basic relationship.

Truth is, he wasn't specifically invited today, and Tim hadn't actually plotted this out as a way to pop the bubble of anger and loss at Dick's disappearance. He was hungry. That's all. (It's not all.) ]

I have - had... a standing invitation.

[ It's the not knowing, isn't it? If he knew that Dick was home, and safe, Tim wouldn't stumble like that. But even though Tim has gone home and back himself, he has no faith that it continues to happen. ]

[her_own_rules]

[ Barbara strolls in around dawn, Haley now in tow, and a far too serious for dawn absence of a good morning expression. She's not about to shoot sunshine before it's words that will matter more than bullets. She checked if it was true first, and she hates that it is. But she's not a 15-year-old with a frequently dicey emotional processing on top of it. There's no hesitation (she had the slow walk for a very different kind of that, and so much else, even after staring at her computer screen a long time after waking up in an empty bed). She stops at the counter, leaning a hip on it. ]

We should talk.

[brat]

( should they? because it's never good when gordon starts a conversation with we should talk, and even less good when she shows up with grayson's dog and a significant lack of grayson, just after his comms went dead.

damian throws her a sour look, but does push himself off the edge of the counter so he can turn his focus to haley herself, who clearly deserves all of the attention here. and all of the attention she gets: damian slouches down further once he's on the ground to give her bellyrubs and soft pets. )

Should we?

[her_own_rules]

[ It's not that she would have left Haley behind, not after a year without her, but there's something to showing up to Damian with her, too. Giving him something to sublimate on what the expression he tossed her says he's just as quickly conned on to. (She'll likely do enough of the same much later. ] I'm not going to pretend you aren't smart enough to have likely reached the hypothesis already, but I checked with Aurora, and Dick has joined the people sent back.

[ As least as much as Barbara can let herself hold on to the idea of that last part, without the actual proof of that part.
But she refuses to think about the idea that he could have been wiped out of existence from both places. ]

[brat]

( damian had assumed as much already; radio silence from grayson isn't unheard of, but him going completely offline here is. the last time he had, it had been shortly after damian had witnessed his - untimely demise. he's still upset about that, too; even now, he continues to hear the sound of the drill digging into grayson's chest, hears the sound that had escaped out of his mouth just moments before he'd passed. remembers the look on his face, remembers willa coming across him and getting him moving again because damian certainly wasn't going to be able to do that by himself. and now they're both gone: willa, and grayson. it hurts. it hurts even more, because - everything had already been falling apart enough, and now damian has lost his anchor. the one person who has always made damian feel like he belongs, regardless of how hard he tried to push grayson away.

lips purse, but damian keeps his focus on haley - on her big gummy smile and the way her tail wags when damian runs his hand down her spine, pulling her in close so he can wrap his arm around her and press his face against the fur on her neck. )

I'm aware.

( but she already knew that, didn't she? )

Are you alright?

[her_own_rules]

[ Barbara's heart wrings as Damian presses his face into Haley's fur, not looking up, but still answering. A careful symmetry of two words that she understands all too well. Their distant. Their deflection. Intellect and control over emotion. For a too clear moment, he's laid over with Cass and Dinah telling her that Cass had inadvertently found out about her dying dozens of times. It's always been them for the understood, if unspoken reasons. Damain and Dick; her and Cass. (The person he'd want most is the one who isn't here now.)

There's the slightest twitch at the corner of her cheek when he returns with that question. Barbara doesn't like that specific question, especially when it's not phrased in a generally innocuous manner. There's a trigger in it, no matter how it doesn't show at this number of years since it wormed its way in—the repetition of three questions, more than their answers, at her core as a response.

Are you still breathing?
Can you still wiggle your toes?
Are you not bleeding out on a floor?

Ergo ipso facto. Fine.
All else is Manageable.

Even when that's a lie, too. (Proven more than once by Dick already. And. Alfred.) But Barbara will choose controllable pragmatism or chaotic emotionalism until her dying day, flaw or not. She lets a slow, controlled breath out of her nose and turns, letting herself slide downward against the counter. Sit on the ground with her back against it as support. Dick's not dead, he's jut not here with them. ]

I will be. He's back home. Safer than here. And he's with Cass, and Steph, and Jason again.
[ (Dinah.) The litany of their family to come and go, and yet not them. Still here. Waiting. Fighting. Holding century. ]

[batsymbol]

( The moment he'd discovered Dick had disappeared from here, he hadn't known what to think or feel. He and Dick got along— he'd helped him a couple times when he'd been unable to live up to the name of The Batman or even as a father to Damian, but. They hadn't been as close as he maybe had liked them to be? That was on him. That's always on him and he feels bad for that despite the sort of relief and pride he felt at seeing how Dick could turn out when in his care.

But this isn't all about him. He wasn't the one closest to the man or even had years of memories and experiences with where this sort of unexpected "loss" would likely upset or even hinder him in ways that are far more emotional than one might like to admit. It's why he's quietly making his way through the tower, hands in his pockets, and coming up to Damian there when he finds him, silent for only a moment or two. )

Got any plans for the day?

[brat]

( he's halfway through his glass of ovaltine by the time bruce manages to wander into the kitchen. eyes turn to focus on the man, but he doesn't put his glass down until it has been fully emptied - at which point he brings it to the counter with a clang and raises his hand up to wipe his mouth off against the back of his wrist.

considers the question that's been posed. )

I intended on gathering my legion and invading "Superman's" homestead to remind him not to let his guard down.

( no, he wasn't planning anything of the sort, especially with his shoulder still on the mend. but since bruce has asked, damian may as well give him an answer. )

[batsymbol]

( He can't tell himself he's not good at this because if he does, it'll only serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts and Damian doesn't deserve that right now, so. Instead, he makes his way into the kitchen a little more — mindful of making sure Damian has space for himself if that's what he wants, but not being all the way across the room either. He's not Dick. He never will be Dick. All he can be is himself and try to be the father Damian needs. )

How many are you at now?

( As he figures Damian's talking about his pets. )

[brat]

( how many are you at, he asks, and damian has to stop and consider how to answer that because his legion consists of a couple dogs, a few sidekicks, and - todd. )

How many of what? ( brothers? friends? combat-trained animals? )

[her_own_rules]

[ Note: Babs threads are open to threadjacking by others in the house, the room, walking in and out, etc, unless otherwise stated later/by the other person who tags into her in certain places.

--

Babs makes her way to the tower shortly after dawn, the first day after they've returned from the mission. It's a slow walk, but by no means an outwardly dejected one. Anyone who passes her might consider her removed in a preoccupied way. Perhaps with the return. Or the mission before it, the memories she had to see from the outside, even though none of those are true. They'll also, note a new addition: an adorable little grey pit bull, with three legs, on a leash.

Babs islooking for one specific person, but she can't deny there's some relief when she finds at least two of the boys in the kitchen already when she arrives. Even if she's found somewhere to put most of it, there's a relief to just being with family, too. Which is another part of what had her on this way this morning.

Babs steals a chair, crossing one leg under her, as she's unclipping the leash from the collar while Haley's tail is wagging and she's giving excited yips with so much less restraint than Barbara's simply 'morning' as she came in. ] Yes, yes. I know, girl. You want to say hello to everyone. I'm just chopped liver now.

[leastdramatic]

[Jason was in the kitchen checking for any snacks to raid. It's not the same as raiding one of Bruce's safehouses back home but it's close enough. Upon hearing Babs and Haley, he grins]

Been wondering when I was gonna see you again.

[Is he addressing Babs or Haley? Either could apply]

[her_own_rules]

[ Babs give's a noncomittal sounds to the words,
bypassing it for: ]

Is there still fresh coffee?

[ The leash unclips and Haley is a rolling bundle of grey fur, who goes bounding toward Jason, as the closest and newest victim for good morning hellos, with a litany of little barks and the fastest of wagging tails. Snuffling at his boots and the bottom of his pants, only the briefest pause before headbutting his nearest leg and looking up with a huge gummy smile, starting on another round of yips. ]

[leastdramatic]

[Jason can't help but smile at Haley. Some things just don't change. He bends down to pick her up and pet her]

Yeah, Tim hasn't gotten to it yet.

[her_own_rules]

[ Barbara watches them together, and maybe another small doubt hazards itself away. They've already settled into working well enough together when they have to—for the mission, for the family, as it is here—but there's something even more to watching Haley snuffle at him, briefly, and then decide he smells fine, even if probably somehow different, that shifts another something small somewhere.

Babs slips back out of that chair and past them. ]

You are a god among men.

I finished the one I made at home halfway here.



[ That it was, of course, nowhere near her first needs no comment. ]

[knightowl]

[ He doesn't go anywhere without Ace these days. It's easy to fall back into their routine now that he's here and Bruce is feeling a little less alone in Etraya. Sure there were other Bats, but Bruce had very deliberately pushed them as far away as he could manage. Somehow, it didn't feel right. Getting close to them while his relationships back home sat burned to ash. Ace helps him think about that less.

But it also means he's out and about a little more often than usual. Without Terry, he's left to walk the dog himself and he doesn't trust this place to let him roam freely without him. So he's out today, though if he's being honest it's because he wants to check on the other Bats, even if it's not something he'd admit out loud.

Things were difficult for them on the last mission. He just wanted to make sure they'd returned to Etraya in as singular a piece as possible. It takes him a minute to step foot in the Tower; he'd told the younger Bruce he didn't belong there. And that feeling is only exacerbated when the doors close behind him. Ace stays close by, though he's not nearly as tense as his master.

Bruce only gives himself a minute before he begins the trek further inside. He'd come across someone eventually and when he does he's got one question: ]

Where are the others?

[her_own_rules]

[ Barbara is sans Haley for the moment, returning from running an errand in the lower levels and having been headed toward the kitchen, when she spots Bruce. Hears the direct question. (There's still a moment she's half-pretending it isn't so strange to see him like this. So much older.) But she only takes a drink from the coffee cup lingering in one hand. ]

Which ones?

[knightowl]

Bruce.

[ Bruce isn't who Grandpa Bruce had ventured to the Tower to see. If he ever needed to communicate, he would have just used the younger's inbox. It just felt easier to admit than who he'd really come to see. ]

And Damian.

[her_own_rules]

[ Well, isn't that right there a familiar sentiment? ]

I haven't caught Bruce yet, but Damian was in the kitchen, last I saw.

[knightowl]

[ Good enough. He could speak to Bruce later. ]

That's all I needed.

[ No thank yous to be found here. Sorry, Babs. ]