kingfishers | I saw the long distance fall

[What is going on, why is he picking him up, how is this-Oh. He's out of the goo. That's. This might be acceptable.]

I'm not a child. [Not that he's exactly clamoring to get back down. This is embarrassing but no one else is here to see and honestly, if they'd touched that sludge they would understand.

He keeps his sword carefully out of Batman's way. Well this is. This is happening.]

[ bruce doesn't roll his eyes, but oh the temptation. ]

So I've heard.

[ despite his passenger's personal opinion, he doesn't let damian down until there's dry floor beneath them again. he sets damian on his feet unceremoniously, and waits only long enough to ensure the boy is steady on his feet before following the tunnel. fussing isn't in his how-to book. as long as damian says he's okay ( and, more importantly, seems so ) they can carry on. ]

[He doesn't struggle (amazingly enough) and lands gracefully on his feet without missing a step. Damian wastes no time in pulling slightly ahead, eager to continue on their way through the tunnels.]

Honestly, this city makes me miss the psychos from Arkham. Much more sanitary. [Pause.] Well most of them.

The people committed to Arkham are sick, and in need of help.

[ the correction is deceptively mild, mostly due to his present audience.

the light from his flashlight is good enough to reach from wall to wall, floor almost to the ceiling without needing to swing it around. he keeps his ears tuned to anything coming from behind. if these…things behave anything like animals do, that body will draw attention. ]

That was unnatural even by the standards here. [ the prompt for more information is implied. ]

[Damian rolls his eyes and keeps moving. Help in the form of a padded cell with better locks, maybe. He definitely did not share the thought that any of those whack-jobs could be rehabilitated. In the distance they can hear more scurrying feet and slithering noises, but for now nothing else comes into sight.]

Certainly one of the more vile creatures I've fought, but hardly unnatural. It lived, it wanted to kill us, it died. Sounds exactly like the Haven standards to me.

Many of them take the form of parasites?

[ speaking easily, if low. from his tone, it would be hard to picture that they went up against grown cousin of a blood-sucking insect or that he expects to find more.

bruce calculates it was little over an hour since they first walked into the tunnels. the louse delayed them some, but they were still making fairly good time. the hour's reprieve interests him. do they not wander near the loading station? is it the same thing keeping them below? things to test, but — he casts an inconspicuous eye over damian — only when alone. ]

Edited 2015-02-20 14:42 (UTC)

[He shrugs.] Half of the time they aren't even identifiable and they certainly aren't always species found on our Earth. [He pauses, thinking on what he's encountered in the tunnels.]

I've come across some rather unique creatures from the world of an....acquaintance of mine. They take the form of horses, but they're constructed entirely from black sand, and they do not attack their prey physically but rather psychologically. [Thankfully, he'd known what they were thanks to Pitch and had taken steps to guard his mind.]

Edited 2015-02-20 19:18 (UTC)

[ horses made of black sand. ]

Nightmares, [ he translates immediately. true night mares. somehow he's not as surprised as he ought to be. ] They'll be particularly effective.

[ underground, he means. in the dark. ( with the sound of a million wings beating old terrors and newer losses and frail blue flowers exposed to the frost. ) ]

[They might be if you weren't Damian Wayne whose immediate goal had been to see if he could ride one of them. Spoilers, he couldn't.]

They are much easier to dissuade if you're already aware of what they're trying to do. [Pause.] Assuming you have encountered Scarecrow, they are far less effective than his fear toxin.

[ damian, you're grounded.

drily, ] We've met.

[ another sound, closer, has him stop. he holds up a gloved hand to signal damian to, as well. the light reveals the new monster well before it reaches them. it looks like a big dog.

of course, it would. ]

Stay. [ that wasn't aimed at the dog. ]

[It's only months worth of conditioning that keep him from disobeying. Even for Damian, the combination of suit, cowl, and voice is too hard to ignore. He does however, narrow his eyes and clench his fists.

A moment later something goes flying past Batman's head and embeds itself in one of the dog's legs, earning a sharp yelp that almost makes Damian feel sorry for it. If Batman bothers to look back, he'll see Damian already fitting another arrow to his bow.

He hadn't moved.]

[ one thing he can thank the league for is fostering his self-control, the one aspect of his training that he could never have achieved on his own. it had saved him from drowning in a cesspool of rage. it's the only thing keeping him from marching back over to damian and wrenching the bow and arrows away from him.

bruce had not thought he could hate another man quite as much as he despised ra's. turns out that emotion is nothing compared to the loathing he bears himself. ]

Stand down. [ the voice that carries toward damian has grown dangerously soft. ]

[It's beyond frustrating. He has been in Haven for months on his own now. He and McGinnis had come to an understanding when they worked together, and Drake rarely issued orders unless they were absolutely necessary. With Grayson, he took the lead most often and with Todd, they yelled at each other and took only the most serious of orders to heart. (Cassandra did not issue orders at all.)

He has been without a partner (without Batman) for a very long time, and he doesn't know how to adjust to suddenly being expected to comply. Like a switch he's expected to become the junior partner, to fight only when told, to do only as Batman allowed. Expected to stand down against an opponent he knows he can take.

But even with that frustration, even with everything in him that wants to dismiss the order, Damian knows better than to disobey that soft voice.

He stands down. There were after all, lines that even he knew better than to cross.]

[ the beast had proven smart and backed away. hideous lips pulled away from a more hideous maw to reveal several rows of teeth as it limped into the relative safety of the darkness. bruce didn't give it much time to live. not bleeding. not surrounded by other hungry creatures.

eyes slide away from damian. without looking, he motions for the boy to come forward. he completes the rest of the trip in stony silence. even after the pale halo of moonlight shines down on the steps, he refuses to relax. they surface to an identical and worlds apart city. the buildings intact. the streets clean. streetlights casting their glow. no people. he studies a darkened window. ]

That was the second time today you behave childishly in regards to a dangerous situation.

[ in this, his dual masks are similar: both favor blunt appraisals. and this boy seems to respond to nothing but force and blunt words. twice is a coincidence, it is said, but in his experience twice is already a pattern. what he's seen of one today is a worrisome.

he turns with a ripple of the black cape. the flashlight has since been clicked off. his eyes glint in the darkness. ]

I don't want to see such behavior again. Is that understood?

[Irritation and frustration have crossed the threshold into anger, and Damian clenches his jaw, his small body radiating his displeasure.]

Dangerous? You think that was dangerous? That was nothing! We were never in danger! [He curses under his breath and stomps a few feet away before whirling back around.] If you weren't so busy coddling me, you might have noticed I can handle myself!

Your training means nothing except for what you choose to do with it!

[ the cold of the mountains returns to him. the mist of every exhalation. the creaking of the treacherous ice beneath their feet.

no matter how fast he runs, his past inevitably returns to him. ]

You're very skilled. But this is not the way to prove yourself. Shows of strength and valor, fighting until you cannot move, that is the League's way. You're better than that. You're better than them.

[Whatever (no doubt infuriated) rebuttal he'd had planned stalls in his throat, and he pales, swallowing back a response. That the League existed in this other Bruce's world is hardly surprising. That he had so quickly pegged him for a (former) member shouldn't be either, but it is. World's best detective or not, no one aside from Ravager made mention of his past with the League while in Haven. Very few knew. He was sure Cassandra had guessed, but she'd remained respectfully silent on the matter.

During his stay in Haven, the times he has openly spoken about his past amount to a single conversation with Ravager alone.

It's not that he's ashamed (he's not.) But people here...they didn't know and it made them behave differently around him. It made them assume he had earned the right to Robin. It made things simpler.

It jars the persona he has crafted here, brings him crashing down to reality. He's shaken. (Afraid.) The last thing he wants-needs-in Haven is to have to prove (again) that he is not just an al Ghul.]

I am Robin. [It's an answer to a question that hasn't been asked. Fuck the League. Fuck everything, he is not going through this again. He is better than the League, but that's not what Damian hears. Prove it to me. Show me you're better. Show me you aren't like them. That's what he really means.

He has already done that.] Coming here was a mistake.

[ batman was meant to be a symbol. a symbol of fear, yes. something scarier than the scary people so the good people would no longer have reason to be afraid. underneath the frightening motifs and the dark archetypes, it was a symbol of hope.

robin is one of its own. though he hates the thought of it, though he cannot picture why or how it was ever allowed to come into being. but that doesn't matter. it exists, and it is a symbol that carries meaning of its own to each of these children. meaning that he does not fully understand. ]

If you want to go, [ he says evenly, ] you should get clean first.

[ he tips his head forward, waiting silently for damian to join him. ]

[He doesn't see the point in cleaning when he has to go through the tunnels again, but he does pull out his sword and without a word, head for one of the houses in Haven North. He doesn't care if Batman is following. He hopes he isn't.

When he gets inside, he uses a tattered bed sheet and some water from the canister on his belt to clean the grime off. He might have complained if he wasn't too distracted to care.

The anger from before has dissipated, leaving him feeling only hollow and tired. He wishes it would come back, tries to refuel it but has no success.]

[ clearly batman is going to sling robin over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

he follows — of course, he does — filling the small room. he leaves only to walk into the bathroom and test the tub. clean water begins to fill it. ]

Robin! [ he knows the kid is still in the other room. he's been waiting for an escape attempt since damian trudged up the steps to the house.

the bathroom makes for an odd sight. decorated in reds and oranges, the shower curtain pushed aside, the tub filling up with water and batman sitting on the lip, watching the swirling water. ]

[It takes far longer than it should for him to make an appearance, but he does show up in the doorway, glare in place and still silent.]

Here. You can clean the rest. [ he nods to the other stains. ]

[He hesitates for only a minute before stepping in and beginning to clean his shoes and what parts of his cape had monster innards coating it.

He's oddly subdued in comparison to his aggression from before. Mentions of the League had too many other thoughts churning in his mind. Batman would assume the others knew. He would assume Grayson knew.

The thought made him sick.]

...you can't tell them.

[ simply: ] I wasn't going to.

[ a beat. he lets the end of his cape slip under the water. ]

Don't tell anyone about me, either.

[His shoulders lose some of their tension.]

It wouldn't matter to them. [It's different. He may have trained with the league, with Shiva, with any number of killers. He had never taken a life.] But I will not tell them. [It's only fair after all.]

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he definitely tried this in Haven. jsyk. blame Pitch.

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