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Entry tags:
- thread: zatanna zatara,
- † agent carolina,
- † bruce wayne,
- † cassandra cain,
- † charles xavier,
- † clark kent,
- † death the kid,
- † dick grayson,
- † favrielle nó eglantine,
- † jason todd,
- † kon-el,
- † miranda lawson,
- † olivia dunham,
- † pepper potts,
- † peter parker (animated),
- † stephanie brown,
- † tommy shepherd
video;
Well, this is... embarrassing, if I do say so myself.
[He laughs a little, just to prove how completely embarrassed he is. Look. Do you see his embarrassment? Because it's totally there.]
Here it is, almost literally the eve of this masquerade and I find myself without a date. I hope none of you gentlemen mind me cutting in on you when the time comes.
[His tone is a little at odds with his expression, which is patently apologetic. His voice, however, is steeped in savoir-faire. Because what playboy wouldn't be happy to go stag amidst a party of beautiful women, I mean really.]
And on that note, I would officially like to extend my gratitude to Favrielle nó Eglantine for making this event a possibility in the first place, and for sharing this aspect of her culture with us. She's been a rock of our community for some months now, and she deserves every ounce of recognition her genius affords her.
[encrypted; AGENT CAROLINA | hackable]
Carolina, would you be interested in coming with? As a bodyguard of sorts, a strictly professional basis.
[encrypted; OLIVIA DUNHAM | hackable]
I don't suppose you're feeling up to a dance or two? I cut a mean tango.
[encrypted; BAT!DICK | unhackable]
Keep an eye on the newcomers.
[It goes without saying that Bruce is suspicious of both Tim and Jason, oops.]
[encrypted; ROBIN!DICK | unhackable]
I need to speak with you.
[He laughs a little, just to prove how completely embarrassed he is. Look. Do you see his embarrassment? Because it's totally there.]
Here it is, almost literally the eve of this masquerade and I find myself without a date. I hope none of you gentlemen mind me cutting in on you when the time comes.
[His tone is a little at odds with his expression, which is patently apologetic. His voice, however, is steeped in savoir-faire. Because what playboy wouldn't be happy to go stag amidst a party of beautiful women, I mean really.]
And on that note, I would officially like to extend my gratitude to Favrielle nó Eglantine for making this event a possibility in the first place, and for sharing this aspect of her culture with us. She's been a rock of our community for some months now, and she deserves every ounce of recognition her genius affords her.
[encrypted; AGENT CAROLINA | hackable]
Carolina, would you be interested in coming with? As a bodyguard of sorts, a strictly professional basis.
[encrypted; OLIVIA DUNHAM | hackable]
I don't suppose you're feeling up to a dance or two? I cut a mean tango.
[encrypted; BAT!DICK | unhackable]
Keep an eye on the newcomers.
[It goes without saying that Bruce is suspicious of both Tim and Jason, oops.]
[encrypted; ROBIN!DICK | unhackable]
I need to speak with you.
voice.
[Jason's voice is filled with obnoxiousness, but it's loaded with anger just beneath the surface.]
voice.
So he paces, instead.
Every statement, a chess move. Even this.
Except the board is fresh. No pawns fallen. No-- (and he has to press his fingers against the bridge of his nose to ward off a headache) no knights.
It's worse than a knife twisting in his gut. It's like kneeling in the wreckage of that warehouse all over again, Jason's body going cold in his arms.]
I asked myself the same question, if you can believe it.
[The riposte is there, but it's without heat.]
voice. 100% encrypted.
Switches the feed over to private and his anger boils over.]
I know I'm not Dick, Bruce. I'm not "the good son", you made that perfectly clear along time ago.
[Jason doesn't bother bullshitting around. His anger is raw and in need of an outlet. It's been awhile since he's been angry like this. The anger he's experiencing is saved for family matters.]
But for you to say things to that punk to make him think I'd hurt innocent people? Kids even? [Dick's words ring clearly in his head "I never said I was scared. I was explaining Bruce's rationale." His voice goes up a notch in aggression, but there's pain in there too. No matter how much he wants to distance himself or convince himself he doesn't need Bruce, his approval still means something to him.
He still wants to mean something to Bruce.]
Heh, you never fail to disappoint me.
voice. 100% encrypted.
[One word. Bruce at his most authoritative.]
My words exactly were 'He's nearly killed your counterpart on numerous occasions. He's dangerous, but not irredeemable'.
[The fact that Dick chose to misconstrue them is entirely on him, as far as Bruce is concerned.]
voice. 100% encrypted.
His listening skills are piss poor then, you should do something about that.
[While he is still riled up, his anger is manageable now. He tries to play it off like Bruce having some faith in him doesn't mean anything to him, however, it couldn't be further than the truth.]
So, were you planning on saying hi to me or were you hoping I'd ask you for a dance first? [A smirk finds its way on his face.]
voice. 100% encrypted.
[The fact that he makes an attempt to bridle his hostility is... surprising, and Bruce's eyes narrow in thought. He's aware that Jason is from a slightly advanced timeline, but even so Bruce has never caught him quite so... conciliatory.]
I knew you'd contact me when you wanted to talk.
voice. 100% encrypted.
[He might refer to Dick as "kiddo" but Dick looks like he's 14 or so, which is a few years older than he was before he became Robin. Only a year shy of when he died. While he might not use the same force on him as he would with an adult, he wouldn't mind giving him a solid boot either.]
Seems like the turtle here has a thing for people from Gotham, the whole gang's almost here, including your biological son. He's told me some interesting things.
voice. 100% encrypted.
[A warning. Fair's fair.]
Did he.
[You bet he read that conversation. He can guess at what Jason might consider 'interesting', but better to give him room to say it outright.]
voice. 100% encrypted.
[If Dick repeats some of the things he said before, he won't let anyone get in his way, or at least he'd try to get past them.]
He did. [Where is Babs when you need her.]
He brought up how he came to be and then some bullshit that has me thinking we might not be from the same Earth. [Refuses to believe what Damian suggested about him trying to kill all of the male members of the Batfamily, Damian--a kid--included, had any truth behind it.]
voice. 100% encrypted.
[When have you ever won a physical showdown with your old man, Jay.]
There are numerous others. It's not an impossibility.
voice. 100% encrypted.
[Using the term 'forgiveness' very lightly here.
One day, some day...!
Maybe.
Even Old Man Bruce is scary.]
It's not. Take for example the other you I met recently. Our worlds were incredibly similar up until a few years ago.
voice. 100% encrypted.
And what does Bruce do when faced with emotions he doesn't want to deal with? He turns them off.]
Explain.
voice. 100% encrypted.
Let's just say he knows how to take care of business.
[Seeing Bruce so dead inside spooked him. It made him wonder if that was the path he was heading down. He doesn't want to say it out loud or admit to it, but it made him realize how much Batman needed a Robin. Even after one of his Robins is gone.]
voice. 100% encrypted.
The one thing that could have driven him off the edge, the one thing that almost did that fits that timeline was... Jason's death. He has a thousand contingencies planned in case he ever changes to that extent. God knows it's possible. That he's thought about it in cinematic detail. That it's kept him awake at night and peppered his dreams in those rare moments when he sleeps deeply enough to dream.
His hands around the Joker's throat, thumbs pressed in just against the median cricothyroid ligament--
(He has a knack for switching certain lines of thought off. He does that now, and doesn't look down to see how his hands are clenched)
His expression doesn't change, doesn't falter or shift, and his voice retains the same hard cadences of the Batman.]
I see.
voice. 100% encrypted.
No, sorry, Bruce. Jason wants more answers. If he was back in their world he might let it go, because Donna and Rayner needed him to be on the top of his game. The other Bruce he met needed Jason to keep him sane. Donna, Rayner, that Bruce, and everything else related to them were a universe away. Maybe multiple universes away. All he had right now was the Bruce in front of him and a few sparse words.]
Do you? Because I don't think you do.
[Jason begins to push, wanting to force the issue. Unlike in their previous confrontations, he's not lashing out wildly, hoping to inflict as much emotional damage as possible. This time around he has a purpose; he wants answers and he wants Bruce to see how he could have paid homage to his death in a way that really matters.]
Want to know what he said to me? "You look surprised. What did your Batman do when you died?" That Batman? He made sure there would be no more Rogues' galleries, no more Secret Societies, no more Legions of Doom. Hell, everyone in the Justice League could retire because of his actions.
[At this point in time, Jason no longer kills petty criminals. He still uses brute force, but he's turned in more than he's killed. A lot more these days. However, the Joker, Two-Faced, The Penguin; he'd put a bullet in all of their heads. If this Bruce, his Bruce, could cross the line, then their world could be different, too. Unlike the other Bruce, this Bruce has a support network. People who would stop him from going too far and losing too much of himself. At least that's what Jason believes, anyway.]
How's Gotham doing these days? People still dying? Living in fear? Hoping and praying you or the League will show up to save them from the Joker?
voice. 100% encrypted.
I'm not going to fight you over this, Jason.
[There can be no clear victor when he simply refuses to pick up the gauntlet of Jason's admonition. He's already had this conversation. So many times he - he has lost count. It's an endless, cyclic argument. Two sides of the same coin.
Did Garzonas slip, or was he pushed?
Back and forth in his mind like a pendulum swing. It's the difference between losing Jason then and losing him six months after in the burning wreckage of that warehouse.
When he's being honest with himself, Jason always had the capacity for cruelty. It's borne of his deep, intrinsic need to help people. To save them. There are instances where cruelty can even be a kindness (and he thinks of the harsh animal sobs Dick made in that chapel where he killed the Joker-- of bending over the psychopathic clown and doing chest compressions. Bringing him back so that Dick wouldn't carry that weight) and when the reverse is also true. Jason was always compassionate. Always caring.
But even as a child, he was hard in ways Bruce had never needed to learn to be hard. He's asked himself a thousand times, a million. Why Jason? There are so many other ways he could have handled one small boy stealing tires, and none of them ended with Bruce standing over his casket in the rain. It was his selfishness, his need that destroyed him.
And it's both of those things that, even years later, continues to damage both of them.
He exhales, off-comm, and tries to hold Cassandra's words in his mind.]
voice. 100% encrypted.
[Jason can't relent, he can't let go of their argument just yet. If it was anyone else but Bruce, he'd tell them to go "fuck off" or he'd find out where they were and settle the fight with their firsts (although if the opportunity presented itself, he'd go for it). Bruce was different because he wanted Bruce to hear what he had to say. So much of his life had been dedicated to Bruce's cause and even now, he still continued it, he was just doing it in his own way.]
The problem is, you're so damn selfish. You have the same resources, the same intelligence, and the same drive as the Bruce from Earth-51. Which means if you wanted to, you could take out all of those dirt bags.
But you won't.
[He knows why Bruce won't either. He hears it all the time from Bruce and the rest of the Batbunch. The other day when he first arrived, Cass and him had debated the very same point.]
Because it has to be your way. You're willing to let the whole world suffer because you don't want to violate your little code of honor.
[Shakes his head.]
You told me before you wouldn't kill because it was too easy. I think you won't kill because it's too hard for you to do something someone else wants you to do. You wouldn't...you wouldn't even have to kill every damn criminal! Just the worst of them!
[Just the ones who take fathers and sons away from each other.]
voice. 100% encrypted.
[It's a good thing this is a voice-only transmission, which is the only reason Bruce reaches up to drag a hand over his face, index and middle fingers ending up pressed against his temple, thumb framing the strong line of his jaw.]
You know why I do things the way I do. Why I can't do them any other way. I'm sorry, Jason.
voice. 100% encrypted.
You and your apology can go to hell, Bruce. Maybe then you'll finally open your eyes to what needs to be done.
[He's done talking with Bruce. Done listening to his excuses. He doesn't need Bruce's help or anyone else's. If he has to figure out a way on his own, so be it. It not the first time and it won't be the last time.
Disconnects their feed and turns off his console.]