[video || 001]

[cowled]

[The image opens on Bruce Wayne at his finest. He's wearing (1) new suit designed by Favrielle, and he's looking pretty swank. Because Bruce Wayne. And Reasons.]

All right, Keeliai, I have a business opportunity to propose. As of right now, I'm relaunching Wayne Enterprises. For those of you who've never heard the name before, it's a multi-national business conglomerate with a focus on humanitarian aid and the like, based out of Gotham City back home.

Anyway. For the duration of my stay here, I'm looking to start in pharmaceuticals - I'm sure you've all noticed the kedan have never even heard of ibuprofen - and work our way up from there. Essentially, I'm looking to better the quality of life for everyone on Tu Vishan, foreigner and local alike.

If anyone's interested in working for me, or if you have experience in a pharmaceutical field, feel free to contact me over the network. We can arrange a meeting in person if you'd prefer. Confidentiality is guaranteed in either case. I'm paying twice the rates the kedan offer, and I've arranged it with the local authorities such that any time you work towards me counts towards your overall work 'obligation' [can you hear the finger quotes falling around that word] here in Keeliai.

Thanks for your time.




[ooc; tags will be sketchy, but I wanted to get this up and get the ball rolling on this plot before I poofed from the internet. <3]

Comments

[redjay]

Yeah. Because that went so well last time.
Don't expect me to be idle when you step on my trade.

[cowled]

Jason. Please.

[Even typed, the word is somehow stiff. Every moment of this is a fight. Worse than just an uphill battle, because he's fighting his own natural tendencies to shut everything down and away. Bruce knows - has always known - how poorly he deals with emotional turmoil, and how poorly he deals with Jason specifically.

There was no bleaker period in his life than that which followed Jason's death. Losing his parents was a child's trauma. Losing Jason was a father's. One shaped his life. The other nearly ruined it.]

[redjay]

We're talking.
Here and now.

[cowled]

[Jason's words tell him what he already knew. This is as good as he's going to get. For once in his life, Bruce doesn't push.]

I'm from nearly three years past your point in the timeline. A lot has happened since then. It's why I wasn't surprised to see you.

[redjay]

[He scoffs at that and Bruce gets a quick reply.]

I figured that.
Tell me something I don't know.

[cowled]

[Bruce fights down a brief flash of temper, ages old.

There are so many things he could say to that. If I'd known Talia had found you, nothing in the world could have kept me from you is only one of many. One of millions.

He starts several sentences. Deletes them. Starts over. Finally,]

If you ever want to come home, there's a place for you here.

[redjay]

[This reply takes a day to appear on Bruce's screen.]

I turned 19 last month.
I've outgrown scaly shorts and capes.

[It's not a no, and he could have been crueler by saying he's outgrown you, Batman, Bruce.

But he didn't.]

[cowled]

I'm not asking you to be Robin. I'm telling you you're still my son. No matter what you choose to do with your life, Jason, that will never change. I've never believed in using familial terms lightly.

... Happy Birthday.

[redjay]

[He taps on the keys.

Considers.

Considers.

A night of bruising later.]

That won't stop me, you know

[cowled]

I'm not trying to stop you.

[Maybe he's learned how dragging people along to suit your will tends to break theirs first. Especially when that will belongs to the Batman.

Bruce doesn't know how to... bend for others. He trained himself to be absolute, uncompromising. To live without uncertainty, even though he's felt it often enough--

(and for a moment, he remembers standing on the edge of Gotham's highest tower, the Tengu mask in his hand as he looked down and felt terror at the drop, the distance-- but he was broken then)

--to know that not even he is immune. What makes him different from other men is that he can and does fight it. But compromise?

There are numerous martial arts that are designed to redirect an opponent's force back at them. Bruce has a tendency to use those throws in combat when necessary. But he can apply those techniques in other ways, too.

Maybe it's not bending so much as redirecting energies better used elsewhere.

He closes his eyes briefly meditative. His fingers are steepled in front of him and his index fingers are resting against his mouth as he simply tries to clear his mind. This was a technique that took him a long time to master. Simply thinking of nothing at all. There are so many layers and complexities to his thought processes that shutting them out takes a supreme effort of will.

But when it's done, he sets once again to typing.

Redirection of force.]

I just needed you to know.

[redjay]

[fuck

fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck
fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck
fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck
fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck]

Well gosh.
Now I know, how goddamn touching

But it doesn't change anything.

[cowled]

[Bruce leans back from his console, one elbow propped on the desk, index finger tracing the curve of his brow.

More than anything, he's tired.

He's tired of the cowl, the history and the weight of it on his shoulders. He's tired of being reminded of all the people he couldn't save, and the repercussions of the ones he has. He remembers bending over the Joker to perform CPR after Dick beat him to death and--

How bad would it have been? How bad could it truly have been, just to let him die? Ignoring the obvious - the Joker's blood on Dick's hands. What if he hadn't dove in front of him in that helicopter over the bay? What if he hadn't constructed a Lazarus pit to revive him after Ra's shot him?

How much would it have cost him, to be able to say 'the Joker's dead?'

He feels the pressure of vertigo build in his chest. He swallows it down.

He justified Darkseid. He didn't kill him, but he shot him intending to. The actual job fell to others, but he'd have finished it himself if he hadn't been flung into time by the Omega Sanction.

What makes Darkseid different from the Joker? Bruce knows - accepted a long time ago - that the Joker will never be rehabilitated. Maybe he clings to the fact that it was his failure that created the Joker. That if this one thing can't be made right...

He drags his hand over his face. He needs to shave. He needs to sleep. But he won't do either, not for a while.

He doesn't know how to end this conversation on anything that isn't a dismissal or a low note. He considers, very strongly, just ignoring it. But he can't.]

I'm not giving up on you, Jason.

[The words are dragged out of him, but his hands stay still as he writes them.]

[redjay]

[He convinced himself many times that being replaced wasn't the problem. Look, he took the place of Dick Grayson. It happens. It's just a natural progression of things. People get lost, they get replaced, someone fills the void.

Yet his fingers work faster than his brain.]

Is that what you said when you took up another Robin?
Yeah, I didn't think so

[redjay]

You're right
We should do this in person next time


[Disconnect]