ANGSTDAY PART THREE: REVENGE OF THE ANGST

[sturmnbatarangs]

Who: Bruce Wayne and YOU
What: MORE NAVELGAZING AND SADNESS because it's his parents' deathday baw
When: June 26th, 10:47 PM
Where: Random hallway!
Warnings: ANGST ANGST ANGST also I am starting out with prose but please feel free to use [action brackets] if you want!

Comments

[notwhelmed]

Like Dick could forget a date like this. He's a stupid, insensitive brat when he wanted to, but that didn't mean he didn't know better.

So you should probably expect the small boy, standing behind you quietly. He's dressed nice and formal for the occasion, with his hair slicked back neatly. He doesn't say anything though, letting Bruce have his moment of silence. It's not like Dick has been in an awfully good mood as of late with the whole perfume fiasco. So he can understand the loss of parents even more then usual this time. Not that he doesn't miss them any less usually.

Still, he'll wait until Bruce wants to speak before saying anything.

[sturmnbatarangs]

He wasn't expecting him, actually, though he showed no surprise when he showed up. In fact, for a few moments, he makes no move to acknowledge Dick at all. This is what they did; in moments like these it became obvious that their 'family' was composed of people barely staying together after losses like these, as skewed as the age differences and dynamics were in this case.

Bruce didn't like Dick. He hadn't for decades, ever since the business with... with the Joker, and the fights that resulted from that, and Bruce had washed his hands of him. But it was so much easier to remember that when Dick was an adult, instead of a kid barely any older than when they first met who little more than a week ago was reliving his own worst moment.

"It's been one of those months, hasn't it." He says it mostly to break the silence more than anything else.

[notwhelmed]

Dick knows that you know he's there though. Even at old age, he doubts you've become terrible less unobservant and Dick didn't exactly try and sneak up on the other. He doesn't know much about what happens between them in the future, but right now, you're still his father figure. Despite the age difference.

Just don't tell Dick that. He's still at an age where he's just trying to meet your expectations. He'd probably be quite upset to know that they had some huge falling out.

"Nothing we can't get past," he replies back thoughtfully. "It doesn't get any easier though."

[sturmnbatarangs]

That makes him fall quiet again, but this time it's more pained. In his own world, however many years ago, he had told Dick- his Dick- that it would get easier. For him. This may had been a different Dick, but it was just one more promise he didn't keep.

It had been so long....

He took a deep breath to refocus. "We can improve things here. We might not be able to stop the wormholes from taking people, but anything we find could at least give everyone... closure."

[notwhelmed]

He shuffles from one foot to the other quietly. Dick didn't like the silence, but he didn't want to break it either, so he'll fidget a bit instead. He didn't know what Bruce was thinking. There was a lot he didn't know after all.

"We can, and will." His brows furrow a little. "There isn't a lot I can do here, but I know we can find some information to help the others around here. There's a lot that we can do to help out."

[sturmnbatarangs]

"You're fairly good at technology." It's not so much of a question as it is a statement of fact- his Dick would play those games, yes, but he never seemed to get near the level of enthusiasm that this one had. "That's an easy start that you can take. You've heard about the Purists by now?"

Getting more people on watch behind the scenes could be more beneficial than outright opposing them, not that he isn't planning on doing both. With a good enough technological in, they could stop anything that would come up before it started.

[notwhelmed]

"I have to make up the lack of powers to assist you and my team in anyway possible," he replies back. He didn't want to be the weakest link, so he had to outshine somewhere. And he wanted Bruce to think he wasn't just some halfbeat sidekick. "I did some meager research on it, but I haven't quite dove straight into it yet. But to answer your question, I have heard and know of them."

Dick is good at the whole behind the scenes deal. Who would suspect a kid like him being full of suspicious knowledge. Well..okay maybe a lot of people on this ship. But Dick liked knowing more then he should.

[sturmnbatarangs]

He nods the information off- it's common sense at this point, no reason to assume Dick's universe was any different from his own. He does, however, seize the opportunity to lecture.

"They're good at covering their tracks, I can say that much. It's been clear they've been around for a while, even though we're just now hearing about them as an organized group. We just have to be better." And there goes the significant look- it's always like this, it's their job to do what they do so the rest of the population doesn't have to. The problem was that this particular population wasn't exactly full of civilians who needed protecting.

[notwhelmed]

"They're good. But we've always made it clear that we're better or will be better. The same here as it was at home of course," he says confidently. "It's different though. A lot of the civilians here can do a lot themselves." Actually, it's really weird. The whole protecting civilians thing is quite different here.

"That doesn't make our job any easier though."

[sturmnbatarangs]

"I'd think it makes it all the harder. Most people here are accustomed to some sort of fighting, but they aren't accustomed to fighting intelligently, not in a situation like this." Never exactly one to spare words as it was, and certainly not about other people's shortcomings. "They don't know how to react properly, but they will try to react anyway. So we have to end this before most of them become aware of it."

[notwhelmed]

"It'll be fun." Because the best way to deal with things is to make it more like a game. "Gives us a time limit, even if it's slightly undetermined. And, well, we've always done things where the odds are against us." Maybe he's still young to say things so freely. Or maybe he's just got some unwavering determination to prove himself better.

[sturmnbatarangs]

"This isn't fun," he snaps, though instead of coming out reprimanding like it would on any other day, it's much more somber, almost bitter. Why did they always think this was some sort of game-

But he needs to get off that train of thought; he's got enough to think about today as it was. "This is important, Dick- not that anything we've done before hasn't been."

[notwhelmed]

"I think it is. Helping people out. Making sure that people are protected and safe. It's fun." Or maybe Dick has a really messed up sense of enjoying himself. Thirteen and he rather save a life then hang out at the mall.

"I know it is. But, what's the point in being miserable about it?"

[sturmnbatarangs]

"It's good. It doesn't mean it's a game. You have to take this seriously-"

He breaks off, because his thoughts are coming dangerously close to the one topic he absolutely will not discuss- the one he won't even stand to think about. He was... foolish. Presumptuous. To endanger children this badly, to make it so natural for them. He knew this. It was harder, much harder, when he was confronted by it on a daily basis because of 'his' actions in another universe.

[notwhelmed]

"I didn't say it was a game. I know the worth of a life. I'm not going to endanger someone's life because I wanted to be a kid about it." He frowns a little. "It's what I agreed to when you asked me to take this job on. I guess nine is a pretty young age to take this seriously, but I know better."

Or maybe he doesn't.

[sturmnbatarangs]

"...I know."

There was a pause as he let the memories bleed out of him, because there was no reason to take it out on this Dick. "Nine years... you were twelve, in my world."

He had said it already, back when they first met, but this was just another reminder of how much danger he was putting them in. Would he have allowed Robin if Dick had been nine? He'd like to think no... but he knew the sense of justice a nine year old could crave, and it was obvious that in some universe, somewhere, nine wasn't too young.