Target Practice

[emit_dark]

 Who: Tim and Alba
Where: The Park
When: January 11th, after class
What: It's all in the reflexes....
Rating: PG 
Status: Closed, Incomplete

Comments

[ablealba]

She watched in amazement. This would be so useful! She couldn't believe it. Granted, she could only use it here. Alba brushed a little bit of snow off her coat as she made sure to take in what he'd done and imitate it. Alba was pretty excellent at imitation.

"Something close?" She took a step closer to the tree. "How about the trunk?" It was a nice thick target. Without waiting for a response, she moved herself into the same position that Tim had previously been in and tried to relax. "How was that?" she asked after hitting it square in the trunk.

[emit_dark]

"Yeah that's---" Tim paused a moment in mute surprise as the batarang stuck into the tree with a dull thunk. "That's actually really good. Wow. Okay, now just try throwing it so it'll come back to you." Moving forward to retrieve it, Tim noted how deep the thing had stuck itself.

"Try to disarm me now. Throw it so it'll hit your target and still come back to you." Tim plunged his hand into the pile of snow at his feet and found the cut branch, walking over to give Alba back the weapon and stand a comparable distance away. "I know you mentioned relying on speed before, which is great but nothing beats being able to disarm at a distance. Come on, you got this." It was impossible to repress the smile that edged above the scarf that nearly covered his mouth. She was good, but with his help...with his help, she would be great.

[ablealba]

"You sound surprised," Alba grinned. She was usually pretty good at things when she tried them. She tried as he suggested, aiming at thin air and it did in fact come back to her, a little bit more slowly than she'd intended but it was awesome!

After that, she looked at Tim standing with the branch with a look of concentration. Alba stopped, chewing on her bottom lip. "How will it just come back? Is there a trick beyond just aiming it there?" She noticed his smile and raised her eyebrows slightly. "I try to just avoid danger when possible, not actively seek it out." After all, what good was a batarang if it was left back here and she was twenty years in the past.

[emit_dark]

"It's about angling it properly, anticipating the trajectory." Tim informed his trainee, holding the branch at chest height. "Sorta like playing baseball." He waited until she was ready, breath steaming out from under the scarf that covered his mouth. "And don't be afraid of hitting me, I've had worse. In Gotham you don't always have a choice about danger seeking you out." The thought brought about a wry chuckle.

'Especially not in my line of work.'

"Give it a shot."

[ablealba]

She nodded. Alba had never played baseball for a full season, but she could hit a ball and catch a ball rather well from being taught when younger. Her agility was still good. "What d'you mean you've had worse?" Alba asked, concerned. Sure, she'd had to run away from people, cars, animals, and all sorts of things, as well as worry about being caught naked or stealing something. But Tim wasn't a time traveler. He shouldn't have to be hit.

Finally, Alba relaxed and aimed, trying to angle it right. She let it go and it hit the top of the branch rather than the middle as she'd intended. But it was the branch!

[emit_dark]

Tim waited until Alba took her shot before replying. Her aim was off, but the batarang still bounced back at a good angle, enough that it fell into the snow a few steps ahead of her

[ablealba]

Alba skipped up the few steps until she reached the batarang and listened to Tim as he spoke. "Oh my goodness, Tim," she said quietly. Alba walked up to him and gave him a hug without thinking it further through. "I'm sorry about that." What had happened, not the hug. Obviously.

She nodded at his wise words and walked back to the distance she'd been at previously. "Probably a good idea so Mr. Baron doesn't get too worried about me." She got herself back into the position again and concentrated anew. She managed to hit just a shade above where she'd meant to, but the batarang had come straight back to her. Alba was almost too shocked to catch it.

[emit_dark]

The hug was unexpected and Tim went rigid, blushing as much as the cold would allow him. The only other girl who'd treated him like that was Barbara, and only on an especially bad night

[ablealba]

"Still stinks," she said in response to him.

Alba grinned excitedly at her friend as she managed it. "I can set a place out in the back yard." Hopefully Mr. Baron wouldn't mind that she was working with the batarang in addition to her fencing and other lessons.

Alba shrugged and scrunched her nose up a little. "He worries about me way more than he should, but a lot." It was on par with the amount her mother worried about her, so Alba was used to it. If it was more than her mom, she'd have considered it to be a lot. "He's actually a baron. Definitely nobility." She wasn't quite sure about whether royalty was the right word. "But not from like, here. You know," she started, uncharacteristically not looking at Tim as she was speaking. "He said he was interested in meeting you." Alba kept going along, hoping Tim wouldn't totally freak out over it.

[emit_dark]

"Awesome, it's best to have a place to practice. I practice with the stalactites in the cave back home. The bats don't like it much, but I think they're used to it by now." He'd hope so, with how much time he and Batgirl spent training there

[ablealba]

"What happened when you broke all of the icicles?" Because Alba was certain that Tim was better at it than she was, given what she'd seen.

Alba nodded at him. "My mom's sort of like that with me back home. Discipline and worry going hand in hand." Though there was much more worry than discipline. Alba didn't blame her mom for it, though. She was worried about her dad so it made sense that her mom worried about her.

She grimaced slightly. "Yeah, he's decided he wants to meet my friends." There was more to it, to be honest, but Alba was going to give the more generic, overprotective guardian sort of answer. "I don't know if he'd count as super exciting..." Even though he was a vampire. "He is very big on proper manners, which is actually pretty entertaining."

[emit_dark]

"I left them a few," Tim said a little defensively. He liked the bats, the problem was their favorite hang out spots were his favorite targets, especially when he was lazy about training. "They mostly retreat further into the cave." He said with a shrug.

Tim chuckled at the idea of discipline going hand-in-hand. To say that Bruce kept his feels close to his chest was the understatement of the century, but he knew the old man cared. It showed in the countless times he pushed Tim out of the way of danger--from guns to grenades to freeze rays. That had been terrifying. "Yeah, I know what you mean...Bruce is only like that because he cares. He can just be...awful about showing it sometimes." It was the price of, well...being Bruce Wayne, he supposed.

At manners though, Tim winced. "Should I dress nice or something?" He did actually have nice clothes-- he never knew when he'd need to blend in at some big to-do...not that Aternaville looked like the sort of place where 'to-do's' happened, but one could never be certain.

[ablealba]

"No, silly," she giggled. "I mean, what'd you use for practice after you used them all up." Alba didn't think that the bats would have a huge problem, and if they did, they probably would just avoid the people coming into their caves.

Alba raised her eyebrows. "Awful as in closed off or awful as in overly huggy, touchy-feely, mushy?" Alba knew some people thought the latter was embarrassing. And she was sure she'd get embarrassed eventually, but she didn't when her parents had been that way.

"Oh, ummmm, I don't know. I just mean, he's very proper. If you ever wanted to know what you're supposed to do in a situation, he'd be the one to ask."

[emit_dark]

"Oh, um..." Alba's giggle was cute and rather distracting, but that wasn't what had thrown him. "I set up a little practice area deeper in the caves." He replied, hoping she wouldn't ask for details--he didn't like coming close to admitting he had a whole training ground at his disposal at his secret cave in his super awesome mansion.

"And, um, definitely closed off. I don't think I've ever seen Bruce smile." His second understatement of the night, and only slightly smaller than his first. As they came off of Meadowwoods Street, Tim decided to lead them past main and down to Tweleth, if only because he never came that way and wasn't all that familiar with the shops yet. "I saw him genuinely happy once and it was...weird."

Cocking his head as he listened Tim nodded. So 'Mr. Baron' was one of those types. "I'll...make sure to brush up on my ettiqute then-- Oh, wow, a pet shop!" At first Tim thought by the fascade it was another Chinese restaurant, but no, the sign betrayed the building as a pet shop. "Weird."

[ablealba]

"And you never had the problem where you just broke all the icicles and needed something else to hit?" It just seemed almost impossible. Unless he didn't practice as much as she'd figured.

Alba's eyes widened. "How in the world can you never smile?!" she asked as if it were akin to raining cats and dogs or pigs flying. Sure, there were tons of reasons in the world to frown or be upset, but to never smile was too unthinkable. "Why was it weird to see him happy?? Was he just like. Constantly doom and gloom?"

She nodded back. "Probably a good idea. I know mostly about it if you need help. Sometimes it's fun to do the opposite just to see how he reacts," Alba couldn't help a mischievous smile. "Oh yeah, very cool pet shop." She couldn't help but want to get a pet every time she'd entered but it was irresponsible.

[emit_dark]

"Well I found other targets, the caves are huge!"

'Dodged a bullet on that one. Jeez she's good.'Before the thought could even finish, Tim was already taking in her indignance at the idea that Bruce never smiled and burst out laughing right there. He almost wished Nightwing were there to hear that. It had surprised Tim once too, but he'd gotten used to it pretty quick. "He...doesn't have a lot to smile about? And yeah, gloom, doom, glowering, the whole nine yards." The day that glare didn't haunt Tim's dreams was the day he gave up his mask and mantle