Aternaville's nighttime protectors

[futureinmotion]

Who: Alice Cullen, Carrot Ironfoundersson, and Tim Drake
What: Orchestrating a chance encounter
Where:
When: Tuesday evening, March 13
Why: Because Alice likes to keep tabs on her friends
Rating: G? PG?

Comments

[emit_dark]

"Eh, don't worry about it, I'm in school most of the day anyway and..oh.." Suddenly Tim remembered something about an informal curfew being suggested by the head of the Night Watch in a post on the town forums. A lot of the local parents had been enforcing it on their own anyway, with the monster attacks still happening. All told, he was the only minor on the street at the moment, and the blunder made him wince a little.

'Rookie mistake, Kiddo.' Dick's voice sounded in his head. More and more often he'd been hearing the former Robin as opposed to his mentor.

"Er, I'm not gonna get in trouble, am I, for being out?" Though the police were unlikely to inforce something so informal, Carrot always seemed so up-standing when he saw him on the beat, it was hard for him to gauge. "I know I shouldn't be, with the monsters and all but it was just such a nice day I forgot."

'Play innocent, that always gets them.'

The entire time, Tim hadn't really been looking at anything but Carrot's sword where it hung at his hip. Unlike a lot of little boys Tim had never dreamed of being a knight or living out a fantasy quest as a kid--he'd only wanted to be Robin-- but still, swords were cool.

[cptn_carrot]

"No, no trouble, lad," Carrot assured him. "Although it isn't really a good idea for anyone to be out alone at night presently. These monster attacks may be rare, but they're not gone. Does your guardian know you're out?" It wasn't an accusation, but rather a solicitous inquiry. He thought that Tim Drake was the friend of Alba's that the Baron had mentioned, though Balaz hadn't mentioned who Tim's guardian was. Either way, Carrot didn't want to see any harm come to him.

"It's all right," Alice put in, amusement glinting in her light brown eyes. "Tim's always got someone watching out for him." It was an innocuous enough statement and clearly Carrot didn't pick up anything else from it.

"Still. I hope you'll let me walk you home. I'm certain you would be fine, but it would make me feel better."

[emit_dark]

"Yeah, he knows." It was hard not to smile, thinking of Abe sitting back in the tank in the apartment, listening to the entire exchange through the mask stuffed into a jean pocket. For a moment Tim glanced up at Alice, catching that something in her tone that Carrot missed entirely. His heart beat furiously for a moment and his mind flooded with questions.

'Did she see something, did something change, is Bruce coming?

Suddenly Carrot's presence was vaguely annoying because Tim wanted to know, but at least until they reached the Marina he couldn't ask.

'Oh well, went in doubt, play the excitable kid card.'

Of course, there was the irony of a kid like him, with his past, getting escorted home by a policeman that was so funny it was almost surreal. Especially given his other occupation.

"Wicked, I've never had a cop escort me anywhere before." 'That wasn't my own front door.' "And uh, cool sword, by the way. I fenced a little in school back home, but I'm too young to be on any of the school teams in town yet." No, he'd have to wait for high school, which sucked.

Not that, he didn't have an entire training facility all to himself, but it was something that as a sport, he'd genuinely taken too while Bruce was training him.

[futureinmotion]

Alice spotted the sudden intensity in Tim's eyes, and her smile took on a tinge of understanding and sympathy. Dropping her gaze briefly, she gave her head a little shake. She did want to talk to the boy, but she didn't want him to get himself all worked up in anticipation of news she couldn't give. That was the sucky part of being a seer: she almost never got to give people the predictions they wanted.

Carrot's smile was sunny and a bit confused. "No, no, not wicked. It isn't because you've done anything wrong. Just a precaution, you see." 'Cool' was one he'd run into already since arriving here, although he still didn't really understand it. He knew it was meant to be a compliment, anyway. He touched the plain hilt at his waist. "Thank you. I don't know if it's particularly 'cool', but I've had it a very long time." Dropping his hand, he turned back to Tim. "If you're interested in practicing, you might talk to Baron Balaz. You're friends with his ward, aren't you? He's very skilled, the best I've met; he would likely be willing to teach you."

[emit_dark]

Tim raised a hand, rubbing the back of his neck bashfully to hide the momentary disapointment Alice's silent motions betrayed. The motion also summed up how The Baron generally made him feel.

"Oh, um, I'm friends with Alba but I...don't think The Baron likes me all that much." If their one and only meeting was any indication at least. "Alba and I were out playing late one day and he wasn't too happy about that."

'And if he ever finds out Alba's in training to be a superhero, he really will kill me.'

"Besides, I have other ways to learn, the internet and watching professional tournaments and things like that, I'm a pretty fast learner." Here there was an edge of pride, because if Batman ever complimented him, that was how. Besides, he'd known how to use a batarang before Bruce ever took him in, and while he wasn't a trained acrobat like Dick, his base skillset was nothing to sneeze at. "Good enough to maybe help out the Night Watch one day." He looked up at the two adults with the sort of youthful, innocent optimism that was the best disguise of all.

[cptn_carrot]

Carrot nodded understandingly. He was entirely self-taught himself, and Tim had a much earlier start than he'd had, so the boy had a good chance of becoming proficient even if he never had an instructor. Though of course having a sparring partner was always going to be the best way to learn.

"That's very commendable," he told Tim earnestly. "I'm certain you'll learn very well if you apply yourself. And if you would like, I'd be willing to practice with you. Though I'm not especially skilled myself," honesty prompted him to add, "I manage well enough."

Alice had far too much practice keeping her expression straight to even crack a smile at Tim's innocent act, but her amber eyes glittered with humor. "I've never learned anything with swords." This was true; there wasn't much point (no pun intended) when you were basically indestructible, and stronger and faster than nearly anything. "I'll bet you'll be able to help the Watch a lot, Tim. Someday!"

[emit_dark]

It was hard not to acknowledge the glint of humor in Alice's eyes, but in the spirit of things Tim grinned goofily at her compliment. "Wow, you really think so? I'd love to have someone to practice with, that'd be great!"

As they walked Tim went into a fencing position and mimed dueling his shadow as the streetlight cast it in front of him. The mock fight spanned the sidewalk, and where a trash can or bench blocked his path he spun out of the way; lept light-footed as a cat to balance on the very edge of the curb, keeping form until he lazily vaulted into a hand spring, landing over a foot ahead of where Alice and Carrot were walking, just turning onto Meadowoods.

"Home sweet home, right down there." Tim said, pointing down Candlestick Maker Street, he grinned up at Carrot. "I think I can take it from here."