Rive offcom log, last week of Halloween: BittyBruce.
Tim: *totally knocks on bitty-Bruce's door?* >.>
Bruce: ... Who is it?
Tim: *swallow* It's Stevie.
Bruce: *... slowly opens the door, just a crack. Looks around to make sure it's just Stevie. ... lets him in*
Stevie: *quick smile! Doesn't reach his eyes. Slips in and kicks the door shut easy.* Hey. *... this boy is half his age. Gonna need a sec to size him up. Or something.*
Bruce: Hello. *locks the door behind him before standing there awkwardly for a moment, as if trying to decide something, then extends his hand, like Alfred and his mom taught him to. Strong handshakes are important, but crushing ones are rude.*
Stevie: *um, okay. He can do that. Shakes* Um. So. *right, briefing, important info* There's five of us in this house, all okay guys. *Even if Miharu's kind of weird sometimes* You been talking over the journals?
Bruce: Yes. If that's what you call the book. Mine's in... I think it's the kitchen.
Stevie: *blink.* You wanna go get it? *flicks a glance at the locked door.* House's open.
Bruce: Well... I just... we were kidnapped, right? Or... abducted, I think? Doesn't that mean we're all in danger?
Stevie: Nope. *pause. Think. Elaborate.* It's a magic thing. So it's not like there's anyone behind it. *we think.* There's some bad guys around, but outside- and mostly at night. *tilts head* Kinda like any city.
Bruce: But... someone said that there was someone behind it. *frowning now. Brow furrowed. Someone was lying here.*
Stevie: *chews on his lip. Thinking face.* There's lots of different theories. *leans back against the wall, guard totally down around Bruce.* They used to think some god was doing it. But he died before I got here.
Bruce: ... A god? Who died?
Stevie: The god did. I mean, that's what I hear. I don't really get it. *and it bothers him to admit that*
Bruce: No, I meant... A God can die? Or... are we talking about like in mythology?
Stevie: Yeah. Um. I talked to some other gods - seriously, for real - and one of them thanked the lady who killed him. I never read that much about it? *except the required reading on Wonder Woman* So I dunno.
Bruce: ... So what are the other theories?
Tim: Magic? Other gods. And something about the multiverse. Listen, you wanna get some lunch?
Bruce: ... Multiverse? I thought that was only in comics. And... I'm... not really that hungry. *He hadn't been since his parents died. Having that looping in your head tended to kill your appetite, even with Alfred's famous waffles staring you down.*
Tim: *frank* I am. C'mon, I'll show you where they keep the peanut butter.
Bruce: Okay. *well, if the other boy's hungry, that's fine. It's not like he doesn't expect anyone else to eat, either. Besides. Even if he doesn't exactly know this boy very well, it's nice not to be alone*
Tim: *Cool. He can just slide the lock and lead the way then, totally giving the tour.* Yoite's room is down the hall - he's sick so he doesn't come out much. *eyes dip.* Usually that's where you see Miharu. *looking away hastily!* Giselle's usually downstairs.
Bruce: There sure are a lot of people that were brought here, weren't there?
Tim: Dozens. *chews his lip, amends* Prob'ly hundreds. *slides hand along the banister goin' down*
Bruce: *his eyes widen in surprise* Hundreds? And no one's figured out how to stop it?
Tim: *scowl!* We're workin' on it.
Bruce: *frowns, murmuring softly* Magic...
Tim: *mutters back* And notta sorcerer in sight. *kitchen! Sandwich time. Totally making two.*
Bruce: *plops himself in a seat* So... is that why things don't make sense here? Magic?
Tim: One reason. *oh hey that's your journal, tossing it back without looking*
Bruce: *catches it and sets it down on the table* ... There was someone who said he'd stop by. Jimmy. Is he safe?
Tim: *immediately his shoulders un-tense, and the smile's real.* Yeah. Heh. Actually he's my brother. *diggin' peanut butter out*
Bruce: Oh. It must be nice to have someone you know here.
Tim: ... Yeah. *makin' sandwiches the Alfred way* Helps a lot.
Bruce: *notices, but he always assumed EVERYONE made sandwiches the same way Alfred does, because it's the Alfred way, so it must be the right one.* This is an awful lot of people to be taken from Gotham. I never heard about any mass abductions on the news, though....
Tim: Yoite's from Japan. *totally. Efficiency is at eleven, sandwich is on the plate and in front of the kid.* So's Miharu, I guess. And I don't even know where Giselle grew up. *Candyland?*
Bruce: ... Oh. So. ... Magic. Right. *is beginning to get the feeling this will become a common answer to a lot of his questions*
Tim: *sigh.* There's some common factors. It's not totally random. Milk?
Bruce: ... Sure. Thanks. What kind of common factors?
Tim: *pours.* It's like... almost everybody's got some kinda story to tell. We almost never get a nobody.
Bruce: A nobody? *Alfred had told him that everyone had a story to tell. Well, in Gotham, at least, anyway.*
Tim: Somebody with no job, no history. *For him it's much more black n' white. There's the guys that make the papers, and those that don't.*
Bruce: Everyone has a history.
Tim: *tch* You'd think.