The First Broad Daylight (Fourth Wall)

[cowledcrusader]

[The thing about sudden influxes of people means Batman's constantly busy and can't inevitably stay away from everyone because they're everywhere.  So most of his stalking he expects to be bothered... and in fact, it probably will be.

He'll be out in the open a few times today, investigating inevitable disturbances in the village.]

Comments

[titango]

[Batman might also have some of his stalking time spent being stalked by another. Cool with you, Bruce?]

[cowledcrusader]

[It's fine. But when he's sure he's alone from other individuals and their prying eyes... well, other than a certain person's...]

...You're getting better, Robin. But I've known you were there for awhile.

[titango]

[....Crap. But his dismay is quickly swallowed up by the anger that happens when Batman proves himself to be exactly the patronizing jerkface Robin remembers. "You're getting better," like he's some toddler looking for a cookie.]

...Well hello to you too.

[cowledcrusader]

[It's as close to a compliment as Batman ever gets. You know that. But he's younger than Dick Grayson from his time.]

Good to see you're well. How long have you been here in Luceti.

[titango]

[He is TOTALLY ALMOST SIXTEEN. That's practically Adult in some countries! >|]

As long as any of the non-winged have, from what I can tell. Surprised you've been here since April. [He spent yesterday with his nose in Beast Boy's journal obsessing over learning as much as he could about this place and its inhabitants.]

[cowledcrusader]

[Initative. Good man.]

You've found the influx of the non-winged strange as well, haven't you?

[titango]

I've been informed by more than one person that I should rightfully not be breathing right now.

[This is also THE WEIRDEST CONVERSATION. Don't think this means he doesn't still hate you, Bruce. Because he totally does. This is just slightly more important.]

[cowledcrusader]

If you came here under normal circumstances, you wouldn't be. Removal of the Filial Wings is instant death.

Considering you and so many others arrived under specific conditions, the rules are clearly different for you. ...Though there is no definitive answer to how long it can stay this way.

[titango]

It looks like there's a break from the status quo. I'd assume there's a chance that I'm in a better position to finding a way out than the rest of you as far as this construct has been built. [He's just been lingering here for too long, though. There are some people he hasn't seen in almost a year. He can't resist the spying.]

[cowledcrusader]

Even beings on the outside have wings. I suspect that your arrival was due to an errant Shift. An accident.

...If anything, I'd say you're correct about finding a way out.

[titango]

Hmph. Not like you to admit someone else is right about anything. [Okay, so maybe it just slipped out. That doesn't mean he's going to be in a hurry to take it back.]

[cowledcrusader]

[Unsurprisingly, he doesn't look bothered by this much. Maybe he's gotten used to you saying it, Dick. ...And depending, Batman may look and sound older than what you remember.

But the comment brings up plenty of unpleasant memories of the final few months Dick Grayson had been Robin in his world. The growing rift between them and Dick's growing frustration. Honestly, this still bothered Bruce in his more private moments, but he knew what Dick did was his own decision.

All of his pushing, his prodding, his expectations? They were for something greater. Batman and Robin stood for more than just being crimefighters. But to be more than that, mistakes couldn't happen. And even besides creating a "legend"... one of the most important things was always that his teammates, his family, made it home alive.

Of course, he never said that out loud. Maybe he should've. But dwelling on it was something that he really couldn't do much. Because there were causes much higher than his own happiness he had to pursue. Because few others

[titango]

[Perhaps the Dick in his world had been of a lonelier sort. Though he never really stopped self-identifying as Dick Grayson, he also wasn't one to have much in the way of dates, and hadn't really socialized properly until college. Whereas this Robin had long since given up attempting to maintain himself as Dick at all, and already slipped into more Batmanisms than he'd care to admit.

Maybe there was a plan after all. But going in accordance with that plan didn't have to be mutually exclusive to turning coldhearted and solitary. And that was the bit Batman could never understand, the bit that always tempted him most severely when Slade Wilson took an interest in him. A real family worked as a unit stronger than the sum of its parts. Each member could have its flaws, but there would always be another nearby to ensure everyone returned home in one piece.

Bruce would never get that. It wasn't in his nature. And that's what's making it so hard to keep looking at him now.] ....I'll get it done as soon as I can. And then you can go back to

[cowledcrusader]

Jump City?

[There's a brief look of confusion on his face which might surprise even Robin.]

...Hm. I thought you looked different. ...You're not the same Robin I know from my universe. No less of one, but different.

[titango]

Jump City. In California. ...Where Titans Tower is. [...And now he'll be regarding Batman curiously. Had Batman been here so long he was already starting to lose his tenuous grip on sanity?]

...Is this another one of your tests?

[cowledcrusader]

Hardly.

If you were the Robin from my world, you'd still be attending high school in Gotham City. And there's no "Jump City" anywhere within the state of California. And there's no "Titan's Tower" either.

Luceti has a habit of bringing people from all sorts of different worlds together, even alternate worlds of existing planets.

It would seem you and I come from different worlds, or at the very least, different timestreams from each other.