two birds in sober plumage
When you've been to Carnival in Rio and Venice and Mardi Gras in New Orleans, the entire universe seems pale in comparison. Literally. Even Tamaranian culture - with their orange princesses with even brighter hair - doesn't throw up anything as colorful. Take the phrase "drenched in sunlight." Change "sunlight" to "color" and add "dappled, splashed, splattered, painted, teeming" and maybe it's starting to get close. The Rainbow Lantern corpa might match it, maybe, but for sheer technicolor spectacle, nothing beats Rio for me.
Keep in mind I spent my youth running around in red and gold with a green armored jock, and I grew up in a circus, okay? I love color.
But tonight, I dress in sober blue and black and let Tim and the others wear the peacock feathers. If anyone asks, it's so Tim can enjoy the party in confidence, knowing that I've got patrol. And because Dinah's not ready to face a party yet, and even with all the differences in our universes, she still knows me best of everyone. Both those reasons are real reasons, but the true one matches my uniforms. Both the one I have on, and the one in mine and Alfred's care that I'm still working out what to do with.
Bev couldn't use the nanobots on Benny's wrist because I didn't find her fast enough and the healing already started. Peter got stabbed in the chest - and a handful of other people got injured - because I'm not effective here on the island.
Patrol tonight's a penance, and somehow that's fitting. Giving up parties for Lent would be backwards for a lot of reasons, but the message I gave Bart - grow up - applies to me too. I have a lot of thinking to do, and enjoying the party between shadows, doing what I do best, revisiting the issues with Dinah who thinks more like I do about team than almost anyone, that's a good start.
They make a long circuit first while everyone's filtering into the party, verifying the whereabouts of those who live farthest and checking the dino fence. It's redundant with the IPD's function, which is something else he's thinking about, but needed or not, the habit of using his own eyes and ears is too ingrained ever to fade even if he wanted it to.
The party's already in full swing when they wing in toward the Compound and make what will be the first of several circuits for the night. Pausing in the deep shadows, he turns to Dinah and twitches a wry Bat smile for all of the masks and costumes spilling in and out of the Compound. "I can never decide whether I love Halloween and Mardi Gras or hate them. We blend, but on the other hand, we blend." We being all the costumes on both sides of the moral equation.
She appreciates Dick taking her on patrol tonight. It gives her a chance to get her bearings -- both literally and figuratively. But she also knows that something else is up, because he's out of sorts. The problem is, although they know each other, there's still so much they don't know and she isn't sure he'll open up to her if she asks. So she doesn't. Better to stick to the mission and let the emotional shit sort itself out. She'll be there if he needs her, but there are more important things to deal with at the moment. Like getting the lay of the land.
"I'm going to go with grudging amusement," she says finally. "I gotta admit it's always kinda flattering when I see little girls dressed as me or Wonder Woman or Hawkgirl. But I wish the adults would stop. Some of their 'costume' versions of my outfit are ridiculously slutty."
"You know what they say about imitation, pretty bird." Calling her what Ollie calls her probably isn't the smartest thing he's ever done, but then again, he doesn't know whether Ollie does call her that in her universe and Roy's been calling her that (to Dick, anyway) for years. Besides, he's always been willing to take a punch for the sake of camaraderie. It's just usually the guys throwing them.
"Although, I have to say, it's pretty creepy to see a five year-old in the new black Batsuit." The old blue and gray, or a twelve year-old and it just feels...like something he might've done a few times when Alfred wasn't looking.
Dinah isn't sure which new Batsuit Dick's referring to, but she gets the gist of what he's saying. "And yes, I do. It's just a little disconcerting to know there are people out there playing kinky sex games while pretending to be me." She gives him a look that dares him to argue the point.
"People who aren't you," Dick clarifies with a smirk. It's probably too soon to tease like that, but there's a shtick that goes with wearing those fishnets and Nightwing and Canary have been doing it for years. Even if she's not their Canary, it feels right. He cocks his head toward the party and flashes finger-sign for 'on my count' out of instinct. "The good news is that we can patrol the party at leisure. Let's go join the rest of the costumed freaks for a while."
"Hey, watch it Boy Wonder." She hasn't called him that in ages, but it seems like fair game if he's going to keep calling her 'pretty bird.'
She reads his signal without even thinking about it and for the first time since she arrived she feels...comfortable. Or at least as comfortable as she can be under the circumstances. She and Nightwing might not be from the same time or the same universe or whatever, but that's just details. The broad strokes are still the same.
"Yeah, I suppose," she responds a bit grudgingly. She'd been hoping to put off the whole socializing thing a bit longer. "But I won't be held responsible for my actions if some drunk idiot tries to grab my ass."
[ooc: Nightwing and Black Canary are in full uniform mostly at the edges of the party, but occasionally moving through the bulk of it. They won't deny being Dick and Dinah if you know who they are, but they're not going to tell you if you don't. Find them together, outside in the shadows, joining up between patrol circuits, or separately wherever you want. Together, the order is your pup, Dick, Dinah. ST/LT/all manner of Ts are ♥]
Keep in mind I spent my youth running around in red and gold with a green armored jock, and I grew up in a circus, okay? I love color.
But tonight, I dress in sober blue and black and let Tim and the others wear the peacock feathers. If anyone asks, it's so Tim can enjoy the party in confidence, knowing that I've got patrol. And because Dinah's not ready to face a party yet, and even with all the differences in our universes, she still knows me best of everyone. Both those reasons are real reasons, but the true one matches my uniforms. Both the one I have on, and the one in mine and Alfred's care that I'm still working out what to do with.
Bev couldn't use the nanobots on Benny's wrist because I didn't find her fast enough and the healing already started. Peter got stabbed in the chest - and a handful of other people got injured - because I'm not effective here on the island.
Patrol tonight's a penance, and somehow that's fitting. Giving up parties for Lent would be backwards for a lot of reasons, but the message I gave Bart - grow up - applies to me too. I have a lot of thinking to do, and enjoying the party between shadows, doing what I do best, revisiting the issues with Dinah who thinks more like I do about team than almost anyone, that's a good start.
They make a long circuit first while everyone's filtering into the party, verifying the whereabouts of those who live farthest and checking the dino fence. It's redundant with the IPD's function, which is something else he's thinking about, but needed or not, the habit of using his own eyes and ears is too ingrained ever to fade even if he wanted it to.
The party's already in full swing when they wing in toward the Compound and make what will be the first of several circuits for the night. Pausing in the deep shadows, he turns to Dinah and twitches a wry Bat smile for all of the masks and costumes spilling in and out of the Compound. "I can never decide whether I love Halloween and Mardi Gras or hate them. We blend, but on the other hand, we blend." We being all the costumes on both sides of the moral equation.
She appreciates Dick taking her on patrol tonight. It gives her a chance to get her bearings -- both literally and figuratively. But she also knows that something else is up, because he's out of sorts. The problem is, although they know each other, there's still so much they don't know and she isn't sure he'll open up to her if she asks. So she doesn't. Better to stick to the mission and let the emotional shit sort itself out. She'll be there if he needs her, but there are more important things to deal with at the moment. Like getting the lay of the land.
"I'm going to go with grudging amusement," she says finally. "I gotta admit it's always kinda flattering when I see little girls dressed as me or Wonder Woman or Hawkgirl. But I wish the adults would stop. Some of their 'costume' versions of my outfit are ridiculously slutty."
"You know what they say about imitation, pretty bird." Calling her what Ollie calls her probably isn't the smartest thing he's ever done, but then again, he doesn't know whether Ollie does call her that in her universe and Roy's been calling her that (to Dick, anyway) for years. Besides, he's always been willing to take a punch for the sake of camaraderie. It's just usually the guys throwing them.
"Although, I have to say, it's pretty creepy to see a five year-old in the new black Batsuit." The old blue and gray, or a twelve year-old and it just feels...like something he might've done a few times when Alfred wasn't looking.
Dinah isn't sure which new Batsuit Dick's referring to, but she gets the gist of what he's saying. "And yes, I do. It's just a little disconcerting to know there are people out there playing kinky sex games while pretending to be me." She gives him a look that dares him to argue the point.
"People who aren't you," Dick clarifies with a smirk. It's probably too soon to tease like that, but there's a shtick that goes with wearing those fishnets and Nightwing and Canary have been doing it for years. Even if she's not their Canary, it feels right. He cocks his head toward the party and flashes finger-sign for 'on my count' out of instinct. "The good news is that we can patrol the party at leisure. Let's go join the rest of the costumed freaks for a while."
"Hey, watch it Boy Wonder." She hasn't called him that in ages, but it seems like fair game if he's going to keep calling her 'pretty bird.'
She reads his signal without even thinking about it and for the first time since she arrived she feels...comfortable. Or at least as comfortable as she can be under the circumstances. She and Nightwing might not be from the same time or the same universe or whatever, but that's just details. The broad strokes are still the same.
"Yeah, I suppose," she responds a bit grudgingly. She'd been hoping to put off the whole socializing thing a bit longer. "But I won't be held responsible for my actions if some drunk idiot tries to grab my ass."
[ooc: Nightwing and Black Canary are in full uniform mostly at the edges of the party, but occasionally moving through the bulk of it. They won't deny being Dick and Dinah if you know who they are, but they're not going to tell you if you don't. Find them together, outside in the shadows, joining up between patrol circuits, or separately wherever you want. Together, the order is your pup, Dick, Dinah. ST/LT/all manner of Ts are ♥]