[Thread] Two-Fer

[gonnaloveme]

Characters: Bruce Wayne/Batman (OU), OPEN
Where: anywhere
When: anytime
Summary: Bruce Wayne is traipsing around town by day. Batman is prowling at night.
Warnings: None until further notice.

Comments

[dualfaced]

Through the madness Harvey thought of this compound, what it meant, more perhaps than he had thought in the months following his arrival. The day was close to waning and it was still bitterly cold but he sat outside, the steps of some building or another he had never cared to notice before. He flipped his coin and caught it, then flipped it again. Heads, heads.

He noticed he always missed small things - the annoying repertoire of Mike Engle's introduction to Gotham Tonight the evenings he would catch it, the buzz of noise just before the judge's door opened. Rachel brushing her hand against his arm with a small smile. He flipped his coin again. Heads.

Then there was here. There was Bruce and Helena and Tim, Dick, Cissie- relationships he grew to care about. Friends. He could almost hear a voice in the back of his head, familiar, heads we let them go. He didn't bother looking when the coin landed on his palm. It was always heads

[gonnaloveme]

The smirk was instantaneous as the familiar voice reached his ears. He turned his head and gave the pompous look to Harvey as he stopped in front of the man.

"Yes, yes. The prince has decided to grace the peasants with his presence. How fair ye, peasant?" Bruce replied. He ignored the emotion held in the other man's voice to focus on the tease.

[dualfaced]

Any further concern fell away fairly quickly - the man was in one piece and in fairly good spirits. Or at least well enough to feign good spirits. Considering the last few weeks that had to mean something.

"As well as can be expected my lord." He said, sitting back with a smirk as he regarded the man. "I knew you weren't a man for news- guess you aren't one for casual correspondence to let us all know you're still alive and kicking either." Not that Harvey had any room to talk as of late.

[gonnaloveme]

Bruce just shook his head. "Not really," he replied. "I believe--what was my first post?--oh, yeah: I don't like journals and whatnot. Stupid, pointless things." He paused and considered Harvey for a moment. "Besides, I haven't noticed you writing anything on those annoying little communicators either. Or... too much of anyone as late..." he trailed off, a slight hint of the meat of current events in Econtra.

[notarrowette]

Cissie was grateful that things had been quiet lately, but she couldn't help feeling like this was the calm before the storm. She really hoped she was wrong--that is was more like the calm that immediately followed a storm, but knowing this place and her own luck, she doubted it. At least it was giving Tim and Dick time to heal.

She was worried. So many people seemed to be vanishing all the time, and there was no way of knowing what would happen with the Entropi. She didn't know what she could do, either. She had her medical training, which helped with the aftermath, but in another crisis? Her arrows weren't going to be any use against them.

That didn't stop her from practicing, though. Even if they wouldn't help against the Entropi, they helped her clear her mind and focus, and think. Which was something she needed at the moment

[gonnaloveme]

Bruce paused when he saw the blond heading in his direction. He glanced behind him half-heartedly, simply because he knew the real direction she was heading in was towards the park. He just happened to be along the way. He offered her a smile and made a show of overlooking her shoulder to view the archery gear on her back. He seemed to eye it "funny."

"Nice to see my gifts are being put to good use," he said with a slight tease to his voice. He nodded once and shrugged. "With all of the mess around here? Is it really that surprising?"

[notarrowette]

Cissie gave a small sigh and shrug of her own. "I guess not. Still--in this place, there's never really a good time to go incommunicado. People tend to think the worst," she said, making a point of not looking right at him when she said it. It wasn't meant as a reprimand--okay, maybe a small one--but rather a reminder that there were people here who noticed when he hid himself away.

She shifted her bow on her shoulder and wrinkled her nose, looking at him again and changing the subject back to the archery equipment. "I don't know about good use," she said wryly, "but there's not much else I can do around here these days, and god forbid I be out of shape when we get back."

[gonnaloveme]

Bruce tried his best to ignore the reprimand for what it was. He glanced away and also refused to look directly at her. He'd said it before but he wouldn't say it now, even if it was the mantra he told himself was not a lie and really true. He didn't need nor want anyone's worry, friendship, trust, or care.

"Good use would imply you're using them to at the very least practice," he replied. He glanced back at her with a forced smile. "Not much else you can do with archery when nothing is going down right in front of you."

[0nightwing0]

It was late that night when Dick finally saw Bruce, or should he say Batman. Decked out in his nightwing Uniform however he was not using his jump lines to fly but the ring The legionnaires had entrusted him with. The burns on his torso were healing but it was too early in the process to really test them at all. He'd see a healer later that week about mending them but for now he was doing what he did best.

" Hey well what do y'know we do have Bats in econtra"

[gonnaloveme]

Batman glanced in Nightwing's direction. Whether the look was disapproving or not was impossible to say, but the aura around the Bat said it well enough without any actual expression. It wasn't that he was disinterested in seeing Dick--no, he was glad to see the young man out and about even if he needed to heal from recent wounds. Bruce couldn't really say anything about that; he was still pretty young and reckless himself.

It wasn't the words either. It was the "magic." Or, whatever was keeping the man afloat. Batman did not approve.

He ignored it best he could. He turned around to stare out into the compound. "Just one large one," he replied softly. "But I see we still have several small birds flying around."

[lady_bounty]

Faye sat cross-legged on the roof of building three in the thick darkness of Neocontra at night, bundled up in her gray coat to protect against the cold. She didn't have much of a reason to be there, other than boredom, a whimsical impulse to test out her shiny Christmas night-vision goggles, and curiosity about what her fellow inmates were up to in the dark of night.

So far it had been a big fat boring load of nothing, and Faye was fixing her mind up to go back inside, warm up by her cast-iron, wood-fired stove- Thank you, Ned~!- and go to bed. Faye scanned the streets one more time, then, with little interest, scanned the rooftops. Then, so quickly she almost missed it- had she seen... something disappear behind the peak of that roof? Faye turned to face the spot where she'd seen the flash of motion, straining to see it again. "What the...." she murmured.

[gonnaloveme]

Batman was the best at hiding in shadows, especially in the dark of night. He'd been trained by the best after all--a group of ninja elites. That had been some time ago, and practice had only made better. Oh the other hand, Batman was unconcerned with glimpses or sightings when he wasn't on a direct mission. It was a way for everyone to know he was there. Back home this was a good thing for enforcing the law. (Even if he was himself breaking it, technically.) Here, it served almost a similar purpose of deterrence

[lady_bounty]

Faye watched the spot, but continued to see nothing. She rose slowly to her feet, the goggles still trained on that bit of roof. After a few more seconds of seeing nothing, she dropped the goggles from her eyes, as if that would help her see better. The green-tinted, daylight-bright picture of Neocontra's rooftops was replaced by mostly a lot of black in the dim moonlight.

Making a small noise in the back of her throat, Faye lifted the goggles to her eyes again and scanned around the rooftops- there! It was mostly hidden behind a ledge, and still as a statue, but with the aid of her night vision goggles very definitely not roof-shaped. It took her a few moments to make sense of what she was seeing, before her eyes recognized what looked like a not-human face- Oh God it's staring right at me!

"GAH!" exclaimed Faye, taking an involuntary step backwards as a jolt of shock shot through her.

[gonnaloveme]

About a second or two after Faye's shocking discovery, the Bat finally moved. He stood up slowly from his crouch. He was completely still in his movements, as contradictory as that may sound. He was stoic, intensely quiet, and besides the slow movement of standing there was nothing else to indicate that he was aware of her discovery of him. Or anything else to indicate he was a living, emotional being.

He was, however, obviously still staring at her.

Another moment passed and she was dismissed as a non-threat. He turned on his heel with a suddenness and was quickly moving across the rooftop to the opposite end. He only paused briefly before leaping off the edge.

[little_wing003]

Tim was out for a walk in the sunshine. The weather was mild, for once, and he'd already gone for his run, so he knew how nice the day was. It would be nice to be able to enjoy it, a little.

And there was Bruce--out in the sunlight, for once. He lifted his hand in greeting. "Hey, Bruce," he said, smiling.

[gonnaloveme]

Bruce glanced up and towards the sound of the all too familiar voice. He eyed the teen for a moment silently. Then he finally let a smile brighten his face and he returned the wave idly.

"Hey, Tim. How have you been?" It was a legitimate question. How long had it been since he'd seen the bird? He almost felt guilty. Almost.

[little_wing003]

Tim shrugged a little. "Can't complain too loudly, I suppose. Injuries are healing, and Cissie's been really good about not yelling at me too much over them." He gave Bruce a wry smile. "How about you? It's been a while." Since they'd actually talked, anyway. Tim had known that Bruce had made it through the last attack, but that had been all.

[gonnaloveme]

"Injuries, and the bothers that come with having them, can be finicky like that." Pause. "Good to see you well, after all's said and done though." He gave a shrug of his own. "Surviving. It's good enough."