[a brand new story!]

[aworthyone]

Not two weeks since Damian's arrival, and already Tabula Rasa has exhausted its nonexistent charm. Between public records and the local newspaper, he's pieced together a working history of the place, and come away dissatisfied. While the dalliance with dull detective work would have surely pleased Grayson, the man wasn't here -- at least, not

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[arrownomore]

It was slightly possible that Cissie had gone overboard with the running but if she and Bart were really going to try to put a marathon together, then she needed to get a better mental picture of the island's layout. Today, she was exploring some of the places that she hadn't really been to much and she stopped at the sight of the kid squaring off against a really weird looking robot.

"Hey," she said cheerfully. "Were you just exploring or did you want something from in there?"

[aworthyone]

The robot is more interesting than the girl, but she's the only one speaking to him. Damian reluctantly tears his attention away from his new opponent and turns it to his unwelcome (but not unexpected) intrusion. He's standing still in the open for longer than a few minutes. Of course he'd be happened upon.

A moment's glance is all it takes for him to both realize he recognizes her from Todd's Cardiovascular Conditioning course (not to mention Drake's old files) and consequently doesn't care for her. The cheerful demeanor on its own would have docked a few points.

"I wasn't aware the two were mutually exclusive."

[arrownomore]

Cissie blinked, a little taken aback. It wasn't exactly the most friendly response she'd ever heard but at least he wasn't diving at her with a knife and shouting about Kali. Once was quite enough, thank you very much.

"Okay, point. I think you'll have to talk to Mr. Stark about getting in there if that was your plan, though. But hey, if you were exploring, that's what I'm doing."

[aworthyone]

It's not the first he's heard of this Stark -- his name cropped up often in the Times, and Stephanie had spoken of a man with a robot suit shortly after Damian's arrival -- but he's yet to actually see the man. That will clearly have to change.

"Then you won't mind leaving to explore elsewhere," says Damian. "This place is spoken for."

[prodigaljaybird]

"Tt," Jason repeats, unfurling himself from the branches of a nearby tree and leaping down. "What is that? It's not even a word. Nervous tick?" Cocking his head, he folds his arms and looks down at the little brother he certainly never wanted, yet follows all the same.

"Been a few hours since last we stalked." A few hours of peace following days of near constant observation. Maybe the little guy finally got tired of watching Jason suck face with his girlfriend. "Peeping tom act lost its luster?"

[aworthyone]

A nervous tick would imply Damian's nervous. He's not. Todd's arrival on the scene is met with little more than a baleful glance. People dropping in from out of the sky is hardly news. That's just what they did in Gotham.

"You're one to talk. I can't imagine that soldier you trail after appreciates your company anymore than you do my mine."

He tried following Barnes himself once, but lost track of the man in under a minute. That makes him a person of interest even without Todd's fascination, though the combination of the two sets off a few alarm bells. There's plenty Todd would have to gain from allying himself with someone like that. A cause for concern, to be sure.

[prodigaljaybird]

"That soldier's name is Bucky, and he could hand you your fancy ass before you ever saw him coming," Jason returns. "And he's my best friend," he adds, folding his arms with a quick scoff. Bucky totally wants him around.

"You gonna go head to head with that robot?"

[aworthyone]

"Not today."

Without Grayson playing the role of safety net, Damian knows better preparation is the only way he'll manage on his own. While not unarmed, he could stand to use more protective clothing than the plain cotton t-shirt and dark jeans he managed to coerce from that accursed box several days prior. Not to mention the matter of secret identities. The robot's undoubtedly collecting data. To fight it without his mask would be foolish.

He turns before he speaks again, and walks away from the scrapyard and Todd both.

"Some of us actually care about protecting the family."

[butterflyfactor]

Layla paused, looking the scenario over as she passed the mouth of the scrapyard. She absently put her hands in the pockets of her insanely wide-legged jeans.

"Creepy, right?"

[aworthyone]

Having watched a few of Todd's Gymnastics courses from a hidden vantage point in the trees, Damian knows the woman with the M tattoo by sight. Barnes has a tendency to refer to everyone by their surnames, but Layla is the only Miller on the island. It hadn't been too hard to figure out. Few things were, which only lends to Damian's dislike of research. It's rarely challenging.

"No."

[butterflyfactor]

"Normal people think it's creepy," Layla told him, walking over. Litmus test: failed. He looked about ten, she figured. If anyone here was creepy, it was him, which she could appreciate.

[aworthyone]

"I'm not normal," says Damian, clearly taking some pride in that fact. Normal implied ordinary. Dull. Stupid. He was born for great things and his arrival on this island is merely an unnecessary detour. Let other people be normal.

[haolehothead]

Danny's trudging through the remainder of his patrol, thinking that he's not gonna find anything that's worth stopping for. When he reaches the scrapyard, he realizes maybe that's not the case. "Am I interrupting a staring contest?" he asks, gesturing to the robot and then to the kid. "Because, and I'll tell you, I have been on this route more than once in my day and I always lose," he jokes.

[aworthyone]

The man's so loud in his entrance that Damian considers it a minor miracle that the robot hasn't simply attacked. Annoyed and unamused, he turns to his uninvited company, and fixes the man with a glower that belies his age.

"I don't indulge in staring contests."

[haolehothead]

"Well, I do," Danny says, not easily swayed by a glare here or there -- after all, he was married to one of the iciest, hardest women during the separation and Rachel (when she'd been cruel) had been an excellent coach for enduring glares of all shapes and sizes. "You heading in or just staring, because I'm pretty sure that's private property."

Or as close as they get to it, around these parts.

[aworthyone]

"What business of it is yours?" asks Damian, blunt as ever. Though something about the way the man carries himself calls to mind Gotham's many cops, he can't be bothered to rummage up even the guise of respect. The man's irritating.

"I'm not doing anything wrong."

[start_a_rumpus]

One of Max's favorite things about the island, other than the fact that people have wolves as pets, is the robots. There's this guy and he makes all kinds but Max has never been this close to this one before. It's really, really awesome.

"I don't think it'll hurt you!" Max calls, pulling his wolf hood up, just in case they're going to need to fight it. You never know.

[aworthyone]

"Then you think wrong," says Damian, but since his present company is obviously younger than he is, his familiar disdain is tempered somewhat, even if he recognizes the boy by sight as an associate of the Red Hood.

"It's clearly designed for combat. You shouldn't get too close."

[start_a_rumpus]

"But why do you want to go in there in the first place?" he wonders, creeping just a little closer. It's a really cool robot.

"I'm Max. What's your name?"

[aworthyone]

"I'm Damian," he introduces himself, taking a small step to the right to place himself in between the younger boy and the robot. Not prone to joking, he meant it entirely when he said it was designed for combat, and while he isn't worried for his own safety, the boy dressed like a wolf's is another matter entirely.

"And because there might be some interesting inside." He nods towards Max's hood. "That's not much of a disguise, you know. Something with a mask would be better. That way people wouldn't recognize who you are."