[Open]

[forceforlight]

Who: Dick Grayson/Nightwing forceforlight and YOU!
What: April catch all
When: During April
Where: Rooftops around the city; a park
Content Warnings: Updated as needed


He knows better than to complain, especially after the past few months in Blüdhaven. It's been a long time since he's had a quiet, even after coming to this world.

Which is why Nightwing sits on the edge of a high rooftop, a bag of bagels on the rooftop behind him and a cup of coffee warming his hands. After all, early spring isn't any warmer in Michigan than it is in New Jersey.

"I'm going to jinx myself if I say it," he says to whomever shows up, without looking their direction. He's just really used to listening for people coming up behind him. "But, damn, it's quiet."



The name "circusbrat" wasn't taken on TikTok. Not that Dick had any real plans of what to do with it. So far, he'd posted a few short videos of him at a local circus school, doing some tricks on the silks and the lines. There were also a few from the park, with him doing some simple, if impressive, gymnastics.

Which is what he's doing now: filming himself doing handstands.

However, every time he starts, he ends up in a heap of giggles as Haley runs in and hops up to lick his face. "Haley, no," he says, gathering the puppy up and ruffling her ears. "We really need to work on your stay, don't we?"

Comments

[robintohood]

Jason's lips widen into a grin as he puts together what Dick is thinking about.

"True. And why deny a sweet baby like Haley from having more toys? It'd be easy to find a Fantastic plush too."

[forceforlight]

"Probably best to get a couple, if I can. Second hand, of course." Because that's only economical. And not putting money in Fantastic's pocket.

He shakes his head. "I should really feel bad about using my puppy to take potshots at Fantastic, shouldn't I." It's not really a question.

[robintohood]

"She'll also be having fun and getting exercise and not getting hurt. It's just called multitasking," Jason points out unashamedly.

[forceforlight]

He should probably feel worse about thinking about using his puppy for monetization purposes, but needs must. None of them had spare billions sitting around in this world.

"Yeah, yeah, all right. I'll see what I can find tomorrow after I get up." Because he had a shift tomorrow as well, but that's later in the day.

[robintohood]

"Shouldn't be too hard. And we can't be the only ones who don't like him," Jason says. "Kinda surprising there aren't more of those kinds of videos now that I think about it."

[forceforlight]

"Probably a lot of people who don't want to get flack for not loving all of their 'saviors'. And Fantastic has an actual fan club." Dick shakes his head. "Wouldn't be surprised if he actually pays people to go around and give people grief on posts that aren't entirely supportive of him."

[robintohood]

"I wouldn't put it past him," Jason scoffs. "Can't believe I'm saying this but the League seems to do a better job of keeping each other in check."

[forceforlight]

"Even Booster wasn't this bad at his worst."

Did Booster have reasons to be that bad? Probably. Didn't make it less annoying. "Honestly, I'm pretty sure there's more going on behind the scenes than we're seeing. It's one reason I heavily considered joining up. But I couldn't justify it if they would have tried to stop me seeing you guys."

[robintohood]

Jason snorts.

"I'd love to see them try," he smirks. "Wouldn't be the first one of us went undercover for a little bit. There definitely has to be more going on with the Alliance."

[forceforlight]

"Oh, believe me. I gave it a lot of thought before deciding not to. It's always something I can take back later, decide that this sort of life isn't for me, I need more help." He waves a hand. "The lack of ID is the rough part, but like we've never forged that."

[robintohood]

"With the right connections, it might be possible," Jason calmly retorts. "Part of the problem is not knowing this place as well as Gotham's underground. And then you got the Society to watch out for on that end."

Jason himself has been managing so far and has a gang but it's definitely limited compared to what he could pull off in Gotham.

[forceforlight]

"It's going to take time," Dick agrees. "Which is annoying. I really hate how the Guilds do their best to hamstring anybody who doesn't go along with them. People don't necessarily want to be heroes if they get pulled here. They might just want to have a quiet life, but keeping the Starfallen dependent on them keeps people under their thumbs."

[robintohood]

"Yeah. We got governments here but we all know who are the ones who are really in charge," Jason says with a furrowed brow. "Looking into the history here, things weren't the greatest before the guilds but you gotta wonder if this was really the best option, especially with the Alliance."

[forceforlight]

"And we're right back to disliking Fantastic." At least it makes the conversation a nice circle. Or similar enough. "I think that the Guilds are probably making the best of a bad situation. But the way they're going about it since the Confluences have started up again is pretty damned terrible." He tilts his coffee cup to Jason. "I mean, you kinda have to do all paychecks as cash in hand, right? Getting bank accounts or any sort of credit card is impossible if you aren't with either of the Guilds. And with the large numbers of Starfallen working off the books..."

[robintohood]

Jason nods. There are a lot of reasons why he's been conducting his bar business and Red Hood business with mostly cash. The guilds are two of those reasons.

"The guilds know it too. Give the rest of us as few options as possible and make us feel miserable until we're desperate enough to join," He says. "Frances seems to do what she can but it's a lot for anyone to take on. Her own history with them and the treatment of clones doesn't help."

[forceforlight]

"It's stupid, is what it is. Like...okay. I get that a lot of new people who you don't know come in and have unpredictable powers." Dick sets his coffee cup aside, because not conducive to speaking with his hands. "And there's no telling how long they'll be here because of how Confluences work. But why would you do your best to disenfranchise people to the point where their only real way to support themselves may be to become criminals?"

[robintohood]

"It could be like what you said before. They know more than they're letting on," Jason points out. "Also, they don't trust us to make our own decisions on how to behave. They'd rather have everyone under their control instead."

Though based on his conversation with Johnny Red-Eyes, the Society somewhat less of a control freak organization.

[forceforlight]

Dick hasn't had much of a chance to look at the Society. He probably wouldn't fit in very well. Not without going back to his Renegade persona and he hadn't really liked who he was at that time.

"I noticed," he agrees instead, heaving a sigh. "And like I said. Part of me gets that. The rest of me chafes. But I also think that might be the part of me that's too used to leading the Titans."

But the Titans trust him. It's harder when the entire world doesn't, and for possibly good reasons.

[robintohood]

"You're friends with the Titans too. Or you were with most of them," Jason says. He never got the impression Dick was on the best of terms with Danny though and he knows vaguely that the Titans in general don't always get along. "Leading them versus a Justice League would be different."

[forceforlight]

Hell, half the time, Dick and Roy were at loggerheads. Didn't stop them being friends.

Dick and Danny...Dick has his reasons for not being Danny's biggest fan. Even if he feels bad about what happened to the kid.

"I mean. I've done that, too." Not to brag or anything. But he has done that before. "I generally prefer the Titans, though."

[robintohood]

"Figures," Jason says. Dick's loyalty is a pillar for so many people. "Stick with what you're comfortable with."

It was unfortunate that Jason's own time with the Titans was only temporary. It was nice.

[forceforlight]

"Stick with what I'm decently okay at." Not that he hasn't left the Titans a few times. Dick's definitely had his moments of self-doubt, especially when a few things have spiralled out of control.

It's never helped, really, but he's done it.

[robintohood]

Jason snorts.

"They like you as a leader. Even I could tell the first time I was working with them," he calmly says. "Donna was projecting badly and kept expecting me to be like you until I told her to stop."

Of all the problems he has with his time as Robin, his time with the Titans isn't one of them. Plus, to Donna's credit, she did apologize to him after getting called out.

[forceforlight]

"That's the problem with legacy names, especially when you're only the second one with it. Everybody expects the same person, even if they don't consciously realize it." Dick looks rueful at that. "Tell me she at least apologized."

[robintohood]

"She did," Jason replies. "It was as soon as I pointed out what she was doing. I think being leader while worrying about you and some of others was getting to her. She eased up a lot afterwards."

The response was well enough that Jason came back to help the Titans on another mission at least.