( open ) and what's the worst you take

[batsymbol]

Who: Bruce Wayne/Batman batsymbol
What: July Catch-all, Bruce assimilating to things, Batman being Batman
When: Throughout July, some August things too
Where: Primarily Central City, will mention otherwise
Content Warnings: TBD but let's just say Bruce being Bruce and Batman being Batman.



BRUCE or BATMAN

open to both [brackets] and prose, i'll follow your lead if you have a preference. if you want something else with bruce or bats, shoot me a PM or PP at telekinetics to discuss. otherwise things we've planned/discussed can be dropped in here as well. starters in comments.

Comments

[reneger]

( jason didn't grow up with a safe space to--break down like this. he had to take care of his mom, because she was too sick to take care of herself most the time. then she was gone, and jason had to take care of himself in a place affectionately named crime alley. where no one came out without getting at least a few scars, and jason has plenty of them to show for it. he had himself, then he had bruce and alfred, and as soon as he was starting to get comfortable, to find his footing somewhere he did have support, he was dead. he came back, and all he had was talia until he didn't have her, either. and by then none of it mattered. he was a nobody, and then he was red hood, crime lord turned criminal turned part time vigilante, and no one has time to let themselves fall apart. he tells himself to get up, pull himself together, and he tapes together the pieces of jason todd he can get his fingers on. calls it good enough and keeps going.

he's had people he trusts not to fuck him over since then. he had roy, who jason almost got killed. artemis and bizzaro, who jumped into a black hole. dick and tim have been. . trying, over the last few years. most of the bats have been. but jason's not a kid anymore. he never was. he'll tell tim and the rest of them over and over again that it's okay to not be okay, but he can't give himself that same space. because when jason breaks, he shatters. jason shudders on an exhale, still keeps himself quiet because he has to be.

sucks in another breath, before he's shoving off of bruce. keeps his head bent down, so his face isn't visible. raises a hand to wipe away tears, but it mostly just--smears blood over his eyes. pulls in another breath, steadying, before pressing the domino mask back on. another shaky exhale, and he's wincing as he pulls himself up straight.

stands up, shoulders squared, lips twisted into a little frown because it helps hide how shaky he is. he'll pull himself back together, he just needs another moment. jason's standing, he's steady, that's about as much as he's going to get right now.

and as if the entire incident never happened, he turns back around towards the batmobile. raises a hand to wave bruce forward. )

We've got shit to do.

[batsymbol]

( when jason pulls away, he lets him — lets him take that moment to pull himself together, arm slowly falling down to his side. he shifts a little there on the stool — slowly cranes his neck to the other side as a means to stretch it some and rolls his shoulders back some while looking around the "cave" he currently has. there's still a lot for him to do with it — things that will keep him busy in his so-called downtime around here. for the moment, however, it does what it needs to.

jason goes and says what he does and he knows he's right. there might have been a bit of a lull for them — bruce having clearly needed a second to pull himself together as well after seeing his parents as he had, but. they need to get back out there. things will only amp up again at some point after all.

boots heavy as they tap against the floor, he pushes himself off the stool with a low grunt and makes his way over to where he'd set his cowl and gauntlets down, pulling those on first. )

Where were you headed?

( because he doesn't think jason had been tracking him throughout it all. more like they'd simply come across one another. or he'd heard the batmobile and knew bruce was around. )

[reneger]

Nowhere in particular.

( he was tracking bruce, but he wasn't looking for him. anyone jason could shove a tracker on and keep it on them, he has. behind his mask, the hud lights up once more to display all the little dots where the rest of their crew have fucked off to.

jason reaches into his jacket, pulls out a small, dime-shaped disk which he holds between two fingers over his shoulder to show it to bruce, very pointedly, before he places it under the closest table. an emergency beacon of sorts, which doubles as a bug. he figures bruce'll find it quick enough anyway, may as well make his intentions known. it'll also help hide the one he's absolutely dropping in the batmobile. he showed bruce this one, clearly if he was going to put another, he'd show bruce that one too. right?

each step forward puts jason just that much closer to--putting whatever that was behind him. bruce isn't talking about it, which jason appreciates. because he definitely doesn't want to talk about how he just broke down and cried on some reclusive asshole who managed to find just the right way to dig into all of jason's bullshit without even trying. fuck him, really.

fuck all of it. bug planted, and jason walks himself around the batmobile so he can throw himself back into the passenger seat. winces again because--that probably wasn't the best way to sit down when he's a little physically fucked over. it's fine. )

I've got eyes on everyone. Might not be a bad idea to check through 'em. ( but-- ) Anyone give you access to the bat channels yet?

[batsymbol]

( with his cowl pulled back on and it fastened as best as it can be given the stitches he now wears beneath the tape, he watches jason hold up the small bug and his expression says it all: not surprised, heavy sigh just barely there on his lips. he knows they do this — he's caught a few of them already, but. for the most part lately, he just leaves them. after all, if he really wants to be left alone — to disappear or not be followed, he'll get rid of them or put them somewhere else. they're curious, he figures, and sure. he is, too, with them. which is why he has his own ways of keeping tabs on them.

still. if a bat doesn't want to be found, they have ways of doing just that.

steps heavy as he makes his way over to his laptop, he looks at whatever it's running for a moment before he heads to the batmobile, sliding into the driver's seat. )

Bat channels?

( he stares to jason in genuine confusion, it's almost innocent in a way.

door shut, key turned, the engine comes to life and he looks over to the stools there left by the table. nothing they need to talk about, because what needed to be said or left unsaid, has been. )

[reneger]

( that's a no if jason's ever heard one. weird that no one else has brought them up to bruce yet--he's shared them first with dick jr, but jason was also the one who found him first. bruce has been around a while, jason would have thought someone would have given him access by now. but jason's not going to be the person who does it, so he just--snorts.

tries to ignore the way the i won't give up on you settles deep in his gut and hurts. jason doesn't want to change, but bruce. . this bruce, saying he's going to try means more than he could put into words. means more than the embarrassment of breaking down and crying on him, too. jason's--tired, physically, mentally, emotionally, this is going to weigh on him for a while. but that's something he can handle later.

or he can just throw it aside, pretend it never happened, and never think about it again. that's likely going to be the easier, less stressful path. just pull a tim drake and shove it all in a neat little box to be forgotten forever until it becomes a problem. )

Yeah, you know. Batmobile, batarangs, batchannels. Gotta put bat in front of everything, don't we?

( his head leans back against the seat, injured arm draped across his abdomen. )

Ask Grayson. I'm sure he'd love to add you to the gossip chatgroups.

[batsymbol]

( gossip chatgroups. bruce looks over to jason with a somewhat perplexed expression as that's certainly nothing he's ever been part of, but. then again, who exactly would he have a gossip chatgroup with to begin with? alfred? again, nothing he really wants to think of at the moment, so. instead, he looks ahead, gloved fingers gripping the steering wheel. )

I'll keep it in mind.

( that's all he really says about that before he's taking them out of "the batcave" here and back ono the streets through the slick shadows. )