metalogs | ( open ) and what's the worst you take

[ The teenager in the aisle picks his head up just enough to roll his eyes at the mention of Fantastic.

Tim’s basket is full of components. A couple of RAID cards, miscellaneous cables, a sound card - there’s easily a few hundred bucks in there, but no tools or casings. Whatever he’s building, it’s going to be custom.

He knows it’s an interesting person, so Tim’s leaning hard into nerd to fit the purchase. His hair is wild and fluffy without product, and he’s drowning in an oversized polo shirt in from the trendy brand of 2017. Khaki shots with no cargo pockets. Plain all white sneakers.

It’s Bruce. Tim adjusts his glasses, ostensibly tucking them more tidily into place, and tries to survey his purchases. ]

The quality of his speeches don’t merit the amount of air time he’s getting.

[ Tim’s real voice is a low tenor with a light Jersey accent. Robin keeps to his lower register and Network English. Right now, he’s stripping out the lower tones like he’s a 1930s radio announcer and imitating the local accent.

It’s not that he wants to hide. Tim isn’t sure he wants to have the conversation needed to have Bruce understand who he is. ]

( he doesn't bother to move his basket to the side. rather, he slowly throws a glance his way. stares. takes in the kid's features, his body language, what he is and isn't saying. typical bruce— batman things.

a slow turn of his head back towards the tv, catching whatever else fantastic is going on about, he's quiet for a moment. )

If you call that quality.

( still staring to the television, he mentally takes notes of this fantastic. )

What're you building?

I didn’t.

[ call it quality. He implied that it wasn’t, but left it open-ended.

He’s upgrading his tracker and comms server to handle to additional load of another Robin and the flurry of shit that Jay is doing and improve the storage management in hopes of holding six months of remotely accessible data. He’s also building a gauntlet device for Dick Junior. ]

A Cartesian for automated customization of thermoset chassis on a Lilliputian scale.

[ Tim begins walking away before Bruce can put together that nonsense as a robot to paint my D&D minifigs. ]

You wouldn’t understand.

( there is the absolute faintest of smiles that just barely touches his lips when tim goes and says that and while he doesn't exactly follow after him, he takes his time in looking around at the things near him. it's a store after all. )

Nice to have a hobby here.

( a beat. )

Good way to keep out of trouble.

[ The calculations are fast. What does this alias - let’s call him Henry - what does Henry say in response? Does he argue the implication of here? Does he ignore the man entirely?

(Tim doesn’t want to ignore him entirely. He’s curious.) ]

It’s an electronics store. It exists for hobbies.

[ With a razor straight back, Tim does push back on the trouble comment with the same level of protest that he uses to insist to his friends that he knows how to have fun. ]

I’ll have you know that trouble is my middle name.

[ He keeps it clipped and painfully precise with a hint of a sniff. You don’t know man. He dips cheeseburger Doritos in tzatziki. He’s wild. ]

( and that would be why bruce is here. for his own hobbies.

nonchalantly, he looks at a few items on a shelf, idly glancing back to the television with fantastic's speech going on again. there's still a lot of things he needs to figure out here. too much, for that matter. it's a wonder he gets any sleep at all. short as it is. )

Is it?

[ He can still pull off high schooler, right? He’s nearly 20, but Tim’s short and clean-shaven. ]

I’ll have you know I was responsible for the senior prank. Rave reviews.

[ Still officious, but he sounds distracted. Tim’s doing the mental math of what he’s got in the basket, factoring in sale prices and tax. Budgets suck, but there’s a 5mW blue laser for just under a hundred bucks. He picks up the box with the same hand that’s holding his phone, snapping a photo down the aisle - blindly, but trying for Bruce. He lets the box drop into the basket and palms the phone. When he turns to head to the checkout, the phone is slid into his front pocket so his empty hand can swing freely.

He wants to beat Bruce outside to follow him. If he can’t, he can still use this and the pharmacy to start mapping out where Bruce lives. ]

( he sees what tim's trying to do and it has him eye the kid with suspicion. something about him. something familiar in a way that isn't from back in gotham. it's from here.

for a moment, he seems to leave it— leave tim and let him go ahead on his own for the checkout. it honestly seems like bruce has either decided to stay back or look down another aisle for whatever else he might need.

that's when he comes up beside him all of a sudden, putting his basket down in front of tim's to have his stuff be scanned. )

If you wanted a picture, you could have asked.

[ Apparently, Bruce isn’t that new. Shit.

Tim has outs. He could ditch the basket and leave. Pay and take the chance that Bruce wouldn’t accost a teenager in public. Signal for backup.

There are more, but they all assume that this goes even more poorly. Tim doesn’t think it will come to that. He’s willing to give up the game of seeing Bruce without properly meeting him first.

But there’s the matter of having a weird conversation in front of the cashier, so Tim’s tight-mouthed as he replies. ]

It’s not illegal to take photos in public, but [ More loudly. ] you can’t just cut the line.

[ He starts emptying his basket by reaching over Bruce’s to put his own items on the counter. ]

( he's bruce wayne. he can do whatever he wants.

tim reaches over but bruce still adds his own things to the pile, seemingly unbothered with the fact that tim is trying to put his own stuff ahead. a glance up to the cashier, he gestures to tim with a slight tilt of his head. )

Add his to mine.

Oh come on. I have my own money.

[ But there’s a shift in the tone. Something like frustration, like this is a common occurrence and they know each other. The audience is the cashier now, not Bruce.

Tim hates how sloppy this is. He’s going to have to come back tomorrow if Bruce gets the bags and doesn’t give him his stuff. Bruce’s stuff, if he pays for it. Which he will, the cashier’s ringing it all in. ]

I know.

( yet even as he claims to know such a thing, he hands over a card — not the one he'd been given upon his arrival — and pays for their things. with a quiet word of thanks to the cashier and an almost apology for tim's outburst there, he takes the bags and begins to walk, waiting near the door for tim as he looks back to him. )

[… he has not had nearly enough coffee for this conversation that he’s about to have.

Tim sighs and follows Bruce out, but keeps his distance. If B has any designs on putting Tim against a wall until he identifies himself, Tim wants the space to make sure it doesn’t happen. ]

( he only gets a little ways down the street, stopping at a corner before he turns and holds out the bag for tim. his bag of things purchased, bruce's own kept in his other hand. as he holds it out, hooked on his fingers, he stares to tim with an expression that's more tired than anything else, but still holds a sort of guidance there in it. )

Don't be so clumsy next time. Or ask.

( the picture, he means. )

[ Tim reaches for the bag. He’s stripping everything for trackers in a park on the way home. ]

Just because you caught it doesn’t mean it was clumsy.

[ The phone would’ve only been visible two, maybe three seconds. The box obscured the button press. The snap sound is disabled on his phone. It was brazen only by Batman’s standards. ]

Bruce.

( there it is. he'd been waiting for that— figured it was one of them since they all seem to be tailing him here and there.

letting him take the bag, he pockets that free hand of his, the other holding his bag of purchases there at his side. )

I've already found one tracker. Do you want to keep playing this game?

I haven’t put a tracker on you yet.

[ He doesn’t even have to lie. He risked the photo, but he didn’t have the opportunity to touch him in a natural manner. ]

You can’t blame me for being curious about an alternate version of someone I know. You don’t know me yet, and you’re curious. We wouldn’t be having this conversation if you weren’t.

( he knows whose tracker that was. the point was that he knows they're following him... for the reason that tim gives him. he knows him— they know him, or. some version of him at least.

sigh on his lips, he glances off to the side. quiet. considering. )

It's hard not to be when you all keep following me.

[ Laughing, Tim shakes his head at this. ]

I was shopping. I can’t help it if we have the same “hobby”. That ship sailed a long time ago.

[ There’s a pause. He wants to find a safe balance of information exchange. Tim doesn’t want to foster paranoia. ]

I don’t expect anything, but I’ve seen enough of the multiverse to want to find out what you’re like for the ones that won’t be able to stop themselves.

( bruce has spent the last two years being careful with his identity since donning the cape and cowl, alfred being the only one to know the truth — to see the toll it takes on him. physically and emotionally. so to suddenly have a number of people— of kids here know who he is and who batman is... it's jarring, to say the least and a bit of a nightmare in a way. no, they don't mean him harm [for the most part] as so many back in gotham might. but it's nothing he's had to deal with... hopes he doesn't have to deal with and he wonders if tim can grasp that.

maybe if he used his words he might, but. when does bruce ever really do that?

a glance down, he stares to a spot on the ground. again, considering. )

What do you expect?

Nothing that you have to do. Once I realized you had no idea who I am, it changed the equation.

[ He missed Bruce, but this isn’t Bruce. Unlike with the alternate Jason and his own multiverse twin, Tim’s having a hard time moving past that. He wants to define this Bruce, but he’s not so immediately certain that they’re family. ]

I want to know what you’re like in extremely broad strokes. I can figure that out without your active participation.

[ He wants to know Bruce won’t reject the younger Tim and trigger a disaster when Tim can’t overcome what will read like expectations impossible expectations he’ll never meet. He wants to know Bruce isn’t so puritanical to interfere with Jason’s work and upset the balance. ]

But I’m not asking for anything. I can pay you for the gear.

[ Tim reaches for his wallet. ]

I don't need your money.

( he wonders if that comes off the wrong way at first — if it makes tim here think he believes he can't take care of himself. that's not it. he's seen him in that suit— he's been here for some time now. he clearly has the means and resources to take care of himself and likely has help from the others as well. he just... wanted to.

jaw tight for just a moment, he looks back to tim then. slowly. )

I'm still trying to figure things out here.

( figure all of you out. )

Because we all know you, and you don’t know us.

[ And you hate it, but that doesn’t need to be said.

Tim’s itching to give a report. It’s almost ingrained, and he can see the rationale for doing it.

(Neither Jason will. They’ll cherry pick the most damaging factoids and fire them at Bruce whenever he gets in their way with no context.)

(The younger Dick and Tim don’t have the full story.)

(If Damian’s avoiding Robins, he’ll certainly avoid a Batman.)

So any information would have to come from Dick or Tim, and they all put far too much on Dick. ]

What’s to figure out? Without shared experiences, you’re not going to be able to give any of them what they want. Your ID is safe enough. It’s not like you can stop any of us from ending up where we are in your world.

( what's to figure out is what you all want from him. tim here was the one who tossed a hi dad message at him which nearly tripped him up when he'd been out. he doesn't have dick [yet] back in gotham and while he feels empathy for those who go through similar experiences in losing their parents, like the mayor's son who he looks to and sees himself in unfortunately, he hasn't yet taken that step to take anyone in with him... to help in ways that batman can't.

because that's who he is currently. he's batman. not just physically, but emotionally as well, much to alfred's dismay.

staring to the ground, he's quiet, like always. considering tim's words. adding it to everything else he needs to analyze more thoroughly later. he's not running on much sleep currently. )

How many of you are there? ( a beat. ) Here.

Edited 2023-07-03 14:28 (UTC)

Eight.

[ The response is quick, too. Any answer that can be found in a few day’s snooping can be answered without feeling like he’s making decisions that impact the others.

Despite not counting Duke in the knowledge calculations, he counts him here. Given Duke’s true meta status and Bruce’s age, Tim simply ruled Duke out entirely from being the one to read Bruce into the family. ]

Three sets of multiverse duplicates.

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