metalogs | ( open-ish ) dedicate and sacrifice my everything

[ What she thinks of, now, as he leans closer and their fingers twine together, is not a last embrace on the battlefield, but of a dream that came after. A clear day on Themyscira, a breeze tugging at her gown, at his hair.

(One more day. Can I have one more day?
Every one I have left. My life is yours. It always has been.)

Maybe the only lie she's ever spoken to Bruce: It was terrible. The trip through potential futures, all of which she set aside to return to what she knew was already good.

But here, now, this Bruce; everything he has is the future. He's barely started on his mission, is still becoming the man she knows so well. Is it selfish, then, to wonder what could be? ]

Perhaps a few thoughts.

[ To his question before: there's so much he should know. Not only about her, and their friendship, but about the League, his work. If he's genuinely curious about the gods, she can regale him for hours with stories, beginning with how they brought her to life.

And then there's the soft look in his eyes. The warmth of his breath. She hasn't been this close to him in a long time. ]

Though it would be wiser simply to go to sleep. We'll all need our rest.

( so close now, eyes fall shut out of instinct to, noses just barely touching. he’s been here before, in a way. staring down to selina amidst a wash of oranges, reds, and purples across the sky, gotham stretched out around them. the way everything seemed to come to pause, the world around them a mere backdrop to their existence — to a moment that lingered on his lips after.

this moment feels similar to that… but also fills him with something else. something he can’t quite put his finger on. maybe because it’s bruce here on the bed and not batman on a rooftop overlooking the city. someone he hasn’t let himself be for a long time now. not genuinely, at least. not like this.

a breath on his lips — a huff of soft laughter, he swallows. just another inch closer. )

Yeah. Probably should.

( words as soft as the breath he takes — as the way her hand feels within his, there’s a moment where he thinks to- or maybe it’s that he doesn’t think, for once, and lips part gently, when the sound of guests passing by, unruly with their laughter, chases the moment away and bruce pulls back some, letting his gaze drift towards their closed door. when they pass by, he ducks his head — swallows and looks over then to the television that still offers them noise to fill the silence. he doesn’t even know what he’s watching. it’s just there. like him. )

I, uh… can take the chair. If it’s better for you.

[ His nose brushes hers, his eyes heavy-lidded and warm, and she has to wonder if perhaps Eros is at work in this world. But the hung moment evaporates as a few other motel guests pass by outside and he turns away, though his hand stays in hers. When he looks back again, she smiles, a little rueful.

Perhaps they never will get their chance. But she contented herself with the knowledge that he'd always be in her life long ago, and so he is now. This Bruce who hardly knows her.

But he feels it, too, she thinks. Their connection. Something strong enough to cross universes. ]

That won't be necessary.

[ She sits back, herself, adding to the air between them. No longer almost forehead to forehead. ]

There's plenty of room.

If you're sure.

( because he really will take the chair if it was what she preferred. seeing how she maintains there's more than enough room on the bed though, he at least goes about removing his jacket, dropping that down to the floor there beside him.

hands run over his face, fingers carding through his hair after and he lays back against the bed there, black t-shirt and jeans worn. he lets his focus gently latch onto the mutterings from the television for a moment — holding to it as a sort of means to keep him grounded here in the 80s and not let his mind wander off to various thoughts waiting for him.

tips of fingers slow in the way they brush through his hair at the crown of his head, he stares off across the room, voice soft as he speaks. )

How many other places exist that we thought to be fictional?

( thinking back to atlantis and all. )

[ When he moves, she takes the opportunity to collect both headband and lasso, setting them on the small bedside table. Her feet are already bare, and her tank top and jeans comfortable enough. Shifting, she takes the pillow she'd propped against the headboard and sets it on the mattress, then lies on her side, facing him, her head leaning on her hand. ]

So many.

[ Her voice low, soft, like she really is telling him a bedtime story. And if she can lull him to sleep, so much the better; he always looks exhausted. ]

Olympus, for one. My home, for another. Themyscira, the home of the Amazons. Those in Man's World sometimes called it 'Paradise Island.'

[ She smiles, gentle. Wistful. Her longing for her home an ache in her chest, her throat, spread clear across her face for him to see. ]

It's beautiful there. Clear waters, lush forests. Temples to the gods, mythical beasts roaming both land and sea.

Edited 2023-09-12 17:22 (UTC)

( he notices — he always notices things about others and he wonders if he should ask. after a moment, looking there to her, he lets his gaze drift until it falls back onto her. )

How do you get there? Or is it invisible like your jet you have?

( that's asked with just the faintest tug at the corner of his mouth. almost as if holding back a smile there. )

It's hidden, yes. From those of Man's World. Was, for a long time.

[ She smiles back, eyes crinkling and warm, before she shakes her head. ]

But I can't go back. The Amazons are scattered, their memories of who they are stripped from them. No one now walks Themyscira but our Queen, Hippolyta. My mother.

[ She breathes deep and slow, lets it out just as deliberately against the flash of pain and anger which always accompanies these thoughts. ]

It is forbidden for any other Amazon to step foot on the island, even me. Zeus bade it so, before the gods vanished from my world.

( she really does know a thing about gods, seems like. no wonder she means to seek out cu— eros and chose to come back through time to deal with this. bruce doesn't exactly have much in the way of experience with gods, aside from what he's read in books over the years. which, he did a lot of. especially during school where he'd simply keep to himself rather than hang out with others.

a lot like now, too. )

Where do you stay now?

At an apartment, in Washington, DC.

[ A much smaller apartment than she'd had before, but that's only to be expected. After all, she's no longer Themyscira's ambassador to the United Nations. ]

I admit it's a little cramped with the gorilla knights, but they are much better houseguests than anyone would guess.

[ Now that they've ceased the flinging, anyway. ]

And sometimes I'm on the Watchtower, with the League. In orbit around the Earth.

Obviously.

( said so casually, as if he clearly knows that.

laying there for a moment longer, he sits up then, fingers grasping at the sheets around him, and makes his way from the bed, grabbing the granola and fruit bar he'd tossed on the table earlier before he goes to turn a lamp off on the way over, the glow from the television being all that's there to give them light in the room.

a heavy dip in the bed as he knee presses back down into it, he lazily watches whatever's on the television as he unwraps the bar and takes a slow bite from it. )

Where do you plan to stay if this ends up being a one-way trip?

I don't know.

[ She watches the light from the television flicker over the angles of his features, his body there next to her. ]

Perhaps I'll see if there's a Themyscira in this world. After that, I'd probably come back to the cities here.

What about you? What will you do?

I don't know.

( he's not so sure there's a gotham here given the fact that, back in the present-future of this place, it doesn't exist. batman without a gotham city is... strange. even if he feels conflicted about the city at times — even if he wonders if it can be saved at all.

staring to the television still, another slow bite, he mulls over something before he lets it out just as casually. )

Dick said he'd break time to get us back if he had to. ( a beat. ) I told him I'd rather he didn't.

Did he.

[ She hasn't spoken to Dick yet, isn't sure which version of Nightwing is the one here with them. But he sounds... more reckless than the one she remembers. ]

Considering we are here to stop time breaking, I would strongly recommend he not. An ensured future is more important than any one of us.

[ Which they all knew going in. Or, at least, that was what she had thought. ]

Sad as it would be not to get back, it's a risk we took in coming.

I know.

( again, a reason why he didn't want any of them— any of the kids to come along on this. better they stay there in the present-future and keep it safe. together.

another slow bite to the bar in his hand, he looks over to diana then, watching her as he takes his time to chew, then swallow. fingers crinkling some of the wrapper, he looks down to what's left of the bar there in his hands. )

I'll stop him if I have to... if it looks as if he might make things worse.

( he'd just. rather not. )

Bruce.

[ She reaches to curl her fingers at his elbow, hoping to pull his attention from the granola bar, from the eddies of his own thoughts. ]

If it comes to that, let me take care of it. You shouldn't have to... not with Dick.

I'm sure he means well. He always does.

( like always with her touches, they're soft and gentle in ways bruce isn't with himself. he's ruthless to himself in ways that are meant to make him better, make him stronger, make him into the legacy he wants to become. alfred worries he'll drive himself to the point of death at times.

but her touch is like a balm he didn't know he needed and it soothes him in ways he hasn't let himself be. glance out of the corner of his eye, he licks over his lips, a shake of his head. )

He's one of mine, so I'll deal with it.

( a burden he doesn't yet know the extent of when it comes to being batman. )

[ This, she understands. It's Bruce, and how he deals with things, with his family, but it's how she'd prefer to deal with it, too. If it were Cassie. Donna. She nods, lets go of his arm. ]

No matter what happens, I'll be here. With you.

[ Just as he'd promised her, earlier. ]

( he finds himself unable to know what to say in regards to that. like selina, there's something there that he feels... but diana isn't selina. selina knows him only as vengeance — as the batman of gotham who's tangled up in this riddler mess, not realizing just how deep it all goes into the very corrupt core of the city. diana... diana knows him like this — as bruce wayne, a man he's still trying to find himself and as the batman. even if he's not the one she knows, there's enough of him there for her to come around. to stay like she does.

because there's something there... there just is.

he stares to what's left of his bar there in his hands, then drops one away, blindly. reaches out to gently take hold of her hand as if it grounds him — as if it keeps a lifeline to bruce wayne there. )

[ Instead of saying anything, he reaches for her hand, and her fingers curl around his, warm and firm and real, without hesitation. ]

You aren't alone in the dark.

[ Even if their relationship is strained, he has the others. Dick, Jason, Tim, Duke, all their doubles. He has her. And she's grateful, very grateful, to have the chance to become his friend all over again. ]

Not anymore.

( knee still pressed there into the mattress, television bleeding away into white noise almost, he stares down past the bar there in his one hand, trying to find what to say to that. )

I'm not afraid of the dark.

( softly. it's not what she said, but. )

Of course not.

[ Smiling, even as the flickering light and shadow from the television through his features into sharp relief, there and gone again. ]

You're Batman. You make everyone else afraid of the dark.

[ Working on that elemental fear every human has, that a shadow might reach out and swallow them. That something is stalking them. A hunter in the night. ]

But you don't have to be in it all the time. And you don't have to be alone.

( fear is a tool. one which he's more or less mastered back in his gotham. to have those who have malicious thoughts in their heads — are looking to start something somewhere with someone in violent ways, constantly looking over their shoulders in the shadows and especially the moment that light hits the sky... it's not a fix for gotham, but it's something. it's enough, for now.

a breath leaves him through his nose and he just barely turns his head towards her, looking at her there in the dimly-lit room where the television is the only thing that currently provides light for them. casting shadows across the walls around them. across his face there, knee still pressed into the bed. )

Where else should I be?

Well. Right now, you could be here. Resting.

[ She gives a little tug on his hand, by way of reminder. ]

I think that's probably good enough for the moment.

[ The rest will come with time, with experience. Gotham's hold on him will never loosen, but one day he might be able to look up and see something other than his city, the thugs and mobsters and lowlifes skulking around its streets. It might not be the League that changes things for him, but she'd be willing to guess it'll be something similar. ]

( the tug is enough to draw him over — to have both knees end up on the bed right before he drops down to it, fingers sliding their way through diana's and pulling her down with him. almost into him. he's quiet as his back hits the bed — as whatever's left of that fruit and granola bar is lost somewhere there on the bed and, instead, looks to her with that softness there in those blue eyes of his. just staring. watching. barely hearing the soft mumbles from the television going on behind them. )

If we end up stuck here... if this ends up being a one-way trip. I'll help you find Themyscira. If it's here.

[ The mattress and frame complain as his weight hits them, as he pulls her down, too, leaving her drawn more to the middle of the bed than the side where she'd started. Close enough to feel his warmth, to see his eyes clearly, even in the dim light. ]

I welcome your company.

[ Her lips curve, crooked. ]

Should we find it, I will ensure the megalodons do not attack you.

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