( open-ish ) dedicate and sacrifice my everything

[batsymbol]

Who: Bruce Wayne/Batman batsymbol
What: catch-all for the month, largely time travel and event focused
When: Throughout September
Where: Primarily the past
Content Warnings: TBD but let's just say Bruce being Bruce and Batman being 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

[avatarfortruth]

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.

[batsymbol]

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?

[avatarfortruth]

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?

[batsymbol]

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.

[avatarfortruth]

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.

[batsymbol]

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. )

[avatarfortruth]

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.

[batsymbol]

( 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. )

[avatarfortruth]

[ 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. ]

[batsymbol]

( 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. )

[avatarfortruth]

[ 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.

[batsymbol]

( 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. )

[avatarfortruth]

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.

[batsymbol]

( 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?

[avatarfortruth]

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. ]

[batsymbol]

( 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.

[avatarfortruth]

[ 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.

[batsymbol]

You don't think I could win against one?

( it's said softly — playfully almost. smile so very faint there on his lips while fingers remain laced there with hers. with no means to slip them out, it seems. )

[avatarfortruth]

That depends entirely on whether or not you have yet modified your suit for underwater combat. And how many batarangs you have.

[ Playful is a color vanishingly rare on Bruce, but it's always one she enjoys. A moment or two when he relaxes his hold on the Batman and puts aside the polished charm of Gotham's brightest star to be just this: Bruce Wayne. Her smile widens into a grin, amused, and she leaves her hand where it is, tangled with his.

They've both lost so much. Is it any surprise she wants to stay near him? ]

But seeing as they guard Themyscira's shores, and have done so loyally for thousands of years, I would prefer you leave them in peace.

[batsymbol]

( modifications. things he's still relatively new at doing with his suit and his equipment. he's only been doing this — been doing batman for two years now. of course he doesn't have all the fancy gadgets and gizmos that come with whatever version of himself has in the way of things. but, like him, he also had to start somewhere once upon a time. and so he's not ever too bothered with the quips about that. if anything, it only gives him ideas.

a slight shift there on the bed — pressing his head some into the pillow, there's a faint smile there in those blue eyes of his rather than on his lips. )

Have a little faith in me.

[avatarfortruth]

[ Her fingers tighten in his – gently. The last thing she wants to do is squeeze too hard and hurt him. ]

I do.

[ Bruce. Kal. Etta. Dinah. The people she can count on, no matter what. And this Bruce, trying so hard, keeping to his mission. She could sooner lose faith in the gods themselves.

And she still hears it, like an echo. That memory. I don't need faith, Princess, when I have you. ]

Always.

[batsymbol]

( gently still, his thumb brushes over hers, blue eyes almost lazy in a way as they watch her face, as if memorizing her... memorizing this moment here. )

What time do you plan to head out?

( to find eros, he means. )

[avatarfortruth]

Well, I'm an early riser.

[ If she sleeps at all, something neither of them seem particularly inclined toward. ]

But I wouldn't want to appear at his door too early. So perhaps around eight.

[batsymbol]

( gently and with a bit of a shift, he tugs her in a little closer, eyes still lazy though a little focused around the edges like always when it comes to work. )

That gives you until eleven.

( three hours, like they agreed on. )

[avatarfortruth]

Yes.

[ Peaceably, as she allows him to pull her a little closer. She lifts her head and props it on her hand, looking down at him. ]

It's plenty of time. I'm a very fast flyer.