( 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

[batsymbol]

( he doesn't know the extent of superman's powers — hasn't seen them for himself. all he has to go on is what kyle has said. what diana says here. and the faith the both of them seem to have in the other.

but, she's right. regardless of what he's capable of, he's not here for this fight and it falls on those who are to handle this. to hopefully come out with a victory instead of a loss... and with as few casualties as possible, preferably none.

eyes fall shut for a moment as the cool night breeze gently caresses his cheek, and he slowly looks to the skyline again, knowing it's not gotham.

slowly, legs bend, letting himself fall back to sit there with her, staring off to the skyline again while gloved hands gently press to the roof beneath him now. )

I understand what she's feeling. ( he says, soft. ) I understand her reasons for wanting vengeance... but I can't condone her methods.

[avatarfortruth]

Vengeance.

[ Her voice is a murmur, musing. She doesn't shift away as he sits next to her; if anything, she's grateful for his company. ]

I suppose you would. But vengeance for its own sake... I think she'd find it empty, once she had it in her hands. Especially if she hurts more people while seeking it.

[batsymbol]

But you don't see it that way in the moment... don't see the people you hurt.

( you hunt down, you beat into the ground. )

Justice becoming scorn... it becomes a sort of revenge fantasy at some point.

( and he speaks from personal experience, of course. )

[avatarfortruth]

Yes. Which is why someone should help her see the truth.

[ A truth the Bruce of her world knows, but which he has never been able to embrace. His pain is ongoing and infinite. ]

That it can never be more than a fantasy. It won't bring back her love.

[batsymbol]

( or his parents. no matter how hard he tries. )

No. It won't.

( voice somber, he ducks his head some, strands of hair falling in front of his face as he does. )

[avatarfortruth]

[ Oh, Bruce. Her friend, who feels so much and allows himself so little reprieve. She looks over at him now, at the strands of his hair as they brush over his eyes, his cheeks, at the symbol, a shadow on his chest. He's half-Bruce and half-Batman here in the dark, under the waxing moon, and she wishes more than anything that she could help him, too. ]

But that doesn't mean it has to be the end for her.

[ Her voice soft. ]

As much as it hurts to live with the pain. She can still remember there's so much more to this world than heartbreak.

[batsymbol]

( barely a tilt of his head, slow in his movements, he looks over to her through the strands of hair there having fallen in front of his face. watching her with those blue eyes of his. )

Like what?

[avatarfortruth]

[ This, at least, is an answer she knows well. Believes down to her core. ]

What can replace heartbreak and revenge, but love and hope?

[ He may mock her. Might toss her position as Eros' champion in her face. But this is a truth she'll always hold to herself: trusting to love. To hope. ]

The pain may never really go away, but no one needs to suffer alone. Not Chaos Gate. Not anyone. And I think... one day... she'd find more comfort in the memories of her love than in what she did when it was taken from her.

[batsymbol]

( he wonders about that... has wondered about it for years. if that dull ache that resides within his heart will ever really go away, or if it will simply linger there until the very day that he, himself dies.

in being able to relate to what chaos gate feels with her loss — with how sudden and unexpected it had been and how powerless she must have felt in the moment, it's easy for his words to mirror his own thoughts. his own feelings regarding such loss. such pain. the burning rage within for vengeance. he understands it. too much. and maybe, in a way, it's partly why he's here. in this time. )

Maybe it's easier to be alone.

[avatarfortruth]

[ She looks back up at the sky, searching out any familiar constellation she can find, the way she did as a child on Themyscira. Her words, when they come, are as soft as the breeze that gently ruffles his hair and her own. ]

I've been alone for a long time now. And while it may be easier... it is in no way better. Besides...

[ She does glance toward him now, her eyes in the darkness appearing almost gray rather than blue. ]

Since when have either of us chosen a path simply because it's the easier one to tread?

[batsymbol]

( easier. somehow, over the years, it has become easier to just be by himself. after the death of his parents, growing up, he'd kept to himself — reading alone in the library rather than socializing with others his age. even now, he still does this. the reclusive prince of gotham who barely makes an appearance anywhere outside his tower. he could say it's because he works nights in gotham, but. it all started before that. his seclusion from the world. from others.

looking down, he stares. contemplates. lets something roll over in his head a few times before he decides to say it. )

I've been here for as long as I have and I haven't done much in the way of getting to know them. ( dick, dick jr, the jasons, the tims... ) Not personally.

( their names, their relationships to some other version of him... sprinkles of history here and there, but never all that much. never anything beyond that. he couldn't even tell you their birthdays, their favorite colours, not even some of their ages. he's largely kept to himself ever since arriving here and knows he hasn't made the effort to reach out to them. rarely, if at all. )

I was... afraid to. ( a quiet admission. ) With Alfred at home, I just... I don't want to feel that here, too. ( softly, he looks to her and there within his eyes, a pained bruce wayne. ) The fear of losing people I care about.

[avatarfortruth]

[ The silence between them, as they both gaze out into the night, as he contemplates his own thoughts and she's left with hers, isn't a cloying or oppressing one. Even though he isn't the Bruce of her own world, this is still the same: being able to sit together, even in silence, companionable.

But then his voice comes, soft and careful, and she looks to him as she listens, as he picks out the words. Makes his confession.

All of it aching in her own chest, for all of them. For Dick, shouldering more than he should; for the two versions of Jason who only seem to see the things they hate about themselves in each other. For the younger boys, only a few years past their own arrivals at Wayne Manor. ]

Shutting yourself off from them isn't the answer, Bruce.

[ She'd told Jason, that day before they left, and she tells it to him now. ]

You need them. And they need you, however much they might not want to admit it.

And there's still time.

[ Time to reach out, to get to know them, to let them know him. ]

Don't be alone anymore.

[batsymbol]

( don't be alone anymore. somehow, those words, while simple, seem so much more difficult to comprehend, let alone to take action with and he keeps looking to her, even as he thinks that.

there on his lips, a smile then. though bittersweet almost. )

Might be too late for that now.

( if tomorrow doesn't end in a victory for them. )

[avatarfortruth]

I won't believe that.

[ Despite the gentleness of her voice, there's steel behind her words. ]

Dick is here. Spend some time with him tonight, in the morning. And tomorrow...

[ She reaches for his near hand, her fingers warm as she squeezes his. ]

I release you from your promise to die together, if it comes to that. Live, and go back. Be with them.

[batsymbol]

( those words spark something within him — a sort of fierceness that makes him more batman than bruce wayne and despite the out she offers him, he furrows his brow, conviction there within his eyes. )

With all due respect princess, I came here so they could live.

( because that's what fathers do, don't they? sacrifice for their children. )

[avatarfortruth]

I know.

[ Bruce can hide the truth from himself like no one else she's ever known, but it is still the truth, and the truth is her domain. There's the faintest curve of a smile touching her lips as she watches him. ]

But that does not require you to die. Or anyone, ideally.

[batsymbol]

Then we better not.

( we. even if it's a very real possibility and they both know it. )

[avatarfortruth]

I promise to do my very best to survive.

[ She squeezes his hand once more, before letting go. ]

You have me, too.

[batsymbol]

( she lets go but his gloved hand reaches up, fingers brushing along the inside of her wrist and he leans in. no seconds thoughts. eyes shut and forehead pressing to hers. )

Thank you.

[avatarfortruth]

[ He doesn't move especially quickly, and she doesn't pull away. Leans her forehead against his, curls her fingers around his wrist as her own eyes close, as she breathes out, a slow sigh, through her nose. ]

Whatever comes, I'll face it with you. Together.

[batsymbol]

( his own breathing soft and slow — steady — the smile that touches his lips is faint and soft, much like the night breeze around them here on the rooftop. )

Whatever you say, princess.

[avatarfortruth]

[ She smiles again at that, the familiarity of it. Her title in his sand-papered voice, making it sound like something else entirely. ]

Tomorrow.

[ Reminding him, reminding them both. ]

We have the whole night before then.

[batsymbol]

( he doesn't know what's going to happen. how bad it could all go. because of course his thoughts immediately zero in on that. in a way, maybe, it's why she's needed. to be the positive to his negative. even if negative isn't always a bad thing to see. to consider. bruce just... tends to get caught up in it a lot. lost within it.

her words have his eyes lazily flutter open some, but he doesn't bother to pull away. )

Guess we do.

[avatarfortruth]

[ It takes her a moment longer to open her eyes, but when she does, she meets his soft blue gaze. He's so close, and all she would need to do is to tip her head and leans a little closer still. ]

And it's a beautiful night.

[ She shifts, rolling her head so his forehead presses against her temple, tries to ignore the warmth of his breath as she looks up at the night sky, points to a cluster of stars. ]

There... Leo. The lion. Perhaps he can offer us courage.

[batsymbol]

( she shifts and he stares — lets his gaze drop down to the waves of hair tickling at her collarbone. time ticks away here and soon, all of this — everything that's been said and done here in this timeline... it'll be over. a memory, maybe. for better. for worse. moments left here in the past, regardless if the outcome for them is favorable or not.

lifting his head, he turns to look at the constellation she points out and he stares to it. quiet. )

It was Pisces season when we arrived here. Now it's Aries.