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CARRIE KELLEY { яσвιη } ([personal profile] slingshots) wrote in [community profile] capeandcowllogs2011-07-14 08:28 pm

and if you think you're gonna be spared you're wrong

WHO: [Bad username or site: batmantled title= @ livejournal.com] and [Bad username or site: girlyboywonder title= @ livejournal.com]
WHERE: SOME ROOFTOP SOMEWHERE...
WHEN: Tonight!
WARNINGS: none??
SUMMARY: THERE IS ROBIN MOPING AND LESSONS ON THE ~IMPORTANCE OF LIFE~ CONTAINED WITHIN. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
FORMAT: SPEEDY LIKE THE RACIAL STEREOTYPE MOUSE

[ Has it really been over a year here? She'd glanced at a calendar the other day, blinked to see she was a few months past the one that would have marked her Cityversary, and shrugged. There were people around that'd been here for a lot longer than a year, after all. She'd said goodbye to a few that had been here for way longer, even.

It had made her think a little, though. She's perched under the eave of an apartment roof and just out of the light sprinkle of spring rain, knees drawn to her chest, and doing exactly that. It'd been odd to patrol alone when she'd first showed up. First, sure, it had been neat, being liberated by the sometimes (often) authoritarian Batman of her world. Then strange. Then lonely. Then she'd acclimated. It was really just as simple as that, and she suspects that everyone's stories are the same. Novel, lonely, and then acclimated.

It had been nice, though, to patrol with other people while they were here. Not that there's much use in thinking about it, though. Even when they come back, half the time they just leave again and the other half it's not the right version. Also, she suspects, a story that's been heard before.

Oh, well.
]

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-07-16 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It’s been a quiet night; quiet enough that heading in early and getting a head start on pulling out a few cumulative stitches is probably a better use of the time. He’s on his third loop through this section of the city; his third and probably the last one he can really stretch before pushing it starts to feel self-indulgent.

It’s good work. Solid work. Dumping a ODing prostitute into an ambulance. Sending a runaway orphan fleeing back to the (mostly) adequate foster home he came from. Dangling a drug running pimp by one leg off the 67th floor of the Empire State Building. Amazing what old tactics can accomplish in a place where talk of the tried and true has yet to make it down to the baseline.

But it’s not as if that costume – or that particular kid wearing it – could ever be easy to miss. And when he swings down by the perch Carrie’s staked out and catches that little flash of green and red that vague sense of accomplishment he’s spent the last six hours working on bleeds away like it was nothing.

Still. Still.

Don't mind this bat-shaped shadow, Carrie. ]

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-07-16 09:47 pm (UTC)(link)
[ And nothing for it now. But the smile is more encouragement than he'd really been expecting on her end, so he takes the invitation and drops a companionable distance away, offering a quick little grin in return. ]

Hey, kid.

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-07-17 12:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Grounded. [ which comes out easily, even if it's mostly a lie. Keeping the comm lines open and hoping against hope he never hears that cry for help is sometimes the best policy with Damian. But passing that little tidbit onto Carrie seems unwise.

He puts away the grapple instead and takes a seat on the edge of the gutter, watching her for signs of discomfort. ]


Flying solo tonight?

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-07-18 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
[ the mention of Terry is a little surprising, and maybe more so in the context of how well the one he remembers tended to function within any kind of team-building exercise. That he still qualifies as a benchmark for the concept in Carrie's world is....

...maybe one of the less disturbing things he's heard come out of her mouth lately.

He glances down enough to give her a little break from the scrutiny. And... almost hesitates before making the offer. ]


Feel like taking on another temp?

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-07-19 03:02 am (UTC)(link)
[ and just like that his heart's clenching up, knotting sharp and hot into that old, gut-deep sense of dread. That feeling that says he's too late. Too late to fix this. ] Just a suggestion. Pack it in if you need to crash.

[he shifts a little back towards the edge; not so much suggesting an immanent departure as letting that shadow slide far enough across the mask to do a little more of the work of hiding his expression. He needs to play this straight. ]

But I really think you're gonna like this one, Carrie.

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-07-19 11:36 am (UTC)(link)
[ He fires out a line and then swings, half-listening for her behind him before he changes direction and heads for downtown. This would be the time to clue her in on the surprise before they get there, but maybe letting it sneak up on her this once serves his purposes a little better.

He does a little flip before he lets the line go and switches to a new one. Everything's fine, don't worry. ]

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-07-23 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[ There's something off with her tonight, and maybe off enough that losing sleep over pulling one of these now will end up being unavoidable. He keeps close while they move, setting a pace that’s not quite slow enough to be conscientious. This time she's earning it first like the rest of them. ]

Any intel I need to know about while you've got me here? [ it's an innocent enough question. ]

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-07-25 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ There's a "good work, Robin" lurking there that would have come so easily on another night; offered freely for a job well done. He accepts the rundown instead without comment, turning a little away from her while the twelve year old inside him aches in sympathy.

The vantage point coming up is close enough to what he's after to warrant a quick touchdown on the edge of the roof, so he drops the line and leaves enough space for her to make her own landing beside him. The street is dark, but not quite empty down below. ]

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-07-29 10:10 am (UTC)(link)
[ It takes a few seconds for the words to process. And all at once he's afraid to move. Afraid to breathe. ]

...Not just Carrie?

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-07-29 09:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ...He lets the silence stretch a little before he lowers the grapple. Focuses on sliding it back into place like it's something that requires concentration. Anything to take his gaze away from her face. ]

...What do you know about him, Carrie?

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-07-31 08:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah. Well. [ oh god what is he saying. There's no proof, there's never been any proof. ]

You know why we don't talk about him much? Why he doesn't come in the cave like the rest of us?

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-08-01 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
[ She's not giving clues away the way kids do. The way almost any other kid might have. It's a few seconds before he settles on looking back down at the street instead and when he speaks again it's almost a confession. ]

....I had to put him in jail.

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-08-03 02:09 am (UTC)(link)
[ The silence is really getting to be a little more than unnerving. Like that wild, curious, present kid he remembers had never been there. Doesn't exist at all.

His fingers clench a little automatically, and he has to force the tension to ease up enough that he can relax. He needs to know. Needs to be sure. ]


Good people do bad things. Cause they're confused. Or maybe they're scared.

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-08-06 03:05 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know. I-

[ the words aren't right, and suddenly the scrutiny is feeling a little more reciprocal. ]

...I don't what to do about him now.

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-08-07 12:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[ And for a long moment he has to stay where he is - frozen somewhere between stunned disbelief and a vague, hollow sense of defeat. That after all the years he's spent failing Jason - failing him piece by piece - it's Carrie who has to pay for it.

But it's not... quite a mechanical motion when he drops the hand finally until the glove touches her shoulder. And if she doesn’t move away he’ll squeeze just a little.

Jason. He misses him. ]

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-08-07 04:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Batman wouldn't be happy. [ It's comes out sounding toneless and a little empty, but it's meant to be an acknowledgement of the one they have in common. The one he'll never measure up to in any costume. Any world.

He scrubs a tired hand across his eyes before he remembers the cowl. Then takes a breath and then tries a stronger pose. ]


-And actually not why I dragged you all the way out here.

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-08-09 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
[ This time he's not quite looking in her direction. ] ...I wanted you to see something nice.

[ And without another word he's spreading the cape out and taking a quick dive off the side of the building. She'll follow him, or she won't. ]

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-08-10 11:22 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's a short hop down to the lower ledge, where they can get a better view of the apartment across the street. An excellent stake-out spot. But he'll wait until she's in earshot before he speaks again. ]

Wait a minute and you'll see.

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-08-12 11:34 am (UTC)(link)
First week here I put this guy in jail. He killed and he sold drugs on top of the live-in girlfriend at home he beat. [ He has his eyes on the windows, and behind the glass there’s definitely some signs of movement. A man, an older woman, and a kid making dinner-like motions together. ]

...So when the case I put together fell apart I paid him a visit. Turns out his girl packed up and left the kid with his mother. She stops by once a week for week to, uh. Visit. I guess. [ And right on the cue the subject starts setting the table while the kid (no more than three) watches with rapt attention. It's a nice image. Dick drops his gaze and then shrugs. ]

Small blessings, I guess. But he’s been clean almost a year. And if he keeps taking it seriously his kid might actually have a chance to know her dad. [ -he really can't look at Carrie ]

...Or if not she’ll know at least he got another chance to turn things around.

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-08-13 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
Not everybody, no. [ It's a quiet admission, but really she has to be either a little less quick on the uptake than he'd anticipated or misreading things purposefully. It makes his heart sink a little. ]

But I'm not gonna be the one to take that choice away from him.

[identity profile] batmantled.livejournal.com 2011-08-13 01:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Sure. [ It's as much of an excuse as any to turn in the other direction while he tugs out the grappling gun. It's probably an exercise in futility, yet again.

Damnit, Carrie. ]


...Stay safe, Robin.