capeandcowllogs | Yes, he is thinking that it's a good place for a date. Fffffffff. [INCOMPLETE]

WHO: Dick (Robin) and Layla
WHERE: Wherever
WHEN: March 24th, day
WHAT: Layla and Dick haven't talked since Dick was 18.
WARNING: None. Well apparently they're going to flirt. /flails
FORMAT: Para.

The City went to chaos and so Layla and Dick hadn't seen each other since after the age-swap when Dick had turned twelve again. And he wasn't even twelve anymore - which Layla had known. And Tim, apparently.

And then Batman had left and he'd gone back to living between the Cave and the Tower. He hadn't felt comfortable living with a Batman that wasn't his and his life going back to being without a Batman around simplified the matter of not caring about Batman too much.

In fact, he wasn't particularly hurt that he'd vanished and although he couldn't tell if it was because he was just starting to lack regular morality or if he just wasn't blurring lines and getting attached to any Batman ever, he chose to believe it was positive and so that it was because of that later explanation.

And so, now thirteen, Batman-less and thoroughly exhausted, Dick wandered in a small wood on the East side of the City, near a park. No one ever hanged out in the wood, sticking to where things were pretty and had benches to sit on, and so Dick liked to go there sometimes. There wasn't any snow anymore and it was easy to climb trees. When it'd be a little hotter, he could foresee himself going there to take naps and spend a lot of time just hanging from branches thirty feet above ground. And it was kind of beautiful and uh - well -

For now, it was a good place to expect Layla and wait for her.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The thing about longer somersault was that he had to get the trapezes going quickly enough to give him a lot of impulsion and momentum to make the turns in the air fast and swift. But at the same time, if the trapeze was swinging faster, it meant it'd be gone faster, too, and that it was easier to miss the transfer.

Dick knew how to deal with that, of course. He was small and light and that was probably what helped him out the most to manage these tricks: he could jump off in advance and just - be in between the trapezes for longer. The longer the somersault, the earlier he had to jump off and that was when he truly was flying, in suspension for a few exceptionally long seconds.

It was harder trick, still. He waited for a bit, concentrating more because he needed to, and took off holding the bar firmly. He jumped off higher, a bit in advance on the second trapeze, and did the triple somersault without thinking about it that much - he hadn't screwed up a triple in ages. Then, he let himself land on the platform on the other side because he was going to need the push to start off. He didn't look down - he was performing.

His initial trapeze made one full swing and Dick watched it carefully to be sure he would be leaving the platform at the right time. He still, sometimes, didn't jump high enough ot turn on himself fast enough and was forced to do a triple instead of a quadruple for safety issues. But, hey, if he was going to screw up now, Layla would know already so she wasn't going to be disappointed. He smiled at that thought when he pushed himself off and knew when he let go of the bar that it was going to turn out. Then it was as slow and fast as it usually was and he was back on the platform, grinning down at Layla.

"Was that impressive enough?"

He looked so determined and focused up there, and it was something else to see Dick in his element. Layla thought he made it look so easy. That kind of skill and exercise would take a life time to learn, and yet Dick flew and twisted with grace and ease. It was exciting to watch, really, and a lot better than just knowing he was capable.

So from the ground she stood and watched, eyes glued to his body as he moved and she couldn't help but grin. Mesmerized. As an orphan, Layla had never been given the opportunity to even see a circus before. It made her feel like a little kid all over again - which was something that didn't happen often to someone with the weight of the world's future on her shoulders.

"Impressive barely covers it!" she yelled up and clapped her hands at him. "That was awesome! Guess the codename really suits you after all, huh?"

Dick kept grinning as he started climbing down the platform quickly, after deactivating the magnetic system and putting the trapezes the way they were before he'd gotten on them.

"I could probably come up with some routine if you want at some point," he said, on the ground one again. He could even go back up there and improvise something right on the spot instead of making that half-suggestion. Possibly. He hadn't used the trapezes like that forever. Or used them at all, really, other than for cardio. Exercising.

"I'd suggest to get you up there and make you try out a thing or two but we don't have a net and - yeah. You know where I'm going with that."

He tilted his head a little, squinting just barely, suddenly studying her. "I can't tell if you have any strength in your arms or not," he said finally.

"Hey, I bet a routine would be cool!" she grinned at that and placed her hands on her hips and she watched him tidy up. "I've never seen one before. What you did right there is it! Well, besides the TV and all that."

It was kind of exciting that he was opening the door to something new for her. While Layla held a lot of knowledge about things, she didn't have much experience in anything at all, really. She was a regular kid until her parents died, and when she turned into a mutant at the orphange it was worse. No one liked to see a fire-breathing little girl running around in public, especially one that didn't have the proper supervision. Circuses were just a no go, and now it was like Robin had his own little show and that was cool. Layla liked that, as well as the probability of a routine.

As for strength though? She scoffed. "If I do, it isn't much. I'm not like the rest of you jumping around, flipping, and fist fighting all the time. I prefer prank phone calls and rigging bets, thank-you very much!"

Dick's thoughts went through a lot of possibilities about what he could do and what she could do with nearly no strength in her arms. Even the most simple transfer would be hard because she'd still have to hang on the bar with one hand at some point.

And that made him wonder about his own limits - could he hang on the bar and hold Layla's waist at the same time to give her some support until she grabbed the second trapeze with both hands after a transfer? He was already way ahead of himself though - he didn't even know if she was interested into any of that. For Dick, that was just someone he loved, it was part of his life, and it felt natural to want to share it with her. And he was doing so and was going to keep on doing so by performing himself, but in no way that meant she'd want to be up there.

And anyway, he'd need to put up a net. It'd have to be high, a few meters under the platforms only so that falling down wouldn't be dangerous at all and would be a short fall -

Yeah. Ahead of himself didn't even begin to describe it.

"You don't have an offensive power and.. aren't likely to get into lots of fights? So that's logical. You could probably manage to kill someone without fighting just by knowing where to place yourself or what to move where, anyway."

He swiped the sweats off his hands on his shirt. He hadn't stayed up there for long enough for it to get bad, but if he'd planned on something longer he'd have used chalk powder to keep himself from slipping eventually.

"I'll come up with something and we can come back here some other time." It was easier to push the thought of what-Batman-would-have-to-say-about-that away as he spoke.

"Yeah, fighting isn't really my thing," she agreed with a nod and left it at that. The idea of announcing deaths she'd been responsible for in the past wasn't exactly appealing. It would make her a hypocrite considering all the stuff she and Dick had talked about over the months. The killing, the Joker, preventing and evading him from becoming said Joker. It just wasn't a very comfortable conversation. Though she'd been able to kill people without a flinch, it didn't mean she liked bringing it up. "But you're probably right; some people would underestimate me in a situation, I guess."

Smiling again and the topic of a routine, Layla folded her arms over her middle as she watched him tidy up. "As long as your team is up for it, fine. I'd be more than happy to come back!"

"It's not as if I rally had a team right now. Not one that hangs out here, anyway."

Tim did spend enough time in the Cave and on the computers, but Dick didn't intend to hide that from him. Batman would probably mind random people in the Cave... but Batman wasn't here. And Layla would know where it was, even without Dick bringing her here.

"I'll tell Tim. He'll be okay with it." Or, more likely, he would say something but wouldn't stop Dick anyway. A few seconds went by that made him uncomfortable because he had no idea where this was going, now. But his attention had been driven away from anything important and that, for him, was considered a success.

"Do you wanna stay here? Or - we could go out again. To do something really cliché like getting ice cream."

Yes, he is thinking that it's a good place for a date. Fffffffff. [INCOMPLETE]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject