InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "The pit of dispair!"

Bruce Wainright has (onerule) wrote in rooms,
@ 2014-09-04 23:44:00

Entry tags:

!dc comics, *journal, *log, bruce wayne, cassie sandsmark, dinah lance, donna troy, eddie nigma, hal jordan, jason todd, selina kyle, stephanie brown, steve rogers

batfam+/JL+, selina k., steve r.
[batfam+/JL+]

Ra's is in custody. I know we're all busy with clean up, but a long-term solution is needed. A normal prison is out of the question.

[locked to selina k.]

Selina?

[locked to steve r.]

Ra's Al Ghul has been apprehended. Water and power are back on. You can let your people know.

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	Re: Selina K/Bruce W onerule 2014-09-05 04:36 am UTC (link)
	[....] What? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W spacecowboys 2014-09-05 04:37 am UTC (link)
	Ra's. [...] He sent them a few days ago. I lose track? Three. Four days? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W onerule 2014-09-05 04:38 am UTC (link)
	[Paaaaause.] I'll take care of it. [...] Do you want to go somewhere else for the time being? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W spacecowboys 2014-09-05 04:43 am UTC (link)
	[...] Where? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W onerule 2014-09-05 04:46 am UTC (link)
	Anywhere. The Manor, Wayne Towers, an apartment. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W spacecowboys 2014-09-05 04:48 am UTC (link)
	[...] Home. If you don't mind [...] cleaning up? I would, but I'm still so a little tired. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W onerule 2014-09-05 04:51 am UTC (link)
	No, I don't mind. I'll have it cleaned up before you get here. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W spacecowboys 2014-09-05 04:54 am UTC (link)
	Should I wait to ask how you are in person, or [...] won't you be there? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W onerule 2014-09-05 04:58 am UTC (link)
	[...] No, I'll be there. Unless [...] you don't want me to be? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W spacecowboys 2014-09-05 05:02 am UTC (link)
	If you move, I'll hunt you down. You don't want to make me do that. I'm [...] not doing so hot. No hospitals, though. Your word. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W onerule 2014-09-05 05:04 am UTC (link)
	Alright. I won't move. [Cursor blink.] Fine. No hospitals, but I'm calling a doctor if you need one. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W spacecowboys 2014-09-05 05:05 am UTC (link)
	I've had one around the clock. And [...] this is going to sound strange, but I think Death was around. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W onerule 2014-09-05 05:12 am UTC (link)
	[...] Death? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W spacecowboys 2014-09-05 05:14 am UTC (link)
	Em. Maybe. Maybe I was just delusional. It wasn't my finest moment. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W onerule 2014-09-05 05:15 am UTC (link)
	It could have been, I suppose. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W spacecowboys 2014-09-05 05:17 am UTC (link)
	Maybe. [Cursor.] Helena? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W onerule 2014-09-05 05:21 am UTC (link)
	[...] They still don't know if she'll pull through. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W spacecowboys 2014-09-05 05:22 am UTC (link)
	[Cursor.] Do you want to be at the hospital instead? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W onerule 2014-09-05 05:33 am UTC (link)
	[...] No. I can't [...] do anything there. She's not conscious. What good does staring at my daughter hooked up to machines that are keeping her alive accomplish? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W spacecowboys 2014-09-05 05:35 am UTC (link)
	[Cursor.] Send the car. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Selina K/Bruce W onerule 2014-09-05 05:47 am UTC (link)
	[...] Alright. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

In-person: Selina/Bruce

spacecowboys
2014-09-05 06:09 am UTC (link)

[She was ready to leave.

Physically, it probably would've been better to stay, and she knew that. But she just didn't care. She'd woken up that morning, memories of fingers through her hair, and the old doctor saying things about a woman with black hair, his voice respectful. The old woman at the door spoke to her in Russian, and she could hear the moaning through the walls. The memories were old, and she wanted to leave.

She'd been trying to think it through when Bruce messaged, and she was still shaking from the news that it was over. Part of her didn't believe it. Part of her thought it was all a trick, and Ra's would be there the moment she left the safety of the brothel. She'd wanted to ask Bruce to come, because it was safer. She'd wanted that, but, no. She wasn't a coward. If there was one thing she wasn't? It was that.

Fears or not, she thanked the old woman, and she thanked the doctor, and she climbed into the black car that waited incongruously outside, and she let herself breakdown then.

She asked the driver to drive in circles, anything, just drive. And once she'd screamed and cried it out of her system? Then she asked him to take her home.

The stairs to the loft felt steep and endless, and she was dressed in cheap things, a t-shirt and sleep pants borrowed from some working girls. Her skin smelled of weed, sweet, and sex, musky. Alcohol clung to her hair, the scents of a sex house, and she stopped in the doorway and leaned against the doorframe, tired and needing the rest. Her heart rate was fine, down, and it was only tiredness that remained. Mental exhaustion, the jumpiness that anxiety left behind, and bruises upon bruises on the skin that was visible between the hem of the shirt and the waistband of the pants. The scratches on her arms had faded, and she looked into the kitchen with trepidation, fearing hands and seeing Lucky instead.]

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: In-person: Selina/Bruce

onerule
2014-09-05 04:01 pm UTC (link)

[The loft had smelled like death when he'd gotten there. Death and rot, sickly sweet overripe, and it reminded him of zombies. Body parts, decomposing and decomposed, and as Bruce gathered up the grotesque hands he felt his anger rise, his hatred for Ra's becoming a wildfire that licked and burned at his insides. He had them taken away, money providing discretion, and then he cleaned, cleaned, hands and knees and the smell of bleach and sharp lemon-lime mixing together. It was a distraction, a way to let his mind go blank, and by the time he was done the scent of death had faded, buried beneath disinfectant and cleaning solutions. He opened up the windows to air it out, and then he waited.

Across town, in a hospital bed, his daughter was caught in a struggle between life and death. In the streets they washed blood from cement. Supplies were being distributed, and people were helping one another in a display of selflessness and hope that should have made him proud. Eddie was right; the city was stronger than ever. But beneath his anger he felt hollow, empty, not like this was a victory at all. He wasn't sure why. Ra's was caught, and he'd spend the rest of his life locked away in the Underworld. That was a good thing. And, yet, he found himself wishing he'd killed him instead. It was an echo of his youth, a gun in his pocket and hate in his heart. He was tired, but he couldn't sleep. When he closed his eyes he saw blood, saw be headings and a television screen. He felt the sting of needles in his neck, shackles on his wrist. Further back, back, and it was death, people dying all around him while he was helpless to stop it.

He tried pacing. He tried sitting still. But the gunshots still echoed in his ears, so many, and the voice of the man who'd shot Helena. Tell the Detective... He wanted to scream, but he was silent. He wanted darkness, numb, but he was awake and present in the world. He missed the suit, the safety of kevlar and a cowl; he'd changed into sweatpants and a turtleneck, both dark, accentuating the circles under his eyes without him realizing it.

Waiting, waiting, waiting. The cat, whose name escaped him, jumped up beside him for company, and the feel of warm fur under his fingers was oddly reassuring. But then the door opened and the cat was gone, off to investigate, and Bruce waited a few seconds before rising to follow. He rounded the corner to see Selina staring, and he stared a little too long in return, processing, processing, his mind reassuring him that she was here. She was fine, or as fine as she could be considering the circumstances.

He smelled like the loft did, disinfectant and lemon, and his hands were red and raw from cleaning. His lips twitched with effort before he managed a small, small smile, and he exhaled quietly as he moved forward.] Hello, Ms. Kyle.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

Re: In-person: Selina/Bruce

spacecowboys
2014-09-05 06:23 pm UTC (link)

[She'd thought he would send someone to clean. Like the driver in the car, she'd expected some quiet and discreet Wayne employee to show up with boxes of cleaners and industrial bags. She'd expected some nameless person to whisk away Ra's attempt at driving her insane. But she realized, as soon as her gaze dropped to his hands (which was almost immediate, and wasn't that what Ra's had wanted her to think?), that she'd made an error in judgement.

A sweep of green gaze, up, and the circles beneath his eyes made her count days. She'd lost track, somewhere along the line. She'd keep the injections in neat, straight lines first, so she could use each cluster of six to equal one, but then the injections came quicker, and there wasn't enough skin left for neat clusters, and she'd lost track.

She was glad, standing there, watching him stare and waiting for him to stop, that she'd spared him the last few days at least. Selfless, maybe, but the last thing he'd needed was to worry about her on top of everything else. And he said Ra's was caught, but she still felt pins and needles, like something might come up behind him without warning and snatch him away. And that was Ra's grand accomplishment this time, wasn't it? He'd made them all aware of how vulnerable they truly were.

Finally, he smiled, and the smile she gave him in return was genuine and lush, if tired and worried.] I never took you for domestic help, Mr. Wayne. [Tease, as he moved, and she pushed away from the doorway with a slink that was only slightly diminished with exhaustion. She stopped in front of him, the sound of the door closing echoing, the security fields slipping back into place. Her fingers found the hollows of his cheeks, and her expression was flick-worried.] I think you owe me a vacation.

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Re: In-person: Selina/Bruce

onerule
2014-09-06 08:04 pm UTC (link)

[Even exhausted, even at the frayed end of his rope, Bruce noticed things. He noticed that her gaze dropped almost immediately to his hands, and he noticed the clothes she wore, what they smelled like, and he noticed the barely-visible bruises on skin between shirt and pants. It was instinct, something he couldn't have stopped even if he'd wanted to. It happened, and his mind filled in the blanks left behind. Days, and he'd believed her, even though part of him had known that she wasn't being honest with him. But what choice did he have? The longer Ra's was free, the more damage he'd cause. He had to be caught. It had to end.

And it had ended. Ra's would be held deep, deep, where no one would reach him, where he could not escape from. It didn't soothe his anger, and it didn't fill the hollow ache beneath his ribs, but it was something. Better than nothing.]

Don't get used to it. [He managed faint humor, watching as she pushed away from the doorway and approached. The sounds of the door closing, security sliding into place, were reassuring, but the closer she came the harder it became to breathe. Which made no sense at all, wasn't logical, but it was there all the same. Her fingers found his cheeks, and there was so much wrapped up in such a simple touch.] You're right. I do. [He managed that much, got the words out; then his shoulders shook and suddenly he'd pulled her into a hug without being fully aware of what he was doing. It was unlike him, but he'd been pushed too far; they all had. Far enough that he clung to her unabashedly, his cheek pressed against hers and the struggle to breathe properly.]

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Re: In-person: Selina/Bruce -

spacecowboys, 2014-09-06 10:47 pm UTC

Re: In-person: Selina/Bruce -

onerule, 2014-09-07 04:08 am UTC

Re: In-person: Selina/Bruce -

spacecowboys, 2014-09-07 04:46 am UTC

Re: In-person: Selina/Bruce -

onerule, 2014-09-08 06:33 am UTC

Re: In-person: Selina/Bruce -

spacecowboys, 2014-09-08 06:59 am UTC

Re: In-person: Selina/Bruce -