Dick "life's a carnival" Grayson (lifesacircus) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2020-11-02 14:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, dick grayson (nightwing), rachel roth (raven) |
Who:Raven/Dick
What:Jail?!
When:Today
Where:Orange County Central Men's Jail
Warnings:Jail things.
Status:complete
Well. This was a new low. If he had to voice how he was feeling, chances were he’d end up in solitary for it. Which he’d nearly landed in considering some of the other prisoners already seemed to have a problem with him. It was no surprise to him. He was a cop. Or former now he supposed. Fortunately he’d made an example out of the first guy who tried to attack him in front of everyone already at dinner. So at least that was out of the way. He didn’t want to do it. He didn’t enjoy humiliating anyone, even prisoners who maybe deserved it. On the same coin he wasn’t about to spend his prison sentence being picked on for appearing weak either. He’d read enough about it. After the other man left limping, he was mostly left to himself.
Dick retired to his cell for the night after the fiasco to wash his face and stare with annoyance at the dirty mirror. He hadn’t done anything, but in true corrupt fashion the response was; ask anyone in prison. None of them did anything.
If he could just get out and prove his innocence he’d be able to clear his name, but there were cameras everywhere. Dick had been framed for murder, and now his knuckles were bruised ontop of it. Some justice system they had.
Raven had been in the midst of meditating when everything was suddenly wrong. That really was the only way to describe it. Sometimes being an empath really sucked. Well most of the time it really sucked. But the fact remained that something was wrong and she needed to go and see what Specifically because she could tell that Dick was in danger. And well, when any of her people were in danger, Raven reacted.
Which was why there was suddenly a portal that opened in the cell Dick was in. She hadn’t really paid attention to specifics. Anything that might have alerted her to what was wrong. She just knew she was needed because Dick was in trouble and she had to get him out of trouble.
So she was a bit surprised when she actually got a look at where she’d ended up. And...well it also explained it. Cops and jail didn’t usually go well. She also knew that there was no way in any dimension that Dick Grayson would or should be in jail.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but let’s go.”
That was Raven. Always to the point.
Dick really hadn’t been paying attention to his surroundings or keeping control of his own emotion or he might have noticed Raven was of course going to realize something was off before he even got a chance to call anyone. He actually did flinch however this time and made a face. “Christ, don’t sneak up on a guy in a prison.” He stated as he sat up on the hard bed he’d attempted to lay back on.
He was wearing county blues, and it wasn’t an undercover operation. “I can’t.” He slid his gaze over toward the nasty mirror awkwardly. Danger was all around him in this setting. It was palpable given his status. “They think I killed a judge. I haven’t.” As if he needed to convince her, but he said it out loud mostly to convince himself. It was easy to fall into the darkness of one’s own mind. Had he wanted to? Sure, had he ever killed anyone?..no. How could they even think he had been involved?
“If I leave, I will be an actual fugitive.” Chances were if he really put his mind to it he could have escaped on his own, Batman had taught him to be an expert escape artist- but that wouldn’t clear his name.
“In my defense, I didn’t realize I’d be portaling into a prison cell.” At least the ability to open a portal in a wall meant that she wouldn’t be visible so there would be no sudden appearances of Raven on security cameras in the prison that watched the cells. So apparently her SoulSelf knew enough to do that but not let her know where she was going.
And she definitely didn’t like the fact that Dick then said he couldn’t. An undercover operation she would understand. She’d be extremely unimpressed because these are the things that need to be warned about so she didn’t show up like this, but she’d understand. But the truth of the matter?
“I’m sorry, they think you what? You really do work with morons.” Because yeah, Dick didn’t need to tell Raven he hadn’t killed a judge. He didn’t do that. And anyone who thought he would, no matter what evidence might say? Were complete morons.
And of course Dick would then say once again that he couldn’t leave. And why. And okay, so he had a point, but that didn’t mean that Raven had to like that particular fact.
“Fine. Where do I start?”
There was evidence on him, that judges blood, his DNA. He’d volunteered for a lie detector test, but those didn’t hold up in court so it was just another attempt to save himself from having to deal with this bullshit. It paralleled the dreams too much for his liking.
“They think I murdered someone. “ He didn’t know what to think, his head was mixed with emotion and emotion complicated things. He was still trying to wrap his head around it. Being a detective was in his blood, and yet there he was in a cell for it instead. “No kidding. Captain tried to stand up for me, but the evidence forced him back down.” He responded as he ran a hand through his hair in silent frustration. “Talk to Timmy. See if he can find anything off the footage in the courtroom.” Dick reached over for a pen and some kind of torn off yellow note paper. He wrote down the name of his partner.
“See if he can make anything of this. Captain stopped by today to ask me if I’d seen my partner since that day...I haven’t. Hasn’t stopped in, nothing.” Dick wasn’t sure what that name would pull up. If his hunch was correct, probably nothing at all.
It wasn’t like Raven actually needed him to repeat what he was being blamed for. She heard. It just affirmed that he worked with a bunch of morons. But she’d be nice and not comment because Dick was currently in jail and out of sorts and so it made sense. At least his captain tried to stand up for him. That was something. A small something, but something all the same.
Working with others. Gross. But she also had experience working with Tim from the Dreams. She was more familiar working with Donna and Kory but… she didn’t like this. She knew she could take the lead and get answers on her own. Be it through her abilities or the connections she had that she avoided. She’d already once gotten someone who hurt Dick to turn themselves in…
Okay that undoubtedly had something to do with why she was being told to work with someone else. And that whole….charged with a murder he didn’t commit and the need for evidence.
“.....Timothy and cameras. Track down a missing partner.” That didn’t bode well at all. What was the phrase, it smelled wrong? A partner who didn’t show up to visit? Already her mind was turning over possibilities. Her visits to the precinct always had ended up with her missing the new partner so she didn’t actually have a read on them. So energy tracking was out. Well that was fine, she had other ways.
“Everything has to be done by the book here if I’m getting out of this properly. Timmy knows the law.” It’s true he was an outside hire, but even to be that he had to have a handle on it somewhat. Judging by how his work ethic was, Dick was pretty convinced he could handle this. The only reason he’d repeated himself was mostly for his own sake. And the fact that he was going a little bit crazy in that cell. It seemed like his next door neighbor thought so anyway as a pound came through the wall followed by a Shut up Grayson. and Dick rolled his eyes.
“My new friend.” He thumbed to the wall and made a face. Fortunately it seemed like any behind his back talking had stopped since the incident at dinner. He wasn’t all that worried about being targeted again. At least not for a while. “Charming man really.”
“Yep. didn’t call, didn’t write.” His neighbor didn’t seem to care that he was talking, lots of guys talked to themselves. It wasn’t exactly the most cheerful place on earth after all. “
It wasn’t that Raven didn’t know the law. She did. She just had her own ways of dealing with particular things. And the law was slow. Yes, there were reasons for that. But there were also so many issues within the system that she didn’t quite trust it when she could do things herself. But she would respect Dick’s need for this to be done by the book to get him out. It would be better in the long run.
In theory.
“Yeah…” As for Dick’s new neighbor? Raven just quirked a brow, “Sounds that way.”
But right. Back to the issue at hand. The missing partner.
“Well that’s not highly suspicious at all.” Raven didn’t trust many to begin with, how could she given the house she’d grown up in. She also knew Dick didn’t trust many which was why she felt no issue stating her thoughts on the matter since he undoubtedly was having similar ones even if he didn’t want to believe it. “When this is over, I’m implementing a new rule. I’m meeting your partners to get a read on them.” What good was being an empath if she couldn’t use it to keep her people safe?
He really didn’t want to have any cracks uncovered. Any loopholes for them to find so he’d end up right back in that cell again. He glanced up a bit nervously at where he knew camera’s to be and then back at Raven. They couldn’t see her, so it was up to him to look like he was just having a crazy meltdown or something. Not uncommon in this type of place.
“It’s all I’ve been able to focus on, it’s wrong Captain’s even been here. Where’s he?” He had reasons for his lack of trust in others, this was only adding to it. Good luck ever pairing him with anyone again if he decided to go back to the force after this. Where his head was at currently, he wanted very little to do with any of them. He could count the people he trusted now on one hand.
He gave her a half smile at the comment. “You’re giving me rules now?” He didn’t want to focus on his own confusion and anger. This was better.
Loopholes would not be a thing, not if Raven had anything to do about it. So she would accept (begrudgingly) working with others to ensure that every angle was covered and that there was no way that Dick would come back here.
The captain being there made sense. Work things, of course he would know. And one would think Dick’s partner would be aware. Even to show up and demand questions, want to know how he could have been so wrong….that would have made sense from a legitimate partner. But to just disappear? It didn’t pass the smell test. Not in the slightest.
“Clearly someone has to.” Two birds who fought for justice and had serious trust issues. Either way, something like this? All the more reason to implement it. A couple of weeks at most shouldn’t have mattered but clearly it had. Raven wasn’t going to make that mistake again.
He could be friendly enough to an outsider, but that didn’t mean he would let them in his inner circle. Very few made it that far. There was so much negativity in jail it was kind of impossible not to be swallowed whole, so while he was a little worried about her being there his need for distraction outweighed logical sense in that moment.
He felt incredibly small in that prison, helpless. It wasn’t a fun thing to feel. “Clearly.” He gave her a little laugh, but it was off. He was in a place where there was no hope or light, and was struggling not to let it drain him.
“You probably shouldn’t stay too long. They’re going to come by and do checks soon.”
The negativity in the jail was overwhelming for the empath, but she shouldered it and showed nothing. Her primary concern was Dick and so instead she just nodded. The laugh might have been off but it was something.
Of course he also had a point that she would have to leave soon to avoid detection.
“Anything else you need me to do?” Since she had her own plans on what to do to help get Dick’s name cleared. And until he was out? She would make sure to visit in this way. She would just figure out when the rounds were made and the like. Remind him he wasn’t alone and wasn’t going to be abandoned.
The camera might not see her, but the guards would certainly notice if something was off about his cell. While he’d managed to weasel out some snacks from some of them from vending machines or personal lunches, it wasn’t something he would be given a pass for.
“Give me a hug?” That was literally all else he could think of, at least he didn’t have any pets to look after or anything. And you know, hurry. That part was left unsaid. He really didn’t want to be left in there longer than necessary.
She would figure out the schedule of the guards if only to check up on Dick in a way that was more than just probing the mental link. But for now she was also going to focus on what she could do at that moment.
Which was a hug.
Without a word, the empath stepped out of the portal and just hugged Dick. The hurry was definitely unspoken but she knew it was there all the same. She’d find a way to save him, get the others to help. No matter the cost (for her, it would all be legal and no melting brains or terrorizing people into confession no matter how much they deserved it). For now though, it was just a hug.
He didn’t care if it was hurried or not, he appreciated it either way. He knew it wasn’t something she often did, but it was all he could think of to keep his mind from spiraling out of control in that moment. This was not going to be some walk in the park. He would need all the support he could get, it was easy to feel forgotten in a place like that when he could do nothing outside the heavy walls of his new literal prison.
There were very few people who could get a hug out of Raven. Dick was one of them. She also knew what it was like to have one’s mind spiral and need something, anything, to hold on to. So of course she would give the hug and plan on stopping by each day to remind Dick he wasn’t alone, that he did have support and that no one was going to forget him in this place. No. They would get him out of there and clear his name. That’s all there was to it.