Donna Troy Will Rise to Meet Tomorrow (risetomeetit) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2020-11-08 14:16:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, dick grayson (nightwing), donna troy (troia) |
Who: Dick and Donna
What: Prison visits
When: 8 November 2020
Where: Prison
Warnings: Low
Status: Log | Complete
If not for Raven’s daily visits, it was very likely that Dick would have lost his sanity in that place. As it were he was still looking a little scruffy around the edges around day six. He could barely contain himself, and had taken to pull ups on the door, it wasn’t like it was abnormal for prisoners to work out in their cells. It was the only thing to do to keep from going completely insane with boredom. There were only so many old sitcoms in the day room he could stand watching, and he wasn’t exactly looking to make any friends anyway. That place was mostly a social gathering. He was pacing when the guard came to get him.
“Grayson, you have a visitor.” He raised an eyebrow. If it were Raven, she’d just portal in there. Clark maybe? The guard was giving him a look like he’d already lost it.
He knew the drill. He turned around so they could put the cuffs on and he could go meet his visitor. He really didn’t know what to expect but he hoped it was good news.
Of all the things Donna had never anticipated, visiting Dick in prison was top of that list. What sort of upside down was this? As if surviving a slasher flick hadn’t been bad enough thanks to the weird Halloween incident. But Dick had been one of only a few who had been there for her when she got out of her marriage with Terry, of the fall out that had been all of that. The lies and heartache and realizations of what her relationship and marriage had actually been. And even if they didn’t talk about the death of Terry and her Robbie...well, he still knew. So how could she not visit?
Waiting for Dick in the visitor’s area, the photographer sighed. She wasn’t sure what to tell him. Raven had given her information to look into then vanished (just as she had done in New York when they had dug into who had killed Ruby, which meant she was worried about the younger woman as well) and so she and Kory had gone to get some pictures but she still needed to look more into the photos she got. Plus it wasn’t like she could give him all the details there. Anyone could be listening.
By Hera, it was as if his and Raven’s paranoia was rubbing off on her.
Dick wasn’t really sure what to think or say about it either. Except the food was awful, and he’d lost weight. He wasn’t all that large to begin with, he could eat the sandwiches sometimes but they weren’t great. They were basically cardboard with peanut butter and if he was lucky he could get one of the guards to steal him jelly out of their break room. Not all of them were terrible, only about half. It was a crapshoot what he was going to get any given day, and it was exhausting trying to keep up with.
He barely slept in there, jail wasn’t exactly a place to get one’s beauty rest. When he spotted Donna though, he decided to put it behind a mask. Why not? He wore one every night as it was, he could do it a little longer if it meant not making her worry. He sat across from her and the guard stepped off somewhere to the side.
“Did you bring it? The cake with the nail file I asked for?” He grinned, trying his damndest to be normal and not show how exactly much his skin was literally crawling to get out in that place.
Really it was almost insulting when Dick tried to keep a mask in front of her as if she didn’t know him extremely well, as if they hadn’t been best friends for most of their lives and that she could see through his bullshit. The only reason she was even remotely letting it slide was it was a survival mechanism for being in prison. But she was going to worry no matter what. Her best friend was in prison and losing weight and clearly not sleeping. Not that she would expect him to.
Really, it was her nature to worry.
“Sorry, guards ate the cake.”
Shrugging, she just quirked a brow at him.
“So how long do you plan to do the song and dance of pretending to be fine when you and I both know you’re not?”
“Explains the extra pounds that one put on all the sudden.” He motioned toward the guard who seemed mildly interested at his mention of a file cake. As if anyone with common modern sense would try the old file gag. It only worked in movies anyway. He was ninety percent sure.
Shifting uncomfortably in the chair, he shrugged in return. “I’m fine.” He winced as handcuffs made a grating noise against his ears at the simple movement. Part of that mask was for his own sake. He couldn’t show real emotion or he’d be eaten alive. “Pretty sure my neighbors going to stab me in the night, but fine.” Dick was glad for dream training, Bruce’s insane skill training sessions had crossed over for the most part. He could go longer than the average person without sleep. Eventually it was going to catch up to him, but he wasn’t ready to admit that reality yet. “Found anything yet?” Even his question was doubtful, she wouldn’t be sitting there looking like she did if it was good news and he was getting to go home. Might as well get that out of the way.
“It was a really good cake, too.” Because why not go one with the story that wasn’t remotely true but amusing all the same. It was familiar at any rate.
It was only because the mask was also for Dick’s face in order to survive the experience that Donna wasn’t going to push it too much. She just needed him to know that she knew the truth and she didn’t need him to try and protect her or whatever. She would make sure he was honest, truly honest once they got him out of her.
“Well that’s great.” There were so many reasons that could be. None of which were good and she could only hope that wouldn’t happen. Though somehow she had a feeling a very irate empath would heal him if it did.
“Maybe. I’m not sure. Raven’s gotten some leads that she has us looking into. I need to go over the photos I’ve taken and get them to the correct people if they prove helpful.”
Making jokes and stuff was a certain way of coping, when everything else around him was dark and angry. At least he was still capable of that. He wasn’t so far gone yet, and a lot of that was due to daily visits that prevented him from just slipping into a comatose depression. It gave him something to cling onto.
Every sound that metal on his wrists made was like nails on a chalk board to him. They’d taken so much already, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could handle. They’d taken his badge and his pride. “Figures, tubby eats three donuts an hour. Wouldn’t be surprised he finished off the cake too.”
Dick shrugged. “Prison’s fun like that.” He couldn’t actually break the mask he had to put on, strange. If he wanted to he didn’t know how to be normal just then in that setting. “Let me guess, he’s still missing?” Dick gave a sort of annoyed amused snort. “I take back everything I said about wanting a partner.”
Oh, Donna was definitely relieved that Dick was still capable of making jokes. That he still had that light in him despite the darkness all around him. She was going to worry, how could she not. But that at least meant he was holding onto the core of who he was, that he wasn’t letting it get buried. Sometimes all one needed was one small sliver of something, anything, to hold onto as a life line.
“That’s a lot of donuts. Definitely finished it off, I was grossed out.”
The comment on prison being fun was just met with a slow nod.
“Sounds that way.” As for the missing partner and taking back everything about wanting one? “Pretty sure you need a legitimate partner and not...whatever he is. But yeah, he’s still missing. Not quite sure the meaning of the leads Raven’s gotten but it’s definitely on the shady side of things.” How she was getting the leads? Donna wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know. The empath was solitary by nature but something told her there was more to it than that, and that was why she was refusing anyone coming along with her when she did her own digging. Far too many similarities to New York and searching for who put the hit on Ruby.
There were certainly days he felt like just melting into the misery, and chances were if there weren’t people coming to visit he likely would. Though it was hard, he didn’t know what to say, and it was a little more than embarrassing to have to be sitting across from her locked away in handcuffs.
“Figures. Dude’s why they call cops pigs.” He stated with an eye roll. As he looked over at him, the guard wasn’t really paying any attention at all. It wasn’t like he’d gotten up or done anything threatening.
“Nope, no more.” He swore them off. As for how Raven was getting leads, he didn’t answer that just yet. It wasn’t something he wanted to state in the middle of a jail. He didn’t know if he could do this anymore, prison, or police work. The stress was starting to build up. Not quite shown to those who didn’t know him, but it was there. He was fidgety and could barely sit still.
“Five minutes Grayson.” The guard stated as he looked up from whatever day dream he was in.
“Clearly.” Donna had plenty of photos from protests, but hey, if they were going with the donuts, then so be it. She did have to shrug as he said no more partners, “You and I both know there are regulations. Something something safety and all of that.”
It was a precarious situation and some things were probably best left unsaid until this was all done with. For now, she was just going to assume it had something to do with her empathy and the like. Though given the stuff they’d dug into the day before? She wasn’t so sure. Still though, not important right then. The important thing was the information gathered that got Dick out of prison.
Looking up as Dick was given the five minute warning, Donna sighed. She could see that the stress was building up, how could she not? And it made sense. Far too much sense.
“We’ll get you out of here. I promise.”
And Donna didn’t break her promises.
Partners and Dick was going to be an interesting future topic, if he even had another chance to get one outside of these walls. There were days he started having doubts. He saw movies, ones where the innocent guy went under cover in the jail and never came out again? Yeah he knew how that went. So he was getting a little anxious.
More than a little, but there was nothing that he could do about it except try to comply with things.
Giving a small nod he smiled at her. The officer hadn’t even taken off his handcuffs the entire time. He was amused with himself. It wasn’t regulation or protocol to just leave them on, but they were starting to subtly screw with him whenever they could. The man stood up from his position. “Time’s up.” And Dick stood, giving a slightly concerned look back at where he was going to have to return to before looking back at Donna. “I know. See you soon.” He tried for cheerful, but that place was good at sucking the cheerfulness out.