I Moderate (i_moderate) wrote in we_archive, @ 2006-01-30 00:02:00 |
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Entry tags: | bruce wayne, theodore kord |
i_countcalories Jitters [Open to Bruce, Batfamily if they'd like to harass Ted]
Ted had gotten a note on where the mansion was, he wasn’t sure which one of the ‘family’ had sent it, despite getting an email about the JLA. Or rather a sentence. This didn’t please Ted too much, but he reminded himself that just because more folks from the JLA showed up, did not mean they were the ‘same’ men and women he had known. Different view points, different opinions, people who never have heard of him. People who he couldn’t hold accountable for what had happened. Still, he needed to talk about it with someone about this formation of the JLA, and Bruce seemed to be the best bet.
Ted knocked on the door of the manor, he hadn’t planned on visiting this place, Bab’s email bothered him that much. Before the email he was adjusting pretty well at his new apartment, finally getting close to enough money to pay for it on his own. He was establishing nice working relationships, he wasn’t sure, but he was pretty sure that a cute single mom had been eying him. Maybe, it had been a while since dealing with anyone normal on an equal level. And there laid the problem, he could only show part of himself to his co-workers.
He was greeted by Alfred, somewhat of an awkward on Ted’s side, led to a sitting room. And then Ted waited, fretting just a little bit.
Old habits were hard to kill.
From: [info]i_walktheline Date: 01/31/2006 12:01:29
Bruce strode in looking somewhat crumpled, ruffled and sweaty in a way only a millionare can. A towel over his neck, the front of his white undershirt soaked with sweater and a bottle of water in his hand.
"What can I do you for, Ted ?" Bruce asked heartily, rubbing at his hair with the towel and moving to perch on the arm of one of the leather sofas.
From: [info]i_countcalories Date: 01/31/2006 19:47:16
Ted still found the whole experience at little surreal, separating the two figures of ‘civilian’ and ‘alterego’ in his mind was always a doozey for him. Notably when the personas held were so different from the other. The shorter man was dressed in business casual, a happy medium between slob and stuffy. “Hey, first off, beating around the bush, a simple thank you for helping me get settled.”
From: [info]i_walktheline Date: 01/31/2006 19:51:37
Bruce held out a hand. "No problem. My pleasure in fact. Seems cruel to say 'The more familiar faces the better'; but you know what I mean."
He glanced about the room suddenly. "Did Alfred offer you a drink ? Do you want something to drink ? I know there's a bar hidden in this room somewhere."
From: [info]i_countcalories Date: 01/31/2006 20:05:16
“‘Misery loves company is a good cliche, too.” Ted shook his head, “The beer commercials here-,” He waved his hand, indicating he meant the City, “-are tempting, but I declined a hard drink. Not risking the heart problem again.” He rested his palms on his knees. “Got an email from Babs, and wanted to ask you a few questions, I could have asked her about some, but not all of them.”
From: [info]i_walktheline Date: 01/31/2006 20:12:13
For a moment Bruce's face turned serious at the mention of heart problems. He'd never known Ted to have one. And then it turned more serious still at the mention of Oracle. Because even though Ted said Babs, Bruce couldn't think of anything she could have said in that aspect, of herself, that would cause Ted to have questions.
"Let's step into my office, shall we ? That's where I discuss business." Bruce turned and started out, but paused to wait at the door for Ted to follow.
From: [info]i_countcalories Date: 01/31/2006 20:22:26
"Uhm..." Jesus, he couldn't have clocked the altergo switch with a nano second timer. "Sure, safety first, though nothing that serious. Just my own neurotic self." He said easily, getting up from his chair.
From: [info]i_walktheline Date: 01/31/2006 20:32:38
Bruce closed the sitting room door behind them and led Ted down the hall and across from the library. He waited until they were both inside before shutting the door.
"What's wrong ?" It wasn't quite the deep timber of 'Batman', but somewhere in between, as if Bruce were holding the deeper, darker voice back.
He motioned to a chair and then paused at his desk, where a tea tray had already been prepared and set. Alfred really was a wonder sometimes. There was even honey instead of sugar cubes, which suggested he'd read Ted's file a little more closely than Bruce had.
From: [info]i_countcalories Date: 01/31/2006 20:41:17
Opened a can of worms, did, you Ted? "Oracle mentioned creating the Justice League, and understandably, I'm a little wary, of course." He gave something of a smile, "As it was said, it's oddly comforting for familiar faces to pop up." He figured one of the faces hadn't been Booster. Booster's mug would have appeared on the TV by now if he had shown up during the past few weeks.
From: [info]i_walktheline Date: 01/31/2006 20:46:44
Bruce arched a brow as he sat behind his desk, sweat and all, and calmly poured himself a cup of tea.
"Wary ?" He paused to give Ted time to explain and nudged a little while later with. "Of ?"
A delicate china tea-cup in his hands, stirring in the honey with a spoon, Bruce waited, all his attention on Ted.
From: [info]i_countcalories Date: 01/31/2006 21:10:34
"I'm worried of what it could turn out to be, maybe it's due to scale, maybe it's due the fact I do regress to a 12 year old during off hours-- I dunno." He sperad his hands, "I just saw the League trust in each other dissolve, I had people not listening, people who I worked with and I trusted. J'onn couldn't be bothered, and he's the frigging telepath." Ted leaned back in his chair, running his fingers through his hair. “I just worry it might become an exclusive club.”
From: [info]i_walktheline Date: 01/31/2006 21:23:48
Bruce arched a brow and stared steadily into Ted's eyes for a long moment. He was processing the half bits of information and Ted's expression and body language. And finally, his choice of words.
Exclusive club, a clique, that Ted had felt left out of, but one where the people on the inside were growing cold and distant ? His first introductions to the alien J'onn J'onzz and subsequent watching had led him to believe the being had a purpose. That he could not stand the sight of innocent blood spilled and fruitless, endless violence.
Bruce put down his cup. "In your timeline, J'onn has grown isolated and detached, and his detachment has spread to the others, like a type of psychic virus ? Feeding on personality and ego conflicts ? Or are you telling me something more sinister like petty disagreements dissolved a group that dared call itself humanity's best hope ?"
From: [info]i_countcalories Date: 01/31/2006 21:52:57
"Y'know, I wish it had been your first theory." Ted grumbled, "It's the second. And I'll be the first to tell you, during off hours I'm immature, when the world is not in trouble, I goof off. I crack jokes while fighting. It's what I do, if I didn't, I'd go insane and my brains would have been scattered on the floor long before Max tried to do me in."
"I used J'onn as an example because he's the telepath, he could have taken one look, one brief second, to see what was going on. That I wasn't bullshitting him and Booster wasn't really trying to die his cape to the chair." He'd actually have to save that idea for something, not on J’onn. No more jokes on J’onn. He couldn’t even touch an oreo anymore. "And it's because of the pettiness that I'm worried about what's going to happen in the future." He paused for a moment, snickered softly. "Sorry, in joke."
"What I'm trying to say is this: if we get someone from my era or existence, this issue is gonna have to be brought up. It's just a city, but if this place keeps growing, it's gonna get bigger."
From: [info]i_walktheline Date: 01/31/2006 22:20:19
Bruce went quiet for a moment, again as he mentally sorted and rearranged. "It was my idea." There was a twist to his voice that said he found it ironic. "Going about things singly in this place doesn't seem wise. We need cohesion, and teamwork wherein everyone uses their specialized skills to greatest advantage."
His voice slowly got deeper and deeper. "The gun fight the night you arrived was the inevitability of the City suddenly acquiring guns. And it did just acquire guns, overnight. Tomorrow drugs might arrive, or vice will start organizing itself. And then will come the real turf wars, carefully chosen targets and a couple of civilian casualties for the fear factor."
He frowned, all trace of 'Bruce Wayne' draining out of his features. "Working alone, all it would take is a simple shift of a City street, a sudden dead end..." He gave Ted a pointed stare, they didn't need to discuss out loud how simply an ambush to the death could happen that way. "And there are other forces here as well." Which was as close as he'd come to admitting he had knowledge of mystical happenings or personas.
He thumbed the cup in his hand and set it down on the desk, leaning forward on his hands. "Tell me everything. From the moment you noticed things were going wrong until you ended up here."
From: [info]i_countcalories Date: 02/01/2006 14:08:11
He slightly winced. The transformation was scary to witness, but the tone of the Batman seemed a lot more comforting than Bruce’s voice. That’s the guy he kinda, sorta, semi-knew.
“You wanna hear the story where it went wrong?” Ted paused, leaning back and found his temples ache. That thing I said about the heart problem, or potential problem for it? Fuck it. I’m gonna need it.” The tried grin meant he really didn’t want, or rather, really shouldn’t want it.
“You want me to start with when I noticed the general attitude change, then?”
From: [info]i_walktheline Date: 02/01/2006 20:58:00
Batman, because cowl or not right now he was Batman, nodded. "What happened first ? Who changed first ?"
He poured Ted a cup of tea, pouring not from the china teapot, but from a glass creation beside it, filled with a dark black-red liquid which smelled smokey. Alfred had a way of preparing Lapsang souchong with a kick. And Bruce offered that first, before considering liquior.
From: [info]i_countcalories Date: 02/03/2006 15:03:27
“Might have started with “you”,” He made quotation marks in the air. “You have some good reasons, but it doesn’t meant the changes were positive. Hell, even Clark might be different, lots of shit happened to him too.” Ted sighed and took a sip of the offered drink, looking troubled and began with what he knew.
ooc: Because going through DC pre-crisis history would be booooring, Bats!Mun and Beetle!Mun decided the conversation happened ‘off panel’.