[Perhaps, just perhaps, Jason has some issues with "communication". Less about what he wants; shockingly he's clear about that. Rather, about when he might "drop by" for what some might call "a visit" but most would call "blatant arson."
He would never burn the manor down.
You know.
On purpose.
Just some light arson here.
He's very casually come into the cave when Bruce is away, and started hunting down some accelerants, and after finding them, he is casually surrounding his memorial with them. He's pretty pleased with himself, and he knows he only has a little while - maybe even only minutes - but he doesn't expect the Batmobile back this fast. When Bruce is coming out of the car, he's got his crowbar in one hand, hefting it to break the glass.
He's mostly dressed in his armor but his mask is on his bike near the entrance to the cave.]
[ Bruce knew Jason hated the memorial. But it never made a difference. Because it was more than a way to remember Jason and the boy he'd once been. It was so Bruce could never forget all the ways he'd failed him. These were his consequences and he had to live with them.
He's alerted to an intruder seconds after Jason sets foot in the cave, so it takes no time at all for Bruce to reverse course and speed his way back home. It's minutes that pass, but when danger is in your personal space it can feel like hours.
When the car zooms into the cave and parks near to Jason's bike, Bruce should have felt some relief but he's still tense. Jason didn't say he would be stopping by and that does not bode well. And when he sees what Jason's done to the memorial, Bruce's instincts are confirmed. ]
[Jason hefts his crowbar once, getting a good feel for it.]
I was planning on burning this down but first I have to break the glass.
[He says it with that general easy manner, like he's explaining how one might drink some water from a weird water bottle or how you open a particularly stubborn wrapper on a sandwich. He says it like he used to explain things to Bruce when he was still 12 years old and they were still close.
And he swings. Of course, Bruce used some kind of shatterproof glass, but the teeth of the crowbar still find purchase. It doesn't shatter, but there is a sickening sound of a crack as Jason considers and revs up for another smash.]
[ Jason was always reckless and stubborn. But it wasn't until after the Pit that he'd gained a lot of audacity.
It's almost comical. But Bruce doesn't laugh. Instead, he pushes the cowl back. Months of barely speaking. Of a step forward and two back. Jason finally comes home and he brings destruction with him. ]
So you broke into my home to do this? [ A vague gesture toward the case. ] You could have talked to me instead.
[Another slam of his crowbar, and then a little jiggling in the spot. The crack widens a little.]
What happened to โthis is your home, Jason.โ?
[He drops his voice into Batmanโs growl, and inspects the impact spot, and then turns, one hip cocked. He looks young, then; his mouth is in a moue of displeasure.]
Also I used a key and biometrics, itโs not breaking in if I have access and an invitation.
[ It's not a surprise, but it is unexpected. Maybe it shouldn't have been. For Jason, it must have seemed like a taunt, hanging there where anyone could see it. Bruce never meant for it to be. But what was that saying? The road to hell and all that. ]
Not as gruesome as your weapon of choice.
[ He eyes the crowbar that seemed level with the symbol on his chest and thinks that ought to be more painful than Bruce keeping the memorial. ]
[The urge to scream "it was my death, you don't get to tell me how to process it" is extremely high, but he knows it'll come out high-pitched and bratty, and that it won't carry any weight. For it to carry weight, Bruce has to process shit like a human and not a robot, and, well.
He just doesn't do that, so.
He snorts, instead.]
It was my costume, so whose property is it, really?
[He manages another swing, and it cracks a hole just big enough that Jason can dig his fingers into it and start squeezing it apart.]
[ he didnโt expect Jason to understand. And if he thought Bruce would put the suit away - just forget what happened, Bruce thinks he never understood. ]
[He spins, then. His hands aren't bleeding but only because his gloves are lined with kevlar, and are technically armor, because while he's being emotionally volatile he's not completely an idiot.]
Why? Does it bother you?
[He's snarling, now, planting his feet so he looks like an immobile object.]
[ he was alive. Alive and well and whole in front of him. Bruce knew that. Allowed himself to be grateful for it despite all the tension Jasonโs return brought. But he needed to see that suit, to keep it close by the same way he kept that stupid gun that had set him down this road.
It deeply upset him that Jason wanted to take that away. ]
I know that! That doesnโt make this go away! [ he points at the case ]
[Jason isn't moving. He's getting more emotional, and it's making the fury build up in him, but he's not moving.]
You think I don't know that? I'm the one who has to live with it every goddamned day, and you're the one holding vigil over a boy you can't even admit-
[He turns and punches the case. It's hard enough that the case, weakened already, cracks a little bit more. He doesn't know how to say it, doesn't know how to put the words out there. That the case isn't a testament to him, it's a memory of someone Jason can't ever be again, and how Bruce prefers that boy, how Bruce can't look past that ghost. That Bruce doesn't, won't ever, care for him like he did before.]
[ That was exactly the point. It was a memorial to a boy that had been taken from them. Not just Bruce, but Jason too, and the rest of their family. That boy was gone and he was never coming back. He deserved to be remembered as much as this...new Jason deserved to be embraced. ]
[Bruce has gone into that horrible calm, that Batman calm. He doesn't get angry in the same way that the Robins all do; his emotional template is cold, not hot. Not like Jason.
It's even more infuriating, in a way.]
You think this is about your failure, but all this does is make me feel like crap!
[ Putting it away was too much like forgetting. Bruce did not want to forget. Not that Joe Chill murdered his parents for their money or that the Joker murdered his son to terrorize him. Remembering made sure he never questioned his mission. It made sure he remembered all of the ways he failed and all the ways he needed to be better.
He reaches for Jason, tries to grab his arm to keep from doing anymore damage to the case. ]
[Bruce grabs him and Jason turns, his fist glancing off Bruce's jaw. It's a half-hearted punch, which means that he doesn't actually hurt or even want to hurt him. It still can't be that great.
[ He doesn't let go, despite the punch to the jaw, despite the push that sends him stumbling back a step or two. Not until there's some distance between Jason and the case. Then he puts himself in the middle. If Jason wanted a second strike at it, he'd have to go through Bruce first. ]
Destroying the suit isn't going to fix anything.
[ Us. It's not going to fix us, is what he really means, if he could bring himself to say it. Because there is still something very broken between them. ]
[He pushes, again, and they're just like children for a moment, and Jason is staring at this man who is supposed to be his dad.]
You get rid of it if you want me around.
[The threat is implicit: you get rid of it or you get rid of me. Jason is known for his ultimatums, and he's actually usually pretty good at following through. Like you know.
Me or the clown.
Bruce chose the clown, so there's no hope here that Bruce will choose Jason, even though this seems easier. He's not asking anyone to kill, here.]
[It's stupid how much it hurts; it shouldn't hurt. It shouldn't feel like the crowbar slamming into his ribcage again. He should have known. He saw it coming. He knew.
He presses away from Bruce, and lifts his head, and then reaches for his helmet. The calm that he's suddenly displaying is suddenly icy.]
Predictable.
[Because Jason is not actually a psychopath, he doesn't shoot the accelerant. Instead he reaches into his pocket and lights a lighter, and tosses it into the puddle on the floor.
There are so many contingencies for fire in this place, he's not worried, either, that someone will die, or that anything will actually get damaged. Mostly, he wants Bruce to stop looking at him.]
[ Bruce yells and Jason gets what he wants, however temporary. The fire flickers to life and swallows up the trail of accelerant before fire suppression kicks in and smothers the life from it. And as long as the fire burned, it had Bruce's attention.
Now, it's back on Jason and honestly, he's pissed. Setting fire, even a meager one, to the cave seemed a far more personal attack than taking a crowbar to a memory Bruce cherished. ]
What did you think that was going to do, Jason? [ Because it certainly did not change his mind. ]
[Jason is heading to his bike. He almost wants to puncture a tire on the Batmobile, just to give him a minute, but he knows that those tires are a bitch to mess with and he doesn't want to make this dramatic exit lose any power.
He mounts his bike right around the time that Bruce yells at him.]
You set fire to our relationship, I set fire to that fucking memorial.
It's your choice.
[He parrots the words with a mimicry of Bruce's cadence that only the Robins can manage as he starts his bike.]
[ Deep down, Bruce didn't want things to be this way. Whatever their differences were, Bruce loved Jason and had wanted him back more than anything. But what came out of the Pit, who came out was someone Bruce was no longer starting to recognize and what put them at odds seemed greater than anything that had ever held them together. Bruce...he didn't know what to do about any of it. All of his efforts to make it right only ever seemed to make it worse.
Bruce Wayne was rebuffed at every turn. So now, Jason would have Batman instead.
He leaves the case behind (another mess to be cleaned later) and follows. ]
Fine. You made your choice and now I'll make mine.
He knows that tone, and he knows that threat. That's the tone of voice that he takes when you killed someone, and that means that Batman is out to play. It also means that Bruce, as usual, has taken a fight and turned it into a fucking crusade.
God, this was predictable and Jason walked straight into it.
He doesn't bother stalling, then. He just goes, bike going from 0 to an impossible speed on a street model in a second and a half. He needs to make up distance now. The benefit of a bike is that it's agile, but the Batmobile-
-Jason figures if he can make it to Gotham proper he can slip between the cracks. For all that Bruce knows Gotham, it's really always been Jason's city, and if Jason doesn't want to be found in it, the fact is that he won't be.]
[ What has his life been since that single tragic moment in Crime Alley but a crusade? A crusade for physical perfection. A crusade for a deep and vast well of knowledge. A crusade against the worst Gotham had to offer. Bruce Wayne - that little boy left alone in the dark at the feet of his dead mother and father - never stood a chance. Not a single one.
It's what drives him now. The Crusade. The Mission consumes him in all his waking hours (and his sleeping ones too). Jason's rejection, his choosing something other than peace was another to add to the list.
The car's driver side door swings open wide when he commands it to from his belt and he leaps into it to peel out after Jason into Gotham's night. He doesn't know what he'll say when he catches him. Was there anything left to say? Nothing Jason wanted to hear it seemed. It didn't matter anymore now.
[He wonders if Bruce even cottons this. That he's chasing his kid, intent on what? Some kind of violence? For setting a fire to a costume. Not for killing anyone. Not for hurting anyone.
For being upset.
He wonders if Bruce - the Bruce he knew, who used to take him to ball games and who was so proud of every good grade that he got, the Bruce that he used to think of, very tentatively, as dad - even is still there. Did everything good die with him?
He hits the bridge and zips past a pair of cops, who start the lights right up until the rumble of the Batmobile overtakes them. Jason knows he has seconds, maybe, so when the bridge ends, perilously close to the edge of the river, he rides his bike up on the slim slick side and shoots down in the city on a run that would make Nightwing nervous. He hears something resembling a gunshot - okay he's in Gotham - and spins into the city, then jumps the bike and vaults into the air, letting the bike go.
Bye bye, bike. You were so nice for the few weeks you lasted.
Jason figures if he can get airborne, he can find a place to hide out this temper tantrum.]
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theknightshift) wrote2024-11-12 08:56 pm
happy to change format, etc
He would never burn the manor down.
You know.
On purpose.
Just some light arson here.
He's very casually come into the cave when Bruce is away, and started hunting down some accelerants, and after finding them, he is casually surrounding his memorial with them. He's pretty pleased with himself, and he knows he only has a little while - maybe even only minutes - but he doesn't expect the Batmobile back this fast. When Bruce is coming out of the car, he's got his crowbar in one hand, hefting it to break the glass.
He's mostly dressed in his armor but his mask is on his bike near the entrance to the cave.]
'sup.
It's all good!
He's alerted to an intruder seconds after Jason sets foot in the cave, so it takes no time at all for Bruce to reverse course and speed his way back home. It's minutes that pass, but when danger is in your personal space it can feel like hours.
When the car zooms into the cave and parks near to Jason's bike, Bruce should have felt some relief but he's still tense. Jason didn't say he would be stopping by and that does not bode well. And when he sees what Jason's done to the memorial, Bruce's instincts are confirmed. ]
What do you think you're doing?
no subject
I was planning on burning this down but first I have to break the glass.
[He says it with that general easy manner, like he's explaining how one might drink some water from a weird water bottle or how you open a particularly stubborn wrapper on a sandwich. He says it like he used to explain things to Bruce when he was still 12 years old and they were still close.
And he swings. Of course, Bruce used some kind of shatterproof glass, but the teeth of the crowbar still find purchase. It doesn't shatter, but there is a sickening sound of a crack as Jason considers and revs up for another smash.]
no subject
It's almost comical. But Bruce doesn't laugh. Instead, he pushes the cowl back. Months of barely speaking. Of a step forward and two back. Jason finally comes home and he brings destruction with him. ]
So you broke into my home to do this? [ A vague gesture toward the case. ] You could have talked to me instead.
no subject
First off-
[Another slam of his crowbar, and then a little jiggling in the spot. The crack widens a little.]
What happened to โthis is your home, Jason.โ?
[He drops his voice into Batmanโs growl, and inspects the impact spot, and then turns, one hip cocked. He looks young, then; his mouth is in a moue of displeasure.]
Also I used a key and biometrics, itโs not breaking in if I have access and an invitation.
[He points at Bruce with his crowbar.]
And this thing is gruesome. It has to go.
no subject
[ It's not a surprise, but it is unexpected. Maybe it shouldn't have been. For Jason, it must have seemed like a taunt, hanging there where anyone could see it. Bruce never meant for it to be. But what was that saying? The road to hell and all that. ]
Not as gruesome as your weapon of choice.
[ He eyes the crowbar that seemed level with the symbol on his chest and thinks that ought to be more painful than Bruce keeping the memorial. ]
no subject
He just doesn't do that, so.
He snorts, instead.]
It was my costume, so whose property is it, really?
[He manages another swing, and it cracks a hole just big enough that Jason can dig his fingers into it and start squeezing it apart.]
Is this better?
no subject
Jason, stop. Now.
no subject
Why? Does it bother you?
[He's snarling, now, planting his feet so he looks like an immobile object.]
Because I'm alive! I'm right here!
no subject
It deeply upset him that Jason wanted to take that away. ]
I know that! That doesnโt make this go away! [ he points at the case ]
no subject
You think I don't know that? I'm the one who has to live with it every goddamned day, and you're the one holding vigil over a boy you can't even admit-
[He turns and punches the case. It's hard enough that the case, weakened already, cracks a little bit more. He doesn't know how to say it, doesn't know how to put the words out there. That the case isn't a testament to him, it's a memory of someone Jason can't ever be again, and how Bruce prefers that boy, how Bruce can't look past that ghost. That Bruce doesn't, won't ever, care for him like he did before.]
I want it gone.
no subject
That's not your call.
no subject
[Bruce has gone into that horrible calm, that Batman calm. He doesn't get angry in the same way that the Robins all do; his emotional template is cold, not hot. Not like Jason.
It's even more infuriating, in a way.]
You think this is about your failure, but all this does is make me feel like crap!
[He says it and punches, again, and again.]
Jason ๐ญ
He reaches for Jason, tries to grab his arm to keep from doing anymore damage to the case. ]
That's enough.
He just has a lot of feelings
He flails a little, and pushes him, and snarls.]
Let me go.
[His voice is dark, now, deeper than before.]
Let me go, and get rid of it, Bruce.
sorry bruce is being a jerk
Destroying the suit isn't going to fix anything.
[ Us. It's not going to fix us, is what he really means, if he could bring himself to say it. Because there is still something very broken between them. ]
it's just who he is
You get rid of it if you want me around.
[The threat is implicit: you get rid of it or you get rid of me. Jason is known for his ultimatums, and he's actually usually pretty good at following through. Like you know.
Me or the clown.
Bruce chose the clown, so there's no hope here that Bruce will choose Jason, even though this seems easier. He's not asking anyone to kill, here.]
no subject
It's your choice. I'll never turn you away.
no subject
He presses away from Bruce, and lifts his head, and then reaches for his helmet. The calm that he's suddenly displaying is suddenly icy.]
Predictable.
[Because Jason is not actually a psychopath, he doesn't shoot the accelerant. Instead he reaches into his pocket and lights a lighter, and tosses it into the puddle on the floor.
There are so many contingencies for fire in this place, he's not worried, either, that someone will die, or that anything will actually get damaged. Mostly, he wants Bruce to stop looking at him.]
no subject
[ Bruce yells and Jason gets what he wants, however temporary. The fire flickers to life and swallows up the trail of accelerant before fire suppression kicks in and smothers the life from it. And as long as the fire burned, it had Bruce's attention.
Now, it's back on Jason and honestly, he's pissed. Setting fire, even a meager one, to the cave seemed a far more personal attack than taking a crowbar to a memory Bruce cherished. ]
What did you think that was going to do, Jason? [ Because it certainly did not change his mind. ]
no subject
He mounts his bike right around the time that Bruce yells at him.]
You set fire to our relationship, I set fire to that fucking memorial.
It's your choice.
[He parrots the words with a mimicry of Bruce's cadence that only the Robins can manage as he starts his bike.]
no subject
Bruce Wayne was rebuffed at every turn. So now, Jason would have Batman instead.
He leaves the case behind (another mess to be cleaned later) and follows. ]
Fine. You made your choice and now I'll make mine.
no subject
He knows that tone, and he knows that threat. That's the tone of voice that he takes when you killed someone, and that means that Batman is out to play. It also means that Bruce, as usual, has taken a fight and turned it into a fucking crusade.
God, this was predictable and Jason walked straight into it.
He doesn't bother stalling, then. He just goes, bike going from 0 to an impossible speed on a street model in a second and a half. He needs to make up distance now. The benefit of a bike is that it's agile, but the Batmobile-
-Jason figures if he can make it to Gotham proper he can slip between the cracks. For all that Bruce knows Gotham, it's really always been Jason's city, and if Jason doesn't want to be found in it, the fact is that he won't be.]
no subject
It's what drives him now. The Crusade. The Mission consumes him in all his waking hours (and his sleeping ones too). Jason's rejection, his choosing something other than peace was another to add to the list.
The car's driver side door swings open wide when he commands it to from his belt and he leaps into it to peel out after Jason into Gotham's night. He doesn't know what he'll say when he catches him. Was there anything left to say? Nothing Jason wanted to hear it seemed. It didn't matter anymore now.
The chase was on. ]
no subject
For being upset.
He wonders if Bruce - the Bruce he knew, who used to take him to ball games and who was so proud of every good grade that he got, the Bruce that he used to think of, very tentatively, as dad - even is still there. Did everything good die with him?
He hits the bridge and zips past a pair of cops, who start the lights right up until the rumble of the Batmobile overtakes them. Jason knows he has seconds, maybe, so when the bridge ends, perilously close to the edge of the river, he rides his bike up on the slim slick side and shoots down in the city on a run that would make Nightwing nervous. He hears something resembling a gunshot - okay he's in Gotham - and spins into the city, then jumps the bike and vaults into the air, letting the bike go.
Bye bye, bike. You were so nice for the few weeks you lasted.
Jason figures if he can get airborne, he can find a place to hide out this temper tantrum.]
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thank u for your patience ;;
of course <3!
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