086 [voice]

[batmanschmatman]

I've been thinking about that flood we had a while back, where we turned into people from history, I guess? And whoever I was, it wasn't like he was anyone important, but it still made me think about a few things.

Now, I'm not saying everyone turned into some direct ancestor or something, but it kind of made me realize I really don't know that much about my family history. For all I know, that kid was some distant relative of mine. I know basically nothing about my mom's side of the family except that she was a dental assistant before she married my dad and her dad died when I was five or six, and anything I have about my dad's is kind of spotty.

When you're a kid, you don't usually ask too many questions about where your great-great whatever grandfather came from, or why he decided to move somewhere or enlist in the army, and if they did say anything about it, I don't remember. And if I have any living relatives, they either didn't know I exist or didn't have an interest in taking me in after my parents died, so it's not like I can just call them up and ask questions. But it would be kind of interesting to know something beyond a really vague Dad's side was Romany, Mom's was probably something from western European.

[Private to Rorschach]

You been keeping out of trouble?

Comments

[batmanschmatman]

You could still ask people about it.

[ichoosefight]

My mom maybe. [ She laughs. ]

Can you imagine? "Hey dad, will you promise not to poison me again if I ask you about Grampa and Grandma?"

[batmanschmatman]

Better than nothing, if you're really curious.

[ichoosefight]

I think I'll stick to the internet, all the same.

Hey, there's an idea! There are all sorts of heritage websites in the future, you could totally just use one of those.

[batmanschmatman]

It would be more helpful if I knew people's full names. I don't think typing "grandpa" into Ancestry.com would be that helpful.

[ichoosefight]

Well you start with your own name! The computer does all the work for you, silly.

[batmanschmatman]

That's... not really how it works.

[ichoosefight]

Sure it is. Why, how do you think it works?

[batmanschmatman]

Steph, you can't just type "Stephanie Brown" into a website and hope they'll give you everything you need to know about your family. There's hundreds of people with the same name as you. They need to know who your parents were, who their parents were, and it's not like they're going to be able to hand you an accurate file on every ancestor because of people changing their names, files getting lost or they just aren't uploaded to the website yet. I mean, does "Grayson" sound Romany to you?

[ichoosefight]

Well... no, not really.

[batmanschmatman]

Besides, if there was anything interesting to find, Bruce or someone probably already would have figured it out.

[ichoosefight]

Bruce's definition of "interesting" is a little different from most people's.

[batmanschmatman]

Well, duh.

[ichoosefight]

So what makes you think anything you might find interesting would even be a blip on his radar?

[batmanschmatman]

Because when I was a scared little kid who didn't know if anyone wanted me because my parents were dead, if he'd figured out I had a long lost uncle or something, I would have been raised by him instead.

[ichoosefight]

You really think so?

[batmanschmatman]

Yes. [Is this seriously a question.]

[ichoosefight]

I never knew he had the heart.

[batmanschmatman]

You're kidding me, right? A guy who wants nothing more to have been raised by his parents, who were murdered in front of him, who's spent his whole life looking out for kids and people who are the victims of crime, was going to deny an eight year old the chance to be raised by a loving, supportive family member.

[ichoosefight]

[ Shrug. ] You know him better than I do.

[batmanschmatman]

No offense, but it kind of sounds like you don't know him at all.

[ichoosefight]

None taken. He's your dad. I've only known his name for two years. I probably know Damian better than I know Bruce.