batmanschmatman | 015 [audio]

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015 [audio]

[Filtered away from Roman, but otherwise Public.]

Okay, so, a flood turned hostile takeover attempt, another sinister plot, a port... now do you think we'll get a little bit of downtime?

I know people had their issues with port, but seriously, at least for the most part, barring a misadventure here or there, most of us got out pretty unscathed. That's got to be worth something on the scale of boring to traumatic.

... And it was kind of fun, being a cop again. Even if there wasn't exactly much chasing down bad guys involved.

I mean, not that I'm saying "sign me up for a universe transfer", but I guess all I'm trying to say is I'll take what I can get.

[Private to Port Family: Olivia, Wally, Seven, Tim, Shego, Isaac]

Seriously, as far as fake families went, you guys were pretty cool.

[Private to Tim]

Were you ever going to get around to telling me my best friend survived the Crisis?

[Private to Ariadne]

Did you and Jensen get to say your tearful good byes, or are you now parted from your one true love forever?

And hey, I think this port's the first time we've ever gotten to hang out that hasn't been interrupted by the Barge trying to collapse around us or something. Clearly a celebration is in order.

[Private to Bourne]

So... How's your shoulder?

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[She gently smacked him on the elbow, unable to contain the broad grin that made her cheeks hurt.]

That's what the wine's for.

[With a flick of the wrist, Ariadne gestured to the bottle laying in the grass in front of her and picked up the two mickey glasses.]

[He smirked and picked up the bottle, gesturing at her with it before unpopping the cork.]

You'd better not be trying to get me drunk.

[Ariadne laughed quietly, holding out the two glasses.]

Oh, now you've ruined my plan!

[He poured the wine, replaced the cork, set the bottle down, and accepted one of the glasses, looking back out at the scenery curiously.]

So, why South Africa?

[Ariadne took her own glass and sipped it quietly for a couple moments before answering.]

I came here once with my family. It's the most beautiful place I've ever been. Nature creates such... [she's trying to put the words in the right order here] intense architecture, that no man could ever design. The mountains, for example, aren't just rocks on more rocks, there's a structure and an intricacy that we can never properly imitate.

[He listens while still looking at the mountains, thinking that over. He was not, after all, a builder or an architect outside of designing the occasional base layout, which even then was more of just a 'I want this here and this there' versus trying to make it look nice, and it was kind of cool to hear the new perspective.]

Huh. Never really thought about it like that before.

[She ran her thumb along the rim of the glass, turning back to face him again and picking a flower. Carefully, she laid back in the grass some, twiddling the stem between her thumb and forefinger.]

What do you see in the mountain?

Uhhh...

[Dick stared at the mountain, brow furrowed for a moment, wondering where they were going with this. It was just a mountain. But he was cool with playing this kind of game, and after a couple seconds of pause, he had his answer.]

One of those Easter Island statues lying on it's back.

... And probably some pretty cool rock climbing opportunities.

[She smiled up at him brightly.]

Do you rock climb often?

[Ariadne had never been, except in the context of a dream, but still, it would be fun to try someday.]

[Dick shrugged slightly, taking a sip of his own wine before answering.]

When I get the chance. I like extreme sports.

[Obviously, more of his climbing was focused on buildings and that kind of thing, but... still sort of an extreme sport.]

[More extreme than she ever gets, really. She sets her glass of wine down and looks over the mountain again, trying to see the mountain as an adventure rather than a static thing.]

I'll add that to my list. Dick, warden from New Jersey, likes extreme sports.

[Before, something pops into her mind almost arbitrarily.]

Do you have kids back home? Like Wally?

[He laughed, but the question caught him a little off guard. It got her a kind of bemused smile.]

No, no kids. And I'm not married. [Even though he'd been seriously engaged twice.] Do you?

[Ariadne smiled and shook her head.]

I still have one semester more of school.

[Plus, she fell onto the shyer side of the spectrum, which meant little dating for her, much less two freaking engagements. Jeez, Dick.]

Meaning no, I have no kids or husband.

You never know. People have kids when they're still in school. [He shrugged neutrally.]

[Ariadne quietly pressed the flower to her nose, sniffing it and she closed her eyes. Just the warmth and presence of another close by was simply marvelous. And the small sips of wine she'd had didn't dull her senses quite yet. She could feel the wind as it brushed across her skin, see the golden hue of the sun from underneath her eyelids, and the pause in conversation opened her ears to the symphony of crickets, birds, and other wild animals.]

[Dick appreciated the silence that wasn't really silence for a few moments too, but, being chatty by nature, eventually broke it with a question. The fact that he'd even been sitting mostly still for this long was pretty impressive too, since generally he'd be up walking around exploring the new environment.]

So, fun port, crappy port... what are your thoughts?

[Ariadne smiled silently before replying, keeping her eyes closed just a little longer. If for nothing else but the illusion of peace.]

I've never been into port before. It could have been run by Aztecs; it could have been worse.

[It was more of the veil of secrecy that shrouded each of her "family members" that had made her the most uncomfortable during port. Kay had been the best about trying to play normal, domestic, but Narvin and Cooper seemed more focused on blending in, doing their jobs and nothing else. She supposed it had gotten them through the port in one piece, but it would have been nice to enjoy the break from steel and blood rather than focus on jobs and meticulous details.]

You seemed to enjoy it, from what I saw.

I definitely think that's the popular consensus. [There was a slight laugh at the end of the sentence, before he shrugged nonchalantly.]

Parts of it were fun. Parts of it kinda weren't.

[Like stumbling upon the incredibly less then happy evidence of Costigan's double's life, and finding pictures of his parents, who were apparently still dead, and then the ensuing guilt over whether or not that was a good thing. But playing dad had been kind of fun, and he'd liked being back on the force for a while.]

[Ariadne opened her eyes again and looked over at him, head cocked slightly to the side.]

Can I ask what parts weren't?

[If he didn't want to talk about it, she would certainly understand but her natural curiosity sometimes got the better of her in cases like this.]

[Dick was quiet for a moment, but he'd already blabbed about it to practically everyone else - meaning Howie, Hayley, Tim, Seven, Martha, Steph, and Costigan, so it's not like it was a really big deal.]

I just found some pictures of my parents. It kind of caught me off guard.

[Which was what he was sticking to as his reasoning, even if some of the other stuff had been more upsetting initially.]

[Ariadne kept her eyes on him, trying to take in all the information she could without needing to ask anymore potentially awkward questions. Her natural desire to press further crept up the back of her throat. She had a million questions she wanted to blurt out all at once.]

Who raised you?

[She hoped that that at least wasn't too incredibly awkward.]

Them, until I was eight. I was adopted after they died in a fall.

[And that had actually been the hardest thing about the port, in some ways, was the total lack of Bruce. Coupled with Tim and Steph's information about the future, it was almost disappointing and disconcerting that he was missing from his history there.]

[She quietly ran her thumb along the stem of the flower, listening intently to every word.]

I'm sorry for your loss, Dick.

[It was sincere, as cliche as the words were.]

[That was always the hardest part about telling people, was them not really knowing what to say. It had happened, Dick... hadn't really accepted it, in that it was horrible and he still missed them, but he honestly wouldn't give up the life he had now if was given the chance to change things. He loved his parents, but he loved Bruce, Alfred and Tim too, not even to mention all the things he'd done and seen before the age of thirty.]

It's okay. I mean, I still miss them, but Bruce was a good dad. [For the most part.] He still is.

All things considered? I turned out okay.

[Ariadne smiled at him, fingers lazily twirling the flower.]

I think you did too.

[But as soon as it left her mouth, she snapped it shut and her face went a little red. That required another sip of the wine.]

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