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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[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.]

[Dick chuckled, grinning at her.] Flatterer.

So what about you, Ariadne the architect warden, who's kind of from Paris? Got any exciting stories from before the Barge you feel like sharing?

[It took her a couple moments to regain her composure, but when she did, she remembered Arthur's warning about not telling others about dream sharing and extraction.]

They're not very exciting.

[Except the whole mountain climbing, being shot at, being driven into a train, going down into unstructured dream space with a man she barely knew, and overall trusting her safety and well-being to a group of lovable criminals.]

[Dick shrugged nonchalantly.] They don't have to be.

[Especially because, while he liked Ariadne, she probably wasn't going to be getting any of his particularly interesting stories for a while. Too many people on the Barge knew already, and while he would like to think he could trust her, he'd only known her for a few weeks.]

[Ariadne looked a little surprised but smiled almost in relief. He wasn't pressuring her to spill secrets and that was something quite different than her experience with Cobb.]

My professor, a few weeks before I got here, recommended me for work placement. I just finished a commission before leaving.

[Which was half true.]

What did you get to build? Assuming it was an architecture work study, that is. [It didn't seem like too far of a leap to assume, and he was curious. She had told him about the dream sharing thing, while recovering from the death toll, but he wasn't sure if that was just kind of some recreational hobby, or an actual profession.]

[She tapped her chin with the flower, trying to figure out the best way to describe it.]

I was originally supposed to just design a few things. An experimental city layout and a fortress of some kind. And I saw the hotel I'd designed be built. It was pretty neat.

[And the construction crew had been one man. Arthur, the dreamer.]

That's pretty cool. Was the city supposed to be like, a test or something? Or were you working on a movie or what?

[He's not an idiot, and he's starting to suspect that the two activities are linked, but he'll play along with the 'I don't know anything' game for as long as it seems to make sense.]

[Ariadne nodded quietly, again trying to figure out how to best explain this.]

It was meant to be a test to see if I was a practical designer, rather than an abstract one. Everything has to bind to the laws of physics.

[However, she was completely unaware that Dick was suspecting a few things and believed herself to be in the clear thus far.]

Well, obviously. Can't be much of an architect if you're not familiar with the laws of gravity and stuff, unless you're trying to get things to collapse.

[He was quiet for a moment.] You know, with all the cops and ex-military and Starfleet we've got around here, you're definitely different. What makes a successful young architect decide she'd rather spend time here then designing experimental cities and watching her hotels get built?

[And there was the hitch. Ariadne stared at Dick quietly for a few moments, as if trying to read the right answer from his face. How could she explain Cobb? Or why she'd given so much for him?]

I became friends with some of the construction workers on the site. And one of them fell from pretty high up, right before the end of the project.

[She took a breath. She had come because she couldn't let Cobb lose himself. He had to remember in Limbo. He had to. Pulling her gaze away, she looked at the flower in her fingers.]

I couldn't let him die. His wife killed herself a few years back and his kids wouldn't have anyone without him.

[Dick's expression became more serious as she explained, listening sympathetically. Before he could stop himself, he inquired further. Just because he was a slightly more socially adept Gotham vigilante didn't change the fact that he was a detective, and he liked having all the facts, just to keep things clear.]

This is Mal's husband?

[Ariadne was startled by the quick jump in Dick's logic, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. Her fingers went still and she felt a very critical moment of panic deep in her chest. Breathe.]

No.

[It was incredibly difficult and tough on her sensibilities to lie to Dick.]

No, she wouldn't know him.

Hm. [He wasn't sure if he believed her, or, now that she was having this reaction, he wasn't even sure if she remembered most of the conversation they'd had after the Aztec invasion. Regardless, he knew what it was like to have people rooting through your secrets or trying to push you to tell them something, so he backed off.]

I'm sorry about your friend.

[Ariadne paused, wondering if it would be worse now if she simply retracted the lie. She didn't enjoy keeping secrets, but if she spoke, then there was the possibility that Arthur's life here could be disturbed.]

I'm not supposed to tell others about it. A few members of the team I worked with are here. And they have every right to want secrecy.

[She looked over at Dick again, apologetically.]

[And yet again, here was a moment where it was kind of too bad in some ways that he couldn't just flash his credentials and say hey, don't worry about it, I know what it's like to need secrecy and discretion. Of course, that would sort of defeat the purpose of having a secret identity, if he just blabbed it to everyone he met to prove a point, but still. So he just smiled.]

I understand. Don't worry, I know how to keep a secret.

[Which... didn't really mean anything, but he said it sincerely, and obviously meant it.]

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