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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[Ariadne paused again, watching him for any signs of deception, before continuing.]

To build three dream levels on top of each other. A dream within a dream within a dream. Dreams are unstable. In order to make them stable enough to build three levels, heavy sedation is needed.

[But she did decide that she wouldn't tell him about how she'd gone down into limbo. Between that and the Aztec flood, she was sure it wouldn't set a very good precedent with him about how little she cared for her own safety.]

Okay, I understand that. So, what does that have to do with what we were talking about?

[He didn't want to jump to conclusions, and really, what the hell would you need a dream within a dream for anyway? It sounded either like an elaborate escapist experience - which was unlikely if it was that dangerous - or honestly, something a little less kosher. Or maybe that was just the paranoia.

And really, he was just starting to hope the Mad Hatter never got his hands on a PASIV or whatever it was she had said the device was called.]

Cobb, Mal's husband, went into limbo.

[Ariadne just hoped that things were mostly clear, despite the fact that her previous lies were incredibly transparent.]

I made my deal for him.

[Tim might have gotten all the credit as being the detective Boy Wonder, with Dick just labeled as the acrobat, but he wasn't a dummy. He understood what she had told him and more or less understood why she hadn't elaborated before, because again, he was definitely familiar with keeping secrets.

He nodded, and paused for a minute to show her understood, but then asked another question, honestly curious.] So, if you're not supposed to tell other people about it, why tell me?

[Ariadne swallowed, scratching the side of her neck. That was an excellent question.]

I didn't know before, but after that port...

[She quietly laid back down, trying to feel comfortable again.]

I had three spies in my "family." Everything was about keeping secrets. And, I don't know, maybe I want to trust you.

You can. Don't worry, I know how to keep a secret. [And he meant it, too.

He was quiet for a moment, going back to looking at the mountains. It was kind of nice, just sitting here, sort of outside, without all that much to be worried about or knowing he needed to get something accomplished. And Ariadne was easy to talk to, even if she didn't know about his real job or anything, which was kind of a big deal. Those kinds of people were pretty few and far between in his life before coming here, especially after what had happened with Bludhaven.]

This was a nice idea.

[Ariadne smiled quietly, grateful for the reassurance from Dick. She went back to thinking about about the mountains. But her mind drifted further, to thoughts about spending more time with him, opening up further. She quickly dismissed them.]

Do you want to look around? I'm sure the wine will keep.

[He shrugged, a small grin tweaking the corners of his mouth up before looking at her playfully.]

You coming? You look pretty comfortable where you are.

[Just to prove her point, Ariadne slowly got to her feet and pocketed one of her hands.]

Now we're waiting on you.

[The grin widened and he pushed himself to his feet, pushing the sleeves of his shirt back up over his elbows, scratching idly at one of the newer scars before slowly starting to wander off in no particular direction.]

It's almost too bad this place can't do cities or something.

[Ariadne watched as he scratched at one of his scars, making a mental note to ask about it later.]

I didn't know it couldn't show cities.

[She moved beside him, working to match his stride.]

Apparently it can just make ecological systems. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love getting out to places like this when I can, but I'm more of a city boy at heart. It's been kind of weird being stuck in such a contained environment for this long.

[Mostly because of the lack of rooftop adventures, honestly.]

The mountains are just as good as any city. We'll have to climb one.

[She was more of a city person herself too.]

You got any rock climbing equipment on you?

I'll request some for next time.

[She paused, hoping there would be a next time.]

It's a date.

[He said it without thinking and didn't stop to think about what that could or might mean after it had come out of his mouth.]

So, what made you pick Paris?

[Ariadne went quiet for a couple moments, her heart skipping in her chest at his word choice. She needed a second or two to reply to his question. ]

Why not?

[He shrugged nonchalantly, ignoring the pause, maybe even writing it off as her just trying to figure out a reason why she'd picked it. Boys are cool like that.]

Just curious. I stuck kind of close to home for college, always wondered if maybe I should have tried branching out.

[Ariadne smiled over at him, trying to figure him out. He liked extreme sports but not going far from home.]

My family could afford it and it's the best school for it. My French got better too.

[Dick's mysterious like that. But ask him the right questions, and he might open up a little.]

I'd sure hope so. Getting stuck in a foreign country is one of the best ways to pick up another language. Or, so I've heard, anyway.

[Ariadne eyed him further, feeling as if she was only seeing the light reflecting off of a laminated surface; there was something else, many more things even. Still, she glanced away to the shrubbery and flowers around them.]

So Mr. Dick Grayson, extreme sport enthusiast from New Jersey who doesn't like venturing far from home doesn't know any foreign languages?

I know several.

[The witty, you're-gonna-have-to-try-harder-then-that one liner was accompanied by another playful smirk. He wasn't really concerned with this line of questioning, considering there were plenty of logical reasons for why the son of the CEO of a major corporation would be pretty fluent in a handful of languages.]

[She didn't even know about the son of a CEO bit, so she asked,]

Why?

My adoptive father does a lot of business overseas. When I was younger, I'd get dragged along sometimes, so I sort of had to pick up at least a couple to get by and be polite.

[He said it like it was no big deal - which it wasn't - but the more serious answer was that not only did it help whenever they had to fight R'as al Ghul on his home turf, but if any Russian mob bosses in Gotham decided to try and use the language as a code to catch them off guard, learning the language pretty much derailed that plan immediately.]

[So sneaky, Dick. So sneaky. Ariadne delicately switches over into French, which sometimes felt a little more comfortable than English.]

What about French?

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