thegoshdarn | (no subject)

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Ra's offered to put the League at her disposal. She could have used that against him, taken the opportunity to memorize his strongholds and bring him down. Maybe she should have; it would have given some point to this useless search she got herself into, looking for evidence that Bruce was alive. But she had Tamara Fox to think about, and, if she's being honest, she doesn't trust her own judgement right now.

(She was so sure. A part of her wants to just keep looking for the evidence she thought she could find, but - it doesn't exist. If it had, she would have found it. Her father's dead, again, and she can't bring Bruce back any more than she could have resurrected Jack.)

Instead, she bargains off what she knows to buy herself and Tam out of the entire mess. Tam can go back to her father and tell him that she brought back Timothea Drake-Wayne, and Tim... she goes home. Well. Assuming she can force herself to make the last few steps towards the Manor's entrance. It's more of a struggle than she'd like to admit to not turn around and go to a safe house to just lie low for a while, lick her proverbial wounds, but she supposes she's done enough running already.

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"But I do," he says almost desperately "he left such a big... such a big hole in the world, someone needs to fill it."

She sighs. "It doesn't have to be just you. There's other people in the world, too."

"Like it or not I'm the head of the family now, Tim, there's a lot of responsibility involved... Bruce had people for a lot of it, but there's still plenty he did himself."

"Still doesn't mean you have to do everything Bruce did."

After all, Bruce was... Bruce. There's not really another way to put it.

"Maybe." he admits, but it doesn't sound like he entirely agrees with her. "but I'm trying to."

Dryly: "I'd ask how that's working for you, but you already told me."

"yea..." he sighs "I shouldn't have taken it out on you, I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't have," she agrees. "But it's okay."

What? She has nothing to apologize for.

He waits for a moment, but he's not surprised when she doesn't offer any sort of apology in return, he's pretty certain she doesn't think she was in the wrong at all.

"I'll try harder, and...can you help me out,please?"

Well. That's something she can do, probably.

"What do you want me to do?"

"We'll figure stuff out. I can go through all the things I need to do and find what you can help with, computer things and... when you're fully recovered, back on patrol?"

Something in her relaxes a little that he's not going to try to talk her out of going back out there, at least. "Okay."

"Good." he breathes a sigh of relief that he's managed to navigate that potential minefield

"Can I have a hug?"
He's a hugger, that's pretty much to be expected.

Tim might have just rolled her eyes a little.

"Fine."

Tim: not normally a hugger.

Everybody's a hugger as far as Dick's concerned, he even managed to get one out of Bruce once. It involved a sneak attack, but he did it.

Still, he will at least not push this fragile peace too far, so the hug he gives her is a brief one.

He can believe that all he wants, but it doesn't make her any less awkward or slightly stiff. Years of Dick hugs haven't made her much better at them except in cases of extreme emotion.

Also, she's not... really sure what she's supposed to do with herself after. So there's that.

"We'll talk, later, about what you can help with" he says as he pulls away, moving to the door.

He pauses just before he leaves, glancing back "i'm glad you came home."

If nothing else, having a job to do makes her more cooperative with his request that she stay home until she's more fully recovered. But. Other people have other plans, as evidenced by the fact that, while Dick and Damian are out, the Manor's security registers someone entering the property and just... standing around there. She switches to the cameras, and. Well.

Prudence. Not someone she expected to see for a while, if at all. Tim doublechecks that no one's actually needed at the monitors right now before sending a message to Dick that she has something to take care of. She also grabs some body armor and her bo staff, just to be on the safe side, although she's fairly certain Pru's here for a relatively social visit, not to fight.

Pru hands her a phone on a secure line when she approaches, and Tim trades her a travel mug of Alfred's tea for her throat that earns her a cautious smile. Of course, any vague camaraderie loses its chance when Ra's starts talking to her.

The Council of Spiders is still active. Not her problem. She owes him for his aid during her search. She'd told him several times that she didn't want his help. Two assassins died helping her. The Widower's appearance had nothing to do with her search. Then Ra's delicately informs her that, because of his connection to the League, Damian is also a target of the Council.

Tim throws the phone at a tree and mutters to Pru that she'll be back in an hour before heading back to the Manor to pick up a few things. Because what she's always wanted for her life was to go back to Ra's al Ghul to protect the Demon Spawn from getting caught up in some kind of sick assassination game. Great.

It's probably not a surprise that Dick's built a feed from the manor security into his gear, it's not exactly the cameras or anything but he knows when the proximity alarm has been triggered, and the fact that Tim doesn't get in touch to let him know about anything makes him wonder, so he cuts their patrol short and heads back just to check. He can always come back out later if it's a false alarm.

He arrives back just in time to see Tim gearing up, and while he tries to hard his immediate suspicion, he's definitely curious.

"Hey Timmy... you heading out somewhere...?"

She's already got the Red Robin suit packed away - she's still not so sure about it as an identity, but it's a tool and it's not immediately traceable back to the Bats, so it'll do - and has just finished picking what kinds of weapons she'll need. She glances up when Dick comes in and says, evenly, "Looks like."

She's not going to feel guilty about running out on him. Especially not when she's doing it to ensure Damian doesn't get caught up in the League's mess.

Well, that's suspiciously vague. He knows he has to tread carefully now, things are just starting to be relaxed between them and he doesn't want to bring back all that tension, but he can't shake the feeling that something's not right about this.

"You need any backup?" he starts first of all, still keeping it casual, he doesn't need to ask her where she's going if he can come along to keep an eye on her, and if she says yes, he also knows it isn't anywhere she's not supposed to be going.

"Not really." Not that she couldn't use backup that she doesn't have to worry about stabbing her in the back (metaphorically or literally), but she doesn't want any more of her family mixed up in this. Besides, Gotham (and Damian) need him here.

"Where you headed?" he asks eventually, unable to think of any other way to find out and deciding she at least deserved him to be honest about his questions, maybe it would encourage her to be honest with him.

To take down a group of assassins that get their kicks killing other assassins doesn't seem like a good answer. She snags the bag she'd been packing from the floor. "There's just something I need to take care of."

That's not exactly a good answer either, Timmy, it's pretty obvious to him that she's hiding something.

"...what sort of something?"