(no subject)

[thegoshdarn]

Ever since Tim worked out (a) worked out Batman and Robin's identity and (b) realized that she could sneak out of the house at night without anyone noticing, she has a system. She keeps a bag packed with her camera, a bottle of water, and some snacks in case she gets hungry, and she has a set of dark-colored clothes, a nice warm jacket and shoes with a lot of grip for running around Gotham. When she gets to go out depends on who's at home with her that night. Tonight is really easy, because her parents are in the city but at a big party, and usually they go right to bed when they get home without checking on her.

She's gotten really good at analyzing patrol patterns based on current crime rates and past patrol routes. Bruce Wayne is supposed to be at the party tonight, so she heads to one of the most likely places Robin is going to go to tonight.

It's colder than she expected tonight, but that's okay. Tim finds herself a snug, semi-hidden place on a fire escape and settles in with her legs pulled up to her chest for warmth. All she has to do now is wait.

Comments

[thegoshdarn]

Tim focuses on getting her Robin bear comfortably situated in her lap. He gets a napkin of his own before she's ready to start answering. "Uh uh." Of course, they didn't start locking her in her room until recently. She used to be able to just get to the fridge on her own.

[utilitybelted]

"They've left you to miss meals before?" he asks with wide eyes, not quite realising that usually she is at least able to feed herself.

"...Tim that's a really bad thing for them to do, that's...that's wrong."

[thegoshdarn]

"No!" She may be panicking a little now because she's getting her parents in trouble again, isn't she? She's not supposed to do that! "They don't! I can make myself sandwiches."

So sorry, it's been a really busy couple of weeks!

[utilitybelted]

Dick just stares at her blankly for a moment before catching himself and reigning in his anger, he reaches over to ruffle her hair.

"That's pretty cool of you, but they really shouldn't leave you to do that."

No problem.

[thegoshdarn]

She shrugs a little. "It's okay. I can do stuff for myself."

Re: No problem.

[utilitybelted]

"Do you have any kind of contact for them while they're away? Did they give you a number before they left?"

[thegoshdarn]

...oh. Was she supposed to call them? Maybe she was supposed to call them, and just got all upset over nothing. They don't usually want her calling them, though.

"Uh-uh." She rattles off Jack Drake's cell number.

[utilitybelted]

"Ok, here's what we're going to do." Dick says, making a split decision that he's probably going to get into trouble over as he scribbles down the number "Would you like to visit the batcave?"

He'll take Tim back there so they can look after her until Batman decides what to do with the new information.

[thegoshdarn]

Her eyes get super-wide because oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh she gets to see the Batcave? She gets to see the Batcave. "Yes!"

[utilitybelted]

He can't help but laugh a little at that, he's glad she's so excited. "Okay, finish up your food and we'll head over there, okay?"

[thegoshdarn]

If his goal was to make her attempt to eat her burger as fast as humanly possible, then he wins the prize for most successful plan. "Can we go now?!"

[utilitybelted]

For a second, Dick's almost worried she's going to choke, but he breathes a sigh of relief when the burger disappears and she is none the worse for wear. Quickly finishing off the last of his own meal, he nods

"Okay, okay, come on then." he crouches down for her to climb up on his back again. It's going to be slow going getting to the cave this way, but it's the best he can think of.

[thegoshdarn]

So the thing is, Tim is really great at keeping secrets, but she's still a little kid. And she's talking to Robin so obviously no one's secret identity is at stake here. So the first question that pops into her head isn't filtered like it should be. "Will I get to see Mr. Pennyworth?!"






WHOOPS.

[utilitybelted]

Dick freezes, eyes widening in a panic, and he spins around to stare at her in horror.

"Who, what, how... huh?" he manages eloquently, suddenly wondering if he's made a terrible, terrible mistake.

[thegoshdarn]

"Um."

Hey, their faces kind of match. Tim is also pretty terrified right now because she didn't mean to say that! What if Robin gets mad at her now?

[utilitybelted]

It's a struggle to keep his emotions in check, he doesn't want to scare her any more than she obviously already is, but he needs her to answer his questions.

"Tim...how do you know that name?"

[thegoshdarn]

"I didn't tell anyone!" she blurts out quickly. "I, um, I saw your show before... And I saw Robin on TV once? You did a quadruple flip. And, um, there were supposed to only be a couple people who can do those.

The rest just, um, made sense?" Bruce Wayne is about the right size for Batman, at least in the photos she's taken. Bruce Wayne gets a new ward who's an acrobat, Batman gets a new partner with acrobatic skills. It just matched up.

[utilitybelted]

Dick stares at her in stunned silence for a long time. She's right, quadruple flips are really hard, he's so proud of the fact he can do one that he pretty much executes it at every chance he gets....

"...You...you worked that out all by yourself?"

[thegoshdarn]

"Uh-huh."

She watches him anxiously, trying to figure out what his reaction is going to be. Is he mad? Is he going to take her back to her house? Is he going to take her to Batman? Is Batman going to be mad?

[utilitybelted]

"I... think we better go to the batcave..." it was probably an even worse idea than it was before, but what else was he supposed to do? This tiny girl had figured out his secret apparently just by watching his acrobatics, was it really so easy as that? Or was she just that smart? Either way, Batman needed to know.

[thegoshdarn]

"Okay." At least he's not sending her back home. She picks up her Robin-teddy and watches him uncertainly, in case he changes his mind or something. "...'m sorry?" She's not super-sure what she's apologizing for, but it seems like a good idea.

[utilitybelted]

"..it's okay, you're just... you're really clever, and that's not a bad thing," he promises as encouragingly as he can, crouching down again so she can climb onto his back.

[thegoshdarn]

She does get to meet Mr. Pennyworth. He's as nice as she'd liked to imagine and tells her to call him Alfred and talks to her while Batman and Robin are talking. Then Batman comes to see her and asks her a bunch of questions about her life and her parents, plus a bunch more about how long she's known who he was.

He lets her sleep there and decides to take her to talk to Commissioner Gordon in the morning. Then Gordon brings in a caseworker from social services. She's just starting to get scared because Batman disappeared and people are all talking about where she can stay, but Bruce Wayne's name comes up.

Eventually, she ends up back at Wayne Manor, officially but temporarily (for now), while the police and social services look into her parents. Alfred helps her pick out a room to use and helps her find places to put some of the things they picked up from her house. When they're done, he suggests that she might want to go see Dick, so she grabs her Robin bear and goes looking for him.

[utilitybelted]

Despite all the excitement, Dick still has training to do, so much as he wants to hang around and watch proceedings, he's been rather unceremoniously nudged towards the gym to keep himself out from underfoot. He'd spun himself round on the bars until he was dizzy before finally giving up and heading out in search of something else to distract him - only to see Tim heading down the corridor, Robin bear in hand.

"Hey Timmy, you lost?" he asks with a friendly grin.

[thegoshdarn]

She shrugs, cause - Wayne Manor is big. She doesn't think she's lost, exactly, so much as exploring and creating her own mental map of the place for later. "Alfred said I should maybe go find you cause he had some things to do and he wouldn't mind the company but they might be boring." It was, actually, a choice rather than the kind brush-off Tim took it to be, but it may take some time for her to realize stuff like that.