@hafid.alghul

[batricide]

[ there are a number of smarter and more eloquent things one could ask as they awaken, months after they fell asleep, in bed with a pair of strangers. damian considers those things as he leaps out the window and makes a break for it.

instead, damian does this: ]

What the HELL did you all do this time?

Comments

@loki.odinson

[selfimage]

Hello to you too.

[batricide]

I trust you kept my brother in one piece?

[selfimage]

You probably don't want the answer to that.
Though in absolutely 100% truth, he left about the same time that you did. He only returned recently.

[batricide]

[ oh.

here's hoping those aren't related. or, more importantly, that jason didn't do something stupid and tried to find him. ]

Can you bring me up to speed on what has happened while I've been gone?
I see mostly arguments on the backlog I don't feel like sifting through the usual tantrums to find something useful.

[selfimage]

Me, really? Of all people?

[ but, you know what, he's not gonna bother Jason with this. ]

Bring some sort of offering in the form of food or drink and I'll grant the request.

@eugene.hicks

[preseance]

Fella, am I glad to hear from you.

（ it wasn't like they really knew each other or spoke much, but he knows what damian means to jason, an' frankly he'd give his right arm at this point to see jason's pain eased, so this is — a good thing, much as it ever is to have someone familiar in this place. ）

I'm in New Tokyo at present, but if there's anything I can do to help you reacclimate, say the word.

[batricide]

Hicks.
Glad to see someone stayed sensible in my absence.

[ he approves. thanks bud. ]

I'll be fine. I planned for the possibility of both an exit and return.

↪ private

[preseance]

Ah, there's a few of us around if you squint.

（ he slides this on over to private just for the sake of mentioning his work here — ）

You know, given what I know of you lot on account of Jay, that don't surprise me much at all.

You can use the dance studio I work at if you need a base of operations that ain't overrun by assorted flora, I cleared out the worst of it before I left the city.

[batricide]

I do have a secondary location I can go to, but judging by the overgrowth it probably isn't habitable right now. So thank you, I might take you up on that.

[preseance]

Ain't no nevermind. It's stocked up, use what you need.

（ look, he hails from the depression and has been through two wars, as well as the cold one that hangs over everyone's head like the sword of damocles. he ain't quite a doomsday prepper, but it does pay to be prepared. ）

Jason's gonna be real glad to see you.

@tony.stark | private

[voicelog]

welcome back

come get your arm

[ address to new residence attached. ]

[batricide]

I have to see my brother first.

[voicelog]

just give me a heads up when you want to pick it up then

[ he's a busy guy, ok? ]

[batricide]

Okay. Will do.

[ later, he's going to wonder if tony is ALSO upset at him. hm. ]

@jason.todd ; private

[reneger]

welcome back, baby bird

[batricide]

Good to be back.
I hope you got by alright without me.

[reneger]

i disappeared a bit after you did
just came back a bit sooner

[batricide]

[ that sounds suspiciously like dodging unasked question. which really tells him all he needs to know. ]

Your husband is making me bring you food in exchange for answers.
What do you want?

[reneger]

( rude, don't read him. )

whatever
i'm not hungry

@clarke.griffin

[strove]

It's good to see you back.

[Look, Damian is more reasonable than Jason.

But she also ... means it.

Hell isn't frozen over, either.]

[batricide]

Are you feeling alright, Griffin?

[ lets deflect with sarcasm like a good boy. ]

[strove]

Shockingly, yes.

Make sure you find Dick. He'll want to know how you're doing.

[batricide]

[ oh.

that sends an awful lurch through him. dick's here? again? that old guilt surfaces before he can stop it, wondering what one it is this time. but he shoves right past that, unwilling to ask in case it ends up used against him somehow.]

Is there anything I should know?

(not here/action)

[rehandle]

[ A few hours after this post goes up, a large number of credits make their way into Damian's account. It's not the whole amount he bestowed - that had been divvied up, as per instructions, and some of the money set aside for the financing of Damian's team remains in a separate dedicated account - but it's still a comfortable sum. Enough to let him function going forward until the return handover of his assets can be completed more officially.

There's no message. ]

[batricide]

[ at first, its a relief. confirmation that stephen is still here without being forced to address him.

damian doesn't do emotional honesty. the last message he sent stephen stares at him any time he opens the network. he had assumed that should that ever be sent he would never actually have to deal with he fallout. he doesn't want to.

at least until he considers maybe that's why stephen hasn't reached out. maybe everything he'd said had been too much. maybe the time he was gone had allowed him to realize that damian was both a terrible person and a liability. ]