riverviewlogs | ( open ) but everything looks better when the sun goes down

Entry tags:

( open ) but everything looks better when the sun goes down

who: dick grayson + others
what: fireflies + may catchall
when: all of may!
where: all over
warnings: possible violence

Yellow

[ In Dick, fear blends and shifts, keeps him moving rather than freezing him up, looking a lot more like newly single-minded dedication than anything else. Fear turns him outward, draws him inexorably into the role of unasked-for shadow, and whether you're a friend or a stranger you're likely to find him there, sudden and unannounced, if you happen to step out late at night. If you're venturing out past the fence alone. ]

Hey. [ Look again and he's beside you, decked out in a mask (or a police uniform, take your pick). ] Not sure if you know the area, but it's not safe out here right now.

Red (anger)

[ On red Dick simmers. At the Police Station he's picking up extra shifts, passing the break room to down coffee after coffee in the rare moments that he's not out on patrol. With coworkers and friends he's snappish and short, burying himself for hours at a time in the archives with old case files. He's never at home.

As Nightwing he's somehow easier to find - or run across by chance - but if you happen to be looking the road there is paved with unsettled lowlives. No one is maimed or even seriously injured, but he's scared them, clearly with an intent running deeper than Nightwing's typically brisk, playful style of violence. Find him mid-battle just by the fence, taking on at least 12 too many vicious, snapping monsters. Find him mid-interrogation on the roof, holding someone against the drop-off more securely than the man in question likely perceives. ]

Blue

[ Or find him just after that.

Blue never lingers on Dick for long, but he's easy prey when his strength is limited, worn down by effort expended on walking himself down from anger and fear. He can't outpace the feeling when he's already steeped in shame. When a thousand what ifs crowd out everything else. Find him sagging in that dark alley, head in his hands; or huddled out by the fence, surrounded by wounded monsters. Give him a few minutes, he'll be alright. ]

[ ooc: pm or hit me up at

with_pins if you'd like to play out a more specific scenario! I'd prefer to avoid lust prompts for Dick at this time, but Violet, Green, and Orange are all on the table with some discussion. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Dick heads to the appointed spot as promised, and he waits patiently, leaning a little on the bike. When he spots her his face lights up, and he offers her a wave, along with a slightly dopey grin he'll probably regret later. ]

Hey, Wanda.

[Even as reserved as Wanda can be at times, being in Riverview has given her breathing room she hasn't had since she was a child. She's a little more open, not just with others but in her body language, and when she finds Dick sitting at the curb waiting for her, she smiles back. Just as broadly and dopey as his own.]

Hello, Dick. You found the place easily I hope?

[It's not exactly hard to navigate this city but Wanda finds herself relying on polite conversation to cover the fact that she's not certain how to great him physically. They cuddled on a rooftop, so a handshake is out of the question. She's not a casual hugger but a kiss seems like too much at the start. Aren't they supposed to happen at the end? She's not about to hop onto the bike right away either so. She stands there. Near him. Body language all too obvious about wanting to reach out but not being certain how.]

[ Alfred raised a proper gentleman, so he offers her a handshake- only to falter at once when he reads something else in her body language. A hug then? A kiss on the cheek? He's thrown off, and the moment is getting away from him. ]

No. No problem at all. How've you been?

[ Which from Dick at least, is always a sincere question. ]

Well enough. It's been a busy couple of weeks but I don't mind having things to occupy myself with.

[Helping to host a dinner for people from their multiverse, being elevated as a goddess to a colony of talking mice, and speaking with new arrivals from their world in particular had been enough on top of her day job. After a moment's consideration, she steps in to press a kiss to his cheek. It's chaste, but the expression on her face is almost sweet when she pulls back to smile at him.]

But I'm glad to see you. Have you been keeping out of trouble?

I, uh- [ Okay yeah now he's kind of wishing he'd thought of that first, if only because that would have been a whole lot smoother than blushing like a shy middle schooler. His cheeks are a little pink, pleased and surprised. ]

-Yeah. I've been busy. Or I would've called a lot sooner. [ He can't quite wipe the smile off his face now. ]

I kind of wondered for a minute if you were gonna show up.

[She loves his smile, and she feels so much lighter whenever it's pointed her way.]

Because you've been too busy to call? You weren't the only one, which means it very well could have been me calling you, wondering if you'd show up.

[So there. They're even.]

So, now that we're both here, where do we go from here?

[ He'd been thinking more about the weird as heck rooftop thing, but if she's alright with it enough to not even be wondering about it now maybe that means he's in the clear.

It's amazing how quickly he's kind of forgetting that damage control was the actual end goal here. ]

You feeling like Italian? [ He passes her his spare helmet. Safety first. ] ...If there’s actually an Italy in this reality.

[ Not too casual to be romantic, not too romantic for a first date. ]

[The rooftop thing Wanda has simply accepted as...well, something to investigate later. To try and learn about another time when they know each other better. Clearly there's more to this than he's let on but she can hardly pry when she doesn't want him to do the same. Not as aggressively as she could question him, perhaps.

She takes the helmet when offered and puts it on.]

Italian or something like it sounds delicious.

[Having ridden a bike before, she doesn't wait for an invitation. Wanda swings her leg over the back of his bike, ready to settle behind Dick and wrap her arms around his waist so she won't go flying.]

[ Her confidence is very endearing. And he's a little afraid of what she'll think if he lets that show too much, so he's quick to duck his head, hiding a smile as he climbs on in front. He replaces his helmet and waits for her to be secure before he drives off.

The rush of the wind, an uncomplicated road, and a wonderful girl pressed close to him. He's spent worse afternoons. After a moment he shouts: ]

Were you seriously gonna reach out if I didn't call first?

[It's hard to hold a conversation on a bike but they're not going so fast that they can't manage. A little distracted by the feel of his body pressed to hers, how it feels to hold him, she manages a reply.]

Yes. Eventually. As I said it's just been a bit busy lately but...I wouldn't have wanted that to be the last time I saw you.

[Because of the conversation. The kinship. The kisses too. The mystery of layers he's wrapped in that she wants to get to know better.]

[ His heart gives an embarrassing little flutter at that, and for once he's glad the helmet hides the way his cheeks are coloring. Whatever illusions he'd had about being able to chalk the niceness of that kiss up to the powder crossed with loneliness alone are melting away under the feel of her arms around him.

Damn it. ]

...Yeah. Wasn't the note I wanted to end things on either.

[Considering how she'd left him on the roof, she would have understood him wanting to speak to her again if nothing else than to ask her about her powers. But she gets the sense that like her, that isn't entirely why they both wanted to see each other again.

Biting her lower lip on a smile, she rests her cheek against his back.]

I'm glad.

[And until he slows his bike, Wanda is content to simply to hang onto Dick as he drives them to the restaurant of his choosing.]

[ The place he'd chosen is close by, which in retrospect he probably could have planned a little better. But maybe if she if she hasn't punched him in the face by the end of their meal he can entice her on a longer drive sometime later. Even just as a friend.

He is absolutely getting ahead of himself.

He winces a little as he pulls the bike to a stop, still a little reluctant to break the contact as he hops off with an agile little jump. He'll offer her a gentmanly hand. ]

So I did kind of have one question.

[She takes the hand when offered, just as reluctant for the ride to be over as he is. Not that she's picking up anything from him mentally, but some things can be gleaned through body language.

The fact that he has a question already makes her curious, however. Curious and perhaps a little on guard. She can guess what he might ask about, she's been anticipating it...]

Only one?

[Her tone suggests she's a little amused and open to answering more than one question...depending on what they are.]

[ Well if she's gonna play it like that. He tosses her an innocent look. He is as pure as driven snow. ]

Well, for starters- [ get ready ]

...Desert island question. You get two friends from home to keep you company on the beach until rescue arrives.

You ever put any thought to that?

[ It actually is a halfway serious question. You can tell a lot about someone by who they choose to surround themselves with.

And he sure is keeping that hand if she lets him. ]

[Pure. Right.

Her smile widens into a grin as he asks his question--not that she expected--and Wanda allows herself a moment to consider it carefully.]

Do the friends have to be living? Can they be from any world?

[Because she may as well figure out if there are any limits to this hypothetical question as she, yes, continues to hold his hand.]

[ They have a shady spot outside next to a fountain, which he definitely chose both for the aesthetics and the extra layer of privacy it offers them for chatting. He lets her have her hand back once they're seated. ]

Sure. But you only get one version of each friend. [ Since that seems to be a thing for a growing number of people here ]

[Wanda sits with ease, and if she's disappointed that he's let her hand drop (which she is, a little) then she doesn't show it.]

Limited to two friends, that would rule out my brother and both of my parents. I'm not certain I could choose between them so...Pietro and Clint I think.

[She offers him a little smile, faint.]

My brother and a friend back home. My brother would keep us entertained and Clint would keep us alive until we were rescued. And you? Have you given the question any thought?

Yeah. [ His life has depended on his ability to assemble a crack team on the fly more times than he can count, and there's no real hesitation in his response. ]

Bruce is... the man who raised me. Probably the most competent guy I've ever met. [ Which is probably all he can say on that front. ]

...And I'd pick Donna. We've been best friends since we were thirteen. There's not much we can't accomplish when we're working together.

[ It doesn't hurt that she's also a magical star goddess who could princess carry them to safety in the time it would take Batman to lash together a boat out of drift wood. But there's a softness to his face when he says each name. Dick chooses from the heart. ]

[Wanda's not the sort of girl to get jealous because the guy she's on a date with mentions a friend who happens to be female. She's not the sort to get jealous in general, and if anything she respects him all the more for being the sort of man that clearly respects the other woman and considers her someone he works well with.

Her smiles grows a little as she stretches her legs out in front of her, feet rocking left and right in a small sign of nerves.]

Would you tell me more about them?

[She wants to know more about him, the man who raised him, and the girl he's been such close friends with for so many years. After all, you can tell a lot about a person not just by the company they keep but by how they speak about them to others.]

[ People have always tended to get the wrong idea about him and Donna, but today the possible implication there hasn't really crossed his mind. It actually means something that Wanda cares enough to ask, and it shows in his quick, surprised little smile. ] I- sure.

Bruce is... [ actually a tough place to start, given that the last conversation they'd had had been a screaming match about the mission that had nearly killed him, on his way into this place.

But for Wanda, he wants to try. ] -he’s not always an easy guy to know. But he understands me. And he's done a lot for me over the years. [ He's family, for all that he’s not always sure Bruce reciprocates that feeling these days.

Only he knows what that really is. It's a drilled in tendency Dick fights in himself every day. He won’t live with only the mission to sustain him. A world populated with only the crushing memory of loss. With no room for those in the here and now. The chance for real, present love.

He’s quiet for a moment, but the shadow there passes in a second. ]

And Donna's kind of the sister I never had. We met on a, uh- [ well ] -sort of a team thing, when we were kids. And we had a lot in common.

[ If he picks up on that nervous tic of hers he's careful not to let it show in his face. His expression is open, genuine curiosity. ]

Same question. Back atcha. [ He cares enough to want to know. ]

[He doesn't say much about Bruce, not the kinds of things she might want to know, but she can read between the lines enough to get what goes unsaid. For all that they may not be blood and they may be very different, there's real affection there. The man is his father in his heart, as much as his parents are his family.

And Donna, Donna is family in her own way. Perhaps not a daughter to Bruce as Dick is probably a son to him, but she's part of Dick's family.

She picks up on his his mention of the word team, and she can't hide the way her interest shows on her face, but she doesn't question it. Not yet. It's her turn to speak, after all.]

My brother...he was very open. He talked easily and often, and he was as impulsive as I can be careful. [Her expression is fond, even though she speaks of him in past tense.] We were inseparable, not just because we were all each other had left. There was no one in the world who understood me or what we'd been through the way he did, no one who cared about me the way he did.

[And now there was no one left in the world who loved her the way Pietro did.]

And Clint...we both met Clint and his team over a year ago. We didn't really get along at first but circumstances changed...it gave us an opportunity to know him better. A straight forward, practical man with an easy sense of humor. Smart and skilled, and...I suppose one of the people I'm closest to back home.

[Even having known him such a relatively short period of time, even having maintained their friendship long-distance a good portion of the time. He's family too, in a sense.]

[ The way she speaks about them says volumes. The past tense there with Pietro explains a few other things. He feels a sharp, unexpected little pang. It isn't fair. It isn't.

But rather than dig at that wound any more just now he reaches out instead, casually taking her hand in his again, if she lets him. As if this is what they've always done. Easy affection. Understanding without words. ]

...It's not just about who can do the job, it's about who makes doing it matter, right? [ His gaze drops a little there. He's probably said too much. It's dangerous, how easy that is with her. ]

I think I kinda get that.

[Wanda shakes her head a little, eyes closing. Her smile doesn't fade but even as she holds his hand it's clear that she can feel the way their conversation drops. She can't be certain if it's because she's speaking of people who are close to her or if it's just...her life. Is it always so terrible that any conversation with her turns out this way?

Exhaling, she looks up at him once more.]

I thought you might. [She can't do this. She doesn't want this. If this is to be a date she doesn't want to start it out like this on such a serious note.] My turn. If you could only have one dessert for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

[There, there's no way to make that heavy, is there? Surely that will lighten the tone of things between them.]

[ It isn't as if Jason's death doesn't still hook into him at odd moments, paralyzing him with grief and regret years after the fact. And they'd hardly shared anything like the close bond of Wanda and Pietro. He doesn't know what he'd do now if Tim was taken from him. The thought haunts his nightmares. ]

Hm, tough call. [ He gives her hand a squeeze he hopes is reassuring, tilting his head to consider the question seriously. ]

But I'm gonna have to go with chocolate truffle cake. You know the kind with the little marshmallows on top? [ Sure is a spoiled rich boy dessert. ]

Nobody makes it like my friend Alfred. He looks after Bruce and me.

( Wanda )

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