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. ]

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[There's no real reason for Taako to go beyond the safe barrier protecting the city, but there's cool shit in the abandoned city, and honestly, sometimes he just gets bored. Working for the Bureau has given him an inclination towards action that he swears he never had before. He blames Magnus.

He's on his way back from a quick jaunt through the forest when he hears a lot of creatures snarling, signalling a fight of some kind. Not being a complete idiot, Taako steps into the ethereal plane to investigate, walking unseen and unheard until he comes upon some guy in a skintight suit beating up a bunch of monsters. He seems to mostly be handling himself, and Taako nearly just leaves him be before he spots one of the monsters circling around behind Dick, and, well, he's not a total asshole.

Taako reappears in the material plane about twenty feet away from Dick and his new friends, and points his umbrella at them.]

Heads up, compadre!

[Six glowing darts emerge from the tip of the umbrella, each one finding it's mark on a monster, including the one behind Dick (honestly, he probably already knew it was there, his passive perception is way higher than Taako expects it to be). They don't do a huge amount of damage, but they certainly provide a distraction.

In retrospect, probably not his best idea. but he's committed now.]

[ On another day he would have had a quip for that. A smile. A joke. Today the quick flash of surprise in his face flattens out almost at once. He doesn't want this battle hijacked. He wants to fight, and draw blood. He wants to see them run. ] Yeah, I had him.

[ But even steeped in simmering fury, he's aware that it's not really the overly helpful stranger he's mad at. He's been dragging this fight out. Letting them gang up for the pleasure of knocking them down. He's cut and bleeding and wearing out, and as much as he feels like he could keep that up forever, now there's an unknown factor in the mix. He won't put an innocent person in danger.

He leaps the fence an acrobatic little flip, intending to draw them in the other direction, take advantage of the break in the attack to clear enough space to close the gap in the fence. He tosses a quick glance back, looking for umbrella guy. ]

You waiting for continental drift? Give me a hand.

[Well that was a very fancy little flip, and Taako immediately classifies Dick as a rogue, which means he's a little worried about the fact Dick is bleeding.

He really needs to just like, kidnap himself a cleric to haul around.]

What's it look like I'm doing?

[He just used his last action give him a second for the next one!!

A handful of the monsters turn towards him, so before following Dick, Taako takes a moment to cast scorching ray, using the umbrella to shoot three rays of fire that hits two of the monsters (the third ray misses, fizzling out harmlessly on the ground) taking them down.

Now he's going to head for the gap in the fence. He can't do fancy flips and shit after Wonderland, so the acrobatics are going to have to remain Dick's domain, Taako's just running.]

[ There's probably plenty of time for a guy with that kind of power to escape, but there's a lot of them concentrated here, and the reason why is kind of his fault in the first place.

Dick tosses out a wing ding, aiming for feet, aiming to stop them in their advance. He'll block the path with his body if Taako can't make it in time. ]

[Here's the thing: he doesn't really expect Dick to wait for him, partly because Taako has like twenty other ways to get out of this situation that don't involve walking physically through the gate, but also because he just doesn't expect a stranger to give enough of a shit. Which means he feels a little bad about making the guy wait.

So once he's clued in, he reassesses his plan. The first thing he does is cast slow, halving the speed of the monsters to give both of them a little more time, and then he casts misty step, disappearing into a shroud of silver mist and reappearing beside Dick on the other side of the fence.

Feel free to close the gate now.]

Hi, sorry, didn't realise you were waiting for me, that's real sweet of you.

[ He's not mad enough to not be a little impressed by that. And he responds at once, using the gap to push back on the fence, activating the lasers with a hard tap from an escrima stick. And it holds.

To Taako he says: ]

Just bad planning. [ Pretty much entirely on his end. It's hitting him now how easily he could have gotten another bystander killed, if almost anyone else had happened along. He hadn't been thinking. He'd just been angry.

And somehow right now that just pisses him off more. He scrubs a tired hand through his hair and sheathes his escrima sticks. ]

I appreciate the thought, but I had this covered.

[ There's maybe a 50% chance that's actually true. ]

[Those monsters are stuck at half-speed for a minute, which is amusing Taako to no end. Why doesn't he use that spell more often?]

Not to call you out here, but it kinda looked like you'd picked a fight with one too many of those things.

[It's pretty clear that Dick could've retreated at any moment, so Taako's curious as to why he bothered to keep fighting them despite that.

Maybe it's a superhero thing? Clark's shown him enough comic books that he can assume that the get up and mask mean a superhero with a secret identity.]

They were pretty committed to picking a fight with the fence before I got here.

[ Which is kind of a petty, defensive answer. Dick hears it in his own voice and then he has to look away, frustrated with himself. For not being able to summon a real thank-you. For everything about this stupid situation.

After a moment: ]

...You do magic?

[There's a lot of petty people in Taako's life, he barely even notices it.]

Certainly do, my man. [But since apparently those monsters were making trouble, he does add:] You want me to like, finish 'em off? I've got plenty of spell slots.

[While not particularly blood thirsty, he will kill the rest of the monsters if Dick thinks they might be an issue in the future.]

[ Ah there, finally an actual thing to be righteously affronted by. His expression darkens at once. ]

No. We're not going to be doing that. [ He knows the monster thing is kind of an open question. A grey area he's not sure even Batman would know how to broach. They're feral, possibly non-sentient, and dangerous to innocent people, and for all of those reasons he doesn't typically go out of his way to prevent others from killing them out in the field.

But he doesn't know. He doesn't know what they are or what kind of reasoning they're capable of, and until he does he can't bring himself to use lethal attacks himself. Today, the idea of standing by while someone else does the dirty work for him has edged over from uncomfortable to intolerable. ]

They'll back off with the right incentive. Then we can count on them telling their friends. [ He has no real evidence to support the claim (yet), but he's committed to the theory.

He glances sideways at the magical dude, curious. He could throw a flash bomb, sure, but- ]

Anything come to mind?

Okay, okay.

[He holds his hands up in placating gesture; people here are a lot less easy with like, murder than he's used to, whether it's people or monsters and since it doesn't really bother him one way or another, he's willing to back down.

Not that he really buys the "they'll tell their friends", but scaring them away is something he can do.]

I got something, just like, be cool.

[What happens next is Taako mutters an incantation that seems to summon a huge purple worm from beneath the ground. It screeches, the sound almost painful, and then rears back to lunge at the remaining monsters.

They turn tail and run with the worm hot at their heels, although Dick (with a much higher wisdom than the monsters) will notice that it sort of just... passes through trees, rather than dodging them.]

That's- wow. [ Their reaction is, predictably, a lot more immediate than anything he's seen a flash bomb do. He really can't not crack a smile at that, which he tries to hide at once behind a gloved hand. He feels a little guiltier for being a jerk to this guy. ]

Did you seriously just come up with that right now?

[Taako just grins, using his umbrella like a cane so he can do a cool little lean on it.]

Nah, I've fought one of those guys before. [a beat, and:] Well, three of those guys and their mom, it was a pretty wild couple of hours.

So you pull it straight from memory? [ Mad curiosity wins out over petty frustration. Dick moves back towards the fence, shading his eyes to trace the path the thing took, as if that will unravel the secret. ]

I guess it'd be a little hard to put an image like that out of your mind.

Ehhhhhh. [The most non-committal sound ever.] I don't need to have the fucking, shape of all it's teeth or whatever memorised, magic's pretty good at filling in the gaps.

[It might be different if it was something he completely made up, but purple worms exist; the magic creates an image of a generic one, rather than the specific one he encountered.]

Would've been effective either way. [ He says it thoughtfully, rubbing his chin with one gloved hand.

Which kind of does just leave him here as the escalating factor. To a fight that probably could have been avoided altogether, if he'd been thinking.

If he'd been thinking.

His sheathes his escrima sticks and starts to walk away, glancing at the other man to see if he's planning on following. Hanging around any longer than necessary is a good as baiting them back.

After a moment: ]

...Sorry you had to walk into that.

[He follows, if only because it's second habit by now to wander after the most capable person around, and right now that's definitely Dick.]

Don't sweat it, my man, I have absolutely walked into worse. [Some guy fighting monsters? That's chill.] I mean, at least it wasn't a weird sex thing! I would definitely want an apology for that.

[Why is he like this.]

[ Dick... glances back at the fence, then at Taako. Then he looks back at the fence again, almost as if he's seeing it for the first time. ]

...Does the fence tend to factor into the weird sex things you walk in on?

[ Inquiring minds need to know. ]

Hey, everybody's got their something, it's not my place to judge.

[That's such a vague answer!! He's going to leave Dick in suspense.]

Yeah. I guess it's not.

[ He's Seen Some Stuff in his day, after all. His distinctly judgy look appropriately evaporates. ]

...So can I ask what actually brought you by? I'm guessing it wasn't to play referee for an errant monster fight.

[There's so much vore and tentacles in his life that a little electric play is the tamest kink.]

I was bored? I mean, like, nothing happens here, and I thought I'd be kinda into that but it gets boring and a little claustrophobic, ya know?

[He doesn't go looking for fights, he's not Magnus, but a little jaunt through the forest every now and then takes the edge of the nerves.]

...I kinda get that. [ Though truth be told maybe boredom isn't the right word.

He's frustrated. Frustrated with how difficult this world is to navigate. How alienated he's been with so few allies he can rely on. How many dead ends he's hit so far in his investigation of the portal. He misses his family. He misses the Titans.

But it's all in a day's work. Wearing a suit and accepting responsibility isn't supposed to be easy. None of it justifies the way he'd chosen to deal with it today. It frightens him. He casts another glance at the man. ]

Do I even want to know what your usual standard for excitement is?

[ As if he's one to talk. ]

[Taako huffs a laugh; he's talked to enough people now to realize that his usual standard is very ridiculous compared to what it is for most people.]

Like ten minutes before I showed up in this shithole I was trapped in a gameshow designed to make people suffer to power two tripped out liches and now my friend's soul is stuck in a mannequin. So, you know, that was a thing!

[Honestly, Wonderland was tame compared to a lot of other shit. But also:]

You're a superhero though, right, surely this isn't that wild for you?

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

red!

!!!

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