riverviewlogs | With a thousand lies and a good disguise, hit 'em right between the eyes

who: pint-sized Dick Grayson + YOU
what: Dick is 12 years old and confused
when: June 13 - 24
where: everywhere
warnings: child endangerment, bat angst, possible minor injury

"See 'em running for their lives"

[ Crime waits for no unresolved personal crisis, as it turns out, which is actually more of a relief today than it probably should be. It's luck that Robin spots the thief in action just ahead of the victim's yell, but it's that luck that gives him an advantage. An objective. Finally something to chase down that isn't the ghost of the man he's supposed to be someday.

He gives chase across the roof, bridging gaps between buildings with a dazzling array of acrobatics, all restless, over the top flair as he closes the distance.

He's set up for a dramatic entrance at the end of a blind alley, a confrontation to end all petty thievery for all time, but in the split second that he's mid-showy quad flip the thief below plows into someone crossing the street and abruptly changes direction, and Dick's lost him by the time he hits the street below. ]

Hey. [ And he'll snag the hapless bystander by the sleeve. ] You see where they went?

[ Whether you're a hapless bystander, the unlucky victim, or even the thief, Robin doesn't seem to be prepared to let the issue slide anytime soon. His gaze narrows, roving to one street, then another. ]

"Show me how to lie, you're getting better all the time"

[ If you happen to be acquainted with the grownup-sized version of Dick Grayson (or even if you're not, I'll just handwave a reason tbh) your home or place of work has potentially made Robin's list of hotspots. Breaking and entering isn't right of course, especially not without probable cause, so he's careful to case the area first, waiting for the moment when he's pretty sure whoever he's following is going to be away for a while.

He needs information. He needs to know about this place, about what it all means to the people stuck here, and he doesn't believe in his heart that any adult will give it to him straight. He has to know. He has to.

Catch him just ahead of the act - perched precariously at a window or crouching by a door, lockpick in hand - or catch him already inside, picking his way through belongings with a set of evidence gloves on over Robin's green ones. When people don't know can't hurt them, after all. ]

"Now someone is gonna pay"

[ By the end of the week you'll be able to catch him in civvies, attempting to blend with other groups of tween-age children near schools and parks, walking on his hands in high spots where no sane person should feel comfortable balancing, or eating copious amounts of ice cream and candy as he wanders the city.

As Robin he's a little flutter of yellow cape on the roof, a batarang tucked into a bird's nest, an obnoxious burst of laughter if you happen to make a pratfall somewhere in public. He's incredibly easy to find lurking nearby if you happen to stand out in some obvious way. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Honestly, the rush of flying is still as wonderful to her as it was the day she first really got it figured out. And as they rise above the treeline and begin to plunge forward, away from the city, she almost begins to forget she has a passenger. His cry nearly startles her, but a second or two belatedly she realizes it'd been a joyful sound.

Well. It's nice to see someone with good taste.

She angles her wings to take them a little higher, straining up toward the nearly full moon as the jungle below grows more and more instinct and shadowy. ]

You've hardly seen anything yet. [ She tilts her head just slightly, to toss her voice back at him through the rush of wind. ] We've only gone up, any hatchling can do that. How well do you think you can hang on when things get interesting?

[ Faster and higher than this. There's no way he can stop grinning now as he clings her neck, pressing himself as flat as he can, because he does get enough of the physics here to understand that a little less drag on the air can only help on the speed front. ]

Don't hold back on my account. [ An overconfidence he'll probably live to regret. ]

Let's do interesting.

[ Among what she considers her many and impressive skills, flight is definitely toward the top of the list. She's proud of her ability, hard-won and often practiced. She'll be happy to show it off.

They climb higher still, to where the cool evening air starts to feel cold and thin, and the lights of the Quarantine behind its two fences look faint and distant. Only then does she finally pause mid-stroke, hanging precariously for a few seconds. That's his warning to hang on again, if he'd started to slack at all. The instant before they start to fall she angles her body sharply downward, wings tucking into her sides — and then they do fall.

It's not straight down, not quite, but wind is deafening, more than enough to rip breath away. She angles them toward a natural lake formed by a tributary of the river, and they draw closer and closer. Only when it seems they must smash into the surface of the water does she finally flare her wings, throwing their speed into a horizontal dash across the still water. The tips of her wings scratch at the clearness of it whenever they dip down, and she gains altitude again just in time to clear the trees on the far side of the lake.

She's not quite done from there, showing off in a series of quick turns and graceful twists, even working up to a full nose-over-tail loop. Finally she settles down into a lazy spiral over the lake, satisfied with herself. ]

Still back there, I hope? [ (Kidding, mostly. She's pretty sure she'd have noticed if she'd managed to dislodge him.) ]

[ Probably he should be a little worried, outward display of bravado notwithstanding. He should worry about the very real possibility of falling. He should worry about ceding control to an unknown factor. He should worry about throwing up and ruining the moment.

Yet all the what-ifs seem small and irrelevent as she takes them up through the open air, Quarentine below them turning indistinct. He screams delightedly as they drop into freefall, bursting into laughter as they scrape the surface of the lake. The loop is just the icing on the cake, and by now he thinks he's getting the hang of this enough to know how to shift his small weight just so, helping the balance stay even in that precarious spot. ]

Man. [ Yeah he's a little breathless now. ] I don't know that I'd ever come back.

[ If he could do this whenever he wanted. See the whole world, and not just Quarentine. ]

[ She settles into her lazy circling; it's not much without the sun to send heat to lift her wings, but she prefers the night nonetheless. She can tolerate a little more flapping for that. ]

It's good, isn't it? [ She sounds a little smug about it. Still, though: ] But the people in the city are interesting. I might regret not learning what I can from them.

They're not so bad, I guess. [ He's not at all put off by the smug air; he'd be proud of himself too if he had the ability she does. Now that they're moving at a more sedate pace he leans his chin on one hand, turning on his infrareds to take in the view. ]

What are you learning so far?

[ He's curious too, after all. ]

[ So much. She'd not even made it into the human settlement she'd been aiming for in her own world, and the Quarantine had become her first experience with one. But if she had to narrow it down... ]

Meat is cooked. [ She doesn't sound disdainful, just bemused. ] Cooked and spiced — and I'm sure other things as well that I don't have a name for yet. Maybe the first lesson has been that humans like to complicate everything they touch.

[ He laughs at that, because of course she's right. And it makes him wonder what kind of place she comes from. ]

Heh. Yeah I guess we're alright at that. [ He sits up abruptly a new thought strikes him. ]

...Whoa. So you haven't had meatloaf yet?

What about meatballs?

[ ?? what are these words. Both of them have 'meat' in them though, so she's already interested. She dips a wing to take them a little lower over the water, until they're lazily skimming it again, and cocks a curious glance back over her shoulder. ]

No. I haven't even heard of them. Is meat loaf [ you can just hear the space ] something with bread?

Yeah, kind of. But you wouldn't make a sandwich out of it. [ Oh, but this is fun. Dick ponders the question seriously for a moment, not wanting to undersell it. ]

Hey, look me up the next time you're in town. There's gotta be some place in this city serving it up.

[ That might be complicated with someone of her size, but then again she'd said she'd already spent time there. Probably it'll be fine. He'll hit anyone in the face who isn't nice. ]

[ Sandwich... has she had one of those yet? She doesn't think so. Honestly, she does most of her eating out beyond the walls, where she doesn't have to pay for it. ]

Maybe I will. [ No, she totally will. There's no end to the interesting curiosity of human food, may as well find someone willing to show her around it. She drops a little lower above the water. ] I'm Khisanth, but when you see me I may be called Onyx.

[ And on that note she drops suddenly, landing with a splash into the water. Swimming: just like flying, but wetter. Hopefully he's fine with that. ]

[ He bears up well under the spray, ducking his head only a little, even as it drenched his cape and hair. That's an interesting detail. ]

Like a, uh- secret ID?

[ On the one hand, it isn't polite to ask. On the other, it can't be all that secret if she's willing to give it to him so casually. ]

[ She settles into the water quickly, folding her wings into her sides and floating like an enormous, jet black crocodile. And, since she has no idea what "secret ID" means, she's happy to arrange herself comfortably before any effort is put toward an answer. Finally, once she's sorted, she lifts her head just far enough out of the water to speak. ]

Like a name, in any case. Some of us have occasion to use more than one of them.

With a thousand lies and a good disguise, hit 'em right between the eyes

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and by moon in that tag i definitely meant planet*, oops

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