The First Broad Daylight (Fourth Wall)

[cowledcrusader]

[The thing about sudden influxes of people means Batman's constantly busy and can't inevitably stay away from everyone because they're everywhere.  So most of his stalking he expects to be bothered... and in fact, it probably will be.

He'll be out in the open a few times today, investigating inevitable disturbances in the village.]

Comments

[cowledcrusader.livejournal.com]

Jump City?

[There's a brief look of confusion on his face which might surprise even Robin.]

...Hm. I thought you looked different. ...You're not the same Robin I know from my universe. No less of one, but different.

[titango.livejournal.com]

Jump City. In California. ...Where Titans Tower is. [...And now he'll be regarding Batman curiously. Had Batman been here so long he was already starting to lose his tenuous grip on sanity?]

...Is this another one of your tests?

[cowledcrusader.livejournal.com]

Hardly.

If you were the Robin from my world, you'd still be attending high school in Gotham City. And there's no "Jump City" anywhere within the state of California. And there's no "Titan's Tower" either.

Luceti has a habit of bringing people from all sorts of different worlds together, even alternate worlds of existing planets.

It would seem you and I come from different worlds, or at the very least, different timestreams from each other.

[titango.livejournal.com]

...Sounds like. I've been on my own for almost a year now. [Says the fifteen year old with just a hint of that "no bedtime for ME!"-style liberation.] The Titans are my team. We're doing a lot more good than I ever did for Gotham. [... "you'd be proud". But that's the bit that'll never get said. Not after the last fight.]

...You really don't remember any of that? [Timestreams were a logical enough answer, but it's still hard to hear Batman talk about an alternate universe where everything he's worked so hard to attain just... doesn't exist. Where he's still pulling double-duty trying to be a model student and a perfect little soldier. Batman Junior, with nothing of his own to show for it.]

[cowledcrusader.livejournal.com]

[He catches on. At first he figures that it's just Dick being, well, a teenager. And then the comment about doing more good than they did for Gotham... plus the tone...

This Robin must've had a falling out with his version of Batman. ...Unsurprising if his own world was any indication. His just happened later. But if this Batman knew the level of things Robin has accomplished, he probably would be proud. He was proud of his own Robin for a very long time, even if he never said it.]

No. That never happened in my world. You didn't have any reason to leave Gotham at the time, much less form a team.

[Said implying that the Dick Grayson he knew was actually happy at his age. Which is true. The real friction between them didn't start until well into his college years.]

.... Stop being awesome and making me want to type an app so they can develop. D:

[titango.livejournal.com]

That's a shame. Getting out of that cave is the best thing I ever did for myself. [He might be trying to make it hurt, just a little. Not like Batman could be hurt.] The team part was accidental, but I wouldn't trade it for any other experience.

[This Robin would probably argue that point just for the sake of arguing, but that's beside the point.]

...But none of that'll matter once I figure a way past the barrier. I know what's in the journals. What kind of research have you been hiding?