Open/Catch-all!

[demon_brat]

Characters: Damian Wayne and Open
Date: One on Feb 15, most of them all over the place (but, probably, after the bottle).
Location: Damian's suite, and around Keeliai.
Situation: Catch-all! There'll be a couple of open thread-starters, but feel free to poke me for a specific one, or to tag in with your own!
Warnings/Rating: Violence. Reference to childhood abuse. Usual Damian stuff.

Comments

[demon_brat]

He closed the door and led in, not adding more to her hesitation. Once inside, he settled again near Taraja, touching her a little longer. For the youngling's sake.

"She is concerned, and uncertain that I should be going. But she does want the fog to clear. It has been getting worse, and she understands that, maybe, even one more person who knows what he is doing can make a difference."

Taraja nudged at him with a leg, then bowled them over with one of her usual waves of gratitude. Mostly directed at Midii. She had lost one parent already, and another while she had still been an egg. So, not left alone mattered much, to her.

[unetrustworthy]

Watching Damian with Taraja was almost...strange. He seemed like a completely different person. Kind and gentle as he often was to her, with the baby turtle, he was positively nurturing. And not shy on the physical contact, it seemed. Which was good. Even from where she stood, Midii could sense that it was a great comfort.

She also sensed the gratitude at her choosing to stay, smiling faintly as she came to kneel in front of Taraja. Her movements were slow and cautious, knowing Taraja did not really know her and thus not wanting to frighten her so soon, but she raised a hand and lightly placed it

"I know," she told her softly. Though the actual picture couldn't clearly form in her head, she sensed a great feeling of loss, like Taraja was missing somebody. "I know what it's like to miss people too. It'll be alright, though. He'll come back."

[demon_brat]

"Yes, I shall!"

It was a quiet, certain statement. Nearly a promise, except it would have been moot, since - even if he were to be killed - he would return, anyway. Though he didn't think about that, not explicitly.

On the other hand, Taraja was anything but shy. Especially since the people Damian had introduced her to were some of her favorites. Like Jack. And Dick. She nudged against the extended hand, sending out gentle warmth to meet the wariness of the introduction. And a little laughter. Like, I'm bigger than you.

[unetrustworthy]

"And we'll both be waiting for him when he does."

A seemingly innocent statement, except for Midii--a girl who had spent her lifetime seeing people off into battle, and watching others see their loved ones off as well--it was also a promise of sorts. Mostly meant for Taraja as mutual reassurance, though she couldn't help glancing up at Damian as she said it. If only to gauge his reaction.

Her hands brushed gentely against Taraja's head, feeling the textured skin beneath. She was softer than Riva. Not much, but enough to take note of. Was it a natural difference, or had Damian been using something on her? Midii made a note to ask more if--no, when he came back. Because he promised he would, just as much as she promised she would wait for him.

"Most people are bigger than me," Midii couldn't help understand the message that time. And she laughed. "Especially here."

[demon_brat]

If Damian had run into that memory, Taraja would probably have read it, and reacted - been upset. As it was, she sensed something, and sent a confused, worried question in Damian's direction.

He, in turn, tilted his chin up, straightening to his full height.

"I will look forward to finding you both in good condition."

It wasn't hard, but it was firm. He was going to come back, plain and simple. And...

And he had no idea what to do with the knowledge of somebody waiting for him without the added expectation of debriefing, analyzing, accounting for the mistakes he made and having to explain them and what he would do to improve. He tucked the confusion away, behind the wall that separated his active mind from the things he kept away from Taraja. Gently. He was getting better at not making sharp mental motions about it. Or maybe it was getting easier, to separate things.

After a long moment, Taraja gave him a mental hiccup-like thing, which he, at least, translated as a huff, and turned her smug attention back at Midii. Thinking of something big. Bigger than a house. Bigger than all the houses she has seen put together. Her way of saying that she was going to get bigger, bigger than all she had experienced. Damian almost laughed.

"I believe she means to become the biggest of her kind, one day."

[unetrustworthy]

It was too passing of a thought for Taraja to get a read off of Midii, fortunately, and all she was able to gleam off the younger girl was...something her young mind might not yet able to understand. But it was not entirely unpleasant. Just full of uncertainties and tinged with bittersweetness.

Instead, she focused on the more superficial commentary of size. And she chuckled softly. Her brothers had been the same way. Especially the twins, boasting about how they would have both outgrown her the day she returned to them from her mission....

...something that she never really had the chance to do.

(Absently, Midii did briefly wonder if they had managed to fulfill that promise. If she went home tomorrow, would she be looking up at them now? What of Michel? How big had he gotten in her absence?)

"I'm sure you will be." The exact same response she had always given the boys. "All your brothers and sisters will have no choice but to look up to you then."

A smile for the baby turtle in reassurance, then she moved to stand. Turning back to Damian. His posture indicated...well, either he was making a subconscious attempt to look taller himself (for some reason, she found herself greatly amused by that thought), or else he was bracing himself for what was to come next.

"You're leaving now?"

[demon_brat]

And that got Midii a burst of pride, and hope, and expectation for the future. It didn't quite stagger Damian, but he did make a bit of a face, torn between helpless and fond and... something worse that he worked to shut down. He was not going to be derisive towards Taraja. He was not. No matter what, and especially no matter what his training said.

(And he'd stood up to reassure them both, really. Make his presence more real than the ideas of loss. And his uniqueness. Not that he knew that was why he'd stood up, but that was closer than either of her ideas.

But, now that she asked, he gave a small nod.

"I am. Again, thank you for helping us." He touch Taraja's shell again, then started to go.

[unetrustworthy]

"...Damian, wait."

She didn't give herself time to think, for once acting on pure instinct. He was leaving. To fight. That's all she could think about, and that thought alone was what drove her actions...to go to him and place a kiss on his cheek. Light. So much so, he would barely feel her lips brush against his skin. And quick. Less than a second passed before she turned away, not allowing herself to see his reaction as she turned back to Taraja.

"Good luck." Were the last words she called over her shoulder as she knelt back down on the ground.

The full of her attention was back to the baby turtle, as she began asking questions and comparing the reactions to those of Riva. Did Taraja know Riva? They could go see her later, if she liked. Or Midii could bring Riva here....

[demon_brat]

Damian thought that she was going to whisper something to him, which is why he let her in that close. He was going to point out to her that whispering is rather moot, in the close presence of a telepath, when.

Well.

His eyes widened, and his chin dropped, a little. And, even though his fist tightened, it wasn't a flinch, or a rejection. Merely surprise, and...

Complicated.

The last person who had come anywhere near to placing lips on him had beet Talia, and that had been extremely rare. And, he thought, probably an obligation. Something she thought was appropriate to do, because he was her son.

And had come to reject anything that came from her, anyway.

This was different. It tangled in his mind, a combination between 'seeing somebody important off to a battle' and 'affection' and 'good luck,' things that he could understand, and that thing which Eponine had named that he was not willing to accept - not for his sake, for Midii's. He stood still for a long moment, long enough for something warm, and even sweet, to stir inside him. Taraja caught it right away, and sent a gleeful thought at him, and he gave a small >Tt.< and started moving again, leaving the room and the suite, burying that sensation deeply so he could focus on what was at hand, but.

It had been there. And he would have to figure out what to do with it. Eventually.