18147/A Fateful Meeting

A Fateful Meeting
Date of Scene:	02 June 2024
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	AJ and Robin have a serious talk out on a rooftop. What better place to meet a Bat? Tune in tomorrow, same Bat time, same Bat channel to see if AJ takes the red pill, and other miscellaneous mixed metaphors!
Cast of Characters:	Damian Wayne, Allen-James

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Damian Wayne has posed:
It's Saturday night when AJ's phone beeps. It's a text message from Unknown Caller. It says: "10:00 pm, 1500 92nd Avenue, Dvorak. But be warned: go only if you want to take the red pill. We never step in the same river twice. -R"

Because it's an unknown caller there is no way to send a text message back. AJ is at a crossroads now. He may or may not have a sense of the gravity of this moment. If he takes the red pill, he will never, ever be able to come back from it. And sometimes the old cliche that ignorance is bliss is all too true.

Choose well, AJ.

Allen-James has posed:
    AJ is in the Mansion when he gets the text. He'd been relaxing, after a day of training and testing himself. He was pleased with his progress, but it had been a bit frustrating to 'win' and 'lose' at the same time. He shouldn't have tried that last stunt, but... well.. he was getting better. He was trying to decide if he was going to do some saber drills, when his phone chirped at him.

    "Who..." The contents of the text are pretty clear though. Red pill? He's not entirely sure what Robin, and it could only really be Robin, wants to tell him that could be that dangerous. Still... Does he want to know anything this serious? Yes, absolutely. AJ always wants to know things, always wants to have the knowledge. Ignorance may be bliss for some, but scientia potentia est, as the saying goes.

    So he grabs his violin case, and heads out to get a ride into Westchester, and from there, into New York, and by 10, he's created a single glowing orange footstep up to the roof access ladder that doesn't reach the ground. He doesn't bother wondering how Robin will get up there. He's a Bat Brat. Of course Robin can get onto a roof that has a 10 foot gap up to the ladder.

    Once up there, he pulls out his violin, and tunes it. It's a little late for sunset, but... Dvorak's violin concerto is still beautiful, even without the day bleeding away into night.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Robin is already there. He is in the shadows. He /had/ to get there first because he doesn't move like he usually does. He has taped broken ribs, a residual concussion, and a host of other abrasions, contusions, lacerations and other '-sions'. He stays there as AJ begins to play. Meeting AJ the other day moved Damian in ways he did not think possible. But now, things are several degrees different than even they were at that fateful meeting. Damian is more focused on the emotional than ever. Having been dead can do that to a person. It is at once liberating and infinitely life-altering. No color looks the same, no odor smells the same, no food tastes the same.

After a few minutes of listening, Robin walks out into the less-shadowy part of the roof that AJ occupies. There is this strange shape to his mouth...it's called a smile. AJ likely doesn't yet know the gravity of that. Robin...Damian /smiling/. His gait is very different than it was in the park the other day. He limps and holds his side with one hand. Injuries can be seen on his jaw. Telltale bruising can be seen behind his ears -- Battle's Sign -- a sure indicator of having suffered head trauma. Our boy is hurt.

"That is so beautiful," he says. If his body tells the story of his injuries, his voice tells the story of the poignant, gentle, background happiness of one who was dead but is grateful to be alive. "I wish I was a poet because I can't put into words how it makes me feel."

Allen-James has posed:
    AJ is an experienced busker. It takes more than someone slipping out of some shadows to break his composure, or get him to pause, but he blinks as he turns to look at Robin, then the music scratches to a halt as distinctly as a record scratch, though this one is all violin scratch.

    "Holy shit. Are you ok? You look like you got drug through Queens backwards, man!" AJ puts his violin down, and rushes over to the other young man's side, "You're limping! I would have met you somewhere easier to get to, you know.. Jesus, do you have a concussion?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
"I've got a few things," Robin confesses. "It has a been a rough few days. Maybe one of the roughest stretches of my life, and believe me when I say that that's...that's saying something. But meeting up here is good. For me, movement is life. Some epic-level shit is going down in Gotham, and I can't afford to sit on the sidelines for too long. But, even someone a stubborn as me knows I'm not ready to get back in the fight just yet."

Robin is absolutely resolute that he is going to show AJ just how okay he is. Would someone who isn't okay be able to sit down on the rooftop here with casual ease? So he does just that? Well, he tries. He winces and cringes his way to a sitting position. If AJ moves to help him, he waves the other young man's help off with one hand. Finally he is on the ground, leaning back against a rooftop structure. There, see? Perfectly okay! "So this is your place to serenade the moon?"

Allen-James has posed:
    AJ did try to help him, but he steps back at the wave, not wanting to go too far. He steps back, and lets out a chuckle, as he moves to grab his violin again, as if that will give him some grounding to hold onto.

    He knew that sometimes, the good guys lost, and got beat up. He knew that Robin, and the Bat Folk in general, were 'normal humans' if you could call someone with their level of training 'normal'. But it was still intense, to see the proof of what happens when the good guys don't win, spelled out on the body of a man whom AJ was hoping to call 'friend'.

    "Hah. Yes, this is where I play to relax. Or, where I used to. Now I climb up on top of a mansion and try not to wake anyone up at night." The city here spreads out beneath the office building, which isnt' the tallest building in the borough, but is tall enough, and isolated enough, that the sight of the city below is a wash of light and glass and stone, the harshness of the city held at a remove, as the moon overhead feels close enough you could touch it. AJ lifts his violin, and starts playing again, picking up nearly where he left off, as his fingers dance over the neck fo his violin.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Robin's eyes sink shut and he lets AJ play. With his level of cardiovascular health, at rest Robin breaths maybe 6 or 8 times a minute. He could almost be dead by all appearances. After several minutes he opens his eyes again. "I wish that Robin never met you," he says simply, drawing in a breath and letting it out. "Sometimes it is difficult to know which me is really me. Sometimes I think it's Robin. Sometimes I think it's the other me. Sometimes I think it's neither one. But I do wish the other me was the me who met you."

He peers at AJ. "Does that make any sense? Cuz right about now I'm sounding a little crazy to me."

Allen-James has posed:
    The song winds down, and AJ chuckles, as he pauses in playing. "I think it makes sense. I don't have much of a secret identity yet, but I can see how you'd feel trapped by who you have to be, with the mask on." He says. "I always hated going to fund raiser dinners and stuff. Not that I didn't like being with my parents at them, but it felt like I was someone else, you know? All perfect manners and fake smiles, everyone going through the motions of being who everyone expects them to be. You've gotten trapped by your Mask. I know you can't, you know, be yourself around me. Whoever that is to you that day. But I'm happy to hang out and be your friend anyway." he says with that open, genuine smile.

Damian Wayne has posed:
The back of Robin's head is resting against the rooftop structure he's leaning back on. Maybe this was harder than he thought it would be on him physically. Stubborn, stubborn Damian felt that he could simply will himself into health.

"What if that didn't have to be the case?" Robin inquires. Then comes that favorite gesture of his: a shrug. "What if I just take off this mask right now?" Keeping his head resting back on the wall, he peers over at AJ. "What if you had the chance to take the red pill? What would that mean to you?"

Allen-James has posed:
    AJ pauses there for a moment, frozen in the light drifting up from below. He ponders, seriously, what Robin might mean by this. Take the red pill.

    "That's a pretty extreme question." He laughs quietly. "I mean... You barely know me. Are you sure you want to risk that much? I'm... I'm honored. Do you... Do you want to know more about me before you decide? I mean... I don't think I even gave you my full name." he laughs with a chuckle. "I usually do this big schtick around it, but I was all flustered by Jimmy, and trying to keep you from having to beat them up." he laughed.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Robin tugs out a phone from a pouch in his utility belt. He taps through a few screens until a picture of AJ comes up. He hands the phone over to the other young man. "Most people think they have a bead on what a computer is. The Batcomputer is a worldwide information resource, and some of its hardware is literally sourced from off world. I can't say more for security reasons, but just know that there is very little data on this planet that it can't find."

Should AJ thumb through the dossier he would find some incredible details about his life. There could even be some items that he himself had forgotten about. It's...definitely intrusive. This document shows that not only did Robin take the time to look him up, but that he was not unwilling to collect privacy-invading data. The Bat Family lives and operates in the shadows. While technically the law applies to them, in practice they are nearly untouchable.

This revelation, too, is intentional. If AJ makes the choice, be it tonight or sometime in the future, to be in the inner circle, he /must/ know even the ugly parts of what is in that circle.

"I have lived a life since I was a small boy making split-second decisions with minimal information," Robin says. "I was taught to trust my intuition. And so far I have used those skills in service of others. And maybe for once I want to use them for something selfish. Something for me." He shrugs. The closing arguments have been made, and the case is in the hands of the jury now. So he sits there on that rooftop both close to AJ and also a million miles away, and he waits.

Allen-James has posed:
    Not everything in that file is flattering. AJ spent five years on the streets, running with the gang that Jimmy and he were both a part of. They weren't exactly dealing drugs, but he's done Crime before, usually petty. There's evidence of it, street cameras taking pictures of him breaking car windows to steal from them.

    The article about AJ's power being revealed is obscure, but easy to find once you know that AJ is Allen-James Vincent Ramses-Denholme the Fourth. After all, how many young socialites get hit by drunk drivers and survive without a scratch? There's even a picture of him in the bubble that his parents thought they'd eliminated all the copies of. There's the horsemanship competitions and fencing trophies and the violin performances too, before the accident.

    The articles about 'glowing orange footsteps' at the sight of a couple burglaries a couple years ago are in there too. Unsolved crimes that stopped after a home owner shot at the thief that was 'walking on glowing orange footsteps' The home owner missed, and the criminal never reappeared. More recently, in the last year, are several instances of more... heroic action. A mugging stopped by a young man with glowing forcefields. A picture of him protecting a bystander at a bank robbery, putting up a shield between the civillian and a robber's explosion. And a video of him at a recent attack on the Central Park Zoo. His hoodie is up in that one, but his force fields are pretty obvious. It's all there, the good and the bad. Even the footage of his performances as a busker, that start shortly after the attempted robberies stopped. Apparently, after being shot at, AJ decided he'd rather play for his dinner than try to keep being a thief. The links through the Central Park attack to a Xavier's student, and the fact that he's recently vanished from his usual busking spots, at least, with the regularity he used to have, and shows up in the city occasionally much better fed, and with new clothes...

    AJ thumbs through it, half numbly, half incredulously. He lets out a laugh, and looks up at Robin. "You know all this, and you still want to show me?" he asks with a wry smirk. "Not gonna lie. The fact you have all this security cam footage is kinda big brother creepy." he says with a nervous chuckle. "What does your intuition make of all this?" He asks, "You have your masks, I have mine. The busker, thief, runaway, gang member, maybe even Hero. Once I was a perfect young Socialite. Now I'm living in a mansion, trying to get my education unfucked and get enough documents that I can go to college, while in the evenings, I do sword practice and run on my forcefields over a pool where I crash over and over again. You've seen pretty much all of me, though. And you want to show me who you are? I'd be honored."

Damian Wayne has posed:
Robin takes back the phone after AJ spends however much time he wants and needs to spend looking through the file. He turns off the display and tucks the device into his utility belt. "What does my intuition tell me? It tells me that with no outside influence you made the choice to better yourself. You didn't collapse into a dark world and feel sorry for yourself and blame others. You stepped up. And even after all the bullshit you endured, you still play Dvorak on a rooftop to a city that doesn't give a shit about you."

It's a bit more effort getting up than it was sitting down. Robin's fucking hurt. He never should have come out tonight. But you can't a tell a Bat kid a thing. With some grunts and strains he gets back to his feet again. "I'm going to be back on this roof tomorrow at sunset. If you're here playing that beautiful music of yours then I'll know you're in. But be /sure/ because the toothpaste can't ever go back in the tube."

Robin walks toward the roof's edge. Is this crazy kid going to jump off the roof in his condition? "If you're not here, I will respect your decision, AJ. You'll never see or hear from me again. If that happens, know that I want you to have a good life. Xavier's can help give you that good life, but you have to /want/ it. Even surrounded by plenty, you have to accept the things that are given." An assassin's wisdom. The thoughts of a killer.

Allen-James has posed:
    AJ flushes a little, thankful of the way the light washes everything out. Robin seems to think he's a good person. He has no idea how that happened. And he's a little surprised at how much that seems to matter to him. Here's this guy, this crazy guy, who runs around in a cape and fights bad guys. Who thinks he's a good person, and worth trusting.

    For a long moment, AJ stands there, mulling over the opportunity, the risks, the chance to get to know Robin, and more, to get to know the man behind the mask. To really get to know 'What do you do for fun'? He's a little giddy at the thought of getting to know more about the man behind the mask.. right up until he realizes, "You are *NOT* going to jump off this roof in that condition." he says, his voice firm and insistent, "What the fuck are you thinking, man? I get that it's a whole thing, you jump off and vanish into the night all cool and shit, but fucks sake, you should be in a hospital. You don't have to be Robin for me. You can just climb down, ok? There's a ladder over here.." he motions at the side of the building with the little access ladder.

Damian Wayne has posed:
There are exactly zero people in this world who can cow Robin. Even the Batman knows he has to choose his battles when it comes to his son and crimefighting partner. So when AJ forbids Robin from jumping off the roof, one would expect him to do it anyway. Anyone who knows Damian would have bet /any/ amount of money that he would jump anyway. And they would have lost that money.

Robin. Actually. Steps. Away. From. The. Edge. Of. The. Roof. He moves closer to AJ and one side of his mouth tics up on a small grin. Slowly, half because he wants AJ to be able to refuse, and half because he is so fucking hurt, he puts his arms around AJ in a hug and presses his lips gently against the other young man's ear, whispering "I hope I see you tomorrow but I respect whatever choice you make. I'd give anything to tell you right now, but it /has/ to be this way."

Finally Robin moves toward a door in the roof structure that leads inside the building. It has an electronic sensor to open for a key fob. Robin tugs a small device from one of his many utility belt pouches and touches it to the fob detector. It beeps and unlocks the door instantly. Why didn't he lead with that? Fucking Waynes. They play stubbornness with the finesse that AJ plays violin.

Allen-James has posed:
    AJ is a bit surprised that Robin actually doesn't jump. He blinks, as he's hugged, and the lips so close to his ear make him... shiver? He's struck nearly motionless with surprise at the hug, and watches the man go with a little smile, and a lot of blush on his face. Is this... was that... He doesn't even know what that was, but he knows he wants more of it. He also /really/ hopes that keyfob is how the young man got his ass up here in the first place, otherwise he's going to be very annoyed at him at some point. For now, he watches him go with a little smile, and a lot of stunned on his face.