13043/Re-Establishing

Re-Establishing
Date of Scene:	12 October 2022
Location:	Roost Training Room
Synopsis:	Phoebe and Tim are reconnecting after her return from abandoning the team -- and their friendship.
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Tim Drake

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Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    There was a time between the waning age of magic and the dawning age of science where dragons flew the skies, free and unencombe-- wait, no. Wrong story.

    Back months ago, after the one-sided fight in the Batcave, Phoebe had given the Outsider's leader - and her adopted brother - enough space to fill the chasm she thought she created between them. She rarely stayed in the roost more than a few hours, and her lighty-duty patrols were in general uneventful and overseen probably by Alfred's stern hand. Still muted by her lack of larynx, she endevored to stay out of everyone's way, living as a ghost in the manor and making her presence as unnoticable as possible at The Roost.

    She had, however, aquired a set of arial silks, and was currently swinging slowly, upside-down in the sunset-ombre colored silks, breathing slowly in time with her heartbeats, almost meditative in practice, wearing an athletic tee and yoga pants, bare feet showing the paler splotches by her toes.

    Down below, Idu was also upside-down, though he was laying on a mat, legs in the air, with an almost human expression of boredom on his muzzle.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Once upon a time, Tim stuck to a pretty rigorous schedule. Wrap up patrol at dawn, shower, report, dinner, meditation, sleep, breakfast, physical training, shower, research, patrol. Not a whole lot of time for socializing or maintaining his public persona, but given his public persona was the boring, nerdy kid adopted by Bruce Wayne, they kind of went hand-in-hand anyway.

    Basically: not healthy. Mentally, at least. But things have changed. He met someone, went through some fairly life-changing experiences, and had an opportunity to grapple with some of his trauma leftover from his father's death. He's not exactly the picture of sanity -- can't be, doing what they do -- but he's better.

    He's also splitting his time at the Roost with bedding down elsewhere, so he's not quite the constant lurking presence at Outsiders HQ.

    But today he's here. He wants to get in some training today, maybe some flexibility work after a mission with Nightwing. Dick's acrobatics is enough to make anyone feel like a piece of lumber and Tim's no exception, so he wraps up a couple of outstanding tasks and heads downstairs.

    If he has any hesitation about entering the training room after realizing Phoebe is already in there, he doesn't show it. Perfectly professional, our Tim. Also chances are he checked to see if it was occupied before he even got up from his computer.

    Still, he's quiet as he enters and as he rolls out a mat to start stretching on.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe pauses, bringing her arms up to slow her rocking as she grasps on the silks, and she opens one eye and spies... well. Tim. Part of her still jumps for joy -- she'll always carry admiration for him. How could she not? He kind of is the reason she's capable of doing any superhero things!

    But right now...

    She swings her legs around, and slowly descends from the silks, letting them drag along her feet until she's near the ground, and with a rather unstealthy 'thup!' of feet hitting the fall mat, she indicates that she knows Tim's there.

    Of course, Idu knows Tim's there. He rolls to his stomach, curled tail flagging back and forth, blue eyes set on his favorite person other than Phoebe and he makes grumbling sounds as he goes to interrupt Tim's stretching with play-bows and being adorably obnoxious. As all good dogs tend to be.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Tim's only just sat down when Phoebe spots him, and he looks up to acknowledge the way she announces her recognition of his presence. In turn, he nods and says, "Hey, Phoebe," which is perfectly polite and casual, though no follow-up flow of conversation begins.

    Instead he drops down into his first yoga pose. How appropriate that it's downward facing dog, because here comes Idu, and Tim might spend a few moments valiantly trying to crane his neck away so that he's not totally bombarded with doggie kisses, eventually he just has to accept his face and sit back down, letting Idu climb on top of him.

    Because who can ever resist a cute pupper? Certainly not Tim.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Idu's helping! That's what the 40 pound dog thinks, anyway, hopping onto Tim's back and just flopping over him, tongue out to the side as he snorts happily in Tim's ear, and then looks at Phoebe.

    Sho awkwardly rubs the back of her neck, and then motions to the canine, who doesn't move an inch.

    And finally, Phoebe relents, and she motions to the dog to 'off' as she approaches, and Idu turns from 'hop on Tim' to 'keep away'.

    And Phoebe sits down on the mat Idu had been occupying, bringing her legs up into a lotus position, and fidgiting with her hands a moment.

    And when she thinks Tim might be looking at her, she signs:

    -Can we talk?-

Tim Drake has posed:
    There is much oofing and ughing, but Tim bears the weight of the dog with the grim determination of any Bat. And then he rubs behind Idu's ears, because even if he's uncomfortable, dog's still gotta be pet. That's the rules.

    After, though, he does scrub his face clean with the bottom of his t-shirt, and then he mirrors Phoebe's position, though his feet don't quite tuck up into the lotus position properly. See, he really does need to work on his flexibility!

    "Yeah, sure." He rests his elbows against his knees, head tilted to the side. Clearly the floor is Phoebe's, here.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    It is known. Doggos gotta be pet, and it's a rule that Idu knows very well, even as he bathes Tim with affection, snorts, and warbly little 'uwooo' sounds until Phoebe shoos him off and sits down.

    His job completed, he yawns, and flops to his side nearby.

    Phoebe looks at Tim. She looks at her hands, and fumbles a moment, half-formed signs sinking back into her lap. She bites at the inside of her lip, the tuck at her jawline slight, but noticible if you know what to look for as she wrestles with something, and then she bring sher eyes up to Tim's face, and signs, and mouths:

    -I'm sorry.-

    And her whole countence changes from anxious, and she just seems to wilt. Her shoulders sag. Her hair was still shorn close enough that it just poofed and curled, not really long enough for braids, and she presses her fingers to her palms a moment, pensive.

    -I screwd up. and I understand if you want to keep the space or if you want me off the team all the way. I broke your trust in me. And if you decide that's what's for the best, I'll accept it.-

Tim Drake has posed:
    It's hard to read Tim. Whenever someone trained by Bruce doesn't want their emotions to be broadcast, they just... aren't. Which has nothing to do with the general emotional constipation that would be a running joke in the family if it weren't so unfortunate.

    So while Tim seems receptive to whatever Phoebe wants to talk about, he's still closed off. Which he can still be with any member of the team, really, given his tendency for compartmentalization. The livelihood of too many people rely on him keeping secrets well.

    His shoulders hitch slightly at the apology. It prompts him to take in a breath, and his lips press together for a second or two before he nods. "I know you are."

    That isn't much to go on, either.

    "I understand why you did it, to a point. I seriously question if there's a single one of us that has never thought about running away to protect their family. We all have big, terrifying problems with life-threatening consequences for not addressing them. It's not even that you broke my trust in you, it's that you keep making it very clear that you don't trust *me*."