790/Remember the Family

Remember the Family
Date of Scene:	27 March 2020
Location:	Grand Hall - Wayne Manor
Synopsis:	Carrie confronts Bruce about being a father to Damian.
Cast of Characters:	Bruce Wayne, Carrie Kelley

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Bruce Wayne has posed:
Piano music can be heard through Wayne Manor.

Parts of it are still under construction; the east and west wings, the north atrium, the grounds. Workmen can be seen at all hours of the day and night trying to rebuild the catastrophic damage the place had undertaken a few years ago.

But it's slowly starting to look like a building again, like the ancestral home of the Waynes once more. Batman was content in the Wayne Tower penthouse, but such an apartment-- even six thousand square feet of it-- just isn't a credible home for nearly a dozen teens and young adults, and their alter-egos.

So Bruce Wayne is in the process of moving into Wayne Manor, and it's given Batman a chance to pursue a rare recreational goal: learning to play the piano.

He's coming along quite quickly, already playing complex baroque pieces in the span of a few months of practice and steady training. There's very little Batman cannot master with that intense focus and polyglot mind of his, and apparently that even extends to the piano.

Even if it's a little jarring to hear Mozart wafting through the halls of the often quiet and cold manor house.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
As if the devastated remnants of the manor weren't creepy enough. Sure there were signs of life and rebuilding, but to Carrie, seeing it in this state was all too reminsicent of incidents from her own world. The manor in flames. It had been a bit harder on her than she let on to have something similar happen here... but she'd soldiered through. She always did.

Now it was empty, dark, desecrated and filled with Mozart. If this were a horror movie she ought to go in the other direction.

But she was also a Bat. That meant moving forward.

Light footsteps approach only to linger in the doorway of the room housing the piano, and Bruce himself. With arms crossed over her chest she leans against the doorframe waiting for him to finish the peice. Only then does she lift her hands to clap lightly.

"I was wondering where you'd run off to hide lately. I guess I shouldn't be surprised."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"If I was hiding, you wouldn't be able to find me," Batman concludes. He busies himself with the mundane task of closing up his book and the sheet music, then stands and lifts the seat of the piano bench. In khakis and a blue shirt, he looks more dressed for a lazy weekend afternoon than anything else.

Then again, that's always that carefully contrived image; the idle wealthy, playing Mozart on a grand piano in a half-finished house while the worker bees buzz around building the hive.

Batman gives Carrie a steady and unreadable look, arms hanging loosely at his sides. The lack of expression serves to hide his thoughts as effectively as any mask could. "This just wasn't one of the first places it occurred to you to look."

No shrug or inviting motion is given; he simply stands still as the statuary out front, almost inhumanly silent save for the slow rise and fall of his chest and the periodic eyeblink. Intermitent enough to make most people's eyes water if they try to keep up with that blue-eyed stare.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley clucks her tongue lightly at that. He always did seem to underestimate them just a tad. She pushes away from the doorframe to stride in closer with arms still over her chest. "I was being fascetious. The tracker on your vehicle showed you were here. I was giving you your space... But I think it's been long enough."

Here she pauses standing in front of the taller Bruce with her head tipped back to peer up at him with a stern expression. A single deep breath is drawn, and then her crossed arms drop down to plant her hands on her hips. This was hardly the first time she'd brought up issue with him. Usually she had good points when she did. She wasn't as hot headed as the others.

"You left your son in my charge, and it's been awhile. When was the last time you saw him? Spoke to him? I know you've been keeping tabs--That's what you do. But that's also not the same," she adds pointedly.

"So, 'dad', I think it's time you started acting like one. Even if he's an unexpected addition."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Batman just stares at Carrie a few beats after she sends that barb at him. Long enough to let it settle in the air. "Interesting notion," he says, finally. Instead of walking away, Batman moves to one of the high-backed chairs in the study-- modern make, but designed to look like the authnetic century-old furnishing it had replaced. He settles into the seat and rests his shoulders against green leather, steepling fingers in front of his sternum and looking up at Carrie.

"Tell me what you think I 'should' be doing, then," Batman remarks. His words lack any inflection one way or another, making it difficult to tell if he's offended by Carrie's brassy statements or sincerely interested in her opinion.

Like most things Batman says, it can be taken either way.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
It was a start at least. While Carrie didn't know everything, she certainly knew what bad parenting was like from her own. She takes up a position leaning against the piano with legs outstretched to cross at the ankle. It wasn't a cocky pose, just a comfortable one as she doens't opt to outright sit herself. This actually put her more on eye level with him given their height difference.

"One: Be there for him. Be present. Even if it's just two or three days a week... It's better than nothing."

"Two: Get to know him. Not just his abilities, or his training, or his past. Let him teach you who he is. Who he wants to be. And let him get to know you in turn. He's never had a father until now. He wants to know you. He wants to impress you... But he comes from a vastly different upbringing. It's going to be a culture shock how you want him to act versus how the League did."

Those were the main touching points, but there were so many more. She gives a sigh, and reaches up to rub her forehead. "Just... Talk to him. Encourage him when he does well. He actually just went to a prom, you know. Going from the League to a prom... That's a hell of a step in his socialization."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Batman considers Carrie's words, carefully, and his eyes slide sideways to look out the window for a long few moments.

"That is part of why I have been avoiding him," Batman explains, after a few beats, and looks back to Carrie. A small gesture made; encouraging her attention rather than putting her in a place, and when she's settled he leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees so they're talking in a more earnest manner.

"I've been watching," he informs her. "I'm not ignorant. He's at a dangerous stage of psychosocial development for adolescent males. Talia dropped him here, at this age, with a purpose in mind."

"Dick, Jason, Tim... they all went through it. Dick founded the Titans. Jason..." Batman's voice drops off, leaving that topic unspoken. "Tim adopted a new identity. The nature of the conflict is what Freud incorrectly called 'Oedipal'," he says, with meticulous precision.

"Damian's trial of adolescence was intended to be violence. Raised with me as an antagonistic father figure in the background of his life. Everything Talia did was meant to impress on him that he needed to prove he was 'better' than me."

Hands spread minutely. "Damian is stubborn and determined. He would have challenged my authority at every turn. I predicted a high probability of him becoming outright violent if I had tried to curb him personally."

A finger lifts and settles, extended at Carrie. "You're a peer. And his sister. The boys, his brothers. Each exceptional in your own way. He had no reason to dislike you; so he developed affection for each of you. That made it easier for him to understand his imperfections. Damian's upbringing was defined by a planned conflict with Batman. I took that from him; without an adversary, there is no conflict for him to bring home."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
"Yeah... About that. He wants to fight Tim to the death for the Robin title because that's how he thinks he'll earn it," Carrie points out with a long sigh. She'd talked him out of that at least. "He knows his mother's side of the family Bruce. Let him get to know your side. I get that you want to give him some space, but..."

Here she pauses, looking out the window herself with a troubled expression. "Too long will make him think you don't care. That you'd rather he weren't around. Trust me, I know how bad negligence can be. Leads kids to do stupid things like put on a cape and climb out the windows at night by themselves." Her head pointedly tips back toward Bruce.

"If it's Batman that would have been the conflict, then be Bruce. The real Bruce, not the fake one you put on for everyone."

Here she pauses a great deal.

"Tell him about how you help this city outside of being a vigilante. Tell him about the charity, and good works, and... Most importantly?" Her voice softens a bit, "Tell him about his grandparents."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"Then that's a problem for him and Tim to resolve," Batman remarks evenly. "Damian will lose all respect for Tim if I intervene over a meaningless title. Over a pecking order. That's precisely what I'm trying to -prevent-."

He gets to his feet and looks out the window, at the mud and hillocks that will eventually be a garden. Martha's garden, recreated by memory at Batmans' hand and the design delivered to the best landscapers on the Eastern seaboard.

"You know, it's so nice out today," Bruce says, in a sudden good humor. He turns and flashes a smile at Carrie. It's the billionaire industrialist, the father of five (six?), Gotham's most eligible bachelor. "I'm really excited to see how the gardens come out. My mother, Martha, she would have loved them. Always donated to the Botanical Society in her name, just to keep that memory alive."

And just like a light switch being flipped, the poise, the smile, the expression, even the subtle shift in posture vanish. Batman gives Carrie an impassive look.

"I know it rings hollow to see 'Bruce'," Batman informs her. "You know it's an act. You've watched me play the role for five years here. Longer, in your home universe."

"Damian would see it as well. I am who I am, Carrie. I am Batman. Bruce is a character the world demands I play. Each of you finds your own balance, your own way to come to terms with it. There's very little difference between Tim and Robin, or Dick and Nightwing. It's the same man, the same person."

"Maybe someday you'll understand."

He moves to his seat and sits again, and regards Carrie levelly. "Stephanie had an awkward conversation with me yesterday. I put Barbara in charge of her training. When Barbara decides she's ready, Stephanie will move along to becoming whatever she intends to be."

"That cuts both ways. I put you in charge of Damian. Asked you to help break him in, gently. He's had a lifetime of hard lessons. He needed some soft ones. So think very carefully about what you're asking me," he instructs her. The voice is firm but the tone, surprisingly gentle. "What lessons you want me to teach him-- and whether I am supplementing your coaching, or taking it over."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley frowns a little bit at Bruce when he starts going on about meaningless titles. "It's not meaningless. Ultimately yes, it may be, but he sees it as a way to belong. A lot of us did." She falls silent though watching him go as he puts on the 'Brucie' persona she's seen so many times over the years. And it's here she shakes her head.

"You are Batman, yes... but I mean like we're talking here and now. Not the fake face you put on." She pushes to her feet with a little sigh glancing toward him, slowly shaking her head again.

"I can mentor him, but I'm not his parent. I can never be that."

Turning to start walking away she adds over her shoulder, "Actually, I never got to see that fake persona where I came from. There was still a difference between being 'at work' and out of costume though. There's more to you thank you give yourself credit for."