IC Inbox - Metaheroes

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( he knows. he'd been so scared when he thought he'd lost the man who's been a father to him. )

I'm sorry you've lost him. I don't like to think of it.

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[It takes a few minutes for Dick to remember that he told Bruce about that. There'd been a lot going on when Bruce was a kid.]

[Still not saying HOW he died, but at least it's not something to tiptoe around.]

Nobody ever likes to think about their parents dying. Especially when you've already been through it. But I like to think that a little piece of him lives on with those of us he raised. That he's not really gone as long as we're still out here, putting his teaching into action.

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( he wonders now if the alfred of dick's gotham was proud of the bruce there. of the other him. )

If it's any consolation, I see it in you.

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[Most of the time, yes. Sometimes, definitely not.]

Thank you. I'm doing my best. Alfred was always our glue, in a lot of ways. Kept the family together. I'm sure it wasn't ever easy for him.

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He has a hard enough time with it just being me, I'm sure.

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Probably. But he did step up when B started bringing home strays. He was as much my dad as B was.

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I keep wondering how strange that must be for all of you.

( to have a 30 year old version of an adopted father here alongside them. it'd be like thomas wayne being here with him. )

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[The reply comes after a little bit. Dick isn't uncertain, but it takes a moment to get the words right.]

Of all of us, I'm probably the one who finds it both the weirdest and least weird? I knew B when he was starting out, after all. So I see a lot in you that's similar to what I remember as a child. And you definitely have that 'I know what is best' thing occasionally, but I think that's something that developed more when I was a teenager.

[Bruce tried, but he wasn't good at the time at dealing with his Robin spreading his wings.]

J and TJ never knew him at this age. There was a lot of stuff that happened between when I met him and when J met him. And a LOT more before TJ became Robin. So it's weirder for them because you're...less like the one they know and grew with.

I'm not sure what it's like for the younger ones. I kinda get the feeling their B is a bit different from ours as well.

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( he figured it was something like that. )

I feel like you all expect me to know what to do. I sometimes feel like I should, too. But I don't. Not when it comes to having so many of you around.

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You're a version of our dad, for better or worse. We're kinda conditioned to look to you when things are going sideways. It's like when you go to Alfred for advice. And you'd probably turn to one if he were here, even if he were the Alfred from when he started working for the Waynes.

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( hm.)

From what I've heard, he's not so great at that.

( being a father to them, he means. )

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[This one takes a while as well. Because he knows damned well he was raised by a different sort of Bruce. But that, yes, Bruce hasn't always been a great father. Even to him.]

Honestly, we'd probably all have benefitted from therapy as well as the superhero thing. B tried, but he's as traumatized as the rest of us are. Sometimes that leads to making some terrible decisions. Not just on his part. We've all made bad decisions due to trauma.

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( he supposed that's right. for them at least. )

Maybe you'd all be better off without the superhero thing.

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That's the definition of pot, kettle, black, Bruce.

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Except you're supposed to want better for your kids.

( and he wonders if the other him ever thought that. )

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[He almost certainly had. It's just the kids he got...]

I would have gone out and done something stupid if B hadn't taken me under his wing and started training me. J needed structure and a direction for his anger. TJ had too much empathy and knew B needed somebody beside him to give him focus. Cass was already a weapon. She needed somebody to believe she could be more. Steph should have been treated better than she was, but she was already a vigilante before she ever crossed paths with B. And Damien needs to see that what his mother taught him isn't the only way. Again, structure and direction.

Wanting better for your kids is admirable. Doing what you can with what you know is also admirable.

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You could still do something else. All of you.

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We've all tried, in various ways. TJ's gone into business, even running Wayne Industries for a while. I was a cop and a bartender for a while. I don't have details on J, but I'm sure he's had times when he's tried to leave this all behind. Cass and Steph also have. Babs has a degree in library science and was a librarian as well as a crime fighter. Damian's still young, thinks he's the most deserving of carrying on B's legacy, so even getting him to go to SCHOOL like a normal kid is a pain in the ass. But we're working on it.

And we do other things as well. TJ uses a lot of the money he inherited from his parents to run the Neon Knights, a young people's charity. Lucius Fox invested the money from my parents' life insurance and gave me enough money to own an apartment building in 'Haven. Then I've used the money that Alfred left me to try to make things better for all of Bludhaven in general. J's really good with kids and I know he does stuff in the Bowery. The hero stuff isn't all we have going on. But it's what we tend to come back to.

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( it's text but there's a heavy sigh that comes from him. )

It jut seems much bigger than I meant for it to be.

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You pointed out how you made an impact on the Riddler, but not the impact you were hoping for.

Well, we're the impact you wanted. I'm the one that B offered a hand up to in my darkest moments. J's the one he saw the most of himself in, wanting to make things easier for him than he'd had. Tim's the one who watched from the sidelines, offering his own hand when B was the furthest down.

Cass was raised as a weapon, but B told her she was more. Helped to show her she was more. He's doing the same with Damian, that he's not just the product of what his mother taught him.

Steph and Babs became part of the family because they felt the impact that you wanted. That somebody could make a difference to the world around them. And more people in Gotham have felt it, too, even if they've never put on a mask. It's slow. But that impact was always going to happen. You can't talk about offering hope and not see it grow.

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( is he going to bury himself into some means of work and overthink all of this after? yes. because that's why bruce does. )

If you say so.

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That's been my experience.

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What's your experience been with Superman?

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[There's a couple minutes before the reply comes.]

Sure you won't get jealous?

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Sure.