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Post by Bruce Wayne on Oct 4, 2014 16:52:53 GMT -5
When Bruce Wayne the Hermit put in his first appearance in public in over a year, he got the kind of stares that even the Batman costume hadn't gotten before. The society mavens had basically written him off as a lost cause, and the social circle at large had almost forgotten him. So when he appeared at this big gala event, one that the circus had been planning on for months, they stared. What's more, he looked like he hadn't changed a bit--impeccably groomed and fit, wearing a well-tailored suit. The only difference, if anyone cared to look, was in the eyes. There were storm clouds hovering in them that weren't there before, clouds that were pushed back when he spoke to someone or smiled, but they always rolled back in.
For the most part, Bruce let all the side glances and whispering roll off of him. He only kept half an ear to the talk to catch bits and pieces on current events. Evidently he'd missed an alarming amount of news, and resolved to shore up on that when he got home from the performance. He idly flipped through the show's program while he waited for latecomers to file in and the show to start. He'd been hearing a lot about the Graysons, who seemed to be the talk of the circus, and he always had respect for someone who could leap across incredible distances and catch themselves in mid-air for a last-minute save.
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Post by Dick Grayson on Oct 7, 2014 18:30:16 GMT -5
The buzz surrounding the arrival of Bruce Wayne was enough to even get Dick excited for tonight's performance. His parents were even acting like normal human beings for once.
In the back stages of the big top, Richard Grayson practiced in his dressing room. He was balancing his counter weight bar on his head and doing backflips while simultaneously listening to his parents discuss their future next door.
"I think it's time to move on John."
"Mary-"
"John a man came up to me looking for the Ringmaster this morning, I told him I didn't know where he was and lifted his jacket and showed me a gun! Then I heard him arguing with the man and they told him he was gonna pay or he was really gonna pay and I don't even know what that means-"
"Mary!" He could hear his mother sobbing slightly and his father comforting her "Shhh, okay, okay you're right. After tonight we'll get out of here, it was safer in Gotham."
"Dick needs security, we- we can't give him that here. At least in Gotham we had solid pay, we were honored not subjugated to men with guns everyday."
Dick set his pole down and slowly walked out in to the hallway, he knocked on his parents door.
"Who-who is it?" His mother called out wearily.
"It's me mom, can I come in?"
"Oh yes of course" he could hear her scrambling toward something as his father opened the door looking very old.
"Hey is, is everything okay? I was practicing my backflips when I heard mom crying-" He'd of course heard more than that, but he wasn't about to let it down that he was eavesdropping.
"Were fine baby" his mother called from the mirror "you're father and I were just discussing returning to Gotham, we think we're finished with Paris."
"Really?" Dick couldn't hide his excitement "Because that would be- that would be really cool you know." He thought about Yaoya and suddenly it didn't seem so cool, he missed home, but he really liked Yaoya.
"We thought you'd like that, Paris has treated us well, but this circus it's," his father sighed "not worth us staying. We've been getting letters for days from the Cirque shows and whatnot back home and they're offering us quite a bit more money and security than they are here."
"That's good!" Dick smiled.
An announcement boomed through the back halls "WILL THE FLYING GRAYSONS PLEASE TAKE THE STAGE, 5 MINUTES TO SHOWTIME, FLYING GRAYSONS TO THE STAGE[/i]
Dick smiled "Lets make it a hell of a last show then?"
His mother stood up, freshly powdered and took her husband and her sons hands and headed out to the stage.
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Post by Bruce Wayne on Oct 14, 2014 21:08:13 GMT -5
With the announcement that the show was about to begin, the restless audience settled down and quieted as the lights went down except for the ones on the rings. The Ring Master--or Mistress, at least for this show--walked out wearing her glittering red coat and top hat. Smiling at the audience, she welcomed them to this special show, the proceeds of which would be going to charity. As she spoke about the accomplishments of the Graysons, circus attendants were setting things up for their big entrance.
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Post by Dick Grayson on Oct 16, 2014 18:14:56 GMT -5
Behind the curtains Dick stood between his parents. His mothers eyes were closed and although she was freshly powered, he could see where her tears had removed the makeup before. His father was looking straight ahead at the curtain prepping his mouth to pull in to a smile only a clown could love.
He always looked to them before the start of the show, wondering how for all of their arguing and bickering they could pull together right then to essentially become one person for the duration of the show. As the curtains were pulled back he turned his head quickly to audience and smiled, lifting his parents hands up above his head for a moment as they walked out to the center of the ring.
They released his hands as two ropes were lowered from the ceiling for them to hook their feet in to and be pulled up. At his feet was a expandable staff that would later in the show extend to over 7 foot. Kicking it up with his right food, it twirled straight above his head for a moment before he caught it. At this point he was partially a side show as his parents flew high above him, spinning and catching each other. But he'd grown some fame for what he could do.
Performing a short exhibition, that included multiple back flips and kicks he plopped the pole in a small hole at the center of the ring and hit a button at the base of it which shot the pole up to it's 7 foot. He climbed up it like a monkey, something he'd learned from a group of Chinese acrobats that had once performed with the Gotham Side Show Circus and lifted his legs straight out. First he held on with two hands, then with one, than just with his three middle fingers on his right hand.
Flipping backward off the pole, he landed with a smile.
Now for what got him his fame.
Grabbing the pole he ran to one side of the arena, his father nodding to him as he did so.
The lights went out and three spot lights hit Dick, his father and then his mother.
There was a light drumming that was building as Dick stood. Once it reached it's peak he took off running, pole extended like a high jumper would have. The crowd was silent as the pole hit it's mark and Dick shot up almost 15 feet, during his run John and Mary had flown across to each other and now, his father was holding his mothers feet and his mothers hands extended to grab her son's.
The trick was done with wires and a trampoline and if it wasn't done just right, Dick was afraid of exactly how it would feel to have his bones become jelly.
As his mother grabbed on to her sons hands he breathed out and the crowd exploded in to applause.
After a couple of swings, Dick was now on one side of the stage and his parents at the others. They stood waving and smiling, and for the first time in a long time they kissed in front of the crowd and Dick was beginning to feel like maybe things were going to get better.
He turned back to the audience and posed, getting ready for the next trick when suddenly he heard a loud bang and then screaming. He turned quickly to see if his parents had heard it too and found himself screaming instead.
Across the way his father was holding on to his mother who was bleeding profusely from her chest, another bang, then three more and Dick was helpless to stop it as another bullet hit his father in the neck, causing him to fall back off the stage down 25 foot to the floor. He was frozen with fear, screaming loudly and suddenly fully aware of just how bright the lights were.
No other shots were fired and he didn't have time to think of why as he swung across to the stage where his mother was.
She was laying there bubbling at the mouth trying desperately to say something, blood covering her beautiful pink jump suit with the rhinestones on it that John had bought her for her birthday. "M-Mom!"
"John-Johhnnn" was all she could get as the blood began filling her lungs.
"No, god no, jesus christ!" He gathered her upper body up in to his arms and held his face against hers.
((Just to be a dork, the Chinese acrobat pole tricks are kind of a nod to Tim Drake's Robin who used collapsible bo-staffs both as Robin and Red Robin. Also the numbers are all just made up, made up using real circus acrobat numbers but who the hell knows is that trick would actually work XD))
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Post by Bruce Wayne on Oct 25, 2014 11:37:58 GMT -5
((Sounds awesome, though. Bring on the mash-ups of Robins!))
For once in far too long of a time, Bruce had actually been enjoying himself. Being here, watching the performers, reminded of a time that felt like forever ago when his parents took him to the circus. They'd wanted him to experience the things that any other kid would get a chance at, and at the same time they'd used it as a lesson how just because they were Waynes, it didn't mean they couldn't go to places like that circus or the theater. Nobody was above anything, or anyone.
The sound of gunshots unfortunately brought on an entirely different memory, and for a split second he felt disoriented as the pleasant circus remembrance crashed into the last thing he ever wanted to recall. Just as quickly as it had happened, however, the disorientation was gone and he was back in the present--a present filled with screaming circus-goers as people frantically scrambled to get out of the tent. Bruce whipped his gaze from one side to the other, trying to pin down the source of the gunfire. Following the most likely trajectory, he made his way through the stampeding crowd, the most likely place the shooter would have been sitting. But no matter how he scanned the crowd, how hard he concentrated, he couldn't turn up anything in the chaos. Whoever had brought the gun and already melted into the anonymity of the panicking crowd.
He turned his attention back to the center ring, where the various circus hands were already crowded around the fallen Grayson and climbing up to where the boy and his mother still were. All Bruce had to do was take one glance at the kid's face to know just how bad the situation was. It was a look he knew well, and one that would later drag the boy down with a lot of baggage.
Something snapped in the back of Bruce's mind. There couldn't be another lost boy like that again. Like him. Maybe if--
He made his way through the crowd, not pushing, but still going as fast as he could. He had one thought in mind: to find the head of the circus and speak to him about the younger Grayson.
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Post by Dick Grayson on Oct 25, 2014 15:14:18 GMT -5
Dick was still screaming as they tried to pull him away from his mother.
"Fuck off! FUCK OFF LEAVE ME ALONE!" He held on to her for another good ten minutes before security managed to get him calm enough to get down the ladder.
They tried to usher him to a back area as they lowered her body down, but he refused to move. Once they had her down and covered, he finally started walking with the help of a security guard who he knew by the name of Uncle Oliver, but knew his real name was Jose.
He was left in his dressing room and locked in.
For a moment he stood there shaking and crying, his family, his life, just... gone. But there was something else besides sadness, there was anger, pure unquestionable anger. He found himself shouting as hard as he could, screaming and slamming his fists in to the table. He turned over the whole dressing room before smashing a large mirror with his forehead.
He fell to the ground and started crying again; everything was wrong, everything was broken, nothing, absolutely nothing would be okay again.
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At the other side of the circus the manager stood speaking to police whom had been called immediately following the shooting. He was a larger man, almost portly, but his body showed signs of a past life as a circus strong man. He had a five a clock shadow and horn rimmed glasses and looked absolutely shaken.
He was a good man in a sea of awful people. He had taken the circus off the hands of a disgusting man who openly admitted that the children in the circus were too much of a distraction for him and he just didn't want to go back to jail. The man before him was a devilish clown who was also a convicted murderer. He had hoped to bring a good name to the Paris Circus and this night was suppose to be it's grand rechristening.
"Do you have any information to give us that may lead us to the a motive?"
"I all ready told you, it's the mob!" He bellowed "They killed them because I won't play their game, it was to scare me god-" he lifted his large fist to his mouth and bit down on his knuckles "I can tell you a thousand times that it's the mob, but I know damn well they own you bastards. So get their bodies to the morgue so they can be buried and get the fuck out of my circus!"
The cops eyed each other for a moment before putting their pads in their pockets and walking off without a word.
He wiped the tears from his cheeks and pushed up his glasses in order to push his hands in to his eyes.
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Post by Bruce Wayne on Nov 7, 2014 1:20:08 GMT -5
Finally, Bruce had been able to reach the manager. The man looked understandably upset, and he waited a moment, giving him a chance to pull himself together before approaching him.
"Sir?"
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Post by Dick Grayson on Nov 7, 2014 15:27:49 GMT -5
"I all ready told you guys to-" he lowered his hands ready to scream again only to be face to face with Bruce Wayne "M-Mr. Wayne, I'm sorry it's very- fucked right now, if I can be so crude."
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Post by Bruce Wayne on Nov 16, 2014 11:49:47 GMT -5
"I understand, I'm not here to complain. I wanted to talk to you about young Mr. Grayson. Later, of course, I don't want to keep you from your job at a time like this."
Bruce could wait until things were calmer to discuss what he was thinking.
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Post by Dick Grayson on Nov 17, 2014 18:39:20 GMT -5
"No, no it's fine" he opened the door to his tent/office "come on in. I've had my peace with the policía of this city."
He allowed Mr. Wayne to walk in first and closed the door behind them "I'm afraid I've nothing to drink, no café or tea or anything" he paused to take in the man, he was short but not entirely small. Beneath his suit was a well built man with powerful shoulders and a thick neck, not the body of a man who worked out in his spare time.
He offered him a chair and sat down "You mentioned young Ricardo?"
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Post by Bruce Wayne on Nov 27, 2014 22:41:59 GMT -5
Bruce sat down.
"Well, I was wondering what would happen to Grayson? Is there other family he can go to?"
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Post by Dick Grayson on Nov 28, 2014 18:53:37 GMT -5
"He may have a tía abuela somewhere in America, but I don't know that they are... close" he sat down with a oomph and seemed to sink in to a big comfy chair with frayed arm rests. He was quiet for a moment "I imagine it would be up to me to take care of him" the thought was obviously troubling to him as he returned his glasses to his face "I have no idea how to take care of 16 year old señor Wayne, but I can't bear the thought of him off to some foster home either."
He leaned back and shook his head "His parents have un poco de dinero, but no much and I don't think that he'd want to stay here after what happened-" he stopped talking and a sudden look of realization came across his face "you were thinking of taking him si?"
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Post by Bruce Wayne on Dec 10, 2014 12:35:46 GMT -5
Bruce had had a feeling that the boy's situation was a bleak one, and the ring master's words confirmed it. There weren't a whole lot of options, especially not if you wanted to keep him out of the Parisian orphanages. Having investigate the state of those while on a case, he knew that was the last thing he'd wish on anybody. Most of them were a Dickensian nightmare.
"I was, yes. I don't want him to have to suffer the foster system or stuck with other orphans. I've seen how things are run in the city. It's apalling. I could give him a better chance than he would find elsewhere."
He also understood a thing or two about having both parents die at the same time, and violently.
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Post by Dick Grayson on Dec 11, 2014 14:15:08 GMT -5
He'd read a little about Bruce Wayne before meeting him tonight, he knew that he came from old money and had given quite a bit of his substantial wealth to charity.
He also knew that he'd witnessed his parents murdered when he was a small child. Understanding what he did about people, he could only imagine what was going through Mr. Wayne's head at that very moment. Was he flashing back? Was his need to foster Dick a reaction to reliving what happened to him as a child?
He leaned back in the chair and swallowed "I see no reason why you wouldn't be capable. But you have to warned that he is almost a man, he's surly and stubborn and-" he chuckled "-hilarious."
He prayed that he wouldn't lose that sense of humor.
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Post by Bruce Wayne on Dec 24, 2014 19:38:27 GMT -5
Bruce smiled faintly.
"Of course. I look forward to all of that."
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