Summary:Damian Wayne arrives at Wayne Manor. Helena and Selina treat him cautiously, but are revealed the truth in the process. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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As seemingly always in New York City, it was a dark and stormy night. No doubt the bats have already gone on their relative patrols (or lack thereof) and have found themselves inside the illustrious halls and safety of Wayne Manor. But…it would not be a quiet night at all for the Wayne household.
Especially with what was about to be introduced to them.
He infiltrated the house, quiet as a mouse and sly like a fox. Damian easily avoided the workings of Alfred Pennyworth, and seems to be trying to scope out the place. He's looking for something.
But who knows where the others are? The bigger than big living room? Or maybe the dining room, getting a bit of food.
Damian kept his eye out for them…even though he knows he'll need to reveal himself to them at some point, especially if they are his family members…in a weird sense of the word.
A good patrol always makes Helena hungry. And sometimes, she doesn't exactly want to wait for Alfred to make something unnecessarily fancy. Sometimes, at three in the morning, you just want…Ah, there it is. Leftover apple pie sent home by Aunt May. Win.
She's already changed out of her gear and into the tank top and boxer shorts that pass for PJs, digging the tupperware out of the fridge and grabbing a plate from the cupboard before she thinks to check for ice cream in the freezer. Which leads to…
"Mom, you want some pie?" she calls over her shoulder.
The patrol can be an exhausting process, especially on busy nights. And sometimes on busy nights, you block a baseball bat with your arm and it leaves a welt that keeps you in long sleeves for awhile so people don't ask questions.
You should have seen the other guy.
Wearing a purple tanktop and black sweatpants, Selina hisses as she pushes and holds an ice pack against her arm, muttering, "Aaaooohhhh that's murder." with the sort of pleasant tone that implies she's well past being used to this sort of thing. Selina hears Helena's question, considers it over the space of a slow deep breath, and concludes, "I would kill a man for pie."
Damian looks on as Selina is apparently nursing a wound and Helena is making some sort of meal…which is then vocalized to be looking for pie. Damian doesn't interrupt…not quite yet. Instead, he watches. Who are these people? Are they handmaidens of the Batman? or the family? Well…there was truly only one way to find out.
Damian, being ever so impatient, descends from the ceiling in rather theatrical fashion, until he lands without a sound on the dining room table, but in a place where both Selina and Helena could see him clearly. He wore a black garb similar to that of a ninja or assassin from the far eastern lands. A hood covers his head, and a mask covers his face, leaving only his emerald eyes and bits of his black hair to be visible. He has a sword on his back, but his stance doesn't look hostile.
Even if he's in one of the most secure and fortified locations in the city. Possibly the world.
"Good news, no one needs to die for the pie," Helena smirks at Selina's answer, setting the pie on the counter and turning back to the freezer. "Aunt May sent some home the last time I visited Peter. And I think we've got-"
And then there's the muffled thump as someone lands on the table. Helena stiffens behind the freezer door, peeking out around the edge of it without exposing herself to potential fire.
"You missed the front door," she notes, pointing in that direction. "If you'd like to go back and try the doorbell."
"Don't they, though?" Selina smiles merrily. Selina has a slice of pie in her hand when suddenly there's a ninja on her dining table. Seeing only the legs at first glimpse, her first instinct is that it's Jason, come to finish the job, putting the lie to his claims and breaking her heart again. There's actually a moment of relief when, a heartbeat later, she realizes that it's 'just' a ninja.
Then it's replaced by alarm and outrage, and within a second Selina has grabbed a plate off the table and SLAMS it on the table's edge, shattering it and leaving a jagged shard in her hand, held out defensively towards Damian.
Damian looks at Helena and while he could absolutely throw some shuriken at her or something, Damian shakes his head. "Wasn't intending to use the door." he hops off the table and approaches, despite Selina's highly aggressive response towards him with her hyper-dangerous plate.
"For the moment, I mean you no harm. Where is the master of this home? and who are you?"
Might as well ask, and though he doesn't reach for his sword…ninjas are rather talented quick-draw masters.
"I got that. I was pointing out that it's the normal procedure," Helena deadpans, slowly starting to shut the freezer door. She doesn't close it all the way, leaning her shoulder against it with one hand behind the door. There's probably nothing in there that's actually dangerous, but there are plenty of hard things.
There's a glance to Selina at the 'master of the house' comment, then she's looking back to Damian. "Better question: Who are you and what are you doing here if you don't even know who we are?"
Selina takes a step back when Damian hops off of the table, but maintains a defensive stance. In her defense, she at least gives the impression that she knows how to hurt someone with her improvised shiv. At any rate her instincts were to create it very quickly.
She knows that this person - this kid? - could have attacked them before they noticed him; and if he wasn't smart enough to do that, that he'd at least have started attacking the moment he landed. So he's not explicitely here to fight. So he must be a messanger.
This may or may not be the first time they've been invaded by ninjas.
"… Putting aside the 'Master' debate…" Selina speaks flatly through gritted teeth, her voice becoming more pointed when she asks, "Who wants to know?"
Selina's already wondering if they should have gone the 'terrified shallow socialite scam' routine if he doesn't know who they are, but the rabbit's already out of that particular hat.
Besides, if he's asking after 'the master' he might at least know about one person. "And who sent you?" Selina adds when Helena finishes.
Damian hears all of the questions from Helena and Selina, his eyes narrowing at them. "I'm here to look for Bruce Wayne. I'm sent by my own hand. As for who I am.." Damian then lifts his hand towards his hood and he lowers it, revealing black hair that comes down to his shoulder just a little bit, and he lowers his mask to reveal his face.
If either of them have seen Bruce when he was a young man…he's a spitting image of him at that age. The only difference is the green eyes Damian sports, as opposed to Bruce's blue.
"My name is Damian."
A small pause then.
"I'm his son."
Helena's brows rise at the revelation, but she doesn't say anything immediately. For once. Instead, she carefully separates herself from the emotional part of the idea, working through what she can tell for certain. That's whst she got from their father.
There are enough portraits around the house for her to recognize the familiar contours of his face. They even share a few of them. But there are a whole lot of other questions. So many.
"Awkward," she finally says, closing the freezer door all the way. He took off his mask, that's a sign of trust. The least she can do is offer the same. "I'm Helena. I'm his daughter."
Selina's eyes slowly widen as she takes in Damian's appearance, blurting "The-" as if to say 'the hell you are!' only for her voice to instantly lose conviction, drawling out in utter shock, "-heeelllllll?"
Selina has made a concerted effort, over the years, not to let the world (well, Bruce and Helena) forget that Bruce had a childhood. Pictures have been dug up, shared, and occasionally laughed about; with some care taken not to dredge up too many bad memories. Selina knows about selectively burying the past, but she's also keen on keeping what's good.
So she's seen enough of Young Bruce's face to be quickly impacted by the sight of Damian.
She has… incredibly complex feelings about this. Spoiler: they don't tend towards happy. But this is a lot to absorb all at once, and - sparing a quick LOOK to her daughter, unsure if it's wise to share any information at this point - quickly figures… eh, in for a penny. "I'm his-" Selina grimaces. Not his wife. Doesn't want to eplain fiance. Screw it. "I'm her mother. Selina."
Damian approaches the pair, apparently rather confident-looking athat Selina isn't going to shiv him with a plate. Helena gets a small nod in greeting. "That makes us siblings." he looks her right in the eyes. They look alike. But then he seems to bow his head. "Its good to have a sister." Then he looks at Selena who is….not his mother.
"Selina." he repeats the name as if to commit it to memory. "Your not my mother." he states the obvious. "But in a manner of speaking, we are still family, if you are the mother of my…half-sister." he looks at Helena then, then to Selina. "Is he here?"
"Yeah," Helena drawls, scrubbing a hand over her face. "Lucky you, I'm kind of a pro at taking in new siblings." That one's probably going to take some explaining. But there's a lot of that going around.
"Okay. So clearly you're not exactly from the metro New York area," she says, gesturing to his attire. "So. How about you have a seat, I'll cut you in on this pie, and you can tell us a little bit about where in the hell you came from while we wait for him to get in?"
Selina arches an eyebrow, cautiously leaning away a bit as Damian looks at her, giving a bit of a bewildered look. "… No, I guess not." She says, then looks to the side awkwardly. In regards to Bruce, Selina just says, "He's… working." and then lets Helena handle the talking since she seems to have an oddly better handle on this, prowling around a bit in the background, and finally gathering the presence of mind to grimace at what she's done to the china.
Damian looks at Helena and with a small nod, he seems to nod. "…I find this to be an acceptable arrangement." Damian then moves to the dining table, and he takes his seat. His seating position is rigid and stiff, like he's never had a relaxed meal in his life. He does look over at Selina. "I understand. Then I will wait until he returns." Of course, Helena and Selina might probably, at some point, maybe communicate with Bruce to let him know whats coming, and Damian wouldn't stop them.
He looks at Helena. "…of what variety is this pie?"