2019-08-24 - Careful Who You Talk To

Summary:

An unusual encounter in the park for the Wayne siblings.

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Sat Aug 24 04:26:08 2019
Location: Central Park

Related Logs

None

Theme Song

None

damian-waynehelena-waynephobos

Central Park, early morning in that swath of green that seems to be the loan testament to nature within th depths of the great grey city that is Manhattan. Just a sliver of light shines from the East, barely cresting over the bright skyline and casting long shadows across the park, though only witnessed by the handful of people within.
There are joggers running their rounds, some people walking their dogs, a few janitors making the last minute sweeps around the place as the holiday weekend beckons to tourists and often sees them filling the grounds on such lovely day as planned for today.
It's mostly quiet, save for that eternal low hum of distant traffic. But in the depths of the Park, along the curve of one of the many walk ways. There's the sound of a raised voice as a blond youth seems to be /very/ involved, in yelling at a large black raven.
"I don't care what he wants."
The raven remains silent.
"Then maybe he should stop attacking my dad?"
Again, the raven makes no sound.
"Yes that's my concern, he's my dad? What caused it this time?"
Distractedly, the raven plucks at its feathers, clacks its beak and shifts its grip on the branch upon which it perches.
"Now you're just being disingenuous. There's no point in talking to you when you're this way."


There are plenty of places for running and jogging in Staten Island. Treadmills in Wayne Manor. The entire grounds. Parks. But there's something special about Central Park. So instead of running closer to home, Helena brought Damian into the city for a run in the park this morning. In joggers and a tank top, with her hair in a ponytail, she's moving at a comfortable pace along the trail.

"I did track and field in high school," she explains to Damian as she runs. "Good exercise, good practice, good cover for some things. And a sport that didn't really require a lot of teamwork, you know?"


Damian is in a similar attire as Helena, but for males. Black Tank Top, sweatpants, running shoes. As she speaks, he replies simply. "In Tibet, I often ran along scaffolding and through streets as training for what was ahead. I also enjoyed it for clear thoughts and time on my hands." Of course, Damian doesn't seem to reveal anything else about his past at the moment.

Reach bond level 3 to unlock further dialogue options.

Then Damian is looking upon Helena again. "Did you win any awards for your activity?" Then he sees Alex talking to the Raven, and he elbow-nudges Helena and points his way. Madman, much?


As the pair jog up the path, it seems the youth might not see them. At least not at first with his back toward them. He doesn't seem to stand out in any way. Yankees baseball hat, an NYU backpack, baggy blue jeans, white sneakers, and a black t-shirt that displays what looks like an astronaut on a skateboard made out of stars. Standard fare really for the college-inclined.
But the one-sided conversation doesn't break, at least not initially. "No, you're the one that's being difficult!" The young blond man adjusts his backpack impatiently and scowls
The Raven, for its part, remains nonplussed.
"Look, just stop following me. I'll think about it. Alright? Alright."
And with that Alexander turns his back on the bird and starts walking down the path. Yet if that were all then the two Waynes might consider it just a brief brush with madness in the big city. Except the raven looks up, seems to espy the two siblings, and then SQUAWKS! And abruptly bursts into a puff of smoke, then nothingness.
Alexander stops in mid-stride, seeing the two of them. He looks over his shoulder, no raven, looks back at them. Then he tries a smalls smile, "Oh uh, hi?"


"Nothing important," Helena wrinkles her nose to Damian. "Curse of multi-classing. Can't be the best if you're going to do some of everything. But at least I'm never…"

She pauses as she follows his gaze toward Alexander and the raven disappears into a puff of smoke. "Lost." Well. Not usually lost, at least. Just trying to figure out what she knows about raven spirit messengers. "Uh, hey," she greets with a flash of a smile, slowing to a walk and giving her legs a stretch as she goes.


"You can be the best if you want to be a little bit of everything. Just be the best at your multi-tasking. Easy enough." Damian says, apparently disbelieving of the difficulty of multi-tasking in a field of great intelligence. But either way, his attention immediatley falls next on Phobos.

Silent judging on his arguing with a Raven.

"Hello. Tell me, was your conversation with the bird enlightening?"


The young man opposite them, it's rather clear that if someday they're able to sit him down at a poker table, they're likely to become Rich. Er. Richer. For when they look at him, greet him, they can almost watch the wheels click in his head as he goes through a series of expressions.
First there's mild surprise, then what passes for shrewd consideration as he scrunches up one eye and seems almost a little pained at the fact they saw that.
Then he bites his lower lip and lifts a hand to the back of his neck, while the other points at them as he says, "Funny about that." A pause as he continues to point at them a few times as he works his way through his own explanation.
"So uh. That was… a uh. Prank! By a friend of mine. Who is… who does. A podcast!" He finally settles on the explanation. His bright blue eyes flicker back and forth between them as if to see if they buy it, but the warm smile he gives at least seems a smidge apologetic.
But then he says, "But no, not very enlightening."


Helena arches a brow, looking from Alex to Damian and then back again with a clearing of her throat that suggests she's not even buying a little bit of that story. Though the degree to which she thinks he's crazy is still up in the air.

"Uh huh," she finally says. "Well, uh. Never heard of a raven having much good to say. Then again, the only thing I've ever heard of a raven having to say is 'nevermore.'" Helena, bringing on the literary humor. Nerd.


Not even a little bit buying the story.

Nevertheless, Damian crosses his arms, but he doesn't show his disbelief. A poker face fit for a Texas Hold 'Em game. He then seems to just silently nod. He does seem to appreciate Helena's 'quoth the raven, nevermore' reference. Very nice.

Respect was earned.


"Well," Alexander looks between them and replies to Helena, "There's, Huginn, and Muninn who would ramble a bit." He still has his hand on the back of his neck, but then lowers it as he smiles apologetically, "But yeah that… wasn't either of them."
He then rests his hands at his sides, his backpack sort of hanging off his one shoulder a little precariously. "I'm Alexander," He gestures to himself, "Aaron. Alexander Aaron. Or Alex. If you like."
"Hi."


"Helena," the girl introduces herself with a faint, wry smile. "And my brother, Damian," she points a thunb over at her companion. "Nice to meet you." Damian may notice that she doesn't drop the last name. A lifetime of experience has taught her it's not a great way to actually get to know people.

"Early morning meetings with the birds in the park a regular thing for you, or is this a special occasion?" As she stands, she pulls a water bottle from a belt at her waist, taking a drink. No sense in getting too stiff, after all.


Its like Helena knew that Damian wasn't going to introduce himself to the crazy guy. But at least she didn't drop the last names, he would've been disapproving then. But, its not as if Phobos doesn't know who they are already from past important events and of course, the blood tie. They both look like Bruce (well, Helena takes after her mother more in that sense, but…).

"Alex." Damian repeats the name aloud to memorize it. His eyes scan him. Student. Backpack. Baseball cap. College. definitely goes to NYU. His eyes shake every so slightly when he talks and he repeats his name in different forms. Insecure or wracked with constant uncertainty. Hiding something. (or so these are Damian's basic deductions).

He doesn't seem to say anything else, Helena asking his question for him.


"Yeah, that was… a messenger from my uncle." The youth stuffs his hands into the depths of his jean pockets and looks between them. For a moment he seems to be reaching for a few words and instead of whatever might have fit in that moment he adds, "He's kind of a jerk." Which might be an understatement.
Then he tilts his head to the side, "You guys'll be cool, right?" As he looks between them, bright blue eyes meeting their gaze each in turn. "Last thing I need is you know…" A hand slips from his pocket and he gestures behind himself, "Is more weirdness."


"Yeah." Helena smirks, amused. "I get it. Lot of weirdness going around." That with a bit a of a look in Damian's direction. Sibling relationships are weird already. She can't be blamed if the one with Damian is extra complicated at the moment.

"So I guess your uncle's not much of one for texting, huh? He should try it some time. Or at least get yourself a pair of headphones," she adds, gesturing to her ears. "Makes you look a little less crazy when you're talking to yourself."


"Messenger from your uncle. Did he teach the bird to text?" Damian asks with the very same deadpanned expression. He was clearly not impressed. Kind of a jerky move, actually. But when asked if he'll be cool, Damian shrugs. "Tolerable, more like." he admits.

He lets Helena do the talking. She seems to be good at that. "Have you tried calling in a conventional way? Email works too."


"Well," Alexander seems torn for a moment. But there's no guile in him, no subterfuge. He looks over his shoulder back in the way of the tree and the raven, then tilts his head back to look between them. "He's something of a luddite. I'd say."
He shifts his weight to the other foot, "My family is on the whole… magical side of things. So they're not big on technology." That causes a flicker of a smile as he says, "Took me three days to teach my dad how to use the microwave and he still just hits the button that looks like a pizza slice."
But then he straightens up a little, "But yeah. I'd appreciate your discretion, Helena. Damian." His tone shifts a little, as if adopting a hint of formality.


"Yeah, no worries. Magic's all kinds of weird. My favorite babysitter when I was a kid was full of it." Helena takes everything in stride, as if it's all normal. Too bad nobody gives out awards for that. She takes another sip of her water, smile easy.

"Kudos on getting the microwave part done, though. My parents are pretty good with tech and I still wouldn't try to explain a new cell phone to either of them if I wanted to keep my sanity."


"I wouldn't worry about it. Magic has been witnessed by me on three different occasions, though usually ritualistic." Damian says nonchalantly, apparently not even surprised that Helena's babysitter as a child was a mage. Easily something Batman would've done to ensure his daughter's safety.

But either way, Damian looks around. "I'm going to continue my run." which is his way of saying he doesn't feel like socializing, and then he's running off!


"I," Alexander says as Damian runs past, and then starts to disappear around the bend. "Don't think your friend liked me." The youth says matter-of-factly as he watches after him. Then his attention returns to Helena and he smiles a little, ruefully.
"But yeah, thanks. I'm glad you aren't all…" He lifts his hands and makes what would be jazz hands or sparkle fingers if he was casting a spell of his own, but he's not. "Weirded out by magic."
He does, however, step to the side and out of the way for when she wants to jog onwards.


"Brother. He's got some issues with social skills," Helena notes matter-of-factly as she looks after Damian, shaking her head with a flicker of amusement in her features. "Story of my life."

She keeps an eye out toward where he jogged off, mentally charting his most likely path, before she looks back with a small smile. "Anyhow. Definitely try the earbuds thing," she suggests, starting to walk backwards in that direction. "Should help throw off the bigots a little bit. Probably," she winks, grin crooked. "Never underestimate the power of someone who wants to be mad to find a reason for it."


"Ok, thanks," Alexander calls as he turns as she moves past, giving a wave as well. "Bye!" And he'll lower his hand once she's gone. It's then that he turns and starts walking down the other way of the path, smiling to himself as he murmurs, "Nice people." But then he remembers Damian and adds, "Kinda."


Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License