[ He's concerned. Without the glasses to hide it, it shows a little more clearly. Maybe not to Dick, but to a more casual observer. Something around his eyes and the lines around them and whether he's looking much younger, or about his age.
He also feels like he needs to be careful with Dick, though less careful than he is with Jason. Just differently, too.]
Remind me that I especially never want anything to do with Star City.
[Dick reads people better than the casual observer. He reads them like intuition's a career path. Scott isn't exactly the toughest of books to pry open - at the moment, anyway.
So, after a minute, he sits. Folding a leg under him in a way that means he can still get himself to standing in a single spring.]
You don't know that much about me, do you. I don't know how much you've been told.
I haven't been told anything, really. Wait, Jay told me you were brothers.
[ His smile is wry and rueful, not dissimilar to one of Jean's smiles, really, when she's a little embarrassed or pained about something -- but smaller and a lot more restrained. More in, ironically, his eyes than the curve of his mouth. ]
I haven't had a lot of conversations with Logan [ or Jay -- for very different reasons. ] If you haven't told me, I don't know it.
[ Scott's snort in response to that joke is inelegant, unrefined, and amused anyway. In spite of himself. ]
You've told me quite a bit. [ Or made it observable. Hypnos, the vampirism, the relationship with Jay and Logan, talk about mean streets, going where he was needed, the state of his body. ] Just how young did you start?
[That's... a question with a few answers, really. But the truth of it has always been the age he was when he picked up a gun and went out to find his parent's killer.
He holds a hand out, twisting it to indicate this is a rough approximation, but -]
[ Without his glasses on, Scott's startled expression and confusion are really readily apparent. Would be to Dick anyway, probably, but more so without them. He glances down the building for a moment, before looking back to Dick.
Now with some dry, pretty dead-pan humor. ]
What, a blank check to ask questions? It might not be the usual outcome, but I don't know that it needs an apology.
Let's turn it around. Is there anything you don't know about me, but want to?
Assuming his expression was what he thinks it was, which... hard to say.
Murdered parents? Sad, but not outside the level of trauma he... sees too much of. Nine year old deciding (or feeling they had to) do something and being able to do it? Outside the norm and concerning but not shocking. ]
[Dick's lips circle an oh, - still, it seems fairly evident to him. Maybe it's just that he's the only traumatized person he knows who didn't use it as an excuse to throw social skills out of the window.
...]
Maybe it's just that I'm the only one in my family who didn't let trauma mean throwing social skills out of the window. You want some smaller talk at any point, I'll be good for it.
[ It's not really a joke - there is truth there - but it isn't a whole truth, either. Also not really what the discussion here is. He doesn't need or want smaller talk, anyway.]
X-men? 16. Parents? 7, though my dad wasn't actually dead. I thought he was, he thought it was better that way, but he was off [ he gestures upward, though the sky is definitely not the one he knows ] being a space pirate.
[ Scott has reached a point of being comfortable with Dick. A lot (most) of that is Dick's personality. Some of it is the intersection between Dick knowing things, thanks to his relationship with Logan, and Dick not having a close relationship and a lot of expectations about him in particular.
Outside, but not entirely outside.
He cracks a crooked smile, because yeah. Space pirates are weird.
Then backs up.]
We thought they were dead because the plane we were in was going down. It was actually the Shi'ar - aliens. Both of them got taken. Dad lived, mom didn't. So. It was a guilt thing, basically.
[Dick accepts this, the sad parts and the alien parts (he nearly married a space princess, these things happen) and the part that makes a painful kind of sense. Guilt can be a doozy.
He's quiet long enough to take it in, then gestures with one arm, casually.]
Guilt's the reason my adoptive father's a giant crime-fighting bat.
I barely blinked at Space Pirate and you're going to hassle me over Batman?
[It's a tease, you don't live this long as a small brightly coloured assistant to someone in a bat onesie and not appreciate the absurdity.]
He wanted to instill fear in people, and he's afraid of bats so - he might have overestimated how universal that feeling is. But he does have sonar. Me too. It's in the suit.
Batman's who stopped me from killing the man who murdered them. It was a longer fall for me than them but with a better ending. Bruce is who caught me.
[It's not without sentimentality. These are the defining motives of his life - the reason he, guilty as anyone, finds to stay alive. If, maybe, his life can be of use.]
[ He really isn't sure where literal and metaphor intersect there, but after a second of thought decides it doesn't matter. ]
I landed on my head, but eventually with Charles. He built the team around me. I'm sure that saved my life. Also why I do what I do. Or did what I did.
[Charles. He's picked up on more than a few mixed feelings around that man, but every one of them passionate. Not unlike what people must pick up when he talks about Bruce.
Since they're on commonalities - he slides a glance across.]
I've thought about setting up a team, here. How about you?
[ Scott looks Dick dead in the eyes, lifts both of his eyebrows and keeps his voice so deadpan it's frankly making a mockery of himself. Exaggerated 'innocence' but without actually trying to sell it. ]
I have no idea what you're talking about. What would I possibly do with a team. I just put out periodic calls for experienced people looking for advanced combat training. It's how I make a living here.
[ Yeah. He's thought about it. You want his notes? Because there are notes. Very, very sketchy ones that look innocent. ]
A few months before you got here I put a call out for skilled or powered people - not just fighters. Magic users, telepaths - we had a few more mutants, then, we had technopaths, aliens, hackers.
I called it a network - just to train together, have people to call on when we needed to. [And the aim, of course, was ultimately to narrow it to a team of the most capable and a pool of reserves and lookouts.] Most of that network's gone and - I admit - I let more of it slip than I should have.
[He tips his head back, looking up to where pale clouds skim across the black of the sky. Of course, never being able to put things in plain terms doesn't help.]
There are plenty of threats, here - giant tigers, tentacle monsters [Themselves.] And whenever something happens the response is a piecemeal mess. Having a response unit couldn't be a bad thing. At least, people tell me I shouldn't try and do everything myself.
[As long as it doesn't look like they're arming themselves to bring down the system.
[ This is the first time Scott has so much alluded to doing anything, to anyone. The need for that level of discretion certainly does not make it easy to get shit done.
It also makes his relationship with his son complicated and tense.
It is what it is.
He unfolds and leans back onto his elbows so he can look up, more than out. Still moving carefully but a lot more normally, too.]
There's a lot of chaos that is inherent in the place. You'll never keep people from responding on their own, but some of it could certainly be cut out with a little careful organization.
The continual turn over in who's here's it's own sort of problem. People who keep turning up for their training session does a decent job of tracking that subset, but I'm probably overdue for putting out an offer for newer arrivals who might need to burn off some aggression. [ Ie: Find out who's there and pissed and can hold their own. ]
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2022-06-04 11:36 pm (UTC)He also feels like he needs to be careful with Dick, though less careful than he is with Jason. Just differently, too.]
Remind me that I especially never want anything to do with Star City.
[ Carefully casual, but not for too long. ]
That's a lot of mean streets to be on.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-05 12:30 am (UTC)[Dick reads people better than the casual observer. He reads them like intuition's a career path. Scott isn't exactly the toughest of books to pry open - at the moment, anyway.
So, after a minute, he sits. Folding a leg under him in a way that means he can still get himself to standing in a single spring.]
You don't know that much about me, do you. I don't know how much you've been told.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-05 12:36 am (UTC)[ His smile is wry and rueful, not dissimilar to one of Jean's smiles, really, when she's a little embarrassed or pained about something -- but smaller and a lot more restrained. More in, ironically, his eyes than the curve of his mouth. ]
I haven't had a lot of conversations with Logan [ or Jay -- for very different reasons. ] If you haven't told me, I don't know it.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-05 12:47 am (UTC)[A beat - while they both have dark hair and light eyes, the finer similarities aren't there, and he's clearly teasing even before he goes on:]
Broken.
[There's a light curve to one corner of Dick's, mouth. If he's wary, it's not about conversation. Just habit, long ingrained.]
So when I say I'm used to meaner streets, is there anything you want to ask?
no subject
Date: 2022-06-05 12:52 am (UTC)You've told me quite a bit. [ Or made it observable. Hypnos, the vampirism, the relationship with Jay and Logan, talk about mean streets, going where he was needed, the state of his body. ] Just how young did you start?
no subject
Date: 2022-06-05 01:32 am (UTC)He holds a hand out, twisting it to indicate this is a rough approximation, but -]
Nine.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-05 01:34 am (UTC)It isn't the first thing on his mind, though. ]
Why?
[ That is really young.]
no subject
Date: 2022-06-05 01:41 am (UTC)That's how old I was when I witnessed the murder of my parents. And after that, it didn't seem like there were a lot of other choices.
[He winces, a little, but it's sympathy for having to lay this on Scott so bluntly rather than any pain in saying it.]
Sorry, when they say flattery gets you everywhere this isn't usually the direction they mean.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-05 01:46 am (UTC)Now with some dry, pretty dead-pan humor. ]
What, a blank check to ask questions? It might not be the usual outcome, but I don't know that it needs an apology.
Let's turn it around. Is there anything you don't know about me, but want to?
no subject
Date: 2022-06-05 01:49 am (UTC)[There are a dozen, but let's start with the obvious one.]
What was that look for?
[Because he's seen shock, seen pity, but that wasn't quite it.]
no subject
Date: 2022-06-05 01:54 am (UTC)Assuming his expression was what he thinks it was, which... hard to say.
Murdered parents? Sad, but not outside the level of trauma he... sees too much of. Nine year old deciding (or feeling they had to) do something and being able to do it? Outside the norm and concerning but not shocking. ]
Because you winced, and then apologized to me.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-05 02:00 am (UTC)...]
Maybe it's just that I'm the only one in my family who didn't let trauma mean throwing social skills out of the window. You want some smaller talk at any point, I'll be good for it.
But, since we're asking. How old were you?
no subject
Date: 2022-06-05 02:07 am (UTC)[ It's not really a joke - there is truth there - but it isn't a whole truth, either. Also not really what the discussion here is. He doesn't need or want smaller talk, anyway.]
X-men? 16. Parents? 7, though my dad wasn't actually dead. I thought he was, he thought it was better that way, but he was off [ he gestures upward, though the sky is definitely not the one he knows ] being a space pirate.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-22 11:07 pm (UTC)[He takes a seat next to Scott, easy in his company, despite the subject matter.]
Why did he think it was better? Nobody ever told him his dog went to live on a farm, before?
no subject
Date: 2022-06-22 11:16 pm (UTC)Outside, but not entirely outside.
He cracks a crooked smile, because yeah. Space pirates are weird.
Then backs up.]
We thought they were dead because the plane we were in was going down. It was actually the Shi'ar - aliens. Both of them got taken. Dad lived, mom didn't. So. It was a guilt thing, basically.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-22 11:30 pm (UTC)He's quiet long enough to take it in, then gestures with one arm, casually.]
Guilt's the reason my adoptive father's a giant crime-fighting bat.
[#relatable.]
no subject
Date: 2022-06-22 11:33 pm (UTC)Less relatable: ]
Why a bat? Assuming he isn't actually a bat and doesn't have sonar.
[ Does Dick know? Because that's a really weird one.
Unlike 'wolverine'. or cyclops.]
no subject
Date: 2022-06-22 11:50 pm (UTC)[It's a tease, you don't live this long as a small brightly coloured assistant to someone in a bat onesie and not appreciate the absurdity.]
He wanted to instill fear in people, and he's afraid of bats so - he might have overestimated how universal that feeling is. But he does have sonar. Me too. It's in the suit.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-22 11:54 pm (UTC)And to think, I settled for spandex and a shutter trigger in my gloves. I should have held out longer.
[ It's an easy, dry, sort of humor ]
So Batman is who took you in after your parents died?
no subject
Date: 2022-06-22 11:57 pm (UTC)[It's not without sentimentality. These are the defining motives of his life - the reason he, guilty as anyone, finds to stay alive. If, maybe, his life can be of use.]
And that's why I do what I do.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-23 12:01 am (UTC)I landed on my head, but eventually with Charles. He built the team around me. I'm sure that saved my life. Also why I do what I do. Or did what I did.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-23 12:12 am (UTC)Since they're on commonalities - he slides a glance across.]
I've thought about setting up a team, here. How about you?
no subject
Date: 2022-06-23 12:16 am (UTC)I have no idea what you're talking about. What would I possibly do with a team. I just put out periodic calls for experienced people looking for advanced combat training. It's how I make a living here.
[ Yeah. He's thought about it. You want his notes? Because there are notes. Very, very sketchy ones that look innocent. ]
no subject
Date: 2022-06-23 10:08 am (UTC)A few months before you got here I put a call out for skilled or powered people - not just fighters. Magic users, telepaths - we had a few more mutants, then, we had technopaths, aliens, hackers.
I called it a network - just to train together, have people to call on when we needed to. [And the aim, of course, was ultimately to narrow it to a team of the most capable and a pool of reserves and lookouts.] Most of that network's gone and - I admit - I let more of it slip than I should have.
[He tips his head back, looking up to where pale clouds skim across the black of the sky. Of course, never being able to put things in plain terms doesn't help.]
There are plenty of threats, here - giant tigers, tentacle monsters [Themselves.] And whenever something happens the response is a piecemeal mess. Having a response unit couldn't be a bad thing. At least, people tell me I shouldn't try and do everything myself.
[As long as it doesn't look like they're arming themselves to bring down the system.
Doesn't look like it.]
no subject
Date: 2022-06-23 11:35 am (UTC)It also makes his relationship with his son complicated and tense.
It is what it is.
He unfolds and leans back onto his elbows so he can look up, more than out. Still moving carefully but a lot more normally, too.]
There's a lot of chaos that is inherent in the place. You'll never keep people from responding on their own, but some of it could certainly be cut out with a little careful organization.
The continual turn over in who's here's it's own sort of problem. People who keep turning up for their training session does a decent job of tracking that subset, but I'm probably overdue for putting out an offer for newer arrivals who might need to burn off some aggression. [ Ie: Find out who's there and pissed and can hold their own. ]