Post by Batman on Sept 21, 2012 17:45:22 GMT -6
There was an odd sense of stability in the Bat-Family. Anyone outside of the Bat-Family would assume that their lives were random and it was impossible to set into a normal pattern. Yet Dick knew differently. He had spent over ten years as the protégé of Bruce Wayne and as a defender of Gotham and as a result he had realized certain things about his life. There was never peace and there was never a period when something wasn’t about to happen. Someone was always plotting. Someone was always scheming. There was always someone out there about to do something insane or dangerous or scarring. It was almost to the point where Dick Grayson had become desensitized to tragedy. It was why he had been able to take on the mantle of Batman nearly immediately after his father’s death. His inherent paranoia that had been born from years of stress and heartache just made things easier to deal with.
So when Starfire told him that her constant inability to find a sense of normalcy or pattern was her source of unease Dick could only feel amusement. It wasn’t that Dick couldn’t empathize with her. He definitely knew how she felt. There had been several times in his life when his life had felt unstable and he had felt loss. He had long since come to realize that these had been times when he had distanced himself from Bruce. The man’s insane mythos had attracted Dick for so many reasons when he was a youngster. Yet when he had grown into his own he had realized his desire to help people had outweighed his need for revenge. This had caused a rift between Bruce and Dick so many times. Soon Dick had realized that Bruce’s mythos wasn’t based on revenge. Bruce’s reasons for fighting crime were based on revenge. When he realized that they wanted the same thing for different reasons it had become easier to accept Bruce’s mission.
Maybe it was the same with Starfire.
Dick felt as if her problem was ridiculously easy to solve. It wasn’t Starfire’s fault that she didn’t see the solution. She didn’t have the benefit of hindsight nor did she have the same responsibilities as Dick did. It had always been Dick’s mission to make sure his friends were happy. Not just because they were his friends but also because dissatisfied heroes never bode well for the people they saved. Dick felt like he knew how to give Kori the sense of meaning she needed. She was just another element in the epic plan to save the world. She just needed to find her place. This was all from the perspective of a leader. From the perspective of a friend Dick wanted nothing more than Starfire to be happy. And maybe they’d both be happy if they were allowed to open up to each other again. “Look, Star-“ Dick heard a door open behind him. “Mr. Grayson, we’re ready for your solo photo-op.” Dick sighed. “Duty calls.” He said to Starfire before he leaned forward (and was also forced to step on the tips of his toes) to kiss her on the cheek.
“We’ll talk later. Look for my signal.” He winked at her before turning and heading back inside. Maybe they didn’t need to be in a relationship but Dick knew that they needed each other.
[Exit Dick]
