inbox

[pearlstrings]

bruce wayne @ᴡᴀʏɴᴇ @ʙʀᴜᴄᴇ audio & text

PLEASE NOTE: Bruce has two inboxes.

His official user id for the network is Bruce and if you meet in person, in the unlikely event he gave you his contact details, this is the ID he would give you.

That said, his conversations on the network have largely been under the id of Wayne, as a way to keep his two identities separated.
This is the username he uses most often and he will answer replies to that handle- there just seems to be no physical person on the registry to link it to.

Comments

[evulsed]

[ Bastard. ]

Stop acting so smart and just come help me find the stupid theatre.

I don't know what it looks like.

Are you satisfied?

[pearlstrings]

I didn't want to intrude. It's your decision to make, Vanitas.

[evulsed]

What are you getting at?

[pearlstrings]

I won't come unless you invite me. I don't want to take that decision from you.

[evulsed]

That's stupid.

[pearlstrings]

Is it?

Why?

[evulsed]

You should just take what you want. Otherwise you'll never get anything.

[pearlstrings]

Perhaps.

But I'm willing to risk it.

[evulsed]

[ it makes him angry, to see this ]

That must be nice for you.

[pearlstrings]

I actually find it very uncomfortable.

Why are you reluctant to have control over this?

[evulsed]

[ He's never gotten anything he's ever asked for, he doesn't want to ask and hear the 'no'. So why not just cut it off at the head? ]

I'm not!

Just say you don't want to go!

I don't even care.

[pearlstrings]

Weren't you just telling me to go after what you want?

[evulsed]

Shut up

I

[ ...was trying. ]

I already asked so if you're not

Just forget it

I'll do it myself I don't need any of you

[pearlstrings]

[Vanitas is not particularly difficult to read. In someways it's almost childlike, the way in which he feels things aloud, as if he hasn't been conditioned socially to disguise what another might consider an 'ugly' response. Bruce likes this quality because it is direct and because, for better or worse, it is honest. Vanitas's reply comes in small pieces at a time and Bruce waits them out entirely, waits until the silence reigns- and then he considers his options.

It's possible that Vanitas will simply choose to lick his wounds in private, that this is all he may want to do. But Bruce suspects that it is a lack of experience that behind these actions- the inability to imagine a different outcome than his worst case scenario. Perhaps that is all he's ever known.

He climbs to his feet and makes the small trek to what is, on an unofficial level, Vanitas's room inside the museum. And hovers quietly at the entrance. One hand lifts and his knuckles tap against the doorframe, a kind of knock.]

[evulsed]

[ It's embarrassment.

Vanitas did ask, he convinces himself. This was him asking, and after Bruce pressed, he did, didn't he? Come right out and say it, despite the ways he didn't want to, expecting the rejection before it ever came?

Who cares, he tells himself, hot with humiliation. It didn't even matter, he'll just go and look for himself. How hard could finding a theatre be? Then he'll just go take the film reel, the way Bruce thought he would have. He'll have his answers—

The knock comes and the Unversed that have spilled out of him all jerk toward the noise in unison with his own, four pairs of slanted red eyes and one set of gold. Vanitas stands up quickly, like he's ready for a fight, hands in fists at his sides. ]

[pearlstrings]

I'm sorry that I upset you.

[There's a time for subterfuge and subtlety, and there's a time to do without. Bruce does not wear his heart on his sleeve. He hasn't for many, many years. But that doesn't mean he's careless with the feelings of others. Not when he can help it.

It's the reason he replies the way he does, with honesty and immediacy. That he doesn't turn away when five sets of eyes whirl on him and look- glowing unnaturally in the dark. That he doesn't flinch when Vanitas jolts to his feet, red faced, with both hands in a pair of fists. He looks prepared to fight. Bruce looks prepared to surrender.]

That wasn't my intention.

[evulsed]

[ He's disarmed by everything that follows. From the I'm sorry, to the soft angles of Bruce's demeanor— Vanitas isn't sure what he expected, but this isn't it. Uncertainty flashes all over his expression, and while he doesn't look away from Bruce, it's clear that he's utterly out of his depth.

I'm sorry I upset you? The words strung together, directed at him, fail to find any comprehension in his head and it's clear with the way Vanitas just stares, at a loss for words. ]

[pearlstrings]

[He knows immediately that he's stepped outside the realm of the known. Vanitas has limited experiences and by extension, a limited frame of reference. Bruce does not know his life story, but there have been enough comments and enough evidence for inferences to guide him. It's the reason he isn't cowed by the lack of reaction that follows- by Vanitas's continued staring, by the absence of movement.

Bruce makes no attempt to move further into the room because he hasn't been invited- and because he is trying to respect the boundaries of others. Even when it is inconvenient.]

I had wanted to demonstrate that I wasn't going to make an assumption and take the decision from you. I'm... [A beat.] Not very good at cooperating.

[evulsed]

[ It's awkward, maybe because both of them are in some ways, outside their zones of comfort. Bruce lingers in the doorway, offering his explanation, stuck in a liminal space not quite gone and not invited. Vanitas, utterly lost for this display of compassion, has no idea how to respond to it.

In fact, it seems to take him a moment to understand what, exactly Bruce is trying to say. That he wasn't dodging the question, that he was only trying to actively let Vanitas decide for himself. I'm not good at cooperating, doesn't make any sense to him, but maybe that has as much to the do with the fact Vanitas also lacks that skill as anything else.

After a few long uncomfortable seconds, Vanitas' gaze cuts away. He glances to his left, then down at the ground, then off toward his right, like he can't figure out what he's supposed to do, or how he's supposed to act.

This goes on for a few more seconds, before he finally capitulates with: ]

Neither am I.

[ Without looking back at Bruce. ]

[pearlstrings]

[It is a compromise. Perhaps not one that just anyone might recognize, but Bruce has found their conversations to be- a more familiar language than those he has with others. He's learned in Gotham how to be many things, often all at once. But those 'many things' are rarely true reflections of who he is. Bruce is not a good person. He knows this and does not require anyone to convince him otherwise, he does not lose sleep over it.

Vanitas is not a good person either. There are ghosts that haunt them both and there is an immense comfort in knowing that he will not be asked. That he will be accepted as is. It brings them to this moment again, and Bruce considers what he knows to be fact- that Vanitas may not have the capacity or ability to meet him the rest of the way. But Bruce can supply him the tools and the opportunity.]

Ask me again, please.

[evulsed]

[ Bruce has a way of talking that's doesn't always feel like a conversation. There's a subtleness to it, like he isn't just speaking. It slides like silk, it's like the way a curtain will coast over an open window, filtering the light of the moon. There are times that Vanitas thinks if he didn't look at see him, he wouldn't be entirely sure Bruce was there.

This is one of those times.

Vanitas can see him from the corner of his eye, despite the determination with which he averts his gaze. He's a shadowy cut out, his lantern casting a halo around him. He shifts his weight. The silence stretches again. Vanitas is quite visibly trying to work up the nerve to say anything at all.

It takes probably a solid minute of fumbling, awkward silence, until all at once Vanitas bursts out with: ]

Are you going to come find the stupid theatre or not?

[ Flushed and staring angrily at the wall to Bruce's left. He glances briefly at the other boy, before his eyes dart away again. ]

[pearlstrings]

[Silence reigns and for a long moment Bruce isn't entirely sure what the outcome will be. He can expect that it will go one of two directions- that Vanitas will either dig his heels in for the sake of discomfort and refuse to try again. Or he will begrudgingly fumble for something else. It's an uncomfortable experience, to surrender control.

Vanitas shifts his weight, doesn't look up and instead casts around in every other viable direction. Around him the unversed are equally uncertain. And then, as if he hasn't been hesitating at all, Vanitas booms in his direction, looks up, but not quite at him.]

Yes.

Thank you for inviting me.

[evulsed]

[ Bruce doesn't keep him waiting. Truthfully, Vanitas can't really remember a time that he did. Not when it mattered. Vanitas nearly shouts the question at him for its abruptness, and Bruce replies almost immediately, even and calm. A shore for Vanitas to break against.

He looks quickly back at Bruce, maybe somehow surprised by the immediacy of it. He inhales, then lets it out in a sharp, short burst. ]

Good.

[ Vanitas would never say he pouts, but from an outside perspective it almost looks like that. Especially as he glances away, rubbing the meat of his palm against his eye. The Unversed at his ankles seem to de-escalate, their focus on Bruce tapering off from the intense stares from before. ]