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

[pearlstrings]

There's still time for new additions.

But I've shared your curiosities. The technology required for a portal seems incongruous to our surroundings, but those kinds of projects are a long way off in my own timeline.

I've made a deal with Pluto that might shed light on a few things. If you're open to comparing notes once the market has finished. I've considered putting together a group.

[webshoots]

Depends on how you view it.

I'm open to it. I get why some people might want to be protective of what they know, but my gut tells me that's only going to work against us in the long run.

[pearlstrings]

Admittedly I prefer a selective audience.

I don't trust the majority of our population to reason. Or prioritize for that matter. Cooler heads prevail, as they say.

[webshoots]

Sure, but there's a limit to insularity.

And I say this as a guy who turned down joining a couple of not-dissimilar clubs for a while because I thought it'd cramp my style.

[pearlstrings]

We'll call you an extrovert.

[And then, in what can only be considered a massive show of trust for Bruce Wayne-]

I have something coming on the next ferry.

[webshoots]

You know my high school dubbed me its only professional wallflower, right?

Can I ask what, or am I not part of your selective audience?

[ a couple of minutes later— ]

I asked Pluto for some tech the last time the market was in town. I was hoping it'd help out with the SOS button, but I've been a little distracted with finding sewers to not name after myself.

[pearlstrings]

[Oh Peter. He wouldn't have said anything at all if you weren't selective audience. #JustBatThings]

Hint Machine says that the hardware for GPS is downtown, but I'm sure we'll need all the tech we can get.

It's a blueprint and history of the Helix Station.

[webshoots]

My “I don’t think it’ll be that easy” sense is tingling, for what it’s worth.

As much as I’m impressed you’ve managed to get that, I’ve got to wonder what you did to get that.

[ he’s not going to ask, but that’s definitely peter “i worry about everyone and everything” parker language for “i worry about everyone and everything”. ]

[pearlstrings]

I don't need a sense like that in order to agree. Somedays I worry it's a waste of time.

[webshoots]

Agreeing with me, things being easy, or trying? Because I've got an answer for each of those and only two of them sound like they've come out of a fortune cookie.

[pearlstrings]

I don't think it will be easy.

I wonder if the SOS function is a waste of time.

[webshoots]

Because you don't think it'll work or you don't think anyone will use it?

If we can get it to work, at least one person will use it. And that's one person that will get help that wouldn't have gotten help if they didn't have it. That's worth it to me.

And if we can't get it to work? At least we can say we tried. Even outside of perfection being the enemy of progress and all (there's fortune cookie quote #2), I'm uniquely qualified to be able to comment on the perils of not doing something when you have the chance and opportunity to.

I even have a quote for that, too.

[pearlstrings]

Neither. People continue to put themselves in danger during exploration, it would be a useful tool. And you're all very capable, I have no doubt that it's a project you can manage.





But does it matter in the long run? Should I advocate for a project that's focused on the immediate future when threats like the World Eaters have barely been addressed? I do believe that people are worth helping, even just the one. But how many projects like this can go on before the cost is too high? Time is the most precious resource we have.

[webshoots]

I can't answer that for you. It depends on your priorities and where you place the needs of the many and the greater good.

I know my answer to that, but I also know it's not an easy question to have to face.

[pearlstrings]

What is your answer?

1/2

[webshoots]

They're both worth it.

The World Eaters are a problem that can't be ignored or underestimated, and do I think that they're a concern that's maybe taken a backseat to the idea of 'finding answers out about Beacon'? Yeah, a bit, but those two things might not be mutually exclusive. Sure, having a slumber party with candy from the theater probably isn't the answer to anything but we also can't forget the value of taking a break for five minutes. I've seen what exhaustion and low morale can do, so I'm not going to begrudge anyone needing a break from having an existential crisis for 90 minutes.

But then there are questions - projects - like your SOS button. Could I live with myself if I thought I had the chance to help someone who needed help, but decided my time was better spent doing something else? I don't know. I don't know if all of my time and energy can be given to the question of the World Eaters without me going a little bit crazy. I just don't know enough about them. It. Here.

So the question becomes 'if I can't do THAT, what can I do?' It doesn't mean I give up wondering how to deal with the World Eaters, it just means I focus on something that I can see an end to. Sure, it might be a little bit selfish, but I also know I've got the ability to change something and make a difference there.

And if I don't figure out the answer of how to stop the World Eaters? At least I've helped a few people in the meantime.

But honestly? I'm not prepared to think about the cost of losing against the World Eaters, because that's not a price I'm willing to pay. I'm just not willing to forget I've got a duty to the smaller things too.

[webshoots]

My girlfriend always used to tell me I have a responsibility problem.

[pearlstrings]

Thank you Peter. This conversation has been very useful.

[webshoots]

Ookay.

I'm glad you got what you needed out of it.

[pearlstrings]

I'm not sure if I got what I needed.

But it's a helpful point to reexamine from.

[webshoots]

[ ah— ]

But you need to consider why, too.

I'm not going to say you should take the weight of the world on your shoulders. I'm not going to say that you need to get hung up on every avenue out there.

You asked for my answer and that's what works for me. It's not the right answer. It's definitely not even the best answer, so I'd recommend taking it with a grain of salt.

If you don't know if what you're doing is worth it, think about why you want to do it. Not the why of the moment, the why of what made you want to do it in the first place.

That'll go a ways towards telling you if you're making a good decision or if you're three steps away from having an emotional meltdown, too. Just by-the-by.

[pearlstrings]

What if your motives can't always be trusted?

[webshoots]

[ that’s a question.

truthfully, peter’s not sure if he’s ever been in a position where he’s not been sure of his motives, where he’s looked back and been distrustful of his own feelings or thoughts. he’s emotional, he knows that, but being distrustful of himself is quite different to knowing, wholly, that his motives have been poor, or bad, or even questionable at best. well-meaning, probably, but in a selfish and self-serving way: when may had been shot and lay in a coma, he’d been totally dedicated to revenge and vengeance in a way that he knew he should have felt guilty for and about but hadn’t.

when it comes to other people — it’s a different matter entirely. peter’s aware he’d probably be described as naïve or exceptionally trusting, but it’s more so that peter prefers to look for the best in a person; and when he can’t, he doesn’t have a choice but to extend a degree of trust.

bruce is very particular in how he phrased things. peter’s sure that when he says can’t be trusted that it’s the phrasing he means. ]

I don’t know.

[ he knows he’s arrogant. he knows he’s prone to a belief that because of everything he’s seen and done and experienced, he — as spider-man — knows best in so many matters. he’s been called out on it more than once by cops, by the public. it’s something he often tried to remind himself of.

(and yet he still makes jokes.) ]

I think that’s just called being human. You make a choice and you think it’s the right one. You think you’re doing the right thing for the right reasons. If it goes wrong and you have to think about that why a little more deeply... I think you either learn from it or you don’t. You learn a little bit more about who you are as a person and the decisions you’re capable of making and for what reason.

I guess you can only learn what to trust by learning what not to trust.

And sometimes that’s going to be a painful lesson.

[pearlstrings]

It isn't the prospect of pain that bothers me.

It's the collateral damage.

[webshoots]

I wasn't talking about physical pain.

[ there's a delay between the first message and the second message — collateral damage, as much as peter wouldn't phrase it quite like that, is what bothers him. has always bothered him. hurt him. stayed with him.

ben was his first real loss, a reminder of what could happen if he made the wrong choice; whilst gwen remains his greatest mistake. ]

I've been there. I've made choices that I thought were the right ones when I made them and other people have suffered because of it.

They were the wrong choices, made for the wrong reasons. The wrong "motive", to use your term.

[ is message number two. he hasn't mentioned ben to anyone here; he's mentioned gwen, loosely and vaguely to quentin, but only as a point of reference, an example of shared understanding of knowing how it feels to lose someone you imagined spending the rest of your life with.

it's uncomfortable to spell out in text and he thinks that he'd be better at it in person. ]

I wish I could say there was a way to make sure you didn't make those decisions, but there isn't. You're not perfect. You're never going to make the right call 100% of the time, that's not how this works.

People are going to get hurt because of you and that's something you're going to have to carry with you for the rest of your life.

I'm going to be trying to make up for my mistakes for the rest of mine, and that's a small price to pay.

If I could go back and change them, would I? Would I make a different decision? Yeah. Of course I would. I'm human. I'm selfish.

But that ... I'm not going to call it collateral damage, because they were more than that. It's not a fair trade-off.

But it should bother you.

It means I do better next time. And the time after that. And the time after that.

You make mistakes. You make horrifying mistakes that you can't imagine making up for, but you try. That's what makes you different.

Or it should.