cohero | (Reply)

From:

"I don't remember a lot, but we used to practice every day when I'd go by to talk to her. They were my family, my home. It was hard to go from never having a place as my home to being forced to live in one. I hated it so much. I was used to traveling. The open road was my life." Dick talks as they walk from one exhibit toward the next. Strolling through the zoo is nice. There are other little exhibits on the way, big free ranges for little tiny deer like animals, and monkeys of differing types.

"I-- I feel a lot of different ways. I was so filled with rage toward the person who killed my parents. I wanted to kill him myself. I went out night after night, actively seeking a mobster by myself. In a way, Bruce gave me the skills to not get myself killed. In a way, he turned me into what he was, a mini-Batman. He used me. Stole my childhood. I never had playdates, or learned how to be normal. I didn't realize it until later." Dick shrugged. He's taken some time to get it back, but he's still obviously detached in odd ways, and desensitized in other ways.

There's a darkness in him that he doesn't share with anyone, because he's afraid to let it out. The things that he thinks about at times, he feels it would scare other people. The things he fantasizes about aren't always innocent either. He mentioned it to one girlfriend and she left him. Not a thing to bring up on a first date.

"It's why I finally did leave Bruce and it all behind and try to start the Titans, but I had to go farther. I had to leave Robin, and I became Nightwing. I know that I want to keep helping people, as much I can, but I can do that as my own person."

"Anyways" He shrugs, "Here's the polar bears. Maybe..." All Dick can see right now are big ice floes and lots of snow, no polar bears. "I wonder if they're inside eating, or sleeping. That really stinks about the Vancouver zoo enclosure. I would hate for bears to be in something so small. I know they used to be like that for a lot of animals a while back, before all the zoos started really caring about the animals the way they should."