concoursec | Every step you take

Entry tags:

Every step you take

Character(s): Robin (Damian Razem), Applejack
Location: Quad
Rating: G-PG at most
Open/Closed/Finished: Closed
Summary: It's been more than a month and Damian hasn't seen the other Robin anywhere. So he's taken to "watching" AJ ~~and other blondes around Garden~~ to make sure they're not secretly a superhero. This obviously can't end well.

It'd been a while since he was last in costume. After that fiasco with Aang - which actually ended well, now that Damian thought about it - he'd avoided the costume, save for Disciplinary Committee patrols with Seifer. (Ha! The sooner he quit that joint, the better off he'd be. Really.) Adjusting his goggles, he cautiously watched the area from the highest vantage point possible.

His target - that blonde girl with the country accent - was in sight! And she didn't really seem to notice he was around! Double points. Comfortably settling himself, Robin continued to watch her for any signs of suspicious activity. If she were Robin, surely she'd give herself away sometime this evening.

... Hopefully being the keyword. (Robin really didn't want to do this again, though it would be a good excuse to shirk his duties.)

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Completely unaware that she was being watched, Applejack quite happily got on with what she was doing. She was never really one for sticking around indoors in any weather, let along a lovely sunny afternoon like this one turned out to be. Nope, she found a spot in the Quad to sit and do something completely boring - reread the letters she had received in the post.

"You know, it sure would be handy if the postal service could get these things to me on time. A lot can happen in two weeks!"

It was like Allah_swt was laughing at him! Robin gritted his teeth and jumped from tree to tree to get a better vantage point. Maybe those letters said something about her being a hero! ... Even if Balamb really didn't have anything resembling superheroes.

Also, he suspected he'd have to tell her eventually: the postal service? Who uses that anymore? (She did, apparently. The technophile in Robin was slowly dying a slow and painful death in this place.)

The letters weren't anything big - just from her family. After all, Applejack came from somewhere not far from Timber. When it came to cross-continental communication, the postal service was the most reliable way to communicate with her family. Besides, Applejack wasn't entirely sure Granny Smith would know how to work a computer.

"Well," she said to herself, putting the letter back in the bag. "Looks like they're doing just a mite better. Just as long as they don't gotta send Apple Bloom off to Garden - Galbadia Garden is not the place for the poor girl."

Apple Bloom? Were her parents hippies? Robin rested his head on his chin and mused over the information in his head. It sounded pretty boring - she got letters from her family - and.. well, not informative. But what did Boss say? There was information in everything?

She had friends in this world from outside Garden. He supposed it was possible - Robins knew how to schmooze with the locals of any city - but he couldn't accept or deny the possibility just yet. Maybe if she said something else. Anything else. Just something more useful than "her parents are hippies because they don't name their children Luke."

Well, Applejack apparently wasn't giving away too much. There wasn't much to give, after all, though if Robin were to chat with her she'd gladly try to sell him some apples.

"Alrighty then, I'd better go and check on Winona. I dare say it's time for a bit of exercise for the ol' girl."

Good things came to those who waited. Robin gritted his teeth--could this subject get any more boring? If she wasn't going to give him answers, then slag, he was going to find them himself.

Carefully pulling a batarang from his utility belt, he held it out for a moment before tossing it down in AJ's direction. With his luck - which often didn't happen these days - it'd land straight into that tree, only a few inches from her head. Of course, this was also assuming Robin had good luck. This sadly? Sometimes wasn't the case.

It had been flying pretty much straight at Applejack's head, before she bent down to pick her a pen that had fallen out of her bag. That was when it hit the tree, and Applejack got up to investigate the noise.

"Well, I never!" she said, hands on her hips as she looked at the offending object. "What if that had hit somebody? What kinda crazy person goes throwing around this sorta thing here?" Applejack picked up the weapon and looked around for whatever idiot had thrown this, determined to give them a piece of her mind.

If she was acting, she was damn good at it. Robin cursed under his breath before cautiously pressing himself against the tree. He wasn't going to show himself just yet...! What would Boss do? He'd... he'd... wait this out and see if she'd latch the blame onto someone else.

This being just about the most boring part of Garden right now, Robin was pretty much out of luck. Just about no one was in sight at the moment; the last gaggle of schoolgirls had filtered out about five minutes ago. Brilliant.

On seeing nobody around, Applejack huffed a little and, muttering to herself along the lines of "darn kids, it's sure to be a young'un what's gone done that and skedaddled" began to investigate the direction she thought it had come from.

Oh, she was going to find whoever had thrown that thing. And, with the length of rope hanging from her waist, she was going to darn well catch them before they ran.

Run? No, masked vigilantes like Robin hid and waited until the danger was clear before escaping. Some might call it chicken, but Robin called it "slagging smart." Cautiously, he brought his glove to his face and turned on his invisibility shield before slowly climbing down and attempting to--well, hide in plain sight.

That's when he noticed the lasso. Okay, change of plans: run before the pretty not-Robin who's-pretending-to-be-a-native lassos him and turns him in. Even if it meant he'd make noise the whole time.

What in the hay was all that noise? Applejack couldn't see a thing, but whatever was running was making a lot of noise about it. "Oh no you don't!" she said, starting to run in the vague direction she could hear noise in - and AJ certainly wasn't the slowest pony in the field.

It would take her ears to catch the kid, and then she would give the invisibility thing a good ponder - that just didn't make a lick of sense. What was that, some sort of fancy Esthar trick?

He glanced over his shoulder vaguely to see her chasing him down. Crap. Any moment and she'd---well, she'd catch up to him in no time. In his haste to get away, he'd tripped over a rock and nearly sprained his ankle. "Slag!"

The invisibility shield down, Robin cursed himself and inspected his ankle before staring at AJ and wincing. Man, he probably deserved it, but could he at least have a minute before getting his just desserts?

"There you are! You alright? That's quite a tumble you took there." Applejack, barely slowing her pace, moved to stand in front of Robin with her arms folded, giving the boy a stern look. As she'd thought, it was a kid. "You're a slippery one, aintcha? You'd best tell me what you think you're playing at, tossing weapons an' running about in all them fancy colours."

Gah! How good of an actor was she? Robin made a face as he cautiously lifted his ankle. "Give the act up," he grimaced, remembering to use the voice distorter (for once). "You're a Robin, aren't you? You have the same build--and same ability to dodge things."

Why yes: he was implying that AJ's entire life, up to this point, had been one giant lie.

Well, that was a sure-fire way to leave poor Applejack confused, and it showed in her face. "Are you accusing me of being a bird? Didja knock your head or something? I didn't see you bump your head..."

"Not a bird!" He groaned, tossing his arms in the air. "Robin's a title! A legacy passed down by Batman... him... self..."

She really was a native. Not even the Bats could fake this kind of confusion. Robin slowly buried his face in his hands. "It's... you looked like you could be one..." Today just really wasn't his day.

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Every step you take

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