Farrah awoke to Thor's furious barking and groaned. "Shut up, ya daggon mutt! I'm fuckin' tired! I've had a long-ass night, because of you, by the way, an' I wanna sleep!"
The dog turned to look at her, and instead of quieting he leaped onto the bed, barking and whining and grunting. The poor, tired girl opened on eye to glare at the hysterical dog, and in the young dog's mind, that meant that she would do what he wanted.
Thor grabbed her tank-top with his teeth and dragged her out of bed towards the door until she finally threw her arms up in defeat and picked herself up off of the ground, cursing loudly. "God fuckin' damnit, fine!" She growled, grabbing her signature red plaid jacket and pulling it on as he pulled her to the doorway and through the halls. "I'm going! Yer bladder better be up ta the rim, or ooooh, you don't even wanna know!!"
He sprinted to the front door and jumped at it, howling at the top of his lungs. Farrah groaned and opened the door, and Thor shot off down the flight of stairs so fast that if she had blinked, she would have missed him.
Far, snarling and cursing as she did so, sprinted after him with Ari at her heels, jumping down the rest of the stairs once she reached the middle. It didn't take her too long to catch up to the sprinting hound, but he just kept running. Never stopping, turning several corners before reaching a dimly lit alley and skidding to a stop, fur standing on end and growling before stalking in despite Farrah's calls for him to, and, I quote, 'haul ass back before ya get yer ass killed!' A light rain pattered against the sidewalk.
Now, Farrah wasn't stupid... she knew that going into dark alleys at night was almost asking to be mugged... But that was her dog... more than that, he was her friend... her responsibility. Her mess to clean up after...
So, muttering a prayer under her breath, she jogged into the darkness.
Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she was quick to notice what was going on, and she froze.
A girl, gagged, with the front of her shirt completely ripped through was being pushed against a wall by a man.
It felt like her heart stopped beating, as her mind went a mile a minute, trying to decide what to do. She was just a kid... what could she do...? Call the cops...? It would be too late by then!
The girl choked a sob against the gag, and Farrah immediately reached a decision.
With a running start, the teen leaned forward and slammed into the offending man with her shoulder, sending him flying a yard or two away and, while Thor and Ari jumped on him with vicious snarls. As they ripped into the man, she kneeled down to the girl.
"Don't worry, darlin'," She said between light pants, after calling Thor and Ari off of the man and firmly telling them to stay, "I got ya. Did he hurt ya?" The girl sobbed and sniffled, but didn't answer, and Far remembered the gag. "Oh! Oh, oh right, sorry..." She untied the gag from the back, and briefly noted that it had probably been made from her torn shirt before asking again, "Are you alright, did he hurt ya?"
The poor girl was shaking like a leaf, and sobbing so much she could barely utter a syllable. Far did her best to calm her down, and was so into helping the girl that she didn't notice when her dogs began whining and yipping for her attention.
The girl, who had just been starting to calm down, if just a bit, suddenly began freaking out again before managing to point behind her.
Just as Farrah started to turn, a heavy weight hit her directly in her right eye and threw her to the side. Searing hot, white pain filtered her vision, and as she was picking herself up, she got lifted up by the neck and slammed into the side of a brick building.
"Bitch! Mind your own goddamn business!" A rough, scratchy voice snarled into her face. His breath reeked of alcohol. The man faltered as he looked closer. "On second thought... Now I can get two for one..."
She grabbed his hand to keep him from pulling away. "No, but you can get yer ass kicked!" She bit out before lashing out and kneeing him right in the side.
It was enough to get him to let her go, and as he kneeled over in pain, she took a few long steps to gain momentum before kicking him in the chest like one would a football. She kept kicking him and kicking him until he went still...
"Next time," The girl panted, limbs trembling with adrenaline, "Stay down... Make it easier on both a' us..."
She shouldn't have turned her back on him. She let her guard down, as she walked back to the trembling girl and put her plaid jacket over the girl's bare shoulders in an attempt to shield her better from the elements. "It'll be awlright, sugar." She told the girl gently.
The girl suddenly paled, and rasped something that Farrah couldn't quite make out.
"I'm sorry," She apologized as she leaned a bit closer, straining her ears to hear. "I didn't hear ya... what'd you say...?"
"B-be-behind you!"
But it was a little too late. A heavy boot stomped on her back, and she grunted with pain as she braced her arm on the wall to keep from falling on the already traumatized girl.
The man ripped Farrah away, despite the horrified girl's attempt to keep hold on her attempted savior, and threw her across the alley and into a trash bin like she was a baseball. And just as she moved to get up, he began kicking her side with his heavy-ass boots.
The southern girl fought back... She punched and she kicked, snarled and spat, but it wasn't enough... The guy, whoever he was, was big. And she was disoriented, and God, her ears were ringing.
"You're more trouble than you're worth!" He snarled as he lifted her by the neck and slammed her to a brick wall. "I think I'll just slit your goddamn throat and rape your fucking corpse!" He slammed a closed fist to the side of her head and mouth; splitting her lip and sending ruby blood down her chin as she saw stars.
"Not if I kill you first, ya bastard," She choked out, head spinning as she spat blood onto his face, "You dirty, good-fer-nothin' scum - you sick fuck!"
He growled as he pulled out a knife, placing it against her neck. "I don't know what your crazy-ass parents told you, kid, but you can't fight grown ups! Grown ups are bigger!" As he said that, he punched her stomach and forced her to stay up straight and look him in the eye. "Grown ups are stronger! Meaner!" He gave a rotted smile. "Any last words...?"
She bit back a noise of pain. "Yeah," She ground out, "I'm gonna kick. Your. As-ack!" She choked as he tightened his grip on her neck.
As he smirked at her pain, a plan formed in her slightly oxygen-deprived mind. A stupid plan, yes, but it was her only option. It would hurt her, yes, but it would also hurt the man... hopefully, enough to get him to drop her. If not, then, well... At least she was gonna go down, fighting.
Farrah muttered a small prayer under her breath before slamming her head against his with a battle cry.
The man jerked back, but didn't give... In fact, it only pissed him off more... which would have been fine, really, if it weren't for the fact that he had a knife to her throat.
"What did I just say?!" He snarled, "You're half my goddamn size-you're just digging yourself a deep mother fuckin' hole! You. Can't. Play. With. Grown ups."
"Then pick on someone your own size."
The redneck saw something from the corner of her eye fly by and slice the back of the man's head before hitting the wall and dropping to the floor. Next thing she knew, a flash of red went by and she was on the ground, gasping for breath and thanking every god she knew of as black combat boots went into her line of sight.
"Thanks for the assist," A rough, growly yet kind voice told her as hands gently pulled her to her feet, "But you probably should have called the police, instead,"
Farrah bit back a whimper as she stretched out her back. "With all due respect, sir... If I'da done that, the girl would 'a done been raped and killed in this 'ere alley by the time the cops came. An' if'n I'd waited fer you, she might not've been dead, but she would'a been traumatized fer life, and-" She looked up, only to have her jaw drop. "Holy shit... You... Yer the goddamn Batman... Batman an' Robin are actually a thing! Yer Batman!"
He was a huge, intimidating and muscular man with a square jaw. And, well... he was Batman. He had the suit, cape and utility belt, and everything!
The masked man gave a grim smile. "Yes... yes I am. And you, are a very brave girl."
The soaked girl shrugged before looking over at the very anxious, very vocal dogs of her and whistled for them. They ran over, Thor whining and nipping at her as he licked her hands, and Ari, bless her, was leaning against Farrah's legs and giving the girl some very welcome support.
"I reckon so," She said agreed half-heartedly as she patted the two dogs. "Wish I hadn't trained these so damn well, though... They would'a been a hell of a help..."
Batman gave a wry smile. "I would think so... Though, it's probably a good thing they listen so well. They might get into trouble, otherwise..."
Farrah gave another shrug and walked over to the girl who was still huddled up against the wall, clutching Farrah's jacket around herself like a security blanket. "Hey, darlin'," She greeted gently, trying to ignore the man's screams of pain off to the side, "You gonna be okay...?"
The girl managed a nod, though still whimpering as she trembled against the wall. She couldn't have been much older than Farrah...
"Let's get you home, awlright?" Far told her, holding her hand out to help the girl up. The girl took her hand, albeit a bit cautiously, and let herself be pulled to her feet before suddenly pulling the battered and bruised redneck into a hug. Farrah froze up for a minute before hugging her back, asking as she pulled away, "Can you walk...?"
"I-I don't think so," The girl answered quietly, "The-the man... hurt my leg... I think it might be broken..."
The thought never occurred to Farrah, to pass on the job of helping the girl to Batman, the better equipped, the man who was more knowledgeable of the city, who was stronger and not plagued with fatigue or exhaustion. So, she simply nodded. "No worries, she'll be 'right. I guess... I reckon I could jus' carry you...'
"Or," The cowled man cut in, "I could."
The girl faltered. "Oh yeah... good point, bo'." She let Batman take the girl before glancing back over to Robin and the man at the man's particularly loud scream of pain. "Oh, an', uh... I'm pretty sure that guy's had enough... He's gonna die soon at this rate... Not that I care, er anythin', but... if'n I recall right, you do."
He gave a curt nod and looked over at Robin, who was beating the man's face in. "Robin. He's had enough." A curse came from the boy's mouth, but he obeyed and jumped off before stalking over, not even winded. Once Batman was sure that Robin wouldn't kill the almost-rapist/murderer, he glanced over at Farrah before telling him, "Do me a favor and take the girl back home. I'll catch up."
"Hey, now, I can git home by myself, thank you very much! I know exactly how ta get home!"
The boy wonder raised a brow as he asked tauntingly, "Oh, do you...? How, then?"
The redneck blinked as she limped over to where the alley opened up to the road, trying not to put all her weight on Ari as she looked around. "Oh, that's, uh... that's easy... Jus'... take-take a turn over at that one road, and keep goin' fer a bit before... doin' other stuff."
Robin snorted. "Which road...?"
Farrah's face turned a bit sheepish as she tried to come up with an answer. "Oh, y'know... that one. The one with the asphalt, an'-an' the buildings an' uh..."
Batman smiled. "It's okay, if you don't know... Let us help you. Robin will take you back home... Do you know the address of your home?"
"Er... yeah, it's... in my wallet," She answered sheepishly as she pulled out her wallet and pulled the slip of paper out, handing it the masked man. He looked at it for a few seconds before nodding and handing it to his sidekick.
"Yes, he knows where it is. He can take you..." Batman assured her, "No problem."
The boy wonder heaved a sigh, like he would much rather be doing something else, but nodded. "I suppose I could."
Far made a face but nodded. "Fine..." She faltered and motioned for them to hold up as she walked back to the end of the alley and picked something up, slipping it into her pocket and kicking the groaning man before limping back. "Awlright, I'm set."
They didn't question her actions, thankfully, and the four (or six, if you want to count the dogs) went their separate ways.
Admittedly, Farrah wasn't going very fast. She limped, and if she pushed herself to go too fast, her sides and back screamed at her until she quit. Stifling whimpers and grunts of pain as she followed the one and only boy wonder, she bit back a grimace. She might've been okay if she had a proper crutch, rather than using her dog to help herself walk...
And Robin seemed to think the same, as he stopped and turned to the girl with a fed-up sigh. "For Christ's sake, stop using the dog as a crutch and lean on me, would you?! At least then we wouldn't be going at a snail's pace!"
She kind of wanted to argue or retort, but she wasn't really in the position to, seeing as he helped her and all... "Fine, fine..." She muttered as she limped over and bit back a wince as he pulled her arm over his shoulder. "Thanks, I reckon..."
He grunted in response as they walked on. Turns out, the guy had been right. She didn't have to worry about crushing her faithful mutt, now; she just had to focus on walking without wincing or shivering because damn, she was really starting to feel the chill of the rain...
The girl decided to try to keep her mind off of the hurt and chill by making small talk. "So... Robin, the boy wonder... That's pretty cool." She remarked. "Where I come from, we always thought that you superhero fellers were jus' some government propaganda ta get people ta help others... but I guess the fact that yer here kinda disproves that..."
He glanced over as she continued to talk, mostly to herself. "Yer around my age, too," She mused. "I never would a' thought someone around my age would be out an' about, fightin' crime fer real... But even then, you supposedly started this mess when you were around... nine-ish...?"
"Ten." The boy wonder corrected shortly.
"Still pretty damn young." She shrugged, covering a yelp with a cough as she slipped and strained her bruising side. "Prob'ly had some pretty close calls with death, yeah...?" She tried to smile, but she was sure that it came out as a grimace. "I've had some pretty close calls, myself... Like just now, fer instance." She made a face. "Man, that was a dumb thing a' me to do... I'm usually smarter'n that: walking into a dark alley with suspicious noises bein' made in it an' all... I still could'a left. I had the chance... but I didn't..." She hummed. "I... I don't regret it, though. Maybe I should..."
"Regret saving a girl from being raped?" He asked critically.
She blinked as she went over what she said in her head, only to slap her palm to her forehead. "Wait, naw, what I mean is... I regret havin' let Thor out in the first place... an' havin' ta move here. I regret havin' to have saved that girl at all... People should already know not ta rape little girls, or to anyone, fer that matter... People should know better. But they don't... I shouldn't have had to help her at all, 'cause it shouldn't a' happened, you get me...?"
The boy nodded without saying anything, and Farrah raised a brow. "Don't talk much, do ya...?" He shrugged, and she nodded. "Tha's cool, bo', I can dig it... Not gonna lie, I usually don't talk this much, but I hurt in a whole shit load a' places, an' I'm tryin' not ta think about it."
They walked on, with Farrah chatting on aimlessly, talking more to herself than the boy wonder as she let a hand dangle to pet her dogs.
She barely paid any attention to where she was going, really... She was too busy trying to keep her eyes open, as exhaustion creeped over her. She was barely fazed when Robin finally stopped. It wasn't until he moved to pick her up did she jump up with a yelp.
"'Ey! What in sam hell are you doin'?!"
The guy raised a brow as he spoke like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I was going to carry you..."
"No." She said shortly with a huff, trying to stand up straight only to wince and slouch back over. "I'm fine. I don' need ta be carried, bo', I got this."
"Do not be difficult," He sighed as he motioned for her to come over. "You can barely walk... how do you expect to climb up three flights of stairs?"
"Very carefully." She answered shortly as she limped over to the flight of steps, pointedly walking around the boy wonder as she did so. She hopped up the first three steps before hunching over and putting her weight on the handrail. "Ow..."
She could practically hear the smirk from the guy behind her. "Will you stop being difficult, now...?"
"Never," She shot back, "I'm all about bein' difficult!" She faltered as she took in the flight of stairs and was suddenly reminded of the fact that there would be two more waiting for her... "But, I'm also all about bein' lazy," She finally sighed, lifting her arms up with a wince. "You win..."
He tutted and smirked triumphantly at her before swooping her up suddenly into his arms and running up the stairs almost as fast as her dogs could. And that is fast.
"Whoo," She breathed, flashing her dimpled grin to him. "Damn, yer fitter'n a daggon fiddle... Though, I reckon ya have ta be, kickin' the bad guys asses an' whatnot." He didn't respond, and she rolled her eyes. "Don't talk much, do ya...? You don't smile a lot, either..."
He pointedly ignored her as he ran up another flight of steps and went over to her door. He just opened the door and waltzed right in, like it was his own place.
Before he could walk on the carpet, she lightly tugged his cape. "Hey, wipe your feet," She muttered. He raised a mask brow, but wiped his feet on the floor matt before walking through her apartment. She briefly noted that his footsteps were silent. Like, completely, no noise at fucking all. That was pretty cool...
"Awlright," She mumbled, "I'm soaked, bo'... Jus'... take me to my room er somethin', I dunno... second door on the left." He gave a quiet grunt, turning to the door and walking in, gently setting her down onto her feet. Despite that, she still hissed in pain as she lightly pushed his shoulder. "Easy, man, easy... Day-um."
He might have said sorry, but she wasn't really focusing that much on it, as she pulled her soaked shirt over her head without a second thought and limped over to the mirror, not even glancing back as she told his shortly, "Flip the light switch."
Farrah immediately winced as the light turned on and she caught sight of herself. Dark purple bruises mottled her torso and shoulders, and a red hand print was seen against the tanned skin on her neck. When she saw herself, quite frankly, she was surprised she could see at all out of her left eye.
"Oh, yeah..." She muttered, "I'm definitely not seein' jack out a' this, tomorra'..." Looking back at Robin as she grabbed a shirt that had been crumpled on the carpet and slipping it on, she rubbed her neck. "So, uh... Do you want some coffee er somethin'...?"
He started to shake his head, only to change his mind halfway through and give a short nod.
The girl blinked. She hadn't expected him to say yes... she had asked more out of courtesy than anything, but shrugged and nodded. "Awlright, I can do coffee..." She breathed as she walked out the door, using the wall to help support her as she made her way to the kitchen.
She put some water into the rather large, complicated coffee maker and threw some scoops of ground coffee into the little filter doodad (five-she didn't like weak coffee), shut it, and flipped it on. Once the pot started warming up, the full realization of what had just happened finally hit her. She had almost gotten raped... She'd almost died. Yeah, Batman and Robin had swooped in and saved her, but what if they hadn't been there in time...? She slid down the wall and sat on the ground, Thor squirming his way into her lap and Ari sitting next to her as she let her head fall back against the wall behind her with a heavy sigh.
Robin looked over and raised a brow at the visibly drained girl. "Are you... alright...?" He asked, uncertainty lacing his voice. She kind of wanted to tease him about it... the guy just struck her as the kind of person that was always so sure of themselves and the situation, but... she didn't know... She just wasn't in the mood...
The girl stayed silent, in her thoughts for a moment before finally saying with brutal honesty, "I'm not sure..." Before he could ask if she was hurt more than they had thought, she looked up at the boy wonder. "I'm not sure I'm gonna be able ta do this... I've got Charlie, I've got my dogs, but I think that this little country girl should never have left her home... This is jus' my second day, an' I had to go out an' stop a goddamn rape. I mean, I'd heard the crime rate was high, and that the people here were corrupt an' rotten an' all, but... how's a person s'posed ta do this?"
He didn't answer, and her eyebrows furrowed together. "I've-I've never been in a place like this before... People down in Ludowici were nosey as fuck, yeah, but they tried. They tried to do the right thing, an' they didn't go about tryin' ta kill people an' then tell the person they're tryin' ta kill that they're gonna rape their goddamn corpse. I mean, what the fuck?! Are-do-can people really be so... awful...? My pop used to tell me ta try ta always see the good in people, but how can you find good in people like that...? How can there even be people like that?! Is there somethin' in the water here err what? I don't know if this is comin' up 'cause I'm naïve, err 'cause I almost got killed, err just really tired...?"
Batman's sidekick stayed silent. A voice answered her, but it wasn't Robin's. "It's not because you're naïve."
Batman and Charlie stood behind Robin, and Batman spoke once again. "You're right. A lot of the people here are corrupt beyond belief. But there are two sides to every coin... The only way you can deal with all the darkness is to find a light. And once you find it, don't let it go..."
Farrah chewed on her lip. "Find a light... well'p, I reckon I could try." She mumbled as Charlie came over. She expected him to just help her up or something, but nope. He scooped her right up and hugged the living shit out of her with surprising strength. It hurt, yeah, but she didn't have the heart to make him stop. Simply settling with patting his shoulder, she wheezed, "Yeah, I'm awlright, Charles... please try not ta break my ribs..."
"Oh!" He nearly jumped out of his skin as he set her back down, twitching nervously as he wrung his hands together. "I-I-I'm so sorry, I-I di-didn't mean it, Farrah... I was j-just... Batman showed up in my window and-and told me how you staved off a criminal fr-from raping a girl but-but you got hurt, and I was-was so worried and so proud, but-"
"I get, I get it." She cut him off with a tired grin. "S'all good... I'm still kickin', no internal injuries er anythin'..." He didn't reply. Instead, he just hugged her again before letting go, ears bright red as he the edges of his lips twitched up. She grinned back before looking over at Robin. "The coffee's done, by the way. I don't know how you like it, so you'd better help yerself. Mugs're in the cabinet above the coffee maker. Would ya care fer some coffee, too, Bats?"
Said looked over at his sidekick, who was already putting sugar in his drink, before giving a curt nod and going to get a cup.
Farrah hummed and nodded to herself. "Yup. That proves it-this is all just a wacked up dream." She turned tail and trudged into the living, dropping to the carpeted floors and stretching out as Thor crawled into her lap as best he could. She used Ari as a pillow, ignoring the odd looks as she hollered back. "I'm goin' back ta sleep! Maybe this weird-ass dream'll stop an' make a turn that makes sense."
Charlie tried to suppress a smile. "Farrah... this isn't a dream..."
"Shut up! Yes it is! I sleep a lot, man, I think I can tell the difference between dream an' reality by now!"
Robin snorted. "Clearly, you can't."
"Yer a figment a' my imagination, I don't have ta take this!" She shot back from the ground. Batman shared a look with his son and gave an amused smile as Charlie bit his lip to keep from laughing.
"Well... Do-do you need anything, then?" Charlie asked.
"I need some flippin' sleep, is what I need..." She grunted, only to pause as a thought hit her and adding meekly, "You could get me some coffee...? Don't care how ya make it..."
The tall man chuckled under his breath before doing as she asked. Once he got done, he crouched down next to the girl and placed the mug in her hands. Far sat up a bit before gulping down half the mug, despite the fact that it was scalding. She placed it back into Charlie's hands and pulled him into a quick hug before dropping back down onto Ari, falling asleep almost instantly.
Charlie smiled fondly at the girl before walking back into the small kitchen, only to find it empty, with two equally empty mugs on the counter. The scraggly man ran a hand through his hair with a sigh.
"What a night..."
A few buildings away, on the roof tops, Batman gave his sidekick a look. "What was that, Robin...? You were acting kind of strange..."
The boy wonder grunted as he pulled his dark hood over his head. "I know that girl from school..."
The man's eyes lit up from behind his mask. "Oh, really...? A friend?"
"Hardly," He replied with a scoff. "She just transferred here yesterday... She's a freak."
"Then why did you stay for coffee...?"
Robin rolled his eyes. "Tt, don't get any ideas... I was thirsty. She offered. Still a freak."
A smirk crossed the caped crusader's lips. "A freak she may be, but her actions were commendable. And I do recall you saying Dick a freak, too... You ended up preferring that freak over me, at first."
"Shut up."
"Maybe you could," He paused for dramatic effect, "Make some friends your own age. Shocking to think about, I know."
"Father... I love you, but I will not hesitate to throw you off this building."
Batman gave a rough chuckle.
It was a bright and sunny morning, yet chilly. Birds sang, kids laughed, and cheery teens waved goodbye to their parents as they headed to the doors of the school. Farrah groaned with irritation. She felt like crap... Imaginary black clouds tried to linger over her, and the girl was having a hard time trying to stave them off. And even worse, she wouldn't even be able to wear her beloved plain jacket... Farrah hadn't walked the girl home, so she hadn't been able to get her jacket back...
"Are-are you sure you don't want to-to stay home and rest...?"
Farrah let her head loll to the side and groaned. "'M not sure... startin' ta have second thoughts," She grunted, "But we're here now... it'd be a waste a' gas ta change my mind... Guess I'll go, 'cause I'm too dumb ta take advantage of the chances I'm given. Need my education..."
"Don't say that," He chided gently, "Y-you're very bright. And I-I promise I won't mind, Farrah, if you decide you wish to stay and rest... You've had q-quite the night. It's not too late.."
She rolled her head to give him a hard stare before opening the door and stepping out, canteen in hand. "It is now."
The man rolled his eyes. "Fine... do you have your homework?"
"Yep."
"Alright," He sighed. "I-if the pain gets to be too much at any point, just call me, I-I'll come and-"
"-Goodbye." She cut him off and shut the door, giving him a thumbs up through the glass before slowly making her way to the double doors of Gotham as kids hurried by, shooting her odd looks. She didn't even know why they were hurrying... Class didn't start for ten, fifteen minutes... The girl sighed and glared at the ground as she trudged along.
Really, of all the people that should have been hurrying, it was her. She had no doubt that she would have to go around the school several times again to find her class, and at the speed she was going, the chances of her finding her class in time were dwindling to single digits... And she hadn't really made a good impression on the students here, so the chances of them recognizing her and deciding to help were even lower...
So, one could imagine her surprise when a warm hand gripped her hand and started tugging her along. Her head shot up, only to meet familiar bright blue eyes. Damian fucking Wayne...
"Uh..." She said slowly. "Are you helpin'...? Me...?"
He scoffed. "I merely took pity on you. You looked like a lost dog trying to find its home..."
"Gee willickers...," She said dryly, "I feel so special..."
"Tt, you should. I could have left you to wander the school."
"Yeah, sure, thanks" She mumbled, taking note of all the weird looks she was getting. "Why are all these chicks lookin' at me like I spit on their mamas...?"
Damian shrugged a shoulder, and she nodded a head in agreement.
"Yeah, girls're weird." The girl muttered, glancing down at her hand, which was still being held. "Erm... y'know, you can uh... You can let go, now, if ya want."
He jerked his hand away like he'd been burned, and scowled at the teasing smirk Farrah gave him. "Shut up."
"I didn't say anything!" She defended with a laugh.
"Shut up."
Her grin widened. "Yer an awful moody guy, eh...?"
The boy stopped in the middle of the hall and glared. "I swear to god, if you do not shut up, I will blacken your other eye with no remorse!"
She went quiet for a second and studied him for a moment. His face was twisted with anger, but his eyes had yet to have that little fire people got when they were ready to fight. "No you won't." She smiled. "I know you won't."
He scowled and grabbed the collar of her shirt as it suddenly went silent in the halls. "Is that a challenge?"
"No, sir," She chuckled in his face, "Just a fact. Yer pretty far from the point where you wanna hurt someone." His eyes narrowed even more, and he pulled her right up to his face. She blinked and grinned. "You have beautiful eyes."
Damian exhaled sharply from his nose and gave her a look before walking away, pausing for the briefest second to see if she was still following before continuing on his way. "You're not worth it... You aren't serious enough for me to waste energy..."
"But I was serious," She chuckled as she limped just behind him. "You've got some really gorgeous eyes. I never really saw 'em 'till now."
"How about I cut out your tongue...?"
"What?" She raised her arms up in defense, wincing a bit to herself before asking, "Would you like it more if I insulted you? Here, this is a good one: yer momma's so fat that-"
He rolled his eyes. "I think you want me to cut out your tongue."
"It'd certainly be an experience," She said dryly, opening her mouth and wiggling her tongue at him, only to shut it as he raised a hand, like he was actually going to do it. "I was jus' yankin' yer chain, sheesh! I had a rough night, bo', gimme a break!"
He snorted and rolled his eyes as they walked into (hopefully) the room they needed to be in. "I figured that out already... What happened, anyways...? Was your accent so thick that someone assumed that you were insulting them and they retaliated accordingly...?"
She gave him a look. "Wow, you... you gotta fix up yer humor..."
"Why don't you fix up your accent?" He shot back as he sat in his desk. Farrah couldn't really tell if he was playing or just being an ass, so she just settled with a standby that almost always worked...
"Wow, that was so funny I forgot ta laugh..." She said dryly.
He raised a brow as more students filed in. "I could cripple you for life."
"Maybe," She shrugged, "But I don't think you would."
Damian scoffed. "What makes you think that? Do you think I've suddenly become fond of you or something? The dirty redneck from nowhere?" Well... at least he didn't call her uneducated... It was a start.
Farrah eased herself into the seat, grinding her teeth together to keep from wincing before crossing her arms on the desktop and resting her head on her arms. "No, not that... I'm jus' a good guesser, is all..."
The boy snorted, but didn't respond. Far took the time to look around a bit, only to heave a sigh and sit up.
"Daggon, an' I thought country people were nosy! Could you folks kindly mind yer own business?" She scoffed as several heads turned back to the front. "Can't I have a single conversation without ya'll people gapin' at me like you ain't got no sense?"
Legate Wolff cleared rather loudly, drawing the attention of most of the class. "Any who, legionnaires, pass up your homework, and then we'll get started with today's lecture. Hop to it, lads!"
All but throwing her paper to the chick a few seats in front of her, Farrah heaved an exhausted sigh as she rested her head in her palm. She had a feeling that today was going to suck...
"Did your drunk dad beat you up last night or something...?" She'd been right...
Farrah heaved a sigh as Ms. Martinez barked for the chick-the same one that had called Charlie crazy the other day-to stop. Far, poor, tired Far, gave the chick a look. "Wow, yer so original... Haven't heard that one before," She said sarcastically, coughing loudly to make sure she caught it, "Heavy sarcasm."
The girl glared and stood up, despite Ms. Martinez's barking for her to sit back down. "Who do you think you are?!"
She rolled her eyes to the ceiling. Oh Lordy... "I'm Farrah Bowman. Daughter a' William Bowman an' Mary Davids. Nice ta meet ya... and you are...?"
"Farrah," Ms Martinez scolded lightly, "You're not helping!"
"Going to beat you to the ground if you don't stop being such a bitch!"
Ms. Martinez frowned. "Not if I call security, you won't!"
"What am I doing?" She asked incredulously, "You asked who I was, an' I answered! What do ya want me ta do, be intimidated? 'Cause I'm not. I can act like I am, but... I'd be fakin' it... I'm not tryin' ta pick a fight er anythin' - too tired fer that - but I'm not gonna jus' lie down an' take what yer dishin' out without retaliatin'. If you don't want someone to talk back, then don't say anythin' at all..." She folded her arms over her chest as she muttered, "Somethin's seriously wrong with the folks down'ere..."
The girl screeched and leaped at Farrah, who lifted her leg and put her booted (They allowed student's to choose which shoes they wished to wear) foot on the girl's stomach to keep her at bay. The girl was in such a frenzy, she didn't even stop to move Far's leg, she just kept trying to get at the tired redneck and kept failing.
By then, as you can imagine, most of the students jumped away so not to get caught in the crossfire and watched the show. Farrah grimaced from her seat as the chick started clawing at her pants leg. "Please stop... these're some expensive clothes, an' I don't want 'em tore up already..."
Damian Wayne, who had been the only one not to get out of the way, finally stood up with a scowl. "For Christ's sake, stop being such an imbecile, Dallard, and sit the fuck down!" When she didn't heed him, he walked over in two long strides and loomed over her, nostrils flaring as he grabbed her arm and pulled her away like she was a rag doll. "Idiotic wench!"
"Julie Dallard, the security is on its way right now!" Ms. Martinez yelled angrily, "If you don't sit in your seat, you'll be in even more trouble than you are! Sit. Down."
"I jus' want it ta be clear," Far noted as she inspected her pants leg. "I did not fight back. I kept her from hurtin' me an' gettin' a lawsuit thrown in her lap. I didn't retaliate, I jus' kept her from doin' somethin' she would regret."
"We know," Ms. Martinez sighed, "We all saw... Mr. Wayne, you may sit down now. The two of you should probably expect to get called to the office sometime today... I'll do my best to make sure you two don't get in a lot of trouble..."
Damian just tutted and stalked back to his seat. Just as he got seated, the doors busted open and a huge, well-tanned guy with dark, cropped hair, stubble, and tattoo sleeves on both his forearms came in. He had come in like he had been expecting a fight, and his shoulders drooped when he saw none.
"Am I... Am I at the right class...?" He asked in his deep, bass voice.
"You are, Jack," Ms. Martinez said, "Ms. Julie Dallard tried to get into another fight..."
"Another one...?" The man sighed and glared at the chick-Julie. "Man-you-I thought-get over here! I'm sick of coming for you, man, when you gonna learn?!" Julie sat up and muttered under her breath as the man, Jack, stared her down. Once she was in the hall, he had a huge mood swing and got a big, dimpled grin on his face. "You guys have a good day! Stay outta trouble, or I'll deal with you."
Farrah looked between Damian and Ms. Martinez a couple of times, before slamming her head to her desk with a groan. "I should'a skipped..."
Third period, eleventh grade Lit. was a blur, mostly because she was asleep during most of it, and fourth (Business Essentials) was, too. During both classes, Wayne tried to keep her up by kicking her desk when she started nodding off. If she hadn't been so tired, she might have appreciated it. But she was, so... he seemed like a bit of ass in her eyes.
But finally, she reached her two haven classes... the only two classes she was free of the grumpy teen. Chemistry and US History. Which, somewhat unfortunately, somewhat not, were the classes she actually wanted to pay attention to. Chemistry was interesting as hell to her, and so was history... it seemed like a great big story to her. One that never ended, with good guys and bad guys, wars, peace marches, and all the general good stuff.
Luckily, those seemed to pass fairly quickly, too. It seemed in the blink of an eye she was following faintly familiar shirts and heads, trudging to the lunchroom. And though her stomach cursed at her, she walked right past the cafeteria and out onto the field, to that tree. The one that had dropped a phone on her.
Once she reached the base of the tree, the girl all but collapsed into the grass and gave a long yawn, resting her back against the tree and shutting her eyes to take a power nap.
But her plans took an abrupt left turn when the branches began to rustle. At first, it wasn't that big of a concern... Until a loud crash! came from the tree, and Farrah barrel rolled out of there without a second thought, squeezing her eyes shut so not to see any potential danger and freeze.
She ended up flat on her back, and opened her eyes to ensure her safety. Once she was sure no broken tree branches had fallen on and or maimed her, she grimaced and wheezed in pain. "Oh fuck... That hurt... Ow..."
A puzzled voice hummed from above her. "Now, why ever did you do that...?"
"'Cause," She grunted as she folded her hands on her stomach, looking into cool, blue eyes,, "Last time I heard that, an' didn't jump out the way, I ended up with a hundred fifty pound dude on my shoulders an' a broken collarbone, Wayne."
He raised a brow from his spot, hanging upside down from the tree. "You seem to have had an... unconventional childhood."
"Yeah... loved it, though. It was a blast," She gave a small smile, cocking her head to the side as she looked at him. "Now, what on God's Earth are ya doin' that fer...?" He simply shrugged, and she blinked. She had expected an insult of some sort...
She looked back to her hands, only to look back up as the boy spoke. "You... never did tell what happened to you."
Her eyes went right back to her hands as she folded her fingers together. "Well... ta be honest, I'm not sure you'd believe it. I'm havin' a hard time comin' ta terms with it, myself."
Damian tutted and tried not to look smug as he crossed his arms, watching the girl fidget. "Try me."
She dared a look up at him, only to double take. Light filtered through the leaves, making the edges of Damian almost glow, and his blue eyes looked uncharacteristically kind. She could almost hear the angel choir in her head. Batman's words rang faintly in her head: 'find a light in the darkness'. He had been acting a bit nicer...
"Nuh-uh..." She muttered under her breath, mentally throwing rocks at the angel choir to get them to shut up. "Nope."
"What...?"
She blinked and shook her head vigorously. "Uh... nothin'. So, uh..." She rubbed her knuckles, "Would you believe me if'n I said I -sorta- had coffee with Batman an' Robin...?"
"Maybe... if you'll explain how you got to that point."
Farrah laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her neck as she sat up a bit, resting on her forearms. "I don't... I don't really like ta show off much, so, uh-"
"-It's not gloating if it's fact." He raised a brow and motioned for her to go on.
"Well," She sighed, "It all started off with my dog, Thor, barkin' up a storm at the window... I cursed him down to hell an' back, but he kept right on goin', an'..." The girl faltered. "You, uh... you gonna stay like that the whole time...?"
Damian harrumphed, but gave a curt nod before reaching up and grabbing the branch, letting his legs slip and drop to the ground before sitting cross legged on the ground.
"Okay, so... he jumps on my bed an' drags me out by the shirt..."
Author's note~
Okay, gotta make this quick: Sorry it took so long! Been busy as of late, and I really gotta shower because I was outside dragging trees to the fire pile and smell gross.
Thanks so much for all the support. All the reads, faves, follows, and reviews. ILU guiz!
Tell me if I made any mistakes, and as always, I hope my goofy little tale made ya smile a bit, yo.
Aaaaand, I gotta go. But first, almost eight thousand words are on here, I feel so damn accomplished!
Peace off and bless your face,
, Blue
