For this chapter, I decided to approach Ra's' tattoo a little different. At least considering how Damian knows about Ra's'. i took a little inspiration from Talia's whole "trial" thing in order for Damian to find out who his father was. However, in this case, I had Ra's use the disposal of someone for him to tell Damian about his. It's also worth mentioning that Ra's' tattoo is a little obscure which I'll get into at the end of the chapter.
And if you've been following my poll, I did close it. The winning oneshot misadventure is the Batfamily "interrogating" Dick about why he has Deathstroke/Slade Wilson's phone number.
Having just parted way with patrol, Bruce, Damian, and Dick took a breather in the Batcave. They had just stopped another of Ra's' schemes, however, Ra's had managed to avoid capture. Not an uncommon occurrence, but still one they wished they could have avoided. The fact that they had returned with minimal injuries was a plus.
Dick decided to retire for the night, wanting to take a shower and call Roy before hitting the hay. All the while, Bruce was finishing up his report with Damian lurking beside him.
"We probably won't be seeing him for a while." Damian noted.
"Don't sound so disappointed." Bruce sarcastically sighed.
"He'll be back. He always does."
Bruce nodded, continuing his work. Once completed, Bruce turned the chair around, facing Damian.
"You sure you're alright? He really went at you tonight."
"I'm fine. He's dealt out worse."
"That doesn't surprise me."
Bruce got up, marking the end of the night. Heading his way for the exit, Damian would trot alongside him. A neutral expression welcomed Damian as he contemplated something.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure. What's up?"
"You've known my grandfather for a while now. Have you ever wondered why he's had such a peculiar mark?"
Bruce paused, giving Damian his undivided attention.
"What do you mean?"
"He has a tattoo of a phoenix around his Achilles' Tendon."
Bruce was a little puzzled by Damian's observation. How he categorized Ra's' tattoo was unheard of. Things like phoenixes and dragons have never been heard of, or at the very least recorded. Not to mention that Bruce never got around to figuring it out.
"You know, I've never taken the time to look into it. Quite frankly, even with all the time I spent with Ra's in the past, I never once thought about finding out. Is it safe to assume that you bring this up because you want to talk about your family, and you're fine with me asking something about it? I only ask because of how you responded to Dick's curiosity the other day."
"Of course. Grayson may mean well, but there are things that I'd much rather avoid talking to him about."
Bruce could understand that. Considering he was more involved with the al Ghuls than anyone else in their unusual family, he could understand how Damian felt a little more comfortable talking to him about the topic.
"Alright. Well since you've asked, do you mind if I rebuttal by asking how did you find out?"
Damian didn't mind that his father asked that. Having just admitted that he didn't know, it only made sense to explain to his father how he found out.
"Let's just said it didn't come to me without a casualty. Grandfather's orders."
Ra's had decided to personally take over Damian's training for the next several weeks. Mixing in a combination of lecture and physical combat, he wanted to make sure that Damian was well rounded.
Ra's called the training season to an end, having spent a good portion of the morning dedicated to it. Now, he could dissect the training as well as his thoughts.
"Your form needs work." Ra's noted. "This form requires your footing to be more flexible. However, you are doing better than last time."
"Thank you grandfather." Damian replied, bowing his head out of respect.
Damian only gave his grandfather a neutral yet inquisitive glare. It was unusual enough to peak Ra's' curiosity.
"Something troubling you?"
"What's your symbol?" Damian bluntly questioned.
Ra's didn't react to the question. Damian had not shown an interest on the matter of tattoos, so his inquiry was a little odd.
"Why the sudden curiosity?"
"Mother told me hers so I thought I would ask. If you don't mind that is."
Ra's wasn't too surprised by the statement, since as far as he was concerned, it was probably a small step in to Talia revealing who the boy's father was. Taking a little inspiration from it, Ra's decided to address the situation in a different way.
"When is your next tutor supposed to come in?"
"Next week."
"Topic?"
"Weaponry."
"Is it the Greek weapon specialist?"
Damian nodded. A scheming smirk formed as Ra's lead the way out of the training hall.
"It would be a shame if he had an accident during training. Not that I've cared for his presence much as of late."
Picking up on his implication, Damian simply nodded. Tutors were pretty expendable when they've worn out their welcome. However, it was typically Talia who delivered the final notice. Damian could only assume that his grandfather thought he was capable enough to take this particular tutor down.
Taking the tutor down proved more difficult than Damian thought. What started off as a simple accident ploy, involving Damian 'accidentally' impaling the tutor with his blade, soon turned unto a game of cat and mouse. Once the tutor realized what Damian was trying to do, he went into a rage and began to attack him.
Damian had begun to notice just how grand of a weapons specialist the tutor really was. While he recognized a number of his moves, there were some that he was unfamiliar with. In order to accommodate for these moves, Damian made sure to keep his distance all the while trying to figure out a strategy to end him.
After several minutes of evading and attempting to get a few hits in, Damian would find an opening. A misplaced shuffle in the tutor's footing allowed Damian to knock the tutor over. With the tutor slightly disoriented, Damian would start knocking the tutor around. Once the tutor fell to the ground, Damian's sword would dangle on top of the tutor's throat. The tutor didn't bother moving, knowing the risk. His expression was a serious one, letting Damian know that he accepted his fate. Using one swift swipe, Damian carved into both of the man's jugular veins. He would then watch as the man bleed to death.
"After that grandfather brought me to a Lazarus Pit, wanting to use it as a back drop." Damian recalled. "He then told me that his was a phoenix, showing it to me when I asked about its location. He never told me why, quite frankly I wonder if even he knew."
"Knowing Ra's, he might." Bruce noted. "However, he's not one for exposing all of his secrets."
"True. If you had to guess, why do you think his is a phoenix?"
Bruce thought for a moment. Thinking up at least one hypothesis could prove useful.
"Maybe when this while ordeal happened, there were a select few people who had them," Bruce began, "and maybe they erased all evidence of them because of their 'abnormality.'"
"Why do you think he would be one of those 'abnormalities'?"
"Ra's may not be as old as the origin of these tattoos, but considering his longevity and forced immortality, it wouldn't be a surprise. Does that help clarify your confusion?"
"For the most part. Thank you father."
Damian would turn his attention away from Bruce and make his way down the hall.
First things first, the reason I had Damian kill a Greek weapons expert is because of the fact that phoenixes originate in Greek mythology. And yes, technically, Jason and TIm have experience with the al Ghul's, but I do feel that Damian would be more comfortable with talking with Bruce about them considering Bruce's long history with them.
Now I have two reasons for choosing a phoenix. The first being how their an example of revival/immortality as a phoenix rises from the ashes (kind of like how Ra's has revived and lived for as long as he does because of the Lazarus Pit), which is also why I didn't use a dragon either. The second was the fact that I originally gave a snake to Cass. When I was jotting down everyone's tattoos and their significance, I originally gave Cass a Black Mamba curling aroubd her arm and I wanted to give everyone a different animal. Granted, on a grander scale, there could be overlap in regards to both animal and symbolism, but I wanted to give everyone something different. And unlike say different kinds of birds, domestic/wild dogs, and/or wild/domestic cats, you can't get much difference in symoblism, unless it was something like *insert venomous snake*= deadly/toxic, *insert constrictor*= suffocation or something to that effect, or *insert snake*= Sly/sneaky. I did end up changing Cass', but I wanted to keep Ra's' the same. And the reason I choose the Achilles Tendon is because of that being a weak point (given an arrow to that area killed Achilles), even though Ra's can be revived.