the black raven | 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒

□ jason □

It's been two weeks of Mara living here, and I guess you could say I've gotten used to her.

I'm better at dealing with change after Damian and Tim came into the picture a couple of years ago, but not as good as Alfred. Alfred acts like she's been here for years.

I mean, I guess she is... never mind.  That's an odd word to not just say, but to think about. Over the past couple of years, we've added new family members, so at this point I'm used to new people. But this-- this is a stretch.

She's not family, not yet. She has no idea what we do, who we are, and she probably comes from the lower side of Gotham. Well, the lower-lower side of Gotham, where she's probably witnessed us in action a couple of times.

I'm completely dumbfound on what to do and how to act. And if I can trust her, and how quickly she can gain my trust. 

Sure, I might be comfortable with Mara here, but that doesn't mean that I trust, believe, or listen to her. I was just trying to make an okay impression when I first met her. Now I could give two shits, but I don't.

I'm pretty sure that she'd agreed with just me, that if we just stay out of one anothers way we'll be fine tolerating one another.

I would bet good money that Damian's doing the same, or ignoring her like she isn't there. Per his usual.

However I do know that Dick and her have talked a bit, or at least I see them talking whenever I cross paths with them.

But that's just because he's a sociable asshole, and he actually wants to be a good role model for her. He's a goody-two shoes. Always has been, always will be.

I don't see a reason why; Bruce's bound to rope her into the shit we do at night at some point, if she wants to or not. He can't help it. It's his coping obsession.

So I'll let Dick be ten feet up his own ass worrying about her safety and shit, let him take the lead on this whole situation.

Speaking of situations: Bruce and Tim-- yeah, I keep my trat shut about them because if I say a single word, this house is gonna get Game of Thrones-y really quickly.

If I worry about my problems and Dick worries about his, we're fine.

Mara is his problem more than mine, and I'm perfectly fine with that.

I don't need more baggage to carry around anyways.

□ damian □

I have avoided this girl at all costs for the past two weeks, and I plan on keeping it that way. I cannot stand her being around me for more than two minutes.

She's so small and she smiles all the time-- it's like her resting face is a smile. I hate it. I don't want to rub off on her, I'm too prestigious. 

I don't understand why Richard is even talking to her. I mean if it's to get information about who she is, if she's a threat, or her past and if she's a psycho, then I will allow it.

Other than that, no one should talk to her. And she shouldn't talk to us, either.

It's only me and Dick and Jason and Alfred in this house.

Now he wants to add another person, who isn't Bruce or Tim?

And a her? Yes, we are teenage boys who have hormones, but not as bad as a teenage girl. She will be a nightmare to deal with. Well, more than she already is.

□ dick □

"Hey Mara, how was school?"

I'm leaning against the doorframe to her room. She spins around in her chair and, as usual a small smile on her face, shrugs her shoulders.

"Eh, it was fine. I don't have a lot of homework, or at least not as much as I thought I would," she leans from side to side as she speaks.

I can tell she's kind of out of it, but I don't ask about it. Not yet.

She's still hesitant around us in the house, at dinners. I mean, two weeks here with meals prepped is a lot different from what she was used to from what I've observed.

"Well, that's good. Really good, actually. Anything else exciting happen today?" I reply, pleased that the awkwardness between us has dwindled to a smaller amount.

"Um, I mean my science teacher took out the internet in the classrooms in our hallway with a Tesla Coil gun, and almost wiped his computer clean of everything, so that was interesting. Other than that, it was a pretty normal day," Mara finishes.

There's a slight pause and I open my mouth to speak but she beats me to it.

"Enough about me, what about you? Anything exciting happen downtown?" I chuckle, finding it funny that she thinks that we're not in downtown Gotham for the most part.

Either I'm here at the Manor, at the GCPD station, at Wayne Enterprises, or out.

"Well it's Gotham, so you know, the normal calls for a stolen wallet or some thugs hitting someone's car with baseball bats for fun, but there was a very interesting call. Do you wanna tell me about it?" I ask her, wanting to really think about how her day was.

There was a lockdown at Gotham Academy earlier today because a teenager threw a chair at a metal grate, and it sounded like a gunshot to everyone else.

So, they followed the procedure from my knowledge and went into a lockdown, called the GCPD, and had the whole building checked out. I was there, but I didn't go in.

It was a false alarm in the end, so I don't think anyone else in the house knows about it. Not yet.

Damian is homeschooled, Jason barely goes to school- Alfred forces him to the best of his ability-, and I'm part time.

Three days of the week I go to the Academy, the others I'm at GCPD, as a Junior detective. Any extra time during the day I also spend at Wayne Enterprises, as I said earlier.

Alfred really tries to get Jason to go, but now he's just given up. He told me that it's too exhausting to deal with his protests and procrastination. And I get it. He's a pain. In the ass.

He does what he wants, whenever he wants. He might just beat Damian at being self centered.

And I'm talking about Damian. And that boy's a ego-raging vigilante-teenager.

But unfortunately they're still my brothers.

"What... what do you mean? It's your job, how would I know the calls you get?" Mara asks, and I can see she's trying to hide the truth from me.

She knows that I know that she knows. I sigh, raise my eyebrows, and wait for her to answer. I expect her to break right away, but she doesn't.

We stare at each other in silence, waiting for the other to talk, for a good while before I realize she's not going to talk.

She's more resilient than I believed-

Did I push too hard? Go too far?

I just stood on the same ground with her, eye to eye on the truth, and she didn't want to talk.

I could've executed this a million other ways, but I chose to battle it out with her, my own ego taking the lead.

Mara sighs abruptly, "there was a lockdown, but it was a false alarm. We all had to hide in the storage rooms, and we stayed there for a good twenty minutes I guess. I think it was because some kid threw a chair at the wall or something, but I don't know for sure."

I make eye contact with her, and see that she isn't angry with me for pushing.

It's a relief, but also another mystery. I can see she's discomforted talking about it, so I ask a simple question, a gentler tone this time.

"Were you scared?"

And then her whole demeanor changes. Her eyebrows furrow and she sits up straighter.

She starts to chuckle, and I might go the lengths to say I'm confused-- which doesn't happen too often within the Manor.

"No! It wasn't real, first of all, and second of all, it's not like I was gonna die or anything. Honestly, I was kinda excited."

Her words shock me. I'm appalled that she was excited for a lockdown.

Well shit.

She's more like Bruce and Damian than I thought. I give a half smile, and she just chuckles awkwardly some more. I turn and nod as she turns back to her desk.

As I walk down the stairs, I hear the creaks of the floor and a door close. I know it's Mara's footsteps already.

Later, as I'm planted in my office, I think about what I found out.

Earlier today, I checked on Mara's history with the GCPD, but there was nothing major there, accept for a couple speeding tickets with the car that the Novagez's own.

From there, I accidentally went down a hole of checking other things about her past. It was extensive, more than I'd like it to be.

But as I dug deeper, I found information on her mother as well
I was quite surprised to see that her mother is indeed still alive.

Why would she live here instead of with her mother, who's still very alive?