Chapter Text
Given any day of the week, month, or year, the Strider Mansion remained under a constant line of guard. All of it had been placed under the will of Bro during his lifetime, and even Dave himself did not have the courage nor the knowledge to dismantle it. However it was certainly not a bad security system, yet even before the boy had decided to dawn the cowl there had never come a time where Dave could see its true functionality.
Of course, Rose had warned him. Ever since the death of Bro, the entire city of Gotham learned about his young brother's sudden inheritance to the mansion. There would be without a doubt attacks on the property, and not to mention Dave himself. Yet various of his brother's connections had already gone through the trouble of assortment precautionary measures, the majority of them long prepared for Bro's eventual departure. Even in the afterlife, Dave's brother was always at least five steps ahead of him – exactly what Gotham would have expected from a Strider.
Rose had been accustomed to the prestige, but Dave unexpectedly was not. The girl had been sent over from a nearby community, equally as rich and prodigious as the Strider household and Gotham itself. The caretakers had been particular quiet about the blonde haired girl's arrival, however Dave had come to the conclusion that she too was part of his brother's plan. Of course he wouldn't leave him alone, Dave's never been alone his entire life. Wherever he would look, there would be Bro pulling some blind ninja moves, or one of his shockingly inappropriate puppets, ass facing the heavens and all.
His caretakers had informed him that the girl equal to his age would be not only his newly chosen roommate, but also personal tutor and so-called assistant. The day of her arrival, she told him in the most monotone of voices that his safety as a Strider was the least of his concerns.
It was no surprise. Even Dave had had his suspicions despite the still new novelty of his disguise.
"A bat," Rose told him, "I wouldn't imagine you to deliberately choose such a precarious vermin."
The two sat in the upstairs piano room, Dave leaning his chin on his elbow as Rose idly scanned over the sheets of music. She bundled them together, slipping back into their respective case, and opened the curtains. An orange glow lit up the tiled floor, and gave the walls a warmer feel than usual. The sunset flashed over Dave's sunglasses, concealing whatever expression he yielded at the moment.
Rose continued, "However if this is the manner you wish to go and pay your respects to your elder brother, I see no faults in your actions." She reached for the dark glass across the table, before suddenly turning to face the younger Strider. Her black lips her pulled into a thin line, and her eyes remained focused on the other. "Yet I fear you may be oblivious to the consequences of your decisions. Violent antics such as the one your brother had the unfortunate of expecting are already a regular case in Gotham."
The girl glanced down at her drink, and said, "Perhaps I'm not as capable as your caretakers may have previously presumed, but I fear I am more than able to see the impetuous current pattern of choices you have been making."
Upon the first time wearing the mask, Dave had felt absolute no connection to it whatsoever. He had expected it, being one of his brother's personal belongings. However as unorthodox as he had initially found it to be, shifting through his brother's wares and items had been a less frightening experience than he believed it would be. However it had taken him several days to garner to courage to even go as far as to venture in his brother's room, not to mention even to monumental amount of balls it took to even crack his closet open. He had no clue to whom the cowl may have had previously belonged to - all he knew was that it was there, and now it was all his own.
Dave leaned against the piano, feeling the edges of the ivory keys poke at his back. The long sleeved shirts he had worn had begun to become less than comfortable, however he refused to wear the luxurious clothing the managers of the Strider estate offered him. Dave sharply replied, "You know that what he would have wanted me to do. Make some poor pathetic five-to-nine worker a little less depressed; swing in pretty black tights making sure I found out who was naughty and was nice in the dark."
"It's the most ridiculous thing I have ever done. But I'm more than set to keep on doing it as long as it takes."
Rose crossed her legs, and curiously raised her brows. "And why do you find yourself in such a principle to endow yourself with whatever fantasy your brother had imagined? The Police Department are much more capable than a thirteen year old in a bat shaped mask galloping in the most uncanny of bounds and -" she paused and gave a less than amused expression.
"What do you call it?"
Dave coughed, "A Batsuit."
"Combined with whatever treacheries and heresies Gotham has prepared for you," Rose continued "I am more than positive in the possibility of experiencing the most fateful of descends, twenty stories in the sky."
The girl bit her lip as Dave looked over at her, seemingly more preoccupied with other matters not currently present. He adjusted the sunglasses against the bridge of his noise in a single swift gesture, and turned around to face the piano. His fingers only briskly touched the keys, before giving the one furthest from him a strong press. The wooden floor rumbled, and Dave could feel the fine build of the instrument vibrate with sound.
"I have no plans to break my neck. You have much less to be concerned with than whatever it is you already are." Dave stated. He idly skimmed over the smooth surface of the piano sitting up, and making his way towards Rose with a grin. "In fact, you should have nothing to worry about tonight. I heard the circus is in town."
Rose smiled, and paused before she replied, "Then perhaps we shall better discuss matters there."