#> thread

Shoulders stiffening in surprise, Bruce slowly turned to his counterpart. Helena was not...emotional. Like most of his family, the young woman had been through many hardships -- had faced adversity and overcome it, but paid the price nonetheless. The walls around her heart were solid and cold, just as they were around Bruce’s. Still, it was odd to hear Helena say something so blatant, even within the confines of the manor. 

Cowl off, Bruce eyed Huntress, saddened somewhat by how broken so many of the people he considered his ‘loved ones’ really were. “A hug? I don’t think we’ve shared many of those,” he said softly, somewhat uncomfortable showing that vulnerability. But he’d made a vow (just as sacred to the one he’d made to the city) to his children, to become a better man, a better father. A figure that they could all look up to in their time of need, and good role models didn’t squash what little desire for affection they actually showed him.

Swallowing thickly, Bruce opened his arms in invitation, toes feeling oddly cold but brow somewhat warm. Nervousness? (What if he couldn’t do it? Be there for them?) Doubt? It was odd, considering. He rarely felt insecure.

Bruce lifted a well-maintained brow, looking at a familiar-looking young man over the rim of his coffee cup. While the hero was sure that many people within the New York area probably agreed whole-heartedly, it was sort of intimidating to hear it so blatantly when Bruce, himself, was one of those people in question. “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” he murmured, dark eyes watching with a surprising amount of intensity. Worthington, Stark -- they were all fellow “overly-rich socialites” that were relatively well-known throughout Gotham, New York, Hell’s Kitchen, etc. “You should see my taxes,” Bruce joked, patting the chair beside him.

While he wasn’t one to flaunt his money by any means, he certainly could help a pretty poor-looking college-aged man out. The baggy jeans and scraggly-looking t-shirt made Bruce want to grimace, his own suit feeling too tight anyway. It felt odd, crawling in his skin-suit, Batman hidden deep within the fleshy casing. “I’ll buy you your coffee,” Bruce nodded to the barista over the counter, and since he was a regular here himself, they recognized him fairly quickly. Now, if only he could place the familiar face...

“Were you in an educational program within the area?” He blurted before he could stop himself. “If you don’t mind me prying, that is.”

@idsungyeol // admitting uncomfortable truths.

studio days can be melancholic for juniper. long hours spent in front of soundboards and computer screens, the press of headphones against her ears, until she thinks they must be bruising in the outline of cartilage against her skull. the same four to ten lines over and over and over because there’s always a troublesome section that kicks up an issue. juniper is tired of it, sometimes. tired of music that feels uninspired. she’s happy, when she finally gets to produce songs for her group that she’s done. happy when she gets to try and be and do and express something she cares about. 

now the problem is, the only songs that kjh has picked up for jawbreaker so far have been less than ideal. not bad songs, of course (obviously juniper would not believe herself capable of putting out a properly bad song) but the...catchiest songs. that makes sense, sure, but there are hard drives waiting, full of files of songs that expose something more raw and more honest. but then, would she want to lend those to the others? maybe she’s just waiting for a solo career that will never come. she sighs, slides her fingers against the dials to send the mix spiraling out. she sends out an sos to a friend she knows will understand her current pain. she’s been sent a sample of a title song that’s being considered for an upcoming comeback. the chorus relies heavily on the repetition of “du ddu” in what she assumes to be reference to a gun, relying heavily on a pumped up backtrack that doesn’t bring much in terms of instrumental punch. 

she scowls at her phone, waiting until he texts back that he’ll head over to the studio.