#@flyingprodigy

Deeply, my Lionheart. Taking some time away from Gotham was a good idea and backpacking over some of my European circus routes has been fun, but I miss everyone. The City has really become home.

BUT! That doesn't mean I'm wrong for thinking that DC should reintroduce him as a canon character, because he fits into the Bats' relationship drama so well!

Consider this! Young Dick Grayson is replaced as the star of Haley's Circus by a redheaded boy who treats Dick as a brother. Dick doesn't warn the boy about an ambush and winds up watching the other acrobat being beaten nearly to death by a gang armed with a baseball bat, lead pipes, and a crowbar. Dick can't act, he's terrified, he's forced to witness this and he runs away the moment he can.

He buries the fuck out of this memory, especially since his parents die around that same year.

Now. Think about how this memory, buried as it is, could influence Dick as the standard story of Nightwing progresses. Consider how he reacted to Jason; to being replaced by a redheaded boy. (Think a lot about the number of redheads in Dick's life) How Dick hates not being able to act and protect people. How he runs away from a lot of personal strife.

Imagine him unconsciously basing his "big brother" actions on how the Prodigy treated him.

And when the memory is unearthed and Dick is facing the Prodigy, an older, washed up wanderer, the Prodigy absolves him. His brother knew he was there and was glad Dick kept safely out of sight. Dick was a child and children can be stupid and cruel and thoughtless.

Prodigy was proud of who Dick Grayson became.

And that's just. It's really beautiful.

Forgiveness. Absolution.

Self-Forgiveness. Self-Absolution.

You aren't always capable of saving someone. Sometimes you just don't have the strength, or the training, or the tools, or the numbers.

So here he is, ready to surprise his family while Joey sleeps off the worst of the jet lag at his own house...only there doesn't seem to be anyone home?

Well aware of what kind of emergencies can spring up, Brad hurries to the hidden entrance to the Batcave. Surely something big enough to require everyone would have made the news?

A scruffy-looking redhead appears at the top of the stairs to the cave, blinking in confusion at the chaos below him.

"Holy adoption problem, what on earth is going on in here?!"

((✉️ - two AM text it is!))

((Set sometime after Brad, Jean-Paul, and Azrael have their talk about cults and Owls and obedience.))

Brad: hey are you up? And in the Manor?

It's a perfectly average day in Gotham City; dreary, damp, and disgustingly humid in the late afternoon. People are hurrying home or seeking out food and entertainment. The streets are gridlocked, the buses are crowded, and subways are standing-room-only.

The sudden and random flash of light inside one of the subway cars in particular causes a number of shocked screams, but when no explosion or attack follows it, the wary Gothamites Crane their necks to look at the source.

Where once stood a passingly handsome young man who'd been minding his own business, now stands a child who appears to be around seven years old. The boy is swamped in the clothes he'd been wearing before and as he looks around at his surroundings, it's clear that he doesn't recall being an adult. The little redhead opens his mouth to talk and quickly reveals that he's not a native English speaker either.

The Gothamites around the new kid look reluctantly at one another as the subway pulls into the station. The doors open and many things happen at once. A majority of people move to leave the scene. A good handful move to try to soothe the increasingly frightened boy. The people waiting at the station try to board.

It's all very loud and frightening.

The kid makes a run for it, wearing the overlarge shirt as a dress and only one sock, he darts through legs, past hands, and disappears into the swarm of people in the station.

The Gothamites look at each other again. The kid has talent; he'll probably be okay. One of them picks up the dropped phone while others pick up the clothes and shoes left behind. A couple of people upload the videos they'd taken off the teary-eyed child running away with the hashtags #magicbs #onlyingotham #whoskidisdis and #futurerobin.

No no no, wake up, come on...

She lifts him against her, checking his pulse, his breathing.

(( @eleanor-wayne

His hand is bloody where it's loosely held to his neck, but it seems to only be a flesh wound. Brad's pulse is high, but strong. Once Eleanor gets the helmet off of him, she can also see that his breathing is even.

An excitable and energetic man, your world is full of friends you haven't met yet!

For the next 24 hours you are: a red golden retriever puppy!

Brad's never escaping it. His family is going to remember this for forever.

...if they can find him!