The Limestone City Bat

by Seeking Dusk

28-05

Morning Cellie!

Jade’s still asleep. It’s around 7:30, but she tends to sleep in a bit. I would too, but my sleep cycle got shot and stuff. We’ve been over that so you should know by now.

Anyway, I’ve stoked. Pumped. Excited. Ready. So doing this. Terrified. Panicked. Pulling my hair out. I swear I’m going to mess this up. Who the hell just up and goes ‘can I be your brother?’ It’s like anime quality cheesy.

I actually had crazy dreams about this. What if she said no, what if she was too excited about it, what if she left. And it just kept getting more and more vivid too, as if I was actually experiencing it. Somehow it calmed down before I woke up though, like I dreamed up a counselor to calm me down.

Anyway, I got up around my regular time and I’ve been so antsy I was all over the place. I took Cynthia and the larger trailers and I headed out on a solo raiding run.

Lords, that was annoying. Anyway, I hit that Off the Grid living place. I did have to break down the door, but I might get around to fixing it. Eventually.

Two words: Gold Mine.

I’m pretty sure the town’s not gonna lose power for a while now. I thought it was just the Wind Farm and the Hydrodam. There are five solar farms in this county and the neighbouring one pumping power into the local grid. I mean, I know Kingston and Frontenac were big on sustainable power, but damn…

Makes me wonder why the power bill was so high…

Hopefully the dam can last a while without maintenance.

Anyway way, I still got one of their solar panels to try and set up. I also found out about their supplier, a place in Toronto that sells alternate power equipment. Their catalog looks promising. I was planning on heading that side anyway, so it’s a place to stop. This is all just in case anything does happen to the grid, so I can still get power to the house.

Huh?

Sorry, back. Thought I heard Jade getting up… Where was I? I got more groceries. Because why not? And I also got three deep freezers. Why? Food preservation. Some of the veggies are starting to go old, and that’s bad. And also meat. I might not need much of it, but I also don’t know where the farms are to get more. Plus; Jade likes cereal, and I like milk, so one is filled with that.

Now that I think about it, I should have gotten some bread too… another trip I suppose.

Anyway, I plan to poke around in some of the other houses on the block today. I’m going to have to learn how to properly maintain and keep a house if we are going to last. I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but winter is going to suck. Summer might suck. Either way, I’m going to poke around with a few furnaces. My place ran off the natural gas lines, but I’m sure those are down, so I’m looking at the other furnace types.

Hopefully I can get everything done. It’s starting to feel like a storm is coming into town.

And… yeah, I’m going to go start on breakfast. Maybe the smell of food will get her out of bed.

----------

Jade staggered into the kitchen, rubbing sleep from her eyes, a bit surprised to find Robin already in at the sink washing up dishes, grumbling to himself. He wasn’t wearing anything aside from an apron, which left his not-a-tattoo exposed for her to brood over again. Trouble was laying on the counter in the typical cat-loaf, watching both of them from his half closed eyes. The dogs were looking out the window at something.

“Good morning, Jade!” he greeted her cheerfully. “Ready for breakfast?”

She just groaned and shuffled to the table, climbing unto one of the chairs. “Morning, Nightwing… what did you make for breakfast?”

“Berries, fried eggs and cereal,” Robin answered. With the maneuver he was getting a lot better at, he brought her food over. What interested her most was the bowl of mixed berries and she pored over them as Robin settled down with his own food.

“Hold up, we didn’t have these yesterday,” she pointed out. “Did you go and get more groceries again?”

“I made a few stops,” Robin grinned, looking out the window pointedly.

“Jeeze, Nightwing! What were you doing this morning?” she asked, staring at the trio of smart cars parked at the curb, the logo of the dentist office probably emblazed on them.

“I got more stuff. There are three deep freezers in the garage now. One with milk, one with fruit and one with meat. Um, don’t worry about the last one, it’s mostly for me. And the dogs.” Trouble hissed softly, so Robin added him. “And Trouble. The milk and fruit… they would go bad and we kinda need them. I checked out the off the grid living place. Got a solar panel and a battery from their stock and I’ll try to set it up eventually. Make the freezers run off it so we don’t stress the house’s connection. The smart cars… well…”

“Well what?” Jade asked, going back to her food. Most of Robin’s ideas had been good ones, even if he tended to over think and get bogged down in the details. It wasn’t just a few times she had stopped him from over complicated what would have been simple issue.

“I want to teach you how to drive,” Robin finally said.

Jade raised her eyebrows. “Huh?”

“I mean, smart cars are much smaller than regular cars so it’s easier to reach the pedals. And it’s smaller over all. Easier to see over the dash. They have pretty good mileage too, so getting around town with them will be easier,” Robin explained, a wide grin on his face. “I heard they have electric models too, but the one the dentist had was straight fuel, but I know where the dealership is so we can switch if we need to. Plus, they have trailer hitches! So we can carry even more stuff around.”

“Nightwing!” Jade bounced a berry off his face.

Robin snapped out of his little spiel with a sheepish grin. “Sorry. Good aim though.”

“Thanks,” Jade said, taking the compliment, “but what do you mean you want to teach me how to drive?”

“I want to teach you how to drive,” Robin repeat, as if stating something obvious.

Jade raised her eyebrows again. “Why?”

“Why not? It would be convenient, wouldn’t it?” Robin’s ears dropped. “You don’t want to learn how to drive?”

“No, I do, sorta…” Jade didn’t sound one hundred percent convinced. “But… why? I’m only thirteen.”

“I started learning when I was twelve,” Robin said. He stopped hesitantly and filled his mouth with food to forestall talking. He was a bit more sombre when he started talking again, licking his lips nervously. “Jade, do you miss your family?”

“I…” Jade stared at her plate, shuffling her hooves awkwardly. Robin didn’t say anything, quietly eating and letting the silence stretch on. A sniffle she tried to hide broke it. “I do…”

Robin shifted around the table and put his wing around her as silent tears started spilling down her cheeks. “I miss them… my uncle… daddy… mommy… but there’s gone and… and I won’t see them again.” She started crying. “I waited to see if they would turn up, but they were just gone so I, so I left.”

“There, there,” Robin started and promptly cringed. Of all the clichéd things to say… Actually, it gave him an idea. “How about we go back?”

“What?”

The idea started unfolding in his head. “How about we go back to your house move some of your stuff?”

“Why?” Jade narrowed her eyes at him.

“Well, so you can have your stuff with you. And since it doesn’t seem like your parents are coming back fo-”

“What!?”

“Huh?”

“You want me to give up on my uncles? My family?”

“No, that’s not wha-”

“FORGET IT!” Jade’s sudden outburst startled Robin, and he was too stunned to act when Jade raced away from the table. The door opened and moment later and he caught a glimpse of her through the window.

“Wait! Jade!” he yelled, finally shaking off the stunned inactivity to run after her. It was a few moments too late though. By the time he got outside, she was already out of sight, and her scooter was gone. Robin nervously lifted and lowered his legs, unsure what to do. “Jade? Ah, dammit all…”

After looking around for a sign of her for a few minutes, he dejectedly headed back inside. Trouble gave him an exasperated look from his perch on the counter, Rocket was glaring accusingly and Dax managed to look both irritated and understanding.

The fact that he could figure out their expressions so easily would have bothered him more if it wasn’t for the fact that he made Jade run off. He dropped to his haunches dejectedly. “I know, I know, I could have handled that better. I suck at this kind of stuff…”

Rocket marched over and growled softly. Robin flared a wing in irritation. “What did you expect me to do? I don’t even know where she went so fast! Maybe it’s just a teenage girl thing?”

Dax whined as he approached, and Robin couldn’t help but tremble a little. The dog was mild tempered and friendly, but he was still huge. He would be even if he was still human. But as a pony? They were almost at eye level. Dax nudged Rocket and huffed at the little dog. Rocket didn’t look happy, but he left the room without making a scene. Dax nodded and gave Robin a slight grin.

“Uh… thanks?” Robin blinked. Dax licked him. “Ah! Hey, just because Jade lets you lick her face doesn’t mean I want you to!”

Dax huffed in canine laugher a bit more before looking out the open door. Robin sighed. “I’m sure she’ll be back. I admittedly messed up the approach, so she just needs a bit of time to cool off.”

---

Well… um… Hi Cellie…
So… it turns out that… well… how should I put this?
Jade’s still missing. It’s really late and she’s still not ho- back. I didn’t take my regular nap, just in case she came back, but it’s after five and still no sign of her!

I’m getting really worried. It’s looking pretty bad out there. You would think the sun already set by how dark it is. Not that I really mind it. Though the sky does look pretty threatening. It's really weird how my fur’s kinda fluffing up against the humidity.

I really hope she's okay out there.

And… there's the rain! Jeeze, that thunder literally shook the windows. Also; eee… I think I get why cats and dogs don't always like thunderstorms. It didn't exactly hurt, but it wasn't the most pleasant feeling either.

…

…

I really hope Jade's okay. Maybe she found…. …… …..

You don't think she… I mean, that would be just plain dumb…. especially in this weather…

I mean… you'd have to be… like really… upset….

Well Fuck….

Shit dangle I fucked that up!

…

…

…

…

…

...

Comments

[GITPSilverbolt]

Holy cow, a new chapter! I know what I'm reading at lunch today!

[GITPSilverbolt]

Robin …
Open mouth, insert hoof. And now Jade is stuck out in the storm.

Short chapter, but it's great to get an update on their lives!

[bluemoon1996]

6450796

But don't worry he'll find her XD

[Celefin]

Woot! You made it!

"Damn, Robin. That's the mess I would've created with 87% certainty".
"But I meant so well!"
"Exactly."

You were worried about writing feels. Stop worrying, this was good.

[Greatazuredragon]

...smooth man, real smooth...
Nice chapter, good work.

[Celefin]

66-6 like/dislike. Dun dun dun...

[Twilight_the_spy]

6461650
Fixed that.
Added another like.

[Celefin]

6478709 sshhhh... you'll only encourage him! Wait what? Oh right. Carry on.

[Seeking Dusk]

6479209 I got the next chapter half done. Technically I could post it up now as another short chapter. It's at a scene change.

[Celefin]

6479302 No rush, good things take time ;)
It's 3:30am, I couldn't sleep and the chance to add a stupid comment presented itself. So I pounced. Back to bed now.