horrendousness

[onapalehorse]

From this.

"You will find strength, and peace."

He promises, with belief.

Comments

[onapalehorse]

"You're welcome. Sleep well."

Stepping out, he locks the door heavily behind him.

[lasiurus]

Bruce has slept on a thin blanket on the floor most of the past four years. The bed is especially welcome for how sore he is, but he wakes up seven times through the night. Each time he simply stands in front of the window. He watches the sunrise, and only then is he exhausted enough to curl up in bed.

[onapalehorse]

He lets him sleep well past noon. Weighs the situation carefully, and then enters without knocking, curious to see if exhaustion will win, or if instinct will have Bruce up like a shot.

[lasiurus]

It's instinct that wins. Typical of Bruce when he's tired, though, he doesn't pay attention to the fact this room is different and he ends up knocking over the nightstand as he bolts to his feet.

Three seconds of adrenaline pumping, and he remembers where he is.

[onapalehorse]

Bane tosses a tube of polysporin at him for his back, and nods at the bathroom.

"We work again this afternoon. Prepare yourself."

[lasiurus]

He catches it, looks at it, then at Bane. Bruce has very few expressions, but this one is undeniably his subdued version of dread.

"What work?"

He moves past Bane to the bathroom, and examines his back in the mirror.

[onapalehorse]

"Discipline and submission."

He informs him, bluntly. No sense lying about that.

[lasiurus]

He pauses with his hand applying polysporin to the lowest mark. His expression sets back into the hard, blank expression he is so accustomed to, and he sets the tube aside and turns back to Bane.

"Let's get started, then."

[onapalehorse]

"Shower, complete your morning ritual, and then join me."

Looking at the bathroom door again.

"I will be in the hall."

[lasiurus]

"I'll shower after, I'm just going to get bloody or sweaty again-"

And wasting water had been on par with murder where he'd spent most of his years as a pet.

Except he has longed for a real shower.

[onapalehorse]

"Sweat, yes, blood, likely not, unless you attack me."

He promises.

"Shower. Be brief, if you like. But if you argue about luxuries, I will have no trouble removing them."

[lasiurus]

He hesitates, but nods. He's not going to give up these little things just for the sake of being stubborn.

"I'll be quick."

He won't be, actually. Once he's in the shower and can control the temperature, has real soap and shampoo and a fresh razor...well, he takes longer than he expected.

[onapalehorse]

Bane expects it, and sits down on a chair in the corner of the room instead, meditating quietly on the situation and working out how to play this.

[lasiurus]

Bruce rummages for clean clothes once he's out, since his are decidedly very dirty. When he's dressed, he doesn't allow himself to hesitate in opening the door.

"Better?"

[onapalehorse]

"I'll have your old things burned."

He decides, standing up, starting down the stairs, expecting silently that Bruce will follow.

[lasiurus]

He won't argue for them. He has no intention of ever touching them again. He falls in beside Bane, a step behind so he knows which way to turn.

He pays attention this time to which left or right turns they take.

[onapalehorse]

Down, to what passes for a gym. High ceiling, mats on the floor.

"Today, we're going to test where, exactly, your resistance kicks in. I'd like you to speak to me throughout, about each request- whether you want to follow it, whether you can feel your mind longing to resist, or verbalize your flat out 'no's.'"

Nodding him in to the centre of the space.

[lasiurus]

He looks around, ceiling to mats, and nods. He even stands where Bane indicated.

"Okay."

[onapalehorse]

"If it helps, think about what would have bothered you before, compared to what does now. What his expectations of you used to be.

I'm sure, for example, you've been ordered to kneel. Do it now."

Circling him, slowly.

[lasiurus]

Bruce watches him warily, but it's the caution that the League of Shadows trained into him. He's not planning how to overpower Bane, merely watching for an attack.

And then he kneels. Why he does it is a fuzzy thing even in his mind.

"It feels like a training exercise. It would have bothered me yesterday."

[onapalehorse]

"Do you think you might have been fighting him, the weaselly little rag, as well as me?"

He means his previous master. Standing behind him, Bane reaches down and rests his hand on Bruce's shoulders.

"Perhaps I'll destroy him for you."

[lasiurus]

"You were sent by him. And he is just like all the others."

So yes, because Bruce sees them all as one entity. Although perhaps not all of them; he relaxes marginally when Bane touches him.

[onapalehorse]

"He never sent me anywhere."

He corrects, dropping down onto one knee behind him, massive, immovable presence at his back.

"He opened the door a crack, and I broke it down and lifted you free of his idiotic stylings. He thinks you're dead and need never know different."

[lasiurus]

He turns his head to see him, but with his chin tucked out of habit to protect his throat.

"How did you hear about me, then?"

[onapalehorse]

"One of his guests."

He admits, reaching out the other hand, dragging a thumb along the unprotected side of his throat.

"It had me watching. I offered my services when he was hospitalized."