Futureknight verse: Wayne Manor: Different Bat-Time, Different Bat-Channel

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

Daylight filtered through the window, rousing Helena from her sleep.  With a grumble, she pulled the covers up higher and attempted to bury her head in her pillow.  She wouldn't exactly say she'd had a good night's rest--too many memories associated with the Manor--but she had slept about as well as anyone who sometimes kept odd hours could.

When it became clear that she was not going to be able to get back to sleep, she reluctantly came out from under the covers and gasped.

This was not the same room she'd gone to sleep in.

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[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

"Just some orange juice, please," Helena replied.

[random_xtras]

"Very well." She brought a tall glassful, then looked around the immaculate kitchen thoughtfully.

"Take a load off," said Brenda without turning away from the window.

"I think not," said Prudence crisply, though the tone was tempered with affection.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

"Hey, you heard the lady," Helena said, smiling.

It was strange, really. She had few problems with Uncle Bruce, had even spent one Christmas with him, and he was far more like her father than these counterparts she'd met. Yet... Yes, if she was forced to admit it, the idea of gender-reversed counterparts baffled her more than anything.

She took a bite of her food. "Mmmmm. This is good!"

[random_xtras]

"Thank you, Miss Helena." Prudence nodded her head in reinforcement to the verbal thanks, then glanced at Brenda before saying. "I will be in the conservatory if I should be needed."

Brenda watched her go, then rolled her eyes slightly and squeezed the big blue caterpillar. "She's not as straightlaced as she'd have you think. She does sit down sometimes."

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

Helena smiled. "It's got to be a genetic thing. Alfred could be the same way... And then he'd say something funny as hell."

[random_xtras]

"She's not actually genetically related to him... but she's just like him in all the ways that count." Brenda sighed and set the stress worm on the table, where it cooed and vibrated softly like a guinea pig. "I miss the old guy."

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

She looked down at the thing and blinked it surprise, trying to decide if it was actually alive or not, ultimately deciding that it was not.

"I don't see mine as often as I'd like... but I really couldn't take living in the manor after dad died."

[random_xtras]

"Yeah." She looked around, then crumbled her cookie and offered some crumbs to the worm. "If my family had spent much time at the Manor I'd feel like a ghost living here."

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

Oh maybe it was...? She was way too far into the future to be able to figure some of these things out.

"But he's happy heading up a Gotham-based Shakespeare company, I've got a nice apartment downtown, and Dick spends most of his time abroad with work for diplomatic corps."

[random_xtras]

"Shakespeare." She chuckled, then looked back at Helena quickly. "You've made a friend."

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

[random_xtras]

Brenda pointed toward the tiny lemon yellow stress worm that was sitting proudly on Helena's shoulder.

[bat-daughter.livejournal.com]

To her credit, she doesn't show much surprise. "Hello there," she said. "Where'd you come from?"