parties had never been something mari enjoyed. but now that she was staying at the wayne estate, they were something she had to force herself to grow accustomed to. luckily, they consisted of the usual pompous stuffy crowd. she had prepared herself to remain practically glued to her uncle’s side for the duration of the night, but that proved to be a difficult task when bruce failed to show up and her uncle was forced to entertain the guests. she was feeling particularly overwhelmed tonight, deciding to slip away into one of the adjacent rooms. she was trying her best to control her breathing and quell the oncoming panic attack that she felt brewing inside of her. she ran her trembling hands down the front of her dress as she began to pace the width of the room, freezing as she heard the sound of the door open. she looked like a deer caught in the headlights, easily avoiding meeting their gaze. “i hope you didn’t come looking for me. i was just about to head upstairs.” humour was always her go-to deflection, a nervous smile creeping across her lips.
it was rare for dick to show up at the parties thrown at the estate — he’d much more important work to do and bruce himself rarely showed up to them as well. but, a call from alfred was enough to convince him to show up, mind preoccupied by the thoughts of preferring to spend the night around the man’s niece rather than with the guests that alfred obviously wanted entertained. however, when he arrived, he couldn’t find mari anywhere. he knew she probably hated the party just as much as the rest of them, but he could usually pick them out along the walls of the room. feeling particularly nosy, he decided he would seek her out — easily finding her in one of the side rooms. he shook his head as the door came to a close behind him. “i was looking for you, actually. i figured you would want better company than the ones alfred is trying to keep happy and merry. but, if you want to go upstairs already,” he said, trailing off as he carefully stepped closer. he pulled a small box containing halloween candies out of his pocket. “you should take this with you. i would much rather watch a movie and chill out then be down here, so i don’t blame you,” he said with a wink.