AwkwardAlways

Daminette is the best thing that happened to me.

[papayafromtv]

conversations overheard through the batkid com lines pt 84 (masterpost here)

*connecting ping*

Tim: hey Jay, i'm coming up behind you, what's up?

Jason: shh, i'm busy.

*boots against stone*

Tim: what are we doing? *a beat* is that Damian?

Jason: yeah he's working with Dick tonight. Dick's inside the warehouse.

Tim: ...why are you watching him like a creepy stalker?

Jason: i dunno. just been... introspective, lately.

Tim, jokily: about how being a teen dad ruined your life?

*smacking sound*

Tim: *yelps* ow??

Jason: shut up.

Tim: ok, well about what then?

Jason: i dunno. you know how people say that they get to the same age as their mom was when they were born, and then have a mental breakdown because they couldn't imagine for the life of them being in charge of a human baby?

Tim: ...yeah?

Jason: yeah. well. i dunno. Day's fourteen now. he's only a couple months older than i was when i died.

Tim: oh, and it's making you think about how young you were when it happened?

Jason: *considering noise* ehh, not really. i'm just- just- just look at him down there. all small. a clear child.

Tim, bland: he's the same height as me.

Jason: and you're weird and small so my point still stands.

Tim: *slightly irritated* mhm. what's your point?

Jason: just...

*a beat*

Jason: can you fucking imagine him going through airport security by himself?

*slight pause*

Tim, now amused: sorry, what?

Jason: i was fucking barely fourteen, and i was just waltzing through that airport with no supervision, passport and boarding pass to Ethiopia in hand, not a care in the world. could you imagine Damian doing that by himself at his age?!?

Tim: *snort* i- i mean, no. i guess times have changed, i don't actually think he'd be allowed to fly by himself.

Jason: -and to Ethiopia-! a country he's never been to before, no guide or place to stay, nobody waiting to show him around--he's so fucking young!

Tim: Jay, you know he's not going to Ethiopia by himself, right? that was you.

Jason: -BUT COULD YOU FUCKING IMAGINE?!?!?

Tim, placating: yea- ok, ok you're right, it would be wild. but it's fine because he's not going to need to go anywhere by himself. he has you to hold his passport, right? he'll never have to go through airport security by himself in his life if he doesn't want to.

Jason: i got a taxi to the airport--i just full on got into a car with a stranger- i took a NAP on the way there. with a STRANGER in the car.

Tim: i mean isn't that how you got adopted in the first place-

Jason: HE'S SO FUCKING YOUNG-

Tim, morbidly curious: dude are you tearing up?

Jason: i haven't slept in three days.

Tim: oh my god.

*connecting ping*

Bruce: ok i don't know what's happening with you all over there but can you knock it off? i'm supposed to be working with the Justice League tonight, why is Damian texting me telling me to 'tell your other children to stop crying at me from rooftops like i can't fucking see them'.

Jason: shit we've been got-

Tim: for the record Jason is the only one crying.

Bruce, tiredly: just stop harassing your little brother.

*faint notification beep*

Bruce: ...and Tim stop flipping him off.

[moonchild-nissa]

Visiting the boyfriend

[spicy-apple-pie]

CUTIES

[papayafromtv]

scenarios Alfred Pennyworth has to be a witness to as a resident of Wayne Manor that the batkids have absolutely no shame in front of whatsoever part 21 (masterpost here)

*while Bruce has WE investors around the manor for a business dinner*

Alfred: *opens cabinet full of alcohol* *reaches for a bottle of whiskey*

Jason, peeking his head around the doorway: psst, pst, Alfie, they still here?

Alfred, looking over, slightly amused: yes, Master Jason. if you wish to avoid having to exchange pleasantries with Master Bruce's associates, i recommend avoiding the main study.

Jason, grinning: neat, i can use the kitchen.

Jason, eyeing the bottle Alfred is going for: uh- whatcha doing...?

Alfred: Master Bruce has requested something to drink for him and his guests.

Jason, cautiously: ah....

*a hesitent beat*

Jason: you uh... you might wanna take a different bottle...?

Alfred: ?

Jason: well i'm pretty sure i stole and drank that one when i was like. fourteen? so yeah- i'm pretty sure that's apple juice in there, not whiskey.

Alfred:

Alfred, sighing: of course. *reaches for a different bottle*

Jason: *winces* not that one either. or- maybe not any of the ones on that row, actually.

Alfred:

Alfred, suspiciously narrowing his eyes: and... which bottle do you think i should take?

*a beat*

Jason: yeah you might wanna try a different cabinet.

Alfred:

Alfred: my boy, i think you may be an alcoholic.

Jason: -in my defence the pit makes it really hard to get drunk nowadays.

Alfred, pointedly raising an eyebrow: and when you were fourteen?

Jason:

Alfred:

Jason: Dick double-dog dared me.

[batsandbirdbrains]

Would be hilarious if when the JL’s sidekicks start showing up more often, they just totally fumble addressing the whole sidekick situation with any concerned media or press. And it’s because they all address it in the same way when anyone expresses concern about them bringing their kids to a battlefield:

“Oh it’s okay, he’s not my kid.”

And it just opens a whole can of worms with everyone suddenly being so concerned about these kids. Where did these nutty superheroes get these kids from?

Because none of them are their actual children. They’re all mentors and protégés.

Except Batman. Who’s visibly exhausted by the way the others keep fucking up this interaction.

“Yes, Robin is my son. Yes, he’s trained extensively. Yes, I take a lot of care into making sure no lasting harm comes to him in the field.”

Jump to the mission debrief at JL headquarters half an hour later, and all the monitors in the room have different news outlets reporting how the Justice League is using child sidekicks who aren’t even related to them.

“You complete and utter morons!”

Batman spends the next hour berating them and scheduling mandatory media training for everyone.

The Fab Five are all watching in delight. Wally even went and got them popcorn.

[batsandbirdbrains]

Dick, as Nightwing, to someone else in the JL shortly after being recruited:

“My dad didn’t raise a fool. And if he did, it was one of my brothers.”

[batsandbirdbrains]

I was thinking abt that au I had a while ago where Dick was younger than both Tim and Jason but was still Bruce’s first kid and first Robin, and Talia legally adopted him with Bruce bc they were married at the time. And Tim and Jason were assholes to Dick and Damian, and Talia had primary custody of both boys and Bruce only gets them like two weekends a month (maybe more if she’s feeling generous and the boys agree).

Anyway in line with that kind of scenario, where Dick is like idk 12 and Damian is 7, and Jason is fuck I don’t remember how much older I made him and Tim. Maybe they’re 23 and 21.

So anyway it’s a weekend where Bruce gets the boys. But shit hits the fan, and it ends with Dick and Damian running from some sort of enemy. Like a hoard of them. They’d been attacked at the manor. And they get cornered, and Dick has to fight them off with no gear and while shielding Damian because Bruce has long since fired him from being Robin and banned him and Damian both from the batcave.

And Tim and Jason are watching from afar, amused. Maybe Dick had done something earlier that day that annoyed them. This is revenge for that. They won’t actually let him get killed or anything, but they’ll let him get hurt. Let his ego get bruised, they think. And if the little demon brat gets hurt at the same time? Even better.

Until Batman drops behind them, furious.

“Why are you two just standing here?” he barks.

They don’t move, stunned that Bruce finished up with whatever he’d been busy with across town to see them laughing as Dick and Damian get attacked.

And suddenly, Dick is the one being shielded. Because Batman is in front of him now, fending off the last of the attackers (maybe some LoA enemies who know they’re Ra’s grandsons?). Dick is able to hold Damian close and calm him down while Bruce does the fighting.

Because despite how horribly Bruce may have handled Dick getting shot or whatever it was that led to him firing him from Robin, Bruce just wants Dick to be safe. He wants Dick and Damian both to be safe and happy, that’s why he doesn’t want them to even step foot in the batcave until they’re older. He doesn’t realize how Jason and Tim treat them when he’s not around, or when he’s not looking. He doesn’t realize how much his boys hate their weekends with him. He’s so focused on keeping the out of harm’s way that he doesn’t see what’s right in front of him.

But he just saw his two other partners watch and laugh as his boys were being attacked. He saw Dick fighting so hard and so efficiently to keep Damian safe behind him. And he knew Dick was being trained by Talia and Ra’s while he was with them, he’s not a complete dunce, but it’s so different seeing it in action.

Because when he turns around, he sees Dick still shielding Damian. He sees that Dick has on a brave face, but he can see the fear lingering behind his eyes. And he gathers both his boys close and feels so out of breath as he asks, “Are you both alright?”

“Yes,” Dick whispers, his voice strained and muffled as he presses his face into the front of the Batsuit. He’s used to fighting. He goes on missions for Ra’s all the time. But this was different. They’d been at the manor. They’re supposed to be safe from this sort of thing at the manor.

Bruce pulls Damian up onto his hip and rubs circles into Dick’s back as he says, somewhat frantically, “Let’s go home now, alright? Let’s go home.”

But before they leave, he leans over just enough to look Dick in the eye and tells him, “You did a good job, chum. You’re a good boy.”

Maybe he hasn’t called Dick chum since he got shot, since Bruce fired him. Maybe that sends Dick over the edge, as he clings to Bruce, and he doesn’t know what to do. Because he’s still so angry and so sad about being fired, about being replaced not once but twice, and he doesn’t know what to do.

Idk just thought this would be fun to visit again

[batsandbirdbrains]

What do you think of Dick Grayson being just... shy? Like, very shy.

Something about changing this where Dick is the kid who talks to everyone, who makes friends with even the rocks... Not being able to get out from behind Batman when there's someone else in the room.

Perhaps this changes with Nightwing, perhaps not, perhaps Nightwing is a completely silent hero according to everyone, he no longer hides, but he never speaks to anyone... And yet he manages to be the strategist and even the mission leader, somehow... Nobody understands how.

Especially since he barely takes off his mask, he can't be in front of absolutely anyone without feeling like he needs to run out of the room.

Ooh I like this idea. What if, as Dick Grayson, he has to put on the persona of an extrovert. He always had to as a performer in the circus, so it’s not exactly anything new.

But Robin? Robin gets to be shy. Robin isn’t expected to be loud or chatty. He can be, sure. Once he gets to know someone. It takes a few months for the commissioner to ever hear Robin crack a joke. It takes a few encounters with Robin for any of the villains to hear him even say a word (they hear his bone-chilling cackle often enough, though).

And when he becomes Nightwing? He’s also still mostly silent. He gets nervous around new people, but he doesn’t let it show. They don’t realize his silence is just nerves, they think he’s just a bit of a cold asshole. He’s fine with that. He can use it to his advantage.

He’ll speak to a group of other heroes if Bruce has him being the strategist for a mission or something, but otherwise, he keeps to himself. He hangs out with his friends (the Titans), but he doesn’t go out of his way to chat with anyone else. His friends all understand, they know him, but everyone else thinks he’s just like Batman.

Dick is fine with that.

[batsandbirdbrains]

Omg au idea based off a tiktok I saw a couple days ago but now can’t find

The trinity are actually all Kryptonian. Because they’re triplets. But their pods all landed in totally different places.

Clark is raised by Ma and Pa Kent like normal.

Diana lands on Themyscira directly after Hippolyta prayed to Zeus for a child, so she assumes Diana was sent by Zeus and raises her as her child.

Bruce is found by the Waynes when they’re on some rich people vacation gallivanting around the globe, and they’ve been trying for a child unsuccessfully for so long, so they just take him home with them and tell everyone he was born abroad.

Separately, they all still become Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman. They all still come together to form the Justice League. But Diana doesn’t know she’s not Amazonian, and Bruce maybe thinks he has some sort of meta gene but doesn’t like to use his powers if he can avoid it, so he thinks he’s otherwise a normal human.

Clark is the only one who knows he’s a triplet, because the holograms of his parents in the Fortress of Solitude mention it. He thinks his brother and sister must have been lost in space. He grieves them, because there’s no reason for him to believe they’re alive.

Until he brings Bruce and Diana to the Fortress of Solitude for the first time, and the technology recognizes them as the other two triplets.

Also Bruce and Clark would be identical twins, and Diana is their triplet. No one ever realized before now that Bruce and Clark are literally identical.

But they decide not to really advertise the fact that they’re triplets. They don’t really tell anyone other than close family, (Ma and Pa, Alfred, etc.).

Anyway, now enter little eight year old Robin Dick Grayson, who is also secretly Kryptonian. Is he their big brother who got stuck in the Phantom Zone? Is he Zod’s son? Anything could work really depends on how angsty you wanna get.

But when Bruce finally brings him to meet Clark and Diana and tells Dick that he’s Kryptonian and he’s a triplet and Clark and Diana are his brother and sister, Dick maybe kinda gets nervous and holds his hands behind his back and digs his toe into the ground.

“What, what’s wrong?” Bruce is so worried about him.

“Can you promise to be real cool about something if I tell you? And also to not get rid of me because I actually really like you and Alfie and I don’t wanna leave.”

Anyway just food for thought

Could also make Donna Dick’s actual Kryptonian twin who also got separated from him when they landed. And if we want triplets so each of the Trinity gets their own mini me: enter Chris Kent and make them all Zod’s kids lmao

[batsandbirdbrains]

Kryptonian Dick and Donna my beloveds 💔

I’m becoming obsessed with them being actual Wonder Twins I love them so much ❤️

But like what if the two of them are actually the older siblings of Clark, Diana, and Bruce in this au?

What if they both separately realize that they’re their baby siblings, but now they’re all grown up, and they think they won’t want anything to do with them or that they’ll be mad at them for getting to Earth late and not taking care of them, so they keep their own Kryptonian-ness a secret.

Dick and Donna haven’t met yet on Earth, their pods landed far off from each other (they were 4 - they’d been stuck in the Phantom Zone). Robin and Wonder Girl haven’t met yet. They’ve both separately been told about the others being triplets, but for whatever reason, Bruce and Diana just haven’t gotten around to introducing their protégés to each other yet.

So when they’re finally introduced to each other when they’re 9 or 10, they both freeze. Their Kryptonian powers are starting to develop now, and so when they finally recognize each other, they literally fly at each other.

“Dal-El!”

“Dana!”

They’re hugging each other so tight and speaking to each other so quickly in Kryptonian and they’re both crying a little bit because they each thought their twin was dead, or still stuck in the Phantom Zone, or lost in space forever, but now they’re reunited and they missed each other so so much.

Then Donna leans back and grabs Dick’s face to squeeze his cheeks between her hands, asking in a huffy tone, “Dal-El, where have you been?”

So Dick huffs right back and holds her face exactly the same way, asking, “Dana Jor-El, where have you been?”

They’re about to start bickering back and forth until their respective mentors pick them up to drag them apart, Bruce holding Dick out like a sack of potatoes and Diana pacing Donna in front of her.

“Dal-El?” Bruce questions. “As in the House of El?”

And Dick sends a smile to Bruce, and it’s both hopeful and nervous and a little bratty.

“Oh yeah so there was something I was gonna tell you,” Dick says, letting out a nervous laugh.

“Dana Jor-El?” Diana says to Donna. “As in Jor-El our father?”

“Sooo I meant to tell you something,” Donna says, smiling sweetly and holding her hands behind her back and kicking her foot around.

“Dick, what the hell is going on?”

Dick pouts and wags a finger in Bruce’s face while saying, “That’s no way to speak to your elders!”

Meanwhile Clark is in the background trying to figure out when the hell the twin older siblings he once heard their hologram parents talking about landed on Earth, and how he didn’t notice it. Or how any of them didn’t notice it.

“Let me down, let me down,” Dick whines and kicks his feet around after a few minutes of Bruce remaining frozen and confused. “I haven’t seen her in forever, let me down!”

Bruce lets Dick slip down then, and the twins are back to holding on tight to each other and whispering about how much they missed each other.

[batsandbirdbrains]

ok but what if instead of seeking out bruce or damian for comfort, de-aged dick tries to run away? he doesn’t make it far because he’s running while crying and his vision is blurry and he trips and falls and now his legs are all scraped up and he’s still upset and crying. jason and tim are starting to panic because they just wanted to take out their insecurities on dick and make him insecure for once, for him to experience what they feel all the time. but now dick is nowhere to be found.

maybe jim gordon comes across dick and has flashbacks to the little kid he once knew. but there’s no way that the kid in front of him is dick, right? he takes the kid home and makes him hot cocoa while he tries to figure out how to get in touch with the kids parents or a social worker. he gets the kid to tell him what happened (dick makes up a story about how his family doesn’t want him - telling the truth without giving away too much) eventually, batman appears and jim lets out a long sigh as they stare at each other. jim talks to batman a bit before letting dick go with him, and if batman gets chewed out by a long suffering jim gordon, then nobody needs to know but them.

Wait wait wait wait wait

What if Dick takes one of his old Robin costumes that was on display in the Batcave, so when Jim finds him, he finds his favorite little buddy Robin like he’s been popped out straight from a memory. He figures it must be some weird vigilante nonsense that turned him back into a kid (he knows Nightwing is the original Robin).

So he brings Robin to his office (“Wow, Detective Gordon, you became the Commissioner?” And doesn’t that make Jim feel ancient – this kid can’t be a year shy from calling him Mr. Commissioner Gordon. He forgot he was still a detective when Robin first showed up on the scene). They share a candy cigarette or two. Jim lets Robin tell him all his woes.

And Jim is pissed. So he does everything he can to make Robin feel better. And when Batman finally shows up to collect his wayward Robin?

“You’re a goddamn moron.”

“Ooooh,” Batman hisses, dropping to a whisper, “talk about deja vu.”

Robin spends a long time hiding behind Jim’s coat stealing candy cigarettes from the pocket while Jim chews Batman out.

Then he lets Batman pick him up and waves at Jim as they leave.

[batsandbirdbrains]

Dick, exasperated and exhausted, a newsfeed playing in front of him as he stands with a few other heroes:

“The only thing that I have holding me back right now is that I have self respect and dignity.”

The heroes around him are gawking at the news of Red Hood showing up somewhere with a duffel bag full of severed heads.

“Thank God for Jason, who is unburdened by those anchors.”

[batsandbirdbrains]

I’m on a dimension hopping kick rn so imagine an AU where Bruce, as a last ditch effort to save his son from a dying planet, sends 10-year-old Dick to a different universe. He’s done extensive research. He knew something was brewing with Darkseid, he knew he might need to do something drastic, so he found the best possible world to send his son.

In this alternate universe, Dick fell with the rest of the Flying Graysons. Bruce never had the chance to adopt him, it never even crossed his mind, because it was never even a possibility.

Having a child is something he never knew he was missing. He’s still friendly with Superman and Wonder Woman and he’s in the Justice League, but he’s more closed off. He doesn’t open up as much as he would have if he had a brightly colored little Robin at his side.

So when this terrified and frantic child appears in his cave one night after patrol, he doesn’t really know what to do.

“I have to go back!” Dick shouts at him, and he’s breathing heavily, he’s panicking. “I have to go back, I have to help him!”

“Alright, alright,” Bruce tries to calm him down. “Where did you come from?”

Bruce keeps trying to grab hold of him to keep him still and calm him down, but Dick keeps squirming away.

“I need to go home!” he cries. “Stop! Stop, I need to go home! You’re not my Bruce!”

Bruce freezes, because he’s still in his batsuit. He still has the cowl on. There’s no way this child should know who he is.

It takes a while, but he eventually figures out what’s going on. Once Dick calms down. Once Dick explains that his Bruce sent him away. That his Bruce came back from a mission with the JL, and he was hurt, he was hurt so so badly, and the world around them was crumbling. He wouldn’t let Dick help him. He grabbed a bag and gave it to Dick and sent him away.

This Bruce has no idea what to do. He has a distraught, panicking child in his cave. He can’t send him back to the world he just came from. What is he supposed to do with him?

He brings Dick upstairs to the manor and gives him a room. Well, Dick picks the room. He says it’s his. Bruce doesn’t argue.

Later that night, as he broods in the cave, he receives a transmission from the Bruce who sent Dick here. It’s a video explaining why he picked this universe, why he picked this Bruce. He pleads for him to take care of Dick. To keep him safe. He explains what’s going on in his universe, how it’s not going to survive much longer.

“You’ll love him, I promise you will,” this other Bruce tells him. “He’s the best kid from any universe. He deserves the best. He deserves to live. I know you’ll do right by him.”

And, well, shit. Now he’s gonna have to keep the kid. He just needs to figure out how to go about it from a legal standpoint. He can’t just say the kid appeared in his basement.

Maybe he’ll say Dick is the product of some fling from a decade ago. That’s plausible. That could work.

He’ll have to figure out the details with Dick. He’s sure the kid will have several opinions.

[batsandbirdbrains]

Omg wait but based on so many comments from my latest post where Robin!Dick is afraid of certain JL members because they always yell and get angry at Batman. Imagine if it’s specifically Oliver who always shouts at Batman. It’s always Oliver who looks like he’s going to swing at Batman because he’s mad about having to rewrite a mission report or something.

It’s Oliver who Dick is afraid of.

Except Oliver doesn’t know yet that Batman and Robin are his friend Bruce Wayne and his new adopted son, Dick Grayson.

So when Dick has to interact with Oliver at a charity event, he hides behind Bruce. He doesn’t want anything to do with him. He tries to drag Bruce away because he doesn’t want him anywhere near Oliver. Just that morning, Green Arrow screamed in Batman’s face about monitor duty and looked like he was about to start swinging his fists. And Robin was there, gripping Batman’s cape, watching with wide eyes behind his domino mask.

Dick Grayson hates Oliver Queen, and it’s very apparent. He’s scared of him. It’s baffling. Bruce can never give Oliver a solid reason as to why his son doesn’t like one of his oldest friends.

But eventually, Robin grows up. He’s not the scared little kid anymore. He grows into a resentful teenager, and then a hostile adult when it comes to Oliver Queen.

Nightwing hates Green Arrow, and he isn’t afraid to show it.

It takes them all a while to figure out Nightwing is the original Robin.

Then the bats share their secret identities with the rest of the JL, and Oliver suddenly has an epiphany. Because he’s been such an ass to someone he considers one of his best friends. And well before Oliver met Dick, Green Arrow met Robin, and then would yell in Batman’s face right in front of him.

This kid who he always considered an honorary nephew was scared of him, and now hates him. And he has no idea what to do about it or how to feel about it.

[batsandbirdbrains]

Dick: Hey, the circus arts are very physically and mentally demanding. Have you ever tried to juggle?

Donna: Yes, I’m juggling my love for you and my embarrassment of you right now.

Dick: And it’s hard, isn’t it?

[batsandbirdbrains]

Bruce Wayne at the circus, seeing a shocked eight year old little boy kneel on the ground in a puddle of his parents’ blood, and rushing from the stands to wrap him in his coat and carry him away. Bruce Wayne tucking the boy’s face into his shoulder and whispering as calmly as he can, “Don’t look. You’re going to be okay, I promise you’re going to be okay, just don’t look.”

Detective Gordon, watching as he walks by, being transported to twenty years prior when he was a rookie cop first on the scene for the Wayne murders and finding a shocked eight year old little boy standing in a puddle of his parents’ blood. Remembering how he wrapped his jacket around him and carried him away in a hurry, tucking his face into his shoulder and whispering, “Don’t look. You’re going to be okay, I promise you’re going to be okay, just don’t look.”

Gordon watching as the supposed playboy billionaire Bruce Wayne does everything he can to comfort Dick Grayson, this little boy from the circus he’s never even met before, because he knows exactly the kind of pain he’s going through in this moment.

Gordon realizing that his moment of panic when trying to get little Bruce Wayne away from his parents’ dead bodies had more of an impact than he ever could have imagined.

[batsandbirdbrains]

Wally: Ever since I met Dick, I’ve been envious of his looks.

Dick: Aw, thank you.

Wally: That’s why I was so happy when you had that mullet.

Dick: What?

Wally: You know what I mean. You were still hot, but more like a why’d that hot guy do that with his hair, hot.

Dick, turning to Donna: You liked my mullet, right?

Donna, stammering: Yeah. I loved it. Love you, love the hair, would love to change the subject.

Dick: Seriously, none of you liked it?

Garth: I thought it was brave. Does that count as liking it?

Dick: You know, how come nobody’s talking about Roy’s dopey haircut?

Garth: I think he looks cute.

Roy: And I think you’re cute.

Donna: I think you’re both cute.

Dick: I think I hate all of you nerds!

[batsandbirdbrains]

Eight year old Dick Grayson, hanging off the back of Bruce’s chair at the Batcomputer, chatting endlessly in his ear as Bruce tries to work, “Last night I had a dream that I was a giant. But everything around me was to scale so it all looked normal.”

Bruce, trying not to get annoyed with his new ward as he keeps talking his ear off, “Well, how did you know you were a giant if everything was to scale?”

Dick, resting his head on Bruce’s shoulder and saying directly into his ear, “I was wearing size a million pants.”

Bruce blinks, shakes his head a bit at the mental image of it, and then goes back to typing as Dick starts talking about something completely different.