AN: This is Sensei's Little Thunder Ninja's gift!fic for being the 100th reviewer. The request was a fic where the team discovered Batman and Robin's identities after seeing them in Gotham.
This is easily the longest oneshot I've written. I was really surprised- I didn't expect it to turn out as long as it did. I had to restart this fic because the original version was... less believable that this one is. (It took place in a Mardi Gras parade, which is unrealistic for Dick and Wally to be in. I wanted a fic named Mardi Gras so badly though! D:) So I restarted it, gave it a better introduction, and copied and pasted a few scenes between Dick and Wally. The ending might be a little rushed (idk if it is or not), but its supposed to be a little ambiguous as to how things happen after the secret's discovered. In other words: I totally failed and decided to use ambiguity to my advantage. :D
I tried to be descriptive. Very, very hard. I hate describing settings, but I forced myself to this time! :P
Some background for the story: Dick tricks Wally into attending Gotham's yearly parade. He hates being the only kid on the Wayne float, so he badgers Bruce into letting Wally come along, as Wally's not an easily recognized face. Bruce gives in, albeit reluctantly.
Rather recently, M'gann had started to watch the news. Because of Robin's dabbling with the television's cable, M'gann had a wide variety of news programs to choose from, all from different cities. Her favorite two news programs to watch were the Gotham News and the Central City News. When Wally and Robin weren't at the base, M'gann liked to keep the news from their cities on while she cooked in the kitchen. It comforted her.
It was on one of these rare lazy days wherein both Wally and Robin were out that M'gann saw something interesting on the Gotham News. She put down her favorite pink mixing bowl, and, wiping her dough-covered hands on her skirt, picked up the television's remote and turned up the volume.
"As you can see, John, all of Gotham is abuzz with the upcoming parade being held today."
"Parade?" M'gann muttered to herself, floating out of the kitchen into the TV room. She came to a halt behind the couch and watched, awed, as the camera zoomed out to show a bird's eye view of the bustling streets of Gotham. "Oh!"
"Many of Gotham's elite are competing in the parade's competition to see who can create the best float. Most notable of these competitors is Bruce Wayne, owner of Wayne Enterprises. The so called 'Prince of Gotham' refuses to reveal his float until the parade has started, and many are discussing what Mr. Wayne has planned..."
"What are you watching?" Artemis asked, peering over the M'gann's shoulder.
M'gann meeped in surprise. She'd been so focused on the parade news she hadn't noticed the archer wonder into the room. She muttered a mental, "Hello, M'gann!" to herself.
"Gotham News," she said, offering her friend a shaky smile. "There's something… interesting happening there today."
Artemis snorted. "The parade thing, right?"
"You know about it?" M'gann asked, surprised.
The archer nodded. "Gotham doesn't normally do stuff like this," she told M'gann dryly. Seeing the lost look on the Martian's face, Artemis elaborated. "By 'this' I mean happy, family friendly activities." She shrugged. "This is its yearly parade. A lot of people know about it, just because it's so un-Gothamlike."
"Many of the local schools are getting into the festivities as well, John. Gotham Academy is going to host several floats this year, each for a different organization."
Images of high school students climbing around and adding last minute touches to their floats flashed across the screen. Some of the students, noticing the news cameras, stopped what they were doing to wave enthusiastically.
M'gann watched, a smile growing across her face. Artemis, noticing it, felt her stomach sink. That smile could only mean bad things for her.
"We should go!" M'gann declared, beaming at the archer.
Artemis shook her head. "Nu-uh," she said, "I'm not going to a parade. Those things never end. Never."
M'gann's face fell. "But we can use it as a team-building exercise," she pointed out. "Red Tornado advised us to work on our relationship as a team."
"Yeah— not happening." Artemis gestured towards the TV. "That's Gotham City. Batman hates it when other heroes enter his territory without his explicit permission. Superman doesn't even go there without his say so."
M'gann pursed her lips mulishly. "If we go as civilians…" she trailed off.
"He'll know." Artemis dismissed the idea with a wave of her hand. "Batman can practically sense it when people go into Gotham."
The Martian let out a disappointed sigh. Artemis winced at the sound, feeling a little guilty. M'gann, noticing the wince, let out another sigh, heavier and more hopeless.
"…" Artemis huffed. "I guess he might not notice…"
M'gann squealed in delight. "I'll go get Conner, Wally, and Kaldur!" She headed towards the training room before pausing a thoughtful frown crossing her face. "Actually, I haven't seen Wally at the base all day."
Artemis tilted her head, trying to remember if or when she'd seen the speedster that day. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen the idiot at all either. Normally he uses the base as a second home."
"I wonder where he is…"
Dick and Wally were sitting in the cafeteria of Wayne Enterprises. They had an entire, ten-person table to themselves, despite the fact that the room was rather crowded, and people were sitting twelve to a table. Wally, though he wasn't positive, thought that their getting a private table had something to do with Dick's father.
Dick had bought Wally and himself some onion rings and cheese sticks, as well as drinks. Wally had protested (he had his own money, darn it), but Dick had given him a Look and said, "You don't pay me when you eat at the Manor." After thinking over the comment, Wally had seen Dick's point. It was Bruce's food when it came down to it, and he was fine not paying for that.
"I hate normal people."
Wally snorted, spewing his mouthful of root beer onto Dick's lap. The younger boy glared at him, baring his teeth in disgust.
"You didn't just do that," he told Wally darkly. "You did not just spit soda onto my thousand dollar suit."
"You can buy another one," Wally said, waving a hand dismissively. He wiped his mouth with his shirtsleeve, ignoring the grimace it earned from Dick. "And, dude, you can't hate normal people. You, like, save them daily."
"Not so loud!" Dick hissed quietly, hunching closer to his friend so that no one else would hear the comment. "We're in public, Wally."
"Sorry," Wally mumbled sheepishly. He reached for his drink again, trying to hide his blush.
Dick's lips quirked into a smirk when he saw Wally's red face. "I don't like normal people when there's this many of them," he rectified dryly. "They lack the basic understanding of personal space."
Wally smiled, happy that Dick decided to overlook his slip up. "So why do you and Mr. Wayne hold annual parades?" He took a sip from his drink, eyeing his friend over the rim.
"Because it's what Bruce Wayne does." At the mention of Bruce, Dick glanced towards the window, looking for his adoptive father outside.
He saw Bruce standing on a small platform beside Wayne Enterprises, talking to a mass of reporters. A busty blonde woman stood to his side, glaring territorially at any female reporters who wondered too close to Bruce. The glares came largely, Dick thought, from the fact that Bruce's wallet had recently provided the funds for a diamond necklace. He watched, unamused, as the woman leaned over and whispered something into Bruce's ear. Letting out an annoyed puff of air, Dick turned away from the window.
"This is so… family friendly, though." Wally decided it might be best not to comment on Dick's suddenly worse mood. "Bruce Wayne is so… not."
"It's good business," Dick admitted. "And it's good publicity."
"Oh," Wally mumbled. He grabbed a cheese stick and stuffed it into his mouth. "Iwah shwee."
Dick wasn't sure, but he thought Wally said "I see."
Wally, thankfully, swallowed his mouthful of cheese stick. A sudden look of realization passed his face as the cheese stick went down. "Wait a minute!" he cried. "If you hate these things so much, then why'd you bring me along?" He shot Dick a hurt look.
"If I have to suffer, so do you," Dick told him primly. At Wally's continued puppy-dog impression, Dick sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Also," he ground out, "it'll be more fun if you're there."
"Aw," Wally cooed, throwing an arm around Dick's shoulders and pushing them down so that he could ruffle the other's hair. It was a rather impressive feet considering the fact that both were sitting. "You actually like spending time with me!"
Dick glared at him and tried to shove the speedster's arm off. "Let go, you idiot!"
Wally laughed, but allowed Dick to go free. "So what do we do for this whole thing?" he asked. "I mean, we are doing something, right? I'm not wearing a wig for no reason here, Dick." Wally gave his friend a stern look. "I intend to mingle amongst the public!"
"Hence the wig, Wally," Dick said, rolling his eyes. He got up and started to walk towards the cafeteria's exit.
"That doesn't answer my question!" Wally called, jogging (slowly) to catch up to him. When Dick didn't respond, Wally stopped 'jogging' in favor of glaring at his friend's back. "Dude!"
"We're going to ride on the float." Dick walked through the automatic doors, smiling at Wally over his shoulder. "What else would we do?"
Wally beamed. "Awesome!" How could Dick hate things like this? Riding on a huge float seemed like a lot of fun to Wally.
The Young Justice members were in one of Gotham City's nicer parks. Thanks to Artemis's aggressive shoving, the team had managed to claim a hill that over-looked the street the park bordered. M'gann had set up a red and white checkered picnic blanket, and the group was sprawled across it, squinting down the street for a glimpse of the parade.
They were all dressed in their civvies, even Conner, who had been reluctant to wear something other than his black Superman shirt. Kaldur was wearing his normal 'civvies' uniform of a long-sleeved hoodie that covered his gills, while M'gann morphed her defining green skin into a plush, freckled pink. Artemis, the most inconspicuous of the lot, was dressed in her school clothes.
"Why are we here again?" Conner asked, genuinely curious. He looked around him, frowning at the various children running by. One of them, a little boy, stopped and stared at him. Conner attempted a smile, but, being embarrassed, produced something more along the lines of a grimace. The boy screeched, turned around, and ran towards his now panicked mother.
Artemis stuck her tongue out at the retreating boy's figure, more from a dislike of children than retribution for Conner's hurt feelings.
"Because we're going to see a parade and bond as a team!" M'gann told him happily. She handed Conner a cookie from the picnic basket, noticing, but not commenting on, the child's reaction.
"Does Batman know we are here?" Kaldur asked softly. His eyes darted around the park, warily looking for the hulking figure. "If he does not, he might not be happy."
"He'll get over it," Artemis muttered, pulling out a juice box from the picnic basket. Seeing that it was apple, she grimaced and threw it to Conner, who was nursing a growing addiction to apple juice. She stuck her hand back into the basket and produced a mixed berry juice box, which she promptly opened and started to sip.
"I'm sure he won't mind as long as we're here as civilians," M'gann told Kaldur. "We're not interfering in any of his work, are we?"
Kaldur nodded reluctantly, but continued to look around him. The last thing he needed or wanted was another lecture from Batman.
Artemis noticed Kaldur's cautious scanning. Rolling her eyes, she reached over and nudged his thigh with her foot. "He doesn't come out during the day, you know." She jerked her head towards the Sun. "I think he's allergic to sunlight," she whispered theatrically.
"Wally's said that before," Conner added, tilting his head to the side. "He wasn't lying?"
The archer looked at Conner for a moment, trying to decide if she should take advantage of the clone's innocence or actually tell him the truth. Right as she opened her mouth to tell him that, yes, Batman was deathly allergic to direct sunlight, Kaldur glared at her.
"No," the blond teen told Conner, "he is not. Wally was simply exaggerating, as was Artemis."
Artemis opened her mouth to protest, but stopped at the reproachful look M'gann shot her.
"Can we please not fight? We're here to bond as a team, guys." M'gann said. She grabbed the picnic basket, holding it up as an offering to her teammates. "We have cookies, juice, and finger sandwiches! See? There's no reason to fight." She beamed hopefully.
"Yeah," Artemis muttered, taking an aggressive sip of her mixed berry juice. Kaldur was still asking for it, she thought darkly.
Conner, catching something in M'gann's earlier comment, turned to frown at the Martian girl. "If we're here to bond as a team," he asked, "where are Robin and Wally?"
M'gann shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "Robin doesn't like visitors in Gotham," she admitted "So we didn't tell him we were coming." Kaldur's face took on an expression of long suffering. "As for Wally," she gave another shrug, "we don't know where he is."
"Not that big of a problem, really." Artemis scrunched her empty juice box and dropped it to her side. "He's a pest."
"Artemis, we're bonding, remember?" M'gann scolded, reaching over and picking up the juice carton. She put it in the trash section of her picnic basket, secretly afraid that Batman might pop out and snarl, "Litterer!" at her. "No name calling."
"Fine," Artemis huffed. "But he—"
"Mommy, mommy! Look! The parade's coming!" The little boy from earlier was tugging on his mother's skirt, trying to drag her towards the street for a better view.
"Oh— shush, shush!" M'gann shushed Artemis, making 'be quiet' gestures with her hands.
"You don't need to hear in a parade," Artemis muttered.
M'gann ignored her. The girl stood up eagerly, trying to see the leading float. "I think I see it coming!"
"… This isn't as fun as I thought it would be," Wally whispered to Dick. The two boys were dressed in expensive renaissance costumes to match the theme of Wayne's float, and Wally felt rather ridiculous. How could he think this would be fun?
"When did you realize that?" Dick asked sardonically. "Before or after Bruce showed you your outfit?"
Wally winced and glanced down at his costume. Mr. Wayne had decided to dress him as the court jester, for no reason Wally understood. The speedster was sporting bright yellow and blue tights, a matching tunic that barely reached his knees, and a large hat with a feather that insisted on falling into his mouth. It was a large part of the 'not fun' factor.
Dick, on the other hand, was dressed as a prince. He was decked out in red (his favorite color, apparently), and sported puffy pants that should have looked ridiculous, but, on Dick, looked almost classy. He wore a small circlet for his crown, bejeweled with real rubies and diamonds. The boy even had his own sword, for God's sake!
It was totally unfair.
The float itself was a mobile castle, complete with its own dam and drawbridge. A large tower sprouted from the middle of the castle and sported 'King' Bruce and his 'queen', the Lady of the Ample Bosoms (as Wally called her— Dick simply referred to her as Miss Idiot). Dick and Wally stood in a slightly smaller tower, as Dick hadn't wanted Bruce around to "keep and eye on them and prevent them from idiocy".
Wally, afraid of Mr. Wayne in or out of his Batman costume, had been more than willing to agree.
"Dude," Wally muttered, avoiding the question, "my wig itches." The brown catastrophe was hot too, he thought darkly. "Are we there yet?"
Dick shrugged in between his smiling and waving to the cheering civilians. "We've been on the float for thirty minutes, Wally. The parade's an hour long."
Wally groaned. His feather fell into his mouth at the motion, and caused Wally to let out another, longer groan. "I hate you," he said blankly. "You totally knew this was going to suck when you invited me."
Still smiling and waving, Dick threw his arm over Wally's shoulder. "What was it you said earlier? Oh yeah," Dick pushed Wally's shoulders down smugly, reaching over to jostle the now-brunet's hat, "I like spending time with you."
"Du-uu-de," Wally whined, "you're messing up my hat placement!"
Most of the parade floats that Artemis had seen so far were, admittedly, pretty impressive. She imagined this had something to do with the fact that most of the participants in the parade were rich.
"Oh!" M'gann cried, pointing happily towards the Gotham Academy swim team's float. "Oh, look, Kaldur! It's a miniature Atlantis!"
Kaldur turned towards the float M'gann was pointing at. It was a rather… accurate portrayal of Atlantis, he thought grudgingly. "It is nice," he told M'gann. Seeing her pleased grin, Kaldur felt a small smile of his own form despite his annoyance with the whole parade situation.
"Oh, and look! I think that's supposed to be Robin Hood, Artemis!"
"… God, I need to take a picture of this to show Ollie," she muttered, smirking at the sight of an over-weight Robin Hood dancing with an emaciated Marion. True to her word, Artemis produced her cell phone and, after making sure the picture was clear, snapped a photo of the jiggling and jolly Robin Hood.
"How much longer is this going to be?" Kaldur asked, eyeing a group of students dressed as numbers and math signs. A sign at the front of the float read "MATHLETES" in bold letters.
"Twenty minutes, I think," Artemis told him, glancing down at her phone's time.
"That's for the entire parade," M'gann said. "Technically, it's over for us once the last float passes."
When Artemis muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "Thank God," M'gann chose to ignore it.
"There's seriously a television screen at the bottom of the tower just so people can see us?"
Dick nodded. Even though he'd been waving for a good forty-five minutes, he didn't seem to be terribly tired. Wally, on the other hand, had stopped waving twenty minutes ago. "With outfits this obscenely expensive, it'd be stupid otherwise."
Wally decided not to say anything about the outfits being stupid in the first place. He was rather high up and Dick was rather temperamental.
Instead, he looked around at the people lining the street. There were a lot of little kids, he noticed, smiling at the eager faces. His gaze moved towards a park. Lots of little kids, he though, lots of—
"Dude," Wally said slowly, "is that," he shook his head and blinked, "is that Artemis? And Kaldur? And— oh God, Dick, look!"
Dick, smile still firmly in place, looked casually in the direction Wally was staring. When he saw the assembled Young Justice his smile flickered, but was firmly back in place a second later.
"Stop staring at them," he hissed from the corner of his mouth. "Try to look to the right."
"But, dude, they are to the right!"
Dick's eyes flashed in annoyance. "Cameras, Wally. They're reflective, remember?"
Wally, too panicked at the thought of 'Mr. Wayne is totally going to blame this one on me' to remember, did as Dick said.
Most of the floats that came after the Atlantis float and the Robin Hood float were, if possible, even more extravagant. It was obscene how much the rich people were willing to spend on their floats, Artemis mused.
But the float coming around the corner— that float took extravagant and obscene to levels Artemis didn't think were possible. It was huge, easily twice the size of the second biggest float, and towered above the other floats imperiously.
"Is that a castle?" she asked, totally not gaping. "Like, a real castle?"
M'gann squealed. "It is! It's just like the one from the TV show… what did you call it, Artemis?"
"Merlin."
"It's just like the one from Merlin!" M'gann grinned, watching the castle-float's progress down the street gleefully. "Oh, look! It's even got flags and banners!"
"Whose float is that?" Conner asked.
"Wayne's," Artemis replied. Who else would have a float that big?
"Are those people in the towers?" M'gann asked, squinting. "They are!" She titled her head to the side, trying to get a better look at the tiny forms waving from the tower windows. "You can't see them very well— oh!" She gave her team an embarrassed grin, having noticed the big screen TVs bolted onto each of the towers. "Never mind."
"What do you mean never min— oooh." Artemis noticed the televisions as well. "That's overkill," she decided dryly. "Those things cost more than my apartment," was added quietly under her breath.
"Is that Bruce Wayne?" Kaldur asked. He was looking at the image of a broad, raven-haired man on one of the screens. "He is… bigger than I thought he would be."
"And hotter," Artemis noted, an appreciative smirk on her face. "He can pull off that dumb outfit pretty well." Said outfit was, to put it nicely, over done. Personally, Artemis thought it would look better sans the Louis XIV styled cape. And the man tights.
"Hey," Conner said, "those boys look kind of familiar."
The girls and Kaldur turned to look at the second screen where two boys, one smiling politely and the other looking a little panicked, were waving to the crowd.
"The jester boy looks a lot like Wally…" M'gann murmured, squinting at the screen. Her eyes widened. "That is Wally!"
"No," Artemis gasped, leaning forward. Then: "Holy— it is!"
Conner's brow furrowed. "Why is his hair brown?"
"I don't think we're supposed to recognize him," Artemis muttered darkly. She scowled to herself. "Something's going on here, guys."
M'gann, too focused on the smaller of the two to listen to Artemis, felt her eyes widen further. "That boy's the exact size of Robin," she whispered, shock coloring her voice.
"He has the same hair color," Kaldur continued.
"He's hanging out with Wally," Artemis said dryly. "Two guesses as to what he does in his free time."
"That's Robin?" Conner asked, not sure if he was clear on the decision. "The boy in red?
"I think it is," M'gann said softly. The Martian stared at the ground for a moment, thinking. Something's going on here... She turned to look at Artemis. "That man, Bruce Wayne… he's about Batman's size, isn't he?"
Artemis made to nod, then realized what M'gann's question was leading to. "No," Artemis said, shaking her head in denial. "That man can't be Batman."
Conner frowned. "Why not? He's with Robin and he's the same size as Batman is."
"He just can't be," Artemis hissed. "Bruce Wayne's an idiot. Everyone knows that— it's practically a fact of life. And Batman's the exact opposite of Bruce Wayne. They just can't be the same person."
"They are." Kaldur was staring at the image of Bruce Wayne again. "His jaw, look at it. It is Batman's."
The team looked, saw, and agreed. The man trussed up in his stupid king outfit was Gotham's feared vigilante, Batman. His chin said all.
… For some reason, Artemis had imagined that she'd discover Batman's identity in a much, much more dramatic situation. Like when he was dying. She tried not to be too disappointed, but the lack of drama was a little bit of a let down.
"… I think we should leave," M'gann said quietly. Her pink skin was flushed furiously in a blush. "This was a mistake."
Artemis, seeing her friend's crushed expression, reached out and patted M'gann's shoulder. "C'mon," she told the boys, "let's get back to the base."
"You won't mention this to Bruce," Dick hissed to him. "At all."
The parade had just ended, and Wally and Dick were striding towards the bathroom, away from Bruce. Both boys had seen the shocked expressions cross their team's faces, and both knew that Robin's identity had been revealed.
"He told me not to invite you," Dick continued, more to himself than to Wally. "He said it was too much of a risk."
They reached the bathroom. Wally held the door open for Dick, hoping to get behind the boy where he was less likely to get punched or jumped.
"And what did I say? 'Oh, don't worry, Bruce! Wally can just wear a wig.' I'm an idiot." Dick stressed the word with an angry punch to the wall. He hit it a few more times, just for good measure, before his shoulders slumped in defeat. "He'll ban me from being Robin. I know it," he whispered, sounding near tears.
"Dude, I doubt he'll go that far." Actually, Wally didn't doubt that Bruce would go that far, but he sure wasn't telling that to Dick.
"Yes he will," Dick mumbled. "He'll disown me too."
"No, he won't," a familiar baritone drawled.
Dick and Wally whipped around to face a frowning Bruce. Wally licked his lips nervously. He wondered if he could make it out the door before Mr. Wayne caught him, but decided against it. Never mind super speed, he thought, Batman would totally catch him.
"He will, however, be incredibly annoyed."
Dick and Wally exchanged worried glances. Wally gathered his courage and looked Mr. Wayne in the eyes.
"Umm, does this mean I'm not allowed back at the Manor? … Sir?"
When they got back to the base, Artemis wasn't terribly surprised to see a sheepish Wally waiting for them.
"Where's Batman?" she asked.
"He's coming," Wally mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "He and Robin are still getting dressed." He offered them a hesitant smile. "I had to run really, really fast to get here before you, y'know."
Artemis ignored the attempted joke. "Where's your wig?" Artemis gestured to her hair mockingly, scowling at Wally as she did so.
"… It was really itchy?" Wally tried. He shrugged. "I took it off before I came here. I, uh, didn't think it'd be appropriate to wear."
"Is Mr. Wayne Batman, Wally?" Kaldur asked, cutting off Artemis's annoyed, "Way to think ahead."
Wally met his gaze, eyes serious. "That's not my place to say," he told him quietly. "Batman will tell you what you need to know when he and Robin get here."
"Then we'll wait." M'gann offered Wally a small smile, trying to show the boy that she wasn't upset with him. "Do you want a cookie?"
Batman was, on a regular basis, an intimidating figure to stand in front of. He was tall, broad, and in a permanent bad mood. When Batman was actually angry about something, however, he was terrifying. Artemis, standing in a line with her fellow parade goers, couldn't help but think that Robin made Batman seem less scary.
When he was standing with them that was. When Robin was standing with Batman, he made things seem worse.
"I don't need to tell you what you saw today isn't to leave the base." Batman looked at each of the four teenagers standing in front of him. "I don't need to tell you," he growled, "that none of you are to mention this to anyone, even a member of the Justice League."
The line of teenagers nodded.
"Robin will continue to wear his glasses at the base," Batman told them. "You will continue to refer to him as Robin."
They nodded again.
Batman looked at them sharply, searching for any signs of hesitation or deciet. "If you break any of these rules, you will deal with me."
They blanched, then nodded.
"Good." Batman turned towards the teleporter. "Robin," he snapped. The boy in question hunched over, muttering something about cruel and unusual punishments. Still, he reluctantly followed his mentor towards the pad. "West." Wally winced, waved goodbye, and sped over to stand by Robin.
There was a flash of light, and then they were gone. The last thing the team heard was Wally's hesitant, "Are you telling Uncle Barry about this? I swear, this wasn't my fau—"
The remaining team members exchanged glances.
"Does this really change anything?" M'gann asked.
Kaldur shook his head. "I do not think so. The rules have not changed, and we are still to refer to Robin as Robin."
They stood there for a while, staring at the teleporter pad, half afraid that Batman would reappear. M'gann finally ended the tension by clapping her hands together. "So," she said, "who wants to help me make cookies?"
The other three shrugged. Kaldur and Conner started to make their way towards the kitchen.
"Why not?" Artemis reasoned, and followed her friends into the kitchen.
AN: M'gann helps diffuse tensions. She's awesome. :)
I hope no one was OCC. If they were, I apologize. I have a really shaky grasp on M'gann, I'm afraid.