Project Shikon

Chapter 10

After the group meeting, Tim made his way down to the Batcave to start researching. He could start watching cameras around the edges of Gotham that bordered the woods. He really needed to find where she came out of so he could start backtracking her. His goal at the moment was to find the lab she escaped from; it would hopefully make up for attacking her. He still felt really bad about that.

Dick had dragged Jason away to help gather things for the picnic. Alfred would get all of the food ready, but Dick wanted to participate as well. Since it would be nice and warm for her, they had dressed Shi back into Jason's sweater that she had come over in yesterday. She was given a pair of Damian's socks for her feet. When Dick got the full look of her, he broke out into giggles. She looked so cute, everything she was wearing was way too big for her. It was like a kid playing dress-up in their parent's clothing. Dick had sent Damian and Shi ahead outside as Shi seemed to want to go out there as soon as possible and he still didn't want to leave her alone. Plus, to his amusement and happiness, Damian didn't seem to mind spending time with Shi. Dick watched as Damian led the way outside, his sketchbook in his hands. Shi was loosely holding onto the back of his shirt as she shuffled after him. As soon as Alfred finished up the food and gave it to them, he was going to head out to do some shopping. Mostly clothing for Shi, and some other things for her.

Damian led Shi outside, he planned on waiting outside by the large tree out back. He spends a good amount of his free time lounging underneath that tree, usually with Titus. He sat down and Shi stood silently next to him.

"You can sit down if you like, or you can look around if you would rather do that. It's up to you, just make sure I can still see you if you choose to wander." Damian said and immediately started sketching. Shi sat down next to him and her attention drifted between watching Damian draw and watching the beautiful view around her. Both of them started to think about what had transpired this morning, before the whole incident with Tim.

Shi stood outside fidgeting from one foot to the other. She was currently standing on the concrete base on the edge of the grass. Now that she was here, she was having trouble taking that final step. She had dreamed of playing around on green grass like this for almost a year now. Ever since she had overheard some of the scientists talking about it. She had built up this idea in her head on how it would be, how it would feel. Now that she was here, she was slightly scared that the real thing wouldn't measure up to what she had imagined. She scowled at herself and shook her head, trying to clear the bad thoughts. She could do this. She Would do this. A determined look appeared on her face as she started squatting down to touch the grass.

A voice stopped her just before she could, however, "What are you doing?" Damian snapped at her.

Shi froze her hand a few inches from the grass. She turned her head to look at him and her body tensed for a whole different reason. Damian was already dressed for the day, though his hair was still messy. A frown was on his face, but that was all she had seen on his face since last night. So maybe that was his default face? As her eyes traveled from Damian to slightly behind him, her eyes widened in fear. There was a huge dog right behind him, it was probably as tall as her. Now, ironically, she was not a fan of dogs. Dog demons she was fine with, but actual dogs scared her. They would sometimes use dogs to punish. The type of dog behind Damian wasn't the breed they used at the lab, but that didn't really mean much to her mind. Damian's dog was so much bigger than the ones at the lab, which made it so much worse.

The dog took a couple of steps forward and Shi unconsciously took a nervous step back. Her mind had forgotten she was squatting down, however, so she ended up falling to the ground. The moment her hand touched the grass she forgot about the possible danger the dog could mean. Her head whipped to look at the grass. Her eyes grew wide and gained a shine to them and a smile bloomed on her face. She started petting the grass and she silently giggled. The actual thing was so much better than what she had imagined. It was soft yet prickly and it was still slightly wet.