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Mrs. Mac whispered warnings about Gotham to the youngest Drake. Sang them actually, as the boy watched her dust the furniture, and cook up his meals. Now the Drakes would not permit such superstitions, if they heard it, but stories have a habit of spreading when people try to squash them out. Mrs Mac figured she was free to ignore their preferences unless expressly told otherwise. It's not like it could cause harm.
Tim was curious. He wanted to know why a city would claim some and not others. He wondered why most of them became villains, and why Robin did not.
He wanted to know what happened to people when they were called; why no one would speak about it.
Mostly, he wanted to know how something so huge as the calling of Robin could happen three bleachers down, without Tim even noticing an entire city singing.
There were no scholarly articles, no first person accounts. Arkham hadn’t even compiled a list of symptoms or common behaviors.
Obviously, Tim needed to do his own research. He would start with Robin (since he was the coolest one anyways).
Tim's files grew. Pictures upon pictures. Tim had to admit they weren’t all for research purposes at some point.
He studied Robin, he studied Batman. (Was he claimed? inconclusive) then the rogues as Tim found their hideouts. He spent almost a week one summer perched outside of the iceberg lounge.
It was worth it.
He drew up charts detailing changes in behavior patterns for various rouges.
He wrote algorithms predicting changes in preset behavior patterns. Looked for predicting factors by comparing testimonies of those who weren’t quite claimed.
In theory, if he wanted to find out what it took to be claimed, he could just...
It wasn't like he was claiming himself. Gotham still had to sing, or whatever...
At some point, Tim's writing grew unintelligible.
His spreadsheets seemed to shift to having a fifth dimension.
Tim never felt free to speak of his research, so no one knew when it stopped.
He still ran about the city.
The bags under his eyes were certainly growing.
Ives had a habit of calling Tim weird from some point, but if he noticed a sudden change, Ives took that to his grave.
Tim's parents didn’t notice anything different.
Tim would always be a wild child to the ever-dimming eyes of Mrs. Mac.
If Tim was weirdly suited for the role of Robin, well, he wouldn’t be the first.
So what if he just knew where rogues were going? Was it that odd to be able to predict an Arkham breakout based on the water pressure? That just made him a more effective Robin.
Batman needs Robin.
And Gotham needs Batman.