Tim was going to let it go at first. Yes, he's not under-sized anymore. He's in the low range of average and still growing. Yes, he's white - it's the sad, pathetic truth that it probably still makes a difference in Howard's life. Tim wants to point out that not everyone is racist, that he too knows how it feels to get you're-not-welcome stares.
But then Howard suggests that Tim doesn't know what it's like to have rules to keep from getting his face busted in. He doesn't know if he should laugh, punch the kid in the jaw - no, he's younger and injured and personal fights are against the rules, somewhere. His parents' rules and Batman's rules, albeit for very different reasons. Nice kids don't pick fights, Timothy. Personal vendettas make you sloppy, Robin.
Okay, he's proven that last one wrong. Red Robin doesn't get careless when it turns personal, he gets more calculating.
Then, there's his own rules, different sets of them for Tim Drake, Tim Wayne, Robin, Red Robin, and now here, where he's got to be some blended persona of all four constantly. If he can't, he doesn't know what will happen, and the unknown is always the most dangerous factor. He doesn't know where violence fits, under this amalgam code.
The only set of rules that this doesn't go against is Bruce Wayne's, because, any time you can create chaos for the public face of your personal life, you take it.
"I don't know what you think my life was," Tim said angrily, "But, if you think that I'm some popular kid who flies through high school without anything ever touching me - buddy, you are so far off the mark. A freaking gang war broke out at my school, okay? I saw kids die - I saw one of my only friends at school die, and there wasn't anything that I could do about it. That wasn't even the first funeral I've been to."
Tim looks genuinely upset, but there's no sign of it in his voice. The cowl hides his face, usually, but his voice is always on show. "I've been to seven funerals in the past five years, and none of them were for my great-aunt Edna from Topeka who I've never met, understand? So I'm sorry that you had a hard life, but this is proving my point here. Don't judge a book by its cover, because you're going to regret it."
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But then Howard suggests that Tim doesn't know what it's like to have rules to keep from getting his face busted in. He doesn't know if he should laugh, punch the kid in the jaw - no, he's younger and injured and personal fights are against the rules, somewhere. His parents' rules and Batman's rules, albeit for very different reasons. Nice kids don't pick fights, Timothy. Personal vendettas make you sloppy, Robin.
Okay, he's proven that last one wrong. Red Robin doesn't get careless when it turns personal, he gets more calculating.
Then, there's his own rules, different sets of them for Tim Drake, Tim Wayne, Robin, Red Robin, and now here, where he's got to be some blended persona of all four constantly. If he can't, he doesn't know what will happen, and the unknown is always the most dangerous factor. He doesn't know where violence fits, under this amalgam code.
The only set of rules that this doesn't go against is Bruce Wayne's, because, any time you can create chaos for the public face of your personal life, you take it.
"I don't know what you think my life was," Tim said angrily, "But, if you think that I'm some popular kid who flies through high school without anything ever touching me - buddy, you are so far off the mark. A freaking gang war broke out at my school, okay? I saw kids die - I saw one of my only friends at school die, and there wasn't anything that I could do about it. That wasn't even the first funeral I've been to."
Tim looks genuinely upset, but there's no sign of it in his voice. The cowl hides his face, usually, but his voice is always on show. "I've been to seven funerals in the past five years, and none of them were for my great-aunt Edna from Topeka who I've never met, understand? So I'm sorry that you had a hard life, but this is proving my point here. Don't judge a book by its cover, because you're going to regret it."