29 - Video

[bodilesswarrior]

[Barbara is sitting on her couch, Jonesy curled up on her lap. Her communicator is carefully angled away from her control centre.

She starts off with a wry wave.] If you can see this, you've gotten pulled into a space prison's telecommunications network. As far as I can tell, it won't affect your systems any, so don't worry.

[Her smile deepens.] And if you're from Gotham, I know damn well this isn't the strangest thing that's happened to you this week.

((Fourth wall! GO TO TOWN.))

Comments

[bodilesswarrior]

Yeah. Different Gotham. [She's trying to keep her tone light, trying not to scrutinise him too closely. Trying not to remember what Derek said about - ]

I hear I'm commissioner.

[batfart]

You are.

[ He's not broaching the subject of their past if it isn't shared. They split up poorly. ]

[ And no one wants to talk about the miscarriage. ]

[bodilesswarrior]

Good as my dad?

[batfart]

Better.

[ He does not offer idle flattery. ]

[bodilesswarrior]

[No, he doesn't, and the compliment is - she lets him see it affect her.]

I'm glad.

...It's a different kind of job, up here.

[batfart]

[ It's a sweet stab of pain, that glow she gets. An almond kiss before the cyanide. Out of all the women in his life -- Andrea, Selina, Talia, Barbara, Diana... he regrets what happened with Barbara the most. ]

[ With Andrea, Bruce had no blame for their separation; he had made every effort before the cowl had really claimed him. Selina was addicted to the wrong side of the law, and could not love his wholeness. Talia was a similar issue, with the added division of loyalty between the man who loved her and the man who ruled her. Diana, he knew better than to engage-- though he dearly wanted to, sometimes. They lived in entirely separate worlds. ]

[ Barbara, though... Barbara was his fault. She made her choices. He should have made better ones. ]

I imagine so. But I'm sure your skills and abilities are valuable.

[bodilesswarrior]

[Bruce has never been an open book, not to anyone except maybe Alfred. But she's grown used to reading what's there, and she knows guilt when she sees it.

It ended badly, whatever it was between them. Of course it did.]

Always. [There's a quiet grimness to the word, a reaction to everything unsaid.]

Who have you talked to, besides me and Powers?

[batfart]

A woman named Iris.

[ Because who else would reach out to Bruce? ]

[bodilesswarrior]

[Barbara could hide her reaction - the wry wariness, mixed with deep, desperate fondness.

She doesn't.]

How'd that go?

[batfart]

She's aggravating, but I can see she's resolved to see it through.

[ It being Harvey, mostly. ]

[bodilesswarrior]

[Her smile deepens.] Harvey or Derek?

[batfart]

Both, probably.

[bodilesswarrior]

I swear, she's like catnip to Gothamites.

[batfart]

Or it's the other way around.

[bodilesswarrior]

Probably a bit of both.

You two never really got along, though.

[batfart]

I gathered that from the fact she apparently shot me.

[bodilesswarrior]

[She's trying not to snicker, really.]

She didn't mention it was a paint ball, did she?

[batfart]

She neglected to mention that, yes.

[bodilesswarrior]

She did sneak up on you, though.

[batfart]

Not me.

Some-- [ disgusting, coward version of him, some version of him who kills! ] someone else.

[bodilesswarrior]

[She knows that tone, and her expression shifts, turns set and stubborn.]

What did she tell you about him?

[batfart]

Enough to know he isn't me.

[ He never broke his code. He hung up the goddamn cowl just for touching a gun to warn off a criminal. He stayed true, even when his life was on the line, didn't pull the trigger. That anywhere, any person who calls himself Bruce Wayne, finally broke and used a gun to kill another? They stopped being Bruce Wayne. ]

[ He's got that set to his jaw, the digging in, the firm glower. This is not a fight she can win. ]

[bodilesswarrior]

God, sometimes I forget what a stubborn idiot you are.

[batfart]

Strange, you seem fit to remind me often enough.

[bodilesswarrior]

Someone has to. [Yes, the fondness is creeping back into her voice. Dammit, Bruce.]

...We're still - we're friends, right?