And my mom says to treat as you wish you were treated

[eatshootsnleves]

Who: Basch, Roy, and the vampiric boyfr Jan.
What: Bringing the house of cards down.
Where: Knight and Page.
When: When it needs to happen.

Comments

[bitchin_beanie]

It definitely wasn't Basch that popped up from behind one of the counters, where boners may or may not have been being illustrated in one of the medical anatomy books. Basch had never been known to sport a toothy leer at seeing who the customer was quite like that, after all.

"Heeeeyyy, pal." He leaned against the counter, grin stretching even wider. What was this, a gift? A reward for having actually refrained from chewing on anyone the last few days? It was hard not to actually outright laugh, either way.

"I'd point ya toward the How To Murder Innocent Dudes section, but I think we're fuckin' fresh out!"

[eatshootsnleves]

It took substantial - and probably visible - effort for Roy to remind himself of one vital imperative. No blood on the books.

"I imagine there's been demand." he managed instead, as casual as a guy could get while dipping a hand in a wide pocket (for what was most likely a gun.) "These days, all sorts of bystanders have been finding themselves in deep trouble."

[bitchin_beanie]

The movement of hand into pocket was noted, what sort of gun-loving mercenary would Jan be if he didn't catch things like that? But it didn't concern him much. What was one more bullet or two in the scheme of things, after all?

"Yeah, no shit? Why, get a taste for it?" Jan succumbed to the urge to laugh, leaned against the shelf in front of him as he did. Elbow on shelf, chin in hand, grin on face. A perfect picture of lewd amusement.

[eatshootsnleves]

"Not me." The hand stayed there. Roy took a shot in the dark. "But I hear the Maaka siblings have seen better times."

He stood square, and watched for reaction. Basch had damn well better be in the back.

[bitchin_beanie]

For a second, just a second, Jan's grin faltered. He stood up a little straighter, blinking once and looking something close to alarmed. "Say what?" A good deal less profanity-filled than he'd have preferred, but surprise had a way of doing that.

[eatshootsnleves]

Bang on target, Roy. Keep it up.

He gave a shrug. Nothing more. "Hey, man, that's the way the ball rolls sometimes. So what if the older one's out of a job? I'm sure it's nothing to do with you."

[bitchin_beanie]

Basch's appearance was welcome -- more than welcome. It gave Jan a chance to shake the news off (and fuck this guy, he could so be lying, couldn't he? Couldn't he?) and pull a grin back onto his face.

"Awww, y'know, just bullshittin', Bossman!" He turned his attention toward Basch, showing more interest than ever before in the idea of new stock. It was suddenly a little too uncomfortable to look at Roy.

[eatshootsnleves]

"Basch." Roy greeted, not missing Jan's face. "A better question would be, what brings him here?"

He jerked his head at the vampire. "Don't tell me you pay this bloodsucker to drum up business."

Could it seriously be that Basch didn't know? Or - and he hated the suspiciously Nightwing-like voice in the back of his head that whispered this - was he here to drum up more confessions than one?

[bitchin_beanie]

Well, shit. Really, he probably should have seen this coming as soon as Roy strolled into the shop. But Jan managed to keep his grin smooth, unfaltering, and human. It wasn't like he tried to hide all the shit he did, but, well, it wasn't exactly the best moment to be looking like a crocodile.

Jan scooted himself over to Basch and the box on the counter, trying not to flinch guiltily as the question was asked of him.

"Aw, y'know... He's crazy or some shit. Post traumatic stress, probably." And as he spoke he was too busy peering into the box to actually look at anyone. Volunteering to actually be helpful was unusual, but a pretty good way to keep himself busy. "Where d'you want this shit?"

[eatshootsnleves]

By this time, both Roy's eyebrows had shot up. Huh.

Funny, Basch hadn't struck him as quite that gullible. Maybe it was a time-travel thing. Maybe knights just came from a more trusting age. Maybe the number of targets in the room had gone back down to one, and that was more important than picking at anybody else. Roy's attention accordingly shifted right on back to the vampire. He barely blinked.

"Post-traumatic from what, hotshot?" Roy moved to one side, making sure to keep his place between Jan and the door. "You've got an awful high opinion of yourself if you think you managed to give me trauma last month."

Upwards of a month. His shop burned, his friends attacked, his name dragged in the dirt. Roy kept his tone even, and his hand in his pocket.

[bitchin_beanie]

Jan ground to a halt as Basch closed the lid of his excuse. He remained as he was, staring down at the top of it, still and thoughtful. Roy's comebacks were pretty easy to ignore, but Basch...

He'd told Nightwing that he didn't hide from the shit he did. Wore it like a badge, usually. He wasn't the hit-and-run driver, he was the driver that hit-and-danced-on-the-corpse.

And anyway, who was he kidding? Mercenaries didn't work in goddamn bookstores.

When he finally moved again it was to look up at Basch. If any of Jan's smiles could possibly be described as wistful, this would be the one. "I'll save you some goddamn time. He's tryin' t'accuse me of a murder. Fucker should make that shit plural, though. Ain't like that guy was the first t'get eaten around here."

[eatshootsnleves]

"Actually, I wanted to hear it from you." Roy admitted frankly. He'd thumbed his journal open, the movement hidden from view. "I didn't think you'd be such a shrinking violet about your own actions when we came face-to-face." He flicked his eyes to Basch. "Is he usually this shy?"