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I don't know about some worlds, but I didn't think promotions happened because some criminals just decided to kill themselves.

[She sounds vaguely annoyed but she really doesn't have the energy to feel upset any longer.]It's one big joke around the office. "Oh, the Batman's dead and the Joker's gone and offed himself. You should get a promotion,

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[ He's out on patrol and participating in a small investigation team, technically, but the moment Re-l's post hits the network, he quietly excuses himself.

The clack of claws coming along towards their shared office should be a familiar sound, by now, and Fratley doesn't bother to knock before opening the door and slipping inside. Once it's shut behind him, though, he doesn't step forward, just leans against the door and watches her steadily. Finally: ]

I would offer to hit them for you, but that would probably get us both demoted.

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[She looks up when he comes in, a file in her hands. She's sitting on her desk in less-than-professional attire, not that she cares. She's not staying too long in the office today.

She offers him a faint smile.]

I would think so. I appreciate it, though; if it wouldn't get us in trouble, I'd take you up on that offer.

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[ His winter fur is starting to grow again, leaving him looking a little more ruffled than he usually does, since it's coming out in uneven patches. While she speaks, he sidles forward into the middle of the room, ears splayed with an uncertainty his voice doesn't betray. ]

More than a year of working with them, and still... [ Still they don't know her even half as well as they think they do. Fratley trails off, shaking his head. He considers what to say next, feeling vaguely as though the conversation might skitter onto thin ice if he says what's on his mind. ]

Do you blame yourself for their deaths? [ His tone is simple and candid, to the point. ]

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And still.

[They're not any closer to understanding any of them. Bigby is the old cop with an attitude; Zoey is the rookie; Livio is the weirdo; Fratley's the rat. Nothing changes around the precinct. They're all just stereotypes.

She lifts her head at his question, closing the file.]

...I wish I had been of some help to Batman, in the end. His death was not only unnecessary but cruel.

[She can't get the image of his opened head out of her mind.]

The Joker... I don't know. I suppose I should have realized his intentions sooner but I don't think anything would have changed, whether I had been there or not.

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Knowing you could have done nothing to stop it does not make their deaths any easier to bear. [ He should know: how many times has he turned the memory of Cleyra over in his head? Wondering, if he'd been fast enough, if he'd managed to reach Alexandria's queen before she could summon that monster down, if he'd had all his memories...

If, if, if. To live endlessly in the past, one loses sight of the future. Fratley shakes it off and comes to step up beside Re-l instead, close enough for her to feel the more-than-human warmth rolling off his fur without actually touching her. ]

It still weighs on you. [ A statement, not a question. Fratley's difficult to read sometimes, human expressions of emotion not quite lending themselves to his not human features, but the quiet concern in his voice doesn't need any sort of translation. He studies her, frankly, without any hesitation in his gaze. ]

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I know.

[She's always grateful for his presence. Things have been strained between them since she told him about the incident last week, but a promise not to do it again seemed...trivial. It wasn't enough to just promise something like that to your partner.

She looks up at him.]

It does. I can't really stop thinking about it. For them to congratulate me and offer me a promotion because someone died is... It's disgusting.

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[ Fratley keeps his mouth shut and presses his tongue to the back of his teeth until the urge to turn the air blue with cursing passes. There are good men on the force, he knows, and not all of them hate Newcomers.

Sometimes, it's hard to remember. ]

They think it a victory, and they feel the need to celebrate it. They presume you would be grateful for one less criminal in the city. [ He rolls his shoulders back, a quick, abortive gesture that doesn't match the wryness in his voice. After a moment, he sobers. ] But their words are not all that trouble you.

[ After all, they're all experts at selective hearing by now, and Fratley's always been good at shrugging the insults off. He isn't good with ... dealing with other people's emotions, trying to navigate this sort of thing. He doesn't know what's appropriate to say, if it's even right to draw out whatever thorn is digging into Re-l's heart. ]

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[She glances towards the door, out into the rest of the office.]

I consider him stopped a victory...but this was too much. It wasn't necessary.

[And he's right. That's not all that's troubling her. But they're in a public place where people might hear them and she doesn't know how to tell him the truth. If Batman never comes back...]

Batman did a lot of work for this city. He's gone now. The people he would have saved will be in danger in the Darkness. Crime will go up. We've had a significant drop in the past few months, though the cops will tell you it's false because Batman is a criminal.

[It's all wrong.]

Maybe I'm just contemplating mortality again.

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[ Fratley doesn't entirely understand the relationship between Re-l and Batman, but he knows it isn't antagonistic-- well, not as much as some people would like to believe. It's the last bit, though, that catches his attention, and he tips his head as he considers what he can say. ]

That is the nature of death. To see it is to be reminded of your own, no matter how distant it may be.

It is not... [ He stops, tries again. ] Permit yourself to mourn. He was... [ A good man? Fratley isn't sure he can say that with a straight face. ] ... someone worthy of respect. The world is poorer, for his loss.

[ Quietly: ] As it would be poorer without you.

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[But when true death is so far away, how can she possibly cope with it? How can she express how lonely she feels every time she sees someone else pass away and leave her behind? One day, the world will fall away and she'll see Proxy One on her own...but that's so far away. And she will be alone.]

It's just...disappointing.

[To be left alone. To realize that, in the end, she has only herself and very few others to rely on any longer.

Re-l turns her eyes to him, sympathy reflected in her gaze. She reaches out and sets her hand on his claw gently.]

I'm sorry.

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[ And Fratley lets the small but meaningful contact longer, looking down at where his hand dwarfs hers-- easily. ]

Do not apologize for being alive. [ He knows that's not what Re-l meant, of course, but he thinks it's something that needed to be said. ] It is a disservice to both the living and the dead.

[ He pulls his hand away, but only to rest it lightly on Re-l's shoulder, words awkward and halting on his tongue. ] Thank you for choosing to remain. [ Had Re-l truly wished for death, he doesn't know if he could or should stop her, but he knows how he feels about it. ]

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Better to apologize for being weak and incapable than to apologize for living.

[She can't help living. She can't die. Had she been in her right mind, she wouldn't have even tried to kill herself. But instead, she had that brush with death and she found it...didn't change her as much as she supposed it should have.

It just made her guilty.

When Fratley touches her shoulder, she looks away. She's afraid to cry in front of him.]

I wouldn't have left you or my duty. Had I been in my right mind, I never would have thought it.

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[ Fratley shakes his head. The motion is visible even without her looking directly at him, but maybe the wry smile curving his muzzle is not. ]

Your mind and heart are human, even if your body is not. [ He isn't immortal, but it seems like the sort of thing Re-l Mayer would expect of herself. He doesn't have to words to explain how he feels about it, how it's all right to grieve and to permit the weakness of caring for others and their infinitely more fragile lives. Better a Re-l Mayer that cared so much about others that she didn't realize she was hurting herself in the process than a Re-l Mayer as distant and untouchable as an old god. ]

You are what you are. [ He finishes, lamely. ] With all the strength and weakness that comes with it.

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[She frowns, unsure of how to respond. He's complimenting her, reminding her that it's all right to be weak. She was born human, with all of the flaws that come with it. She should accept it. But she can't. She can't live with the fact that she's been given a gift that she can't use for anyone but herself, and even then...it's just a burden.

She turns back to him.]

Thank you, Fratley. It means a lot to me.

[It truly does, even if she's not smiling.]