The sky is falling | [RP thread for questionorigin]

[take_mychances]

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

Dalia's words to Andrew echoed in her head as she walked to the cafe that her sister (when not wrecking peoples' lives or doing others' dirty work) frequented. She glanced in the window and immediately noticed Duela, alone with a coffee and a book. Dalia sat by the fountain not far from the cafe and waited--no,

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[questionorigin]

Duela sat with her coffee for about ten minutes more before she paid the tab. She finished the chapter she was on, which took only a minute or two more, and then placed the book in her bag.

She rose and left the coffee shop.

[take_mychances]

"It must be nice." Dalia's voice was acidic. She didn't get up from where she sat at the edge of the fountain.

[questionorigin]

Duela looked over at Dalia. Her reply came coolly, "The coffee? It's excellent."

[take_mychances]

"Going through your day without a care in the world, not caring whose lives you ruin. As long as it keeps you in your luxury cars, right? As long as the Cranes are cozy in their mansions." Dalia stood up. There was the indignance of a hurt child in her jutted chin, mixed with a coldness in her eyes that hadn't been there before.

[questionorigin]

"Without a care in the world?" Duela repeated, arching an eyebrow. "I'm not sure what world you think I live in, Dalia, but you're quite wrong." She looked at her sister. This was most likely about the research permits, even if Duela felt that really wasn't any concern of Dalia's.

[take_mychances]

"You live in the clouds, Duela," Dalia snapped. "Some place above all the little people." She had more to say, useless threats to make, but instead she stood in front of her sister, trying to stop her clenched fists from shaking.

[questionorigin]

"I live in Gotham," Duela replied, coldly. "Though... not the same one you do." She frowned, considering the statement she'd just made. "There's so much you haven't seen, haven't had to deal with, and you don't even know it."

[take_mychances]

"Oh, I'm so sorry Mom and Dad didn't fight my entire childhood," Dalia spat. "I'm sorry I'm not a pretentious bitch who gets whatever she wants and takes away what matters to others just because she can!"

[questionorigin]

"I do get what I want," Duela replied, quite calmly. Shouting back would add fuel to the fire, or at least if she'd learned anything from her mother and father. Best to take Jonathan's approach. Keep an even tone-- though she wasn't as good at it as he was-- and try to be rational. "Because I take it. That's the only way you get anything in this city."

She then asked, genuine in her belief this was all that was the matter, "Why are you so riled up over research permits?"

[take_mychances]

"Research permits?!" Dalia was incredulous and now she was shaking with rage, looking very much like their father. "You used him -- without caring what it would mean for the City, for his life--for me!"

[questionorigin]

Duela frowned slightly. If this were her father, she'd back down at that look, but she was older than her sister. This wasn't a fight she'd walk away from. "You have to be willing to do what it takes. Whatever the cost. That's the only way things get done in Gotham."

[take_mychances]

"I loved him."

Still love. You didn't just stop one day, even if you'd like to. It was still there, even though she resented it.

"Not that something like that would ever matter to you, but I did."

[questionorigin]

"What changed?"

It was asked without implication, an honest question.

[take_mychances]

Dalia thought about it a moment. "He chose survival. Over---over me." She looked away. "I can't blame him really."

[questionorigin]

Duela looked at her younger sister and nodded slightly, just to show she understood. "Bit of a mess, really. Everyone doing what they have to, egos and wills clashing all the time. But that's Gotham."

[take_mychances]

"I hate it." Dalia was quiet.