eighty-four : never knew i could feel like this

[victimofnoone]

[Private to Merlin]
Hey. Do you want to.. go to the CES tonight? Or like.. I don't know. Whatever.. [She can't bring herself to say 'couples'.] ..people do.

[Private to Capa]
Okay. I tried not to ask because I'm trying not to be a pain or whatever? But.. this is getting kind of ridiculous. I mean, I'm not a great sleeper or anything? But you've

Comments

private;

[fivestepsahead]

Go ahead.

private;

[victimofnoone]

Remember when we talked about like, whether or not people are deserving of life? I wanted to.. talk more about that?

private;

[fivestepsahead]

... I didn't forget.

Do you want to meet somewhere, or would you rather talk through this?

private;

[victimofnoone]

Either one.

private;

[fivestepsahead]

I'll come over.

[ Spaaaaam? ]

private; → spam;

[victimofnoone]

I'm at Capa's. The door's unlocked.

---

[Capa had informed Hayley that he would be gone for awhile, leaving his room to Hayley for the day and the evening. Bruce was one of a handful she trusted to meet with in his room and so she just hung around on the edge of the bed, reading a book and waiting.]

spam;

[fivestepsahead]

[ Bruce heads over there almost immediately. He needs a break from the thinking he's been doing about Darkseid and guns and his past, in any case. So it doesn't take more than seven minutes before he's knocking on the door of Capa's room. ]

spam;

[victimofnoone]

[Hayley glances up at it, having expected Bruce to let himself in. She pauses, then jumps up and sets her book aside to go open the door for whoever it is. The door opens a crack and then, realizing who it is, wider. Pushing it open all the way, she gestures for him to come in.]

"Hey." [She's neither smiling nor seemingly upset, rather, appearing more introverted than usual if anything.]

spam;

[fivestepsahead]

[ He had thought to let himself in, but frankly he needs Hayley to be in a good mood for whatever she's going to tell him. He watches her carefully as he closes the door behind him, half-leaning against the wood. ]

What is it?

[ He has never been much for small talk. ]

spam;

[victimofnoone]

[Hayley likes small talk in general, but she respects that Bruce doesn't and so she shrugs and jumps on in. After he's in, she moves forward to the edge of the bed again and waves a hand idly at the couple chairs in the room.] "Do you think Crane deserves a second chance?"

spam;

[fivestepsahead]

[ He pulls a chair over to her and drops to sit on it. ]

Depends. What did he do to lose his first chancce in the first place?

spam;

[victimofnoone]

"Fear toxin?" [Hayley shrugs, trying to keep the conversation more objective and less personal by speaking in facts.] "First he gassed most of Gotham, then most of the Barge. Plus he's done some other stuff here and he's totally an apathetic jerk sometimes. I mean, i know what he's like, but he doesn't seem to care about anyone ever and he's shown basically no remorse for what he did to the Barge. Oh, and he tried to kill Harvey's girlfriend, who I actually met once."

spam;

[fivestepsahead]

... He tried to kill Gilda? [ Blinks, okay, now that's unexpected. Then he brushes it away. ]

What, amongst that, makes you think that he isn't worthy of a second chance?

spam;

[victimofnoone]

[Hayley's face scrunches up in confusion.] "What? No. Rachel."

[She shakes her head to continue to the important part.] "Because he doesn't care. Because he doesn't want to change, he doesn't try to make amends, and he's willing to cut ties with anyone that disagrees."

Re: spam;

[fivestepsahead]

[ Rachel? Who the hell is Rachel? It's strange to think of a world where Gilda Dent isn't Harvey's true love, because they have been together for as long as Bruce had known Harvey. Even longer.

(Let's not remember the Renee Montoya business.) ]

Then that's something that's for him and his warden to work on. [ He looks at her. ]

It frustrates you, doesn't it? To talk to him.

spam;

[victimofnoone]

[Clearly their Harveys were not quite the same, but that was okay. It just supported her belief that he wasn't the villain some of the others believed him to be.]

"No." [She responded quickly.] "It frustrates me to try to be his friend. It frustrates me that he never learns and expects nothing to change.. And that he doesn't even care that he's upsetting his 'friends.' All like.. two of us that he has."