voice;

[proxysearch]

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,

Comments

action; placeholder-ish

[by_your_leave]

[ 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.

action; <3

[proxysearch]

[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.

action;

[by_your_leave]

[ 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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[proxysearch]

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.

Voice

[beardedveteran]

Sorry you're caught up in all that.

[ Not that he has anything to be sorry for, directly relating to her situation; but there's a growl in his voice, a deep-rooted annoyance that sounds painful to have dragged up. ]

It's the same in my world. Criminals dying, criminals we'd taken care to lock up and give another chance-- don't get even a bit of recognition the way anybody else in the city would. Thinking about it, it's just--

[ He cuts off there, not ready to spill out some grandiose comment on the mentality of a population. His feelings are too knotted for that. ]

Well, you said it already. But it sounds like it's even worse here from what you mentioned.

Voice

[proxysearch]

It's fine. I've been here almost a year and a half now. I should be used to it.

[She rubs her forehead briefly.]

They're still people, whether they steal or kill. If we don't respect basic human life...then how are we better than them?

[She sighs.]

It's a shitty system, Kotetsu. You'll find that out first-hand when you have a job here.

Voice

[beardedveteran]

[ He shifts, uncomfortably reflecting on the system in Sternbild. A small part of him wonders if justice systems always have this disgusting trait in them, no matter what world it is, but he crushes that thought. It's too much to consider right now. ]

Yeah. That's the point of the system, to give everybody a fair chance just to live. And people forget that.

[ -though her next comment is met with a tense pause, and thankfully the feed isn't visual too because he's held his breath and is taking a moment just to stare: did he hear that right? Now's not the best time to bring it up but... still. He tuts. ]

Believe me when I say I know what it's like. Probably not as bad as you, but-- just knowing people like my coworkers didn't care whether a certain person lived or died, that was rough.

Voice

[proxysearch]

It's easy to forget when we take people and turn them into monsters in our eyes. Then it doesn't matter who they are or what they do: they just need to be put down.

[She leans back on her desk.]

...I'm sorry. That does sound rough. There's no excuse for that sort of treatment.

[hologram]

[isitablurred]

Could I borrow you for five minutes? The roof?

[hologram]

[proxysearch]

Sure. Give me a few minutes.

[She heads up immediately.]

[action;]

[isitablurred]

[He arrives when she does, the gentlest landing. Almost rebelliously he's wearing the bright colours, but the cape is still gone.]

How are you holding up?

[action;]

[proxysearch]

[She walks over to him, shrugging.]

As well as anyone else, I imagine. A little better, too, I suppose. I wasn't part of his "family".

[She glances out at the city briefly.]

What about you?

voice;

[enigmaestro]

No, no, you have a point.

That's a punchline left wanting, certainly.

voice;

[proxysearch]

It's a terrible sort of joke. Even he could do better, and I hated his jokes.

[She brushes her hair back behind her ear.]

So, how does it feel to be in a city without the Joker?

voice;

[enigmaestro]

You're generous.

[Beat.]

I wouldn't go dancing in the streets just yet. Sometimes wariness is highly beneficial.

voice;

[proxysearch]

Well, that's the first time I've ever been told that.

[She makes a noncommittal noise in her throat.]

I don't blame you. I'm not entirely sure he's gone for good just yet.

Voice

[runebladeknight]

[Honestly, from what she's heard about the Joker from around the Port, Celes can't really say she's sorry he's dead. Batman is another matter, but she just doesn't feel a lot these days.]

That's incredibly tasteless at best. [Suicide? Not a laughing matter. She's felt like that. It's horrible.]

Voice

[proxysearch]

No kidding. They could at least show some respect for the dead.

[Especially for the man who's saved countless lives since he's entered the Port. But no, vigilantes are the bane of the SPPD's existence, according to them.]

Voice

[runebladeknight]

It's never a laughing matter when someone dies. [She's always felt that way, even when she was doing the Empire's bidding. Though . . . she'd felt nothing when people had died at her hands during that time. Is that better? Or worse? She doesn't know.]

Voice

[proxysearch]

You're one of the few voices of reason on that matter, believe me.