EXSILIUM - contact.

[hostage]

UNIT№409



_“ Hey, it's me. Wait for the thing. _”

Comments

[controlledvariable]

[Wow, Brown.]

Sorry.

[Smooth.]

[hostage]

Nah, don't worry about it.

[controlledvariable]

I'm pretty sure I should apologize when I say stupid shit.

[She tries to keep her tone light, as if that might make this less awkward.]

[hostage]

[This is unbelievably not even close to the most awkward dinner he's had.]

It wasn't stupid.

[controlledvariable]

It was kinda thoughtless.

["Kinda"]

[hostage]

It was honest.

[controlledvariable]

[That actually gives her pause, and she considers him for a moment before working out what to say.]

A lot of people aren't a fan of honest.

[hostage]

Those are people who never really been lied to.

[controlledvariable]

Are there actually people like that in the world?

[She seems to mean that as a genuine question.

Doesn't everyone spend most of their lives being lied to?]

[hostage]

I mean really, really lied to.

[controlledvariable]

[She frowns at her plate, seemingly having a bit of trouble with that, trying to think it over. She knew what he meant, really really lied to, but it's still hard to imagine people who have had a life where people tell them the truth.

After a little while, she just admits:] I don't think I can wrap my head around that.

[hostage]

Well, that's the world we're in, right? Secret identities, secret organizations, secret everything. But there's normal people out there.

[controlledvariable]

But even without all the superhero shit, people are still assholes. [Which is what she's struggling to grasp, the idea that some people have lives where there's not at least one shitty person in them.] Adults, mostly, but you know.

[Nevermind that she's technically an adult.]

[hostage]

Not all of 'em. Not most of 'em. I think most people're good. Or they're trying to be.

[controlledvariable]

[More silence for a moment, more pushing her food around her plate without eating it.]

I dunno if I can afford to think like that. [Which isn't to say that he's wrong, because she does have a lot of faith in people, most of the time.

A sigh.] Or just-- maybe you're right, but people being good doesn't mean they don't lie to or hurt the people around them.

[Bruce, Babs, Saul. She's pretty sure none of them wanted to hurt her, but they've still lied to her, they've still ended up hurting her anyway.]

[hostage]

I guess it's your job to think like that.

[controlledvariable]

[That gets a smile, albeit a wry one]

And I'm the cheerful one of us.

[Us meaning the Bats.]

I'm not sure what that says about Gotham's vigilantes.

[hostage]

Hey, well, I'm not supposed to think at all. You're probably better off.

[controlledvariable]

You're pretty smart, you know that, right?

[Which probably isn't the logical progression of conversation, but she feels like it's important to say.]

[hostage]

[Hey, it's okay to admit now that Mr. White isn't here. Jesse spreads his hands in a grand, sardonic gesture.]

Too smart for my own good.

[controlledvariable]

No such thing. [It's more playful than serious, as she gestures at him with her fork, but she does mean it.] Too cocky for your own good? Too friendly and trusting or vice verse? Sure, but you can never be too smart.

[She has a lot of respect for clever people, in part because she doesn't consider herself one.]

[hostage]

Nah, you can. When you notice the things you're not supposed to. When you start asking questions and bruising egos. That's when you're too smart.

[And he shovels some more pasta and beef into his mouth.]

[controlledvariable]

That just means you gotta learn how to not ask questions and bruise egos. The latter is probably easier.

[Even for her.

She's spent time around men long enough to learn how to be careful of egos.]

[hostage]

Yeah, no, I got that now. Took me a while to figure out, but...

[He waves his fork back and forth in sort of you know where I'm going with this gesture.]

[controlledvariable]

[Yeah, she knows where he's going with it.]

You should try hanging out with the Teen Titans sometime. Teenagers with ego, it's no wonder the Tower gets destroyed so often.

[Her expression seems to suggest that she knows it's actually not even remotely as bad as dealing with Walter must be, but she's just... playing, a little, trying to keep things light.]