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[torchbearer]

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[torchbearer]

[ eventually, kyle wakes up with a yawn. ambles to his kitchen to grab some coffee. it'll never be radu's and he feels a pang of loss. there was nothing quite like living above a coffee shop. sometimes, he recalls the smells that permeated in the morning, the romanian tunes radu would play when he was setting up shop.

but it feels so distant. like it all happened to another person. and maybe it did.

to jason, without thinking: ]

You want coffee?

[reneger]

( there's noise, kyle walking, breathing--normal human noises that people make when they're up and jason's awake. he doesn't move yet, but there's the subtle tell of his breathing changing, shoulders tensing just a little before he's relaxing into the couch again.

until kyle opens his mouth and asks a perfectly reasonable question, and jason just, )

I wanna shove a knife into your eye socket.

[torchbearer]

Okay.

[ kyle moves on, like nothing weird has been said. ]

So no to coffee?

[reneger]

( eyes open, and he pulls himself up into a sitting position so he isn't taking up the whole couch. jason raises his hands up, shoving palms against his face before dragging them down it. )

Coffee.

[torchbearer]

[ he nods, making another mug. he walks over to hand it to jason without comment. ]

[reneger]

( right. coffee. kyle holds out the mug, and jason takes it in one hand. uses the other to shove the curls back off of forehead before tipping the mug back to drink it down. is it hot? yes. he doesn't care. )

Morning.

( or morning enough. )

[torchbearer]

Morning. I didn't think you'd stick around this long.

[ not that kyle minds or cares. he pulls up a chair, gently breathing in the smell of coffee before taking a sip. ]

[reneger]

I'm not Tim. I need more than twenty minutes of beauty sleep at a time to function.

( and it's been--what, a few hours? good enough for him. )

Better than catnapping on rooftops. Y'know how many crazies I run into up there? Dozens.

[torchbearer]

[ he can relate, but from a different perspective. ]

You mean, besides the crazies you know? Shocker.

[reneger]

I'm more worried about the crazies I do know than the ones I don't.

( the smarmy grin grows for just a moment, before it's--fading back. )

Joker might still be lurking around. Did you see the shit he pulled with Tim?

[torchbearer]

No, I wasn't around. I did catch him when he was trying to mess with baby Jay.

Then I let him shoot at me for a bit so he wouldn't get shot at, chasing the Joker.

[reneger]

He thought it'd be fun to take Tim for a spin like he'd done to me when I was still Robin.

( jason watched it. broke a wall after. kicked some shit over. beat up a few lackeys to vent it out. and then talked to tim about it which only made him more pissed off. )

Except Tim heals when he's knocked out, so he'd just knock him out and keep going.

[torchbearer]

[ ah. kyle absorbs that thoughtfully. he doesn't have anything to add. instead he asks. ]

So you think he's still here? It's been very quiet.

[reneger]

Dunno. Could be. Clown likes to be extra dramatic, he might just be waiting for a good time to come back out.

( it's also just--extremely close to the anniversary of his death, so he's getting extra paranoid. )

[torchbearer]

Could be. But if you go running about, he'll definitely take advantage of that. If you want to scour the city, we can do that.

Or get someone else on your back. I know you're not a fan but don't take chances with the Joker.

[reneger]

If he is still here, he's been 'round for months. He could've come at me any time--I didn't make my arrival subtle.

( another drink of the coffee to finish it off, but he doesn't move to put the mug away. just puts it down on the floor, like a monster. )

He won't make it very long after I find him.

( because he'll be dead. obviously. )

[torchbearer]

[ #doubt. but he's smart enough not to say that. ]

But that's not how he works. He doesn't come for you. He waits and gets you at the right moment. Isn't that his MO?

[reneger]

I've been wide open for weeks.

( intentionally, even. is it stupid? yes. but it's fine. everything is fine. )

If he wants to find an opening, he'll find one even if I work to cover my ass. If he decides to come out of hiding, he'll do it on his terms, when it's convenient for him to pull whatever he's aiming for. But I don't think he'd come for me anyway. He's already fucked me up--there's no benefit in him going for round two. An' even if there was, Junior'd be the better target.

( fresher out of the pit, younger, he's had more time to make connections and bond to people joker could break--like that kid lurking around the rooftop of his bar. )

[torchbearer]

Okay. You know him better than me.

[ the justice league has had a few rounds, but that isn't enough to make kyle an expert. still, the joker is . . . a black spot, blinding and enraging, when it comes to the bats. they can be as calculating and logical as they want and still miss things. ]

Would he go for the same target twice? Batman isn't even here. What would be his goal?

[reneger]

His MO is not having an MO.

( so even with all of jason's reasoning it could all be--nothing. joker could pop up outside kyle's window for a fun time out of fucking nowhere and jason wouldn't be surprised. he could blow up his own shit and no one would be thrown off. )

B isn't here. He's got no one he gives a damn about to piss off. Maybe not having a target'll just make him even more willing to pull stupid shit. Maybe it's enough of a deterrent that he goes to find others to mess around with, 'cause what's the point of fucking us up if he can't show it to B? Or maybe he'll just do whatever he wants because why not?

[torchbearer]

Maybe we should just settle on confirming if he's actually still here or not.

[ it wouldn't surprise kyle terribly to know the joker vanished when batman did. that tracks. ]

[reneger]

I know a sorcerer.

( can strange track someone down? fuck if he knows. it's a big world and why the fuck would anyone just stay in central city when there's plenty of other crime ridden places to lurk in? joker could be anywhere. )

Or we can sniff out every corner of every city.

[torchbearer]

[ somehow, he knew it was coming to that. ]

Fine, I guess. Could do some scouting. I could rig up some heat signature portable scanners with the ring.

[reneger]

( why not both? )

Surprised you weren't looking for him already. Isn't that your thing? Maybe not Joker, but stopping asshats from causing more damage and killing people just 'cause they can. You knew B wasn't going to do shit. Tim says there's a street kid still missing.

[torchbearer]

Tim's booty call engineered a prison escape to keep him entertained. And you all get touchy when I'm messing in your business, so I leave you all to it.

But more importantly, yeah, I stop them. And it's final when I get involved. I don't hunt them down.