EL NYSA • INBOX

[motivation]

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[beknight]

My hip is fine.

Are you staying?

[motivation]

glad to hear it

for now
are you leaving?

[beknight]

I thought about it.

Think I might keep an eye on you.

[motivation]

think i need a keeper, or just enjoying the view?

[ khlyen used to tell her that getting attached is a weakness. dutch isn't sure if it's a weakness or not, but she finds she'd miss bruce if he left. ]

[beknight]

I do make life interesting for you.

[ as though her life isn't interesting enough. ]

[motivation]

that's not an answer

[ a beat, and then a second message: ] sweet of you to keep me from getting bored

[beknight]

Two rounds of hide and seek, nightfall. Shortest time wins?

[motivation]

i get to seek first round

[beknight]

Deal.

[ Attached: starting location. Right at the topmost part of Wyver. ]

[motivation]

[ there's no response, but dutch figures he isn't expecting one. she's there come nightfall, gun strapped to one thigh and her steps soft, quiet even on the tricky terrain. ]

Come out, come out, wherever you are. [ not that she thinks he will. where would be the fun in that? ]

guess who didn't reply to this like a GENIUS

[beknight]

[ He doesn't. But there are breadcrumbs for her to follow, merchants who speak of a shadow, some like a dark knight, others describe him with fear. ]

[ But when the night nears dawn, she'll find him out in the open, at the opposite high point from where she began, waiting for the sun to rise. ]

:*

[motivation]

[ a shadow. dutch is chasing a shadow. it's a good thing that she's damn good at finding people. she spots him eventually and gives a jaunty little wave. and then begins crossing the distance to where he is. ]

[beknight]

[ He doesn't wave back. Instead, he moves over on the ledge, making space for her. ]

[motivation]

[ not nearly as funny as it would have been if he'd waved back, but it's a different kind of good. the space is all the invitation she needs, moving into the space he's vacated. ]

Did you keep time?

[beknight]

Yes.

[ A beat, pulled just long enough — ]

Too slow.

[motivation]

Arse.

[ does she mean him or is she just cursing? why not both. ]

Let's see you do better.

[beknight]

[ He lifts a finger, shakes it from side to side. ]

I'm not the one being tested.

[motivation]

You are now.

[ a grin, and she vaults off the ledge. catch her if you can. ]

[beknight]

[ Cat and mouse. He has fond memories of this one, in another place, with another person he's pushed away. She isn't one of his ghosts. Selina's asleep in those pods like everyone else. ]

[ Bruce stands, stretches. Soft in his old age, he thinks, as he lets her have a head start. Then he's after her. ]

[motivation]

[ the head start doesn't go unnoticed. she doesn't know whether to appreciate it or be annoyed by it. point is, dutch may not be batman, but she's good at this -- at running, the layout of their surroundings long committed to memory, at dodging any attempts at capture. at finding people or things and thinking on her feet, too.

(she's best at killing, but she doesn't do that anymore. not if she can help it, not if it's a human being on the other end. hullen are a whole other story.)

and so she leads bruce on a merry chase across the roofs and through the alleyways, skirting around the edge of the jungle. ]

[beknight]

[ She's good at this. He tries to cut her off a few times, disappearing into side streets and showing up again at intersections. It's more about the chase, for him, than the end point of cornering her. One should only corner a predator sparingly, even playfully it carries a risk he doesn't enjoy bringing to the forefront. It's important, to have the rush of adrenaline without the certain clamp of death coming if they're caught. That way the luck is enjoyable. ]

[ He does catch up to her eventually, however. ]

[motivation]

[ dutch has better control of herself than lash out just because she's physically cornered. emotionally, now, that's another matter entirely, but that's not the game they're playing right now.

(she's glad for it; she knows just how much ammunition she's already handed to him.) ]

Took you long enough. [ she says when he does catch up with her, grin in her voice and her eyes, adrenaline a heady drug. ]

[beknight]

[ He has plenty of ammunition. It says something of her capacity to extend trust, or perhaps his capacity to refuse much of himself to anyone. Their understanding is — enough. They worry for each other, and that's new, and enough too. ]

I'd say just in time.

[motivation]

[ there are some lessons khlyen had tried to teach her that dutch has failed at. she usually thinks that for the better; she's not a good person but she isn't who khlyen wanted her to be, not entirely, and that's worth something. (it's still worth something now that she no longer hates khlyen, that she -- misses him, even. it's complicated.)

teasing: ] Glad to see old age hasn't made you soft.

[beknight]

That's one step down from suggesting you get a walker for me.

[ Teasing her right back. ]

Could it be you're getting fond?