NINJAMEME MASTERPOST 8|

[whatfriendsdo]

I have nothing to say here DEAL W/I.

Comments

THE MORNING AFTER

[whatfriendsdo]

Where's the fire?

Re: THE MORNING AFTER

[cowled]

Not on the Karrin Murphy list of approved actions, I take it?

[His tone is more curious than anything.]

[whatfriendsdo]

[She doesn't quite look at him as she answers, her focus instead on the oven and its contents.]

He's my boss. [That's not an explanation for anyone who doesn't know her. Murphy grunts again.] I don't want favors.

[cowled]

Favours are what I do for people when I'm trying to blackmail them into investing into Waynecorp, Karrin.

[Yes, he know that sounds contradictory. He's smiling a little as he says it. Bruce Wayne: ruthless businessman.]

[whatfriendsdo]

[One of her mother's favorite phrases springs to mind. Don't criticize your host for the way they clean their house. She taps her fingers against the counter.]

It's not about whether or not you did it or meant to do it. I don't want him to think you're pulling strings for me. [For all her general avoidance of politics, she knows perfectly well how it works.]

[cowled]

I can recognize when independence is important to someone, Karrin. I barely mentioned you at all. My word. Bruce Wayne is far too self-involved to note much more than 'she saved my life, and I think she got away' regarding a lowly police lieutenant. I didn't even catch your name.

[He stops what he's doing - in this case, saving another crepe - and catches her hand. He'll bring it to his lips if she allows it. The words are a feint, of course, and hardly meant to offend. Bruce is perfectly aware of his public image, and has on numerous occasions fought to protect it.]

[whatfriendsdo]

[She lets him take her hand, still thrown by the gentlemanly sincerity on the heels of fluid sarcasm.]

I don't get it. [Murphy shakes her head.] How can you be so self-aware, know exactly what people think of you, and be satisfied with them being wrong?

[cowled]

The people who matter know me better than that. The rest-- I don't owe them anything. They see what they want to see.

[It ties back into his childhood, if he's being perfectly honest. The paparazzi spent months hounding him for photographs after his parents died, and Bruce... developed an attitude that allowed for coping with it. People would approach him on the street and ask about his parents, hoping for a reaction. Alfred actually punched one of them for it once.]

Besides, I've always found a certain value in being underestimated.

[whatfriendsdo]

They always do. [Her focus goes distant for a moment with thoughts of her own job, her father's. Lies on lies, the supernatural smoothed over for unimaginative minds. She twists her fingers around his and gives his hand a little tug.]

Must be part of the reason I like you. Those crepes ready?

[cowled]

And edible, I daresay.

[He flips the last one off onto a plate, shuts the stove off and gestures to the kitchen table, a small mahogany number, several times older than both of them put together. It's small enough to warrant intimacy amongst diners.

He used to eat here sometimes with his parents. Special occasions.]

[whatfriendsdo]

[She hops down from her stool and runs a hand along the edge of the table until she picks a seat, not at the head but next to it. She likes the table. It reminds her of her mother's kitchen. It has generations worn into it.

Murphy raps her knuckles against the surface once, a superstitious kind of greeting for the ghosts of diners past.]

I'm curious. What's Bruce Wayne's day like after a disaster like last night?

[cowled]

[He sets the crepes on the table, returns to the kitchen for plates and silverware and a basket of fresh blueberries.]

The same as any other day, Lieutenant. I learned a long time ago not to allow myself to be crippled by tragedy.

[He'd never get out of bed in the morning, were that the case.]

[whatfriendsdo]

{Her expression softens, not quite sympathy. Understanding.] I meant how much press corralling will you have to do.

[cowled]

Ah.

[He's so used to people making everything about his parents, he forgets--]

As much as I feel like, then. It's not uncommon for me to disappear on an extended vacation whenever Gotham's in a bit of a rough patch. I make a habit of being unavailable.

[He's an intensely private person, that much is no doubt in evidence.]