(no subject)

[flippity]

[ so, later sunday evening after the execution, papika is gonna be poking her head into her hotel room. she doesn't go in right away as she seems to be checking... for... ]

Robin?

Comments

..............if i'm killed* @self: rip

[bittybat]

I have to find them as soon as possible. If you hear of anyone speaking to the Sheriff in private, tell me immediately.

it's ok i understand what you meant

[flippity]

Okay. I'll let you know.

[ a moment of hesitation, then, ] Did you tell anyone else? You don't have to say who, if you did...

[bittybat]

I've told Jackson. [Who hopefully... they can trust. What is trust in this hellish place? Damian doesn't have an ounce of trust in his body, but he needs to make progress.] I asked him the same question I asked you.

[flippity]

[ she smiles slightly at that. ]

Oh. Percy is good!

[ as you can see, papika does not have the same issues with trust ]

[bittybat]

[He's dead. Dig his grave ahead of time for him...]

We don't know that for certain. It's only an assumption. People will lie about anything if it means they get to live, or they get to keep someone they care about from dying.

[flippity]

Maybe... I'm not sure if you can survive here long without trusting someone even a little bit though. It'll get too lonely on top of everything else, wouldn't it?

[ she can understand not wanting to trust someone completely since... well, what he said is true. especially given what's on some of those wanted posters. but she can't imagine keeping everyone at arm's length. ]

[bittybat]

There's no way for us to tell who is lying and who isn't. At least--there's no way for me to tell without making an educated guess based on what I've perceived of someone when I met them.

Anyone can pretend to be your friend, but then turn on you for the right reasons.

[flippity]

At least we know some people who might try something? So we can try to keep an eye on them.

[ at least, people who don't seem too bothered by the concept of killing someone so they might not need that much convincing in terms of reward. nui. she means nui. ]

[bittybat]

Some people here may not need a role to do what they do. [He's thinking about the Joker.] They want to kill because they want to go home, or they want to kill just because they enjoy killing.

Just because one person is suspicious doesn't mean their motives are because of the Sheriff. [He frowns, knowing this is pessimistic news, but--logic, come on.]

And if you make yourself stand-out, you'll become an easy target.

[flippity]

[ she pouts. ]

Stand out how? Lots of people are standing out in different ways here.

[bittybat]

[He gives her a mildly flat look.] Look me directly in the face and tell me you have fifteen fingers without making it sound like a lie.

[flippity]

[ welp. with that, she slides off her bed and walks over to him, and stopping once she reaches a respectable distance to properly look at his face. ]

I... have fifteen fingers?

[ she mostly just sounds confused ]

[bittybat]

Fail. [He doesn't even have to wait very long right after she finishes to know.] You would be their next target. You can't even believe your own self; how do you expect anyone else to believe you?

[He stares at her. Nothing about him wavers in the slightest.]

I have a giant, red bat beast as a pet.

[flippity]

[ she... squints at him... ]

Do you...?

[ in her defense, she is used to weird stuff so she wouldn't write that off as a complete impossibility?? ]

You're really good at this.

[bittybat]

I'm not telling. That's the point. They have to believe it's a truth.

That's why you can't be so open with your questioning, or people will know you're hiding something. You can't tell everything you know.

[flippity]

I've been pretty open so far... would it be weird if I suddenly stopped?

[ she has not been very shy about running her mouth. but she sits in silence for a moment now, thinking. ]

I won't mess up when it counts.

[bittybat]

[Oh Goddammit. PAPIKA.

His sigh is exasperated.] Yes, it will be highly suspicious if you suddenly stop being so open. But you can talk as much as you want without telling anyone else everything you know. Conversationalism doesn't mean important information.

Don't act different. Just don't tell everyone you meet what you've heard or found unless you think they can help you.

[flippity]

I can do that! I might not be the best liar here, but that might not matter if I just say things in a certain way.

[ she then shrugs. ]

I don't think people here take me very seriously though so they probably wouldn't really expect me to have any important information.

[bittybat]

That's their mistake. Never underestimate your opponents. Especially the ones that seem least likely to cause harm.

[flippity]

[ she nods her head. after all, damian is like the youngest one there and look at everything he can do. ]

Are you going to tell anyone else?

[bittybat]

[He pauses in consideration.]

Todd... possibly.

[flippity]

Do the two of you know each other from before here? Your clothes were kind of alike.

[ she spoke to jason during the first week, but hasn't really since then so most of her opinions on him are "the guy who was in the stocks that one time" ]

[bittybat]

[An accurate description of Jason Todd, tbqh.]

Yes. [It sounds like he hadn't planned to really admit that so freely so soon to her. So how does he say this without sounding mushy???] We are a part of the same... organization.

Batman is the leader, and my father. There have been five Robins. Todd was the second. We work with Batman to stop criminals the police aren't equipped to handle. We apprehend them and turn them over to the legal system.

Batman sometimes works with a bigger organization, the Justice League. They stop global and interdimensional threats to the earth.

[flippity]

So you're like... like superheroes!

[ papika looks really excited at the thought? her eyes are practically sparkling in amazement. ]

No wonder you're so smart.

[bittybat]

[Oh... God.]

I guess. We're not really superheroes. We're just doing what's right.