Miranda Tate (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
withoutrope) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
dear_mun2012-08-22 08:37 pm
withoutrope) wrote in dear_mun2012-08-22 08:37 pm
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I am invested in the paths that lead to it. And the anomalies that block them.
I thought we were past lying to each other.
[He knows she believes. He's not so inhuman he doesn't want to hurt her.]
[He knows she believes. He's not so inhuman he doesn't want to hurt her.]
Edited 2012-08-23 01:01 (UTC)
I have no interest in lying to you, Bruce. There is nothing to be gained from it.
[He has already hurt her -- the slow knife, a cut that she had never imagined was possible. It was years before she could begin to entertain the idea that she mourned her father. Years more before she had a name for it.]
[He has already hurt her -- the slow knife, a cut that she had never imagined was possible. It was years before she could begin to entertain the idea that she mourned her father. Years more before she had a name for it.]
Explain to me what you thought you were creating.
[He could be angry, he supposes. But betrayal, to Bruce, is a hollow ache. A void. Her father taught him that. He could tell her she died for nothing. That he saved Gotham, despite her. He could tell her what Ra's had told him about love, that grief made you hate; that the man he knew would never have been able to love her. (Bruce had.) But he's not cruel.
There's part of him she still owns. It's hers forever. Something neither Rachel or Selina. Just hers. So he wants to understand. That's all.]
[He could be angry, he supposes. But betrayal, to Bruce, is a hollow ache. A void. Her father taught him that. He could tell her she died for nothing. That he saved Gotham, despite her. He could tell her what Ra's had told him about love, that grief made you hate; that the man he knew would never have been able to love her. (Bruce had.) But he's not cruel.
There's part of him she still owns. It's hers forever. Something neither Rachel or Selina. Just hers. So he wants to understand. That's all.]
Why? Would this bring you some measure of solace?
[Nor is she angry with him. She hates him, certainly. She can recognize, in a way that now feels nearly academic, that this is rooted in what he has rejected. That chance to remake the world.
Everything that should have been Bane's was instead given to the Batman. Because his face carried no guilt.
But she was taught long ago not to hate with passion, but with purpose. She hates him and she thinks nothing of him, and the world might have fallen at their feet.]
[Nor is she angry with him. She hates him, certainly. She can recognize, in a way that now feels nearly academic, that this is rooted in what he has rejected. That chance to remake the world.
Everything that should have been Bane's was instead given to the Batman. Because his face carried no guilt.
But she was taught long ago not to hate with passion, but with purpose. She hates him and she thinks nothing of him, and the world might have fallen at their feet.]
[He's never loved anyone who hated him before. The childish part of Bruce would have wanted to cling to her. To believe some of it, any of it had been real.
But she and Bane had broken him like a bone that never healed straight and cast him down in the dark where he could heal anew. And in that way, he thinks, she wrote her own downfall. The knife was too slow. There's sunshine in Florence.
She never loved him. He can accept that, and accept that he still cares, because he has all the time in the world now to learn to live with himself. She doesn't.]
It would prove to me you knew what you threw away your future for. [A measured pause.] And his.
[The child had a protector. He knows what real love looks like in her eyes.]
But she and Bane had broken him like a bone that never healed straight and cast him down in the dark where he could heal anew. And in that way, he thinks, she wrote her own downfall. The knife was too slow. There's sunshine in Florence.
She never loved him. He can accept that, and accept that he still cares, because he has all the time in the world now to learn to live with himself. She doesn't.]
It would prove to me you knew what you threw away your future for. [A measured pause.] And his.
[The child had a protector. He knows what real love looks like in her eyes.]
[And he has loved her, which is cruel. More cruel than Talia usually allows herself to be. Not the entirety, but parts of herself that the world would deem most admirable. Bravery, yes. Fear was long since stamped out of her, leaving behind a woman that would walks the streets of a burning city and see only warmth. She is as generous as Miranda, and as clever. She has known poverty, has laughed, has kissed in the rain.
But she was born in shadows, and never quite remade in the sun. And there is only one other who truly understood that.
She does not hide her grief, at the thought of her friend. Not when they are past lies.]
You think of the future in terms of one life. In terms of one city. Your thoughts are too small, Mister Wayne.
But she was born in shadows, and never quite remade in the sun. And there is only one other who truly understood that.
She does not hide her grief, at the thought of her friend. Not when they are past lies.]
You think of the future in terms of one life. In terms of one city. Your thoughts are too small, Mister Wayne.
You can take your philosophy crap and shove it. You don't get to toy with the lives of millions to prove some point about the circle of life, or whatever kool-aid you drank.
Maybe my heart is smaller than yours.
[He wouldn't be surprised. It takes enormous love to have such passion. And is he sorry? Is he?
Of course he is. But they're students of the same man. Regret is nothing.]
Your father thought I was a coward. I lacked conviction. Maybe he was right. But I lived. So did my city. And the world keeps going, and I'm going to keep living to heal it. You saw a wound and wanted to cauterize it when it was still worth stitching.
If you can't see the value in a single life, why do you bother? A multitude is composed of single lives. You act as though you have the right to decide which of them are worthwhile. What gives you that?
[He wouldn't be surprised. It takes enormous love to have such passion. And is he sorry? Is he?
Of course he is. But they're students of the same man. Regret is nothing.]
Your father thought I was a coward. I lacked conviction. Maybe he was right. But I lived. So did my city. And the world keeps going, and I'm going to keep living to heal it. You saw a wound and wanted to cauterize it when it was still worth stitching.
If you can't see the value in a single life, why do you bother? A multitude is composed of single lives. You act as though you have the right to decide which of them are worthwhile. What gives you that?
Where is there creation in fire? You lost me.
I do not operate in philosophy. That is the realm of men who know little and think less.
There is creation in what comes after.
We did lose you. [There is a small measure of curiosity in there. Their men had been unable to find the commissioner.] That is to your credit.
We did lose you. [There is a small measure of curiosity in there. Their men had been unable to find the commissioner.] That is to your credit.
You see, the thing about creating...about being involved in the soil means that you have a job to do. You're adding something to people. [He pushes his glasses up on his nose] and it's like a savings account. The more you add-the more you create the more you can take away.
or the more the bank might be willing to help you out. [He had people willing to shelter him Talia. Good people.] ...thought you might have understood that Miss Tate.
or the more the bank might be willing to help you out. [He had people willing to shelter him Talia. Good people.] ...thought you might have understood that Miss Tate.
[His city lived. They are past lies, and he is not nearly as cruel as she. So this is a truth, that Talia processes.
His city lived. Not in the way she'd intended. A blank slate. Instead, the same bloodstained pages, cracked and whited out.]
And what of your city have you truly seen? You have seen it in the guise of protector, or benefactor. You have held yourself so far above it that I doubt you could ever know where to begin any stitches.
[Gotham had ruined itself long before the League of Shadows paid it any mind. She doubted that would ever truly change.]
I see the value in billions of lives. A single life, compared to that, is nothing. Not mine.
Not even his.
His city lived. Not in the way she'd intended. A blank slate. Instead, the same bloodstained pages, cracked and whited out.]
And what of your city have you truly seen? You have seen it in the guise of protector, or benefactor. You have held yourself so far above it that I doubt you could ever know where to begin any stitches.
[Gotham had ruined itself long before the League of Shadows paid it any mind. She doubted that would ever truly change.]
I see the value in billions of lives. A single life, compared to that, is nothing. Not mine.
Not even his.
Children go hungry every day. I am more concerned with stopping that globally than in places with rations enough for every citizen.
[She smiles at James Gordon, and means it.]
I do not believe that your banks have worked like that in quite some time. We did not underestimate your community, Commissioner Gordon. But we did underestimate you. Your tenacity.
For this, I apologize.
I do not believe that your banks have worked like that in quite some time. We did not underestimate your community, Commissioner Gordon. But we did underestimate you. Your tenacity.
For this, I apologize.
[He can look at that smile...and not want to shoot her. Because she's just lost. Because he watched her die and there's nothing there-no fear just pity.
Grudging respect...and pity. The corner of his lip quirks.]
Honestly you underestimate me still if you think I didn't have help with it.
Miss Tate.
Grudging respect...and pity. The corner of his lip quirks.]
Honestly you underestimate me still if you think I didn't have help with it.
Miss Tate.
That is because most have resigned themselves to such a fate. And so they take, with the justification that others take. And they become trapped, and tell themselves there is no way out.
But there is. You have spent your whole life trying to find one, Ms. Kyle. But you have looked in the wrong places.
[Oh, yes. She has read everything on Selina Kyle. There are commonalities, in their backgrounds.
Perhaps, if the league had found her early on...but, no. Selina is already too focused on her own happiness to be do what would need to be done.]
But there is. You have spent your whole life trying to find one, Ms. Kyle. But you have looked in the wrong places.
[Oh, yes. She has read everything on Selina Kyle. There are commonalities, in their backgrounds.
Perhaps, if the league had found her early on...but, no. Selina is already too focused on her own happiness to be do what would need to be done.]
[She does not want his pity -- would seek to stamp it out of him. But she can recognize the hypocrisy, there. Because he has her pity as well.
He has given his life to a city that rejected him at every turn. And he sees that as something to be proud of.]
I knew you would want to help. I did not know you would be so able.
Commissioner.
He has given his life to a city that rejected him at every turn. And he sees that as something to be proud of.]
I knew you would want to help. I did not know you would be so able.
Commissioner.
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