5313/Same Bat Time...

Same Bat Time...
Date of Scene:	06 September 2018
Location:	Gotham City
Synopsis:	Babs and Kate take a break and discuss philosophy.
Cast of Characters:	Oracle, Batwoman

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Oracle has posed:
It's early morning, and Barbara Gordon is already up. Or perhaps it's better to say that she's STILL up. When one keeps company with the noctournal set, it's sometimes difficult to decide whether to catch them early or late. Wearing yoga pants, a black tank with a yellow BAT symbol, red hair pulled back into a scrunchy, Babs puts on a fresh pot of coffee.

The Clocktower has always been something of a stopping-off point for those who are caught in Old Gotham by dawn's early light. And Barbara has learned to be prepared. Padding over to her computer system, she casually types the 19-letter passcode to unlock the beast while she waits.

Batwoman has posed:
Barbara is one of the few people that Kate can see as Kate without any fear whatsoever. She's already removing her cowl as she slips past the clockface into her own preferred entry into the tower, sighing as she places it on the nearest flat surface. The heavy footfalls of her suit stop a few steps in, and a seam opens up along the arms, legs and torso - Allowing her to step back out of it, in her own yoga pants and camisole, both in black. She reaches up to pull her hair out it's tight braid, sighing as she makes her way downstairs. "Babs! I need a drink. What do you have?"

Oracle has posed:
Barbara Gordon hears the entry through the clockface, a glance at the black-and-red confirming her suspicions. "Coffee will be up in five!" whe calls back. "Make yourself comfortable, Kate." Of course she already has, or is in the process of doing so. "Anything interesting going on out there? My usual info streams are pretty quiet, which is either really good or a portent of doom."

Batwoman has posed:
"Coffee? You're not even gonna promise to Irish it for me, are you?" Kate bemoans her current state of sobriety, even as she makes her way to Barbara's desk, clearing enough room for the vigilante to take an impromptu seat upon it. "I've been going over the Riddler's latest encounter, actually. No riddle, no obvious purpose. Just the coincidental downtime in the comms network. I wondered if you wanted to have a little peak and see if he was doing anything we should be worried about."

Oracle has posed:
Barbara Gordon takes down a couple mugs from the cupboard, calling back. "I think there's some Bailey's in the fridge, yeah." The ceramic clinks softly, then she pads out into the main room while the coffee brews. "No riddle and no purpose? I agree; that's way outside his wheelhouse. I'll did a cursory scan on the network outage, but I'll take a deeper look." Her gaze flickers from Kate's face to her butt to the desk. "Mind removing your rear from my desk? I sometimes eat lunch there, and I don't know where that thing's been." A wry smile twitches to punctuate the request.

Batwoman has posed:
"Oh, come on, you've heard the legends." Kate gestures to her backside, "Besides, it turns out some of your new recruits are after a piece of it, so maybe you should show some respect. And that's without me even turning on the charm." A good-natured giggle, before she slides off the desk and moves to recover a chair instead, dragging it over casually. "Bruce says I should cheat. I think he's out of his mind. He's lucky enough that no-ones died the last few times. I was thinking psychological instead. I don't know if he's beyond saving."

Oracle has posed:
Barbara Gordon tilts her head to take a more obvious look at said backside, the wry smile becoming more prominent. "Well you promised not to go skirt-chasing, but that doesn't exclude you from being chased." Like Babs should talk, given her long and tumultuous history with Nightwing. "You should cheat? If the Riddler isn't playing by his usual rules, I'm not sure how exactly you'd do that."

Batwoman has posed:
"I presume Bruce means pursue either the more violent solution and deal with the fallout as it comes, or try and circumvent the game." Kate shakes her head lightly, careful to offer Babs a view of her posterior before it's ensconced in an actual chair. "I was hoping we could get more information about his intelligence service, try and leverage that against him. And I kept my promise, thank you very much."

Oracle has posed:
Barbara Gordon shakes her head slowly. "I can't imagine Bruce condoning the former." she muses. The shake gets her attention as well as an eye-roll. She chuckles, then. "I suppose it's a natural consequence of recruiting a group of hormone-heavy women for the team. You want me to do some digging, then? Anything in particular to lead off?"

Batwoman has posed:
"Well... I suppose I do have a type, don't I? Athletic, kind of flirty. Lately I keep finding myself with redheads, but I'm not opposed to blondes. Oh, and I'm a complete sucker for the heart-shaped fa-- Oh, you meant about the Riddler." Kate allows herself another giggle, before she leans back upon the chair and considers. "Anything that we can use to try and make him question where he's going with this."

Oracle has posed:
Barbara Gordon chuckles softly, turning towards the kitchen as the coffee starts making finishing-up sounds. "Hold that thought. And I don't mean the heart-shaped one." The rich aroma filters out as she pours, then opens the fridge to add a generous amount of Bailey's to one cup. "I just don't get it, though. There HAS to be a riddle, right? That's his thing. Or maybe it's just not obvious. A hidden riddle? A riddle-within-a-riddle?"

Batwoman has posed:
"And here I thought you were going to be a good friend and recruit me a girlfriend." Kate muses, "And he gave his riddle afterwards, but it was more of a dig about how I'm not as clever as Bruce is. And I won't deny it, he's head-and-shoulders up there." A shake of her head, "Jesus. Of all the nutjobs from Arkham, I get landed with the fucking Riddler. I don't know if you know this or not, Babs, but I'm kind of a violent solutions person. Guessing the esoteric musings of a madman aren't my thing at all."

Oracle has posed:
Barbara Gordon smirks, offering Kate the Irish Coffee and keeping the other mug for herself. "Think of it as character-building, Kate." she replies. "The Riddler likes making puzzles and Bruce likes solving them. They *do* make a pretty good match. But you're more clever than you give yourself credit for. And you also have me in your camp."

Batwoman has posed:
Kate enjoys a sniff first, to make sure that there is in fact some irish in her coffee before she sips it, and smiles. "Much better. Thanks, hon." Wrapping her fingers around the mug, she shakes her head. "I'm clever enough, and I've got you if I need you, but I know that that clever little shit is going to get out of whatever the next steel box we chuck him in is. I guess trying to turn him is the better or two permanent solutions."

Oracle has posed:
    Babs nose-wrinkles at that, sipping her own coffee. Black. Something she learned from her father, the policeman. "Turning him? Good luck with that, Kate. Although I do like the idea. We lock these guys up all the time, after all. What if we COULD manage to turn one or two? I mean REALLY turn them."

Batwoman has posed:
Kate shakes her head again, "That's what Prison is supposed to be. Reform, even though it looks and acts more like punishment. Arkham gives up on reform altogether, and it's just become containment. Containment is designed to fail, but some of these people can be given... Guideines. A measure of trust. A reason to believe in their fellow man, maybe. I don't know, I just don't like the idea that sooner or later, he's actually going to kill someone, unless I put a bullet through him first." Her grim-set mouth meets coffee cup again.

Oracle has posed:
"You've heard this before, Kate, but putting a bullet through him only drags you down to his level." Barbara replies softly. "You wouldn't be the first one to *want* to do something like that, of course. But killing isn't something you can take back, get a do-over, or apologize for later."

Batwoman has posed:
"Yeah, I've heard it before." Kate gestures with her mug, loosely, "But if I had to pick, between letting him kill innocent people, and putting eight grams of lead between his eyes... Well, fuck, he made his choice, didn't he? I'll do everything in my power to keep it from coming to that, but sooner or later, there's going to come a time when I'm gonna have to decide whether my humanity is worth the life of another person."

Oracle has posed:
Barbara Gordon lets out a low sigh and nods. "I know, Kate. But *until* they cross that line, we stay in-bounds ourselves." Because those are the rules, after all. "I'm not a big fan of the catch-and-hold approach, either. So how WOULD we turn one of them? Hypothetically speaking."

Batwoman has posed:
Kate sips again, and then muses aloud. "I've been thinking about that. There's two things... The first is to appeal to their skills and senses. Lay out the end game, let them know where all these roads lead to. Show them what they can do that's better than this, what's better for them and us." The woman shakes her head. "The other... Well, fuck, I've come to realise that there's not a lot that many of us don't have in common with them. There's something there."

Oracle has posed:
Barbara Gordon nods slowly, sipping her coffee. "I've thought of that pretty often myself. It's a thin line that we walk, Kate. What would it take to push -me- out of the light? Bruce? Any one of us? So why do we do it? Why do we play by the rules, anyway? The bad guys don't."

Batwoman has posed:
"Because we didn't stumble when we tried to step into the light." Kate suggests. "I think because it was easier for us to try to do good, than to trade our morals away. We learned from our suffering, instead of indulging in it. We committed, instead of ran. We saw the disease, instead of the symptom." An esoteric explanation at best, but Kate is trying to explain something quite hard to grasp. "I think mostly because we learned to compromise."

Oracle has posed:
"We DO this because it's the right thing, and because we believe it will make the world a better place. THEY do what they do because they want their own little corner of the world to be better. It's a difference of focus." Barbara adds. "That's the real difference, in my mind."

Batwoman has posed:
"Do you really think that's where they started, or do you think that part of them dies in degrees?" Kate suggests, reaching a hand up to tussle her own hair lightly. "You know. They do something little, just to even things up a little, get back against the world some."

Oracle has posed:
Barbara Gordon shrugs at that. "Most of them didn't start out going criminal all at once, Kate. It's a journey of small steps, just like the journey back." She pauses, then adds. "June is a good example of that. Only in her case, she got in way over her head and we pulled her out of the fire. So hers is a journey of redemption."

Batwoman has posed:
"Yeah. So I guess, at least with the Riddler, I'm going to try a little of that. And maybe Ivy too, although, I might have an ulterior motive there." A faint smirk from Kate, "Kidding, I know, she'll steal my soul if I go there."

Oracle has posed:
"You go wherever you need to, Kate. Just remember that if you get lost, we'll be here to pull you back." Barbara replies softly. "But I like your approach with these two. Just let me know what I can do to help."