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thejusticelounge2013-02-06 08:52 am
bossymarmalade) wrote in thejusticelounge2013-02-06 08:52 am
Entry tags:
kane squared
Bette throws ten reps of double punches into the bag.
“Your form is getting a lot better.”
The younger Kane girl smiles to herself as she changes her position to do 20 reps of kicks into the bag, alternating legs. “How long have you been standing there?” she pulls out one of her ear buds for her iPod.
Kate smirks, leaning with her arms folded against the door frame. “Long enough.”
Bette starts her kick reps, trying hard to focus on her workout, but with Kate standing watch her, she’s focused more on impressing her. The kicks come faster, harder, higher, anything but consistent.
“Hey, hey,” Kate taps her on the shoulder. “You’re better than that. Focus.”
She stops, realizing she lost count anyway. “Right…sorry…”
Kate steps back. “Start again?”
Bette nods and wipes her hair off her forehead, and starts the reps again, deciding that talking to Kate rather than having her standing behind her watching in silence would help her concentrate better. “You seeing Diana tonight?”
Kate shrugs. “Might be. Not sure. I’ll go on patrol either way, before or after.” She leans against the wall. “You want to come or are you busy?”
The younger woman smiles tightly, “No plans,” she does her final two reps, “No love interest.”
“Like I’ve had the best run at ‘love interests’,” Kate rolls her eyes. ”Diana’ll go the way of the others soon enough, Betts. I’m sure you’ve got plenty of interest.”
“I hope she doesn’t. You deserve to be happy, Kate,” Bette grabs a towel and wipes the back of he neck and her chest
Kate shakes her head, walking over and nudging Bette out of the way to kick at the bag. “Not so sure about that.”
Bette jumps up and grabs the chin-up bar and starts doing sets of reps. “I am. Just about everyone I know deserves some happiness. Besides, Diana deserves it too, and she seems to be happy with you.”
Kate gets into a stride, copying Bette’s previous set of reps. “I hope so. She’s even helping me forget about Renee.” A lie, one Kate told herself often, but it was starting to grow a few grains of truth.
“Good,” she agreed, pausing mid-chin-up to answer and look at Kate a moment, “No offense, but it’s about time you let her go.” She resumed, and added, “Been there, done that, got the fangirl T-shirt.”
Kate frowns, “Renee was different, Bette.”
The blonde blithely ignores any negative spin that could be put on her former crush on Dick, “You were in love with her, and you’re not with her now. What is it, Kate? Not done punishing yourself over her? What’s so wrong about wanting to enjoy Diana now? You don’t have to feel guilty for it.”
“Who said I wasn’t in love with her now?” She says, aiming a particularly brutal kick to the bag. “And I’m not feeling guilty. I like her. A lot. I just know it won’t last.”
Bette switches to pulling herself up with the bar behind her head now. “Hm, self-fulfilling prophecy if I ever heard one. You expect it to fail enough, all that negativity is just going to guarantee that it does fail.”
Kate stops, turning to face Bette. “Yeah, well. Better to make your own prophecies than let someone else make you fit theirs.
Her cousin hangs there from the bar for a moment. “Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Kate shakes her head.
Bette let herself drop. “No, go ahead…”
Kate looks away. “There was a prophecy made about me. Or maybe Beth, it was never made clear to me. About the death of the ‘twice named Kane’.
The blonde rubs her arms and cautiously closes the distance, listening.
“Like I said. Don’t want to talk about it.” Kate walks over to the table in the work out room, starting to wrap her hands.
Bette folds her arms. Kate’s in one of her moods. “Then why did you bring it up?” she challenged. “Every time Beth comes up, you shut up about her, but you’ve got her picture over your work desk right there,” she points, “The one you cut Uncle Jake out of.”
Kate turns, looking hard at Bette. “You’re the one who brought up prophecies.” She sighs out, a harsh breath. “Because she’s my twin sister and that’s something you could never understand.”
Bette lifted her hands in front of her in surrender. “Woah, all I said is that if you’re determined to lose Diana, then you will. And I’m not asking why you have her picture. I’m asking why you never want to talk about her. You asked me to help you with tracking her down…but you never talk about her.” She points again to the picture, “But clearly it’s not a question of not wanting to be reminded of her.”
Kate scowls. “I don’t want to talk about her because…” She sits back on the table. “Because if I talk about her it makes who she’s become real. Because if I talk about Alice then she stops being Beth and I have to remember I didn’t manage to keep her safe.”
Her younger cousin tentatively touches her arm, “Then…then talk about Beth. If you want to.” She gives her a wide-eyed, concerned yet hopeful look, “I’d love to learn more about the cousin I never knew.”
Kate looks up at Bette. She’s so… Tired. “She was so. Good. There’s a reason Jake always loved her more than he loved me.” She lets her head fall back, closing her eyes. “I was the angry one. The one who’d knock a kid’s teeth out for looking at her funny,” she smiled a little. “She’d get us in trouble, though. All these plans at school, where we’d switch places and she’d pretend to be me. I always got blamed because, well.” She smirked, “I was the bad kid.”
“I’ll bet you didn’t mind so much taking the blame for her. It sounds like something you’d do,” she says, leaning against the table next to her.
Kate shakes her head, almost grinning now. “Nah, of course I didn’t. Sometimes the teachers or mom or someone would suggest Beth’s plan really was Beth’s, but of course I got angry and said it was all me. Anything…” She took a deep breath. “Anything to keep her safe.”
“And you’re still doing it. You’re…still taking the blame for her, I mean.”
“Always will,” Kate shrugs, “I was always the one who protected her until… Until.”
“You were TWELVE. They had guns, and you were just a little girl, Kate. You CAN’T blame yourself for that.”
Kate looks sharply at Bette. “And after that?”
“And after that, you couldn’t have known she was still alive. You can’t hold yourself responsible for not knowing.”
“Except I always will.”
“Seriously, what GOOD comes of that, Kate? What possible benefit is it to you, or to her, or to anyone to continue to blame yourself for something you were powerless to stop?”
Kate shakes her head. “You wouldn’t understand, Bette. She was part of me.”
Bette is quiet for a long time. She has no real counter to that, not whenever Kate pulled the ‘you’re not a twin’ card. Hell, she wasn’t even a sister. “I guess not. It’s not like I have anything closer to me than family. Being a twin, that must be ten times better than just regular, typical family. But even if something horrible happened to a member of my family, I know they wouldn’t want me spending the rest of my life blaming myself for it.”
She stares hard at Kate, “And if it were something that happened to me, I know I wouldn’t wish that on anyone but the person who actually killed me. But have my family blame themselves? Even a twin? I wouldn’t want that. I can’t imagine Beth wants that either.”
Kate glared openly at Bette. “Don’t you dare tell me what Beth ‘wants’. That’s not something you get to do.”
Bette takes a step back, “I…I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant, exactly…”
Kate ripped the wraps off her hands, throwing them down on the table. “I’m going out. Not sure if I’ll be back.”
“IF? …” she takes a few steps after her, but stops herself. There’s no point now, not when Kate’s like this.
Kate calls over her shoulder, “If.”
“Your form is getting a lot better.”
The younger Kane girl smiles to herself as she changes her position to do 20 reps of kicks into the bag, alternating legs. “How long have you been standing there?” she pulls out one of her ear buds for her iPod.
Kate smirks, leaning with her arms folded against the door frame. “Long enough.”
Bette starts her kick reps, trying hard to focus on her workout, but with Kate standing watch her, she’s focused more on impressing her. The kicks come faster, harder, higher, anything but consistent.
“Hey, hey,” Kate taps her on the shoulder. “You’re better than that. Focus.”
She stops, realizing she lost count anyway. “Right…sorry…”
Kate steps back. “Start again?”
Bette nods and wipes her hair off her forehead, and starts the reps again, deciding that talking to Kate rather than having her standing behind her watching in silence would help her concentrate better. “You seeing Diana tonight?”
Kate shrugs. “Might be. Not sure. I’ll go on patrol either way, before or after.” She leans against the wall. “You want to come or are you busy?”
The younger woman smiles tightly, “No plans,” she does her final two reps, “No love interest.”
“Like I’ve had the best run at ‘love interests’,” Kate rolls her eyes. ”Diana’ll go the way of the others soon enough, Betts. I’m sure you’ve got plenty of interest.”
“I hope she doesn’t. You deserve to be happy, Kate,” Bette grabs a towel and wipes the back of he neck and her chest
Kate shakes her head, walking over and nudging Bette out of the way to kick at the bag. “Not so sure about that.”
Bette jumps up and grabs the chin-up bar and starts doing sets of reps. “I am. Just about everyone I know deserves some happiness. Besides, Diana deserves it too, and she seems to be happy with you.”
Kate gets into a stride, copying Bette’s previous set of reps. “I hope so. She’s even helping me forget about Renee.” A lie, one Kate told herself often, but it was starting to grow a few grains of truth.
“Good,” she agreed, pausing mid-chin-up to answer and look at Kate a moment, “No offense, but it’s about time you let her go.” She resumed, and added, “Been there, done that, got the fangirl T-shirt.”
Kate frowns, “Renee was different, Bette.”
The blonde blithely ignores any negative spin that could be put on her former crush on Dick, “You were in love with her, and you’re not with her now. What is it, Kate? Not done punishing yourself over her? What’s so wrong about wanting to enjoy Diana now? You don’t have to feel guilty for it.”
“Who said I wasn’t in love with her now?” She says, aiming a particularly brutal kick to the bag. “And I’m not feeling guilty. I like her. A lot. I just know it won’t last.”
Bette switches to pulling herself up with the bar behind her head now. “Hm, self-fulfilling prophecy if I ever heard one. You expect it to fail enough, all that negativity is just going to guarantee that it does fail.”
Kate stops, turning to face Bette. “Yeah, well. Better to make your own prophecies than let someone else make you fit theirs.
Her cousin hangs there from the bar for a moment. “Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Kate shakes her head.
Bette let herself drop. “No, go ahead…”
Kate looks away. “There was a prophecy made about me. Or maybe Beth, it was never made clear to me. About the death of the ‘twice named Kane’.
The blonde rubs her arms and cautiously closes the distance, listening.
“Like I said. Don’t want to talk about it.” Kate walks over to the table in the work out room, starting to wrap her hands.
Bette folds her arms. Kate’s in one of her moods. “Then why did you bring it up?” she challenged. “Every time Beth comes up, you shut up about her, but you’ve got her picture over your work desk right there,” she points, “The one you cut Uncle Jake out of.”
Kate turns, looking hard at Bette. “You’re the one who brought up prophecies.” She sighs out, a harsh breath. “Because she’s my twin sister and that’s something you could never understand.”
Bette lifted her hands in front of her in surrender. “Woah, all I said is that if you’re determined to lose Diana, then you will. And I’m not asking why you have her picture. I’m asking why you never want to talk about her. You asked me to help you with tracking her down…but you never talk about her.” She points again to the picture, “But clearly it’s not a question of not wanting to be reminded of her.”
Kate scowls. “I don’t want to talk about her because…” She sits back on the table. “Because if I talk about her it makes who she’s become real. Because if I talk about Alice then she stops being Beth and I have to remember I didn’t manage to keep her safe.”
Her younger cousin tentatively touches her arm, “Then…then talk about Beth. If you want to.” She gives her a wide-eyed, concerned yet hopeful look, “I’d love to learn more about the cousin I never knew.”
Kate looks up at Bette. She’s so… Tired. “She was so. Good. There’s a reason Jake always loved her more than he loved me.” She lets her head fall back, closing her eyes. “I was the angry one. The one who’d knock a kid’s teeth out for looking at her funny,” she smiled a little. “She’d get us in trouble, though. All these plans at school, where we’d switch places and she’d pretend to be me. I always got blamed because, well.” She smirked, “I was the bad kid.”
“I’ll bet you didn’t mind so much taking the blame for her. It sounds like something you’d do,” she says, leaning against the table next to her.
Kate shakes her head, almost grinning now. “Nah, of course I didn’t. Sometimes the teachers or mom or someone would suggest Beth’s plan really was Beth’s, but of course I got angry and said it was all me. Anything…” She took a deep breath. “Anything to keep her safe.”
“And you’re still doing it. You’re…still taking the blame for her, I mean.”
“Always will,” Kate shrugs, “I was always the one who protected her until… Until.”
“You were TWELVE. They had guns, and you were just a little girl, Kate. You CAN’T blame yourself for that.”
Kate looks sharply at Bette. “And after that?”
“And after that, you couldn’t have known she was still alive. You can’t hold yourself responsible for not knowing.”
“Except I always will.”
“Seriously, what GOOD comes of that, Kate? What possible benefit is it to you, or to her, or to anyone to continue to blame yourself for something you were powerless to stop?”
Kate shakes her head. “You wouldn’t understand, Bette. She was part of me.”
Bette is quiet for a long time. She has no real counter to that, not whenever Kate pulled the ‘you’re not a twin’ card. Hell, she wasn’t even a sister. “I guess not. It’s not like I have anything closer to me than family. Being a twin, that must be ten times better than just regular, typical family. But even if something horrible happened to a member of my family, I know they wouldn’t want me spending the rest of my life blaming myself for it.”
She stares hard at Kate, “And if it were something that happened to me, I know I wouldn’t wish that on anyone but the person who actually killed me. But have my family blame themselves? Even a twin? I wouldn’t want that. I can’t imagine Beth wants that either.”
Kate glared openly at Bette. “Don’t you dare tell me what Beth ‘wants’. That’s not something you get to do.”
Bette takes a step back, “I…I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant, exactly…”
Kate ripped the wraps off her hands, throwing them down on the table. “I’m going out. Not sure if I’ll be back.”
“IF? …” she takes a few steps after her, but stops herself. There’s no point now, not when Kate’s like this.
Kate calls over her shoulder, “If.”