call me maybe

[from_scratch]

Cam is out flying. There's a decent cloud of atmosphere around the gold plane, now, millenia of demons making air around themselves for comfort and not sealing it up because why would you bother. There's a small forest, here - the effect is kind of ruined by the lamps it has to grow under, but it's still pretty.

He feels an open summons and lets it grab him -

with the Joker (kappa)

with Ripper (kappa)

with Darren (Aestrix)

with Minus (kappa)

with Emma (Marri)

with Facility 3141592 (armokGoB)

with the admin (kappa)

with Jarvis (kappa, Aestrix)

with Miles (kappa)

with Hank (Nemo)

Comments

[manofmyword]

He shrugs.

[mylegalname]

John turns to Cam. "Do you want me to explain him?"

[from_scratch]

"Could be useful."

[mylegalname]

"Fine. Okay. So our friend here," he gestures at the Joker, "has some kind of philosophical objection to promises. As far as I can tell, he just doesn't make them, and if he does, he's probably lying about something. Or kidding, for his very special definition of kidding. But if he goes as far as to actually say 'no promises', that means he would be promising something, if it wasn't against his quirky cynical self-obsessed religion. It's sort of the closest you're gonna get."

[from_scratch]

"So, 'no promises' means 'insert counterfactual promise here'."

[mylegalname]

"Yeah. Except when it doesn't. But this time it did."

[from_scratch]

"How did you learn to interpret this, exactly?"

[mylegalname]

"I've been getting a lot of experience this past week."

[manofmyword]

"And you're naturally talented," the Joker chirps.

[from_scratch]

"So in your talented-amateur opinion, I have what from a normal person would be a promise that he's not going to do anything so appalling as to make it worth prematurely going home to stop him. Is that the size of it?"

[mylegalname]

"Yeah," says John.

[from_scratch]

"Okay, cool. Is there anything else I should be doing here before I go - hmmm, 2012 - patch your ozone layer and feed your Somalians and cure colony collapse disorder and refill some aquifers and stuff like that?"

[mylegalname]

John glances at the Joker.

[manofmyword]

"Nah, we're all set to handle things from here," he says cheerfully.

[from_scratch]

"Okay. If I want to go back sooner than eight years from now, or if it seems that in eight years you have forgotten about me, where do I find you?"

[manofmyword]

"Who knows?"

[mylegalname]

"It might be easier for you to find me," John puts in, "and get me to find him. Assuming he's not back in Arkham Asylum or still living in this apartment, which are the first two places you should check."

[from_scratch]

"Okay." Cam picks up the stick-shaped computer he made earlier from where he set it down and makes a note of this - "What's the address of this place, and how do I find you?"

[mylegalname]

He gives the address of the building. "Apartment 203, but I wouldn't recommend trying the front door if you don't know who's home. The window is safer. You can find me in nice, normal ways, like the phone book and Google."

[from_scratch]

"Awww, Google. Phone books! Trouble is, I can make stuff, but 'data and phone service on a preexisting network' is not 'stuff', so in case it's inconvenient to acquire same - you don't still have pay phones now, I think, and if you do they're definitely gonna be gone in eight years - can I get an address?"

[mylegalname]

"Sure," he says. "I just don't know if I'm still going to be living there in eight years." Regardless, he rattles one off.

[from_scratch]

Cam notes it. "Right, but it's a place to start. Okay, anything else you want before I go find someplace to build myself a tidy little base of operations?"

[mylegalname]

John hesitates, but then shakes his head.

[manofmyword]

"I'm good," the Joker says sunnily. "Have fun."

[from_scratch]

"All right. Oh, one more question - where, loosely, am I? I have never heard of Gotham, I don't think my world had one, it's a big enough city I would've heard of it. Is this America? Are we in a state?"