Test Thread.

[sniperslilgirl]

They were at the waterfront, and Zoe was skipping rocks. As a city girl, she wasn't the most informed on how it was generally done, but once she'd found the right rocks, she'd managed it every time.

Comments

[goodbad_imthguywiththgun]

It was all in good fun. Just throwing rocks at a certain angle and watching them skip as far as they could into the distance until they dropped into the water. No targets to hit.

But his Zo was good at it, a natural.

And the world's former finest assassin had never once sat down with his daughter and taught her how to aim and fire a thing.

Floyd settled in his spot by the water front as he watched and searched his pockets for a smoke; he said nothing as let her play, seeing no need to startle her.

[sniperslilgirl]

So silence -- beyond the sound of the skipping along the water, and the more distant sounds of the city -- reigns until Zoe breaks it. "D'you see that one, Dad? Must've gotten almost a hundred feet out."

[goodbad_imthguywiththgun]

It was more around 6 feet or so, but if his kid said it was a hundred, it was a hundred.

"Yeah, you got some great distance there, Zo," Floyd obliged her with a carefree smile that he managed to put on.

All the kid had to do was ask and, if it was something he could give her, he would. If she wanted his approval, he'd wrap it up with a bow and present it to her. If she wanted him to smile, he'd grin until it broke his face.

"You wanna get something to eat before we head back home?"

[sniperslilgirl]

Zoe looked satisfied. Then, at the question. "Food's a good idea. Pizza, maybe? With mushrooms?"

[goodbad_imthguywiththgun]

It got a helluva lot easier to put on that smile when he could tell she was satisfied. Whatever cent in Deadshot's paycheck that didn't go to the old couple that babysat his Zo, didn't go to Marnie for his kid's sessions, or didn't go into rent or bills or a trust-fund, Floyd spent spoiling his Zo. And he never regretted it.

"As much fungus as you want, kid," Floyd told her as he chewed on his cig and led her back to the car.

[sniperslilgirl]

"Cool." And into the car they went. A few moments after the door closed, Zoe started coughing. Her nose wrinkled as she tried to catch her breath.

[goodbad_imthguywiththgun]

Crap. He'd done it again--he just lit up a smoke in the car without thinking what it'd do to her.

Floyd opened the window, spat the cig out, put it out with deftly tossed a penny from the ashtray, and pounded on her back to clear the airway as gently but as effectively as he could.

[sniperslilgirl]

And Zoe recovers okay. Then she's thoughtful. "Have you got work tomorrow?"

[goodbad_imthguywiththgun]

"Not 'til I have to report to France to work for Manchester Black's sis," Floyd replied, all too relieved. "Don't worry, Zo. We have enough cash to hold us over for the next few months."

Floyd would make sure of it; if he couldn't make this check see them through that time, he'd sell one of Deadshot's old suits and some of his arsenal if he'd have to. Vera would probably reconsider his contract if Deadshot went back to play too soon, and the kid didn't need that. The kid deserved some illusion of stability and Floyd was going to keep that up for her.

He tried to change the topic. "You wanna pick a cd?"

[sniperslilgirl]

"Manchester's the name of a city," Zoe observes. "It sounds kinda stupid on a person."

"Foxglove," Zoe says emphatically, getting the CD out and putting it in before her dad can change his mind about letting her. '90s acoustic folk rock is not the purview of most fourth-graders, but Zoe was attached. It had been one of her Mom's favorite albums.

[goodbad_imthguywiththgun]

Floyd was more of a classic rock fan, but he wouldn't deny her the right to play anything so long as it wasn't Timberlake.

And he could never find it in him to deny her that CD.

The Lawtons said nothing as the light guitar washed over them and singer almost whispered what old Georgie's tongue had told her about hatred, fear, tears.

"For what it's worth," Floyd quietly began. "I'm real sorry about Star City."

It was what a two year old's tactic--apologizing--and he knew well enough it never counted for a thing. All the pretty apologies could never bring back the dead.

[sniperslilgirl]

Indeed, there was no Timberlake or any other shrieky-tweenager music on Zoe's agenda. Just the emotional wrench of sad, quiet, nostalgia.

"Yeah," Zoe says. Yeah. Because the classic response to sorry is 'it's okay'. And okayness didn't really get included in this.

[goodbad_imthguywiththgun]

Floyd ordered the pizza and some wings and the two sat down in the booth, waiting for their order to arrive.

He had to cheer her up, dammit. There was no way he was letting her feel like crap for the rest of the night.

"Did I ever tell you 'bout the time I fought the Bat on a giant typewriter?" Marnie had told him he wasn't allowed to tell those sorts of things to her, but he figured it'd be alright if he told his Zo not to do it herself after.

[sniperslilgirl]

"...a giant typewriter?" Zoe is bemused. This may shift to amused if Dad can make it sound good.

[goodbad_imthguywiththgun]

Ah, the expectations he had to live up to!

"It was after I got out of my first stint in prison, so I was itching to give the Bat some payback. I worked out every day, practiced my aiming with a comb, and made a new suit--that dumb red and yellow and white one I wear nowadays. So, we meet. Back then I had a grappling hook in my wrist-magnum, so me and the Flying Rodent wound up swinging through the city like some monkeys. Then I landed on Silver's Convention Hall. The Bat gave me the usual treatment he gives his friends and knocked me into one of those skylights every building in Gotham's required to have. Never really found out how the typewriter got there, but that's where we landed and duked it out for some time. The Bat somehow got away and jumped into that part where the paper gets loaded and me, being a young chump, walked right to where he was. He kicked me in the face, I lost my balance, and I landed right in the gears of the machine. And that's when the Bat called it quits, telling me, 'Now's the time to give it up, Deadshot--or I'll jump down and write you a letter.'"

[sniperslilgirl]

"Wow. Scary," Zoe says sincerely. "Didn't think a typewriter could manage to be scary.

[goodbad_imthguywiththgun]

"I'd see worse in later years," Floyd tells her with no hint of irony in his voice. "All things considered, it was a fun match. And it gave me proof the Bat had a sense of humor."

[sniperslilgirl]

"Pretty rare information, there, right? Doesn't he always want to be creepy?"

[goodbad_imthguywiththgun]

"Naw. No one in their right head wants to be a creep." Floyd replied casually. "I always figured he put the fear of himself in everyone because he had nothing better to do on a Saturday night."

[sniperslilgirl]

Zoe laughs a little.