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[VIDEO]

[Hank's looking a little more haggard than usual when he makes this post. He's tired and fucking wore out from a long stretch of just being perpetually pissed and sad. And goddammit, he wants his hope back, but it's been sliding.]

[He's still fuckin' trying, though.]

[He positions the phone so it's showing an old-timeyish looking Detective's office. We're talking he went for the Sam Spade aesthetic. He plants himself in a desk seat.]

So, I know I just fuckin' talked about getting a promotion. But I had some things go wrong with my last case. [Some big things. People kept going missing, for one.] Connor got assaulted by a decorated officer. And while he's getting what's due uh... I don't know. I figured it'd be better if I got him out of there while he was recovering emotionally. And this fuckin' job would require less walking.

[Those are his excuses? Real reason number one? Connor can't understand all those extra languages at the moment. Real reason number two? Being in the middle of the police station when his year runs up doesn't sound like the best plan. And for some people? Seems like it's not taking a year.]

[He sure as shit would like to stop losing fucking friends. Thanks.]

[Hank turns himself in his chair.] This is my new private detective's office. So now I get to take pictures for paranoid fuckin' people looking for reasons for divorce. I'm really goddamn excited about that. [He smears his hand down his face, then scratches his beard.]

But uh. It was time I said good-bye to the job. [He'd always said this was his last chance to be a cop, and here it is. But damn if the heaviness of that loss isn't weighing on him too.]

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I'll let him know.

[He might have to, he doesn't know if Nida speaks English, though judging from their conversation about Seifer's name chances are they at least sound similar enough.]

And yeah, I'll give you a call. I'm pretty sure it'll be about as interesting as watching paint dry but eh. You'll get some soap opera level drama out of some of it.

[Yeah, no, Nida doesn't speak English at all. Three languages, none of them something of use. But hey, his translator is working for right now, and as long as it works, well, he's going to take advantage of it.]

Paint drying is boring. Watching other people do things was my training. I know how to keep from getting bored. Besides, people having affairs are WAY less careful than people guarding industrial secrets.

Oh, yeah.

Well, if you're up for the challenge I can dig up some surveillance work. It's not pretty but... there's still a lotta telltale damage from a case I was working on. Never got the bad guy in the end, but we shut down a lot of her business.

[And he found a lot of helpful contacts and information.]

So there are some people looking for addicted loved ones still. Which I gotta ask for money for, hate that part, but I can throw in the extra mile with recovery resources.

I mean, insomnia is still a thing. I can definitely take some work now and then. Otherwise I wouldn't offer.

[But then his voice gets softer. Nervous.]

I'll help look for addicts for free.

Don't worry about it. Police would do it for free, they had good people and decent resources. We gotta do it as paying work but we can go the extra mile for people who need it. If someone's willing to contact a private eye for that, they probably have a hell of a reason.

[And he's got two mouths he has to pay electrical utilities for.]

But if you're interested I could hire you for helping out with some of that. I'm not gonna extend the same extra effort for people just paranoid some guy's getting his dick wet in his wife or something. It'll probably be mostly that.

Hank... you know enough of my history to take me seriously when I say this. For people drowning in that situation, I'll do it no cost. Keep the money. For the other stuff, I'd take pay.

Hank, who is this moron? You don’t have to go to a damn business school to know that this is the exact opposite of how you run a business.

[Oh yes, he KNOWS that voice. And knows better than to be offended.]

Hank, if you'd be so kind, please tell Jason that he knows better than to think I'd be a reasonable person.

Bold of you to assume I know anything about you, ‘cept what I’ve been hearing just now.

Bold of you to think I don't recognize your voice.

Cool story. You hang out at the library during storytime hour? I’m told my voice has quite the range.

[Whhhhhat?]

Did you hit your head or something?

Ah, jeez.

Gimme a minute. [muffled] It's Nida. [Then he just responds as normal.]

But what I mean is, I really wish I could do it all for free. And I'll help people as I find 'em for no money at all. But now I don't have the gift of a steady paycheck, so if someone comes in and pays me to find their loved one? Addict kid. Biological Mom. Distant Dad. Lost sibling. I gotta take the money.

It's what I gotta do until I have something worked out.

[And it doesn't feel great. He's been looking through a packet that Jason gave him so he hands off his phone. His texts are so curated at this point he's not worried what Jason will see.] Say hello.

You take the money from them. I'm saying I'll be extra eyes for you without you paying me. I have a reason to care about people like that, being a former drunk and the like. And wait, Hank, get back here.

[He's negotiating with YOU Hank, not the brother he's terrible at staying as connected with as he should be.]

[Too bad, Nida. Because now he's curious, 'cause it seemed like Jason was just being a dick at first but now it seems like he genuinely doesn't remember a found-family member.]

[That's fucking weird, and he's got bad suspicions about it, but it's even stopped him from reading what he was looking at.]

Regularly. What’s your point?

Are you punishing me for us not talking as much since... For not talking as much since things went sideways?

Dude, I don’t know who you think I am, but I’m pretty sure you’re barking up a tree in an entirely different forest from the one I’m in. I have never talked to you before in my life.

I think you're Jason Todd. And we're not strangers. We knew each other in the Village.

Pretty sure I would’ve remembered if you and I’d met in the Village. Place wasn’t that big.

[Hank in the background pipes up.] You remember Seifer? Right?

‘Course I remember Seifer. He’s my brother.

[Oh. That... Nida can't even explain how much that hurts.]

I see. Alright. I... If you need help, Hank. I'm available for it. That's really all I have, I guess. So, uh, call me if you need me, right?

Whatever happened, Jason, don't do it again. Seifer would be hurt if you forgot him.

Yeah.... I'll definitely give you a call. And uh.... starting to suspect what might have happened here. Erasing memories was a thing the Head used.

I'll talk to him.

[He'll take the phone back, because he needs to figure out what else that Jason might have also forgotten.]

It's okay, Hank. Don't... don't worry about it. It's fine. It doesn't matter. He remembers Seifer. That's good enough. I gotta go.

[He can't handle this right now. Or possibly ever.]

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audio, from the background on hank’s side ...

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LET ME MOVE THIS HERE

Re: LET ME MOVE THIS HERE

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