First Night [Action]

[cowledcrusader]

[In the middle of the previous night, a note will be left under the door of Clark Kent.  It reads as follows:]

Clark,

There are urgent matters to discuss.  Be on top of Community Housing 7 at midnight.

[The note is not signed and not dated.  Mysterious letter is mysterious.  The only question is whether or not Clark will meet him there at the

Comments

[action]

[slaying]

[If Batman happens to pass anywhere near house seven this evening, he just might spot a certain blonde woman sneaking out of her own house. Through the window. It's obvious that she's trying to be as absolutely silent as she can.

First, she drops a wicked looking scythe/axe to the ground. Next, she drops down herself.]

[action]

[cowledcrusader]

[...Someone sneaking around with a weapon like that? She's up to something. This bears investigation. Batman will watch silently from above, hidden in the shadows.]

[action]

[slaying]

[Landing hard on the ground, there's a grunt of pain. The souvenir bruises on her ribs--the ones given by Kadaj--do not take the fall kindly. Still, she dusts herself off and picks her weapon back up.

The Slayer holds it loosely in her right hand, but seems to be walking confidently away from the heart of the village. She walks with purpose.]

[Action]

[cowledcrusader]

[Away from the village? A weapon like that is useless for hunting. He'll shadow her, trying to keep an elevation advantage where he can.]

[Action]

[greenlongjohns]

[Batman would surely never bother with a bald guy with a beard. But here he is anyways, walking to the general store, dressed in casual civilian clothing, wearing sunglasses to disguise those glowing eyes of his. Why would he do that to his hair? Why?]

[Action]

[cowledcrusader]

[Batman is hiding in the darkness not far from the path. As John passes him, he'll speak up quietly, in his normal Batman voice.]

...Decided to go with a new look?

[Action]

[greenlongjohns]

[Have a very brief moment of surprise, mostly shown in the rise of his eyebrows. He doesn't move to speak to Batman or face him, simply crossing his arms.] I decided not to attract attention. [Referring to the civilian clothing, of course. Batman probably saw him using his ring for Moro earlier in the day though.]

[Action]

[cowledcrusader]

Your head. You shaved it.

[derek_bliss]

[Derek is on his way out into the forest, and even though he doesn't seem to be trying to be furtive, he's definitely keeping as silent as possible and keeping his trail covered as he goes. He doesn't seemed to be armed with much more than a hunting knife and some rope.

There does seem to be something vaguely feral about him, though. Maybe it's the way he'll occasionally stop to close his eyes with his head cocked and...is he sniffing the air?]

[cowledcrusader]

[Batman makes sure to stay downwind of this man. That's a key component of tracking, but he's a little surprised to see a human attempt to track by scent, given how weak the human olfactory sense is.]

[derek_bliss]

[Derek will go on his business, unaware for the moment that he's being tracked. He's intent on his own quarry, which should soon be coming out of their homes...

But he's intent on finding them first.

Eventaully, he makes his way to a copse of trees, framed at the roots with thick brambles. Derek stops, crouching, and inhaling deeply again before lowering his head to the ground, one ear pressed carefully to the soil.

After a moment, seemingly satisfied, he quickly sets up a rope trap near one of the holes, and then fades back into the surrounding bushes, crouching down and waiting, deathly still.]

[cowledcrusader]

[Hunting game. Strange methods, but the simplicity will likely make it effective. For now, just going to see how much success this man has...]

[Action]

[punchandsleep]

[In the evening, Molly's taking a break from hat making in favor of taking a walk. It's cold and it's boring, so Molly's decided this isn't such a good idea. Still, she was told by her parents that getting some fresh air is good. Right. Consider it's her parents, she's not sure if she believes that.

At some points, she'll encounter rocks in the pathway. Being bored, Molly picks them up and, with a brief pink glow in her eyes, she throws them as hard as she can.

Those rocks pretty much disappear far, far in the horizon, never to be heard from again.]

[Action]

[cowledcrusader]

[...Molly Hayes, the girl who works with Clark. Apparently she has some metahuman powers of her own. Strange, she seemed so anxious to meet Clark when he arrived. Perhaps she was knew Clark through the Daily Planet. After all, it she was working with him on starting it up, it seemed. And right now, there was no one else around...

From the shadows nearby, she'll hear a deep voice gruffly address her. He's still mostly concealed, though.]

Quite an arm you have.

[Action]

[punchandsleep]

[She jumps at that and lets out a little "eek!" sound and spins around, trying to see who's stalking her. Molly isn't the type to peer into shadows or make out if a shadow looks like a person, so upon finding nothing, she frowns, although it looks more like a pout.]

Yeah, and I'll use it on you if you don't come out!

[Action]

[cowledcrusader]

[While she's spooked, he'll move through the shadows and appear from a different side. Though he's still concealed to a degree, she should be able to make out his distinctive cowl.]

You really don't want to do that.

[esper_flight]

[At some point during the evening, Terra will suddenly appear near the edge of town. As in, teleported. She glances around nervously, seemingly expecting trouble, then relaxes slightly as nothing happens. Only slightly.]

[cowledcrusader]

[...Batman's eyes widen in surprise as he sees someone appear in plain view that wasn't there a second ago. She's not far away, and he's only got some concealment from the nearby shadows. He quickly ducks behind a building and carefully watches what she does next.]

[esper_flight]

[Terra pauses, any relaxation washing away as she's almost certain that she's being watched.]

Who's there? ...Kefka?

[She pauses for a tense moment, then realizes it's probably paranoia getting the better of her. Muttering something to herself, she shakes her head and glances around once more before heading deliberately away from the town, following the river. There's a cautious glance back, once or twice, and it's evident that she's worried about being followed.]

[cowledcrusader]

[Kefka. One of the more commonly uttered names amongst the villains here. Judging by her reactions to the name, she's not in league with him. In fact... he's fairly certain he's seen her before in his research about him.

...Of course. She's one of his favored targets. Terra. What Kefka wanted with her was a mystery, but the evil mage reminded him too much of the Clown Prince of Crime. Men like him don't target people without a reason, even if it's just for some sort of punchline.

...If she's a target, she might be willing to share any information she has about his activities. But now would not be the best time for that. She's agitated and afraid. And he knows all too well his presence would be unwelcome right now.

Though that won't stop him from trailing her, keeping a fair distance away at all times. If she heads too far out of the village, though, he'll leave. He's got other things to look into as well tonight...]