with strange aeons even death may die

[obscuronoctis]

On the outskirts of Boston, in the year 1929, there is an old house with an incongruous basement; basements are for tornadoes, and tornadoes aren't much of a concern in New England. Over the years it's been used for storage and the occasional hiding place, but mostly it's for collecting

Comments

[justanagent]

He's not alone in the basement

[obscuronoctis]

Movement - someone small, a girl by the sounds - he moves back off the stairs because he doesn't want anything appearing behind him and knocking him down. He hears the gun before sees it in the gray un-light, weighted movements and the soft sound of skin on steel. It causes mixed feelings; maybe she's a cop, but maybe she's just someone foolish. It doesn't really matter. She'd have to have flawless aim and timing in the dark with him this close, and no one's that flawless.

(It's never been said that Batman is without an ego.)

Still: "I'm unarmed," he says, his voice muted and non-threatening. Around them the house settles with dull sounds that houses shouldn't make, like notes being played on a poorly tuned piano. "I woke up on the floor a minute before you did. I don't know yet how I got here. Do you?"

If he wanted to, he could vanish completely in the shadows and make himself an impossible target in the event she decides to fire. He takes his chances and stays put where she can see him - all that ninjaing around can unsettle

[justanagent]

She's learned to be unafraid over the past few years. A consequence of working with Knox was that he was always more than willing to point out and remind you of just how scared you were and how much he appreciated being able to use it. At first just knowing that he could build strength out of fear made her afraid, but over her time working at Pinehearst, Claire has learned to be underwhelmed by nearly everything that she comes across - anger is easier than fear, anyway - and so she can bury the lingering, nagging feelings creeping up her stomach at the sight of both this place and someone strange waiting in it

[obscuronoctis]

Not a cop, then. A cop would be as honest as possible and attempt to secure the civilian in an effort to figure out where they were. He considers two scenarios as she breezes by him: maybe she knows where they are and is used to people just dropping in. Maybe she doesn't know, maybe she's just like him, and is just ... this way. She presents herself as assertive but the way she avoids him speaks more like paranoid, aggressive, standoffish. (Nothing he can judge, exactly.) Either way, she's hiding something, a fact her non-answers telegraph as plain as day. He watches her, picking up on what she says with the way she walks, holds herself, moves her hands, the set of her shoulders