From New York to LA, Gettin' High, Rock and Rollin

[battothefuture]

WHO: battothefuture and sorcerously
WHERE: Some dark street somewhere. At night. The exact kind that naive young british schoolgirls from the 19th century could really get into trouble with.
WHEN: Night, April 22
WARNINGS: POSSIBLE ADORABLE AND/OR AWKWARD THINGS? Watch it turn horrible on me now, watch.
SUMMARY: Oh those 19th century British boarding school girls. Always wandering down dark alleys at night.
FORMAT: Yes. :D

Guns. Why was it always guns? And in the city they were actually guns equipped with bullets, not lasers, which ironically enough was bad news for Terry. The suit was bulletproof - kind of - but was more laserproof and bullets had this nasty habit of leaving great big bruises and broken bones and....

And so then, when you were dodging the bullets, which moved differently then he was used to (and why, he was now wondering, hadn't Bruce found the time yet to train him to dodge old fashioned gunfire, you'd think that with the way he thought that would be way up there on the priorities list-), suddenly someone came out of nowhere swinging a two by four and....

He was still sore from all of this, and it had been last night. Part of that was his own fault, okay, because he just hadn't wanted to tell Raven....

It was the sound of someone walking that snapped Terry out of the slightly grumpy cataloging of which ribs felt tender and why.

Who the-

He'd come back here at first with a mind to slipping into the Batsuit, and he'd specifically chosen it because it didn't look like many people would be trying to walk through here. So who...?


So the lyrics are connected only insomuch as they're about the least appropriate choice of the several stuck in my head. 8D

Comments

[psychomancy]

Nighttime in India hadn't been something to fear; on the contrary, it had been something to look forward to, being a break from the pounding year-round heat. The stars and moon always shone brightly, and Sarita used to tell her stories about the constellations. "Memsahib," she would say, "one day you will know the stars. You are special. I can feel it." Gemma used to laugh and tell the old Indian woman that she couldn't wait for that day. But, as she got older, she had forgotten what Sarita had taught her; she had forgotten the stars and didn't know them as she could have. But she wanted to remember, truly.

As she looked at the sky, searching for them, she saw nothing but clumps of stars to which she could give no name, and something inside her was stretched tight, a slow fissure forming, ready to burst.

Magic danced across her heart as she walked down the City's streets, ignoring and being ignored by those out as well. It would have been difficult to do, had her mind not been otherwise occupied--it was one of the days when her magic was strong, and she felt that if she did not do something with it, she might break. An alleyway seemed the safest choice to find relief from the aching power. As she walked, her footsteps left tracks of silver glitter in the pavement; her hands, trailing across the brick walls on either side of her, coaxed vines from the very stones.

It was an illusion, yes; but it made her feel much better, and she hummed a bit to herself as she walked, feeling much better with each step.

[battothefuture]

Terry stood very still for a moment as whoever it was walked closer, quickly glancing around himself - both to catalog his surroundings and to find who it was who had decided to go for a stroll down some back alley at night. Then, when he saw her, he very, very slowly raised a somewhat skeptical brow.

It wasn't the girl that he noticed at first, not really - no, the first thing that caught his eye was the silver glitter that trailed behind her and the vines spiraling out of the solid walls to either side. Walls which weren't cracking and collapsing, so okay, probably an illusion of some kind. Probably. Which was for the best, because huh, a redhead with a thing for plants; that didn't sound too much like Ivy or anything.

It was pretty dark by now, but Terry could still see well enough - his night vision seemed like it was better in this place, or maybe it was just some trick of the city and it didn't get quite so dark. He could certainly see well enough to see the girl trailing plants down some back alley, and wasn't entirely sure if he should slip away then suit up at top speed or give her the benefit of the doubt and try to figure out more in his civilian clothes.

In the end he chose the second. After all, even if it was Ivy, it wasn't like she knew who he was, and he'd read the file on her. It gave him some advantage.

"Hey," he called softly, taking a few steps out of the deepest shadows and closer to her, eyes busy flicking across her in slight confusion after the first second, because she did look kinda familiar. Everything else though, it was throwing him off just enough that he didn't quite connect the dots, not yet. Give it another few seconds.

"It's dangerous to go wandering around like this this late, you know."

[psychomancy]

The magic slowly leaked from her fingertips, and was replaced by relief. She wasn't quite so sure about such a public display, but the heavens knew she had done much worse while in London. Going to the realms in broad daylight, enchanting and enticing Simon at the ball, unleashing her power upon the high gentlemen of the Rakshana; those had been such foolish and obvious sights. But this, this seemed safer. Or, at least, as safe as her power ever was.

But when she heard a voice--male, probably her own age--from the shadows, she froze. She hadn't been paying attention, hadn't been listening and watching and observing. How much had he seen? In an instant, just after his first word, she forced the magic from her body in one push, covering the illusions in yet another, making the concrete and the bricks appear as they had before. If she hadn't been so startled, she might have gone to his mind first, perhaps put him to sleep and turn the knowledge he might have held into just memories of dreams. But, as things stood, she did not.

Instead, she offered something of a smile, hands folded tightly in front of her, heart racing because, after she took a moment to properly think, she realized how compromising this might seem to her reputation. Being in a dark alleyway at twilight with a strange man certainly wasn't something ladies were supposed to do. But then, hadn't she done this, and then some, with Kartik?

Surprisingly, thinking of the Indian boy didn't hurt as much as she had expected.

She wasn't as good an actress as Ann, or quick-witted and charming as Felicity when it came to lies. Come on, Gem, she thought, come up with something clever. Tell him how dreadfully sorry you are, that you just wanted to see the place at night, how interesting it was, and how you'll just be on your way, so have a good evening, sir. Go on, then.. "I simply couldn't sleep," she said, fumbling a bit over her words. Bloody hell. It wasn't even close to the time she laid down at night. "I--I mean, I was getting ready to sleep, and I thought a walk would do me good." That's better.

[battothefuture]

... whoa.

Terry's eyes flicked a little as he took in the suddenly normal alley - yeah, that had to be an illusion of some kind-

And the combination of that and her voice and her appearance was what made him suddenly recognize her. He'd known that she looked familiar. This was why.

Now then, how much did he want her to know about him? Not a lot, not yet, anyway....

... and the lie. Uh-huh. Well, okay then. He smirked at her just a little, but he'd play along. "That still doesn't mean it's safe. You should really be more careful. What if I was a mugger? Unless you can do to normal folks what you did to those vampires, you could have problems."

His smile turned more genuine. "Luckily, maybe for both of us, I'm not, but the point stands.

"It was impressive, by the way. And nice to meet you. I'm Terry."

[psychomancy]

Her eyes flicked from his face to his hands and then back; he didn't seem to be holding any kind of weapon, anything to harm her with. Though, she knew very well the strength of men, and she knew that in her corset, she could not scream very loudly or run quickly. She could always employ the magic, yes, but she would prefer not to let any encounter come to that.

Besides, had he not just said he wasn't a robber? He didn't seem to be lying, and so she relaxed just a bit.

His words gave her some insight as to who he was; to her, it seemed that only the people torn from their worlds used the network, so unless he had been around her when she had attacked the creatures--and she was certain that no one but Josh had been--the network was how he had seen that. Well, then. He must have had a power, though she wasn't about to ask what it was.

"I am glad for that," she said truthfully. And at the introduction, she dipped into a quick curtsy. "I am Gemma Doyle. It's a pleasure." He had given her his Christian name, as so many in the City had--she still felt awkward using them, but as she had been given leave, in a way, it was only polite to do so. "You may call me Gemma," she offered.

[battothefuture]

"Gemma," Terry said, and smiled a little because he'd already known. "Nice to meet you.

"Would you mind telling me why you're really out for a stroll? I mean, if you have somewhere to be and were taking a shortcut I could walk you there. It'd be a bit safer."

[psychomancy]

Her shoulders relaxed a bit; she had decided that if he meant her harm, he'd have already doled it out. So now it was just a question of how long she could speak with him before discomfort set in; though, surprisingly, she had a feeling that it wouldn't.

Her cheeks flushed a bit at his bold words, but she was part-way ready for them. "I already gave you a reason," she pointed out. "I'd like to hear one from you, if you don't mind."

[battothefuture]

"What, why I'm out?" He laughed a little, but not meanly. "I've got business in the city tonight. I was taking a shortcut.

"Don't worry though, it can wait." After all, he was doing the job right now, really. He didn't have to be in costume to be Batman.

[psychomancy]

Well, didn't she feel just a bit awkward. Business, hm? That was still rather vague, but it seemed to be a better excuse than hers. Ah well, there was no helping it now. She was stuck in her lie, and it seemed as if he was stuck with her.

"What sort of shortcut is a dark alleyway?" she murmured to herself; she hadn't meant to say it out loud, but there it was. The redhead cleared her throat, cheeks still burning. "Erm, I mean--shall we walk together, then?" It was a stupid offer, one she wouldn't have made if he hadn't flustered her so in the middle of her illusion. But she was trapped with it, now.

[battothefuture]

You had to be vague quite often when you were in the business. It was a skill, and you either got it or you outright lied. Terry lied pretty easily, he had to, but it was better to use the truth when you could. It was a whole lot less work keeping your stories straight.

He heard the comment, of course, and he glanced over. "Dark alleys can be surprisingly good shortcuts, if you're careful in how you use them," he told her with a bit of a smile. "But yeah, sure. Where are you going? I was thinking of grabbing some pizza, but that can wait."

[psychomancy]

The redhead tilted her head to one side, hands folded behind her back. "What is... pizza?" she asked. The word felt strange on her tongue, something foreign that hadn't been tried out before. That wasn't too far off the bat--she'd never even heard mention of such a thing at all the parties and teas she'd been to. "And why must you grab it?"

[battothefuture]

His stare turned blank.

"You've never tried pizza? You've never even heard of pizza?" Well okay, she was wearing a corset. But. "How long have you been here anyway?"

[psychomancy]

Gemma looked a little put-out at his remarks; she couldn't be expected to know everything about the City, could she? "I've been here for a few weeks," she said defensively. "I've been attending school and--and learning my way about the place."