Set a Bat Among the Pigeons

[andthebat]

There's a particularly unusual creature in the aviary today.

 

The Batman isn't happy to wake up at the top of a tree surrounded by birds for many reasons, but chief among them is the fact that the birds are loud. He'd been jarred awake by a parrot screeching right near his ear and his startled motions when he'd jerked into an upright position had resulted in a massive cloud of panicked birds fleeing from the big weird animal. Naturally, they'd raised a cacophony of squawks, chirps, tweets and twittering in the process, and his ears were still ringing a little from the initial uproar. 

But the bird had at least left the Batman alone up there, perched on top of a particularly thick branch several stories above the ground. The height doesn't phase him, but the fact he doesn't recognize the tree- or the massive room it seems to be in- is enough to disconcert him when the last thing he remembers is heading back to the Manor after a long night chasing down the Penguin. 

 

He does wonder if this might be some sort of Penguin-related scheme, but even with the earlier screeching the birds don't seem hostile enough, or even that interested when he's merely sitting around and trying to get his bearings. Not to mention even Penguin wouldn't be dumb enough to leave the Batman untied.

 

Sitting in a tree all day isn't going to get Batman any answers of course, so he unfolds his wings and leaps off his branch, swooping in circles around the aviary and keeping an eye out for anything or anyone that might be able to shed some light on the situation.

Comments

[dustless]

Frisk visits their bird friends once in a while. They could probably stand to do it more, really.

They pretty much immediately notice the massive winged monster high above, since none of the birds come anywhere near his size, and they instinctively freeze. It's not normal for them to judge on appearances, but he's definitely unexpected.

Only for a few seconds, though. None of the birds are panicking, and he doesn't seem to be hunting them. So they straighten up from their startled hunching and wave a hand in greeting as their own little dove friend swoops to perch on their head.

[andthebat]

The Batman's first impression of Frisk is a mop of dark hair and a flash of blue and purple colors far below. Recognizing them as a human, Batman flaps forward to circle in the air above them, only to quickly notice just how small they are. Just a child, and one that's spotted him in turn.

The wave is a bit of a surprise, and Batman wonders if they already knew he was going to be here. He swoops down to land on the ground a few feet away from the child, where he settles into a semi-crouch, supporting himself on all fours. He doesn't speak just yet, preferring to watch Frisk and see how they react first.

[dustless]

He lands close enough that Frisk feels their hair rustle from the breeze. They don't react much, besides shaking their head after so their bangs don't stick in their eyes.

Then they carefully look him over, making sure he's not about to start a fight. When he just stays there, they look...not quite satisfied, but calm.

The silence is broken by their matter-of-fact voice saying "You have pretty eyes," in lieu of a proper introduction.

[andthebat]

The Batman... isn't quite sure how to respond to that. This child isn't the first person to act mostly unafraid of him, although admittedly they're the first to also compliment him on his eyes. It reminds him of Catwoman's tendency to tease him about his chin, something he usually reacts to by ignoring. That seems like his best strategy here.

"Who are you?" he finally asks. His tone is wary, but not as gruff as he'd normally be- it doesn't seem right for him to try and intimidate someone so much younger and smaller than him.

[dustless]

They nod and give another tiny wave. He isn't all that intimidating compared to most of what they're used to at this point. They notice he sounds worried, though, so they're sure to be slow and careful when they move at all.

"I'm Frisk. And this is Gretel." They point to the dove trying to fix their now-messy hair, then take a few steps towards a pile of seeds it seems to like most, gently dislodging it. Too distracting.

They ask over their shoulder, "Been here long? Or are you new?"

[andthebat]

Still on all fours, the Batman slowly moves a bit closer towards Frisk and Gretel. Much like them, his movements are slow and careful, a mixture of his own uncertainty towards the situation and desire not to scare the kid away.

"Woke up in the tree," he says. "Where's 'here?'"

[dustless]

Frisk looks sympathetic. That must have been...a bad wakeup call. It's pretty loud now as it is, enough that they questioningly glance over at the door, to see if he decides to go through it.

"Castle. It's in the sky, and people've been taken from their...homes. Please don't fight anyone," they add, straightforward and serious. "Nobody knows why we're here, and some of them get scared and panic at first."

[andthebat]

As unpleasant as the bird's racket is, the Batman's mostly able to tune it out now. He'll be leaving the door alone for now, in favor of talking more to Frisk.

Especially considering how concerning their explanation of the situation is. Batman thinks over the information: There are a lot of people who'd want to kidnap the Batman, some of whom probably could scrounge up a flying castle (unless Frisk's just confused on that point) but he's not sure who'd manage to snatch him without his notice, nor why anyone would be interested in kidnapping this particular child or any of the unknown someones that Frisk mentioned.

"Has there been a lot of fighting so far?" Batman asks, leaning forward so as to better look Frisk over. They didn't look hurt when he first spotted them, but he wasn't exactly checking for injuries.

[dustless]

"Not a lot." Frisk glances down to see what he was looking at. Had one of the birds gotten gross them?

They look alright. There are a few bumps and bruises, but nothing that looks like they'd gotten into a fight, just anything a normal kid who wandered outside a lot would have. Their fight with S4 had messed up their soul more than anything, and they'd slept enough to recover from that by now.

"Someone did when they were scared, not because they were mean. And there are other monsters here that would be easy to hurt who shouldn't be." Other, because it doesn't occur to them that he might be anything else.

[andthebat]

Satisfied for now that Frisk hasn't been seriously hurt, the Batman backs off again. This place still doesn't seem safe to him, but maybe the child will at least be able to stay out of it.

The other monsters... it doesn't exactly sting, not after all this time, especially since it's clear from Frisk's tone that they don't mean it as an insult, but it does linger in his mind for longer than he'd like. But it at least gives him an idea.

"Who else is here, and what are they? If there's a pattern among the people who were taken, then we might have an idea of why we're here."

[dustless]

Oh. "Pattern?" That sounds like quite the good idea. Frisk angles their head up, staring past his shoulders, trying to think.

"Two--three skeleton monsters, Sans and Papy--S4 and Gaster. They're friends from my world, but they're from...different timelines." Which is troubling for a few reasons, and they look bothered before they rock on their heels and go on.

"There's a man who can fly, an elf lady named Tauriel, a girl named Sophie who's half human and half alien, a lady named Grune who might also be alien? They look human, though. And...a boy named Lucas from some islands called Nowhere." Frisk sighs quietly. "...Think that's all I've met."

[andthebat]

After they finish speaking, the Batman will drum a claw thoughtfully on the ground.

'Skeleton monsters' just makes the Batman think of constructs, though it'd be beyond ghoulish to use actual human remains. And he isn't sure what Frisk means by different timelines, even if it sounds like time travel- but that sort of thing should be impossible, as far as he's aware.

And then the rest, with the possible exception of Lucas, depending on how meaningful the name "Nowhere" is, all seem to be nonhuman or magic users.

There are several questions springing to mind, but Batman figures he'll start with Frisk. "And what are you?" he asks. They look normal enough, but they're also very calm about everything and they claim to be friends with skeleton monsters. Perhaps they're a witch?

merry christmas, sleep doesnt exist

[dustless]

Gretel decides the food is boring and hops between the bat-monster and Frisk, eventually settling on their shoe. Guess they're stuck standing there for a bit.

"Me? Only a human. A determined human." They him closely as they answer. They don't know what kind he is, if he might just be someone underground they hadn't met.

[lostlegacy]

Sophie has almost gotten used to the huge racket in the bird tower. Finding some strips of cloth in a spare bedroom to wrap around her head as a very makeshift sound-muffler has helped, but not a lot.

Especially not when it sounds like every single bird in the tower has started screaming their head off.

"Owww!"

Sophie slams her hands over her ears and starts backing away fast, because a lot of these birds have been scared...poop-less by whatever it is that surprised them. Gross!

[andthebat]

Even through the din of bird calls, the Batman's able to pick up on the cry of a distressed child. He circles around the tree until he spots her hastily backing away from the birds, and the flurry of feathers and guano they're producing. (The filth doesn't bother Batman that much, but he's been stuck in messier situations before.)

He's not sure who Sophie is yet, or how helpful she's likely to be, but he'd bet she's a better source of information than the treeful of birds. Batman flies down towards her, landing carefully on the path in front of Sophie.

[lostlegacy]

As loud and distracting as the birds are, it would take a lot to miss a huge black flying thing that is definitely not a bird swooping for her. Sophie considers for a second beating a retreat for the door, but--she can't give up! She has to at least put up a fight (until Gee Girl or Tauriel can come...help her, yeah).

And so she throws up her small fists in a guard position. Her fingernails sparkle with light, and she yells over the birds, "Who're you?"

Maybe he's not a bad guy--Dr. Gaster wasn't, and he looked scary, too. But then again, Dr. Gaster isn't even bigger than Little D.

[andthebat]

Batman takes a moment to crouch so he's a little closer to Sophie's level, although he's large enough that it probably isn't much of a help. He also examines her in silence for a second, just so he can get a quick impression of her.

She appears to be an ordinary looking little girl minus the white hair, which might simply be very pale blonde or the result of a condition such as albinism or a spell of some kind. She definitely doesn't look like a threat, in spite of the fists she's thrown up in front of her.

"I'm the Batman," he says finally. "Who are you?"

[lostlegacy]

"I'm Sophie," she answers. She looks him over some more. He does kinda look like a bat and a man at the same time. "Don't you have another name?"

That one's kinda boring.

He's not fighting her yet, so that's good, but Sophie's staying on her guard anyway.

[andthebat]

The Batman hesitates, before responding with a simple "No."

After all, only Alfred and Lucius still occasionally use his birth name, and it's not as if he could give Sophie that one instead.

It's not a subject he wants to linger on, so Batman's quick to ask, "Do you know where this is, Sophie?"

[lostlegacy]

Huh. Well, she'll have to see about that.

Her fists start drifting downward. "Yeah. It's part of the castle."

[andthebat]

"...I was hoping for a bit more detail than that." There are a lot of castles in the world, after all.

The Batman keeps his eyes on those fists, small as they are. "Is this castle anywhere near Gotham?"

[lostlegacy]

She frowns. "Where's that?"

[andthebat]

The Batman visibly falters at her question. "...Gotham City. It's in New Jersey." Having a sense of foreboding about it, he nevertheless adds, "On the East Coast."

Jsyk, I seriously love getting replies from "Bat Batman," as I call him to my friends. <3

[lostlegacy]

If he's feeling a sense of foreboding now, it's only going to get worse. Sophie puts her head to one side and asks, "Is that on Earth?"

>w< Thanks! I'm glad you like him~

[andthebat]

...That is indeed worse and it's a bit of a miracle how steady the Batman manages to keep his expression.

(He really hopes he isn't in some sort of Faerie realm, he'd really rather not come home only to find he's been gone for seventy years.)

"That's right," he says. "And I take it you're not from Earth."