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

[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."

So much. I really gotta get my other three to meet him.

[lostlegacy]

"No." She shakes her head. Definitely not. "I live there now, but I'm not from there."

It's important to make that clear.

Hee. I have been meaning to throw him at Grune and Mettaton's open posts soonish...

[andthebat]

Well there's only the obvious response to that. "If you're not from Earth, where are you from?"

Please do! I'd love to see how they interact!

[lostlegacy]

"Luceti," she says, as if that explains everything.

[andthebat]

"Never heard of it," he says flatly. "...I'd say it's clear we don't have any common points of reference."

[lostlegacy]

"...What?"

Common points of what now?

[andthebat]

Ah. Okay, he doesn't know exactly how old Sophie is, but she is clearly a lot younger than Robin, and Robin still sometimes has trouble keeping up with everything Batman says.

"I mean," he explains, "That neither of us understand what the other is talking about."

[lostlegacy]

"Oh."

She smiles suddenly. "Yeah."

[andthebat]

That seems to settle that. But if Sophie can't tell the Batman much, then maybe she can help him in other ways.

"Can you show me the way out of the castle?"

[lostlegacy]

"Okay." There's not a whole lot outside the castle, but hey. "It's this way."

She turns and heads for the door of the bird tower.

[andthebat]

And the Batman will agreeably follow after Sophie, plodding along on all fours like some sort of over-sized dog rather than... whatever he is.

He's a bit quiet at first, content to follow along and examine the hallways around them, but after a bit the sheer emptiness of the place starts to sink in.

"Does anybody else live here?" he asks.

[lostlegacy]

The first time she glances back to be sure he's following, she giggles. He looks really silly.

"Yeah. Gee Girl and Sans and Tauriel and Frisk and some others do."

[andthebat]

And in return for the giggling, Sophie will have been met with a very solemn stare.

Those all sound like very odd names to the Batman, especially compared to the rather more ordinary name of 'Sophie.'

"Are they... friends of yours?" He nearly asks if they're her family, but he catches himself. Just in case.

[lostlegacy]

"Yeah. Gee Girl is from Luceti. I met everybody else here. They're pretty cool," she explains. High praise indeed from this little girl.