closed: try to change, i try to change

[pearlstrings]

characters: bruce & akechi
location: library
date/time: january 10
content: two nerds with a preoccupation for justice cross paths
warnings: n/a



There is still snow on the ground. Quite a lot of it, actually.

The blizzard is in its final throes, something Bruce recognizes from Gotham's nearness to winter and to the heavy blankets that came down around Wayne Manor- where they had been surrounded by forest on all sides. The wind doesn't howl without end; there are gaps that are more merciful than others and by extension, represent windows of opportunity.

The museum has more people in it now than ever and not for the first time he can imagine what Alfred might say to him, about his tendency to collect strays. He doesn't regret the decision. In his experience trust and fondness can be mutually exclusive and it's prompted him to make a space for them in this huge building he's come to call home. But Bruce is and always has been a loner. It's easy to let himself be distracted, especially for the way plunging temperatures keep them in doors- tempers flare and everyone is eager to find a method to keep it at bay. For Bruce this means finding familiar layers and heading out into the snow.

He doesn't plan to be gone long, but he hopes that a chance of scenery will give him some much needed perspective. He makes his way to the library and finds the halls relatively empty- with the exception of a few spirits. Bruce says hello to them as he passes because it is the polite thing to do- and then he settles himself at a desk and gets to work. There are notebooks around him, with names and network ids in tidy black script, with small bullet points beneath them- bullet points that Bruce adds to as he combs the network. In another notebook are names and locations around Beacon- notes made during the Town Hall meeting about who was dreaming and what they mentioned seeing. There's a log book that people have been contributing to, but some of the information he's looking for is missing and besides- he's always preferred to keep copies of his own. A black shape curved over a desk, Bruce's lantern casts a pool of yellow light around his work space and the scratch of pen on paper continues.

Comments

[justcawse]

At the very least, the blizzard seems to be dying down. He didn't attempt to leave The Invincible during it, but now seemed like a better chance than before. It seemed like a safer bet to stay inside, but he really just wanted to get out for a little while. It didn't take long until he found his way to the library. He hadn't been intentionally heading this way and it sure as hell wasn't his first time there thus far, but now that he was here, it wouldn't hurt to go inside and warm up a little bit.

If nothing else, trying to dig up any other information he can about this place seemed like a solid distraction. He roamed around for a while, grabbing two or three interesting books that could have some answers in them, but nothing stood out. And than his eyes made their way to the desk that had tons of books and notes around. Upon closer inspection, they seemed to be related to various things about Beacon and it's residents.

He usually just minded his own business, but his interest had been peaked, "Quite a collection that you've got there."

[pearlstrings]

It would be hard not to notice another pair of footsteps in such a quiet place. Sometimes there's movement a short distance away, but the figures they come from are small and usually out of sight. He doesn't pursue them and he rarely looks up- besides, from what he's been given to understand, the spirits haunt this place far more regularly than any resident. He's the one intruding.

The door opens and closes on the opposite side of the building; there's no shrieking wind that blows through but the draft is pronounced enough that it would signal a new arrival even if the sound of the hinges didn't. Bruce pauses, his writing slows, and for a moment he just waits in silence as the footsteps move off towards the shelves, apparently content with a task of their own. But they don't stay there, and that's reasonable. Even if it's also what brings Bruce's chin up in the moment before a new voice finds the air.

It isn't really a question, only framed as one. And it gives Bruce the opportunity to volunteer as much or as little as he'd like. He considers this, and his pen lowers to the table. "Yes. There's a great deal of information to get through."

This isn't a face he recognizes but that won't be the first time or the last. Conversation would probably fill in the blanks; Bruce has been following the network since he arrived, trying to create a map of the individuals present. Who knows who. His gaze goes immediately to the other's lantern, a kind of omnipresent identification- and then to his face. Then to the books in hand. "Did you find something interesting?"

[justcawse]

And honestly Akechi hadn't been too active on the network; Only when he needed to be. So unless Bruce had seen Akechi wandering around Beacon, he was easily missable at the time. Glancing to her own books for a moment and back to Bruce, "Probably not, but I have to start from somewhere."

He took a moment to glance at his research again for a mere second, "Do you mind if I ask what you're researching?" Bruce is free to deny answering Akechi. This was just catching his attention.

[pearlstrings]

Does he mind? It's a complicated question with a complicated answer. Bruce is very protective of his privacy- he's careful about how readily he's seen about town and prefers to keep his secrets. He's been doing his own investigating and testing his own theories for so many years already, has learned from Gotham itself that relationships complicate. Beacon small, with an equally small population. Some degree of personal overlap will be inevitable and he can see that for the benefit it is. No matter where a stone is thrown he'll be able to feel the ripples.

But this is not the same as opening himself up to an unknown party. Soliciting advice or sharing an opinion. Bruce pauses visibly. His pen rests on the table, his hands find their way to his lap.

Maybe this is what decides it. Probably not, but I have to start from somewhere.

"I've taken notes about what was observed by the dreamers, and I've been cross referencing it with names and identities on the network." Bruce does not sit unnaturally still, but there is something practiced and performed to it- the line of his spine, the shape of his shoulders. "May I ask your name?"

Don't worry. Just having gender crisis here.

[justcawse]

Akechi can understand his hesitation. It's not like they knew each other before this encounter. He'd been gathering his own information slowly over time, but it wasn't enough for him. Sure he'd only been here a few months now, but he definitely should have gotten more information than this. He'll eventually build up enough to go off of like Bruce has here, but for the time being all he can do right now is wait and take things in stride.

"Of course. My apologies for not introducing myself first. My name is Goro Akechi, and you?" he asked, glancing over his notes momentarily. "The dreams were glimpses into the past of Beacon, correct?" he'd gathered that much, but he wasn't nearly as organized as Bruce had been about it. "If that's the case, it's definitely important to look into."

[pearlstrings]

"Bruce." Neither of them move to shake hands, but Bruce anticipates that this will be the case the moment he hears his name. It continues to be both strange and novel, that residents of Beacon come from varying different places and worlds and times, but that they're still trying to perform the same polite customs familiar to them.

His weight adjusts and he sits back in his chair, spine against the narrow wooden support. He's sure that there are others working on gathering statements, determined to do who knows what with them- but Bruce has always been a more meticulous personality. He prefers to have his own. A reference to work from. "I take it you weren't one of the dreamers."

[justcawse]

Akechi has thought about offering his hand to shake with the introductions, but considering how Bruce was buried in his books and research, there was no need to trouble him to get up and do so. Even if he did, he felt no need to do so. This should be suitable enough for the time being at least.

"I was, actually. Although I found myself in a mineshaft with two others, so we didn't exactly get to explore nearly as much as we'd hoped to. Would have been nice given the situation, but it's not something we could freely do with spirits doing as they pleased," he responded back.

[pearlstrings]

The words land with a visible weight. Bruce is not one to give much away, verbally or otherwise- he's learned, as a matter of survival in Gotham, that a certain amount of sleight of hand was necessary. His family's name and legacy meant that he would never be afforded anonymity, that some degree of his personal life would always be public. Be it nature or nurture Bruce has always kept to himself and it's part of the reason he's here now- away from people he might call friend, working on this project alone.

But Akechi says mineshaft and Bruce's attention crystallizes. His eyes flick upward, bright an attentive in the dark. He'd started searching for it months ago. "A mineshaft? What did you see?"

[justcawse]

It wasn't too hard to pick up on his sudden interest before he even spoke. It was just a shame there wasn't much to say about it.If there was anything that ticked Akechi off more than "dying" in a dream, it was the fact that he couldn't properly explore his surroundings before he had to turn his attention to something much more sinister than a dark mineshaft. Still, he's doesn't seen the point in keeping what he saw to himself; Not when it could possibly give him more leads and answers.

"It didn't take long to be assaulted by a spirit; maybe even two of them. What we did discover before that though was limited. We had found some miner hats that seemed to have been recently left behind. They showed no signs of damage to the hats, but there was a wet substance and hair found inside of one of them. It was too dark to really verify if it was blood, but It wouldn't surprise me," he started to explain. "What I found intriguing is that there showed signs of an injury of some sort, but it couldn't have been from outside of the hat. Perhaps maybe the victim had been injured before using the hat, but we didn't have enough time to fact check that to be true or not."

[pearlstrings]

Bruce is attentive by nature, but that preference for observation serves a different purpose here. After all, there is no way for any of them to be in all places at once. The experiences they have in Beacon are varied and not for the first time Bruce thinks that they are each of them attempting to put together a jigsaw puzzle. There is no frame of reference for the size and shape, for the image they're recreating. But the details matter, and the more of them that are collected, the better their understanding will become.

It's impossible to know just yet if Akechi too found himself moving through time. Everything he'd witnessed at the church had been in a state of flux- so to know that that was mining equipment found is confirmation of a kind. His brows come together. Wet, with hair inside. An injury that didn't come from outside the hat. Bruce's stomach does not roil, perhaps that means something about the way he's changed. Years ago he would have thought only of the person's identity- who they were and who they would never be again. Now he thinks: a broken window doesn't always originate from the outside.

"I don't suppose you were able to leave the mine at all. To get an idea of your surroundings?"