thingsfall: (Default)
Bruce Wayne ([personal profile] thingsfall) wrote in [community profile] sixthiterationlogs2016-10-15 08:04 pm

we do our time like pennies in a jar

WHO: Bruce Wayne
WHERE: The Fountain | The Inn | Fountain Park
WHEN: October 15th and the days following
OPEN TO: all
WARNINGS: to be updated as needed
STATUS: open




arrival; the fountain

He wakes to the sensation of cold and damp, and for a long, hazy moment, all Bruce can think of is Amnesty Bay. The faint light he can sense through his closed eyelids gives that thought fleeting reinforcement--is it the lighthouse?

...No. No, that was weeks ago. He left Amnesty Bay, he came and went from Central City, he forged--he hoped--new alliances. Tomorrow he goes to Detroit. Tonight... tonight he's in Gotham.

His eyes snap open and he breathes in, startled, then shaken as he gets a noseful of water. He holds his breath, nostrils smarting, lungs tight, and on instinct he lunges upward toward the light.

He doesn't so much break the surface of the water in the fountain as he does crash through it, waves smacking the concrete walls, his breath righting itself in coughs and ragged gasps for the few moments it takes him to regain control. He treads water, taking stock: trees, sky, he's in some kind of pool--no, he turns, it's a... fountain? His armor is gone, he's not in Gotham, he knows there's no place like this in Gotham, what's on his back? Where are his clothes?

He strikes out for the edge of the fountain, hauling himself up and over, water dripping from his light gray scrubs, his hair, everything, noisy as it hits the ground around his feet. He sheds the backpack, dropping it onto the fountain wall, digging through its contents.

The sound of someone approaching gets his attention. He turns at once, tense, alert, though he makes no further moves.

"Hello?"


getting settled; the inn

The close quarters already grate on his nerves, and it's only his second full day here.

Bruce closes the door to his assigned room with a very small sigh. It's nothing against everyone else here, far from it. They've all been kind, helpful, friendly if a bit wary about him, and he doesn't blame them for that last part. He's a newcomer, he'd be unsure of him too.

Part of his restlessness, sure, is that he's used to having so much more space. The lake house, the estate grounds, his business properties in both Gotham and Metropolis, all of Gotham at night. But the greater part of it is his usual solitude. It's just been him and Alfred, for a decade now, since...

Since the last time he tried to build a family led to loss and ruin.

It's been easier to work alone, fight alone, grieve alone. But he can't do it all himself. That was a hard lesson to revisit this year, and again it cost him dearly. He gets it, now, that he can't fight alone, that he can't shoulder everything. He's building a team back home, and he's got to, he's sure, become part of the community here.

It just still feels weird.

He sets out, determined to battle his ingrained instincts. He offers the people he passes on his way downstairs a friendly good morning, pausing for more conversation if they'll have it. He joins a few others at breakfast, dialing back his urge to interrogate everyone about everything.

Afterwards, he's out on the front porch, breathing in the fresh air. This place would be so peaceful if he was here by choice.


finding his bearings; fountain park

One of the basic rules of detective work is to start with the scene of the crime. Gather your evidence there. Figure out what happened. Try to make sense of it, let that tell you the story.

He can't think of anything else to try at the moment, so Bruce has returned to where he arrived, hoping maybe something will give him some clue, some idea.

At the start of his reinvestigation, he can be found inspecting the fountain and the immediate area. How was he placed there? Is there a way out? Does the fountain have any significance?

Somewhere in the middle, he climbs the tallest tree nearby. With rather a lot of speed and agility, if you happen to be around, happen to have an eye for that sort of thing. He lingers up there a while, surveying the fountain, the park, but also getting views of the village as a whole, or at least as best he can from this single tree.

There might also be a small comfort in something a bit familiar. Watching the area from on high.

Before he leaves, in the interests of being thorough, he jumps back into the water. He feels his way along the walls, he does his best to reach the floor, he breaks the surface a few times to look up at the trees and sky. Eventually he hauls himself out, the wet weight of his clothes against his body and the soft patter of water dripping from them onto the ground giving him a moment of déjà vu.
booklegging: (⇆ 46)

[personal profile] booklegging 2016-11-21 09:51 am (UTC)(link)
"Not entirely. When I said primitive weapons, I meant it in the literal pre-industrial sense. Slings and arrows, hand-carved spears, that kind of thing. Thankfully, I lucked out and missed the Neolithic era by a few thousand years. I have to admit, any kind of country living kind of looks like it to me, being from a major metropolis."

He shoots a crooked smile across the table. But the man's not wrong--Jess is from a strikingly different place, both time-wise and technology-wise. If Bruce is referring to the multiple worlds theory, he'd be a little surprised to learn the man is getting comfortable with the idea so soon, but maybe not too much. The man's taking things in stride like an Olympic sprinter--and who knows, he has some experience with alternate realities.

Jess can't judge these days. He spends time with a young woman from his history's distant past, and another from his history's future (unlikely future, as he doesn't care to believe the world is destined to become an irradiated wasteland like Raven says), and Vikings, and men who fight giants for a living.

At some point one just has to accept they live with a very, very strange bunch.

"I come from Alexandria, Egypt, born and raised in London."
booklegging: (⇆ 30)

[personal profile] booklegging 2016-11-28 11:19 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh yes, you're in for a treat. More fresh air and scenic views than you'll know what to do with." The comment clearly falls on the sarcastic spectrum, if the amused curl to Jess' mouth says anything.

"How is that going, by the way? Wrapping your head around where we are and how the lot of us might have gotten here?" A gentle way of asking if Bruce has already had his brain turned inside out with talk of different realities, and universes, and histories. "Has anyone said the 'm' word yet?"