Secret Identities Come With Secret Lairs? [Open!]

[battorch]

For a while following his release from the pods, Tim had spent most of his time in the library (albeit as Red Robin), researching and reading. He poured over everything on the ship and the events surrounding it that he could find, making sure he had all of the information he could get, for now. He'd investigate more, soon...

But for the time being, he had finally torn himself away from the library. He had a place to stay, yes, but he wanted somewhere more private, that he could work out of when neccessary. A base of operations-- somewhere in the city. It hadn't been totally explored yet, after all. Plus, he needed to establish himself a bit more outside of Red Robin, especially if he wanted to keep up the distinction for a while (as futile as he'd heard it was).

So it was as Tim Drake that he was exploring the city at the time, feeling somewhat exposed without his cape or cowl, but his posture was confident, if slouched somewhat. Right then, he was a businessman and a teenager, nothing more.

Comments

[badassfreakingoverlord]

One place of note within the City was an immense jury-rigged fortress. It looked literally slapped together from random junk and other buildings, but it had its dubious virtues -- one of which was a book being held up by a girl, up on the walkway.

"Hyaaa ha ha ha ha ha! I, the magnificent Overlord Zetta, am master of all I see!"

He wasn't aware he had an audience. The book was just like that.

[battorch]

A fortress was not exactly what Tim was looking for-- and not entirely expected either. He stopped in front of the fortress for a moment, to look it over, when he heard the voice. Coming from... a book? This place was good at 'weird'.

"Uh," Tim said, frowning in confusion. "Can a book really see all that far?"

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Hey! I can see far enough!" the book said, glaring down the walls at the skeptic. "Besides, it's really more of a thing we say. It's a classic 'tyrant ruler' line. Gotta keep the image polished."

The Overlord cleared his throat, so to speak, then boomed, "Behold the mighty Fortress of the Overlord! Tremble before its majesty! I... damn. Fanfare! I need a fanfare!"

[battorch]

"Uh, got it, thanks. I'll keep that in mind," he said, but mentally he was sizing him up. A lot of villains were jokes-- and this guy was a book-- but he didn't want to immediately write off anyone who described themselves as a 'tyrant ruler'.

"I don't have any instruments, but will some applause do?" he asked, humouring him a little.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"It's just not the same without trumpets," the Overlord grumbled. "Something about the brass. Gives it a nice undertone -- PUT THAT THING AWAY!" The Overlord shot a death glare at a minion that had clambered onto the walls, then lifted a vuvuzela to her lips. Sadly, the minion clambered back down.

"I miss my Netherworld," the book sighed, then looked back down at the guy standing outside. "New out of the pods?"

[battorch]

"Well I don't have any on me, sorry," he said, sheepishly. So far, this guy mostly just seemed ridiculous. But you never knew, right? He did wince, however, at the thing on the wall with the vuvuzela-- he'd paid just enough attention to sports to know how annoying that thing was.

"Uh, yeah," he replied. "Still finding my way around, I guess. Figured I'd explore some. Have you been around for a while?"

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"A few months," the book said. "It's not much for passing the time. You build a fortress, you train an apprentice, and you wish the damn ship would point you in the direction of some Ohm so you can go kick some ass."

[battorch]

This was good-- Tim was at least getting something on this guy (that term was quickly becoming liberal). "Isn't it good that we have time to... bide our time?" he asked, curiously. "To prepare, I guess." He shrugged.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Hah! What's your plan for preparing to fight a few trillion bug things?" the book demanded, peering down haughtily. "Unless the rules of the game change suddenly, that sort of number situation isn't gonna work."

[nevergetscredit]

Merlin's posture was less confident. Mostly because he was still lost.

Which is why Merlin was hoping that this other person who looked like he knew exactly where he was going would be able to help him.

"Sorry, but do you happen to know how to get back to the 'Hub'?" Merlin asked.

[battorch]

Tim glanced up at the other boy, who seemed a bit subdued-- but that was cleared up quickly enough, when he asked his question. Lost, then-- well, the city was big.

Tim nodded, and smiled at the other boy. "Yeah, I do," he said. He knew pretty much exactly where they were, in relation to it. "More or less." The addition was sheepish, but he would help the boy. He just didn't want to seem so sure about it.

[nevergetscredit]

"Great!" Merlin said, grinning. "Do you think you can tell me how to get to the Hub? Or even just anywhere that can get me back, I'm not fussy."

He paused, remembering Miku's description of 'awful things' in the alternate routes. "As long as there's no monsters or anything involved, I'd really rather not get eaten before I get back to my room."

[battorch]

Tim was about to answer, but the addition the boy gave him made him pause. "--Monsters?" he echoed, adding a healthy edge of fear to his voice. Not that he liked the ideas of facing monsters in the least. "I don't think I'd heard anything about getting eaten out here."

((ooc: masked icon 'cause I'm inconsistent. B| ))

[nevergetscredit]

"Well Miku didn't actually actually say that there are things that will eat us," Merlin confessed. "She just said that they were...awful."

[[ooc: hee, it's alright XD]]

[battorch]

"That's not really comforting," he said, frowning. "'Awful' is still... exactly that." Now this was something he needed to get more information on, too. "Maybe I should help you find your way back?"

Plus, if he went a slightly different way... he'd be able to scout out some more territory in the meantime.

[nevergetscredit]

"No, generally 'awful' isn't anything good," Merlin agreed.

"Thanks - this place is confusing," he said, a relieved expression crossing his face. He paused for a half a second - he should really introduce himself right now, it's be rude not too. But Merlin had become increasingly wary of giving people his name lately. Still...

Decision made, he held out a hand. "I'm Merlin, by the way."

[battorch]

"Exactly," he agreed, and grimaced. "So we'll just go back the way I came-- that was actually safe." Or they'd go more or less that way-- retrace his steps, but covering more ground. If he saw anything worth investigating...

Tim hesitated for only the briefest of moments when Merlin introduced himself. It was just an instinctual response to hearing a name like that. "Not a common name, huh?" he joked, before he said, taking the offered hand, "Tim Drake."

[ronnae.livejournal.com]

Ronnae wandered the city exploring the vast 'ship' that seemed more like a floating continent at this point. She lowered the hood on her red hoodie and put her hands in it's pockets. She looked from building to building wondering how they got them all here. It seemed like they where totally different from each other. She nodded at anyone she encountered offering a warm smile. Tho sometimes she seemed in thought, staring at a few of the buildings.

[battorch]

When Tim saw the smaller girl, he gave her a smile and nod of his own-- he could be friendly enough. He approached slowly and casually. "Hey there," he said, wondering how much he should strike up conversation. He could still learn more from people, right?

"It's pretty amazing, isn't it?" She seemed distracted by the buildings-- and he had to admit, the city was something else.

[ronnae.livejournal.com]

Ronnae turned her attention to him, then back to the buildings with a warm smile.

"It is. The vast difference of some of the buildings between each other and such. Must have been quite the feat getting them all in here. And some of these look perfectly intact." She offered a smile, taking one of her hands out of the hoodie's pocket and extending it.

"Ronnae. Ronnae 'Mash Belore Ryllos. I'm new here." She said with sincerity and warmth.

[battorch]

"Yeah, it really must've been something. Are the buildings from our different worlds...?" The last part was mumbled in part to himself, a quiet musing. She had a point about the quality of the buildings, too. He nodded, before he turned to face her at her introduction. He extended his own hand, to take hers, and smiled.

"Tim Drake. Nice to meet you, Ronnae. Are you new here, too?"

[ronnae.livejournal.com]

She smiled, "Yup! Fresh out of those things." She looked back at the buildings in thought;

"And maybe? I mean they do look like the brought in a wide variety. I haven't seen any from my world yet, but judging from some of the crazy architecture I've seen on some of these. I wouldn't be surprised if they brought in something like the Black Temple or the buildings from the Isle of Quel'Danas." She smiled at the thought. Having a piece of home would surely make her happy.

She moved one of her bangs behind her ear and smiled at him. "Exploring the ship is pretty fun, tho it can get pretty wierd at times. You'd be... or maybe you wouldn't be surprised at the stuff you find. I'm not sure how different some of these other worlds where but I sure have been caught off guard a few times now." A small laugh escaped her lips.

[battorch]

"Same here," Tim smiled sheepishly to her. They were both new. He'd not seen her at the meeting or anything, but he'd been... preoccupied, anyway. With all of this.

He nodded to her reflection on the city. "I've seen a few that could be from my world? Nothing really in particular, though... maybe it depends, I guess? A lot of this stuff is just kind of generic anyway." He looked over at her, wondering about the places she'd mentioned. It was as good a place as any to learn more about her. "Are those important places to you? Or to your world?"

"Yeah-- there's been some weird stuff, but it's all pretty different. I'm still just trying to cope with everything they told us."

[ronnae.livejournal.com]

Ronnae nodded. "One's important to Draenor. The Black Temple was a citadel used by Illidan Stormrage in Draenor, then called the Outlands due to the destroyed state the planet was in. He was the 'bad guy' during the Outlands war, although I think many realized too late that he was just a pawn sadly. He was also fighting against that which we then realized was the real enemy, a bit tragic."

She paused for a moment, trying to not go too fast, she smiled. "Quel'Danas tho, is an important location in the world I came from, Azeroth. It was part of the Sin'dorei people, the blood elves. That also was the place one of the bigger battles took place. I jus' sort of want to see them. I myself didn't take part in those specific wars, I was still training and in trade school. But, dad and mam- err father and mother did. They always told these amazing stories about the battles at the two locations."

She smiled cheerily.

[battorch]

Tim nodded to everything she was saying, listening closely. It was all a lot different from his world, it sounded like, but that wasn't terribly surprising, not here. It was complicated, but it was valuable insight. He appreciated the details. Though the talk of things like blood elves was all very 'fantasy'-ish. Though he'd keep quiet about that.

"Was your world at war a lot then?" he asked simply. The way she said 'those specific' wars implied that she'd been in wars herself, just other ones. Not that his world was good about not being at war, but it was something worth noting. And she'd mentioned training, too. This was useful.