OPEN - In the middle of the night

[sightlessly]

Who: Matt (playing the Devil of Hell's Kitchen Hadriel's Pantry?) and OPEN
What: Old habits die hard. Matt is hopping around the rooftops and backstreets of the city
Where: Honestly, anywhere -- from the city straight to the tunnels
When: Now, but encompassing various days/nights in the near future
Warnings: Matt's stupid "disguise" fashion sense. And PARKOUR!!!



[Matt has settled in, more or less, to his apartment, gotten the general layout of the city down. Very nearly even found a routine -- exploring, gathering supplies, going back to his new "home" and going through his mental notes, of what he knows and what he doesn't know.

But walking around the streets, cane in hand, doesn't give him everything he needs to know. And he may have sworn off his other life as Daredevil back in New York, but doesn't this count as an extenuating circumstance? Well, that's the justification he's using.

He's dressed all in black, pants, a long sleeve shirt, thick gloves, and a black knit cap pulled down over his eyes, the bridge of his nose, so only the lower half of his face shows.]



[Option A - City Streets]

[It's after dusk, but Matt does make his way along the streets, sticking to less-traveled ways. But that doesn't mean he won't run into someone else out and about in the evening hours.

In fact, it's Matt's luck that he may wind up dropping down from the rooftop, landing soundless -- right in front of some poor unsuspecting person.]


[Option B - Rooftops]

[Most of the time though, Matt spends his time above the city, darting around from one building to another. If he happens to run into anyone up here, well, that will catch his interest for certain, and Matt will approach.

Trying to come across as not a threat -- despite being a masked man all in black.] ...nice night for getting out... [He's bad at casual conversation in these situations. Usually he sticks to punching when he's wearing the mask.]


[Option C - In or Near The Tunnels]

[And since he was warned against the tunnels, Matt is definitely going to check those out. Yeah yeah, monsters. He knows.

Of course, he does have to make it past the outskirts of the city first. Maybe someone catches him before he can make it out that far.

Or maybe someone else is exploring, and may feel a hand on their arm and a low whisper,] Careful. There's something up that way... [Just a friendly alert that here be monsters.]


[Option D - Wild Card]

[Or catch him basically anywhere else.]

Comments

[toiletseat_girl]

[ehhh, quiet is overrated since it's too dark for her to read her book. she does, however, take another drink of the whiskey.

George is just special, that's all]

Place is actually kinda peaceful when there's not.

Yeah, to be honest? I don't like calling 'em that, either. But I haven't heard any better suggestions.

[and George is/was an atheist]

[sightlessly]

Kidnapping assholes has a ring to it, I think.

[His lips curl into a faint dry smirk of a smile and he shrugs one shoulder. Honestly it is odd to have a casual conversation like this dressed for his evening excursions.]

But I may still be a bit on the bitter side. [At least he an admit that.]

[toiletseat_girl]

[George laughs long and hard at that]

I like it. For one thing, it's a helluvalot more accurate.

[she smiles back and offers him the bottle]

Here. For that, you earned a drink.

[sightlessly]

Right? It gets to the point.

[...for a moment he weighs the pros and cons of taking a drink while he's leaping around rooftops but decides on a sip can't hurt anyone.

So he will take the offered bottle, and a swig, nodding before handing it back to her.]

I'd ask if you were old enough to even have this, but I doubt they check IDs here. And if you're stuck in this place, you've sure as hell earned a drink.

[toiletseat_girl]

And it's both straight to the point and fucking accurate.

[she takes the bottle back]

Nah, they don't bother. Besides, my driver's license says I'm twenty-two. And I've been stuck in this place for three months. How 'bout you?

[sightlessly]

Your driver's license needs a math lesson.

[Matt informs her, but it's teasing more than anything else. As for her question.]

Me? Oh yeah, way past twenty-one. [He knows that's not what she's asking, so he'll stop being a brat and add,] About a month, I think. Feels like longer.

[toiletseat_girl]

[she gives him an innocent look, then cracks up a little] Ehh, it's what was assigned to me after I died. I didn't get much of a say in it.

Kinda figured that much. [George doesn't mind brats. if she did, she wouldn't be able to stand herself] I know the feeling, trust me.

[sightlessly]

After you died?

[That is a new one.] Is the afterlife less pearly gates, more DMV?

[He will bring that up with Father Lantom for certain.]

Yeah, I bet most of us do. None of us asked to be here.

[toiletseat_girl]

Yup. After.

[she shrugs] More like a twenty-four/seven job with no benefits. And no pay. And maybe a promotion way, way, way in the future.

[George has no idea what religion would make of Reapers. nothing positive, probably]

And yet, here we are. Stuck.

[sightlessly]

Not what I was taught in catechism...

[Well, there's a silver lining to many things. But Matt's relationship with his faith is already an odd one, given the choices he makes in life.]

And yet here we are. For now. Maybe it's because I'm the new guy, but I'm not ready to just take that for the way things have to be.

[toiletseat_girl]

Believe me, life and death are way more fucked up than you can imagine.

[George became an atheist at a ridiculously young age. then she died and found out that souls exist. which was a surprise]

...yeah? What did you have in mind?

[sightlessly]

Yeah, well, I have a little idea about how that goes.

[He may have encountered someone who basically came back from the dead. Or back from the should-have-been-dead. Matt doesn't know entirely.

As for her question, he shakes her head.]

Still working on that one. Not giving up. Trying to find some way out. They bring people in. I've never seen a door that only works one way.

[toiletseat_girl]

Oh yeah? You know any Reapers? You're not one--I could tell if you were.

[yes, that would skew one's views of life and death quite a bit]

[bitter laugh] I've heard that one of the "gods" knows how to send us back. He just won't do it. We're too useful.

[sightlessly]

Afraid not. None that have introduced themselves that way, anyway.

[He knows a Punisher? Probably not the same. Hopefully not the same. No offense to Frank Castle.]

...then we find a way to make ourselves more costly to keep than to return. [And that is equal parts the lawyer and the devil in him talking.]

[toiletseat_girl]

Then, I guess I'll be the first? George Lass, Grim Reaper. Nice to meet you...?

[no, not the same, although if Reapers did exist in the MCU, they'd get exhausted cleaning up Frank's messes]

Yeah? How do we do that? Just hypothetically, y'know?

[sightlessly]

Grim Reaper.

[He echoes, which is a helpful thing to do, surely. Like maybe she didn't hear what she said. Because.]

All right. Definitely the first I've met. Nice to meet you, too, George. [As for his name, he's enough of a dork to inform her,] Back home, they called me the devil.

[A brief pause.] Resist. Fight back. Refuse to play their games, at least by their rules.

[toiletseat_girl]

Yeah. [she pauses] Kinda weird, huh?

[yeah, she's a bit of an oddity in a community full of oddities]

Well, let's hope I'm the last. While I'm here, I'm out of a job. [arches an eyebrow playfully] The devil, huh? No way. You're too nice.

[she considers] I'll try. Some of 'em--aren't so easy to resist. Like the suburb fantasy. Or the shit with the mirrors.

[sightlessly]

Kinda. But I'm thinking I need to redraw my boundaries for normal anyway.

[Kidnapped across worlds. When he's already a blind man whose other senses have so overcompensated that it's on super-power level.

But more surprisingly.]

Nice? That's not one I hear all that often.

[Not in the mask anyway. Then again, usually once he puts on the mask, it's usually deliberately to go out and be the vigilante, jump into a fight, stop a crime. Get information.]

I wasn't around for those. What happened with the mirrors?

[toiletseat_girl]

Probably not a bad idea, at least here. I can't tell you how many different versions of Earth I've heard of so far.

[George is full of surprises. Sometimes, they're even pleasant ones]

Seriously? 'Cause you seem nice enough to me. Granted, just about everybody is nice enough compared to me.

[George knows something about masks, having to assume an entirely new look and identity after she died]

Okay, so, there were these silver hand mirrors, right? The fancy kind. So you turn it over and expect to see your reflection, but you don't. Instead, you see your worst nightmare. And it turns out that it's not just the mirrors, it's anything with a reflection. And it lasted for about a week. It sucked.

[sightlessly]

Same here. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.

[Matt doesn't bother trying to hide a grin.]

I don't know, you don't seem so bad, as far as grim reapers I meet drinking whiskey on rooftops go.

[He falls quiet to listen to what she has to say. That sounds... terrible actually. Though he thinks he probably would have escaped unscathed, had he been here. Mirrors haven't meant anything to him in decades.]

Did they stay images? Nothing tangible?

[toiletseat_girl]

I've learned to not even try anymore. Not after I had to explain dinosaurs to someone.

[she smiles back, a little awkwardly]

You've just met me when I'm on my best behavior. I can be a real pill when I wanna be.

[it was terrible. every. reflection. even the reflection of liquor in a glass showed the vision. that would be a bonus in being blind, not having to see something like that]

Nope, nothing we could touch. Good thing, too, 'cause pretty much everyone I know got fucked over by just seeing it, I don't wanna think about how bad it woulda gotten if the visions somehow--somehow got out.

[sightlessly]

I've been told I can be a real jackass too.

[Often. He's been told that often. So he certainly can't talk.

In any case, the story she's telling is just more evidence of the "gods" in this place torturing people for their own ends.]

Bad enough to have reminders of your worst nightmare at every turn, yeah.

[toiletseat_girl]

Yeah? Nothing wrong with that. At least if it's aimed at the right target.

[and she firmly believes that, that sometimes it's necessary to be a bitch to get your point across. she had to use that tactic a lot back home. not so much here, though.

and George doesn't think much of the gods, but she doesn't like the Null, either. she's mostly concerned about people fighting for opposite sides and getting killed in the process]

Yeah, that was--bad. The latest thing was just weird. Paintball guns that put people into comas, followed by a party. What's up with that?

[sightlessly]

That is true. Basically you just summed up my day job.

[But that aside, well.

He can certainly agree with that.] Not my kind of game. I guess I don't understand what use any of that could have been to anyone.

[And it makes him wonder all the more about what might come next.]

[toiletseat_girl]

Oh yeah? Then, I've gotta ask. What's your day job?

[and if the Null guns for Hope, who's going to resurrect those who die in the crossfire?]

They say that Rage and Delight just got back from somewhere. I'm guessing they came up hungry. The paintball game was to feed Rage, the party was for Delight.

[George is learning not to guess. She's never going to be right]