8171/Only Nightmares in the Narrows

Only Nightmares in the Narrows
Date of Scene:	08 October 2021
Location:	The Narrows - Miagani Island
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Tim Drake, Nia Nal

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Tim Drake has posed:
    The mythos that surrounds the Narrows has been heavily influenced by the GCPD's blatant unwillingness to patrol the area. It's certainly not an area you want to go for a midnight walk through, but there are just as many good people trying to eke out a life here as there are gangbangers.

    Some of those people have begun to form in their own volunteer militia, called the Miagani Watch, though they're armed mostly so that they can escort people home from their late-night shifts safely, or respond when there's an emergency.

    Because the governmental first responders aren't so great at actually responding, especially not at night.

    The ones that operate outside of the jurisdiction of the law, however, they're a different story. Many of the Bats that call Gotham home make a point to include the Narrows in their patrols, and Red Robin is no different. As of right now he's helping a young man to his feet who had been running from a couple of thugs who were trying to mug him.

    Notably, the two thugs are nowhere to be seen, though a block or two away there are a couple of figures slumped on the sidewalk, nursing the kind of injuries that will probably require significant physical therapy before they can walk again. Though Red Robin's intentions had mostly been to stop their pursuit, there's never a whole lot of room to moderate the amount of force you use in the moment. Especially not when there was a knife inches away from severing an innocent teenager's spinal cord.

    "Do you live close by?" Red Robin asks, and the kid's hands are shaking, but he nods towards an apartment building across the street. So he gets a caped escort to his door, and... also the number for one of the Miagani Watch coordinators, because Tim is a realist. He--or someone else in a fancy costume--won't always be here for the save. "Call them, they can make sure you get home safe."

    Then the kid is safely inside, and Red Robin pinches the bridge of his nose through his domino mask before he reaches for the grapple gun on his hip.

Nia Nal has posed:
    As the door for the kid opens and he heads inside, another figure steps out past him, ending up a few feet from the masked vigilante. She blinks in surprise and takes a step back. It's another person in a costume. What the hell are the odds? Dreamer is wearing a grey and blue bodysuit with a matching domino mask, her long, dark hair framing her pretty, but partially concealed face. She's not a known assett in Gotham, but is starting to be noted back in Metropolis, though slowly.

"Oh, whoa! Red Robin, right? Wow." She tries to play it off, when in fact she'd had a very vivid dream of a robin landing at this address the night before. She was still learning how to decipher her dreams but...this one seemed pretty on the nose!

    "Hey, you're probably super busy, right? I get it, trust me. But...uh. I'm looking into some stuff in the city and heard your...your group? Y'know...the spooky Gotham types? Heard you don't like outsiders, so I wanted to try and do this right..." She clears her throat, trying to stand tall and act confident.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Red Robin's standing on the sidewalk, down the steps from the apartment building's entrance. He's scanning the street rather than watching the door because you always, always have to be aware of yourself in the Narrows, so he doesn't see Dreamer stepping out. But that doesn't mean he doesn't hear her doing so, and his head swivels in her direction.

    Behind the opaque lenses of his mask, Tim's eyes narrow.

    The tip of his chin, down and then up, suggests he's just given Dreamer a quick look over. Then his grapple gun comes free of its holster with a quiet click. "Yes," he says, regarding the 'super busy' part. But then he tips his head.

    "Let's avoid talking down here on the street. Come on." And then he fires off a line that whisks him up towards the sky, his cape fluttering behind him as he alights on the edge of a nearby rooftop. The line retracts and he hooks his grapple gun back on his utility belt, before he leans against an A/C unit and crosses his arms over his chest, to wait.

Nia Nal has posed:
    "Sure that makes-..."

    And then Red Robin swoops off and she stares after him. She sighs and turns to jog down the street, raising a hand to wave at anyone passing that stares at her in costume. "Uh, hey. Getting ready for Halloween." She reaches the building he ended up on the roof of and moves inside to reach the elevator. "I need to get something like that. This is bullshit."

    She taps the button and gets in, leaning back against the wall of the elevator once it begins climbing to the roof. A moment or two later, with a DING, the door slides open and lets her out onto the occupied roof.

    "Rude, man."

Tim Drake has posed:
    While he's waiting, Red Robin taps at the control panel set into his left gauntlet. One would think he's doing important Bat-business, but actually it's just that his texts get routed through to the HUD of his mask when he's in costume, so he's... you know... texting.

    Something something Gen Z who can't keep away from their phones blah blah blah.

    He looks up when the elevator doors begin to open, and he doesn't even try to hide the amused smile that spreads across his face. "Sorry," he says, without actually sounding like he is. "But in Gotham we try to cultivate an air of--mystique--" He pauses to bite the inside of his cheek. "And having a conversation while hanging out on the sidewalk kind of ruins it. So."

    One of Red Robin's hands lift to gesture towards Dreamer. "You're active in Metropolis, right?"

Nia Nal has posed:
    "It's fine, I get it. We don't really bother in Metropolis. Things are...well, different there. Obviously." She crosses the rooftop towards him, chuckling as she tucks a locke of dark hair behind her ear. "Mmmmhm. Well, for a few months now, anyways. Running solo right now, but..." She shrugs a shoulder, stopping a bit away, but still close enough to chat.

    "Y'know, I never thought I'd meet one of you in person. It's kinda crazy."

Tim Drake has posed:
    What, if any, information Red Robin has access to regarding Dreamer might be pretty slim. It's just as likely as anything that he saw a picture of her on a news article online or in one of the many, many superhero fan blogs out there. But he can certainly act like he knows more than he does! All part of the mystique, right?

    "There aren't too many cities who are geographically as close as Metropolis and Gotham are that manage to be so different, culturally," he acknowledges. The cool autumn breeze that winds its away through the streets ruffles at his hair, though his cape hardly moves at all. It's probably weighted.

    He crosses his arms over his chest, relaxed. "Well, we do in fact exist, despite how many people still think we don't. So what brings you to Gotham?"

Nia Nal has posed:
    "A girl went missing in this neighborhood. Fatima? An immigrant who hit the news a bit ago. She's been missing for awhile and there haven't been any leads."

    She places a hand on her hip, taking a slightly sassy pose with one hip cocked. It's a pose she falls into rather naturally. "I have a lead on the girl, but it's a thin one. Well, more then you probably have so far..."

    She kneels and draws a symbol in the gravel of the rooftop. It resembles an egyptian Eye of Horus, though the extensions resemble curved wires. "It's a bit more complex then that, but...somebody connected to this took her. I felt...divinity. Or...attempted divinity. Someone trying to get closer to God or...whatever. And she's not the only target."

Tim Drake has posed:
    "Fatima Said Hassan," Red Robin fills in, because he's apparently familiar with her case. "The GCPD think she's just a runaway, but her parents insist otherwise. But no, there haven't been any leads."

    Maybe there are folks who would take issue with an outsider coming in to say they have a lead on a Gotham investigation, but Red Robin doesn't visibly react except to stand up a little more straight. His arms drop, and he steps forward to examine the symbol Dreamer draws in the gravel.

    He stares. And then he stares some more. His HUD has already captured a still image of the symbol, of course, but this gives him pause. Slowly, he crouches down and fills in the symbol a little bit more, adding a few geometrical shapes to it.

    Then, all of the air empties out of his lungs. "Well, I knew when they went quiet it wasn't because they were gone," he says. As he stays down there, he props his chin against a closed fist, mouth twisting into an unhappy frown.

Nia Nal has posed:
    She cocks her head to the side when he adds to the symbol, and she nods. "Oh, right. Sorry, the symbol was...concealed kinda. Huge storm was going on. Might be somewhere related to rushing water or weather." Dreamer sighs and then straightens, taking a step back to give the boy room.

    "Dealt with them before, then?," the girl asks curiously, arching an eyebrow beneath her mask. She watches him with her deep brown eyes, curiosity piqued.

Tim Drake has posed:
    "The Church of the Broken God," Red Robin explains. "Their origins trace back to Roman Gaul when peasants dug up an artifact in the middle of a field. They worship a being who they claim is a god from a higher plane who fell to Earth, breaking up in our atmosphere, after fighting some sort of Chaos deity." He points to the symbol. "They claim the artifact they found was one of the God's eyes."

    As he rises back to his feet, Red Robin shakes his head and crosses towards the edge of the roof. "Rushing water," he says, almost to himself. "Hm." Even from this vantage point, it's possible to see at least two of the rivers that box the islands of Gotham in. "It's still more than we have to go on otherwise."

    He turns on his heel to look over at Dreamer. "Is that it? From your... dream or vision, I'm assuming?"