5537/All About the Birds and the Bats

All About the Birds and the Bats
Date of Scene:	10 October 2018
Location:	Gotham City
Synopsis:	Kestrel (Carrie) is out training with new gear. Batman gives some tips.
Cast of Characters:	Carrie Kelley, Batman

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Carrie Kelley has posed:
There were some perks to working with the Birds of Prey. Besides having those she could turn to for further training and advice, she had been outfitted with far more high-tech gear than she herself had managed to cobble together. With Yin's input of course. This meant that she had to practice a lot more. She was out doing that just now in her new guise as 'Kestrel', the name chosen to fit with the Birds of Prey theme at least until she came up with something better suited. It wasn't a bad name at all.

Like most of Gotham there were plenty of high buildings here to practice using the graple hook at. Given it was near the police station didn't necessarily equate to safety, but it would at least give her time to recover and react if she had to head out to help somewhere in a pinch. For now she had been following Oracle's bidding when that happened. Unless it was something right in front of her. Surprisingly she was rather good at following orders when given.

Landing atop a roof she withdraws the grapple again and pauses to both catch her breath, and take an assessment of the area she'd come into.

Batman has posed:
    "Do the Birds of Prey expect you to do as you're ordered?"
    The deep, vaguely menacing tone of Batman is heard before the source is readily visible. He stands atop the parapet directly behind Carrie, still as stone like he has always been there. He takes a step down, approaching the would-be vigilante to within an uncomfortable distance.
    "You were given very specific instructions about operating in Gotham."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley rolls her eyes upward at that voice to stare at a spot in the sky as if beseeching whatever gods are out there as to WHY this had to happen now? Her head lowers again to check over her gun making sure it was in proper operating order. She'd been doing that to all of the gear, repeatedly, and would continue to do so until she could tell just by a quick glance and nothing more.

"During missions, yes, naturally. Oracle calls the shots. That was the deal."

Turning toward Batman she regards him as he steps over to loom in that manner only he could manage. "Yes, you made your thoughts well known."

Batman has posed:
    The Bat simply stands there for a moment - imposing and dark. The grim line of his mouth gives no hint as to what he might do next. He seems all at once coiled to strike, to admonish, to simply turn and walk away. What comes, however, is perhaps the only thing she may not expect from him. A gentle tone. His voice is still low, but all the edge and menace he packs into it seems to have fallen away. He takes a step back, observing her carefully.
    "This is dangerous," he begins, his voice quiet, "You have a long, /long/ way to go before you're even remotely ready. There are things out there in the dark that don't play. They take. They destroy. There are monsters in this city."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Kestrel pauses at the change in his tone, as well as his words. There was still a tension in her shoulders from the stubborn stance she was expecting to have to take against him. Instead she gets this.

A faint smile comes over her at those words, and she shakes her head slowly. "You don't have to be where we're standing to know that. Everyone in Gotham knows that. We grow up with it. We live it, we breath it. We hide from it every single night." Turning her head to the side she glances out over the city. It's not a full turn though; she has sense enough to keep him in her peripherial vision just in case he thought to disuade her from this life through violent means. "Have you ever been down there, with the rest of us? At some point you must have been. You don't just start doing something like this without a reason. I won't ask you what they were... Your reasons are your own. I've got reasons, too. I've had reasons all my life growing up here."

"I know I've got a lot to learn, and a long way to go. I don't deny that. It'd be stupid to try to." Looking back she can only offer him a shrug. "For better or worse it's a path I'm going to see to the end, because I refuse to hide from the monsters anymore. They don't go away by ignoring them."

Batman has posed:
    "You're not going to give up." The way in which the Dark Knight says these words is strange. Not a question. More of a statement. As though realisation may have just dawned on him. He turns his head slightly to look at something in the far distance. It looks like nothing from this far out - just the worn-down, rough part of town where crime has always run rampant. Crime Alley. His reasons are, indeed, his own.
    "I know what's out there. Once I thought I was the only one who understood that. I learned that's not the case."
    What goes unsaid, but lurks behind those words is another understanding: 'I learned that I can make mistakes.'
    He takes a moment to look over her new gear, adding: "New suit."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
"Nope," comes the simple response to his not-question. She wasn't going to. A faint hint of a smile without a lot of humor behind it settles over her face as she just remains looking quietly determined. Given the quiet exchange she just listens. To what was said, and perhaps to what was implied as well. A single downward nod is given in apparent understanding.

"Actual suit. It was just practice gear the last time. What I could peice together." A deep breath is drawn. "I'm going by Kestrel, since it fits with the Birds."

Batman has posed:
    "I know," Batman answers, giving no hint as to how he came by the knowledge. He just tends to know things, it seems. He takes in the suit carefully, looking Kestrel over for a long moment that is made uncomfortable by a heavy, evaluating stare.
    "Tighten this up," he says at last, gesturing to the utility belt, "Feels uncomfortable at first but you want to know if someone's picking your pocket, because they will. Don't overstuff it when you get the chance. You'll want to carry everything out with you but the fact is you won't need it and it'll weigh you down. Keep a list of what you used, what you didn't use, what you needed but didn't have. Compile it. You'll get an idea of what you need with you. Learn to know what's in there by feel. If you're working blind, you don't want to throw a smoke pellet when you're looking for a flashbang."
    All this advice and the tone in which it delivers seems, oddly enough, to come from a great deal of experience. Perhaps the Batman was not always perfect.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Kestrel blinks a single time when the remark is given. Looking down her hands drop to the belt to pull it a notch tighter which tugs it up higher on her hip. Just a bit. "I will. I'm already working on where to keep different items and stick with it," she admits. The rest, though... that was an excellent idea she should have thought of. Simple advice, but advice she needed anyway it seemed. In spite of their tense meeting in the past she listens intently to everything told to her. She really was serious about this after all.

"Thanks. I'll start that tonight."

Batman has posed:
    "If you're going to do this," the Bat continues, "It needs to become more than just what you do at night. You don't have what they have. You're not infinitely strong. You can't move at the speed of thought. You don't breathe fire or alter reality with a wish. But you do have one weapon that they very often neglect and which cuts just as deep. Resolve. You must dedicate every waking hour to your own improvement. Don't be satisfied when you can bench press a hundred and thirty pounds. Work for more. Don't be satisfied when you could navigate every street in Gotham in your sleep. What about the sewers? What about the subway? What about the utility tunnels that haven't been in use since the start of the last century? All of it. There are no part time soldiers in this war."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
"As full-time as I can. Still got to make a living, and finish college. I haven't been slacking though. Don't intend to either," Kestrel remarks solemnly. Full time? Just what did the man behind the mask do? There was still life to think of. To the rest she nods, pursing her lips in a thoughtful frown. Something new to add to her list of things to learn. Rather than remark on it though, she asks simply, "Anything else I should focus on?"

Batman has posed:
    "Improve," Batman says simply, moving once more to the edge of the building and standing perilously close to it, "Listen to Oracle. Stay away from the Arkhamites - the Joker, Two-Face, the Riddler. All of them. You're not ready for that yet."
    That said, he prods a gloved finger in the center of her chest, "And make sure that's armored. If they're going to shoot at you, it's infinitely better to take a bullet to the armored plate than in your shoulder or your leg."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Perhaps to her credit she gives a shudder at those names. She knew how dangerous they were, and she was scared. Rightfully so. Any sane person would be. "No argument there," she responds with a curt nod of agreement. "I'm not trying to prove myself. Not yet. Just working on getting there right now." Hopefully sooner rather than later, but... Maybe he'd get that. Even the prod to her chest and mention of armor is taken in stride, with another simple and sincere, "Thanks. I will."

Batman has posed:
    Batman takes one more moment to regard Kestrel carefully, as though thinking of anything more he might bring up. In the end, he keeps it to himself. He's made no promise to get personally involved in her training, but he's tacitly approved her operating in Gotham and now, well, he'll have to keep a close eye on her just in case. He steps up to the parapet, glances over his shoulder to give her one last look, and then wordlessly steps off. He falls towards the concrete below for a tense handful of seconds before his cape extends about him and, on the giant wings of a bat, he glides away into the night.