Cavern Formations
Jul. 15th, 2006 01:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shankieA little thing I had a lot of trouble finally getting somewhere near right, for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
merfilly's JLU challenge. Perhaps a bit late, I slept in...
Cavern Formations
Batman/J'onn
G or so
"You could simply phase through the wall."
"That wouldn't solve the problem."
It would also leave him alone, in the stuck elevator.
J'onn pondered the likelihood that Batman couldn't simply escape, as he had done so from numerous traps and bonds in the past. He was tempted to mention as much, and perhaps even pry just the smallest bit.
But he didn't.
They stood together staring at the blank wall in front of them.
"While we're here..." Batman began casually, "I might as well mention that... I'd like to do some further surveying of the cave, if you'd be interested in assisting."
J'onn pretended that the offer didn't surprise him, when in fact, he hadn't expected any conversation at all.
"Surveying the cave?"
He nodded.
"I have done a number of readings and digital mapping scans on the depth and layout of the greater cave structure, but... I'd like some firsthand observations."
"You want to see what's down there." J'onn said with a twitch at the corner of his mouth.
"Yes," he affirmed after a moment's pause.
It seemed strange, that so much care was being taken to hide his curiosity. That did seem to be what was being done, even if J'onn didn't read his mind to find out.
It wasn't always necessary.
What was a mystery was Batman asking him. Not Superman or even Diana.
Curious, even.
J'onn spent the next twenty minutes listening to Batman go into great detail about the cave systems in that area of New Jersey, about it's unique nature and depth, especially given it's proximity to the ocean.
He'd never considered that Batman thought about his cave as anything more than a useful location.
"It would be my pleasure to assist you."
* * *
J'onn didn't have to be told that the cave was a very personal place to be visiting; in a way beyond the caring a person has for a home, it not being a home in the strictest sense. An extension of his will, the metaphorical home of his alternate personality. A stronghold, the center of a life. Many things.
A bit more time spent here, and J'onn began to understand Batman's desire to explore it.
He watched the man meticulously file through the latest survey he'd taken, checking for any topographical changes in three-dimentional map long since memorized, by his haste. J'onn looked them over, but knew it wouldn't be necessary to know exactly where they were going; Batman would be directing them.
After a moment, he began to look around the discreetly, curiously examining an array of objects, some of which he recognized as typical weapons or other objects associated with a variety of the criminals of Gotham. His desire to be able to see the memories behind them, to share the relics of an extraordinary life, made him pause a moment.
J'onn placated himself with the knowledge that Batman's life was one designed to be seen and not known.
And yet, here he was.
He could feel Batman become different in the cave, more open, more in harmony and relaxed. A sense of belonging that was absent in the alien halls of the Watchtower or the League's work; there, he was like a shadow under a spotlight, a mortal among Titans.
J'onn wondered if it would be appropriate to say Batman felt inferior to them, at times when he didn't express some sense of professionalism or skill that the others lacked. It was always a curiosity, but here, in his lair, gone. To be here was to be in deference.
Batman had finished just then, and walked over. They went to a dark edge of the abyss and he fixed night-vision goggles over the cowl.
"We'll go straight down until we hit the first ledge."
And thus, presented J'onn with something of a question; how exactly to carry him down. It was difficult for the act to be graceful, and it took brief consideration before he settled on wrapping his arms around Batman's chest from behind and lifting from under his arms.
Being larger, J'onn could still see above his head as they descended though a wet kind of silence, and although his eyes could still cut through it, an overwhelming darkness. The ledge was a considerable distance down, past uneven openings and crags of stalactites glistening with moisture and a thin glaze of salt.
When they landed on the slick stone surface, the distant rumbles and crashes of waves at the entrance to the ocean could be heard echoing off the cavern walls, and just below them water was splashing lightly.
Batman flicked on a light, now that they were below where they'd disturb the roosting bat colony, and began walking carefully forward under an arch branching off the side like the entrance to some ancient cathedral of green-veined granite. The other side of it opened up into high rounded ceiling that sparkled like stars as it caught the beam of the flashlight.
As he walked, it twinkled and shifted like thousands of gems. J'onn followed Batman to the center of it, half-ringed with stalagmites, one of which reached up twice as tall as he.
"It's beautiful."
"From my experience spelunking, and of similar cave formations, I assumed the salt deposits would crystalize in this environment," Batman replied. "It's very beautiful."
They gazed at it in a light kind of silence, and J'onn pondered that, just perhaps, the Batman was a creature that could be understood, after all.
merfilly's JLU challenge. Perhaps a bit late, I slept in...Cavern Formations
Batman/J'onn
G or so
"You could simply phase through the wall."
"That wouldn't solve the problem."
It would also leave him alone, in the stuck elevator.
J'onn pondered the likelihood that Batman couldn't simply escape, as he had done so from numerous traps and bonds in the past. He was tempted to mention as much, and perhaps even pry just the smallest bit.
But he didn't.
They stood together staring at the blank wall in front of them.
"While we're here..." Batman began casually, "I might as well mention that... I'd like to do some further surveying of the cave, if you'd be interested in assisting."
J'onn pretended that the offer didn't surprise him, when in fact, he hadn't expected any conversation at all.
"Surveying the cave?"
He nodded.
"I have done a number of readings and digital mapping scans on the depth and layout of the greater cave structure, but... I'd like some firsthand observations."
"You want to see what's down there." J'onn said with a twitch at the corner of his mouth.
"Yes," he affirmed after a moment's pause.
It seemed strange, that so much care was being taken to hide his curiosity. That did seem to be what was being done, even if J'onn didn't read his mind to find out.
It wasn't always necessary.
What was a mystery was Batman asking him. Not Superman or even Diana.
Curious, even.
J'onn spent the next twenty minutes listening to Batman go into great detail about the cave systems in that area of New Jersey, about it's unique nature and depth, especially given it's proximity to the ocean.
He'd never considered that Batman thought about his cave as anything more than a useful location.
"It would be my pleasure to assist you."
J'onn didn't have to be told that the cave was a very personal place to be visiting; in a way beyond the caring a person has for a home, it not being a home in the strictest sense. An extension of his will, the metaphorical home of his alternate personality. A stronghold, the center of a life. Many things.
A bit more time spent here, and J'onn began to understand Batman's desire to explore it.
He watched the man meticulously file through the latest survey he'd taken, checking for any topographical changes in three-dimentional map long since memorized, by his haste. J'onn looked them over, but knew it wouldn't be necessary to know exactly where they were going; Batman would be directing them.
After a moment, he began to look around the discreetly, curiously examining an array of objects, some of which he recognized as typical weapons or other objects associated with a variety of the criminals of Gotham. His desire to be able to see the memories behind them, to share the relics of an extraordinary life, made him pause a moment.
J'onn placated himself with the knowledge that Batman's life was one designed to be seen and not known.
And yet, here he was.
He could feel Batman become different in the cave, more open, more in harmony and relaxed. A sense of belonging that was absent in the alien halls of the Watchtower or the League's work; there, he was like a shadow under a spotlight, a mortal among Titans.
J'onn wondered if it would be appropriate to say Batman felt inferior to them, at times when he didn't express some sense of professionalism or skill that the others lacked. It was always a curiosity, but here, in his lair, gone. To be here was to be in deference.
Batman had finished just then, and walked over. They went to a dark edge of the abyss and he fixed night-vision goggles over the cowl.
"We'll go straight down until we hit the first ledge."
And thus, presented J'onn with something of a question; how exactly to carry him down. It was difficult for the act to be graceful, and it took brief consideration before he settled on wrapping his arms around Batman's chest from behind and lifting from under his arms.
Being larger, J'onn could still see above his head as they descended though a wet kind of silence, and although his eyes could still cut through it, an overwhelming darkness. The ledge was a considerable distance down, past uneven openings and crags of stalactites glistening with moisture and a thin glaze of salt.
When they landed on the slick stone surface, the distant rumbles and crashes of waves at the entrance to the ocean could be heard echoing off the cavern walls, and just below them water was splashing lightly.
Batman flicked on a light, now that they were below where they'd disturb the roosting bat colony, and began walking carefully forward under an arch branching off the side like the entrance to some ancient cathedral of green-veined granite. The other side of it opened up into high rounded ceiling that sparkled like stars as it caught the beam of the flashlight.
As he walked, it twinkled and shifted like thousands of gems. J'onn followed Batman to the center of it, half-ringed with stalagmites, one of which reached up twice as tall as he.
"It's beautiful."
"From my experience spelunking, and of similar cave formations, I assumed the salt deposits would crystalize in this environment," Batman replied. "It's very beautiful."
They gazed at it in a light kind of silence, and J'onn pondered that, just perhaps, the Batman was a creature that could be understood, after all.
no subject
on 2006-07-17 12:48 am (UTC)