The Vision

[oversight]

Who: Clary Fray (graphis) & Cordelia Chase (allaboutme) & John Blake (oversight)
Where: Out and About
When: Monday, June 27th
Rating: PG-13 (for character death)
Summary: John, in an attempt to not get himself killed (again), gets himself killed (again). This is the wrong way to make friends, folks. Thankfully, no one else is dying in this scenario, so Clary and Cordelia can bond over their shared trauma. 8'D
The Story:
It's not his first Summerween (and he's not expecting it to be his last). The way to survive events in Wonderland tends to be best summed up by going with the flow — letting the event wash over you and doing everything you can not to be swept away with it. Sometimes it means fighting, sometimes it means mermaid fins instead of a pair of legs. In this case, it's as simple as trick-or-treating, but for some reason John just hasn't... done that.

By the time he gets out, it's the last day of Summerween and he's at least thinking about playing along as he finds more and more people in the mansion taking to costume. But then something catches his eye — a trick, from what he can tell — and before he knows it, John Blake, former GCPD detective and now-retired junior vigilante, is thrown right back into the action he'd been trying to avoid.

(No matter, though, because he couldn't walk away from someone in need of help, anyway, retired or not.)

"Hey, you okay? Those don't look friendly..." He knows she's not going to be okay for long if someone doesn't do something. The swarm of bugs that had burst out of the candy wrappers has pooled together into one swarm, threatening with ghastly stingers, their faces like ghastly grinning skulls as they buzz around. Each is the size of a thumb with a stinger like a sewing needle, and each looks angry to boot. John pulls off his jacket and approaches Clary, ready to cover her head over in case the stinging insects begin to attack. "C'mon, come over here with me..." Blake offers out his free hand, the other still holding the jacket at the ready.

Comments

[graphis]

[At some point someone convinced Clary that trick-or-treating while trying to deal with the Trickster was a better option that just doing the latter, just in case. And while she expected a trick at some point, she didn't expect this, and the weapon she has slipped into the sheath beneath her batgirl cape isn't going to do a damn thing against a swarm of bugs.

She's trying not to look freaked out, but mostly fails in the way her eyes are wide as she turns toward the sound of the voice, nodding once before she hurries over to the friendly stranger.]

People weren't kidding about these Events...

[oversight]

No, they weren't—

[ Which John can say with sincerity because anyone who warns for less than the most extreme is doing a disservice to the people they're advising.

He stands between Clary and the swarm, one arm held aloft as he creates a barrier between the morbid looking insects and the person dressed like a comic book character. (Not that he'd be one to talk normally — he had worn the cowl more than once during his time in Wonderland — but Batgirl specifically is only familiar to him through a kind comic book donation from a long-departed friend.) ]

Don't s'pose you got a weapon on that utility belt of yours, do you?

[ From the look of it, they're already operating on borrowed time. ]

[graphis]

[She pulls out the seraph blade from the sheath beneath her cape, and it glows to life in her grip. Clary looks back at him, unsure.]

Not sure how much good it'll do against something like this, though.

[oversight]

[ For once he might have preferred a gun for this situation (or a suit of his own) but anything is better than nothing. He raises his arm as one of the creatures attacks, just in time for the stinger to get lodged in the fabric. ]

Maybe we oughta get the hell outta here, yeah?

[ Which is to say, Blake's fairly certain they won't be attacking one at a time now that he's shown the creatures everyone in this situation is willing to be hostile. And right he is as the whole swarm starts coming in. ]

[graphis]

You don't have to ask me twice. Let's go.

[Because holy shit these things are coming in fast and she does not want to know what it would feel like to get stung, let alone as many times as they'd be able to get at her.

She takes a hold of his arm as she starts to take a few steps backward, gradually picking up speed.]

[oversight]

[ He follows her example, and just in time. The closest insect strikes out twice, missing each time — between John's jacket technique and the well-played re-positioning, they appear to be out of the woods as long as they keep moving. ]

Nice costume. [ It's what he says the moment he has a chance, of course. ] You don't go fightin' crime in that, do you? I'm not sure I can take meeting Batgirl right now.

[ He gestures around a corner indicating the direction he thinks they should go after checking to make sure the coast is clear. ]

[graphis]

Less crime, more demons.

[She says the words with mild humor as they keep quick on their feet to outpace the insects.]

I just like superheroes, I guess. And the hair matched.

[She turns the corner as he gestures, following his lead.]