Arrow in a Fairy's Wings [Micheal&&Rachel]

[RACHEL HARPER]

Gotham was cold tonight. The narrow street which Rachel was walking down gave no warmth, comfort or any sense of peace. It gave nothing but shadows, darkness and a lingering sense of fear. A sense that always lingered here in this city, even with its superheroes around. You never knew who would be around that next corner. You never knew who would be within that alleyway you just walked passed.

The moon gave off no glow, no sign of it being there. The stars didn't shine either. Whether this was due to fog, pollution or the various lights around the rest of the city, Rachel didn't know. She didn't much care. Her family was visiting Gotham for the next few days and had practically told Rachel to get out more. Even though she already was. Her brother was at home with their mom and dad right now, while she was up and about.

The sixteen year old had taken to these nightly walks, often times even being nocturnal for a few days straight, unable to stand the fact that she could not see the sun again. Not really. It would be blurry, it would be painful to stand the sight of it, even for that one second. Even if she was simply standing outside on a sunny, her eyes would hurt merely from the amount of light around her.

Did she hate the light? No. Did she hate the fact that she couldn't see in it anymore? Sometimes. It was a debate going on in the board room meeting inside her mind. Right now, she was walking home, yet felt no tiredness nor weariness at all. These were some of the nights she'd taken to staying awake, sleeping during the daylight hours where everyone else who was normal, got up after sleeping all night.

Rachel kicked a loose, small stone as she passed it, figuring that it would be something to keep her mind focused and not wandering aimlessly into the air. Keeping it focused like the paths of her arrows. Now that was something she liked to think about.

With a tiny smile, a simple upturn of a lip, she thought on how her archery skills had gotten better over the last few months, her eyes glowing lightly to give her the night vision that she had. How she'd managed to find out that her arrows, while being able to pierce steel, iron and other similar metals, it could not pass clean through them like it could various types of rocks and certain crystals. How it would take a good number of arrows to pierce half a foot thick piece of iron. Or how she had shot an arrow once clean through two trees. Ah yes, her skills were getting to be great, even if she wasn't anywhere near a professional level, she thought she was pretty darn good at what she did.

[Michael Smith]

The shadows of Gotham were some of the best places for certain people. People who waited. People who were patient. People who watched. People like Michael. People who observed before acting. People who made note of what everyone else was doing. People who didn't rush into things. The shadows were home to people like these...

And so was Gotham.

With his hands in his pockets, Michael wandered the shadowed streets of Gotham with ease. He didn't usually leave the building he worked in during the night - what with there being so many vigilantes out and about - but having dressed in a more inconspicuous outfit than his usual one would have been, Michael was fairly certain no one would suspect him of having been the person who'd broken into a Manhattan bank roughly a week ago... Indeed, no one seemed to have brought it up since then, which really was a shame because it had been fun. It had been so much fun.

Hearing a stone down a near-by narrow street as the sound echoed off of the walls, Michael moved towards the dark area. He could see from the dark shape of a figure that it seemed to be female... With lightly glowing eyes. Well, that was exceedingly normal. Deciding that he was interested, Michael moved down the narrow street with a little more urgency. As he reached her, he smiled softly.

"Uh, excuse... Excuse me?" He began, his words being said somewhat nervously as he held his hands up as though to show her that he wasn't going to hurt her. "Um, hi. I... I hope I didn't, um, scare you." He continued, smile remaining on his features. "I didn't mean to, anyway. It's just that, you're out alone and it's dark. I... I was worried. Gotham's like one big shadow..." His smile grew ever so slightly, though not enough to be strange. In fact, it was a rather friendly smile. "Never know what's out here..." He added, his voice dropping a little as his gaze turned to their dark surroundings.

Sometimes, not being in a suit really did help...

((Notes: I hope this is okay, also: Outfit.))

[RACHEL HARPER]

Her thoughts were broken suddenly by the arrival of a stranger. Like a car coming to a halt, its tires screeching as it slowed. She blinked, looking up. He was stuttering. That was the first thing that her brain processed. Stuttering could mean either an okay person, or someone bad. It could mean either, so she didn't pay attention to it.

He was wondering if he'd scared her. He hadn't, not really. He'd just startled her out of her thoughts. That in itself wasn't a bad thing, she just wouldn't be able to let her mind go and wander again until this guy left. It was as simple as that.

He had been worried? Maybe. Gotham was a dangerous place, more so for its visitors than for its citizens. And even then its citizens weren't all normal. This guy could be lying about that. Lying through his teeth, but for the moment she'd just note things, not act on what she assumed.

"I am fine, sir," She started, adding in a sir to be polite. "The night does not scare me none, and it's not that Gotham's a big shadow that I'd ever be scared either. Is there something you wanted?" Because God knows that if a guy were to come up to her while she was out on one of her walks at night then they'd want something. No other reason to talk to a person at this time that she could think of

[Michael Smith]

As she answered, Michael couldn't deny that he was a little impressed with the 'sir'. Polite. As she continued, though, he noted the double negative. Didn't scare her none? Didn't scare her at all would have been better, certainly. She wasn't from Gotham, though. That was obvious. Not many people walked around alone if they could help it. Especially with villains hidden in every shady alleyway and caped crusaders - and uncaped crusaders - lurching around the rooftops.

Definitely not from Gotham.

At her question, Michael looked surprised. Why did she assume he'd want something? Granted, there were drunks around who would want something from such a pretty little thing, but not Michael. He had no interest in that. She was too much of a princess and he rarely enjoyed the company of princesses... Maybe she was ordinary...

"W-Wanted?" He questioned before frowning as though confused. "I.. No. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Don't want something bad happening to you, after all. You're too close to a princess..." He smiled softly again, frown having disappeared, and he ran a hand through his hair before looking around. "If, um... If you want to," He began, looking back at her. "I could get you somewhere lighter?" He offered before adding in explanation: "You don't seem to know Gotham too well."

His smile grew a small amount, but not to such a size that it would look creepy. More forced to be polite, perhaps. Certainly, with someone so seemingly ordinary - aside from her eyes - Michael was having to force himself to be polite and friendly. How much he'd like to just... He didn't even know. Give her some poison disguised in an apple? That would have been perfect... He didn't, though. Not only because of his act but also because he had no poisoned apples on him. In fact, all he had on him was his iPhone and the rather casual clothes that he was wearing. He didn't even have any hair gel...

[RACHEL HARPER]

Rachel mentally sighed with relief. He didn't want anything, that was good. She had been afraid that she might have to conjure her bow, and that wouldn't have led to anything...nice. The guy was just wanting to make sure she was okay. Something she rarely got to see. She'd hate to have to shoot at him, even if she would miss on purpose. But then...

"You think I'm a princess?" She asked, surprised that anyone would call her that. Her dad did, but the meaning was more than likely to be different then. "I've never been called that before." She stated, eyebrows raising. It was actually kind of nice to be called something like that for once in her life. Nice that she got that kind of a compliment.

"I guess so." She murmured, not really wanting this guy to know of her weakness when it came to the light, how she couldn't see well. Maybe it wouldn't be too much light. Maybe. Knowing her there's be some bright sign somewhere, or brightly lit buildings. "And no, I don't know this place very well. I actually consider myself lucky I haven't been napped or jumped or anything of the sort yet, being that I've been here for two days now." She added in, ready to follow the guy yet bolt out of there if she needed to. Her left hand twitched some, and she moved her right to try and stop it. Great, now her nerves were acting up. What next? A building blowing to pieces? This guy turning out to not just be some random friendly dude?

[Michael Smith]

As she asked whether or not he thought she was a princess, Michael bit back his thoughts. He had said she was close to a princess. He wasn't going to point that out, though. It didn't fit the part. A polite albeit nervous young man who helped people... It didn't fit to throw in a Michael thought. Not when you were playing the part of Lucus Ikho, who was probably the exact opposite of Michael Smith... It was funny what some people could do...

She continued talking and Michael looked surprised. She'd never been told she was close to a princess before? He wasn't particularly sure whether he was surprised or not but the reaction was certainly on his face.

"I can't imagine why..." He replied, sounding genuine. She was rather ordinary... He was almost bored of her. She accepted his offer, though, and Michael smiled softly. "Um, okay..." She really didn't seem to want to be near him. Either she wasn't very trusting, which really would not surprise him, or she didn't want to go with him... Or both. They were both as probable, really...

Michael was looking at the floor when she spoke again, though he looked at her with interest. A small smile curved his lips. This all felt so... Wrong. He wasn't used to being so obvious with his happiness... Nor was he particularly used to having to keep his thoughts to himself... But she'd be more fun if he could trick her... Yes. Certainly.

"You are lucky. People who've been around for less time have ended up dead." He stated matter-of-factly before shrugging. "That's what you get when there's clowns and harlequins running around, I suppose." He seemed to muse before shrugging again. "Well, enough of that. Don't want to scare you, after all." He said, seemingly attempting to joke before he nodded silently to himself. "Best go. I hear a shadow falls around here..." He trailed off and turned before beginning to walk off. After a few steps, he paused and looked at her. "I'm Lucus, by the way. Lucus Ikho." He smiled. "C'mon."