Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow
"and at the end of fear...Oblivion"
Player: Jon ~
Registered On: Feb 15, 2012 20:39:14 GMT -5 ~
Posts: 941
~ Relationship Status: Won't Say I'm In Love
~ Partner: Fear
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Post by Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow on Feb 24, 2012 19:16:01 GMT -5
The Botanical Gardens of Arkham. It was not a place that he spent a lot of time while here was here. Aside from their use in some chemical properties, more specifically poppies, Dr. Crane did not specialize in plants. In this case however he was trying to get some insight into it's mutational capabilities.
His newest creation was complete but not without it's flaws. The doctor walked around the main part of the building inspecting it's various flowers and plants that have only began to look like they were dieing. He was surprised that they had lasted this long on there own with Arkham being abandoned. He had little interest in keeping them alive himself. What he was after was more substantial. In the curl of his left arm he carried his mask. At the moment he saw no immediate danger from the plants that intertwined there way around the main loft.
Dr. Crane moved into a side office, of who's name he wasn't quite sure at the moment. The room was almost bare. It looked as if when the FBI came through here they had taken much of the files with them. They were smart to do so. Walking to a cabinet he bent down and opened it's lower part looking for any missed files. They couldn't have got 'everything'. It was empty.
Lifting up from his position the situation looked grim for this current room. Perhaps there would be something more within the rest of the gardens. The doctor turned from the office and walked back into the main room. He looked overhead at the glass windows above and turned around a few times from where he stood getting a good look of the area.
Something had caught his eyes on the second floor and the doctor proceeded slowly up the stairs. In one of the rectangular flower planters near the window was a single yellow and red flower that split into three long petals. It was the only one that seemed to survive of the entire plot. Dr. Crane couldn't recognize it immediately. He reached his hand out to gently touch one of the outer petals.
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Post by Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy on Mar 5, 2012 22:10:46 GMT -5
"Scarecrow!" Poison Ivy yells as she enters the gardens, absolutely livid to judge by her tone. One of his men (which she now regrets getting for him) said that he'd gone in here. And she's furious - she'd only stopped off at her hideout after dealing with Deadshot long enough to change out of her ruined dress and take care of a few things before she came to the island. And to say that she's furious would be putting it mildly. She's always had a temper, and is there anything worse that a person could try to do to her than that? She can't wait to she him gasping his last breath at her feet. She...
...is distracted. "Oh, you poor babies," she murmurs as she notices the plants around her. "Has nobody been taking care of you?" she asks as she looks around. They answer her, in their way, by what she can sense from them. So many of them are in need of water. So many of them are dying and are in urgent need of care. Her rage at the Scarecrow is quite suddenly forgotten - or not so much forgotten as set aside in light of something that's more important than immediate and satisfying revenge. She can kill him later - these plants need her now. She starts looking around for the controls to the watering system.
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Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow
"and at the end of fear...Oblivion"
Player: Jon ~
Registered On: Feb 15, 2012 20:39:14 GMT -5 ~
Posts: 941
~ Relationship Status: Won't Say I'm In Love
~ Partner: Fear
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Post by Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow on Mar 5, 2012 23:49:55 GMT -5
His fingertips caressed the pedals of the seemingly out of place flower among the dieing plants that had overgrown the room. He wanted to pluck it and found out if it had any interesting properties. There was still much he had to learn when it came to many different types of plants.
Speaking of plants. Dr. Crane lifted his fingers from the pedals and turned his shoulder quickly as he heard the shout of his name. That voice was unmistakable. She had finally come for him, as he knew she eventually would. That meant Deadshot was either dead or he had squealed and ran away. Quietly he ducked behind the rail under the cover of a nearby bench overlooking the first floor. He saw Ivy in a 'paniced' state as she began to coddle the plants like a mother to her children. This woman had a clear weakness for plants.
Moving from his position he went back to the flower and dug his hand into the soil. Carefully he dug under the root and picked the flower up, dirt and root in the palm of his hand. “Miss Ivy....” Dr. Crane said from the shadows of the second floor. “It's so good to see you again...” He said sincerely to her. There was no distortion in his voice, he didn't have his mask on yet. Carefully he removed the mask from the curl of his arm and clicked the distorter to it's on position. The green light came on and he placed the mask quickly over his head with one hand. He was careful not to disrupt the delicate flower he held in his other hand.
The Scarecrow walked slowly to the top of the stairs seeing no reason to take cover from her now. “I was expecting you sooner.” The distortion from the mask put forth into the air. He cupped the flower between his hands now keeping it in the center of his body. Slowly he put one foot out from another and made his way down the stairs to her level. It looked like she was worried. The Scarecrow couldn't help but smile from within the mask.
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Post by Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy on Mar 6, 2012 0:29:31 GMT -5
Locating the proper valve, Poison Ivy turns it on low, almost instantly feeling better as she senses that the plants are getting what they need. Still, they're going to need much more care than that, even though the immeadiate edge is off. They're lucky though - they've caught the attention of the woman with the greenest thumb in the world. She can probably save any of them that aren't completely dead.
But such is her concern, that she doesn't bother to pay any attention to the Scarecrow at first. Not until he appears at the top of the stair. It's only then that she looks up, and instantly remembers her rage. Perhaps these plants can wait for her to have her revenge? It would only take a few minutes, after all...
What stops her from making a snap decision on that question is seeing the plant in his hands. It doesn't seem to have been harmed, which would have simply prompted her to greater anger, but it does grant him her attention. Of course, having her attention can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending. "I'm surprised that you expected to see me at all - you hired someone to kill me," she snaps back, her voice full of cold anger.
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Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow
"and at the end of fear...Oblivion"
Player: Jon ~
Registered On: Feb 15, 2012 20:39:14 GMT -5 ~
Posts: 941
~ Relationship Status: Won't Say I'm In Love
~ Partner: Fear
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Post by Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow on Mar 6, 2012 1:34:11 GMT -5
He looks up for a moment hearing the water begin to spray from above. Poison Ivy must truly have a thing for her plants. The Toxin previously had no effect on her, that he could see at that moment at least. There were many test that he wanted to run on the woman, to isolate what made her immune to the toxin itself. Many other options came to mind as well, how would she react to brave toxin? The possibilities were endless.
The thought left his mind as his eyes met with hers through the mask. She didn't look too happy to see him at all. It was to be expected, after all he had put a hit out on her. The Scarecrow continued to walk slowly down the steps not having any concerns with approaching her. “How else was I suppose to find you Miss Ivy? Surely you don't believe that that I actually meant for him to kill you..” The Scarecrow lied to her. Manipulation of others emotions was his greatest tactic. There was an element of truth to his words, he didn't expect Deadshot would be successful.
“You are a very hard woman to find Miss Ivy and my time is valued...” The Scarecrow stopped in front of her and began to inspect the flower he held in his hands. His fingers slowly touched the pedals. The level of her anger had calmed a bit seeing the flower. A flower as a hostage, not something he would have normally done. Poison Ivy however was a special case. She had given away her weakness for them. He fully intended to use it against her.
That's what he did after all. Luring those that he wanted to him, using them for whatever he needed and then ridding of them.
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Post by Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy on Mar 6, 2012 3:10:39 GMT -5
Holding a plant hostage to Poison Ivy is playing with fire. It's ever so easy for her mood to shift from being more concerned about the plant to being more concerned about attacking the person holding it hostage. While she's definitely concerned about the well-being of the plant, and far more than any other person would be, sometimes sacrifices have to be made. It all depends on what the plant is being held hostage for - some things are worth the life of a plant, while others are not. Though if she chooses to sacrifice the plant, her anger at having felt the need to do that is... well, that's when it really gets ugly.
But for now, undecided, she's simply waiting to see what Scarecrow is up to. All the plant in his hands has earned him is enough time for him to explain himself, really. And she's unbothered by his approach - the closer he comes, the better for her, actually. If she's supposed to be intimidated by his confidence, it's not working - she's too angry and too sure of herself right now.
"You expect me to believe that paying someone to kill me was your friendly way of saying 'come see me'? Any slim hope you may have had with that story ended when you hired someone so competent. Not that I'll be worrying about him again," she replies irritably, though her mind isn't really on her words.
No, the tense banter seems almost tedious compared to everything else currently on her mind. Specifically, she's thinking about everything she wants out of this situation - Scarecrow's life, the plant in his hands to remain unharmed, and a number of other things. Question is, what does he want? And which of the things she wants may she have to sacrifice for the others as a result? "But get to the point," she says impatiently, "You obviously want something, and my time is valuable too."
But if she's falling for his manipulations, isn't he falling for hers? It's in her very nature to lure people into a false sense of security and having the upper hand, only to make it easier for her to strike. If he thinks he can cause her to forget her anger with him just because he can make her hesitate now, he's wrong about that too; it's possible he may convince her to express it in a way that doesn't result in his death, and it's possible for him to delay it, but she's far too good at holding a grudge to forget. He will certainly pay for anything he has or will do - that's the only thing that's currently certain. And he'll probably pay worse than he really deserves. But then he doesn't know her well enough to understand her temper yet.
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Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow
"and at the end of fear...Oblivion"
Player: Jon ~
Registered On: Feb 15, 2012 20:39:14 GMT -5 ~
Posts: 941
~ Relationship Status: Won't Say I'm In Love
~ Partner: Fear
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Post by Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow on Mar 6, 2012 17:12:49 GMT -5
Did he expect her to believe it? Almost, women are simple creatures. I suppose at this point it was safe to safe that Poison Ivy was not a normal woman. “How else would you have had me do so?” He paused for a moment and began walking slowly taking a few steps to the side of Miss Ivy. “I would have called but you didn't leave your number or place of residence...” He smiled and turned to face her again. “I wonder why that is?..” He couldn't help himself but let soft laughter escape his lips.
The thought of Poison Ivy being afraid of him pleased him, though it wasn't the case. Not yet. Still the chance to imply that she could have been or should be scared of him was worth it. His reasons made sense enough even if they held very little truth in them. Before he had hired Deadshot he had a lot of time to think about exactly what he was going to do with Poison Ivy and how he was going to go about it. Tracking her down on his own would have taken time. It would have taken time away from perfecting his new serum.
She was a vital part in his new creation however. The way that she reacted to his previous toxin had fascinated him. He needed to know more about exactly who and what she was. Especially what made her that way. The ultimate goal of his new toxin, besides spreading fear and chaos, was to make himself invincible. The state that the serum was in now was certainly intimidating, but not invincible, it had many flaws.
“You seem to care about this...” The Scarecrow smiled and held up the fragile yellow and red flower. “I want to know exactly how your...mutation happened” He chose his words based upon what he saw at the docks. It certainly wasn't a normal thing for someone to have vines wrapped around their body. Especially ones that seemed to have a life of their own. Finding out exactly how that came to be would be the key in trying to replicate the process.
He moved his fingers some and let a small amount of the soil from the root slip out of they safety of his hand. It would be a shame for it to die. Even if he couldn't use his fear toxin on her he knew everyone experienced fear. The basis of life itself...and now he thinks he's found hers.
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Post by Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy on Mar 6, 2012 18:02:00 GMT -5
Poison Ivy's eyes simply narrow in irritation at his first few comments, and she doesn't dignify any of them with an actual response. No, she's not afraid of him - she has no reason to be. She hides herself so well simply because she doesn't want to get caught. And Scarecrow hasn't earned enough of her trust to have made the circle of people she'll give an easy way to contact her, and at the rate he's going he never will.
She visibly tenses when she sees the plant so visibly threatened, but obviously he's placing the fate of the plant on her answer to his question about herself. A frown crosses her face, though if he's looking for fear he doesn't get it. Does she fear for the plant? Of course, but much more than that she's angry at him for putting it in this situation. But she manages to keep a cool head and consider his question in spite of her boiling anger.
The real question on her mind is how much to say. As much as she cares for the plant in his hands, she's not willing to risk herself for it. After all, there are many other plants in the world that need her to save them so it would be a waste to risk herself for only one. Nevertheless, she has to give him some sort of answer and hope that it's satisfactory enough to save the one. "A combination," she replies at last, "I'm a metahuman - some of my abilities I was born with. Others were... added later." Very non-specific, and she suspects that he'll have follow-up questions.
But that's probably the best way to go - it will likely encourage him to be more specific about what he wants to know, and if he does that she'll be able to determine if he's poking into a subject she wants to be talking about in the first place, and if so just how much. There are certain aspects of her origins she's happy to discuss, while there are others she'd rather die than reveal. But that's probably the same with any rogue.
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Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow
"and at the end of fear...Oblivion"
Player: Jon ~
Registered On: Feb 15, 2012 20:39:14 GMT -5 ~
Posts: 941
~ Relationship Status: Won't Say I'm In Love
~ Partner: Fear
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Post by Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow on Mar 7, 2012 18:15:19 GMT -5
The Scarecrow wasn't pleased with her immediate answer. He was an educated man and could figure out for the most part that she wasn't completely human. She had certain human qualities to her but the way she controlled those vines around her was unlike anything he had seen before. It was very significant to him because he had been working on something that was all about controlling an unconditioned response.
His hand tightened and the flower went back to the cupped safety of both hands as it originally stood. He took his eyes off her and walked towards the dieing overgrown plant in the middle of the room. It looked a bit better than before but it was struggling. He stared at the vine for a moment lost in thought before turning back to Ivy.
Slowly he brought his left hands fingertips to the petals of the flower he held and tugged one of them softly. It wasn't enough to pull it off. “I don't think you're quite understanding me..” he said while shaking his head and taking a few steps towards her. “I want to know exactly what happened to allow you to control those vines around your body. What allowed your body to support them in the first place. I want to know what is the relationship...for research purposes.” he finished with a small smile. The Scarecrow didn't exactly lie about his intentions with the information, he just didn't tell the exact truth.
Whatever properties caused her to be different whether she was born with them or not would prove useful for what he was attempting to perfect. She would have to be more specific in her answer for The Scarecrow to be satisfied.
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Post by Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy on Mar 7, 2012 18:58:18 GMT -5
Poison Ivy watches him very carefully as he moves, the tense anger around her so thick it's almost visible. And it gets even worse when she sees him pulling at a petal of the plant in his hand - he's really trying her patience now. Though she's in complete denial of the fact, she's not mentally... well. It's so easy for her to snap and act without thinking, and he's now toying with her emotions a bit close to that line. But she doesn't move as he comes back closer, though she does carefully note the distance between them with her eyes - if he comes within reach of the vines on her body, which is probably further than he'd guess given how short they look all wrapped around her, the number of options she has open to her would increase considerably.
Yet the clarification of his question causes her to scoff, "They're not a part of me, if that's what you think." But after that she pauses for a moment, once again deciding exactly how much she's willing to say, "I created them in my lab - heavily modified genetically. I gave them the ability to move, their own intelligence and strength. My body does nothing for them but act as an anchor when I carry them around. But they do what I say because I have botanokinesis - that I was born with."
Hopefully that's a complete enough answer for his 'research', though she actually left a lot of things out. But any of those details start to fall under 'and why do you need to know this anyway?'. She's actually very close to asking that question now, but she doesn't want to unnecessarily give him a reason to think that she's unwilling to answer his questions until he gets to the point where she actually does mind.
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Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow
"and at the end of fear...Oblivion"
Player: Jon ~
Registered On: Feb 15, 2012 20:39:14 GMT -5 ~
Posts: 941
~ Relationship Status: Won't Say I'm In Love
~ Partner: Fear
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Post by Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow on Mar 8, 2012 19:01:53 GMT -5
Miss Ivy certainly knew her field if she was able to make plant life have intelligence. Born with a Botanoskinesis? The Scarecrow looked at her for a moment before turning his attention back to the flower in hand. He was skeptical of it but he had seen it with his own eyes. Stranger things have happened of course, and what he was planning on doing was not far from it. Having Botanokinesis itself he wasn't very interested in, it was more of what chemicals she used to genetically modify them.
He was certain that she wouldn't just be willing to give him the chemical list. Why would she? She was clearly angry with him already, especially after threatening her little friend. The Scarecrow looked down at the fragile flower and changed the subject in his mind for a moment. “What does a plant fear?” He asked almost rhetorically as he turned from Miss Ivy yet again and walked towards the large plant in the center of the room.
The soil in the planter for the overgrown vine was now damp with freshly sprayed water. The vine itself looked stronger already. “Do they fear Fire?...The lack of water?” He said while lifting a hand from the cupped shape and letting a few droplets fall onto it. “Or...” He paused for a moment and reached his hand down to dig into the soil. “Do they fear man?” Gently he replanted the flower into the soil. It was not it's original planter but it should do fine where it was. Unless it began to battle with the other plant life but, he was not a botanist.
Padding the soil back down some he wiped his hands of the dirt and turned to face Ivy again. The questions were not just directed to the plants themselves but to her as well. He always had a deeper meaning behind his words. The toxin had not worked on her, to his knowledge. He had nothing to use against her at this moment, he was aware that she could attempt to take his life at any moment. But The Scarecrow didn't fear oblivion. He certainly didn't fear Poison Ivy.
Knowing he couldn't use the toxin didn't scare him. It wasn't the only trick up his sleeve if she decided to get hostile with him.
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Post by Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy on Mar 8, 2012 20:41:08 GMT -5
Poison Ivy can feel her mood settling somewhat when she sees that the Scarecrow has apparently decided to spare the plant in his hands. Of course the thought comes to her quickly that without that hostage she's more free to do as she wishes, but unlike when she first came in she no longer wishes to simply kill him here and now using whichever method happens to be most convenient. Not that she's any less angry with him, but the anger has cooled - a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing because it means she won't attack now, but it's a bad thing because it means that she'll likely take the time to think about it first. That can only be bad news.
His questions cause her to laugh lightly - such a Scarecrow sort of question to ask. "Mother nature's plants do not have minds like animals do, Scarecrow," she replies, "They do not think, therefore they can't anticipate, therefore they can't fear. Instead what they have is... I suppose you could call it states of being. They can be tired, they can be thirsty, they can be on fire, but if they are in one state that state is all they know. And they can no more be afraid than they could be happy or jealous." And it's all so easy for her to explain - she has a greater understanding of what it is to be a plant than what it is to be a person.
"The only difference for my plants, at least those which possess some intelligence, is that they're more... aware. Their intelligence is rational, not emotional. Had I made them differently, they could be - but they're quite content as they are, and being emotional would be contrary to their purpose," she explains, ending with a smirk because she knows that's not an answer he's likely to be completely pleased with. She'd be even more entertained if she knew why he'd asked her that question in the first place.
But instead her focus goes to somewhere else. "But we've gotten sidetracked - what is it that you want?" she asks, now sounding almost bored. Because it isn't difficult for her to figure out that these questions aren't the point in and of themselves. He still hasn't shown her anything that would justify pulling a stunt like hiring Deadshot to go after her.
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Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow
"and at the end of fear...Oblivion"
Player: Jon ~
Registered On: Feb 15, 2012 20:39:14 GMT -5 ~
Posts: 941
~ Relationship Status: Won't Say I'm In Love
~ Partner: Fear
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Post by Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow on Mar 8, 2012 22:41:37 GMT -5
Not having the hostage didn't worry The Scarecrow at all. In fact he planned to still use it to his advantage. He listened to her talk with easy about nature and it's workings. Something about her changed as she spoke. What was the secret to Miss Ivy? There was only one way to find out.
She spoke of her plants almost as if they were her children. She knew far too much about their inner workings, what they thought. It was difficult for him to wrap his mind around the concept of thought in a plant but he was open to the suggestion as always. For the moment he ignored her question wanting to focus on the task he had at hand. Her answer would come.
Slowly he reached his hand into his suit jacket wrapping his fingers around a syringe. Slowly he pulled it out and showed it to Ivy. She had seen it before, she knew what it was. He didn't do it as a threat, just to show her that he was not being hostile...to her. She may take it as a hostile gesture but that didn't immediately concern him. Other motives were in mind.
He backed up just a few steps back to the flower next to the large vine coming out of the soil. “Fascinating...If it is indeed what you say, let's test a theory...” He purposed to her as he moved the needle to the large overgrown vine in the middle of the room. He pushed it in and pressed the top of the syringe slowly. The situation was familiar to him. The Scarecrow was aware that it would either do nothing at all to the plant, or it would poison it, It couldn't be good for it. But he was doing it to prove a point. What point was that? Something he would let her figure out.
The syringe being empty now he had achieved the first step of what he really wanted. Now instilling fear into Miss Ivy wasn't completely in his original plan, but it was one that interested him. He would still accomplish his main goal first, getting fear out of Poison Ivy would just be a bonus.
The Scarecrow laughed softly through the distortion of his mask. “Just to test a theory Miss Ivy” He said while pulling up the empty syringe to his face. There was a different motive behind his words.
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Post by Pamela Isley - Poison Ivy on Mar 8, 2012 23:35:08 GMT -5
Poison Ivy is unbothered when he pulls out a syringe, not seeming to react in the least to it. She knows that the stuff can't harm her, even if he is trying to threaten her. However, she still doesn't trust the man and is quite suspicious of what he's trying to do here.
Of course, she doesn't expect him to inject the stuff into the large vine. The anger, which went icy cold in her veins, is suddenly boiling hot again - the sheer amount of rage in her face is ample evidence of that. The two thick vines wrapped around her body suddenly start to unwind from her arm and leg, and even as they do so she starts advancing on the Scarecrow at a quick walk. Or is she headed toward the vine to protect it? Perhaps he'll only find out if he moves and sees whether she goes after him or is content to reach the vine. Perhaps she'll only decide when and if she has to make that choice.
"To hell with your theories!" she yells at him, her vines, now unraveled, pointed ahead of her. They prove to be a solid fifteen feet in length each, and he probably does not want to know what they'll do to him if they get hold of him.
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Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow
"and at the end of fear...Oblivion"
Player: Jon ~
Registered On: Feb 15, 2012 20:39:14 GMT -5 ~
Posts: 941
~ Relationship Status: Won't Say I'm In Love
~ Partner: Fear
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Post by Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow on Mar 9, 2012 18:54:50 GMT -5
The Scarecrow could see the anger rising in the woman. He loved when experiments went his way but not knowing the outcome was half of the fun! He had meant to force her to anger. Anger, one of the six basic emotions that a human being is born with. It is not a learned response but instinctive. Of course he knew the real truth behind it, all 5 of the remaining emotions lead back to fear.
He studied the reaction that her body produced. The vines wrapping around her and coming towards him. Syringe in hand he took a few steps back before his back hit the wall to the stairwell. It wasn't in fear, no of course not, it was because he was giving her a chance to change her mind. Did she really want to dance with him?
His face was expressionless behind the mask waiting for her to do what she would with the vines. What were her motives for advancing upon The Scarecrow? The fear for her precious plant? “I think we've got off on the wrong foot...” the distortion from the mask taunted her. He kept the syringe close to him holding it to chest chest. His other hand rose to almost beckon her to him. She wanted to get close? He wasn't one for being intimate with anyone. But he happened to be very good at close. The Scarecrow was deadly close.
“I can see you don't like experiments. Let's get right to the conclusion then...” he crackled out through the distortion. Getting her closer was exactly what he wanted but he didn't advance towards her for a reason.
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