[center][img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/87/The_Batman.PNG[/img]

[b]Gotham City, NJ | December 31st, 2013[/b][/center]

The Kane Estate was still bustling a few hours in as more guests poured into the residence, mostly to grasp onto Phillip Kane’s status as he cheerily touted his newest achievements. I could tell in Katherine’s step and manner that she didn’t particularly care to be around this crowd for long—a likely trait that reared its head during her decade of military deployment. But Katherine has had experiences that would be hard to shake and it’s much more than the military for her, she has seen the tragedy that Gotham sows and it affected her much like it did me when I lost my parents. It always does seem like Gotham’s darkness is like a wild pack of jackals, a recurring theme of death and misery that pushes aside good souls for the sake of pushing them into the sullen dirt. It’s something I intend to change with my continuing role with my crusade against every criminal element in the Gotham-Bludhaven metropolitan area. 

“As a kid, you really don’t see this for what it is.” Katherine comments after a brief period of silence as we stand on the balcony overviewing the Gotham skyline across the River Merchant. 

[b]“Gotham or the people inside?” [/b]

A chuckle leaves her voice as she looks off into the distance. “Both, I guess.”

She’s right, as a kid Gotham felt divine and perhaps it was better that way. To see the two-faced reality of people and the viciousness of Gotham’s underbelly before it struck and at that age... I handled it pretty poorly at ten, but if I was any younger—the thought strikes an unnerving chill in my spine. 

[b]“We both tried to abandon all of this, Kath, but we couldn’t. It just reeled us back in—it’s a curse.”[/b]

“I don’t like it. I’d give anything to be back in that desert right now.” 

That comment is peculiar, though, I’m not going to press it. 

[b]“You would’ve came back eventually, even so.” [/b]

If she was anything like I was, the obsession of Gotham’s shadow that loomed behind her would have dragged her back sooner or later and perhaps whatever happened in the military happened for a reason. Though I do worry what her disposition will bring in a city like this. It gets my thoughts moving and I start to worry about the worst outcome as I generally tend to do.

“…maybe.” She muttered as she pressed her hands on the balcony’s rails.

[b]“Moving on from this dreary subject, why don’t you go check up on your cousin? I hear you two were fairly close when she was younger.”[/b]

Katherine laughed at my comment, “Bruce, she’s like sixteen now and I’ve been gone for a [i]decade[/i]. Outside of a brief memory, I doubt she cares at all. But Aunt Bethany does want me to do that as well, so maybe I should do that—maybe there’s some connections to be had.”

[b]“If there isn’t, you can create one—after all, you are pretty much back in Gotham for good, right?”[/b]

“True enough, I guess.”