Title: The Interview
Words: 3,089
Quote: He doesn't know why exactly, but he knows then that he's going to hire her. — Bruce's POV.
Song:
The Meeting of Valencia Carter and Bruce Wayne
I had a bit of a hard time writing this chapter (though, in retrospect, not as hard as some of the next chapters). By the time I sat down to write Chapter 2, I had already written a lot of Bruce and Valencia scenes when they already knew each other well, and their dynamic was quite different. Having to go back and imagine how they would interact at their first meeting was quite the creative exercise, one that I enjoyed as much it frustrated me.
I knew I wanted it to be slightly epic but still realistic, aka no "world stopped turning" or Twilight-esque imprinting business, but it had to be special. There needed to an instant connection between them, not necessarily of physical attraction but of something more. I toyed with different ideas of getting Bruce to notice Valencia before he even steps into the office. At different brainstorming stages, I had them run into one another in the lobby, in the elevator, and even in the cafeteria, but I couldn't get any of these situations to work out to my satisfaction. In the end, it was the file Fox compiles on Valencia that piques Bruce's interest, but Valencia doesn't do too bad a job herself once she's in his office.
How to describe that instant connection was what gave me the most trouble, and the three paragraphs that I think ended up conveying it best were actually last minute additions. During a final read-through, I wasn't completely happy with what I had. I thought it read as very boring and nothing really special, but adding these paragraphs really turned it around and got the feel of their meeting to where I wanted it.
"As they both reach across the desk to shake hands, her grey-blue eyes leap out from behind her curtain of red hair to meet his brown ones, her gaze straightforward with a dash of curiosity and not a hint of come-hither. There's a sharp intelligence behind the façade of wide-eyed innocence… and it makes him wonder what else she's hiding."
"Their small talk is a formality, like rehearsed lines simply being recited. There's an ever-so-slight air of condescension about her, as if she is humoring him. He does this to others all the time, but to be on the receiving end, no matter how subtle, makes for quite a new experience. She's immune to him, he realizes, above the influence of his charm, his reputation and his name."
"This is the truth, pure and simple, not the manufactured version she's been presenting to him up to this point. He can see it in the faraway look in her eyes."Styling Valencia Carter
Valencia's style was something I had decided on a long time ago, and it's a good deal more feminine and relaxed than the image she first presents to Bruce at her interview. Minus the flats, the point of putting Valencia in the severe suit with severely straightened hair is that Bruce is able to see right through it immediately, that this is not truly her.
I think this is what really grabs Bruce's attention and intrigues him. Obviously, he's used to putting up a facade, but he's not used to one being presented to him. Admittedly, she's not doing a very good job if he can identify it immediately, but I like to think that that's more a result of the something special they have rather than her very bad acting skills. It also gives them something unique to have in common with one another. And what better way to catch Bruce Wayne's attention than by giving him a mystery he has to solve?
Though physical attraction is not their initial reaction to one another, I wanted to make it clear that the potential is there. Bruce notes that she "can't be called anything but curvy," and Valencia "can't help but appreciate" his movements and his "overwhelmingly masculine and confident" appearance. There is a mutual appreciation for each other's physical attributes from the get-go.
I described Valencia's eyes as grey-blue to get away from the cliche of the red hair/green eyes combo, but I realized a little later on that I would have preferred a darker shade of blue, like sapphire or cerulean, which is truly what I imagine when I visualize Valencia. I still go back and forth on it whenever I have to describe the color of her eyes, and sometimes I'm just on the verge of changing it. (Whether or not grey-blue, sapphire or cerulean are actual eye colors is beside the point. I do like to indulge in some Mary-Sue tendencies for my OC.)
Paging Linda Page
Starting with this chapter, the Batman Wiki became my go-to source for "new" character names. For those of us not very familiar with the world of comic books beyond the blockbuster movies, it's very surprising to discover how deep these worlds actually run. I must have spent hours clicking between character pages on the Batman and DC Comics databases on Wikia and quickly realized that comic books and fanfiction have lots in common.
It was also eye-opening to see how faithful Christopher Nolan has been to the comics. He gets a lot of credit for reimagining the Batman series, and that is very justly deserved, but in my opinion he doesn't get enough credit for how close he sticks to the comic canon.
According to the Batman Wiki, which I understand is not a failproof source but will hopefully serve my humble purposes, Linda Page was a socialite who occasionally dated Bruce Wayne and scolds him for "being a waster and a coward." Obviously, in my story, I ignored the first part and made her into a middle-aged mid-level executive, but she does get a lot of scolding in during her introductory chapter.
Bruce's interactions with Linda were added in to make a relatively short chapter longer, but she does continue to pop up in subsequent chapters, and I later worked out a storyline for her that will fit in nicely with the main plot.
P.S. Another gem taken from the Wiki database, Valencia's former employer Daggett Industries is Wayne Industries' foreign competitor, based in London. If you've seen The Dark Knight Rises, it's also the name of the board member who tries to screw Bruce over.
Nine in the Afternoon
So I still have no clue what this song really is about, but for some reason I know it just fits in with this chapter. More so than the other songs that I've picked for other chapters, it was about the tone of the song rather than the lyrics. The phrase "nine in the afternoon" is pretty nonsensical, and I could find no official interpretation of it, but it matches the lackadaisical approach Bruce has to his work day. Valencia's return to Gotham brings her "back to the street where [she] began." The upbeat tone hopefully helps convey that this is the start of something new for both Bruce and Valencia — "it looks like the end of history as we know." That instant connection? "Feeling as good as lovers can." And obviously, Valencia has "eyes the size of the moon," even if I'm not completely sure about their color.
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