"Good Evening."
I practically jumped off of the couch. V was standing 20ft behind me near the piano. I was beginning to get used to the black outfits, and the ever grinning Fawkes mask. It was V himself I was having trouble adjusting to. He was completely unpredictable. "I was starting to wonder if you'd ever come back!" I gasped before I could stop myself. I smiled awkwardly, instantly embarrassed.
"Hm!" V turned to his coat closet and started hanging up his cape and hat. "Why wouldn't I come back?" he asked. Although he wasn't facing me I could hear knives sliding in to sheathes, and the muffled thump of them being tossed on to the top shelf. I knew that he had a mannequin for storing his equipment in the next room over, but he was choosing not to place it all there now. Curious.
I decided not to allow myself even a minute to wonder what it was that he did during the day. If I was going to live here with him for a year it was probably best that I avoided that subject entirely.
"You live a dangerous lifestyle." I laughed, "Anything could happen!"
He practically skipped up to the side of the TV and held up a stack of DVD's. "Before I came home I decided to visit The Department of Questionable Materials to borrow a few fantastic movies. I do love the fine selection they have there."
I could barely contain myself – not only because I was horrified at the idea of stealing from the government because even attempting so typically resulted in death, but also because I was genuinely excited, thrilled to see the sort of things they hid there. "So, you just strolled in to The Department of Questionable Materials, grabbed a few movies, and waved goodbye?" I giggled
"Where do you think all of this came from?" He gestured all around us and bowed his head. "All bits and pieces of who we really are. Why not save what I can before it's destroyed?" He handed me the DVD's and I sifted through them. They were black and white films. 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Arsenic and Old Lace', 'His girl Friday.' I'd never seen any of them before, but they were obviously only love stories and comedies at most. I was blown away.
"This is really sad, I mean… none of this seems very dangerous at all." I frowned. "I always thought that building would be full of guns and makeshift bombs, not a bunch of fine art and furniture."
"Now you can understand why I would make the effort to preserve what I can. It is an absolute crime to destroy all of this history, and to remove the very identity of the people who created it."
My eyes fell on the French picture book in my lap that I'd been trying to read earlier. "So, this book with pictures of paintings of beautiful ladies with parasols in parks was this there too?"
V leaned forward slightly and reached out his gloved hand. "May I?"
I carefully handed over the old book, eager to know where it came from.
"Ah yes, Monet, a fantastic artist." he sighed, "I found this book there four years ago. Was this the first time you've ever seen his work?" V asked, flipping slowly through the pages.
"I've never seen anything like it before in my life. I'd look at those pictures every day if I could though." I smiled at the thought of having those paintings spread on every wall of my apartment. Knowing that such beauty was being hidden from me for as long as I'd been alive made me furious. What kind of country was I living in?
He closed the book with care and gently set it down on the table beside me. Even without being able to see his face, I could feel the unrest bubbling beneath his skin. So, was it things like this book that made him who he was? I took a long hard look at him, waiting for my intuition to kick in, not caring if he noticed me staring or not. No, there was more to the ingredients of 'V' than knives, poetic justice, art, and books. Something terrible must have set him off to spiral in to costume, underground, and in to the shadows of night. I decided that whatever it was that happened to him must have been bad enough to justify his behavior now.
"Is there something the matter?" he asked, taking a step back.
"No, no, no!" I said, and I knew my cheeks were turning red. "Just trying to figure you out I guess. I'm so sorry."
He stiffened but only for a moment before a deep, dark laugh escaped him, vibrating every surface in the gallery, and making every hair on the back of my neck stand up. "You don't want to do that, Evey! Now, would you care to join me while I watch Arsenic and Old Lace?"