Quote:Local Time: October 13, 1985, 6:28 pm
Doug sat reading an issue of "The Black Freighter" when a sudden hush filled the bar. He looked up, towards the door where almost everyone's attention was focused. The figure standing there looked out of place, his trench coat and fedora hopelessly out of date. What riveted Doug, however were two things: the shifting pattern on his full face mask and the controlled menacing walk as he made his way to the bar. Doug noticed the beads of perspiration forming on Harry the bartender's face.
"Ruh," Harry stammered. "Ror. Ror." He swallowed nervously. "Rorschach! H-how ya doin', fella?"
The stranger's body language relaxed minutely and his head raised from his slouch. The dark spots of his mask shifted to something that seemed genial to Doug. "I'm fine, Happy Harry," Rorschach said. "Yourself?" His voice sounded like he gargled razors and had a dead quality that reminded Doug of certain former members of the Warriors. Doug surreptitiously shifted his helmet closer in case things turned ugly.
"Fine!" Harry replied, a little too hastily. He adjusted the collar of his shirt. "I'm fuh, I'm fine! And I'm, and I'm, and I'm glad you're fine, too! And uh, and uh..." A despairing resignation crossed his face. "Oh god," he said weakly. "Please don't kill anybody." At that, Doug began to figure out a playlist for the inevitable fight.
Rorschach turned to scan the bar. "Guy went sidewalk diving Friday night," he said, his rasping voice audible over the frightened stillness. "I don't think he was alone when it happened. Name was Edward Blake." He paused, the pattern on his mask shifting eerily. "Friend of mine."
At this point in canon, a tough makes a comment, "Hey! Ya hear that? He's got friends!" While his drinking buddy is trying to get him to shut up, he continues: "Maybe he changed his deodorant!"
Big mistake.
This causes Rorschach to use him as a torture/intimidation target to see if he can get any answers for the Comedian's death from the Street. This is the infamous "finger breaking" sequence in the first issue/chapter of Watchmen.
I'm just trying to figure when Doug makes his move, and how long he's been in this world, or whether he'd have any idea of the state of mind vis-a-vis "superheroes" in the universe.
Would Doug wait for the first broken finger, or would he have made the deodorant crack? OR would he wait until the interrogation is over and face Rorschach in costume in some dark alley?
EDIT: Adjusted Timestamp to allow for Rorschach's 8:30 visit to Doctor Manhattan.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll