#finished watching jack and joker and my mind immediately went to what if these two met in jail

[fanfictionroxs]

Headcanon:

Kant and Joke met in jail when Kant was 19 and Joke was 22. Kant was... awestruck. Joke took him under his wing for those few weeks before Captain Christ got him free. Just two people with wildly different experiences in thievery and being older brothers. Joke teaches Kant more tricks of stealing and Kant tattoos Joke's body.

Nothing, just Joke going around adopting people facing bad luck and Kant getting to enjoy being looked after for once in his life, even if it's in jail.

[kaitoujokerscans]

Showdown in the Dark Night! Joker vs Shadow CH3

<3>Reunion

At the same time around the other end of the manor, patrol cars with their red lights and sirens were roving about, and searchlights whirled dizzyingly over the area. They were watching the sky so closely that not even a fly could slip by unnoticed.

A dark silhouette jumped down from the manor's roof into the bushes. It was Shadow, who had just stolen the golden hairpin. He seared the handcuff on his wrist with the heat from his umbrella tip and cast it off. "Blast, I can only escape on the ground." He gave up on an aerial retreat and sprinted through the courtyard. He had hidden his trusty bike "Black Speeder" in the garden for just this very situation.

He had finally gotten the treasure before Joker. All I have to do now is use it... Shadow put a hand to the hairpin in his breast pocket. Rose welled up in his mind. He hadn't told Rose about this venture. He had secretly come out by himself. Shadow passed through the courtyard breezeway and came out of the forest thicket. In front of him was a sizeable glass-walled greenhouse.

Just as he was about to go around it, he heard a voice from behind him. "Oniichan."

"!?" Shadow turned around in surprise. "Rose...!" There was Rose, breathing heavily. "Why are you here?"

"Same to you, Oniichan. Why did you go out by yourself? When I came after you, I heard a sudden explosion, so..."

"T-That was..."

"You're plotting something on your own, aren't you?" Rose prodded a little angrily. Shadow was weak against that look.

"N-No, well..." Shadow unconsciously put his hand up to his chest.

"That's where the treasure you stole is, right? What'd you take?"

"This is..."

"What? You can't show me?"

"Ur..." Shadow looked at Rose and tried to say something, but before he could--

"There you are, Shadow Joker!"

"!?"

When he looked around again, there was Oniyama standing imposingly and holding out a roped pair of handcuffs. "You're so under arrest!" Oniyama swung the cuffs around and ran towards him.

"Drat...!" Shadow quickly held up his umbrella and shot beams. "Bloody Rain!" But Oniyama was also quite swift. He jumped to the sides of Shadow's beams and kept dodging. "What!?"

"Ha ha ha, don't underestimate the police!"

"You cheeky-!" Shadow fired with even more intensity. Oniyama had not lost yet, however. He frantically evaded the shots and came ever closer to Shadow. "Ghh!" Shadow grabbed hold of Rose and jumped back.

"Oniichan, shall I?"

"Step back! I'm going to exterminate him here!" Shadow moved Rose behind him and turned to Oniyama with a death glare. He raised his umbrella to face level and pointed the end at Oniyama, gazing down it as if it were a rifle scope. "Snipe mode! Bloody Rain!" The beam fired towards its target more precisely than usual. It hit square on Oniyama's leg.

"Gah..." Oniyama held his leg and kneeled down.

"Heh, now he can't come after us. Rose, are you all right?" Shadow turned back, but for some reason, Rose wasn't there. "Rose?"

That was the moment.

"Ha ha ha ha ha hah!"

"!?" A familiar laugh came from above. The most despised, vexing voice in the world, and the one that riled Shadow up the most, rang through the darkness of night. Shadow looked up to see Rose floating in the air, Balloon Gum in hand.

"You're always so meek with your sister, Shadow!" Rose's body inflated and popped apart with a bang.

"Grrh...!" Shadow watched the boy who appeared from within with gritted teeth.

He wore a bright red suit and blue silk hat, with a brilliant letter "J" shining on his chest and shapely patent leather shoes on his feet. His purple cape billowed in the wind. His glossy silver hair was now neatly set, and a clear light shone in his goggled blue eyes. His high and loudmouthed laugh was bursting with confidence. He was no longer a pitiful excuse in pajamas. This here was indeed Phantom Thief Joker...!

"Rrrgh... Joker!" Yes, who he had thought was Rose was actually Joker in an Image Gum disguise. Image Gum is one of the phantom thief tools in Joker's arsenal. An image formed in the mind is transferred to the gum, and by blowing the gum, it can be formed into any shape. It can be wrapped around oneself as a disguise or be used to create a variety of objects. Behind him, Oniyama also expanded and blew apart with a bang. Hachi popped out from inside wearing an apologetic expression.

"You punk, you dared to pretend to be Rose... I won't forgive you for that!"

"Heh heh, sorry for being late. But you were a great help for stealing this in my place." Joker held the golden hairpin in front of his face and smiled.

Shadow's eyes instantly ignited with anger. He rapidly positioned his umbrella, aimed it into the sky, and fired without a word. The beam pierced through the Balloon Gum and Joker fell to the ground. "Waaugh! Say the attack name like you always do!" Joker called out as he hastily ran away.

"Shut your trap! I'm going to kill you right now!" Shadow threatened, firing a barrage of beams at Joker.

"Waah, hold it, Shadow!!" Joker hopped around and barely avoided each of the beams. He turned in mid-air and landed on the ground. The two faced off in front of the immense greenhouse.

"Quit scurrying around like a rat! That's always been the only thing you're good at! The only makeshift strategy you have is snatching and running away! You're still the same damn cowardly Jack!"

"Ma- what'd you say?" Joker's look changed at Shadow's outburst. Jack was the name Joker had as a child. Being called that made old feelings suddenly rise up again. Feelings from when the two of them first met...

Joker flapped his cape over and refocused. "Hachi, go back ahead of me!"

"Eh? But..."

"It's fine, just go! I'll finish things with him." Shadow's provocation seemed to have spurred Joker. Joker took a card out of his pocket and glared at Shadow. The light in his eyes was just as piercing as Shadow's.

"Joker-san..."

"Bring it on!"

"With pleasure!" Shadow spun around his umbrella, fixed his grip, and jumped above Joker.

"From above!?"

Directly above Joker, Shadow pointed his umbrella straight down. "Have a taste of my new technique! 𝓑𝓵𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓗𝓸𝓵𝓮 𝓑𝓲𝓰 𝓑𝓪𝓷𝓰!"

"Wha- that's so lame!"

"Shut up!"

The umbrella was falling straight towards Joker. "...!" Sensing danger, Joker instantly moved aside. The next moment, Shadow's umbrella stabbed into the ground. There was a thunderous bang, and a crater formed around the area. It was as if a meteorite had fallen.

"What the heck, that's crazy dangerous...!"

"Bah, I missed!" Shadow switched his grip and flew towards Joker without a moment's delay. He brought his umbrella down on Joker like it was a sword. Joker quickly caught the umbrella with his card, twisted his wrist, and let Shadow's strike slip to his side. Joker had dodged the umbrella's violent swoop both swiftly and precisely. "Joker! Aren't you going to fight back at all!?"

"Ghh...!"

"Show me one of your ridiculous parlor tricks already!"

"'Parlor trick'...? Well then, let me show you!" Joker exclaimed, then leapt back and made an aerial 360. Keeping his stance, he fanned out five cards in front of his chest. "Straight Flash!" Joker yelled, and the Ace, Deuce, Trey, Cater, and Cinque of Hearts radiated a glaring light.

"Guh...!" The brilliant light bombarded Shadow's eyes. Joker's special move was to blind his opponent and make his move while they were down.

--But Shadow was already well aware. He had seen him use it countless times. He had already planned for the light. He instantly lowered the brim of his hat to block the light.

The bright light could indeed blind the enemy for some time. But the emanation of light was not just an attack, it was a weakness -- it revealed the location of the user. Which meant... wherever the light was coming from, there was Joker!

Shadow checked for where the light was originating and pointed his umbrella towards the exact spot. "Bloody Rain!" Shadow's red beam went straight up Straight Flash's stream of light and hit the middle dead on.

"...!" There was a reaction.

"Ha ha! How's that, Joker!" Shadow looked up as soon as the light faded. A hole had been left by Shadow's beam in the center of the five fanned cards... but Joker was not there. "!?"

Extraordinarily enough, the cards were hovering in midair. A tiny bubble of balloon gum stuck at the top was keeping them afloat. "What the...!"

"Hahaha, you were one step behind, Shadow!" Joker's laughter came from behind.

"Ghh...!" Shadow turned around to see Joker looking down at him from the greenhouse roof. The searchlights reflected off of the glass and illuminated him. Shadow returned the stare from the darkness and grinned. "You're not bad... It wouldn't be any fun otherwise!"

"Yeah, things are getting interesting!"

The clock tower bell rang. Bong! Bong! Bong!... The midnight bell rang through the darkness. Hachi watched the battle from a short distance. The two youths faced each other in silence. Light and shadow-- the shadow eternally pursues the light, and the light snares the shadow. The two of them fought to test their skills. Neither underestimated the other's strength, each trying to read two and three steps ahead and constantly pushing the battle to a higher standard. It was as if they were on a summit that only they could see...

The clock tower's bell ceased. "..." Joker sensed something. He pondered for a moment as if he had realized something odd.

But his thoughts were interrupted by Shadow's yelling. "Here I come, Joker!" Shadow set upon Joker once again.

Fwish! Something shone from within the greenhouse foliage, followed by something rushing down from above. "...!" Joker looked up and saw a thin mesh-like object blending in with the bleak clouds. "Khh!" He immediately spun around and forcefully kicked the stomach of the approaching Shadow.

"Gaah!" Shadow's body flew some meters away from Joker and hit the ground.

At the same moment, Joker's body was wrapped in a giant net from above. The cold and hard lattice constrained Joker. "...!" Bound by the steel net, Joker fell off the greenhouse and onto the ground. "Guh...!"

"Hah hah hah! I've finally got you, Phantom Thief Joker!" Oniyama ran towards them, his short legs clacking. This one was the real Oniyama.

"Joker-san!"

Joker saw Hachi dash towards him and shouted. "Stay back, Hachi!" Looking over, he could see a swarm of police officers following behind Oniyama, carrying a large barrel-like thing. That barrel seemed to be the launcher for the net.

"B-But..."

"Enough, Hachi, just run!" At that very moment, the police fired a net at Hachi. Fwish! A lattice flew over Hachi's eyes and spread to cover his body. But just then, an arm wrapped around Hachi's body and lifted him up. It was Shadow's.

Shadow jumped aside while holding Hachi and quickly lifted up his umbrella, which spun around and flew up like a helicopter. Having dodged the confines of the steel net, Hachi and Shadow rose into the night sky. "Joker-saaaaan!" Hachi's pitiful cry rang through the blackness.

On the ground, Oniyama had reached Joker's side. He laughed triumphantly as he looked down at Joker writhing in the net. "Gahahahahahah! Phantom Thief Joker, you've been apprehended. You are so! So! Soooo under arrest!" Oniyama let out a bellow of delight more boisterous than ever.

§§§

Outside of the courtyard, at the edge of a quiet bridge where there were no officers, black Image Gum burst apart with a pop. Spade, Queen, and Rose appeared from within. Spade had made the Image Gum turn dark and wrapped it over all of them so that they would blend into the night.

Rose landed on the grass and softly gazed up at Spade and Queen. Needless to say, this was the real Rose. "T-Thank you, for helping me..." Rose murmured.

"I was surprised, what with your powers suddenly wearing off."

Rose was startled by her reply. "You were watching the whole time?"

"Yeah, we were."

"..." Rose looked down.

"Do you know that detective -- Hayami Kyoutarou?" Queen had never met him herself, but she was aware of Hayami. She knew that he was lauded as a genius high school detective in Japan and that he had faced off against Joker multiple times. She couldn't imagine where Rose could have met him.

"..." Rose kept her eyes averted as if she was distressed.

"...I won't force you to talk if you don't want to. We all have our circumstances." Queen gently told Rose, supporting her. The two of them were about the same age, but Queen might have considered the rather demure Rose to be like a younger sister.

"Thank you..."

Something had probably happened with Hayami. Queen switched to Spade. "Spade, it looks like either Joker or Shadow got the Gilded Chrysanthemum. What now?" But there was no answer from Spade behind her. "Spade?"

She turned around to see Spade pressing his hand against his head, his body shaking so much that even standing looked to be agonizing. "What happened!?"

"Spade-san!"

Without replying to either of them, Spade let out a low moan and collapsed on the spot.

[otter1962]

Social cues

“A social cue can either be a verbal or non-verbal hint, which can be positive or negative. These cues guide conversation and other social interactions.” Wikipedia

I suck at social cues sometimes. I am beginning to think that my lacking skills in this department have caused me grief, misunderstanding, anguish, regret and even total oblivion to social cues being offered. Let me give some examples...

When I went to school for my first degree in the 1990′s, I was put into a situation where I had to communicate in discussions. Being shy, I was reticent to participate, but good grades beckoned and I began talking more.  In my last course, a man on the other side of the class told me literally, “Would you please shut the fuck up?” He and a friend had issues with me due to one of them not doing their work in a group project. I guess they decided to embarrass me. I was busy communicating my ideas about the discussion when this ensued.  I didn’t read any cues to notice if I was getting on peoples’ nerves.  I was dumbfounded and shut up as he asked. I didn’t really know what else to do. Ever since that, I have be reluctant to voice my opinions in group settings.

Another example happened recently at my gym.  There is a guy there who would pass by and say hello to me.  I always thought that he was being very kind as most at the gym just grunt and grown as they lift or are tuned into music and tuned out to the people around them (or they are busy secretly (NOT!) posing for themselves in the mirror). A few weeks back, I was at the gym and my chemo pills were causing a major fatigue. I was so determined to finish my workout that I didn’t just give up and go home.  Instead, I watched people around me.  The guy I mentioned was across from me on another machine.  At this point, I wasn’t really aware of my surroundings. If the fog lifted, I would see people, like him, going about their business. I guess he must have noticed me looking several times.  I should say that this was totally innocent. I wasn’t cruising him (yuck!) In fact, when I did glance over, I was thinking that he was a really nice guy for saying hello.  Later, he was exiting the change room to leave and I was sitting on the benchpress with my head turned in that direction, not focussing on anything. Suddenly, he glared at me and did this fake wave indicating that he didn’t like me staring.  I pulled off my earphones, and said something lame like, “Oh hi! Have a great evening.” He stormed off and now he ignores me. I had no clue that I was making him uncomfortable. I can’t really see that well without my glasses anyway. Sometimes people are just a bit of a blur. I had no clue of any cues. Maybe I was giving off cues that he didn’t like...

The year that I divorced my ex husband, I was invited out to a New Year’s Eve party.  An acquaintance took me as I was too shy to go on my own.  I stood amongst a large group of Nova Scotian gay men who were talking about everything there is to know about Halifax gay life.  I just stood there and smiled as I listened. To make matters worse, I was holding cranberry juice in a glass. My hand literally decided to open against my will and it crashed to the floor!  The host cleaned it up, gave me a plastic cup in the kitchen and the conversations continued around me.  Were there any social cues that I missed so that I could jump into a conversation? Was I giving off social cues? Did they think that I was a snob? Shy? Awkward?  I really don’t know!

Another example happened this past weekend. I was in Provincetown for my cancer retreat. My friend and I went to a tea dance (4-7 gay dance party on Halloween) dressed in costumes.  While there, Superman came up and said hello when my friend asked him to take our picture.  Superman was a very handsome and striking ginger (red headed) gentleman.  I was immediately taken with his looks.  Here’s the social cue problem.  We took pictures, chatted a bit and then he said that he should get going. In my head I thought, “No, please don’t go, I’d like to get to know you.” Instead, I didn’t say anything and he left. My friend later told me that Superman was giving off cues that he was very interested in me. Bloody hell!  What a time to miss a cue!

A conversation later that night with my friend revealed that I was also distant at a lunch meeting with a few of his friends. They were all talking Provincetown politics and as a newcomer, had no clue what it was all about.  So, I stared out the beautiful view and watched the gulls and cormorants in a feeding frenzy just outside the dock where the restaurant was located. Nerdy old me thought about feeding frenzies, mackerel, sharks, Ring-billed Gulls, California Gulls, etc. Ugh! What a frigging nerd I am!  My friend’s guest at the luncheon later asked him if he had done something to offend me as I wasn’t talking much. In my defence, I am a good listener and usually do that in group settings because I am afraid if I say something, I’ll put my foot in my mouth or come across as an idiot or whatever.

What is bothering me the most is that even during my jump to be more outgoing this past week at the retreat, I was still seen as quiet, maybe upset or shy. I missed a lot of social cues.  I missed out on some fun situations because I didn’t always know how to read people. If you are reading this and trying to relate, you are probably not an awkward socially inept person like me.  It may be hard to relate to a person such as me, who writes quite openly, yet can’t carry a conversation in a group. You would see me as a guy who so desperately desires to communicate with others, relate with others, interact with others and each time I miss the boat.

Don’t get me wrong; I am not totally inept. When one-on-one or in a group of say, teachers, or nature lovers, or bird watchers (no teasing, muscle guys can bird watch too!) I can talk up a storm. I can talk a lot with a ton of relish with people I know and trust. Put me in a party and I freeze.  I’d like you to read the following song by Joni Mitchell (a Canadian icon for those of you who have no clue who she is) called People’s Parties.  I do hope that I am not infringing on copyrights by doing so. As you read it, think of me and see where I am... I’ll bet you can pick me out, clear as day.  I see things, but don’t always read them...

People's Parties

by Joni Mitchell

All the people at this party They've got a lot of style They've got stamps of many countries They've got passport smiles Some are friendly Some are cutting Some are watching it from the wings Some are standing in the centre Giving to get something Photo beauty gets attention Then her eye paint's running down She's got a rose in her teeth And a lampshade crown One minute she's so happy Then she's crying on someone's knee Saying laughing and crying You know it's the same release I told you when I met you I was crazy Cry for us all beauty Cry for Eddie in the corner Thinking he's nobody And Jack behind his joker And stone-cold Grace behind her fan And me in my frightened silence Thinking I don't understand I feel like I'm sleeping Can you wake me You seem to have a broader sensibility I'm just living on nerves and feelings With a weak and a lazy mind And coming to peoples parties Fumbling deaf dumb and blind I wish I had more sense of humor Keeping the sadness at bay Throwing the lightness on these things Laughing it all away Laughing it alI away Laughing it all away

© 1973; Crazy Crow Music

Thank you, Joni Mitchell for understanding what it feels like for me...

I’m going to ask my friend with whom I spent the weekend to respond to this blog entry and then I will post part two of this. I believe that his perspective will help balance mine and maybe give me some insights to better understand other peoples’ cues.

Being a cancer patient, I am very aware of my physical and mental state.  I think that my search for happiness is linked to this and pushing myself back above ground after being driven down underground a few times by some bad situations.

I’d like to say that carpe diem is still my saying - but I’m adding an additional point to it: Seize the day attentively and wisely so that you don’t have any regrets and recognize the cues...