#riddler’s problem would more likely be that he wouldn’t put it together that other people also immediately figured out that it’s Bruce

[theshadowrealmitself]

Bruce Wayne doing undercover boss, but really badly (think that one kylo ren skit) on purpose so that people think he’s bad with disguises and stuff as another part of his Bruce Wayne persona to throw people off the scent of his secret identity

[enigmatic-robin]

Liquid Fear

Scarecrow Week 2022

Day 1 of Scarecrow Week

Established Jonathan Crane / Edward Nygma

1633 words

-

“Well, this is quite the predicament” Edward noted, smiling nervously at Nightwing, who had an iron grip on the collar of his shirt.

“That’s one word for it. What’re you doing in my city?”

“Oh, you sound just like Batman. I’m not here to do anything, I’m quite content to keep to myself here”

The grip on his shirt tightened, an escrima stick in the other hand keeping him from even attempting to free himself.

“And how am I supposed to believe that? You’re in Blüdhaven with no ulterior motives?”

“Now, I believe I said I wasn’t here to do anything, not that I didn’t have ulterior m-“

Edward was cut off by his back slamming into the wall of the alley, knocking the wind out of him.

“I don’t want to play games, I want an answer!”

“And I told you, I have no business here!” He reiterated, eyes darting for a moment before The Riddler visibly calmed.

“Then why are you here?”

“I had business here. He came along to make sure the deal stayed fair” another voice explained, but the source was nowhere in sight. Edward’s grin practically split his face.

“I haven’t done a thing wrong. Isn’t that right, dear?”

“Indeed it is. Such harsh treatment for someone who didn’t do anything. So, I’d suggest getting your hands off him”

The blue clad vigilante stilled, feeling cold, sharp metal against the dip of his throat.

“Scarecrow, how nice of you to join the party!” Nightwing smiled over exaggeratedly, trying not to let a single muscle in his throat move.

“What’s wrong, cat got your tongue? Or maybe you’re just a little afraid to be on the receiving end of… this?”

The metal on his throat, now identifiable as a syringe, poked a bit harder.

“It’s just a little liquid fear- makes the heart pump faster. Now we haven’t done a damn thing today, nothing you can hold us here for. Let. Us. Go.”

Dick frowned, looking down at Edward.

No, this was a Gotham problem, not his own.

“Across the bridge. You have a half hour to get out of Blüdhaven.”

Edward rolled his eyes, nodding as he was released.

“You wrinkled my shirt.” He huffed,smoothing it back down as best he could. “Do you know how much this is worth? I put a lot of effort into my appearance, you know.”

Nightwing sighed, clearly gathering all the patience he had in his body.

“please leave”

“… you know what? I think we’ll take our time” Scarecrow drawled, finally pushing the needle in. By the time he’d taken a step back, it was already taking effect- or Nightwing was reacting in anticipation. Either way, the way he stumbled back into the wall was satisfying.

Seeing someone so strong crumble by his hand was always a sight he reveled in, watching them shudder and stammer little words here and there, enough to give him slivers of a story or enough of a description for him to get an idea of what they were seeing. Piecing their nightmare together, knowing what he caused? It might be the best part.

“Jonathan, we can’t stay” Edward cut through his thoughts like a light through a fog, and he let himself be dragged away by the hand around his wrist. Hopefully he’d be able to hear the vigilante scream, that would echo for at least a few streets, give him something to hang onto. Alas, that wasn’t the case.

“Thank you for stepping in. I didn’t even do anything, he just accosted me!”

“I know you didn’t do anything, I was watching” Jonathan informed him.

“You- why?!”

“This isn’t Gotham, you don’t know your way around as well, but people are just as, if not more violent.”

“Well, I suppose I don’t mind the company.”

Jonathan shook his head, reaching the fire escape to their building and helping Edward up before pulling himself up.

“Wouldn’t matter if you did. Anyways, Nightwing’s probably right ‘bout us wanting to get out of here”

“You already got everything you came for?”

“Edward,” Jonathan slung a bag over his shoulder, securing it in place. “You underestimate how much of what I need is renewable and can be renewed not just in Gotham, but in my lab.”

Edward smiled, taking the overnight bag he’d brought with him and following Jonathan back out the way they came, down to where Jonathan had parked three blocks down, ever cautious of vehicles getting associated with him.

“I suppose I should only expect the best from you. After all, being considered a match for the Riddler is no easy feat- partner-wise, of course, not a match in the sense that we could go head to head mentally.”

Jonathan turned the car on, face deadpan.

“You know, it isn’t too late to drop you back in that alley and give Nightwing the antitoxin”

Edward took his seat, grumbling under his breath but not pushing the subject.

“… you fed the cat before we left yesterday, right? Filled the bowl all the way so she’d be good until we arrived home?”

“Yes, Edward. The cat is going to be just fine.”

“If she isn’t, if she’s hungry, you feed her right away or Selina hears about it” he huffed, looking out the window as they drove onto the bridge.

“…wouldn’t it be awful if Joker decided to bomb the br-“

“Edward, you want what Nightwing’s having?”

“Not particularly” he huffed like an annoyed child. “Though you do have to tell me at some point what exactly your ‘liquid fear’ does.”

There was a long moment of silence before Jonathan spoke.

“It causes visual, auditory, and olfactory hallucinations while affecting the amygdala to create the fear response. The hallucinations correspond with your subconscious by taking the form of your greatest fear or taking advantage of deep-seated trauma.

“So what’s Nightwing seeing, you think?”

Jonathan paused for a moment to think before replying.

“It changes. He’s got a few worst fears and traumas, I’d think. He calls out for Robin semifrequently, has since… some time before the blond girl Robin. Cries for his mother, same as most Robins do at some point. Just- lot of things”

“What do you think you’d see? If it still affected you?”

He thought back, all the regrets and terrors he’d faced. Maybe the crows again? His great grandmother? But he’d owned crows since, loved them. And she was just an old woman, a dead one at that.

“Something practical, most likely, since I can’t really be scared by anything irrational. Something like…”

He thought back, back to Black Mask pointing a gun at his head at a deal gone wrong. Ivy, constricting his throat after he’d clipped a plant he didn’t know was hers. Croc grabbing him by the face, nails digging in when he’d contaminated the water supply without thinking of what it’d do to the sewers. Moments he’d almost died. He glanced at Edward out of the corner of his eye.

Edward, who’d stepped in out of nowhere and mediated the exchange between Black Mask and him. Who’d hit Ivy over the head with his cane hard enough that her vines went limp and dropped him. Who’d set off a small explosive in the sewer, distracting Croc and getting Batman’s attention to keep him occupied further.

“You know what? I don’t like this game”

Edward’s eye glinted dangerously.

“That means you have one. You know something that would scare you and you don’t want to look vulnerable” Edward accused, and Jonathan’s silence in response seemed confirmation enough. “You don’t trust me?”

“I do trust you”

“So it’s about me.”

Jonathan tensed, stopping the car where he always parked and quickly but silently heading inside, Edward keeping pace beside him all the while.

“I wouldn’t betray you”

“I know you wouldn’t”

“I wouldn’t abandon you”

“I know”

“I wouldn’t die on you”

Jonathan hated how the words died in his throat, how he couldn’t lie about it. There was a long pause before a heartbroken sounding ‘oh’.

“Jonathan, Do you think I’m going to get myself killed?” Edward asked slowly. He didn’t get a response.

“I wouldn’t-“

“But you could. And I can’t be there every time.” He pointed out. “The time Harvey held you on the edge of that building, what if the coin landed on the other side? I wasn’t there. Or the time with the Joker, what if Batman didn’t get there?”

“Holy shit, you are scared”

“I can barely remember what fear feels like. But I’m pretty sure it wasn’t this”

“You remember what it was like to feel afraid for yourself. Did you ever have anyone you got close enough to to be scared for?” Edward knew the answer; no, he was the first.

What did he feel? Was it as visceral and all encompassing as his own toxin, just muted, on a smaller scale? Was it barely anything, just feeling like more since it’d been so long since he’d felt it?

Edward sighed, pulling Jonathan to the couch, guiding him to sit before curling up next to him. A little bell was his only warning before a third body joined them, the cat laying down on their legs and greeting them softly.

“I thought I missed the feeling. I guess I forgot what it felt like first” Jonathan finally said, running his hand over Maze’s ears.

“That was different. Fear for yourself has this adrenaline to it, that’s what you want. Fear for someone else though, it’s soft, underlying. Not as much adrenaline.”

“Does it go away?”

“Not as long as you care for the person, no”

Jonathan sighed, paying his head on Edward’s.

“Then I guess I’m stuck with it. Just don’t give me a reason to worry.”

“I make no promises.”

[house-of-slayterr]

Hello Mx. Writer! It's me again:)

How do you think Maggie and Basil and even V would react to see a Riddler v.s. Victor showdown? Aka how they react to the love triangle?

Hello Anon 🥰 how are you my dear?

Oh god, ok. Victor Vs Ed would be a walking nightmare- but god would I want to watch! Also I know we’re talking our Gotham boys right now, but I can’t help but think about what would happen if Birds of Prey Zsasz tried to fight The Batman’s Ed Nashton… terrifying!

Ed’s love for Y/N is very respect base. She’s a little older then the man and he knows there’s a lot he can learn from her. So perhaps one day when Oswald is really getting on his nerves, Ed goes to Y/N for help with revenge. I mean it’s obvious he’s in love with the boy. Y/N can see it plain as day, so of course she’s going to help the younger villain.

He sees Y/N and Vic fight all the time. Yet they’re still madly in love. Besides he enjoys the thrill of his little feud with her boss. Is Gotham, normal relationships don’t exist. If you haven’t tried to kill each other even once, are you really even a couple? Them spending more time together is totally innocent. Riddler slips in from time to time and tries to crack little jokes and puns at Y/N. He’s not blind, the women is very attractive, but he doesn’t have a death sentence. He knows she’s Victor’s, but a little friendly flirty never hurt anyone right? Besides, he loves to watch her laugh.

And boy is she laughing! You know that classic cackle where you lean back in your chair so far you almost fall, and the other person puts a hand on their shoulder to steady you. That sort of full belly laugh that has a minor insanity behind it. Of course neither of them are sober during these little midnight plotting sessions. That would be no fun. Between the shitty riddles, the booze and plotting to make Oswald so furious the idiot throws a week long tantrum, Y/N feels totally free and giddy. There’s a certain high she gets from strategising a war that’s not serious for once. One where there’s no high stakes, and nobody’s going home having lost something they’d rather not go without.

VICTOR DOES NOT LIKE THIS!! That attention should be his. Her laugh should be from him. Not this low level, criminal wanna be. He looks like a damn leprechaun who sprouted real people legs. And when Victor comes home after a long day, looking for his Wife and finds Nygma with his hand around her. He’s seeing RED!!!!

Despite what everyone thinks, Vic does have impulse control. It’s very little but he does know how to show some self restraint. So he pulls himself away in the moment. Course, he does go out and make it EVERYONE else’s problem. Jimbo better hope he doesn’t run into the assassin on his little rampage. Cause Victor is not afraid to cut anyone down to size who gets in his way. He’s furious, and even if this little friendship was totally innocent, that wouldn’t change fuck all to him. Little does Victor know Y/N planned this. She could help Nygma, while playing the side game to rile her lover up. I mean Vic is way more fun when he’s bloodthirsty. Can’t blame a woman for wanting some excitement, or to be dominated every once in a while.

And Victor is playing right into her plan. If Oswald called a meeting because he’s growing suspicious of this sudden friendship, everyone would have to be there. If there’s one thing Oswald likes, it’s humiliating people. Why do in private what you can do in public instead? Needless to say Maggie and Basil have no clue why they’re being summoned that morning. Oswald’s pretty much locks them all in the room and just glares until someone tells him what he wants to hear. Nobody says anything at first, I mean poor Maggie and Basil have no idea what’s going on. But Victor would be the first to make a move. No words, just a punch straight to Ed’s nose.

He’d pull his gun as the man stumbled back and point it right between his eyes. A challenge to try anything, wether that be making a physical move, or attempting to even speak. Nothing Ed could say would make Victor any less trigger happy.

Maggie is the first to recognise this, and would instantly jump up from here chair.

“Woah, Victor, what the hell are you doing?” She’d ask bewildered.

Victor doesn’t move the gun, just turns his head to look at her and smirks.

“Taking out the trash.”

She’s roll her eyes.

“Nygma, what did you do?” She’s demand.

Maggie might be fairly soft spoken, but everyone could tell there was an urgency in her voice. It was gentle but commanding.

“What makes you think I did anything? The bastards crazy!” Ed defends.

Of course, Basil takes note to the fact that Y/N hasn’t had much of a response to any of this. She never attempted to rise from her seat, and there was no readable emotion on her face. It was suspicious, like she was trying to play innocent. Basil just raises a questioning brow at the woman, who gives no indication she’s going to be revealing anything anytime soon. She just sips from her cup while she watches.

Maggie pinches her brow in annoyance.

“Oswald?”

Despite him very clearly taking a more dominant role in the relationship that they have, Oswald steps forward as if his own mother just called him forward. No hesitation at all. She’d look down at the man.

“Why are we here?”

“They’re plotting something against me, I just know it.” He says, anger in his town.

Maggie hand help the exasperated sigh that leaves her mouth. She’s grown used to playing therapist.

“You’re all hopeless.” She scoffs. “Ok Oz, you’re being paranoid. Nobody in this room is trying to hurt you. Edward, you need to wipe that smug grin off your face, Victor put the damn gun down. And you-“

She’d pause when she gets to Y/N. I mean what can she say, she’s not exactly doing anything. Besides, it would be a weighty punishment if she talked back to the woman. Y/N would raise a challenging brow at the girl, smirking a little.

“Stop being so quiet, it’s creeping me out.” Maggie said, shuddering.

Nothing good ever happened when Y/N was quiet for too long. Quiet meant she was thinking, and hard. Y/N certainly amused by Maggie’s lame attempt at diffusing this situation.

“How can I stop a non-action dear?” Y/N would smirk.

Maggie would just look to Basil for help. He’d just nod his head at Edward, showing he’s the weakest link in the group right now. Maggie would clear her throat and approach.

“Look, Edward, sweetie-“ Riddler does not enjoy her tone right now. “You’re going to have to fess up to what you did sooner or later. Or else none of us are leaving this room. And I swear to you, if I have to miss going to the bookstore with Jim to pick out Bruce a book for his birthday, I am going to rip out your spleen and make you crawl across hot coals to get it back.”

She wasn’t fucking around. If anyone hated plans being interrupted more than Y/N, it’s was Maggie. And plans with Jim none the less, she was currently wanting to scream.

“Wait you’re going book shopping with Jim?” Oswald asks.

Everyone can hear the slight jealousy in his voice. Despite him not sharing affection for the girl in that way, didn’t mean he had to enjoy anyone else showing her said affection.

“Yeah, Bruce has been talking about this specific book for months, only place I can find it is down in the offered. Jim offered to go with me, probably cause he has no idea what to get the kid and wants to leach off my gift. But whatever.”

Not true. Everyone in that room new it’s because Jim didn’t want her alone in the narrows. Always the gentleman, that man. She tried back to Riddler.

“So you’re going to sit down and start talking, or so help me god I’ll just let Victor shoot you.”

Nobody really knew if the girl was being serious.

“I’m serious, I didn’t do anything wrong. Is having friends illegal now?” He questioned.

“Now I get it.” Basil chimed in. “Victor you jealous bastard, you do know your wife is allowed to talk to people right? That’s a basic human right.”

Victor would growl, wanting to shoot the younger man as well.

“Ed, apologise to Victor for making him insecure. Y/N apologise to Oswald for making him paranoid. And Victor, put the fucking gun down before I shove it up your scrawny ass. I’m not fucking around today guys, I don’t have time for this shit.”

“That time of the month?” Victor asked.

Yeah that would be the last straw. Screw an actual showdown between Victor and Edward, right now this was about to be between Victor and God. Of course Victor is going to be holding a grudge on Edward for a long time. Messing up the man’s plans and trying to shoot him at practically any opportunity they have when Maggie’s out of sight. Victor thinks Maggie’s and innocent little kitty cat, and frequently makes fun of the girl for being so soft. But, he’s also seen her shot Sofia with no hesitation because Jim was involved. Honestly he was pretty proud of her for that.

Maggie would turn back to him bewildered.

“What did you just say?”

Oh, she’s bold with it. To talk to the Victor Zsasz like he wasn’t gripping a fully loaded gun right now. Basil would be quick to step in, stepping between his big sis and Victor. Of course he’d love to watch her throw a punch at the guy, but he also knows it’s a fight she can’t win. And nobody in that room is thinking straight. He’d pull her backward into a hug, trapping her against him so she can’t move. She’d put up a valiant effort, kicking and grumbling to try to get out of his arms. Even going so far as to bite him, but he’s undeterred.

“Fine, the two do you kill each other for all I care. And Y/N, I hope whatever you’re planning is worth it.”

She’d convince Basil to let her go.

“I’m getting out of here, Basil you’re on family therapy duty today. Whatever blood is spilt, they’re cleaning it up. If I come back and see a maid doing that shit, I’m setting this entire house on fire with both of them inside.”

She’d walk over to Oswald and kiss him on the cheek. As she does so she swipes the keys from his pocket and walks toward the door. Everyone watches as she goes.

“Be back later, love you all!” She’d say, a clear attempt to try and push down any anger she was feeling.

She didn’t want her mood to be sour when she met up with Jim. As the door shut behind her, everyone just turns to look back at Y/N.

“Oh she’s definitely on her period.” Y/N concluded with a smile. “You heard what the lady said, she wants blood she’d and carnage.” She would sip her drink, even further amused as it dawns on everyone they’ve been used.

“Unbelievable.” Basil says, shaking his head.

But sitting down to watch as Y/N just hands him the full bottle of wine she’d been nursing.

“You’re insane.” Oswald grumbles as he also goes to leave the room.

Victor and Edward just stand there dumbfounded, not sure what to do next. Victor cracks his knuckles.

“I’m going to give you a five minuet head start.” He tells the man in green.

“One- Two-“

Yeah, Edwards supposed to be a genius, so he doesn’t even wait for three before he’s sprinting for the door. He’d have to think of a good way to shake Zsasz. They’d watch after him until he was out of sight. Victor just turns back to his wife.

“You’re not going after him are you?” She asks amused.

“No, that idiot can die tomorrow, you on the other hand-“

And Basil takes that as his que to leave. He knows where all that pent up rage is going to leave. And frankly he doesn’t want to see them hate fuck each other.

An; lol I love sassy Maggie in this chapter. I was just in a silly goofy mood today guys, so so is she. We all know Edward ran to the Sirens club to hide.

@keffirinne @flaysthings @howl-fantasies

[headcans-oneshots-and-stuff]

A thing of honour

Warning: This one got super angsty super fast and I had no idea how it happened but here we are Word count: ~3k (sis snapped) Summary: Keeping your alter ego a secret from Damian was all fun and games, especially since he seemed to hate your superhero persona while loving your "normal" you, but what happenes when he finds out about the whole thing in the worst way possible...

This was a request by a wonderous Anon:  Hiii, i’d like to request a damian x reader, where the reader also fights alongside damian and jon as their alter ego. Damian and the reader don’t get along as superheroes, but as their normal selves they do. The only one who doesn’t know of the other person’s identity is Damian, which makes it all even more amusing for jon and the reader. But when the reader is brought back to the batcave after being injured, he finds out. Ty 💕

You hadn't meant for it to go this far. Really, you didn't. You had wanted to tell him as soon as possible, but then Jon had told you about how he talked about you-well, about your alter-ego- behind your back. But to be fair, it didn't keep on being behind your back for long, even though Damian didn't know that. "Tt, she'd do us all a favour if she'd stay at home," Damian grumbled when the muted Tv in the corner of the small coffee shop that he, Jon and you visited frequently, showed a picture of Ace, or rather you in your vigilante outfit (kindly donated by your god-aunt Diana who supported you with everything you did and was the reason you were now best friends with Jon and Damian's girlfriend). You couldn't help but roll your eyes. "What's your problem with her anyways? Shouldn't you be thankful that she helped you?" you sighed while picking at your piece of pie with the fork. You could feel Jon's knowing look on you, but you paid it no mind. "I could have very well handled it without her, she was just a bother anyways," he huffed and you couldn't help but chuckle a bit. He'd eat his words sooner or later. "I was on a case with her earlier that month and I really thought she was great. She has fighting skills on the same level as Diana, don't you think so too Y/N?" Jon sent you a bright, great smile and you could've sworn he winked at you. "I'm not sure I'd go that far," you answered with a small smirk and shrugged your shoulders, "It's not like I've seen her in action yet anyways, only know her on Tv and from what you guys tell me." Damian looked between the two of you slightly confused and highly annoyed, but you were sure that he wouldn't be able to put two and two together. For him, you were his sweet, but otherwise defenceless girlfriend that couldn't knock a two-year-old out and, to be fair, for the first years of your relationship that was exactly what you were. A normal girl in love with the great detective's son and best friend with Superman's. But then Diana (after years upon years of begging) took you with her to Themyscira and there something changed. Obviously you wouldn't be able to learn to fight in the two weeks you'd stay there, but somehow, after watching Diana train with the other Amazons, you felt like your muscles were burning with energy and every fibre of your being was urging to fight. Diana almost lost her mind when you stormed onto the training field, afraid that you'd get hurt on her watch, but she froze in her tracks when she saw you defeating one of the amazons as if you've been fighting for all your life. That's how you found out that somehow you had the power to copy the fighting style of anyone you watched. When you came back from your trip you spend a good three months watching every piece of realistic fighting that you could get your hand on and soon you were, in terms of fighting without powers, even besting Diana. Even though you knew you would never seriously be able to defeat her it was still a good feeling to know you were pretty good. So you became Ace. At first, it was great and you liked being a hero more than you ever thought you did, but soon you started feeling bad for keeping such a big secret from your best friends, especially knowing that they had told you about their secret as soon as they completely trusted you. So you had been planning to tell them when Jon called you to whine about Damian annoying him about some new vigilante who he had seen fighting in "his area" earlier that week. The look on your face when you realized that it had to be you. That was when a wicked thought planted itself in your head. Not soon after you had told Jon- and Jon being Jon, soon his family new about you and your plan too and that somehow ended in Damian's family knowing about both too. That's how you ended up being in the situation you were right now. Jon sitting there, having to hold back laughter and Damian being as clueless as ever. Did you feel bad about basically lying to him? Yes, somewhat you did. Was it really funny? Yes, yes it really really was. "But anyways," you restarted the conversation, finally taking a bite out of your abused cake, "I read somewhere recently that she was working with Batman against the Riddler two weeks ago." You smiled at the memory of how petrified you had been when your boyfriend father caught you running through Gotham, hunting after the Riddler, and how amazing it was to fight alongside him after he told you that he trusted Diana's judgement and would welcome you to become an ally to his team(/family), especially considering your relationship to Damian, but he also respected your "prank" and that you'd keep your distance until you'd finally tell him. "Tt, he wouldn't have needed her anyways. Especially not if I'd been there, but just because I lightly stab Jason once, I have to stay at home for patrol," he pouted and, even though you couldn't help smiling at his cluelessness, you also couldn't help yourself from giving him a small peck on the corner of his still pouting lip, making a small blush crawl onto his face at your PDA. "Uhm," Jon, who was still always extremely awkward at seeing the two of you kiss or- god forbid- actually make out, even though he himself called himself your biggest shipper, stammered, "H-hey Damian if your father works with her, why don't you ask him who she is?" His eyes widened as soon as the words left his mouth and he had to actively look away from you because he thought that he'd maybe start to cry if he'd saw the fury filled glare you sent his way. "Don't you think I did?" Damian huffed but didn't notice your angry eyes. "A-and what'd he say?" "He said it wasn't 'his secret to share,'" he scoffed, underlining how ridiculous he thought it was by making air-quotes. "But anyway, what did you guys plan on doing this weekend? I've heard there a really cool new movie in theatres right now. Damian's treat?"

It was two weeks after the conversation in the coffee shop when your guilt about keeping such a big secret from your boyfriend slowly started eating you up from inside. The fact that the movie's side story was about the main character and his love interest almost losing each other forever because of a secret that stood between that didn't really help much, did it now? So you've been planning how to do it for hours when your phone vibrated and twitter notification showed you that Robin was seen on his way through Gotham, most likely on patrol. It was really a short circuit reaction to get into your suit and jump out your window into the direction of where you thought the picture might have been taken. You were almost put off by how quickly you found him. Maybe it was because of how well you knew him, but it still surprised you to no end. "I heard you had something you have a bone to pick with me," you said, having no real plan on how to handle this. Damian span around at an unbelievable pace and you would have certainly been cut by the Batarang that was thrown your way, had it not been Diana's extra training in the area of "people will definitely throw sharp objects your way when you least expect it". For a second your eyes stayed on the Batarang that you held in your hand until they wandered back up at your unknowing boyfriend who looked at you like you were evil as a person. "Listen, I don't want to fight you, we're on the same team, remember?" you tried to somewhat clear the water. "Tt, you're nowhere near my team. You're just a little girl who thinks she can play superhero." "Okay, isn't that a little sexist?" you couldn't help the snarky comment, "And nevertheless, I've defeated real criminals, I've helped the city. What's your damn problem with me anyway. What have I ever done to upset you?" Your voice was raising and you were slightly afraid that he could recognize your voice, now not being too sure if you actually wanted him to know who you were anymore. "You're just an imposter. Don't you think I've noticed that your fighting style, as multifaceted as it may be, is just an exact copy of other peoples, mainly Wonder Women? Does she know that she has a seemingly shameless copycat running around?" You took a small step back out of surprise. He had never talked with your persona before and he still figured you out like an open book. You were fascinated and at the same time extremely annoyed and angry at his lack of empathy and him not even trying to find out who you were. "So what? Do I have to have my own style just to fight crime? Is it wrong of me to try and help people?" "It's a thing of hono-" "Oh shut the hell up and get that giant stick out of your ass," you huffed and made a sweeping gesture, "This city needs all the help it can get. Hell, this world needs all the help it can get! So excuse me for trying to be part of this help." You saw that he wanted to say something, but you didn't let him. "And if you are so invested in my honour, I have you know that Wonder Women is well aware of my fighting style! She was the one who thought it too me after all." With that, you turned around and jumped off of the building onto the balcony below it, keeping on climbing down the building until you were on the ground. All the frustration inside you made you feel your bone ache with the tears that you held in, while you stormed through the allies of Gotham, only stopping when you stood in front of an abandoned warehouse that was a hotspot for crime, that you'd usually keep away from, but right now you needed a ventile to get the anger out of you. When you entered, it was completely empty. "Well, so much for that," you muttered to yourself. You turned around, ready to leave and look somewhere else when you felt something pierce simultaneously through your back and your stomach. Your breath hitched in pain and shock when you looked down to see the tip of a short sword or a long knife standing out of your abdomen. "What a shame, I had planned for that to enter someone else's body. Too bad," a male voice echoed through the large empty hall, followed by the sound of a closing door. For a moment you thought about trying to follow him, but when you slightly turned around and the pain shot through you, you decided against it. You had to get medical attention. And that as soon as possible.

You had no idea how, but somehow, as unlikely as it seemed, you had managed to end up at the manor, your suit drenched with your own blood and every step painfully. The world was spinning around you and there were more black points in your sight than the actual world. With the last energy you could manage to gather, you pushed the doorbell and managed to stand straight while waiting for it to open. "Miss Y/L/N, what a surprise to see you here, especially in this attire. It is not wise to come in this way when you're wearing this," he welcomed you with a scolding look, not noticing the silver blade that was still stuck in your stomach, in his eyes, your mask seemingly covering how pale, tired and lifeless you already looked. Even if you were still awake enough to think straight, you wouldn't exactly have been surprised by him knowing who you were. He was still looking at you expectedly when you suddenly dropped forward against Alfred, managing with the last of your lifeforce to keep your stomach back a bit as to not to stab him with the tip of the long knife. The Butler tried to steady you by draping his arm around you when he suddenly took in a sharp breath as he felt the warm liquid that was your blood cover his hand and forearm, and his hand touching the handle of the weapon that might cause your ultimate demise. As quick as possible he picked you up, careful to keep your stomach as straight as possible so that the knife wouldn't cause more damage than necessary, and brought you down into the Batcave, not paying any mind to Damian who was sitting in the seat in front of the Batcomputer, sharpening his Katanas. Alfred carefully laid you down onto one of the medical beds on your side, quickly pulled up your medical file and sorted through one of their emergency 'blood-banks' to give you a transfusion. By the time he had you connected to all the medical machines- he was extremely quick after years of training, Damian came rushing to his side. He had a worried look on his face until he caught sight of your suit. "What is she-" "We have no time for that. Call Dr. Thompkins! Now!" Damian didn't dare to oppose Alfred's command and quickly did as he told before he came back to Alfred who did his best to keep you alive, your heartbeat way too slow. "She's on her way, I told her it was urgent," Damian grumbled. He was, of course, somewhat worried about you- well, about Ace- but seeing his object of daily annoyment laying there in front of him, basically dead, he couldn't help but feel validated in his hate towards her. That was until Alfred took your mask off to check your reaction towards light to see if you were still responsive. Damian could hear his heart break and stop when he saw who he felt was maybe the love of his life lay there, hair dull and dishevelled around your head, skin almost wide and your face so lifeless. His brain couldn't comprehend what was going on and it was like time froze. He only started to realize anything was happening again when he felt his father's arm pull him away from where Dr. Thompkins, who he hadn't even notice coming in, and Alfred closed the makeshift medical curtain to start operating you. Damian looked up at Bruce, his tearstained cheeks still wet, no sign of his eyes stopping to cry anytime soon, and saw the look in his eyes. That look of sorriness. That look of hopelessness. That look like he was sure, that you wouldn't make it out of the cave alive.

The tension in the cave was so explosive that no one dared to say a word. Besides the members of the Batfamily that were gathered there, Diana was pacing through the room and Jon and Clark were silent beside their best friends- Clark with a hand on Bruce's shoulder and Jon holding Damian's hand, another thing no one dared to speak about, not budging at the strength of his grin that would break a normal humans hand. It was nothing against what he had to endure when he had first entered the cave. A completely livid and messy, tired-looking Damian came at him, pushing his chest while screaming at him, asking him if he knew. When Jon didn't answer, just a look of extreme guilt in his eyes, Damian snapped. It took Clark and Bruce together too rip him off of his best friend who just stood there and silently took every blow. When Damian had finally calmed down, his eyes slowly watering again, Jon dared too move closer to him, his worry over his best friend greater than the shame he felt for being- in his eyes- partly responsible for your state. Damian, who deep inside knew that it wasn't Jon's fault- that it wasn't anyone's fault but the persons who had thrown that knife- clutched onto his best friend and cried onto his shoulder, which was all it took for Jon to break and the tears to roll down his cheeks too. When it felt like they were both dry of tears they sat down, hand in hand. With Diana, it wasn't too different, just less violent. She came rushing in and demanded to see you. When Bruce made it clear that you were still operated on, she wanted to storm out of the cave and comb through the city for the person who was responsible for that. Bruce somehow managed to talk her out of it, but he knew that she wouldn't be the only one who'd started wreaking havoc when Dr. Thompkins came out of the medical area with the bad news he already expected. He just hoped he would manage to be a good father for Damian when it'd count most. Almost nine hours of nearly complete silence had passed before Alfred came to them, still in his scrubs. Everyone stopped what they were doing and you could've heard a pin drop. "She's through and will make it. No permanent damage, but she won't be able to do any physical straining activities for the next few months. It was a very close shot." A collective breath of relief went through the room and a lot of tense shoulders relaxed. "Can I- Can we see her?" Damian's voice, that was so much timider than anyone was used to, asked and Alfred could see the desperation on his face. "Yes, but she probably won't wake up very soon. Her body is thoroughly and utterly exhausted." Damian didn't care. He sat beside your bed for the next two days. The others would come in for a while, either to make sure Damian isn't completely alone or to be with you but left after a few hours, not being able to abandon their lives forever. It was around midnight, Jon and Clark had just left to get back to Smallville for a change of clothes and a goodnight sleep in their own beds a few hours ago when Damian shot up from being half-asleep at the sound of a groan echoing through the empty room. His eyes looked around frantically, searching for any sort of danger when a small cough turned his attention to you. Your eyes were still closed but your face was pinched together in pain. "Hey," Damian whispered and took hold of your hand, his demeanour easing a bit when you pressed it. "Dami?" you whispered back with a coarse voice and slowly your eyes fluttered open. When you saw into his face, worry and sorrow marked onto it, you couldn't help the tears from welling up, everything that had happened and the realization of almost losing everything came crashing down onto you. "Shhhh, it's okay, everything okay," Damian mumbled soothingly and quickly sat onto the side of your bed to take you into his arms. For the last 48 hours, he had imagined every sort of conversation about why you didn't tell him about your alter ego, about how you could've been so careless, about why you even became a vigilante when you knew how dangerous it was, but at that moment he realized that all that was unimportant. Of course, he'd have to talk about it with you sooner or later, but after almost losing you, the fact that you were still there in his arms was the most he could want.

[thesculptedflower]

Partners in crime / Part 3

@rott3nheart​

Part 3

His smile was so wicked it send shivers down your spine. The beaten down, hopeless version of Ed was long gone, and in his place was this mischievous alter ego who had all the right answers. His hand eased off of your neck and you moved to sit next to him on the couch. You leaned your arm on the back of the cushion, eagerly waiting for this new Ed to properly introduce himself to you. 

’’Dear god it feels good to be me again!’’ Ed exclaimed enthusiastically, getting up from the couch. You followed him with your eyes, your smile never leaving your lips. He strutted to the mirror and took a good look at himself. 

’’Yeah, this needs to change, as soon as possible. You have a terrible taste in clothes.’’ He said to himself, somewhat disgustedly, pulling the black tank top the sad version of him had chosen to wear. You were certain that he was referring to the version of himself that had just gotten pushed back. Sure, he was a little insane, but who in Gotham wasn’t.

’’Help yourself, I’m certainly not complaining.’’ You flirted, taking in every detail of the muscles in his upper body. He winked at you through the mirror, that damn smile still playing on his lips. 

’’And you, Miss Y/N, how can I ever repay you.’’ He said with note of gratitude in his voice, opening up the closet doors and pulling out a very well fitted black dress shirt. 

’’I don’t need much, just for us to continue with our original plan. And maybe for you to stay in my bed afterwards.’’ You replied boldly. Ed cocked an eyebrow, his dark eyes watching you trough the mirror. He turned around, his shirt still unbuttoned from the top, and walked over to behind the couch. He leaned down, his hands leaning against the back of the couch. ’’How humble of you, but who am I to say no to you.’’ He leaned in, pressing his lips against yours, hungrier than he had ever before. He was only building in to the fire that was burning inside you when he bit your lower lip. You let out an involuntary moan, feeling almost desperate for his touch. Ed pulled back shortly, brushing his thumb over your reddened lower lip. He was the opposite of the Ed that woke up still frozen in your bed all those weeks ago, but this was the Edward Nygma you had wanted to work with. He was The Riddler.

’’Eager are we?’’ He teased, his eyes filled with emotions that were hidden far too long. You couldn’t do anything but to stare at him, captivated by this new charm. 

’’Business before pleasure, but after we’ve gotten rid of the Penguin, I’m all yours.’’

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Planning Oswald’s fate ended up being way easier than you had thought. Ed was filled with different kind of brilliant ideas, some that you wouldn’t have come up with in a million years. Watching him work and draw out his plans was like watching an artist creating a new masterpiece. You could feel yourself falling even deeper in love with him, and you could only hope that he was feeling the same way. Riddler had clearly more tough exterior than Ed did, but you were sure that he too had softness inside him. Even the villains need someone to hold on to. 

The final decision on the plan was done relatively quickly, after you had taken a risk offering Victor Fries a hefty amount of money if he accepted to help you. Ed had come up with an idea that he’d in turn freeze Oswald, but he’d make sure that there was no escape. The only problem was that he needed help from the same man who had put him inside his cold cage in the first place. Lucky for you, Victor wasn’t really loyal to anyone, and he needed money for finding a treatment for himself. So when you offered him the money, he was on board. Now you only needed the Penguin.

’’You ready, love?’’ Ed asked, holding a small machine gun up against his shoulder. 

’’More than ever.’’ You replied smirking, loading your own gun with tranquilizer darts. 

Victor was standing quiet behind you, he rarely took part on any of your conversations. Ed grinned down at you and entered to the Ice Berg Lounge. It was pretty late already and the club was empty of customers, Oswald’s men being the only ones left. They were easy enough to take out with the darts, giving you a safe way to Oswald’s office. 

’’Jones, what’s going on in there?’’ Oswald shouted into the silence, sounding like he didn’t really care. But as he didn’t get an answer, his tone grew more worried. ’’Jones?’’

’’Missed me, Oswald?’’ Ed asked as he stepped in to Oswald’s office, scaring the living shit out of him. You and Victor stayed back, not blowing your surprise just yet. You could only imagine the look on Oswald’s face as he saw Riddler standing in front of him, better than ever. 

’’E-ed, I’m so sorry.’’ Oswald started to mutter, clearly terrified for the grudge that Ed held against him. But you knew that Oswald used fear to bluff his enemies, so he could move to a better position, or for example, closer to his gun. 

’’I think it’s a little too late for that.’’ You said, taking your place next to Ed. Oswald’s confusion was so obvious, even he couldn’t hide it. But it didn’t take long for it to turn to anger.

’’I knew it was you! You set him free!’’ He shouted, pointing his finger at you. You let out a catty laughter. ’’Took you long enough to realize.’’ You said meanly. Oswald was furious, refusing to lose to the two people he most hated. He was slowly edging towards the cabinet on the side of the room, but Ed was quick to notice. He fired a few bullets to the ground, only inches from Oswald’s feet. He shrieked and stopped immediately.

’’I know I was an ass to you Y/N! I’m sorry, okay! Why are you helping him?’’ He pleaded, his eyes jumping between you and Ed. You turned your head to look at Ed, who in return turned to look at you. 

’’Because he is everything that you’re not.’’ You said before pulling Ed down by his tie, and kissing him passionately. Though you couldn’t see it, you could feel the bafflement on Oswald’s face. Ed’s free hand was on your waist, and for a moment you feared that Oswald would get his gun, but you knew he was way too shocked to act on it. 

’’You get it now? Hate can really bring people closer together, so I guess I should thank you.’’ You said sarcastically, pressing yourself closer to Ed, his hand still on your waist while the other was aiming the gun at Oswald. He was about to say something, but you didn’t let him. 

’’Victor, you’re up.’’ You called out, and Victor obeyed. Oswald wasn’t getting any breaks. His eyes went wide as he realized what was waiting for him.

’’N-no, no please, anything but-.’’

’’Freeze away, Victor.’’ 

You and Ed watched as Victor shot his icy concoction at Oswald, which quickly reacted with air and build a thick wall of ice around Oswald’s horrified body. It didn’t take too long for Victor to be finished.

’’Thank you Victor.’’ You said, watching him leave the club without saying anything. 

You turned to look at Ed, who seemed to be at peace. He lowered his gun and took a few steps closer, inspecting Oswald’s expression under the ice. ’’Finally.’’ He said quietly.

You walked up to him and placed your hand on his shoulder. ’’What now?’’ You asked.

He turned to look down at you, that distinctive smirk on his face. 

’’Your bed.’’

[lfthinkerwrites]

The First Christmas

(As promised, the entirely self-indulgent family fluff. You have been warned.)

“So, this will be yours and Eddie’s first Christmas together. Any special plans, Doc?”

Penelope took a sip of her tea before she answered the woman sitting across from her in the coffee shop. “Well, Ellen convinced her Grandmother to let her spend some time with Edward on Christmas Eve, so we’ll be at his house that evening. Deirdre and Nina will be coming from Central City too.”

Selina chuckled. “The whole Riddler family together. How cute.” Penelope shook her head, but she smiled just the same. After everything that had happened over the past year, it would be nice just to spend a quiet evening with the man she loved, with the people he loved the most. She almost didn’t hear Selina ask her next question. “Are you nervous about Deirdre and Nina?”

Penelope raised an eyebrow. “Why? I’ve met them before at Edward’s and Ellen’s birthdays. We’ve gotten along just fine.”

“You weren’t his girlfriend then,” Selina said, twirling her straw through her espresso. “You are now. Their behavior around you is going to be a little different.”

Penelope took another sip of tea and rolled her eyes. “They’re not going to give me a shovel talk, are they?”

“Shovel talk? No. More like a ‘chop up your body and leave it in the desert talk’.”

It sounded like Selina spoke from experience, which, judging from the encounters Penelope had observed between the three women in the past, she more than likely was. Given the rap sheets that Edward’s oldest friends had, Selina was probably understating things. “I’m not afraid of Deirdre and Nina,” she said decisively. Selina looked bemused by her statement. “Should I be?”

Selina took a sip of her own drink before she answered. “Deirdre’s usually pretty stand-offish. Nina’s the more protective one. She might poke at you a bit, but the fact that they’ve already met you and that Ellie likes you are going to help you out a lot. Don’t let them walk over you, but don’t get nasty with them either. Eddie’ll step in if he thinks they’re going too far.”

Penelope wasn’t worried about Edward not defending her. Quite the opposite. She remembered Harley and Cobblepot and let out a sigh. “I don’t want to come between Edward and his friends.”

Selina’s face grew serious. “I know,” she reassured her. “Look, the biggest thing to remember about Deirdre and Nina is that they aren’t just Eddie’s henchgirls, or even just his friends. They’ve known him for half his life. Before Ellie came along, they were the closest thing he had to family. They saw how bad he got before he went into his coma, and they’ve seen how much better he’s gotten in the past few years.” Selina smirked. “And unless they’re deaf, dumb, and blind, they know who to thank for that. They already like you more than they ever liked me or Crane. As long as you respect them, they’ll respect you.”

Penelope nodded. “Thank you, Selina.” She shook her head. “Anyway, what are your plans?”

***

Two days later, Selina’s words swirled through Penelope’s mind as she approached Edward’s apartment, gift bag in hand. Respect Deirdre and Nina, and they’ll respect you. She’d never been one to care much what people thought about her on a personal level, but she remembered just how much his estrangement from Harley had hurt Edward, much as he tried to deny it. She remembered all too well what kind of chaos had been caused by his fight with Cobblepot over his relationship with her. Deirdre and Nina didn’t have to like her, but if she was the cause of a falling out between them and Edward...Penelope tried to shake the thought out of her mind. She’d gotten along with them just fine before. She should make the most of her time with Edward instead of worrying about hypotheticals.

She arrived at Edward’s door and her attention was immediately caught by the large, ornate wreath on the front of it, complete with glowing question marks. She shook her head. What else could one expect from him? Taking a breath, she knocked on the door. Edward answered it immediately, a stricken look on his face. “Darling!” he cried out. “Thank God you’re here!”

“What’s wrong?” she asked. Had Ellen’s grandmother changed her mind? Had something happened with Deirdre and Nina?

Edward immediately ushered her inside and gestured to the interior of his apartment. “Look at what they’ve done to my house!” Penelope looked inside the apartment and her jaw dropped. Almost every surface in Edward’s living room was covered in nutcrackers, plastic and wooden Christmas tree and Santa Claus figurines, and so much tinsel that Edward would be vacuuming it off the floor for weeks. A three-foot Santa was standing by the front door, and in the corner of the living room, where his bookcase was, stood a tall tree, ostentatiously decorated. Ellen was standing on a footstool, under the watchful eye of Deirdre and Nina, putting the finishing touches on the tree. All three wore tacky green and red holiday sweaters.

Ellen looked over her shoulder, made eye contact with Penelope, and smiled. “Hi Doc!” she shouted. She hopped off the footstool and gestured to the tree. “It’s done! What do you think?”

Penelope took in the scene with wide eyes before deciding to be diplomatic. “This is the most decorations I think I’ve ever seen in one home.” Even her mother, who was notorious for going overboard with decorations, would be shocked. “Where did you even get all this?”

“We bought most of them,” Deirdre said. “Ellie wanted to make sure her Dad had a proper Christmas this year.”

“Proper Christmas indeed,” Edward huffed. “It looks like a Sears Catalog and a Hallmark exploded in here!”

“Where were you when this was happening?” Penelope asked.

“They locked me in my bedroom! They only let me out five minutes ago!”

“If you really wanted to come out boss, you could have picked the lock,” Deirdre drawled.

Edward rolled his eyes. “Unbelievable. Come on in, Penny, I’ll try to find you a spot that isn’t covered in glitter.”

Nina laughed. “Aren’t you forgetting something, Eddie?”

“What?” Edward asked. Nina pointed towards the door frame and Edward and Penelope looked upwards to see a sprig of mistletoe tacked on. “Oh for the love of,” Edward muttered, his face flushing. He quickly leaned in to give Penelope a peck on the cheek, glaring at his friends when they cooed. He led Penelope to his armchair and took the gift bag from her. “Rachel wants Ellen back by dinner, so we’re going to open a few gifts, then drive down the 40′s block in the East End to look at some decorations. I have dinner reservations for the four of us at The Taverna after we drop off Ellen.”

“That sounds nice,” Penelope said. For the first time since she’d arrived, Edward smiled, then lightly squeezed her hands. “Do you need any help with anything?”

“No no, make yourself comfortable,” he insisted, gesturing for her to sit down. He took her gift bag and deposited it at the foot of the tree, around other wrapped gifts. “I’m going to get drinks for everybody. Hot chocolate or tea?”

“Tea would be lovely, thank you,” Penelope said, taking a seat.

“Don’t forget to spike our drinks,” Deirdre called after Edward as he went into his kitchen.

“Of course not,” Edward called back. Ellen followed him, asking about marshmallows. That left Penelope alone with Deirdre and Nina, who in the brief amount of time it took for Edward and Ellen to go into the kitchen, had taken seats on the sofa. They fixed Penelope with identical, calculating looks. And now it began.

Penelope politely nodded at the pair. “Deirdre. Nina.”

“Doc,” they said in unison. Well. That was disturbing. Penelope hoped they wouldn’t make a habit of that.

Penelope didn’t let on any discomfort and folded her hands in her lap. “How have you been?”

“Good,” Deirdre drawled. “We made a cool $500,000 two weeks ago knocking out a rival in Central City.”

“Yeah,” Nina echoed, a smirk on her face. “His whole haul is now our haul.”

“That’s...interesting,” Penelope brought herself to say. The previous times she’d met them, Edward’s friends didn’t talk much about what they did for a living. Were they comfortable enough with her to share that now, or were they testing her to see what her reaction would be? “You weren’t too violent with him, were you?”

Deirdre shrugged. “He’s only going to be in traction for another week. We let him off easy.”

Nina leaned forward, her eyes narrowed. “That’s not a problem, is it?”

So it was a test. Penelope didn’t break eye contact with Nina. “I know full well what the two of you get up to,” she said, soft enough that Edward and Ellen couldn’t hear. “As long as Edward and Ellen don’t get involved, as far as I’m concerned, it’s not my business.”

Deirdre and Nina shot each other a quick look. Deirdre then nodded. Nina, however, wasn’t done with her just yet. “Thought you worked for Gordon.”

“I consult with the GCPD,” Penelope corrected, keeping her tone level. “I don’t work for Gordon personally. If I wanted to, I could have reported the two of you to him a long time ago, but I didn’t.” Penelope looked over her shoulder to make sure Edward and Ellen weren’t listening. The father and daughter were chatting in the kitchen, Ellen pulling a big plate out of the fridge and Edward putting the finishing touches on some drinks. Penelope turned back to Nina and Deirdre. “I love Edward, and he loves the two of you. We don’t have to be friends or even like each other on a personal level, but for his sake, and Ellen’s, I want us to be able to respect each other.”

Nina’s face softened. “We want that too,” Deirdre said. “We don’t have anything against you, we just don’t want Ed to get his heart broken again.”

“I have no intention of that ever happening,” Penelope assured her.

“You’d better not,” Nina warned. “Or we’ll chop your body up and bury you in a desert.”

Penelope resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Noted.”

Nina nodded and settled back against the couch. “Alright,” she said. “I guess we can accept you being the number one girl in Eddie’s life now.”

“Number two,” Penelope corrected. “Number one is Ellen.”

Deirdre and Nina exchanged another look, and this time, an identical, satisfied smile appeared on their faces. “Well played, Doc,” Deirdre said. “You pass.”

“Pass what?” The three women looked up to see Edward approaching the dining room table, holding a drink tray in his hands. He looked from Penelope to Nina and Deirdre and fixed the latter with a look. “Girls! Have you been bullying Penny?”

“We’re fine,” Penelope said quickly. “We were just chatting.”

Edward didn’t look convinced, but Ellen arrived with her large plate. “I made sugar cookies for everybody!” she said, putting the plate on the table. “Well, the dough was premade, but I made the shapes and decorations!”

“I’m sure they’re lovely, Ellen,” Penelope said. Ellen grinned, then began putting cookies on napkins and passing them around. Penelope looked down at the cookies and shook her head fondly. Ellen had decorated the sugar cookies to look like green question marks. Edward placed a drink on the end table next to the armchair, then pulled a chair from the dining room table so he could sit next to Penelope. He shot her a grin as he took his seat, and reached over to hold her hand.

“Aww,” Nina cooed.

“Knock it off,” Edward bit out, though without any venom. He then looked over to where Ellen was on the couch, sandwiched between Nina and Deirdre. “Ready to open presents?”

“Yay!” Ellen shouted, finishing off her cookies in a big gulp and getting up off the sofa. She dashed to the tree and gathered gifts up in her hands. “This is everyone’s presents from me,” she said. She then looked back to the tree and passed around another set of presents. “This is from Nina and Deirdre to everyone, this is from Dad to everyone-”

“Hold off on Penelope’s,” Edward said. “I want to give that to her later tonight.” He looked towards Penelope. “If that’s alright?”

She squeezed his hand. “That’s fine.”

Deirdre laughed. “Ooh, what did you get her?”

Edward glared at his former henchwoman while Penelope flushed. “Don’t be crass!” He shook his head. “Honestly, I can’t take the pair of you anywhere.”

Ellen made a face when she realized what the adults were talking about, then quickly turned her attention back to the presents. “Here’s Doc’s gifts for everybody.” She took her small pile and sat on the floor between her father and the sofa.

“Ellen, do you want a chair?” Edward asked.

“I’m good,” Ellen insisted. She looked at her gifts. “Now, which one do I want to open first?”

“Open mine,” Edward said.

Ellen looked at the large garment bag and cocked her head in curiosity. Then her face lit up. “Wait: Is this what I think it is?”

A grin came to Edward’s face. “That depends on what you think it is.”

Ellen practically vibrated with excitement, though she was careful as she opened the present. Penelope had to smile at the enthusiasm the girl was projecting, and judging from the looks on the other adults' faces, they felt the same way. Ellen got the bag open and let out a whoop of joy as she pulled a turquoise suit jacket out. “It’s my suit!” she shouted with glee. She pulled out a pair of dress pants that were the same vivid color. “My prom suit!” She got up and practically tackled Edward in a hug, almost knocking him off his chair. “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Dad!”

Edward laughed and returned her hug. “You’re very welcome, sweetheart.” He separated from her long enough to nod towards his bedroom. “Go try it on. I want to know if I need to take it into Anton and get alterations done.”

Ellen nodded and picked up the suit then ran off to the bedroom. Edward chuckled indulgently. “Prom suit?” Penelope found herself asking.

“Rachel wanted her to wear Diane’s old dress for prom. Her old baby pink dress. Ellen disagreed.”

Penelope had a brief mental image of Ellen in a poofy, 80′s style pink dress and shuddered. “You’re not going to get in trouble with Rachel over this, are you?”

Edward shrugged. “We’re going to keep her suit here for the time being and pull a switcheroo when prom comes. I’ll deal with the old battleax then.”

Deirdre laughed. “You need any help getting Gramma in line, let me and Nina know.”

“Yeah,” Nina added, cracking her knuckles. “We still want to get back at Brown, Dent, and those other assholes for what they did earlier this month.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that too much,” Edward said. A smirk came to his face. “Dear old Arthur and Harvey were so broken up about what they did to me, they agreed to pay my business expenses for the next six months, hence why I’ve been able to splurge for Christmas this year.”

Penelope’s eyes widened. “Edward Nigma, did you hack into Brown and Dent’s accounts?” That would explain why Brown had to get a public defender, actually.

“Hack is such an ugly word,” Edward defended. “Besides, it’s the least they could do for my physical and mental distress.”

Deirdre cackled and raised her glass. “You’re still the biggest son of a bitch I’ve ever met, Boss.” Edward raised his glass in response. Penelope scoffed but raised her glass as well.

“Just don’t make a habit of it,” she warned him, tapping him on the nose.

Edward pouted but nodded. “Of course not, darling.”

“Whipped,” Deirdre muttered, much to Nina’s amusement. Before Edward could interject, Ellen stepped into the living room, clad in the suit and white dress shirt her father got for her. Her hair was down, and it looked like she’d combed her hair back in an attempt to emulate her father’s look. She twirled around the room, stopping in front of her father.

“Well?” she asked. “How do I look?”

Edward got out of his chair, beaming at his daughter. “Like a chip off the old block,” he said proudly. Standing in front of Ellen, Penelope was once again struck by the resemblance between father and daughter. Watching them embrace, Penelope was once again struck by how much, despite their constant bickering, the two loved each other. Nina and Deirdre got up off the couch and joined in the small huddle, cooing over Ellen and taking pictures. Penelope continued to watch, taking in the sight of her lover with his family. Edward looked over his shoulder and caught her gaze. Wordlessly, he gestured to her. She got up immediately and made her way towards them.

She was part of that family too now.

***

Four hours later, Ellen was back at her grandmother’s, her suit hidden away in Edward’s closet. After dinner, Deirdre and Nina had gone back to their hotel, the latter teasing Edward about giving him some alone time. That left just him and Penelope.

They were sitting on his couch together, Edward almost glued to her side, touchy in a way he hadn’t been when there were other eyes. “Alone at last,” he said, nuzzling his nose against hers.

As much as she liked Ellen, and as comfortable as she was becoming around Deirdre and Nina, she had been looking forward to having Edward all to herself. She leaned in and pressed her lips softly against his. She pulled away and let out a small laugh at the dreamy look on his face. “Do you want any help cleaning some of the decorations?”

Edward shook his head. “No, I’ll keep them up for a few days. Ellen’s coming back on Boxing Day.”

As she suspected, the fuss Edward had made over the decorations was more for show than genuine distaste. “I have your present still,” she said, getting up from the couch to get her gift bag, much to Edward’s dismay. She sat back down and pulled out a small box, wrapped in silver wrapping paper. “Here. It’s not much, but-”

“I would have been perfectly content with having you as my present,” Edward said, taking the present. He unwrapped it and his eyes lit up when he saw the luxury green fountain pen. “Darling!” he exclaimed happily. “I love it!”

“I know you’ve been wanting one for a while,” Penelope said happily. “It has green ink too.”

“Perfect,” Edward said, putting the pen down on the coffee table. he then picked up a small box off the table. He looked almost nervous giving it to her. “I said once that I’d give you the stars if I could,” he said. “Well, this is about as close to a star as I can get.”

Penelope unwrapped the box and realized it was a jewelry box. She opened the lid and let out a small gasp. Inside was a silver necklace, shaped like the North star. In the middle of the star, she realized, there was a small diamond. “Eddie,” she breathed. “It’s beautiful.” She looked back up at him, almost ashamed. “This didn’t cost you too much-”

“Arthur and Harvey are taking care of my business expenses, remember?” he said with a wave of his hand. He cupped her face. “Penny,” he said. “You’ve made me happier than I’ve been for a long time. With everything going on with Strange and Batman, I haven’t been able to make as much time for you as I should. I want to make you as happy as I can. What kind of boyfriend would I be otherwise?”

She’d noticed, over the time that she’d known him, that Edward tended to equate giving material possessions with love. “I’m grateful,” she said. “But you never need to do things like this to make me happy.”

“I know,” Edward said with a roll of his eyes. “But I want to. And it’s Christmas, let me spoil you for one night.”

“Fine,” Penelope said with an eye roll of her own. She smiled fondly at him and put the necklace on. He gave her a look of approval.

“The girls didn’t give you too much grief today, did they?” he asked.

“Nina and Deirdre? Not at all.” Penelope smirked. “Besides, even if they had, I think I would have gotten the better end of the deal. You’re meeting my mother tomorrow, remember?”

Edward paled slightly, then puffed himself up. “Of course I do. I’ll be sure to sweep her off her feet, just like I did her daughter.” He waggled his eyebrows.

“You swept me off my feet? Really? That’s not quite how I remember it.” Edward pouted at her, only for her to lean in to kiss him again. “I love you,” she said softly.

“I love you too,” Edward answered. “Merry Christmas, darling.” The pair shared another kiss as snow began to fall outside.

[thestarwarsnut]

A DC AU

I saw a post a while back about an AU where Riddler runs escape rooms, and it inspired me to write this.

In Arkham, there is a small group of inmates who were grunts or something (not important), who are experimenting with a new form of rehabilitation. It will allow them to learn social skills, have some fun... learn LEGAL ways to solve problems. A guard sits these people down at a table, and they play DnD. The guard is the Dungeon Master, the inmates are players. The guard is also there to make sure nobody gets hurt, but it hasn't really been a problem.

As this program shows more promise, they decide to first let one of the inmates DM, under the supervision of the guard. Then, the Guard just becomes a player (officially, he's watching them, but it's more of a formality at this point.) It gets to a point that the program has actually helped rehabilitate some of the inmates, so they decide to slowly expand the program to higher profile cases. They would include 1 Villain (not Joker, that decision was unanimous). They needed to pick someone who they felt would actually take to this kind of rehabilitation, and there was only 1 obvious choice.

Edward Nigma. Aka- The Riddler.

When he starts, he's skeptical, but once they tell him there are puzzles that are hard, he is interested. He takes to the game like a fish to water. As time goes on, Riddler has learned enough about the game to DM for himself. They're worried dealing with characters finding solutions he wouldn't think of might set him off, but the opposite occurred. It seemed to encourage him to create better puzzles and riddles in the game. The other inmates LOVED Riddler DMing. He wasn't much for combat, but that was already kinda... difficult to justify some times ("No sir, I do not ACTUALLY have a weapon, OR want to attack another inmate! It's part of the game, I promise!")

As Riddler became more popular as a DM, they did the math and realized he hadn't broken out of Arkham once since he became invested in the game and later DMing. The slowly included more villains.

First, Two Face. Then Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and finally Killer Croc and Bane (when asked about the last additions, the Arkham Board admitted they simply didn't want their 2 strongest inmates to spend every day working out). They didn't take to the program as quickly as Riddler did, but they slowly warmed to it. Harley seemed to be the first to become invested, playing a Redemption Paladin who's power healed wounds, and sweet words healed hearts. In this Universe, the game helps her work out some issues she hasn't realized yet, and she broke things off with Joker.

As word spread outside Akrham about this group of Villains that met every week, people became curious, others became concerned. Rumors start to spread, that they are using the game as a cover to make evil plans! To put peoples minds at ease, the Warden allowed one of the guards to record their game on his cell phone and post it online for people to watch. The Warden believed this would simply calm the masses and it would be business as usual.

But he was wrong.

The video went viral. People all over wanted to know more about this Villain DnD game. This also corresponded to when these particular villains were to be reviewed, and possibly released depending on their progress. Almost all of them (Bane simply didn't care for games. He would rather break the bat) were put on probation and let out. They were each given a set of dice and their character sheets, as a reward for finishing the program successfully. Upon leaving, all of them decided to meet somewhere next week to continue the game. They're all worried about how they will make things work, but are determined to keep playing. Nigma managed to get a cheap apartment, so everyone met there.

After a couple of minutes of playing, there is a knock on the door. When he opens the door, there is a FedEx delivery guy, and he has Nigma sign for a package. When the delivery guy leaves, Nigma opens the box. Inside is a letter, on top of some shiny black chrome computer equipment. He opens the letter, and it is from Batman, of all people! He heard of their progress, and was actually very happy he doesn't have to fight them anymore. Knowing their predicament, he proposes an idea- an online DnD show. So many people loved the video the Warden posted, imagine how many people would tune in to see them do it live.

So, the villains worked together, making a weekly DnD show. The show is called "Riddle me this!" Since Nigma would still be the Dungeon Master. They were very surprised that, once they started becoming popular, they got a corporate sponsorship from Wayne Enterprises (”I own several streaming services, and a few television networks. This seems like a sure thing” the Sponsorship offer said”). But all their money problems were pretty much solved, and they were happy.

The kicker? Batman would sometimes make Guest Appearances, when he wasn't fighting crime. But, never as a player. Only as a guest DM.

Riddler had Batman run combat, because he was better at it, and he had Batman play the BBEG, which made them laugh every time.

[smells-like-ink-and-fire]

Innocence died screaming, honey I should know

Here’s the thing: For all his talk of Gotham being a life-sucking, happiness draining shithole, leaving it had never been truly an option on Jason’s mind. It was his shithole of a city goddammit, the grim dirt streets he would die on. It was his home, the blood on his veins. This city had its claws deep into him, and leaving, especially leaving never to return, had been simply impossible, did not compute to him.

Especially now, that Jason was getting along better with the Bats these days. He still didn’t, and never would agree with Bruce regarding his no-killing rule. But things were better, or at least he thought they were. His presence was expected and even accepted. There were some awkwardness and silent nobody knew how to fill, but there were also jokes and eating junk food together after patrol. Sure, there were a lot of snippy comments but he made those too, gave as good as he got, and Bruce still didn’t quite trust him, not to the extent he did with the other, though that was just a given, he had made peace with it, he still killed, after all, a little suspicion was an acceptable price to pay for it.

Self-righteous, holier than thou bat.

Still, there was an uneasiness on his chest whenever the pointed looks got too much when they would start questioning his actions and his plans like he hadn’t been trained by the world's greatest detective like the rest of them and League of Shadows on top of that. Forgetting that Jason had effectively taken control of the East End in less than two months, and without any of them noticing.

The good parts didn’t lessen the rage-hurt out when Barbara sneered at him, acting like he couldn’t be trusted in the field, like the fact he had issues, that he cared about the victims because he had been one made him incapable of being rational, turned him into something that was eternally compromised. Like he was a mindless raging monster, who would shoot to kill at mere provocation.

He had been, once, fresh out of those green waters, traumatized, angry, afraid, and replaced. He had been a child, too, didn’t that count for something?

Their veiled accusations of insanity, that he had a problem, that needed to be handled like he was a fucking dog, the angry gremlin claims that he was unhinged and the only reason that they kept him around was to keep an eye on him, it all made Jason feel queasy, made him feel less than human.

It made him wonder how truly welcome he was. Was he welcome or they were just trying to appease their guilt and keep a loose cannon from the streets?

But there were undoubtedly good things too. Moments that made it worth it. His relationship with Steph and Duke, and surprisingly, Replacement was getting better, even though the first two were not around as much as he would like. The nights they had spent chewing off some of the undoubtedly brilliant but assholes teachers while demolishing mountains of homework had been fun, and Replacement-Tim was quite a sass master, now only if he could convince the kid to take a step back from WE so that he wouldn’t have a heart attack before he could drink legally.

Replacement, however, was why he was here. Here being diner on the border of the Bowery and Robinsonville, The Raging Duck, a new place that Golden Boy wanted to try, make a family bonding experience out of it, Jason was sure. Replacement had twisted his way around with words in a shape that made it impossible for him not to come. His saving grace was that Jason had already made clear that he couldn’t stay long, under the pretext of having to verify that month payments collection from the Bowery.

Which was goddammed good thing because this whole outing had been a mistake. The last couple weeks had been rough, with the stress of studying and writing applications for his master degree, the couple of murders that almost led to a gang war between the Falcone and the Russians,  plus a decoy staged by the Riddler, as his newest scape plan, that had taken too long to crack leading to an accident that had killed three people and would have killed a lot more if Jason hadn’t said fuck and put bullet holes on some goons heads. This in turn led to an inevitable argument because of Batman's continuous incapacity to see the necessity of his actions while on some level recognizing that was the only poss0ible decision meant that tension had been higher than usual.

Therefore, putting everybody in a room together was definitely not the best idea, Dickie! The last ten minutes certainly proved so, what had started as an easy-going conversation about their early on mishaps of the field, which included a hefty number of stories where the main theme was “And then I said Fuck Batman – With varying degrees of success” that had started as a split-second change of subject in order to avoid a fight breaking out, had turned into passive-aggressive attacking Jason. The worst part was that Jason wasn’t even sure they were doing on purpose.

Did the even realize he was sitting right next to them? Or was he just a ghost?

“… and then the fantastic Robin fell three stores down only to be needed to be saved by the incredible Spoiler! So, listen to me kids, if you’re going to say fuck Batman you should at least be sure there is something to break your fall before you jump.”  - Steph finished the story with a flourish, going back to her waffles.

“That was a level of stupidity that I wasn’t aware that you were capable of Replacement. Really, I thought you were supposed to be the smart one.

“Please, as if you weren’t the first one to ignore an order just to fuck with B, Jason. There’s a list. The Incident with the Falcone. Killer Crock latest scape. The entire shit show that was last week. – Tim shot back, mulish, poking at his fries

And every single of those missions was a raging success.

“Which is the one involving Babs, back when she was still BG, you know the one she always mentions, because I don’t know what you did dude but she’s still pissed at you for it.”

“Oh, I know! Bruce forced them to work together on that one, it was a drug-smuggling operation that involved kids. Jason jumped in instead of waiting for her signal. Needless to say, it did not end up well. Babs was so very pissed.”

Yeah for the assholes that thought using kids as drug mules was a good idea. BG was just made the street rat had a better plan than her

“Is that why warehouse 25F is a gory, burned-out mess?”

“Nah, that came later, during that corruption case that nearly put the Comish in the hospital. Or maybe it was the one involving that Nazi Arts dealer?”

“Is there a difference? They always end up in unnecessary explosions. Todd’s need for dramatics and overuse of force are well documented”

Because you can talk about overuse of force, demon spawn.                    

“Robin. Less explosions. Trying to help. Hurt.”

“Yeah, he was trying to help Cass, nobody is denying that the thing is Jason desire to be a little shit and prove Batman wrong is way stronger than his drive to help people, and even though there were far less explosions back then, both he and innocent people have gotten hurt.”

How you’d know? You weren’t around back then Dickface.

“So, we can agree that it’s basically a Pavlovian response for him at this point. Your stubbornness and desire to say Fuck Batman no matter the consequences have been able to surpass death Jason, and if that it’s not a feat, I don’t know what is. Congratulations, really!” – Steph summarized.

He had been holding up fine until that point but he just didn’t have the strength to it anymore, every word out it Tim's mouth felt like the blow of crowbar shattering his ribs, chocking on his own blood because a Batarang slashed his throat. He felt faint. He felt dangerously close to crying.

“I have to go.” – Jason got out of his chair.

“Jason…” – The pitying and yet reproachful note on Dick’s voice made his skin crawl.

“I said I couldn’t stay very long. Some of us have stuff to do. You know criminal empires to run, places to blow up, kneecaps to shoot.” – He doped a twenties bill on the table.

“Todd. Cease being childish. Just because you are unable to accept your failures, and the fact that you were incompetent and arrogant enough to be captured by an enemy does not mean you should incapable of accepting constructive criticism.”

“Not being childish gremlin. I do have a criminal empire to run. And I do take constructive criticism, preferably from people who know what the hell they are talking about. You know people that are more than the “blood sons” of people that are greater than themselves. Noise midgets, not so much. Bye.”  – Jason out of the dinner before any of them can reply.

See you never again.

He doesn’t know how he gets back to his closest safe house. It’s a reasonably good one. He likes this one. He focusses on the things he likes. Hardwood floor. The light green paint. On the things, he doesn’t. The shitty heating. The fact that the cabinets doors don’t shut all the way.

Breaths. Slowly. In and Out. Counts to three hundred. Breaths again.

The tears still prickle on his eyes. His chest feels hollow. His throat is dry. He doesn’t have the strength to move from where he’s sat on the floor, his back against the door. Going a few rounds with Deathstroke had hurt less. It certainly never made him want to crawl under his bed and stay there until the world forget he existed. Of course, Slade had also never blamed for his own death.

Even though his own father had. Reckless, overly aggressive, incapable of following orders, loud-mouthed Robin that got what he deserved, Bruce had said. Maybe not to his face but he had said it. Then again it had been his fault, hadn’t it?

He takes a few more breaths, tries to push his emotions back, locking them deep, and walks to the fridge, pours himself a glass of water. Drinks it. His mind goes back to the conversation. The glass shatters in his hand.

“Oh, fuck!”

He goes to the sink, to clean his hands and throws the broken glass into the trash. Lucky there were only some minor cuts that don’t need stitches even if they hurt like a bitch.

Take that universe!

Still, he wraps them in bandages since he doesn’t fancy cleaning blood out of his sheets. Sleep, however, doesn’t come easily that night, and the time he doesn’t spend tossing and turning, trying to find a comfortable position to follow to try to fall back asleep in, he spends waking up from dreams that leave him feeling like he’s constantly falling, sharp terror waking him each and every time.

There is no rest for the wicked though, and so he takes off by late morning and goes to check o on the rest of the gang, makes sure Antony is running things smoothly. All in all, it’s pretty boring, with enough paperwork to make a bonfire, but it does the job of taking his mind out the things for a while. Patrol is uneventful, which is a welcome respite, and Jason doesn’t do much more than stop a few muggings and beating up some creeps.

During that time, he keeps an ear out for the bats, especially Dick since he’s not anywhere near the mood to listen to another of the boy wonder lectures about how “Damian is just a child; you shouldn’t take what he says seriously”, especially those came with the addition of being delivered in that tone that screamed, “even though he’s right”. But he must have gone back to his turf because he sees no hair nor hide of him or any of the others.

The next two nights are very much a repetition of that first one, with little sleep and little action, so much so that a paranoid and exhausted part of him gets a bit terrified and so he ends up calling Roy just to hear the genius talk about whatever crazy project he’s been working on lately. If the redhead has any idea why Jason is calling him at four in the morning, he doesn’t comment on it and simply talks until his friend's breath has even out.

This way when the sun comes up the next day, Jason drags himself out of bed and heads straight to the shower, the cold water helps ground him back into his body. Still feeling like shit but at least knowing the difference between dream and reality he eats his breakfast while checking his messages and it’s more than a little bit shocked to see a text from Bruce asking, as in there is an actual please in it if they can talk about a possible case with a few crossed wires. There’s even an invitation to stay for dinner alongside with it, which makes him wonder if Bruce hit his head a little too hard the other day, or if Alfred finally made good on his promise of finding a drug that made him less emotionally stunned.

No matter the cause, the message leaves him hopeful enough that he answers with a yeah, I’ll be there by five.

He arrives at the Manor door fifteen minutes past five, just in case, greeting Alfred with a smile that the old butler easily returns. They make some small talk as the older man demands him to at least drink a cup of tea before heading down. Still, they part at the entrance of the cave and Jason takes those final steps alone.

“Sup, old man?”

“Jason.” – Bruce answers, his back turned, typing at the bat computer, probably filling some reports.

“C’mon B, you’re the one who called me unless of course, you somehow have been possessed and that please was you asking for help, in which case, give me a second and let me call the Martian Manhunter, you gotta give a bit more of information.” – Jason kept his gaze on Bruce’s back, his breath steady, he was not rambling thank you very much!

“There been some talk about an escort service in Diamond District that works as a front from money laundering. I think you might know some of the girls.”

“Little bit out of my way. Maybe you should check with Cat.”

Bruce’s eyes were shining, and the line of his mouth meant that he was finding it funny and Jason was filed to the brim with a wave of warmth and nostalgia. It made him feel like a kid again, it made him like Robin again, like magic.

“Maybe we should.”

“Oh gross! Let’s go back to the ever-existing cases of corruption and gross old man please?”

“Isabella McGarvey”

“Know the surname. Any relation to Ophelia McGarvey?”

"Her older sister I believe, records show that she moved from the East Side two years ago but didn’t take her sister with her because she was a minor…"

Most of the afternoon passed that way. With the Batman and the Red Hood checking financial records, discussing disappearances and police reports in an amiable tone, full of teasing.  It was a welcome change of pace being the one providing the answers to all-knowing Batman for once. So, he took his time explaining the inner workings and the shady dealings of the Alley, preening at the attention and the approval, something he would deny until his second dying day.

Perhaps the only dark spot in the otherwise bright day was the fact that Jason kept purposely having to avoid looking at the southeast corner of the cave, at the glass cage that seemed to hover over them.

Refusing to acknowledge that some part of Bruce would always believe he was dead

“There maybe be a loose end might be worth exploiting but I don’t know how long that window would be open: There was a shooting, a few days ago, near the Bowery and Robinsonville, no cameras, three dead, the assailant left no evidence behind.”

“Don’t know what to tell you Bats, last time I was there I was with your kids, didn’t hear anything, neither did mine. I mean, I could ask but this is Gotham, murders are pretty much the norm. Unless those guys are part of something bigger, I got you nothing.” -  Jason shrugged, already calculating the possibilities of why this is relevant and coming out with nothing.

Damn all-knowing paranoid bat.

“They were. Trafficking ring. Middleman.”

“There is no trafficking ring in the Alley”.

Of that he’s certain.

“There is not. Because those men were killed before they could take anyone. But they were known for it, and they were asking the sort of questions that could ping on your radar.”

“Well, I haven’t heard anything. I’ll make sure to pay more attention, update some protocols.” – Jason answered, already planning to investigate it.

If they were acting as a middleman for someone roaming around then that someone would send more to scoop the territory out and he would be prepared when they came, regardless of what else could be there. There were no trafficking rings in Alley.

“Or maybe you did and decided to take care of it your own terms”

The abruptness of the question was so earth-shattering that he took a few steps back to regain his balance.

“Jesus Christ Bruce if are gonna accuse me of murder you could at least have the decency of start with that. No, I did not kill them. If any of mine did I haven’t heard of it. But as far as I’m concerned is no great loss.” - He succeeds at sounding nonchalant and enraged, hiding the fact that the question felt like a bucket of water, leaving his cold and shaking.

So, this is why Bruce actually called, so he could question Jason about his latest failure, his latest disappointment in Bruce’s eyes. Of course, it was, and he was a fool for ever thinking otherwise. For letting himself hope that Bruce was trying, that he wanted to rekindle the relationship they had when Jason still wore those green panties.

“Where were you at 2:30 in the morning, three nights ago?”

“What?”

Please god, everything but this. I can’t do this again

“At the time of the murder, where were you?

“In a dinner with your kids.” – Jason’s voice was nothing more than a whisper as if all the air had been pushed out of his lungs.

Why you don’t believe me? Why you don’t trust me?

“Damian said you left early, earlier than that, because he got home at 3:00. It takes at least half an hour to get here from there.

“Safehouse a few blocks away, then. Sleeping. Bruce, please”.  – Jason was begging now, voice raw and full of hurt.

“Can you prove that?”

"The hell is wrong with you?!? I already told you: I. DID. NOT. KILL. THEM. When have I ever not taken credit for the people I’ve killed?"

“What’s going on?”

And of course, because his luck could not be worse, that was the Perfect Grayson coming down the stairs. He could feel the headache forming behind his eyes. He did not want to deal with this shit right now.

Was it too much to ask for the ground swallow him whole?

“Nothing! Bruce’s just spent the last five minutes pointlessly accusing of murder! Can you get the fuck out so we can continue discussing it?”

“You were near the scene of the crime, you have a motive, the means, and a history.”

“Wait you killed someone?”

“No! Keep up, Bruce is just being a dick, you know like you usually are.”

“Is a valid concern”

“Is a piece of shit that is what it is!”

“Can someone please explain?”

“Bruce thinks I killed three people after I left the dinner the other day.”

That what you did after you left? It’s that what you meant by shooting kneecaps? Jay… I know that you were angry but this…

“Jesus Fucking Christ Didn’t I just say its bullshit?”

“You said that?”

“It was a joke”

“You have motive, means, no alibi and now your brother is telling me that you left because you needed to shoot someone. What do you want me to believe?”

“THAT I WOULDN’T LIE ABOUT IT!”

“If you were planning only to main them, if your anger got the better out you, as it has before if you did it out impulse, and is trying yo hide it.”

“You know what Bruce? You’ve already made up your mind so I will do us all a favor and get myself out. You can’t trust me? Well, I can’t trust you. From now on there will be no bats at the East End. If you are seen, you will be shot. That’s how trigger happy I fucking am!”

He pushed passed Dick and Bruce, the world was tingled with pit green glow, his ears were roaring, no sound, only rage, and loss. Every step he took was calculated, his breath was short, measured. A of violence ready to blow up at the mere provocation held together only by the barest threads of sanity and humanity and the training Ducra had given him. Roy’s voice babbling at him. Kori’s booming laughter. Kyle ridiculous art. Donna’s everlasting sass and warmth.

Somehow, someway he made home without turning Gotham into a bloodbath, and the relative he felt at activating the security protocol was fastly overtaken by fear. He hadn’t had an attack like that in over three months. Hadn’t let the Pit burning so strong in his veins in so long. Hadn’t felt that disconnection to reality since his early days out of the Pit.

Just the idea of what could have happened in case he lost control made Jason grab the nearest bucket and puke. He stayed there, pressing the palm of hinds to his eyes, heaving.

It didn’t matter, because it didn’t happen.

His phone rang, and if it was anybody else calling, he let go straight to voicemail, but it was Talia’s ringtone and she didn't call jus for kicks, so he presses answer.

“If I told you I didn’t kill a man would you believe me?” – Jason blurts out before he can stop himself, red coloring his cheeks as he realizes what he just said, cursing himself for his stupidity.

“Of course. Why would…I see.” – Talia’s face goes from neutral to confusion and finally anger in a matter of seconds. – “Your father does not know you at all Habibi, and that, rest assured, is entirely his fault. He’s too caught up in the image he made of you to be able to see you as truly are.”

“Batman being a stunned idiot, who can look past his own reasoning of the world? What an earthshattering idea T! – Jason says sarcastically trying to cover up his earlier emotional outburst. -  Anyway, got a reason for calling?

“Do not play coy with me, Jason, it’s unbecoming. Regardless, I do not believe Gotham has done you good. Moreover, I do not believe your father's actions towards you have been in any way helpful to your recovery and growth.”

“What are you? My therapist?”

“I would not be against for you to see one, but I would not force you either. Your choices, as always, must be your own. Besides is my understanding that to be effective therapy must also involve privacy. Another thing that its unlikely to come by if you are to remain here.

“Gotham needs me. The Alley needs me, God knows the Bat can’t handle this shit, they don’t care and even if they did the Alley would never trust them” – It wasn’t as much a rebuttal as it was an excuse

“They do, but you are of no use to them if you are constantly emotionally compromised by the rash and thoughtless actions of those who do not understand you and do not seek to. Loyalty is a gift that must be not be given lightly and they make ill use of yours while reaping the benefits of it. Perhaps it’s time for them to learn how to much you do for them. The absence does make the heart grow fonder.”

“You’re telling me to leave.”

“I’m telling take a step back. You’ve done tremendous work, but there’s more to you then violence. The petty criminals and drug dealers and the pimps are all properly terrified, your minions are capable enough that they can keep your operation running without your direct involvement. Rest. Recover. Come back when you are ready. Besides, you do have your master’s degree to consider, don’t you?”  - Jason blushed, Talia wasn’t one to give compliments that she didn’t mean, and she did have a point, but…

But what? What did he truly have here? It had taken less than ten minutes for Dick convince Bruce, based on nothing more than a few throw away words Jason had said when he was angry and hurting, that Jason had killed a man and once that decision had been made no amount of evidence would make Bruce turn around in his favor. The others probably already knew what had happened and just as likely had decided to stay away from him from now on. After all, if he couldn’t take a little teasing without blasting someone’s brains out then he was certainly no better than the crazies in Arkham, to them.

What Talia was offering has the peace of taking a walk without being judged by the path he chooses to walk on, let the dust stele until bygones were bygones and he could look at Dick’s- Holier-Than-Thou face without breaking every single bone in it.

What did he have to lose that he couldn’t take back later on?

“You do realize that this will take quite a bit of work and resources, right? – Jason could almost see that pleased little smile of hers spread on Talia’s face.

“You do realize who you are speaking with don’t you Habibi? Let’s get to work.

[my-one-love-is-music]

Write 365 Day 27: Where Do Broken Hearts Go?

AO3 link

~~

“Isn’t that right, Jason Todd?” 

Jason’s eyes widened behind his mask at Red Robin’s words. He snarled and shoved him against the building they were next too, grip tight on his throat. If he needed to he could easily choke the bastard. 

“How the hell do you know that name?” he snarled. 

Bruce hadn’t yet figured it out so how did this small-timer, this no-name kid, know who he was? And he hadn’t tattled to Bruce about it either. Is it because he didn’t think Bruce would believe him? But if he had enough evidence it wouldn’t matter if it seemed illogical at first. Did he want something from him? Jason didn’t know anything about this little shit. He could have some ulterior motive that even Bruce didn’t know about. 

Red Robin smirked, chuckling low in the back of his throat despite the grip on his neck. Jason was used to being around people who weren’t entirely in check with reality. He toed the line more than he would’ve liked, but to have this man seem so calm in front of him despite being on the edge of danger unnerved him more than he would’ve cared to admit. 

“I figured out Batman’s and Robin’s identities when I was a little kid. If I could figure out that much, it wasn’t too difficult putting the pieces together that you were back from the dead.” 

Jason growled and tightened the grip on Red Robin’s neck. His breath hitched under the hold and he pressed his lips together, no doubt trying to keep calm. 

Jason felt a stab of panic and fear hit him that wasn’t his own and he yanked his hand back as though he’d been burned. Red Robin placed a hand over his throat, but didn’t move from where Jason had shoved him against the wall. 

“I haven’t told anyone else if that’s what you’re worried about,” Red Robin said, voice unnervingly calm. 

Jason curled his hand into a fist, pushing all thoughts of his soulmate from his mind. If someone had decided to try and hurt his soulmate right now, he would find them once he was done with this. 

“Why?” Jason asked, turning back to other man. “It would make things easier for all of you. Why keep it to yourself?” 

Red Robin shrugged. “It’s up to them to figure it out for themselves. Your challenge was always with Bruce. If he can’t manage to unmask you, then I shouldn’t do him any favors. Obviously, the two of you have some past history to work through. It’s not my business to help that along as long as I’m not directly involved. But once you decide it’s amusing to hurt the rest of my family, then I have a problem. Maybe you should stop acting like the Riddler and come out and say what you have to say.” 

Jason’s head was swimming and he didn’t like it. Everything was supposed to be straightforward. Bruce fucked up and he was here to make him pay for it and show him he was going about this vigilante business all wrong. 

It was supposed to be easy. He’d make Gotham his own, find his soulmate, and protect them from any harm that might come his way. But now Red Robin was standing in his way telling him this wasn’t what he wanted and hiding his identity from Bruce wasn’t going to get him where he needed to be. 

The Bats were all supposed to be the same. They were all supposed to follow the same useless code that Bruce did. 

It would be so easy to kill Red Robin. Just end him here. His identity would be safe and all of the annoying questions and doubts that were confusing him would be gone. He wouldn’t have anything else to worry about. Just his soulmate. 

His soulmate. 

He needed his soulmate. 

“Jason?” Red Robin asked, reaching towards him. 

Jason smacked his hand away. “Don’t fucking touch me,” he hissed. 

He turned and grabbed his motorcycle, throwing a leg over the side before he revved the engine and took off down the street. 

It wasn’t until he was back in one of his safehouses that he let himself think and process again. He’d left him alive. He was a fool. He’d run off like Red Robin was the one thing he couldn’t touch and he didn’t know why. 

He yanked off his uniform and crawled into the shower, hoping it would be enough to drive the tumultuous thoughts from his brain. 

~~

Tim watched Jason disappear into the darkness. He touched his neck, knowing he would have bruises their tomorrow. He was playing a dangerous game. He had been since Jason showed up at his apartment demanding to know why Tim Drake was interested in Black Mask’s properties. 

But he couldn’t find it in himself to stop. Even when Jason had tightened his grip enough that breathing was more difficult, other than the quick spike of fear that had dissipated almost as soon as it came wasn’t enough to warn him away. 

He suspected when Jason pulled back it had something to do with their bond, but he had a hope that there was a part of him that recognized who he was even if he didn’t really know. 

Tim would just have to be satisfied with keeping whatever this was going. If he was lucky, he might get through to Jason that he could go to Bruce himself and talk about what was going on between them. They both needed it. 

And Tim would need Jason to reevaluate what he was doing before he would even consider engaging in any kind of deeper relationship. 

If you enjoy my work, please reblog or consider buying me a ko-fi!

[thepurplebutterflythings]

We’re Grown-Ups, Aren’t We? - Jason Todd

Gif: Unknown on Tenor

Word Count: 2.1K

Paring: Jason Todd x (f)Reader

Summary: Bruce sends Y/N and Jason on a job and books them a room in a fancy five-star establishment. One problem, he was supposed to book two rooms and only booked one room, with one bed.

Warnings: N/A

Masterlist

Requested: @gaeck-o

Tagging: @bella-0104-123

________________________________________________________________

Bruce Wayne, Billionaire Play-Boy, Batman, Symbol of Gotham, CEO of Wayne Enterprises and a brilliant businessman, was a complete and utter idiot. All the man had to do was book two rooms in the hotel were Y/N and Jason had to stay in while in Detroit to visit Dick Grayson, but he somehow only booked one, and it wasn’t as if he could afford two rooms, he could get every room in the god-damn hotel if he wanted, Bruce had just simply forgotten he was sending two people on this trip.

“No, no, no,” Y/N said, putting her hands on the receptionist’s desk and leaning forward into the receptionist’s space. The receptionist, a prim and proper looking woman with rectangular glasses perched neatly onto her nose and holding a fancy looking pen, leaned backwards and gave Y/N a disapproving look. The hotel establishment that she and Jason found themselves in was fancy, in fact, fancy was an understatement – aristocratic was perhaps more accurate. The pair of them stuck out like a sore thumb, Jason in his dusty jeans and messy hair and Y/N in a worn-out leather jacket and scruffy trainers, and both of them were incredibly tired from the journey that brought them from Gotham to Detroit. “There should be two rooms under ‘Wayne’, not one.”

“I’m sorry, Mam’, but the computer says there is only one room under the name ‘Wayne’, and the system doesn’t make mistakes.”

“Well, this time it has,” Jason spoke up, rubbing his temple. “Bruce wouldn’t make the mistake of booking one room.”

“Is there any other rooms available?”

“No.”

“Seriously?” Jason groaned.

“I don’t know what to tell you, sir,” the receptionist said, clearly sick of them bothering her, “do you want the room or not?”

“Fine, we’ll take it,” Y/N sighed, grabbing her back and turning to Jason, “we’ll figure something out when we get up there.”

“Alright,” Jason nodded as he grabbed his bag. Y/N took the room key from the receptionist and nodded in thanks.

________________________________________________________________

The room was incredible, there was no doubt about that. Everything was in shades of cream and gold with mahogany wood. The moment Jason and Y/N walked into the room, they dropped their bags and looked around the room in shock.

“My apartment could fit in this ten times over!” Y/N said in awe.

“How is all of this for one person?”

“The Rich are indulgent – we work for Bruce Wayne, we should know that by now,” Y/N turned to Jason, “Dumbass had a dining room he never went in until we came along.”

“It’s still just strange to see,” Jason shrugged, “come on, neither of us had the most easy-going of upbringings.”

Jason was right. Neither himself nor Y/N were as gifted as Bruce with finance when they were growing up and it showed in moments when together. Now the most normal middle class of people would also have the same reaction as Jason and Y/N when seeing the extravagant room they were gifted with, but when they were out eating and shoved a few bread rolls in their pockets, when no one was looking it, was because of that deep-rooted fear that they grew up with not knowing if or when they would be eating again.

“Point taken…” Y/N mumbled, “but that’s very different from a golden clawed bathtub,” she said gesturing into the bathroom where the bathtub in question stood.

“That’s true,” Jason nodded, throwing his bag on the sofa. It was white, fabric, and not made to be comfy, but solely for aesthetic. “I gotta go find Grayson, reckon you’ll be alright here for a while?”

“It’s basically a palace in a five-star hotel and Bruce is paying the bill,” Y/N turned to Jason and folded her arms with the cock of an eyebrow, “I’m taking this as a chance to see how much I can rack up before we gotta leave.”

“I’ll join in on it when I get back,” Jason said as he grabbed his case that held his Robin suit and went to the door, “see ya!”

“Bye!”

________________________________________________________________

Y/N certainly took advantage of Bruce paying and ordered essentially everything on room service. The staff had to bring three rolling trollies up to the room. Lobster, steak, caviar and everything else you could imagine. She sat on the bed with the TV on and tore into everything in reaching distance.

“Oh my god,” Jason said opening the door, his jaw-dropping at the sight of all the food, “I left you alone for a day, Y/N/N, and you… what? Cleared out the kitchen?”

“I said it was a challenge, and I meant it!” Y/N shifted over to make space for Jason, who put his case down and pulled his sweater off before jumping next to her on the bed, “Salmon or Crab?”

“Salmon,” Jason said as Y/N handed him the platter with the smoked salmon on. “Bruce is going to kill you for this,” he said as he pushed the salmon into his mouth.

“ME?” Y/N scoffed, “you’ve got a mouthful $108 worth of salmon.”

“Fine, us,” Jason corrected. “But it’s worth it!”

“Damn right,” Y/N nodded as she grabbed the champagne bottle and two glasses, pouring them each a glass. She handed Jason his glass and they clinked them before downing the liquid in one. Jason lowered his glass and looked at their surroundings.

“Be honest with me, how much money is all this?”

“No fucking clue!” Y/N frowned and looked at it all, “Should we be worried?”

“I think we’re way beyond being worried now.”

“Fair play.”

________________________________________________________________

Food cleared up and taken away, Y/N and Jason started to get ready for bed. Y/N changed in the bathroom and by the time she exited, Jason was also in his pyjamas – tracksuit bottoms and no top. It made Y/N blush to see Jason shirtless, how she hadn’t realized that of course, Jason’s physique would be beyond incredible is ridiculous! The first thing Y/N thought when she saw Jason was that scene in ‘Crazy, Stupid Love’ with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, where Ryan’s character whips his shirt off to reveal an outrageously ripped body and Emma’s character goes “FUCK! Are you photoshopped?” or something to that effect. That was how Y/N felt gawking at Jason’s chest, she felt like Emma Stone and that he was Ryan Gosling.

“You alright, Y/N/N?” Jason said as he realized Y/N standing there in her pyjama’s staring at him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Y/N nodded with a cough as she folded her arms across her chest and looked around her. She suddenly wished she packed nicer pyjamas, and then she cursed herself for thinking that, but the pyjama’s she was wearing were her ‘At Home Clothes’ – clothes to be worn when no one else was around, like what that comedian Iliza Shlesinger talked about in her stand-up; holes in them, stains, and, in Y/N’s case, about a size or so too big for her. It wasn’t the outfit she wanted to be seen in after realizing how hot her friend was, why couldn’t she dress like a god-damn Victoria Secret Model when going to bed? She felt silly, like a little girl dressed in grown-up clothing pretending to be an adult.

“I’ll take the sofa,” Jason muttered as he walked to the sofa which would almost certainly play his back up.

“Why?” Y/N asked as Jason stopped in his tracks and looked at Y/N.

“Cause there’s only one bed.”

“It’s a king-size,” Y/N told him, “We could sleep on opposite sides and still have enough room for two to three more people.”

“But... wouldn’t you feel awkward?”

“Jason, we’re grown up’s, aren’t we?”

“I’d find that more believable if you hadn’t gone total ‘Home Alone Lost in New York’ on the room service.”

“We can share a bed without anything happening between us.” Y/N said as she pulled the sheets of the bed back and climbed in herself, patting the free spot for Jason to take. Jason bit his lip and nodded before getting in the bed as well.

They both looked at each other and smiled a strained smile before laying down and staring at the high, white ceiling. It was silent, only the noise of Y/N and Jason breathing filled the air. They certainly weren’t sleeping in Gotham anymore, where the normal lullaby for a baby was the endless wail of sirens, police or otherwise. No noise outside seemed unnerving to them both, any small creak or groan made by the old building could be heard. They both tossed and turned for what seemed like hours until Jason sighed, sat up and turned on the table lamp, causing Y/N to squint at the brightness and turn on her side to face Jason, who laid down and faced her.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, “I can’t sleep like this!”

“Me neither,” Y/N assured him, “it’s too… strange.”

“Normal,” Jason said, “this is how normal people not in Gotham sleep – in silence. Why can’t we?”

“Cause we’re from Gotham like you said.” Y/N sighed as she pulled the quilt up a little more to fight off the night chill, “come on, look at Gotham – we’ve got psycho clowns, exploding clockwork penguins and an asylum that criminal lunatics always seem to be breaking out of yet no one thinks to up security on – and we wonder why tourism isn’t booming!”

“Yeah, I know,” Jason nodded against his pillow, “do you sometimes wonder if you could leave it all behind?” He asked her, “Leave Gotham and be normal.”

“I don’t know,” Y/N confessed, “Those from Gotham just seem to be bred different from the rest of the world – we’re bred to survive the worst of the worst, I don’t think we could survive anywhere else, we’re not meant to, I think we’re meant to stay in Gotham, whether we want it or not.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean, look at Bruce – the guy could have an easy life, go wherever he wants, but he doesn’t, he can’t, he’s from Gotham, and he can’t leave it behind, like us, and he’s survived the worst of the worst; his parents, Joker, Riddler, Penguin, whatever villain you can think of in Gotham, Bruce has survived them – more than once. He couldn’t leave it behind if he wanted to.”

“Could you?” Jason asked her. Y/N frowned and thought for a moment, could she really leave Gotham? Her home? Gotham wasn’t the nicest of places to live, it was hell on earth in some sense, but she was born in that city, she grew up in that city, all she knew was that city, and it was hard, no doubt about it, but she found her purpose in it all – Y/N’s purpose was to help Jason and Bruce. She sat in the Batcave with Alfred and worked on the tech they used, checked CCTV and police radio and talked to them over coms. It was nice, and she knew that she couldn’t leave it behind, especially if that meant leaving the three men in her life who had become her family. Y/N never wanted to leave them, especially Jason.

“No, I don’t think I could,” Y/N shook her head, “you?”

“I think I’m meant to be in Gotham and fight crime with Bruce with the help from you and Alfred,” Jason said quietly, “I couldn’t leave. I don’t want to leave. Gotham… it’s more than a city… Gotham is my purpose.”

“I know what you mean,” Y/N smiled in reassurance. “I couldn’t leave what I do now, working with you, Alfred and Bruce… it means the world to me. I love it. If I had to do everything again, I’d do it all the same.”

“Me too,” Jason leaned across and brushed the hair out of Y/N’s eyes that had fallen in front of them “my life is better for knowing you.”

“And my life is better for knowing you,” Y/N said in a small voice before shifting closer. She looked at Jason with large eyes, silently asking him to kiss her, kiss her breathlessly, kiss her like she had never been kissed before. Jason’s hand moved to her cheek and he leaned in, catching her lips in his own, moving his hands, both of them, to her waist and pulling her close to him. Jason did exactly what Y/N asked of him. He kissed her. He kissed her breathlessly like she had never been kissed before. When they pulled apart, Jason let out a small little chuckle.

“Thought you said we were grown up enough to share a bed without something happening.”

“Well, I was wrong, weren’t I?”

“Definitely.”

“Regret it?”

“Not one bit. You?”

“God no, now make me yours, Jason Todd.”

[writerbyaccident]

Puzzle of a Person Part Two (Yandere RiddlerxReader)

Request: Hi there! I loved The Riddler and Rubik’s cube reader, could you do a part 2? Maybe he decides to meet the reader in person when in an escape room (you know those real life interactive puzzles) and he purposely makes sure they are partners and he loves this interaction so much and loved how they work together.

Ask and ye shall receive  ☺️

Part One

           The Riddler sat on a bench just outside the escape room facility, pretending not to watch as you set up a time for just fifteen minutes from now. You had been to this place before, he knew, and you were trying to work your way through each room they had to offer. So far you had been able to solve each one, and he had watched you do so with pride. Thankfully, this establishment had security cameras set up inside of their escape rooms in case of an emergency, so he had been able to hack into them and watch as you worked through each one instead of simply waiting outside to see if you had won.

           But as much as he loved watching you figure out these puzzles, he thought that it was high time that he assisted you. After all, he reasoned to himself, at a certain point the only way for you to continue to improve would be by working with someone smarter than you. Not that he meant that in a disparaging way, no, not at all! He loved you, loved you so much that he thought his heart would shatter under the weight, making you the only person worthy of his help. It was a simple fact, that was all. Ed was well aware that he was the smartest man in Gotham, so he certainly didn’t look down on you for not being at his level. Quite the contrary in fact, he thought quite a lot of you, as evidenced by the fact that he thought you worthy of his tutelage. You were much more intelligent than the average person, and perhaps even more importantly, you had a tenacity that he knew could be harnessed into something to behold. But in order for you to get to that point, you needed help, and he was the only one who could give it to you.

           So as you handed over your money to the cashier and Ed read those lips of yours that he so longed to kiss, he waited impatiently for his opening. Finally, when it was just two minutes before your time, he entered the establishment, tugging on his newly dyed hair in nervousness. God, he couldn’t remember the last time he had felt like this; the things you did to him. Waiting by the front desk as the receptionist went to the back to let a group out of their room, Ed heard you begin to fidget. When the worker returned, you got up from your chair, moving to stand beside Ed with your phone in your hand. Ed forced himself to stare straight ahead, knowing that if he looked at you too soon he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from throwing his plan out the window. Instead, he contented himself with tapping his foot against the tiled floor, desperately trying to expel some of his nervous energy. As he waited, he heard you huff out a breath and smiled to himself, knowing exactly what was bothering you. After what felt like far too long, the receptionist finally returned to the front desk, looking at the two of you expectantly.

           “This the other player for your game?” he asked you, typing something into the computer. You glanced at him apologetically, shaking your head.

           “No,” you sighed, “it turns out that my friend isn’t coming.” At the sound of your voice so close to him, Ed forcibly pushed down his sudden desire to take you into his arms to somewhere far away from here, where he would be the only one to ever hear your voice again. No, he reminded himself, it’s not time yet. Instead, Ed simply looked over at you then, carefully schooling his satisfied glee into a mask of sympathy.

           “Okay, so do you want to go in alone?” the worker inquired, already bored by the conversation.

           “Um—” you began, clearly not thrilled with the idea but knowing that you wouldn’t be able to get a refund, and Ed took his chance.

           “If you want,” he said kindly, trying to seem as nonthreatening as possible, “I could go in with you.” You gave him a quick once-over at his offer, the wheels in your head turning.

           “Are you sure? You’re not waiting for anyone?”

           “No, I was going to see if I could maybe go in with another group, but I guess it’s not very busy right now.”

           “All right,” you answered, “let’s do this then.” As soon as you gave him your answer, Ed felt a sense of victory, relishing the sensation. Though, of course, he had already know that you would accept. In each of your previous times coming here, you had brought along at least one friend with you. Despite your intelligence and determination, Ed knew that you were actually somewhat insecure, meaning that you wouldn’t want to have to do this escape room alone if you could help it. Hopefully he’d soon be able to teach you that you didn’t need any of those so-called friends though, all you needed was him. So as the employee led you to your room, he tried his best not to rush in, not wanting his eagerness to get the best of him. The two of you listened carefully while the worker explained the rules and the premise of this particular room, and when he left, started searching the room for your starting point. While Ed obviously knew where the starting instructions were hidden, he pretended to look carefully, wanting to stretch out his time with you.

           “Thanks for doing this,” you said sweetly, looking over at him from the opposite side of the room.

           “No problem. Sorry your friend flaked on you.”

           “Eh, it wasn’t her fault,” you sighed, “She was supposed to meet me here, but she couldn’t get her car to start.”

           “Ah,” Ed said, hiding his knowing smile. “That sucks.”

           “Yeah, but whatcha gonna do.” Nodding in understanding, Ed smiled at you in seeming compassion, a gesture that you returned, almost causing him stumble over his own feet. He was able to catch himself though, and instead, he lifted up the chessboard that was resting on the room’s corner table, flipping it over to reveal the first clue. You walked over to him, reading the clue that was written there: What must take a bow before it can speak?

           “Hmmm,” you mused, looking around the room, “what do you think it could be?”

           “I’m not sure.”

           “What about a rocking chair?” At your guess, the Riddler turned towards you with confusion written on his face. “You know, cause when it rocks back and forth, it’s like it’s bowing, which makes it squeak.”

           “Oh,” he responded, slightly impressed by your reasoning. “But it doesn’t necessarily squeak every time.”

           “True,” you conceded. The two of you went back and forth for a few minutes, proposing multiple objects.

           “Does it have to be an object?” Ed questioned, wondering if the people who made the room might have been angling towards a concept, like a thank you perhaps.

           “I think so; it’s gotta be somewhere that they could put the next clue, right?” you mused frustratingly, lips pursued in concentration, causing Ed to smile at just how invested you were. “Wait, what if—what if it’s a different form of the word?”

           “What do you mean?” Ed asked you, genuinely curious as to where you were going with this.

           “What if it’s not the verb, but the noun? As in, like, bow and arrow.” Ed couldn’t help himself, he laughed in response to your idea. Not because it was foolish, but because it was so simple. After all of his years masterminding schemes in Gotham, his riddles had been growing only more and more complicated in his desperation to defeat the bat. It seemed that he had become stuck in that mindset though, missing what was right in front of him. In that moment, he realized that it might not just be you who needed him, but also he who needed you. You saw things from a different perspective than him, something that could open up a whole new world of possibilities. This just proves it, he thought to himself, we’re the only ones worthy of each other.

           “Like a violin,” he answered. From there, you two found the violin, moving onto the next clue. The rest of the game went fairly quickly, both of you bouncing ideas off of each other until you escaped the room in record time. As you walked out of the facility, chatting about your victory, Ed steeled himself to make his next move. It was almost funny, how he could be so confident when it came to intellectual challenges, yet you made him so nervous.

           “This was fun,” you told him, giving him a warm smile.

           “Yes, it was. Maybe—maybe we could do it again sometime?”

           “Yeah, I’d like that.” Before he knew it, the two of you exchanged phones, and you left, promising to text him soon. As he watched you walk away, Ed became all the more glad that he had prevented your usual partner from coming today, it was clear that they had only been holding you back.

[norahjakobs]

Earth 33: Outlaws - Jason Todd

Earth 33 is my attempt at rewriting the dc universe. I’m doing this entirely for my own entertainment and as such will be writing what appeals to me. I’m starting this au off with the members of the outlaws, almost all of whom never canonly have been members.

So without farther ado, here’s Jason (This is a long one)

(TW: Death, Drugs, Overdosing, Crime, Vague Allusions to Rape)

Jason Peter Todd was born to Willis and Catherine Todd in a backstreet in Crime Alley. His father a small time crook and his mother drug addicted and unable to take care of him, he was basically left alone emotionally other than the few times Willis made time for his little prince of Gotham. Such as when he pickpocketed two tickets for a flying grayson show.

Willis got arrested on charges of drug use, theft, and grand theft auto. Reportedly he died in a prison riot started by some of Harvey Dents goons. Jason was 8 when this happened and it affected him greatly, he locked himself in his room in the Todd familys beat up tiny apartment for three days till he realized his mother hadn’t gone shopping or even begun to try and hustle any money for bills. He knew then that he’d be taking care of his mother till the day she overdosed like how the neighbors kept saying she would. Pick pocketing and theft became his new way of life but it was beyond stressful for a child of his age, and he was beat up several times by both gang members and police officers who caught him stealing.

He was 10 when his mother died from an overdose, it had been a long day and he was just happy to be able to bring some noodles and dollar store tomato paste home. But as he entered his home of ten years it smelled like how the alleys he always rushed through instead of walking smelled. He set the bags down at the door and rushed to the source of the scent. He got into the cramped kitchen and found his mother, dead. He went into his room and with a vacant expression on his face packed anything he had of value, he knew he couldn’t call 911, the phone service to the house had been cut three months ago, and besides there was no money to give his poor mother a proper burial.

He lived on the streets for the next two years and those two years taught him the way of the street, the distrust, the scrappy fighting that came when you hadn’t ate in three days, the value of a warm meal. Late one night he saw a chance that didn’t come by everyday, the batmobile, unguarded in an alleyway. He could only imagine how much the tires on it would fetch, so yeah he tried to jack the tires off the batmoblie. He was caught by Batman, who took him to get some food and talked with him. He was dropped off at a Wayne funded shelter.

And the next morning something bizarre happened, the people at the shelter let Jason know that there was someone interested in taking him in. He was hesitant at first but agreed to meet this person. A little later Bruce Wayne came in and chatted with Jason who was at first dismissive of the man but warmed up during the conversation, especially when Bruce shared about how he lost his parents when he was around 10. Jason agreed to try out living with him.

He liked it alot to say the least. He ran around the manor stuffing his face full of junk food almost constantly when he first got there till Alfred stepped in, just for his healths stake as a tumble down the long stairs or getting stick off of eating too much wouldn’t be all that fun for the kid. Jason wanted to stay and so stay he would.

Bruce put graves for Jason’s parents in the Wayne family graveyard next to Dick’s parents. Jason was put at ease by finally being able to put them to rest, including his mom’s body that was tracked down in GCP’s system as a yet to be identified body, his father’s body however had not yet been found.

Something that Bruce hadn't accounted for was the fact that Jason was a troubled sleeper, everything else he was doing perfectly with adjusting too, he was doing amazing at school, his checkup only indicated that they might want to give him some multivitamin gummies. But he just couldn’t get to sleep, he was too nervous too, and when he wasn’t too nervous he was too full of energy and trying to use it up doing something. So it was inevitable that he noticed how often Bruce was out at night and how at times he couldn’t find Alfred anywhere.

So when Bruce and Alfred were busy at some glala that didn’t let children in (Side note to myself, write younger Jason at one of these glalas) Jason poked his nose around the house looking for anything hidden. And while pulling books off the shelf in the study he tripped on the carpet and knocked a bust on the desk over, revealing a button. He did what you do when you find a button and he pressed it revealing a firemen pole, which he went down.

He ran around the cave unattended for an hour and when Bruce and Alfred has finally managed to get back home he had managed to put on one of Dick’s old robin costumes and was trying to figure out how to turn on the batmobile. Bruce sat him down and explained everything, and once he was done Jason asked if he could be Robin, and pointed out all his selling points like that his grades were good, he was good at running, he could throw a punch.

Bruce agreed to let him become Robin after a few months of training. Jason would remember his first night as Robin as one of the best of his life, only second to being adopted. His first night they dealt with a few purse snatchers, a mugging, and the crown of the night was a heist being pulled off by The Riddler at an art museum.

He met his brother Dick he and Bruce went to Bludhaven for a weekend due to Wayne Enterprises related business. The three of them met up for lunch on the Saturday and Jason and Dick got along greatly and poked fun at Bruce throughout the whole meal. On Sunday it turned out a mob had made the billanet plan to kidnap Bruce Wayne and hold him for ransom. Nightwing and Robin teamed up to save him and by the end of the adventure Dick gave Jason his phone number and told him to call whenever he’d like.

He was pretty friendless though, at school he was focused on the work and there wasn’t any sidekicks around his age running around Gotham. So Bruce organized the sidekick equivalent of a playdate with Blue Devils on again off again sidekick Kid Devil, also known as Eddie Bloomberg. The two were only supposed to taking down Polka-Dot Man who was planning a robbery. But when they returned to where Batman and Blue Devil were supposed to be figuring out a case with Zatanna at her hotel all they found were scorch marks and a very confused Zachary Zatara who had been in the hotel dining room before hearing a bunch of yelling and coming to investigate.

The events that followed were both chaotic and too long to list here. But for more details you can read here!

A couple years later he had hit the age of 15 and was overall, happy. He had a brother who loved him and checked in on him, he had a penpal who understood the stress of being a sidekick. But he also had lingering problems, anger over the treatment he got as a child and the treatment he saw others get, an empty feeling left by his parents. And what really brought out these feelings was a man by the name of Felipe Garzonas, someone that represented everything he hated. A person who abused his privilege to take advantage of those less fortunate, and then got off thanks to that privilege. Batman and Robin got him arrested but he got out the same day thanks to diplomatic immunity. And the man’s victim, overcome with terror took her own life. So when Jason was left alone with the man on a balcony it didn’t come as a surprise that he didn’t help when Felipe was falling to his death. Though the question of if he was pushed or slipped would never be answered.

Jason’s mental health took a dip due to what had happened and the fact that Bruce was avoiding him, and he called Dick who was having problems of his own at the time. But agreed to take Jason on a teen titan mission or two while his mind lingered on what had happened in Gotham and wandered to his family. But his mind got taken off that by meeting the titans and helping with one of the many smaller problems they had.

But when he got back he couldn’t get his mind off his past, so in an attempt to bring himself more closure on the topic he started looking for his father’s body. But meanwhile The Joker pieced together that one of his goons, was Robin’s father and so a plan was formed. Jason figured out that his father wasn’t dead but had gotten away the day of the riot and was working for The Joker who was planning something off in the alps. And due to the avoidance Bruce was showing to Jason, Jason decided to go out on his own. And we all know how that goes. His body, alongside his father’s was found in the wreckage of the blown up building.

He was laid to rest next to the graves for his parents and finally for the first time in years they were all together. But nothing lasts and Taila Al Ghul, in a bid to have something to use against Bruce in case he found out about Damian prematurely. So she sent one of her other pet projects, Twilight, or better known is Slade Wilson’s missing son Grant Wilson.

When he came out of the Lazarus Pit he was confused and tried to flee and there was some trouble stopping him till Taila tranquilized him. It turned out he had no memory of his life than his own name and the fact he died. He was respective to The League Of Shadows training, he still had the muscle memory from being Robin and was in a mental state that was easy to manipulate. He took to hanging around Grant as he reminded Jason of someone in a couple ways and Grant’s inner big brother came out around Jason.

By years end, Jason had fully integrated with The League and was sent on his first mission. When he had came back from it he had been sobbing but the deed was done. Taila talked with him about what had happened and tried to help him desensitize to the issue, she had grown to care about him and it hurt her to see him like this. After this incident his memories started to return, sparked by the familiar feeling caused by what he had done and the subconscious fear of being ignored again because of it.

He shared what he was remembering with Grant and that only helped to fuel the flame of rage in him. He wasn’t mad that Bruce couldn’t save him, he was angry that Bruce let there be chance the same would happen to another kid by letting The Joker live. He made a plan to try and make Bruce understand and set out on his way. Taila feared for him but did offer the original funds he needed for the plan.

He had his 17th birthday right as he was taking over Gotham’s underground as The Red Hood. It was a quick and hostile take over where he intimidated those he could, and killed those he couldn’t. News of The Red Hood found it’s way to Bruce quickly who was working alone at the time due to Tim being with Young Justice at the time. The drug lords were scared and one even agreed to meet with Batman but before they could give out much information they were shoot sparking a chase through the city where Batman failed to catch Red Hood.

He tracked down The Joker and kidnapped him and while waiting for Batman to arrive did all the things that Joker did to Jason in that warehouse so long ago. When Batman did arrive it became a tense confrontation where Jason revealed himself and demanded to know why the clown still breathed. Bruce answered the way he always did, saying they could not be the judge, jury, and executioner. He ended up forcing Bruce to make a choice, either kill The Joker himself or Jason would do it. Bruce instead threw a batarang at Jason, cutting the side of his neck and then The Joker detonated explosives that had been in the building.

He survived and fled Gotham. He decided to go meet his replacement Tim, he broke into the Young Justice base and kidnapped Robin not wanting to also take on a half kryptonian, speedster, and a demigod. The two fought and Jason mocked his replacement but he wasn’t trying to kill Tim. And when things were looking dicey for Tim, Jason nerve pinched him and left.

He then went off to Bludhaven to bother Dick. Who at the time was dealing with the Court Of Owls and the fact they were stalking him and trying to kidnap him. So when Jason was following him and saw some other shady character was following his brother he started a fight with them. Nightwing very quickly joined the fray between Red Hood and Talon and the two scared them off. Their chat afterwards was awkward to say the least, but weirdly friendly since Jason had just helped Dick and Dick caught on to the fact that Jason had been trained by The League of Shadows.

Dick made an effort to help Jason who he had figured out had been brainwashed during his time with The League of Shadows. And some progress was made. But when they went to Gotham so Jason could try to have a normal-ish conversation with Bruce, it blew up in his face when they had gotten talking about Taila and Jason let it slip that Taila had a son that she said was Bruce’s. Bruce, with no where to direct his feelings on the matter, got cross with Jason for not telling him sooner and the two started arguing. It ended when Jason pulled a gun on Bruce and Dick knocked him out with some sleeping gas.

Jason spent a month in Arkham and was beyond angry, he was angry at Bruce for taking out his complicated emotions on him and he was mad at Dick fortaking Bruces side. He had been admitted under an assumed name as a non criminal resident so he was being kept away from where the violent offenders were. Which was for the best, if he had been anywhere near The Joker it wouldn’t have been pretty. He got out when Tim bribed Arkham to let him out. Jason thanked his younger brother and asked about why he did that and Tim explained that the reason Jason was in there wasn’t fair, and besides he was mad at Bruce as Damian just showed up and stole the Robin name. Jason offered to get Tim a drink but he rejected pointing out the were both underage.

It wasn’t long after that he turned 18. He was headed out of a gas station with the first legal box cigarettes he had ever bought that he got a call from Dick asking him to come to the cave, it was important. So he did, everyone did. And it was a grim affair as Bruce had died. Jason didn’t handle his grief well and left the cave before he could hear the message that was left for him. He left Gotham city as well, both because he needed some space from the situation and because he knew that there was about to be a fight over who would wear the cowl.

He went to LA and met up with an old friend, Eddie Bloomberg who was acting as part time tech support for the Teen Titans. The two had a happy, tearful reunion. Jason, who was crashing on Eddie’s couch for the moment continued his work as Red Hood but it was mellowed out. There was a combination of reasons for this, Dick’s support (even though it had been withdrawn), not wanting Bruce’s ghost judging him, and trying to get in a better mental space and not throw away the chance he had.

After Bruce had came back Jason went back to Gotham, and they hashed things out, by no means were they on the same page, they probably never would be again. But Bruce was willing to offer Jason a place in the batfamily as long as he agreed not to kill anyone, and Jason was willing to agree.

Jason and Stephanie got to know each other pretty well since they were given the chance finally. And they got along greatly. It was a nightmare for Bruce however as he had snark coming left and right. Jason also got to know Cass better and they had a couple things to relate on. And for the first time in three years he was finding happiness in his family life.

But again, nothing lasts for forever. Jason late one night while on patrol noticed someone had broken into the penthouse of a well respected lawyer. And he found Twilight was the intruder and it was no mistake that he caught him. The League wanted him back and weren’t willing to take no for an answer, and Grant felt it was personal. So the ensuing argument was intense and by the end the fight had found it’s way onto the top of Wayne tower where Grant misstepped and fell to his seeming death, and worse batman had seen the end of the fight and given prior events including falling to death and Jason Bruce didn’t trust that it was an accident and banished Jason from the city till things were more clear.

Out on his own yet again he decided to form a team and work on the move, no superhero wants the murdery batfamily member in their city for long. So he got on his bike and he went back to LA.

[sunflowerroland]

My Nygmobblepot Dream

Since some people showed a bit of interest in this I’ll share what went down in my weird dream a couple weeks ago where I got to interact w Nygmobblepot.

But bear with me because it was a dream so obviously a lot of stuff is kind of nonsensical but basically here is what went down.

(I remembered quite a lot of it so I’ll put everything under the cut)

So the dream started off with me and some people I knew being at this charity awareness meal for some cause I can’t remember and I for some reason I decided to take my shoes and socks off, I put my socks into a shoulder bag I had on and the shoes under the table I was at. Then at some point, as I’m sure other gays have experienced, somebody set up the perfect opportunity to make a gay joke and so I did. The problem was, I wasn’t out to the people at the table and they didn’t take kindly to my joke so I decided to leave immediately.

I wasn’t really paying attention to where I was going as I was kind of in a daze and I ended up walking over rooftops and going through back alleys, when suddenly I realised it was snowing and so I said to myself, out loud, “hey, when did it start snowing?” 

Just as I said that, a random man happened to walk past me, looked at me like I was an idiot, and said, “like 5 minutes ago..." in a very derisive tone.

It was at this point I remembered that I had left my shoes at the restaurant the charity event had been held at and I thought to myself “I cant walk through the snow without my shoes and socks on so I'm going to have to walk all the way back to the restaurant to get them!”, the most logical plan of action I could take clearly. 

As I had no idea how I had actually got to where I was, I decided to ask for directions back to the restaurant. I turned to a random person nearby to ask him for help and, lo and behold, Oswald Cobblepot stood before me in all his glory. I asked him for his assistance however, he decided to give me a route that made absolutely no sense whatsoever, saying things like “take a turn around the cat/cow” (I can’t remember which one) and to be honest everything went in one ear and out the next, so I thanked him and turned to another person who was less than a meter away from Oswald, and asked him for directions instead.

The person I asked for help next was turned out to be Ed Nygma, dressed head to toe in green, his usual Riddler garb. He seemed to take slight offense to me not following Oswald’s directions and said “It’s exactly what he said!”, repeated the same instructions and then he told me to “figure it out!” 

Miraculously, I figured out their frankly ridiculous instructions and made it back to the restaurant. As I was picking up my shoes I looked up and saw Ed approaching me and I thought to myself, "oh GOD this cant be good" because he definitely looked like he meant business. 

So, I tied the laces on my shoes together, put them over the bag strap on my shoulder bag and turned to face him as he stormed the restaurant. He then began to taunt me a bit, although he said that I was not completely stupid and also congratulated me for beating his puzzle (despite the fact that it was Oswald who actually said it first).

I’m not exactly sure why, but he suddenly decided he had it in for me, he wanted me for something and so he started chasing me with this mob he had gathered during his tirade. I ended up stuck in this school parade with some cheerleaders, as they were making their way through the streets, trying to get away from Ed. However, it seemed more like Ed was trying to herd me somewhere instead and so I was falling into whatever plans he had for me no matter what I did.

Suddenly, I saw this grassy side path off the side of the road, away from wherever Ed was trying to lead me so I ran down it. There were two ways to go; the path straight ahead was empty but I was worried Ed would still be able to see me running down it if he looked down the turning; and then there was a little overgrown path to my right. I turned to go down the overgrown path and there were goths everywhere, turns out there was a little graveyard, completely overgrown, and I thought it looked cool as hell. I thought to myself "hell yeah, my people." 

But it was not to be. Suddenly, they started saying like "get away from here you aren’t welcome" and generic satanist sayings, turns out it was this big demon grave site. So I decided to promptly get the heck out of dodge. 

I turned to carry on running straight ahead but somehow Jervis Tetch and Johnathan Crane were there blocking my way. I panicked and decided to double back on myself, I turned to run back the way I came from but unfortunately Ed was there, waiting for me. 

He caught me. 

Next thing I knew I was being held in this fancy house, with massive windows. I was held prisoner on the second storey with Ed and a couple of his goons. 

All of a sudden, the phone in my pocket started to ring. I picked it up and the dulcet yet panicked tones of Oswald Cobblepot’s voice rang out, he was saying things like, "are you okay?!”, “Where are you?!?!” and most notably, “Does Ed have you?!"

I tried to talk to him to calm him and tell him what was happening but Ed snatched the phone out of my hand and put it on speaker and started talking to Oswald.

It’s at this point I remembered/realised that I was actually Oswald’s best friend and that Ed was mad for some reason at Oswald so he kidnapped me to get back at Oswald. 

Ed stood there arguing with Oswald over the phone when suddenly Oswald went quiet. Ed began to worry and asked “Oswald?” very hesitantly.

Out of nowhere, a door next to me burst open and Oswald’s strolling through, it turned out he was playing for time until he could bust in and save me. 

Ed was momentarily stunned, so Oswald took this chance to grab my hand and we go to run down the stairs. But Ed lashed out and pushed us over the banister.

Oswald managed to hang on but I had nothing to hold onto and I plummeted downwards. All of a sudden, I appeared to come out of my body and I was just floating in a spirit form of some sort as I watched this unfamiliar woman crash on top of this car that appeared to have been being showcased on the first floor. 

I then looked to see Oswald glaring up at Ed who, in turn, was looking over the banister at Oswald and the woman in shock.

Everything turned to black.

Then illustrations appeared showing what happened after, together with a nice voice over to tie it all together. 

Essentially, what was said was that everybody thought the woman was dead but she wasn’t, as she couldn't die. The illustrations cut to a shot of the car, it was dented but there was no body; it then cut to an illustration of a woman running through the woods. The voice over spoke of how the woman quietly made a life and name for herself. A couple years after this she moved into a new house. She had new neighbours. Everything then faded to black again.  

I then found myself in control of my actions again, I took note of my surroundings; I was standing in a house, a nursery, but I knew I was invisible, like I was just an observer. 

I watched as a dark haired woman, whom I recognise to be the woman who couldn’t die, sorting out a baby. The door to the nursery opened and Ed looked in, the woman looked up at him and told Ed something along the lines of "your daughter needs you to [do something]." I can’t remember what she said the child needed. 

But what I do remember is watching Ed in wonder and also knowing that this was Ed and Oswald’s house, that they ended up getting together even after everything. I also knew that this woman was the surrogate mother for the child, Ed and Oswald were raising the child as their own. It also appeared that Oswald was at work at the Iceberg Lounge and so I was slightly saddened to know I wouldn’t see him this time.

Ed did whatever the woman asked him to do and then he went downstairs and sat on the couch and watched TV.

I decided to approach him, even though I knew I was not a physical being, and I tapped him on the shoulder. He shifted like he felt it and then he looked around but he saw no one so he settled down again. Then I tapped him on the shoulder again and he sat up and said "is someone there?"

I walked around him and knelt on the other side of this glass coffee table that was in front of the couch. I lent forward and tapped him on the knee again. 

He jolted forward and seemed to realise something. He whispered, "is it you?" Then he lent forward and rested his elbows on the table, holding both his hands up as if waiting for a high ten.

I moved forward and placed my palms against his. I stared him right in the eyes. He stared at his hands for a moment in surprise before looking up again, right at me, and in an awe filled voice he said, "this is fascinating, you're not actually gone are you?" 

Just as I was feeling jubilus in this discovery, the woman from the nursery returned from looking after the baby. Ed lent back toward her to talk to her and tell her what was happening. The woman placed her hands on his shoulders, looked at him sadly and she mournfully told him, "you know that's not actually her, it cant be her, it’s Polly (which I now realise was his daughter’s name, who apparently has powers) playing a prank." 

Ed seemed to accept this and I got up to try and get his attention back because it wasn’t Polly and I was right there, I was so frustrated and angry that that the woman had said that and that Ed had believed her so easily. 

And then I woke up. 

TL;DR Ed accidentally killed me and then in the next couple of years he and Oswald got together and raised a kid. And then maybe Ed could see me as a ghost or something.

[headcans-oneshots-and-stuff]

Masquerade (Moonflower pt.2)

Part 1 - Moonflower Part 3 - Magical/Misery/Massacre

Warning: Harassing, Reader kinda suggest that she wants to have a meaningless One-Night-Stand, I kinda somewhat specified the height of the reader (by saying that you have to put your neck back to look at people over 6ft) so if your a tall boy/girl/dragon/human please just pretend you’re not thank you very much, swearing, again there are Yandere vibes (this time even more), also murder, but only in the Yandere Addition... Word count: 4k (sis snapped again) Summary: When the Riddler keeps ghosting around in your mind you know that you have to do something about it, that you couldn’t keep on harboring feelings for him, so you put on your mask and make your way to find distraction, but sometimes the things we see when we wear masks are not the things we expect... 

Two months. It took not even two months for the mayor to forget the disaster of a Gala that he had organized last, even though it was a rather interesting experience for you, but for a completely different reason, and decide that it would be a great fucking idea to throw a masquerade ball. A MASQUERADE BALL?!? Who, in their right mind, thinks that it's a good idea to throw a ball where the people come in masks and costume-like dresses in a city WHERE MASKED LUNATICS ARE FIGHTING AGAINST OTHER MASKED (slightly less) LUNATICS??? Well, seemingly, it was the man who should, in theory, know best and somehow always proved you that he did, in fact, know just about nothing. So yes, after a long discussion about whether it was a good idea or not and Bruce somehow managing to convince Jason and Dick to come along (the party was only for grown-ups - much to Damian's, who hasn't left your side for longer than he had to ever since the last Gala, dismay), you were sitting in a car driven by one of Wayne Inc's chauffeurs in a deep violet dress that clung to your curves like a cosset, before blossoming into a wide skirt, beside Dick in a black and Jason in a very dark red suit. The fact that they both had worn these suits countless times before already while you had to buy this dress especially for this event pissed you off to no end. And not only that, no, because it was custom for males to wear simpler masks, Jason had a phantom of the opera-like mask, while Dick had decided to try and be funny by wearing a cheap Zorro-mask he had bought in a dollar store. You, on the other hand, looked down at the gold mask that Alfred had had custom made for you. It was incredibly beautiful. It was extremely filigree and looked like a complex mandala of golden wire which formed a fascinating swan over where your right eye would be.

"Are you okay?" Jason's voice from your right ripped you out of your thoughts and you looked up at him beside you. He eyed you somewhat concerned and you just slightly smiled and shrugged. "Yeah, everything fine, I was just lost in thoughts." He nodded unconvinced but turned forward again, not even budging when he felt you carefully leaning against his shoulder like you have done countless times since the two of you officially became siblings. You also felt Dick's eyes on you, but you just held your hand out to him and let him take it. Jason shifted a bit under you and you could've sworn that you heard him sniff at your hair, making you narrow your eyes in confusion. As if to confirm your assumption, he nudged you a bit and asked: "Are you using a new shampoo? Or is that a new perfume?" You had to physically restrain yourself from tensing up, your mind filling with the memories of the little gift the Riddler had left you and about how often you had packed it out again - thinking about what you should do - before putting it back, ever since the night you had found it. "It's a new shampoo, Cass gave it to me: Peonies and gold, not sure how gold is supposed to smell though," you told him truthfully, meeting your brothers' expectation and allowing them to get back to what they were doing, Dick playing on his Phone and Jason reading a pocket novel you had given him earlier this week. But you couldn't get back on your train of thoughts. Like so often these past eight weeks. You had no idea why, but ever since that kiss, the rouge just wouldn't leave your mind for longer than an hour at the time. You just couldn't understand how it had come to this. You didn't know him, he was basically a villain, he had kidnapped you and the kiss was only a distraction... And still... The kiss filled your dreams ever since, the scene just playing on repeat in your head. Maybe it would've been different without his little gift, without you knowing that he was thinking about you too. God, what were you supposed to do? You knew that what you were feeling had to be some weird sort of Stockholm syndrome or something like this, something that would go away after a while, because if not...what would you do if not? You couldn't realistically think that he and you would ever have anything close to a future together. You just had to forget him, so ever since you had seen the invitation for the Gala, you had made a plan. This party would be full of eligible bachelors who would have no idea who you were (or at least not at first), some of them had to be good enough for you to try to forget about your unlucky crush. "We're here," filled the voice of the chauffeur the car and you sat up straight, looking out of the darkened window to see the red carpet and the paparazzi that were taking pictures of the masked celebrities walking towards the city hall. "Here we go," you tightly smiled and put the mask on, securing it with the black ribbon behind your head. The man who had driven the car got out and opened the door, making space for Dick to leave the car and walk forward, greeting the Cameras with his trademark smile. You had agreed earlier that you would leave a minute between every one of you exiting in a cheap attempt to make it less obvious who you were. It was clear that everyone would recognize Jason and Dick by their height and the suits, but you - due to a good mix of make-up, hair styling and the mask - still had hope left that you would get through the evening unrecognized. When Dick had disappeared inside you nodded at Jason and took your chauffeur's hand as he helped you step outside, trying to smoothen the skirt of your dress in the process. Immediately flashes off light filled your eyes and you tried your best not to blink and keep the smile on your face. For a few seconds, you struck a few poses, presenting the beauty that was the dress, before you followed your brother, giving the space up for Jason to do the same.

The inside of the Hall was filled to the brim with people in all kinds of dresses and suits with just about every kind of mask on a face somewhere. Groups of people were scattered around the room and you could see that Dick had already made his way over to a small group of girls who wore matching black dresses with white carnival-like masks. You rolled your eyes, but smiled and turned away to decide what to do next. That was the problem with Galas like these. Even if you knew people, you couldn't be sure where they are or if they were even here, so it was like a college party only days after you moved to a new town. Well, you got through your college parties by drinking so why not give that attempt a shot now too, right? So you sashayed over to the bar that had been constructed on the side opposite of the entrance and gestured the bartender over to you. He nodded and quickly made his way over, taking your order before turning around and getting started on your Old fashioned. "Well, hello beautiful," a dark, hoarse voice rang through your ears from beside you and you turned into the direction it came from, your eyes landing on a man that looked like he was as sure of himself as it could get. He was wearing a metallic-silver suit with a black shirt below it and, even though you yourself wouldn't necessarily go for it if you had to choose, you had to admit that it looked good on him. On his face was a mock-batman-mask and he had a five o'clock shadow that looked just groomed enough to be handsome. He will do, you thought and forced yourself to smile at his cheesy 'not-even' pick-up line. "You don't look too bad yourself," you shrugged and bowed your head slightly in thanks at the bartender who handed you your drink. "Ah, a girl of good taste," he smirked, trying to be smug and funny by not clarifying if he meant the drink or your comment. The physical restrain you had to put yourself through to not roll your eyes almost surprised you and you took a big sip of the drink, hoping it would loosen you up enough to make you look over the comments. You welcomed the burn in your throat but inwardly damned yourself for having a high alcohol tolerance that would make it impossible for you to get drunk from under at least thee drinks. "So," you sighed and leaned against the bar, "What's up with the mask?" "Don't tell anyone, but I'm really Batman and I'm just here undercover," the man said just slightly too serious to make you believed he was joking, bringing whatever attraction you had towards him down. "Does that line ever work?" "You'd be surprised, but you look like the kinda girl who doesn't need a pick-up line for some fun," he winked and came uncomfortably close to you. Welp, so much for that guy... "You know what-" you downed the drink, put it back onto the bar and turned to go, "-I'm not really in the mood for some fun, so if you'll excuse me." That was when you felt a hands on the side of your torso, just inches below your chest, and a sense of Terror filled you. Terror not for you, but for the man that had been foolish enough to touch you without permission in a room with any of your siblings. Your eyes quickly flew through the room, searching for your brothers to find out how long the douchebag had before his arms would be ripped out (figuratively) and you spotted Dick on the dance floor with a girl in a sparkly pink dress, but Jason - even though he should be visible alone by the sheer size of him- wasn't anywhere to be found. "Listen, buddy, you really don't wanna-" "Here you are!" a voice interrupted your warning and both you and the man that was behind you looked to your right to see a tall man, towering over you even more than Jason usually did,  in a sharp, expensive-looking, green suit. He stood out like a sunflower in a field of tulips, not only because of the outfit but because he was the only one in the room who wasn't wearing a mask, and something about him made your breath hitch slightly. He seemed eerily familiar, but you couldn't place his face with anyone you knew. It was like time was frozen while your eyes wandered his body up until you reached his face, having to put your head back a bit, and you took in his neatly dishevelled brown hair that looked like it was always this way, but others would try for hours to replicate it before they ended looking into his blue ones. Suddenly time started again and the sounds of the room, that had been drowned out by your thoughts, came crushing back and you had to slightly shake your head to keep your composure. "I've been searching for you all over, you've promised me a dance remember?" the man smiled and you quickly realized that he just might be your (and with that unknowingly to both of them also your harasser's) saviour. "Oh, right, sorry, I was otherwise occupied, but I have the next dance reserved for you," you played along and removed the Hands on your waist, they had been wandering downwards when the man had realized he was in a tricky situation, stepping forward to take the hand the maskless man was holding out towards you. "You can't just-" the man behind you, that seemed to have snapped out of the trance he had been in, started to shout, but was almost immediately interrupted when your saviour put the hand that wasn't (very gently as you noted) holding yours onto his shoulder. You could see the fabric of the silver suit wrinkle notably under his seemingly forceful grip and the look on the face of the man in said suit twisted in pain confirmed your suspicion that the hold he had on him had to be way harder than necessary, not that you complained. "I think the lady just said that she had the next dance reserved for me, right?" his voice was polite, but even the most social clueless person would be aware of the threatening undertone. Your harasser could only nod before his shoulder was released and he hurried away, trying to hide that he couldn't move his arm properly anymore. When he was completely out of sight your saviour let go of your hand and eyed you as if he was making sure you weren't hurt, before smiling at you with something like fondness. "Thank you for that," you smiled back and smoothed your dress down before holding your hand out again, ignoring that he had let it go only seconds earlier. He looked down at your hand with confusion and you couldn't help but chuckle a bit, not noticing how his eyes seemed to widen and his cheeks seemed to redden just the slightest. "I told you I have the next dance reserved for you and after you saved me that's the least I could do to thank you. Only if you want of course." It was like that flipped a switch inside him because before you could blink you were standing on the dancefloor with the arm that wasn't holding his hand around his neck and his on your waist, high enough to not be sexual, but low enough to not be completely innocent. "So-" the two of you swayed to the rhythm of the classic song playing in the background and you couldn't explain why you felt the urge rise to lean against his chest "-what's up with the lack of the mask?" He slightly tilted his head to the right as if thinking about what to answer, while simultaneously spinning the two of you around. "Maybe this is my mask," he simply stated and you knew it was just supposed to be a humorous comment, but you couldn't shake the feeling like it was more cryptic than you thought, "And I got invited pretty short term and didn't have time to get one." That was more like it.   You giggled and couldn't help but play with the hair on the back of his neck, glad that he didn't seem to react to it. "Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad you're not wearing one because if you had been, I'd be deprived of that face," you smirked slightly and decided to take the initiative. You had no idea what it was about that man, but the two of you dancing so close to each other, his eyes gazing into yours and his hand on your waist, made your heart beat out of your chest, it was like the kiss you had with the Riddler all over again and for the first time in weeks the thought of that kiss disappeared again seconds after it came into your mind and you couldn't help but think that maybe this man was just what you were searching for. For a few seconds, the two of you just looked at each other, your eyes having the conversation that your heart wanted and it was like a bigger power was in control of your bodies when both of you started to lean in for what was supposed to be a kiss if it hadn't been for someone tapping at your shoulder. It was like a spell dispersed and you couldn't help but flinch away, even if all you wanted was to continue what you were doing, not noticing the slightly angered tint that made its way onto your dance partners' face. "Uhm, are you Y/N?" the girl, which you recognized as Dick's companion from earlier, asked you shyly, clearly aware that she had interrupted a situation. "Yeah," you sighed, thinking that this was Dick's attempt at being a protective older brother without actually being at blame. "Your brothers said that they have something to talk to you about, they are waiting outside." You turned to look at the exit to the garden, flashes of memories of being drugged in front of your eyes, before turning to your partner and smiling apologetically, "I'm sorry, I just have to quickly go, but I'll be right back, don't move okay?" He returned the smile, but it didn't seem as genuine as it was earlier and nodded.

When you stepped into the cold night air you couldn't help but sigh at your lack of luck. You looked around and saw your brothers at the outer wall that parted the garden from the street seemingly talking in hushed voices. Jason was the first who noticed you and soon the two of them started walking towards you, the three of you meeting in the middle. "So? What's going on?" you asked worried, recognizing the look in their eyes, the same look they always had when there was an unexpected mission. "Bruce just called, there's a Joker attack a few blogs from here and he needs all the help he can get." "Okay, I'll excuse you if anyone asks where you are and recognizes me," you just shrugged, not sure why they had to meet you outside for that. It was surely not the first time they randomly disappeared during an event and you had to make up excuses. You had expected something more 'serious'. "I'm afraid that this won't be how it'll go tonight-" Jason sighed and petted your head slightly, "-Bruce clearly stated, that he wants you to go home, he already sent the driver. He's still a bit shaken up by what happened last time." "What?" you exclaimed questioningly, "But that-" "No discussion," Dick stopped you and gave you a small peck on your forehead before he and Jason hurried to the gate that would bring them to the ally where they had hidden their costumes beforehand. For a while, you just kept standing there, the cold air crashing down onto your skin and making goosebumps appear. You tried to think of all the ways that you could just get back to what you were doing before, how you could get back to the man that had your heart beat quicker just minutes after having met him, but all your thoughts just went right back to the fact that you couldn't. That you had to leave now. Your thought process was disrupted when you felt something smooth cover your shoulders and arms. A quick look down your body showed you that a familiar green suit jacket had been laid onto you. Swiftly you turned around, hoping your dance partner would stand behind you but there was no sign of him anywhere near. Confusion filled you and you hurried over to the doors leading back inside, thinking that you may see him going back in, but he was nowhere to be seen.   Before you could start to search for him further your chauffeur from earlier caught your attention, waiting for you at the entrance. There was a war being fought inside you, your heart wanting to go back into the crowd and find him, your brain knowing how hopeless the situation was.

One of the side-effects of being raised by Bruce Wayne was that your brain won the fights it had against your heart. That was why, a few minutes later, you were sitting in the car on your way back to Wayne Manor, the jacket still around your shoulders despite the confused look your chauffer had given you. It was basically pooling around you, multiple sizes bigger than you and you couldn't help but relish in the sense of security it gave. You leaned against the backdoor, your forehead against the cool darkened window when you felt something solid pushing against you. A bit perplex you straightened up again and started to tap around until your right hand landed on something that was slightly budging out the right Jacket pocket. Curiously you put your hand into the opening and pulled out its contents. You stared down at the little green, velvet ring box that was laying in your opened hand besides a black business card. Even though you couldn't rip your gaze away from the box, your left hand grabbed for the card and turned it around before you ripped your eyes to it for the fraction of a second before your heart figuratively stopped. The only thing that was printed onto it was the image of a green Questionmark, leaving the origins of the card without any ambiguities. But that means... This Jacket, the man you had danced with, the man you had almost kissed... Well, seemingly almost kissed again... It was him all along, he had saved you and had let you flirt with him right in front of your brothers, without knowing how risky it had been. Your mind was starting to get fogged with all kinds of thoughts, but they all scattered again when you looked back to the box. Your movements were slow as you laid the card down on the seat beside you and opened the velvet cap. Every blood cell in your body stopped moving when you saw the vast Amethyst that was embedded into a ring that looked tiny in comparison with the stone and for the second time that evening it was like you weren't in control of your body as you took the ring out of the case and brought it up into the light to look it over. It had to be extremely expensive, something that even Bruce would think about twice before buying, and it wasn't just that, no, your eyes landed on an engraving on the inside of the ring. For my one and only Moonflower -Ed.

[Yandere Addition]

Trevor Beck's night was far from great. At first, the hot chick he had tried to chat up on the party his dad had dragged him along to had rejected his advances even though she had clearly been interested before and then this creepy dude had grabbed him so hard that he had surely dislocated his shoulder. With pain running through his arm, he decided that this stupid Gala wasn't worth it and called a cab to bring him home. He didn't realize that what happened before was not even close to the worse that would be happening to him this evening, because when he came home, he wasn't alone in his apartment. When he came into his bedroom, there were bags filled with stolen money and jewellery lying on the floor. And when he wanted to call the police upon seeing the letter that was lying on his dresser, a letter written in his handwriting that confessed to his family having had money problems and that he couldn't live without this lifestyle and decided to take matters into his own hand, only to regret what the letter said he'd done, a single shot through the side of his head kept him from following up on that action. Edward was careful as he planted the gun that Trevor had kept in his night shelf for protection into his palm to make sure his fingerprints were on it, before making sure no traces would suggest that he had help with ending his life. He knew that besides the lack of evidence they'd have for it to be murder, the GCPD would be happy enough to have found the one (allegedly) responsible for one of the biggest and unexplained jewellery heists and even if it was suspicious that Trevor had no prior criminal record beside harassment, they wouldn't investigate further. Ed tried to tell himself that he only did this to avoid gaining the attention for the heist, but deep inside he knew that he had many options on how to do that that wouldn't include killing. Deep inside he knew that he had done that because Trevor had dared to touch what was supposed to be his... Had touched his moonflower...

A/N: This was one of - if not the- most requested things I’ve ever had on my blog! Thank you all so so so much! This also inspired me to try my hand at Aesthetics and I’d be happy if you guys would let me know if you like it! And....maybe, if people like it, there’s still some inspiration left for a final part three....who knows? Also, here are the non-anons who requested a second part: @sirkekselord​ @redhildatodd​ @nate-sakura​ And for all of you who are wondering, the Yandere addition at the end is not really relevant to the story and most likely won’t be picked up again, but I just had that thought in my head while writing and thought people might like it.

[bookenders]

11/11/11 Tag Game: Round... uh... 5, 6, & 7?

I got tagged by a bunch of people ( @quilloftheclouds is this how your 77 question one felt??) so here are a bunch of answers! I think this is the most I’ve ever talked about myself in my life. 

Good gracious, you’re all so nice and have such good questions.

Tagged by: @surroundedbypearls, @waterfallwritings, @bigmoodword, @sundaynightnovels

Rules: answer 11 questions, tag 11 people, give them 11 new questions!

[I’ve done this enough to be able to break the tag rules. Fight me.]

44 questions and answers below the cut!

But I’ll be nice and put my questions right here:

What would you do for a Klondike bar?

When do you title your WIPs? It is the first thing you do? The last? Does it come to you during drafting?

How many inside jokes do you put in your WIP(s)?

Your WIP’s antagonist is now The Riddler. How do your OCs handle that?

Do you use sticky notes?

Laptop or desktop?

Your OC is a wrestler. What’s their hype music?

Do you own any craft books/books on writing?

What’s your favorite book cover?

How many unread books do you have sitting around right now? Which are you most excited to maybe get to eventually some time?

How committed are you to your outline(s)?

Bilbo Taggins: Literally anyone, but also @francestroublr, @sahados-shadow, @a-story-im-writing, @bethkerring, @citruschickadee, @bos-ingit

If I’ve tagged you before, you can totally ignore this. In fact, I encourage you to.

From @surroundedbypearls:

What’s your favourite genre to write in and why? Literary fiction! It’s what I learned in university and the one that fits my themes best. Sci-fi is hard, I’m just getting into writing fantasy stuff, I can’t do thrillers, romance is hard for me, and historical is too much work.

Do you think you have a style/voice that you use more often in your writing? When did you develop that style? If you’ve read one of my stories, you know exactly how my writing voice sounds. It doesn’t change too much. I write like I talk, but if I had a lot more gravitas and charisma. Honestly, I’ve always had that kind of style, but it really developed in high school. It’s been getting stronger since then. It’s one of the things I always got comments about from my teachers and fellow workshop writers. “Your voice is so strong!” Yep. It’s mah thang.

Do you play video games? What’s your favourite? YES I DO. It’s hard to pick faves, but I’ve played Dragon Age: Origins too many times. 

If you were going to do a WIP crossover, which OCs would be most interesting together? (If you’ve only got one WIP crossover with something else) A crossover between H2H and AOPC? Interesting. I think Mel and Keema would get along the best, Oz would have some fightin’ words for Elder Sanga, and Gemma and Teva would be a force to be reckoned with, my god. Two stubborn nerds who believe totally different things but are also very determined to be very good at what they want to do and love their communities to a fault? Fear them.

Do you prefer to plan WIPs in a document or through handwritten notes? I used to do it by hand but I couldn’t read it because my handwriting is terrible and I kept losing papers. I do it in docs now. Much easier to organize and incredibly legible.

Do you multiple languages exist in your WIP? If so how do you address that in the story? H2H is set in the “real world,” so yep. It hasn’t been addressed too much yet, but I have a way for tackling languages. I’ve written multilingual-ish stories before. I never write phonetically and use hella context clues so the reader knows the gist of what was said if another character doesn’t translate.

What’s your favourite animated film that’s not Disney or Pixar? AN AMERICAN TAIL. All of them. It’s on Netflix go watch it and marvel at the way a kids movie talks about Jewish immigration, poverty, and cultural oppression via mice. As a young Jewish child, this movie was my jam. It’s very dark, though.

Do your real-life surroundings influence your WIP’s settings? Nope! One time I tried to write a story set in the same area where I lived and I couldn’t do it. Too weird. Sometimes I’ll write in an item I see near me, or like, a painting or poster on the wall if I need some set decoration, but that’s about it.

Which OCs would be most likely to break the fourth wall? Oz. Lookin’ at the camera like he’s in The Office.

How do you work out your OCs’ personalities? Hm. I look at the story I’m trying to write and make a protagonist that would have the most interesting experience in that narrative. For H2H, I wanted someone who would be loyal as heck to the people they loved while still being experimental enough to try new things and get into shenanigans. The story called for someone like that, and there she was. Mel came about my thinking of someone who would compliment other characters in the story while still being their own person. If that makes sense. I think of dynamics and interactions with the story world in relation to the theme(s). Most of the time they just happen, though.

Do you prefer worldbuilding or character building? Character building! As much as I like making stories about places, making characters is more fun for me, and more interesting. You should see all the DnD character sheets I have. 

From @waterfallwritings:

1. How do you come up with ideas for your WIPs?

At random. Seriously. It’s like my brain has to be running something in the background to function normally, and usually that something is whatever story I happen to be working on. Or I’ll look at a thing and go “huh.” My brain also likes to twist normal things to be a little bit different.

2. How do you get past gaps in the plot?

No idea, man. It’s like throwing spaghetti at a wall. I like to work backwards. If this is what I want to happen, what needs to happen before that to ensure that it occurs? I look at all the elements currently in the story and see if one can be manipulated to fill in the hole.

3. What motivates you to keep writing?

If I don’t, my brain gets all constipated and angry until I write something down. Like, seriously, I get grumpy and frustrated like I’m hangry or something. Aside from physical need, I love writing. I love word puzzles and feelings puzzles and figuring them out. Sometimes I think of how my stories could help someone, or make them feel something that they enjoy. 

4. Do you do any other kind of creative writing?

Oh, man, I’ve done it all. Screenwriting, playwriting, poetry, video game-ish writing, interactive storytelling, short stories, flash fiction, proposals, essays, DnD campaigns, monologues... You name it, I’ve probably tried it. I tend to stick to prose and poetry these days.

5. Do you have any other creative hobbies besides writing?

I’ve gotten into graphic design a little bit. I kind of wanna learn how to knit again. I’m not really very crafty. 

6. What do you do when you’re stuck on a scene and don’t know how to get it out / write it?

Write a different scene, stare at the screen in frustration until I give up and go to sleep, meditate for a few minutes, go do something else to get my mind off of it, clean, work on a different project.

7. How do you decide how to end your WIP?

I mean, see the next question for part of my answer. How did I decide to end H2H? My friend, that’s a big ‘ole spoiler. But I decided to end it at a place where everything, and everyone, comes together.

8. When in the process of writing do you decide how its going to end? Or do you kind of just wait til you get there?

Right at the beginning. If I don’t know where it’ll end, I have a hard time writing the arc. I work backwards: start with the idea, then think of where I want it to end up, then work back to the beginning until I know where its going, then start writing.

9. Why did you decide to join writeblr?

My reasons are pretty personal, but the least personal is that I needed some accountability and motivation. And I missed being in a good writing community.

10. What’s your favourite food?

Pasta! I’m eating spaghetti right now.

11. If you had to kill off a character in your WIP, who would it be and why?

Oz would be the most tragic. Treena would be the most logical. 

From @bigmoodword:

1. using one sentence summaries, can you tell me about your wips?

Nerdy potion woman meets cute odd stranger who helps her solve magic mysteries in their quirky small town.

2. what inspired them?

I saw a zine accepting submissions for magic stories, then an open call for queer shifter stories, and thought “what if wholesome magical lesbians?”

3. which of your ocs do you most identify with?

Gemma!

4. if you’ve ever cried while reading, which book cued the waterworks?

THE SONG OF ACHILLES.  My God, my soul was weeping. Honestly, it still is. Doesn’t matter that I knew the story from the Iliad. Madeline Miller is a feelings wizard.

5. how do you conduct research for your wips and what’s the most interesting thing you’ve discovered in said research?

On an as-needed basis. I used to do way too much research to avoid actually writing the damn thing, so now I only do it when I actually run into a problem that can be solved by Google.

6. thus far, which scene has been the most difficult to write?

The ones that aren’t hugely emotional. Which is... unfortunate.

7. which of your ocs do you like the least?

Rude. On a personal level, Jill. I love her, but I would not be friends with her. We wouldn’t mesh at all.

8. which pov and tense do you prefer to write in?

Third person limited present tense! To the bane of everyone who’s ever edited my work.

9. do you write poetry?

I do! Not often, though.

10. who is your writing role model?

My freakin’ writing professor from college. He is crazy disciplined.

11. if you could give your younger writer self some advice, what would it be?

Hey, you know those people who say your writing is too dark? Yeah, they suck and they’re wrong. They just want kids to live up to their expectations and write happy sunshiny stories about unicorns and dinosaurs having ice cream. And you’re not depressed because you wrote that one sad poem one time and someone asked if you were depressed. What you have is called feelings and they’re very useful for a writer, nay, a human, to have.

From @sundaynightnovels:

Who is your biggest role model? Okay, so I got crap all the time in grade school for never having a role model, and I still don’t have one. The teachers were concerned about me. But my reasoning was, “why should I want to live someone else’s life?” Yeah. They didn’t really know what to do with that...

What are your OCs favorite foods? Sort of answered here!

Which OC is most afraid of the dark? Oz and Mary!

What made you want to start a writing blog/participate in the writeblr community? Answered above!

Did you sleep with a stuffed animal as a kid? Do you still? I did, indeed. I don’t anymore, but I have two that I shuffle around my room when they get in the way. One is a highland cow I got in Scotland (he has a plaid hat), the other is a blue whale I got at the Museum of Natural History in NY.

Do you like donuts? I love donuts. Especially jelly filled ones. Mmm.

Do/would your OCs like donuts? All of my OCs like donuts. I don’t think Mel has ever had a modern one, though.

What is your least favorite food? Cauliflower? I’m the household taste-tester, so there’s been a lot of stuff I don’t like.  ( @sundaynightnovels I hate sparkling water, too, you’re not alone!)

What is your ideal writing environment? Comfy seating, a chair with no arms (stupid elbows), alone, plenty of chosen beverage within reach, headphones.

Favorite line from your WIP? So far, it’s this one!

Favorite quote from a book? Oh, man. There are so many. From recent memory, here are a few: “’Give it time,’ she replies. ‘It won’t be a story forever.’“  and “Everyone has heard stories of women like us, and now we will make more of them.” (both from The Ladies Guide to Petticoats and Piracy) “When he smiled, the skin at the corners of his eyes crinkled like a leaf held to flame.” and “I lean forward and our lips land clumsily on each other. They are like the fat bodies of bees, soft and round and giddy with pollen.” (I could write a goddamn essay about the imagery in this scene.) (It is quite possibly my favorite description of a kiss ever. And the metaphor extends through the rest of the scene so artfully ugh.) (both from The Song of Achilles) “The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you, and in this way memory and imagination and language combine to make spirits in the head.” (from The Things They Carried)

[dalekofchaos]

What I love and hate About Moffat’s Doctor Who

Much like I did for RTD’s Era, I will be listing my What I love and hate about Moffat’s Doctor Who.

What I love

Eleven. Ten will forever be my Doctor but Eleven has a special place in my heart!  I will always remember him in my heart, I will cherish the memories I had that he was The Eleventh Doctor, I will always remember his epic sense of fashion, his triumphs and sad moments, his eccentric childishness both as him and as a way to trick you and then you realize Eleven is truly terrifying. I will always remember Eleven as The Doctor!

Twelve. I love Twelve. He may have had some poorly written episodes given to him, but Capaldi still handled it like the professional he is. Twelve brought back the sternness of One and the dark manipulator of SevenI Capaldi’s ability to portray the extremes of human emotion make him, perhaps, one of the most skilled and diversely talented actors to take on the role. One of the most joyously mesmerising facets of Capaldi's interpretation of the role is the level of sincerity and gravitas with which he approaches every scene - it doesn't matter if the Doctor is being funny, Capaldi plays the Doctor with a sense of naturalism and realism which has breathed new life into the part. While Smith and Tennant each had a wonderful sense of humour in the role, Peter has taken the opportunity to play the straight-man when it comes to scenes involving a degree of comedy, making the Doctor all the more funny for it. I also love Twelve because I liked the fact that his sheer introduction brought back the idea that older actors (and now actresses) can play the character. Having been a lifelong fan himself, Capaldi would have accepted the role knowing full well that his life would never be the same again. Aside from this willing acceptance of the renown that comes with the role, Peter seems to be one of the warmest and most genuine actors to adopt the guise of the Time Lord. He regularly speaks warmly and at length of the entire history of the programme, not just the series since he joined. His knowledge and passion for the shown and it's fans is truly moving as Capaldi is regularly warm and inviting to those fans that speak to him in the street. Some actors can be somewhat short with their fans, especially if they're having a tough day, but Peter seems to be welcoming and charming regardless of the circumstances. In short, he's nothing shy of the perfect ambassador for the show. The Doctor was indeed in safe hands and we will miss Peter dearly.

Moments like The end scene of Vincent And The Doctor and Twelve’s brilliant anti-war speech in The Zygon Inversion. 

Amy Pond and Rory Williams I loved Amy and Rory.  Amy Pond is an incredibly layered, wonderful, and flawed character. She is brave and independent, she is scared of abandonment and commitment, she is rude and yet compassionate. She has a knack for creative problem-solving and can make connections other people can’t, whether it is realising the truth about the star whale or figuring out how to defeat the Weeping Angel.She has had a difficult life, but Amy is always changing and growing, as she holds onto the contradictory pieces that make up her own histoy. We watch her learn to love and to trust. We see her struggling with keeping up with both her travels with the Doctor and the normal life she comes to value. She experiences joy and loss and she just lives, passionately.What is so exceptional about Amy’s ending isn’t that she chooses Rory; she likely would have made the same choice two seasons earlier. But for the first time it feels like a decision that she can be happy with. Because she no longer is “the girl who waited” - and the Doctor didn’t keep her from growing up, he just became part of her story to get there. Rory is awesome. He’s one of my favorite companions ever, despite being on and off at times because of small things like being dead. Rory is smart, cool, actual husband material, and he keeps The Doctor humble.  I adore their relationship. Amy and Rory loved each other. Their relationship is what made series 5 and 6 great. Beautiful soulmates and The Ponds are beautiful.  I think my favorite part about the Eleventh Doctor, Amy, and Rory’s time together was the fact that most of the other companions in New Who were always talked down to. Not that the Doctor didn’t respect them. He did, immensely. But he was always the one to explain something, always the one looking smart, always the leader, always the one saving the day. But in the case with the Doctor, Amy, and Rory, the Ponds were the ones figuring things out and saving the day while the Doctor tripped as he tried to simultaneously put on a bowtie and eat a fishstick. And that’s beautiful.

Clara Oswald Clara Oswald is a perfectly ordinary sweet natured girl, who’s compassionate and caring, who has shown herself to be quite independent on several occasions, who takes care of children simply because she knows perfectly well what they are going through, and saved the Doctor on so many occasions just out of the goodness of her heart. Clara Oswald is a scared but very clever girl, who becomes very good at playing the most dangerous of situations to get advantage and gets addicted to that thrill. From the beginning, she parallels the Doctor, with her whole era basically being a female Doctor origin story.

Bill Potts.  Bill was wonderful. Finally, a companion who is not a forced plot device, Bill is finally a companion who is special just because The Doctor considers her special cause she’s The Doctor’s friend. Bill is a proud gay woman of color. Her introduction is brilliant, hella adorkable, Has immense respect for the Doctor without ever defining herself around him like so many other companions, strong and stands up to him without ever seeming condescending or ‘you may be the Doctor but I know you better than you know yourself’ and all the slapping him. The Doctor and Bill have the healthiest Doctor/Companion dynamic. Has a clear inferiority complex but never takes it out on the people around her. Her first reaction to seeing depressed Heather is to sit down and ask her what’s wrong, because that’s what she feels is right. Basically so incredibly kind and selfless to everybody. I love Bill so much

The Paternoster Gang. Anytime Vastra, Jenny and Strax are on screen, it’s instantly gold. A  trio of associates to the Time Lord who didn't have hokey origins or contrived resurrections. They emerged fully formed and unexplained; Vastra was a lizard serial killer, Jenny was her servant/lover and Drax made some funny jokes about not being able to understand human biology.

Missy Michelle Gomez was so deliciously and hammy evil. I loved every moment she was on screen, it’s a shame The Doctor Falls ruins it. In her first two appearances she was firmly established herself as a force to be reckoned with. Suffice to say, you wouldn't want to meet this renegade Time Lord in a dark alley. She'd sing "Oh Missy you're so fine" and then obliterate you on sight. After taking a selfie with you, of course. Plus Missy always looks her best when she’s ready to destroy the world!  When she gets her lipstick out, you know that something rather unfavourable is about to hit the timey-wimey fan. Anyone can kill someone but it takes a special sort of person to do it with as much attitude as Missy. After all, if you're not going to zap someone to death looking your best, you might as well not do it at all. It's rule one, guys. Though I do wish they just called her The Master. If Moffat doesn’t think she couldn’t keep calling herself The Master, I’m pretty sure he’d rename Thirteen The Nurse.

Simm!Master’s glorious return! Simm!Master returned and it was perfect! It was both what the fans of Classic Master wanted and what Simm wanted. John Simm always wanted to play a dark and evil Master, it was RTD who wanted Simm to play a dancing and giggling lunatic who acted like Frank Gorshin’s Riddler on crack.  Pure and utter hatred for The Doctor and no regard for anyone but himself. Absolutely glorious. It’s just a shame that Simm!Master will not return and an even bigger shame that the surprise of Simm!Master’s return was spoiled by the trailer and bad make up and inability to hide Simm’s voice. 

The Guest episodes in RTD’s era and the new monsters. All the guest episodes are great. Moffat is good at writing monsters. Moffat is responsible for creating the best monsters in New Who. The Weeping Angels, The Empty Child, Vashtra Narada and The Silence were all good. The sad part is Moffat is good at writing guest episodes. 

What I hate

Plots that go nowhere and abandoning established ideas for his plots and just making up as he goes along. Moffat tends to introduce plots and either never intends to go back or explain them or abandons them altogether. In series 5, it’s introduced that Th Alliance, a group of The Doctor’s worst enemies all worked together to put The Doctor in the Pandorica, who brought them altogether, when and how are they joined together and when are they gonna return? Never brought up again....Okay? When we all heard “Silence Will Fall” it gave us a sense of wanting more. And in the series 5 when River went to Amy’s house in The Pandorica part 1 ending, I saw Omega symbols everywhere. This led me to believe that Omega is tied into the cracks in the universe and The Silence and maybe we would see Omega in series 6 and maybe The Silence were created by Omega. It never happens. The Silence are a religious order. It STILL could’ve worked because there were STILL Omega symbols all over in A Good Man Goes To War. And once again, nothing, I don’t know if Omega was ever planned to return but something was dropped. Moving on. I thought that the reason why The Doctor’s name was shown to be this terrible thing in New Who is because The Doctor used his real name to Timelock The Time War and saying it would unleash The Time War on the universe and...his name is dropped like it’s nothing. The Silence with a flip of a hat decide to join The Doctor despite it being their goal to kill him because...reasons. So glad that was resolved so easily. How did The Doctor and Clara escape The Doctor’s timestream? Never addressed. John Hurt’s character. I always thought he was gonna be The Other considering the 50th was coming up and it might be the Cartmel Masterplan. He’s a Doctor between 8 and 9 and was the one who fought in the Time War? Okay. Okay when Missy started appearing and when she talked about Clara “I chose you well” I got the hint that who this big bad was, that she created  Clara to use against The Doctor, this led me to believe that Missy was The Rani. “Oh she’s the Master, but instead of calling her The Master we call her Missy now”....kay? The Master chose their name like The Doctor, I’m pretty sure they would not change it because The Master changed genders, but whatever.  The Hybrid. Something so horrible that The Doctor left Gallifrey “it was The Doctor and Clara” are you fucking kidding me? Oh it gets better, The Doctor doesn’t even care that he found Gallifrey, all he wanted was Clara back despite Clara being content with dying. No seriously you fucking asshole, you wasted my fucking time with either dropped storylines or shit you made up cause we all fucking know you did not know what you were doing. 

River Song The issue with River Song is she is simply an awful character. River stokes The Doctor’s PTSD really bad. She is a character forced upon both the audience and The Doctor. River is a character who kills at the drop of the hat and makes a Dalek scream for mercy. Yeah, call me old fashioned but showing mercy to a Dalek is more compelling. She encourages The Doctor to kill, and reveres him as some untouchable genocidal god, and constantly pushes herself onto him sexually, even though he pulls away. River Song is Steven Moffat’s Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way. And there’s the fact that River is predatory. If it was a male character constantly coming on to the much physically younger female character, and being naked and doing so despite being asked not to do that like.... people would have freaked out and called River out for being a predator and had a fit, but because she's an older female and he's a younger bodied male this is... somehow badass and empowered? Oh and let’s not forget the fact that River is somehow part Time Lord? Being born in the fucking TARDIS does not make you part Time Lord. Jesus fucking christ, JENNY is more Time Lord, at least that makes more sense. And the revelation that River is Amy and Rory’s daughter makes no sense. Rory was erased from existence. How can River still be their daughter if Rory died at that point? But moving on.  I hate that she is used as a plot device. Oh, by the way she can fly the TARDIS, and oh by the way, she can flipping regenerate. I’m sorry, but River Song should, by NO means, be able to regenerate. She pops in to get the Doctor in and out of trouble and then disappears to who-knows-where/sometimes prison. And fixed points in time? Excuse me? No. I mean, really. That was absurd. Special rules do not apply to her. Moffat is just trying to make her look cool and I am not sacrificing good writing for image. River Song is a sociopath whose entire life revolves around The Doctor, there is not ONE SINGLE decision she has made for herself. She goes around with a gun, shooting things, causing genociide and we’re meant to believe the Doctor is actually ok with that? Giving her a gun does not make her a strong, independent woman. It makes her a sociopath with a gun. Her smugness annoys me to no end. Fucking spoilers. Fucking hello sweetie. Her sensuality is forced. She has no chemistry with Matt Smith. Her line in the wedding of River Song. I’ll suffer if I kill you-more than the entire universe-yes. How selfish can she get? She is constantly rubbing in her knowledge in not only the Doctor’s face but the companions. It’s like when Moffat took over he wanted to one up RTD so he made River who lets everyone know how awesome she is, how well she knows the doctor, how she can fly the Tardis so well (you turned the “handbrake” off, congratulations) She has no reactions to her parents dying. And finally she is meant to be this brainwashed sociopath who exists to kill the doctor and in the space of literally 30 seconds she changes her mind. A lifetime of brainwashing and trauma and pain and she gets over it in 30 seconds. Like I said, I shit you fucking not River Song is Moffat’s Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way. And yes, the marriage. It was forced. The Doctor flat out states that he doesn’t want to marry her and she pressures him into it because it’s the only way she’ll let him touch her. If there is any kind of pressure, blackmail or abuse to get someone to marry another person, the marriage is forced. The Doctor was absolutely pressured into participating because not participating would’ve ended the universe. Here’s the difference between Rose Tyler and River Song.  Rose Tyler was a character who existed and had a romance with the Doctor. There was NO love at first sight. it was not Predestined, or anything like that; it was just some crazy old alien being like “oi, you wanna go and see all of time and space?” and rose was all, “yeah, why not!” and they were BEST MATES FIRST. they were just two best mates flying around in their stolen TARDIS, having a laugh, and then when the Stakes Were Raised rose kind of went - oh fuck. i love him. and the doctor went - oh fuck. i love her. it was just a natural, mutual caring and it was just two nerds, both of whom would raise HELL for the safety of the other while saving the universe together.  River Song was a character who existed TO have a romance with the Doctor. We are instantly told, not shown by the first meeting that River is important to The Doctor.  Someone The Doctor would give his screwdriver to and tells her his name. And eventually  they meet again and she kills and The Doctor is okay with it...for reasons. No one ever bats an eye that another genocide happens, but whatever. “Never be cruel or cowardly” apparently The Doctor overlooks why he chose his title when River is around. Honestly, The Doctor would never fall in love with someone who would risk THE ENTIRETY OF SPACE AND TIME because she didn’t want to kill him, i.e. river. he would NOT love someone like that, much less he would certainly not marry her because of it.  Okay. Why is River the only one who knows The Doctor’s name? You might say that River does have a life outside The Doctor cause she’s an archaeologist, yes, but that is barely shown. What do we really know about River? Even though she’s not consistently characterized, we do see that she’s violent, crazy, arrogant, overly sexual, sassy, and even bossy. Not much is known about her that makes us actually love her except that we are supposed to love her because of the Doctor.   If I could change River’s character, it would be this.  River should have been like a future companion who was mentored by The Doctor. Like Seven mentored Ace. In which he becomes like a father to River. She is hateful to him at first because of the conditioning done to her by The Silence. The Doctor saves her from herself and makes her a better person and slowly mentors her, I kind of got that impression when she told Rory about herself in The Impossible Astronaut.  I would have prefered a father/daughter relationship more than a romantic one. And River getting over trying to kill the doctor in just one episode (Let’s Kill Hitler) didn’t really take advantage of the weapon turned companion plot, and it was such a waste! It’s so frustrating how much potential there was there to really tell a story, and instead they just rushed it and made it into a nonsensical mess, rushed into a mystery and rushed into a forced romance. And we will never be free of River, as long as Moffat guest writes for Doctor Who, River will always be there. Even when she is being sent to her death, River Song’s presence is forced upon us in series 10 and no matter how much we want her to go away, River will never leave. Fuck Moffat for forcing River on us.

Moffat’s perception of The Doctor. Moffat sees The Doctor as this angsty vengeful authoritarian god. The Doctor is important because They are the one being trying to make a positive impact in the universe not because they’re a god/angel/cosmic authority/vengeful deity

The Doctor’s Name. Since when does the Doctor’s name matter so much? He chose his own name, Doctor, for a reason. It stands for everything he believes in.  and that’s what matters, not his birth name, they weren’t gonna do the Carmel Masterplan, so it really doesn’t matter. Furthermore, how could the Doctor’s name bring about the end of the universe? I just…I don’t understand? I’m really trying to and I can’t, because it makes no sense. Before Steven Moffat took over, The Doctor wasn’t this prophesied space messiah that all the evil beings in the universe were hell-bent on destroying because they knew that his name had catastrophic properties. Never explained why and all mentions of why his real name is important is thrown away, thus once making something built up entirely pointless.

The Silence Genocide. Here’s the difference between how genocide is presented with the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. The Ninth Doctor has the opportunity to destroy the Dalek Emperor’s fleet with the delta wave generator, but it would be at the cost of the humans and Jack on the game station. He couldn’t bring himself to commit genocide a second time, he would choose to be coward over a killer anyday. With Ten, he had no choice but to destroy the Racnoss and commit genocide, but he was ashamed of himself. The Silence had been on earth for thousands of years and had influenced human history and helped get humanity to the moon. One of them killed a human.  The Doctor sanctioned a genocide of an entire race with a smile on his face and turned on by his psychopathic future forced wife(jesus I wish I was making this up) and the humans just go along with it, The Doctor might as well have just told Cletus to burn a cross on The Silence’s yard. What was The Silence’s crime exactly? furthering Man's achievements? I can only assume that no one knows about the killing of Joy in the toilets, but if the Doctor did its a bit harsh to wipe out a whole race because of the actions of one. I mean, holy shit we have a jail that is capable of holding aliens established in the beginning of the episode and apparently killing them all instead of holding them all away is preferable. 

Apparently sexual assault is funny if a woman forces herself on a man. If someone forces themselves on you without your consent, it is assault. It happened with Amy(while she was on her way to being married), it happened with River, it happened with Clara, it happened with Tasha Lem,  and it happened with Missy. It was not funny in absolutely any time, yet this immature fucking jackass always plays assault for laughs. If this were an older man forcing himself on a younger woman, there would be outrage. and the creepery of women who meet fully grown men as little girls falling hopelessly in love with that same grown man, usually throwing themselves at him and forcibly advancing on him.  And him sexualizing them when they're adults when literally like 5 minutes ago for him they were children, it’s really vile.

Moffat’s inability to break the New Who companion formula with Clara. When we were first introduced to Oswin Oswald, I sincerely thought we were finally getting a new type of companion, FINALLY a companion from the future and not just another modern girl from the UK. Then Oswin was revealed to be a Dalek and she died. Sad but I thought she was a great character and I really wanted her to start traveling with The Doctor, Oswin and Eleven had great chemistry and unfortunately it was wasted potential. Next, we get Victorian Clara. Finally, a companion from the past. Her story was so great and once again good chemistry with Eleven and once again I wanted Victorian Clara to travel with The Doctor and she dies. What happens next? We are once again forced to have a “the companion must be special to travel with The Doctor plot device” and we have Clara Oswald from modern UK. Okay, fuck you. You complete and utter fucking moron. Not every goddamn companion needs to be from the modern UK. The Doctor has traveled with companions from the past, from the future and even aliens, hell, two of his companions were Cybermen. The Doctor traveling with a companion from the past or future works. 

Moffat believes companions should only be female. Gee, it’s not like Ian Chesterton, Steven Taylor, Ben Jackson, Jamie McCrimmon, Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, Mike Yates, John Benton, Harry Sullivan  Adric, Vislor Turlough, Mickey Smith, Captain Jack Harkness, Rory Williams and Danny Pink don’t exist or are important. Seriously fuck you, the male companions are just as important as the female companions. 

Death always being teased but never executed upon and made ultimately pointless in the end. Rory has been dying in three fucking seasons until he actually dies in series 7. His death in series 5 was actually great. Then, when Amy and Rory ACTUALLY die in Series 7, it makes absolutely no sense and there are so many plot holes around it, it can be avoidable and The Doctor could simply just travel to a different part of the country in the TARDIS and just go back to New York on plane or car. Their death is completely avoidable and comes off as Moffat saying “He can’t save them because shut up” The Doctor let Amy and Rory go at the end of series 6. That is all you had to do. LET THEM GO, their deaths were avoidable and if you wanted to write them off, let them go. The most interesting Claras died and the last Clara died but was stupidly brought back despite the fact that Clara was content with dying. Ashildr had a great death protecting her people and of course deus ex machina technology makes her immortal. Even Heather, a girl from one episode had a good emotional death, is brought back in the finale. Bill Potts had possibly the worst possible fate. Bill was shot and everyone was shocked. Like damn, Bill is dying and the next thing we know is she is being converted into a Cybermen and who knows The Doctor is being forced to deal with the fact that he led his friend to a fate far worse than death. The emotional pain is there...and it’s ruined. Bill is fine and gets a happy ending like Clara and Ashildr. River is dead AND WE ARE STILL NOT FUCKING FREE FROM RIVER SONG! I don’t know why the fandom perceives Moffat as bad as George R.R. Martin, Moffat is a coward when it comes to death and never sticks with death, everyone HAS to come back and the deaths for every companion is undone and makes their deaths and sacrifice completely pointless. The reason Adric dying worked SO WELL is because he stayed dead and Adric’s death was a sacrifice and it worked. If Moffat was headwriter for Earthshock, I’m pretty damn sure he would find a way to undo Adric’s death. Death has no consequences in Moffat’s Who.

Until Bill Potts, every companion ALWAYS had to be special because the plot demanded it. Amy was “the girl who waited” River was River and Clara was “The Impossible Girl” no one could be special cause they are special to The Doctor, they had to be related to the plot

Day Of The Doctor was not celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who. It celebrated New Who and The Time War. It only celebrates The Time War and Moffat’s Who. It makes Not only that, it makes it black and white, it makes The Daleks the true evil of The Time War and erases the culpability of The Time Lords. Remember  it wasn’t just the Daleks who were the cause of The War, it was The Time Lords themselves who started The Time War when they convinced Four to try and stop the Dalek creation in Genesis Of The Daleks, it’s very important to understand that it wasn’t black and white and make the Time Lords the innocent party. And Day Of The Doctor ignores that and ignores that Rassilon wanted to erase all life and make The Time Lords beings of higher consciousness at the cost of all life in the universe.  

Mishandling The Time War itself. Throughout series 1-4 The Time War was built up as this horrible war that was so horrible that if it did not end, it would’ve destroyed life itself. The Time War NEEDED  to be more than a generic Sci-Fi battle. in the novelization of the episode Rose, 

The Time War was meant to be bigger and more horrifying.“this wasn’t a fight like laser guns and spaceships and explosions, this was a filthy, stinking war that changed reality itself.” Instead, it became a generic Sci-Fi action movie. Instead of the enormous time-traveling, inconceivable concept that was painted. The Time War prior to the 50th was something that we COULD NOT CONCEPTUALIZE because it was not fight like a normal war, it spanned galaxies and time. The true tragedy of it wasn’t that the Daleks were going to destroy Gallifrey or Arcadia, it was that THE DALEKS AND TIME LORDS BOTH WERE RIPPING THE UNIVERSE APART WITH THEIR WEAPONS. You cannot show that. So instead, we got shitty action movie explosions. When I got real interested about the Time War before series 6, a fan trailer showed a concept that The Daleks wanted to capture the Eye Of Harmony and insinuated that the Daleks went to war with the Time Lords to gain Gallifrey’s resources so they can gain mastery over space and time. That alone is more compelling than “Daleks just wanna exterminate the Time Lords” it was lazy writing, even more so by portraying the Time Lords as the innocent party. The Time Lords tried to get The Fourth Doctor to stop their creation and The Seventh Doctor manipulated Davros into destroying Skaro. There is no innocent Time Lords, retconning their actions throughout classic who and ignoring Rassilon and the High Council’s plans was complete and utter lazy writing. Rassilon and the High Council were as scary and menacing as the Time Lords from War Games and  Rassilon was a fearsome genocidal demigod. Choosing to ignore that was seriously dumb. Let’s go over Moffat’s depiction of children of Gallifrey and how he portrays the Time Lords waging War. Ignoring the concept of looming is dumb. “children of Gallifrey” I was just so mad when I heard about this. looming made Time Lords more alien and it is an interesting portrayal of Time Lords being asexual. Ignoring that, the concept of Time Lord Children is really dumb, Time Lord children carry stuffed rabbits. Because Time Lords children = Human children. Oh wait. Then Moffat’s concept of how The Time Lords would wage war.  Time Lord soldiers have helmets.  Time Lord soldiers have helmets to protect them from the rubble. There is rubble.  Things are burning. No, I mean things are literally burning.  Things are burning because the Daleks are shooting ray guns and the Time Lords are shooting back using their super advanced … ray MACHINE guns!!!!  Just to remind the audience, the Time Lords are a superior race with power over time itself.  The Time Lord soldiers have walky-talkies. No really, they do.  When Time Lords make art, they make it in 3 dimensions.  When Time Lords make war, they make it in 3 dimensions.  “Have you ever thought what it’s like to be wanderers in the Fourth Dimension?” Masters of time and you decide to make them have ray-guns? This isn’t the fucking Terminator. And also, it ignores the fact that The Doctor witnessed Gallifrey burned. The way The Time Lords were portrayed in DOTD, was just lazy.     

Sonic Sunglasses. I believe that the sonic screwdriver needed a long break. It worked for Five-Seven so it would work for Twelve.  I like the sonic screwdriver but I hate how they constantly made Ten and Eleven dependent on it and turned it from a time lord device that can open any door to a magic wand that can perform a deus ex machina. What happens instead of Twelve relying on his intelligence and wit? He gets a downgrade and gets himself Sonic Shades. It worked like the screwdriver, with a few added bells and whistles to justify this downgrade.  One of the most noticeable problems with the glasses was that, unlike the screwdriver, their effects weren’t visible. Doctor Who is ordinarily a visual program that has always drawn attention to its colorful sci-fi/fantasy moments. Also, unlike the screwdriver they weren’t exclusive used by The Doctor, making them far less special. Clara, Ashildr and Osgood all donned the specs during the limited number of episodes in which they appeared. In series 10, the glasses committed their greatest sin. After the events in Oxygen rendered The Doctor blind, instead of having him deal with the extent of losing one’s vision, he popped on his magic glasses, thus cheapening the experience. While they didn’t restore his vision, the tech provided him with enough guidance to dramatically lessen the full extent of his blindness. Sadly, if the writers had allowed The Doctor to go 100% blind, the sheer vulnerability of such a powerful character could've made the Monk Trilogy a much stronger arc.

Hell Bent undid Clara’s sacrifice and made Day Of The Doctor completely pointless. Hell Bent STILL leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. All this mystery around The Hybrid and it was completely pointless. Gallifrey was completely wasted. We were given hope that The Doctor would see his home and his people again, but instead of The Doctor restoring Gallifrey, finding Susan, Romana, Leela and Ace again, Gallifrey is reduced to background noise and The Doctor doesn’t even care that he’s home. It was all just to bring back Clara. Clara was content on dying to save Rigsy. Clara paid for her mistakes by trying to emulate and be The Doctor. Heaven Sent was brilliant, it showed The Doctor trying to struggle without Clara, it was emotional and brilliant. Not only is her death undone and Gallifrey is reduced to background noises, Clara is rewarded by her actions by becoming a faux Doctor with a TARDIS and her own companion in Ashildr. This is the complete opposite of what should have happened. She gets rewarded for trying to become The Doctor when she shouldn’t be. She should be paying for it, that’s the whole point. Clara isn’t The Doctor, what makes her different is her primary strength and that’s why they need each other. Clara dying was the only good way to end this character and it ended up as a copout. It took her agency away and because Moffat could not let her go he had to bring her back, thus making Face The Raven and Day Of The Doctor completely pointless

Because Moffat STILL will not let River go, he has a portrait bigger than his own granddaughter’s Susan Foreman. There is no way within time and space that The Doctor will never believe River Song is more important than his own granddaughter. In my opinion, he should have picture frames of Rose, Jackie, Mickiem Jack, Martha and Donna, The Ponds and Clara along with Susan, but only River gets the big special picture. Fuck Moffat and his petty favoritism

Nardole For the majority of series 10, The Doctor was followed around by a cue-balled whiny crying cyborg known as Nardole. He first appeared in the 2015 Christmas episode with a purpose and then proceeded to just sort of hang out afterward with no discerning purpose. Then midway through series 10 in the episode Extremis, his purpose was explained. He was just a reminder that River Song is still there. We can’t be free of River no matter what and because of that we have to sit through this unbearable, annoying screaming robot. Kamelion is better than him and that should show you how bad Nardole is, but unlike Kamelion who had issues cause the robot malfunctioned and only lasted a few episodes,  we suffered through the entirety of series 10 because of Nardole.

Bad make up and giving away Simm!Master in the teaser ruined the reveal. The series 10 trailer spoiled that John Simm would return as The Master at some point. However, since he didn’t appear in the first ten episodes, it became a given that’s he’d appear sometime during the two-part series finale. And while they might have been saving him for part two, it was likely they’d want to utilize him for the entire story arc. So with all that in mind, a character that looked and sounded like John Simm in heavy makeup appeared about 15 minutes into the penultimate episode, The World Enough and Time. Some viewers may have been as shocked as The Doctor and Missy were by the reveal, but it could’ve been handled better. Simm did his part by disguising his voice and mannerisms. Yet it feels like a lost opportunity with an easy enough fix, if anybody had cared. The whole thing could’ve been avoided by either not including The Master in the trailer, or by disguising Simm in even more makeup and prosthetics.

Ignoring Simm!Master’s character arc in End Of Time. I don’t like End Of Time for a majority of reasons, but even I understand that Simm!Master had an arc in End Of Time. Sure, he mostly wanted revenge for what Rassilon’s done to him, but he still saved The Doctor, he considered The Doctor’s offer and had a realization that maybe he doesn’t have to be bad. Simm!Master had sane moments in his insanity which all had in some way the Doctor involved, showing him listening, with tears in his eyes. And in The Doctor Falls, he is completely unchanged. Acts as if the character arc never happened, Simm!Master is sexist for no reason.  Time Lords have no real concept of gender inequality. The Master had respect for Jo Grant, Nyssa, Tegan and Martha Jones and never harbored sexist attitude for them, he had ill feelings as an enemy, that’s it. Made to hate the Doctor so much he’d rather die than standing with him - Ignoring the fact that’s exactly what he did in The End of Time Part 2 and also the fact that the Master’s main goal over everything else was always his own survival. So he dies unredeemable, learns nothing, uncaring asshole, and completely disregards his character development in "The End of Time and all just to make Missy look good.

Missy had no reason for wanting to change and my annoyance at the name change. I don’t see or understand why Missy wanted to change. Obviously they are gonna give her a redemption story for...reasons. What are the reasons you might ask?...Shut up. Well, we obviously need her to fight her demons so why not give her absolutely no reason to want to change (except “I want my friend back” which apparently wasn’t enough reason for any other Master) I seriously do not understand why Missy would want to change. Missy/Master would want to fight a common foe with The Doctor and later betray The Doctor later and their game would go on as it always goes. Missy had no motivation, every chance The Doctor gave her, she always went back to her old ways. Missy’s “change” simply comes off as “let’s praise Missy She’s changed!! Why? Who cares. Motivation? Character development? Nuances? I can’t do that, I can only create a contrast between new and old so crass, everyone will see the change! Shut up and stop asking questions!” If Missy returns, I want  them to stop calling her Missy. Call her The Master. The Master chose their name like The Doctor, I’m pretty sure they would not change it because The Master changed genders. You don’t just change that name. She can very well still call herself The Master, there is no reason why, they cannot call her The Master. Changing gender is not a reason to change the title The Master chose to be called as such as they believe they can rule and subjugate the universe. But The Master should at the very least return as a villain, despite the forced change.

The Daleks and Cybermen are misused and overpowered. The problem with the Daleks is that Moffat has no idea what he wants to do with them. This video explains it perfectly. When the Daleks returned in series 5, they returned with an awful new look but they are still the biggest threat in the universe and the emotional trauma and hatred with the Doctor is there. Then, The Daleks go away and nothing is done with them. In series 7, Asylum Of The Daleks they return. They are not treated like the unstoppable force they were once in Classic Who or in Davies’ Who or even in Victory Of The Daleks. They are instead treated like another monster of the week. It’s not a big deal for The Doctor to face them anymore, he doesn’t seem to have any kind of reaction to them still operating or prospering in the universe. So now with no explanation Skaro is apart of the universe again despite the fact that it was destroyed in Remembrance of the Daleks,  there is a Dalek parliament, thousands of them exist, they have their own asylum(apparently the Daleks are too scared of their own malfunctioning Daleks) and they have death camps. Dalek death camps and The Doctor doesn’t care. Dalek death camps and The Doctor has no reaction to nor does he want to help anyone in the camps. While the execution of Evolution of The Daleks wasn’t very good, Dalek Sec was right that the purity of the Daleks would always destroy them in the end and must change if they are to survive, but that is no longer relevant. The tone of the Dalek appearances after Victory Of The Daleks shows their menace is no longer there. The Doctor goes from being enraged and consumed by grief by seeing The Daleks, to not feeling anything nor caring that the Daleks having death camps across the universe. The Rusty thing just didn’t work. The only thing that did work was the “you are a good Dalek” line. The Daleks have lost their menace and if The Doctor doesn’t care or show any fear or hatred towards them, then why should we as an audience care? As for the Cybermen. The problem is they are just the Cybus Cybermen with the symbol removed, the same monotone “DELETE” the only difference is they are too overpowered and well they are apparently Iron Man now thanks to the Nightmare In Silver all rocket boots and detachable limbs and superspeed. In  Dark Water/Death in Heaven they are nothing but Missy’s slaves with no autonomy of their own rather than a true force to be feared. It hasn’t helped that more often than not, modern Doctor Who has repeatedly decided the only way to beat the Cybermen is to overwhelm them with the power of love, a trope the show falls back on far too often. What made the Cybermen scary in Classic Who is when they were first envisioned, they were meant to be a chilling extrapolation of what creators Dr. Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis saw as the future of prosthetics and cosmetic surgery, humankind chopping bits of itself until what was left was more machine than man. Only their very first incarnation, the Mondasian Cybermen has ever tangibly captured the gruesome, tragic roots that sit at the heart of the concept behind them as monsters. Tomb Of The Cybermen also showed them as a true threatening monstrosities.  So when the Mondasian Cybermen do return, Bill is converted and what happens? Bill retains consciousness and apparently it’s not enough to have the Mondasian Cybermen, Moffat just HAS to bring back his overpowered Iron Man knock off Cybermen. No true and utterly terrifying new designs, just the overpowered Metallic Gary Stu Iron Man Cybus Cybermen. So as usual Moffat has a genius idea and manages to ruin it in the end.  

Moffat’’s sexist garbage ruined The First Doctor in Twice Upon A Time. I have seen EVERY First Doctor serial and One is not sexist at all. I get it, the sixties were a different time, Since the First Doctor was of that era, he wanted the audience to laugh at how different things were back then. Especially with the constantly horrified reactions of Twelve at his former’s self’s behavior. So what’s the problem? Short answer, it’s because the First Doctor wasn’t like that. Not even remotely.  And this is the story that takes place before One’s regeneration, apparently Moffat doesn’t care about all the character development One went through with Ian and Barbara, he just wanted bad humor that goes against One’s character just so he can appear as the better party “see? My Doctor is better than Classic Who” no, asshole, The First Doctor was not at all like that One wasn’t a walking ball of sexism, he was a curmudgeonly grumpy old space grandpa who lightened up with his first human contact, grew warmer and closer to them and learned to help rather than… eh.. smash people’s skulls with rocks.

The real problem with Moffat is that  Moffat is a good writer, capable of being a great one at times, but a terrible showrunner. Steven Moffat was a man who in the beginning had some marvelous ideas, and much like another BBC writer Terry Nation. When writing scripts once or twice a year were completely brilliant, but when stretched to almost write an entire series single handed, the outcome suffered. Doctor Who used to be a show full of heart, courage, emotion, character driven, cared more about the heart of the show and character than the concept of the over-complicated plot that will eventually be dropped at the end of the series. And honestly sometimes Moffat’s fans sound like Rick And Morty fans “To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Moffat’s Doctor Who." that’s what most of y'all sound like.  After watching the teaser for series 11, I am finally really excited for Doctor Who. It feels like everything it used to be, everything that made Classic and Davies’ Who great. 13 and her new friends I cannot wait and finally it feels like Doctor Who