#sophie talks about gotham

[carveredlunds]

you know when “gotham” wrote the character of kristen kringle, played by chelsea spack, a character who had been the victim of both workplace sexual harassment by her colleague edward, and domestic abuse by her boyfriend tom? then edward killed tom and then started dating kristen, and then murdered her when he told her he’d killed tom and she was rightfully terrified and tried to run out of his apartment. then edward chopped her body into pieces and buried her in a suitcase in an unmarked grave in the woods (after hiding her dismembered hand in a vending machine). and then they recast chelsea spack to play isabella no-canonical-last-name, who showed up out of the blue a season later and gave edward a riddle where the answer was “time” for no discernible reason at all. and isabella had a blatantly obvious wig, no backstory, and an unexplained obsession with edward. and chelsea spack played isabella with a weird glazed-over look in her eyes, and she looked angry or impatient when other characters weren’t looking at her, and she said she “felt like she’d known edward her whole life” and she dressed up as kristen kringle and was apparently fine with edward being a murderer. and she said she was in love with edward after one date, and that she wanted a love story like “romeo and juliet or othello and desdemona”, where both the lovers die. and she was introduced in the same season as a literal clone was added to the show’s canon, and her wig hair was identical to that of a big bad of that season for literally no reason at all, a big bad who was the head of a shadowy organisation and who worked with the lead doctor of a freaky science lab (another big bad of that season) where said clone was built. but rather than making isabella a clone, or following up on any of the acting choices chelsea spack made, or doing anything with the character at all, the writers instead had isabella die in a train crash which she herself had remarkably little reaction to, and which was played for laughs. then she was mentioned a couple of times by other characters (the running gag being that nobody remembered her name) before nobody mentioned her again. and that happened and we were all expected to move on and forget about it.

[gimmemore14]

“That why he’s here?” Hood ask, pressing against Dick’s cheek for emphasis. “You’re just acting neighborly?”

“In a way, think of him as a welcome gift,” Maroni explains magnanimously. “My family doesn’t have the infrastructure to hold him long term and trying to sell him will likely bring more heroes to our door… we just wanted to see if you’re interested before we dispose of him.”

“You think dealing with Nightwing is a gift? He’s a fucking full time job,” Hood scoffs.

“Clearly, you can handle him.” Maroni laughs pointedly. “You can kill him if you’d like, he’s yours to do whatever with. I mean, he’s awfully pretty for a man...”

“A pretty pain in the ass.”

The mobster chuckles before sighing thoughtfully, collecting his thoughts while puffing on his cigar.

“Listen, we all know about your vendetta against Batman. I don’t know what he did to you but I’m sure you have good cause. I want Nightwing off my hands and I wanted to offer him to you as a gesture of good faith.” Dick grits his teeth as they talk about him like he isn’t here too, under Hood’s heavy weight. “You’ve been in Gotham awhile now, so I’m sure you’ve come to the same conclusion that everyone else has; you hurt the Bat through his Robin. Lately the newest Robin has been glued to his hip, but the original? That’s gonna hurt him too, he has to be a favorite.”

Red Hood is silent. Nightwing desperately wishes he could see his face or read his body language, but the man’s expression, like Dick’s vision, is covered. He pushes off of Dick and barks at Maroni’s men, “Stand him up.”

Hands latch onto him before him can move, they pick him up and slam him against the wall. Without his sight it’s disorienting, he bites back a groan as his head cracks against the wood.

Red Hood’s voice is cruel as he asks, “Where’s Daddy Bats? Shouldn’t he be here by now?”

Nightwing rolls his eyes under his ruined mask, villains and their ideas of grandeur. “Nah he called and said he didn’t think you’re important enough to deal with.”

The goons on either side of Dick leap away as Red Hood rushes him. He doesn’t have time to put his bound hands up in defense before Hood crashes into him and uses his weight to trap him against the wall. The mobster’s thick forearm cuts off Dick’s breathing, his mouth gaping trying to get air.

It’s an eerie feeling for him, knowing Hood’s face is close enough that he can feel the smallest amount of air escaping the man’s mask on his cheek and yet, he sees nothing but the red spray paint across his mask.

“I’d hope Batman wouldn't make the same mistake twice.” Hood’s voice is controlled, just barely, Dick uses it as his only anchor as spots begin to fill his already dark vision.

His throat makes a pathetic sounding gurgle and in an unexpected act of mercy, Red Hood moves his forearm down from Dick’s throat.

“How about this, I’ll let you pick, Birdy.” Hood says, his body still pressed tightly against Nightwing’s as the vigilante desperately tries to catch his breath. “You want to take your chances with the Maroni’s hospitality or risk my unknown capacity for mercy?”

Dick wants to rub his throat. It hurts. He clears it once, twice, before trying to speak. He needs to keep talking: to stall, to decide- if Red Hood is actually serious- which option would be better.

“A real Sophie’s Choice, if you ask me,” He croaks to keep up appearances.

Red Hood’s voice modulator makes a sound not unlike a laugh. “Choose, now. No time to scheme or calculate…”

As Dick opens his mouth to stall, what feels like the business end of his escrima shoves into it. His heart beat ticks faster, the last setting he had it on was powerful enough to stun a meta, the damage it could cause in such a vulnerable area would be permanent.

Hood sighs as if he’s being indulgent, “I’ll give you three seconds to choose before I light you up… Three, two-“

“You!” Dick garbles desperately around the escrima.

“You.” He repeats clearer as Hood retracts the weapon from his mouth. Dick cringes, feeling the strings of saliva still attached as the man lowers it.

“Hmm, I guess I’ll take him then,” Hood says, patting Nightwing’s cheek condescendingly. “Since he’s so adamant about it.”

As Maroni and his men laugh around Dick, his face heats up in embarrassment, but he wasn’t going to risk Hood electrocuting him. He’s got a week until they move the victims, he’ll have plenty of time to go after the Maroni Family once he escapes Red Hood, but right now he needs more info on the newcomer.

“Would you like my doctor to prepare a sedative? He’s not huge but it took a lot to put him out the first time. It’d be no issue to do for you, my friend,” Maroni offers.

Nightwing can’t help his lip curling up into a snarl.

“I’ll manage,” Red Hood responds ominously before Dick hears the crackle of his own escrima stick.

He doesn’t have time to protest as it’s shoved into his stomach. Wing convulses before true darkness overtakes him.

[nuvolisa]

Land where I land

It’s unusual for Jim to call him at the Police Station for anything. Even during the worst of cases, the officer has always tried to not get him involved or to come to him once everything was settled.

So, when he calls late at night, Bruce knows that something isn’t right. No villain attacks, no escapee from Arkham, no robberies, and no bomb threats: does Jason need to get bailed out of jail again?

Jim Gordon’s voice is somewhat sarcastic as he speaks over his desk’s phone. “You’ll find out when you see it.”

Bruce is not looking forward to it.

It’s late, too late for any sane and law-abiding citizen to be out at such an hour. What could’ve possibly happened to cause such a mess that he needed to get involved? Couldn’t Jim just have used the Batsignal if things were that bad?

Instead, when he enters the building, the old commissioner is snickering. Bruce is definitely not good with emotions, but he thinks he’s making fun of him. He doesn’t find it funny.

“What's going on?”

Bruce Wayne is confused, confused as to why the officer is so cheerful, confused about why he would call him here in the first place. Did he find his job that amusing?

“We’ve found this girl… well, let’s just say that she basically landed right on the back of an officer, and seemed to be confused, likely she’s an immigrant.”

Bruce was stunned.

“You called me here… for a kid who’s lost?”

James Gordon places a hand on top of his shoulder. “Do you know any French?”

This was going to be a long night.

There is a woman in the interrogation room, talking to what looks like a girl not older than fifteen, at least from her height. From behind the glass, he can’t see very well.

“Sophie, come out for now,” says Jim on the interphone, and the CPS worker obliges, waving tenderly at the girl she’s been interrogating.

Sophie Dallway comes to the other side of the interrogation room and fixes her skirt. Bruce notices that she must’ve dressed up in a hurry, but he understands: it’s quite late in the night.

“Did she tell us something?” asks Jim with a small amused smile under his mustache. Bruce’s on the verge of exploding.

“Not much, to be honest. She keeps telling the same story, she has no idea how she got here and what happened. She insists on letting her go, that she’ll find a way.”

“We can’t do that,”

“I told her that, she just started shaking.”

Jim looks down. “Good,” he says, sarcastically. Then he turns around to face Bruce, “Your turn now.”

“What?”

“Go in there and talk to her, Wayne.”

“But why?”

Jim shoves him out of the room with a half-hearted pat on the back. “You’ll guess soon enough.”

The interrogation room is surprisingly dark. The small yellow lamp hasn’t been changed since probably the 1960s and the empty metal chair doesn’t help to give a welcoming environment to a child. He can barely make out her silhouette, but he trusts Jim, he has to.

He opens up the folder on the metal, icy-cold table, and starts reading. “So, your name is…”

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” she completes the sentence for him, hesitantly.

Bruce is already lost, he doesn’t know what to say anymore. “You’re from Paris, is that correct?”

"Yes," she replies softly, "but I don't know how I ended up here in... Gotham, is it?" Her voice is tinged with confusion and a hint of fear, well hidden behind her thick, native French accent. He doesn’t fail to notice the urgency in her hand movements.

He scans the document one more time. Everything she has said to the CPS worker seems rather unfamiliar, he can’t for the life of him understand why he’s been involved in this case. He closes the folder and looks up sternly.

At that moment, it finally clicks. The teen is here, sitting in front of him, and she has two dark black pigtails that look almost blue under the light. Her eyes are two perfect sapphires with the tint of a calm sea. Her lips are in the shape of his mother’s, small and heart-shaped, and don’t hide the small pointy canines that Damian has. Despite the dark and gloomy atmosphere, the girl brightens the room, even with the terror easily readable in her pupils.

Bruce feels like fainting.

Marinette is rambling about needing to go back to Paris, but her words don’t fully reach his ears, it’s all rumbling background noise. The only thing he can hear is his racing heart, threatening to dig a hole and come out of his chest.

“Who are your parents?” he asks, with a stoic face, interrupting her quite abruptly. Bruce immediately notices his faux pas: he can’t let this overwhelm him, he can’t afford to be emotional anymore.

“Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng,” she answers, her eyes low on the ground. “They’re bakers…” she whispers. Bruce manages to catch it. The names are unknown to him.

“Do you have a number we can call?” he asks, but she shakes her head.

“No, I have their numbers saved on my phone, which is… back in Paris.”

This feels like a joke. He wants to turn around and ask Jim if it was Clark’s idea, but he realizes that whatever this ordeal is about, this poor girl, who looks so much like a carbon copy of himself, is disoriented and scared.

Bruce has a sympathetic look in his eyes. “Do you remember what happened right before you got here?”

Her voice is soft, it reminds him of someone.“I was in my room, getting up for school when I just… there was a blue light and I was here.”

He notices immediately that she is lying: her eyes look at her right, and she instinctively starts touching her face, her earrings, her neck. But why would she? Wouldn’t it be better for her to give the entire truth so that they can just send her home?

“That’s… peculiar,” he comments, trying to indicate that he doesn’t believe her. Not that he doesn’t believe she has just popped out of nowhere, which would be nothing compared to the sheer amount of strange things that happen in Gotham, but that she’s not telling the whole truth.

Her smile contorts into an embarrassed expression. “I know but… I can’t tell you much more.”

“Why?”

Marinette awkwardly fixes her posture. He can’t believe that such a petite girl, who wears pink ribbons and a pastel t-shirt for school, looks actually so much like him. “We… can’t really talk about what’s happening in Paris. Mayor’s decree. Technically, it’s the former mayor’s decree, but it’s still valid.”

That’s concerning, to say the least. He turns around to gesture to Jim that this is something they have to discuss. But what could possibly be happening in Paris that needs to be hidden from the rest of the world?

“I understand your fear, Marinette. But why is there an information block in there in the first place?”

The girl freezes. “I can… I can’t tell you,” she murmurs. His heart contorts at seeing the expression on her face, the same of a small puppy who has been abandoned. The irony of it doesn’t go unnoticed.

“You can. You’re not in Paris right now, so any decree doesn’t affect you. I’ll make sure to protect you, don’t worry,” he says, trying his best to reassure her. Bruce is very good at faking confidence and charisma; but at real compassion and genuine affection? He’s hopeless.

Marinette still looks like she is being tortured, like she has seen a ghost. Yet, she starts explaining what exactly happened in the last two years. He understands her hesitance: magical jewelry, possessed people, domestic terrorism. This city is in dire need of help, and he knows what he will be talking about at the next Justice League meeting.

As he hears the girl explain and analyze the villain in detail, every doubt clears from his mind. That is certainly his daughter. If her overall look wasn’t enough, the way she describes accurately every move and every action taken by the villains to terrorize her city would convince anyone that this is his long-lost kid. From the way Hawkmoth lured in citizens using complex schemes, to the way Mariposa’s attacks are far more well-organized and diligently planned.

His mind starts wandering as the girl keeps on telling Paris’s story. Her skin is pale and reveals on her arms burn marks, old cuts, and bruises. She’s incredibly small and thin despite being the daughter of a baker, and it makes a lot of questions pop up in his head. She doesn’t have the body of a hero, but she sure has the mind of one.

The papers that the CPS worker gave him tell him that she’s fifteen. He tries to think who the mother of this girl could be. It was too early for both Talia and Selina, and the timeline doesn’t match with Vicky Vale either. He looks at her once more, and it hits him like a brick.

It couldn’t be. But also, it is the only possibility. He doesn’t want to believe his own mind, but logically he already knows who it is. Zatanna Zatara. It is impossible to ignore now: she looks exactly like her. A drop of sweat runs down his spine. Why didn’t she ever tell him?

Come to think of it, he hasn’t heard from the woman for fifteen years. His head hurt. Does that mean that Marinette has… No, it’s best to think about this later.

“Sir, are you okay?” she asks, seeing that he doesn’t seem responsive to her story. The sweet tone of her voice makes him feel another gut of pain in his chest.

He shakes his head. At that moment he realizes he hasn’t even told her his name. He wants nothing more than to dig a hole, crawl in it and die. He thankfully can’t hear Jim Gordon laughing his ass off in the other room, or else he would try to jump out of a window, no gear on.

“Yes, sorry. Call me Bruce, by the way. There’s no need for such formalities, I’m here to help.” He offers her a smile that looks so forced it could make her vomit.

She doesn’t look any better. “Can you help me go home, Bruce?” she pleads, eyes filled with tears and determination. Her voice, however, betrays her.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he replies. He needs to get out of here and fast. Bruce doesn’t know whether to strangle Jim Gordon or kiss him.

The contents of his stomach threaten to come out, and he quickly comes out of the room, trying to keep up his usual stoic demeanor. As he reaches Jim’s office, his eyes look bloodshot, and he has to consciously stop himself from trembling.

The old man is smiling smugly from his desk, and as he looks up from the paperwork he’s throwing around, he says: “So?”

Bruce tries his best to not scream, not yell at him ‘What the actual fuck, Jim?’, not throw the entire paper bin on the ground. His voice isn’t as cold as usual.

“Can we get a DNA test done?”

Jim’s laugh echoes in his ears, and it feels like mockery. Bruce desperately wishes he slept that night.

Sophie Dallway downs her coffee and makes her way to the room, a tad bit more awake than she was before. She looks at the necessary paperwork, and this looks like a complicated case, judging by how much she has to sign.

But as she pushes open the door, she’s met with silence. No one is there, Marinette Dupain-Cheng is gone. Bruce has already lost any trace of his daughter, mere minutes after meeting her.

Whole series here!

[geneticdriftwood]

lost and found pt. 1: missing pieces (dickroy wip snippet)

Summary:

"In the photo, Roy’s head hangs backwards over the arm of their old couch. His face is covered in doodles that Dick had helped a tiny Lian draw, all in multicolored permanent marker. He’s trying to look dramatically outraged, but the effect is ruined by the bright grin he can’t quite suppress. His gaze is directed off camera, to where Lian is giggling delightedly in Dick’s lap, a bright streak of blue smudged across her right cheek. The look in his eyes is full of such intense love and devotion that Dick forgets, for a moment, how to breathe."

Or: Dick thinks about the past and fails to change the future.

A/N: this is a little snippet from pt. 1 of lost and found, my wip au where Lian and Damian become friends while she's running around gotham still "dead". they get themselves stranded half a galaxy away, and in the process of rescuing them, dick and roy finally work through their issues and figure their shit out. takes place shortly after bruce returns from the time stream, pre-nu52 canon but with lian's current death plotline

---------------

The last kid from his gymnastics class has finally been picked up, so Dick heads to the staff locker room to rinse off before going home. 

Honestly, Dick hates this locker room. It’s nothing like the tiny one at his old gym in New York, with its cracked mirror, and its shower with shit water pressure, and its photos and stickers and children's artwork on every locker. This one is too big, all shiny and new and impersonal, remodeled, like the rest of the gym, with money from a generous anonymous donation. Because Bruce can’t resist shoving himself into every fucking corner of Dick’s life.

That’s probably enough bitching about Bruce for now. He doesn’t want to hit his daily quota before he even finds out what happened last night with Damian. 

Dick finishes his shower and towels off, changing into a clean pair of sweatpants and an old Wonder Woman t-shirt. Gym bag over his shoulder, he waves goodbye to his coworkers and steps out into the soft light of early evening. He throws a helmet on, hops on his bike, and pulls out of the parking lot, heading in the direction of his apartment. 

The fog of stress and exhaustion has finally cleared from his head, and he’s feeling more like himself than he has all day, but something in his chest still aches. 

His last group of the day had been the tumbling class for 5-6 year olds. It's one of his favorites to teach–– it’s mostly just playing games, and he loves seeing how carefree and comfortable in their own skin the kids that age still are. But there’s moments when he looks at them and chokes on the air in his lungs, unable to swallow the grief. 

Sophie had landed her first cartwheel today, and all he could see was Lian, running into the tower kitchen to proudly show him that look, she finally got the feet right! And he and Donna had applauded, and let her lick the cookie dough off the spoon, and listened as she’d sat at the kitchen island, kicking her feet and telling them all about some new animal fact she’d learned. 

He thinks about calling Roy and sharing the memory. But he doesn't know if he should, hasn't talked to him recently enough to know whether the thought of past joy would be a comfort, or just a painful reminder of loss.

It aches down to his bones, that he doesn’t know. The distance between him and Roy feels so wrong, like he’s missing a limb. 

Dick pulls in and parks in front of his favorite little corner grocery store. Dick wants to say he doesn’t know how all this started, but, well, he definitely does. He just doesn't particularly want to think about it.

This is his own damn fault, he knows. Roy’s been trying to reach out, lately. They see each other semi-regularly, at Justice League meetings or during the occasional mission. Out of costume sometimes, too, at someone’s birthday dinner or a West family cookout. But Dick’s had a lot of practice dodging conversations he doesn’t want to have. And normally Roy doesn’t let him get away with that, but they both know better than to start this fight in public. 

So Dick avoids being alone with Roy, and Roy stares at him from across the room, eyes burning holes in the side of Dick’s head. Between the two of them, silences have always been so much louder than screaming matches. 

Dick glances down. He’s a little surprised to notice that he has his phone out and opened to Roy’s contact, where a much younger face looks up at him. Donna had taken the picture, one afternoon when it had just been the three of them and Lian in the tower.

In the photo, Roy’s head hangs backwards over the arm of their old couch. His face is covered in doodles that Dick had helped a tiny Lian draw, all in multicolored permanent marker. He’s trying to look dramatically outraged, but the effect is ruined by the bright grin he can’t quite suppress. His gaze is directed off camera, to where Lian is giggling delightedly in Dick’s lap, a bright streak of blue smudged across her right cheek. The look in his eyes is full of such intense love and devotion that Dick forgets, for a moment, how to breathe.

It’s not like Dick wants things to stay like this. He misses his friend so much it burns inside. But he doesn’t know how to fix this. He’s afraid to try. Dick feels stuck, frozen. Why the hell is this so hard? 

His thumb hovers over the call button on the screen. He really, really wants to hear Roy’s voice.

Suddenly his phone vibrates, and a text from Tim pops up at the top of the screen.

dropping itty bitty bat off at ur place, eta 20min. if u arent home to stop me i WILL be stealing all ur zesti.

The tension of the moment breaks, and Dick is back to being just a guy in a parking lot. He lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, and pauses for a moment before pocketing his phone and turning to head into the store. He’s got a kid he needs to make dinner for, and he should probably restock on Zesti.

As he pushes the door open and is hit with cool air and the sounds of shoppers, a little voice in his head whispers “coward”. It sounds uncomfortably like Roy’s.

[flower1622]

Vampire Lovers

Chapter 1

Conner was on the sofa of his apartment that Tim bought for him listening to music that was playing on TV while he was doing his College homework.

- Arg! I can't do this stupid thing! - Conner gets angry and throws his notebook away and stands up. Then he hears a knock on his balcony door. He sees a shadow of someone. He turns the TV off and opens the door.

- Tim? - Conner asks confused. He doesn't understand why Tim would come to his house in the middle of the night instead of doing his stuffs in Gotham.

- Hi, Kon!  - Tim says with a smile while still wearing his red robin costume.

- Hey! - Conner says and enters back inside his apartment. He notices that Tim didn't enter, so he turns to red robin with a confused expression.

- Can I come in? - Tim asks anxious. He gives Conner a puppy dog eye. He really wanted Conner to say yes.

- Do you need to ask to enter now? Tim, you bought this place for me! - Conner says a little frustrated. It was obvious Tim could enter. He was his best friend. So, Conner is still a little confused about Tim asking something like this.

- Please? - Tim begs Conner while both stare at each other for some time.

- Alright... - Conner says and sighs. Tim looks at him as if expecting the right answer. Conner rollys his eyes.

- Yes. You can come in! - Conner says. Tim smiles. Both understand that it's not needed to say thanks since Conner got what Tim meant by his smile already. So, Tim slowly enters in the apartment. 

- Wow! This places looks pretty clean and organized! - Tim comments while he looks around Conner's apartment.

- Ma always reminds me to clean my house. Sometimes, she visits me and helps too! - Conner says with adoration in his voice for his mother Martha Kent.

- Oh! - Tim says and continues looking around the place. He finds something on the floor and takes it.

- Studying? - Tim asks and shows the notebook to Conner.

- Yeah, you could say that! - Conner says embarassed and puts his hand behind his head. Tim gets a pen that was on the little table in front of the sofa. 

- Alright! - Tim says and sits on the sofa. Conner joins him and stares at Tim, who only raises his eyebrows at Conner.

- Do you my handwriting? - Conner asks and Tim only continues staring at him.

- Alright. Stupid question? - Conner asks and Tim only nods. They stay silent for some time while Tim writes on Conner's notebook.

- You can turn the TV on and continue listening to your music - Tim says while he continues writing. 

- Won't it bother you? - Conner asks. Tim only shakes his head. Conner nods his head and turns the TV on.

After a few minutes:

Conner was watching and vibing with the song while Tim was still writing.

- Finished - Tim says. Conner looks at him and takes his notebook to take a look at it.

- Thanks, man! - Conner says and gives a smile to Tim. 

- No problem - Tim says.

Conner stands up and goes to the mirror to take a look at his appeareance. He touches his hair a little bit.

- What are you doing? Are you going out tonight? - Tim asks curious.

- Yes! With a girl! -  Conner says while he looks himself in the mirror.

- Who is she? - Tim asks with a dark expression. As Conner was looking at the mirror, he didn't notice it.

- Her name is Sophie! She is my classmate from College. She is beautiful, smart and nice! - Conner says while daydreaming about Sophie. Suddenly, Conner feels someone behind him. He turns around and sees Tim in front of him.

- How did you...? - Conner asks confused while he looks between the sofa and Tim. He gets interrupted by his best friend.

 - I'm all those things and you never go out with me! - Tim says with a dark expression. Conner notices it and gets a little confused. He turns around to look at the mirror again.

- Look Tim, you are amazing and everything... - Conner says, but stops talking when he notices that Tim doesn't have any reflection in the mirror. He gets totally confused now. He turns to face his best friend.

- What...?  - Conner asks, but Tim sprays green kryptonite on his face, making him pass out on the floor. Tim looks at him.

- You are mine, Conner! I'll make sure you know that! - Tim says darkly while he looks at Conner passed out on the floor.

[jokerschuckletown]

folie is a curse for joker fans

i apologize in advance if this posts hurts sensitive people in the fandom i am done hiding my pain inside my heart it has to pour out in writing and this is my honest opinion about the sequel

i am not able to accept the things i read about joker from youtubers, shippers and few joaquin fans after watching the sequel it's confirmed this movie was not for us 💔 but there are fans loving it 😵‍💫 it's fine i am not saying nobody should like it

i am a sensitive person who finds comfort in fiction dealing with health issues in reality whatever i saw in the movie was wrong, if the society is ugly we know it we didn't need todd to bring that garbage 🗑️ in our arthur life he kept suffering in a locked room it was hell when he deserved to be treated in a hospital 🏥 the court room scenes didn't make any sense since they only had the first movie characters proving arthur does not deserve any justice from sophie to gary and his therapist who didn't care about him since day one was calling him delusional but she didn't talk about how they cut funding and arthur didn't get his medicines when he needed them to be stable

the plot of this sequel is a mental ill person has no place in society and arthur deserved to rot in the aslyum 😠 i get so angry to think about the way todd twisted mind wrote this script and gave it to joaquin 😮‍💨 while joaquin is not a saint he saw arthur as a experiment 🧪 in his acting lab i am upset with him 😒 when he should have made arthur life better

when i watched the first joker movie because of the title joker, the stairs dance scene was viral on youtube, i heard it was joker origin story and his name was arthur, i loved the movie with this idea in mind that arthur is joker but then comes todd telling us no this is not joker our arthur was never joker who gave him the right to break my heart when this joker was the reason i am alive i remember the pain i suffered in 2019- 2020 my health issues 😪 when i was admitted in hospital for a day i kept thinking about my joker he gave me strength to get well soon my only reason to survive i woke up every day getting excited to make edits for him and reading fanfiction on ao3 about him being this clown fighting the evil justice system in gotham city, i found my strength in joker , i was out of bed learning to walk and breathe fresh air with motivation to live life again, the negative thoughts disappeared and joker replaced it with joy and laughter

i expected joker to take revenge in the sequel look at the john wick movies he fights bad guys with a gun 🔫 he gets hurt but he comes back stronger a real hero he is not gonna sit and watch people abuse him it's so wrong and i hate todd for making this arthur suffer the worst things in the movie folie 😒

i wake up with this thought that man made this movie to hate us joker fans despite the fact he got paid so much money 💰 i won't accept the fact he is not joker arthur is joker for me he is smart and has the right to defend himself not get abused by guards in arkham that scene is replaying my mind like a horror movie i don't even wanna talk about the last scene 😔 no wonder everybody hates it outside gaga fandom

the first joker movie he turned into joker and won the gotham clown supporters the story ended on a good note i can watch that movie thousand times and how arthur was cute and adorable in the clown makeup and not to forget carnival , the sequel also brings that ugly lee she is an idiot obsessed with the idea of joker and not arthur himself while her shippers are the ones who love this movie 🙂 they hate arthur or they belong to happy rich families they don't care about mental health issues 😪 the ones who pretended to care about arthur are lecturing us we know our arthur better than them so shut up and keep your fake sympathy with u we don't need it, i am not a sinner for loving joker i will continue supporting him nobody cares outside stan twitter about these things we are free to have an opinion and we loved arthur before them we share a special bond with him 🤡

The ones mocking me for having that nightmare about arthur leaving me it was only a trick of my mind i don't care about it, i see it as a fictional world none of the things in my dreams is real but my feelings are real i am real so it's better i choose myself and not the sequel where my innocent artie was tortured by todd to make us suffer

i am not wasting more time sitting and crying, it's better to move on and live in peace ✌️ i will write for arthur and joker in my fanfiction i don't have to take permission from todd since it's a fictional character not a biopic of a real person i can interpret it my way he has no control over me or my creativity as a writer it's like when i make edits it's my choice to select a song not the youtube playlist recommending me music and last i am a arthur fan i love him being sweet but he killed people he is not full innocent it might sound bitter but it's the truth but i love him as joker i admit i am attracted to grey shade characters in movies

i can't imagine arthur without joker they both are the same person fighting for his rights, mental health and injustice in society

[invisibleicewands]

[...] Speaking to WalesOnline ahead of the three-part series’ release, Callum said he was “incredibly proud” to be a part of telling the story of The Way. [...]

Callum added: “I think the role of the Driscoll family is to kind of mirror a real family because often the idea of the family in crisis is not a new one, but the heart of the show is this family and everything that happens around them. Making that as real and honest as possible was something that we all kind of set out to do.

“Michael was really passionate about doing that because the show lives and dies by the Driscoll family. One of the first things we did when we met was a series of improvisations about what it would have been like when Owen and Thea (Sophie Melville) were in school together, coming home from school, the dynamic between Owen and his mother – all these different scenes where things were fine. When we're going into those scenes when they’re not okay, it's a bit more complex and there's conflict there and a historical trauma to explore.”

The Way features a cast that is packed full of big Welsh names, including Steffan Rhodri (Steeltown Murders, Gavin and Stacey), Mali Harries (Keeping Faith, Hinterland), Sophie Melville (The Pact, Iphigenia In Splott) and Michael Sheen himself. Maja Laskowska (Trigonometry, Baptiste) plays a young woman caught up in the family’s escape. Luke Evans (Nine Perfect Strangers, The Pembrokeshire Murders) stars as Hogwood, a mercenary in pursuit of the Driscolls, with Tom Cullen (The Gold, Weekend), Danny Sapani (Killing Eve, The Diplomat), Mark Lewis Jones (Outlander, The Crown), Paul Rhys (Discovery of Witches, Chaplin), Erin Richards (The Crown, Gotham), Aneurin Barnard (The Catch, 1899), Catherine Ayers (The Light in the Hall, Keeping Faith), Patrick Baladi (Breeders, Line of Duty), Georgia Tennant (Staged, Doctor Who), Jonathan Nefydd (Pobol y Cwm, Grav), and Matthew Aubrey (Keeping Faith, World on Fire) all playing key roles across the three-parter. [...]

or Callum, the chance to work with Michael Sheen – who is shifting from in front of to behind the camera for The Way – was a dream come true. He said: “I've grown up watching Michael and have been inspired by him for so many years. He's in some of my favourite pieces of TV and film so growing up watching him and then being directed by him, and even just meeting him for my audition was just something that was so cool. He's a monolith of Welsh acting, film, television, theatre – all of it.

“He kind of represents the best of us, and getting to work with him was something that I felt very lucky to be doing. To be directed by him and to get to see him work every day on a piece like this that is so full of power and passion and fight and anger and everything else was something that I just loved every minute of it.” [...]

[newgenog]

REVENGE

Notes: This is STILL NOT part one of chapter six. This is another teaser from chapter six.

If you're just stumbling across this, and haven't already done so, please stop and start by reading part one of chapter one.

This #Batwoman AU is based on the ABC tv series #Revenge. Ryan Wilder had just about everything taken from her when we met her, and she was doing her best to get it back. In this version of the story, that means taking some people down along the way. And, she's definitely no hero.

Y'all know why this is taking so long, so I'll spare you the broken record. I promise to keep trying to get you something more complete by next week. For now, here's another out of sequence and context snippet from part six.

CHAPTER SIX SNEAK PEEK 2

13 YEARS AGO, GOTHAM CITY HIGH SCHOOL

Sophie's sitting by herself with Selly, speculating that the cat's mama must have gotten sick and stayed home from school. She promises to call and check on her when she gets home, and then she shares her plan. If she's still not well enough to return to school, Sophie will go to her classes to collect her homework. She knows Ryan will fuss about having to do schoolwork on her day off, but she'll help her get it done, so she doesn't fall behind. 

It's a Tuesday in December, and it's cold. They'd borrowed a small generator from shop class, and a heat lamp that was used in biology for plants. They'd rigged a heating system to keep their fur baby's cabinet warm while they were away. And, Ryan had hooked her mama's electric heating pad to the generator, and stuffed it under Selly's blankets to recreate the sense of body heat she got from them. Even for Sophie, it feels colder without Ryan nearby. For both of their sakes, she hopes whatever’s keeping Ryan out of school doesn’t last long.

Sophie does as she promised their cat, and tries to call Ryan at home, but no one answers the phone. No one answers the door when Sophie stops by her apartment the next day either. They'd never hung out off campus, but Sophie had made them exchange all their important information, just in case anything ever happened to one of them. She knows Ryan's mom plans to move them to a nicer area, but she hasn't gotten that address yet. By Thursday morning, Sophie starts to regret not asking more questions. Ryan never mentioned the possibility of switching schools, and there was absolutely no way she’d disappear on Sophie without notice, even if her mom wanted to take her out of GHS. So Sophie doesn't let herself get bogged down by that idea. Instead, she stops by the school’s office and chats with her favorite administrative assistant, hoping she'll clue her in. 

What she finds out is a shock, and it’s devastating. Somehow, the story was kept out of the news at first, but Mrs. Johnson's sister works at Gotham General, and when Cora Lewis was brought into the E.R., already deceased, the other Johnson remembered her from church. She knew her daughter Ryan went to Gotham High School, so she told her sister everything. With enough gentle prodding, Sophie hears everything too...most of which she can't make sense of.

Friday morning, Ryan’s case becomes newsworthy, and there's finally some coverage of the trial because of the Kanes' involvement and their status. The officials are rushing through the trial, because they want a decision on this before the Christmas break. On top of that, Ryan doesn’t have much support in the courtroom and her defense lawyer seems like she’s hardly trying to protect her. It's still big news for the school, and all her classmates can talk about. Even her mom discusses it at home over the weekend, highly critical. Her little sister asks questions that her mom gives judgemental answers to. 

Sophie stops watching the news the next week, unable to sit through what her gut tells her is incredibly wrong while feeling so helpless. She wants to defend Ryan - no one knows or understands her better – and to hold her while she mourns the only family she had left. It’s so unfair that she should have to be persecuted when she just lost her mom.  

When Ryan is sentenced, Sophie’s heart shatters. Yes, because her best friend just lost everything, but because she knows that includes Sophie. She asks her mom to take her to visit, and she's forbidden from seeing her. Diane believes a detention center is no place for her daughter, and a delinquent is no one she should be concerned with. Diane also knows her daughter; Sophie is resourceful, and stubborn. So she threatens her with everything under the sun if she ever finds out Sophie disobeyed these rules. She’d raised a good daughter who wouldn’t be influenced by someone like ‘that girl.’ And she wouldn’t have her daughter known for having a friend like that either. 

In an act of rebellion, Sophie brings their cat home, and carries it around with her everywhere, especially whenever her mom is home, both to ensure its safety, but also as the only ounce of comfort she can cling to. The loss is greater than Sophie can comprehend or articulate. She spends most of the Christmas break in her room, sleeping during the day, because she's up all night. Her sister tries to be there for her, but she's too young to really understand everything that's happening. Her mom thinks she’s being dramatic losing sleep over some little girl from school, because she doesn’t keep in touch with any of her friends from her youth. Sophie knows better than to try to explain that Ryan isn’t just some ‘friend…’ 

When Sophie returns to school, everyone has moved on, because they didn't really know Ryan, anyway. She's sad but also somewhat relieved, because she doesn’t need anymore reminders than the ones that flash in her mind. She throws herself into her classwork, goes out for cross country to stay busy in the afternoons, and to keep moving. She finds that running hard and fast for long distances is a good way to feel a different kind of ache, one that’s more productive and tangible. Mostly, she does everything possible to prepare to get far away from Gotham, as soon as she can. All the city has done is let her down. 

The only good thing to come out of the suffering is her mom's decision to open a restaurant and bar in the same place that Cora Lewis meant to. Diane was impressed that a single parent and Black woman, like herself, was doing something so entrepreneurial, and felt inspired to see Cora’s vision through in her honor. She named it The Hold Up as a safe haven for their community to ‘hold up’ and support each other. She’d say she wished she’d been able to know Cora before she’d lost her life from her daughter’s poor decisions, ignoring Sophie anytime she tried to argue with her, saying the evidence was clear from the trial, but that maybe the mothers could have looked out for each other. Her mom’s choice to pursue this goal is as much a gift as it is a curse.

Sophie’s solace is that she has to leave for Point Rock almost immediately after graduating high school. She's spent the last year and a half training herself not to think about Ryan more than she absolutely has to, and she prays that the distance will help with that. She chooses to treat Ryan’s memory like one of a best friend moving to a different state, where they’d simply lost touch, which often happens in those situations. It’s better than the truth: that she was tragically forced to let go of someone she loved, without ever getting to say how she really felt, or goodbye. As a final pursuit of closure, she leaves her closest companion with her sister, asking Jordan and Selina to take care of each other.

~~~~~

To be continued...

I felt like it was important to give a little more background on why and how Sophie could repress so much of Ryan's memory. There's a lot she's repressing, all at once.

Y'all on the new Thread app? SaveBatwoman created an account on there, in case you want to follow!

[solomonara]

The Cross Purposes Job - Chapter 2 - Leverage - Batman (All Media Types) [Archive of Our Own]

A con on the verge of success gets sniped by an unknown third party. The Leverage crew traces the interference back to Gotham. Now the con has a new target: shady billionaire Bruce Wayne and the highly suspicious Wayne Enterprises.

Chapters: 2/7 Fandom: Leverage, Leverage: Redemption, Batman - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Breanna Casey, Tim Drake, Eliot Spencer (Leverage), Sophie Devereaux (Leverage), Parker (Leverage), Barbara Gordon, various other bats and thieves Additional Tags: comic book hacking, comic book lawyering, Influencers, Social Media, Misunderstandings, Mention of grooming, POV Outsider, (aka the Leverage crew looking at the bats and the bats looking at the Leverage crew)

Preview:

...so now they were parked in a Brick and Basil food truck within view of the impressive WE tower in downtown Gotham. Or rather, Breanna and Eliot were in the food truck. Parker was thirty storeys up employing one of her favorite covers for spying out the layout of a building: high-rise window cleaner.

"I think that's the last of them," Parker said, a little regretfully, placing one final button cam in the corner of a window. It would talk to the other buttons placed around the building, creating as accurate a layout as possible. Certain of them – the ones placed on the board room windows, Bruce Wayne's office, and Lucius Fox's office – would also record video and audio of anything that happened in those rooms.

"We are up and running," Breanna said. "Server room seems to be just where I thought."

"You don't sound happy about that," Eliot said.

"Do you need me to go around again?" Parker asked. "I can absolutely go around again."

"It's just, it feels wrong," Breanna said. "Something's off. I got in, had a look around their systems, found nothing—"

"'Cuz they're not on the network, you said," Parker chimed in. "It was in the handout."

"And apparently they've taken no surveillance countermeasures despite having at least one decent hacker on their payroll, so now we can spy out any hidey-holes. It's just, you ever get the feeling something is too easy?"

"Finding nothing is too easy?" Harry asked over coms. "And Parker's how many hundreds of feet above the ground right now?"

"Good point," Parker said. "This is easy."

Keep Reading on AO3 Read from the beginning

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

OCs To Fixate On

okay so like usually I talk about my current muses (gotta update that list too rip) but this is a tiny bit different! These are not ocs that I’m currently fixated on but instead like, ocs that I really want to spend more time on and figure out better

if anyone feels like sending asks for them I’d never say no (ask game tag is here) but also this is very much to remind myself to develop these ones and (hopefully) to help me when I get stuck on who/what to edit for!

Fandoms

Descendants

Gossip Girl / Reboot

Gotham

Harry Potter

Doctor Who

Hunger Games

Gallagher Girls

Doctor Who

OCs

Sophie Dugray

Lilibeth Anderson

Laura Hyde

Coco Bates

Mina Ambrosia

The Witching Hour

[selkymaiden]

Self-indulgent oc x canon word vomit✌️

hmmm, these two you can kinda interpret two different occasions of them meeting up to discuss business and these types of conversations happen. I'm like on a fine line between I really don't know how to write for 🐧 so I always keep it from Sophie's POV

-----

"How do I know you won't betray me after you've done it to Black Mask?" Oswald's tone is genial but his body language says otherwise, he's almost languid looking but someone who knows better can tell he's all control and business. Yet I figured this conversation was going to steer back to loyalty and honesty. It always happens with these types, yet I can't blame him as trust is hard to come by in Gotham City.

"Long as you don't go overboard with power you'll never have to worry." The reply is straight to the point, I don't like to make things complex and long.

"I don't think that's a good enough guarantee." Oswald chuckled sarcastically back, his mismatched eyes boring into mine.

I'm pretty sure I've never met someone who can keep my gaze so steadily, I wonder slightly if how I feel right now is how others feel when they look into mine. Except for the fact is I'm just conveying warm, green eyes. I'm not using a Gorgon's stare. I do think about it but I shrug instead at him.

"Trust is really just a matter of having faith in someone, yeah? So you'll never know until the time comes and then you'll see what happens." My manner is a bit more Sphinx like and I know it's not something he appreciates, yet The Penguin just gives a sort of hum in acknowledgment.

A silence happens between us before he gets up. His limp draws my attention and I think I stare a little too long because when I look up to meet his eyes-

"I'm sort of disappointed, I've heard of your reputation and we've talked a bit prior to this Sunday afternoon. So wouldn't you... Of all people know not to underestimate the underdog?" I start to take a turn around him, literally, I circle him slowly, watching his shoulders go rigid. His hands are gripped tight in fists next to his sides. Oswald's stance is amusing, he truly looks like a Penguin right now. "I'm still around, because I know how to take care of my business and I don't need protection." I let my words hang in the air as I stop in front of him. "And if you asked me here just to talk about loyalty and be preachy then we're wasting our time."

"Let me give you some advice. It seems the only reason you're still around is that you're protected by Black Mask because you say and do a lot of things... That would make a lot of people upset. And when that happens people die. People like you." His strange gait comes close enough to me that he's slightly standing over me, looking down.

Something boils in me yet I gaze up at him calmly. Like a snake getting ready to strike and impudently the first thing I do is cross my leg over my knee. The foot that hangs in the air I idly rub against his 'bad' leg. It does just what I want and he takes a step back, his mouth opens but all he does is splutter and look disgusted. Maybe even a blush? Either way, I take the opportunity to stand and we're close enough I know he's tensing. But I don't do anything like bodily harm, no, if he wants to be rude then I'll act the same.

Obviously, I'm not about to drop the bomb that's my EX, instead, I weigh my options. "I'm someone very useful with very useful skills so I get special privileges," I answered back cryptically.

Oswald is quick with his response, a quirk to his head and a very feral-looking smile on his face. "No. No I asked you here for more information about your employer as well as you've heard something about the Triads via..."

"Roman. Yeah. I wasn't in the conversation but I was in the room." As we stand in front of each other, for some reason or another I feel compelled to reach out and play with his tie. Instead, my eyes flicker over his person, it must make him uncomfortable because he shifts on his feet. While his face turns into something more perplexed but interested.

"You're just... In there? With him? While he has meetings?" The way Oswald is asking me these questions it's actually pretty funny, but there's something suspicious growing as he starts to put more things together. I bite my lip. "I'm sorry, who are you really to Black Mask?"

It does nothing to earn me points with Oswald Cobblepot. The look he gives me is screaming, 'What the Hell, Woman? What does that mean?!' It's silent but his irritation is written all across him and as if he's resetting himself he brings one of his hands to his face, rubbing the bridge of his nose in displeasure.

"Fine. We can talk about that later, let's just get into the details you want to share. The reason I called this meeting."

As if our little bout is over with we both 'time out' of the ring and he directs me back towards my seat while he takes the one opposite of me. It seems we've come to a quiet impasse about certain subjects but others are open.

------

"Do you trust me" The question itself is innocent enough, but the context behind it is a whole lot.

"Yes"

"Wait, really?" The disbelief in his voice is comical.

"Ok, no then."

"No, no, you can't just-" He does a sort of humorless and cynical laugh. "You can't just change your mind. But why?"

"Well, I have no real choice. You're better than Black Mask, for now, so you're the best choice in this situation." I pause as I think about a certain quote before reciting it to him. "all is for the best" in the "best of all possible worlds."

"Voltaire." Oswald's tone is just as flat and dead as the face he gives me.

"Yes! You knew."

"I prefer Shakespeare." He smirks.

"You do seem like a Julias Caeser type." I almost wish I could say Caligula but Shakespeare never touched upon that madness.

[carveredlunds]

back on my isabella nonsense literally years later, but why did they give her such strong hitchcock blonde vibes if she was only going to be around for 3 episodes? why give her 1960s hairstyles and fashion? was it just to contrast kristen’s 1950s look? if so, it was a weird choice because isabella was not canonically connected to kristen besides looking exactly like her for no reason. was it just a “vertigo” homage? if so, that’s such a weird homage. yes it’s an iconic movie, but i doubt most of the audience of “gotham” caught that reference. was it just because the 60s look made her look classy so edward would be interested in her? they didn’t need to do that, since he was interested in her because she looked exactly like kristen.

isabella had such a strong aesthetic in every scene she was in, with her beehive wig and her 60s clothes, and i can’t believe they wasted the opportunity to do more with her, and that aspect of her character specifically. it was obviously a deliberate choice. the 60s was a time of classic sci fi. “gotham” could have paid homage not only to hitchcock blondes, and specifically “vertigo”, but also to “the stepford wives” by ira levin, which was published in 1972, the original “twilight zone” tv show, and the original run of “doctor who”, in isabella’s costume choices and general aesthetic. if isabella was a clone, it would have been so interesting to give her a specific 1960s aesthetic in light of that.

[carousel-of-souls]

Gotham New Orleans Backstory: Philip Reardon/Ten Eyed Man

Warnings: suicide attempt, attempted self harm, ableism, body horror

Philip is Korean (mother’s side) and Black (father’s side). His Korean name is Daebak. His parents traveled to Korea specifically for him to be born there but they lived in Metropolis and he mainly grew up there.

He was born with retinitis pigmentosa which causes degenerating vision over time. His vision has always been bad and he expected to be legally blind by his 30s with the way things were going. His parents Sohee (or Sophie) and Richard were very concerned about it.

Him being their only child, he was doted on a lot, he didn’t let it go to his head. He had a happy childhood and grew up pretty well off because his father is a successful business man/comes from money. Due to that the family was able to travel to Korea at least twice a year to visit the rest of Sohee’s family. They usually went and stayed the whole summer as well as December, since that was Philip’s birthday month.

He made peace with his worsening vision and purposefully tried to build his life around things he wouldn’t miss when his vision was gone, mainly music.

He can play piano very well. He can also play violin, cello, guitar, gayageum, haegeum, and the harp.

He was around twelve when he figured out he was gay, that’s when he considered his happy childhood to be pretty much over, he was plagued with constant anxiety about his identity around people he used to feel relaxed near.

The catalyst for how he realized he was gay happened at the beach. He was swimming and got his feet caught in an old net, not dangerously so but it was annoying. A man saw him struggling and came over to help, it happened to be Aquaman. Philip thought he was just flustered at needing help from a famous superhero for something so small, but later it was clear that having a muscly beautiful god-like guy that was gently helping him untangle himself was the cause for his heart racing in that moment.

He had a good four years where he was obsessed with Aquaman. There may be some self insert fanfic and drawings hidden in one of his teenagehood journals.

He’d never heard his family really talk about opinions on queerness, but he had many nightmares about them cutting him off. He knew he wouldn’t be able to live with the last memories he had of his family being ones of disapproval. When he got older, family members talking about him getting married and having a family was a sign to him that they wouldn’t accept him being gay.

He decided to cut himself off, to get the inevitable over with. One day he just moved from Metropolis to Gotham, stopped calling. It hurt tremendously but he didn’t feel afraid anymore, or like he was waiting to be crushed by something.

He became a highschool band/music teacher. He really liked working with kids and he hosted a lot of staff holiday parties, he still has some silly videos from those. He did the music for the school plays and hung out at rehearsals because he enjoyed it.

Philip is a hopeless romantic but he had a lot of trouble getting dates, things never seemed to work out. He never figured out it was because he sabotages himself. He gets anxious about being left, starts seeing signs it's going to happen, and then ghosts the guy.

He taught through his late thirties and early forties. His vision was getting worse and worse, but he was managing. His students were very understanding. However the school board used his blindness as a reason to fire him. Coincidentally he had taken issue with a co worker being unfairly fired and then the school board very suddenly had to fire him “for his own safety” as him being legally blind was a “liability” around rowdy high schoolers.

The doctor he’d been seeing for most of his life was still in Metropolis, he had to go there for appointments. He was walking down the street after one and was internally ranting and fuming about how he’d been fired. He was wishing things were different and suddenly time stopped. At this point Philip could only see light and shadows but all the noise on the busy street stopped and the people in front of him didn’t react when his cane hit their legs. An entity that he couldn’t see offered to grant him a wish.

Philip honestly thought he’d somehow gotten hit by a car or drugged while in Gotham. He didn’t expect anything to happen so he spitefully wished that he had better vision than all the people on the school board that fired him.

The next day he woke up and then the ten new eyes on his fingers woke up.

He has literal eyeballs in his fingertips. They have eyelids. He finds the eyelashes gross so he picks them out a lot. He discovered the eyeballs cannot feel pain, or at least he can’t feel any pain they feel, when he tried to stab them out or burn them. He has a theory that whatever he talked to stole them from other beings all over the multiverse. Some of them see colours, and things, that humans cannot and should not be able to see. It was overwhelming. The eyes aren’t his and he can’t control where they look or what they see, only when they’re open. They don’t have brains but they’re conscious and can act by themselves. It would be like suddenly having ten brainless creatures like jellyfish hooked into your nervous system.

They can get irritated (as in get things stuck in them, dust, pepper spray, spice, not the emotion of irritation) and cry, Philip just doesn’t feel the pain part of it.

He once tried boiling his whole hand and nothing happened. He tried getting them out with spoons and a melon baller, that didn't work either. After a month he got desperate and tried to saw his arm off at the shoulder which also didn’t work. He kept them closed all the time but he still felt their consciousnesses, it was driving him mad. He decided to try and blow himself up in Gotham’s firework factory.

It didn’t work and it got him landed in Arkham. Hugo expiremented on him until Philip escaped into the vent system and has been living in there unbeknownst to anyone for about three years, only his eyes to keep him company, he has given them voices and personas now.

Additional Details:

The entity that “granted his wish” was Mr. Mxyzptlk who had just finished messing with Clark and heard Philip’s thoughts, thought they were interesting, and decided to fuck with him.

Philip has particular dislike for the purple eye in his right middle finger.

He has undiagnosed anxiety issues, which is how he got worked up enough to cut his whole family off even though he didn’t want to.

He is a great dancer. He’s especially fond of tango.

He’s still a little depressed that he didn’t marry Aquaman.

[youngerdrgrey]

stargazing (return of the van) // a wildmoore drabble

about: someone requested stargazing many months ago, and this has been in my drafts ever since

.

Sophie clears her throat to break the silence. “You know, when you said you had a great view of the river, I thought you were exaggerating.” A little laugh slips from her lips as she watches the stars against the dark waters.

She and Ryan have only been in the van for a few minutes at this point. Long enough for Ryan to resituate the pillows on her bed for the perfect day bed situation. Or night bed, technically, since the goal is maximum comfort while they watch the stars from the inside of Ryan’s van.

It’s not easy to see the stars around Gotham. Too many big buildings with bright lights in the city proper, so the view gets better with distance. From the banks on the east side of the river, the stars reflect down, and the city is more of a promise than an actual reality. Plus, Ryan already knows where to park over here.

Ryan will definitely not admit this later, but she does miss her van sometimes. She misses feeling like she could leave, if ever and whenever she wanted to. Feeling like she could curl up to the soft push and pull of the Gotham River, could wake with the sun and sleep under the stars.

But the loft and indoor plumbing are great. The AC and ample space and the fact that she can easily invite girls back to her place without having to talk about why she’s in a very decked out van. Now returning to her van can be a treat. A reminder of who she was and how her options have changed.

Ryan sinks back into the pillows against the wall. She chuckles too. “Oh no, I was hanging out just like this on the night everything changed.”

Sophie’s eyebrows furrow. “The night you got arrested?” she asks.

Ryan shakes her head. “The night I found the suit.”

Realization clicks onto Sophie’s face. Then sadness, then a flicker of exhaustion that Sophie blinks away. “Oh. That night.” She peers out the open side of the van out into the view. “It must have been terrifying — being out here?”

Loud and firey, that man nearly dying in the rubble, the approaching sirens — Ryan blinks that away too and sighs. “Not my favorite experience. I did mean before all that though. I’d wanted to see the stars and talk to my mama before my interviews the next day.”

Sophie cheats a glance at Ryan. “Is that why we’re here now? To see your mom?”

Ryan shakes her head. “As much as I’m sure Mama Cora would have loved you, I thought we could use a night off. Away from the cave and the team and—“

“And Mary?”

Their friend’s still barely talking to Ryan. It takes time to rebuild a friendship. But they’ll get there.

Ryan shrugs and turns her face back to the view. “We should take more nights off. It’s not like the crime is going anywhere.”

Sophie reluctantly turns as well. “Neither are the stars.” But she watches them anyway. Spends the next hour picking out stars from planes and helicopters as Ryan shares more stories from her van life days. It’s not the perfect escape from reality, but the company’s good. And they’re not going anywhere either.

[nel-world]

hi

Act 1: The Setup

Opening Image: Bill applies clown makeup in his dingy apartment, staring at his cracked mirror. He lights a match, watches it burn out, hinting at his fascination with fire and fractured mental state.

Bill Faces Rejection: Bill attends various auditions but is rejected repeatedly, deepening his frustration.

Fight 1 - Sign-Spinning Incident: Bill is attacked by kids who steal his sign while he’s working as a sign spinner, leaving him humiliated.

Bill Returns to His Job: Bill tries to explain the stolen sign to his boss but is dismissed, feeling powerless.

Fight 2 - Altercation with His Boss: Bill’s frustration boils over, leading to a physical confrontation with his boss.

Bill Meets the Social Worker: Bill seeks help from a social worker, but she is indifferent, reinforcing his sense of abandonment.

Pat Steals Bill’s Role: Bill learns that his friend Pat landed a role Bill wanted, driving Bill deeper into frustration.

Theme Stated: Bill walks through Gotham’s deteriorating streets, where burning trash piles symbolize societal rejection and personal chaos.

Fight 3 - Street Fight in the Market: Bill bumps into an aggressive man at a market. After a brief scuffle, Bill retreats, feeling ashamed.

Bill Watches a Late-Night Show: Bill fantasizes about being on a talk show and receiving applause, highlighting his need for validation.

Bill Practices His Solo Show: Bill rehearses his solo show, playing with fire, lighting a match as part of his routine, foreshadowing his eventual connection to fire.

Bill Visits His Sick Mother: Bill comforts his ailing mother in the hospital, where a candle’s flame mesmerizes him. His mother comments on how fire can both destroy and purify, foreshadowing his journey.

Bill Begins Martial Arts Training at Master Kang’s Dojo: Bill starts training at Master Kang’s dojo, where he hopes to gain control and channel his frustration. He learns about Jack, the owner of a rival dojo, who dislikes Master Kang and sees him as weak.

Bill Receives a Gun: After being mugged, Bill’s co-worker gives him a gun for protection, symbolizing the city’s danger and his increasing instability.

Fight 4 - First Confrontation with Jack: Bill encounters Jack, who mocks Master Kang’s dojo, calling it a place for weaklings. Bill tries to stand up for the dojo, but Jack physically intimidates him and leaves him humiliated.

Fight 5 - Gun Incident at the Hospital: Bill accidentally drops his gun while entertaining children at the hospital, causing chaos and getting him fired.

Bill Meets Sophie: Bill meets Sophie, his neighbor, and they form a tentative friendship, offering a glimmer of hope.

Bill Follows Sophie: Bill secretly follows Sophie to her job, daydreaming about a relationship, but he is unsure if it’s real or just in his head.

Bill Practices Stand-Up in Front of a Mirror: Bill rehearses his routines, flicking a lighter open and closed, continuing to play with fire as a metaphor for control.

Fight 6 - Subway Fight: Bill is mocked by businessmen on the subway. When they attack him, he snaps and fights back violently.

Bill Shaken by Violence: Though shaken, Bill feels a new sense of control after the fight.

Act 2A: The Fun and Games (Promise of the Premise)

Bill Receives an Invitation to Perform Stand-Up: Bill gets a call from a comedy club offering him a chance to perform, reigniting his hopes for success.

Bill’s Obsession with Sophie Grows: Bill becomes increasingly fixated on Sophie, fantasizing about their relationship.

Bill Continues Martial Arts Training: Bill intensifies his training at Master Kang’s dojo, determined to become stronger after his confrontation with Jack.

Fight 7 - Second Confrontation with Jack: Jack shows up at Master Kang’s dojo to taunt Kang and his students, claiming his dojo teaches “real” martial arts. Bill challenges Jack, but Jack easily defeats him again, deepening Bill’s frustration.

Bill Recites the Mantra: Master Kang gives Bill a mantra to recite, which makes him feel stronger and more focused.

Fight 8 - Confrontation with Street Thugs: Bill is attacked by thugs on the street but easily defeats them, feeling empowered by the mantra.

Bill’s Mother Suffers a Stroke: Bill returns home to find his mother has suffered a stroke, further destabilizing his emotions.

Fight 9 - Bar Fight: Bill, growing increasingly unstable, starts a fight in a bar. He uses his martial arts skills aggressively and wins.

Bill’s Stand-Up Performance Goes Poorly: Bill’s performance at the comedy club is a disaster, further shattering his self-esteem.

Bill Sets a Fire During a Bar Fight: Bill becomes reckless, setting a small fire during a bar fight, feeling an odd connection to the flames as they grow.

Fight 10 - Dojo Match with Jack: Bill challenges Jack in an official match, representing Master Kang’s dojo. Jack once again defeats Bill, humiliating him in front of the other students.

Midpoint - Bill Goes Viral: Despite his humiliation, a clip of Bill’s performance goes viral, and he is invited to appear on the "Murray Franklin Show."

Act 2B: The Bad Guys Close In

Bill Becomes Obsessed with His TV Appearance: Bill starts obsessively preparing for the talk show appearance, believing it will redeem him.

Bill Realizes His Immunity to Fire: During a fight, Bill notices a lit cigarette burns out on his skin without hurting him. This marks his first realization of his fire immunity.

Fight 11 - Street Fight with Jack: Bill and Jack run into each other on the street, leading to another fight. Although Bill shows improvement, Jack defeats him again, leaving Bill angry and desperate.

Bill’s Powers Strengthen: Bill starts reciting the mantra more frequently, realizing it enhances his physical abilities and makes him resilient to fire.

All Is Lost - Bill’s Relationship with Sophie Deteriorates: Bill tries to reconnect with Sophie, but his arrogance and dangerous behavior push her away.

Bill Wins Final Sparring with Jack: Bill finally defeats Jack in a sparring match, but his victory fuels his growing arrogance.

Bill’s Father Dies: Bill’s father dies unexpectedly, causing Bill to feel guilty for neglecting his family in his quest for validation.

Bill Discovers Apollo’s Corruption: Bill learns that Apollo, a powerful real estate mogul, is trying to take over both Master Kang’s dojo and Jack’s dojo for redevelopment.

Bill Decides to Confront Apollo: Determined to stop Apollo and protect the dojo, Bill prepares for a final confrontation, fully embracing his powers.

Act 3: The Final Battle and Transformation

Fight 12 - Ambush at the Dojo: Apollo sends goons to attack Master Kang’s dojo. Bill uses his fire immunity and martial arts skills to fight them off.

Bill Masters His Powers: Bill fully embraces his immunity to fire and realizes that he can use his powers to protect others.

Fight 13 - First Confrontation with Apollo and Jack: Bill confronts Apollo, but Jack joins the fight, having sided with Apollo for financial gain. Bill struggles to fight both and is captured.

Apollo Sets Bill on Fire: Apollo tries to kill Bill by setting him on fire, but Bill survives, solidifying his fire immunity.

Fight 14 - Escape from Apollo’s Lair: Bill escapes from Apollo’s lair, using his fire immunity to break free from his captors.

Bill Reflects with Master Kang: Before the final showdown, Bill reflects with Master Kang about what he is truly fighting for—power or peace.

Fight 15 - Final Showdown with Apollo and Jack: Bill confronts Apollo and Jack in the ultimate battle. He uses his fire immunity to defeat both and secures the future of the dojo.

Bill’s Victory: Bill emerges victorious but realizes that the fight has cost him emotionally.

Act 4: Resolution

Bill Visits His Mother: After the final battle, Bill visits his ailing mother, reconnecting with his humanity and realizing the importance of family.

Bill Apologizes to Sophie: Bill tries to reconcile with Sophie, apologizing for his arrogance and obsessive behavior.

Bill Finds a New Purpose: Bill begins to understand that real strength comes from within, not from physical power.

Bill Helps Rebuild the Dojo: Bill helps Master Kang rebuild the dojo, taking on a mentorship role to train new students.

Bill’s Final Performance: Bill performs his solo show again, this time with a deeper understanding of himself and a renewed sense of purpose.

Bill Walks Through Gotham’s Streets: Bill walks through Gotham, feeling more at peace with himself and his journey. The city feels less hostile as Bill has come to terms with his inner demons.

Bill Looks at Himself in the Mirror: Bill looks in the mirror, this time without his clown makeup. He sees a man transformed, ready to embrace his identity and purpose.

Bill Reconnects with Friends: Bill reaches out to old friends and mends relationships he neglected during his struggles, reinforcing his sense of community.

Bill Volunteers at the Dojo: Bill starts volunteering at Master Kang’s dojo, teaching martial arts to kids, using his experience to inspire the next generation.

Bill Takes Sophie on a Date: Bill invites Sophie out on a date, showing a more confident, grounded side of himself. They bond over shared interests and mutual respect.

Bill Performs at a Comedy Club: Bill returns to the comedy club, performing stand-up with a new perspective. He incorporates lessons from his journey, making the audience laugh while conveying deeper truths.

Bill Reflects on His Journey: In a quiet moment, Bill reflects on his journey from rejection and frustration to empowerment and self-acceptance, recognizing the importance of resilience.

Final Scene - Bill Lights a Candle: Bill lights a candle in memory of his parents and as a symbol of hope for the future. The flickering flame represents both his connection to fire and his newfound control over it.

Bill Smiles at the Camera: The screen fades to black as Bill smiles, embodying the idea that true strength lies in vulnerability and connection with others.