#why do we fall

[jeandejard3n]

The Dark Knight Rises: Alfred's Fantasy

[silent-guardian]

Alfred . . . The Wiseman

Alfred (to Bruce Wayne): "I won't bury you. I buried enough members of the Wayne family."

[mischievouslittlecreature]

Part 16: Why Do We Fall

Fandom: The Dark Knight Trilogy

Pairing: Jonathan Crane x OC

Summary: Batman's return to Gotham forces Jonathan and Vanessa to reassess their current living situation.

Word Count: 1,698

Notes: Takes place during The Dark Knight Rises. Warnings for depictions of violence.

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“No lawyer? No witnesses? What sort of due process is this?” Jim Gordon asked them. The court was uncharacteristically quiet, save for his voice. Vanessa shifted, ever so slightly, in Jonathan’s lap, head cocking as she looked down on him and his group of followers. 

“Your guilt has been determined. This is merely a sentencing hearing,” Jonathan said. “Now, what will it be? Death…or exile?”

“Crane, if you think we’re going out onto that ice willingly…you have another thing coming.”

Jonathan nodded, and shrugged. “Death, then.”

“Looks that way!”

Their commissioner had balls, she’d give him that.

“Very well. Death…” Jonathan brought his gavel down with a decisive clang. And then, in the bitchiest voice she had ever heard her husband use, he added, “by exile.”

The crowd erupted into cheers. Vanessa laughed, pressing her smile into Jonathan’s neck as she watched Gordon and his people be led away by the mercenaries.

All except for one. At the corner of the group, she spotted Miranda Tate, Wayne Enterprises’ new CEO, being led by the arm by Barsad towards Bane, who was standing on the edge of the crowd. He rested a hand on her shoulder, almost affectionately, and began to guide her away.

Her head tilted curiously. Bane had said that the courtroom was their turf. They got to make the rules. Decide what happened to each and every person brought before them. And yet here he was, trying to challenge their authority.

They adjourned for the day, waiting until the spectators had been ushered out by their goons before descending from the safety of their throne to head into the back room they’d fashioned as their bedroom. 

“Bane took Miranda Tate with him, even though she was captured with Gordon’s people,” she observed. 

“I noticed that too,” Jonathan was fumbling with the microwave they had in the corner, reheating a few servings of soup for them for dinner. “Maybe he took a shine to her.”

“Their contact did seem rather affectionate.”

He passed her a bowl of soup and a spoon, grabbing his own before joining her. 

“It’s probably for the best not to antagonize Bane.”

She winced at the mere thought of it. The man looked like he could snap both of them in half like a toothpick with just one hand. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“It’ll be good to finally be rid of Gordon.”

“I’m surprised it took them so long to find him,” she said around a mouthful of soup. “I know it’s a big city, but Bane’s men seem…experienced in what they do.”

“Gordon’s got a lot of allies.”

“Mm. Well, it’s done now,” she shifted to rest her head on Jonathan’s shoulder, eyes darting lazily towards the window. She stiffened. “Oh, shit.”

“What?” he asked, suddenly on high alert. She didn’t answer him, instead setting her bowl down and scrambling to her feet, staggering towards the window. 

Oh, no. Oh, come on. They were having so much fun. 

Behind her, she heard Jonathan getting to his feet, following to stand behind her and stare out the window.

To where a burning bat symbol was emblazoned on the tower of one of the bridges.

∗ ∗ ∗ 

“You have the notebooks?”

Jonathan patted a pocket in his backpack. “All here. You got the remaining seeds for the flowers?”

“Yes,” she said, double checking inside the innermost pocket of her own pack that the bag of precious seeds was still there.

Jonathan glanced around the bedroom. “I already double checked the lab.”

She nodded. They’d taken care of all the remaining test subjects too. He looked back at her.

“Is there anything we’re missing?”

“Nothing that I’ve noticed,” she did her own quick sweep of the bedroom, but spotted nothing that couldn’t be easily replaced. 

“Okay,” Jonathan hoisted his backpack up over his shoulder, his mask clutched in his hand. He held the other out to her. “Let’s go.”

Pulling her pack on to rest comfortably between her shoulder blades, she pulled up her half face respirator, fitting it snugly over her nose and mouth. Just in case. Grabbing tightly onto Jonathan’s hand, she let him tug her along down the hall, towards the main room and the exit of the courthouse. 

They didn’t have an entirely concrete plan as to where they would go yet. Right now they just needed to get away. Wait for the dust to settle, then maybe root out a safehouse they could use. 

All they really had to do was avoid the Bat, and they should be fine. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too hard; he was likely to have his hands very full with Bane.

There had been a slew of activity since the Bat’s symbol had appeared. Bane’s men were all being called away from the courthouse to City Hall, where a batch of the city’s cops who the Bat–presumably–had freed were marching. 

One thing was for sure, they weren’t sticking around to get shot or pummeled by either side, thank you very much. Jonathan pulled his mask on as they rushed towards the exit. Maybe once they were outside they could find a car or something to steal. 

“Going somewhere?”

Bane was leaning against the wall that he so often was hovering by while he watched them take their court cases.

Vanessa froze, taking a step back. “We’re not sticking around to be smacked around by the Bat once he shows up.”

“That won’t be an issue.”

“You don’t know him,” Jonathan huffed. 

“Your presence is still required.”

“Court’s been canceled for the day, I’m afraid.”

A growling sound came from Bane’s modulator. “Your toxin will be of the utmost value in the fight against the police.”

Jonathan hesitated, for the briefest of moments. “No. No, I don’t think that it will.”

Bane took a threatening step forward. They took one back. Around them, mercenaries had filed silently into the hall. Jonathan squeezed her hand.

“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you,” he said to Bane. “But we have to look out for ourselves, first. Surely you understand,” the detonator in his hand clicked, and then the toxin bombs around them exploded. Almost instantaneously, a thick wave of gas rose to fill the entire courtroom. So thick it was difficult to see through. 

By the time that the mercenaries started screaming, they had dodged Bane as he lunged for them and raced out the door, down the street and around the corner. 

∗ ∗ ∗ 

They managed to dodge the worst of the fighting, and scramble their way up a building using a fire escape, settling on a rooftop far enough from the battle that they didn’t need to worry about getting struck with stray bullets or explosions. Sitting down with their backs to the wall, looking out over the city, they resigned themselves to just wait until it all died down.

It was considerably safer up there on the rooftops than it was down on the streets, at least. 

Jonathan had his arm around her, head leaned against hers, fingers tracing nonsensical patterns into her shoulder. She was just barely beginning to doze, thinking about how it actually wasn’t all too bad up there and maybe she could take a quick nap and by the time she woke up it would all be over, when another thought occurred to her.

“Jonathan?”

“Mhm?”

“You don’t think that bomb Bane was threatening the city with will go off, do you?”

“Hm…” he frowned. “It’s possible. If Bane gets pissed enough…he seems like the kind of guy who would be happy to take us all down with him if given the opportunity.”

She frowned, chewing on her bottom lip worriedly. Jonathan gave her a squeeze.

“If it does go off, we probably will be incinerated before we even know what happened.”

“Oh, that makes me feel better,” she muttered dryly. Jonathan chuckled, kissing her forehead.

“Bats won’t let that happen.”

“Huh. Something he’s actually good for,” she curled in closer to him. “I love you,” she wanted to make sure she told him that, just in case this actually was it.

Jonathan shrugged. “You’re okay, I guess.”

She made an indignant sound and he laughed as she lightly shoved him, pulling her into his arms until she was half spread out in his lap. He kissed her.

“I love you too.”

Giggling, she closed her eyes.

BOOM!

Her face creased at the sound, scrunching closer to Jonathan.

“Oh my god,” he said, sounding very exasperated.

“What?” she opened her eyes, following his gaze across the city to where the Bat’s…aircraft? Plane? Whatever it was, it was flying through the city at a furious speed, the spherical bomb that Bane had been threatening the city with attached to a cable and being dragged behind it. 

“Is he…is he fucking towing a neutron bomb?” it wasn’t as question so much as just the most absurd statement she’d ever had to utter in her entire life. They both winced when the bomb, dangling precariously, almost smacked into the side of a building on a sharp turn, before the aircraft was swooping out over the bay, barreling towards the open water. Soon it was but barely a speck of black against the horizon. 

There was a sudden, distant boom, and then a blinding flash of light. She sucked in a harsh breath at the fireball in the distance, cringing back on instinct. Jonathan held her tighter. 

“It’s okay,” he said. “It’s far enough away from us.”

“Yeah,” she whispered, just staring at the pillar of fire rising in the sky. “Do you think he’s dead?”

“The Bat? Maybe,” he huffed. “But I’ve learned not to get my hopes up when it comes to that.”

She snorted. It was true. If anyone could survive an explosion like that, it was Batman. He was like a goddamn cockroach. 

Jonathan hummed, kissing her forehead. “You know what I want to do?”

“Go knab some test subjects off the street while everything is still in chaos and no one will notice?”

“Actually, I was thinking of getting pizza, but I like your idea better.”

Laughing, she leaned further back against him, and closed her eyes.

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Thank you for reading! Please consider leaving a comment, reblog, or like. I always appreciate feedback and love getting the opportunity to interact with you and hear your thoughts!

[b-rainlet]

Fine?? Bruce Wayne never fully made it out of the well he fell into as a kid, fear masking as anger, self-destruction masking as heroism over and over and over again, a vigilante desperate to be needed because who is he if he isn't Batman? What is he worth if he doesn't bleed?

And you want me to be fine about that?

[tilmineistheonlyfaceyousee]

Démolition (jour 9)

- Pourquoi tombons-nous ? - Pour mieux nous relever. - Qu'est-ce-qui nous fait tomber ? - La lutte, les échecs, l'humiliation, les coups. - Faut-il recommencer, une fois debout ? - On peut. Tu dois démolir ton adversaire. - Mais ce n'est jamais le même, si ? - Pas toujours. Mais dans notre car, il s'agit de la peur. - La peur a plusieurs noms, plusieurs formes... C'est pour cette raison qu'il faut lui faire face. - Lui faire face ne nous fait pas tomber. - Si, c'est possible. Tu peux t'abandonner à ta peur et échouer. - Oui, mais on se relève. - Pas toujours. Ça demande du courage de le faire. - Et après ? - Et après lui avoir fait face, tu essayes de la comprendre, tu l'apprivoises. Tu lui donne un nom, tu cesse de te battre. Pour qu'il y ait démolition de son effet sur nous, de la chute nouvelle, il faut s'y jeter corps et âme. - Donc il faut toujours rester debout ? - C'est important de savoir tomber. Celui qui n'a jamais été face contre terre se croit meilleur que celui qui l'a été. Il est ignorant. Sa réussite est peut-être belle, imposante, impressionnante. Mais son mérite est moindre. Ça ne fait pas de lui quelqu'un de mauvais. - Mais ça rend celui qui tombe meilleur. Il apprend de ses erreurs, il tente de ne pas reproduire les mêmes schémas et il affronte ses peurs. - Pourquoi tombons-nous ? - Pour mieux nous relever.

[onetywon]

Honestly…,

Daily writing promptWhat’s something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail.View all responses I don’t think it works this way. 😉 But, I do like to use movie quotes to bring the point home. ✌️ I really think using memes & quotes are a valid way of conveying a message. Though, I most warn you not to take me too seriously. 😉 And why do we fall Bruce? So we can learn to pick…

[judahmaccabees]

Following

they wanted you wallowing

hoping in hope

stolen, bound

but I have given you

authority

the sure cord

the true

[lostlegendaerie]

there's something deeply gutting about being a writer right now. watching studio execs brag about starving people like you out of your very house just to not pay you anything above the pennies you currently make. watching some people cheer over AO3 being targeted for a DDOS attack. the complete lack of profitability of writing commissions or writing in general in transformative spaces, especially in contrast to fanart. the pivot of so many social media platforms to be video and image based near-exclusively.

I don't know. it just makes me sad to know that the hobby that kept me alive while growing up homeschooled with dial-up internet and local antenna TV... is only ever gonna be a side job with minimal engagement. I know this site is good about supporting libraries and the concept of books but, do me a favor? Reach out to a writer friend you know. Leave a comment on your last five read stories on your favorite website.

Tell us you care.

[slfcare]

the most difficult thing about growing as a person socially, as in getting out of your shell and noticing that you are, is that there will still be times when it doesn’t feel like you’ve grown at all! times when you can’t really connect with anyone around you, times when you fail to enter into an existing conversation, times when you say the wrong thing (or nothing at all when in hindsight you probably should’ve). but that’s also kind of the best thing, because that’s the thing that helps you realize that sometimes, it’s not you or your lack of skills or any shortcoming. sometimes certain environments just aren’t for you and certain people aren’t your people, and that’s okay. that’s human. it’s okay to not feel the progress you have made all the time.

[dark-l1ght3r]

I’ve heard the Spider-Man one is pretty good, if you haven’t already played it. Plus, I’m sure the story and Peter’s whole character will help you feel better about dealing with life’s difficulties.

Got on dating apps, matched with a girl and was talking to her for a few days aaaaaaaaaand I’m pretty sure she ghosted me so I bought a ps4 to cope with my emotions.

Game suggestions?

[doctorsiren]

more on Billdysseus, featuring a sick design my buddy @foop204 drew up hehe

He became the monster

[ministarfruit]

day 10: love is devotion ♡

(femslashfeb prompt list)

[a-witch-in-endor]

Chapters: 20/31 Fandom: Avatar: The Last Airbender Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & the Fire Sages, Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Yue & Zuko (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar) Characters: Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang (Avatar), Yue (Avatar), Azula (Avatar), Zuko's Hat Additional Tags: Funny Hat Zuko AU, Fire Sage Zuko AU, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Found Family, Fire Hazard Siblings, canon-typical child abuse, Zuko is the Temple's Baby Nerd, Worldbuilding, Zuko Joins The Gaang Early (Avatar), Zuko has never met a hill he wasn't ready to die on, Autism Summary:

High Sage Kenji blesses Fire Prince Zuko with the resilience of the reed, who bends in the wind and never breaks. When he is done, Fire Prince Ozai narrows his eyes, seemingly displeased by this blessing. But Kenji does not speak for himself; he is only a vessel. 

-

The newly-crowned Fire Lord Ozai offers his firstborn son to service in the temple.

This turns out to be a catastrophic mistake.

[ganondoodle]

(OC Lore and design time!)

(it got longer again ... sorry ... idk how to make things short, i just need to talk, but i guess if you can read the written stuff in the pic thats the barest bare bones of what i wrote here)

i was asked what new lore story stuff i had thought about that made me sad which i mentioned a bit ago, and while that is too hard to explain given all the missing context i thought i could at least talk about lore having to do with it :D

so, (Lord) Eadrya is one of my fav OCs (big blue lad, here a rough sketch in humanoid form) they are both one of if not THE most powerful demon alive and the most battle trained;

at the mid point of the story the demon world gets invaded by the celestials (the angel inspired things i talked about in the previous lore post with Xaror) and Shargon, as the king, should be their first and only frontline, but at this point his life is only being sustained by maschinery after being mortally wounded, he cannot fight (he realizes what is going on, rips himself off the maschinery to get at least his youngest child to safety, barely managing it before dying- the guardian, the demons god, takes over his body to attempt to fight against the celestials but cant keep itself alive long enough since its host is already dead) Eadrya takes the role of the frontline fighter (despite being very full of themselves and aggressive they care about their 'job' of protecting their own, also giving them the chance to show off just how strong they are); the fight was going well for them all things considered, but when the guardian activates it drains the power of all elemental lords (which Eadrya is one of, and since they have the most strength it also takes the most from them), so much so that they lose the fight and suffer deadly wounds (the worst being a spear through the chest made of a material that grows hard, root-like formations when in contact with demonic blood like a fungus but worse, also stopping any self healing processes) after the guardian falls apart it creates a huge shockwave of energy that stuns every living thing within a certain distance and possibly more-

Eadrya (in true demon form, so like a blue whale in size at least) was likely taken through an active gateway to the human world in a large tidal wave also created by the guardians fall; they wash up in the harbor of a small secluded village, the head of which is 'lady 13'; although never having seen a demon before and everyone being afraid (largely thinking its a strange hurt animal, only she suspected otherwise), they still gather all villagers to pull out the celestial spear, which is diffcult and brutal given that its already taken root, but the village lacked both knowledge and means to help any other way- doing so damaged their heart which is how they were able to collect samples of all three demonic blood types ('normal' -red like humans-, energy -essentially purely magic- and heartblood -highly concentrated energy only found within the heart of a demon and the only one to contain genetic material) (this is the start of Eadryas character arc, having to deal with the fact that their world is likely destroyed, them failing what they didnt think they could fail, having lost a battle so badly (even if not really their fault) for the first time and not knowing if literally anyone else has survived .. also being now stuck in the human world, which they dont like)

Lady 13 (placeholder name? stands for experiment 13) is a human that was tricked by demon hunters to enroll into a series of experiments trying to create hybrids of demons and humans, which they hoped would be powerful and easily controllable tools for their endeavours, though the two are inherently not compatible, they tried grafting body parts of demons on humans to make them compatible- all experiments failed except for her, more or less, though she never got to see the hybrid she carried and was then told it had died too, they threw her out believing she wouldnt survive much longer either and all such experiments were cancelled due to the high cost of human life, research material (demons are still rare) and upkeep with no successful results Lady 13 survived though (perhaps even via the pirates picking her up?) and she ended up living in said small village far away, hiding her half demonic body, though most know there soemthing 'wrong' with her (her being this tall when it doesnt fit the rest for one), only few know the full extent; she enjoys the life she has now, perhaps on the more poor side but safer and more loved than ever before; she largely lead the efforts to try and help Eadrya when they ended up in the harbor, though there wasnt that much anyone could do it was still enough- they leave immediately after waking up, but return after really having nowhere to go and struggling to deal with everything that has happened; over time (probably years) they start to open up towards the people there (though not .. very much) enough to get rather close with Lady 13 too- she actually falls madly in love but after Eadrya (extremely aro/ace) rejects all her attempts quite clearly she respects their boundaries

However, after hearing news of potential demon sightings Eadrya decides to leave in hopes of not being the last demon left after all; Lady 13 then decides to reveal her secret to them (though hearing and seeing what lengths hunters would go to for their experiments makes them absolutely seething with rage- she insists on not being out for revenge) and asks if they would be willing to donate a small amount of heartblood; shes always wanted to be a mother but is now incompatible with humans too- through things she picked up back at the experiments facillity, hers and her doctors research she is sure that is all that is needed, she dares to ask since she does not know when, if ever, she will meet another demon, much less one she could actually trust enough for this though Eadrya hesitates (why would she want to go through the same thing again that didnt work and threatened her life, if it does work, do they want to be involved with any of this? what if hunters find out it worked after all?) but after her ensuring that they would have no part in it other than giving up a little blood and would not be considered a parent in any way, nor made responsible for anything that might happen to her, but considering it all in the end they agree to it

only for her to reveal shes had a small bottle of it already, along with multiple samples of the other types, which she collected when Eadrya was bleeding out into the harbor not knowing if they will survive, though not wanting to make use of it without their consent either way (they are actuallly rather touched by this)

alot later the main group returns here and it turns out to have worked (though she is unable to walk/bedridden for a long while bc it did alot of damage to her body, which can heal since its demons parts, but only really slowly bc she does not have a full functioning system and no demonic blood of her own -she uses the other samples for the healing process-) though its a little awkward to explain, especially considering that 13.1 took alot after Eadrya xD (their theory as to why it worked so "well" that time is that even though the sample was already taken, them giving their consent for it still made it less likely to be rejected; demons dont need partners to have offspring, and all can do it, they just have to decide to- so them agreeing to it, even though its long been outside their body, still had an effect on the blood sample)

[the-great-horse-cocktail]

Alternate timeline where Stanley doesn’t accidentally ruin Ford’s project but he still doesn’t get into Geek Life University bc some kid showed up with a baking soda volcano

[jingledbells]

been falling behind a bit sorry(rehearsals are so long now :’]) but here’s fiddtober day 5 and 6 combined (backupsmore and cozy)