𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐗𝐘

Dinah looked over at the other and saw a reminiscent glaze cast over her features. "Really? I thought everyone went to Hypno or Sirens or some of the other places around." She murmured as she glanced around the pair of them. "Yeah, heard she went quiet for awhile but she is back with a vengeance. I mean, she is literally taking over the nightlife scene." She spoke as if she was unaware of the criminal underbelly of Gotham. "Oh, every day. Call it a pretty privilege." She humored. "Though they tip big and rent isn't fantastic in Gotham."

"I tend to avoid it," Ecco replied, bluntly. She did not offer anymore information. She didn't owe this stranger anything. The other woman said that Fish was back with a vengeance, and Ecco smiled a little, but it was a cold expression. "Yes, I've heard that. I don't know about you, but I plan to stay well out of her way." She had no idea if this woman was involved in the seedier side of the world she must know about, working in a nightclub, but she had a feeling. The criminal world touched every aspect of those places. "Do you mind if we walk?" she asked, suddenly. "My... friend will expect me back. It's getting late." The old Jeremiah would have worried if she wasn't back by now. The new one? She doubted he had even noticed her absence. Still, it gave her an excuse not to stay in the dark street.

mobqueenfishmooney

Leon wasn't her favorite bartender -- he had a tendency, like all men did, to be rash. Oh she didn't mind a little bloodshed where it was necessary, but his judgements left much to be desired. Fish's eyes roamed from Leon to Emma and back again. "All this over an old friend, Leon?" Her tone left no question as to her mood. Leon, wisely, said nothing. She snapped and he jumped to making her drink.

Now Fish turned to Emma. "You certainly can't be called a coward, my dear. Come on." She motioned for Emma to follow, striding to her private table in the back. She took her seat against the wall and leaned back, staring at her former lieutenant. "What are we talking about, Emma?" she asked, sipping her drink. "Didn't I make myself clear before? I don't blame you for moving on. Or have you come to tell me that your new boss isn't all sunshine and roses?" she chuckled.

Fish referred to her as an old friend, but Ecco could sense she didn't mean it literally. They had never been friends. Fish had been her boss. In her typical way, she commanded Ecco to follow her towards the back of the club, which she silently did. She sat down opposite her former employer, who had somehow risen from the dead, and considered her next words.

"I'm not here to apologise for moving on," she said. "You died. I know you don't hold my new employment against me." She paused. Fish was, as always, remarkably astute. She wasn't sure why she was here, exactly. She certainly wasn't going to betray Jeremiah's confidence. But she had wanted to get Fish's opinion, which felt disloyal. Still, she was here now. It was too late to just walk away. "You met Jeremiah at the gala, didn't you?" she asked, finally. "What did you make of him?"

#c.#mobqueenfishmooney

fearraven

𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 @jestergirls

Jonathan sat patiently on the pleater booth seat in the diner they had decided as their meeting spot. Pushing the glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose further up, he scanned the menu as he awaited the arrival of Jeremiah's lackey. Three minutes stood between her and being late. Maybe he should have been more meticulous about his requirements. Wasting time this close to Halloween was not an option. As if on queue, the bell at the top of the door rang indicating that someone had entered the small space. "I was getting ready to leave."

Ecco prided herself on her punctuality. Working as Jeremiah's proxy, she had rarely attended meetings in person, but even so, she had never been late to a virtual meeting, or when arranging a phone call. So, as she walked briskly down the busy street, she was aware of how close she was cutting it. She walked into the diner, and spotted Jonathan Crane instantly.

"I'm sorry for my timing," she replied, simply. She sat down opposite him. She didn't offer an explanation. He didn't seem like the type of man to want to waste time on why she had been late, so instead she said, "Jeremiah told me you needed my help with something." He had been uncharacteristically vague. Though, she supposed, it was more in his character these days to be vague.

#c.#fearraven

Dinah's eyebrow quirked a little as she questioned the rumours. "C'mon. It is Gotham." She stated as if it was just on the nose. Dinah thought pretty much everyone was aware of what Gotham was. It was basically a war ground that was disguised as a city. All people did was want power and fight each other for control. "Look, I don't know anything for a fact. I just know that many shady people go to these places and Hypno is another one of those places."

Ecco knew the other woman was correct. When she had worked at Mooney's, they had their fair share of shady people. It had been easy to tell who had been a genuine patron, and who had been there on criminal business. "I haven't been to Hyno," she replied, after a moment. "I wasn't aware Fish Mooney was... back until very recently." That was an understatement, but she wasn't going to say more to a virtual stranger. "I would imagine you've met a few shady people, working in a club."

Dinah glanced back over at the woman before offering a polite smile. She didn't expect anything beyond that as she rolled her ankle several times. As she asked her question and mentioned Mooney's, Dinah's eyebrows raised before smiling. "I'm a singer. Gotham seems to really have a thing for getting live entertainment." She stood up straight as and smoothed her outfit down from wrinkles. "I have been there a couple of times. Try and keep my head above the rumours of it though, y'know?"

Dinah said she was a singer, and Ecco smiled sympathetically in response. She'd known plenty of singers during her time working at Mooney's, and she knew that there was a fine line between singing and being harassed by patrons. "Yes, it does," she agreed, as the other woman straightened up. But then Dinah said she tried to keep her head above the rumours, and Ecco frowned curiously. "Rumours?" she asked. "What do you mean?"

There were always rumours. That Fish wanted to overthrow Falcone, that the guy who'd 'gone on holiday' was really lying at the bottom of Gotham Harbour. But she didn't know what Dinah was referring to, so she didn't say anything else. She simply waited.

mobqueenfishmooney

Music echoed through Hypno. Fish always preferred a live band to a DJ, felt it gave the club a classier air. Nevertheless, there did appear to be some kind of disturbance happening at the bar. She strode down the stairs and glided over, nosebleed heels clacking against the floor loud enough to cut through the music. "What seems to be the problem here?" she asked, glancing from her bartender to the patron at the bar. "I don't like my atmosphere being... disrupted. So someone better start talking. Now."

#[this scene goes round and round in my head]#gothamstask #mine.#jeremiah x ecco.

Since Jeremiah had revealed what had happened to him, Ecco had felt simultaneously better and worse. He had been honest with her, finally, but he had also made it completely clear that he didn't need her anymore. Whatever Jerome had done to him, far from driving him insane, it had freed him of the anxiety she'd watched consume him for the past six years. She had felt out of place. Useless. So, she had decided to return to Fish Mooney. She just wanted to talk to her former boss, but it still felt incredibly disloyal to Jeremiah.

As soon as she walked in, she knew it was a terrible gamble. The club was getting ready to open for the night, and the music pounded throughout the mostly empty room. The bartender was cleaning the counter, and he paused as soon as she walked in. "We're not open yet -- Emma?" Ecco froze. She recognised him. "Hello Leon," she said curtly. He had worked for Fish before, and obviously stayed loyal. He glared at her. "Rats aren't welcome here," he said, his tone venomous.

She was about to reply, when she heard Fish's familiar voice over the music. She turned her attention to her, knowing it was smart to start talking before he did. She needed to explain herself. "I'm sorry to show up unannounced," she said. "I wanted to talk to you, and this seemed to be the easiest way to get your attention."

#c.#mobqueenfishmooney

"Hey there, Mr. Valeska. You alone, or you got Mr. Wayne with you?"

thejokerswilde

There was a pause between them after she acknowledged it was the city of love. There was no indication from her... but there never was. He was being the most brazen he'd ever been lately. Pushing and pushing to see if she'd react without a single reaction in sight. He wanted to grab her with both hands and hold her tight. He wanted to shake the truth out of her. To get the answer to his one question but if she were to tell him no... He wasn't sure how he'd feel about that. Or if it might break the calm spell he'd been under for so many days on end.

Ecco mentioned that she saw Jerome and neglected to mention it to him and he glanced up to her with a near shocked expression on his face. If it had been only a few weeks ago, that would have been an unforgivable offence. If he was outside, wandering Gotham City with Jerome loose and on the streets? Only for the one person who's meant to protect him, not to tell him... He bristled a little. Glancing over her. Deciding if this was a punishable offence or not. Like a flip of the coin, Jeremiah brushed past it with a simple. "You should have mentioned it sooner."

She continued. Telling him that she could take care of it. He glanced slowly up and away from her. Letting his eyes wander into space. Staring into nothing as he brought up one hand to his lips in thought. Sure. Ecco could handle him. She had before... but then again... it wouldn't be very personal, would it? "No," He said finally. Snapping Jerome's diary shut and tossing it aside onto the coffee table in front of him. "He can't hurt me. He tried already and he failed." He admitted coldly.

Getting up from his couch to walk a little closer to hers. Jeremiah took a seat on hers right next to her. "The night he died for the third time, I went home and discovered a gift in my office. It was addressed to me in your handwriting, so I trusted it enough to open it. It was a Jack-in-the-Box. Not exactly a gift you would have given me but it went off without needing to crank it. There was a clown's face that popped out of the box and some kind of gas sprayed from it's mouth and onto my face," He gestured with one hand to his face before reaching up to remove his glasses from his face. Tucking them into his jacket pocket and gracefully removing a small packet of moist towelettes from behind the glasses. He opened it up and pulled out a sheet. "I suppose from the note, Jerome intended it to be an insanity spray. Obviously, it did nothing to my mind. Instead it merely caused some... cosmetic effects."

He took the sheet to his face and slowly dragged it down his skin. Revealing the stark white underneath all the make up. Before glancing down, and dropping the sheet on his lap. He used one hand to keep his eye open while the other reached up and fumbled with before removing the contact on the same side. Lifting his head to look back at her and letting Ecco get a good look at his face. "Tada." He said, without an ounce of emotion. "The point is... Jerome caught me off guard and this is the worst he could do. Whatever he tries next... I'll outfox it. I've always been vastly more intelligent."

There was a tense silence. It reminded Ecco of the silences of her youth, when one of Falcone's lackeys had displeased him. There was always a pause. Exactly like this one. Where things could go one way, or another. When Falcone, or one of his underlings, was weighing up their options. Ecco remembered standing there, sometimes with the other girls, and waiting. Everyone held their breath. Sometimes, things went one way, and once or twice, she'd been on her hands and knees scrubbing blood off the club's carpet. Sometimes, they went another, and everyone relaxed. This felt exactly like that. She hadn't felt it in years, and never around Jeremiah. But she didn't move. It was his prerogative to be angry with her. He was the boss, after all.

A few seconds passed, and he said she should have mentioned it sooner. That was all. She gazed at him steadily. "I know," she replied. "I'm sorry. I won't make that mistake again." It was exactly the kind of thing she'd heard the lackeys say, the kind of thing she'd never needed to say to Jeremiah. She never used to make mistakes. Or, if she did, he'd never held them against her.

In an effort to make it up to him, and to remind him that he could trust her, she offered to take care of his brother. Again, it was an offer she never would have made, before his change. She had attacked Jerome on Jeremiah's orders, but it was one thing to knock him out, and it was another thing to kill him. But she knew she needed to offer, to remind Jeremiah that she was still valuable, that she would do that for him in an instant, and lose no sleep over it.

He refused, and she wasn't surprised. But before she could reply, he snapped his book shut and threw it casually onto the table. He can't hurt me. He tried already and he failed. Ecco froze. When had Jerome tried to hurt him? How had she not known about this? She didn't say anything, and Jeremiah stood up and walked to her couch to sit next to her. He kept talking, in his same odd, lilting, voice, that was becoming more familiar to her than his old way of speaking. It was almost hypnotic, and she gazed at him and listened.

He told her about the jack-in-a-box, the gas spraying into his face, and as he spoke, he slowly took off his glasses and placed them into his blazer pocket. Insanity spray, he said. Jerome had gassed him? He said it had only had cosmetic effects, and he raised the cloth of his face and wiped it down his cheek, and she saw that it was makeup. Underneath the pink, his skin was papery white. She stared in silence as he reached up to his eye and removed a contact lens, and she saw that his eyes, which used to be deep brown, were now in fact pale silver.

He kept talking, saying that this was the worst Jerome could do, but Ecco was barely listening. Everything was clicking into place. The change in his voice, his calm demeanour, the reason why he could leave the bunker without fear, the odd sense of menace he'd exuded. It must all have happened after he'd been sprayed with this gas, whatever it was. And she found herself agreeing instantly. Of course he wasn't insane. It had freed him of the anxieties she'd seen ruining his life for the past six years. He wasn't terrified of his brother anymore. He was admitting things she'd always known were true -- he was a genius, he was certainly more clever than Jerome. He said it had done nothing to his mind, which she didn't completely agree with. He was calmer now, more rational, obviously more ruthless. But those weren't bad things. Now she knew why he had changed, she felt her previous concerns melt away. Whatever this gas was, it obviously wasn't deadly. He wasn't sick, or dying, despite the paleness of his skin being startling.

Startling, yes, and she felt another complete inappropriate sense of attraction that made her cringe internally. Her calm expression didn't reveal it, but she knew it was there. She wanted to see both of his eyes, without the contacts. She wanted to see him without the makeup, the man he was now. But she pushed the feelings down violently, and at last, she smiled at Jeremiah. Now wasn't the time for this. She needed to focus on him.

"You should have mentioned it sooner," she said, teasingly, repeating his own words back to him. "I knew you'd changed. Of course you had. I didn't know why, but it wasn't my place to question you." She paused, unused to being emotional, unsure of how to proceed. "I wish you had told me, Jeremiah," she said, using his name, as she rarely did. She had the stupid urge to reach out and take his hands, but she didn't. She just clasped her fingers together. "I'm glad you have now. Thank you for trusting me." She paused. Felt as if she needed to say something else. There was an elephant in the room, and they both surely knew it. Her role, now he didn't need a proxy, and he'd proven he didn't need a bodyguard. She gazed into his mismatching eyes, and was startled again by how striking his new eye colour was.

"But this begs the question," she continued. "Why are you keeping me in your employ? You no longer need a proxy. You've just proven you don't need a bodyguard." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "If this is your way of telling me you don't need me, please say it outright. But please know that I want to stay." She felt more emotion than she could remember feeling in a while, and she stared into his eyes.

#c.#thejokerswilde

thejokerswilde

He glanced over the front of the book. He must have been so used to grabbing it off of the shelf he'd kept it on that he picked it up even when he wasn't trying to. As though his hand had been magnetized by it. Each night, he'd obsessively pored over it. Taking in all of the sketches and the manic chicken scratch of his brother's writing. His gloved hand ran carefully along the bumpy, bedazzled ice cream cone on the front and he allowed himself a moment to take it in before Ecco finally answered him. "Ah, the city of love." He mused before opening Jerome's diary and flipping through a few pages. He couldn't exactly look as casual as he wanted to with this particular book in his hands... but he'd look less so if he got up to grab another one.

She explained that the architecture was beautiful and he smiled despite himself. "The architecture? A girl after my own heart." He teased, leaning over the journal in his hands to say it. She asked where he would be and his smile dropped. Where would he be? He didn't often let himself fantasize about that. He was safest here. In his bunker. Surrounded by twists and turns and long grey concrete walls. He finally blinked, letting his eyelashes flutter a bit as he tried to think of an answer to her question. Glancing down at the pages in his hand. Drawings of his head removed from his body by a chainsaw that said 'Jeremiah Special' on it. It used to scare him and now he felt... indifferent. "I saw Jerome again last night. He doesn't seem to stay dead... does he?"

It took Ecco a moment to realise the book Jeremiah had grabbed. It didn't like a non-fiction book, the sort of thing he would usually read. It looked like a child's book, or a diary. Jeremiah stroked the cover, and she wanted to get up and take it from him. There was something in the way he was looking down at it. He was quiet for a beat too long, before he called Paris the city of love, and she smiled tightly. "Yes, it is." That hadn't been why she had mentioned it, and she was glad she'd clarified. He called her a girl after his own heart, and it was such a strange thing for him to say that she just blinked for a second. It was still odd to hear him talk like that, in his calm, lilting, voice. Was he teasing her?

Suddenly, he stopped smiling, and she realised she must have said the wrong thing. Again, it was such an unfamiliar sensation, to feel as if she could say the wrong thing. Of course, he had always been her boss, but she'd never felt uncomfortable or unsafe in his presence. She did now. The silence went on for a few moments longer, and at last, Jeremiah spoke. He said he'd seen Jerome, that he didn't seem dead.

Ecco knew she shouldn't have been surprised, even in her muted way, by Jeremiah's lack of fear. He'd made it clear he wasn't afraid of his brother. But it was still so unlike him that it was startling. She didn't let her surprise show, and decided to just speak to him in the matter-of-fact way she always did. "No, he doesn't," she agreed. "I saw him outside the party. I was going to tell you, but I was waiting for the right moment. I'm sorry I didn't." She studied him for a few seconds.

"I can take care of it, sir," she said, in an uncharacteristically gentle tone. She leaned forwards a little, resting her elbows on her knees and staring at him. "I understand that he is your brother, and you might have conflicted feelings about harming him, but this is part of the reason why you hired me. To protect you from him." She paused, considering her words carefully. "If you want me to deal with him, just say the word. I will."

#c.#thejokerswilde

Dinah hesitated as the woman tensed up. She couldn't say she blamed her. It was Gotham. There was always something lurking under the surface when it came to Gotham. It had a way of changing your life around its twists and turns. You just never know if it is going to be for the best or the worst. Dinah may be a masked vigilante but she was just like everyone else; just trying to get by and make it out alive.

As the woman pulled out the plaster of a small first aid kit, Dinah let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness." She managed to say as she slipped her shoe off and used her hand to support herself, tearing the plaster away from its seal with her teeth. "You could say that. I should be flattered for an encore. That's when my bonus rates kick in." She mused as she covered the wound on the back of her heel. "Though, extra money almost makes it worth it." She wince as she slipped the heel back on. "Thank you. Honestly, you may have just saved my life."

Ecco watched as the other woman stuck the band-aid to her heel. Now her surprise at seeing her had worn off, it was obvious, from the way she was dressed, what she likely did as a living. Before working for Jeremiah, Ecco had spent enough time in clubs to make an educated guess at the sort of work this woman did. When she started to talk about encores, and bonus rates, she nodded and smiled. "You're welcome," she replied. Normally, she would have kept walking, but something about the other woman made her stay. "Where do you work?" she asked. "I used to work at Mooney's."

slvmber-deactivated20240420

Jon would have lost his head if it wasn't attached to his shoulders. During a fight with a few goons he had misplaced his cape and felt naked without it. His mom would be furious with him if he returned to his timeline without it, especially after she patched it up for him for the umpteenth time. "Uh, hi." Jon floats to a nearby passerby, offering them a wave and a crooked little grin as a greeting. "Y'don't know me but I'm lookin' for my cape." He speaks in a warm southern drawl as he looks around, trying his best to spot his lost garment. "It's red, sorta looks like a curtain. Ring any bells?"

The voice came from somewhere above her, and Ecco looked up sharply to see a young man floating a small distance from the sidewalk. She smiled to herself, not surprised, and thought only in Gotham. He asked if she'd seen a red cape, and she shook her head. "No, sorry," she replied. "I'm sure I would remember if I had." She paused. "You're too young to be the famous Superman, aren't you?" she asked.

#c.#hisheroics

ofbalance

Ecco Doe. The name sounded a bit familiar, like had heard it in the passing during a conversation where things were a lot more intense. Something Dick instantly realized had been only recently for him, when she gestured to his long thought friend across the room. The one she called Mr Wilde was the same friend he called Valeska. "Mr. Wilde huh?" That would take some getting used to, Dick was sure. "What kind of work do you guys do?" He asked, if Dick had to take a gander it was something scientific. He recalled Jeremiah being an intelligent as a kid, he couldn't imagine the thing's he could accomplish as an adult.

"Yes," Ecco said. He asked what they did, and she smiled. This was a safe topic of conversation, but it was still strange. She wasn't used to talking so openly about Jeremiah and his job. "He's an architect," she replied. "He designed some of the most impressive buildings in Gotham. Wayne Plaza, for one." Her tone, usually blunt and cold, was now proud. After a moment, she added, "He's a genius."

#c.#ofbalance

ofmarkov

.

Better then most. Tara mused the words. Briefly she wondered what she would have said, if someone had asked her that same question once upon a time when she'd been a piece in someone else's chess board. Then again, back then she thought she was the Queen. The most powerful piece, the one who should have been protected. Turns out, the truth was that Tara was nothing more then a pawn. "That's not much of a glowing endorsement." She noted duly, and took a sip of her wine that tasted less then stellar.

"Probably the same thing that brings most here," A death wish, maybe. Or maybe the want to live in a place that was constantly changing, that wasn't boring, that wasn't the same brick wall staring back at her for hours. "Morbid curiosity." Tara said, and though it wasn't a lie it was far from the whole truth. "And I'm guessing you came here for work?" The word was in tune with a inclination to where Ecco's eyes had previously gone to her boss.

Ecco turned to Tara when the other woman replied. "Oh?" she said, her usually colourless voice injected with surprise. "I meant it as an endorsement. Compared to the other bosses I've had, Mr Wilde excels." She didn't want to say anything else. Talking about him made her dwell on how much he had changed, how unusual he was now, how she couldn't discern her feelings for him beyond professional loyalty.

Tara said she had been brought to Gotham by morbid curiosity, and Ecco smiled a little. "No, I'm local," she said. "I've lived in the city my whole life." She paused. "Has your morbid curiosity been satisfied? What do you make of Gotham, as an outsider?

#c.#oftara

ofmarkov

@jestergirls

Ecco paused as she brought the glass up to her lips, and lowered it again. She turned to look at the young women, whom she recalled meeting at the Mayor's party. "You did?" she asked softly. She put the glass down on the bar, and felt a rush of cold and controlled anger. "Which guy?"

Echo. Tara was somewhat surprised at herself for even recalling the name as she did. She couldn't say what, but something about the blond had struck a cord with her. Enough so to speak up when she saw something troubling going on. "Back right corner." Tara told her. "His hat is weird. Can't miss him."

#c.#oftara #alcohol tw #drugging tw

Tara gave her a description, and Ecco turned around and saw the man immediately. He was dressed like a typical Gothamite, in an old-fashioned grey flat cap. No one she recognised, so it probably wasn't someone who worked for Fish, or Cobblepot, or Jerome. This wasn't a hit. This was just a stranger, a man probably trying to roofie her. Ecco stared at him for a few seconds, then turned back to Tara. "Thank you for telling me, Tara," she said calmly. "I'll handle it later." She was fairly certain that Jeremiah wouldn't have previously approved of what she planned to do, but now, he probably wouldn't bat an eyelid, if she told him at all.

emperorisms

“ any room can be a panic room, if you’d just give me a second, ” ⁿᵒ, ⁿᵒꜝ ᵖˡᵉᵃˢᵉ ᵈᵒⁿ’ᵗ — BANG! “ — see? ”