@boastergold, michael: ❝ if someone were to ask you a riddle you weren't able to solve, would they earn the title of ❛ riddler ❜ ? ———king of the hill style ! ❞
a loud cackle slithers from his throat, empty glass of chardonnay held close against his chest as pearly whites gleam in a wide smile. earn the title of 'the riddler'? what a miserable fate for someone. ❝ oh, booster, ❞ left hand rests against hero's bicep as eddie steadies himself after such a sudden laughing fit, mossy green eyes focusing up before smile falters slightly after a beat of silence. ❝ you're serious? i pity anyone who wants to 'pick up the mantle', so to speak. ❞
'riddler' had started out as a nickname during college, thrust upon him by others, a box to fit in — a box he'd like fitting in as a lonely sixteen year old at gotham u. edward nygma would die before ever admitting to being a people pleaser, but there had always been that certain thrill in proving their intelligence to everyone around them, always needing to prove that they were enough even when they felt like not enough or too much. and god, they'd spent so long feeling like that. puzzles and riddles and other mental games had become a comfort when nothing else felt comforting, and 'the riddler' had become a way to justify that feeling, a mask they could hide behind, an unhealthy coping mechanism used against an unwilling city and her equally unwilling residents.
question: what belongs to you, but others will use it? answer: your name.
over the years eddie had had to deal with copycats or other villains with similar schticks: king tut, cluemaster, conundrom — yet none of them had ever been able to outsmart him. it had always been a matter of pride, taking out the competition, sometimes even bringing them to justice with the batman's assistance.
so what if the impossible was finally achieved and edward nygma met a riddle he couldn't solve?
head tilts thoughtfully, gaze oddly warm as a contemplating hum sits behind their lips.
❝ i think that if someone was that smart then they'd know better than to ever want something like that, you know? 'the riddler' died in the same instance edward nygma was knocked into that coma, a persona that very few wept over the ending of, and i plan on letting it stay dead. so no, booster, if someone managed to give me a riddle i couldn't solve they would earn something much more valuable — my respect. ❞











