Maybe I'm Broken

      ❝ — Perhaps, but it’s better that way.❞   The concept of lonely was something that confused Jonathan dearly ;; well, not the concept itself, but the bad weight that it carried around. He ENJOYED being alone, why did people interpret it as sad ??   

        ❝ — Edgar Allan Poe. Do you know him ?? ❞

    “Maybe when you’re older it is.” You didn’t need anyone. Not really. To Olvia, adults didn’t need anyone because most of them already had their basics taken care of. Therefore, they didn’t need to depend on anyone to take care of them.

      Jonathan was glad she moved so quickly, but not surprised. Arkham had an unspoken rule ;; what happens in Arkham, will bring you consequences later, and nobody wanted a night-night visit from the Scarecrow. He had a book on his hand as well, and he opened it as he sat down next to the girl.

     ❝ — Friends is a strong word. I prefer allies. I also prefer not to deal with their shit so early in the morning. ❞    His eyes didn’t even leave the book as he spoke in a monotone voice.

   “Sounds lonely. Allies don’t last.” In her case, neither did family. Relationships in general just weren’t dependable. Biting her lip a moment, Olvia considered going back to her book, but it was the first semblance of conversation she’d had since arriving. Outside of berating from the guards anyway. 

“It isn’t a trick, I assure you—I wouldn’t have the job I have now if I were willing to hurt children.” Anymore…just the memory of the clocktower gambit with the first Robin was enough to make him wince.  That was over a decade ago, Alexander, you have changed immensely since then, let it go… “Besides, campus security is abysmal enough that they couldn’t find you if I shoved you under their noses.  And I wouldn’t worry about getting either of us into trouble.  The Headmaster already thinks of me as a useful nuisance, and the Academy has enough squatters—what’s one more between friends?”  He tried to reassure her with a smile and nodded his head toward the doors of the school.

     Arkham was a mix of people ;; bright people with amazing minds, and crazy people that cried for their mommy at night. A real ball of madness, and Jonathan was used to it. Still, that didn’t stop Jonathan from giving a deathly stare to the girl sitting on the couch.

     ❝ — You’ll have to excuse me, but THAT’S MY SEAT. ❞

@shatteredcarr //  ♥ ‘d.

  Arkham was awful even at the best of times, it was worse when you were the only kid with the rogues gallery. Olivia jumped at the voice and quickly looked up from the book she’d been reading. She really didn’t need to make any enemies. Even if it did seem like a silly request to her. Placing the scrap fabric bookmark in place, Oliva scooted over to the other side of the couch.

“With all due respect, the father away you keep from that ludicrous madman, the better.”  Of all the people in the Gotham underground who desperately needed to have his head examined… well, no matter.  If anyone caught him talking like that, Alexander would have his lips sewn shut like Loki from the old tale.  The Dollmaker’s vengeance, he supposed.  “The Academy doors are still unlocked—you can sit in the infirmary until morning.”  Then he would have to decide what to do with her when the students started arriving…

          “ ——-Perhaps. More like a paradox. ” A soft bite on his lip while thinking. “ Well? I’d more like to see the judge’s face after getting such an answer! ” A chuckle assisted his response.

“Oh, believe me, I know,” Alexander replied solemnly.  He’d seen too many of his students wander directly into peril not to know the manner of city Gotham was, even if he had never been a rogue.  “Still, for one of the Dollmaker’s children—unless I am very much mistaken, and I seldom am—it is even less safe.  Let us get you inside someplace…”

@shatteredcarr

“The academic district at night is no place for a child, my dear girl. Especially one of your…particular reputation.  Is there anywhere safe I can conduct you?”

        “ ‘ You will hang me ’. If they hang him, then the statement was true && they could only hang him for telling a lie. If they shoot him, then it makes the statement a lie and they were only to shoot him for telling the truth. An alternate solution is to say,  ‘ You will not  shoot me ’ leading to the same quandary for the killers. ”

Mary had picked the window at random – it was the only one on that floor with the latch up, and she’d though going up another flight on the fire escape was just begging to be spotted by a passing patrol. God knew they’d been hot enough on her heels before an inmate had launched out of the dark heading the other way. It had been enough of a distraction to slip away down a side street.

Her clothes, stolen back from the storage room at Arkham, still had the faintest scent of smoke and gunpowder residue clinging to them from before she’d been taken in; slipping in through the window, as her feet touched the carpet she wrinkled her nose at the smell. She stood on tiptoe to slide it shut – better not to have anyone else come crawling through – and froze at the voice, spinning to face the kid.

Shit.

This late at night, she’d thought everyone should have been asleep inside. Of course, with her luck she’d manage to find the one apartment in Gotham where people didn’t actively try to sleep through the sirens. But just a kid - and one home alone. That she could deal with. Her bottom lip trembled, features crumpling into fear. 

“Please don’t make me go out there again.” After so long without forcing her voice up into a higher pitch, the whisper alone had the first faint traces of an ache in her throat.

“I don’t know how long they’ll be gone. They had to deal with an... incident.” If you could call one of the ‘dolls’ attempting suicide an ‘incident’. It happened once in awhile. It was a risk of housing so many dolls in one place. Even with the monitors it was hard to watch all of them 24/7. Matilda did her best to get them clean and healthy (their organs were only sellable that way anyway) before adding them to her dollhouse. 

Keeping her voice low, Oliva looked around nervously. Almost as frightened as her unexpected guest. The apartment housed the would-be-dolls, sometimes creaks or footsteps would sound through the ceiling. If any woke up or heard them, or worse,  if Father or Matilda heard them, it was unlikely the girl infront of her would survive the night. 

〔¿〕➝ Ah, now everything made sense. Of course she was trying to escape. That would have been the only logical explanation.

There were always going to be the inmates who saw crawling through the ventilation system was a means of entertainment, or a method of sneaking into a cell and killing someone without beng detected, all of which were perfectly possible in Arkham. That’s why he had reacted with such timidness. Now he was just lucky that it was someone who had a lttle bit of sense at least.

“It’s no problem - I’ve been caught myself, so I get how it feels. Scary, huh?” He murmured, keeping his voice low in case there were still any wardens lurking nearby, “Crazy? Maybe we are. I question it a lot. What I have going on in my head definitely isn’t normal by any means…but that’s enough about that. What’s your next plan of action?”

“Yeah, and I usually don’t scare easily.” Dollmaker kinda took that out of you. If anything, she was scared of being put with wherever Matilda and him were. If they knew she ratted them out to Gordon, being a doll was the least of her worries. 

“Not dying? I don’t know. I got as far as the main entrance but there’s no way to get out with the guards there. The hole where Joker blew out last time is still under construction and last I got a peak it wasn’t close to being fully reinforced. So, theoretically it could be weak enough that a tiny explosion shock wave would crack it open again but I have no idea how to make something like that.” Where was Firefly when you needed him?