#daydreamingtetch

i touched up the animation i did earlier............

"How quaint to see your writings, makes me think back to the past before everything ended up so topsy turvy. Your work is more entertaining to read through though... not as dry as my own." He pondered for a moment, a little hum. "Least to say I'll keep an out for you. Always have, always will, dear doctor."

"...Jervis. How kind of you to... grace my office with your presence once again. Just as I had thought you had escaped from Arkham for good, tell me, what brought you to my desk and my writings again? A simple bid for the familiar? Perhaps you recognize the stability that a psychologist may provide that mind of yours?"

"Though. Is it not in your nature to seek things out, when they are all twisted out of place and backwards? How odd, I would have thought that you would relish in the chaos of what is, instead of mourning the peace of what isn't. Or is it simply that your nostalgia is covering the tracks of something far darker?"

"How flattering, I suppose, that you find my work to be entertaining. The years that I have spent, dedicated to the research and study of the human mind- the nights that I have stayed up in order to perfect every draft and every experiment. Yes, it was all done so that you, Jervis, might have a gleeful little chuckle over a pot of tea."

A hum, as he goes back and forth, considering the other's words. It is hard to fully understand or categorize the thoughts of the Mad Hatter- Jonathan doubts that the man himself understands them half of the time. It must be a blissful existence, however fraught with violence.

"As for your interesting little promise to intrude upon the goings ons of my daily life, I would much rather that you do not."

"The doors here have handles and locks for a reason. Should you go about trying to stick your foot through a doorway that it was not meant to enter, then I cannot be blamed if you hobble away with bruises. Or, depending on the door, perhaps a missing limb."

>. "--- T h r i v i n g is a very strange way of putting it."

Who was even having a good time in this forsaken city to begin with?

Binary wasn't sure whether to be offended or simply agree with the strange man who had popped up out of the blue before her. But with any stranger, the hacker kept her distance. Hands slightly elevated in a worst-case scenario that was dreadfully developing in her head.

"But to me, it sounds like you're describing practically anyone who lives here. Because who would stay here on their own free will when you think about it?"

With a tilted sneer, Binary observed the other -- going up and down before deciding that the headwear was too good a thing to pass up remarking on.

"...---What's with the hat?".<

----- WE LITERALLY JUST BECAME MUTUALS WE COULDVE ONLY DONE SO MUCH -

"Ditch the blazer."

A few hours before they had been unloaded off the transport van and into the holding cells beneath the city's main courthouse. Officially, this was done a day before any trial to avoid any mistakes or delays on the day. Unofficially, everyone knew people had a tendency to go just a little screwier in the hours before a trial — maybe the impending stare of judge and jury was too much for some people.

Mary had never felt that way. She liked an audience. Still, she fixed her gaze on the clothing hanger settled on the bars of the cell opposite, bit thoughtfully at the cuticle of her thumb, felt a tiny slip of skin catch and sting between her canine and incisor.

"Ditch the blazer," she said again, with a little nod as if to confirm it. "And the tie. Button the shirt all the way up. It'll make you look younger."

She didn't much care whether he listened to her; it was his funeral. She just wanted to talk.

🏵️ Mother Gothel: How often do they think about their own mortality? Have they accepted it or would they do anything to cheat death?

{{ Like most unhappy thoughts... as little as possible! Yes, he's certainly aware of his capability to die, its why he's such a careful planner that rarely gets his own hands dirty, but there's also this terrible recklessness about him. Comes with the madness, one can only guess. But I do think its an acceptance of death that came with choosing a life of madness in general. Because, overall, Jervis is not living the kind of life of a person who most prioritizes a long and healthy life. You don't get to this position without throwing your hands up and taking a leap of faith. ( down a rabbit hole )

Its this severe disassociation from not just his own life but all lives that lets him be both a serial murderer and a deeply empathetic person at the same time. And at the root of that is definitely a general attitude of just.... not caring what happens to himself. Not as much as a healthy minded person.