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#I don't draw my riddler enough
theehoneeybee · 2 months
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An Evening Coffee
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pairing: Edward Nashton/gn!reader warnings: stalking, obsession, swearing, implied kidnapping? the riddler is just a silly goose word count: 1.0k
part one
synopsis: Edward's obsession only grows stronger the more you pull away from him. ✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏ a/n: thank you for the love on the previous fic <;3 also don't forget my requests are open teehee ✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏
After Edward had left your apartment you were quick to draw all the curtains, triple checking that the front door was locked. To be extra safe, you heaved the coffee table in front of the door to barricade yourself in.
He knew where you lived.
The hairs on your arm stood up straight, alert. The air in your apartment weighed on your shoulders, unable to escape the feeling of dread that surrounded you. You drowned in fear. How did he know where you lived? Had he been here before? Was he still here now?
You didn't have a second of peace, your brain swarming with questions. Everything began to make sense. The feeling of being watched and followed, and of course, the card.
You wanted to move apartment, to run away and hide where he could never find you, but there was one small problem. Edward still had your laptop.
You stayed awake all night, forcing yourself to keep your eyes open. Caffeine and anxiety fuelled you as you stalked from room to room, unable to sit still, frantically checking that you were alone in the apartment. Was it even worth informing the police? You had no physical proof that Edward had done anything and the Gotham police were useless. They would just tell you, "we'll look into it," then you would never hear from them again.
The alarm from your phone blared in your ear. You don't remember falling asleep. You shot straight up, eyes snapping open as you scanned around your room. It was time for you to go to work.
Each time a customer came through the door a shiver ran down your spine, anticipating Edward's arrival. The night dragged. You anxiously stared at the clock, watching as the seconds ticked by all too slowly.
"Evening," Edward greeted you as he came through the door, the bell chiming behind him. You tried your best to keep a straight face, to keep the fear at bay.
"Evening."
He gently sets your laptop down on the counter. "I'll just have a coffee tonight," a kind smile adorned his lips as he spoke to you. How could he look you in the eyes and act like nothing was wrong? You couldn't help the shaking in your hands as your poured his coffee. "Well, I was able to get the virus off your laptop. Like you said, it was just something you got from a dodgy site."
You nodded, mumbling a thank you as your grabbed your laptop to put it away. Had Edward been the one to mess with your laptop? Part of you knew that would make sense, that is was the logical thing to think, but the way he looked at you almost had you convinced otherwise. Almost.
"You should be more careful, you know," Edward advised. "Try not to use those sites in the future. You never know what could happen. There's some dangerous people out there." His clear glasses gleamed in the light.
He wouldn't leave fast enough. Edward took his sweet time, sipping his coffee and scribbling his answers in a crossword puzzle. You watched him cautiously from across the diner, avoiding eye contact whenever he would glance your way. When Edward finally left, you let out a sigh of relief. A weight was lifted from your shoulders, not having to worry about him for the rest of your shift.
You scurried home, eager to get out of the dark and into the safety of your apartment. The illusion of safety, at least. Before you went to bed that night you messaged your manager, begging to be switched to the day shift. It would be too hard to find a new job on such short notice, so changing your shifts would be the quickest way to deter Edward. It was hard to fall asleep. No position seemed comfortable or safe. On your side, it left your back exposed, vulnerable to the world. You tossed and turned for the rest of the night, every little noise of the city waking you from your sleep.
You thought the switch to day shift kept Edward at bay. Aside from the feeling of being watched, you had not seen or heard from him. You asked your co-worker who took over the night shift if she had seen him, brown hair and clear frames, you described. Nothing.
Even your laptop was completely fine. The black screen and flashing question mark never appeared again but you still felt a level of unease using it, covering up your webcam with tape, just in case.
After a long day, all you wanted to do was rot in bed. One of your co-workers called out last minute, leaving you to cover them until someone else could come in. The rest of the evening you had spent running errands. Hauling all of your groceries onto the subway was no easy task.
You shuffled into your dark apartment, unable to flick on the light just yet as you carried your bags into the kitchen. They smacked onto the countertop with a loud thud. Your bedroom light was still on. Odd, you thought. You could've sworn you had turned it off. Electricity isn't cheap after all.
As you entered your bedroom, someone sprung out from the darkness, making you jump with fright. You hadn't spotted Edward in the corner, shrouded in the shadows. He towered over you, his eyes obscured by his glasses. You slowly backed away from him, until you were pressed up against the wall. He stood inches away from you.
"I missed you," Edward cooed. "You stopped working the night shift."
Your bottom lip trembled, fists balled against your sides as you stared up into his green eyes. Before you could utter a word, he spoke again.
"I just wanted to see you. You caught onto me hacking your laptop pretty quickly. You're a smart one." So he was the one who tampered with your computer.
"Please just leave me alone," your voice trembled as you spoke. For someone who used to seem so meek, Edward was making you shake with fear. His hand came up to cup your face, his thumb running across your bottom lip. You swallowed. He leaned down, his face centimetres yours.
"Don't think you can get away from me that easily."
You were his.
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ggomos-maribat · 7 months
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NMWYCAM [bonus deleted chapter]
This is a scene i wrote out but couldn't fit into the current chapters :)
Originally Damian was going to find out that Marinette knows their secret in another way...lol he was gonna get badly injured as Robin and Marinette saves him but reveals she knows his identity
***
2:51 a.m. Marinette was still awake, despite the kwamis telling her off. She found herself having excess energy that night, so she decided on sketching under the yellow desk lamp with some music on. All was calm and peaceful until her phone buzzed.
Damian: Hello
Damian: Are you awake? Can I call you right now?
Her keyboard popped up for the reply, but more messages came in.
Damian: You're probably sleeping
Damian: ...
Damian: sorry
Damian: I shouldn't have bothered
Damian: sweet dreams, Marinette
Smiling, she went ahead and pressed the call button. When it took him several rings to answer, she pictured a panicked Damian fumbling to answer his phone.
"What's up?" She asked.
"Did I wake you?" His warm voice filled her ears. "Sorry . . ."
"No, no, I was awake. Couldn't sleep." Marinette propped her legs up on her chair, tucking them to her chest. She saw a groggy Tikki peek out of her small blanket but she waved the kwami off to go back to sleep. "Is something the matter?"
"No, I . . . I was just lying in bed and got the sudden urge to talk to you," Damian recounted. "Is that strange?"
Marinette brought the back of her hand to her reddened cheek. This boy. "I think that means you miss me, Damian," she laughed. "How was patrol?"
"It went smoothly. We disrupted a smuggling operation and put Riddler back in Arkham. You? What were you doing?"
"Ah just drawing out some ideas. Nothing too important." Snuggled in her blanket under the calm night and talking to Damian was like a tight embrace, Marinette realized. "I hope you didn't push yourself too hard."
A scoff sounded out from Damian. "Father threatened to bench me when I chased after the Riddler. The others kept watching me like I'll disappear into thin air."
"They're just worried about you, you know. As they should be."
"I only need you to worry about me." A long pause. Then a long sigh. "Sorry, I . . . I don't know why I said that."
Marinette hummed, feeling more heat crawl under her skin. "It's alright. They say your inhibitions are looser at night, especially when you're tired. But it's okay to be vulnerable; it's just me."
"What do you mean by that? 'It's just you'?"
"I mean I understand that you're being honest about whatever you say to me right now. I won't judge you for it. I won't even bring it up tomorrow if that's what you want." She pressed her phone closer to her ear. "I don't want you to feel that you need to keep something to yourself just because it's me hearing your words."
". . . How come you always say the right thing?"
"I guess it's my forte?"
"What if I can't say the right things?"
"Just talking to you like this is enough for me," Marinette said. "I can be the one good with words, and you can be the one good with actions. You always are."
"That's not fair at all. You are also good with actions."
That elicited another laugh from her. "But you are very good at taking care of people through your gestures. Not a lot can do that."
"You're the only one who has ever said that."
"'Cause I'm the only one who notices."
Soon, whilst they talk, Marinette noticed that he was mumbling the ends of his words. Later on when she finished her amusing story about a deal with a client, she didn't hear a reply, but instead, light snoring at the other end of the line.
He sounds so relaxed. Now she had the urge to look at his sleeping face.
"Good night, Damian," she whispered. "I miss you too."
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candy-fae · 2 months
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HELLO CARLIE I am here to get u to talk about batman stuff
What got u into batman and why is the riddler ur fav? I am hella curious and i don't remember if we talked abt it!
-Chris! (@worldtravelercv)
LET ME BEAM YOU BACK TO THE RIPE YEAR OF 2004!! I am fresh to the world, 4 years old. I know what Batman is, because I have three older brothers. But I only watched live action silly Jim carry villains, and the colors and Tim burtony city were what stuck. Cool. Neat.
Fast forward. 200000007? Probably. BOOMERANG. I grew up without cable, and the internet for a while. Didn't get a phone until I was 14. so, late at night, while I'm watching the brand new box tv, what comes across my screen?
Well at that time certainly not robot chicken. The theme song was scary. So, the 2004 Batman reruns catch my attention on boomerang, and BOY did they hold it! Feral joker. Penguin being a greedy little criminal. And the Batman. Everything was dark, and angular, and when there was color it was BRIGHT. but it was used so well it made things seem intentional and wacky.
That's actually my favorite version of Bruce. I'm not really a batfam fan at all haha. Hard to keep track of the robins for me. But he was animated like a shadow, or a vampire, and was sharp like a villains design. Kevin Conroy has the best Bman voice, but this guy was my OG and a different spin on the hero's I'd seen so far.
the best version of everything is the the version we were exposed to as kids.
And I loved it! Penguin was definitely my favorite, and I'm actually not a big fan of the Batman 2004's Riddler lol. Just not my style, but INTERESTING. story wise sorta reminds me of the fox gothams Riddler.
He's different, very much so. We get NOTHING of Fox riddlers story before we see him which. Is usually such a big part of his character haha. He doesn't have the same "I'm better than you" energy either that I'm use to. But you know who's got it down just about right?
Arkham Eddie. I played the game at a friends house once, and he explained to me how Riddler progressively learns to outsmart you through the entire series.
He's like an underdog villain, who has SO much potential, but is sparingly used, because he's hard to write, and I hate that haha
To write a good, Compelling Riddler, you have to be smart enough to make, and solve, a complicated obstruction. He's never a toll bridge for the Batman, he's ALWAYS a speed bump. At first. Then he's a boulder, then a mountain, until you can't ignore him anymore, then he's not something you can keep beating up, you actually have to outfox him, and he's aware of it.
He's a good villain because super intelligent people often see things from all angles, and to keep a guy who's called the world's greatest detective on his toes guessing, is pretty impressive for a guy we don't get to see too much. And I think it's a shame.
Personality wise, I think he's funny. Like, accidentally. Have you ever played the Arkham games? HOURS of failing that stupid race track to the sound of him taunting you makes it very full filing to finally catch him, but I WOULDN'T know. That jerk.
At current though, zero year is my favorite. Greg Capullo has such a good understanding of drawing movement and lots of Eddie pictures portray so much action in a still frame, it's crazy, but, now you've got me rambling.
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3-n-1-g-m-4 · 7 months
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Some of my drawings. (Try and guess who my favourite character is 💀)
I've been rewatching The Batman pretty much every day recently, it's crazy that it came out over a year ago, it still feels so new. I love the film so much though, the only thing I don't really like about it is the inclusion of the joker. It felt so forced, obviously I understand the thought process, it's pretty much seen as necessary to have the joker in all batman media, but I feel like we have so many jokers, and a lot of other characters (like the riddler) don't have enough portrayals in live action films. I think it'd be more interesting if they made a film where the main villain is someone like the scarecrow, or mr freeze, or two-face, etc... But it's still an amazing film, I just wanted to rant about that.
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restlesscrybaby · 1 year
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WELCOME TO MY ACCOUNT!!!
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-- I'm Reilly!! ( RestlessCrybaby <33 ).
-- Panromantic and pansexual! She/her or any pronouns!
-- I've got a lovely bf! @dumby-elf !! The biggest Death simp, you guys should go and draw his self insert and Death together <33
-- I've got amazing friends!!
-- I'm a huge artist and writer <33!!
-- I'm multifandom!!
-- My birthday is March 3rd, I'm a Pisces!
-- My favorite color is rose gold... I really love pink.
\/ \/ MORE INFO. \/ \/
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× WHAT I WILL NOT WRITE. ×
The basics. ( p3dophilia, vore, proship shi, etc )
Sadly, pregnancy and children stuff!! ( personal reasons. )
... More, but that's the basics.
× RULES FOR WHEN I WRITE ×
Please, give me time! And some things will be rushed, I try to put it out there as quick as I can ^^!!
If I don't get to your request, please give me time! Unless I post something stating to resend it, as my tumblr has a habit of deleting my inboxes.
Please, do not be offended if your ask isn't done like the others, I have countless reasons as to why it may not be done like that <33
And in general, have fun with my writing! I try to make sure you guys have enough creative room to let your minds roam free!
Pretty much the same for drawing!!!
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♡ SOME OF MY INTERESTS! ♡
☆ Big ones marked with a star!
Writing ! ☆☆☆
Drawing ! ☆☆☆
True crime ! ☆☆☆
Movies !
TV shows !
Anime !
Poetry! ☆
Psychology ! ☆☆☆
Femme fatales! ☆
Vintage cartoons!
Horror! ☆☆☆
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♡ ( SOME ) FANDOMS I'M IN! ♡
(( not all! ))
Puss In Boots: The Last Wish,
MHA
Beavis and Butthead,
Lucifer,
Danganronpa,
Grinch,
American Horror Story,
Beauty and the Beast,
Who Framed Roger Rabbit ( ♡♡♡ )
Pizza Tower,
Tusk, ( ♡♡♡ )
Human Centipede, ( ♡♡♡ )
Chucky,
IT,
Killer Klowns from Outer Space ( ♡♡♡ ),
Goosebumps.
Baldi's Basics.
FNAF.
And more!!
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× (( SOME )) CHARACTERS I SIMP FOR!! ×
(( not all!! ))
Jack Horner ( PiB: tLW. )
Katsuki Bakugou. ( MHA. )
Hawks ( MHA. )
TeruTeru Hanamura. ( Danganronpa. )
Mondo Oowada. ( Danganronpa. )
Karl Heisenberg. ( Resident Evil. )
Lady Dim. ( Resident Evil. )
Doc Ock. ( Spider-Man. )
Syndrome. ( The Incredibles. )
Peppino Spaghetti. ( Pizza Tower. )
Tate Langdon. ( AHS. )
Wallace Bryton. ( Tusk. )
Bill Boss. ( Human Centipede 3. )
Martin Lomax ( Human Centipede 2. )
Jang Deok-Su ( Squid Game. )
Slappy the Dummy ( Goosebumps. )
Rodrick Heffley ( Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies. )
Chef. ( South Park. )
Lucifer Morningstar. ( Lucifer on Netflix. )
Sweet Pete. ( Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers. )
The Riddler. ( Batman , 2022. )
Bruno Madrigal ( Encanto 2022. )
Bradley Uppercrust. ( An Extremely Goofy Movie. )
Chucky. ( Child's Play. )
Pennywise. ( IT. ) (( I really love clowns. )
Ayato Aishi ( Yan Sim. )
Peter ( Your Boyfriend. )
John Doe. ( John Doe. ) (( obsessive men :3 ))
And many more.
And I mean many.
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× FINAL NOTES. ×
This will be updated every now and again, but for now.
Enjoy.
- Restless Rei's.
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ed-nygma · 2 years
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I think some people have been watching The Batman (2022) and missing the point of the Riddler as a villain. Now, what follows is my own interpretation of the character, and this being a subjective matter means there's no real answer. Just keep in mind this is a vague reply to a post I read recently, and that I'm not replying directly to it because I think it would be pointless to argue about something like this over the internet. (Plus, I acknowledge it's not that deep, but I wanted to talk about my own analysis of Edward)
The Riddler wasn't just lashing out, and he sure as hell wasn't fighting corruption. He wanted attention. That has always been, and will always be, the main driving force for him as a BATMAN villain. He uses a carefully constructed facade of righteousness and victimhood to draw people in. He has a cult personality, and he knows how to weaponize it. His goal was never justice, he never fell down a pipeline of radicalization due to the internet, HE used the internet as a tool to get OTHERS. And YES, you can draw parallels to problems happening in the real world right now, but I don't think drawing said parallels are enough to turn something into a 1:1 allegory.
Edward doesn't care about anyone but himself and those he perceives as equals (Batman, and I believe the same might apply to the Joker later in the Reevesverse). That's the reason he was fine allowing all of his followers to die for him while he stayed at Arkham. He never saw them as equals, and he never believed in a cause. He believed in himself, and he wanted vengeance for himself and himself alone. He had a vendetta against Gotham for what it did to him, not others, and, as such, he targeted the city.
However, unlike the Joker, the Riddler prefers positive attention. He likes to be praised and he likes to feel admired- he wants to be venerated and worshipped by people who genuinely believe he's a genius. This is why Edward hides behind morality and complex schemes, while the Joker engages in much more senseless plots. He knows he can attract more people by validating their own misery and, again, you can draw parallels to how people recruit disenfranchised men for extremist groups, but he never wanted to help a community, it doesn't matter what kind of sugary words he uses to charm his followers, he sent them on a suicide mission while he was safe at the asylum because he wanted the WHOLE CITY gone. That was his "cause." In fact, he idolized Batman not because of his morals and the way he was "helping" the city but rather because he liked the way people feared, respected (in some regards), and flaunted him. He thought he was cool, and he wanted to receive the same attention Batman was getting due to being neglected in the past, never feeling acknowledged. He drew inspiration from Batman because of this.
He's a cult leader- one who isn't devoted to any cause but himself. He wanted to destroy the city because he believed he had the right to do so due to his own personal misfortune, but he never wanted to fight corruption. If he was given the chance to become part of the elite Bruce Wayne is a part of, he would have happily taken it and never once looked back at the people who were once in a situation like his.
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twistedtummies2 · 1 year
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If you were to make your own Batman series, what would be the cast of villains you'd use? I'm curious to see some more obvious ones like the joker or two face, as well as some of the lesser known ones, like baby doll or lock up. If you have any original ideas for a villain (or at least a rough concept of one), feel free to tell.
It's funny you mention this: I actually had a LOT of ideas for a Batman series of my own as a kid, which naturally never went anywhere. XD I remember drawing sketches of different characters and having thoughts of my own on how I would portray them, which ranged from the reasonable to "what was in the chocolate milk at the cafeteria, seriously?" As far as the major villains go, I'd want to use as many of them as possible. Joker, Riddler, Mad Hatter, Catwoman, Penguin, Two-Face, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Ventriloquist & Scarface...the list goes on. A lot of them I'd probably want to use more than once. However, there are a couple of villains I think I'd want to make "special" by only using once or twice, perhaps in large two-or-three-part storylines: Bane, for example, I think loses some traction after Knightfall. I'd probably want some kind of abridged take on Knightfall and that would be Bane's ONLY appearance. Similarly, I think I might do a couple of episodes with Mr. Freeze, but not a whole lot. Same thing with Professor Hugo Strange. Man-Bat I'd probably give one or two episodes to, and that's it.
As for lesser-known villains: the Tally Man is one I'd love to play with, and another is the Cavalier. I also think I'd do something with Dr. Death and make him the first villain Batman faces, since he was the first recurring supervillain in Batman comics, and I don't think he gets enough credit. The Terrible Trio are another group I'd want to use; I'd base them on the version from recent Batgirl comics, since that is my favorite take on them. One character concept I've had since I was young (even featured in some OLD fanfics I started work on back in High School) was my own take on the March Hare as the Mad Hatter's sidekick. I imagined him as a human being who was genetically experimented on, thus transforming him into an anthropomorphic hare. The Hatter ends up taking pity on the poor creature and thus the Hare becomes the Hatter's loyal sidekick and friend, the two genuinely caring about each other and working as partners. I'd also feature Tweedledee and Tweedledum as the Hatter's henchmen. Come to think of it, I should revisit that March Hare concept...time will tell...
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@deadgodjess yeah I thought I was done being peeved about this but I just spent a full forty minute yoga session unable to think about literally anything else. starting a new post because this one has gotten unwieldy but for anyone just joining us this is the tl;dr:
sorry it’s a day later and I’m still thinking about how dirty this godforsaken show [Gotham] did the riddler. why did you have to give him such a tacky ~ooooo mental illness is SCARY!! uh oh I killed my girlfriend by aCcIdEnT!!~ origin story when it would have been infinitely funnier for Ed to just run some numbers re: how many cases would actually get solved without him and come to the completely justifiable conclusion that he can absolutely get away with quitting his job and turning to a life of riddle-based crime.
I'm going to offer my alternative for what I, personally, think would have been a more fun Riddler buildup across Gotham's 4.5 season run. I am absolutely not seeking feedback, this is a thot exercise meant to be enjoyed by me, myself, and maybe like three people that I trust on this hellsite.
anyway having our boy Ed abruptly jump headfirst into the shallow end of the homicidal maniac pool was executed in a way that was not just wildly ableist but also mmmm dumb and boring as hell and really ripped away a lot of opportunities to use this character in a more interesting way, and by "more interesting" I cannot emphasize enough that I mean "ways that I think are funnier."
if I'm being totally honest I think producers/execs whoever got nervous about the show's continuation and insisted on pulling the trigger on Ed riddling out before season one ended in the hopes that having another Batman villain active pre-Batman would help build a little more railroad for this awful show to keep careening along on. this has to play out via the manifestation of a fucking evil alternate personality because, frankly, up until this point Ed has been characterized as pretty much a total sweetheart with absolutely zero ulterior motives and possibly the only brain cell in the entire Gotham City Police Department. he is literally Just Some Guy with hamfisted autism coding and a fondness for riddles who regularly gets dismissed and bullied by his colleagues, all of whom I wish would die in a fire (except for maybe Harvey Bullock because he's really the only man bringing any kind of eye candy to this show, but we're not here to talk about that).
what I'm getting at here is that the writers had a really great opportunity to spend a few seasons showing us how life in Gotham gradually wore down a man who was one a friendly and law-abiding colleague of Jim Gordon's into a little freak in spandex who cannot stop trying to one-up a man dressed as a bat. he actually could have been a compelling foil to Jimothy, whose whole deal is that he's somehow managed to remain The Only Honest Cop In Gotham despite years of horseshit; building on the relationship between the two of them and exploring how their paths eventually diverge could have been really cool and yes, I will be drawing on that in my posthumous script doctor.
as long as we're talking about the Riddler and basically everyone else in the show sans Selina (and... sort of Poison Ivy, idk, I don't like the in-universe age lift and I don't want to contemplate it too much) I think it's stupid that Gotham is basically setting up a universe where all of Batman's iconic enemies are actually more like a bunch of middle aged assholes that Gordon already has decade-old beef with. it's dumb but it's also what I have to work with because if we tweak things any further to make Bruce and all of his future rogues teenagers together I think we're just remaking Riverdale.
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sorry we got a little lost in the weeds there, I wasn't originally planning on making that and I don't want to admit how much time I wasted on it. anyway after a little "oh boohoo I'm just a poor little guy I can't believe I did murders" Ed's pretty much straight to bugfuck crazy murdertown with every other villain on this show. everybody on Gotham is like two seconds away from committing homicide at all times except for MAYBE Bruce; pretty much every recurring antagonist is a kill-happy maniac and most of the one-off villains of the week are as well. even the Penguin gaslight gatekeep girlbosses his way through a truly staggering number of people in the first half dozen episodes alone. what I'm getting at here is that dropkicking the Riddler straight into the same mold isn't just ableist or lazy - it's also the very worst thing that writing can be, which is FUCKING BORING. what if, god forbid, we had one rogue bringing a different kind of sauce to the party? in this essay I will -
season one: my pitch here is actually so simple, because I literally just want to keep Ed's characterization the same for the entire season. no abrupt slip and slide into stabbing and/or choking people to death, just a weird little dude who's around and good at his job and has a little mug with a question mark on it. he shows up once an episode for two minutes to crack the case wide open and tell a riddle and the remind the audience that he's around. "yep, that's the Riddler," they'll say. "no need to give him a violent split personality, I know where this is going and I am indeed capable of waiting for that payoff."
season two: now at this point you might be saying "Makenzie wait - is your pitch going to assume that the original storyline of Gotham is otherwise proceeding as it did otherwise? because that's going to get pretty impossible pretty fast if the Riddler has a drastically different personality/role in the show." yeah hey listen man. listen. I don't give a shit about what actually happens in the show. I give a shit about the Riddler. don't ask about this again. this all takes place in an AU where Gotham is a competently written show; I know that's sort of a stretch but bear with me.
anyway season two is when we can start getting some cracks in Riddleboy's chipper little exterior but for god's sake, let's deploy a little subtlety. probably he needs to start getting bullied more - possibly because he's notably friendly with Jim and easier to bully than Bullock, Jim's only other friend. anyway, this is how Ed learns that sometimes fucking people over is okay, actually. nothing drastic, just manipulating evidence here and there to ruin the day (and then career) of some of the biggest assholes in the department and bolster his faves (Jim). I cannot emphasize enough that the first half of the season has to be about this man realizing that most of his coworkers are VERY DUMB and EXTREMELY EASY TO MISLEAD.
come the second half of season 2 we get to see him getting a little too cocky, which will ultimately lead to his downfall. tl;dr being smarter than everyone is fun but still doesn't solve the problem of nobody else noticing or caring that he's smarter than them, and it's really starting to rankle. this will be the point when Ed upgrades to like. full sending his own boss cut-up magazine ransom notes and shit making demands to try and steer the GCPD more efficiently. there are, obviously, subtle little riddles embedded in these letters, but Gordon is the only one who will notice because Gordon's the protagonist and gets to notice things. this will end in a big confrontation, whatever, he's not going to turn Ed in because he believes Ed was genuinely acting in the interest of flushing out dirty cops, but he's also a little bitch so he IS going to tell Ed that he'll turn him in if Ed doesn't resign. Ed goes quietly and with a frankly unsettling amount of glee that someone was finally smart enough to solve one of his little puzzles. personally I love when the Riddler won't really look at or acknowledge anyone who won't play his silly little games I think that's so fun of him.
season three: the first half of season three is actually by far the most fun for me because it involves Ed a.) doing the Riddler thing where he tries to be a private detective for a while and b.) getting mercilessly bullied by all of Gotham city for a bit. you can fill in the specifics of the goofs yourself but suffice to say he's just a plucky little guy investigating some weird ass shit and still getting dumped on a lot in the process. our boy is going to have to learn to get a little unscrupulous.
it's vital that during this half of the season Jim comes to him at least a couple of times to ask for input that frankly none of the useless sadsacks at the GCPD are qualified to provide now that Ed's gone, because they're all doing the equivalent of that John Mulaney bit where they look at a corpse and go "ew! clean it up!" instead of gathering anything useful in the way of evidence. for some reason that I can't QUITE put my finger on it seems important to establish that Jim Gordon is willing to work alongside people who are operating a bit outside the law as long as he believes their intentions are good. and listen - Ed will genuinely help him! but he is also absolutely going home and idly jotting down notes for how he'd get away with exactly the crimes he helped solve.
the second half of season three involves him getting nabbed by Someone and pretty much extorted into helping them work against the GCPD on account of being a former employee who knows exactly how they investigate. what ensues is a series of crime scenes that have an abundance of fake evidence designed to lead the cops in circles that go nowhere - UNLESS you piece together some extremely abstract hints being hidden there, because Ed is sincerely making an effort to alert his old GCPD chums to what's going on. except, oh no, the stress of being held hostage is getting to him and he is SORT OF starting to enjoy how good he is at this and also beating his head against the wall in frustration over how fucking stupid literally every single one of his former colleagues is. he'll get rescued (by Jim) by the end of the season but god will he be bitter by then.
also I said he was being forced to work for Someone and it truly could be anyone in this horseass show but like. come on. it's Penguin. the rest of canon can go to hell but it's so important to me that Penguin still wants to fuck the Riddler so bad it makes him look stupid. it's just hands down the funniest thing that happens in all of Gotham and I wouldn't change it for the world.
season four: alright so Eddie boy starts this season trying to go to therapy about his whole kidnapping and probably PTSD thing but we the audience will realize very quickly that he's getting twitchy and is just purposefully playing with like. MULTIPLE different therapists and giving them all wildly different information to see if he can get each of them to give him different diagnoses. he has absolutely no idea why he's doing this except that it's fun and he evidently can. this man is living on the knife edge he's so sweaty and gross and he wants to do crime again SO bad and is really running out of reasons why he shouldn't.
if this show were written by people I could trust I'd say we could actually do a really thrilling mental health(TM) storyline here focusing in on Ed getting increasingly manipulative and ruled by compulsive behavior. I'd say the crux of his arc in the first half of the season is Jim convincing Ed to check himself in to some kind of mental health facility for his own wellbeing - probably Arkham, since it seems to somehow be the only mental health facility in Gotham despite the fact that it appears to be patterned on ghoulish 19th century sanitariums more than anything. anyway, this lasts approximately one day before Ed disappears from the facility and leaves an elaborate riddle behind, thus ending his arc for the first half of the season.
second half starts as a straight up revenge plot against Penguin because I love when these awful little homos fight with each other, but Gotham being Gotham I think a bit of an emotional roller coaster can ensue. Penguin can definitely convince Ed to ease off and work with him as more of a partner for a bit, but I still want this Riddler to be a murder lite contrast to most of the other villains in the cast so I think that will be the point of contention that ultimately drives them apart. the Penguin CANNOT stop lethally girlbossing; it's his first love.
anyway after that Ed's just fucking with the GCPD for shits and giggles because fuck 'em, am I right? he's definitely got the whole question mark suit Look going by this point; hanging out with the Penguin for too long changes a man.
season five: god I don't even know; there were only 12 episodes and one of them was for the flash forward. he tells some shitty riddles and probably gives Gordon one final helping hand but in a way that benefits him, firmly securing his status as "sometimes useful, always a bastard." all that really matters this still happens to him. this is the last we see of him, dangling next to Robin Lord Taylor in just the least convincing fake gut I've ever seen in god's green earth.
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anyway sorry this got so long I'm genuinely appalled and disgusted with myself. I have problems!
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r1ddly · 1 year
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Why did you make the riddler a Christian?
I HAVE HAD THIS IN MY INBOX FOR AWHILE IM SO SORRY FOR NOT ANSWERING JDBDHDGSH
So that's a valid question! Why Is my riddler a Christian/morman? Well he's not, he's a cult leader.
So basically, my au has a LOT of changes to the characters, some more obvious than others! A great example is my poison ivy (who I'll make an in-depth analysis on another day). Who's a fungus monster. It just so happens that my riddler is a cult leader! I don't want to go too in depth on his backstory as I wanna draw those in comics or write it in a separate post but I'll talk about his cult and some parts of it and how it works, but first a little bit of contest for certain things and relationships he has with characters.
So in my au, there's a hierarchy of power in Gotham. It's a bit complicated, but riddlers cult, called Quandarism, is at the top of this hypothetical triangle of Gotham hierarchy. One could compare it to scientology or Alamo Christian Ministries as the cult of Quandarism is highly tied to the upper class, media, and companies in Gotham. Having his own networks on television and the internet riddler and his upper subordinates have control over a lot of things, almost all of the rich is apart of Quandarism because of that controll, the Wayne's are fortunately not apart of it but since many are they're ridiculed by other companies and such and are left out often from specific charities that riddler runs. (The people in Gotham, though, are thankful and happy the Wayne's aren't a part of it).
Certain rogues are actually apart of Quandarism, prominent figures would be penguin, two face, and music meister; music meister actually being head of the music for Quandarism and is riddlers main choir boy, penguin is smart enough to see the bullshit of the cult and hates being apart of it but is forced to by Falcone (their relationship is complicated but will be explained in a penguin centered post.) Two Face is only really apart of it for penguin (they have an odd mutual friendship/rival dynamic). Certain others affiliate themselves to Quandarism but aren't apart of it, scarecrow being a big one- only showing up at specific moments but isn't apart of it and had no interest or belief in it (scarecrow will also get his own centered post).
But what does this say for riddler? Does he believe what he preaches? NO! Of course he doesn't he's literally pulling shit out of his ass most of the time! And some people know he's bullshitting like batman and penguin! But they can't do anything about it because the cult keeps growing and growing. Riddler prays on the gullible and insecure people who are confused with what their doing with their life, people who's lost control, and people who are lonely. He craves for the attention, the worship, and the love that people have that he hasn't gotten in years. He makes people pay for their memberships, pay for 'God's' love, and pay for his love and forgiveness. He's easily reaching up to be one of the richest men in Gotham because of it.
Of course, my riddler is more complicated then that, one of these days I'll make a proper character centered one for him where it goes more in-depth in his backstory, his character, relationships and goals- hopefully I make that post soon.
So welcome! To what I call the eddieverse! Or also the eddieAU, your pick! From now on, when it comes to my au, I'll tag it so I can keep track of what I post about them here, LMAO
Hope that answered your question HSVDHSVS
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thevindicativevordan · 7 months
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Comics this week ?
Batman #137 - Jimenez art is carrying this hard. If he wasn't drawing this I would skip it. Bruce's actions make sense given what Zdarsky has been doing with him, but the rest of the Batfamily are morons.
Steelworks #4 - Superbooks don't get enough credit for how well they're handling interconnectivity right now. Genesis pops back up here and is relevant to the plot, but it's handled in a way that is surprisingly organic. Dorn has shown improvement with each issue, DC should give him another book after this if he's interested.
Superboy: Man of Tomorrow #5 - Trav is my favorite new villain for Conner in ages. Such a delightful little sociopath, and this issue was extremely 90s in an entertaining way when it comes to the fight scenes. Conner using his TTK to deflect Trav's blasts, ripping off Trav's arm (it's not something Clark would ever do but that's why I liked it!), Trav rigging his own arm to blow, then transferring his consciousness into the Kryptonian clone body was great. One more issue to go!
The Riddler: Year One #6 - Great ending to a great mini. Makes me want to rewatch The Batman.
Birds of Prey #1 - Solid first issue, but it didn't wow me. Normally I'd keep reading through the first arc, but I have to cut back so this gets dropped.
Fire & Ice #1 - Beautiful art, decent comedy book. But again, I gotta cut back so I'll drop this.
Blue Beetle #1 - Mandatory to read Graduation Day if you want to read this, but the quality is at the same level as the mini so that’s not a problem for me! Bummer that the movie wasn’t a bigger success so we could hopefully get a longer run. I liked seeing old Ted foes show up, I’m curious if they’ll be bringing in Jenny Kord from the movie here too since they already moved Jaime and his cast to Palmera City.
City Boy #4 - Pak played up Cameron's moral grayness, and this is the issue that focuses on that. He's practically a supervillain in how he enslaves Bludhaven to attack Nightwing, with the only saving grace being that he was trying to do right by someone else. That, and I couldn't help feeling bad for him when he saw that his mom ditched him because she didn't want him. Heavy stuff, hope the Swamp Thing showing up is Levi. He had family issues too, I bet he and City Boy could have a good back and forth about dealing with your parents.
Immortal X-Men #15 - Even Gillen is starting to decline in enjoyment for me at this point. Still I think end is in sight for this book, and I want to see what the plan is for Xavier since he’s going to get off his ass at some point.
Fantastic Four #11 - Everlovin’ Thing indeed. Nice to see Ben be the one using his brains to get the F4 out of a trap.
Dr. Strange #7 - Strange has always been his own worse enemy, making that literally true has been quite exciting. Kind of funny how much Marvel touts that they’ve never rebooted and everything is canon when they still pick and choose what to acknowledge. Feels odd to not bring up the OTHER time Strange destroyed himself out of desperation to achieve his goal, during Hickman’s New Avengers run.
Scarlet Witch #8 - Winning a duel of words with Loki? Hopefully the Wanda fans will take that feat as much cooler than a magic contest. Oh and Joseph is being used as a pawn again, since they beta you over the head with that this issue I’m sure no one is surprised. I am looking forward to how the fight with Hexfinder goes. Wanda could use a good rival and she shows potential.
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finniestoncrane · 2 years
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happy almost birthday! can I request mutual pining with any of the riddlers you feel like writing for?
thank you!! and of course you can you sweet bb 💚 i've tried to keep this as sort of general!riddler as possible, but i was thinking about arkham eddie the whole time so that may have seeped in i'msorryi'm justverymuchinlovewithhim
Green-Eyed Monster, General!Riddler x GN!Reader, word count: 1116
request info • prompt list • send me a request • kofi
minors DNI!! 🔞 relatively sfw but don't come near me anyway with your youth 
“Ok, so what’s the end goal?”
“Uh…Batman in my clutches. I thought that was…obvious? Did you lie on your resume? You’re not as smart as you said you were.”
He was smiling at you playfully, more of a sneer. It killed you when he teased you, your whole body wanted to crumple into a ball on the floor. It always felt so flirtatious, so charged, like there was more behind it than you knew there really was.
“Yes, genius, capturing Batman. But what kind of capture are you after? I mean these notes might as well be three bullet points that say make trap, lure batman, live happily ever after. There’s not much…thought put into it.”
“If you must know, I’ve been distracted by other things lately.” He closed his mouth tight, quickly looking away. He obviously had given away a bit more than he had intended to.
“Oh my, Mr. Nigma. Something distract you? Is it a bigger, stupider, darker Knight?”
“No it’s not him, it’s someone else.  Or not…it’s not-”
You forced a smile onto your face, desperate to at least engage in the playful banter that gave you enough serotonin to continue living in a world where you weren’t allowed to kiss him. But your heart was beating rapidly, and sinking further and further into the pit of your stomach as you realised there might actually be someone else on Ed’s mind. Trying to suppress the instantaneous jealous rage that was threatening to bubble over, you instead forced yourself to be supportive.
“Well, I’m sure whoever they are they’ll be very receptive to any of your advances, awkward as they might be.”
“Thank you, but I doubt they’re- Sorry…awkward?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Were you operating under the impression that you were some smooth talker?”
“Hey, I do ok for myself.”
“Uh-huh.” You smirked at him, and he returned it before turning his attentions back to the plans on the desk.
Your heart rate, elevated in definite fear of the prospect of Eddie with a crush on someone who wasn’t you, never settled. Several times you were worried you were going to pass out, bent over the table studying his previous notes and ideas. And you knew you were making it awkward, because the room had a thick atmosphere of uncomfortable smog. At one point, when your hands brushed reaching for the same notepad, Eddie had jumped back as though you had given him an electric shock. So you tried to focus hard on just doing your job. Not on your stupid crush on a man who was so out of your league in every way that he might have laughed in your face at the notion of you even daring to think of him as anything other than your boss.
“Oh! Hey, Eddie?”
“Hmm?” He didn’t look up from the diagram he was drawing, but you continued anyway, glad to not have his piercing green eyes staring into yours. That might have been the final straw for you today.
“I think, if you just rehash this plan that you actually never got a chance to use.”
“Thanks for the reminder.”
“Well, no one will know. And if we combine it with this then-”
He interrupted you, bouncing away from the desk and cheering, completely ecstatic and finishing your idea in his own mind to his satisfaction.
“You are the true genius!” It was rare for him to compliment you, and it took you back. “I could just kiss you! B-but I…I won’t!”
He fumbled with his glasses, readjusting them and then fiddling with the buttons on his short.
“Of course not, wouldn’t be much a crush on this mystery person if you were willing to kiss just about anyone.”
“Right!” He let out a breathy and faked laugh. “Well, I guess you’re free for the evening. You can escape now.”
You smiled at him, it quickly waning from your face as you turned away from him and gathered your things.
“Good night, Mr. Nigma.”
Once he was sure you were gone, he let out the whining, self-pitying moan that had been choking him all evening. He crossed his arms on the desk and thumped his head down onto them. Why was it so hard to be around you? It should be easy for him to focus on his work, but even when you weren’t around he found it impossible to think of anything but your face, the way you smelled, the way you giggled at his dumb jokes and riddles. Before revenge, before Batman, before his plans and work, the first thing he thought of when waking up was you. And it was driving him insane.
Because you were the first thing he had ever wanted that he had no idea how to get. Everything else was logic, there were set precedents, conventional methods and definitives that could lead him to the end goal. And even if sometimes he had to improvise it was fine, because he was smart enough to let his brain come up with speedy, off the cuff resolutions.
But all he did was stumble around awkwardly, souring the mood with his weird behaviour and falling into traps where he almost revealed his feelings for you.
“Sometimes I wonder if I’m as smart as I think I am.” He smacked at his cheeks, trying to bring himself back to the room, back to his work. But it was useless, all he could do was ruminate on how idiotic is was of him to mention that he’d been distracted, and then to…But was there a hint of jealousy in your voice? Something beyond casual intrigue in the questioning afterwards? No, absolutely not. That was just stupid. A notion as stupid as he was.
Maybe if he trapped you…
“Jesus, Ed!”
He knew he was into you, but even he was shocked at the thought of holding you captive until you learned to love him. But he did have you trapped, essentially, under an employment contract. And he still couldn’t find it in him to make a move. The pressure of holding up his self-image, the shaky confidence already threatening to topple over at a hint of pressure. It wouldn’t stand up to rejection, especially not from someone he wanted so badly.
No, he was smart enough to know that someone like you could never fall for him. That was the curse of his genius. He tidied up the documents from the table, setting aside the ones you had pointed out and smiling as his fingers drifted over them. For now, it was enough to know you were his colleague, or at most, his friend. He could live with that at least.
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local-roro · 1 year
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I posted 235 times in 2022
That's 154 more posts than 2021!
56 posts created (24%)
179 posts reblogged (76%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@sinisterapparatus
@acapelladitty
@jonathan-cranes-mistress-of-fear
@transnashton
@enigmamuse
I tagged 152 of my posts in 2022
Only 35% of my posts had no tags
#edward nygma - 55 posts
#jonathan crane - 49 posts
#riddler - 47 posts
#batman rogues - 43 posts
#batman villains - 42 posts
#scarecrow - 40 posts
#batman rogues gallery - 35 posts
#eliza nygma - 34 posts
#local-verse - 33 posts
#the riddler - 31 posts
Longest Tag: 83 characters
#i don't care about what strangers think about me but i care about the people i love
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
I have a headcanon that Jonathan's never truly had a real birthday.
His date of birth is unknown due to the fact he was found by his Granny Keeny days later and Granny Keeny doesn't seem like the type to celebrate his birthday.
So for the first 22 years of his life, he had no birthday until one year he just decided to make it October 31st and ever since he has claimed that the 31st was his birthday
52 notes - Posted July 11, 2022
#4
Rumour's
  There is a rumour that runs around Gotham that the Riddler doesn't swear, that she was above using such fowl and low language. 
  I am here to tell you that this was all untrue. 
  In fact if you where to spend 5 minuets in the Riddler's personal warehouse you find that this was untrue. She had a mouth that would put any sailor to shame and used words that would make a Christian mother cry.     
  So in the end, the rumour’s were not true, the Riddler does swear. 
53 notes - Posted January 10, 2022
#3
Why I won’t survive in Gotham Pt 5
Poison Ivy 
Me: *Causally drawing a leaf* 
Poison Ivy: *Breaks into my apartment* 
Me: What The Fuck! 
Poison Ivy: *Looks between me and the decapitated leaf* 
Me: No! NO NO NO IT’S NOT WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE--
Poison Ivy: *Kills me* 
58 notes - Posted January 8, 2022
#2
Scarecrow's evolution
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87 notes - Posted January 31, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
Arkham HeadCannons
During Harley Quinn's first week as an official Arkham prisoner, she continuously turned on the sprinklers to piss off the guards. Now she still does it but now it's so that her Darling Pamela can get enough water and not wither.
Once during a prison riot, Harvey broke his arm, it took three guards to prevent him from evening them out.
During a mass Arkham escape, Eliza once managed to sleep through the entire thing, wasn't disturbed once, and only realised that it happened because when she woke up no one was there.
Jervis once accidentally flushed 3 months' worth of fear toxin down the toilet, to this day Joanna doesn't know that it's him.
The Arkham staff once forgot to close the elevator when they were feeding killer Croc, it was quite a surprise when it came back up with a giant lizard inside.
During Ivy's first year in Arkham, her pheromones accidentally got into the ventilation system, which was not a fun week for the guards, worked out for Ivy, she managed to escape.
Joker's no longer allowed to eat with the others, he's bitten off five noses and seven ears.
Joanna to this day is still trying to figure out who flushed three months' worth of fear toxin down the drain, Jervis is pointing towards the Joker, evidence-less so.
97 notes - Posted May 26, 2022
Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →
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inkdrawndreams · 3 years
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Behold, a douchebag.
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imagine--if · 2 years
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Dating Edward Nashton/Riddler Would Include:
Pairing: Dano!Riddler x reader (The Batman 2022)
Warnings: The Batman Spoilers? Mentions of killing and villainous action hehe
A/N: My requests are open for more Riddler imagines/hcs 😄 the guidelines link is here. Be sure to send in requests and follow me and stuff 🙃 I legit nearly finished writing a fluff alphabet for Eddie yesterday and it just DELETED from my drafts 😡😭 so that was painful. Still wrote this anyways tho 🖤
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• Lol where do I even start with this guy
• You'd meet him either in Arkham or somewhere like the diner he goes to
• You're the kind of person that's not afraid to get your hands dirty and isn't a stranger to the crime and killing in Gotham
• Eddie's quite a quiet guy, something no one would think anything of until he actually talks and that streak of insanity and chaos is laced in his words and in his eyes
• Needless to say, he was spellbound when he saw you
• Like??? You're so pretty and intelligent and observant and his dream partner hefkabfdfsv
• He may do some light stalking, since he's too shy to initiate anything, so it may be you who makes the first proper move
• After a few conversations and stuff, you'll be seeing a lot of him
• Probably hearing a lot of random riddles which he's ecstatic about when you get them right
• Still, he doesn't want to put you in danger with his Riddler world, but doesn't want to start a relationship where it's hidden until you ultimately find out and are hurt and stuff
• If you meet in Arkham, you'll know anyway, and he'll admire your determination and skills and power that got you there in the first place
• If not, he'd be somewhat nervous to admit it for fear of it driving you away, but it does nothing of the sort
• Once it's out in the open and he realises you accept it and like it and are willing to either be his partner in crime or in the background of things, he's so relieved and you two are inseparable. He's not giving you up anytime soon
• What he feels when he's with you is something he never really felt in all those awful years at the orphanage and being invisible to the world
• You're an ethereal being to him, and he doesn't know what the hecc he did to deserve you
• He's a fairly clingy man, affectionately and by wanting to make sure you're protected, so he'll come running if you need anything
• Expect to be in a crap ton of his streams and videos on social media, showing you off in your own villain persona disguise (if you have/want one)
• If you don't want to be then that's fine ofc
• I feel like loads of riddles about love and angels and beauty are gonna be thrown at his victims, and instead of accepting the actual answer it'll be your name 🖤
• You're the only one who can calm him down when he's screaming and getting hysterics over something, just by your presence or hugs and stuff
• Man's whipped 😂💕
• Ed getting introduced to hugs and cuddles and kisses is new for him, since he was never shown that attention and love, but after a little while of getting used to it he can't get enough
• Seriously
• He's a very affectionate guy and loves everything about you, because he be a simp
• God help anyone who tries to hurt or capture you
• He'll go absolutely mad and won't stop until you're safe and they're dealt with brutally
• You're crying? So's he
• I can just imagine there being some bleeding victim taped up in front of him, with only three chances (riddles) to live, and you're standing in front of him with his arms wrapped around you, his chin resting on your shoulder or head while he absentmindedly draws lazy patterns onto the skin of your arms or playing with your hair gently
• Complete power couple
• Aka, one of the GCPD and Batman's biggest problems
• I think I'm done 😎
• Eddie's such a soft, beautiful guy that's totally in love and MuSt Be PrOtEcTeD aT aLl CoStS
• Mkay now I'm done 💕
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kissthegenius · 2 years
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Some ZY Riddler, because he is our baby, and we all love him...
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I made this one with my promarkers. I really love drawing with them. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough green, so I had to use my Copic, and I definitely don't like the texture. They always left some kinda of white dots, idk... It's weird cause I use a paper especially made for markers so, I'm confused.
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purplelurkinghini · 2 years
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Instead of finding time to write my Reevesverse!Riddler fanfic, I'm finding old drafts and reading them.
Anyone remember Euphues? No? Well, last spring, I started writing a bonus chapter, and here's what I've managed to write down so far:
The alarm goes off. It's 6:00 AM.
Last night, he didn't return to you soaked in blood. Last night, you both managed to go to sleep at the same time. That is when he set the clock for the eight hours of sleep ahead. And that is when you made a wish upon a star, or a plane flying overhead. You wished the morning ahead would be just as uneventful as any other couple's. 
The alarm stops. It's three seconds past 6:00 AM. He didn't let it ring a second longer. 
Even on the most eventful evenings, he'll set the alarm at 6 AM. It's a routine of which you can be sure he'll stick with. Just as you're sure he'll draw the same circle three times into your thigh with his thumb before squeezing it once, and wishing you a good morning. Because of this, you've developed your own habits, one of which is waking up before him to soak in the sight of his sleeping form.  
They told you Edward Nygma is restless, the gears behind his eyes working overtime to read between each line. You told him that he's always playing chess, even when there's no board to game on. He told you: "That is how I stay three moves ahead of everyone else." 
Yet, when you look at him in the light of dawn, you don't see an all-knowing smirk. You see a pair of parted lips that are ignorant of the kiss you're biting back. In the light of dawn, his eyes can't see three moves ahead from under the red hair falling forward on his forehead. There's enough of those untamed tassels to cover his eyes, but not long enough bangs to cover the cheek which the summer sun sprinkled freckles on. 
He turns to you, hand on your thigh, mouth against your forehead. One, two, three circles. Squeeze. "Wake up, baby." You open the eyes you closed and pretend they haven't been drinking him up for the past ten minutes.
"Good morning," you cover your mouth to shield him from your morning breath. 
He kisses the back of the hand you put in his way instead, insistent on carrying out his morning routine. "Good morning."
Once he's had a taste of you, he slicks back his hair as he slides off of the sheets. With his feet on the floor, he stretches both arms over his head and up towards the ceiling. Most mornings, he'd let you admire his bare torso and thighs. This morning, you have a view of his back, which is just as bare. That could only mean one thing: he's got something stiff to hide.
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