#ttoj

[fordarkisthesuede]

May I please ask for a character description of Jackie lant? I honestly don't feel like combing through every page of the fics she's in (I'm sorry if that came off as rude) I want to draw her but don't know if I made shit up or it was written (I'm bad with words I'm sorry) I also really want to draw her jack-o'-lantern outfit, if you have the time or want to if not, thank you for your time

You're asking about my girl?! My precious darling daughter?!

Pfft, no problem, baby-cake! Let's go!!!

Full Name: Jacklin "Jackie" Olivia Lant

Age: 26

Birthday: 🦂 November 2nd (Day of the Dead)

Height: 5'4" without shoes (John is a known 6ft tall for comparison)

Cup size: Just barely a C

Build: Dress size 6 (US measurements)

Eyes: Brown; frequently described as "autumn leaves".

Eyelashes are short and almost invisible without makeup, so she frequently uses a brown mascara.

Hair: In the fiery orange range of red-heads (don't forget the yellow-y bits!); curl level is 3C (tight corkscrews). Currently a bob style like this:

Fun fact, her hair was modeled after my friend Maddy :)

Eyebrows: small and yellower than her hair so is frequently filled in with light brown pencil to a straight shape like this:

Face: more round than oval; no visible scars

Skin: Caucasian; has freckles across her nose and cheeks + on shoulders and peppered along arms

Tattoos: none

Scars: bullet wound on left-hand abdomen above the hip, circa Dr. Crane in AtBoM; right-hand calf has a three-inch vertical scar from a childhood bike accident; outside of thighs have several horizontal scars from self-harm as a teenager .

Favorite clothes are autumnal colors and patterns; she favors orange, yellow, brown, and black, but will wear white and owns two pairs of worn blue jeans she wears frequently. Occasionally wears green accent pieces (favors Goosebumps slime green). Dislikes wearing blue tones outside of faded jeans. Never wears solid reds. Loves plaids, ripped pants, and Beetlejuice-style stripes. Dislikes Uggs, loves boots of all other kinds, flat sneakers, and black chunkier-style heels with straps. Can and has worn stilettos, just doesn't like having to skirt around grates in the city. Can wear any and all dress and skirt styles, but prefers knee-length or shorter.

Favorite clothing item: black zip-up hoodie with pumpkin orange skeleton torso print - the zipper goes all the way up through the hood to seal the face, and the hood-face print is a jack-o-lantern!

Her original "costume", from down in the secret chamber beneath the mausoleum in AtBoM (when she's trying to get every party-goer to help her take down Dr. Crane, who used that place as a hideout), is very reminiscent of Samhain from the old Ghostbusters cartoon:

That said, her "official" villain look is undecided, since we never had to really go that route. Her official weapons at the time were a sawed-off shotgun, a classic revolver, and backup in the form of her great-uncle's mob ties, but I'll also add in mace and brass knuckles, because it's Gotham and she always has those in her purse.

I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing what you come up with!!!

#ask #anonymous #jackie lant #official profile #the perseverance project #batman the telltale series #the tolls of justice #ttoj #at the brink of midnight #atbom #Jackie heard Samhain say I AM HALLOWEEN and said SHIT YEAH PREACH #you better follow through and show me my girl 👀 #I wanna seeeee

[pencilwritesshiz47]

My love, i need songs recs. Specifically songs that fit juniper's vibe and i feel like you'll be able to help

ok ok ok ok i think i have some ok ok sO

sorry if these aren’t so good 

Somewhere Over The Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo’ole 

New Soul - Yael Naïm

Island Song - Adventure Time

Peace and Love on the Planet Earth - Steven Universe

What We Have Is You - Sterling K. Brown & Karen Fukahara

I Do Adore - Mind Gledhill

Turnaround - Hans Zimmer & Camille

Soldier, Poet, King - The Oh Hellos

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa--

#pencil talks to rowan #rowannnnnnnnn :D #cat!!!!!! #ttoj #juniper gallo #asks #tw bold text

[treewords-eng-blog]

Globe |ɡloʊb| — глобус, земной шар, шар Earth's globe — глобус Земли To circle / girdle |ˈɡɜːrdl| the globe — облетать земной шар, объехать вокруг земного шара Ocular / eye globe — глазное яблоко Globe trot |trɑːt| — путешествовать по всему свету Globe trotter |ˈtrɑːtər| — много путешествующий по свету человек Globe lightning |ˈlaɪtnɪŋ| — шаровая молния Tread |tred| the globe — ходить по земле; жить на свете Vanish |ˈvænɪʃ| from the surface |ˈsɜːrfɪs| of the globe — исчезнуть с лица земли Sailing |ˈseɪlɪŋ| round the globe — кругосветное плавание From every corner of the globe — со всего мира Across the globe — в мировом масштабе Cap the globe — переходить все границы; побить рекорд 🎁Хотите получить бесплатный урок?🎁 📞Мы свяжемся с вами и согласуем время урока! 👉Пройдите по ссылке ниже и зарегистрируйтесь✍️ 👇👇👇 http://amp.gs/tToj #treewords #english #englishteacher #englishlearning #englishskype #idioms #учуанглийский #английскийязык #английскийонлайн #английскийпоскайпу #идиомы #выражения

[fordarkisthesuede]

Think there's anything not too NSFW in TWNY Cuts + Alts you could share? (I'm now imagining an excerpt so censored it looks like madlibs.)

I had to go through my doc to see! lol I forget how much stuff is in there. There’s not much NSFW stuff in the Cuts doc - I tend to write the smut in one or two goes, with little alterations that I generally don’t bother to save. My Thinkbox notes, on the other hand...

As you can see, I put down the dirty bits I want to have in the chapter. Keeps me in check!

For alternate takes, here’s a different but equally fun version of the "therapy session” for Chapter 4:

I do have a very different and much older version of the opening scene (before I even thought of having reoccurring flashbacks, so I think it’s dated from 2020) for the chapter, but I liked the back-and-forth dialogue and setting of it enough that I feel like I want to use it somewhere in Season 5. I’ll show ya if I end up not using it!

Here’s a notable entry - a different version of the ending scene for Chapter 6:

(I tend to put // before sections I cut as I go. It seems that I just explain what I want to come through and then work around it later to make it less obvious.)

I REALLY loved John’s last line there, but I thought it might give Bruce mixed feelings (aka “I could figure out what Bruce was going to say/do in response to that and just cutting it off there felt unsatisfying”), so I had Bruce make an off-color joke at his lineage to make John laugh instead. Besides, I like the main drive behind Bruce’s bottoming adventure to be subtext, and John is just saying the quiet part out loud here. ;)

And because it’s you, here’s the alternate opening to Chapter 7 before I completely changed things around:

I started that^ AGES ago while I was still working on TToJ, so the real Chapter 7 has ended up being pretty darn different. I originally thought of things like John running to Bruce for comfort, and using John’s POV to dig into his feelings about himself, but I ended up scrapping this to go with the idea that the reader, and Bruce, have to learn about these things from John spilling his guts versus just putting it all up front. I love me some hurt-comfort, but I love Bruce’s reactions, and you can’t see that if John’s head is buried in his chest.

I mean, that, and I reworked John’s view of himself. I wasn’t happy with this angle. The one I have now really works off their same-stitch-ness. I guess I was just testing the waters at the time!

Oh, fun fact - the section for Ch.7 in my Thinkbox notes is riddled with striked out things. It took a while before I fully decided what I wanted the Flashback to be and the Opening Scene to be. I’m glad I let the idea stew so long! :)

#ask #twny #fractualized #I imagine there's already some smutty ad-lib book out there somewhere lol #telltale batjokes #I know the pink is glaringly bright but it helps separate the Cuts doc from the Main Story doc #(I only have one monitor to work with)

[fordarkisthesuede]

I got tagged by @fractualized - and I had to think about this for a while. Sorry for the delay, frac'! I pretty much felt like this all week (lol):

GIF by lostwithoutmyboswell

Ok, so we're gonna start from #5, because I decided to rate these like a loon:

#5:

Birth. Starting off on the disk horse topic of HP fanfic. Listen, regardless of how I feel about the series now (which is messy, to say the least), there's one thing I still can't help but love about it...and it's not only tiny, but half of the reasoning behind it is of my own making. It's Peeves the Poltergeist. I LOVE Peeves. He's my favorite character type - short, temperamental, powerful, 90% humor and fun, inhuman, and neither a Good nor Bad guy. I rarely used to read HP fic back in the day, but I noticed that for such a big fandom, he never had much to his name. (And what I did find was...disappointing for me.) I reread the series in 2015 for the first time in a while and did some Deep Thinking about him. What his limits are. How he's presented. Where he even came from. The bare scraps of canon and Word of God (distasteful) material pushed my buzzing brain to write about him, and eventually churned out this little origin story. I wrote several one-shots surrounding him, but this is my favorite of the bunch. In my eyes, it's simple, short, and effective in storytelling. So I like it. (^_^)

#4:

The Whole Nine Yards. Yes, my current WIP is on the favorite list. It started off as a sex-romp list, because I had too many positions and kinks I wanted John and Bruce to try. It first grew into showing Bruce/John as a couple at home, because my main fics in the Perseverance Project series don't get to show them being all lovey-dovey as much as I'd like. Then I added a few dashes of angst for character building. Then it evolved into including what AtBoM skipped over (for various reasons) - visits at Arkham showing their [growing] love and trust rebuild post-S2, and showing different sides to them.

So what we have now is: "Two guys in love met in an asylum 2.5 years ago, and less than one year after they first met, one keeps coming to visit the other. The visits' subjects are then related to current day, where they finally live together like a real couple, with all it's ups and downs, and sexy results". It's a mouthful, I know. ;D But I think it works!

It's great to explore all these things and essentially back-track a bit versus rewrite any part of AtBoM. Plus, I get to mumble about something that always interests me in this 'verse: Bruce's relationship with his parents. To go from loving them and putting them and their deaths on a pedestal to look to for inspiration to keep going on being Batman, to learning they were the biggest criminals in the city and a key reason while he's even having to be Batman... That's gotta affect how he looks at things. Like, I mentioned Bruce's dislike of his house in AtBoM and TToJ, but here it's full-force. It was a mausoleum for their memory and now it's just a means to an end. He doesn't consider it home, or even rightfully his. But John living there with him makes it a home. Their home. :')

Also, I feel like I'm playing a decorating game and a dress up game with it! Kind of like The Sims, I guess. xD John's room and summer wardrobe are fun to craft as I go. (Don't worry, you'll get to see John's classic outfit at the end. For...reasons.) Plus, soon* you'll see Bruce's bedroom revamped!

#3:

A Ghost Too Far. Disk Horse, part two. Peeves is the one thing I still wistfully sigh over and go "ah, what could have been"...all while knowing that I took the bones of my blorbo and crafted him a full body myself. It's been 7 years since I started writing this particular story, and it clocks in over 230K words. As things are now, I have no idea if I'll ever actually finish it, for a myriad of reasons. So to make a long story short (HA!):

Out of the hundreds of thousands of HP fanfics, and the handful that had Peeves as a character, I found Peeves had no proper big epic romance story of his own and decided to make him one, combining it with one big exploratory setting of How He Is, all set in 2003/2004. His destined romantic partner is an American witch (queue eyeroll), acting as a one-year-only DatDA teacher (queue harder eyeroll), who I can describe in modern** terms as a gender-non-conforming adult punk who is absolutely fascinated with ghosts. She makes it a point to study the castle ghosts, especially Peeves, as poltergeists are super rare and physical ones are apparently unheard of outside of him. She makes a deal with Peeves that he can break just about anything she owns and annoy her all he wants, in exchange for information on how he works. Which I worked out via the aforementioned HP reread and lots of Deep Thinking as literally by feeding off of (aka absorbing) magic from humans, like his "relatives" the Dementor and Boggart. Unlike them, he primarily eats high energy feelings of "anger" "sadness" and "excitement", because he was created in a castle with children who can have powerful feelings of all three very easily. Is this theory of mine presented in canon? Who fucking cares anymore, the author's dead in all senses but literal.

It might not be finished, and it might never be, but writing out this monstrosity of a theory while getting a guy like Peeves to fall in and explore love for the first time holds a special place in my heart. Because not only does Peeves reside permanently in my brain (I'm pretty sure he's the Writing Gremlin who suggests those "this is what goes painfully wrong" scenarios), but so does Dandrane, who I hand-crafted to be Peevesy's romantic partner. I love her. I owe her. Her favorite color is hot pink; because of her, I have gotten over my old feud with the color pink. I wrote her to be 30 while I was then 24; after a while, nearing/turning 30 no longer bothered me. I wrote her to be cool, confident, and a little horrible. Because we all have that bitchy little voice in our head sometimes... The desire to break something without consequences... The need to have our anger recognized rather than ignored or attempted to be placated... Dandrane is a wonderful vessel for these feelings, even after all this time.

She's my cool girl. My tall bean. My silly little flamingo. I want to put her in an enriched enclosure and watch her with a set of binoculars.

#2:

At the Brink of Midnight. My most popular fic is second-place in my heart, at this current hour. (Ha!) For reasons I'm sure you long-time readers already guessed, that I have mentioned time and again in it's author notes: this fic was FUN to make!!!

The Halloween setting! The fresh takes on Scarecrow and Poison Ivy! John recreating Joker! Bruce rescuing John! Bruce finally hugging John! THE CONFESSION SCENE! A rave scene in a graveyard!!! Batman and Joker teaming up to kick ass!!!!!

It's! So! Great!!! It's not too long, but still a big novel-length! Easy to read and get lost in! It presents an original character who carries the possibility of redemption! It hits all those story beats I craved to see for a Season 3! Hell, even now I'd be hard pressed not to expect to see Dr. Crane in any potential sequel we'd get IRL!

Are there things I'd change? Sure. But nothing major. I'm still happy with it, even 4 years later. Maybe part of my love for it is also a desire to be able to pump out 110K words within a few months again...

#1:

The Tolls of Justice!

Is it my most popular fic? Nah, it's #2. But it's my #1. The king of my heart. It took 2-and-a-half years to finish, in no small part because 2020 was a bitch. And despite the frustration at writer's block, despite the silly errors that I still need to go back and fix, and despite the time it took...God, I LOVE it.

Whenever I reread part of it, I get sucked in and read more than I meant to. I know the majority of the little notes I made, but whenever I read one of the tarot hints I can't help but go ehe he he. I read John's breakdown in Arkham, and his transformation into what is his final form of vigilante!Joker, and I still tear up. I see the theme of a writer playing God, of having a defined inescapable ending but proving that choices still matter, and just sit with it in utter delight.

I have many favorite moments: Tiffany and John's day out, the entirety of the Wayne Gala, John and Iman's investigation at the theater, Batman's descent into the Court of Owls' secret lair with Robin... But I have a favorite bit. It's the kind of thing I giggle over while kicking my legs in my seat.

So in Chapter 12, Batman and Joker are having a few moments together before the Big Battle in the high tier of seats above the main floor/"stage area", able to watch the Court of Owls' mock-trial below. In theaters, the highest tier is sometimes known as "the gods" seats.

As my version of the CoO has their whole thing built on "our God wrote down our destiny exactly and the Evil God keeps causing chaos to interfere", and considering the DC multiverses and that Batman and Joker are constantly in them, and as Bats and Jokes are generally simplified as "Order and Chaos"... They're figuratively 'gods' in "the gods" seats watching the show below. ౧(*മ് ധമ്)੭ु⁾⁾

As for WIPs, I only have 2 at the moment. I use OneNote to write all my ideas for it (when I'm actually writing them down):

As you can see, I have sections for The Whole Nine Yards (abbreviated "W9Y" in notes only) and the untitled "BtTTS S5" below. (The "After Hours" is just IRL work notes, when I had to use my personal PC for work in 2020, and "Noir "is literally a list of film noir movies I'm keen to watch. I've been really into them lately!)

Right now S5's notepad only has 2 sections - the Thinkbox and "J Tech". The Thinkbox pages are pretty much the brainstorm dumping ground...but TWNY's is actually laid out rather nicely, like this. I'd post a screenshot, but then this post would...uh, turn nsfw... (; ' o' )

Right now, the only WIP word docs are here, in my "BtTTS - The Perseverance Project" folder:

As for tagging...hm. Um... Since it was frac' who tagged me... I choose @distort-opia, if they're so inclined! (And anyone else who wants to!) Edit: I am a fool who does not reread properly. 😭 Sorry hun, you already did it! So field's wide open!!!

*at the time of this posting, TWNY Chapter 7 is still in progress. It's 2/3rds of the way done! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

**at the time of writing the story in question, the term "gender non-conforming" was not known about as widely as it is now; basically, I knew what it was without knowing what it was called.

#fanfic #telltale batman #batman the telltale series #hp fanfic #hp #fanfiction #my wips #juce #batjokes #peeves the poltergeist #long post #fractualized #bttts #self rec #wip challenge #fuck jkr

[fordarkisthesuede]

BtTTS:  The Tolls of Justice Chapter 12 but it’s a shitty photoset

#ttoj #batjokes #telltale batjokes #been saving those screenshot'd posts for ages #might as well do something with em #spoilers #(i guess lol) #telltale batman #bttts:s4

[fordarkisthesuede]

May I ask for some batjokes? 😂🥺

You want some batjokes?

You're asking me, fordarkisthesuede, who practically lives in Telltale BatJokes Land, who has completed not one, but two book-length fanfics, with a secret alternate one-shot alongside a real one-shot, and who has another new work being updated monthly on Ao3...for some batjokes???

Now, I don't want to send you away with nothin' new, baby-cakes, but I have a bit of a problem.

Y'see, I'd love to say 'yeah, okay', but I'm sitting here in the middle of constructing a new ride here at Telltale BatJokes Land. I've been working on it for a bit. Strivin' to hit that Valentine's Day deadline, when a bunch of people will be wandering into Telltale BatJokes Land for a romantic batjokes experience or two. And I'm trying very hard to put all these pieces together and get my vision in place. So you'll forgive me, I hope, if I can't come up with anything on the fly for you. Because I have construction equipment in my hands.

But I can, instead...offer you some things to think about. Because I, too, am thinking about them.

Some have pointed out how much Batman, like, stares at Joker. Not that Jokers can really see the exact spots Batmen are looking, but they know he does that. Jokers have even joked about it. "Tell me how pretty my eyes are!" Watching people must come second nature to Batmen, but how much does he really take notice of when he realizes someone isn't a threat? He'll know their face if it comes up again later, but does he always note the way their eyes squint and expand and flash? How their lips twitch? How they move their hands when they talk?

Nah. Nah, right? Not unless he has those things memorized from being around them for so long. He's a detective, he must be good at reading body language. But maaan. Joker's a special case in every sense, all across the spectrum of Jokers. Always unpredictable. Always secretive. Can't trust half of what he says, when he actually says something worth listening to. Batmen who have interacted with their Jokers for years know the danger those hands can bring. Know the amount of blood that's been on them. It's natural to watch for them. Strange to hold them. Yet Batmen can be seen holding onto them, at one time or another, in canon.

So when you consider the Telltale Joker, John Doe, and his corresponding Batman, there is only one canon case where they held hands, or touched hands at all. That scene in the alley of the Vigilante!Joker Route, where John hands over the LOTUS virus but takes Batman's hands in his and hiss-whispers that he's trusting him about this, by which we know to be everything. And when you watch that scene you can see, and hear, very clearly that Bruce is not paying the foggiest attention to anything else but Joker. All other sound disappears. He's staring at him, watching his face, enthralled with rapt attention and interest, with everything in the background faded away. It takes a moment for him to drop his outstretched hand with the virus vial in it, after John lets him go.

And I know, because that scene has lived rent-free in my mind since 2018, honey-buns. So consider - how much attention does Bruce pay to his hands after that, when everything in the story is said and done, and we're in a timeline like that of my various rides where Bruce has admitted, at least to himself, that he has romantic feelings for John?

He's seen them in blood before. And after. He knows how it holds a knife. How it pulls a trigger. How they clap together when John is excited for something. How they briefly comb through his hair when he's a bit puzzled or anxious. He knows how John's hands feel on his. They're smaller than his, but they're still a man's, so they're heavy, and likely a bit dry on a usual day.

Does he think of them in blood, at any point? Does he watch them for any sign of danger, like a punch or a flash of a blade or a sneak of something, because he remembers very clearly the Joker he'd fought? Or does he just watch his hands, and note they way they move, like the way he notes how his eyes shift and brighten and darken, and how his lips curl and tighten and pout with his myriad of expressions. Does Bruce consciously think about his hands when they do, eventually, touch him in a new way? Or does he just enjoy the moment, the feeling that accompanies it, the simple fact that John is touching him with all the warmth and weight and reality that he has in his loving hands?

I bring this all up because this darn ride I'm constructing has an awful lot of hand movements I need to describe, and I'm teetering on exactly what to focus on sometimes.

Send me your energy, so I may finish piecing this darn thing together by Love Day. And know that I love you. 😘

#ask #anon #anonymous #i hope you don't mind my pet-names #because i mean them genuinely out of affection #i just can't say no to the 🥺 face #batjokes #telltale batjokes #reblogs are a-okay #atbom #ttoj #twny #i do also want to say...i am using honey-buns as a ref to the sweet pastry and not another word for your bum #(at least here)

[fordarkisthesuede]

Omg, I’m the one that wrote the last anon ask! 😂 I meant the fan art that goes with your fics! Stupid autocorrect!

OHHHH~! Okay, that makes sense. Thanks for clarifying!

It took a bit to find them all (most were in my #atbom tag thankfully) - I don't want to directly repost them as images here, so I hope you don't mind links! 😉

SO: here is the mind-blowingly-awesome work by @i-bet-you-wish-i depicting a faux-game character status screen of John in his tux for The Tolls of Justice. I'm still in love with it!!! 😭 And here is their depiction of Joker and Tiffany for At the Brink of Midnight! (I still love Tiffany's outfit and expression here.)

Here is the commission I bought from the ever-wonderful @batsylovesjoky depicting John and Bruce's first proper hug in At the Brink of Midnight!!! 🥰 If I had more space on my wall, I'd frame it properly! (One day...I'll have ALL the space...)

I've also got this super-cute depiction of detective-John here from @littlebigdalek for At the Brink of Midnight!!! And their alternate version, lol~

And here is the VERY sweet gift from the talented @freddie-luthor that I have never gotten over receiving out of the blue for At the Brink of Midnight. Freddie-Lu, you might not post art here anymore, but I still love you for this!!! It's my phone's lockscreen 80% of the time! 🥺

#abtom #ttoj #ask #anon #anonymous #fanart #i'm just gonna have a gallery wall one day in my future home that's nothing but batjokes fanart #i will force unknowing guests to acknowledge their talent and be amazed at these specific pieces that were made for me #because i still can't beleive these are real some days #(the commission I can because I paid for it but it's still like...oh that's real that's here in my folder I'm LOOKING AT IT RIGHT NOW) #*believe

[fordarkisthesuede]

The Tolls of Justice: Epilogue

It's here!!! It's finally over!!! (Uh, for now, anyway!) Our two babes ride off into the sunset together!!!

I’d like to dedicate this to each and every reader, including those that didn’t make it this far. Y’all keep me going! I love you! ♡

<prev> <appendix> <beginning>

Read on Ao3 or continue below...

[Epilogue]

The tips of the towers glinted pink with the last streaks of sunlight as Bruce glided down to the roof of the Gotham City Police Department. The Batsignal was barely seen among them, murky in the unusually cloudless sky.

Bruce landed gracefully at the back of the building, eyes peeled for anyone other than Commissioner Gordon. As usual, there had been no one else there – but the day he stopped looking would be the day someone ambushed him.

Smoke rose above Gordon’s shoulder. Bruce could hardly blame him for smoking right now. The last three days had been jam-packed with news relating to the Owls and Black Mask finally being in custody. Rumor had it that half the police force were rotating interrogations in shifts just to get everyone’s story straight.

“I got here as fast as I could,” Bruce said in Batman’s gruff, altered voice through the cowl.

Jim Gordon flinched, and as he turned around Bruce noticed the coffee cup in his hand, still steaming with a splash of it dropping down to the pavement. He left the light on, still pointing out into the sky. “It would be much easier if I could just call you on the phone, you know. They make some nice burners these days. Lab boys have a hell of a time with tracing ‘em.”

Bruce wasn’t sure if that was an insinuation or just chatter. Besides, it was untrue – both he and Robin could ping them as long as they had a power source. “As long as that light works, I’d prefer it.”

“I figured.” Jim looked exhausted. He took a sip of coffee, seemingly not caring about how hot it was. “I would’ve flagged you down sooner, but I’ve been up to my neck in interrogations, paperwork, endless calls – the press are practically having a festival. They have enough material to fill every news hour for the month by the time we get any rest.”

“I’ve noticed.” It was inescapable both at home and at work, where every scrap was the talk of the water-cooler and every segment filled up one of the Batcave’s enormous monitors. Bruce had at least fifteen voicemails from reporters eager to talk to him just today, all wanting to know his thoughts on John’s would-be-assassins being taken into custody as part of a ‘anti-criminal society’, as one had put it. Like the word ‘cult’ was too low-brow for their taste.

Jim eyed his coffee cup, as if something was off with the taste. “You see that guessing game they have now, about Joker?”

Bruce resisted the urge to snort derisively. He had. As soon as the first Owl had said Joker was there, they all sounded off, trying to get John arrested for vigilantism if not aggravated assault. “I haven’t had the time to look,” he chose to say instead.

“It’s not worth it,” Jim took another sip of coffee, looking over the city. “They can say what they will about this department, but I make damn sure everyone goes over everything with a fine-tooth comb. Especially where Wayne’s friends are concerned. One slip-up and his lawyers will tear the shirts off our backs.” He took another sip with a disgruntled sigh. “Not that it matters. In three days we haven’t got a shred of evidence John Doe was ever at that church. Or at Arkham – not that it stops that would-be-bomber from claiming as much. I’ve got the phone records that prove otherwise.”

Bruce made a mental note to thank Iman and Alfred for working so quickly on the record changes. “First I’ve heard of it,” he lied, having looked through the police interview records the second he could.

“Good. We’ve been keeping that guy’s details as minimal as possible,” Jim explained confidently, “He’s still in the hospital. His doctor’s in talk with Arkham about getting him transferred there when he’s able to move, but for all his delusions about God and having imprisoned John Doe and some mysterious woman we can’t find a trace of, they’re reluctant to take him. He’s a real danger to their patients.” Jim took another sip of coffee. “And Gotham Memorial’s staff. He’s thought three different people were ‘John Doe’ and lashed out each time. He managed to stab a nurse before they strapped him down to stop him escaping.” He gave a small, self-indulgent sort of chortle. “That nurse – I made sure to talk to her on my way out, and she just said ‘this isn’t the worst I’ve had’. Didn’t elaborate. What a trooper.”

“That Talon ever give himself a name?” Bruce asked.

“Adam. That’s all we know right now. He’s not in the criminal databases, in any case.” Jim took a small sip. “Funny - our sketch artist worked around the clock, and not one of those owl-people could tell me what ‘Joker’ looked like underneath that grinning bandana he apparently wore.” Jim looked over at Bruce, tired gaze trying to pierce through the cowl. “No credible witnesses, no physical traces, no tower pings that come close to either location – and yet at the back of my head something is stilltelling me John Doe was still playing ‘Joker’. Now why do you think that is?”

He must have been tired. He was trying to corner Bruce very bluntly, like they were playing a game of chicken but without knowing they were on a wide freeway rather than a two-lane road. “Because even a wrong answer is better than none,” he answered, staring at him dead-on.

The commissioner stared back for a second, then two, and then shifted back towards the city, annoyed at the obvious possibility. “Another new partner, eh? You got a Rolodex of them or something?”

“I should be so lucky.”

“Hmph. I’m guessing the ‘Joker’ persona is to throw people off? Or is that just a personal taste of yours?”

Bruce bristled internally, feeling the jolt of it in his stomach. He could practically hear John cackling up a storm at that implication.

“Don’t answer that,” Jim hurriedly waved off with a wince, “I don’t want to know. No offense.”

“None taken,” Bruce managed through almost-gritted teeth. He had to get back onto track with what he wanted to know. “How many Owls were brought in, in the end?”

“Right now, the total’s up to three-hundred and thirty-six charged with conspiracy to murder at the least. Some are being a pain in the ass, threatening to sue for interfering in religious ceremonies or some crap.” He took a long sip as if it were a drag of a cigarette. “Roman Sionis is sitting pretty, being the victim and all – I tell ya, if it weren’t for the stuff you put on my desk and the files we found at the church, I wouldn’t be able to make a charge stick to him any more than water. Helps that one of those kooks was mixed up with Black Mask. Had the False-Face tattoo and everything.” His mustache twitched into an amused smile. “That one’s still held up in a hospital for observation, but his girlfriend actually came down to the station to hand us some of his stuff after she saw the news – the guy used makeup to have a couple of personas for the False-Face Society. It was like something out of Sherlock Holmes.”

Heh.The Man with the Twisted Lip, perhaps? “So she had no knowledge of it?” he asked, playing innocent.

“I would’ve thought you’d known.” Jim needled. “She had some part in what she thought was a prank – one of the Owls used it as an alibi for the night of The Lot murders. We’re not holding her, but she’ll have to go to court to tell her side of things eventually. Team’s searching her hotel room tomorrow, so I guess we’ll see what we find. The turn-coat has some damning evidence against him, including Roman’s statements. And it feels like we keep finding more on the lot of them every minute.”

Bruce didn’t doubt it. He’d kept low over the last couple of days and resisted the urge to pry into some of the Court members’ houses to sate his curiosity. Still, three-hundred and thirty-six was too low a number for how many people he’d seen down in the makeshift-courtroom of the Court’s church. “Were any Owls released?”

“Some of them made bail, believe it or not. We can’t afford to keep eyes on them, with everything else going on – every precinct is assigned something in this mess.” Jim set his coffee cup down with a note of finality. “I know it sounds like I’m griping, but I want to thank you,” he said earnestly, standing tall. “I hate to imagine what would’ve happened if you hadn’t alerted us when you did.”

Bruce didn’t need to hear any more. The thanks was nice, but he didn’t need it; he would’ve done it even if “So would I.” He swept around, grapple out and primed. “I’ll let you know if I find any of the stragglers. Go get some rest.”

The air whipped at his face as he zipped up to a higher building and raced across the roof, heart pumping steadily as he made his way back to the Batmobile parked several streets away. His grappling hook made it easy to zip-line down to the alley, and the car practically sprang to life as he pulled open the door.

“Hiya, tootsie-pop,” John teased with a wide, red-lipped smile from the passenger seat, “How’d it go?”

“Just fine,” Bruce replied, not bothering to turn the cowl off as he slid behind the wheel. “It’s as we thought: they don’t have anything on you yet. But it doesn’t mean we should let down our guard - I expect one of Gordon’s people will be coming by the house to talk to you soon.”

“You worry too much,” John soothed, putting the bundle of paper he’d had propped on his raised thigh down on his now flat lap. “We both knew that was coming a mile away.”

“I think I worry the right amount, where you’re concerned,” he shot back, buckling himself back in.

John’s gloved fingers tucked under Bruce’s chin, smoothing over his cheek as Bruce turned towards him automatically. “I like it when you’re protective,” he purred, closing the gap between them with a kiss that made Bruce’s hands soften on the wheel. “But don’t push it,” he added, a light rumble coming through his voice as he settled back in his seat to buckle himself in.

Bruce glanced down at the folded Gotham Gazette in his lap, spying at least twenty counts of ‘John Napier’ written in pen with varying states of flourish. “What’s that?”

“Oh, this? I’ve just been doing some thinking… I don’t really feel like ‘John Doe’ anymore,” he said, tapping the pad of paper with his thumbs and not looking at Bruce. “I still like being ‘John’ – I just think I’m past the ‘Doe’ part, you know?” He looked to Bruce, acid-green eyes full of hope for approval. “I feel like someone, now.”

Bruce looked at him, sitting there in the passenger seat in his purple leather coat, with a bandana with his signature red-lipped grin hanging from his neck. He was no longer the Joker of last year, or even the one nine months ago, but he was unmistakably him, as completely unforgettable as John Doe was. He had never felt like a nobody to Bruce, even when he didn’t know himself, but Bruce knew what he meant. The ‘nameless Arkham patient’-John had been outgrown.

“I guess I’ll have to practice calling you ‘Mr. Napier’ at home,” he said in Batman’s gravelly voice as he turned on the ignition. John’s face lit up, eyes sparkling in the glow of the dashboard. “It’s a good thing the press doesn’t know about your non de plume at the gala, or the Moonrisewould be pounding down my door for wrongful litigation.”

“Ha ha ha! I can see the headline now – Moonrise Apology Revoked! Hot Wayne/Doe Ballroom Dancing Action!”

John stooped forward into a laugh that Bruce couldn’t help but join for a couple of beats, forgetting about the distorted voice in his cowl. He cleared his throat as John’s laugh dissolved and Tiffany’s voice came through the on-board computer console, now depicting a map of Gotham with both her motorcycle and the car as colorful dots: “Head’s up, Batman – someone tripped our camera sensor at the Owls’ fraternity-base. You and J’ still at the G.C.P.D?”

Bruce switched the microphone in his cowl back on. “Could be our stragglers. We’ll meet you there in ten.”

“Good – I’m eight minutes away and I’d hate to start flushing them out without you.”

The connection was cut off, now just showing the map, with Tiffany already heading south for the fraternity.

Bruce stared at the moving dot for a moment, and glanced over at John as he shifted the car into drive. They’d been through a lot. It’d only been a few days since John forcibly woke up at Arkham while Tiffany and Bruce worked their way out of the Court’s clutches. They’d both fought alongside him at the Church of Mercy, tired beyond compare afterwards. Yet here they were, raring to go, like Bruce.

“Think we can beat her to the punch?” John asked excitedly.

Bruce smirked. The bike was fast, but his car was faster, even with the bulkier shape. “Only one way to find out.”

The Batmobile pulled out into the streets of Gotham and tore down the asphalt, disappearing into the dying streaks of sunlight with a flash of black and an unnerving cackle.

† † † † †

Notes: And so here we are again, dear friends. At the end of another journey. It was a long and difficult one this time, but I’m pretty darn satisfied with how it turned out. Our boy John is out of Arkham with friends who care about him, Bruce can now depend on others and has a new family of vigilantes who love him, Tiffany is fully recognized as both part of the team and her own person… All the goals for this story are checked off my list, and this baby clocks in just under 185k. I almost can’t believe it, myself. I’ve finished my second multi-chapter story!

Hah, even writing that doesn’t really feel very real. Maybe because this one took 2+ years to finish? Or maybe because it cooked in my brain for a little longer than that. I tell ya, I had a ball getting to write John’s character growth among the weird layered meta this story has. The villains were fun, too - taking bare bones and crafting a whole new persona out of it is by no means a quick process, but I do like the end results, even if I can see some of the ‘lumps’ in the shapes. More and more, I can see why some people dream of being able to work on the official Batman stories. There really is something special about these ridiculous characters and this world that make your brain whirl away at the possibilities. I went whole-hog with this story, not holding anything back when it came to what I wanted to make – I hope it turned out as good for me as it was for you. ♡

But just because I’m saying goodbye to TToJ, I’m not saying goodbye for long to Bats! We’ll see him and J-man again soon! I’m still sorting through what I really want out of Season 5, so our next story will be a multi-chapter interlude centered around our two favorite guys here adjusting to living together. Think of it like Season 4 ½. Why is it not S5? Because it doesn’t have a mystery or big plot like either this here story or AtBoM. It’s a thing that’s been rattling around in my brain since the chapter 9 was in the works, tempting me with its alluring supposed ease of writing nothing but smut with fun prompts… But of course, I’ve since complicated matters by adding character building ideas that can stretch the whole way through and not just in choice chapters like I originally thought. Who knows, I might throw in a smidge of plot by the time I work it all out! ꉂ (๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑)

Until then, my darling readers, I’ll end with repeating myself (as I am want to do): Thank you so much for all your support!!! See you soon!!! °₊·ˈ∗♡ (⊃≧ω≦(´ω｀*⊂) ♡∗ˈ‧°

#batman the telltale series #ttoj #the tolls of justice #batjokes #telltale batman #bttts #I can't believe this one took like 2 years :/ #but it was about 74k words longer #with a much more tangled mystery plot #and a lot more original characters and villain groups to work with #so...i guess i'm not as surprised about it taking longer lol #bruce wayne #john doe #juce #telltale batjokes #tiffany fox #jim gordon #man i almost made it to 185k words! #batman #(I am just realizing I did a 'ride off into the sunset' end omg) #tysm for all your support! ♡