Secret Santa Fic Prompt 17: Cont. 2
Title: And Cassandra Makes Three [parts 6-8/?]
Author: greedyslayer
Prompt/Summary: 17. I'd like to read a fic in which Bruce and Joker make up a real family, without losing too much of their canon (Nolanverse) personalities. Rating, lenght, and everyhting else is trusted to the writer's imagination./An earthquake either brings new rules to Gotham, or completely breaks them; it definitely brings a would-be child assassin into Joker and Batman's own little world. (told through loosely connected/chronological drabbles/vigenettes)
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: everything
Time: Post-TDK
Notes: Nolanverse mixed with comics elements, in the use of the No Man's Land Storyline (of all things, a huge earthquake devastates Gotham City, and their national government essentially abandons them and puts them under quarantine) and the character of Cassandra Cain, the 2nd Batgirl succeeding Barbara Gordon (though for this story, she's the first). [more detailed info summary links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra_Cain
, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27s_Land_(comics
]
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Batman or Joker and their playground.
Parts 1-5: http://community.livejournal.com/batmanjoker/150397.html#cutid1 and thank you for all the comments, all of them were really encouraging! I never even noticed Firefly's River-Cassandra Cain's similarities before. And amandasaitou, I hope you continue enjoying your prompt.
6
"Cassie, this is your granddad; here now, smile for grandpa, like me--" surprise, surprise, the Joker did not reach for his knife but rather dug his fingers into the corners of the girl's mouth and stretch; the clown gave her a grudging look of pride when she roughly pried his fingers out and smiled for herself, making it all big for him, even though he could just tell it hurt a little to make it go up that much.
The Joker then quickly knelt down and smiled up with the kid: all teeth.
Alfred merely arched a brow at Bruce, then briskly offered Cassandra a plate of orange slices.
7
"Let me explain--"
"After tea, Master Bruce."
"Can't believe you have tea of all things Jeeves--let alone gingerbread flavored--"
"More sugar, Cassandra?"
The girl solemnly nodded, offering up her paper cup (at least the china was realistically lost in the quake).
"Alfred, she's already had enough--"
"Oh, be economic Batsy; sugar's back to being a rarity now, let her have some--"
"Economic? We should be saving it then--"
"No no, we should be having as much as we want of it immediately, who knows how long Jeeves' magic tea-ingredient-saving powers last--"
"Then we should be saving it--"
"Oh, look who's the spend-thrift now--yes, Brucie, I actually pay attention to news that isn't about me--"
Alfred pulled Cassandra closer to him as the two went at it, grateful that he had not brought any of the forks or knives out to serve with days'-old bread from one of the few surviving fridges, though he was not honestly sure if that would make a difference in the long-run.
8
"A-B-C-D," and as he sang, the Joker scrawled the letters--both caps and lowercase in printed font, get into the issue of cursive later--on the chalkboard he had found, in the purple chalk he had scavenged even more vigorously for, he simply had to have purple (and green and orange and yellow and--).
Cassandra sat on the desk, legs crossed and arms resting on her knees, face propped in her waiting hands, eyes keen on the foreign symbols, if already clouding over with confusion.
"-E-F-G," The clown licked at the blood still dripping copiously down his shirt, and he was pleased the girl had more or less gotten used to his and Batsy's 'arguments' (truce has a loose meaning, you see).
"-H-I-J-K," from his free hand, distracted fingers ran themselves through his hair (have to find more green dye; stock of face paint should last a while yet though).
"-L-M-N-O-P," and Cassandra began hesitantly mouthing the sounds behind her friend's back; she could not see the exact way his mouth moved, so her own movements were more of an estimate.
"-Q-R-S," his fingers now moved to ratat-tat-tapping against the black board, also a foot tapping here and there.
"-T-U-V," and the clown grinned as he heard Cassandra finally begin audibly mimicking his sounds, slow and halting as they were.
"-W-X," he pursed his lips (now lipstick--another item to add to the 'restock' list) as he found himself curving the last letters--he wiped them clean, straightened them out and repeated the lyrics.
Of course Batsy had been a voyeur and silently watched the lesson instead of announcing his presence from the start; though he finally asked, "Why--"
"-Y-and-Z," the Joker continued on in that same lilting tone that only heightened just so; Cassandra looked at her other friend from the corner of her eyes for a second before snapping back to the board.
"-Now-I-know-my-ABC's," and the Joker whirled around with a flourish, the purple chalk held before him in microphone stance.
"-next-time-won't-you-sing-with-me?" His own giggle; he had brought the microphone-chalk too close, blood spilling on it--he smeared the mixture on the board, in stick-doodles of Cassie (with weepy dots for eyes and bat ears), Batsy (towering and a crooked line for a frown and with even bigger ears), and himself (crescent grin and little curves for eyelashes and a conspicuous skirt), all of them holding three-twigged hands.
While Cassandra walked forward and examined the sketch as seriously as an art critic, the clown turned to Batman: "Now what?"
"You were writing cursive, then erased--" Now Bruce just felt stupid bringing something like this up.
"Oh, they taught you to write cursive first in Rich People school, huh?"
The clown ignored Batman rolling his eyes (and in the back of his mind, Bruce noticed that--didn't bother him at all), and twisted Cassandra's head around, pointing to the alphabet, nodding. The girl shook her head, and the Joker began shaking his head as well, muttering, accepting "No"--then he went through each letter, slower this time, the strain in his voice showing how unused to that sort of speed he was.
Batman was eyeing his bloody lip, and looking unusually guilty; unconsciously, a gloved hand reached for the extra-red mouth and swiped at some stray streaks--the Joker shoved his hand aside and turned back to the board with a new vigor.
"Cassie, pay attention," the clown pointed to the first letter, and her chocolate eyes snapped to the triangle-looking thing.
"'A,'" enunciating the letter, "Sound it out with me, use your pretty little mouth, emulate me, 'A--'" He nodded at her slow noise, satisfied for now. "Beautiful, kid--'A' for 'Asshole,'" and he pointed to the Knight.
Before the other man could growl, snap, respond in any way, the clown continued, pointing to the second letter, "'B'…nice sounding, Squirt…'B' for 'Batman...'" Point again.
"'C' for 'Chump.'"
"'D' for 'Dork'--Batsy, come back here, you're the object lesson!"
Author: greedyslayer
Prompt/Summary: 17. I'd like to read a fic in which Bruce and Joker make up a real family, without losing too much of their canon (Nolanverse) personalities. Rating, lenght, and everyhting else is trusted to the writer's imagination./An earthquake either brings new rules to Gotham, or completely breaks them; it definitely brings a would-be child assassin into Joker and Batman's own little world. (told through loosely connected/chronological drabbles/vigenettes)
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: everything
Time: Post-TDK
Notes: Nolanverse mixed with comics elements, in the use of the No Man's Land Storyline (of all things, a huge earthquake devastates Gotham City, and their national government essentially abandons them and puts them under quarantine) and the character of Cassandra Cain, the 2nd Batgirl succeeding Barbara Gordon (though for this story, she's the first). [more detailed info summary links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassandra_Cain
, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man%27s_Land_(comics
]
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Batman or Joker and their playground.
Parts 1-5: http://community.livejournal.com/batmanjoker/150397.html#cutid1 and thank you for all the comments, all of them were really encouraging! I never even noticed Firefly's River-Cassandra Cain's similarities before. And amandasaitou, I hope you continue enjoying your prompt.
6
"Cassie, this is your granddad; here now, smile for grandpa, like me--" surprise, surprise, the Joker did not reach for his knife but rather dug his fingers into the corners of the girl's mouth and stretch; the clown gave her a grudging look of pride when she roughly pried his fingers out and smiled for herself, making it all big for him, even though he could just tell it hurt a little to make it go up that much.
The Joker then quickly knelt down and smiled up with the kid: all teeth.
Alfred merely arched a brow at Bruce, then briskly offered Cassandra a plate of orange slices.
7
"Let me explain--"
"After tea, Master Bruce."
"Can't believe you have tea of all things Jeeves--let alone gingerbread flavored--"
"More sugar, Cassandra?"
The girl solemnly nodded, offering up her paper cup (at least the china was realistically lost in the quake).
"Alfred, she's already had enough--"
"Oh, be economic Batsy; sugar's back to being a rarity now, let her have some--"
"Economic? We should be saving it then--"
"No no, we should be having as much as we want of it immediately, who knows how long Jeeves' magic tea-ingredient-saving powers last--"
"Then we should be saving it--"
"Oh, look who's the spend-thrift now--yes, Brucie, I actually pay attention to news that isn't about me--"
Alfred pulled Cassandra closer to him as the two went at it, grateful that he had not brought any of the forks or knives out to serve with days'-old bread from one of the few surviving fridges, though he was not honestly sure if that would make a difference in the long-run.
8
"A-B-C-D," and as he sang, the Joker scrawled the letters--both caps and lowercase in printed font, get into the issue of cursive later--on the chalkboard he had found, in the purple chalk he had scavenged even more vigorously for, he simply had to have purple (and green and orange and yellow and--).
Cassandra sat on the desk, legs crossed and arms resting on her knees, face propped in her waiting hands, eyes keen on the foreign symbols, if already clouding over with confusion.
"-E-F-G," The clown licked at the blood still dripping copiously down his shirt, and he was pleased the girl had more or less gotten used to his and Batsy's 'arguments' (truce has a loose meaning, you see).
"-H-I-J-K," from his free hand, distracted fingers ran themselves through his hair (have to find more green dye; stock of face paint should last a while yet though).
"-L-M-N-O-P," and Cassandra began hesitantly mouthing the sounds behind her friend's back; she could not see the exact way his mouth moved, so her own movements were more of an estimate.
"-Q-R-S," his fingers now moved to ratat-tat-tapping against the black board, also a foot tapping here and there.
"-T-U-V," and the clown grinned as he heard Cassandra finally begin audibly mimicking his sounds, slow and halting as they were.
"-W-X," he pursed his lips (now lipstick--another item to add to the 'restock' list) as he found himself curving the last letters--he wiped them clean, straightened them out and repeated the lyrics.
Of course Batsy had been a voyeur and silently watched the lesson instead of announcing his presence from the start; though he finally asked, "Why--"
"-Y-and-Z," the Joker continued on in that same lilting tone that only heightened just so; Cassandra looked at her other friend from the corner of her eyes for a second before snapping back to the board.
"-Now-I-know-my-ABC's," and the Joker whirled around with a flourish, the purple chalk held before him in microphone stance.
"-next-time-won't-you-sing-with-me?" His own giggle; he had brought the microphone-chalk too close, blood spilling on it--he smeared the mixture on the board, in stick-doodles of Cassie (with weepy dots for eyes and bat ears), Batsy (towering and a crooked line for a frown and with even bigger ears), and himself (crescent grin and little curves for eyelashes and a conspicuous skirt), all of them holding three-twigged hands.
While Cassandra walked forward and examined the sketch as seriously as an art critic, the clown turned to Batman: "Now what?"
"You were writing cursive, then erased--" Now Bruce just felt stupid bringing something like this up.
"Oh, they taught you to write cursive first in Rich People school, huh?"
The clown ignored Batman rolling his eyes (and in the back of his mind, Bruce noticed that--didn't bother him at all), and twisted Cassandra's head around, pointing to the alphabet, nodding. The girl shook her head, and the Joker began shaking his head as well, muttering, accepting "No"--then he went through each letter, slower this time, the strain in his voice showing how unused to that sort of speed he was.
Batman was eyeing his bloody lip, and looking unusually guilty; unconsciously, a gloved hand reached for the extra-red mouth and swiped at some stray streaks--the Joker shoved his hand aside and turned back to the board with a new vigor.
"Cassie, pay attention," the clown pointed to the first letter, and her chocolate eyes snapped to the triangle-looking thing.
"'A,'" enunciating the letter, "Sound it out with me, use your pretty little mouth, emulate me, 'A--'" He nodded at her slow noise, satisfied for now. "Beautiful, kid--'A' for 'Asshole,'" and he pointed to the Knight.
Before the other man could growl, snap, respond in any way, the clown continued, pointing to the second letter, "'B'…nice sounding, Squirt…'B' for 'Batman...'" Point again.
"'C' for 'Chump.'"
"'D' for 'Dork'--Batsy, come back here, you're the object lesson!"