Day 5: Headcanon

and maybe if the desire strikes you some tidbits on tetchy would be sweet

the best of boys, the worst of boys

1. he comes from an extremely screwed-up gothic Old Money family in England, with a family tree rife with (a) murder and questionable shit and (b) loads of that sweet hereditary insanity. the ancestors that didn’t die in asylums usually died in like, duels and Mysterious Circumstances. so he’s always… kind of anticipated his life was going to be colorfully awful somehow, it was just a matter of when and how

2. he inherited the family business(es) after his father died (Mysteriously) but handed them over to his sister and moved to America after the stress made him have a severe mental breakdown; plus the tutor who actually raised him died around that time (Mysteriously). he had like, no plan for what to do next but Gotham seemed like a good place to be, for some reason

3. Bruce first met him when Jervis just kind of wandered in the door at WayneTech with a disturbingly futuristic piece of tech he invented and was like ‘so are you guys interested in this’

4. despite the stuff he came up with being groundbreaking enough that WT gave him basically anything he asked for any tolerated him acting extremely odd, Jervis really hated his job. part of it was his coworkers, who he very much didn’t get along with, and part of it was that he just… doesn’t like doing what anyone tells him to do, ever. the only thing he liked was that they’d give him money and materials without too many questions after a while. 

5. All the Rogues had colorful first trials, but Jervis’s was a real standout for media attention. Not only did he debut around the time people were really starting to see the Rogues as all part of a movement that wasn’t going to fade away, he had a terrifying gimmick (fear gas and JV affect your body, but he could control minds), a sensational story that nobody could agree on the details of, and he kept on interrupting the proceedings to try and explain his perspective on things, which included such statements as ‘free will doesn’t actually exist’ and ‘actually, God isn’t real’, etc.

6. ‘fell in love’ is not the right term (seeing as Earth 451 Jervis is aromantic) but the moment he forgot his office key at home and his secretary of 2 days responded by pulling some pins out of her bag and picking the lock for him was the moment when Jervis both learned Alice Pleasance’s name and became Very Interested in her

7. He wants to take Batman’s cowl, after a while, for one main reason: Batman keeps taking his hats. look, the Bat can keep his creepy… trophy room, or lair, or wherever he keeps the items he keeps dragging off, Jervis doesn’t care, and Jervis wouldn’t even mind that much if Batman had just taken his first hat, but the damn Bat must have at least seven of them by now and they don’t grow on trees. no man could suffer this and not retaliate 

8. he has tattoos on his upper arms and back (acquired during the ‘I’m going to make all the bad decisions I couldn’t make in my teen years’ phase he had after his father’s death) which very few people are aware of, since he doesn’t like showing any more skin than strictly necessary. 

9. A lot of people tend to get misled by the fact that he’s shortish and dresses fancy and uses tech a lot, and assume he must be easy to overpower. One of those people was Batman, in their very first encounter. It did not happen again. He’s far stronger than most people expect, and was one of the few Rogues actually taught (instead of picking it up out of necessity) how to fight.

10. He went to an actual school for a couple years as a teenager, before he and his sister were both kicked out (long story) and put back into tutoring. During that time, he got really into theater, and even tho he never had much chance to perform the way he taught himself to speak and move onstage influenced him subtly for years, and more obviously shaped his Hatter persona. He tends to talk and move, as the Hatter, as if he’s in a play; staring off to where an audience would be, selecting and enunciating his words so they sound like rehearsed lines. It freaks a lot of people out. 

@wonderlandofone rabbit girls

Her other self was fluffy and cute, but she doubted they would like to be to told that. They did however appear friendly and welcoming.

"Ah thank you! I full heartedly agree!"

Taking the offered seat she grabbed a cup and set about pouring herself some tea.

"We are just a set of twiddles with a single Hat between us."

Setting the tea pot in a clear area on crowded table she added, "Though one of us has a better coat I concede. Do you have any preferences in coats or teas Hatter?"

● { @themarchinghare} ●  | { Pour a new cup! }

✂ - - -   “ Wait–wait! Hold everything– SILENCE March! ”

March was not making any noise.   “ Do you hear that? Someone is walking in our garden… The roses are talking about them behind their back– as they do… ”

He pauses. “ …March Hare is coming? What? –Did I send you two invitations, March? If so this other you is terribly late indeed… Oh, March Hare! Over here you silly lagomorpha!  ”

Fun fact!:

The hookah was actually used to smoke tobacco at the time not cannibas or other drugs! (Though I'm sure some people did) It also originated in India and was a symbol of wealth and prestige.

If anything the hookah smoking caterpillar is a symbol of change, adulthood, and a few other things (smoking being seen as an adult habit, while being a caterpillar is considered being "childlike" but him smoking could show how he's become adult like)

I could go on, on what the Caterpillar might represent but I'm feeling lazy. It's true though, don't assume the worst or immediately make Alice in wonderland an adult book about Insanity, drugs, and sex.

Source: https://www.hookahcompany.com/hookah_history.htm

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hookah http://www.fumari.com/blog/hookah-history/

Unpopular opinion: yes there is a hookah in the wonderland story but that wasn’t a big deal in the era and the book itself isn’t about drug use and Lewis Carroll was not on anything at the time of writing it

Please stop directly associating it with weed, lsd, speed, etc. and thinking it makes u edgy/cool (I’m gonna get people angry about this but really it’s kids book)

Late night

Ficlet of Jervis and Madeline

The rain made everything seem so loud. Every step, every panting breath, and every police siren echoed so much louder. A part of her wished all of the noise would just stop, stop and let her think. Instead, she kept running forward. Madeline could feel rather than see Tetch stumbling behind her, all she could do was grip his hand tighter and hope the next turn would give them a place to hide. 

Finally several abandoned buildings came into sight and Madeline forced her exhausted legs to push faster.

"Tetch, come on! Just a few more steps! Then the police won't get us. I promise, we'll be safe soon!"

Madeline turned her head only for a moment to see Jervis's panting exhausted face. If she was in a better scenario, she'd try to carry him, but that was impossible now. 

Finally buildings stood in front of them. Without thought Madeline grabbed her remaining Kama and broke the glass to the dingy window. She quickly grabbed Tetch and thrust him through before hopping in herself. The moment her body dropped inside she felt shards of glass entering her torn boot. 

For a few tense seconds, they both remained on the floor, panting. Mercifully, the sirens disappeared, leaving only the sound of rain. Still exhausted, Madeline pushed herself up and looked at her companion. He remained on the floor, trying to curl up and block out the world. 

"Alright, alright, Tetch, the cops are gone, we just need to lay -"

"March, why did- did she do that? Why did she scream for the Red Queen?"

Madeline's face softened as she realized that Tetch was once again lost in his own fantasy. Slowly, Madeline crept closer to her companion, ignoring the glass that penetrated part of her broken boot. Madeline half jumped towards Tetch, before tilting her chin up and wiggling her nose.

"Now now Mister Hatta' we know that wasn't the real Alice. Why that young girl just wanted - wanted to play a game with us. No need to sulk!"

As casually as she could, so as to not spook him, she pushed Tetch into her lap, dusting off the broken glass that stuck to him.

"Ah, but March! I don't care for croquet, you know! And I'm tired of all these silly games!" 

Tetch pouted, throwing his arms in the air, ignoring the bleeding wound on his arm.

"Alice, oh Alice, where is she? Can't she see how much I want to bring her a party?"

Madeline sighed, looking around the old building. She would need to find something to distract him from his pity party. 

"Well, sometimes girls just want to -"

Suddenly, Madeline had a marvelous idea. Moving her hand to grip his shoulder, she forced him up to see a pile of decrepit boxes.

"Ah, look Hatta', a tea party! Already set up! How wondrous, how stupendous! Perhaps this was all a game to get us here!"

Madeline glanced down at Tetch, hoping that he would see the table and cups, and not some other wicked thing. She could never fully predict where his mind would take him. 

Just as she thought, he immediately jumped up and began eagerly walking towards the pile.

"Well, Callooh Callay to you, March! For a hare your eyes are sharp, why I bet they could cut a rath in half!"

Without another word, he sat himself on one box lower than the rest, and began to mime pouring tea.

"Hurry, Hare! Before it gets too cold!"

Smiling, Madeline stood up, already feeling the soreness in her body. It was only a temporary distraction until Tetch got his bearings. 

'Why, see this! Our day went from mimsy to frabjous in an instant! Why it's like a -'

"Not the same thing a bit!’ said the Hatter. `You might just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'!"

"You might just as well say,’ added the March Hare, `that 'I like what I get' is the same thing as 'I get what I like'!"

The words tumbled out of Madeline’s mouth with ease. Madeline slowly sat down next to her friend and pretended to eat a crumpet. She knew they'd have to leave and find a better hide out. For now, playing pretend with her friend was all she wanted to do.

Lewis Carroll Facts #1

In a letter to a friend, Carroll described his own dancing technique as follows:

“As to dancing, my dear, I never dance unless I am allowed to do it in my own peculiar way. There is no use trying to describe it: it has to be seen to be believed. The last house I tried it in, the floor broke through. But then it was a poor sort of floor- the beams were only six inches thick, hardly worth calling beams at all: stone arches are sensible when any dancing of my peculiar kind is to be done. Did you ever see the Rhinoceros and the Hippopotamus at the Zoological Gardens, trying to dance a minuet together? It is a touching sight.”

"How very true, especially with how antisocial quite a few of our colleagues are. As long as we stay out of their hair they stay out of ours, right?"

Chuckling Hare took a sip of her tea. Alright nothing to be concerned with, odd how mind control and murderous colleagues became a norm for her so quickly.

"If I recall you also work with hypnotics? How does yours work?"

Despite having first hand experience on what Tetches tech entailed Hare had no idea how it actually worked. Perhaps Meisters could give her an insite.

@themarchinghare

“Jervis? Are you here?” Music Meister poked his head through the doorway, looking around before stepping into the Hatter’s latest hideout. Between composing and organising his next ‘performance’, the maestro had grown bored and decided to visit his acquaintance. However he didn’t seem to be around at present.

This is just sad, I don't dislike Amazon but why was this necessary? Why would Amazon even want that? This is just awful and wrong support Ao3 and other sites that DON'T ask such things. Srs wtf

Amazon Unveils a [Horrifying] Fanfic Publishing Platform

Today, Amazon announced the imminent launch of its newest endeavor, Kindle Worlds, a publishing platform for fanfiction. When I read the announcement, I was horrified, then angry, then sad. I want to take a moment to explain why this is such a tragedy.

Read More

‘fly on the wall’

“I don’t think Alice will be able to pull this off.”

Madeline stated, crossing her arms.

“She isn’t weak March, I’m sure she can keep them occupied enough for you shut down my cell block.”

“It’s not about her being weak Hattie, it’s just I don’t think she’ll want to join.”

In truth, she didn’t want Alice to join them. She had seen how Alice hung on Tetch’s every word and seemed to worship him. It was similar to Madeline’s own, except more extreme. Alice also wasn’t a criminal. Not yet at least.

“March!” Jervis gasped, “Why wouldn’t she want to join the tea party!?”

“I just think Alice needs more time, after all what will happen when the Jabberwocky comes for us all. We wouldn’t want Alice to get hurt, right?”

Hopefully appealing to Tetches more protective side of Alice would help.

“I can knock out the guards and shut down security for you.”

The Election of Owls and demons. Or history of Gotham gargoyles. Gargoyles and Gotham go almost as far back as the 1700 hundreds (almost as old as Gotham itself!) Back then people were more… superstitious. You see around that time an election was happening between Robert​ L. Chartine and George P. Questpit, but this election was strange. Buildings belonging to the gentleman would collapse or blood would be found inside. Friends and supporters of the two men would just randomly stop supporting or be found dead. It was surreal and got even more frightening when bloody owls with there wings removed would be found and demon masks broken covered in blood, would also appear. Unsurprisingly, both men pulled out, leaving only one. William B. Yorkster. If you’re wondering why I never mentioned him it was because no one thought he stood a chance, and none of the incidents mentioned ever happened to him. Most of Gotham today would think that it was he was causing it, but back then he had something the other two didn’t, Gargoyles. Gargoyles on his house, buildings, and some of his friends would have gargoyles. After that gargoyles became a symbol of safety and protection, and almost every building began to have them. There popularity only grew in the 1800 hundreds. Sadly, this popularity began to dwindle during the great depression leaving only a few buildings with the statues intact, but this was not the end, oh no. In 1969, something that would also become a famous symbol of Gotham began to use them, Arkham Asylum. That’s right our resident crazy building used to have scary grey gargoyles. You might be asking why. Well the past caretaker of Arkham believed gargoyles would “chase away the crazy”, so gargoyles had a new meaning in Gotham sanity. After that they became all the rage again. Almost every building began to have them if not for protection, or sanity than for style and to fit in. Long story short Gotham has gargoyles because they used to represent protection, safety, and sanity something most people would say Gotham is severely lacking. Maybe that’s why our favorite rodent favors them so much?

People from other cities always ask me why we have such gothic architechture around the place, and why there are so many gargoyles. The answer: honestly, I have no idea. This city is crazy, and the sooner you accept that the soon you’ll fit right in