he's (misterenigma) wrote in rooms, @ 2015-06-08 00:59:00 |
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Entry tags: | !tales, *narrative, eddie nigma |
eddie narrative
Who: Eddie
When: somewhat recently
Where: Fairytale door
What: Eddie swapping his powers
Warning: ghosties!
Eddie had gotten very used to the constant electronic buzz in the back of his brain. The power he had asked for on Valentine’s Day gave him access to communicate with any computer nearby and while that certainly didn’t mean he could control all of them, he got pretty close. The more time he spent with the computers, the harder it got to fool himself that they were anything beyond programs and numbers and lines of code. The Kryptonian stuff was special, sure, but he didn’t need powers to learn how to speak to its special alien AI. And anyway, what the hell was he doing trying to make friends with things that couldn’t love him back? What was he running away from?
The city, it was always the city.
The night before Gotham was going to go to shit, he could feel that comfortable fuzz of electronic blanket get pulled off his shoulders like a cape getting torn away by the wind. He was about to fall asleep with his lady nearby when suddenly he sat up in bed and could feel the emptiness there. Any attempt to look at someone else’s phone screen or even change the time on a nearby microwave was for nothing. His powers had slipped away and he couldn’t help a feeling that things were tumbling towards a new beginning. A new Gotham, a new home a new-
Eddie couldn’t explain the shadow that stretched out under their bed. Its black fingers spread across the floor, clawing towards the doors and windows as the scent of bog water and cauldron smoke filled the room. He panicked and turned to shake Muerte awake, only to find himself in the middle of Halloween Town, hands grasping air that he thought were his lady friend’s shoulders. He blinked and looked up at the familiar greys, blacks and whites of the town where he learned how to harness his necromancy powers. The dizzying circles, the crooked looming buildings, the bubbling green fountain nearby that almost smelled a little like Lazarus Pit.
Dressed in his question marked PJ’s and black nerdy t-shirt clinging to his chest in cold sweat, he slowly stood up and tried to figure out if it was his own mind relapsing into something more sinister. His mind, his insanity had always been a circular thing and just as he was getting his bearings, it tended to tip back into neon green territory. He didn’t feel the urge to push Bruce into a riddle trap, didn’t feel an urge to prove to Gotham how clever he was and so it had to be something else. Something strangely familiar.
Here, his skin was clay, his dark eyes large saucers served on white dishes. His black hair had a perfect swirled bounce to it and he was impossibly lanky despite his short stature. Well, alright. He was back in a town he had visited to run away from his wife years and years ago, but hadn’t he changed? Wasn’t he happy with his life, with his new lady friend, with-
“Oh, Edward you returned to us!” The shorter, green witch with a mouth like an opossum squealed from atop her broom and zipped down to greet him.
“What am I doing here?” He asked with a small wave like a doll would after coming alive in the toybox.
“Well, if you ask me, last time you needed the ghosties, but this time they need you!” She exclaimed with a happy clap of her hands.
“Oh, no. I’m not doing that nonsense aga-AAGGH!” Just as he began to protest, his fingertips started to emit a driftwood glass green and skeleton hands popped out of the dry, black dirt below like morning daisies. Eddie jumped to the side, grabbing the top of the witch’s hat for safety and she cackled joyously.
“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice in the matter, dearie!!” She tugged at his t-shirt and snapped her possum jaws in delight as skeletons slowly pulled themselves out of the ground. “What’s upset you? City gone to ruin? That’s out of your hands! Even the ugliest of your mind, and I’ve seen your ugly mind sweetie, can’t save that place. Instead, help these-” The witch tipped her nose towards the moaning skeletons, reaching for him to help. “Help the others in your world, too!!”
Eddie sighed and squeezed the tip of the witch’s hat in affectionate frustration. The truth was he missed his magic. There had always been a part of him that believed he was meant to have it, to use it to navigate the strange for the rest of his life. He closed his eyes and held his other hand out, letting that gentle green light pour from his fingertips. “Riddle me this. You try to go on without me, with that second cup of tea. But, with the aid of sheep, all my benefits you shall reap.” His fingers wiggled and the skeletons gave out a gasp of relief before disintegrating into floating ghosts. He watched their white sheets rise up towards the moon until they made shadows across it and he smiled down at the possum green witch. “Okay, let’s do a refresher course.”