Post by John Dee on Jun 1, 2021 5:03:01 GMT -5
Participants: Selina Kyle | John Dee
Open/Closed: Closed
Location(s): Gotham County
Time of Day: Varies
Weather: Varies
Summary: A string of vicious homicides leads Selina Kyle to the wedding of Doctor Destiny.
What is that fairytale idea of love? How does it feel? Does it hurt? Is it sinful? The answer varies from person to person, and perhaps the most loathsome answer of all is that it doesn’t exist. There is a Dark Triad which rests in the souls of some very vile human beings. Psychopathy, Narcism, Machiavellianism three kings of ruin which make the soul’s kingdom dark and pitiful. The fictional Evil Queen as we know her, epitomizes this licentious opposition against the idea of “True Love”. But somehow in every romanticized myth of magic the prince and princess live happily ever after.
Once upon a time, there was a world with people who lived their lives through screens black as the night sky. An obsessive land where the people ogled over the couples of superstardom instead of engaging in their own lives. That is the sort of tale in which the Evil Queen is showered in praise by her magic mirror glinting in infinite likes. A world in which only vain and vile souls, the sort who hold that dark triad deep within, can only succeed. In spite of that, where all others ogled at the Queen, two souls chose to live their lives outside of a black screen....
If you had asked Nicholas Bower what he loves about Daniel Bloom, he’d say it was Daniel’s bashful shy nature and genuine tender kindness. Kindness like Nicholas had never seen, it made his heart race and cheeks grow red just thinking about it. If you were to ask Daniel Bloom the same question, he’d describe Nicholas’s lush blonde hair and carefree attitude. Both were utterly enthralled with each other, and desired an exciting night about town. Daniel in particular had been childishly giddy about this night for over a week. They looked upon a broken chapel in East Gotham, a hideous dilapidated thing. It was abandoned ages ago, and was now the location for date night.
This had once been a house of God, hallowed grounds meant to stand as a pinnacle of hope and all that is good in the world. Now it is an empty box in Gotham’s East End, void of life, void of faith and with a storied lore. Many of the old churches are said to be haunted, a notion which didn’t seem so preposterous in a city of catwomen and hideous penguin men. There was just some mystique about the city’s writhing cathedrals, the sort which spun tall tales of blood sucking flying lycanthropes, faceless flowering bloom-men, and sewn together corpse children with piano wire. This particular chapel has been burnt down twice and rebuilt, each time looking more hideous than the last. Then there was some tall tale about a bootlegger pretending to be a pastor during the height of prohibition, using the chapel as front to distribute alcohol and even chopping up bodies in the basement.
It had a gruesome story, but still, there was something infamously romantic about it. It was a strange tradition, lover’s from all over Gotham would make the pilgrimage and explore the chapel’s ruins. It was a bizarre ritual, and no one quite understood where or why it all began. But there was always something strangely romantic about horror, as backwards as that sounds. The fifth or sixth date would often involve a scary movie, or a haunted hayride, or really any event which caused one frightened lover to nestle in the breast of another. Now it was their turn, and Daniel couldn’t be happier. ”Come on!” Daniel tugged at Nicholas’s arm like an excited child. Nicholas shook his head with an enthralled grin. Their eyes locked, and for that briefest moment it was like sparks were surging down his spine. A fleeting tingle which was so heavenly and unexplainable, like a wave of magic thrashing against his chest. Soulful eyes tingled in the infinite reflection of locked irises. ”Alright, alright” They climbed up an old stairway in the back of the church. Daniel led the way, scared but in a good way, though he very suddenly froze with a shriek. “It’s just a spider...” Nicholas cooed as the arachnid dangled in front of both of them. ”You know I hate spiders!” Reaching an old torn door which had been weathered with age. Nicholas pulled it off to the aside and gestured snidely for Daniel to enter first. Timid, though giddy, Daniel crept through dangling cobwebs with a lofty hand pressed at the doorframe. His flashlight flickered on, and the inseparable pair crept upon creaking wood floors. The room was cramped and wooden, with nothing of particular interest apart from a leering old pipe organ and some dusty bibles. The room itself was an alcove above the main floor, and at the very end of it the wall was mostly torn out offering a breathtaking vantage point to view the whole chapel from above. They crept towards the glow of moonlight, and looked down at the.... Hideous sight beneath them.
Moonlight pierced through tattered rafters, faintly illuminating the building in a dull white light. Immediately the most striking image was a stain glass window at the very end of the hall. The window depicted what was perhaps once Christ, but now only a leering figure towering over the whole room with an empty face of broken glass. A face which depicted the void of space above as the eternal blackness leered in through what was once Christ’s eyes. Beneath that window there was a massive wooden cross which toppled over to a position which wasn’t quite upside down, but still inverted at an angle. Standing before the cross, as though it were insinuating a position of Christ himself, was an ugly looking statue of a shadowy robed figure huddled into a twisted wooden throne of gnarled tree limbs. It’s body was slunk lifelessly within the throne with a large wooden staff resting next to it.
The rest of the chapel was riddled with pews strewn haphazardly to the side. Some overturned and upside down, others torn in half and blanketed in layers of dust. There was a single lonely bookshelf to the right, and mound of four skeletons stacked one atop another. Nicholas and Daniel both assumed they were Halloween decorations or something of the like. How could a body decompose out in the open without the police finding out, after all? Finally, at the center of it all was a massive black cauldron nestled upon stacks of wood with lit embers. Still scarlet water sashayed quietly in the brisk Gotham chill, with a slow crawl of moonlight creeping towards it as the night went on. Around the cauldron was some... Strange laboratory set, two pews were used as makeshift tables housing colorful flasks, jars, and chemicals, most of which neither of them could recognize from a distance.
When the clock struck twelve, gleaming moonlight from the rafters pierced the cauldron just right. Scarlet goo soaked in Luna’s glistening white light, and the statue suddenly perked it’s head up. It arose and drifted off, as though it were waiting for this very moment. The two boys at first jumped at the sight, but quietly listened... ”I am the Nightmare King, but without a Queen” The statue, which looked shriveled and skeletal decreed as it gave a lofty walk towards the chapel’s book case. ”And perhaps my tastes do, deviate” The creature reached down to the mound of skeletons, skeletal talons coiling around the cervical spine and pulling it up to eye level. ”Sure, I like them dead... But, I still deserve to be loved and be seen...” The skeletons exchanged locked glances, one more living than the other. Then the “living” creature merely lobbed the dead one aside. ”So I cursed the God which made me single, and begged the devil to mediate~” He went to the bookshelf and scanned it for one book in particular.
”Hordes of hell did heed my plea” One scaly claw traced along a line of dusty books, a boney finger with a long black nail, so black that it looked like charcoal set alight. ”So they revealed this recipe” There was but one solitary book which had not been caked in dust and cobwebs, a trailing finger soon found it and four more boney digits coiled around the cover and pulled it out. ”A luscious bride a sultry miss” Pages unfurled in his claw, and the robed creature glided it’s way back towards to cauldron, setting the tome up beside it’s menagerie of grotesque ingredients. ”And the recipe went just like this...” The creature, the would-be sorcerer, whatever it was... Pulled out a match, scratching it along the cauldron’s rim. It lit up in his finger, and the hideous figure appeared to give some hideous grin at it. He threw the match into the mound of wood and it caught fire almost instantly.
Soupy maroon bubbled and brothed at the surface, smoldering like hot tar. The creature scanned it’s laboratory set, digging it’s claws into a bowl of what appeared to be oily looking particles of fish food. It sunk its claws into it, scooping out a handful of flakes, some of them trickling out from his fingers, then dropped it into the maroon ooze to be dissolved. ”Splash in moldy flakes of mange” The creature then grabbed a beaker with some hideous looking yellow liquid, and a flask with green slime. He poured both in at the same time, and the chemical broth began writhing about as though it were alive. ”Mix in krokodil and toxic muck“ Grotesque red fumes began to slowly billow out from the viscous concoction the creature was mixing together. Red smog playfully began dancing around his neck and dissipating into the air. ”Drop a brain, a mind deranged” This one came from his cloak, a human brain, that of his Arkham ilk. His left claw reached into a watery jar and pulled the pink globule of flesh out, discarding the jar with a crash. Both hands held it up, rotting gnarled fingers coiled around the slimy pink membrane. He squeezed it, and cerebrospinal fluid gushed out like a sponge. He squeezed it some more. He squeezed it so hard, that crushed slimy tissue oscillated between his fingers and splashed into the cauldron. It trickled down in chunks, then he threw the last pieces in. ”I just can’t wait to~“ BOOM!!! Red tar erupted from the cauldron blasting into his face mid sentence. Searing fiery pain sizzled his cheeks and the creature turned away with a hissing sound.
He whimpered like a child, cringing with small sobs. It was betrayed by its own creation, and it childishly kicked at the cauldron in a temper tantrum. The cauldron itself reacted by billowing out smoldering maroon steam. The colorful miasma wafted and danced around the creature’s spindly form. His arms wafted the myst into him, breathing in the toxic fumes and embracing the colorful miasma wholeheartedly. ”Apparitions of sexual conquest“ He howled out to long forgotten monsters of yore. ”Summon someone exotic” The beast grabbed a container of bleach from his lab and poured the whole container into the ominous scarlet pool. ”Blend in lust and noxious fungus” He grabbed various fungi from a bowl, some psychedelic other poisonous, each one dumped and dissolved into the mixture. Sparks crackled from the red water’s surface, purple lime and pink tangoing with the red miasma above. ”Bring me something erotic!”
The skeletal beast next reached out for an orange pill bottle. He twisted the cap and poured over a dozen white tablets into it his brew. They crackled and dissolved at the surface, white dissolving particles turning pink in the colorful ooze. ”A pouring rain of OxyContin” Next was a brown container, a similar though much larger bottle. He twisted the cap and poured clear sizzling liquid into the solution. It swirled around the pot and boiled and bubbled at the surface. ”Hydrochloric Acid too” Nicholas and Daniel exchanges cringing glances. Whatever this thing was brewing sounded painful... ”Astral imps long since forgotten” He held a cardboard box above the frothing slime, the lovers could just faintly make out movement within it, but they weren’t sure what. The skeleton dumped the contents in, but it almost seemed like the contents jumped in of their own volition. As if three colors leapt in face first as though they were diving into a pool. There came three melodic splashes. ”This smoldering pit of lover’s brew” He called it a “lover’s brew”, but... What they had was love, and this? This wasn’t love. This was something disgusting. It was almost pitiful, what a warped and twisted view it had of something which was supposed to be so profoundly beautiful.
The creature held a small water dropper and let it over atop the swirling maroon tar. He dripped a single droplet into it. ”Tears of joy dripped atop” A splash of toenails was thrown atop, then a writhing pile of insects, followed by colorful pellets. ”Toenails, bugs, and D.M.T” Grotesque claws reached for the staff nestled against his throne. The staff was simply an old piece of wood, but at the very end was a large red gem. The staff was used to stir everything together, with the red gem sloshing in the mix. Crying horrified faces crawled out of the gem and into the scarlet pool, swirling in agony around the bowl. ”Boiling bubbling tubbling shlop”
”Gods of olde hear my decree”
”Frazzled dandruff,” He held his head over the cauldron, oily black hair dangling limply down his cheeks. Fingers rustled through the dead skin of his scalp, white flakes bits of dandruff trickling into the smoldering goo like snow. ”-eye of newt” From a distance it looked like a tiny blueberry between the creature’s fingers. A black little orb delicately pinched between the thumb and pointer. He crushed it, and a squirt of red splashed into the vile ooze. It wasn’t a blackberry. ”From that a tincture I dilute!” In a crackling explosion of neon rainbows, the astral imps from before leapt out of the sludge... Giggling and now grown, they were cackling human sized... Creatures... Three of them, dancing skeletal forks made of warped and writhing geometric shapes. They flashed blurs of color, and their bones were sloshing about in waves of triangles and squares and geometric shapes which were utterly unrecognizable. Bodies made of puddy-like polygons which made no logical sense. Their feet stuck to the floor as they danced uncontrollably, in fact it seemed as though their feet was the floor.... For the floor beneath them became contorting circular patterns in constant locomotion. Then there were thin noodly arms which billowed and waved frantically like inflatable tube men. Those, unearthly, ungodly creatures danced all around the cauldron, cackling and cackling like sick deranged madmen. The skeletal man looked to the dancing creatures beside him with almost pleading eyes. ”Cosmic elves show me the way!” He whispy voice begged and they laughed at him. Deranged little giggles echoed into an empty church, but between that sweet nothings were whispered. Sweet nothings which goaded him on to continue. ”Bring me a wife without delay!” With a fierce howl and an explosion of vibrant colors, each entity flashed sparking energy from their fingers, surging it deep into the smoky broth. The cauldron erupted like a volcano, blood red surging high above spiraling up and billowing out like a mushroom cloud.
The esoteric smog above billowed out, illuminating like cloud of belching lightning. Hazy images sashayed in the mist, the first was of a wretched skin biting blizzard. Swirling whirlwinds of snow violently thrashed in the air and spattered against a gaunt form, a lonely creature which limped through frigid air. Snow crunched under each painful hobble as it trudged forwards, dragging an axe slowly behind it. The sickly beast had spindly bone thin limbs, and grey rotting flesh. It’s eyes glimmered white like pearls, and sunk into shriveled up dead flesh. A walking corpse with a grizzled beard forced it’s way through a winter abyss, groaning painfully and fading into the paranormal steam. Red roaring clouds only wavered briefly, for a new image was conveyed in the storm. The snowy storm faded into the calm waters of a tide pool with craggy black rocks jutting out like spikes, and monstrous sea life croaking in the pools. From one of the pools, a hulking creature lurched with skin the texture of seaweed, ripped to shreds and black as tar. It’s skin was slick and oily, and dripped as though it’s whole body were melting. Barnacles and scuttling sea life riddled it’s body, each one distorted nightmarishly. Starfish with writhing tendrils which were centipede bodies, hermit crabs with shells of pulsating human skin, decapitated fish heads and raunchy gore speckled fish bones. The entity had a bulbous head, with eyes which twinkled like starlight, and grotesque and fleshy mouth with lamprey teeth. Nine jagged fangs joined together by pink and bloodied gums. Viscous stomach bile oozed from it’s mouth which had the same color and consistency as it’s body, and after coughing grotesque black phlegm up it screeched like seagull into the night. ”Draugrs, devils bathed in brine” The sorcerers claws reached out to the smog, black eyed fish woman screamed into an open ocean, with screeching nude female birds circling in the air. ”Sirens, harpies most divine” Red fog sashayed into his eye sockets, billowing into the void of the right then out the left. It cooled around his throat and embraced him warmly. ”Breath it in and cough it out” Purple red and green lights began swirling in the mushroom cloud, some forming monstrous shapes, others remaining empty wisps. ”Hoot and holler and give a shout!”
”Eldritch beasts and succubi” Writhing tendrils of alien beasts reached out to erotic demonesses, swirling wind danced balls of light and stomping skeletons around the room. ”SCREAM come out and don’t be shy!” Cackling crones road around the skies, dog-faced demons galloped freely, sludge monsters and psychotic bird people swarmed the air. Perhaps it was the psychedelics? Perhaps it was something else? But all of it came from that hideous cauldron ”Faith in you to bring to me,” Spiraling dragons swirled and specters howled with laughter, all of the monsters screamed out in unison to proclaim that a wedding would soon come ”A wife, a bride, to DOCTOR DESTINY!!!“
A wisp of light strayed from the rest, dancing towards the pair and twinkling brightly. It came to them, sashaying in the air and enveloping to two in a brisk chill. It slithered behind them, and they both turned away from the hole they used to spy on this, Doctor Destiny. It hovered in place, bright lights illuminating their facial features. But then it morphed, becoming vaguely humanoid. A feminine white form. A woman with a torn up face, ripped apart and shredded screamed at them. They shrieked back, backing away from it and tripping into cathedral below...
They plummeted down and everything went black. It all felt like a dream. Or more like a nightmare... Nicholas assumed that when he’d awaken, he’d be at home. In a posh bed, with a lovely morning text from Daniel. But that never came. ”Such a beautiful young man.” A distant voice called out, and Nicholas could feel a finger motherly caressing his chin. But, everything was groggy. He could just faintly make out a blue form. His eyes opened wider, and that’s when he realized, his hands were bound and face was gagged. He looked up in horror at the grotesque beast leering over him... Squirming and writhing as his heart galloped faster than a horse. ”Pretty, pretty boy.” The monster cooed to him, delicately scratching a talon against his cheek. He whimpered frantically and tried to pull back. ”But I want a bride, not a groom.” He saw Daniel unconscious, though not bound, and instinctively went to squirm towards him. The skeleton held up it’s scepter, and the red gem atop glistened brightly.
Spiders, millions and millions of spiders suddenly and inexplicably swarmed out of Daniel’s head. A tsunami of arachnids of all different shapes, sizes, and species, a splashing wave of furry eight legged fiends large and small sloshing out of the head. Nicholas kicked back, attempting to scream but prevented by the gag. Squirming frantically, writhing away as the horde came hurdling towards him. They scuttled you his legs, around his chest, and all up his neck, and before he knew it, he felt them biting into him. Millions of tiny fangs sinking into his skin, ripping through it like paper. Biting chewing and ripping through his body. There were mounds of ticks over his thigh like a living anthill, scuttling and clamoring over each other desperate to feed upon the boy’s vital essence. The swarm burrowed into his flesh by the hundreds, gnawing teeth ripping through flesh like tiny needles, then gnawing at the muscular tissue of his upper thigh. The pellet bodies of long legged harvestmen spiders began slamming themselves into his neck, tiny fangs sunk deep into the skin, munching and chewing tiny bit by tiny bit. The tickling sensation of their long legs ending with the tiny sharp strikes of their little teeth. Three whip spiders matched up his neck, using their long claws to strike at his cheek and rip skin from the bone. The ungodly tortuous pain was like nothing he’d ever experienced, millions eating him away as he kicked and shrieked. He could feel a scuttling writhing force on the back of his optic nerve, inside his head, something crawling through the back of his eye as though it were slashing through jungle foliage. A piercing fiery pain struck once, and then twice, and three times as though burning chlorine were eating his eye away from the inside out. His eye went blind, but he could still feel the writhing creature forcing its way through. Burrowing between skin and scalara, the head of a baby scorpion pierced out of a tear duct, head flailing wildly as the rest of its tiny body tried to wriggle it’s tiny squirmy form through. Voracious hungry fiends dug further and further into his innards, he could feel the pitter pattern of their eight legs scuttling inside his stomach, dancing up his chest, and tiny legs crawling up his throat. The taste of fur on his tongue was revolting, and then the venom of it’s fangs splashing against his tastebuds was utterly vile. He tried to scream, but the gag of tape and his gaping maw of spiders let out only muffled sobs. He tried to cry, but viscous webbing of microscopic nesting arachnids in his tear ducts meant only tiny droplets of tears could force their way through. His body flailed and thrashed about as much as it could, but it was hopeless. His body belonged to the spiders now. ”Feed my children! Heehehehehehehehe!!”
One solitary spider strayed from the rest. It was not like the others, it was real. John could feel tiny black stalks scuttling around in his head. The pitter patter of his beloved pet. eight tiny black eyes peered out from the darkness. It scuttled forwards, two front legs perched at the rim of his eye socket, but then became hesitant. Wary of the horrific creature’s her master called forth. Forcing some small amount of courage out, she fell from his empty eyes like a teardrop, spiraling down bones appendages to moldy decrepit palms. ”Shhhh, it’s okay little Cleopatra.... Daddy loves you so~” He cooed to the arachnid as she danced between and around his fingers. He locked eyes with her lovingly, then reached in with his opposing hand. The long stalk of a pointer finger calculating the exact point at which it would touch her abdomen. A single finger strokes a tiny red hourglass shape, and a skeletal grin formed upon his face. But her “siblings” grew envious of Cleopatra’s attention. Swarms of spiders surged towards Doctor Dee I’m a wave of black and brown. A frightened Cleopatra fled back to her crevice in John Dee’s skull as he reached down to his other children, letting them swarm his body like a cloak and scooping a few up like running water with a few trickling back down to the flood. ”You’ll all have a mommy too, my sweets... Father shall return with a wife! Heehee! My big happy family! HAHhuhhahhehehhehhehheh!” His lower body became infested in arachnids, fat little blood sucking ticks, writhing scorpions, and tickling harvestmen. They enveloped his earthly form like a blanket, but he soon faded away. Black sand trickling out of their grasp, determined to fulfill his promise.
Sleepy small town suburbia is often where you’d least expect a killer to strike. A diamond in the ruff of Gotham County, New Jersey, the happy homes of Gotham Estates are often unseen by the maniacs and madmen of the greater city at large. The Maitland household in particular was just like any other family. Rose Maitland, loving mother and bank teller, Paul Maitland, jovial dad, droll accountant, and avid baseball fan, Melanie Maitland a music loving young girl, and little George Maitland who just plan liked his toys. Doctor Destiny had been watching them for a day, now. Stupid weasel looking dad and ugly kids... But lovely Rose... She would be his. Dee manifested in the dream world of a child’s playroom. A solitary little boy playing with his toys. This must’ve been George’s dream... The dreams of a young child were often either very simple, such as this one, or exceedingly complex. Their vast imagination made invading the mind wildly fascinating. But this, was boring. Dee looked down at the child with naught but scorn, and cast his gaze out to the dream’s bedroom window. A hideous tree, with snarling jagged branches leered into his bedroom, looking in on him as a plastic Superman clashed with a plastic T-Rex. This peaceful idyllic boring dream needed something to spice it up. With a snap of the fingers, the gnarled old tree sprang to life. It crashed through the bedroom window, tree limbs writhing and twisting monstrously. George screamed, and the tree scooped him up. He fought against it as best he could, but the branches held him tight. It grew jagged fangs and drooled orange sap, hungry for human flesh. The tree threw George into it’s mouth and began crunching, he kicked and screamed but it was for nothing.... Dr. Destiny merely moved on to the next dream.
This new hellish landscape was something so guttural and perverse that it frightened even him... So reviled and licentious, he felt sick to his stomach just thinking about it. The dreams of tweenaged girl........ How revolting. But still, he ogled in from above, towering over the stage of Melanie Maitland like a child peering into a dollhouse. His ruby eyes pierced through the ceiling, glinting down at her like a spotlight. She was a celebrity, everyone ogled this new beloved rising star. Paparazzi went ballistic as she strut down the red carpet at Gotham’s Iceberg Lounge. The hazy sequence gave a blurry transition into being seated in a booth and pampered like a princess. Glistening red eyes gazed on in disgust as she found herself adored by an entourage of four very effeminate looking male musicians. Eugh. What even is K-Pop?! Dee despised dreams like this. He reached in to the little dollhouse and lightly poked the little doll within upon the cheek, and with that, young Melanie felt this sudden urge to freshen up in the lavatory. She stood before a bathroom vanity, stating deeply into the shoulder length brown hair which had been curled professionally like the glitzy celebrities on her cellular telephone. That was when she noticed it... An imperfection. One tiny pimple on her cheek. This would never do, she needed to look her best for the sizzling boys of SHINee after all. With slight pop, she cleared it way and rinsed her hands and face, splashing a bit of sink water against her cheeks. She looked to the vanity once more, and found a large scab across her right cheek. A massive gash which was peeling away. She picked at it, finger costs key scratching against flesh, and it peeled away some more. Chunks of skin suddenly splattered into the sink like oily tan and red mud. She looked on in horror as her whole face began to droop, looking more like a clay sculpture than an actual human face. Skin sagging like melting leather, she scratched at the flesh and it felt like puddy on her finger tips. Her fingers dug in like the claws of a predator and ripped out chunks of red and tan, oily gore swirling in the sink below, she peeled away at more and more ripping the skin muscle and tissue away until bone revealed itself. The slimey red bones in the mirror laughed at her ”Hhhehehehehehehehehehehhehhehsnrrrrkhuhhahahahahhhheeheeheeheehee!”
Her beloved boy band idols surrounded her, and looked upon her skeletal warped face with nothing but revulsion. Doctor Destiny liked that. He liked that a lot. He instigated things further, each one pointed and screamed an ungodly belch with eyes shimmering a bright white. They hovered in place and flew in circles around her, pointing and screaming like a banshee. Between screams each one taunted her. ”Ugly b!tch!” cried one. ”Putrid sl%t!” shrieked another as her skeletal face shed bloody tears. ”Fat cow!” Hollered a third
That was a riveting time, there was something quite fun about petty evil. It brought him twisted delight, but he had a mission to fulfill. Best not to lose sight of that... A fiery black shade pierced through the dreamworld, and wriggled it’s way into the ear of the next dreamer. Tail flailing wildly like dancing string. He manifested in a cloud of sand, red eyes like the headlights of a car gleaming giddily. The Master Bedroom. This must be it. Though... It was a dream. A dream about the master bedroom. Only a boring soul like weaselly four-eyed Paul Maitland would dream up something so dull. Paul dreamed of himself and Rose, snugly wrapped in a comforter in a loving embrace. Their romantic silhouette emblazoned by the white light of a television set. Dee found the television set far more fascinating. The hazy fuzz of black and white lines tangoing together in an electric ballroom dance... Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzzzzt. Fuzzy lights flick-flick flickering gorgeously. Pink slime oozed from his teeth, creeping low across his lips and seeping down beneath him. His gaze soon shifted back to Paul and Rose, and it seemed as though, in the dream at least, they were no longer snuggling together. They were awake, and the whole Maitland family was enjoying the television fuzz with him. Four-eyed Paul and lovely Rose seated together, with Melanie between them. Dee looked back to the television only to find little George glued to it, hands pressed to the screen as though the set were speaking to him. The fuzz faded, much to Dee’s dismay, and in it’s place was some World Series baseball game. As fast as the television changed, the whole room changed. Their were roaring crowds and fierce cheering. They were in a baseball stadium now... The Gotham Knight has just won... Some cup.... John really couldn’t follow sports. But that weaselly looking Paul and his stupid family sat in a row in front of him. Paul’s dream was a delightful family outing at a baseball stadium... It was wholesome in it’s simplicity, and Dr. Dee hated it. Disgusting. A gun manifested out of the fabric of the dream space into Dee’s hands. He remorsefully gunned each member down. Bang! Bam! Bang! Except for Paul. Doctor Destiny left Paul to grieve. He ran to their corpses, shrieking curses to whatever god will kill him like this. Paul sobbed over his family, holding them tight and screaming into oblivion. But nobody could hear him. The stadium’s Jumbotron flickered on. Grieving Paul and his shattered family were displayed prominently for all to see at the center of a massive heart called Kiss Cam! John leered over him, delighted by his own cruelty. Watching stupid Paul cry over his stupid family made him extremely happy. ”HhhhheehehHAhahahhehhehhehheh!”
Out of the nightmare and into the real world, Paul tossed in turned in bed. Tears welling in clenched eyelids as he slumbered frightfully next to his loving wife. Loathsome black sand began trickling out of his ear. It took a slug like shape, slinking and slithering down the bed and oscillating around the floor. Two red eyes took shape and it inched under the bed, growing girthier with each slimey movement. A skeletal arm and hand pulled out of the sand as it crept past a baseball bat and under the bed. A slimey melting face attempted to form but instead splattered lifelessly into the rug. The hand forced itself forwards and it’s slinky, sandy badly dragged behind it. A second arm reached out and yanked at the sheets beneath Rose. Soon the oscillating mound of sand crawled its way out from the bed and took shape. A vaguely humanoid towered over a petite woman with beautiful red hair. Red like blood. John did love blood. Doctor Destiny finally manifested out of the dream world, breathing over her. Breathing heavily. Breathing painfully. Wheezy grunting breaths heaving over her beautiful face. He quietly stroked her cheek, soothing her for what was ahead.
Clammy fingers coiled around Rose’s cheeks and lips, throwing her head to the side for a clear shot at her neck. Her eyes shot open in horror, and a needle was slammed into her veins. A black thumb pressed the plunger of the syringe, and a translucent maroon serum was pumped into her veins. Doctor Destiny’s: “Lover’s Brew”. Rose convulsed wildly, spazzing out in bed and foaming at the mouth. Her arms and legs flailed around, her whole body threading all over. ”What the hell!?” Paul awoke in a fright, and Doctor Destiny hissed at him like a snake.
Rose coughed and gagged, pustules of her own flesh boiling out in massive bubbles then exploding on her body. Her face began to wither and melt, grey and red strewn all over as she gagged her last breath. Paul grabbed his autographed baseball bat from under the bed, and Dee snarled. ”HSSsSsSsssSSs!!” John slashed his talons towards Paul, and with a mighty swing Paul swatted the baseball bat into the monster’s teeth. It crashed into a lamppost, then snarked louder than before. ”Rrraaaaaaaugh!!!!” Destiny leapt like a cougar and mauled Paul, biting hard into widowed fathers neck.
Open/Closed: Closed
Location(s): Gotham County
Time of Day: Varies
Weather: Varies
Summary: A string of vicious homicides leads Selina Kyle to the wedding of Doctor Destiny.
What is that fairytale idea of love? How does it feel? Does it hurt? Is it sinful? The answer varies from person to person, and perhaps the most loathsome answer of all is that it doesn’t exist. There is a Dark Triad which rests in the souls of some very vile human beings. Psychopathy, Narcism, Machiavellianism three kings of ruin which make the soul’s kingdom dark and pitiful. The fictional Evil Queen as we know her, epitomizes this licentious opposition against the idea of “True Love”. But somehow in every romanticized myth of magic the prince and princess live happily ever after.
Once upon a time, there was a world with people who lived their lives through screens black as the night sky. An obsessive land where the people ogled over the couples of superstardom instead of engaging in their own lives. That is the sort of tale in which the Evil Queen is showered in praise by her magic mirror glinting in infinite likes. A world in which only vain and vile souls, the sort who hold that dark triad deep within, can only succeed. In spite of that, where all others ogled at the Queen, two souls chose to live their lives outside of a black screen....
If you had asked Nicholas Bower what he loves about Daniel Bloom, he’d say it was Daniel’s bashful shy nature and genuine tender kindness. Kindness like Nicholas had never seen, it made his heart race and cheeks grow red just thinking about it. If you were to ask Daniel Bloom the same question, he’d describe Nicholas’s lush blonde hair and carefree attitude. Both were utterly enthralled with each other, and desired an exciting night about town. Daniel in particular had been childishly giddy about this night for over a week. They looked upon a broken chapel in East Gotham, a hideous dilapidated thing. It was abandoned ages ago, and was now the location for date night.
This had once been a house of God, hallowed grounds meant to stand as a pinnacle of hope and all that is good in the world. Now it is an empty box in Gotham’s East End, void of life, void of faith and with a storied lore. Many of the old churches are said to be haunted, a notion which didn’t seem so preposterous in a city of catwomen and hideous penguin men. There was just some mystique about the city’s writhing cathedrals, the sort which spun tall tales of blood sucking flying lycanthropes, faceless flowering bloom-men, and sewn together corpse children with piano wire. This particular chapel has been burnt down twice and rebuilt, each time looking more hideous than the last. Then there was some tall tale about a bootlegger pretending to be a pastor during the height of prohibition, using the chapel as front to distribute alcohol and even chopping up bodies in the basement.
It had a gruesome story, but still, there was something infamously romantic about it. It was a strange tradition, lover’s from all over Gotham would make the pilgrimage and explore the chapel’s ruins. It was a bizarre ritual, and no one quite understood where or why it all began. But there was always something strangely romantic about horror, as backwards as that sounds. The fifth or sixth date would often involve a scary movie, or a haunted hayride, or really any event which caused one frightened lover to nestle in the breast of another. Now it was their turn, and Daniel couldn’t be happier. ”Come on!” Daniel tugged at Nicholas’s arm like an excited child. Nicholas shook his head with an enthralled grin. Their eyes locked, and for that briefest moment it was like sparks were surging down his spine. A fleeting tingle which was so heavenly and unexplainable, like a wave of magic thrashing against his chest. Soulful eyes tingled in the infinite reflection of locked irises. ”Alright, alright” They climbed up an old stairway in the back of the church. Daniel led the way, scared but in a good way, though he very suddenly froze with a shriek. “It’s just a spider...” Nicholas cooed as the arachnid dangled in front of both of them. ”You know I hate spiders!” Reaching an old torn door which had been weathered with age. Nicholas pulled it off to the aside and gestured snidely for Daniel to enter first. Timid, though giddy, Daniel crept through dangling cobwebs with a lofty hand pressed at the doorframe. His flashlight flickered on, and the inseparable pair crept upon creaking wood floors. The room was cramped and wooden, with nothing of particular interest apart from a leering old pipe organ and some dusty bibles. The room itself was an alcove above the main floor, and at the very end of it the wall was mostly torn out offering a breathtaking vantage point to view the whole chapel from above. They crept towards the glow of moonlight, and looked down at the.... Hideous sight beneath them.
Moonlight pierced through tattered rafters, faintly illuminating the building in a dull white light. Immediately the most striking image was a stain glass window at the very end of the hall. The window depicted what was perhaps once Christ, but now only a leering figure towering over the whole room with an empty face of broken glass. A face which depicted the void of space above as the eternal blackness leered in through what was once Christ’s eyes. Beneath that window there was a massive wooden cross which toppled over to a position which wasn’t quite upside down, but still inverted at an angle. Standing before the cross, as though it were insinuating a position of Christ himself, was an ugly looking statue of a shadowy robed figure huddled into a twisted wooden throne of gnarled tree limbs. It’s body was slunk lifelessly within the throne with a large wooden staff resting next to it.
The rest of the chapel was riddled with pews strewn haphazardly to the side. Some overturned and upside down, others torn in half and blanketed in layers of dust. There was a single lonely bookshelf to the right, and mound of four skeletons stacked one atop another. Nicholas and Daniel both assumed they were Halloween decorations or something of the like. How could a body decompose out in the open without the police finding out, after all? Finally, at the center of it all was a massive black cauldron nestled upon stacks of wood with lit embers. Still scarlet water sashayed quietly in the brisk Gotham chill, with a slow crawl of moonlight creeping towards it as the night went on. Around the cauldron was some... Strange laboratory set, two pews were used as makeshift tables housing colorful flasks, jars, and chemicals, most of which neither of them could recognize from a distance.
When the clock struck twelve, gleaming moonlight from the rafters pierced the cauldron just right. Scarlet goo soaked in Luna’s glistening white light, and the statue suddenly perked it’s head up. It arose and drifted off, as though it were waiting for this very moment. The two boys at first jumped at the sight, but quietly listened... ”I am the Nightmare King, but without a Queen” The statue, which looked shriveled and skeletal decreed as it gave a lofty walk towards the chapel’s book case. ”And perhaps my tastes do, deviate” The creature reached down to the mound of skeletons, skeletal talons coiling around the cervical spine and pulling it up to eye level. ”Sure, I like them dead... But, I still deserve to be loved and be seen...” The skeletons exchanged locked glances, one more living than the other. Then the “living” creature merely lobbed the dead one aside. ”So I cursed the God which made me single, and begged the devil to mediate~” He went to the bookshelf and scanned it for one book in particular.
”Hordes of hell did heed my plea” One scaly claw traced along a line of dusty books, a boney finger with a long black nail, so black that it looked like charcoal set alight. ”So they revealed this recipe” There was but one solitary book which had not been caked in dust and cobwebs, a trailing finger soon found it and four more boney digits coiled around the cover and pulled it out. ”A luscious bride a sultry miss” Pages unfurled in his claw, and the robed creature glided it’s way back towards to cauldron, setting the tome up beside it’s menagerie of grotesque ingredients. ”And the recipe went just like this...” The creature, the would-be sorcerer, whatever it was... Pulled out a match, scratching it along the cauldron’s rim. It lit up in his finger, and the hideous figure appeared to give some hideous grin at it. He threw the match into the mound of wood and it caught fire almost instantly.
Soupy maroon bubbled and brothed at the surface, smoldering like hot tar. The creature scanned it’s laboratory set, digging it’s claws into a bowl of what appeared to be oily looking particles of fish food. It sunk its claws into it, scooping out a handful of flakes, some of them trickling out from his fingers, then dropped it into the maroon ooze to be dissolved. ”Splash in moldy flakes of mange” The creature then grabbed a beaker with some hideous looking yellow liquid, and a flask with green slime. He poured both in at the same time, and the chemical broth began writhing about as though it were alive. ”Mix in krokodil and toxic muck“ Grotesque red fumes began to slowly billow out from the viscous concoction the creature was mixing together. Red smog playfully began dancing around his neck and dissipating into the air. ”Drop a brain, a mind deranged” This one came from his cloak, a human brain, that of his Arkham ilk. His left claw reached into a watery jar and pulled the pink globule of flesh out, discarding the jar with a crash. Both hands held it up, rotting gnarled fingers coiled around the slimy pink membrane. He squeezed it, and cerebrospinal fluid gushed out like a sponge. He squeezed it some more. He squeezed it so hard, that crushed slimy tissue oscillated between his fingers and splashed into the cauldron. It trickled down in chunks, then he threw the last pieces in. ”I just can’t wait to~“ BOOM!!! Red tar erupted from the cauldron blasting into his face mid sentence. Searing fiery pain sizzled his cheeks and the creature turned away with a hissing sound.
He whimpered like a child, cringing with small sobs. It was betrayed by its own creation, and it childishly kicked at the cauldron in a temper tantrum. The cauldron itself reacted by billowing out smoldering maroon steam. The colorful miasma wafted and danced around the creature’s spindly form. His arms wafted the myst into him, breathing in the toxic fumes and embracing the colorful miasma wholeheartedly. ”Apparitions of sexual conquest“ He howled out to long forgotten monsters of yore. ”Summon someone exotic” The beast grabbed a container of bleach from his lab and poured the whole container into the ominous scarlet pool. ”Blend in lust and noxious fungus” He grabbed various fungi from a bowl, some psychedelic other poisonous, each one dumped and dissolved into the mixture. Sparks crackled from the red water’s surface, purple lime and pink tangoing with the red miasma above. ”Bring me something erotic!”
The skeletal beast next reached out for an orange pill bottle. He twisted the cap and poured over a dozen white tablets into it his brew. They crackled and dissolved at the surface, white dissolving particles turning pink in the colorful ooze. ”A pouring rain of OxyContin” Next was a brown container, a similar though much larger bottle. He twisted the cap and poured clear sizzling liquid into the solution. It swirled around the pot and boiled and bubbled at the surface. ”Hydrochloric Acid too” Nicholas and Daniel exchanges cringing glances. Whatever this thing was brewing sounded painful... ”Astral imps long since forgotten” He held a cardboard box above the frothing slime, the lovers could just faintly make out movement within it, but they weren’t sure what. The skeleton dumped the contents in, but it almost seemed like the contents jumped in of their own volition. As if three colors leapt in face first as though they were diving into a pool. There came three melodic splashes. ”This smoldering pit of lover’s brew” He called it a “lover’s brew”, but... What they had was love, and this? This wasn’t love. This was something disgusting. It was almost pitiful, what a warped and twisted view it had of something which was supposed to be so profoundly beautiful.
The creature held a small water dropper and let it over atop the swirling maroon tar. He dripped a single droplet into it. ”Tears of joy dripped atop” A splash of toenails was thrown atop, then a writhing pile of insects, followed by colorful pellets. ”Toenails, bugs, and D.M.T” Grotesque claws reached for the staff nestled against his throne. The staff was simply an old piece of wood, but at the very end was a large red gem. The staff was used to stir everything together, with the red gem sloshing in the mix. Crying horrified faces crawled out of the gem and into the scarlet pool, swirling in agony around the bowl. ”Boiling bubbling tubbling shlop”
”Gods of olde hear my decree”
”Frazzled dandruff,” He held his head over the cauldron, oily black hair dangling limply down his cheeks. Fingers rustled through the dead skin of his scalp, white flakes bits of dandruff trickling into the smoldering goo like snow. ”-eye of newt” From a distance it looked like a tiny blueberry between the creature’s fingers. A black little orb delicately pinched between the thumb and pointer. He crushed it, and a squirt of red splashed into the vile ooze. It wasn’t a blackberry. ”From that a tincture I dilute!” In a crackling explosion of neon rainbows, the astral imps from before leapt out of the sludge... Giggling and now grown, they were cackling human sized... Creatures... Three of them, dancing skeletal forks made of warped and writhing geometric shapes. They flashed blurs of color, and their bones were sloshing about in waves of triangles and squares and geometric shapes which were utterly unrecognizable. Bodies made of puddy-like polygons which made no logical sense. Their feet stuck to the floor as they danced uncontrollably, in fact it seemed as though their feet was the floor.... For the floor beneath them became contorting circular patterns in constant locomotion. Then there were thin noodly arms which billowed and waved frantically like inflatable tube men. Those, unearthly, ungodly creatures danced all around the cauldron, cackling and cackling like sick deranged madmen. The skeletal man looked to the dancing creatures beside him with almost pleading eyes. ”Cosmic elves show me the way!” He whispy voice begged and they laughed at him. Deranged little giggles echoed into an empty church, but between that sweet nothings were whispered. Sweet nothings which goaded him on to continue. ”Bring me a wife without delay!” With a fierce howl and an explosion of vibrant colors, each entity flashed sparking energy from their fingers, surging it deep into the smoky broth. The cauldron erupted like a volcano, blood red surging high above spiraling up and billowing out like a mushroom cloud.
The esoteric smog above billowed out, illuminating like cloud of belching lightning. Hazy images sashayed in the mist, the first was of a wretched skin biting blizzard. Swirling whirlwinds of snow violently thrashed in the air and spattered against a gaunt form, a lonely creature which limped through frigid air. Snow crunched under each painful hobble as it trudged forwards, dragging an axe slowly behind it. The sickly beast had spindly bone thin limbs, and grey rotting flesh. It’s eyes glimmered white like pearls, and sunk into shriveled up dead flesh. A walking corpse with a grizzled beard forced it’s way through a winter abyss, groaning painfully and fading into the paranormal steam. Red roaring clouds only wavered briefly, for a new image was conveyed in the storm. The snowy storm faded into the calm waters of a tide pool with craggy black rocks jutting out like spikes, and monstrous sea life croaking in the pools. From one of the pools, a hulking creature lurched with skin the texture of seaweed, ripped to shreds and black as tar. It’s skin was slick and oily, and dripped as though it’s whole body were melting. Barnacles and scuttling sea life riddled it’s body, each one distorted nightmarishly. Starfish with writhing tendrils which were centipede bodies, hermit crabs with shells of pulsating human skin, decapitated fish heads and raunchy gore speckled fish bones. The entity had a bulbous head, with eyes which twinkled like starlight, and grotesque and fleshy mouth with lamprey teeth. Nine jagged fangs joined together by pink and bloodied gums. Viscous stomach bile oozed from it’s mouth which had the same color and consistency as it’s body, and after coughing grotesque black phlegm up it screeched like seagull into the night. ”Draugrs, devils bathed in brine” The sorcerers claws reached out to the smog, black eyed fish woman screamed into an open ocean, with screeching nude female birds circling in the air. ”Sirens, harpies most divine” Red fog sashayed into his eye sockets, billowing into the void of the right then out the left. It cooled around his throat and embraced him warmly. ”Breath it in and cough it out” Purple red and green lights began swirling in the mushroom cloud, some forming monstrous shapes, others remaining empty wisps. ”Hoot and holler and give a shout!”
”Eldritch beasts and succubi” Writhing tendrils of alien beasts reached out to erotic demonesses, swirling wind danced balls of light and stomping skeletons around the room. ”SCREAM come out and don’t be shy!” Cackling crones road around the skies, dog-faced demons galloped freely, sludge monsters and psychotic bird people swarmed the air. Perhaps it was the psychedelics? Perhaps it was something else? But all of it came from that hideous cauldron ”Faith in you to bring to me,” Spiraling dragons swirled and specters howled with laughter, all of the monsters screamed out in unison to proclaim that a wedding would soon come ”A wife, a bride, to DOCTOR DESTINY!!!“
”HYEHHEHHEHHAHHehhehHEEhehhyeh!!!”
A wisp of light strayed from the rest, dancing towards the pair and twinkling brightly. It came to them, sashaying in the air and enveloping to two in a brisk chill. It slithered behind them, and they both turned away from the hole they used to spy on this, Doctor Destiny. It hovered in place, bright lights illuminating their facial features. But then it morphed, becoming vaguely humanoid. A feminine white form. A woman with a torn up face, ripped apart and shredded screamed at them. They shrieked back, backing away from it and tripping into cathedral below...
”AAAaAaAaAaAaAAAAAAAaAAAAAH!!”
”AAAaAaAaaaaaAaAaAaAaAAAaAAAH!!!”
”AAAaAaAaaaaaAaAaAaAaAAAaAAAH!!!”
They plummeted down and everything went black. It all felt like a dream. Or more like a nightmare... Nicholas assumed that when he’d awaken, he’d be at home. In a posh bed, with a lovely morning text from Daniel. But that never came. ”Such a beautiful young man.” A distant voice called out, and Nicholas could feel a finger motherly caressing his chin. But, everything was groggy. He could just faintly make out a blue form. His eyes opened wider, and that’s when he realized, his hands were bound and face was gagged. He looked up in horror at the grotesque beast leering over him... Squirming and writhing as his heart galloped faster than a horse. ”Pretty, pretty boy.” The monster cooed to him, delicately scratching a talon against his cheek. He whimpered frantically and tried to pull back. ”But I want a bride, not a groom.” He saw Daniel unconscious, though not bound, and instinctively went to squirm towards him. The skeleton held up it’s scepter, and the red gem atop glistened brightly.
Spiders, millions and millions of spiders suddenly and inexplicably swarmed out of Daniel’s head. A tsunami of arachnids of all different shapes, sizes, and species, a splashing wave of furry eight legged fiends large and small sloshing out of the head. Nicholas kicked back, attempting to scream but prevented by the gag. Squirming frantically, writhing away as the horde came hurdling towards him. They scuttled you his legs, around his chest, and all up his neck, and before he knew it, he felt them biting into him. Millions of tiny fangs sinking into his skin, ripping through it like paper. Biting chewing and ripping through his body. There were mounds of ticks over his thigh like a living anthill, scuttling and clamoring over each other desperate to feed upon the boy’s vital essence. The swarm burrowed into his flesh by the hundreds, gnawing teeth ripping through flesh like tiny needles, then gnawing at the muscular tissue of his upper thigh. The pellet bodies of long legged harvestmen spiders began slamming themselves into his neck, tiny fangs sunk deep into the skin, munching and chewing tiny bit by tiny bit. The tickling sensation of their long legs ending with the tiny sharp strikes of their little teeth. Three whip spiders matched up his neck, using their long claws to strike at his cheek and rip skin from the bone. The ungodly tortuous pain was like nothing he’d ever experienced, millions eating him away as he kicked and shrieked. He could feel a scuttling writhing force on the back of his optic nerve, inside his head, something crawling through the back of his eye as though it were slashing through jungle foliage. A piercing fiery pain struck once, and then twice, and three times as though burning chlorine were eating his eye away from the inside out. His eye went blind, but he could still feel the writhing creature forcing its way through. Burrowing between skin and scalara, the head of a baby scorpion pierced out of a tear duct, head flailing wildly as the rest of its tiny body tried to wriggle it’s tiny squirmy form through. Voracious hungry fiends dug further and further into his innards, he could feel the pitter pattern of their eight legs scuttling inside his stomach, dancing up his chest, and tiny legs crawling up his throat. The taste of fur on his tongue was revolting, and then the venom of it’s fangs splashing against his tastebuds was utterly vile. He tried to scream, but the gag of tape and his gaping maw of spiders let out only muffled sobs. He tried to cry, but viscous webbing of microscopic nesting arachnids in his tear ducts meant only tiny droplets of tears could force their way through. His body flailed and thrashed about as much as it could, but it was hopeless. His body belonged to the spiders now. ”Feed my children! Heehehehehehehehe!!”
One solitary spider strayed from the rest. It was not like the others, it was real. John could feel tiny black stalks scuttling around in his head. The pitter patter of his beloved pet. eight tiny black eyes peered out from the darkness. It scuttled forwards, two front legs perched at the rim of his eye socket, but then became hesitant. Wary of the horrific creature’s her master called forth. Forcing some small amount of courage out, she fell from his empty eyes like a teardrop, spiraling down bones appendages to moldy decrepit palms. ”Shhhh, it’s okay little Cleopatra.... Daddy loves you so~” He cooed to the arachnid as she danced between and around his fingers. He locked eyes with her lovingly, then reached in with his opposing hand. The long stalk of a pointer finger calculating the exact point at which it would touch her abdomen. A single finger strokes a tiny red hourglass shape, and a skeletal grin formed upon his face. But her “siblings” grew envious of Cleopatra’s attention. Swarms of spiders surged towards Doctor Dee I’m a wave of black and brown. A frightened Cleopatra fled back to her crevice in John Dee’s skull as he reached down to his other children, letting them swarm his body like a cloak and scooping a few up like running water with a few trickling back down to the flood. ”You’ll all have a mommy too, my sweets... Father shall return with a wife! Heehee! My big happy family! HAHhuhhahhehehhehhehheh!” His lower body became infested in arachnids, fat little blood sucking ticks, writhing scorpions, and tickling harvestmen. They enveloped his earthly form like a blanket, but he soon faded away. Black sand trickling out of their grasp, determined to fulfill his promise.
Sleepy small town suburbia is often where you’d least expect a killer to strike. A diamond in the ruff of Gotham County, New Jersey, the happy homes of Gotham Estates are often unseen by the maniacs and madmen of the greater city at large. The Maitland household in particular was just like any other family. Rose Maitland, loving mother and bank teller, Paul Maitland, jovial dad, droll accountant, and avid baseball fan, Melanie Maitland a music loving young girl, and little George Maitland who just plan liked his toys. Doctor Destiny had been watching them for a day, now. Stupid weasel looking dad and ugly kids... But lovely Rose... She would be his. Dee manifested in the dream world of a child’s playroom. A solitary little boy playing with his toys. This must’ve been George’s dream... The dreams of a young child were often either very simple, such as this one, or exceedingly complex. Their vast imagination made invading the mind wildly fascinating. But this, was boring. Dee looked down at the child with naught but scorn, and cast his gaze out to the dream’s bedroom window. A hideous tree, with snarling jagged branches leered into his bedroom, looking in on him as a plastic Superman clashed with a plastic T-Rex. This peaceful idyllic boring dream needed something to spice it up. With a snap of the fingers, the gnarled old tree sprang to life. It crashed through the bedroom window, tree limbs writhing and twisting monstrously. George screamed, and the tree scooped him up. He fought against it as best he could, but the branches held him tight. It grew jagged fangs and drooled orange sap, hungry for human flesh. The tree threw George into it’s mouth and began crunching, he kicked and screamed but it was for nothing.... Dr. Destiny merely moved on to the next dream.
This new hellish landscape was something so guttural and perverse that it frightened even him... So reviled and licentious, he felt sick to his stomach just thinking about it. The dreams of tweenaged girl........ How revolting. But still, he ogled in from above, towering over the stage of Melanie Maitland like a child peering into a dollhouse. His ruby eyes pierced through the ceiling, glinting down at her like a spotlight. She was a celebrity, everyone ogled this new beloved rising star. Paparazzi went ballistic as she strut down the red carpet at Gotham’s Iceberg Lounge. The hazy sequence gave a blurry transition into being seated in a booth and pampered like a princess. Glistening red eyes gazed on in disgust as she found herself adored by an entourage of four very effeminate looking male musicians. Eugh. What even is K-Pop?! Dee despised dreams like this. He reached in to the little dollhouse and lightly poked the little doll within upon the cheek, and with that, young Melanie felt this sudden urge to freshen up in the lavatory. She stood before a bathroom vanity, stating deeply into the shoulder length brown hair which had been curled professionally like the glitzy celebrities on her cellular telephone. That was when she noticed it... An imperfection. One tiny pimple on her cheek. This would never do, she needed to look her best for the sizzling boys of SHINee after all. With slight pop, she cleared it way and rinsed her hands and face, splashing a bit of sink water against her cheeks. She looked to the vanity once more, and found a large scab across her right cheek. A massive gash which was peeling away. She picked at it, finger costs key scratching against flesh, and it peeled away some more. Chunks of skin suddenly splattered into the sink like oily tan and red mud. She looked on in horror as her whole face began to droop, looking more like a clay sculpture than an actual human face. Skin sagging like melting leather, she scratched at the flesh and it felt like puddy on her finger tips. Her fingers dug in like the claws of a predator and ripped out chunks of red and tan, oily gore swirling in the sink below, she peeled away at more and more ripping the skin muscle and tissue away until bone revealed itself. The slimey red bones in the mirror laughed at her ”Hhhehehehehehehehehehehhehhehsnrrrrkhuhhahahahahhhheeheeheeheehee!”
Her beloved boy band idols surrounded her, and looked upon her skeletal warped face with nothing but revulsion. Doctor Destiny liked that. He liked that a lot. He instigated things further, each one pointed and screamed an ungodly belch with eyes shimmering a bright white. They hovered in place and flew in circles around her, pointing and screaming like a banshee. Between screams each one taunted her. ”Ugly b!tch!” cried one. ”Putrid sl%t!” shrieked another as her skeletal face shed bloody tears. ”Fat cow!” Hollered a third
”Ugly! Ugly! Ugly! Ugly! EEYAHHAHAHAHAHEHHAHHAHHEEEEEH!!”
That was a riveting time, there was something quite fun about petty evil. It brought him twisted delight, but he had a mission to fulfill. Best not to lose sight of that... A fiery black shade pierced through the dreamworld, and wriggled it’s way into the ear of the next dreamer. Tail flailing wildly like dancing string. He manifested in a cloud of sand, red eyes like the headlights of a car gleaming giddily. The Master Bedroom. This must be it. Though... It was a dream. A dream about the master bedroom. Only a boring soul like weaselly four-eyed Paul Maitland would dream up something so dull. Paul dreamed of himself and Rose, snugly wrapped in a comforter in a loving embrace. Their romantic silhouette emblazoned by the white light of a television set. Dee found the television set far more fascinating. The hazy fuzz of black and white lines tangoing together in an electric ballroom dance... Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzzzzt. Fuzzy lights flick-flick flickering gorgeously. Pink slime oozed from his teeth, creeping low across his lips and seeping down beneath him. His gaze soon shifted back to Paul and Rose, and it seemed as though, in the dream at least, they were no longer snuggling together. They were awake, and the whole Maitland family was enjoying the television fuzz with him. Four-eyed Paul and lovely Rose seated together, with Melanie between them. Dee looked back to the television only to find little George glued to it, hands pressed to the screen as though the set were speaking to him. The fuzz faded, much to Dee’s dismay, and in it’s place was some World Series baseball game. As fast as the television changed, the whole room changed. Their were roaring crowds and fierce cheering. They were in a baseball stadium now... The Gotham Knight has just won... Some cup.... John really couldn’t follow sports. But that weaselly looking Paul and his stupid family sat in a row in front of him. Paul’s dream was a delightful family outing at a baseball stadium... It was wholesome in it’s simplicity, and Dr. Dee hated it. Disgusting. A gun manifested out of the fabric of the dream space into Dee’s hands. He remorsefully gunned each member down. Bang! Bam! Bang! Except for Paul. Doctor Destiny left Paul to grieve. He ran to their corpses, shrieking curses to whatever god will kill him like this. Paul sobbed over his family, holding them tight and screaming into oblivion. But nobody could hear him. The stadium’s Jumbotron flickered on. Grieving Paul and his shattered family were displayed prominently for all to see at the center of a massive heart called Kiss Cam! John leered over him, delighted by his own cruelty. Watching stupid Paul cry over his stupid family made him extremely happy. ”HhhhheehehHAhahahhehhehhehheh!”
Out of the nightmare and into the real world, Paul tossed in turned in bed. Tears welling in clenched eyelids as he slumbered frightfully next to his loving wife. Loathsome black sand began trickling out of his ear. It took a slug like shape, slinking and slithering down the bed and oscillating around the floor. Two red eyes took shape and it inched under the bed, growing girthier with each slimey movement. A skeletal arm and hand pulled out of the sand as it crept past a baseball bat and under the bed. A slimey melting face attempted to form but instead splattered lifelessly into the rug. The hand forced itself forwards and it’s slinky, sandy badly dragged behind it. A second arm reached out and yanked at the sheets beneath Rose. Soon the oscillating mound of sand crawled its way out from the bed and took shape. A vaguely humanoid towered over a petite woman with beautiful red hair. Red like blood. John did love blood. Doctor Destiny finally manifested out of the dream world, breathing over her. Breathing heavily. Breathing painfully. Wheezy grunting breaths heaving over her beautiful face. He quietly stroked her cheek, soothing her for what was ahead.
Clammy fingers coiled around Rose’s cheeks and lips, throwing her head to the side for a clear shot at her neck. Her eyes shot open in horror, and a needle was slammed into her veins. A black thumb pressed the plunger of the syringe, and a translucent maroon serum was pumped into her veins. Doctor Destiny’s: “Lover’s Brew”. Rose convulsed wildly, spazzing out in bed and foaming at the mouth. Her arms and legs flailed around, her whole body threading all over. ”What the hell!?” Paul awoke in a fright, and Doctor Destiny hissed at him like a snake.
Rose coughed and gagged, pustules of her own flesh boiling out in massive bubbles then exploding on her body. Her face began to wither and melt, grey and red strewn all over as she gagged her last breath. Paul grabbed his autographed baseball bat from under the bed, and Dee snarled. ”HSSsSsSsssSSs!!” John slashed his talons towards Paul, and with a mighty swing Paul swatted the baseball bat into the monster’s teeth. It crashed into a lamppost, then snarked louder than before. ”Rrraaaaaaaugh!!!!” Destiny leapt like a cougar and mauled Paul, biting hard into widowed fathers neck.
| Selina Kyle |
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