tampered | Log; Ongoing

Log; Ongoing

When; Evening, August 7th
Rating; PG-13, at worst
Characters; The Master

master_supreme and Stephanie Brown

indigo_justice
Summary; The Master shows Stephanie that he is capable of behaving like a normal person, thank you very much, by taking her to the Den for dinner and dancing (and he doesn't have any ulterior motive at all-- ohhh no, of course he doesn't!)
Log;

One evening without taunting, without games (well. Without overt games). Did the silly little girl truly think the Master incapable of such a thing? Archangel Network aside, he did have to gain the trust of a great number of humans before his campaign for Prime Minister-- and even after they were effectively in his thrall, he had no problems keeping up appearances. The only reason he hadn't bothered to do the same in the City was-- well, there was no point. The Doctor had warned everybody about him the moment he landed, and it would be a wasted effort to pretend to be one thing while there were others ready to disprove his kinder, gentler persona in an instant.

(What he needed, of course, was a catalyst, something-- some person, event, anything really-- that could conceivably spark a change in him in the eyes of others. He was still weighing the potential benefits of such an act, though. Would it be worth it, in the end, assist him in getting what he truly wanted, or would it be more trouble--)

Well. He supposed "not plotting" was one of the stipulations of the... date.

Dressed as impeccably as ever (for all his disdain for humans, he does so love their clothes), the Master stood before the Den, awaiting the arrival of one little blonde vigilante. Tonight, he would be truly kind-- a gentleman-- and perhaps... perhaps he would let her in just enough to have her believe she understood his poor, tormented soul.

[OOC: I know they said the Lux in the last thread, but I didn't know if they actually had food there so I changed it to the Den XD]

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Stephanie wonders what the Master has been keeping himself occupied with...whatever it is, it can't be good.
When the server comes, Steph orders her steak before turning back to the Master.

He'd only think her theory was embarrassing...but hey, never hurt...did it?
"Vampires. Or somebody imitating them."

"Vampires," he repeated softly. Not an unlikely conclusion to come to, given the lack of blood at the crime scenes and the decapitation. Of course, vampires were not the only ones inclined to do such things-- the lack of blood at the scene could point to a number of different things, and the decapitation could just be for show, rather than a poor attempt at covering one's true nature.

But then, the Master hadn't seen any of the bodies yet, so what did he know?

"Plausible. How much of the blood is drained from each corpse?"

"Almost all of it. It's a plausable theory, given the lack of blood and the decapitation, but it's not the only one out there....I've been considering going Underground to see if there's anything to dig up..."

She didn't mention Kara and Molly's little adventure Underground, for obvious reasons.
And then, her steak came, and Steph dug in, quietly.

"Unless, of course, they were using blood for other purposes. Or," he put on a thoughtful face, "were merely a sadist. Let the victim bleed out before the decapitation."

Did he enjoy that thought? ~~Probably~~ Possibly. As the food arrived (pretend he totally ordered), the Master looked down at his plate with vague disinterest, then looked at Stephanie's.

"How rare is that steak? I suppose we shouldn't be talking about bleeding out while you're digging in to a slab of meat."

"It's a possibility...I'm trying to figure it out, but...it's hard to tell."

The idea of a sadist or somebody else using blood had come up before...it was a possibility. It was hard to tell what was going on, but the fact that nobody else had died yet was good.
The steak was good, she realized.

"It's pretty rare. I like it that way. And I don't mind, it's normal to me."

"Hm. What a life you've led, then," he mused. And then, after a beat, the Master reached out with his fork and snagged a bit of Stephanie's dinner. He was paying, after all, so it was his anyway. "Yum."

"So." He took a sip of his wine and looked about the Den lazily. "There's all this talk about how I care for nothing but death and destruction. But here I am... and I don't know what your hobbies and interests are. Aside from vigilante-ism. Tell me about yourself, Stephanie."

"That's about it, really...There's not much room for anything else in there. But I like books, and music, and stuff. Normal stuff, I suppose... Not much else I can say, really.
What about you?"

"I like stuff, too," he replied dryly. "What brought you to this line of work?"

Steph smirks at his response.
"Stuff. How very specific."

She sighs, trying to remember why she started. It was her stupid dads fault, really....
"It's complicated and slightly boring."

"Oh, come now." He took another sip of wine and grinned. "Don't be coy with me. Origin stories are hardly boring. And you should know enough of me by know to understand that I love things that are... complicated."

Steph sighed. Oh, of course he'd push it.
She didn't have to tell him everything. She didn't plan on it...

"It's my dad's fault, really. He was a criminal. And a poor one at that. Only started to stop him. Never really stopped...never found a reason to."
She sips her water, looking intently at her stake, avoiding his eyes.

"Did you do it to stop him?" he asked softly, leaning forward slightly, then added, "Or did you do it for his attention?"

Oh, that was an easy one.
"To stop him. I never wanted his attention, he was a jackass."

It was true. Steph never wanted to impress her father...
She'd always wanted to impress Batman.

"Ah. Then I'll inquire about him no more," the Master said, leaning back again. See, he could even pretend to be sensitive about some subjects! "And where was your mother during all of this?" See. ~~Intrusive~~ ~~Nosy~~ Sensitive. He was asking about the other parent now.

"Usually high on painkillers or something. Or drunk. It's hard to tell which it was, they caused the sort of the same sluggish effect."

She leans back. He probably didn't expect that. Or maybe he did. She didn't care.
She just turns back to her steak, finishing it up.

"What a dreadful home life," he said, musing. "I can see why dressing up as a superhero has its perks."

He paused, then grinned. "Are there any villains as delightful as me in your world?"

She shrugs at his comment about her home life. Yes, it had sucked. But her mom had fought her drug addictions, and by the time that Steph 'died', she'd finally kicked it. Her dad...Steph still didn't know where she stood on the Cluemaster. She probably never would.

At his question, she shrugged. Oh, there were a number she could name.
"A few come to mind. The Joker, the Riddler, maybe Scarecrow...And I suppose the Penguin, too, at times...And before you ask, yes, we all know how terrible those names are."

"Hmph," he snorted. "And people think 'the Master' is a ludicrous name." He thought, then nodded. "Ah. But I know of the Joker."

That one he recognized as the clown who sometimes posted on the Network about "Jokerland".

"They must have kept you quite busy. Did they all have some sort of silly theme to go with the name?"

"Everyone knows of the Joker. He's...well. You hear of him, even if he's not from your world."

She snickered a little, at the mention of silly themes.
"Not really. The Penguin looks a bit like a penguin, and he runs the Iceberg Lounge, but that's it. The Joker? Well, he's...again, you gotta see it to believe it.

Scarecrow and the Riddler are themed, but they're far from silly."

"Really? Because they sound the silliest of them all." The Master popped some food into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "Scarecrow... Did he pop out of-- ohh, what's the film-- the Wizard of Oz?"

He propped an elbow on the table and leaned his cheek into his palm, giving Stephanie a very bored look. "And Riddler. Let me guess. He leaves riddles at the scene of every crime. Oooh. Scary."

"They sound the silliest, but you shouldn't underestimate them. Yes, the Riddler leaves riddles...but they're very tough, and usually are direct clues to what he'll do next. If you don't figure them out in time, people could..."

She trails off....
"The Scarecrow is mainly based on the Scare factor. He uses drugs and fear toxin to weaken his victims..."

"Oh, the gimmick. Glad I never fell into that trap," the Master remarked, rolling his eyes. Perhaps he had a bit of Supervillain Envy going on-- he'd never admit it if he did (which he didn't), so it was moot. How many of them had managed even a fraction of his accomplishments?.

Now, the latter, the Scarecrow, he found that interesting. Fear toxin... Imagine the chaos.

"Really. Well. I do hope he doesn't find his way here."

"...He's already here."

It was nerve wracking, the Scarecrow, a big old baddie, being here . It shows on her face.

...that's what he wanted to hear.

"I take it-- unlike the Joker-- this man has a separate alias?" The Master cocked his head to the side in response to the look that found its way on Stephanie's face. "Is he truly that bad? Do I seem harmless as a kitten in comparison?" he asked curiously-- if slightly teasingly.

"He does. He's not...well, I don't know, I've never actually faced him. But I've heard the stories."

She sighs, teasingly.
"No, you're still far worse."

"Oh good! I was afraid I was losing my edge here, taking the good guy-- well, girl-- out to dinner and all. I'll have to level a continent to make up for it."

If it weren't for the fact that (for the time being) the Master was trapped in the City, it would have been difficult to tell if he'd actually intended to follow through with that statement.

"I can't do it yet but... it's on my to-do list," he added.

Steph snorts. The Master is completely insane, but she can't tell if he'd actually do that...
"Oh, I think that you wouldn't do it."

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Log; Ongoing

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