Fears Facade [Dr. Elliot]

[Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow]

He had received a message from an old acquaintance. Perhaps, back then, that kind of interaction would have been considered some kind of friendship? No, He’d never consider it that. He did become his patient after all. It wasn’t ethical to develop relationships outside of professionalism when it came to therapy, but he was never one for ethics to begin with. Ethics were made up to protect one from themselves, to tuck away the possibility that they would be confronted with their fears in the most intimate ways. This was what he wanted to do away with, the veils and the false lives. One can only truly see themselves if they embrace their only true existence.

Complete terror.

Dr. Elliot was not an exception to this fact. He was another one of them, chasing desires for meaningless reasons. Still, they had been roommates at that time. It was better financially for him at the time as reluctant as he was to do so. The doctor had never been one for relationships even before he was stripped of everything. He had always been withdrawn, there was no point to be anything else. There was no point to interacting with another outside of professionalism. He didn’t need anyone. His mind ran over a few that he had been interacting with lately, but that wasn’t the same…He would leave that out of it.

The doctor had made his way into the Stacked Deck, where he was to meet Dr. Elliot again for the first time in a long time. He didn’t know why, that wasn’t disclosed but he had no reason not to meet him. The man had been known to be useful to him, he was his patient and showed promise in several areas before he went out of his grip. After everything happened, he hadn’t followed him or anything he did. Their paths had spread apart and went in different directions.

Dr. Crane made his way to the back of the bar and took his seat at the booth that had been reserved for him. The light was out as usual, casting a shadow over the booth and the table alike. The population of the bar, made of men, women, drunkards and poolplayers noticed him come in. They were all criminals alike. It was one of the several bars in the East that didn’t have a problem taking in this type. The owner never cared for his presence here, but he hadn’t dared confront him on the subject. After so many times of the doctor taking the light from the booth himself the owner eventually just left it bare. No one sat in his booth, but he wouldn’t have cared if anyone did….Fear had a way of leading one astray if not embraced. But he didn’t complain about being left alone and the lone booth kept it that way.

Once he sat down the bartender brought him a glass of scotch as always. The doctor stared at it and waited for Dr. Elliot to arrive. Meeting for the sake of catching up didn’t seem to me like something that was going to happen. If he had simply come to try and reach for some false notion of friendship he would have rather not come at all, still the man had his uses then and he may now. He wasn’t a fool, every man had their own motivation, whether it was meaningless or with purpose.

But Dr. Crane knew more than most about the man he was coming to meet. Fear was always written on the man….always in so many different forms on so many different false sides of himself. His eyes didn’t lift from his drink as he found himself lost in thought about the man he once knew until a shadow came to make the table even darker than before. His eyes lifted and locked with the old acquaintance….”Dr. Elliot…” He greeted him and studied over the man.

However much time had passed it was still difficult to deny the certain fascination with the man he had, not that he wasn’t just as disposable as everyone else, but there was certainly something that drove him to study him further.

[Deleted]

Thomas Elliot is  the kind of man that doesn't like to get his hands dirty unless it's necessary. That's what "pawns" are for. Plus, he had to keep up his image and high profile. Not that he gave a flying flip about what people thought of him, but it was all part of his plan, so he would have to play nice for now. Returning to Gotham was supposed to be nostalgic, a fulfilling part of his life, coming back home. But Gotham hasn't changed since he had been gone, it's the same old show. Costumed freaks of opposite sides of morals ran the streets playing their own version of cops and robbers. So much emphasis on who is good who is bad, that's inappropriate, that doesn't fit into society. News flash! Society is dead. People are and always will be just ignorant creatures much like their ancestors who fail to evolve. Makes a man sick. But with all the corruption in this day in age, Thomas thought that maybe he was looking at everything wrong. Maybe today's society was evolving, evolving into more edgy, grittier, eccentric, beyond the normal. Thomas did like conflict after all, it's what brings his gorgeous body from a slumber awake in the morning.

So, there are some heavy hitters in Gotham these days. You have your organized crime such as the Maroni, Irish Riley's, The Diablos and of course the infamous Falcone Empire. Then there are the "crazies" such as the Penguin, the Mad Hatter, the Scarecrow, the Riddler and  the nuisance of a creature the Joker. What's with all the "the's" in the prefixes of these names. That's besides the point, these individuals brought a whole new meaning to the word criminal. Thomas liked it, he really liked it and what he liked, he wanted. Why can't he be the next big thing on the interesting side of Gotham. He had the power, the finances, the good looks, the charisma. People knew not to fuck with him, point blank. But he was also knows as one of Gotham's favorite sons, second to Wayne of course. He had control of the major hospital in the city, so what could be next? Maybe, Arkham? Time will tell, but first he needed to learn more about the underground of the city. Recently, an old colleague of his came to mind. He had made quite a name for himself in the recent years, not in a good way but at least people know of him. Thomas never thought much of this man, but today he was impressed. The man he knew as Jonathan Crane, skinny and quiet Jonathan Crane.

So, he decided to contact Dr. Crane and "catch up". By catching up, we mean finding out the dirt of Gotham's rogue gallery. Jonathan can be useful as well with that toxin of his. He asked Jonathan to meet him at the Stacked Deck, a shady bar in the filthy part of town, that would be the only place that would Dr. Crane, after the chaos he had caused. Thomas arrived by cab, he wouldn't dare drive one of his luxury cars to this area and risk it being stolen. He didn't feel like going on a man hunt on this night and making some poor fool pay for their stupidity of stealing Thomas Michael Elliot's car. "What a dump!" Thomas said out loud as he walked though the doors of the bar.

He then stood there with his hands in his pockets observing the room before making his way to the bartender. "Good evening, you wouldn't happen to know if Dr. Jonathan Crane, has arrived yet would you? He calls himself the Scarecrow, lanky fellow, yeh high, glasses, super creepy..." Thomas asked in a smartass of a tone. The bartender grunted. "He's in his usual spot, booth at the end, in the dark, can't miss it fancy pants." Thomas chuckled, shaking his head and giving the man a big smile. "Right! Well send over a bottle of your finest wine... You do have wine here, don't you? Of course you do!" Placing a hundred dollar bill on the counter and then without a response made his way over to Crane. Nearing the booth, it had an eerie presence. The darkness, the rarely swept floor towards the area, shadows. A normal man would be intimidated, but Thomas wasn't normal.

Without even an greeting Thomas took a seat. "Dr. Elliot..." Spoke the Scarecrow. Thomas smiled, his extremely white teeth kind of glowed from the dim light from the bar that reached the booth somewhat. "Yes! Dr. Crane... How are you? Long time no see..." Captain obvious here, of course I'm Dr. Elliot, who else would approach this freak of nature besides to tell him it's closing time. He then noticed Crane's glass. "What are you having? May I?" Without a response once again Thomas picked up Scarecrow's drink and took a sip and then placed it down back down. "Damn, Jonathan.... Scotch? Wouldn't think you would have the taste for that..." Surprised he would consume alcohol, guess he needs something to numb the pain of being that pathetic sitting in the dark. Now crossing his arms and smirking at his former colleague. "So... How have you been? We have a lot to talk about..." Yes, let's talk. I need to use you...

OC: The italics are Thomas' thoughts, fyi but you probably know. XD

[Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow]

After all this time, he might have expected that Dr. Elliot had changed, but as he watched the man devour his drink and excessively speak he realized that he hadn’t changed at all. He was the same way when they were roommates. Dr. Elliot was always coming in late, drunk having partied the entire night. On the occasion he would get Dr. Crane to drink, but he was studying or reading by himself most of the time. Dr. Crane didn’t enjoy being in crowds unless he was working on something that involved crowds. He had no problem with tight spaces, it was the people around him they he couldn’t stand. All of them were false, moving about their lives without meaning, shrouding their fears toward a meaningless race into what they thought would be a happy end. They were mistaken.

He didn’t attempt to take his glass back afterward and instead of speaking up about it he let it go. He had developed a taste for scotch while he worked at the asylum, on long nights it would help him wind down. Still, he didn’t enjoy drinking often and only when he was out did he drink at all.

The doctor leaned back in the booth and let his hands fold together at the end of the table in front of him. Perhaps they had a lot to talk about but none of it had to do with how he was doing. “Do we?” He asked, ignoring his first question. He should have known better than to ask about his personal life after so much time had passed. Once, he would have shared many things with Dr. Elliot, but so much had happened he wasn’t quite sure where he stood in all of it. Especially after what happened to him, which he had no doubt heard of, that he wanted to talk at all was interesting. Perhaps it was his fear of where he was in his life? Knowing where he was versus not knowing? The fear of the unknown drove many men, but something told him this was something deeper.

“It is obvious that I received your message and that is why I’m here now, but I doubt you came to talk to me about how I’ve been. It’s been public knowledge for several years now.” He commented stone faced, wanting to get to the point of this meeting. Knowing his intentions was the first thing he wanted to find out, the rest would come later. He couldn’t deny that Dr. Elliots whereabouts all this time had intrigued him, but he would ask him after the important questions were over, if it didn’t go along with it.

[Deleted]

Thomas smirked, once again taking the glass of scotch that belong to Crane, sort of making it his now. "Of course I've been wondering how you been Jonathan, we were close once... were we not?" Drinking the last of the alcohol in the glass and setting it down now on his side of the table. "I'm well aware of what you been up to, making a circus of your life... Any offers for a reality tv series? No?" Thomas smirked once again. Elliot and Crane were alike in some minor ways, they both had rough childhoods and were perceived as "different" during their developmental stages of life.

!FLASH BACK!

It was sophomore year at Gotham University, Thomas had been through two roommates already on the campus. From his wealthy background Thomas could have his own room, well his own house close to campus, but his mother Marla, disfigured and disabled for years after a traumatic car crash which she survived but her husband perished in, had made Thomas a deal that he would room with someone to keep him more involved with other people. To live the normal college life experience, that meant no extra money, no use of the family services, nothing. Just what was necessary and in emergency cases she would help him extra. f course she paid his tuition, education needs and a thousand dollar allowance every month but nothing more. His first roommate requested another and his second dropped out of university. If that was because of Thomas it is unknown, but hey the third might be the charm. Room 32 H. Thomas sat there on his bed studying for an exam he had later in the day until he heard a knock on the door. Thomas not even looking up, knowing it had to be his new roommate. "You live here now, no need to knock..." Idiot.