#→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study.

[jcinthedance]

    ( The more I see pictures and descriptions of how grim gotham is a place to live, I can’t help thinking about how big the contrast is between when Jervis is hallucinating and when he’s at his most aware.

One moment he’s on the sparkling streams of the mushroom forest and next thing he knows he’s somewhere in crime alley next to a rat the size of a large hare and the constant sound of sirens and screams and he’s just

ah. right. we’re back to this again. )

#*breathes* i will........... actually write i swear #i have a headache but i want to write gosh darn it-- #→ ✗ ❝ Would not. could not. ❞ 🐇 o.o.c. #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study.

[jcinthedance]

Anonymous♟||  ❝ Okay but a coralline au for jervis  ❞

     ( FOOLISH of you to think I have not combined my two favorite characters before, anon! If only in my imagination haha...

Honestly, Jervis can really naturally parallel The Beldam without even changing him at all. Just put him in the right situation, and some of my absolute favorite threads have been the ones where I get to write Jervis trying to keep someone in a fantasy, it’s just a story trope I’ve always loved. Especially when the other sincerely doesn’t know Jervis is a villain.

Except, there’s this wonderful angle to Jervis where, unlike The Beldam, Jervis... has no ulterior motive. Except maybe his own selfish loneliness. Jervis doesn’t want to EAT you, especially not a child, he just wants to KEEP you. Forever. So, the thought of him being mixed more literally into The Beldam, give him the button eyes and everything, is-- one, a fantastic aesthetic that fits Jervis pretty well-- and also just so fun a creature? Because he’s like an Other Father who simply wants to keep children and then... put the buttons in their eyes just to keep them children forever and unable to leave at all. Because his world is very small and he is alone with his creations- which are all just himself. He wants a person to care for, he wants a toy to love.

And-- maybe that’s the problem. His buttons slowly drain people of their will and they turn into little stuffed rag dolls, just like his creations, and though he assures you he loves them more than their family ever could, he puts them away in the hidden Doll Room-- which is pretty and neatly arranged, but essentially a room full of dolled up corpses-- and goes to get another child because he’s lonely again.

What a weird, horrible creature to have living in the little door of your pink house... )

#Anonymous #→ ✗ ❝ A riddle with no answer. ❞ 🐇 ask. #→ ✗ ❝ Would not. could not. ❞ 🐇 o.o.c. #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study.

[jcinthedance]

@lil-miss-romano​ ♟||  ❝ Do you think Jervis stims? ❞

     ( You know?? I still feel like I don’t have a perfect understanding of stimming, even as someone who may possibly do it themselves, but... I want to say I actually may write him already doing it?

It’s just a natural part of his canon personality, or at least I see it as an easy extension of his existing traits that you could assume he does. I constantly write him as “fidgety” especially regarding his hands. He bites over his lip, which doesn’t look abnormal due to his natural overbite. I’ve even written him loving to pet his hand through the fabricate on his hat. You will notice just overall he likes to touch things and be touched?? And I have heard before that rhyming ticks, like he has, can be a form of stimming.

And the thing is, Jervis naturally dissuades people trying to diagnose his abnormal brain type, and just sorta collects all his traits under the umbrella of being “weird.”  ( Jervis personally prefers that he is never properly labelled as anything until his redeemed verse ) So it would be easy for people to just sort of... overlook that he’s specifically stimming when he behaves unusually. And with stimming being something anyone on a long spectrum of neurodivergent brains can do it seems likely.  I don’t know! But it feels like a real possibility! )

#lil-miss-romano #→ ✗ ❝ A riddle with no answer. ❞ 🐇 ask. #→ ✗ ❝ Would not. could not. ❞ 🐇 o.o.c. #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study.

[jcinthedance]

{ Jervis just laughs so easily btw? He’s absolutely giddy a good 70% of the time, sometimes even when he’s anxious. The easiest way to throw off his train of thought is to make him laugh with either a Wonderland pun/play on words or a joke about how insane he is.    And he’s absolutely prone to catching the giggles as well. }

#{ hell- you can catch jervis suddenly laughing at thin air #he probably hallucinated something that tickled him #he's just.... he's not all there } #→ ✗ ❝ Would not. could not. ❞ 🐇 o.o.c. #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study.

[jcinthedance]

( Oh and with that, I’ve been meaning to mention for ages, but I imagine Jervis’ hat isn’t as easy to use as just putting it on your head. It does take some practice! Putting it on guarantees something will happen, but it might not be what you want. “Miscommunications” were common between early villain!Jervis and his minions. And they used to have to ask him more questions, too.

But with practice, Jervis picked up an intuition for what his hat is going to translate to them, and when their programming will hit a wall, and can deal with tons and tons of minds at once all doing different things. )

#( Jervis vc: ''Anyone can wear a hat... but it takes a genius to wear it well~'' ) #→ ✗ ❝ Would not. could not. ❞ 🐇 o.o.c. #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study.

[jcinthedance]

@lil-miss-romano​♟||  ❝ Ok I need to ask this question before I forget, but what are the capabilities of somebody that have been tagged my Jervis. We know about the increased strength but what about intelligence? If asked, could one of Jervis' henchmen make his cards for him? Or can they only do things they know how to do when not tagged? Like, if Jervis tagged a brain surgeon, would they still be able to perform a brain surgery or is that skill gone until the tag is removed? I'm sorry its 12am and I need to know ❞

     (  OK that’s a really good question?? and !! It’s a little weird to explain, but hopefully this makes sense!   Jervis’ hat and his tags have... a very “intuitive” system? If that’s the right word? The answer is.... yes, they can do things they usually couldn’t do. But only if Jervis can do it. However, they can also do things that only they can do and he can’t! And it’s definitely made that way on purpose, and there’s a reason why that’s possible.

Jervis’ tags are far more complex than people first assume-- we know his tags aren’t simply a transmitter of his brain’s thought patterns, like a one-for-one puppet control or possession kind of thing. But it IS entirely electrical still somehow, and radio frequency based, not simply a transmission of hypnotic influence. Its like hacking the brain, effectively... but with a very simple input.

So that means it both reads The Hatter’s intentions, and also then goes through some sort of incredibly weird method of translating what his brain is asking of the person into electrical information their brain can understand and gives it to them. They aren’t simply orders, Jervis is putting his thoughts into a person. Like a computer, information is being given.

 So when Jervis says, for example, “Make my hat tags” that command can be given two ways.   If he does know how to make hat tags-- which... he does, of course-- his brain is sending the information of what that intention means, which also happens to include the brainwaves associated with the action required.  If he doesn’t, the tag searches their brain for a proper response to the situation instead, in which if they were a surgeon being asked how to do surgery-- the surgeon would know.

And if they’re asked something no one knows, then unironically, the tagged pawn will just go   “  uhhhhh  ”   )

#( Hopefully that makes sense! ) #→ ✗ ❝ Would not. could not. ❞ 🐇 o.o.c. #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study. #→ ✗ ❝ A riddle with no answer. ❞ 🐇 ask.

[jcinthedance]

Anonymous♟||  ❝ Is there any rogue Jervis can’t get along with? ❞

       (  Oh definitely! Its really a certain kind of personality trait that Jervis latches onto. He likes people with a certain level of.... um.... eccentricity, I suppose? Its hard to really summarize what kind of people he clicks with, but a lot of Rogues simply don’t fit the bill. Which is how he ends up around The Scarecrow, Harley, and The Riddler so often. He doesn’t like the politician-esque personality of Two-Face and especially has a bitter grudge against The Joker-- specifically, the Joker more like the one from BTAS, who isn’t too kind to Harley, or even him for that matter. 

And then there’s... some Rogues who are just too gruesome and unhinged for even Wonderland. And some simply too stubbornly mean to him for even him to ignore their agitation. Like Poison Ivy often is.... Though he doesn’t even mean to upset her, but his entire existence just doesn’t seem to mix well with her. 

 Arguably....... Jervis doesn’t even get along with the one’s he’s determined to call his friends-- BUT even through the borderline childish arguing he can sometimes get into with them, there tends to be a certain level of underlying respect OR empathy to sustain it all.  )

#→ ✗ ❝ A riddle with no answer. ❞ 🐇 ask. #anonymous #→ ✗ ❝ Would not. could not. ❞ 🐇 o.o.c. #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study.

[jcinthedance]

Anonymous♟||  ❝ Ever find out if someone has terrible reactions to being hypnotized? like back lashing or backfiring? ❞

        “ Mmm... “backfiring”? As in... a sudden fit of anxiety or aggression, perhaps?  If not, I’m afraid you must say what you mean   but no. Not hardly. One can fight hypnosis... but it can’t cause you to fight. If my hypnosis has any effect at all   and it ought to, if you’ve a brain behind your eyes   the very first thing that brain MUST do is slow all it’s thoughts to a tranquil, trance-like stop... It would be a VERY peculiar creature to respond to my influence with an influx of brain activity, instead-- very peculiar indeed. ”

#→ ✗ ❝ Will you- won't you? ❞ 🐇 i.c. #→ ✗ ❝ A riddle with no answer. ❞ 🐇 ask. #anonymous #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study.

[jcinthedance]

Anonymous♟||  ❝ I feel like Jervis is the kind of rogue that can go months without doing anything and just disappears because other crime takes priority until suddenly he comes out doing something super dangerous. Also it feels like Jervis is unique among rogues, like there's the criminals and their money, but then there's The Mad Hatter. And nobody messes with him just because he's such a mystery. ❞

     ( This ask is wonderful anon?  --you are not wrong! It’s kind of funny, because I’m not sure if you’re referring specifically to my interactions with other rogues or if you just mean Jervis overall as a character, but somehow I feel what you’re saying and the vibe definitely applies to my Jervis too.

Jervis IS usually low priority when he escapes Arkham! I feel like Batman has learned that Jervis, although severely dangerous at times, can often go a very long time just... content to be playing pretend under the Wonderland theme park somewhere. Yes, he does almost always keep a lot of hostages-- the tagged people in his care show up in the files as missing person reports and-- BOY do those skyrocket once The Mad Hatter is out on the streets again.  However, here’s the thing. Jervis targets people that... unfortunately, society doesn’t tend to miss. Other shady characters, drug dealers and addicts, directionless drifters and people on the streets-- the kind of people who more easily disappear without complaint.  Batman must be aware of this, but, as he says, there’s always something more immediately life threatening happening in this... godforsaken town.

But then? Woops. Jervis makes a death ray that can hypnotize the entire city, and NOW we definitely need to do something... 

And also! That last part is very true too!! Even with BTAS Jervis, a jervis I often refer to as a mob boss, he is not... The same as other crime lords. For one-- 90% of his men are not real workers, they’re puppets, extensions of him. The REAL Wonderland gang is, at most, a handful of close-knit people. Essentially a group of friends.  He doesn’t have territory, he doesn’t go to “meetings” unless specifically sought after and asked to-- or even have any criminal social connections beyond certain rogues. ( Although, of course, he can always get a hold of your contact no matter who you are. )    He does not like night clubs, alcohol, the usual fair for where criminals spend their time off. He’s strange to talk to, compulsive and picky, he’s extremely reclusive but also prone to distressing levels of attachment.

He’s... a ghost. A very strange living myth of the eccentric and colorful mad man that can’t be reasoned with or helped, having an endless tea party in a giant hat and if he catches you he will take your mind away forever.   Other criminals are warned not to accept his invitations under any circumstances, but also don’t openly reject it or you’ll also be in trouble. Don’t look in his eyes. Don’t look at his watch, try not to look at anything he owns. If you hear any strange noise, cover your ears, and above all do. not. EVER drink the tea.

So you can see... how Jervis sort of became an weird case even amongst other crazy people.  )

#→ ✗ ❝ A riddle with no answer. ❞ 🐇 ask. #( this is EXTREMELY rambly and i apologize hahh ) #→ ✗ ❝ Would not. could not. ❞ 🐇 o.o.c. #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study.

[jcinthedance]

Anonymous♟||  ❝ also like, if Jervis could card Batman, what would he do? ❞

        (Well! Assuming this is “Jervis is supposed to win” planning and not a plot where Batman needs to be able to get out of it and save the day somehow-- the whole narrative shifts depending on what ending we’re looking for of course

But assuming in this universe Jervis just... makes all the right decisions. He’s technically had Batman under control before, or thought he did-- this canon Jervis has, in a comic-- and he’s learned from that, I imagine. What he’s learned is make sure he’s not faking by testing them somehow, making them do something they wouldn’t want to, like reveal the location of the batcave or something... and also don’t wait until after the wedding with Alice, take him to the lab to get it made more permanent. 

And what I mean by “made more permanent” is have the tagging device surgically implanted into his skull. That way, he can take Batman’s cowl, at long last~ and put it on it’s little pedestal for all to see, of which he’s never been more giddy and proud. Oh if only his parents could see him now, yes, he’s personally destroyed the last drop of hope in a dying city.

 and put the once Bat man into a Jabberwock costume. In which he will then marry Alice, whoever that Alice may be, unbothered now that he has his Jabberwock body guard, slowly but surely turn all of Gotham into his own personal Wonderland. )

#( That is #until superman shows up then i guess uh-- ) #→ ✗ ❝ Would not. could not. ❞ 🐇 o.o.c. #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study. #→ ✗ ❝ A riddle with no answer. ❞ 🐇 ask.

[jcinthedance]

  ( Can you imagine Jervis’ spider legged teacup drones crawling around like the Other Mother’s hand from Coraline? That’s pretty much how they work, with them being an extension of Jervis’ mind, and I’m just picturing one of them stabbing their sharp metal legs into someone’s hand on a ledge to get them to fall. Coraline is such a Jervis kind of creepy... )

#( but it is also my favorite movie so hhhh #i might be biased ) #→ ✗ ❝ Would not. could not. ❞ 🐇 o.o.c. #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study.

[jcinthedance]

𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐃𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐃?

Recklessly, like a horse running as fast as he can.

You've been told that the way you love can never last, and that heartbreak is inevitable. But you don't want to love carefully. You want to love with reckless abandon. You want to love with everything you have, and you want to be loved the same way. You don't want them to worry about tomorrow. Make today worth living for.

Tagged by: @dearaliceliddel​ - thank you! Tagging: Anyone who hasn’t been tagged yet!

#( They got him!! they called him out !! ) #→ ✗ ❝ 10/6 on the tags. ❞ 🐇 tag game. #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study.

[jcinthedance]

Anonymous♟||  ❝ How would Jervis react to committing a faux pas? For instance, burping in front of tea guests or sneezing on someone? ❞

     ( Considering I got secondhand cringe just from memory reflex at the thought-- I’d say he’d be embarrassed, to say the least! That is the exact kind of manners he tries so hard to keep up. Walking on the table? Absolutely. That? A hard no. The burping in particular, that is. I can picture him clearing his throat and apologizing and trying not to blush as he continues what he was saying.    Luckily, his guests are rarely in a position to judge as high as he does himself.

Oddly enough, for some reason I feel like the sneezing depends heavily on whether he likes you or not. If he doesn’t? He’ll still cover his face in impulse regret, but... he actually might start laughing and make a “nothing to sneeze at” pun and then promptly apologize--

The idea of fictional characters making very realistic mistakes has always been both painful and hilarious to me, btw?? It reminds me of when I wrote Jervis yawning during his big villain speech with a Batman a long time ago and he was just like  “ Shut up! Nevermind! I hate you! ” )

#anonymous #→ ✗ ❝ A riddle with no answer. ❞ 🐇 ask. #→ ✗ ❝ Would not. could not. ❞ 🐇 o.o.c. #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study. #( on that note-- could you imagine him getting the hiccups when batman shows up? #the loud and harsh kind from drinking tea too quickly. just... put me in arkham batman )

[jcinthedance]

       ( You know! I don’t think I’ve really talked about Jervis’ hygiene much? Of all my excessive rambling that subject has somehow escaped me First, I want to say Jervis likes baths, not showers. He’s made to shower in Arkham ( unless they’re doing that unpleasant thing where they bathe their patients, which... I know they did that to him at least at one point. He was not conscious for it but-- when he was in his dream coma probably? but i’m getting off topic-- )   And he just hates it. For multiple reasons.

I mean for one-- Jervis does not like to take off his clothes. Partially because being out of costume makes him anxious but he’s also just shy about his body tbh and being submerged in water rather than standing up while naked feels better to him.

Mostly though, what he likes to do is sit in water? Just sit there. And daydream. Maybe he’ll be more efficient if he’s in a hurry or especially stained with something, but you have to understand the difficulty it is for him to even keep up such a time-consuming routine at all... but there IS bubbles so you know--

But yes! I won’t lie to you and tell you someone of this severe of mental unwellness is perfectly functional in everyday ways. Jervis has difficult with hygiene, even with the parts he succeeds at doing. Like I said, he doesn’t have a routine-- like, every morning or every night, He just sort of... does it whenever during the day/week.  The worst one for him, i’ve vaguely mentioned before? Jervis does not comb his hair. Almost ever. He runs his hands through his hair to pick knots, he may even clean his hair in the bath, but he does not put a brush through it. He hasn’t in ages. Heck, most days he doesn’t even try to style it, his hair just falls wherever it falls.

And do nOT talk to him about any of this he will get defensive. )

#( *breathes*....... BTW I tried to write replies today but I literally #i literally just... i let the page reload twice and it was really long and i'm just... too tired i'm so sorry-- ) #→ ✗ ❝ Would not. could not. ❞ 🐇 o.o.c. #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study.

[jcinthedance]

@thephantomnoseblower​♟||  ❝ Is Jervis a good cook? :3 ❞

   ( .... Yes and no. Jervis is perfectly fine at following instructions or traditional methods if he has to but oh-- isn’t that boring? Unfortunately Jervis has a habit of trying to experiment... and just like his laboratory... it will be mad experiments. It’s a real grab bag whether they’ll turn out fine, good, or even edible. Ever since he was little, he was really most adept at making tea, but other foods? Something about the allure of combining assorted components to get a reaction is just too tempting to not try something strange at.  There’s a reason he usually hires ( well, “hires” ) chefs and bakers for the tea table rather than does it himself.

Or maybe he’s just spoiled from so easily getting everything he wants all the time, to be fair... )

#thephantomnoseblower #→ ✗ ❝ A riddle with no answer. ❞ 🐇 ask. #→ ✗ ❝ Would not. could not. ❞ 🐇 o.o.c. #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study.

[jcinthedance]

anonymous♟||  ❝ Once, friends were joking about making a fruit platter for their date with only pineapple. I only knew that it was a sexual reference and not why. So I looked it up on urban dictionary whose helpful answer was "why are you looking up the definition of a fruit, dumbass!" And I very loudly went THANKS A LOT URBAN DICTIONARY. And I feel that if Jervis was better with tech, this would be him ❞ 

    ( Better with tech?? Excuse you? You mean better with socializing.   He could make you a computer from scratch, but knowing a meme website requires not avoiding every social circle possible...

My goodness though, I am SURE Jervis has long since learned to stop trying to look up sexual references he doesn’t get. This is something you learn very quickly. Probably long before he even became a villain-- probably in his teen years... and that was the 90s. There wasn’t even an urban dictionary my friend. )

#anonymous #→ ✗ ❝ Would not. could not. ❞ 🐇 o.o.c. #→ ✗ ❝ What's under the hat. ❞ 🐇 study.