sparklybee.livejournal.com (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
sparklybee.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
tamingthemuse2009-05-31 09:21 pm
sparklybee.livejournal.com) wrote in tamingthemuse2009-05-31 09:21 pm
Entry tags:
prompt #150 - taciturn - Tangled Web - sparklybee - Watchmen
Fandom: Watchmen
Title: Tangled Web
Characters: The Comedian/Edward Blake, Dr. Manhattan/Jon Osterman, Nite Owl II/Daniel Dreiberg, Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt, Rorschach/Walter Kovacs, Silk Spectre II/Laurie
Prompt:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
story_lottery 5 JOKER PROMPT (7 dominoes), tamingthemuse 150 taciturn
Word Count: 1067
Rating: PG
Summary: It's all going according to plan.
Author's Note: Yeesh, not so keen on this one. :\ Procrastination is bad.
i.
In spite of their mishap decades ago, Adrian doesn’t hold a grudge against the Comedian. He never meant to involve the man in any of this. Even after Blake had bumbled onto his plan, Adrian had no immediate desire to silence him. It’s only when he discovers that the Comedian is cracking, and badly, that he knows what he must do.
A man like Blake…well, he won’t listen to reason or theories, and Adrian doubts that he’d give a damn about a world united in peace. The only way to deal with a man of violence is with violence. Like with like.
Adrian tells himself that he doesn’t enjoy sending Blake through the window of his high-rise apartment. He’s past petty grievances – above them. He is only doing what is necessary, and there is no satisfaction in it for him at all.
He’s almost right.
ii.
Daniel is probably the easiest of them all to read. Ever since that first meeting of the Crimebusters, it’s been painfully obvious to Adrian that Daniel is eager to please.
It’s not difficult to understand why. The only child of a banker and a socialite, Adrian can only imagine how impossible Daniel had found it to make either of his parents proud of him. Adrian doubts that even Daniel’s dual degrees from Harvard impressed the elder Dreiberg.
Hollis is clearly a substitute father figure for the owl, and one of Daniel’s few friends. Ever since the passage of the Keene Act, Dreiberg has been isolating himself more and more. Sometimes he only emerges from his home to buy groceries and attend his weekly beer session with Hollis. There are no women, no girlfriends, no flings, no friends, no colleagues, nothing and no one but Daniel and his steady diet of television and takeout food.
He isn’t a challenge at all. Adrian is a little disappointed. Nothing needs to be done to make Dreiberg fit into his plans; Daniel has already been rendered insignificant, and all by his own doing.
iii.
Doctor Manhattan, on the other hand, is Adrian’s greatest problem. With Jon’s ability to see into the future, or at least his own, Adrian knows that he needs to come up with a way to circumvent the taciturn superman.
Adrian pours billions of dollars into tachyon research. It’s a small price to pay for world peace, and he knows that he can’t achieve his goal unless Jon is neutralized.
Of all of them, Manhattan is the one with whom Adrian relates the most. Adrian can understand the feelings of aloofness, of being set apart from humanity. The difference is that Jon has retreated into his work, while Adrian has reacted outward, by making humanity his work.
He doesn’t flinch when he meets Jon’s eyes whenever they meet, and Jon does not look at him with anything more than his usual detached coolness. It’s a heady feeling, knowing that he is managing to outfox the only man who could truly stop him. And when Adrian severs Jon’s last remaining tie to the world, he is elated.
Finally, things are moving into place. Finally, he can secure peace. Finally, he can be the Alexander the Great of his time – except Adrian will exceed even his idol’s successes. In the future, people will write tomes about his greatness.
Adrian just wishes that he could share his triumph with someone. The annals of history are a cold substitute to companionship.
iv.
Laurie is only a threat to herself. That much was clear when she waltzed into the first Crimebusters meeting, sixteen years old and full of anger towards her mother and the world. It had almost been amusing watching her sidle up towards Doctor Manhattan, and even more so watching Jon flounder like a teenage boy with his first crush.
Adrian had planned on using her as a pawn, turning that simmering rage against Jon. She was supposed to believe that her boyfriend had given Janey Slater cancer and that she was next. Adrian could only imagine how she would have reacted to that bit of news. It would have been a fine frenzy, indeed.
But, in the end, Laurie’s relationship with Jon had soured before Adrian had had the chance to enact his plan in full force. It doesn’t matter. With Laurie out of the picture and Janey dying of cancer – cancer Jon believes that he had been responsible for – everything has turned out just as Adrian had wanted it to be. Maybe even a little better.
Laurie moving in with Dreiberg is an interesting, and unpredicted, development. At least she should keep Daniel busy while Adrian works on more important things, like saving the world from itself.
v.
Rorschach is a difficult one to read, even with Adrian’s acute senses. The man is more of a mystery to him than even Jon. At least he can understand Jon’s motivations to some degree; as for Rorschach, Adrian has little idea what drives the man. Something about his past, perhaps…
Sometimes, he glimpses an underlying thread of vulnerability, but it’s so brief that Adrian thinks he might be mistaken.
But, in spite of what motivates the man, it’s clear that he does follow a set pattern. Everything is a conspiracy to him – the Keene Act, kindness, the list goes on – and nothing happens by chance. There are no coincidences in Rorschach’s black and white world; he won’t allow it.
And so Adrian gives him what he wants, what the man’s broken mind will put together anyway: a conspiracy, a serial murderer stalking the former masks still living in New York City. And, just as Adrian knew he would, Rorschach latches onto every scrap, every clue, and nothing will persuade him from the trail of the fictional mask killer.
Rorschach doesn’t know how close he is to the actual truth. There is a conspiracy afoot; he’s just picked up the wrong one.
vi.
One by one, Adrian lines up his former comrades, molding them, making them fit into his plan, using them for his benefit. It does pain him, truly, but only for a moment. There have to be sacrifices.
And, in the end, they all fall like dominoes. Just as planned.
also posted here
[week 19]
Title: Tangled Web
Characters: The Comedian/Edward Blake, Dr. Manhattan/Jon Osterman, Nite Owl II/Daniel Dreiberg, Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt, Rorschach/Walter Kovacs, Silk Spectre II/Laurie
Prompt:
story_lottery 5 JOKER PROMPT (7 dominoes), tamingthemuse 150 taciturnWord Count: 1067
Rating: PG
Summary: It's all going according to plan.
Author's Note: Yeesh, not so keen on this one. :\ Procrastination is bad.
i.
In spite of their mishap decades ago, Adrian doesn’t hold a grudge against the Comedian. He never meant to involve the man in any of this. Even after Blake had bumbled onto his plan, Adrian had no immediate desire to silence him. It’s only when he discovers that the Comedian is cracking, and badly, that he knows what he must do.
A man like Blake…well, he won’t listen to reason or theories, and Adrian doubts that he’d give a damn about a world united in peace. The only way to deal with a man of violence is with violence. Like with like.
Adrian tells himself that he doesn’t enjoy sending Blake through the window of his high-rise apartment. He’s past petty grievances – above them. He is only doing what is necessary, and there is no satisfaction in it for him at all.
He’s almost right.
ii.
Daniel is probably the easiest of them all to read. Ever since that first meeting of the Crimebusters, it’s been painfully obvious to Adrian that Daniel is eager to please.
It’s not difficult to understand why. The only child of a banker and a socialite, Adrian can only imagine how impossible Daniel had found it to make either of his parents proud of him. Adrian doubts that even Daniel’s dual degrees from Harvard impressed the elder Dreiberg.
Hollis is clearly a substitute father figure for the owl, and one of Daniel’s few friends. Ever since the passage of the Keene Act, Dreiberg has been isolating himself more and more. Sometimes he only emerges from his home to buy groceries and attend his weekly beer session with Hollis. There are no women, no girlfriends, no flings, no friends, no colleagues, nothing and no one but Daniel and his steady diet of television and takeout food.
He isn’t a challenge at all. Adrian is a little disappointed. Nothing needs to be done to make Dreiberg fit into his plans; Daniel has already been rendered insignificant, and all by his own doing.
iii.
Doctor Manhattan, on the other hand, is Adrian’s greatest problem. With Jon’s ability to see into the future, or at least his own, Adrian knows that he needs to come up with a way to circumvent the taciturn superman.
Adrian pours billions of dollars into tachyon research. It’s a small price to pay for world peace, and he knows that he can’t achieve his goal unless Jon is neutralized.
Of all of them, Manhattan is the one with whom Adrian relates the most. Adrian can understand the feelings of aloofness, of being set apart from humanity. The difference is that Jon has retreated into his work, while Adrian has reacted outward, by making humanity his work.
He doesn’t flinch when he meets Jon’s eyes whenever they meet, and Jon does not look at him with anything more than his usual detached coolness. It’s a heady feeling, knowing that he is managing to outfox the only man who could truly stop him. And when Adrian severs Jon’s last remaining tie to the world, he is elated.
Finally, things are moving into place. Finally, he can secure peace. Finally, he can be the Alexander the Great of his time – except Adrian will exceed even his idol’s successes. In the future, people will write tomes about his greatness.
Adrian just wishes that he could share his triumph with someone. The annals of history are a cold substitute to companionship.
iv.
Laurie is only a threat to herself. That much was clear when she waltzed into the first Crimebusters meeting, sixteen years old and full of anger towards her mother and the world. It had almost been amusing watching her sidle up towards Doctor Manhattan, and even more so watching Jon flounder like a teenage boy with his first crush.
Adrian had planned on using her as a pawn, turning that simmering rage against Jon. She was supposed to believe that her boyfriend had given Janey Slater cancer and that she was next. Adrian could only imagine how she would have reacted to that bit of news. It would have been a fine frenzy, indeed.
But, in the end, Laurie’s relationship with Jon had soured before Adrian had had the chance to enact his plan in full force. It doesn’t matter. With Laurie out of the picture and Janey dying of cancer – cancer Jon believes that he had been responsible for – everything has turned out just as Adrian had wanted it to be. Maybe even a little better.
Laurie moving in with Dreiberg is an interesting, and unpredicted, development. At least she should keep Daniel busy while Adrian works on more important things, like saving the world from itself.
v.
Rorschach is a difficult one to read, even with Adrian’s acute senses. The man is more of a mystery to him than even Jon. At least he can understand Jon’s motivations to some degree; as for Rorschach, Adrian has little idea what drives the man. Something about his past, perhaps…
Sometimes, he glimpses an underlying thread of vulnerability, but it’s so brief that Adrian thinks he might be mistaken.
But, in spite of what motivates the man, it’s clear that he does follow a set pattern. Everything is a conspiracy to him – the Keene Act, kindness, the list goes on – and nothing happens by chance. There are no coincidences in Rorschach’s black and white world; he won’t allow it.
And so Adrian gives him what he wants, what the man’s broken mind will put together anyway: a conspiracy, a serial murderer stalking the former masks still living in New York City. And, just as Adrian knew he would, Rorschach latches onto every scrap, every clue, and nothing will persuade him from the trail of the fictional mask killer.
Rorschach doesn’t know how close he is to the actual truth. There is a conspiracy afoot; he’s just picked up the wrong one.
vi.
One by one, Adrian lines up his former comrades, molding them, making them fit into his plan, using them for his benefit. It does pain him, truly, but only for a moment. There have to be sacrifices.
And, in the end, they all fall like dominoes. Just as planned.
also posted here
[week 19]