Jean-Paul

// gonna lowkey abandon this acc for a bit, I only wanna write ghostmaker lol

// ik I have a couple of threads going rn, but I don't know how to continue any of them, uhhh 🤷

"It a good cartoon," he says simply. "I haven't had my own money in a while," (ever) "and it's good to have things..." He trails off, realizing maybe he shouldn't spill all this to a shop worker.

"Still, thanks. I'm not used to people... just being kind." He smiles at her and then looks away quickly.

"Okay. Thank you." He follows after her. He's not sure why he's cleaning up the suit. He doesn't particularly want Azrael to run around doing lord knows what, but it felt wrong to leave it in a state of disrepair.

"That sounds really handy for volleyball."

"...Okay," he says, face still red.

"I've done rituals before. They didn't involve dancing, so yours sound better."

"Definitely a fight. I don't think Azrael knows how to do much else." The flames are almost completely gone. "A laundromat sounds like a good idea." He begins to gather up the suit.

-- Jean-Paul brings the action figure to the counter. He's definitely getting this.

Jean-Paul begins to examine the action figures. Almost immediately, he spots a character from a cartoon he watched as a child. Filled with a sense of nostalgic happiness, he picks it up. For a man like Jean-Paul, whose childhood has very few happy memories, the feeling is unfamiliar, but... nice. --

"Please help," Jean-Paul says. The trays are wobbling precariously.

"I almost feel bad taking advantage of that Southern hospitality," he said with a small smile.

// might not do replies today, for I, like Jean-Paul, am very mentally unwell

"Not sure. I guess I'm here because Azrael decided to take the mask off." Jean-Paul frowned. "And he got the suit all messy."

"No, I'm just Jean-Paul." If anyone could be considered a hero, it was Azrael, and that was a stretch. "And yeah, it's good. I can definitely see you now," he says, looking right at her. "Thank you for staying with me."

"Like metahumans." He accepts this simple explanation and keeps eating. "You make good food," he adds.

"Oh, cool." He takes another bite of food. "What's a mutant?"

"Oh, this is a school? I thought it was a mansion..." If there's a double entendre in her words, he doesn't catch it.

"Being Batman wasn't that cool. It was..." He trails off, remembering how his thoughts didn't feel like his and how he was shoved into the back of his own mind. "...scary."

"Uh, you're welcome..." Jean-Paul had finally noticed this man was blue, but what was more shocking is that he could barely understand him even though he was obviously speaking English. "Do you know people who'd want the rest?"

𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆'𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒚𝒎𝒑𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒚.

except for anna’s. hands that could never truly feel. hands that caused pain. torture. and anguish.

the faces of those who she had touched race through her mind. that look painted on them for all eternity. fear. pain. confusion.

to her first —

"Um. Maybe. I used to be Batman. I wasn't very good at it." He wanted to help people, but without Azrael, he didn't have the skills, and Azrael was more focused on vengeance than helping.

"Gotham." Jean-Paul answered. He was probably from somewhere else originally, but he remembered Gotham the best.

Jean-Paul didn't know what a lot of that meant. "That's neat... um, where are the toys?" Brian Brian once said that he should embrace his inner child, so he might as well look at the toys.

"Demons, knights, St. Dumas..." Jean-Paul trails off.

"I think the flames are starting to fade now."

"Not that ominous," he said with the barest hint of a smile. "Normally, the things that come out of the fire are... much more ominous."

"Yeah!" Jean-Paul leads the giant man over to the volleyball net.

"Um... what do you sell, exactly?" Jean-Paul has never really had money of his own. Granted, he still doesn't. He's spending Batman’s money. Regardless, he's not sure what to do with himself in a shop.

He flushes bright red and quickly disentangles them.

"How do... I avoid making it happen?"

// One thing about Jean-Paul is that he's immediately overwhelmed every time a woman talks to him, but he barely knows what romance is