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Fett One.gothampm |
#61 | |||
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I enjoyed the Tim/Cass scenes. I can't help but wonder Chris, how many times you had to watch those movies to come up with this stuff.
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Abaddon8780 |
#62 | |||
Tim and Cass interplay (Batgirl, not that Wondergirl hussie)EX-CUSE ME?!? Cassie, I'm sure he didn't mean it- He called me a hussie, Conner! Sounds like he freakin' meant it to me! He's Belgian, maybe it's a compliment there. Conner, I know Kryptonians aren't dumb, but you sure aren't helping the stereotype in this situation. Cassie- Don't even. I'm being cast as a traitor and leading the attack of the Amazons on the US according W. Pfeifer that sounds like a frickin' B-Movie. I've been portrayed as a grief-stricken weakling who's wanting to resurrect her dead boyfriend (and that'd be you by the way, Conner) by G. Rucka. I've been smacked down and flat-out lied about by the Gotham Post and this is the final straw. I'll have you know Mr. Igor that not everybody identifies with Diana... Okay, sorry guys. I'll go try to calm her down. *Conner leads a ranting Cassie away.* Do you realize how many of those gods-forsaken lectures I had to go through when I was doing my training? Do you?! It makes your lectures on the socio-economic state of Europe in the 1800's look like DR. FREAKIN' SEUSS!!!
"And sometimes," Tim muttered, "it's like living with a bunch of second
graders."
-Learning Curve |
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Abaddon8780 |
#63 | |||
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Sorry about that. Cassie's been having a rough go of it lately and Igor's comment finally made her snap. Conner's currently trying to calm her down
with some Ben & Jerry's. No offense Igor, the characters sometimes have their own agendas.
The Matches Interplay takes the cake here. Bruce is a helluva roleplayer. He reminds me of what Jim Carrey did when he was in the character 24/7 of Andy Kaufman for "Man on the Moon". He shifts from character to character seamlessly. Tim and Cass. What can I say, I had my fanboy moment. I loved Tim's thoughts in between the first kiss and Cass' subsequent reaction. It was sweet and it was well done.
Yet again, another chapter well done. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go do damage control with another Titan couple...
"And sometimes," Tim muttered, "it's like living with a bunch of second
graders."
-Learning Curve |
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Nodrogs |
#64 | |||
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VERY nice chapter, especially the Tim + Cassie kiss and Cassie's way of watching movies.
Hmmmm, just a thought: If some goon DID recognize the 'goods' as being genuine and tried to steal it, how much hurt would he be in for? I meen, I'd think even 'Matches' would be smart enough to know there's some loot you don't take, no matter how easy it'd be to grab. Interesting to see how the rogues transfer over their behavior at the Ice Berg to the new club... would any of the groups deliver the split to Catwoman instead of Sly? Whatever happens, I'm sure there's going to be a meeting between Sly and Catwoman after hours. I *still* want to know where Harvey is while all this is going on in his home. *pictures Harvey in a Starbucks somewhere, considering checking into Arkham just for some peace and quiet.* |
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Nodrogs |
#65 | |||
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VERY nice chapter, especially the Tim + Cassie kiss and Cassie's way of watching movies.
Hmmmm, just a thought: If some goon DID recognize the 'goods' as being genuine and tried to steal it, how much hurt would he be in for? I meen, I'd think even 'Matches' would be smart enough to know there's some loot you don't take, no matter how easy it'd be to grab. Interesting to see how the rogues transfer over their behavior at the Ice Berg to the new club... would any of the groups deliver the split to Catwoman instead of Sly? Whatever happens, I'm sure there's going to be a meeting between Sly and Catwoman after hours. I *still* want to know where Harvey is while all this is going on in his home. *pictures Harvey in a Starbucks somewhere, considering checking into Arkham just for some peace and quiet.* |
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stephensmat2 |
#66 | |||
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This is why I love the Cassandra Cain character. No artifice, no evasion, simple and direct.
See, Tim's problem was that he was trying to keep it casual and light in a 'just good friends' way, but the thing is, that's not the way to approach Cassie, that's the way to approach Stephanie. The rules are different with her on this, as they are with all things involving human interaction. Took him four chapters to realize that. Watching her favorite movie is how you'd approach a typical first date if you're tying to keep it light, but Cassie sees everything, even the movie extras, in a completely different way. Quote: While she was talking about the extras, Cassie nudged the remote an inch closer and leaned forward ever so slightly. Tim realized he must have telegraphed his thought about the remote. He was unsure if this was encouragement or the opposite⦠EndQuote If you like her, chances are she already knows, so if she hasn't broken that arm, she's okay with it. Why not just say so? And the beauty of it is, that works! Quote: Tim reached forward and, rather than grabbing the remote, he grabbed Cassie and kissed her full on the lips. "I want to re-watch every movie I've ever seen in my life! Again! With you!" EndQuote. 'Bout as mushy as you can get on the first date. Tim has taken a page from the Batman School of Dating. Lesson One from that school: You can plan, you can prepare, you can strategically think out every word and tone of voice, but the second the moment comes you just stumble into the truth and blurt it out. Hasn't worked too badly for Bruce. Thing is, Cassie and Selina are polar opposites, at least as much as you can get given they both wear masks.
Quote: In a move too swift to defend against, Tim found his legs yanked out from under him and hoisted to the side, leaving him flat on his back on the sofa, with Cassie poised on top of him to deliver the coup de grace. "Wait a MMMFwinaminawom" were the last words he uttered as she planted her delicate mouth over his... EndQuote. Welcome to the Cassandra Cain School of Dating.
And Selina? The reason it took you a full ten seconds to reach what would usually be an instinctive response, is that the rules are flipped for you right now too. You are not a crime fighter, but you've been doing a little crime fighting. You've foiled villains before, but you haven't been given a formal thank you and reward from the Powers That Be, and you've dipped into your fantasies before, but you've never been served the title of "Queen of the Underworld" on a platter, with Batman's blessing. Certainly, you've never seen Batman enjoying the universe working his way, whilst giving you a headache, resulting in him giving you a naughty grin. Has the world gone mad?! |
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Janshi |
#67 | |||
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If the world has gone mad, it's gone mad absolutely wonderfully.
May I just say that the pay-off for the Tim+Cass moment was absolutely worth it. It was absolutely wonderful. I know, this is supposed to be really about Bat and Cats, but while they're intriguing, and interesting, and up to mischevious hijinks, Tim and Cass are closer to my age and thus their situation is much more relevant. Plus, plain funny as hell. Hope this doesn't go the way of Azrael/Helena - Tim and Cass are actually proper lovely together, with the gulf of misunderstanding lying between them. It opens up a great deal of interesting mispisodes and comedy of errors. Considering that Selena has been having mind-blowing sex for quite a while, I wonder if there's been any 'misfires' by any of the two while in bed. I dunno anything about it, but I heard its not that uncommon. Sometimes the man (even a mighty man like Bruce) simply can't get his soldier to work. Sometimes the lady (even a sensuous wonder like Selina) just doesn't feel the passion. It would make a fun short storyline, don't you think? |
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Igor.gothampm |
#68 | |||
Janshi wrote:
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Tain Shari.gothampm |
#69 | |||
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Falls off chair laughing helplessly....
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Chris Dee |
#70 | |||
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First off, Igor, thanks for being the first to review, and please don't worry about other Cassie, like Abaddon said, we who write'em just have to put
up with those little episodes now and then. Quite often, they spark good things too. I know Selina's antennae went up when she heard who the Post troll is
honking off now. Cassie, prepare to take a cat-meeting.
Fangirl - THANK YOU! Meow, in fact. That is praise indeed. Fett, I noticed the monkey in Raiders several years ago, and was just reminded because I had referenced it so much in this story. One of the betas told me another extra incident that might come up in a later chapter. ;) Some good questions there, nodrogs. Let's see: I'd think even 'Matches' would be smart enough to know there's some loot you don't take, no matter how easy it'd be to grab.I agree. Like the wedding in the Godfather, one of the soldiers notes that the bride must have $30,000 in small bills in that little silk purse. "If this were anybody else's wedding." would any of the groups deliver the split to Catwoman instead of Sly?Yeah, could happen. As for Harvey, if you look at the chapter where Sly got the Vault idea, you should be able to figure out where he's been living. We should have a glimpse of it soon, although the characters do not always go along with my plans for reappearances. Stephensmat, you blow me away time after time. If you like her, chances are she already knows, so if she hasn't broken that arm, she's okay with it. Why not just say so?Shit yeah. Come to think of it, other than the broken arm part, I'd say that's true of most women. 'Bout as mushy as you can get on the first date.It really is, that's why he'll be doing his best to make sure nobody ever hears the dialogue. I think what happened was that moment in musicals where the emotion spikes so intensely they burst into song. That's what seems to have seized Tim. I think it happens to most people at some point in their lives. The worry with Tim is he seems to have gotten quite the dose of positive reinforcement. "Ever after to be referred to as 'ah yes, poor Tim" is still a possibility. And Selina? The reason it took you a full ten seconds to reach what would usually be an instinctive responsethat was a brilliant analysis, although personally, I still credit a night of that rare and wondrous kind of sex where it takes five minutes to work out that you don't have to remember to breathe, breathing comes naturally, otherwise you'd be dead by now. <-about one in ten of you lucky bastards knows I didn't just make that up. Janshi, (et al) glad you are enjoying Tim/Cass. As to the other, I'm going to let everyone else continue to have fun with it for a while.
--Chris Dee
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Superpowers corrupts - superbly. --Identity Element |
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Random Equinox |
#71 | |||
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Don't you hate it when you regularly check for new Cat-Tales chapters, and the moment you stop it...BAM! New chapter! No complaints against Chris
(quite the contrary, in fact), but it seems that Fate has an odd sense of humor (to which Harvey can no doubt attest!).
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BenRG |
#72 | |||
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Re.: Chapter 8 - Queen of the Underworld
Okay, first up I have to apologise for the late review even though you kindly posted on a Saturday. You see... nah, forget it. Suffice to say that you wouldn't believe the week that I've just had. Okay, onto the chapter: An interesting idea of Sly's: It will make it that much harder to prove that anything illegal happened. After all, it will be impossible to trace cash from the diamond dealer back via Sly to any crime. Who remembers what customer gave you what bill?
I loved it all the way, by the way Chris. Your characterisations are always wonderful. I loved the conversations between Selina and Bruce. Watching Bruce 'go into character' as Matches Mallone was interesting as was Selina getting into the act. Those two are getting to be a formidable team. Selina is right, of course. Matches turns up suddenly recruited as Catwoman's "muscle"; of course she will insist that he gets into the 'theme'. The Iceberg gang will just nod wisely and the henchmen and wenches will swap tales with him about what they have had to do to mollify their bosses' whims. I just want to add that I have a new favorite quote: Sometimes life is like that. You've just got to smile gently, ask for the check and let the tide just sweep you along. Oh, and Bruce managed to out-mischief Selina! Ah, the payback! How
she is sweet. I'm sure that Selina will make him pay for this but until then, the look on her face will make the couch time just fly by.
Quoth the Cat Poor, poor Selina. Matches/Bruce is right; I think that whoever thought up the decor was affected by Jonny Crane's party favours. I also
think that Bruce is going to have to buy her at least an extra ten acres for the Catitat to make up for it. And I think that Sly is going to need surgical
intervention when she is finished with him.
I'm going to enjoy seeing how these plot lines all resolve themselves. As always, your storytelling enthralls and
entertains. Thank you very much, Chris.
~*~*~*~
They call me BenRG But... I don't know why... ~*~*~*~ |
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Janshi |
#73 | |||
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Igor, you are a GENIUS.
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ichigenka.gothampm |
#74 | |||
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Cass glomping Tim = WIN!
hmmm I hope Sly is funneling some of those gains to Harvey... you know for rent (or therapy) ;) With all the shifts and rumors on goings in the Gotham underworld I feel like a massive breakout from Arkham just around the corner. The top tier rogues won't such juicy news go with out checking it out for themselves. Specially that chatter box Hatter. Speaking of top rogues, I wonder how Harvey and Eddie would react to the new "Queen of the Underworld". Harvey, he probably already knows it's an over blown speculation. Eddie on the other hand seems to be a bit disconnected from the Gotham underbelly. |
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Jarissa Paxton |
#75 | |||
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On the item-purchasing mentioned by BenRG--
That's actually a pretty straightforward method of "washing" questionable cash. He's not taking it as far as your professional street-level ne'er-do-well: the money is used to buy more transportable items, the items are usually then resold a few times among other shady businesses (some of which may not really exist beyond a storefront, a tax ID number, and an account with a calling service) before eventually being offloaded on eBay or one of those auction services that handle estate sales or even a "legitimate" seller who doesn't always examine the paperwork too closely. The shortcut among the short-sighted or poorly connected is to use the money to buy something of flimsy legality, maybe one of those TVs being sold "because our shipping company was refused delivery by the destination and we can't keep this stuff, so we're selling it cheap to the first people to show up"; then they take the item straight to a pawn shop. Yes, cops check pawn shops for stolen merchandise; yes, in fact, the pawn shops get weekly lists of stolen items with descriptions and serial numbers; yes, many pawn shop managers actually do check the item, turn the info in to the cops, and give a description of the yahoo who brought it in. Soooo not bright. Anyway, the problem one might miss by buying an item to wash cash is that the item still has to be reported to the IRS. I'd imagine the diamond dealer will be including it in his quarterly report, yes? Even if the cops and the vigilantes completely fail to notice something odd about Sly's decor, he'd be wise to cover his tushy with the IRS. In fact, pay slightly extra, so if there's ever a stealth-audit, they'll discover the IRS actually owes the business a bit of money, not the other way around. (( Disclaimer: anybody who actually follows my crazy ideas with their hypothetical ill-gotten gains can't hold me responsible in any way when the consequences show up. I write mysteries, I don't run a criminal enterprise. )) |
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Chris Dee |
#76 | |||
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--Chris Dee
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Superpowers corrupts - superbly. --Identity Element |
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Abaddon8780 |
#77 | |||
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Hah! First review!
Matt Hagen continually reminds us that he was one of Hollywood's players. He's suave, he funny, and he's just fun to be around. Gotta like that, and because of that it stands to reason why he hangs with Selina. She's classy, and Matt's got that same sort of class. I imagine it to be a lot like the Rat Pack with Deano, Frank, and Sammy, or like those fifties movie stars like Clark Gable or Jimmy Stewart. So King Snake finally gets some speaking time. This is his first time with actual dialogue, correct? Up till now he's always been in the periphery along with lesser Gotham players. Even so, I liked the characterization of a mix of English lord holding court and Mafia don. It fits perfectly for Dorrance. Linda and Wally. What can I say? After the beating the Flashes have been taking in the Post, it's good to see them again. That and any get-together of two founding Titans always gets a fanboy rise out of me. It really strikes me too that Wally is probably the most domesticated of the JLA next Clark, Dick, Arthur, and now Bruce. He's still Wally, our happy-go-lucky speedster, but he's also more conscious of his responsibilities too. I like that, it shows growth in a character. I also liked the way he's coming down more on Bruce's view of things too. Whether this comes from the aforementioned character growth or from going through the Mindwipe episode, it makes him that much more human, especially with the two very good reasons he gives. As for Linda, hey it's about time Barbara had some girl time with another JLA wife. One of these days they ought to have a girl's night out along with Lois and Selina just to compare notes. I like the way Bruce is now giving voice to his reservations to Selina. I like, it shows growth again. I also like how it's said that Bruce is now home, not Batman and I especially like how neither of them want to go back to what it was before. A lovely chapter and I'm looking forward to seeing more!
"And sometimes," Tim muttered, "it's like living with a bunch of second
graders."
-Learning Curve |
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fangirl1001 |
#78 | |||
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I agree with Abaddon on Wally's character development; he's still the wise cracking flash, but we see in this chapter that he has developed a kind of stability that is down right ironic given his superspeed. And he's inability to speed *read* was part of what I thought was the funniest bit in this chapter. It's always amusing when hereos and villians have something so mainstream in common. Bruce may be uncomfortable with finding out that villians have favorites books - but that kind of information gives me a strange faith in humanity. And I loved Barabra hacking into the publisher's mainframe to read advanced copy while Dick took a lofty disdain to the whole cultural phenonom. Also, it was just nice to see the four of them have a fairly normal evening out. The creepisest part of the chapter was this: pealed off his faceThat is a phrase that is going to give me chills for a while. The whole dream sequence was decidedly unnerving, and contains enough issues to write a college thesis on, but it was that phrase - and the problems it symbolizes - that I zereod in on. Bruce is still trying to juggle the multiple masks and faces he wears, with a degree of success that has to be questioned. Selina has seen his true face - but has Bruce? He spends so much time being one persona or another he doesn't spend enough time with himself - despite the amount of brooding he does. Coming in a close second on the creepiness scale was harvey's little pun. How gone is Two-Face, exactly? Evil Overlord's List Rule 42: "When I capture the hero, I will make sure I also get his dog, monkey, ferret, or whatever sickeningly cute little animal capable of untying ropes and filching keys happens to follow him around." |
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Batfan7 |
#79 | |||
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I realise most will take all the 'two/twin/twice' stuff in the Harvey scene to indicate that Two-Face is on the rise, but, personally, I thought it
was more likely that Harvey is getting better rather than worse. He's not flinching from the normal parts of speech or life that have things come in sets
and that seems healthy to me, even if it made Selina a bit uncomfortable. I could be wrong, but I took it as a good sign that Harvey is on the road to
accepting his past without obsessing on it becoming his future.
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stephensmat2 |
#80 | |||
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Uh oh.
Harvey's back. Cautious optimism Eddie, the universe's personal cat toy may yet be returning for his crown, which you've most kindly been keeping warm. I didn't hear about Wally having twins. Is that a story I missed or forgot or a new JLAint coming up? And what happened with Tim and Cassie? I understand they may want privacy right now Chris but still... |
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