My knees are scraped from all the times I have been knocked down by life. My knuckles are bruised from all the times I have fought my way back onto my feet.
out at a friend’s for a bit tonight – will try and do posts when I get home. if y’all want, hit me up on Kik at legendarystarlord or PM me for my digits to text.
one of the main reasons why she respected batman so much was because of his commitment to make gotham a better place. he knew, maybe even more then she did, of how much the city had suffered. and while it had suffered, there was also room for LIGHT to shine through. even if it took years for gotham to get to that point, she’d still stick by it.
it’s that same respect for batman that had crushed her when the ordeal with dr. light and her mind-wiping had happened. she had never expected for things to go as far as they did, but even so —- she would still do the same thing’s over again. MIND-WIPING dr. light & batman when he came across them, even doing the same to catwoman. zatanna knows she had made grave mistakes and it was something that had SHATTERED her for a while, but she had thought she was doing the right thing. she still thought that, even if she can’t look back to that without feeling utter guilt.
as she glances over at him, she’s already thinking of a few words that she can say to bruce. most of those words include her berating the BILLIONAIRE for not telling her matt murdock was one hell of a gorgeous man. as if she hasn’t already been surrounded by attractive men a quarter of her life.
❛ just let me work my magic. i can definitely make your job a tad bit easier. i’m sure i can get bruce down here by the middle of next week. maybe earlier if i empathize of how IMPORTANT it is for him to be down here. ——– just a few? i think it’s fair to say there’s double that on the good-looking guys here. ❜ oh yeah, she is an expert at the subtle flirting. but to be fair, she wasn’t focusing on being too subtle. she was sure that mr. murdock wasn’t that dense.
she gives him a small grin, nodding her head towards him. she had spoken the truth, of course —- even if there was a bit more to the reason why bruce wanted him. ❛ great! i’m sure he’ll be more than pleased to hear that. after all, i knew coming to you would be an excellent choice. ❜
there was so much pain and misery in the world - if he could do something every single day to counteract that for someone, then he was happy. there was a motivation and a reason behind daredevil, save for the fact that he occasionally actually enjoyed it; for the most part, matt saw it as a necessity. if he wasn’t going to stand up for hell’s kitchen, then who would? up until recently it wasn’t going to be any local law enforcement or political powers – so he had taken a stand, and took matters into his own hands.
he can hear her heartbeat flutter, and feel the fluctuation in her radiant body heat as she talks. he imagines she’s a bit flustered, perhaps, or reacting to his subtle flirting subconsciously - either way, he finds it slightly entertaining. she counters with her own quick quip, his polite smile now wandering to a lopsided grin. one hand moves up to draw the dark, circular glasses from his face, folding them and gently placing them on the table in front of him. its a more personal version of matt murdock, and less lawyer like - something he almost does unknowingly when he’s interested in someone, or at least something he does when he feels comfortable.
his brown eyes may be unable to see, but they’re a fairly good descriptor of his emotions (partially why the glasses stay on); they’re lit up with the same smile that’s on his face, and he points his gaze in her general direction. “ the sooner, the better miss zatara. — oh, i think we hold our own. you might find more in manhattan or brooklyn, though. hell’s kitchen is…a special place. ” he laughs softly with a shrug.
A cold, rainy November night had turned into a cold, rainy November day; the ominous black clouds rolling across the city seemed to get stuck on a permanent loop of drizzle followed by a brief heavy downpour which itself was followed by sleet complete with large, wet snowflakes. It was the weather in which people stayed indoors unless they absolutely had to venture out. And if they did have to brave the weather, it was under heavy coats or in cars with the heating on. That meant the roads were busy, but the sidewalks were unusually quiet apart from the occasional gaggle of tourists in Times Square or lingering around the base of the Tower, hoping to catch a glimpse of Stark.
It’s one of the reasons why Stevie chose to walk to her destination, as opposed to spending forever caught in traffic in a cab or on her bike; given that said destination was in Hell’s Kitchen, it wasn’t quite on the scale of a trek in the Alps either. Her hair hidden under the fur hood of her coat, bottom half of her face hidden by a thick red scarf, she slipped out of the front doors of the Tower without being noticed and made her way through the streets towards the neighbourhood with the notorious reputation.
Not long after, she found herself outside the plain brick building; nondescript and unassuming, Stevie would’ve missed it had the embellished sign not stood out against the red stone and she cast a glance upwards towards the windows of the offices she was aiming for. The front door creaked as she opened it and she quickly sidestepped an angry looking man in a suit who was muttering about ‘damn lawyers’ and barely cast a glance her way even with her hood down.
She pulled open her scarf as she climbed the stairs, and instantly wrinkled her nose at the smell of the old building as it assaulted her senses; though she quickly schooled herself into neutrality as she found herself in front of the office door. She huffed a faint sigh and rapped on the door with bare knuckles before dropping her hand to interlace her fingers in front of them, thumb worrying the nail of its opposite index finger.
It was one of those days that saw both Foggy and Karen out of the office - Karen was ill, and Foggy was out on the road for once. The weather was dreary as all hell, and completely uninviting, and after a few nights in the cold downpour as his masked vigilante alter-ego, Matt was still chilled to the bone and glad that he’d decided to stay office-bound for the day. The harsh stacatto of rain against the building’s windows gave way to the lighter patter of sleet and snow - quiet enough that most people would never hear it, but for Matt, something of a November percussive symphony. At this point, though, it was tolerable - the furnace was working, there was a coffee on his desk, and the offended huffing of his last visitor was more than enough to keep things toasty.
The other man left Nelson & Murdock in a hurry, not keen on the fact that the firm had been hired by a former employee to dispute a wrongful dismissal. Matt had zero sympathy for the man; and listening to him as he left the building, hissing about ‘damn lawyers’ on the way out, that amount went into the negatives. Foggy and Matt were about doing what was right, and that meant standing up for David against Goliath; in this case, that was certainly the truth.
But as the man left, someone else came through the door. The footfalls on the stairs were lighter - a woman, Matt determined - and as they drew closer to the office door he wondered if she would be paying him a visit. As far as he knew there were no other scheduled meetings for the day, but knowing Foggy, it was always possible that he had forgotten to mention her in passing. Matt shrugged, momentarily removing his dark glasses to rub the bridge of his nose (which may have been slightly bruised from his night job), standing just before he heard the rap of knuckles on the office door.
In the well-practiced routine of feeling his way around the desk and to the door (not like he needed to with his senses, but it was what people visually expected of him – much easier not to give anything away), he turned the handle to greet the visitor, a small smile playing about his lips. ‘ Hi. Matt Murdock – what can I help you with? ’
gotham could be described as a hell-hole with a significant amount of superheros and villains making residence there. that’s how most people would describe it, anyways. and yes, while zatanna can admit that the city was no city to raise a family in — she had HOPE in it. it could be salvaged, or they would die trying to save it.
speaking of the league, she does miss it. she isn’t a full member anymore, due to the last year’s incident of her mind-wiping( even if everyone seems to moved on from it, as has she … the guilt will forever stay with her ). but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t miss the family they had created there. after all, the ONLY family she has left is zachary.
❛ i don’t imagine you do. ❜ she replies, the corner of her mouth quirking up into a smile. though, it’s what he says after that makes a thoughtful hum leave her mouth. zatanna’s quickly thinking about the different thing’s she can say to try and convince bruce to get his ass down here. of course, she could just … TELEPORT him here. once again, she’s thankful for the magic running through her veins. ❛ that he does. ❜ she just …. doesn’t mention …. that he was fighting the battle as BATMAN, yup. ❛ i’m sure i can call him and get him to come down here. after all, i think the supermodels can live without him for a couple days. besides, it’s not like there’s only gorgeous women in gotham. ❜
her gaze flickers over his face for a moment, a small laugh leaving her mouth. ❛ if i can recall, mr. murdock —– you and your partner won a pretty big case not so long ago. wilson fisk, i believe? besides, gotham’s full of people who can’t be trusted. i guess bruce is hoping he can trust you. ❜
zatanna and matt had that in common, then - that there was always hope that hell could be salvaged, or at least brought to some state of normalcy. hell’s kitchen was his little slice of new york, the one piece of home he had always managed to hold on to. he would defend it until the day he died (which some days felt closer than others), no matter the cost.❜
the concept of superheros and super villains was still a strange one to matt. he never pretended to be part of that - even as daredevil - and to be frank, he didn’t necessarily want to be associated with groups like the avengers. for him, it was about doing the right thing; it was about justice, and protecting the innocent from those who would stand to take advantage of him. it wasn’t about the front of newspapers, or being on the highlight reel of the evening news - no. for matt murdock, the whole daredevil side was about keeping his home alive.’
there is the hint of a smile to the way she speaks, and he reflects the gesture. this would surely be one of those times foggy would have him for attracting beautiful women to his presence; matt didn’t need to see to know when a girl was gorgeous, and slightly dangerous. call it his m.o., but it apparently was his type.
“ it would certainly make my job easier if you could. it is late on a friday though - i’m guessing it would be best to reach out to him for a statement next week? it would also depend on how quickly your complaintent is moving along with the lawsuit. there’s a few gorgeous women around hell’s kitchen, too - i think he’ll feel right at home here. ” he surmises, dropping a somewhat subtle hint. it wasn’t often he wanted to liase with clients outside of the office, but she was technically here on behalf of one - a few drinks and small-talk couldn’t hurt.
he nodded absent mindedly as she mentioned the recent win over fisk - if only she knew about the other half, as well. “ yes, miss zatara, indeed we did. bruce most certainly can put his faith in us, and we’ll take care of this case. ”
→ independent matt murdock (daredevil) rp blog
→ primarily mcu/tv verse based
→ experienced roleplayer; 10+ years
→ mun and muse are 21+
→ novella/para/short para/chat/gifs/etc.
→ semi-selective; mun is a potato
→ open to characters from all verses
→ OC/multi-verse/multi-ship friendly
she crosses one leg over the other, linking her fingers together over one knee. the case she was telling him about was very much real, much to her dismay. how anyone in gotham would think bruce had something to do in DESTROYING part of the city was beyond her, but then again —- there was many that wanted to bring him down. him and probably the entire league.
she wonders if he knows she’s a former member of the league. zatanna knows he’s blind ( though, she’s not going to mention it to him because she is just imagining saying something terribly wrong ), but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t know. she supposes she’ll just have to find it out eventually.
❛ no, go right ahead. i think it’d be questionable if you didn’t use a recorder to … well, record our conservation. ❜ she let’s out a small hum, coughing slightly before she continues to talk. ❛ there was a THREAT in gotham and the justice league of america was able to stop it, but unfortunately there had been some damage to the city. of course, said threat had used something from wayne enterprises to aid their attack and well, someone seems to think that bruce helped them get it. ❜
he wasn’t all that familiar with gotham - it was far away from hell’s kitchen - but it sounded like they had just as much trouble there as new york had recently had. it didn’t quite sound like the recent alien invasion and subsequent superhero craze, but there was enough similarity that he could gauge a bit further what sort of incident had occurred.
the justice league of america, too, isn’t something that had ever crossed his mind, but he committed it to memory now. was this gotham’s answer to the avengers? was she somehow a part of it? time would tell, he supposed.
“ i don’t do much writing these days, “ he chuckled, keeping his attention focused on her as she spoke. all the while, he observed her heartbeat and breathing, keeping keen senses trained on her subconscious signals. matt knew when someone was lying, and she knew more than she was letting on. he’d get there eventually, though. “ hmm. sounds like an interesting case. and i’m going to guess mr wayne also has an alibi? i’ll need a statement from him - its one thing to send a friend to discuss a legal issue, but if we’re going to prepare a proper defense i’ll need to speak with mr wayne myself. “
he paused for a moment, biting his lower lip before proceeding. “ speaking of, why nelson & murdock? i’m sure there are high-end lawyers that would be chomping at the bit to represent the head of wayne enterprises. “
“ sure, “ he states, the dry tone displaying his incredulity for matt to hear. “ let me be the judge of that. “
he walks to grab the first aid kit, and thus misses the smirk that crosses matt’s face. he scoffs at matt’s retort, turning back around with the first aid kit in his hands, his own little smirk playing on his lips before he moved back to matt’s direction. “ please, we all know i’d look sexy. now, shirt off, murdock. “
their banter is always amusing, and the grin remains - even through the slight hiss and wince as he removes his now-tattered shirt. “i can even hear you being sarcastic about it. that’s saying something.” he bites his lower lip as the last bit of the shirt is peeled from his body, some of the fibers sticking to wounds in his flesh.
“see something you like?” matt teases idly, trying to keep the situation light - he appreciates that foggy is here to help, really, but the taunting back and forth is what makes their friendship all the more entertaining.
