Birds of a Feather (Oswald Cobblepot)

Precautionary

  Oswald snaps the lock on Liza's apartment door with ease, putting his lockpick back into his wallet, which he slips into the folds of his suit. Waddling into the apartment and closing the door behind him, he immediately begins rifling through her things. Papers, mail...anything that could denounce her. He puts down the stack of papers, before picking up a framed picture of Liza and Don Falcone standing on a shelf next to a Court of Owls statue.

"Liza, Liza...what are you up to?" he asks aloud, his voice low. Looking down at the picture, he smiles, he'll find out.

Searching through her purse, he finds nothing. Huh...nothing in the purse. Think...where does one hide their secrets? He grasps onto the lapel of his jacket, and stops...of course, in her clothes!

Marching over to her bed, he grabs the nightshirt sitting on the edge. Outside of his mother and Trixie, he doesn't get to explore women in a...close, and personal manner. Her night garment piques his interest.

On impulse, he sniffs the shirt, something he does with Trixie's clothes often. But her nightshirt doesn't smell anything like Trixie, no...no, this scent is more artificial, and yet...familiar.

He makes his way to her vanity, where several bottles of perfume line the countertop. Recognizing a bottle immediately, he picks it up and sniffs it, taking time to inhale its scent, and going back to compare it with the scent of the nightshirt. Yes...

"Hmph, lilacs," he chuckles to himself. And who else uses this particular scent?

Exiting the apartment with her nightshirt in hand, Oswald closes the door just in time to hear a pair of high heels ascending the stairs. He stumbles up the next flight, as Liza makes her way to her apartment. Unlocking the door and stepping in, she's completely unaware of the man perched just on the next flight of stairs, peering down at her.

Liza closes the door to her apartment, and her eyes immediately fall upon her bag, which has been left open. Stepping over to examine it, she looks down to find its contents have been rifled through, with everything strewn out of place. An uneasy feeling in her stomach, she glances over at the bed to find that her nightshirt is missing from where she'd left it this morning.

She swings open her door as the sound of distant footsteps grow fainter along the apartment hallway. From the bottom of the stairs, Oswald's smile grows into a sickening grin. He'll be back, after all, he now knows Fish's secret...

    Opening the basement door in the GCPD precinct, I slowly descend the stairs to Ed's workshop. There, Ed looks down at his workbench, tearing apart what appears to be some sort of circular contraption.

"...Ed...?"

The mechanical noises surrounding his work stop, and he straightens himself, before turning around, "Natalie...what a surprise."

"Ed, I have to apologize, how I acted was way out of line, I...I have no excuses. I'm sorry," I mutter, sitting down in a nearby wooden chair.

"What worries me is that there's clearly something troubling you that I have not been made aware of," he clarifies, sitting in the chair adjacent, "I want full transparency with you Nat...no more secrets."

Could I tell him I'm the Trickstress? How would Ed react? After all, he's one of my oldest friends, he wouldn't turn me in to the cops, even though they're just upstairs. I trust him...so what's keeping me from revealing my secret? Well...it took Oswald and Barbara finding out for themselves before I'd admit, maybe the same goes for Ed.

"You're right, I have been...troubled lately," I confess.

He smiles, "So you do admit to facing difficulties? Good, riddles are my specialty, leave the mysteries to me."