Birds of a Feather (Oswald Cobblepot)

Marry the Man Today

    The stained glass windows of the church are brightly lit when I enter to the sound of distant organ music. The church is empty, not even a priest presiding over the dark, wooden pews. Rows of candles lie in front, some lit, some not.

Glancing around for anyone nearby, I walk down the aisle, my low heels clacking against the hollow, echoing floors.

"Trixie...do you believe in God?"

I turn around to find Liza, hidden under a yellow silk shawl and dark sunglasses. Her dyed blond hair just barely sticks out as she holds a small leather purse in both hands.

"Oh gosh...Liza, you scared me," I breath a sigh of relief, catching myself on one of the pews.

Without response, she starts walking into the back row of pews, and I follow her as she repeats her question, "Do you believe in God?"

"I-...I've never really thought about it. My parents weren't Christian, they followed some form of Native American polytheism," I tell her.

She takes off her sunglasses, "Oh, I see. I was going to ask that you pra for me. I never really thought much about God either, but lately...with everything that's happened, I've come to think about it more and more."

I twist my lips, "Why so?"

Liza tilts her head down, "That's why I asked you to meet me here tonight...I...I don't know how much more time I have."

"You think Don Falcone's gonna bump you off?" I assume.

"Fish too! After I got her that file on the location of Carmine's money, she has no use for me. She's even talking about making her final move to usurp him. And then there's Carmine...I...I think I'm actually...really starting to fall for him."

Liza straightens herself out, already becoming accustomed to the more restrained movements of a upperclass woman, "Before Fish hired me to seduce Carmine...I worked as a street walker downtown. Cheaply priced, because, you know...competition's tough. And so were most of the Johns. But with Carmine...it's different from any man I've ever met. He makes me feel...safe, secure, almost...normal. Normal in the Norman Rockwell, picket fence, and two-point-five kids sense."

She smiles, "Recently, he's been talking about...the two of us. Together in a more...permanent sense."

I raise an eyebrow, "Like marriage?"

"I don't know," she confesses, "I would say our relationship is romantic, but...not a lot of touching happens, if you catch my drift. Carmine talks about the two of us running away together to some farm out on the countryside."

"That's sweet," I admit.

There's a pause, as Liza adjusts her shawl, "Trixie...what do you see in Oswald?"

I laugh, but only because I have no real response, "Oswald? Sometimes I feel like I'm doing everything to get away from him."

"But you must have seen something in him, at least at first."

I place my hands in my lap, "Well...at first he seemed...helpless. Sort of childlike, with a clumsy demeanor even before he got his limp. He stuttered a lot more, but he was very polite. Sweet even. But his dangerous side became apparent to me very quickly. But even as the facade fell away, I stayed with him because...I had faith in him."

"Faith about what?" she asks.

I tilt my head to the side, staring up at the stained glass windows, "Faith that...that not only would he become a powerful man, but that behind the powerful man was a good man. Someone who had chosen this path not because of his character...but because of the world he was raised in. Living here...being raised in Gotham...it's just not normal. Even the upper crust isn't safe from crime and corruption. You feel like you can't escape it, and the only option is to...take what you can. I like Oswald's vision for Gotham. He doesn't want to leech off of the system, he wants to change it."