Divination (Joker x Batman x OC)

Chapter 185

"What a delicious surprise," Madame Twyla said to Bruce as he came into her shop.

Her shop was full of boxes and there were signs in the window. A going out of business sale. It looked like she had been busy packing thing up.

"You're closing," Bruce noticed.

"Last week," Twyla said and polished a bottle on one of the half empty shelves. "I'm relocating to Switzerland."

"How much is this?" the only customer in the shop, a young woman with glasses, asked Twyla.

"Fifty," Twyla answered. "But for you, ten."

"Really? Thank you, I really need something for my allergies," the woman replied and then looked at Bruce. "Oh! Oh wow, Bruce Wayne!"

"Hello," Bruce said to the woman.

"Hi," the woman said, clearly starstruck.

"I'll ring you up," Twyla said to the woman and Bruce watched them walk over to the register.

Bruce noticed that something about Madame Twyla looked different. And then he realized she was dressed differently from the way that he typically saw her. He was sure she has almost always worn very loose fitting, draping dresses and head wraps about half of the time. Today she was wearing a fitted white tee shirt and jeans. It was very casual. Bruce had always assumed that she was older than he was, but now he was not sure.

Her hair was entirely white or the palest blonde shade, but her skin was youthful and smooth and blemish free. Her neck and hands were also youthful. Her facial features in isolation looked no older than 25, which confused Bruce more than anything. She had the personality of a very mature woman. An old woman, actually. It was incredibly mysterious. Bruce found himself wondering if she had purposely bleached her hair to make it silvery. Her figure was remarkable, a perfect feminine hourglass. He then began to wonder why she would hide such a figure nearly all the time.

Once the customer left she returned to Bruce.

"Was not expecting to see you here again, handsome," she said.

Bruce pulled out the small bottle from his pocket.

"Returning?" she asked and placed a fist on her hip. "You do recall, that was free. I gave it to you. No refund."

"You said it will work for three hours," Bruce said.

"Yes," she replied. "You think of a specific event or people and you will see them as they happened. If they did in fact happen. If it's a repeat event you won't be able to control which you see."

Bruce nodded.

"That's why you're here?" she asked. "You finally going back to the past?"

"Yes," he said. "I needed to...be sure."

"Whatever you say," Twyla said and traced her fingers along Bruce's forearm.

He was not sure why she was now flirtatious with him. Usually she only seemed to want to antagonize him or demand money.

"How is your wife?" she asked him.

"She is fine," he said. "So, you did something to this to make it stronger, to last three hours. Is there anything I should be aware of?"

"All of the solutions I create," she said. "Are robust. It takes daring to use them to their full potential. So they all have that effect."

"So I'll become more daring," he said. It sounded harmless.

"Daring..." she nodded. "Audacious...uninhibited...impulsive. All of the above."

"Well," he said. "It's a good thing that I have more self control than most."