plotting to unnerve her

[self_composed]

Bella finds Milliways in the moon palace instead of one of her balconies.

"Huh," she says aloud.

Then, to Alice, Libby, Elena, and Mary, and Lazarus except he autoreplies with a busy message, [Hey folks, Moonstone Palace grew a bar that I don't remember putting in, come check it out.]

Comments

[edgeofyourseat]

At first, the part about kidnapping loved ones confuses the hell out of him. He tries to match that image against his feelings for Bella, and utterly fails.

But then he remembers the very first moment he fell in love with her, before he really knew anything about her except for that single word she'd only just said to him. And he can see how, if she had turned out to be a completely different person, if he had turned out to feel differently about her than he does...

...well, he doesn't know it, but the picture building in his head looks a lot like the Joker's relationship with the Bat.

He likes what they really have better than that.

Except apparently they're not going to have it for very much longer, because she keeps trying to tell him the reasons she hates this guy aren't reasons that are true about him and they keep being true about him, and fuck he is just going to cry now.

[manofmyword]

The Joker hugs Alice and, probably wisely, doesn't say anything.

[self_composed]

[I think I'm going about this explanation all wrong,] Bella says after a pause. [I don't actually tend to judge people based on 'the kind of person' I think they are. Like, Libby is totally the kind of person who will run a criminal organization and spy on people and sometimes kidnap them. If I met an alternate Libby who had all that turned up to eleven, I wouldn't care for that one. That Libby would be dangerous to the people around her and I would be doing her world a favor if I removed her somehow. And finding her wouldn't astonish me based on what I know about the Libby in our world. But our Libby is, in fact, happy to have me take over the world and arrange it so none of those things are necessary and even hand me enough power that I can stop her if she changes her mind about doing them, and I am under no obligation to judge her based on how she could have gone if something different happened when she was - I don't know, twelve. I am under no obligation to judge you based on what the Joker has in fact done given that in fact you aren't going to do it, because I am not planning to dissolve our relationship over this, I am planning to take you home with me and kiss you and give you your present and we're going to live forever roaming around the universe doing magic to it and you will never have a reason to blow up a hospital or set a district attorney on fire and if you ever really want to do those things we can put mockups on Io and you can arrange it there because I love you. Okay?]

She didn't really plan to say that last bit, but it happened, and she's going to let it stay there.

[edgeofyourseat]

...well.

That was unexpected.

[Okay,] he says. [I love you too.]

He really, really does. He's practically bubbling over with it. And still crying, but it's good crying now, snuggle-down-and-love-everything crying.

[self_composed]

Bella is not crying. Exactly. She might have slightly watery eyes, which happen to be itching at this moment so she's rubbing them a little. She is smiling weakly.

[When do you think you'll want to come home?]

[edgeofyourseat]

[Dunno,] he says. [Later.]

He kind of wants to be hugging Bella right now, but he doesn't just want to up and disappear on the Joker, and if they start talking again he just knows he's going to get distracted. With sex. Or feelings. Probably both.

[self_composed]

[There's someone whose world I'm planning to visit briefly,] Bella says. [I don't wanna abandon you if you want me around right now, but if there are no circumstances under which I ought to pull you out of that room - especially since I apparently can't - then you don't need my supervision, and I wasn't doing it for my entertainment. Do you want to just meet up in Moonstone Palace?]

[edgeofyourseat]

[If you don't wanna listen, don't listen,] he says. [Sure, I'll meet you back home. Love you.]

[self_composed]

[Love you.]

Bella cuts the read.

She sits up straight. "Does now work for you?" she asks Roberta.

[edgeofyourseat]

"Sure," says Roberta, and refrains from asking what all that was about.

[self_composed]

Bella gets up. "This might take me as little as half an hour," she says. "If you really don't have any magic there, I can send him to sleep and wake him up by magic by way of testing whether he goes to Milliways from the asteroid or not. If you don't want to hold the door that long, that's fine, we can wait for another door - how often do you find them?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"It varies," says Roberta. "But when I've let people through for a visit, it's been pretty good about coming back at a convenient time."

[self_composed]

"Okay. If I get held up, I will pop down and inform you. You want, like, a book or anything?" She waves vaguely.

[edgeofyourseat]

She smiles wryly. "No, thank you."

[self_composed]

"Thanks." She sighs. "Oh, Alice is gonna be mad at me..."

And then she walks through.

And pentagons herself some astronomy.

And there are many asteroids, with many charming names -

Including a cute little one called "Alice".

"Heh," Bella says, and she goes there.

It's little. Not The Little Prince sized, but just a few kilometers in any dimension. She turns out to be able to do the entire terraforming job - gravity, atmosphere, pachysandra and moss and clover - with a few pentagons. She puts up a little house with a food replicator and plumbing in it.

And she grabs the Joker as soon as that's done with from where he sleeps in the asylum.

[manofmyword]

Out here, he has no makeup, and his hair is softer and less green, and he is indeed wearing a very unattractive beige jumpsuit.

A few seconds after he appears, he stirs and yawns.

[self_composed]

"You made yourself my problem," says Bella darkly.

[manofmyword]

"Oh, it's you."

He smiles up at her.

"Hiya, smarty pants. What'd I do?"

[self_composed]

"I'm not really interested in having a prolonged conversation. I'm going to send you back to sleep, and give you about ten minutes, and then wake you back up, and all I need to know is whether you went to Milliways or not."

That's square territory. She feels a little bad about using Alice's coins for this. She makes her own square.

[manofmyword]

He frowns, perplexed.

"No, really, what'd I—? Is this about your boyfriend?"

[self_composed]

"That pissed me off, but I was going to do this if I found my way into your world before you and he even clapped eyes on each other," Bella says. "G'night." Square goes.

[manofmyword]

...and there he is, right where he was before he woke up on an asteroid.

"Huh."

[edgeofyourseat]

"The fuck?" says Alice.

[manofmyword]

"Your girlfriend's jealous," says the Joker, smiling crookedly.

[edgeofyourseat]

He rolls his eyes. "She is not. She really doesn't like you, though. 'Cause you're a murderer and stuff."