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

[self_composed]

"That could be about the location or about any number of coincident factors," Bella shrugs.

[manofmyword]

"Maybe it's 'cause she caught me," he says, because he enjoys irony.

[self_composed]

"Maybe."

[manofmyword]

"Innnn which case, perhaps your little asteroid would do the same thing."

[self_composed]

"Quite possibly. And much safer for everyone. Because a plain old human cannot get off an asteroid without equipment or magic."

[manofmyword]

"Maybe so," he agrees placidly. "You're fun. If you put me on an asteroid will you come visit sometimes?"

[self_composed]

"I'll talk to you if I run into you in Milliways," Bella says.

She doesn't doubt that this fellow can talk most people into doing things they wouldn't normally do, even without much leverage. She thinks she's probably not one of them. But she doesn't want to be overconfident.

[manofmyword]

He grins.

"What if I say please?" he coaxes.

[self_composed]

"I'm not so hung up on the social niceties that they'll get me to do things that were not previously at least on the 'maybe' list."

[manofmyword]

"I like that about you," he confides.

[self_composed]

"It's nice to be appreciated."

[manofmyword]

"But," he admits, with a sly glance to the side and a conspiratorial lean forward, "I'm glad you can't stick me on an asteroid."

[self_composed]

"You'd get all nostalgic for the murder and for your bat-clad crush," says Bella, with sympathy that is not entirely mocking.

[manofmyword]

"Mostly for her," he says. "Don't tell me you fell for that one too; I don't like murder all by itself."

[self_composed]

"You don't? Not even a little?"

[manofmyword]

"Mm, well, that's the thing," he says, tipping his chair back on two legs and glancing up into the rafters, gesturing expressively with one hand. "It's fun, sometimes; I'm not saying it's not. And it's fun-ny. But it's not an end in itself, like... oh... sex."

[self_composed]

"You just do it to see how people react, is that it? And nothing else guarantees such a very strong reaction, or you'd content yourself with property damage and white-collar crime and provocative graffiti and dumping trucksful of jellybeans onto the freeway."

[manofmyword]

"Oh, you do know my favourite book."

[self_composed]

"It's the same as Alice's," Bella says, leaning back.

[manofmyword]

He puts his hands on the table, drops his chair level again, and grins.

"It's not all about the reactions, either," he says. "Some. You know who you should talk to? You should talk to Quin. I bet you guys'd get along. Don't tell her you're planning on yanking me off the planet, though; she wouldn't like it at all." He leans forward across the table, glances side-to-side, whispers: "I think she likes me."

[self_composed]

"Is she fully informed?" Bella asks.

[manofmyword]

"She's my officcial headshrinker at Arkham Asylum," he says. "So yeah, pretty well."

[self_composed]

Bella snorts helplessly. "Your shrink has a crush on you. Oh lord."

[manofmyword]

"I never said she had a crush. She doesn't wanna fuck me, or we woulda already," he says with an easy shrug. "But she likes me. I like her, too."

[self_composed]

"Maybe she has some residual sense of professional ethics," Bella suggests.