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]

"What?" Bella asks. "I got the impression that you've had about a million opportunities to figure out how he ticks. This can't be news to you, can it?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"I've never exactly sat him down and had a heart-to-heart," says Roberta.

[manofmyword]

The Joker snuggles Alice gently and lets him have his own thoughts in his own time.

[self_composed]

"Didn't you have him locked up with you in a police interrogation room at one point?"

[edgeofyourseat]

She grimaces. "Yes, and it didn't end well. Everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie, anyway."

[self_composed]

"Then how in the world do you suppose I know that you had him in a police interrogation room?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"I didn't mean that as a logical absolute," she says tartly.

[self_composed]

Bella smiles slightly. "Sorry. But - well, I suppose it doesn't matter if you have him figured out, if you escort me to your place to put him on an asteroid. I should pick an asteroid. I assume your astronomy matches mine."

[edgeofyourseat]

"I have no way of knowing that," Roberta points out. "Although I guess we've verified that we both have a Mars."



Alice shifts a little in the Joker's arms. He's starting to get nervous about what Bella thinks of him now, and that's just ridiculous.

[Bella?]

[self_composed]

[I'm here.]

She doesn't want him freaked out, or anything.

[edgeofyourseat]

[Sorry I told you to fuck off.]

She saw that, right? She has to have seen that. Maybe it didn't get through.

[self_composed]

[Apology accepted.]

"Alice doesn't even know about Batlady, but at this point I wouldn't be surprised if he unexpectedly decided to teleport downstairs," Bella tells Roberta. "What do you want to do about that?"

[edgeofyourseat]

He tries to say something else, but he can't quite get the words together, can't figure out how to ask if it's changed how she thinks of him, watching what he just did. If she's okay, if she's okay with him, if she's mad at him for fucking around (she said she wouldn't be, but sometimes you just don't know unti it happens) or for wanting something from the Joker that he could never in a million years get from her or for being this fucked up or for being, suddenly and with help, okay with being this fucked up.

[manofmyword]

"Shhh-hhh, honey," the Joker murmurs, cuddling him.

[edgeofyourseat]

Roberta looks conflicted for a moment.

Then she says, "Pretend we were having an unrelated conversation?"

[self_composed]

"We were talking about puppies," Bella says agreeably.

[I was scared,] Bella tells him.

She pauses, then says, [I want Lazarus to have another look at you when we get home.]

[edgeofyourseat]

[I'm sorry,] Alice says helplessly. He's not sorry he did it, any of it, but he's sorry it scared her. It scared him, too, but the difference is that he wanted it to. She probably didn't.

Also: Lazarus? The hell?



"Puppies," Roberta agrees.

She does not look like someone who has been talking about puppies recently. Unless the puppies in question were dying, perhaps of rabies.

[self_composed]

"And maybe some about my Martian empire," Bella says. "And... what topics would you admit to that you find super-depressing? Because you look super-depressed."

[You remember testing the agony beam? You told me - that if you had mixed feelings and I couldn't get an answer from you about whether you were done or not - that it should stop.]

Pause.

[This wasn't exactly the same situation, but I was scared. And when those conditions were met today, I tried to get you out. And I couldn't. The bar denies involvement. The Joker's world is - I think - devoid of magic. That leaves your ingot power. It does more than we thought it did and I want to know what.]

[edgeofyourseat]

"My parents," offers Roberta.



[...okay, but Bella,] he says, [the reason you couldn't get an answer out of me is 'cause I wasn't letting you talk to me. On purpose.]

He's a little mad that she tried. He would've been a lot madder if she'd succeeded. He forgives her, though, because he loves her, and she was scared, and she was being herself.

[If I'm with this guy, and I don't ask you to get me out, don't get me out.]

As for his ingot power... fuck if he knows. He's as confused as she is.

He's glad it works that way, though. This was good for him. He wants to do it again.

[self_composed]

[And because your thoughts did not include that information,] she replies, feeling prickly about it. [And because it was not discussed beforehand. Now it's been discussed, but... I don't like it. He's not safe - I don't just mean that in the obvious way, I mean he's psychologically dangerous. Today worked out. And he's exactly the sort of person to try something else next time for that reason. We do know your power prevents mental tampering. I cannot fix you if he breaks you. I don't want you broken.]

"Got it," Bella says to Roberta.

[manofmyword]

"Trouble in paradise?" murmurs the Joker. "How's smarty pants?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"How the hell'd you know I was talking to her?"

[Bella,] Alice reminds her, [he's me. I don't want me broken either.]

[manofmyword]

"I know everything," he teases.

[self_composed]

[Alice. You will notice that I do not drink blood and I am not married to a man a century my senior who always looks like he's auditioning for Most Angsty and I don't have a kid or theme my empire around my eye color. He's not you. He's like you. He could've been you, maybe. But he's not the same, and it wouldn't be great for you to grow up to be just like him. He goes around killing people.]

[edgeofyourseat]

He grins and shakes his head, ignoring the Joker for now.

[I love you,] he says. [Look, it's different. You don't think of you as you but we think of us as me.] A slight pause. [Fuck, that was incoherent as damn, did you get it?]