[RL - A Visit at Lisa's Place]

[tntandgasoline]

The Joker had his way with things. It was never hard to do something for him; if he wanted something, he got it. It's just how things were. They'd always been like that.

And right now, he wanted to do two things: intimidate Jackson and check up on that darling Lisa, who just so happened to live in a Miami. How he got there was nobody's business; all that mattered was that it was nightfall, and he was standing in front of the door of (hopefully) Lisa's house, a bottle of decent wine (it's so hard to find a good wine when you're a wanted man) in one hand.

He smirked, smoothed back his hair, leaned against the door way and knocked, three times, against the door. Hello, anybody home?

Comments

[nobaybreezes.livejournal.com]

Shock stained her expression, and the wine glass nearly fell out of her hand. Kill him? No, that's not what she wanted, that made her as bad as he was. He didn't deserve to die and if he did a court would decide that - not the convoluted judgment of another wanted man.

"No. Why would I - No. You can't just kill someone because you don't like them, it doesn't work that way." What is it with you people and treating death like no big deal? It's a big fucking deal.

[tntandgasoline]

He watched her expression change, watched her stumble over her words - how cute, she really was a normal girl through and through.

He shrugged his shoulders, expression unchanging as he regarded her. "It does work that way, and besides, I was asking hypothetically. I don't believe in killing pretty things, not unless I need to." Like Rachel. Ah, well. "If it was allowed, if you had to stand in court and give your own decision - if the judge said, 'do you, lisa, think we should kill this man', what would you say? Could you say yes, yes, we should?"

[nobaybreezes.livejournal.com]

"No." Absolutely no hesitation. For a born and raised republican, she sure had a hard time when she was actually faced with the idea of the death penalty. Should it be served to men like Jackson, like her rapist? Was it fair to end their lives? Lisa couldn't even consider the idea of even more blood on her hands. "He doesn't deserve to die." Maybe a week ago, she would have said yes. Maybe a week ago, he hadn't saved her life - even if he was the one to put it in jeopardy in the first place.

[tntandgasoline]

She was firm in her convictions and she was going to stay like that. He wasn't here to change her - not today, not this visit - and so he just smiled at her. "All right."

He wondered if she got confused by him dropping subjects, but it was just how he worked - once they were done, they were done. "How old are you, Lisa?"

[nobaybreezes.livejournal.com]

Up until now, dropping subjects had at least seemed to be out of politeness. To suddenly drop this one earned a briefly confused look, but she nodded and was more than happy to accept it. She didn't need to think about Jackson anymore. Why did Joker, then, keep dropping the subject of him and then dragging it back up, more painfully, later? She sighed inadvertently aloud.

"I'm twenty-seven." Twenty-eight in July. She briefly wondered if she should be making birthday plans. It had been a while since she'd had a large get together with friends - or enough friends to do so with.

[tntandgasoline]

He smiled and tilted his head. "So young. Everyone I know seems to be under thirty - except Harvey, but his age is a matter of the public record." Well, it was, before he "died." Heh.

"So, let's see - I don't want to make you uncomfortable, but all the interesting topics do just that. Can't talk about your friends, since you don't have any that I don't know... What is there to talk about?"

He let his tone drop a bit, a sort of "talk is cheap" tone. Maybe he'd just stop talking altogether - how would you like that, Lisa?

[nobaybreezes.livejournal.com]

Her gaze narrowed into a half-serious glare, not sure whether he was intending to be insulting by suggesting that she didn't have friends he didn't know. It wasn't entirely true - close, but not entirely.

"I have other friends. Annie and Cynthia. Steve." She tried to keep the frustration from her voice. "But, you're the one who came here - I figured you had something in mind when you did." Trying to think of somewhere they might be able to go without attracting attention was difficult and with only knowledge of the less shady parts of Miami, she wasn't getting very far in that endeavor.

[tntandgasoline]

He smiled, a bit unpleasantly, and slipped back to the living room. "To be honest, I was thinking I would spend most of the time convincing you to let me in. You surprised me, you really did, Lisa." He sat down on the couch without a backwards glance, idly straightening his vest. "Really, this whole visit has been so.... uncharacteristic of me. I usually would have burned the place down by now, or maybe just hurt you. But, no, I figured that I'd play a different role."

He leaned backwards, trying to look at her from across the way and not quite making it. "Do me a favor, at least spice up the encounter a little if you end up telling anyone. I have a reputation, after all."

[nobaybreezes.livejournal.com]

"I'm going to go ahead and say 'thanks' for not burning my house down. I really appreciate it." The threat of hurricanes was bad enough, she didn't need brushfire Joker blowing through too. Finishing off the glass of wine, she moved the remainder of the bottle to the refrigerator and placed both of their glasses in the sink - she'd get to them before bed, or when she woke up during the night. It was becoming problematic that she could essentially guarantee that she'd be up sometime between when she went to sleep and when she actually heard her alarm going off for work, but she shut that out of her mind for now.

"To show my appreciation, I'll be sure and mention in passing that you threatened me with a knife. Just not to Clint, I don't need him getting any more interested in his knight in shining armor routine." The sigh she heaved at this was rather heavy. She appreciated his help, really, but she didn't need him threatening to beat up anyone who slighted her. That's what fathers were for, not friends.

[tntandgasoline]

"Perfect. Nothing too crazy, though." After all, Lisa was going to have to be on his side a little. That was the point, right? Maybe. "Which one is Clint, again? I kind of lost track of all the, uh, masculine, heroic idiots on the community."

[nobaybreezes.livejournal.com]

"He's not an idiot," the protest was immediate and she had to take a moment's pause to keep herself from allowing the Joker's probing to make her agitated. "He's, uh, Hawkeye," she muttered to herself as an afterthought, "I think that's what he said." Lisa was able to shake the uncertainty off pretty promptly. "Friend of Maggie's, too?"

[tntandgasoline]

"Nothing personal, Lisa, don't fret - just a little friendly, uh, jabbing." He pondered the name - Hawkeye, Hawkeye, did that sound familiar? No. Not really.

"Maggie seems to be making lots of friends. Not that I'm surprised - she's a nice gal." He pointed lightly in Lisa's direction, like a drunk. "Both of you. Reminds me of a girl I used to know - but I don't think that story is for this conversation."

[nobaybreezes.livejournal.com]

"I don't think I really want to remind you of anyone you used to know." She followed this with a sigh. Lisa wasn't entirely sure she wanted to be complimented in the same way he was talking about Maggie, either, after what had happened to her. Then again, she also knew the same trick wouldn't work, and had much less to worry about. "Thanks. I think."

[tntandgasoline]

"Sorry," he shrugged, not sounding very sorry at all. "But it is a compliment. Sort of." After all, she wasn't bulimic. He hoped.

"Let's see... Oh! I know." He looked at her with a mildly curious stare - one that was definitely an understatement to how he really felt. Oh, this would be interesting. "You just said this, uh, Clint person, he does a knight routine. You didn't sound too happy about that - why's that? Don't like a man swooping in to save you from all the unsavory people in the world - like me? Jackson? Anyone else who might've slighted you in the past? Like being your own keeper, am I right?"

[nobaybreezes.livejournal.com]

"I don't like the idea of him getting himself involved in a situation where he might get hurt. I don't want anyone getting hurt. Not Clint, not... you, not... even... Jackson." That last part took a lot of cringing to admit. But, after as much pain and death her situation had brought to those around her - relocating her father, three months in the hospital for Jackson, Keefe's death, damages to the hospital, and winding up with the two of them at gunpoint in Jackson's apartment - she was fully ready for the pain to end. But, she couldn't give him more information than necessary.

[tntandgasoline]

"How, uh, noble." This self-sacrificing, nobody-get-hurt attitude was cloying, like a thick scent that encompassed the entire house. He was just now starting to realize that that was what was making the house feel so... unhealthy for him. "But, sugar-" Ahah, that one would work, "Life is full of people getting hurt. There's nothing you really can do about it."

[nobaybreezes.livejournal.com]

Sugar? Well, better than Lis'. At least for now, it was. She leaned against the wall, crossing her arms in front of her.

"But, when there is something that I can do to stop it, of course I'm going to. Which means doing all I can to keep Clint from doing something... stupid. Even if he hates it." Lisa sighed, shutting her eyes. It was hard to keep refusing help.

[tntandgasoline]

"Boys will be boys, Lisa.." He stretched again, rising to his feet. Slouching over towards his coat out of the desire to move, more than the desire to leave, he hemmed a bit. "But you can't stop everything bad, Lisa. Sometimes, uh, sometimes bad things just happen, even to the nicest of people."

He gestured vaguely towards her, "Like you having to deal with Jackson. Like Clint enevitably getting into a fight with me over this visit, because if you tell him, you know he'll assume the worst. Just like everyone assumes the worst." He wasn't bitter about it - that was the point - but it was irritating to have everything he did dismissed on the basis of him being bad. "And really, what can you do to stop it? The wheels, Lisa, they turn with or without your approval. Things happen."

[nobaybreezes.livejournal.com]

What was it with all of these people saying the same thing? Just 'bad things happening to good people' - as if it wasn't within the power of people to change that. Just because it took collaborative work didn't mean it couldn't be stopped. She bit her lip, now glaring.

"They don't have to happen. The wheels don't have to keep turning. It's just a matter of wanting it bad enough. But, you're right, it's out of the control of any one person. Clint isn't going to fight with you, I'm not going to let him. But, that doesn't mean you should try to antagonize him, which I know you're good at."

[tntandgasoline]

"Sweetie, I don't even know what the idiot looks like, or what his user name is. I wouldn't be able to bother him if I wanted too."

He picked up his jacket, brushing it off idly before looking at her. "You're really set on this, aren't you, Lisa? Set on grabbing life by the, uh, horns and making it yours." Doing what you wanted because of what you believed - hey, anyone could associate with that. Even the Joker.

[nobaybreezes.livejournal.com]

"I am never going to have to say something was out of my control again." That again wasn't supposed to come out. That again would draw questions. She turned away from him, uncrossing her arms so she could wring her hands together. "I think maybe you should go. You've proved your point."

[tntandgasoline]

Hm.

He knew the body language; the shouldn't-have-said-that posture and the deflecting, the insistence that he leave, that he had a point to prove with that little tirade. It would be easy to push her more, get her to lash out, lose control, because she had all this control over herself and it was sickening, like the clean house and the insistence on being good, but that just wasn't the gameplan for tonight.

He made a mild, thoughtful noise in the back of his throat and shrugged on his jacket. No, there'd be no point in pushing her right now; it'd just pop all the nails that he'd driven into her right back out. That wouldn't do.

He instead slouched up behind her, leaning in to just barely push against that very-wide personal boundary of hers, placing his hands on her shoulders lightly - easy to brush off. Women were so scared of men. It was ridiculous what he knew about this kind of position. Can't take any of the power away when they're like this, or else she'll stab him with a stiletto.

"Then never let it," he drawled, voice low as he gave up on being so soft on her and leaned in just enough to smell the shampoo she used, "If you want control - and oh, this is always my advice, but it's good advice, sugar, don't let the mouth that feeds it to you change your opinion - if you want it, take it."

A pause.

"Eucalyptus, huh? Took you for more of a, uh, fruit kinda gal."

[nobaybreezes.livejournal.com]

When she felt him come up behind her, she closed her eyes tighter, trying to will herself out of this situation. She hated, hated, hated feeling cornered in her own home but there was nowhere to run and she wasn't going to let him win this. But, he had said he was on her side - this wasn't a competition with Joker, was it? Was she just so used to considering it that with Jackson?

As soon as his hands - calloused and greasy from makeup and dirty - rested against her shoulders, every bone in her body wanted to scream in rejection to the contact. She just didn't let men that close to her, she hadn't in years, and Jackson had invaded that bubble and now Joker had and it was sending shockwaves in the form of memories of a sunny day in a parking lot and she had to pull away when he mentioned her shampoo. Oh, God, why was he doing this?

"Stop. Just, stop." She jerked away, wrapping her arms around each other tightly. "I'm not letting it. I've done a fine job of that so far, and that's exactly why I'm telling you that it's time for you to leave. I don't need your advice."

[tntandgasoline]

"Shh shh shh. I'm not here to hurt you, Lisa, remember?" He held up his hands - look, unarmed, backing away - and internally grumbled at overstepping his boundaries at a time like this. So close. Damn it!

"And I am going, but..." He patted down his jacket, frowning before reaching into one of the interior pockets and pulling out an old, relatively unwrinkled playing card, the jester crouching in silloughette on the front. "If you need anything - really, Lisa, anything - just call me." The number was on the back, printed in sequence through the diamonds, but she probably wouldn't call. Still, better safe than sorry.

[nobaybreezes.livejournal.com]

Lisa's glare softened as he backed away. There was a good chance it had been completely accidental, that he hadn't known she would be so protective of her space but dammit why was she still so jumpy? She reached out and snatched the card from his hand, turning it over in her hands as she made a mental note to talk to her therapist - of course, leaving any mention of plural worlds or the people from them far away from that conversation.

"...Sure." Was her tentative reply. She set the card down on the counter beside her, eying him with unabashed suspicion. "Don't expect to be my first call."