Joker's Hideout(s)

[Elmira of Elkwood]

The little one hesitated, keeping her gaze fixed on Gossamer. She... she didn't know. She wanted to believe her... she... she sort of DID believe her. Gossamer wouldn't be making it a point to let her know that she cared about her and was looking for her otherwise. Gossamer wouldn't have cared that Joker could kill her if she didn't say she had been looking for them. She would have just outright said that she wasn't, and she didn't care.

But... she said she did care. That she had been looking for them. The tone of her voice and the way she was acting... it was sort of... motherly. More motherly than Rosie had ever known her to be.

Still... there was a nagging little voice of doubt in the back of her mind. Would it matter even if she was telling the truth? Even if she was capable of being a real mother now? It... it didn't mean her and Joker would be getting back together. It didn't mean that she'd be staying with them. And it... it didn't mean this wasn't going to be the last time she ever seen Gossamer again.

She turned her head away from Gossamer to look up at Joker. Her expression was conflicted. She did believe her... but she wasn't sure that it really mattered if she believed her or not. After a moment's pause, she turned back towards Gossamer. Her fingers fiddled with the toy in her hands a moment, then she carefully scooted herself towards the edge of the bed towards Gossamer before leaning forward to whisper something into her ear.

Gossamer hesitated a moment to listen. Then, for the first time since Joker first ran into her that day, Gossamer's expression changed. As though the child had brought up some little secret that Gossamer had not been expecting to be brought up. Or... even reminded of. Whatever it was, Gossamer carefully drew back from Rosie and moved one hand to cup under the child's chin. Making her look right at her face.

Gossamer flashed her a smile. One more caring than either she or the Joker had likely ever seen from her. "Yes." she said gently. "Of course I love you as much as I did her." then she carefully leaned forward and kissed the child on the forehead. "I'm sorry it didn't seem like I did before we were separated."

 

[Comic_Book_Joker]

Joker listened to Gossamer's response, and witnessed the change in expression on her face, and knew exactly what Rosie had asked. Upon hearing her words, he almost lost all self-control right then and there. He instantly pointed the gun at Gossamer and yelled "NO! You can't just show up, out of the freaking blue, suddenly be everything Rosie wants in a mother! You CAN'T!"

His face had gone from smug to completely devoid of humor or happiness. His hair was looking a bit more disheveled, a few strands of hair falling in front of his face. Yellowish teeth, stained from whatever tragedy turned the Joker into the clown-like monster that stood before the three girls, were visibly clenched behind frowning, open bright-red lips.

The only problem was, he didn't pull the trigger. After a moment, he lifted the gun away from its target, only to quickly reset his aim at the witch. After another moment, it was clear that he COULDN'T pull the trigger.  

[Elmira of Elkwood]

All three girls flinched as the Joker made his outburst. Harley moved for the first time since entering the room. Partially out of the way, knowing what was about to come next, partially closer towards Rosie. She knew what was about to happen, and she could only imagine what it might psychologically do to the child. Even one been raised by the Joker. She wasn't sure if Joker had ever shot someone point blank in the head in front of the girl before...but...

Rosie flinched and snapped her attention towards the Joker. Her eyes widened as she took in how drastically his demeanor had changed, then focused in on the gun her had pointed at Gossamer's head. They remained there until he moved his aim on Gossamer's head.... then moved away from the gun and towards his face when she realized that he wasn't going to shoot her. It was only then she realized that she had both of her hands clasped around Gossamer's hand. She hadn't even realized that she had done that.

When Harley realized that Joker wasn't shooting Gossamer, she blinked and moved her attention to Joker's face. He clearly wanted to shoot her... normally he would have killed someone by now with that expression. But... he wasn't pulling the trigger. Why? What was stopping him?

Gossamer had flinched when Joker screamed out at her. Unlike Rosie and Harley, Gossamer's attention did not immediately shift towards the Joker. Her focus remained on Rosie... watching as the child's eyes widened and her tiny hands grabbed onto hers. Gossamer watched... and her expression reverted back to the statuesque calm that it had been before. She waited for the gunshot that never came... the snap of the side of the pistol against the side of her head again... or even Joker bark something else at her.

But nothing happened.

Gossamer's dark eyes shifted away from Rosie, and her head tilted around to look up at Joker. She found the gun trained on her head first. Then her gaze moved up his arm and towards his face. Just the look on his face said that his gun should be empty by now. He didn't want her making amends with Rosie, and she wasn't quite sure why.

She held eye contact with him for a long few moments. The icy calmness still hiding any emotion she might be inclined to feel. Then she turned away from him and looked back at Rosie as she felt the tiny hands let go of her hand. The child's eyes were still wide, but there was a new emotion on her face. She was concerned... and a bit heartbroken it seemed. Gossamer moved her hand back up to Rosie's chin to make her look back at her again.

As she did, she used just a little bit of magic. Nothing visible, but just enough to try and get a better read on what was going through the child's head. So that she could try to comfort her if nothing else.

Rosie looked back at her, her eyes still wide.
She wasn't ready for this... as much as she had thought that she'd be ready for it... she wasn't ready. She might have been before... back when she was convinced that Gossamer didn't care about her at all. She would have been fine with Joker shooting her in front of her. But now.... now she didn't want him to hurt her right in front of her. And she didn't want to choose between Gossamer or Joker. Even though.... it was very, very, very clear now that Joker would sooner kill her than forgive her.

Gossamer held eye contact with her for another long moment, then gave her a small smile. Then she turned her head away and looked back up at Joker. "Alright..." she began calmly. "Then why don't we give her a little while to think things over... while we go somewhere else and have a little talk." she said. Then let her tone shift to something more suggestive. "It might be a little easier to do so with the little one not in the room..."

She was assuming that was the hang up Joker was having. She certainly didn't think that he was having trouble shooting her because he still cared about her. Had to be Rosie. If he wanted to shoot her, hit her, cut her up like all the other torture victims she had seen him have... then she'd let him have that. If nothing more than to get it out of his system  

[Comic_Book_Joker]

The Joker looked at the resulting scene that unfolded around him. Last of all, he saw Rosie's hands remove themselves from Gossamer's hand. That was all he needed to see.

The arm holding up the revolver fell to his side. His other hand slid his hair back in place. That hand was the one with the wound, however, so it left a streak of blood in his hair. With a sigh, he said to everyone, "All right. Everyone, out of the building. We're moving out. Harley, this might be the last time I get to speak to you, so stick around, yeah? Rosie, you go on with your mother." He reached into his pocket, and pulled out his joy buzzer. He offered it to Rosie, saying with a small smile, "Watch this for me, huh, kiddo?"  

[Elmira of Elkwood]

Rosie's eyes widened a bit as she looked down at the joy buzzer in his hand. When she looked back up at him, her face was swallowed with confusion. "What... what do you mean watch it for you? Where are we moving to?" she asked.

Gossamer's face was... equally confused. She had been expecting him to kill her. Beat the hell out of her at the very least. Surely he wasn't just letting her go. And... he obviously cared about Rosie. He wasn't just letting her leave so easily, was he?


Harley blinked once, keeping her focus on Joker. This sounded an awful lot like a goodby. With as angry he had been at Gossamer, and the grudge Harley gathered he had against the woman, he shouldn't be just letting her walk away.  

[Comic_Book_Joker]

"Go on," Joker said, not answering Rosie's questions, "You have a lot of catching up to do with her." Joker was plainly not going to tell the little girl anything.  

[Elmira of Elkwood]

The child still stared up at him uneasily, but gently nodded. She looked back down at the joy buzzer in his hand, then carefully took it. Gossamer stared at Joker for another moment, then looked back towards Rosie. "Why don't you go and grab some of you favorite things here, and... we'll go wait outside for a bit."

Rosie nodded, then moved down off of the bed. Keeping her gaze away from anyone's face. With one arm still around the doll she had been hugging, she moved over towards her dresser. She grabbed another doll, a large one with a zipper in the back, and stuffed the doll inside of it. Then a medium sized box sitting on the dresser. Then a few smaller boxes lying inside the drawer of the dresser. After stuffing them all into the doll, she picked it up and walked back over towards Joker and her mother. She wasn't leaving without the gun Joker had given her. Or the trick rounds and playing card he'd given her.

She looked up at Gossamer, then back up at Joker. Her confused expression had changed into concern. She didn't want to leave without him. But... he just said she had catching up to do with Gossamer. That was a 'see you later' .... right?

Unsure... she moved over to him and gave his leg another hug. A tight one... like she didn't want to let go. After a moment, she did, and moved towards Gossamer. Gossamer gave her a small pat on the shoulder, then looked back up at Joker, trying to get a better feel for what he was going to do.

He was letting them go, but... why?  

[Comic_Book_Joker]

The Joker waved Gossamer and Rosie off. "Really, go on ahead. I need just need a quick moment with Harls." He was still smiling, a complete contrast to the look of absolute rage that he had worn only minutes earlier. In the light, the blood in his hair made his hair look like it was changing color in front of them.  

[Elmira of Elkwood]

Gossamer stared back at him for another long moment, a small frown forming around her lips. "Alright... we'll see you outside then." she said. Then she gently patted Rosie's shoulder and ushered her out into the hallway. As they moved through the hall, Gossamer glanced once more at the door that had all the blood stained around the bottom of it. She watched it as they passed by, then carefully looked back towards the door. She thought for sure she would be visiting that room.


Harley waited until Gossamer and Rosie were gone from the room, then looked over at Joker. "Are you... alright Mistah Jay?" she asked calmly.  

[Comic_Book_Joker]

The clown shrugged. "That depends, Harley. How do people considering retirement typically feel? Because I have no idea."  

[Elmira of Elkwood]

"Retirement?" Harley echoed. "What do you mean? I... I thought you had plans for Gossamer tonight. You got that little girl out there, and there's that little bat out there somewhere." she said, stepping closer to Joker.  

[Comic_Book_Joker]

"Rosie was swayed," The Joker replied, moving to sit on Rosie's bed, "As much as I wanted to hurt Gossamer, I couldn't, because Rosie no longer wanted me to." The clown chuckled, irony dripping from its tone. "Heh heh heh heh heh... I've developed the same handicap as the Bat: too many strings. I'm not sure how I feel about that, either."

He hung his head with a sigh for a moment, then looked back up at Harley. "And the crazy thing is, for all the strings, what do I really have? Gossamer and I hate each other, Rosie still cares for Gossamer, you never were a string for me, but I don't have you, either. Hell, I don't even have the Batman to play with! And don't try to bring up that mini-Bat," he added, his voice getting only slightly more stern, "He doesn't count. He's just a kid playing make-believe, no matter how advanced his technology is."  

[Elmira of Elkwood]

Harley frowned, then moved to sit down on the bed next to him. "You... you can still find something to do, Puddin." she replied. It had become such a habbit to call him that, she didn't even realize that she'd used her little pet name again. "I know it was only fun because the Batman was out and about, but you could still run Gotham. Just because the Bat has been hiding, doesn't mean you have to. And if you're worried about the kid, I'm.... sure you could still find a way to get back at her Mom without her knowing."  

[Comic_Book_Joker]

"Oh, my dear Harley," the Joker said, shaking his head, "Do you really know me so little? Like you just said, without old Guano-For-Brains, it's not fun anymore. If it's no longer fun, then what's the point? And as for Gossamer, the whole point was to have Rosie in on it. Without her, it loses too much meaning."  

[Elmira of Elkwood]

Harley's frown grew as she thought for a moment. "So... what are you going to do then?" she asked gently. She always knew the Joker to be up to something. She just couldn't picture him... retired.