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Pen waits for somebody to come find her. She knows abstractly that this can go on for years, but she's still alarmed, when it turns out it's going to take more than a week.
At least there is Cindy, even though he isn't her real daddy. Cindy is fun and makes tasty food and brings her presents to keep occupied with and doesn't mind that she draws on the walls and likes it when she sings and takes her to the place with room to fly most days, and lets her paint him pretty. Pen makes elaborate K'nex structures, becomes quite adept at piloting her helicopter (it has room to fly even inside the apartment), and improves at drawing. She learns the lyrics to a lot of Queen songs. She does not go in the dangerous room or out the dangerous door; she's safe but Mommy isn't here to safe Cindy too and Pen can't do it because she's not a mint. She can do other things, though. She can play and read and eat waffles and paint Cindy.
She paints him most of the time, now, and she sings while she does it.
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campanas
Deeply and increasingly uncomfortable, he closes his mouth on just such an accusation.
Instead he says: "Why are you telling me this?"
Instead he says: "Why are you telling me this?"
manofmyword
The Joker shrugs. "I saw the opportunity, and I took it. I like you, you know, I honestly do. Flaws and all. I've missed you all these years. Nobody else throws me off buildings like you do."
—He almost laughs. It's absurd.
If he ever had control of this conversation, he has lost it and then some.
He steps back. A stray bit of glass from the dropped bags crunches under his boot. Should he make some last comment, some parting shot? The Joker would just take it as encouragement. Like a playground bully, the best response is ignoring him until he goes away.
(It rarely worked that well on playground bullies, either.)
Finally he just turns and walks away. He is almost sure the Joker isn't carrying a concealed gun, and almost sure he wouldn't use it if he did, but his shoulderblades itch with that tiny remaining uncertainty until he's around a corner and out of sight.
If he ever had control of this conversation, he has lost it and then some.
He steps back. A stray bit of glass from the dropped bags crunches under his boot. Should he make some last comment, some parting shot? The Joker would just take it as encouragement. Like a playground bully, the best response is ignoring him until he goes away.
(It rarely worked that well on playground bullies, either.)
Finally he just turns and walks away. He is almost sure the Joker isn't carrying a concealed gun, and almost sure he wouldn't use it if he did, but his shoulderblades itch with that tiny remaining uncertainty until he's around a corner and out of sight.
manofmyword
The Joker walks on, abandoning the bags of broken glass. He still has business to do tonight, and he's going to have to get something to cover that window with on his way back.
Oh, it would be so much fun to play the old game again. Especially now that he knows Batman's watching.
(And what was it exactly about that charming little act of vandalism that caught the Bat's eye? It was the most public and obvious thing the Joker's done in a while, that's true. But as an explanation, it just doesn't - quite - feel right. Well, he has time to think about it.)
It's several hours before he comes home, carrying a large board to tape over the window frame. It'll do for now. They'll have to move anyway; as charming as that little visit was, Cindy isn't keen on a repeat.
Oh, it would be so much fun to play the old game again. Especially now that he knows Batman's watching.
(And what was it exactly about that charming little act of vandalism that caught the Bat's eye? It was the most public and obvious thing the Joker's done in a while, that's true. But as an explanation, it just doesn't - quite - feel right. Well, he has time to think about it.)
It's several hours before he comes home, carrying a large board to tape over the window frame. It'll do for now. They'll have to move anyway; as charming as that little visit was, Cindy isn't keen on a repeat.
campanas
He finds Pen trying to figure out why her helicopter won't work (she doesn't really understand batteries). She abandons this mystery to help him hold the board in place. "How was people?" she asks.
manofmyword
"Boring," he says. The tricky part is taping it so they can still open and close the window, but he manages it with effort and ingenuity.
manofmyword
"'Cause they're gonna help me with something," he says. "There." He stands back and dusts off his hands. "Window's done; now I'm going to bed."
manofmyword
He yawns.
"Mmkay, I'll make dinner first."
But he is tired, so it will be unelaborate. Tasty, but unelaborate.
"Mmkay, I'll make dinner first."
But he is tired, so it will be unelaborate. Tasty, but unelaborate.
campanas
Pen doesn't complain. She eats, and then she reads a little bit, and then she kerflops into bed too.
Another week passes.
She draws a lot of gems in all colors, attached to all sorts of jewelry, especially bracelets like her own - like her mother's - and occasionally has moping fits, but mostly proceeds with equanimity from day to day.
Sometimes Cindy leaves the news on; Pen is interested in the concept of television but not the news in particular.
With help, she solves the helicopter mystery and it soon flies around again.
Another week passes.
She draws a lot of gems in all colors, attached to all sorts of jewelry, especially bracelets like her own - like her mother's - and occasionally has moping fits, but mostly proceeds with equanimity from day to day.
Sometimes Cindy leaves the news on; Pen is interested in the concept of television but not the news in particular.
With help, she solves the helicopter mystery and it soon flies around again.
manofmyword
And then one day, Cindy comes back from one of his trips outside to say,
"I found us a bigger place to live! With an enormous bathtub."
"I found us a bigger place to live! With an enormous bathtub."
campanas
"Yay!" Her wings are getting kind of dingy in the places she can't reach by hand.
campanas
Pen puts her K'nex in their box, and finds something else to put her other toys and supplies in.
manofmyword
Cindy packs himself three big boxes and one backpack. The backpack contains books and music; the boxes contain clothes and weapons, many of them taken out of the dangerous room, and the last half of the last box is filled with all his sewing supplies. It's a chore wrestling everything down to the van he obtained for the occasion, but once they get there, it all fits with room to spare for Pen and a pile of pillows for her to sit on.
The drive takes a while. When they get there, he pulls the truck around to the little parking lot behind the building and lets Pen out of the back.
"See up there," he says, pointing to the second floor, "that balcony with all the fake plants on it? That's ours."
The drive takes a while. When they get there, he pulls the truck around to the little parking lot behind the building and lets Pen out of the back.
"See up there," he says, pointing to the second floor, "that balcony with all the fake plants on it? That's ours."
manofmyword
"Yeah," he says. "Bring whatever stuff you wanna carry; I'll take the rest up a different way."
campanas
Pen takes up one of her bags, flapflapflap, and she makes a rather neat landing on the balcony and tries the window.
manofmyword
It's a sliding glass door, and therefore opens differently from the previous window, but it still opens just fine.
Inside, there is a very large living room adjoining a very large kitchen, with a hallway just to her left leading to an oddly constructed bedroom. In the bedroom, past an assortment of desks and a very large walk-in closet lined with wardrobes on both sides, there is the bathroom containing the promised bathtub.
Inside, there is a very large living room adjoining a very large kitchen, with a hallway just to her left leading to an oddly constructed bedroom. In the bedroom, past an assortment of desks and a very large walk-in closet lined with wardrobes on both sides, there is the bathroom containing the promised bathtub.
manofmyword
While she is exploring, the Joker ferries boxes in the front door, then starts unpacking them. His sewing equipment sprawls across the assortment of desks in the bedroom's bizarre anteroom; clothes find their way into wardrobes; the music and books pile up next to one of the numerous couches. Various weaponry gets tucked away in closets and drawers.
campanas
Eventually Pen has observed all of the rooms, and then she tries to figure out the plumbing. She thought she had Earth taps down, but apparently they vary, residence to residence.