Who ‘Joe’ and Angel What First encounters Where Around Hamartia. When The day of this Warnings Insanity. (Rating? G)
“C’mon, guys!” Angel cupped her hands at her mouth, calling for her dogs. “Bud! Lou! C’mere, mama’s got treats for you!” The way her face lit up when the two German shepards came bounding towards her through what the Valley happened to call a ‘park’ was something unusual; ninety-five percent of the time, the only things that got that reaction were particularly good test results, a sale at Blockbuster, or if somebody said she looked particularly pretty.
Her dogs, though - they got that all the time. Her babies - god only knew when she’d have real squalling brats to call her own, but for right now? She considered her dogs to be far and away the better option. She crouched, treats in her hands as they came closer - and she heard the voice over her right shoulder.
“A-hem.”
Angel twisted, her brows rising expectantly as her fingers scratched ears without even thinking. “Yeah? You have something to say?”
“Don’t you think those dogs are a little... large... for this park? My dear, sweet Terida is petrified.” Angel realised that the woman (older, and in Angel’s opinion, ugly enough to need a bag over her head) had a quivering mass of something in her arms. Maybe there was a dog under all that fluff. Maybe.
She stood, her brows high. “Are you saying that because your dog’s a wuss, there’s somethin’ wrong with my dogs?” She bristled, and Bud looked at her first before he growled, low in his throat.
“N-No! Not at all.” The woman backed up a step, then two.
Angel shook her head, tugging their leashes out of her bag as she bent to clip them on. “Man, the nerve of some people.” She looked up one more time - the woman was hustling away, and there was a guy walking towards her. “Y’know what I mean? The nerve of some people!” She was talking to the guy, mostly because she wanted someone to agree with her. After all, she was right, wasn’t she?
His day had been going smoothly enough. No complaints as of yet & plans had reached no hitches. No men complaining of meeting his dead exgirlfriends, no family members showing up out of the blue. He was content as it was, cutting through the park on the way to Bathos - whistling slightly as he did so.
His eye caught on the woman with her dogs, steps not slowing until the shouting match broke out. Then he allowed himself to linger, watching the variance in normal behavior until she addressed him. He wasn’t surprised as much as intrigued, scarred smile spreading.
“She was being fairly ridiculous,” he said, moving forward to the dogs. He cared for animals about as much as he did people: none at all. Still for behavior’s sake, he knelt down and extended a hand to the dogs. The Joker could fake good behavior. She lit up when he knelt. Her smile was compeltely unreserved, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “See? Fairly ridiculous. That’s what I was saying!” She dropped to her knees next to him - not actually thinking about the why of it, her fingers buried in Lou’s fur as Bud sniffed his fingers and then started nosing at his hand. “Good to know the fine citizens of Seattle agree with me. Better then her little yapping rat, anyway.”
Her eyes flicked over to him, and her smile widened, “You just go around agreeing with all the admittedly gorgeous dog owners? Or’ve you got other plans? I’m Angel, by the way.” She was teasing, still rubbing Lou’s back. “That’s Bud, and this is Lou.” Bud and Lou seemed to surprisingly not mind him. He wasn’t going to complain and moved his hands so that they scratched their ears, eyes flicking up to the blonde woman. Being a fine citizen was too amusing to not chuckle at - barely restrained from full laughter. “Who could call such a shame to the canine race a dog anyhow?”
He shook his head though, going for honesty. “No, you’re the rare exception. Feel lucky about it.” His head canted sideways before he released Lou - he was getting attention - to stretch a hand towards her. “Joe, nice to meetcha.” And he meant it, surprisingly enough. He liked an interruption such as this. “Joe. Good name, Joe.” She smiled wider as she shook his hand, shook it with both hands the way people used to in the forties before she let him go, one last rub to Lou’s back before she stood up. “So, Joe. This’s a little weird, but I think you should get coffee with me. Yeah? Lemme have the privilege of being a ‘rare exception’, and press my luck a little.”
She laughed, twirling the leashes around her hand. “We could go get into some trouble.” She had a stack of movies waiting in her apartment and had a kegger to go to tonight (yawn), but now - why not live a little? She’d seen this movie. The guy who pet her dogs- wait, what movie was that?
Whatever, still. She’d seen it, and it’s not like she’d let that opportunity slip her by. The enthusiasm, for the name and the handshake nearly sent him into laughter again. Not the usual set of rules: he liked that. He was tempted to follow this up with the usual Joe King line - she seemed like the sort who’d go for it when her offer came out.
It wasn’t often he was surprised (last time, it was his sister showing up and about to get killed by his own clowns) and it floored him for a moment. This was why he wasn’t nice to people. This was why he didn’t do an act - regular entanglements. It just got annoying after awhile or a liability. See case in point, Brea.
Expression still fairly surprised, he allowed a slight laugh - not quite honest, but how much with him was? “You’re forgetting the dogs. Nearest place to here doesn’t allow them inside, does it?” Giving away his familiarity might have been an issue, but he would pull logic as he needed to. An eyebrow rose again. “Have you been particularly unlucky lately?”
Desperate women. Egads. “Unlucky? Heck no. Lots of luck. Loads of the stuff. And not forgetting them-” She bent, scratching Lou’s head again. “Tie’m outside, scares off all the people, though I don’t know why. They’re the sweetest dogs in the world.” She tugged the dogs as she took two steps, her brows high in expectation. “You coming? You can’t just go complementing a girl’s pets and then backing out.” She laughed, nodding her head back towards the coffee shop. “You’ve got expectations to live up to!” Which meant logic was out the window. Smile ever practiced, ever appropriate, was in place. Did he have anywhere else to be? He weighed his schedule in his mind. No. He could waste some time and she was...interesting. And he didn’t admit that often. He could always scare her off later. A few well timed jokes and stories usually did that.
If not there was a straight up lying which he was fine with.
Pressing a hand against the gravelled walk way, he pushed himself up. “What kind of expectations do you have for me then?” He reached over to take Bud’s leash, before striding beside her. A roguish smile, combined with a quirked brow was shot her way. “What role would you have me play?” Her brows shot up when he took the leash, and half-walked, half-skipped to keep up with how fast he moved - long legs and all. “Well,” she said, looking over at him. “Not the hero. Heroes are boring.” She made a face. “And stuffy. And probably need to get girlfriends.” She tapped her lips with her finger, her smile widening. “Let’s see, you can be...” Her eyes flicked up and down, her smile changing so it quirked the corner of her mouth. “... You can be the charmer who all the girls go after, but he doesn’t have the time of day. How’s that sound? I mean, I’ll have to capitalize on my luck so that you don’t skip out on coffee before we’ve got it, but if that’s you, then I’m... Hm. Quirky sidekick? Femme Fatale? Manic Pixie Dream Girl? Somethin’ else? You tell me.” He wasn’t going to adjust his pace for her and amusement continued as she attempted to keep up. She seemed to do a fairly good job - points for her. The comment on heroes surprised him - Seattle tended to think heroes were either the greatest thing since sliced bread or a monstrosity. Boring was something he could agree with entirely. “Absolutely. It’s overdone as well.”
A hand rose to his scars, rubbing idly. “I’ve done that a few times-” Which made him more suited. He’d never been much interested in the role. The combination between reality, learning his potential, and the issue of his power and weakness prevented any reason for pursuing such relationships beyond knowing what the fuck everyone was talking about and working as a cover. “If I told you what I really was, I’d be screwed,” he said cheerfully. “Let’s hope I don’t turn out to be a vanisher.”
Gesturing to the right as they reached the main road, he glanced sideways. “Probably not the latter. Not enough glitter.” Yet his tone was teasing. He rubbed at his scars for a moment more before asking, “The question is, what am I doing that I need a sidekick for? If my nefarious nature relates to picking up women, you’re likely to get jealous as my trusty sidekick.” “I didn’t say I was your sidekick, now did I? Look at you, presuming that we’re going to have a working relationship.” She was teasing him, too, waggling her eyebrows for a second as Lou and Bud trotted ahead of them. “Besides, that’s not what your nefarious nature relates too, it’s just what you do. Your nature...” She trailed off, suddenly sucking in a breath and looking away for a second.
C’mon, Angel! You just met this guy! Ridiculous. She was ridiculous. Still, she shook her head, knowing she was right. “You’ve got way more important things than dealing with the ladies that follow you around. Can’t keep’m off ya, maybe that’s my job. Stick around with the crowbar, defend your honor, that sort of thing.” She was obviously kidding, that half-skip just part of her gait now when she got a little behind. “Definitely get jealous, though. One-man woman, I am. Still, who’d step out on me? I mean, really.” She laughed again, her eyes flicking to his scars and away mostly because-
Yeah, well. The things that crossed her mind weren’t really up for public consumption, but that’s mostly because it’d been a while. Brad wasn’t really the most stellar of boyfriends, she just kept him around because it wasn’t like she was going to run around being single, was she? The Joker laughed, steps as even as before. “Who’s sidekick would you be then? Should I be tempted into stealing you away from my competition?” The good thing about discussions such as this was that they were lies he didn’t have to keep track of. This would never be brought up again and have no weight for the future. He could simply give in, touching lightly on subjects as light or dark as needed, without a care. “My nefarious nature is likely much worse?” he prompted.
Yes, that did seem true.
With a chuckle, he listened. “A crowbar’s not a bad idea at all. Bashing the message into their heads literally would likely do well.” As her gaze moved to the scars - and that rare look - he did slow down. Ah. Those types. He was used to those and what it meant. His hand rose to his forehead, feeling an incoming headache. “Polygamy is supposedly over-rated.” “There’s no stealing me away unless you think you can trump medical research,” she said matter of factly. “Love my job, love how I do it.” She shook her head as he asked. “I’m not really the person to talk about nefarious natures unless I come clean on my own, and nuh-uh, not doin’ it.” She wished, suddenly, that the coffee shop was right there, right before she put her foot in it and there was this perfectly nice guy, and they were talking about bashing in the heads of simpering idiots and that was the best plan because what sort of world needed more idiotic bimbos, but-
He slowed down. She adjusted her walking speed (cutting the skips) without thinking, her brows furrowed as she walked next to him. “Polygamy’s alright, I guess, if everybody loves each other. If the guy’s just catting around for the hell of it, he should get a face full of acid.” She shrugged. “Or the crowbar. Or somethin’ else. Leave ‘im to Bud and Lou.” “Depends on what it is,” he said smoothly. She wasn’t a doctor then, but curiosity prompted the next question. “What field?” Always good to know the people in these things. Perhaps she could be useful. At her own denial, he laughed again, hand winding tighter around the leash. “I’d rather keep my secrets anyhow. Let’s ditch if you show me yours, I’ll show you mine.”
Another burst of laughter before they reached the shop. “I thought you said they wouldn’t harm anyone. Are fangirls an exception to the rule?” He tied a careful not about a bike rack, waiting for Angel before making any movement towards the store. “Psychology,” she said cheerfully as she bent to tie Lou’s leash, rubbing both dogs heads and cooing at them for a moment before looking back up at him. “Oh, they don’t hurt people unless I tell them to.” She smiled brightly, shrugging as she turned to go inside, leaving him without a thorough explanation.
She looked back over her shoulder, holding the door open. “What’dyou do, then? I mean, if I’m all ‘Psychology!’ and you’re all silent, then where does that leave me, besides an awesome story to tell about a silent stranger?” Just his luck. He rose to his feet, following behind her. He wondered vaguely what her reaction would be if he told her last diagnosis. A few years out of date, but he’d done enough research to know how he was different from the rest of humanity (as he viewed even Creations) and what it meant. “It doesn’t mean anything at all,” he said, genially.
He got into the main line, tucking his hands into pockets. He scanned over the listing above. “I do a bit of this and that, nothing too interesting. Nothing as innovative as psychology-” He flashed her that roguish smile again. “Mainly investing. It’s boring, to be honest.” “Oh.” She screwed her mouth to the side, then shrugged. “I guess if you mess around in a suit all the time, that’s your business.” She obviously wasn’t all that enamoured with it. “Innovative, that’s me. Test things, see what happens. What make people’s brains tick. It’s super fascinating.” She found herself looking at him again, that sort of drawn fascination that had her pulling her lower lip in between her teeth, worrying the skin before she realised that she was next up for coffee and she’d not even figured out what she wanted.
Great. “You should get a hobby.” She said it without thinking, desciding then on a toffee vanilla latte with extra espresso. Turning, she looked at him, her brows high. “Yeah? Hobby? Something.... interesting.” He didn’t know what to make of that and chose to let the subject idle out. Joseph King was an intelligent, albeit boring man when it came to work. He was better suited for discussions. “I can imagine. I’d rather be doing something like that.”
Yet, he did. Truly, his work was taking apart others and proving to the world how things worked. But explaining how his test field was all of Seattle - eventually the world - wasn’t going to work well.
An eyebrow rose as the line moved forward. “Who says I don’t have one?” “Alright, then--” She paused think about her order, before continuing right where she’d left off. “--What is it? I mean, it’s got to be worth your while if it’s enough to balance working for a bank.” She wasn’t thinking.
That was the only explanation she had for what she just did, when her hand just sort of moved of it’s own volition to snag a leaf off his shirt, when she didn’t know this guy, didn’t do anything besides come onto him and hand him her dog and- who hands somebody they just met the leash of their dog?
She stared at the leaf in her fingers for a second, shaking her head. “I’ve never met you before, right? I mean, not that I think you’re super forgettable, but--” Usually she met people, summarily discovered that they were idiots, and moved on - or invited them into her house, but not stood there and made eyes at them and then pick bits of things off their clothing. She’d let them in, not give them the keys to the front door.
Angelina Quinnz was anything but dumb, but this... was weird. “Sorry.” She crushed the leaf in her hand. “There was a leaf.” He’d never said he worked for a bank, but he wasn’t going to deny it either. “Writing,” he admitted. Nowhere near the truth. “I like to keep a journal on regular happenings, observations. They’ll need a source for the future when they write history books.” He glanced at the menu, wishing he got order his black coffee already.
He didn’t notice her movement at first - it was only when she seemed to babble he was aware. An eyebrow rose. Had he met her? Fuck, it better not have been in LA or before. “I have a good memory, but it’s always possible. Are you a local?” He’d answer based on hers, not the other way around. Fuck. He hated situations like this, if it actually was one.
“Don’t sweat it.” “Grew up in Jersey.” She shrugged, stuffing her hands in her pockets, her chin rising three notches. “Moved here for school. You?” She didn’t know what she should do, besides keep her fucking hands to herself and she was pretty sure that this guy thought she was a huge creeper. Great. There went Must Love Dogs and ended up with Psycho or Basic Instincts or something that was a movie she sort of avoided watching on principle. Creepy stalker girl with not enough glitter shoving her dog’s leash into people’s hands and then taunting them into getting coffee with her.
Universe: 1, Angelina Quinnz: 0. It took him a moment to remember his cover story, close enough to his own to cover his back. “Chicago. I’ve done a fair amount of travelling but made Seattle my homebase this year.” He glanced at her just as they were called up. “I’ve never been that far east though.” Truth. At least on this side of the portal.
He ordered a black coffee before gesturing for Angel to move up. He nearly always ended up paying in business meetings and it didn’t cross his mind to allow otherwise here. “Toffee and Vanilla, extra espresso. Please.” She pulled out her debit card before she realised he already had out his wallet, and she opened her mouth to protest, but the words just sort of... died. “I’ve never been to Chicago, so... I guess it’s just one of those things, you know? Deja Vu.” She plastered on a cheerful smile even though her mind was still rolling around in the Bates Motel. “Or just one of those things, I guess. So! Joe, you... I don’t know, you from around here?” She fiddled with her hair, with the hems of her sleeves, with just about everything as she tried to figure out what else to say. He paid for the drinks with little issue, eyes flicking over the workers without discrimination. No, just being aware was the game here. He moved down the line, passed her drink down to her with a shrug. “It happens.” Gesturing towards the station with condiments, he began adding sugar - a ridiculous amount for someone who ordered their coffee black. “Unlikely, unless it was in passing.”
“Yeah, I know. Must have been wrong.” She shrugged, and took a swallow of coffee, wincing as she promptly burned her tongue. “This day just keeps getting better and better.” She mumbled it to herself, her brows knitting. Angel was a strong believer in things. Fate, destiny, true love, her own ability to be right.
This? This whole thing with the guys and the coffee and the weird fascination where there really shouldn’t be any?
Yeah, that’s not so great. “You have any pets? Or... I don’t know. Anything? What kind of movies do you like?” Might as well make hay while the sun shines or whatever, and figure out what she can about him before he just poofs out of her life forever, right? He wasn’t going to overthink it. Some things he did, but this was a small detail. She’d been mistaken, there was no chance she could have known him by any means - at most, bumped into him once before or seen him in passing about the city. Linking to the Joker was impossible. He knew everyone who’d been in the bank: she wasn’t one of them.
Covering up his coffee, he tossed sugar packets and the stirrer in the trash. He raised a brow, leaning against the counter as a sudden barrage of questions hit him. Damn.
“No, I travel too much to have pets-” Besides flunky clowns. “My schedule’s unpredictable, unfortunately.” And they’d be a liability. His brows did draw closer together at movies. What was the last time he’d seen a film? Crap. “I don’t watch much television-” The faint truth. “Most of my memories with tv’s involve watching out for friends. There were two girls who lived next door to me growing up. She’s an artist now, horror genre. All our viewings growing up must have had some effect on that...” Not likely, but explaining to Angel about Musings and Zinnia’s backstory was as unlikely as him casually dropping that he was the Joker. “Oh. Well.” She shook her head. “So, you have a boring job, no pets, no movies, you write, and you apparently like my dogs.” She paused. “And you need a sidekick, but I don’t have enough glitter. That about right?” She shook her head. He sounded like the most boring person in the universe, but she was fascinated. Intrigued.
Ridiculous. “Man, it’s like you have magic powers or something,” she said mostly to herself, then nodded to the door. “We can head back, drink coffee while I leave you off where I ran into you? So I didn’t really take you out of your way.” A hand went to the scars again, rubbing away as he gave it some serious thought. “Minus the fact that I need a sidekick. That ties into my plans to take over the world and-or burn it down-” Preferably the latter. He flashed a grin at her before heading towards the door. “Glitter gets in the way of things. If I ever change my mind, you might do the trick. Can you stand getting your hands dirty?”
He might need to visit her in make-up one day, just to see the reaction. But then again, maybe not.
“What kind of magic?” he asked. Because he did, technically. The cup in his hand was supposed to be hot yet he didn’t even adjust his grip. Little things like that went unnoticed. “Fine by me. You live around here?” He didn’t really care, but it was a good question to ask. Casual. “Burning down the world’ll give too many people things to whine about. Something more lethal would probably have less blowback.” She laughed, shrugging. “And yeah, I can. Trust me.” She headed outside, bending to rub her dogs’ heads before looking back at him over her shoulder. “I don’t know. You’re just sort of... charming, I guess.” She shrugged, then nodded east. “The Hamartia. Not great digs, but I’m a grad student. You have what you get, y’know? You?” He laughed. “On the contrary, if we watched the world burn we’d have nothing else to worry about. It would be the end.” But he grinned as he said it, lowering his coffee cup before gathering a dog’s leash. Just teasing. Why would he talk about setting the city on fire jokingly?
At the mention of being charming, he had to chuckle. “If that’s what I have for magic, I’d feel gypped. That should be an aspect of my personality. Nothing else...” Oh. Hamartia. The Joker nearly facepalmed. Crap. “Yeah, I do. I’ve got old friends who live there actually.” He debated it for half a moment before tossing out, “I’m in the Bathos myself.” “Bathos? Look at you, fancy-man.” She smiled, and sighed. “If it all burned, maybe. Not just pieces-parts, if it all did...” She trailed of, shaking her head. “And yeah. I dunno, I guess I just thought magic because there’s no reason I should be so- I mean. You’re...” She laughed, a little too high. “Not to be a creeper or anything, but there’s just something about you. Magnetic, I guess.” She shrugged. “If I didn’t think you’d say no, and if I wasn’t already dating someone-” She frowned at that. “Not that Brad’s good for anything, but if I wasn’t already dating him, I’d ask you out.” Problem was, she wasn’t sure what it was about him that made her want to do that. The laugh was more sheepish this time, normal. All part of the act. “It’s a place to live.” Disgusting one. He’d rather be away from the Creations, but business and Zin anchored him. “I’ll make sure the whole thing goes,” he promised.
An eyebrow rose and he began to walk. This was beginning to be a problem. He shouldn’t have stopped for her dogs in the first place. “You’d be surprised by how many times I’ve heard that.” Play it casual. Shake her off. Because safety came first and the idea of any sort of relationship was laughable - and not in the good way. No, he didn’t mind her company. He actually enjoyed it. However, there wasn’t any attraction worth jumping on. That wasn’t how he worked.
Time to lie. “I’m really not looking for a relationship right now.” Or the truth. Sometimes it helped the situation more. “Woah, mister! I’m not asking you out. Did you miss the whole boyfriend thing? And the creepy thing? Because creepy. What I was saying is that it should be your power or something, because believe me, I’m more than half married to my work, and you’re just...” She trailed off, doing that walk-skip that she’d fallen into before. “You’re just... something. I don’t know. It’s weird, you know?” She shrugged. “That’s what I meant. I’m a one-guy girl, loyal til the very end. Not lookin’ for somebody else myself.” She shot him a look, and shook her head.
“Seriously, talk about an ego. Whew! So, yeah. You burn the whole world, I’ll buy you a cup of coffee. I’ll owe you one.” Regardless, he erupted into laughter. They were nearing the park now and a glance her way was half fond, half curious. He knew people, but she did if nothing else seem to have a different way of going about things. In a way, he liked it. In another way, this was trouble. “Good for you.”
With a shrug, he said. “No, I don’t.” He honestly didn’t. “I’ll hold you to that promise though.” He'd put it on his to-do list, right after making the world see realism. With a final laugh, he passed the leash over and left, whistling a carefree tune.