niteo_logs | looks like death took a holiday...

Characters: The Joker, anybody else crazy enough to come by
When: April 14th, Afternoon
Where: Downtown Nesreca
Rating: Pg-13
Summary: Violent clown is violent

Gunshots rang out from the downtown side of Nesreca, a stark contrast to the quiet pattering of rain. The Joker was dancing in the parking lot of what had once been a department store, heavily armed and giggling maniacally. Every so often, he would whip about in a mockery of some elegant pose and open fire on one of the passing zombies.

Empty shells littered the ground around him, and once or twice, he had managed to trip over them, falling unceremoniously onto the ground before scrambling up to clip off another potshot at one of his new undead friends.

The ones that looked more ghostly he didn't bother with; the bullets just passed right through them. Waste of bullets. The still-dripping bodies of the soldiers caught in the civil war? Now, they were entertaining. They moved slow and were satisfying to watch when he scored a hit. He was taking a break from cracking their skulls open with a crowbar (infinitely more satisfying, but much more tiring), and was having fun switching between uzi, pistol, and the shotgun he had strapped over his shoulder.

He reached into his coat and withdrew one of the several grenades he'd decided to bring with him. There were boxes and boxes of them in the back; why not have a little fun?

As he was getting ready to pull the grenade he caught sight of a bald black man in an expensive, but blood-stained, suit. A trail of coagulated red streaked down from his temple, where a switchblade was still sticking out from. The Joker frowned and looked at the man, just about to pull the pin of the grenade and chuck it into the front of the department store building until a look of recognition lit up his face.

"Gambol! " he cried. fumbling with the grenade pin and the pistol he had in hand, trying to put the pin back and aim his gun at the man at the same time. "Long time no see!"

A blink. Then it wasn't Gambol.

It was Harvey.

The Joker held very still before cocking his head to the side. Maybe he'd gone a little too far off the deep end with that last episode.

"Nah... just far enough," he muttered. With a cackle, he pulled the grenade's pin, and, in his best bowling form, rolled it along the ground at the spectre of Harvey Dent.

"...here's your campaign donation, Harv!"

Raucous laughter, and then an explosion.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Joker only snickered at Fay's response.

"I asked you nicely," he growled, cocking the handgun and holding it up, sideways, at Fay's head.

"I know your type. You think a little humanity makes you human," he hissed. A little bit of hack-research went a long way. "But you and I both know... the means and the ends... they're the same thing."

There was a long moment where the Joker eyeballed Fay... and then he lowered the shotgun and began to holster the pistol.

Fay blinked at him, not entirely sure what he was getting at. He had learned how to smile for his savior, he wasn't entirely unhuman...just cursed.

"If I'm not human what am I?" he asked calmly, relieved that he was putting the weapons away. He could stop them...probably, but with his left eye gone his magic was depleting with each use. "Why is it you think you know me so well, hm?"

The Joker took note of the relief in Fay's stature. The shoulders seemed less tense, the eyes less.. inquistive. But that wasn't nearly so much fun.

He resumed his circling, moving to Fay's blind side, and his left hand fished around in a pocket after he shouldered the pistol. There came a soft clinking sound.

"Misery loves company," he said. "There's only one small difference between you and I. I'm honest... and you're a liar."

Fay had to crane his head to try and view the source of the clink, brow furrowing. It wasn't a sound he was familiar with. He brushed his hair from his good eye, narrowed with suspicion again.

"My lies don't hurt anyone," he said softly, "Does everyone from your world look like you?" he asked with a grin, attempting to change the subject.

"Not until I'm done with them," he said with a pernicious grin. The Joker again circled Fay, slinging the shotgun over his shoulder before digging about in his outside pocket.

"By the way... you wanna know how I got these scars?"

Fay wanted to retort by asking if that meant he dressed them all up and painted them to look like clowns, but it was probably better not to annoy him. He'd been flippant with his life before, put little meaning to it beyond getting back to revive his brother, but now that he was alive again he had a new reason to live. He couldn't leave Fay all alone, not in this world. Maybe somewhere safe, with Kurogane, or the Princess to look after him and show him kindness, but not here.

"I hadn't noticed them," he said, continuing to beam, "Thought it was a very big smile."

"Oh, it was," he said. There was another click, unmuffled like the other, the sound of a switchblade being opened up. The Joker made an effort to move just out of eyesight as Fay might have tried to turn to see him.

"I had a stepbrother once, when I was young. He was a lot bigger than me. Stronger. A bully. And he was crazy- a real bad egg. So, one day he said, 'Hey, let's go out into the woods, down to the ravine. I have some cigarettes. Brotherly bonding time'."

The Joker continued to circle Fay, and as long as Fay made no overt effort to face the clown and keep him at bay, he would be just at the corner of his sight.

"Night came, and we made a fire. He pulled out a knife, and told me a story... a story about the world, about how bad of a joke it was, about how I really ought to smile more. And then, laughing the whole time, he held me down, and then he put the knife in my mouth."

He stopped in front of Fay, holding up the knife, as though it was the very knife his 'brother' had used.

"And then he did this," he said, cocking his head from side to side, indicating the scars. "...to me. And you know what? Now I get it. Now I can't help but smile."

Then he drove the knife toward Fay's only good eye.

Fay listened to the story, standing stiffly trying to follow him with his gaze but he seemed to constantly be on the edge of his sight. His smile faded, head bowed some what, not liking this story, gaze lingering on the knife.

Though he had only a fraction of a second in which to react there had been no moment of disbelief as there had been with Syaoran's clone. He hadn't believed the boy would truly hurt him, and so he hadn't defended himself. This time there was no hesitation, and he whistled loudly, using sound magic to bring up a barrier between them, wind whipping at them and his face settled into a determined look.

"Nice story. You wanna hear mine?"

"Not really," he said, his voice deep and growling, different from the mocking and enticing voice he'd used to tell the story. He was driven back by the force of Fay's magic, and the defense elicited a sick laugh that said, 'What did I tell you? No different!'

The Joker turned away and darted toward the department store, swinging a gloved hand back to toss the grenade he'd been cooking for about three second toward Fay- resulting in an explosion directly in front of him. The force of it would be enough to send the twisted clown to his knees, forcing him to scramble back up and keep running, but he figured it served as a sufficient deterrent. Either that, or he would be dead- either was fine with him.

Fay closed his eye, explosion rocking his shield, testing its strength and it fell soon after, the wizard wincing at the destructive force. A hand came up to brush along the fabric of his eye patch, frowning lightly, wondering if he'd really intended to blind him. That would have been the death of him without Kurogane here, his magic was all that was keeping him alive right now.

He watched the Joker, but did nothing to stop him, stepping back through the rubble with a wary expression.

And with a sharp right turn, the Joker ran out of eyesight, the last view of him being the purple tail of his coat trailing behind him.

Despite his inability to blind or kill the sham, the Joker was still giggling. First impressions were everything.

looks like death took a holiday...

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