delicious bubbly

[her_imperial_radiance]

Elspeth is glad that Milliways likes her, because she likes it. Jacob at her side and a glass of this nice golden stuff in her hand (she's tried the other synthetics; they're nice for an occasional change, but only humans care about dietary variety that much and this one is her favorite) and hubbub from a hundred worlds around her: lovely. A lovely break from work that keeps no one waiting, that doesn't even throw off her sleep cycle because her sleep cycle cares about the sun. (It throws off Jake's, a little, but his is more flexible than hers.)

Comments

[manofmyword]

He thinks about it for a few seconds.

Then he says, "The harder it is to cause trouble, the more fun it is. So the easier it is to cause trouble..." He spreads his hands.

[luminous_regnant]

"And yet the trouble you could cause if the mood struck is correspondingly more significant, if you have not only coins but also unrestricted ability to use them," she says. "At that point I can no longer decide you're a net liability and straightforwardly send Razi to kill you - hypothetically, Nathan. At that point I can't stash you in the hiding place - which might be a terrible idea anyway, if the way you're describing the situation is accurate."

[manofmyword]

"I don't do things I don't want to do," the Joker explains patiently. "And I don't want to throw big magic around to cause trouble. No interest at all."

[luminous_regnant]

Golden looks at Mary.

[pythbox]

"I'm not a lie detector," she says. "I can tell you he's really unlikely to do that, but I can't tell you what would make him do that unless somebody suggests a possible cause and I check."

[luminous_regnant]

"I suppose Alice - my sister, not him," she clarifies with a gesture at Stella's Alice, "could potentially help, but she can't do anything here, this place makes her dizzy..."

[self_composed]

"This is all looking like a much happier ending than I'd anticipated. Previously my best idea for a more humane solution to Gotham's little problem looked like 'maybe send him home with Angela to wander around on that continent full of Edori'," Stella comments.

[manofmyword]

The Joker wrinkles his nose.

"I'd much rather go home with him," he says, tipping his head at Nathan. "As a mint." He grins. "Embrace the retired life."

[luminous_regnant]

Nathan very, very carefully presses his lips to the top of the Joker's head.

"The actual priority here is not and has never been what you'd rather except insofar as that interacts with the priority of not having you murdering people," Golden says. "What you'd rather only matters within a given level of probability of mayhem happening."

(Me first, me first, not my Afton, she's thinking, but this is not something she chooses to share.)

"I care what he'd rather," Nathan says. "I thought you cared what I'd rather, Your Majesty, or am I just your timer after all this time?"

"Anyone mated to a wild card is a wild card, Nathan, you know that, you helped me when Zafrina mated. I care what you'd rather, but if I can't expect you to be putting mayhem-reduction first anymore -"

"I think," says Nathan, "that if you could trust me to do that - that if Edward'd tell you to trust me to do that - then that'd make him safer - so you can."

"Only if the Joker lets you escort him around," Golden says, "instead of ditching you."

[manofmyword]

The Joker bestows a radiant smile on Mary.

"Here's a possible cause for you," he says. "People trying to control me."

[pythbox]

Mary makes a disquieted noise.

[manofmyword]

"So this is how I think it should work," he says. "If you really don't want me causing trouble. Don't make rules. Don't threaten me. Don't spy on me every minute to make sure I'm behaving myself. Don't make it hard for me to cause trouble, or I'll want to. Just let me know what you'd rather, and leave me alone. And I'll play nice as long as I don't have to go too far out of my way to do it."

[luminous_regnant]

"I am an empress. I make laws. And associated standard sentences for their breakage. I'm not going to add exceptions to them for you."

[manofmyword]

"You sure?"

[pythbox]

Mary winces.

[luminous_regnant]

"I can work without Nathan if I have to."

[her_imperial_radiance]

"It would be problematic to publicly except him," Elspeth says. "Other people would start looking for leeway. But I can keep a secret if I have to. Can you just forget about the ones that don't carry the death penalty, Mama?"

[luminous_regnant]

"Keeping that sort of thing secret would itself constitute a rule," Golden points out.

[manofmyword]

"I don't care if you have laws," says the Joker. "Lots of people have laws. It doesn't bother me. What I want you to understand, if we're gonna work this out in good faith, is that laws don't keep me in line. Nothing keeps me in line except me deciding to stay there. And I can do that. I don't need an official exception."

[luminous_regnant]

Golden doesn't have her alts' lip-chewing habit. It would be too easy to bite straight through her lip. But she ruminates, and finally she says:

"What sort of coin output could I expect?"

[manofmyword]

"No idea," says the Joker.

[pythbox]

"Not very consistent," says Mary. "Sometimes as much as Alice's, sometimes nothing for a month." She chews her lip for a moment. "But he's generally likely to come up with coins you ask him for when you ask him for them. Note that the difference between 'ask' and 'demand' is crucial here."

[luminous_regnant]

"Can I get a starter array?" Golden asks Stella.

[self_composed]

"Of course. Unless that means you won't funnel me nice little packages of 2030 tech anymore."

[luminous_regnant]

"I see no reason to stop. And it's 2031, now." She closes her eyes and thinks.

Nathan is murmuring something into the Joker's hair - too quiet to be heard, but his lips are moving.