Nathan tires out his mate and leaves him asleep in his room. He goes downstairs to see what there is to see.

Oh. She's still there.

Well. He's not going to leave. She can leave. Fuck her. He's not going anywhere.

Author: temporal_affairs	Nathan tires out his mate and leaves him asleep in his room. He goes downstairs to see what there is to see. Oh. She's still there. Well. He's not going to leave. She can leave. Fuck her. He's not going anywhere.
Author: pythbox	She doesn't seem to have line of sight on him, but she tenses visibly when he looks at her.
Author: temporal_affairs	God but he hates her. She's just a human. A non-magical fucking human. He could tear her apart. He wants to. It would be very satisfying. The Joker might even forgive him for it. (He wants to.)
Author: pythbox	She turns, slowly even for a human, and looks at him.
Author: temporal_affairs	"What the hell are you looking at?" he snarls. (As though he weren't staring holes through her mask a moment ago.)
Author: pythbox	"What," she asks, very evenly, "is your problem with me?"
Author: temporal_affairs	"He still loves you. You hate him, and he's my mate, and however much he loves me he still loves you, and you never deserved him."
Author: pythbox	She scowls.
Author: temporal_affairs	"I have never hated anyone as much as I hate you for that," he hisses. "I've killed people for less, I've killed people I didn't hate at all, and I wish to God I could kill you now, but it would upset him, and maybe if I'm very, very lucky, I will actually lose control of myself in a way a lie-detector can verify for him later and you won't go on existing. God, I hate you."
Author: pythbox	"Your mate terrorized my city," she snaps. "He tortured a man to death on camera and sent the video to the news. He burned a witness alive. He fed a rival to his own dogs. He's sick."
Author: temporal_affairs	"He wanted your fucking attention," Nathan growls. "When that was finally off the table he was perfectly happy to settle in with me. Sweet as you please. You think I would've cared if he wanted to go on doing that? I wouldn't, I can't fall out of love with him no matter what and I've certainly got my own body count just because I was thirsty, and you know what he does when he gets unconditional love and magic powers? He settles in and raises a baby and solves random acquaintances' problems with magic and has ludicrous amounts of sex! I actually want him and it kills me that you got to him first."
Author: pythbox	She can't quite stop the look of disgust that passes over the visible part of her face at 'ludicrous amounts of sex'.
Author: temporal_affairs	"Oh, get over yourself."
Author: pythbox	She growls. Impressively, for a human.
Author: temporal_affairs	He growls right back. Impressively even for a vampire. Several nearby people scurry farther away. And he stands up, too fast for the eye to track.
Author: pythbox	The Bat flinches. Earlier today, back at home, she installed a threat-level sensor. It's been screaming about Nathan since he first laid eyes on her a few minutes ago, and it's telling her enough that when he blurs out of visibility, she assumes he is about to kill her. She spends one of her two remaining hexes, and she is emphatic but not specific: she wants him to be in no state to cause her harm, right now.
Author: temporal_affairs	Nathan spends one very, very brief moment very, very hungry. And then he cannot feel hunger, or anything else, and he's frozen, a starved statue where he was standing.
Author: pythbox	The Bat eyes him nervously. Well, that took care of his threat level, all right. She doesn't feel like sticking around to argue with Security; she gets up and heads for the door, cape sweeping behind her.
Author: manofmyword	It's a few hours before the Joker wakes up. Huh; Nathan must've gone downstairs. He gets dressed, more slowly than usual because there's nothing to hurry for. He absently tucks a few knives into his pockets. He wanders downstairs, smiling to himself. There's Nathan, all right. "...Sweetheart?"
Author: temporal_affairs	Nathan is not capable of responding right now.
Author: manofmyword	No. No, he can see that. He spins through all the 'safe coins', trying to fix it. No, no, no, and nope. Those aren't the only coins he has. The Joker bites his lip. (Triangle.) Then he kisses Nathan on the cheek and teleports them both to the door, which he opens. [Goldie-your-majesty?] he says, trying for lighthearted and not really making it all the way there. [Weeeee have a problem.]
Author: luminous_regnant	[What is it?] she replies after a moment's delay.
Author: manofmyword	[I went to Milliways with Nathan and while I was sleeping he turned into a statue and I can't unstick him with hexes. Could you help, please?]
Author: luminous_regnant	She teleports into place without further ado. "A statue? Show me."
Author: manofmyword	He steps out of the way and lets her see Nathan, still standing there just the way he was when the Joker found him, but now only about three feet from the doorway.
Author: luminous_regnant	"...It looks like he starved to death. How could he possibly have starved to death?"
Author: manofmyword	"I don't know," says the Joker, spreading his hands helplessly. "I was sleeping. I came downstairs and there he was. Can you fix him?"
Author: luminous_regnant	Golden attempts a star. "Star doesn't work," she says. "...The next one up can. Probably. Shell Bell got herself killed and her girlfriend was able to bring her back with one of the eight-pointed 'evils'. But with much less delay than it sounds like there may have been with Nathan."
Author: manofmyword	"Then I'll make one of those," he says immediately. "I want my sweetie back."
Author: luminous_regnant	Golden nods once. "...Haven't got an agony beam, don't want one, here." She wishes him a little device that vaguely resembles a digital egg timer. "Your own portable version. An evil is one hundred thousand units."
Author: manofmyword	He fiddles with the device. He staggers and narrowly misses falling into Nathan. He transfers two new evils to Golden's chain.
Author: luminous_regnant	Declaw-and-
Author: temporal_affairs	"Wha?"
Author: manofmyword	The Joker flings his arms around Nathan. "You died, sweetheart," he says. "Don't do that. It makes me sad. I love you."
Author: temporal_affairs	"I died? The last thing I remember I'd just stood up... and then I was very hungry for just a moment."
Author: manofmyword	"Goldie said it looked like you starved," he says, and spends three hexes to give Nathan regenerative powers comparable to his own.
Author: temporal_affairs	"How the hell did I starve? How long was I standing there?"
Author: luminous_regnant	"Was anyone who's around now around then, Nathan?" asks Golden. "We could ask -" When he shakes his head, she says, "Well, what were you doing?"
Author: temporal_affairs	"Arguing with the fucking Batlady," growls Nathan. "She snarled at me, I snarled back, I stood up - and - what you saw."
Author: manofmyword	The Joker closes his eyes and hugs Nathan harder.
Author: temporal_affairs	"But she hasn't got any sort of magic," says Nathan helplessly, hugging the Joker back, "has she?"
Author: luminous_regnant	"...Let me go check the Belltower real quick." Golden disappears, and reappears, and says: "Stella owed her three wishes, and she collected."
Author: manofmyword	"I'd say she's down one," says the Joker. "Oh, sweetie, she killed you. I'm sorry. I love you so much."
Author: temporal_affairs	"I love you," murmurs Nathan. "I'm fine, babe, I'm fine now."
Author: manofmyword	He presses his face against Nathan's shoulder for a moment, then glances back at Golden. "Thanks," he says softly.
Author: luminous_regnant	"You're welcome," says Golden levelly. "I believe I will leave a strongly worded note for this Batlady at the bar."
Author: manofmyword	"Don't let me stop ya," he says wryly, cuddling Nathan some more.
Author: luminous_regnant	Golden writes. "Bat": You do not know me, but you know my alternate, "Stella". She's written in our template's shared room that she owed you three wishes. (In consideration for your secret identity she disclosed nothing further about why.) I was recently summoned to Milliways by the Joker, who needed me to revive one of my staff, Nathan - the Joker's boyfriend and the father of their small child - from the dead. The circumstantial evidence is extremely suggestive of your having killed Nathan with one of the wishes Stella gave you. You may have intended some less fatal consequence from your wish, but in fact it's very difficult to incapacitate a vampire of the sort found in the world of Aurum without tearing one of us to pieces, burning us to ashes, or - as your wish appears to have done - starving us to death. You may have believed Nathan to be a threat to you, but his rendition of the events - which I believe - suggests that he merely startled you by standing up quickly. In other words: you fucking hypocritical murderer, you killed one of my people in Milliways because he had the nerve to be vocal about not liking his mate's enemy and then he got out of his chair? It is the good fortune of everyone involved that Stella's wishcoins, in sufficient size, prove able to revive the dead. Between the efforts of myself and the Joker, Nathan's fine. I'm leaving a note in the Belltower stating that you are not to be trusted with any further magic, and if Stella finds out what you did with her gifts, you may come to be unhappy that she can force the door to your world. Sincerely, Isabella Marie Swan Cullen, Empress Regnant of the Golden Empire
Author: pythbox	A few seconds after Golden finishes writing, a young woman in a tank top and yoga pants with her hair in a ponytail emerges from the stairwell.
Author: temporal_affairs	Nathan's nostrils flare. "That's her, that's fucking her," he snarls.
Author: luminous_regnant	"Is it?" Golden asks, and she crushes the note-in-progress in her hand. "I won't have to leave this, then." And she stalks towards the uncostumed Bat, making no sudden moves more because she wants to be trackable than anything else. She's not scared. She's decked out in defensive stars.
Author: pythbox	She freezes on the spot, looking from Golden to Nathan and back again.
Author: manofmyword	"...Of course it is," the Joker murmurs, wrapping his arms around Nathan again and leaning into him. "Hah."
Author: luminous_regnant	"You murdered my friend," Golden says in her pleasant bell-like voice, just shy of a purr. "You murdered a man with a three-week-old son at home. You murdered one of the people who, at significant personal risk and cost, was essential to my deposing a government that was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people per day. The only reason he's alive again is that I pulled out all the stops and deployed a level of magic that has been used exactly once before. Would you like to explain to me why I had to do that?"
Author: pythbox	She glances between Golden and the Joker, then apparently gives up on maintaining the masquerade. "Your 'friend' told me explicitly and repeatedly that he wanted to kill me," she says flatly. "And then he made a threatening move. I didn't want him dead, just incapacitated. But I didn't have a lot of time for finesse."
Author: temporal_affairs	"I stood up," Nathan growls. "I got out of my seat. I wasn't going to kill you because that would've made him upset. And you started the conversation."
Author: pythbox	She ignores him.
Author: luminous_regnant	Golden wishes for the Bat's remaining hex or hexes. One appears in her hand. "I don't think I can trust you with this," she says. "Maybe you can talk Stella into replacing it in spite of the note I'm going to leave in the Belltower. Maybe not. I really doubt she'd like it if she heard that she went to all the trouble of negotiating the Joker's move to my world and then you murdered his reason for going so nicely. Of course Nathan wants to kill you. You compromise his mate's attachment to him. I don't employ vampires who are incapable of wanting to kill someone and not doing it. I certainly don't employ vampires who are stupid enough to verbally announce their intention to kill someone who may or may not have the power to stop them before they do it. He was never going to kill you."
Author: temporal_affairs	"It'd be fair, at this point," growls Nathan. "Turnabout."
Author: manofmyword	"Sweetie," the Joker sighs. "Sweetie, no."
Author: pythbox	...The look she gives them is composed of equal parts puzzlement and loathing.
Author: temporal_affairs	Nathan hides his face in the Joker's shoulder. "She'd've half-orphaned our baby," he mumbles.
Author: luminous_regnant	Golden wishes the hex onto her bandolier. "I think I'm going to stand here until you or they leave," she says mildly to Roberta.
Author: pythbox	She looks at Golden, and looks at Nathan, and looks at the Joker. (She looks at the Joker longest.) Then she heads for the front door, and leaves by it.
Author: manofmyword	"I know, honey," the Joker says soothingly. "But you're fine now, and I love you, and I don't want you to hurt her. Okay?"
Author: temporal_affairs	"Can't now, anyway," mutters Nathan, "she's gone. God. I love you."
Author: manofmyword	The Joker hugs him some more. "You wanna go upstairs again, or go back home?"
Author: temporal_affairs	"Not home, not yet, I need a while," Nathan says.
Author: luminous_regnant	Golden teleports up to the Belltower to write in the note.
Author: manofmyword	The Joker teleports himself and Nathan back to his room and snuggles into bed.
Author: temporal_affairs	Nathan just holds his mate quietly.
Author: manofmyword	The Joker curls up with him, wishes away his clothes and knives as an afterthought, pulls up a blanket for extra snuggle factor, and settles into comfortable silence.
Author: temporal_affairs	"How can you love her? I don't understand it," mumbles Nathan.
Author: manofmyword	"Do you want me to explain?" he asks gently.
Author: temporal_affairs	"Yeah."
Author: manofmyword	He sighs, and thinks. "I love her because she's different," he says slowly. "In Gotham she was... a legend. A scary story to tell the kids at bedtime. But she was real. And it was amazing, just knowing there was somebody out there like that, with the brains and the balls to terrify every criminal in the city. There's no way she could ever love me back. I think I might even be disappointed if she did. She loves Gotham, though, that's for sure. It's sweet, the way she feels about that place, it really is."
Author: temporal_affairs	Nathan's arms tighten fractionally around him. "And then she killed me and nothing changed?"
Author: manofmyword	"It made me sad," he says. "But it didn't make me not love her. She's still the same person." He kisses Nathan's shoulder. "Feelings are complicated, sweetie." He reflects a moment, then adds, "I'm never going back to Gotham now, though, that's for damn sure."
Author: temporal_affairs	"I might kill her if I see her again," says Nathan quietly. "I'd try not to. I don't want to make you sad. But I might."
Author: manofmyword	"Do you want me to stick close when you're in Milliways? So I can remind you not to, if you see her again?"
Author: temporal_affairs	Nathan hesitates, then nods once. "You can stop me without killing me, at least," he says mirthlessly.
Author: manofmyword	"I can drag you up here and distract you," he suggests, with a tentative smile.
Author: temporal_affairs	"Mm. Distractions," murmurs Nathan. "...Babe. What if we'd brought Kerron in here? The way she looked at you - I don't have a fragment of a clue what she'd do if she met your son."
Author: manofmyword	"She wouldn't hurt him," he says. "She might... try to take him away for his own good. But she wouldn't hurt him."
Author: temporal_affairs	"She can't have him."
Author: manofmyword	"I know, sweetie," he says. "You could scoop him up and run away, and I could scoop him up and teleport away, and even if he came here by himself, I bet he could get away from her just fine. We made ourselves a smart little munchkin."
Author: temporal_affairs	"...He might bite her," Nathan points out.
Author: manofmyword	He laughs. "Well, that would be interesting."
Author: temporal_affairs	Nathan does not appear to think this is funny.
Author: manofmyword	"Awwwww, sweetie." The Joker hugs him. "What's wrong?"
Author: temporal_affairs	"Don't like the idea of her turning. I don't want her hurt bad enough to want her to get to be a vampire out of it."
Author: manofmyword	"Well, what do you wanna do about it?"
Author: temporal_affairs	"Make sure Kerron knows not to bite humans," says Nathan wryly. "He could already jump high enough to reach a doorknob if he wanted to and we don't watch him twenty-four hours a day. Maybe Milliways will like him as much as it likes Elspeth."
Author: manofmyword	"We could magic him unvenomous, too," he points out with a shrug.
Author: temporal_affairs	"...I suppose. Just until he's older. It might affect his senses of smell and taste, but female half-vampires get along all right."
Author: manofmyword	"Mhm," he says. "We'll see what he thinks when we get back." For now, cuddles.
Author: temporal_affairs	Cuddles.
Author: manofmyword	"Love you," he murmurs.
Author: temporal_affairs	"I love you. So much."
Author: manofmyword	He smiles. "I know, honey."
Author: temporal_affairs	Nuzzle. Nathan would be amenable to distraction now.
Author: manofmyword	Good, because the Joker is feeling very... distracting. Mmm.