got good ears

[temporal_affairs]

The neighbors don't complain. Much. (They do occasionally ask that things be kept down, but they don't complain about there being noise at all. They understand about mates.)

The room isn't designed for long-term human occupation. There is no bathroom, no food, no bed, no climate control - though this is Florida, so climate control is not such a concern - no plumbing.

But there's lots of magic. It's such fun to make, after all.

(Nathan had been worried he'd have to ask one of the succubi, or Joham, for lessons on what might whimsically be called "safe sex". He likes not having to bother with this better.)

Comments

[temporal_affairs]

Nathan stops in his tracks to give the Joker a proper and stationary hug.

[manofmyword]

He hugs back.

"Love you, sweetie," he murmurs.

[temporal_affairs]

"I love you, and if that'd been your house, I'd be hard pressed not to break in and destroy whatever facsimile of your father might've lived there."

[manofmyword]

The Joker kisses Nathan's cheek.

"You're a sweetheart," he says. "Don't go killing people for me, it'll just make Goldie mad."

[temporal_affairs]

"With luck, there will never be anyone quite that accessible who I want to kill for you."

[manofmyword]

He hugs him some more.

[temporal_affairs]

"But if you don't want me to kill such people, at least point them out so I can report them to Her Majesty and get them blacklisted from immortality?" Nathan asks hopefully. "Then we can just outlive them."

[manofmyword]

He laughs. "Sure, okay."

[temporal_affairs]

Nuzzle nuzzle. They resume walking.

[manofmyword]

Mmm, nuzzles. Nuzzles are fun.

"I wanna get a place," the Joker declares. "Stick around for a while. Get a sewing machine. Make pretty clothes. What do you think?"

[temporal_affairs]

"Sure," says Nathan. "If you have someplace in mind I can come up with when to ask about obtaining it."

[manofmyword]

"Well, let's wander around and see what we run into."

[temporal_affairs]

Wandering - and possibly more ducking into alleys, as alleys present themselves - ensues!

[manofmyword]

Alleys are great.

The Joker, it turns out, is naturally attracted to small, crappy apartments on the lower floors of small, crappy buildings.

[temporal_affairs]

"...Babe, you know my shiny gold credit card and the account connected to it could get us a nice place, even in Manhattan, right?"

[manofmyword]

He shrugs.

"Do you want a nice place?"

[temporal_affairs]

"None of the amenities common to nice places really make a difference to me, but I'm puzzled about why you don't."

[manofmyword]

"Mm, I don't care that much," he says.

[temporal_affairs]

"I suppose magic can cover for whatever's wrong with any place we wind up with as long as we hide the non-Euclidean storage space when the landlord drops by. But - landlord sounds annoying, let's get a condo, let's own the place, not have to negotiate to be able to paint or put in a picture window or whatever."

[manofmyword]

The Joker grins. "Sure, okay."

[temporal_affairs]

Nuzzle nuzzle. Further wanderings.

[manofmyword]

Snuggly wanderings!

It is harder to find a decent condo than a crappy apartment; it takes longer. But the Joker doesn't mind much.

[temporal_affairs]

They have got all the time in the world.

The best time to ask about this decent condo over here is in forty-five minutes. That's enough time to scandalize that stray alley cat over there, isn't it?

[manofmyword]

Definitely.

[temporal_affairs]

Later -

Nathan's timer didn't fail them: they're desperate to sell the place and let him bypass the background check after he offers to put a payment down on the spot.