Crane still wasn't so sure about this. Any of it, in fact. Joker driving, the more business-like suit Harley had insisted Crane wear, the JOKER ultimately being in charge of this event, not to mention he still had no idea who would be stupid enough to ask out the Scarecrow of all people in Gotham. He couldn't honestly imagine this going any flavor of well, on top of constantly waiting for the punchline. In Joker's case, he wouldn't be surprised if that would be a literal punch in the gut. He wouldn't put it past the clown-king-of-crime.
They peeled into the apartment complex right at 8, Crane's jaw set and glare boring stubbornly into the seat in front of him. He wasset to just get through this, get it over with. Harley was the first to climb out, her hair curled and form fitting black and red dress sparkling from every angle. She waved and gave a shout.
"Hey! You the one? Come on down." as much as he tried to resist, eventually curiosity got the best of him and he turned to see who (or what) was running down the stairs. It was nothing he would have expected. Down came a petite little thing in a dark purple dress as sparkly as Harley's, matching heels not hindering the way she practically flew down the stairs. Short black hair was twisted up and back in a very pixie-esque style, which he only thought of that word because her figure and pointed ears made the comparison obvious. Not to mention the sheer amount of glitter. Her cringed just looking at it, and mentally prepared himself for a vapid night of giggling overly girlish antics. Already Harley was squealing,
"You are so cute! Harley Quinn." she held out a hand to shake but the purple girl went in for a hug instead.
"Good to meet you! I'm Fair!" she declared boldly, peaking into the car to wave at the Joker and glancing back at Crane, her smile widening further. Crane further prepped himself for the obvious instability this girl was going to throw his way. She climbed into the back seat and already saw fit to invade his personal space (or maybe the back seat of the sports car the two had selected was cramped in general).
"Sorry for the confusion, I figured yall were in a hurry at the robbery, so told your guy to wait till after. Glad you decided to shoot me a call though."
"I can't say I understand why you would willingly hand your number out to a known criminal." they were already driving, Joker peeling out of the lot and nearly hitting another resident in the process. She just grinned.
"I liked your shtick." Her eyes trailed over his attire and he forced himself to keep his face blank, bored even.
"You clean up pretty nice." she grinned, "though I like the other outfit too." His attention went to Joker up front, who has his usual mad smile in place.
"So where are we going?" he asked the clown, only to get a disapproving tsk.
"Jonny, Jonny, Jonny! If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise!" The two up front laughed, though Crane wasn't feeling it.
"So, I'm obligated to ask, how much of the rumors about all of you are true anyhow?" Despite knowing what she'd heard, Fair didn't seem nearly as worried as she ought to be. It made Crane instantly suspicious. Was she a plant of some kind? Just what was she after?
"Depends on what you've heard." Harley quipped. Fair settled in, inclined to staying leaned forward slightly, her dress dipping down into a backless scoop of loos fabric.
"Well, I'm sure you know all about us, so go on tell us about you." Joker insisted. Some might say there was an undercurrent of threat to those words, but that was to be expected with him. Fair answered without missing a beat.
"Well I'm a dancer, do a lot of traveling, just moved here. I'm having a performance this Thursday, if anyone wants to pop by"
"Oooh, a dancer! Did you hear that Harles? Just imagine the fun you two could have."
"I've been in gymnastics for foreva!"
"Oh, do you do lira? Silks?"
"I do!"
"I'd love to see that sometime!" Yup, just as Crane thought. Honestly the two ladies may as well be going off on their own date. Not that he really considered this a date. She leaned in though, without a second thought murmuring in his ear,
"You don't seem too thrilled to be here."
"Oh no, my ideal design is spending a night on the town with two clowns and a...what, elf?" he all but hissed back at her, finally glancing over to see purple eyes blink at him. Contacts, he would imagine.
"Well, I can't force you to have fun." she confessed, turning away and putting as much distance as the backseat allowed between them.
Great. Way to go, Crane. They hadn't even gotten to their destination and already he was making a wonderful first impression.
"I'm sorry, I'm not...used to this sort of thing." he apologized as they pulled up, parking in something that was not a parking spot at all. She turned a smile back as the other two left the car first, Harley stretching dramatically. The other two followed behind, Fair lacing an arm with Crane's without a second thought as they approached the door. Security let them past with no real issue, the restaurant inside empty save for the table obviously set up for their little party.
"Great choice Mistah J!"
"The food here is just to die for!" the Joker laughed as each found a seat and were handed a menu. Crane considered if he should humor this whole thing and pull out her chair for her, but she beat him to such a consideration.
"So...Fair. As in fairy?" Crane made the question casual as he glanced over the menu with disinterest. Her grin doubled in size.
"You'd be amazed at how many people don't get it. But I took you for a Scarecrow with brains." she winked.
"It's kinda obvious." Harley chimed in, though she was quickly getting distracted by her Puddin'.
"Which begs the question," Crane began but Joker interrupted, Harley climbing onto his lap with a coo,
"What's a nice thing like you doing with people like us."
With three predators staring her down Fair's smirk gained a hint of mischief.
"Who said anything about being nice?" the other two laughed, and placed their orders. Crane calmly followed suit. Fair told them to surprise her. Drinks were filled and Joker opened a bottle of wine by breaking off the top of it, making a mess he didn't much care about and filling each of their glasses.
"A toast! To double dates! We really should do this more often." he spoke the last more to his own date, who added playfully,
"If this goes well we can always take these two home." she purred, which was about the time when Crane checked out of their conversation, turning to his Fair in the hopes that anything she would have to say could possibly be better than the clownish sweet talk and less sweet talk.
"You still didn't answer the question. Aren't Fairies-" she seemed to expect his line of thought.
"Just how much do you know about the traditional renditions?" she paused and swirled her wine, taking a healthy drink. Crane's brow furrowed.
"You mean Shakespeare? Oberon, Puck-" she shook her head.
"Older." this time he waited and allowed her to continue.
"As only one of hundreds of examples, you could examine Pan. In some renditions a Greek God, in some categorized as Fae, and historically the inspiration for the later Christian images of Satan. In fact, most of what would later be referred to as daemons, demons, what have you, were inspired by or traditionally known as? Faerie. Or Spirit, I suppose. The two have been rather interchangeable. But the point is?" she tipped back the rest of her drink and set the glass down, "if you know anything at all about the fae before Disney got their grubby paws on the idea, then you'll have a much better time understanding why I'm here."
"So, what, you're talking stuff like Rumpelstiltskin?" Fair turned her smile to Joker.
"As one example."
"And how, exactly, would you explain the Disney interpretation then?" Crane wasn't keen on letting the other two regain control of the conversation, as well as being surprised she had anything of substance at all beneath all that glitter.
"Well, on top of Disney sticking to nicer tellings of not so nice tales to appeal to a wider audience, you can examine their take on fae via one character: Tinker Bell. See, in the first movie she was a very accurate portrayal of what are ideals for many, though hardly all, pixies. Anyone who says she is all nice because of the newer movies created specifically to market to mindless little girls, or little girls Disney would prefer to keep mindless so as to better make money off of them, are clearly forgetting the first Peter Pan. Where she convinced the Lost Boys to try and murder Wendy. Though, of course, this is only glancing at the first few centimeters at the tip of the iceberg. In truth the phenomena of Fae presents itself in thousands of ways across every culture, leading to a wide variety in expected behaviors with a select few universal truths. But, if you're looking at even the nicest of more traditional tales the lessons to be learned are always the same. If you cross a Fae, however it is such a behavior is interpreted, you're sure to regret it. And we are nothing if not? Fair Folk." The last two words held a hint of an accent, though not enough for him to be able to distinguish if it were Irish or Scottish. It was gone as quick as it came. She winked in conclusion, already making steady work of a second glass.
"If, of course, you believe in such things. Alternately, I am rather fond of the aesthetic. What little girl hasn't looked at a faerie and thought, now that is terribly pretty?" she gave a giggle, though it was clear enough to Crane she had studied this topic well enough to be capable of talking on it for hours at least. A peculiar choice of study, but it gave away her interest in academia all the same. Perhaps he had been a touch too quick on his initial judgement.
"I could be a Unicorn." Harley hummed, imagining herself with the pointy horn atop her head, blood dripping down from the sparkly white decoratively.
"The last city I was in had whole communities where we dressed how we pleased, as what we pleased. Though Gotham doesn't seem to take as well to the unusual." Their food arrived before a retort could be given.
"Eat up, kiddos! We've got a full night ahead of us!" Joker declared, which in itself brought Crane back to worrying about just what the clown was planning. He very much doubted this was a simple date night from the beginning. Joker wanted something, he always did. By the end of the night, he would no doubt get it. Crane's primary concern for the evening would be to make sure he could get himself out of what ever heat the Joker would inevitably bring down. And, perhaps, if his would be date proved to be interesting enough, he would extend the favor of getting her to the end of the night alive as well. After all, it wasn't every day anyone at all thought to ask Crane out. The more she talked the more genuine the situation seemed to be, he was almost starting to believe she in fact just wanted a date night. Almost. They would see where such an evening wound up.
AN: I'm kind of obsessed with supernatural stuff including Fae, so expect to see a LOT of them in coming works even beyond this one.