Games That Daughters Play
A/N: Thank you, SwordSticher, Jojo1912, , and Cat1113 for your reviews: :3 And to all those who review as guests, please get an account so I can reply to your reviews! I don't have to tell you lovely readers to tell me what you think! :D
Chapter 11: Hannah Gets the Joke
Richard and Allegra stood over the picnic table, blue prints on one end, scattered and pinned down by books from the gas station found just lying around. The breeze that would occasionally welcome them from the unnatural heat wave would sometimes lift the corners and rattle the pages; Allegra glanced at them, hoping they wouldn't blow away for the fifth time, since the books provided basic leverage. When they failed to leave the table, Allegra smiled.
"We have Red and Gus working on cleaning up the gas station," Richard explained, thrusting his thumb behind him. He scratched his shoulder, arm, and stomach subconsciously, wincing time to time as though he was hurt; he was wearing a T-shirt and tattered jeans; like usual, his dark skinned complexion remained unmarked, for save the bullet wounds and knife slashes acquired from working for the Joker over the year; Richard was starting to get a little scruffy due to his manageable scruffiness, but he looked better with facial hair than most guys Allegra had seen. He also kept his growing beard tamed and neatly trimmed. As he spoke of the current plans to remodel the gas station and motel for future business (the manager having been properly disposed of and terminated from its position), Allegra saw him barely lift his eyes to her.
Whether that was because Richard was more concentrated on the pictures of the four walls of the motel and the gas station, or something else. Richard glanced up at Allegra, when she continued to stare at him, unblinking.
"Did I say something wrong, 'Legra?" asked Richard nervously.
At his pet name for her, Allegra shook her head, her eyes meeting her smile. Richard, along with the others, called her 'Legra behind her back, as a term for a Matron. It was only until Richard had let it slip that they all began to call her that, for save of Joker, who called her 'Bunny' when he was feeling legitimately prepped (if you get the gist) or, in his own way, affectionate; and Hannah, who called her 'Mom' or 'Mother'. It was well over two weeks that the plans started to take affect.
Not just the remodeling, but with Hannah as well.
Allegra put her hands on the blue prints, keeping them still as the wind picked up and threatened to blow them away once more. She made a scathing noise to the breeze, then smiled at Richard.
"No, you're fine. Go on." Allegra encouraged.
"Red and Gus are working on the gas station, organizing and putting in new tile," said Richard, twirling his finger on the blue print which designated the flooring of the gas station. "We're gonna put in different wall paper—make it look new."
"Great. What about the bathrooms?" asked Allegra.
"Yeah, we'll have to rip out that shit," said Richard, notably smiling. "It's a bit of a plumbing job too. Luckily, Pearson-Pearson know a few things about plumbing. Who'd have thunk it, right?"
Allegra chuckled at his nickname for Kevin Pearson and Pierce Pearson who were non-related by blood or marriage, but ironically had the same name. Anymore, the sweet couple were inseparable so their names had been joined to signify their unofficial unity; they were practically married.
"Right," chuckled Allegra. "Ripping out walls might be fun."
"Not if it's old," informed Richard. "If it's old, we might get a lot more than what we bargained for." He found Allegra's curious expression with humor, and explained the fundamentals of bad wood, crackling and then the eventual wear down if they tried to take out the walls. "Ultimately, the entire thing would collapse and that'd be a whole month's effort trying to rebuild the bathroom, when we can skip that step, keep the old wood, and just fix the toilets and sinks, and paint over the bad wood."
"Do that." Allegra voted wholeheartedly.
"Do what?" Richard asked.
"The last thing you said," Allegra answered, smirking at him. Her voice sank to a low, serious, offensive tone, demanding, "Hearing problems, Richie?"
"Uh, no!" Richard said quickly; he practically jumped a whole feet from her, as though she might hit him.
Allegra punched him playfully in the arm, grinning broadly.
"I'm just fucking with you Richie." She replied, her tone light once more. She gestured to the motel rooms. "What about these?"
"Simple paint job, and maybe a carpet change," Richard replied, his tone returning to one of calm when he realized Allegra was teasing; he was waving his hands carelessly. "Naturally, check the plumbing. The ex-uniforms can do that, I figure. Painting should be simple—except for picking out the colors."
Allegra glanced at him: "Haven't chosen any?"
"Well, no," Richard answered, shrugging shyly. "We thought we'd leave that to you and the J-Man."
Allegra chuckled at their name for Joker. Naturally, they never called him that in front of his face, except for Richard, who nicknamed him "The Joker-Man" whenever he speculated the Joker was in a good humor. If he was irritable, which started to be his natural mood, they steered clear, calling him 'Boss' or even 'Sir'. Allegra found his irritation lacking in reason—well, more unreasonable than necessary.
"Make the wallpaper match the carpet," said Allegra simply.
"What color do you want the carpet?"
"The same as the drapes," Allegra teased.
Richard blushed a deep red, clearing his throat and looked quickly to the blueprints, passing over the sexual innuendo before he could admit that he actually wondered the same about Allegra. Did the carpet match the drapes?
Allegra grinned at his reaction; she still had the infallible ability to make her minions uncomfortable with her sex talk. She had the uncanny skill since day 1. When Richard attempted to get over his embarrassment, Allegra cleared her throat, passing the awkward moment (at least, it was for Richard), she indicated the pavement and gravel.
"We might want to find something to cover the blood stains," said Allegra, referring to the blood marks left from the two dead coke addicts. It decorated a large spot of the gravel, and odds are, business wouldn't be quite so booming if customers saw blood stains on the pavement—whether that was animal or human.
"Sure, we can do that too," said Richard.
He rubbed his hands together, smiling with accomplishment. Now that the stuff had been talked over with the boss (or at least, one of them), Richard could make further plans with the others. Gus and Red were fixing the gas station—organizing the shelves, scraping wallpaper border; Kevin and Pierce were in the bathrooms, ripping up tile and fixing the plumbing errors (some of the toilets didn't flush, even when they'd been unclogged).
Allegra glanced past Richard to see Dr. Crane (Scarecrow, sorry) talking to Rebecca. He made a few gestures, as though attempting to explain to her something that Rebecca wasn't quite understanding. Maybe it was about his experiments that he wanted to continue; the lack of having nothing better to do than fucking his new nursing girlfriend was starting to drive him crazy...crazier.
But it wasn't about the experiments, Allegra could hear them talking; it was almost an actual argument. And the longer Allegra listened, the more she understood.
"Johnathan, you may like it, but I don't." Rebecca told him loudly, looking quite offended, and maybe upset. Or both.
"It's not abnormal; a lot of couples enjoy it."
"Well, I don't." Rebecca stated. "I'm not into that kind of thing. It's just not me."
Allegra, lost in her own dirty thoughts, had a mind that Rebecca and Crane were discussing anal sex, or maybe something kinky. She never saw them have a definitive conversation about anything but, except for medical discussions—being that Crane was a former doctor and administrator of Arkham Asylum, and Rebecca had been a registered nurse that, too, worked for the Asylum. For save of that, there was nothing more common, except for sexual interest—and maybe even that was no longer in commonality.
Richard followed Allegra's eyes to the object of attention and he leaned into her, speaking quietly so that the other two people couldn't hear him, "They've been arguing like that a lot lately."
"About what?"
"What else?" asked Richard lowly. He smirked. "What I get from it—Rebecca ain't open-minded." He rolled his eyes sarcastically, uttering: "Missionary, missionary, missionary. Who wants that boring thing over and over again?"
Allegra cast him a look, and he cleared his throat uncomfortably. He started marking the blue prints with ideas for the paint colors, the carpet, the uh...drapes...ideas for different wood, or the same wood to keep in the bathroom. Allegra watched him bend over and design the blue prints; the other end was amass in books for different building textures, or themes for the thrift store and motel rooms.
She glanced from the plans to see Crane and Rebecca's conversation escalating to one that was heated and possibly endless.
"Rebecca!" Allegra called.
The woman stopped talking, and turned her attention to Allegra.
"Can you come here for a second?" asked Allegra, gesturing the nurse to her.
From afar, Allegra could hear Rebecca say in finality, "We're done talking about this!" She then left Crane, who watched her apathetically, and sauntered over to Allegra.
Allegra glanced at Richard, who looked at her pointedly.
"Can you help Gus and Red?" asked Allegra sweetly. "They might need an extra hand pulling out that tile."
Richard glanced at the formidable unhappy expression of Rebecca to the knowing Allegra, and he smiled sweetly at both women before nodding his head in respect, then leaving the area without another word. Watching after him shortly, Allegra then turned her attention to Rebecca.
"What's going on?" asked Allegra, crossing her arms and leaning her weight on one foot.
"What are you talking about?" asked Rebecca.
"You and the doctor." Allegra answered, gesturing her eyes from Rebecca to Crane's direction.
"It's nothing. Just a disagreement."
"I heard you from here." Allegra pointed out.
Rebecca's face blushed pink; her arms crossed over her chest defensively, attempting to block out her mortification of being heard but the defiance in her eyes never left. Apparently, she stood her ground against Crane's opposing view, very strongly from the look she gave Allegra as she finally spilled her soul.
"He wants more from me than I can give him," Rebecca said quietly.
"More?" asked Allegra. "What have you been giving him?"
"He wants to make that toxin," said Rebecca. "And then, I don't know, use it on me during. Some weird thing. It's unnatural. And dangerous."
Allegra smiled, saying, "Not that dangerous."
"Maybe not for you," Rebecca replied unhappily. She lowered her arms. "I don't want to do what I'm not uncomfortable with. And that especially is something that I'm not comfortable with. Why would you have sex and be scared at the same time?"
Allegra smirked.
"You didn't seem to half-mind what I was doing to you when you and I first met," Allegra replied seductively; she touched Rebecca's waist indicative of the memory; Rebecca frowned at her, plain and simple, with disgust.
"That was different. I didn't know what was going to happen."
"And you still don't." Allegra stated pointedly. "All the best to just go with it—you never know; you might like it."
"I won't." Rebecca said. "There's no way a person can be aroused and afraid at the same time."
"You were when I attempted to have my way with you," Allegra reminded; she smirked when Rebecca's eyes widened at the reminder.
"I didn't like it then." Rebecca responded boldly; she crossed her arms once more. "For your information, I didn't want that either."
"Didn't want—didn't like." Allegra uttered apathetically. "Maybe you don't know what your body wants, Rebecca."
"How can you say that?" Rebecca questioned. "You're actually considering the option of having sex while under the fear toxin?"
Allegra shrugged: "I'm up for anything, Becky. You just have to open your mind a bit." She gestured the same by touching her hands to her head and wiggling her fingers as she let her arms fall slowly to her waist, as though this would be a mind-blowing magical experience.
However, Rebecca didn't agree; she only shook her head.
"Well, I'm not doing it." Rebecca said. "I know insane when I hear it, and that is crazy."
Allegra's smile faltered, saying, "Beware the word 'crazy', Pet. Some of us aren't partial to the term."
Rebecca dropped her defiance at the dangerous tone. She lowered her defenses, placing a good amount of space between Allegra and herself, then as though considering, she glanced at the books—they'd serve to be horrible weapons of choice. And then, she began walking away from her, quicker than usual. As though the conversation was finished for good, Rebecca glanced behind her shoulder with slight paranoia at Allegra, who watched her suspiciously.
"Hmm." Allegra mumbled, looking after the fretful nurse. She looked at the blueprints, smiling. Looks like the nurse may have a change of heart herself.
(())
Hannah scrubbed the blood stains from Cabin Six just as Allegra had suggested for her to do. The scrub brush itself was hard and sturdy, and against the fiber, it would almost feel like she had been scratching nails on a chalk board. While the blood came out in foamy red, and the liquid soap began to dry the insides of Hannah's nose and fill her mouth with the aftertaste, the teenager could hardly complain about her situation.
She was left to her own defenses, in her soft, quiet reverie. She made her way right of the room, moving into the center when she stopped shortly, looking at the letter opener with resolve. The memory of using it against Allegra served to be quite frightening but equally knowing. For a split second, Allegra had held up her hands in slow caution, as though Hannah had been the one intimidating, not the brunette. Fondness showered the girl's face, but the same fear co-existed; it was the same day Hannah had thought she was dying from internal bleeding, and the same day she and Allegra had one of the worst fights, but, just as well—the same day Allegra had comforted her in the knowing that was happening to her was not weird, crazy or unusual, but quite normal.
She'd been pinned down, unable to break free or escape. She had lost her footing, her strength when the woman, who looked no heavier than she, had pinned her down as though she had barely put up the fight. ]
Hannah held the letter opener, glancing at its dull blade. It would have barely cut deep enough to cause any damage if she'd been so lucky to wield it on the woman.
Despite Allegra's strict teachings, Hannah found Allegra's motherly tones charming, and comforting. When a storm lingered longer and stronger than before, Allegra would tap on the door and make sure she was fine.
And no one dared intimidate her—Allegra had even jumped on Joker for making Hannah think she was as expendable as the rest of them.
It had been a few days ago, but Hannah remembered it as though it was yesterday.
She'd been going about her usual quiet day, eating at dinner, saying nothing to anyone. The only person she even trusted with her thoughts was Allegra, and that was when she felt like talking. One day, Hannah had been in the same cabin, trying to get rid of the blood from the carpet. In that hour, Joker had alerted her 'place' in the ranking as being even lower than Richard or Gus—whatever that meant. She didn't understand his words, only the dangerous, calm tone he used.
Hannah had been truly frightened when he placed a hand on her cheek, a knife to her neck, daring her to make one wrong move to prove she wasn't worth having around. She was the weakest link of his chains, and a person was only as strong as the weakest link...he'd come to her, late at night, and kill her—no one would weep for her death, or cry. Not even Allegra.
It was about that time Allegra had come to the doorway, to do one of her nightly checks and saw Joker with her. Hannah had been shaking in fear, not wanting anywhere near the clown; Allegra told him "You promised."
One second of hesitation, one second that Joker began to place the knife on Hannah's throat. One second it almost sliced clear across, then, for some insurmountable reason, the knife fell an inch from her throat. Joker growled deeply, and irritably pushed past Allegra. He whispered something angrily in her ear that made Allegra glare at him ferociously, then Allegra had spent the night with her on the ground—not near the blood stains of course.
Since then, Hannah had begun to trust Allegra—knowing she, at least, cared enough about her to stand up to the creepy, irritated leader. Still, the same woman who had saved her life that night was just as unpredictable in moods as she was in actions. One day, Allegra would be sweet and almost normal; the next, she slapped around Richard—hitting his shoulders, arm, and stomach in a half-beat down—for not telling her about one of the details in the blue prints.
For a long time Richard wouldn't look at Allegra, lest he fall into a rut with his beautiful leader. Richard had a thing for her, Hannah believed. Richard liked Allegra. Just like Crane liked Rebecca but not as much he liked Allegra.
Hannah looked at the letter opener. Maybe it was better to keep it just in case Joker came around. At least she would have something with which to defend herself. But that would mean little—if she couldn't defend herself against Allegra, who wasn't masculine or naturally strong compared to her lover, then Hannah knew defending herself against Joker was just as (if not more) futile.
She'd have to learn how.
Hannah smiled briefly.
Maybe Allegra will teach me. Hannah thought.
The name sounded odd on her lips. Somehow Mom just fit Allegra...at least how the woman behaved around her. Allegra was motherly, sweet in tone as she was in tangling her hand in Hannah's hair in an affectionate way. When Allegra did it in private, she was more motherly. However, Hannah had noticed how irate Joker became when he saw Allegra's motherly side come out so easily. Hannah made a mental note to call Allegra 'Mom' when it was only the two of them. It not only would make Joker less irritable, but it would be a secret code between them.
Just as Hannah had heard Allegra called Joker 'Killer' and Joker call Allegra 'Bunny' when they believed themselves not to be heard. That one night Hannah had spent during the collateral lightning, rain storm, Hannah had heard Joker call Allegra 'Bunny' in such an odd, affectionate way in such a dark, low voice, it sounded dangerous, but...
Loving?
Hannah shook her head. Joker wasn't a loving man. Nor did he seem lovable. If he was anything towards Allegra, he might be respectful. He and Allegra argued a lot—especially in the past few days—sometimes, they'd even hit each other. It even escalated a couple times to complete brawl outs; one day, Allegra would victor, then the next, Joker would. Somehow, they managed to start the next day as if nothing happened between them.
Hannah couldn't figure it out herself. Were they lovers? Lovers never really hit. They could be so respectful of each other but then the next moment, either Joker or Allegra would be screaming at one another. It was kind of deluded.
Were they husband and wife? Yes, they wore the bands. But Hannah had never once heard Allegra and Joker call each other wife and husband, respectively. They wore the bands, but that was only part of it.
Were they girlfriend/boyfriend? Hannah wondered this a few times. But they never once said 'I love you' or expressed it in any form. Or they did so, but in private.
At the very least, they were something. Joker called Allegra his 'Bunny'. Allegra would only make full, marketing decisions with the consent of Joker. Maybe it was an illicit affair between a boss and his employee. It seemed to make the most sense—the bands were just a mock-up of some surreal role play.
Hannah grinned. She could see the humor in that. In fact, she could see the humor in it completely.
As Hannah pocketed the letter opener, she made a short chortle. Then, because it felt so good doing that, she laughed—a high-pitched giggle rang from her lips, and she damn near collapsed in the foamy bloody soap. She caught herself, sobering, then thought of the wedding bands again. She got the joke alright.
Make people believe they were more than what they really were so to make them look as if they had weaknesses. Hannah found the meaning behind the joke, and soon, it was the ultimate punchline. She grinned broadly—it was not only because of the brilliance of the idea, but for the reason of knowing that Allegra and Joker had a sense of humor!
