I have read an entire book on Villains and Murderers by the people of Oxford and have finally turned out another chapter on Jokerz and Delia that I find satisfactory, despite all of my hideously haunting doubts about them as a whole. That said, to anyone who reads this; please supply me with the names of the other Jokerz members if you have them! Please?

Binding-:-

The flowers are not really what stop Melanie on her way into Ghoul's area of the hideout. Not really.

But, they're sitting on the kitchen table, away from all of the muck and grime that comes with these slobs, thieves and unadulterated idiots, in a sparkling clean vase and look innocent. Two brand new and without blemishes White Jasmine flowers are sitting under the medium sized hole in the ceiling, enjoying light and the water they are in.

But still, that is not what stops Melanie, with her hands full of three plastic bags of groceries that Ghoul will most definitely help her carry on back to her own apartment. What really stops her is the fact that the two flowers—pure and untouched by the people milling about and making noise that is uncomfortable to the porcelain looking girl's ears—are sort of tied together.

There is something practically invisible holding them together and the only reason she sees it is because the flowers' stems are almost inverted and the veins are pronounced.

"What's so interesting?"

Melanie near shrieks and spins on her heels to sucker punch whoever was behind her. Her hand was actually flying through the air, but was stopped by a much larger hand with calluses not unlike her own wrapping warmly over her fist and dark eyes looking at her with laughter not taking flight through that handsome mouth that she spent the better part of every other day driving her tongue into and sucking on.

Ghoul is wearing that dark grey, knitted scarf she had bought him for their five month anniversary and he looks sort of like one of those really old fashioned artists that once populated downtown Gotham, before the circuit moved to the uptown area, away from the Jokerz taking over their empty buildings once used for galleries. It suits him and covers the bite marks she had left along his neck from two nights ago.

Melanie smiles up at him and, without much preamble, places two of her bags into his open hand, blue eyes looking back over at the flowers, "Those flowers…what's that holding them together?"

Ghoul slings the groceries over his shoulders and glances at the flora, his own dark eyes giving them a once over before he starts herding his girlfriend out of the complex. He will tell her, that much is apparent in his light walk—not at all rushed to get out of the place like he usually is when she asks him about something he is not at all supposed to talk of or is just plain uncomfortable with—but he would much prefer to do so out of earshot of Scab (sitting on the living room sofa and talking like a dreg who knows not what is for his own good to Dot, his dirty socks causing an unbearable smell as his legs were stacked atop the coffee table in front of them) or Cue (raiding the fridge just behind them for anything worth eating and not caring at all when one of the sleek cones of his jester's cap knocked against something for every movement of his head). He still doesn't much care for talking around those lazy, obnoxious idiots. Melanie is fine with that.

Stepping out of the hideout, Ghoul allowed himself a breath and walked beside Melanie, at ease.

"Delia brought those in. That stuff holding them together was her hair."

"…When did she bring them in? Or, for that matter, why tie them up with her hair," she asked, her voice still quiet, despite now being about two blocks from that husk of a building. It usually took quite some time to talk at a normal decibel after walking into that place.

Ghoul shrugged, both of them stepping over a large puddle that was the result of rain a few nights ago and still hadn't gone away as it was situated in what could pass as a gaping hole that had most likely caused many old cars their breakdown or demise, "Dunno. I just saw her come in with them out of the rain after I got back from your place, saw her take out two hairs right from the top of her head, tie them up and she went to sleep after telling everyone not to touch them. I think she might be a little depressed or…I don't know; maybe she needs to start popping those pills in her pockets like breath mints again."

Melanie gave him a chastising look, but said nothing. He was probably right about the pill thing. Sure, the dainty blonde was as sympathetic as the next person, but she had long since resigned to the fact that Delia was probably too crazy to even know what depressed was. She wasn't really worth feeling empathy toward, either.