madformistahjay | [For Jason Wyndgarde] Waking Up

[For Jason Wyndgarde] Waking Up

After falling head over heels and down on her knees for Jason after his little nudge in the right direction with his abilities, Harley had been only too willing to set up in a lavish Gotham mansion with him. 'Playing house' as she had called affectionately called it. Of course settling into the mansion involved a little pest control - removing the current occupants. That had been an elaborate affair in and of itself. Harley of course wanted to just bash their heads in and call it a day; Jason knew such a violent display would have Gotham PD flying up the driveway before long. So he had used his abilities to have the occupants go on a long trip abroad. One they were unlikely to return from.

This allowed the villainous pair to occupy the mansion as long as they wanted.

The first few weeks had been steamy and a nearly endless chain of sex throughout the mansion. Harley had insisted they christen every room, after all.

But after a while, Harley slowly began to come out of the fog Jason had put her in. Harleen's voice grew louder and louder, shouting at her that something was amiss. Perhaps it was Harley's insanity that allowed her to slip slowly out of his control.

And when she did...her fury was unspeakable.

Harley stomped through the house, finding Jason in the study. She grabbed the first item she could put her hands on - an antique vase - and hurled it at him with all her strength. "MIND CONTROL? YOU THINK YOU CAN BRAINWASH ME AND GET AWAY WITH IT!? YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!!" She shrieked.

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"To HELL with calmly!!" She screamed. As he reached out with his mind she could feel him moving in her own mind, mending and patching the weak points. "YOU'RE TRYING IT RIGHT NOW! I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!"

Again she reached for the first thing she could grab, a heavy book, and threw it at him with all her strength. He was lucky her hyenas were outside, they would have been on him in an instant at the command of their mistress.

"You're SUCH a dead man!!" Harley snarled as she brought a leg up in a swift motion, meaning to deliver a sharp kick to his head. "NOBODY messes with Harley Quinn!!"

She felt so incredibly betrayed. How could she have let him into her mind? How could she have been so vulnerable?

...how could she have been so happy all this time?

That was one thing working in Jason's favor. Harley had been legitimately happy with him, having spent all this time in the lap of luxury. There was something to be said too for the steamy sex and how like-minded they were with regards to just taking what they wanted. Jason may not have been as legitimately crazy as Harley, but they were dark souls drawn to one another. Besides, Harley by nature wanted to be loved, wanted companionship. The Joker had been so abusive to her, and still she had remained loyally by his side.

But she was not going to make it easy for Jason to rebuild everything they had done together.

Jason knew that the last thing he wanted to do was lose his own temper, to try to match Harley anger for anger. He was fit, but in no way a match for her physically-- those sort of confrontations he'd always left for other s to do, or for his thralls to face in his stead. No, his only chance lay in surviving long enough to re-establish his hold on her. And for that, he needed her calm, or at least off-balance.

He managed to duck out of the way of the hurled book, but hadn't been able to twist out of the way of Harley's kick to avoid it completely, taking a glancing blow to his temple and losing his concentration for a moment.

Once he'd scuttled away from her, Jason tried a different tactic, using his mind, but not his powers.

"And I see it was just so horrible, wasn't it, Harley? Being appreciated? Being treated like you mattered more than simply a sex toy or cannon fodder? I can tell you remember... you remember not being a lackey, a second thought, an... an accessory. If you're this angry, it must have been terrible."

Harley was not one of those villains who spouted off long monologues during combat. Especially not when she was this angry. So when the kick landed, Harley moved to deliver a punch to his jaw - but as he slid away, her blow missed. When he spoke, the voices in her head overwhelmed her.

Harley Quinn wanted to forgive him, still under his mental spell.

Harleen Quinzel urged her to just leave and forget all about him.

"You MANIPULATED me!!" Her voice cracked and there were tears in her eyes. "You're no better!! You tricked me and used me!!"

The whole time she was screaming, she was throwing punch after punch at him. But she was so upset there was no artistry or focus in her shots. They could easily be avoided. But that was likely caused by how much she wanted what they had to be real.

Jason had participated in this dance often, scrambling almost desperately to keep from being struck by someone with a massive advantage in physical skill over him. But even without falling under his influence, Harley's strikes were astonishingly easy to dodge, as her focus seemed to be many places other than pummeling him.

Which meant he could continue his own counter-attacks, starting with his words, and hopefully creating an opening for his powers.

"Tell me you weren't better off! Tell me that you weren't safer, happier, more at peace!" A thought clicked in Jason's mind, and he didn't hesitate to use it. "Tell me the voices weren't quiet."

Harley had moved to punch him again as he spoke, and once again her blow missed its mark. Rather than continue the onslaught at that point, she took a moment and just breathed, her chest heaving up and down beneath her red and black tank top as his words sank in.

The voices had indeed been considerably quieter. Not completely silent, to be sure. But quieter. Harley had been able to slip into the comfortable life of playing house rather easily without those pesky personalities each begging for her attention and their chance in the sun.

Still, she shook her head violently - as though she could silence him as she could silence the voices. But no, of course that was impossible. The voices were a cacophony in her skull, driving her deeper into madness and amplifying her fury.

"I was-!! But....but it wasn't...it wasn't right it wasn't real - it just wasn't!!" she cried out before dropping to a crouch position to kick his legs out from under him. If she managed to land that blow, Harley would move to lunge and pin Jason to the ground.

But her full power wasn't in the move - that much would be plainly obvious.

"Why?" She demanded. "I want to know why - why would you trick me like that!? Why would you use me like that!?"

Jason waited, forcing himself to breathe slow and deep, trying to give as little sign of fear or agitation that Harley might be able to latch onto as a focus for her frustrations. Instead, he watched silently as the woman processed his words, as she took stock of herself and tried to balance what he said against how she felt.

"How real does it need to be if it helps you?" he offered. Jason saw the move easily before Harley suddenly lowered her stance and tried to trip him up. Really, he could have avoided it easily, but a chance instinct told him to go with it. A few moments later, Jason was laying on the plushly carpeted floor, looking up at Harley as though utterly helpless.

His expression, though, was calm and sympathetic. "Because there's something in you that thrives on having something or someone to focus yourself on. And I thought it was better for you that someone bring out your best and not your worst."

Harley breathed heavily as she sat over him. She glared darkly as she considered his question, and his proposed explanation.

"I'm crazy, not stupid," she replied flatly. "On some level, there needs to be something real. Otherwise you're just makin' a fool outta' me. And that shit ain't gonna' wash, baby."

She had a hand on his throat and squeezed slightly. Not enough to choke, just enough to make her point that she was in charge - or at least she thought as much. But she did continue to consider his words. They echoed in her mind and repeated over and over and over.

"...yeah maybe. But you used me. You weren't tryin' to be my partner, my Puddin' or anything - you just wanted your thrill ride on this Harley." She growled, her voice cracking slightly in pain and with how upset she was. "So. Now that you got what ya' wanted and the joke's over guess you're gonna' cut and run, right?" She sneered a bit.

Jason tensed as Harley's fingers closed over his throat, but didn't flinch or try to pull away. The woman was still on edge, but he was willing to gamble that the real danger to his life had passed. Besides, she looked and sounded emotionally drained, and still off-balance. If he pushed hard enough with his powers, Jason was confident he could take control again.

But there was the possibility of something even more interesting happening here.

"You're probably right. I've never really considered anything beyond immediate satisfaction. But maybe that's changed." Jason reached up and placed his hand over hers. "What would you say if I didn't want to leave?"

Harley's grip was shaking as he spoke. Partly from her fury, partly because she was trying to process everything he was saying. She was so confused between the voices and what she wanted and what his powers had made her thing. When his hand tested over hers, Harley's grip loosened just slightly.

But her eyes were still dark with anger.

"Yeah, right I'm so sure," she gave a sarcastic snarl. "Why should I believe you? Why should I believe anything you say? You tricked me."

Her grip tightened again. But she was genuinely curious what he meant, and if he did indeed mean it. Harley was tough, but she was also a romantic deep down. Her devotion came straight from her heart, which made it powerful indeed. Bordering on obsession.

Even that fraction that Harley's grip loosened was welcome as far as Jason was concerned, but he still didn't try to slip free, not yet. He was still staring back up at the woman, waiting to see where her mercurial mind went.

"You could always take into account the fact that I've had you calmer and talking for almost two minutes now and I haven't reached into your mind at all."

And then the fingers closed, but not enough to give him panic. For now, at least. But he was telling the woman the truth. There was still plenty of anger and frustration in Harley's mind, but it had quieted more than enough, Jason thought, that he could easily have taken her again.

He was right, she hadn't felt him inside her mind, changing her thoughts. This was all her own accord. The warring thoughts inside her were all her own. Harley glared down at him, her grip still on him as she considered what he pointed out.

"All that means is you're a damn good manipulator. Doesn't mean nothin' else." She hissed lowly. "Doesn't answer the question either. Why should I believe you? How can I trust that you won't try and manipulate my mind again?"

Indeed, her anger had calmed from a full inferno to a dying ember. Harley was hurt more so than anything. Just like Mistah J. A different version of Mistah J. He would find her mind easier to navigate now, perhaps he could indeed soothe her. Deep down, there was that natural arousal and attraction between them - something primal that Harley couldn't deny if she wanted to.

Jason reached out to Harley's mind with nothing more than the slightest, whisper-quiet brush of his power, and relaxed at what he found. While she was still upset, the rage had burned itself out for the moment, which meant he had his opening to slip back inside of her head.

While that meant he could easily have come down on Harley's mind like one of her comically oversized mallets, Jason took a different approach. Instead, he gently relaxed and soothed her mind, working with the calm he found in place instead of creating it from whole cloth. He encouraged the calm, like blowing on the embers of a campfire to return its warmth.

Perhaps, Jason thought, if he reminded Harley of how good and at peace she could feel thanks to him, she would relent. Indeed, she might even invite him back inside.

Harley felt his presence inside her head and at first she began to tense again. But then, as he proved himself to be a man of his word, at least to some degree, Harley felt that he wasn't trying to completely re-wire her mind. He was just working with her mind and her feelings as they were.

She let her hand move away from his throat as she settled down. Her fingers dragged down to rest against his chest. Harley stayed on top of him for the moment, her gaze still dark as she looked down at him. But her expression had softened slightly.

"Cat got your tongue or somethin'?" she growled.

By now she had calmed down significantly. There was only mild agitation now. Because the fact of the matter was, he was right - she had been calm with him, aside from homicidally elated. She hadn't been unhappy with him, she hadn't been in pain or abused with him. At least not thus far. But if he had to capacity to deceive her, did he have the capacity to escalate to abuse if he wanted to? That was her concern.

Jason shook his head. "Just waiting to see if you've made your final decision about strangling me or not," he told Harley, then glanced down to the hands that moved down to his chest and decidedly away from his throat. "Looks like you have."

Taking a chance, he placed his hands on top of hers. "So tell me what you'd like. A little more peace and quiet in your head? To lock away one memory or another? Whatever you'd like."

His eyes narrowed, studying Harley back the intense way she seemed to be taking his measure. Although Jason's power had soothed the savage beast, Harley wasn't completely off the defensive yet, and could pounce without warning. "I promise. This time, I only change what you want me to."

Harley looked at him skeptically for a moment. Somehow the sensation of his hands on top of hers put her at peace. She looked into his eyes, weighing her options.

"Don't you go changin' nothin' in my memories...hear me?" She said sharply. "...but...I wanna' be happy again. No brainwashing. I want you here. And I want things the way they were before." Before she had woken up.

Given their position, and how much energy she'd exerted over him, Harley couldn't help the slightly playful feeling she got. Her hands moved to his shoulders and pushed down. Pinning him down better and making her lean over him a bit more.

"Can ya' handle that?" A smirk tugged at the corners of her lips.

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[For Jason Wyndgarde] Waking Up

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