TM Topic: Perception.

[the_dead_lady]

People perceive me for exactly what I am.

A vicious bitch, an evil bitch, a back stabbing traitorous bitch. We've been through the names before and I think we can all agree they weren't that imaginative.

But we get the point. I'm evil - although no matter how many times my many fans are at pains to remind me of this, they still keep knocking on

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[abetterlie]

Since Cordelia told him about her encounter with Lilah, Connor has been fighting the impulse to just barge into Wolfram and Hart's office in Boston. He's not eighteen anymore, so common sense prevails. Barely. He's been pondering ways to make Lilah talk, however, and came up with two ideas. One is the result of living with Harry Osborn for months, because it is financial in nature, and also has to do with the Connor Riley part of his nature. The other has to do with knowing that while Lilah is already dead and hence can't be killed, there are a couple of things, none of them pleasant, you can do to an immortal being, as Connor is in a position to know was well. Call it the Stephen Holtz idea

[the_dead_lady]

"I was wondering when you were going to come out of the shadows and play with the big boys and girls."

She says, not missing a beat. And, yet, inspite of the bravado, before she could stop herself she's stepped back, not held her ground, moved further away. Her hands slide into her pockets, removing them from the temptation of nervous gestures.

"Just look at you, Connor Riley or Stephen Holtz or is it Mr. Osborn now? I can't keep up with kids today, all their identity issues, it's just a new thing every week with your generation. But, just look at you. All grown up. Good to see you following in Daddy's fine tradition. You've taken up stalker duty, right where the old man left off."

Which old man, she doesn't say. Take your pick, Connor, you have so many to choose from.

[abetterlie]

The last time he saw her up close, she was a corpse, bleeding from her neck, and he told Wesley they'd have to decapitate her. Hearing her talk is different from exchanging written comments on the internet. Thankfully, what she says ensures that the odd moment passes and he's back remembering she and what she represents is dangerous. When she steps back, he follows up automatically.

"Why did she kill you?" Connor asks suddenly, instead of replying to her father comparisons, both because he wants to surprise her, further gain ground and demonstrate unpredictability, and because he is genuinenly curious. Besides, he needs to find out whether all of this business with Cordelia is perhaps less Wolfram and Hart and more Lilah's kind of revenge. "I always thought it was Angelus, but you said it wasn't in one of your posts. So why? You'd have loved her just like everyone else if you had still been alive."

[the_dead_lady]

"Why did she kill me?"

Lilah doesn't know she'll ever get used to the idea of talking about her death, of being dead. It isn't open for discussion.

The only defence is to be glib, brush right over it, move right along.

"She was on a homicidal rampage and I was in closest proximity. Life's a bitch, so is death now we get down to it. Put that on a t-shirt and why don't get to what you're doing here - because I know you're into older women, Connor, but you'll have to exercise those Mommy issues elsewhere... I might have all the time in the world, but who knows how much time that really is."

[abetterlie]

"I thought you'd know," Connor says, trying not to let the Mommy issues taunt get to him, which is more difficult than ignoring the earlier Daddy issues taunt. Lilah might notice from his expression. "Since you know pretty much everything else. Or so you told Cordy."

She wears a fashionable scarf, hiding the scar on her neck. His own is barely visible, only when you know where to look. Remembering your own death is incredibly disturbing, and he's in a position to know, but he doesn't want to overuse it that early on, so he goes along with changing the subject for now, and gets to the point.

"But then again, maybe you were lying about all of that. About her child, and bringing her back."

[the_dead_lady]

"Well, Connor, I am a liar."

She's so damn smug about it. She's not trying to convince him of anything. It's as if she doesn't care what he believes.

She takes off her jacket, throws it over the back of the sofa, pours herself a drink. She's drinking more now than she ever did before. Drinking alone. She remembers that's a sign of a problem, but then, when you're dead a few too many doesn't seem like such a huge issue.

"I'm one of the bad guys, remember? Or have you been so busy living your lavish lifestyle with little Harry Osborn that you've forgotten how the old games goes?"

She lifts her glass as if to toast him.

"Nice catch, by the way, that made me proud - there may be some hope for you, yet."

And she pours a second glass for him.

[abetterlie]

She has just given him his cue.

"Speaking of Harry Osborn," Connor says. "You know he's given me power of attorney a while back? So maybe I'm slow, but it took me a bit to figure out what that meant. Tell me if I'm wrong, but doesn't it mean I can end any business relationship he had with your firm, so Wolfram and Hart loses all access to the Osborn fortune? I mean, sure, you must have so many clients that maybe it doesn't matter so much, but your flunky Tucker Wells gave me the impression you want to keep Harry as a client anyway. And that the Senior Partners wouldn't like it if one of their people lost him. Especially if that could be avoided by being straight about a simple question or two."

And he takes the glass from her.

"Cheers," he says. All those hours observing Harry at society functions and dealing with the OsCorp board have to pay off somehow.

[the_dead_lady]

"Cute. Very cute."

Maybe she means his toast, maybe she means his threat. She might even mean both.

"Speaking of Harry Osborn," Lilah says. "You know we've had some involvement with a mutual friend of yours? So, maybe I'm slow, but it took me a while to figure out what that meant. Tell me if I'm wrong, but if we've been protecting her interests, covering up her indiscretions, and suddenly, oooops, her file finds its way to the wrong desk, well, that could cause quite a lot of trouble for her. You'd be surprised, Connor. The authorities frown on arson, assault and all those little things in between that make for a delightful teenage rebellion. If you weren't standing in her path that is

[abetterlie]

This would be why Connor thought Kara working for Wolfram and Hart was a catastrophe, but right now, he's not even having a thought of "I told her so". There are too many other things going through his head, while emotionally he's somewhere between shock, rage and shame

[the_dead_lady]

Lilah's hits the wall, she's glad it is there, it helps her regain her balance. She's finding it hard to catch her breath again, a strange force of habit that she hasn't grown tired of yet. She doesn't need breath. She's dead. It's a peculiar thing how the body and the mind hold on to old habits, refuse to let them go

[abetterlie]

"Bad things happen because people let them happen," Connor says, which isn't a high point of logic but is actually what he believes. This also applies to himself; he is convinced he should have been able to prevent the death of Holtz or Justine's three months in a closet, or more recently the entire Green Goblin interlude and the death of the Rileys, and he knows he would have been able to prevent the Kara/Harry break-up. "So I guess you'll have to try and make sure they don't happen to Kara and Cordy