Somewhere on the Mainland; Sunday Early Evening

[totalwildcard]

You asked Harley, it was a pretty good Sunday, so far.

She'd started out her day with no plan, and yet by happy accident (and it was definitely an accident, and not someone somewhere making room in a shared schedule to facilitate things, or anything deliberate on the part of anyone directly involved!) she'd run into Marc, and that had sparked a simple and easy plan after all: to drive him to the mainland for dinner, at a restaurant she'd overheard someone talking about on one of her off-island jaunts earlier in the week. It was supposed to be a family-run, no-nonsense little Italian place, and exactly the sort of thing Harley was in the mood for, especially right now with the company she had.

So life was indeed pretty good!

And Harley's mood wasn't soured even by finding out there was actually no parking available right by the restaurant. After some searching, she'd managed to find a spot some blocks away - which was to say, she'd sniped it from right under someone's nose with a truly reckless move. Which had led to some blaring horns from other cars. Which was all good in Harley's book! She had more important things to be thinking about, anyway!

"And the tiramisu's supposed to be amazing," she was saying, as they got out of the car. "Like, 'someone's 97-year-old tiny little Italian grandma made it' kind of amazing. D'you think they'd let me order that for an app and not just dessert?"

(NFB for distance, for the one modded with permission + some NPCs)

Comments

[totalwildcard]

Harley definitely didn't mind! Because Harley had already been stepping closer to him for that exact reason before he'd even started reaching. They might have to face the facts soon and realize there was no 'like it was': it was getting to just be natural.

Not that Harley was thinking about that at all. She just leaned in and nudged him in the right direction along the sidewalk.

The sun hadn't set yet, and while it wasn't quite crowded enough to be annoying, there were still plenty of people about, on their way to dinner or home or just living their lives.

"Some people on TV do!" Harley said earnestly - and then smirked. "But they're mostly claymation."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc's hand was now resting on her hip like that was its spot so yeah. Some things kinda were.

"You say that and the island'll turn you into it," Marc said. "Or a cartoon or some shit."

Funnily enough at least one of the residents of the house could give pointers if that happened. Not that Marc knew that.

[totalwildcard]

"Oooh, that sounds like it'd be fun, actually!" Harley enthused almost immediately. "I've always wanted to be able to pull things outta my pockets that have no way of fitting in there!"

What a surprise, right?

[hasaknightjob]

"Sure you don't mean other people's pockets?" Marc asked, giving her a wry look.

[totalwildcard]

"Oh, no, I like freeing things from other people's pockets," Harley informed him without missing a beat, "that's different."

And the perfect excuse she didn't actually need for sneaking her hand into his back pocket! Followed by a theatrical sigh of her own, much more dramatic than his. "Damn, missed your wallet again."

[hasaknightjob]

"You'll have to try the other ones later," Marc said. Which possibly foreshadowed how long it would take them to get home after dinner, if past outings were any indication.

[totalwildcard]

Well, if Harley had anything to say about it...

"And thoroughly," she purred, smirking up at him like it was a promise.

[hasaknightjob]

"Look at you making plans," Marc said. His tone was teasing but didn't sound like he disagreed with said plans, for the record.

[totalwildcard]

"What can I say," Harley preened, "you're inspiring."

Something -- someone bumped against Marc on the other side. Just the way sometimes happened, in crowded spots!

Only, one of his pockets not currently being occupied by Harley may have suddenly felt lighter.

[hasaknightjob]

Marc didn't spend time in crowded marketplaces in locations of dubious legality or safety not to pick up on someone trying to walk away with his cell phone.

He wasn't mad, he respected the hustle, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to immediately go to grab the wrist of whoever was doing it.

[gothamists]

Just a kid, it turned out! The girl couldn't have been older than fifteen, round face, short stature. And trying to yank her hand away with a, "Whoa, okay!"

Which was the point Harley caught up with what was happening, and gasped. "Wh-- you little shit!"

Considering she would have had the same initial offended reaction to any teenaged pickpocket, there was no obvious sense of recognition in it just yet.

[hasaknightjob]

As soon as Marc saw it was a kid he didn't relax exactly, but there was a severe dialing down of whatever potential reaction might've been coming if it'd been an adult looking to cause trouble.

Marc made sure his cell was in his possession while hanging on to the kid's wrist. He had no vested interest here. But he was going to give the kid a once over to try to see if he could get a read on if this was just a juvenile delinquent or somebody who was in over their head.

Not that he cared.

[gothamists]

The kid was giving him such suspicious stink eye for the look in return - and then her eyes darted to Harley. Like, wasn't she going to do anything?

"What?" Harley said, raising her eyebrows, pointedly. (Also, ignore how fast her hand had come out of Marc's pocket and how she'd straightened up as soon as she'd realized who they were dealing with.) "We don't steal from Marc - well, you don't steal from Marc, and you're the one who decided to learn that lesson right now, so if he's gonna be all intense at you, that's on you, kid."

"Oh my God, his name's Mark?" the kid replied with way too much of an amused tone and face for the situation. "Doesn't that make him the perfect target?"

Sorry they were talking about you like you weren't there, Marc.

[hasaknightjob]

That was fine. Once Marc had let go of that wrist he had other things to focus on. Such as a word choice on Harley's part.

"You have a kid?"

Don't mind Marc, he was just recontextualizing everything he'd ever known about Harley and her ex.

[totalwildcard]

Of all the conclusions -- "What? No." And now he was getting such a 'what the fuck are you thinking?' look from Harley. Briefly, anyway. "You remember 'Harley Quinn and Associate'?"

She actually had no real memory of whether he was or wasn't one of the people she'd given her business card to, but that didn't really matter that much to her anyway.

She gestured at the girl.

"This is the associate."

The girl threw him a half-assed salute and said, "'Sup."

[hasaknightjob]

"She's young enough," Marc pointed out in reply to the look. But okay, he put all the thoughts about Harley and her ex back to where they'd been two minutes ago.

Now he just had to process Harley having a connection to a kid at all.

(Yes, fifteen. Might as well be an infant as far as Marc was concerned.)

He gave the barest nod at the girl. "Hey."

[gothamists]

"Cass, Marc," Harley said, to get it over with, with the requisite nods from one to the other, "Marc, Cass."

Now, introductions done in a satisfactory manner and no one was going to have any further questions, right?

Cass was definitely eyeing Marc like she had questions. So Harley was going to head that off right at the pass, and say, "I hope you've had a better eye picking your other targets today."

Cass scoffed. "I didn't pick him 'cause I really wanted to get his stuff, I was just... saying hello." She looked way too pleased with herself for that one. "What, you don't think I noticed it was you that was getting all cozy with this guy? You stick out, Harls."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc took all this in. No, he was not getting into things like that cozy comment. "So what is she? Your intern?"

[totalwildcard]

"I prefer apprentice," Harley replied. "Intern sounds like she works in an office, and not the kind you have, but the kind where everyone's wearin' pantsuits and thinking about poisoning the water cooler to just bring it all to an end."

Or something.

"I'm learning by doing," Cass chimed in, eyeing Marc like she was now wondering what kind of office this guy had. "Well, not the part about knowing how to get things off distracted people, I was great at that before she ever met me!"

"That is true," Harley had to agree with a shrug. "However, we met 'cause she'd taken a diamond and swallowed it, so that's the part we're really workin' on. The smarts."

[hasaknightjob]

"You know you're supposed to sell those, right?" Marc said to Cass as far as that part about the diamond. Never let it be said he wasn't a mentor.

"You got any more apprentices?" Marc asked, turning back to Harley. Which felt like a fair question since Marc had previously assumed the answer to be zero.

[totalwildcard]

Let this be a lesson about not assuming Harley was talking about adults when she referred to an associate!

She also went ahead and ignored the girl's protest about how it had made sense at the time, god! "No, just the one," she said, "please, ya think I got time for more?"

You know, since she was so clearly very hands-on with this one and whatnot.

[hasaknightjob]

Marc had to give Harley that one since, yeah, fair point.

Marc looked Cass over again. "So what got you into pickpocketing?"

He wasn't expecting an honest answer. He was mainly trying to get a feel for Cass in general.

[gothamists]

What he was getting was an openly wary look, like he was both asking a stupid question and Cass had reasons to be concerned about it.

Right before Cass pointed at him and looked at Harley, of course. "Is he a cop?" she demanded. "'Cause you have to tell me right now if he's a cop!"

Harley rolled her eyes. "He's not a cop," she said. "He's just..." Uh, what was a good ending to that sentence? "Like that."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc filed that reaction away for future reference.

"Been arrested, that count?"

[totalwildcard]

"See?" Harley said, bright and pleased with that helpful bit of evidence. "He's just like us! So he's not gonna get you in trouble, and definitely not over whatever you can fill up your pockets with here."

Because this was far from being an upscale neighborhood.

... Hold on.

Something about the particular surprise factor of running into Cass like this was finally occurring to Harley. "Why are you here, anyway?" she asked, with a frown and a major tilt of her head, looking at Cass, then down the street, then back to Cass again. "This isn't your usual hunting ground, there's no rich people, or tourists, or rich tourists!"

Cass immediately went a little shifty and evasive, fidgeting with a sleeve. "I dunno, change of scenery?"