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 nodded, oblivious to any mental shifts that were happening. "Saturday!"

A beat.

"I think? When's the 20th?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Huh," Marc said. He stared out the passenger side window as he all but forcibly yanked a bunch of emotions behind some solid walls.

He didn't offer any other commentary beyond that.

[totalwildcard]

Well, Marc was Marc. Sometimes he said very little, so Harley wasn't actively concerned, but... Some little part in the back of her brain was feeling a little itchy, all the same.

"It's Saturday," Cass chimed in from the back seat, with Harley's phone still in her hands. "But you don't even have it on your calendar."

"Do I have anything else on my calendar, which by the way you should not be snooping on?"

"... No?"

"Well there ya go."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc was vaguely listening to all that. Aware but not reacting as emotions on the subject got yanked behind walls as soon as they occurred.

He kept his eyes on the front and side windows, paying attention to where they were in case he needed to find Cass's place in the future.

[gothamists]

"Are you gonna have a party?" Cass asked, while she was adding things into Harley's calendar - or was trying to, anyway, before Harley reached an expectant hand back for her phone.

"A party?" Harley said, like it was a weird question to begin with. "No, we got enough people throwin' those on the island, and besides, thirty-four's not like a special age in any way, either." She paused to consider as she pocketed her phone, and then added, with more of a mutter, "I'm not sure there's enough people that'd show up, anyway..."

Cass just shrugged. "Well, for mine, you can just buy me dinner!"

"When is your birthday, anyway?"

"January."

"Great, gives me lotsa time to figure out what food says 'you'll be old too soon enough, kid, and don't ya forget it' the best! I'm thinking horrible cheese pizza from that place right by Ashing station.."

From there, it pretty quickly devolved into just a lively back-and-forth about which pizza place in Gotham was the greatest pizza place in Gotham. They seemed to have very differing opinions.

In the meantime, they were heading towards what was more or less the halfway point between Cass's usual pickpocketing area, and the place where they'd actually found her. Unsurprising, really: Cass knew to keep a certain amount of distance between where she lived and where she... ahem, worked. Guess she'd just picked a different direction to do that in when she'd been chased off her turf.

[hasaknightjob]

"You've got a place around here?" Marc asked Harley. If the kid was from Gotham then it couldn't be her place, Marc figured.

[totalwildcard]

Harley threw him a huffily amused look. "Me? You've been to my place a bunch of times."

"I think he means he thinks I'm too young to have a place," Cass supplied. Helpfully. As a guess.

[hasaknightjob]

"That," Marc said, nodding his head in Cass's direction.

[totalwildcard]

Harley's face scrunched up. "She's like... almost an adult?"

Cass was quite clearly barely high school age, as Harley's glance into the rearview mirror confirmed.

So instead of taking the further arguing, she rolled her eyes in that special way that involved most of her head in the motion: "But technically, it's under my name, yeah."

[hasaknightjob]

"That's all I meant," Marc said. "Instead of a foster situation or something."

Marc kept the corner of his eye on Cass when he said that, mainly to see if she had any reaction.

[gothamists]

Cass didn't realize he was doing that. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't have been quite so obvious about sinking further down in her seat and looking out the window.

Meanwhile Harley's tone went a little bright and sharp. "Yeah, none of that bullshit anymore," she said. "The kid's a free agent."

[hasaknightjob]

"Copy that," Marc said. He had two effective runaways living in his boarding house - older than Cass, but still - so he had no judgement. Just filing away the information for reference.

[totalwildcard]

Harley gave a decisive nod, like that matter was settled. Whether or not it was because she'd seen Cass's reaction in the rearview was no one's business but her own.

And as if to seal that, her expression brightened. "Ooh, not long now! I think we might actually beat the delivery guy."

[hasaknightjob]

"If he drives faster than you he's earned an extra tip," Marc said.

[totalwildcard]

"He's got a shorter way to go to begin with, though," Cass pointed out, because clearly it was safe for her to rejoin the conversation again.

Harley looked privately pleased, but still: "Yeah, but they also gotta make the pizzas first, don't they?" she retorted. "Can't just get up and start racin'."

[hasaknightjob]

"Bet Harley could still beat 'em even if they were in the lobby," Marc said.

Not really but hey, maybe it depended on how long pizzas took to cook.

[gothamists]

"Harley could beat anybody," Cass said, "because she cheats."

Harley just preened, for both parts. Because why argue with the truth?

[hasaknightjob]

"Whatever works," Marc said. "Not like we're in a real race or something."

[totalwildcard]

Harley shared a look with Cass through the mirror and then said, "Sorry, kid, he's got no imagination. Tragic."

[hasaknightjob]

"We're not," Marc pointed out. Because no imagination meant he couldn't even figure out what Harley was apologizing for.

[totalwildcard]

"Says you," Harley told him with a smirk.

And floored it. The street ahead was clear enough, it was fine.

[hasaknightjob]

"You're not getting a trophy at the end of it," Marc pointed out.

[totalwildcard]

"There's other prizes!" Harley retorted.

"There's pizza," Cass put in - even though that was actually going to be just for her.

[hasaknightjob]

"That's your prize," Marc said, since he agreed with the narrative even if he couldn't read it.

[totalwildcard]

"And I'll grab something else," Harley said, like it was just that easy.

With a little smirk at Marc because she was incorrigible.