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]

Good luck, Marc.

The pizza guy had more than two pizzas. It looked like... maybe four? With a separate styrofoam package of something else on top of them. Harley clearly made a big show of extremely fake mock disapproval, mostly to amuse Cass and let her preen about her successful scheme, before tipping the guy and ushering Cass into the building.

It took a while. Not super long, but maybe ten, fifteen minutes. A little bit of a debrief, and going over what security measures the apartment had so Cass could employ all of them for a real secure night's sleep, and then whatever nonsense Cass wanted to spout while Harley snagged a slice out of one of the boxes --

("Didn't know you'd picked up a boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Whatever, he seems okay."

"... Yeah. Yeah, he does.")

But eventually, with everything seeming calm enough? Harley bid her farewell and made it back down onto the street, and bounced her way to the car.

"Right, she should be good!" she announced, sliding back into her seat. "All good here, too?"

[hasaknightjob]

Marc sat up more now that Harley was back in the car. "Yeah. Nothing happened. She's doing okay?"

Yes, Harley had said something to that effect but Marc was checking anyway. For reasons.

[totalwildcard]

"She's got a mountain of pizza and a switchblade," Harley said, waving a hand, "she's fine."

And now for a conspiratorial lean, because that wasn't actually all:

"There's also an old lady downstairs keepin' an eye on her, but ya didn't hear that from me."

[hasaknightjob]

That got - not exactly a smile out of Marc. Not even one of those for Marc it was a smile things. But something in the neighborhood of a ghost of a fond expression.

"Get you being a softy."

[totalwildcard]

Harley scoffed.

"How dare you."

It wasn't serious. Of course it wasn't. She'd taken the kid on as her apprentice, of course there was a soft spot there.

[hasaknightjob]

"You met her in Gotham?" Marc asked, just to see if he had the general details right.

[totalwildcard]

"Uh huh," Harley confirmed with a nod, straightening up in her seat for no other reason than that they would probably soon like to get out of here. "There was the thing with the diamond, a big ol' mess, got her in the crosshairs of all the wrong people."

Including Harley, ahem.

[hasaknightjob]

"You know what she's running from?" Marc asked. He wasn't asking for the specifics, just if Harley knew them.

[totalwildcard]

"... Running from?"

Sorry, Harley hadn't exactly thought of it in those terms at any point.

Which was kind of wild for someone who'd taken the kid with her to a whole different state.

[hasaknightjob]

"She had adults at some point," Marc said. "Parents. Fosters. Somebody. Either she got kicked out or she ran."

[totalwildcard]

"Oh, yeah," Harley said, catching on. "They sucked, she left, I took her with me."

Like that was simple.

[hasaknightjob]

"Least she's got you looking out for her," Marc said. Because he was the last guy to say the best thing for a kid was to be at home. At least not as a default. "And the neighbor, I guess."

[totalwildcard]

"There's also the group of goody two shoes...es we left back in Gotham," Harley replied, even though she had never actually mentioned those people to him before. Irrelevant! "If she ever feels like going back home, those do-gooders will take her under their wings, I'm sure."

Aw, and now that perfectly good pun was going to waste because he didn't know about the Birds of Prey!

[hasaknightjob]

"But she understands you better," Marc said.

Which he maybe got a little, considering some of the kids living in his house.

[totalwildcard]

Oh, hey, the view out the windshield got mighty interesting as Harley considered that.

"Yeah, probably," she admitted. "Hmmh."

[hasaknightjob]

Marc watched her. Then, because again of who he had living in his house, he offered, "I won't tell if you won't."

About her being a softy, that was.

[totalwildcard]

Harley's eyes closed for a little moment, in time with the huff she exhaled.

Then they opened, and she looked over at him, just a little bit wry. "Deal."

[hasaknightjob]

"Dinner?" Marc suggested. "Or do you wanna go home?"

[totalwildcard]

"I want," Harley replied, on a big, thoughtful sigh that also gave her time to actually think on where the statement was going to end up, "food and a bath."

Weird how that felt like admitting something, like those were soft desires. But she didn't really know how to be dishonest about it, either.

[hasaknightjob]

"Okay," Marc said, completely misunderstanding what she might be hesitant about admitting there. "I can get something on the island. No problem."

[totalwildcard]

That was fine, because Harley may have now also been misunderstanding what he was saying, too. But on the plus side, they didn't have to figure it out before they got back on the island!

A task which Harley was now getting them started on. "Right, don't wanna hang around here too long," she said, as she started the car again. "Back to the island it is!"

[hasaknightjob]

"Rain check on the dessert," Marc said. Asking him to remember what specific dessert Harley had been looking forward to was too big an ask given everything else that had happened. "We can do it next time."

[totalwildcard]

Harley, of course, gave an immediate wistful sigh of, "Ugh, the tiramisu!" because she had really been looking forward to that, goddammit!

Still, even she could give a solemn nod about it, too. "But, next time. Something to keep looking forward to, yanno?"

Assuming she wouldn't forget again. She remembered it vividly now, but...

[hasaknightjob]

"I knew it," Marc said. "You're only in it for the food."

Not at all serious, of course.

[totalwildcard]

"When it's good!" Harley retorted with some cheer. "And the sex, too, can't forget about that."