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The Causeway; Thursday Morning

"Now Brucey baby, I know you don't like the leash and all, but we gotta make a good impression on our first day here," Harley was saying as they were getting out of the car, parked on the little parking lot by the side of the causeway. "Can't have you decidin' to snack on locals before we've even had a chance to say hello, yanno?"

Was the hulk of a hyena getting any of this? Harley sure hoped so! And his collar was all leashed up now, so she was free to grab a bag from the back seat before slamming the car door closed. As she was hiking the bag up onto her shoulder, she turned to finally take a proper look at the town before them.

And up, at the castle.

"Oh, wow. You think they got princesses up there?"

Bruce did not seem as impressed.

(ooc: open, of course!)

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Steven had decided to make a quick run to the Perk for a coffee to see him through the day. Which meant in theory he was in a hurry but not so much he didn't notice someone new.

Or new to him. As far as he remembered. But surely the hyena would stand out even to his mind?

"Er, hello," he said, giving a wave. "Are you new?"

It occurred to him it was entirely possible the hyena might answer as much as the woman did. But only one way to find out really.

Bruce made a curious noise, but that probably didn't count as an answer.

Harley waved at Steven excitedly. "Brand new, just arrived!" she confirmed brightly. "Is it obvious? Do we stand out?"

She tended to stand out in most places, even without the hyena.

Steven gave a small wave at Bruce to be polite all the same.

"Small island," he assured her. "So new faces do stand out. Hello! Welcome! I'm Steven. With a V. Pleased to meet you."

"Nice to meetcha, Steven with a V!" Harley said, with a little bounce in place. "I'm Harley. With an H."

As opposed to what, don't ask. She was just delighted, after the past while, to not have her reputation precede her.

"Ooh, and this is Bruce!"

"Pleased to meet you, Harley, Bruce," Steven said, giving them each a nod in turn. He didn't expect Bruce to talk back or anything. He was just a pet parent of his own and thus wanted to make sure Bruce was included. "Well hello! Are you in need of help at all? Pointers on where there's places to live, idea of things to do, that sort of thing?"

As might be expected, a chance to possibly make a new friend and play tour guide did have Steven looking rather thrilled.

Harley's eyebrows jumped up. "Oh, ooh, yes, I got question!"

Brace yourself, Steven, it was going to be a very important one.

"Do any royalty live up there in that castle?"

She was pointing towards the castle with her entire arm. Just in case he couldn't tell which one she was talking about.

It was a perfectly reasonable question!

"Not that I'm aware of?" Steven admitted. "That's the school, you see. There are halls where students live but I'm afraid I'm not aware offhand if any are royalty. We do get all sorts of people on the island though. Some are royals, important leaders, that sort of thing."

Steven figured that worked both as an answer and as an easy way to slowly start introducing Harley to the island's rather... unique qualities.

Poor Harley's face fell by kind of a lot.

"A school? Aw, disappointing." But wait, what about the other stuff? "Sorry, what was that about leaders?"

Steven gave a look of sympathy because he was genuinely sorry to disappoint her. On the plus side this provided a nice segue into some of the strangeness. "Yes! There's one woman who is a queen, then there's all sorts of people who are sort of high ranking in what they do? Military and, er, the like?"

Steven wondered how best to get into the rest of it. For instance if he mentioned that the actual devil was on the island he knew he might look mental. Or more mental than he normally ran the risk of looking. He decided to ease into it.

"Then there's those who are... rather powerful? As in they have abilities that some might consider extraordinary." He looked at Harley uncertainly. "Do - do they have that sort of thing in your world? People who can fly and the like?"

"... Bats isn't here, is he?"

Maybe that was an answer in itself? Sort of. Maybe needed more context.

(She'd get to the rest in a moment.)

"I'm not familiar with anyone by that name?" Steven said. "Is it short for something? Bats...tholomew?"

Not that Steven knew anybody by that name either. He was just trying to guess.

"Batman?" Harley said like it should've been obvious, her face scrunching up a little in confusion. "Though I like Batstholomew, I'm gonna hold on to that for later." If she ever needed a good taunt again. "But wait, seriously, you don't know who Batman is?"

The incredulous tone made her voice go kind of extra nasal. Sorry not sorry.

Steven was now worried he'd offended her somehow. "Er - no? Sorry? Can't say I'm familiar? Is - is he actually a bat? We have had residents who were talking animals, if that helps?"

"No, he's a big guy who dresses like a bat," Harley explained (sort of), "probably 'cause of some kinda major early life trauma that he should really find a better outlet for. He's a big deal in Gotham. And you don't even know who he is?!"

There was a beat for thought, and all the incredulity on her face snapped right into utter joy.

"This place is even better than I thought!"

Steven felt immense relief that this wasn't one of those moments where he'd offended someone without meaning to. Also he was glad that Harley seemed to be happy, because who didn't like it when other people were happy? So now he was smiling along with her.

"No, no, nothing like that here," Steven said. At least he'd never seen anyone dress as a bat. What people did in the privacy of their bedrooms was their own business, of course.

"Though I should tell you I'm not familiar with a Gotham either. That's - that's one of the things about this place. You'll meet people from worlds different from your own. Sometimes the changes are very small, sometimes very significant. It can take a bit of getting used to. Though if you're from a world with people who have powers like this Batman - " Steven was absolutely saying that wrong, with the stress on the wrong syllable " - that's going to be a great help for you with the learning curve. Er - I'm from a place where there's people with powers as well, you see."

It was rare that Harley held back an impulse, but the urge to correct Steven's pronunciation of Batman was one such special occasion. 'Cause it was music to her ears, really.

"Do you have powers?"

"Not... exactly?" Steven said. "I mean me stood here right now I've nothing. Normal human."

Perfectly normal. Ignore the sharing a body thing. Didn't need to get into that now. Though between Harley and Humphrey Steven was becoming reminded all over again how difficult it was when you didn't know how people might react to that kind of information.

"But I do sort of.. have access to some?" Steven said. "I'm an avatar to the Egyptian god of the moon, you see. And I know that sounds bloody stupid, believe me. It did to me when I first heard it."

And now Harley was squinting at him, although not because it sounded stupid, because it didn't. Oh, no.

"'Avatar' as in something good," she said, suspiciously, "or 'avatar' as in you're gonna get possessed and go completely nuts, causing a lot of trouble for a buncha people with bombs in their necks who should've had nothing at all to do with the whole thing?"

Hypothetically.

"Oh no, no, good things. Protecting people. No possession, I did make sure of that."

Then the rest of what she said caught up to him. "Sorry - bombs in their necks? That sounds horrible!"

Not that bombs anywhere else on their bodies would've been any better, of course.

Harley shook her head very seriously.

"It's not great, I gotta tell ya."

Well now Steven was horrified. "It happened to you? That's horrible. Wait - are you in any danger? If someone's trying to hurt you that's not on at all. If you need help you have it."

Yes, Steven had just met her. What did that have to do with anything?

Plenty, by the sound of Harley's slightly startled laugh.

"Oh, goodness no, that was a coupla years ago," she said, waving a hand like it was nothing. "I've already been in mortal danger a bunch of times since then."

Harley. Harley, that was not better.

"Oh, all right." Steven relaxed a bit. "But the help is still there if you need it. That's what we do. Help people. I mean in theory we help those who travel at night but the time of day's never been a hard and fast rule."

Plural pronouns? What plural pronouns? Pfft, probably nothing.

It didn't seem to be a big concern for Harley right now, at least.

"Well, good to know!" she said. "Though I do feel like most of my really tricky situations have been at night, but not so much with travel..."

"Not as much of a hard and fast rule either?" Steven said, making a so-so gesture with his hand. "To be honest I just like being able to help if people need it. Don't need to see their schedule or holiday plans to decide if they're worthy. It's more Khonshu who's fussed about that."

Then, realizing that probably needed clarification, "That's the Egyptian god of the moon, you see. Khonshu. Bit of a wanker but he does take care of those under his protection, give him that."

Edited 2024-02-15 22:19 (UTC)

"Well, that sure sounds like god behavior to me."

She'd dealt with one or two and clearly that meant she could make that sort of statement.

"There any more of those on the island? I mean, just to make sure."

"Avatars or gods?" Steven asked. "Far as I'm aware we've not either?"

Hey, Lucifer didn't want people talking about it. Steven respected that.

"There are plenty of people with powers of some sort though. Magic or strength or other things. Plenty without as well."

Harley was waving her hand again. Bruce watched it with vague interest. "Oh, I'm not worried about any of those guys," she said. "Just as long as there's not more gods, you know? Powers, I'm used to. And no powers, I'm used to, too."

"Ah, all right then," Steven said. "Should be fine. Khonshu can only talk to me and Marc. He won't bother you. And you being used to powers helps a great deal. Bit of a learning curve round here for those not familiar.

"Oh! That reminds me. The year's 2024 now. Don't know if that's different for you? Back home it's 2026 so a small change for me."

Edited 2024-02-16 17:40 (UTC)

"...Hunh." Yeah, this part seemed to actually give Harley pause. "Now that's a little weird. How come it's not the same year as it is everywhere else? Do they count differently here?"

"Seems different worlds work on their own time?" Steven said. "Some are well advanced and some well behind. My beau's from the early 1900s, for example."

"Huh."

She'd already said that, but it bore repeating.

But then she brightened up again. "Seems easy enough to live with," she decided. Then reconsidered. "For me. I don't know about you and your beau, but since they are your beau I'm gonna call it lived-with as well. Which's a good sign!"

"Bit of a learning curve but he's done brilliantly," Steven said. "Uses a mobile as easily as anyone. Far as me it's mainly maths? Remembering how old I am, that sort of thing. But not as though that comes up often, does it?"

Steven didn't know. Maybe in her world people were really into birthdays. He figured best leave it as a question instead of assume.

"But you - is there anything else you'd like to know? Questions? Worries?"

Harley paused to ponder that very seriously.

And then it was like a light bulb went off. "Just the one," she said, head tilting. "D'you know any place in town that does a good egg sandwich?" Wait, wait, wait. "A great egg sandwich."

This question was very important to her.

"Luke's diner," Steven said without hesitation. He'd never had an egg sandwich of course but Marc had. "Run by a man named Duke, actually. But anything you get there is brilliant, I can promise you that. It's over in that direction - "

Steven pointed, then realized, "Actually, do you need a map? I've a spare if you'd like one."

A map of the island had been incredibly handy when Steven arrived. He kept spares in his satchel for just such occasions of bumping into new residents.

"If ya got one, sure! That is so nice of you."

Odds were she was going to lose it much too soon, but hey, wouldn't hurt to have at least for a little bit.

"And can you show me where this Duke's-Luke's is on there, too?"

"Absolutely!" Steven said, once again thrilled that his day had given him opportunity to play tour guide. Granted it wasn't Museum tour guide but even so, Steven was in his element.

He rummaged in his bag and pulled out one of the maps. He opened it and held it so Harley could see where he was pointing. "Right, so we're here, yeah? By the causeway? Luke's is over there, see? Not far at all."

"Wow, this place really is tiny." Yes, she'd already figured that out just looking at the island, but the map really brought it home. "But that's good to know, thanks!"

"It is a fairly quick walk from one side to the other," Steven agreed. He held the map out for her to take. "Makes it easy to do a run for a coffee while you're working, for example. That's where I'm off to now, the Perk. They do good coffees and teas if you care for those."

"Sometimes I do!" Harley confirmed as she took the map. "So good to know also. This has been real helpful of you, honestly."

Good job making Fandom look good, Steven!

"You'll find most people here on the island are very nice," he told her. "It's a friendly place. Glad I bumped into the both of you - " Bruce got another nod of recognition there. "I work at the Museum on Thursdays if you'd ever like to find me. Or visit a Museum, of course. That's down in the bottom left on the map."

Yes, today was Thursday. Steven would be getting his coffee very quickly and scurrying back to work when the two of them parted.

Harley was not quite that aware of where in the week they were, but she still nodded very seriously. "Bottom left, gotcha." Would she remember? Maybe! For at least as long as she had the map! "Well, I shouldn't keep you longer."

That was what nice people said, right? She was trying to be nice people.

"Likewise," Steven said. He hesitantly reached a hand out to shake, not sure if she might care for the gesture. "Good to meet you? And Bruce?"

Not that Bruce had said much but he was a large canine shaped creature who hadn't tried to eat Steven during this entire conversation, so Steven was calling that a win.

Harley was a pro at handshakes. She was very firm about taking his hand and shaking it.

"Very nice to meetcha, Steven," she said. "Bruce thinks so too."

Bruce was probably thinking about lunch.

Steven's handshake wasn't as firm as Harley's - it wasn't firm in general so fair assumption there - but on the plus side neither was it clammy or otherwise horrible. Just not the handshake of a person who considered themselves to have strong hands is all.

"Brilliant! I look forward to seeing more of the both of you then. Welcome to the island!"

As soon as Harley let go of his hand, she clasped her own together (with Bruce's leash in between, but still).

"We're gonna love it here, I just know it."

Guess that would remain to be seen.

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The Causeway; Thursday Morning

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