Needful Things; Friday

[totalwildcard]

Last night, Harley had broken into a store.

This one: Needful Things.

And what, don't give her that look, you woulda done it too! If you'd showed up in town with nothing but hopes and dreams and a bag and a hyena and a taxidermied beaver, that was. Harley had spent most of Thursday traipsing around town just taking it all in, but when the day had begun turning into evening, she'd stumbled upon this place. And through the window, she'd seen what she'd thought was another taxidermied beaver and, well, that had just seemed like a sign, you know? Plus a good opportunity to get Beaver a friend!

And sure, what she'd thought was a beaver had actually turned out to be a funky vintage wig all askew on a mannequin head, but that hadn't dampened Harley's enthusiasm much. This place had potential regardless of that or the verdict from Cass that she was going to "catch some sort of old person disease from all the old person junk" when Harley had sent her some pics this morning.

...

It was real fuckin' dusty in the store, though. And that was why the door was currently wide open to let some air in, and Harley could be seen in the window, dusting things. Like a real small town business owner!

Who'd just stolen an entire store.

(ooc: the business may not be open (yet), but the post sure is!)

Comments

[hasaknightjob]

So turns out Needful Things is right around the corner from a certain Manor - albeit not the one Bruce's namesake lived in. Which meant that when Steven got back home from having lunch with Watts, Marc happened to clock that something looked different over there.

Not that Marc cared. He didn't give a shit about what happened to a building or store he had no personal connection to. But it was by his home and any bullshit that might affect where he lived he at least wanted to be aware of. You know, for any possible future annoyances or whatever.

Which was why after they got home Marc took over and swapped into his own clothes, then headed back out to take a look at things.

He wasn't expecting to see the person Steven met yesterday but in hindsight the odds of that did make sense.

Which was why there was now someone who looked remarkably like Steven but in better fitting clothes standing by the entrance to the store and looking at Harley with an expression of recognition on his face.

[totalwildcard]

He did look a little different, but when Harley looked up and saw him, she saw no reason not to think she was identifying him correctly, so:

"Steven! Hi!" she grinned, then waved her old-timey feather duster around to convey the entirety of Needful Things. "Look, I got a store!"

[hasaknightjob]

Steven would've been thrilled. And in the back of Marc's head there was the sensation of him registering that and making a note to congratulate her when he had the chance.

This was Marc though so he went with a more efficient, "Marc" to help get that confusion out of the way.

And hey: Brooklyn accent meet Chicago.

"Steven and I live around the corner."

For the record Marc would've never said that much if he didn't have a semi-awake Steven in the back of his head nudging him. Sometimes the easier path was doing what Steven demanded to shut him up, thank you.

[totalwildcard]

Harley's face was going through a journey as she tried to piece that all together, between him not being Steven(?) but living with Steven(??) but also looking like Steven(???), only the accent was real different--

The narrative would've claimed it might have helped had she remembered Steven mentioning Marc in passing the previous day, but in all honesty it probably wouldn't have.

"...You don't look like you're from the 1900s."

Yes, that was the best logic she could come up with.

[hasaknightjob]

Nobody - seriously nobody, not even Khonshu who otherwise adored Marc, really - ever said Marc was the smart one so it took him a second.

"No, that's Watts," Marc said. "Steven's boyfriend. He lives with us too."

[totalwildcard]

That wasn't a huge help.

"So wait who are you?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Marc Spector, I run the boarding house," Marc said. But with a hint of a - well look it's Marc so nobody would say things like smile. But maybe smirk could apply? Something that made it clear he knew full well he wasn't answering Harley's real question but he was being a bit of a, as someone of Harley's linguistic background might call it, wisenheimer.

What? Based on how she looked Marc had a suspicion Harley could take care of herself. Maybe he was a little curious how she'd handle what passed for him joking. He'd rip off the band aid of the whole him-and-Steven situation in a minute depending on how this went.

[totalwildcard]

Was it the jaw tattoo that gave him that impression?

Harley's eye roll involved her entire head, so exaggerated it was hard to say if there was any genuine frustration behind it. "Clearly you know what I mean," she complained. "Sure, you run the boarding house, but you also look just like Steven only you ain't got the fancy accent to go with it."

Boston did not count as fancy, surprising no one.

"So glad as I am to hear it's not some sorta weird incest thing, that doesn't really answer much."

[hasaknightjob]

At least Marc had twigged that the tattoo was something about Harley's personality and not, as Steven had quietly worried, an indication of the health of Harley's jaw or teeth?

There was a slight wince around Marc's eyes at the last thing Harley said, but it would be difficult to know that it was an instinctive reaction about the concept of family compared to the more specific incest.

As such Marc didn't mind going on to what for him was the comparatively easier topic. "Steven and I share a body."

See, Steven? Not hard at all. Ignore how Marc might've held off a tiny bit longer if he knew he was talking to an actual psychiatrist.

[totalwildcard]

Yes, Harley was now frowning while giving him a brief up-and-down look.

"So... Dissociatively, or some weirder way that that?"

Hey, from what she'd heard of the island, could be either! Lord knows the weirder wouldn't have been out of place back in Gotham, either.

[hasaknightjob]

Okay now Marc was giving her a closer look. Because that sounded, you know, clinical. And Marc had opinions about the psychiatric profession. None of them great.

"The first one. Why?"

[totalwildcard]

"Oh, I just never met one of you guys before, that's all," Harley replied, shrugging, then briefly trailing off as she thought about whether 'one of you guys' worked when the whole point was more than one person... Hmmh. "Though I probably would've, if I'd stayed at Arkham longer, but that wasn't to be."

[hasaknightjob]

That got Marc to - well again it's Marc so the word relax doesn't really apply. But he wasn't giving her as close a look as before. He didn't give a shit about what people thought about him, but if she'd been about to make any judgements about Steven that'd be a problem.

So hey: no problem! Plus she'd been nice to Steven yesterday so she was still coasting on having earned some bonus points with Marc for that alone.

Marc went to lean against one of the counters to make himself comfortable... and then noticed the dust that had made that a bad decision. He brushed at his pant leg as he asked, "Arkham?"

If Marc remembered people's lore he might recall Arthur having said that name too. But it was Marc so frankly him bothering to remember Arthur's name was an accomplishment.

[pocketpretzels]

Given that said shop was, as someone else’s narrative pointed out, right near by a particular residence, it was perhaps not surprising that another person who happened to live in that aforementioned residence might notice the door to said shop being open as he made his way home later in the afternoon.

“Hello there,” he greeted, leaning in and poking his head around the doorframe.

[totalwildcard]

There was so much dust in the air inside the store right now, the doorway was probably the safest place to be.

"Hello!" Harley replied brightly. "Yes, I'm new, let's just get that out of the way right away."

[pocketpretzels]

“Yes, I think I would have noticed you before if you weren’t,” Watts agreed. “Miss… Harley, is it?” he checked, since Steven had mentioned meeting a new arrival yesterday, and statistically speaking outside of the beginning of a semester the odds of multiple new people were… low.

[totalwildcard]

"Just Harley, no Miss," Harley corrected, though she had a hunch it wasn't gonna do much. He had that sort of air about him. Also her head was tilting to the side. "Only took me this long to get a reputation? That's fast."

Reputation, name recognition, same diff, whatever.

[pocketpretzels]

At least until he found out she had a surname that she used as well, at which point she’d be Miss Quinn.

“It’s a very small island,” Watts said. “And- Steven mentioned meeting you yesterday.”

[totalwildcard]

"Oh!" Harley said, brows going up. "Are you Beau?"

That should've been 'the beau', but let's face it, it was almost miraculous she remembered Steven's name correctly.

[pocketpretzels]

“Yes,” Watts nodded. “And… no. My name is Detective Watts, not Beau. But Steven is mine, yes. My beau, that is.”

Hopefully that cleared things up?

[totalwildcard]

And much quicker than things with Marc, even!

"Oh yes, now I have that right," Harley said, weirdly grateful for something straighforward. At least until another detail caught her attention. "Wait, Detective?"

[pocketpretzels]

“Yes,” Watts nodded. “Formerly with the Toronto Constabulary, currently with the Fandom Trooper Station.”

[totalwildcard]

"There's cops here?"

Even detectives? She narrowly avoided calling that a bummer out loud, but it was kind of still present on her face.

"It's just a rinky-dink little island!"

[pocketpretzels]

“Indeed,” Watts said. “A surprising number of them. Us. When you consider, as you say, the ‘rinky-dink’ status of this island.”

[totalwildcard]

"But why?"

Uh, no reason she was asking. No reason at all.