Fandom Island Museum, Thursday Daytime

[hasaknightjob]

Steven came into the Museum more subdued than normal. Not that there was anything wrong with him per se. He'd had a lovely week so far. And in theory the last thing that had happened to him at the Museum was a nice and incredibly helpful conversation with Liliana (herself so nice and incredibly helpful.)

It was just, you know, before.

So Steven was there, barring time for Stark's class in the morning, doing his work behind the Welcome Desk, and being...

Cautious, was all. Aware.

One might even say twitchy.

He was fine, really.

[open]

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[joan_of_bark]

He was probably right to be twitchy this week.

Because, not long after opening, a woman appeared in the door to the museum. Tall, at 5'8'', her long red hair pulled back in a ponytail, her hands stuffed casually in the pockets of her green overalls.

"Good morning," said Poison Ivy.

[hasaknightjob]

Steven had never met this woman before so as far as he was concerned she was just a new visitor.

He waved, smiling. "Hello! Welcome! Are you new to town or just the museum?"

[joan_of_bark]

"Just the museum," Ivy said, as she walked up to the counter, still casually. "I was wondering - do you keep any plant specimens here?"

[hasaknightjob]

"Ah!" Steven said, thrilled she would ask. "Not as such? We do have some with the bugs and the fish as part of their habitats if you'd like to see? But you've amazing timing, actually. We may be putting together a small program about that very thing. Early stages, making no promises. But very exciting to hear we may have someone interested in that already."

[joan_of_bark]

Ivy's mouth curved into a smile. A practiced one, with very little behind it, but she generally found it to be convincing. "I'm a botanist," she explained. "Among other things. I was curious about what might wash up in a place like this, mr...?"

Always a good idea to check someone's identity before you got in their face.

[hasaknightjob]

"Steven's fine," Steven told her. He tapped the handy name tag on his shirt. He was very proud of his name tag. Also it helped demonstrate as he added, "Steven. With a V."

[joan_of_bark]

"Steven with a V," Ivy echoed, nodding. "Well, Steven with a V, unfortunately, that's not the only thing I'm here for today. Though, for what it's worth, I really am interested in that plant exhibit..."

If he'd let her in to see it in the future was an open question.

[hasaknightjob]

"Shall I put your name down then?" Steven asked, gesturing towards his notebook on the desk. "We've not set up an official mailing list for it or anything but I could keep you posted?"

[joan_of_bark]

"Sure," Ivy said, casting a glance towards his notebook. She'd let him have this one last beat of peace. "It's Dr. Pamela Isley." Her eyes flicked back up to Steven's. "Though you can call me Poison Ivy."

[hasaknightjob]

"... all right?" Steven said. He'd certainly heard stranger names in his life. "Is that a whole phrase? Both names at once? Do you prefer 'Poison' or 'Ms Ivy'?"

[joan_of_bark]

"Ivy will do," Ivy said. It was okay, Steven. She'd wait while you wrote that down. Patiently.

[hasaknightjob]

"Right," Steven said, smiling. He patted himself down for his glasses, smiling triumphantly once he found them. "There we are!"

He put them on, then picked up a pen and his notebook. "Shall I assume 'Ivy' is also with a V?"

[joan_of_bark]

"Yes," Ivy said. Still smiling.

She was getting a sense of who he was as a person all right.

[hasaknightjob]

"I-v-y?" Steven said, glancing up as he wrote in case she needed to stop him. People got the spelling of his name wrong after all. That's why he always led with the right way to do it. "And would you prefer phone or email?"

[joan_of_bark]

"Email," Ivy replied, leaning over to watch him write as she dictated each letter specifically, patiently, since he seemed to care. Sure, she had incredible issues with him as a person. Sure, she was a monster. But not the kind of monster who'd be a dick to a service worker while they were doing service work.

[hasaknightjob]

"Brilliant," Steven said. He put the pen and notebook down on the desk once he was done, and his glasses away - not in the same pocket he'd taken them out from. He beamed at her. "Very exciting. Our first nibble of interest. Nell will be well thrilled. Have you met Nell? If you're interested in plants you should have a chat with her. What she doesn't know about them isn't worth knowing, tell you that much straightaway."

[joan_of_bark]

"I've met Nell. She's sweet," Ivy agreed. "Though I think I can probably best her in the 'knowing things about plants' department."

She leaned back. Hands back in her pockets. "But now that the pleasant part is over," she said. A little of the smile fell away. "I'm also here to talk about the apology you owe Harley Quinn."

[hasaknightjob]

"Er - the what?" Steven asked, now thoroughly confused.

[joan_of_bark]

Unfortunately for Steven, he was about to find out he wasn't the only one on the island who had a Marc - Harley's just happened to have her own body.

"She came to you for help," Ivy said patiently. "And you belittled her, pathologized her, dismissed her and condescended to her. You owe her an apology."

[hasaknightjob]

"Did I - " Steven looked from Ivy to the door and back again. Then he pulled out his pocket watch to check the time. It didn't seem as though much had passed, yet " - did I black out or something? It - it's been you here the whole time, yes? Just you?"

[joan_of_bark]

"Yes, just me," Ivy said.

Unlike Harley, she was perfectly capable of performing the social niceties.

She was also far more likely than Harley to escalate this somewhere physically unpleasant.

"I'm talking about your conversation last week, if that helps," she said. "You know. The one where you told her she was 'too hurt to accept kindness'. Which is an insane thing to say about someone you barely know, by the way, let alone Harley."

[hasaknightjob]

"Yes," Steven said. He held on to his pocket watch even though he wasn't looking at it any more. He was using the solid feeling of it in his hand to orient himself. "But, you see the thing is as far as I'm aware I don't know you. Unless I've forgotten some meeting of ours? Which is possible, mind. It's happened before."

[joan_of_bark]

"You don't know me," Ivy agreed. The smile had now fully evaporated. "My universe's Harley is the love of my life," she said flatly. "And I consider this one my friend. So if someone upsets her in a very dehumanizing way, I take it personally."

[hasaknightjob]

"Yes," Steven said, slowly. He could see this was very important to her. But at the same time, "However, you see the thing is I don't know you. So it's all well and good for you to come in here and claim to be anything you like. Saying it doesn't make it true. Frankly, it's rather strange for you to come in here and expect me to speak about someone else's personal business with you. Could be the bloody queen of Sheba for all I know."

[joan_of_bark]

Ivy raised an eyebrow. "You want me to prove that my girlfriend is my girlfriend?" she checked.

She was toying with the option of losing her temper.