10962/Mos Eisley Blues

Mos Eisley Blues
Date of Scene:	29 April 2022
Location:	The Dugout - The Narrows
Synopsis:	Harley and April go to the Dugout in Gotham to hunt for Quellazaire but they end up finding more than they signed up for! Now to figure out a good hero name for Amazon April. And to sooth Harley's panic attack!
Cast of Characters:	Harley Quinn, April O'Neil

---

Harley Quinn has posed:

So it was that Harley invited April to what she said was a 'hands-on strategic approach to developping April's abilities as a vigilante'. Which pretty much most likely meant she needed a backup partner for whatever she was up to in Gotham. It was pretty much in evidence when the message said:

> Come to the Dugout, it's just like Mos Eisley, you gonna love it. Look for my lekkus on the corner. Oh, and bring the sword! And uh ..., find yourself a good vigilante suit. It's Gotham after all so go wild! Xoxo'

And yes, the place is very much like Mos Eisley when April eventually arrives, just without the aliens, unless you consider that weird couple on the side that are talking some garbled Gotham dialect that sounds alien enough. But you still got the jazz music, the sleazy look, the fat bartender behind the bar who most certainly has a shotgun under the counter.

And over on a corner there will be Harley, certainly findable by those pigtails of multi-colored blue and red. She is already on her second beer.

April O'Neil has posed:
April was drinking a wine cooler when she got the message, enjoying her Friday. She thought, subsequently, that this text invite she got from Harley was a costume party invite...

So after parking her car nearby, April used her phone to find the place. When the door opens, and the woman starts to descend the stairs, she's starting to think she was maybe wrong...

What strides down the steps in to the bar, is very simple to see and name.

"Hey, it's Xena!" Someone shouts.

And standing there, sure enough, is April in a dark brown leather skirted armor outfit, with gold trim and detailings. She's got her Amazon sword on her back, her hair is loose around her shoulders, and she's suddenly looking around at everyone with wide eyes.

"Oh god." April utters while she starts to turn around.

A hail of wolf whistles are fired off her way!

Harley will have to act quick to keep her from fleeing back up the stairs!

Harley Quinn has posed:
Xena the warrior Princess! Oh yea, Harley likey. And she might even join in with wolf whistling if she hadn't just noticed who it was. Her partner in crime April O'Neil! Or is this Bumblebee? Xena Bumblebee? Float like a Xena, sting like a bee? Heh, they may still need to work on a code name. But no time for that because April is about to flee the premises!

Not on Harley's watch, she won't.

So a voice rises above the rest. The clownette, of course. "Anyone else continuin' with the jeers will be seein' theah knee caps being inserted up their rear." Tone threatening and brooking no doubt on what might just happen! The clownette of terror is back. Or is she? Because as the crowd goes quiet in not wanting to test Harley's imagination on how exactly she would go ahead with her threat if anyone continued with the jeers a sweet little tone follows, "Woohoo, over heah! Come sit ovah heah!" she tells her bestie.

"And Frank, anotha beer foh my friend."

Frank starts doing as he's told.

April O'Neil has posed:
April hears everyone, mostly, quiet down, when Harley shouts out. She stops up the first two stairs, then turns around to look across the bar to where others are spying the Clownette. April's bare shoulders slump some, and she starts to walk toward her roomie. Of course she feels eyes crawling all over her while she walks the distance toward Harley, but she mostly ignores that, being rather used to such things... though maybe not quite so often on such a large scale with so much skin showing? Okay, well there was that Halloween party.

"I thought you meant this was a costume party!" April snaps at Harley as she looks around, then sits down daintily with her hands fumbling with the sword behind her back to make it sit better behind her.

She looks over to 'Frank' and half expects it to be the Plant Monster, but then she just shoots her eyes back to Harley.

"What are we doing in this place?" She loud whispers. "I feel like I'm about to become a Tik Tok Murder Mystery video!"

Harley Quinn has posed:
"I am not suwah what gave you that idea." Harley says with a lift of her shoulders when April finally joins in with her at her table, "I mean, I even told ya ta bring the sword!" THE SWORD. The one from Themyscira she most likely meant. "So .., now that you awhe heah..." and she scoots closer to April, arm stretching up and over the other's shoulders to get herself closer so as to speak in a lower tone.

"It's a stake out.." She tells April, "So, turns out that a certain enemy of mine and Ivy's has been on the run. She was really up oouh nozzle a few months back but we recked most of her business so ..., she's evading getting arrested.."

A moment later and Harley's expression gains a wolf-like grin, "But she won't run anymoouh. I have from a very trustworthy sauce that she will be comin' heah tonight. And when she does...."

Those wolf-like teeth? They snap shut as if biting. Real close to April's face. Scary clownette!

"It will be good trainin' foh ya too. And don't worry, she's got minor powahs.." wait, minor powers? "I mean, she was barely a nuisance to me and Ivy.."

Beers finally arrive. By Frank, the non-plant bartender. "But until she arrives, we drink!" Harley adds with a grin!

April O'Neil has posed:
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall of this is listened to with huge eyes, huge blue eyes, staring at Harley. Right up to the chomp-motion. This makes April jump a bit in her seat, with Harley's arm around her. Frank's arrival has her looking over to him as he sets down the drinks. She sees his line of sight looking right down her leather corset, showing off a healthy amount of April-skin from her seated position.

April reaches her right hand up to pull her hair down over her chest, then drops her hand to the mug of beer.

"You want me to fight someone with super powers?" She asks Harley with a less than confident expression gracing her youthful features. She lifts the beer up to her lips where she tastes it tentatively.

"What if this person ... ya know... wipes the floor with me?" She asks, her eyes casting around the bar then. "I mean, this place... smells like it has 'urine' on the floor, Harley." She loud whispers that last part again before drawing in a breath, and glancing down at herself. She's still getting looks too.

"I brought the sword, but I don't wanna stab anyone with it..."

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Well, you won't be alone!" Harley replies helpfully. "I will be theah. And moouh than that, I will be reaaaaaal committed into takin' her out. She was the one that did the hit on Ivy's place a few months back and theah weah all those news pieces too. Think she had some freakin' newspaper guy on her pocket! But well, no moouh." her smile is downright devilish when she adds, "Besides theah's a bounty on her head now.."

Ah, so that's what it is!

"And it's a biiig one too.." Harley whispers in a low tone, looking around as if someone else could hear and steal their RIGHTFUL money away. "And ..., I can't really bring Ivy cos Ivy would most likely murderize her due to what she did so ..." and so the plot unveils on the reasons on why April is here tonight. Besides training!

"Oh, don't mind the piss. I ain't suwah yet if it's from the beers or the floor.." She shrugs again and lifts the beer to her lips to take a heart swig. "They call this place the Mos Eisley of Gotham. Just more sleazy. I think our duo of slave Leia and Twi'lek would be a hit heah..."

April O'Neil has posed:
Huge frown. Massive. April hears this and just frowns so big.

"If Ivy wants this person dead, doesn't that mean the person is probably pretty... you know... bad?" She asks in retort before she glances under their table. "Is that gum, or..." She looks up quickly again. "It's not gum." She says with her back going ridged.

"Mos Eisley had... like... A charm to it." She notes while her gaze sweeps this way and that. "This place has... 'Fight Club' written all over it. Tyler Durden kinda crap."

She quickly looks over at Harley sitting beside her, and smirks. "I'm sorry. I trust you." She says more low voiced then as she raises the beer up to sip from it again. "I don't think you'd get me hurt, too badly. What would you do without me after all?" She asks with a big smile for the blonde, and other colors.

April nods her head once, more confidently then. "So I'm ready. But.. I'm gonna try to hit with the flat side of the sword."

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Nono, it's just like she's been on oouh ass foh so long that ..., well, and I don't want Ivy to be having everyone huntin' her for murder, specially now as she's really tryin' ta turn a new leaf in her life ..." Harley, always looking out for her friends, "..., you know, like I did when I started livin' with you! I am not goin' to let her return to her previous life." committed voice on the clownette!

"You awhe right, think the place needs some moouh dancin' twi'leks and ---" She stops and looks at the entrance, "Oh, theah she is!" voice as low as she can, shrinking a little on her seat so as to not stand out so much. But maybe that's why Xena is here! To get the attention on her!

The woman walking in has a certain aristocratic aspect to her, dressed in immaculate white, business suit, blonde hair pulled back sharply in a ponytail and an eastern european look to her. She looks around critically but doesn't seem to notice the clownette, her attention on a door to the back rooms. She nods at Frank and begins to walk across to the back. Noticeable on her hand when she goes by is a rather quaint object that isn't seen much nowadays anymore. A quellazaire. Which is pretty much a fancy cigarette holder for fancy people.

"Come on, let's follow her." She urges April when the woman disappears out the back. "And oh, her villain name is Quellazaire." she informs April, "Smoke powers and all that, nothing too strong.."

She picks up a baseball bat from under the table they were at and starts getting up.

April O'Neil has posed:
"Kwella... what?" April says after following the woman in white across the bar with her gaze. "Wow, she's fancy looking." April quitely notes before she looks back over to Harley. "This place doesn't know what to do with this much hotness tonight." She says with a broadening grin before she looks back to the woman then to see her disappearing through that ominous door. "Oh, I hate doors like that..." April states while Harley retrieves her bat. "I hope you wash your hands after holding that..." The reporter adds while schooting out of the booth seat, and adjusting her sword on her back.

A few more wolf whistles catch her ear, and she grumbles. "Yeah yeah..." She replies to someone shouting "Xena! I'll be your Hercules!"

April keeps close to Harley though as they move through the bar toward that door. She does spare some glances at some of the people eyeing her though, but as they reach the door, Harley gets a look before April reaches out to slowly open it and peer through to the other side...

She'll step through a second later though, because this is more akin to her usual sneaky ways!

Harley Quinn has posed:
The guy that asks to be her Hercules? He gets a bat strike between his legs that might just make the guy regret his words. "I warned ya.." which in all fairness Harley DID warn what would happen if there were more comments about Xena, "And besides, she already got her Gabrielle." the clownette lifting her chin with a smug smirk on her lips before beginning to lead the duo towards that door.

When April actually moves ahead and opens it to peer in there's a nod of approval from Harley. Showing initiative! Harley likes it.

The door opens up to a darkened corridor with just a few emergency lights here and there and as the door closes behind them it muffles the jazz music from the club. From up ahead voices are being heard even if not discernible yet. At least until they approach further which Harley starts doing just that, "I was thinkin' we should hit the karaoke bar aftah this.." she tells April. Really. Great subject to get into as they are nearing their target...

The voices ahead are now more discernible, the accent telling that it's most likely Quellazaire, "What do you mean the shipment is being held? This won't do, I pay your people at the docks to look away at the stuff I am bringing in and now they are getting greedy?" to which there's a reply, "That's the nature of business. Your feud with Harley Quinn has attracted the attention of ..." a pause, ".. well, you know who. The Joker. And when he tells you to not deal with you? I do it.."

Harley is listening to all that and her eyes go wide, she looking at April and then to the door.

April O'Neil has posed:
Naturally April winced when she saw the bat swing back there. Once they're through the doorway, she looks back to Harley too. "That guy is gonna shank ya from behind someday, if you're not careful." She whispers to her friend and roomie. "That's why I struggle doing things like that. I always worry about people coming back to get me later, when I least suspect it." She tries to explain her side of violence as they walk down the creepy hallway.

"This smells... less like urine. Still /some/ urine, but less." She nervously adds before hearing the voices up ahead. "Shhh!" She shushes herself as she reaches behind her back to get her phone from the little leather pouch on the back of her sword harness.

As they creepy further ahead, she hears a bit of what is being said. Her eyes go to Harley, and get HUGE at the name drop of the Clownette herself.

'The Joker?!' April mouths to her friend in the dimly lit corridor.

She has her phone up now, recording both video, and audio now, while she stands there in that very silly, yet awesome, outfit.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Last we left our intrepid heroes they were walking down a corridor on the back of the Dugout because they had been stalking Quellazaire, a long-time enemy of Harley who has to be taken down. Of course that the revelation that the Joker was involved in whatever was going on was ..., a surprise. Surprise enough that it had made Harley just freeze right at the door upon hearing the name and the involvement.

And while April records with her camera the conversation inside continues, "Why the fuck is the Joker getting involved? If only I still had my people I would teach him a thing or two..." Quellazaire lets out a long sigh, "So is this like it's going to be...?" she tells them.

"Yea, sorry but we sort of want to not die to acid? It's well known that the Joker is still keeping an eye on Harley and..." Harley lets out a gasp and takes a step back, her hand brushing against a darn shelf that was in that stupid corridor (whoever puts shelves in corridors?!) and knocks down a box. It tumbles down to the ground, then what's inside tumbles out. Bottles of wine. One breaks, another rolls to the door with a thump. It's enough of a noise to have one of the men inside say, "Hey, did you hear that? Who's out there?"

Sounds of steps approaching the door and then the handle starts to slowly turn. Meanwhile Harley is still rooted in place. Frozen!

April O'Neil has posed:
April is recording with her phone as she stands there i nthe dark looking toward the source of the voices before she hears that bit about the Joker. this, of course, causes her to look over to Harley to judge her reaction. She sees the reaction, and winces.

Her phone is slipped back in to the leather harness over her Amazon armor, before she moves to put a hand on Harley's shoulder. "Hey, wake up!" She loud-whispers at her roomie.

But then the door is creaking, and April steps toward it...

Her right hand goes up behind her back, and she draws her sword!

Well, her arm comes up, but the sword stays sheathed.

"Oh, the button..."

So that's what the guy coming out will find. A young Miss O'Neil in Amazon armor, drawing a shiny sword from over her shoulder!

Her eyes HUGE!

Harley Quinn has posed:
No reaction out of frozen Harley. So much for being over Joker's influence over her. Or maybe it's the revelation about him still keeping an eye on her. The brain needs time to process! And whatever it's processing it's taking it's time to mulch through all the crap. All the guilt, the regret. That traitorous hope of being accepted back by her puddin'. Traitor brain!

The door opens up slowly and there's a large dude on the other side who pretty much looks like a dock worker. Broad of shoulders, beany hat on his head, scruffy beard. "Uh, what..." he eyes the amazing outfit in the amazing Miss. O'Neil, "Well ..., look what the cat brought to our doorstep..."

From over his shoulder it's noticeable that there's more people in the room. At least three more men who were face to face with Quellazaire in her immaculate white suit. She is looking at the door curiously too, watching April with a fairly neutral expression, not yet having noticed Harley.

"Well, darlin', why don't you come inside so you have a word with the boys, eh?" the man at the door says even as he reaches out with one broad hand to try and hold April by the arm.

April O'Neil has posed:
April gives a look over to Harley, a frantic look. "Harl!" She side-mouths to try and wake her friend up! It doesn't seem to work though, and her eyes shoot back to the big broad shouldered man in the doorway.

She tries to keep a stern look on her face, though really she looks very nervous. She sways a bit from side to side, her armor doing nothing to really hide her seemingly fragile female form beneath it. She's basically dressed just like Wonder Woman, though the leather is all brown, with golden edgings.

"I don't think so, Pal!" April spits out at the man.

"Harley Quinn is here to find out what the Joker is doing. We're not gonna stand for his /bullshit/ any longer!"

When the man reaches for her, it makes April snap. She swings the sword at his wrist to hit it with the flat end of the blade... but she doesn't quite aim right, and is going to cut him badly if he doesn't pull back in time!

Harley Quinn has posed:
Harley Quinn?! That has the men inside shuffle their feet to turn their attention over. "What..?" and Quellazaire of them all is the one that gets her eyes wider. She immediately draws out her quellazaire and takes a big inhale of smoke from her cigarette. It's clear she is getting ready to use her powers.

Meanwhile, the sway and nervousness visible on April are like honey to a hungry bear. Or in this case to an hungry criminal. They feed off that! Specially in this city. So his gaze starts turning into a leering one just before April then starts mouthing him off.. And he registers what she said...

"Wait, Harley...?" He looks over at the frozen clownette, then back just in time to watch that blade coming at him. He snaps out of the way, still getting nicked by the sharp sword but it not being too big a cut. "You are gonna pay for that, bitch." he draws a switchknife from his pocket.

Bitch?

That has Harley blink, looking at the standoff between April and the large man. Something seems to click inside the clownette and just as the man steps forward to attack April with the knife a flying Harley passes by between them, sucker punching him right in the kisser with all that unholy strength of hers behind it. There's a snap as his head hits the wall and the man falls unconscious. "I am the only one that gets ta call her bitch, you heah?" Harley says, rolling her sleeves up. Wait, what?

A panicked Quellazaire blows smoke out her nostrils and mouth and the room starts filling up with smoke as the three remaining men start rushing out to fight them. Of course that it will be chaos amidst the smoke!

April O'Neil has posed:
At first, April looks even more scared when the man reacts to the cut she causes on him. She lifts her chin up in defiance though, just as Harley comes flying in to the rescue! This makes O'Neil step back once before she watches the man hit the ground. "God damn... who taught you how to throw a pun--" April pauses. "When have you ever called me Bitch?" She asks then.

But there's no time for an answer!

With the smoke filling up the room, April narrows her eyes, but can see the shapes of the men in the haze marching toward them. She quickly moves her left boot over to that box Harley knocked down, she shoves it forward hard on to its side, sending the other stack of bottles to go rolling in to the room toward the men stomping in the smoke!

That'll work right?! Just like in the movies!

"Themysciran steel, dirt bags! Mess with me, and you're gonna lose a hand, or what keeps your girlfriends with you!"

She's proud of that quip as she steps up behind Harley!

Harley Quinn has posed:
"You know, that one time...!" Harley retorts to April, "... during that situation, uh..." then a frown. "Why you makin' me all those difficult questions now?!"

There incoming dangerous men their way, Harley!

Attention goes back to the room and she points a finger past the men to Quellazaire. "I am going to getcha, smokey!" but of course that now the room fills up with smoke and good luck getting her now. Oh well, the men coming at them will have to do.

The bottles tossed towards them works. At least partially, one of them losing their footing and tumbling forward. In turn it makes the one next to him to sort of lunge forward, more than he wanted to. "Hey, watch it--!" and then he unfortunately meets Harley's knee. Which sends him right to cuckoo land. Thank you Ivy for that increased strength!

"Alright, time to play. And I am dual wielding this time..." Harley picks up a couple of bottles from the ground, reverse grip and jumps towards one of them which leaves ..., one guy stumbling forward towards the Amazing April. He looks a bit unsure about all this..

"Uh, miss... can I just go..?" He asks April. Maybe he is the smartest of them all.

April O'Neil has posed:
"Oh, right. 'That time'." April says with a quick smile before they're both jumping in to action following the bottles! April winces again as she sees Harley charge in like a mad woman with the armed glass bludgeons! Then the other guy comes rushing out just to stop and stare at her, then ask that question.

He's kinda cute, too. So April just shows him a smile too, her pearly whites shown off in their perfect form. She shrugs her bare shoulders then, and nods past her shoulder. "Yeah, please. Just go!" She says those last two words with renewed emphasis in her voice!

Skeery April!

Swaying on her leather boots still, she clutches her sword handle, and watches the man go, before she rushes in to the room too!

And slips on a bottle!

Squeaky scream!

Amazon sword goes flying!

"Looks out!" April says from her butt on the floor!

Harley Quinn has posed:
There. New target for April's Tinder. The sexy thug! He looks thankful at the Amazonian from Brooklyn and then runs off real fast towards the door that leads to the main room of the Dugout. There's some commotion on the other side but no one is daring to come check it out. Nuh-uh, not after they saw Harley go in.

Meanwhile, there's the sickening sound of bottles hitting a poor bloke that tries to defend himself from a beatdown while Harley laughs along. "Gives a new meanin' ta gettin' smashed on a Friday, eh? EH?" a bit of an hysterical laugh perhaps. Maybe she is hysterical. But then the man goes unconscious with a blow to the head and Harley stops, breathing hard.

"Oooh, what's that?" She leans down to pick up a bottle she spotted amidst the confusion. "Look, April. It's a pinot noir and--!" the sword goes right past her head and smacks into the wall. Good thing she was getting that bottle from the ground! "What was that..?" Harley looks around in some confusion before spotting the sword on the wall, then April on the ground. She runs over.

"Hey, you okay..?" she asks with some concern, followed by a, "Wasn't theah a fourth guy ovah heah..?" she didn't spot April letting the other guy go!

April O'Neil has posed:
April reaches up to take a hand from harley to stand back up. Once she's back on her feet she wipes at her butt covered by that leather skirt. "Oh, yeah..." She looks over her shoulder at where the hallway is, then back to Harley. She grins. "He was intimidated by my raw beauty, and asked to be let go." She not-so-humble-brags.

Walking over to the wall now, April puts her hands on the sword hilt and tugs it free!

SWEEP!

The silvery blade thrums through the air as she yanks it free from the wall. Scary woman!

Laying the blade over her shoulder now, April turns around to look at the men on the floor. "Well. You did it." She notes.

"Now what the hell was this all about?" She asks, looking around in the foggy smelly smoke. "And where did that Zoolander bitch go?" She then asks quietly...

Harley Quinn has posed:
Adrenaline is an amazing thing. It keeps everything sharp and all the worries away while it's running hot. But now that the smoke starts to dissipate and Quellazaire is no where to be found? It means Harley starts to think on all that just went down...

"You know, you gonna cut someone if ya swing it wild like that.." She points out, but there isn't the usual carefree tone to her, or even the smile. In fact she is breathing hard now. Blue eyes are a bit too wide and glassy as she looks about the room.

"I can't breathe.." She says in a quiet, panicky voice of someone in the verge of going into a panic attack.

April O'Neil has posed:
"Isn't that the point?" April quips back quietly as she turns around then to face Harley. She hears her say that, then moves to slip the sword over her shoulder to put it back just like Geralt taught her out in the Witcher video game. She moves toward Harley then to grab hold of the Clownette by her elbows, staring at her right in the face. "Harley. The Joker keeps tabs on everyone he has had close ties with, you know this. Of course he's been tailing you somehow. He's insane." She tries to offer comfort.

"Come on. Lets get out of this smoky shithole." The reporter says before looking around the room once more. One of the men starting to wake up on the floor, causing April to look down at him.

She slips her left arm around Harley's waist to move her toward the exit. "Lets go get some drinks, and get the hell outta here. We'll figure out who that woman was. There's no way she doesn't have some dirt on those white ass clothes."

Harley Quinn has posed:
It's not easy to get Harley to come down from one of her 'episodes', but if there's someone that can do so it's April. It takes a bit but eventually Harley nods quietly, brushing one hand across her nose and eyes. No crying! "You are right ..." she says, "He's fuckin' mad." not Harley.

Still, she looks vulnerable now, visible in the way in which she clings to April. Very different from the destruction machine that was dual wielding wine bottles just moments ago! Instead she rests the side of her head against Amazon April while they start to walk out. Drinks though?

"Theah's that bottle of Pinot Noir.." because if they are going to drink at least they will be drinking expensive. Even if Harley is less than okay now.