12501/Three Rings Of Your Own

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Three Rings Of Your Own
Date of Scene: 19 August 2022
Location: The Harley Hole
Synopsis: Harley gets a special delivery from Wonderland.
Cast of Characters: Harley Quinn, Terry O'Neil




Harley Quinn has posed:
The Harley Hole!

So named by yours truly. An old fairgrounds dash circus that similar to many in Gotham has fallen prey to abandonment. No more children riding the colorful (now grey) unicorn rides, or going on the roller coaster. Instead it's become a safe haven for henches, a place where those that want out of the criminal life can come to and Harley will extend her protection to them. And those that break that rule? Well, there's a reason why Harley hasn't lost her reputation in Gotham yet. So no one has dared trying to cross the former clown princess of crime.

Today though is cleaning up day! Trying to make the place more presentable! For that she had gathered a few 'volunteers' (henches) to help out. Not half had answered the call but it was still something! A start to what Harley wanted to build here..

"Okay boys, today it's getting the superwheel in place!" The superwheel, this large former large wheel where people sat inside in smaller 'tea kettles' and it spinned around. the axis had fallen off, "And then we paint!"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Peeeeeeckeeeehge!" The reedy voice rang out, "Peeeckeege for Doctor Quinn!"

The voice in question belongs to a reedy man who couldn't possibly be younger than eighty. The man is slender, with gray hair and a square jaw, a little moustache and square glasses. He is also attired like a parcel delivery man, down to the little hat, and he is dragging a person-sized box behind him. The box in question has all sorts of stamps on it- some are places that are easily recognized: Abu Dabhi, France... but others? Not so much? Where IS Barataria? Pontevedro? Syldavia? More importantly, the country of origin is listed as 'Monarchy of Hearts', and that is also not a real country. Right?

The parcel man has little time to entertain these questions, apparently, because he has a package to deliver, and there is only one person who could possibly fit the name of Harley Quinn, right?

"Sorry ma'am," the man says, approaching the Clownette, "D'ya know where I can find Doctor Miss Harley Quinn? I've got a package for her. Special delivery. Gotta sign for it," he taps a positively antique pen on his clipboard, "Them's the rules."

Harley Quinn has posed:
The work had been started already. It meant a few good men and a certain Harley woman to be pushing on the big thing to get it back on. Which ..., was impressive because one would need a lot more people to do this and .....

"Ooooh! A package foh me!" Harley perks up and lets go of the strength she was making on the fairground attraction which immediately makes the henches groan with the pain and effort of too much weight on them. Harley doesn't seem to notice for a bit, big baby blue eyes watching the package with thinly disguised glee. "And OMG, look where it's been...! But .., one sec.." she lifts one finger as if telling the man to wait a moment or three. And then goes back to helping out on straightening the large wheel with the rest of the henches. "Hey, care to offer a lil hand? Oh, you know what, you seem like you may be fallin off anytime soon ..., why you still deliverin' packages at that age anyways?"

Then she goes quiet (Even if not quiet because grunts of effort are heard) and eventually the wheel is in place.

"Wooo, got it! And now ..." she turns to approach the man and peeks down at the package. "IT'S FROM QUEEN AMY!!!!" she shouts.

"Ooo snap, that's a cool pen.." she takes it and scribes her name with a lil flourish on the clipboard.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"The perks are good," the man says with a shrug, and grins, "And I get jam every other day."

He takes the clipboard from Harley without even looking at the signature. He gies the impression that a crocodile in a tutu could sign for the package and he'd just give it away. "Have a good day, miss!" the man says, seemingly completely unimpressed by the displayed feat of strength Harley and her gang had just performed. He walks away at a slow, leisurely pace, until he is gone from sight.

And then there's the package. It is, as we have said, taller than a man. It is also covered in unusual stamps from all over... well, some world. It also, however, seems to be rocking back and forth just a little.

There are breathing holes cut into the top of it. 'Top' being the bottom because, even though there is an enormous arrow that points to THIS END UP, the end is clearly not up, and the parcel delivery guy clearly didn't care.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Now that's one large package. It leaves Harley wondering how that old guy dragged it all the way here. She turns to look at the man and ask, "Hey, how did--" but he's already gone. Well, snap! "Man, I hope that wasn't a delirium like last time.." she looks at the others. "You guys all saw the old man, right?" because sometimes she just needs to confirm that some of the people she sees aren't imaginary. And with the henches all answering positively about having seen him that means he was real. And so is the package!

The package that has her full attention once again. Hands on hips. "I am so goin' to get these stamps into my collection..." Harley collects stamps? "But first things first! Let's right you up!" and she picks up the parcel to twist it around so the right end is up. And those holes are again open. Hopefully no one suffocated!

"Sir Frank! My sword!" She extends one hand as if waiting. But one of the men just looks puzzled. "Your what?" "Ah, shit. Thinking about Amy made me think I was back in Wonderland! Anyway!" and she digs her fingers in to start opening it up. And being careful to not mess up the stamps.

She has a collection to think about!

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The package is well-taped, but such things as tape and ribbon are nothing in the face of Harley's hands. And then there's the package protection- there are /tons/ of that fancy tissue paper people put in gift bags, all of which are decorated with a hearts motif, reinforcing the purported origin of the package. There really seems to be more of it than would naturally fit in the box, but there is finally one thin layer of it left-

And a hand /bursts/ through it, as if it were the middle of some Hallmark gift-themed horror movie! The hand quickly shreds the rest of the paper to reveal that it belongs to Vorpal, and that he is the one occupying the box.

"Hello, Doll face!" Vorpal says in his best James Cagney impersonation, which is so bad that it actually sounds like James Mason with constipation, "Miss me?"

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Oooo, look at all the gift-wrappin' I can save for next christmas and---" A hand pops out of the package. It has Harley shriek out in terror. "AAAAAAAAAHHHH, first the foot comes to my turf and now it's the Haaaaaand... Oh nononono.." the rest of the box reveals itself to be Terry, which shifts what she is saying. "nononoyesyes!"

Yet if there is one thing that Harley knows not to do is to question Wonderland's ways of having things happen. Someone sent Vorpal over through mail? Well, she can only hope that he had a nice time in touring all those exotic locations. Maybe the little holes gave him a little peekaboo of the various places. Just hopefully not France. Ugh...

The question if Harley missed Vorpal was missed or not is met by an incoming tackle in the form of Harley 'flying' against Terry. And yes. She has been training for roller derby! It means it's quite the good tackle.

"Vorpal! Where did ya go? I was talking with this imaginary friend that told me you had to take over Wonderland from the Red King. Wasn't right though, because Wonderland isn't anyone's mind, it's a place of it's own now. It's more than a story in someone's mind." she is rambling a bit but her eyes are wide and a bit teary.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry lets out a loud 'oof' as the two of them topple over from the tackle. Fortunately the box has plenty of cushioning, and strands of tissue paper fly into the air as it lands.

"Careful with the ribs, Harl, this package doesn't have insurance!"

The Cheshire grins and eventually manages to sit up inside the box, giving his final destination a good look-over before turning his attention back to Harley and what she is saying. A hand comes up.

"Waitwaitwait, let's rewind the clip a mo here and- you said you talked to an imaginary friend? That... okay, that's interesting because what they said was /true/, I was trapped in Wonderland trying to keep it alive..." interest in his eyes, the cat leans forwad, "What did this imaginary friend /look/ like? Was he, like, pale all over and did his eyes look like holes into outer space?"

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Don't worry about your package! I will keep it intact for Gar!" There. Sorta lewd but not that lewd joke about packages. Because Terry just asked for it by saying that. Harley has a split grin on her expression now though. It's almost a manic grin. She sits inside the box too, cross legged. Because now that it's been toppled over it makes for some great sitting cushions with all the packaging inside.

"I think she had a name." Harley rubs at her chin as she tries to remember it, "Not that she told it but it's right at the tip of my tongue.." another pause, "Ack, I can't remember it. You know, when you are walking down a desert and you think you are reachin' water but then it just disappears and you figure out it was all a Delirium. It's like that and me remembering the name. I just can't." this said about her not remembering the name of her 'friend'.

She wrinkles her nose about the description. "No. She was a bit of a punk, roller blades. I should had asked her to join my team! Dressed a bit like me. I liked her style!" a pause, "But tell me what happened?!"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Oh! You met..." Terry pauses, and for a moment he looks for the word. "Donna called her Lady Mania. She's apparently not a goddess but something much more /fundamental/ to the universe." He glances at Harley and raises an eyebrow, "She talked to you too, then... she and her brother, Oneiros- that's 'Dream' in Greek, apparently- talked a whole bunch of Titans about what should be done about Wonderland..."

Vorpal crosses his legs and rests his elbows on them, resting his chin on his hands. "Long story short? Wonderland was the dream of the Red King, and he created Wonderland to escape the grief of his daughter's death. If we're going to get strictly Freudian here, you could say that the Jabberwock was the literal manfestation of those repressed memories and it acted a Thanatic Death Impulse, trying to destroy the King and Wonderland to end its pain."

He puffs up his cheeks, and then exhales, "If you want to get strictly Jungian, um... I don't know, read Focault and then get very very drunk. We helped the Red King deal with his trauma and defeated the Jabberwock, but without trauma... there was no need for him to dream. So Wonderland started fading away..."

He shrugs, "So I had to step in and used my dreaming to keep Wonderland alive. The result, though, is that I was trapped down there forever..."

He taps his chin and looks at Harley, "But it seems to have gotten the attention of two very powerful entities that were trying to decide what to do about Wonderland. And if looks like you got to cast a vote, whether you knew it or not."

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Well, she could skate! I will tell you that!" That it's a fundamental force of the universe doesn't seem to phase Harley much. Maybe all her imaginary friends are fundamental parts of the universe too! "If you see her again tell her I can put her on the reserves.." roller derby of course.

And then she listens, her expression sobering some. There isn't any surprise in her expression. She knew it. Part of it at least. "So she said. That without his trauma he could let go. The trauma is always there though, but just unseen. Yet....." and now she looks pensive.

"If the Red King was done with Wonderland..., and you are here now.. What happened to Wonderland?" then she leans over, eyes wider, "Is Queen Amy okay?!"

"Don't keep me in the suspense. My heart can only take so much!" A bit overdramatic aren't you Harley?

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry laughs and puts his hands on Harley's shoulders, "It's ok, Wonderland is fine! It looks like my fate was in all of your hands and you guys made the best choice. It is no longer part of the Dreaming but it is now a realm in and of itself, powered by..." he ponders, "I actually was dozing off at that point, but something to do with Gaea and Yggdrasil and... I'm not entirely sure. So Wonderland is fine... will be fine. Oneiros and Mania were moving it to be a realm of its own, and it was a big task. I haven't gone to check if it's all set up yet but I will... soon. So Queen Amy should be fine, once everything is settled."

"There was a price, though. The Titans have agreed to help Oneiros three times with any issues that moving Wonderland might cause for the Dreaming. So... yeah we're kind of beholden to a fundamental power of the universe as the cost of getting me back. I'm not entirely sure it was worth the price..." he says.

And then looks around, "But enough about me, what 'bout /you/? Tell me about this place!" he says, waving his arms. He recognizes a few of the henchies, and blinks, "Hey, didn't I see that guy working for Scaramuccio like, a year ago?" he leans in, whispering to Harley and glancing at one of the men who had helped set up the wheel.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Sometimes tales have the power to come alive, Vorpal. I was there for a time, a week supposedly but you know how time passes differently in Wonderland, it had grown past the imagination of but one entity, be it the Red King, or you, or anyone else." Harley's expression being rather sober now. And serious. Her eyes are fixed on Terry's, "Now it will be given a chance to grow beyond. To expand." a beat, "You are real heroes, Vorp. You, the Titans. You saved them. It makes me happier than you imagine." Or maybe Vorpal -can- imagine when the clownette wraps her arms around him for a tight hug right there in the box.

"And as the Titans owe the Dreaming so will I owe the Titans. If at any time you call for me for help I will be sure to answer. You or the Titans."

With that done, and Terry asking about what she's doing here she grins broadly "It's the Harley Hole!" she announces proudly. "A place for henches to come and be safe, to try and leave their old life and ..." she pauses when Terry leans to whisper to her about one of the guys. She glances behind her.

"HEY VINNIE! You still woikin' foh Scaramuccio!?" The answer comes swiftly. "No boss, no. Not for a long time ago." "Don't call me boss!" "Whatever you say, boss.." Harley lets out a sigh and looks back to Terry. "Well, baby steps but that's the intent. Sorta hard to take the mentality off us, as you know.." because yes, Harley had been a henchie for a long time for a certain Mistah J!

"We are now trying to make the place more presentable. Gonna start painting the wheel soon. You can stay and help. I got beer and food. You gonna have to come visit April soon too."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Aw!" Terry returns the hug, "Don't sell yourself short, Harls- you helped us defeat the fifty-foot mechanical Alice and ruled the Monarchy of Hearts for a bit, and deposed that nasty old guillotine-happy Queen, you done plenty good yourself, Miss H!"

Upon Harley's explanation, the cat's eyes light up, "The Harley Holey, what a wonderful idea!" he says, and stands up, "I'm fully behind this, yessir! And as it happens, I am not half bad at paintin' myself, so let me give you a paw! We'll have this place looking spiffy and appropriately carnival-y in no time flat."

For a moment, Terry wonders if the Joker, hearing about what Harley is doing, might decide to give her a hard time, send some of his henchmen over. So thining of that, he adds "And you know, if you need help for anything, anything at all with this, you know you just gotta reach out, right? There's a reason Mania talked to you y'know. You're part of the Titan extended family, too..."

A blur of magic, and suddenly he is in painter's overalls, "Alright, that being said... who feels like slapping some colors around?"