15100/Snowy ol' Surrey

Snowy ol' Surrey
Date of Scene:	08 June 2023
Location:	Surrey - England
Synopsis:	Jinx and Harley travel to Surrey to do some therapy. For Jinx to escape the stigma of her birth and bad luck. What they find is far more than either bargained for.
Cast of Characters:	Jinx, Harley Quinn

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Jinx has posed:
[ https://youtu.be/L3wKzyIN1yk ]

They drive on the left hand side of the road here. Because of this, Jinx is the one driving. There's only so much 'putting your life in the hands of Harley' one can take when it comes to driving in the U.K.

It was a strange thing coming back to England after these many years. The special VISA was very specific about her conditions of entry - and only because of the special relationship she now has with the USA and the Titans. She may have bent the truth a little when she stated she was here on official Titans business.

Driving south from London, the car traffic thinned out as the highways turned to smaller roads. The green fields of sheep and then the thick forests of Surrey transformed them to another version of Britain.

It was at a town named Pathstow where Jinx was born. Well, a cabin in the woods near Pathstow. The weird thing was - they couldn't find Pathstow on the modern maps. An older map search found it though. Jinx did not have high hopes for Pathstow or this trip - but this was "therapy" - using magic to look through time and see the moment of her birth. A particularly violent birth. A double murder birth.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"So ..., I didn't wanna say anythin'..."

Harley is hanging on the shotgun seat, almost literally, all lounged up with her feet up and sorta hanging out the window. She's also bare feet so those rainbow colored nails are fully on sight as she wiggles her toes. "But you been sorta drivin' on the wrong side of the road evah since we got heah." because Jinx should KNOW these things. Or maybe she's still upset because she isn't driving and decided to josh Jinx some!

"Ooo, we getting into the Surreal Surrey, ain't we?" she spotting the change of trees on the countryside. A look over to Jinx. "So, get me the jist on what we doin' heah again? Besides you coming back to wheah you were born?"

Jinx has posed:
Jinx looks appalled for a moment. She can't tell if Harley is just having a go at her double or not. "You said - that I needed to confront the demons of my past. So we're using the magic from the time nymph to peer back at the moment I was born when my dad murdered my mum and some other random person."

She sighs as she turns down some how even smaller roads which are lined with stones. This is definitely 'the country' now. The rental car is a fairly standard Mazda 3. As the rain settles in she scoffs, "Typical British weather. Even in summer it's got to be dreary and wet."

There are some perks to living in the USA. Less rain all the time. Sun. Yes, sun is a perk. People think her accent is hot - also a bonus. And then there's the people who think 'oh you were a supervillain? that's so cool - like, did you ever kill anyone?'. Those people buy you drinks. Free drinks.

The rain starts to get thicker as they head in to deeper forested roads. Jinx slows down as visibility is getting worse. "Hm. We should be almost there. May be they have a nice pub we can run in to and not get too soaked."

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Uh-huh... Uh-huh.." Harley is totally behind this plan. Does she recall having given that advice to Jinx? Hard to tell with the sorta hazy look on those baby blue eyes while she continues to enjoy the dreary countryside of rocky roads and rainy clouds. Or at least until she winks back at Jinx. "Good ta see you followin' my advice foh once."

"I remembah last time we went to a pub." She grinning, slipping her feet back inside now that they are all nice and wet. "We ended up fightin'.., hol' up, not a wolvie, a wendigo? Oh yea..." she rubs her hands together, perhaps expecting the same to happen again.

"We should go to London after. I want to say hello the King."

Jinx has posed:
Jinx smirks a moment and looks over at Harley, "Actually the last time was the one in Mutant Town where the undead djinn attacked us and I tried to teleport it away while standing in a flower pot..." Oh yeah, that was quite the mess. She looks back to the road as the rain starts to turn in to snow and the GPS on the car's map system goes haywire.

"I don't think the King will want to take an audience with us Harls. Besides, he's an extremely rich man which generally means he's done some really shady stuff. All rich people are, in some way shape or form, messed up."

She turns on the fog lights as the snow starts to get thicker and she slows down again. The road looks like it's been snowing for hours at least.

"Yeah, so, this isn't right. It's the middle of summer and it's snowing in Surrey. Do you know how little snow there is in Surrey? may be a couple of days at the peak of winter each year." A figure appears in the road carrying a rock over their head and Jinx barely misses them, sliding the car and spinning it around. As she gets control the thigh of the snow gets to white-out levels and she can't even see the person in the rear vision mirror.

"Bloody hell what a plonker walking in the middle of the road during a snow storm." She hits restart on the nav computer but nothing comes back. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this Harls..." She starts the car moving forward again very slowly through the thick snow.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Oh, I know. I mean, I have rubbed elbows with the rich and famous of Gotham..." And Harley leaaaans over her seat, closer to Jinx, "... and let me tell ya, that Bruce Wayne..." she shakes her head, "Definitely shady. Besides hot. Real hot." she grinning at this, "He's a BILF." a sagely nod back at Jinx.

Windows get rolled up as the snow sets in. That's weird. Even for the UK. "I can understand the rain, but this snow...." seems like they had the same idea.

Then Jinx is turning the car suddenly and Harley yelps loudly, staring at the person in the middle of the road. "Outta the road, you maniac!" she shouts, turning her head to continue screaming at him but then ..., he's gone?

"Man, these people in Surrey need to get a grip, they can't walk around in the middle of a snowin'. Okay, we should be close though."

Jinx has posed:
They approach a sign: 'Pathstow, Surrey. Pop 73'. Jinx lets out a breath, "Thank fuck." Not much longer before they see signs of structures. Buildings and cars parked out front of them. What looks to be of 17th century design can only be one of two things - a post office or a pub. Thankfully it's the pub that Jinx pulls them up to.

"Eh. We can leave the bags in the car and get them once this snow storm has passed. Must be one of those super cells or something crazy like that. Like in a disaster movie."

She doesn't look convinced by her own logic there as she drums her fingertips against the steering wheel and turns off the car. "Either way - let's get a pint." She opens the car door and makes a mad rush for the inside because brr snow was not the weather she dressed for.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"I am bringin' my pochette either way." Harley has a pochette?! Well, considering she has taken bricks and explosives from within it pochette may not be the exact word one could use to describe it but what's true is she hoists it across her shoulder and chest and then jumps outta the car.

She follows after Jinx towards the pub at a run, pigtails bobbing up and down.

Jinx has posed:
The crowd of people in the pub look up at the sudden jingejingle of the door opening. Two strangers rushing in. The police constable is wearing a tweed suit and has just thrown a blanket over the body. There are still slashes of blood everywhere.

The bartender is leaning over the bar with concern. Several patrons are sitting on the stools where they had been instructed to sit. The constable looks up and says, "Just what we need. Two more. You two - take a seat. No one is going anywhere until I've interviewed you all."

Jinx looks back at Harley and then to the sheet covered corpse, then back to Harley. "The fuck is a pochette?" She plucks one of its strings and looks around for a table for two.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Oh, man. Weather is a murder out heah today!" Perhaps not the best choice of words considering the blood slashes and the bodies and ..., what the heck? Hands go to her hips and she surveys the crime scene for a few moments, eyebrows arched, "Timing, amirite? But good thing we arrived because even if you may not know us we awhe the bounty babes, we capture criminals and solve mysteries foh a livin'.." a sagely nod given at the constable.

And then they are walking to sit down, Harley choosing for them and plowing over to a quiet table to sit down. The pochette is placed on the table between them. "It's a bag. But fuckin' classy. Pinky up kinda stuff. How can you not know what a pochette is?!" she opens it. "It also has soooo many little pockets so I can bring every little thing with me. You know how I like my explosives."

Jinx has posed:
An old man by the bar says with a whistle to his words due to a hole between his teeth, "We don't get much television out here young lady."

The constable says to the bartender, "Could you go get the father--" The bartender nods looking a little concerned, "But the wedding..." The constable sighs, "Now Treddy." The bartender, with doubts, heads off out of the room.

The mention of 'bounty babes' does have the constable intrigued though. He stands up and asks, "American?" Jinx shrugs and points at Harls, "She is. I'm from here. This town."

The constable gives Jinx a confused look and replies, "You don't say."

Big doors at the end of the room open up and a woman wearing a neck brace is kissing a much younger man. The music Faith by George Michael suddenly blasts in to the room. The priest conducting the service leans in to hear Treddy's words. The music cuts off and the priest rushes over to the constable and they begin to whisper back and forth to each other.

Jinx sits down and says to Harls, "May be we shouldn't get involved in this right now. We're here for.. other reasons." A business card is on the table in front of her with her name on it embossed in black - 'Jinx' - and on ther other side it simply says 3072.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Ooo, we walked right in the middle of a weddin' AND a murder? How fun.." Harley comments after getting the pochette to Jinx's face so she can have a FIRST ENCOUNTER with it. At least she saves Jinx from actually slapping it to her face. It would probably hurt because it does feel sorta heavy. Whatever is she bringing in there?

"So, we found this guy in the middle of the road with a rock on his head? What's up with that ...?" It's right when the doors open and the kissers come walking in with the priest. She quirks a brow, "Anyways, Jinxie is from heah. Born in mysterious circumstances and we gettin' to the bottom of it and ..." pause, she peers at the card and snatches it.

"This has your name on it! And a number. What does 3072 means, mmm?" she waves it about, then brings out a lighter from her POCHETTE and turns it on under the card. Checking for hidden messages!

Jinx has posed:
Jinx whispers as she realises what Harley just said to her, "You brought explosives to my therapy???" She pushes the pochette down. The constable is -right there- after all.

Jinx motions over her neck in a cutting motion to get Harley to shush about her mysterious connection to this mysterious place. The constable starts getting curious but then the door opens and in walks a man carrying a large rock over his head.

"I heard it again Pabric. I heard it again. The rock told me I had to stop them before they.. oh, they're here." He walks over to the table and thumps the giant rock down in front of them. "This is your problem now. I gotta go." He turns around and walks out before Jinx can really come to terms with the strange interaction.

There's strange symbols all over the rock and she reaches out a hand to trace them before the priest quickly jumps up and points, "Don't touch that!" Jinx's hand hovers over the rock. The constable shakes his head 'no' tp the priest. They start to whisper to each other violently.

The priest, eventually, says, "No. Enough is enough. You said we wouldn't do this again and I'm not going to suffer it." The constable grabs his arm and the priest shrugs it off, then storms out the front doors and in to the snow storm after rock guy.

"What the fuck is going on here..." Jinx is catching up with the list of weirdness that Harls rambled off a moment ago. The old man with the whistle in his teeth says, "Best tell them Constable. They'll find out the hard way eventually."

Harley Quinn has posed:
Harley looks affronted back at Jinx, "Of course I did. Explosives are the best therapy." and the look she gives her? It's the same look Ygritte gives Jon Snow. You know nothing, Jinx! But that line of thought is cut off when the mysterious dude with the rock barges into the place. She points at him accusingly. "You!" she tells the dude, "What's goin' on heah and ...." but the man is already running off...

.. Leaving them with a rock ..

"So he talks to the rock. I could see that... Why's everyone goin' out into the snow?" she leans back on her chair when FINALLY someone seems that they will be bringing some light on the matter. Her attention goes to the Constable.

Jinx has posed:
A man with a hunting camo hat on and a rifle slung over his shoulder pats the constable on the shoulder, "We don't have time to tell them everything. That beast is out there and we need to stop it before it kills again. You know it's the right thing to do."

The constable looks at Jinx and Harley with concern then back down at the corpse. "You're right. We do this, we do this now." He starts pointing and all at once the pub is a hive of activity. There seemed to be more people here than there was before. May be the dark corners were a good hiding place. Rifles are being handed out left right and centre.

"Beast? What beast. We're good at hunting beasts." She offers a fist bump to Harley. The hunter man approaches and thrusts a rifle to Jinx's hands, "You best believe that's true because this monster is a killing machine. There's a polar bear out there with a taste for blood."

Jinx isn't quite sure how to accept that - an answer to the question of what is the beast and what killed this man is... a polar bear in Surrey? Well it is snowing. What the hell.

The words on the card slowly start to fade away as people attention is distracted from Harley's code breaking attempts. The words though are strange: When the forest sings, duck.

Jinx rises up from the seat. This is nuts. But the mob has spoken and she doesn't want to go against the mob mentality tonight. Even if it is a snow storm out there with no visibility - what could possibly go wrong? "Okay Harls. Let's do this. It's just a polar bear. Not even a wendigo or djinn or skin walker. Easy peasy."

She considers the look Harley just gave her and presses her lips together, "Best bring the explosives just in case." And with that she joins the rank and file and braves the cold once more.

There's echos of voices in the white out - 'There are tracks over here' -- 'Denny? Denny come to me' -- 'I do see Christy does anyone see Christy?' -- Jinx turns around and says to Harley, "Yeah. This is a real fucking good idea innit."

[ https://youtu.be/YQ20TL7Jkg0 ]

Harley Quinn has posed:
The fist bumpeth is returned and Harley listens with fascination, totally into what's going on right now. It's totally normal for a bear to be out there, right? She certainly doesn't question it! Instead she grins. "Ooooh, was the bear doing coke?" because, you know, that Cocaine Bear movie...

"It worked!" She points at the card and picks it up, shaking it a few times. "Oooh, just like a fortune cookie." she narrows her eyes and speaks in an ominous tone. "At the stroke of midnight, in a dark corner, you will find your promised one.." or duck when the forest sings. That works too.

The card gets into a pocket and she gets up too, "Did you actually see the movie? It was 2 hours of a bear killin' people!" she gets her pochette when Jinx speaks of bringing explosives, beaminga smile at her.

"Oh yea, it is. I expect at least half of 'em to die because they venture out alone..." and then she reaches out to bring the ROCK WITH GLYPHS on it with them. Because screw that guy saying they couldn't touch the rock.

Jinx has posed:
"I don't see how they could find bear tracks in this snow. It's coming down so heavy and fast," Jinx complains bitterly because she's instantly cold and regretting the 'go hunt the cocaine bear' fervour. But, still, they're here now and she has a gun in her hands.

It's been a while since she's had a rifle - the last time was 'survival training once we've taken over the world' with H.I.V.E.. Never let it be said that HIVE didn't think big. Perhaps putting the cart before the horse given the efficacy of the world's heroes - but, they were very sneaky.

Jinx slings the rifle over her shoulder. If anything, she'd use magic to deal with cocaine bear. Not bullets. They did say the bear had a taste for blood. "May be we should go...." she picks a random direction, "This way."

"Are you sure it's safe to touch the rock? rock guy seemed crazy and that other guy was like, no, don't touch the rock! and now you're all touchie touchie the rock." She trudges through the snow, each step taller than the last because it's getting deep very quickly.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"What if ....." Dramatic pause, Harley looking at Jinx with wide eyes, "... we are hallucinatin' and this is no hunt..?" she points at the snow all around them. "Maybe it's coke, and we snorted way too much of it foh some reason and now heah we awhe..."

She reaches over to one of the village people and pokes it on the side, resulting in a yelp. "Hey, watch it!", Harley shaking her head. "Nope, they real.." she sighs, "Can still be cocaine bear though." then a frown, "And hey, why do you get a rifle and I get a rock?!"

Yes, she is fully ignoring the warning to not bring the rock. Or touch it. But what's the worst that could happen?

A roar that echoes out from the forest not far from where they are. That's the worst that could happen apparently!

Jinx has posed:
"It's over hear!" The voices could be coming from any direction in this snow. A gun shot rings out. Then another. A chorus of gunshots fills the snowy quiet town. Jinx does her best to guess where it's coming from. "This way.. I think?" She starts rushing, knee dancing through the thick snow.

"OH SHIT.. OH SHIT!! It's the Doc! He's been shot!" The voice is panicked. It's one of the townies they hadn't seen but for a brief moment who has dropped his rifle and is putting pressure on the wound. The snow around the doctor is staining red. The man has a checkered jacket on and round thin rimmed glasses.

Jinx looks at Harley when they catch up to the gathering group. "Bollocks!" calls out the constable. "It.. it wasn't my fault. He was just this blur and.. and someone called out they saw the polar bear." The panicked townie says. The constable pushes in and places a finger to the doctor's neck. The pulse is weak, "We're losing him."

Jinx steps up, "Make some room. I'm a Titan - sort of. I can heal him." She kicks off the shoes. The cold of the snow instantly chills her toeses but what can you do - the connection is strong here though and she pushes past and lays her hands over the bullet wound.

"What's a Titan?" The priest says, unarmed, who seemingly came out of no where.

Jinx's hands glow pink as she tries to work the healing magic she used in Patagonia. It comes, but it's coming form her not from the Earth. She stitches the wound back together. "He's lost a lot of bloo..." she pauses seeing the look of wonder and horror on the towns peoples faces.

"What in all that's holy are you doing to him?" asks the priest. The constable even makes a symbol of the cross over his chest having never seen anything like this. It seems this town missed the memo on superheroics in general. Attack on New York? Alien invasions? Asgardian gods? giant spaceships in the sky? nope - none of that.

The hunter pushes Jinx back in to the snow, "Get your hands off the doc you freak." Jinx scowls. She is instantly regretting helping now that she's being made to feel like an outsider once more. These feels are scars and they come back quickly, despite how 'at home' she was starting to feel with the Titans and Harley.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"So proud of ya.." When Jinx steps in to heal the wounded man, resting a hand on her shoulder comfortingly when it's all done. At least until the hunter pushes Jinx back. That gets the clownette to narrow her eyes...

The glyphed rock hits the hunter on the chest with a 'boop', pushing him back some but not enough to make him topple. "She just saved yoh friend, bettah pay some respect to her." she tells the hunter, a ferocious protective look on her gaze. "And that goes foh the lot of you. Because you don't want to see me angry.."

She is just about to start cracking her knuckles for some beatdown when something comes from the trees. A melody? It feels like the wind but .., it's also a song..

"OH SHIT, EVERYONE DUCK!" she tells the people in the clearing, she immediately lowering herself down to the ground. "It was in the card we read!"

Jinx has posed:
There's murmurs and confusion. Some people have heard it before and they start sprinting off in to the white darkness. Others stand around not wanting to listen to a 'newcomer'. "We've GOTTA GO!" Calls the Constable as the eerie music gets closer.

Jinx looks at Harley with confusion and she stays low to the snow. "What do you mean the card said that.. it was just my name and some numbers?!" But she's not going to argue with Harls about potential mystery music echoing on the wind.

Her expression softens though at the way Harls stood up for her. The way Diana does too. It's strange to have people who have her back - even against Agent Shatner. "I don't know what the hell is going on here Harley but we're going to find a way out."

Eerie blue glows dance through the falling snow and as the song gets louder, suddenly there's a whipping sound through the air. The wind rushes over the heads and there's a crack, like a razor thin whip... and then the song is gone.

Jinx whispers to Harley, "What .. in all the fucks ... was that??!" They've faced monsters before and usually Jinx knows exactly what it is they're up against once they've encountered it a bit. But this? this is off the charts weird.

One of the towns people in a snow covered tweed jumper stumbles back through the snow, flops forward, and then his top half and bottom half fall apart. Jinx's eyes widen in terror, "...yeah, we gotta go. You grab the doc, he'll die out here from hypothermia. We need to find somewhere safe." Distant singing can be heard again, moving in a different direction.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"I showed you the card!" Harley complains while remaining close to the ground, ".. It was like a fortune cookie kinda thing and I always believe my fortune cookies!" that explains a lot...

But then those eyes. The whip snap. Someone falling cut in half. "Shit, it's like that movie in the ghost ship where all the people get cut up by invisible wires!" what an odd reference to go pick up, Harley! Eyes are wide and alarmed but she moves swiftly to get the doc and hoist him over her shoulder. Sorta easily too due to that strength!

""Let's get outta heah, this way!" a way fully opposite from where singing is heard. "The rest of ya come with us!" she calls to the people still alive and they start trudging off through the snow.

"Man, your hometown is even crazier than mine!" she calls out to Jinx.

Jinx has posed:
"Event Horizon?" Jinx asks trying to identify the movie Harley is talking about. "I hated that movie. So much. It was such a bait and switch. Stupid Paul Anderson hasn't made a good movie -ever-"

The people scatter leaving the three of them alone. One unconscious of course. "Wow... really? you plonkers we're your best chance of surviving this..." She waves at the snow angrily and then trudges after Harley in.. who knows what direction. There seem to be more trees out here.

"I think we're lost. But I can't hear the singing any more." She rubs her arms to her body trying to stay warm. Survival knowledge is something she picked up from HIVE. "Look for a cave or.. somethi-" *tunk* Jinx's foot comes down on something metal and hollow sounding.

She stomps up and down on it some more, then digs in to the snow with her hands revealing a hatch in the ground. It has a turn handle like on a ship. She tries to turn it and it creeks. With a grunt she tries again. "You give it a go, you're the one with super duper strength."

Harley Quinn has posed:
Harley looks at Jinx as if she had just sprouted a new head, "No .., it's Ghost Ship. Duuuhhh..." she mutters about uncultured movie friends while they are making their way out and .... the are left alone. Harley doesn't sound too surprised, used to be distrusted by everyone and everything! Such is the life of those that live in the fringes of society's norm.

"You know .., a cave might be where the bear would lair at." which might not be a great idea to follow but with Jinx's foot tucking down on some hatch seems they have an alternative. Harley peers down with some curiosity. "What's this?"

A turn handle like a ship? "Ghost Ship!" she seems proud of her earlier reference now, putting the unconscious doctor down and then blowing on her hands, reaching for the handle. "Alright .., heah goes nothin..." and she /twists/ the handle! It creaks and complains from years of not being used but eventually starts to give in and with one final push it's opened up. Harley huffs...

"Damn, that was hard..." she gets the hatch open and peers into the darkness.

Jinx has posed:
"This better not be a ghost ship.. this place is weird enough already. I'm genuinely glad I never grew up here. But then again, what are the odds the place where I was born would be completely fucked up with weirdness."

Jinx smiles to Harley and flicks one of her braids. "So stronk." She looks down in to the darkness, and then starts to climb down a metal ladder. There's whispers of music coming through the bulk head - not the strange forest monster kind. No, this has a beat.

[ https://youtu.be/LpEAnu46owE ]

Jinx feels about the walls and finds an old mechanical style switch. She pulls it and the lights turn on. The chamber is like an airlock and painted on the wall is one very bold nazi flag.

"... oh come on, Nazis??! really??" Jinx says and calls up to Harley, "Bring the doc down - it's warm in here and there's electricity. That seems improbable but what ever at this point right?"

Jinx pushes on and approaches the other door. Putting her shoulder in to it and grunting she managers to turn the handle and the inner door opens up. Standing on the other side wearing a hazmat suit is a man holding a rifle pointed toward her.

"Who the fuck are you?" comes an Irish accent. Jinx raises her arms and laughs, "Yeah. Irish Nazi. Sure, why not. Don't shoot - we have injured."

The man whips off the hazmat helmet. He has the scraggly beard of someone who hasn't had company in a long while. "Hurry up and close the top hatch. If the monster gets in we're all dead." Slowly, he lowers his weapon. "The name's Desmond."

Jinx lowers her hands and smiles, "Jinx." She thumbs back to the ladder, "And this is Harley - and the town doctor. He got shot. Not by us."

Harley Quinn has posed:
"What's with the catchy tunes..." Harley while going down the stairs with a body over her shoulder. She looks the doc over and then peeks at the Nazi paraphernalia about. "Well, shit. Good thing I brought the explosives.."

Is she planning to blow the place up? Maybe!

The guy with a rifle is a bit of a surprise but she raises her hands up after closing the hatch because she doesn't want to get shot. "Oi. Cunt." she calls out, "You a nazi?" maybe she does want to get shot. "You don't sound like one at least."

She looks at Jinx and then at the guy when he lowers the weapon. "Yea, definitely not a nazi... So, can you explain to us what's goin' on down heah, Dezzy?"

Jinx has posed:
"No I'm not a fucking nazi," Desmond replies to Harley with a grin on his face. "I thought you might be those pricks from the institute again. New faces are appreciated." He runs a hand through his scruffy hair and then says, "Oh right. This way. Let's put the doc down on the couch."

He turns and leads them deeper in to what is evidently a lost World War 2 German U-boat. Re-arranging the pillows he helps set the doc down and then looks for the wound. "I thought you said he was shot."

Jinx takes the rifle off her back and leans it against the wall. "Yeah. This is out there - even for a weird town with weirdness everywhere. The weird scale is going off the charts."

Desmond looks back at the pair, "There's a scale for that now is there? You want to know what's going on.. so then the cherry constable didn't tell you. Well, I guess that leaves me to tell you the bad news."

"Right then..." He walks over to a wall with a map of the town on it and concentric lines leading out from somewhere in the forest. "It all started blah blah years ago. I'm told 27 but I've only been here for 4. You see - people come here and they never leave. Can't leave. You get in to the snow storm and somehow you get turned around and you end up back at the pub. Every time."

"People die - accidents, homicides, lynchings, suicides, exorcisms gone bad, animal attacks - and of course, the monsters. People die, new people arrive. Congrats, welcome to hell."

Jinx eyes an array of old communications equipment on the far end of the room and frowns a little as she hears the explanation unfold.

"Of course, the whole thing is some fucked up government experiment. It has to be. It's mostly all in our heads." He taps the side of his head to indicate the location of ones brain. "They want to see how we behave under pressure. Make us crack, see when we'll go bonkers and what we'll do."

"It's the fuckers from the institute." He tugs on the hazmat he's wearing, "Stole this from them two years ago. It helps me stay sane - keep the radiation out of my head. Anyway. It started off small and has been expanding ever since."

Jinx frowns more, "Expanding?" She looks at the map he's got. 27 years of weirdness expanding from somewhere in the forest. She takes her T-com out of her pocket and nods to the communications equipment. "My T-com hasn't worked since I got here. May be we can boost it with that."

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Yea, he was shoooo---- hol' up..." Harley looks at the man and there's really no wound there, she smiling faintly. "It barely brushed him. He just fainted because he can't stand the sight of blood!" yup, a doctor that can't stand the sight of blood. She's grinning though. And also covering up for Jinx's healing magics.

It's story time after and Harley listens with fascination, nodding emphatically when the man speaks of it all being a government experiment, "That's what makes sense.. "she pipes up, being the enabler that she is. "And 27 years you say, that's interesting...." a look at Jinx. "Do you know who's 27 years old too?" she waggles her eyebrows. For all the crazy Harley seems to be connecting the dots between all that's going on and Jinx's birth. But they do say the crazy are the smartest ones!

"Let's hook it up with the comms equipment like McGyver!"

Jinx has posed:
Desmond looks over at the old communications equipment and shrugs, "Sure. It won't help much. I've never picked up anything on it and there should be all kinds of BBC radio in the air." He walks over and sits down at it, turning it on. It's all valves and turn dials and labelled in German. With a flick of a switch the radio tower extends up out of the snow and above the trees surrounding the hidden U-Boat.

Jinx pulls up a seat next to him and then pries open the back of the T-com. Desmond notices the casing and asks, "Weird hair. Mystical air about you. Titan symbol on your coms. You must be Raven right?"

Jinx shudders and glowers. The last time she interacted with Raven she was falling from endless portals. Sigh. "Teams change. I'm, like, an attache." She hooks up the tiny connectors to the old bigger alligator clips. "Okay. Try it now."

Desmond starts to slowly sweep the frequencies. Static and buzz. Suddenly, it clears up and he gets an excited look on his face. He presses the 'send' button on the microphone and says, "Hello. Can anybody hear me? Hello?"

There's a pregnant silence before a voice responds. Cool, calm, it says, "You shouldn't be on this frequency."

"It's an emergency. Look, we're all trapped in this town called Pathstow - weird stuff is going on here. You have to call the authorities at once. People are dying."

There's another pause as if the person on the other end of the line were considering the proposal. "There's nothing we can do about tha-" and suddenly the equipment sparks and fritzes. Fire erupts from the machine. Jinx jumps back and looks around, "Fire extinguisher?"

He shakes his head, "Used up years ago." Jinx scowls and curls her bare toes against the metal floor. "Grab the doc, let's get out of here."

Desmond looks exasperated as the fire quickly spreads over to the entertainment unit. The record playing starts to faulter in its replay of 'Downtown' in German and then stops. Smoke begins to fill the submarine.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"You bettah pack a coat, it's nippy outside." Harley advises Desmond, reaching to pick up the Doc again and sighs. "Sorry, Doc. Travel time again!" at least the man is unconscious for now. She hoists him easily over her shoulders again.

"Alright, let's get outta heah!" And she goes to the stairs, "I will go first..." and she begins the climb upstairs, "So ..., you are 27 .., things started 27 years ago. Theah's connection, you realize that, right?" she tells over her shoulder back at Jinx while they are climbing.

"What happened four years ago?" She then asks Jinx.

Jinx has posed:
"Yeah," Jinx says back to the obvious connotations from Harley. She flops down on the snow as the smoke pours out of the submarine. No point closing it up now. She stares up at the snow filled skies as little wet droplets fall on her face and sting with the cold.

Desmond shrugs his shoulders, "Four years ago I decided to go for a drive through the country side and ended up in this shit hole. It wasn't even on the map..." He dusts himself off and puts his hazmat suit back on. "Oh bloody hell..." His Irish brogue announces he's seen something that the others had yet to notice.

Jinx sits up and turns around. There between the trees is a glowing white deer with proud antlers. Light dances off of it, blue lights tickle the snow around it and it is looking at the four of them with black eyes. A snort comes from its snout and clouds in the air.

As it slowly pads on its cute hooves invisible lines drag from its antlers through the snow leaving snake like patterns. With a flick of its head the near invisible lines begin to swish through the air causing that eerie song to sound.

"... RUN!" Says Desmond and he starts taking off through the snow. "No DUCK!" Jinx calls out heeding Harley's advise from before. She ducks back down and reaches out for Harley and the doc as the deer prances over the top of the snow and flicks its head. A whip cracks through the air and Desmond stops in his tracks as parts of his body slide off and blobulate in to the white snow, staining it with red.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Holy cow!" Or in this case deer. Something. Harley isn't that sure. What she is sure of is that they just killed Desmond by getting him out of his safe hole. "Poor guy!" she *IS* ducking though, staring at the creature from hell waving it's antlers and cutting stuff up all about. Or at least people.

Why aren't the trees affected?!

A mystery to answer another time because the next moment Harley is reaching for the rifle Jinx is carrying. "Gimme that ..." and she points it at the deer, lining up a shot ... "Eat lead, demon."

Jinx has posed:
Jinx's eyes widen once again in horror as another person is cut to ribbons in front of them. This one right in front of them. Not a polar bear at all! the 'monster' is clearly some kind of supernatural spirit. One who is not at all concerned about killing.

As Harley grabs the rifle and lines up the shot Jinx quickly puts a hand over hers, "No don't.. it's protecting something." She tries to rack her brain over the spirits she's read about. "Think about it - that guy in the pub wasn't sliced up like the ones out here. This one is only killing people in the woods."

She frowns. "We have to convince it we're not a threat or we'll never get out of here. You saw the map - odds are the source of this mess is where I was born. Odds are this creature is protecting that part of the forest. We must be closer than we realised."

The deer calms down and lowers its head to nibble on some leaves of a nearby tree. Each little shake of its head causes the near invisible lines to whip about unnaturally and make the air sing. "In celtic lore there's lots of supernatural deer who protect things. They're spirits or deities that have shapeshifted. They usually do it because they owe someone something..."

"Even in Authorian lore they had hunts for the white stag and the like.. we have to think old England." She pinches the bridge of her nose. "May be we can charm animal or something similar."

Harley Quinn has posed:
Jinx tells Hunter Harley to not shoot and there's a grunt of acknowledgement out of her. She still keeps pointing it at the creature, "I dunno, Jinx. Protectin' a place doesn't mean you need ta go around slicin' people in half, does it?" she does take the finger off the trigger and mulls it over...

"I wish we had the rock now ..." Because it had glyphs, and the guy holding it up hadn't been cut up into ribbons!

"It doesn't seem too interested in killin' us .., in fact it only killed people that ran off. Not the ones that ducked, or just stayed theah..." She starts digging into her pochette and eventually brings out .., a pear. "I bet it's hungry with all the snow and lack of food. Besides the best way to a stag's heart is through the stomach." one way or another! She pulls on Jinx, "Come on!" and she starts approaching the stag.

"We come in peace! And bring food offerings!"

Jinx has posed:
The mystical deer looks up sharply and stares at Harley and Jinx. Its eyes focus in on the pear and it moves forward. Lines curling in the snow. It flicks its head and the air swishes in to song but then it leans in and bites at the pear.

As its teeth close around the pear the deer fades away in sparks of light. Jinx watches in awe at Harley's bravery and certainty. She never lacks that. Her hand flicks through the magical glitter as it too disappears. Rising up she looks at Harley and the unconscious doctor.

"Right. Now or never then. Let's get to the heart of this and fix this before it gets worse." She offers a hand to help Harley back up on to her feet and then starts walking in the rough direction the map said. "I thought you said you brought explosives. When did you pack a pear?"

Harley Quinn has posed:
"In other circles ...." And Harley is up close and personal with Jinx now, whispering close to her ear, " ... they call me the deer whisperer." is she for real? Most likely just messing with Jinx. But then she squeezes her side with a wink. "It was either we got sliced in half or we befriended a spirit, 50 50. But considerin' this is a trip of rediscovering yourself I figured you'd have the plot armor.."

"And I always bring a little food with me. A lot of stuff can fit inside my pochette!" Not that Harley shows Jinx anything else. Maybe the bag is magical.

"Onwards!" a pause and she looks at the unconscious doctor. "... and fine, let's bring him with us too.."

Jinx has posed:
"Plot.. armour.. now that is a little bit suicidal." She gives Harley a -look-. "Plot armour isn't real. This isn't a Terry Pratchett story. This is me, trusting you, trying to do therapy and getting way more than I bargained for. If I didn't believe Irish guy I'd find our car and drive out of this crazy place immediately."

She takes the pear off of Harley's hands since the deer didn't actually eat it. She'll eat it. A switch blade comes out and she carves off a piece as she trudges through the snow. The wind is picking up and it's getting harder.

Suddenly it feels like they're making no progress at all. Jinx looks back and sees echos of herself behind. She turns and looks forward shielding her eyes and sees echos of herself forward. "We're almost there... keep going."

Through sheer will alone she pushes on in and stumbles out the other side in to a sunny little clearing with a wood cabin set in the center. There's no snow here - a wall of it surrounds the place. "We must be in the eye of the weird storm."

She looks at the cabin and feels a shudder run down her spine. In to her pocket she pulls out the news article from 27 years ago. A black and white photo only of the cabin with police tape over the doors. The place looks the same, a touch run down from years of neglect.

"Fuck - it really is the place where I was born."

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Plot." A poke of a finger on Jinx's tummy. "Armor." Another poke. Followed by another wink. Harley then hoists the doctor up her shoulders and they get on moving, "Hey, get me some pear too.." and she opening her maw to receive some tossed pieces while they make way through the snow. Because now that the deer is gone it seems like the place feels lighter. Or just not as dark.

It also helps with the walk because it feels like they are getting nowhere. "I am gettin' this deja vu that we already been through this place.." she looking around, then continuing on with a frown, trudging on. "Like the place is fighting us back and ...."

Suddenly they get into that clearing and Harley uffs, nearing the cabin, "Let's go in then." she knocks on the door. "OI! Anyone in heah?"

Jinx has posed:
"You know simply saying plot armour doesn't do anything except set up unreasonable expectations of survival. Keep in mind we've stayed safe this entire trip because of -you-. With your weird advise on the card, super strength, and a pear..."

She cuts off a piece and hands it to Harley though and then looks a little hesitant as Harley eagerly heads up to the cabin. The lush green grass and blue skies above don't really change the fact that this place, the idea of this place, has haunted her her entire life.

Coming here was incepted in to her brain by Harley back in the prison and now that she's here she's not so sure. "I know I can do this - but I'm not sure I want to do this Harley." Her expression is one of stark seriousness, "I'm afraid of what I might see. My father killed my mother and some random person in there for who knows what reason and then took his own life when the police caught up to him."

She looks down at the ground, at her toes wiggling against the grass. She still feels cold from the snow but the warmth is slowly curing that, "This was a bad idea. If there were any other way than confronting this cabin I'd do it. Just - give me a second to breath. This trip has been a LOT and none of it made any sense."

Harley Quinn has posed:
"And I got moouh wheah that came from..." What is she talking about? Weird advice? Strength? PEARS?! She does wink over her shoulder back at Jinx, one hand on a hip as she waits for the door to open, or someone to answer. No one does so she grunts. "Well, seems empty." this while munching on a piece of pear given by Jinx.

"I am gonna kick the doouh..--" it's when Jinx expresses doubts about going in, which makes Harley pivot to face her friend.

"Dixy D..." Her own tone stern, "You have been strugglin' all your life with this legacy, letting it shape who you are because you think it's a curse and that you deserve it." she shakes her head slowly. "But being heah right now means you are ready foh the next step, to build your own legacy instead of being governed by somethin' of your past." she slinks back to wrap am arm around Jinx's shoulder.

"Now, you ready to kick this door down?" She grins encouragingly.

Jinx has posed:
Jinx looks at Harley with a raw expression and gestures to the walls of snow that surround them, "Look around Harley. It is a -literal- curse on this town centred on where I was born!" She twists her lips. Doubts colour her features and when Harley rejoins her, she wraps her arms about her and clings on tight in a hug.

"This is beyond fucked up Harley. This is more than anyone should have to face. Therapy -sucks-." Tears rush down her cheeks and she wipes at them with the back of her hand and marches to the door. With a swift thud of her bare feet she kicks the old door open.

Inside is a bare cabin. Wooden floors. Faint stains on the floor boards made by blood so long ago it's barely recognisable - a pentagram of sorts with symbols too faded to make out. There's nothing else in there besides that. "So - ..." she wipes at the tears again. "We're just going to watch. Nothing else. Just watch..."

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Well, that was a letdown. Was expectin' a good ol' demon in heah.." Harley still has her arm around Jinx, squeezing the woman's shoulder at her strength to face this and kick the door down.

Baby blue eyes peer here and there within the house and she purses her lips together. "Okay, but what we gonna watch? Time for yoh magic?" she wonders, getting them /into/ the house.

"Let's go then. Story time! And remembah, I am proud of you." Another squeeze.

Jinx has posed:
Jinx knows she'd have walked away from this if she could - but she can't. "Yeah.. thanks Harley." She twitches her lips in to a small smile. There is nothing easy about this for her. From her pocket she takes a small orange pouch - the gift from Jazz the time nymph they captured at the BDSM club in Los Angeles.

She steps back and shuts her eyes trying to get a feel for the magic at work in the little pouch. "Okay. Okay. Hold on. This could get weird." Her warnings don't do it justice as it feels like 27 years rewinds about them at hyper speed.

[ https://youtu.be/3BDoZcXjArI ]

That is when the birth of Jinx comes in to focus. There's a man holding two daggers and two tables above blood painted magical symbols and a pentagram. The man has a fine dusting of orange hair and is wearing a black cult like cloak. On each table is a woman - one very pregnant and Pakistani looking, the other bound in ropes and looking terrified.

Before the man is a plinth and on it is a magic book. Jinx slowly walks around to look at the book. The people twitch a little as Jinx struggles to keep the magic and time stream stable. "What in the world..."

Harley Quinn has posed:
This could get weird?

That has the benefit of getting the clownette to wheeze, followed by a snort at barely controlled laughter. "Weirder than it already is, you mean?" she shakes her head at Jinx and releases her from the CRUSHING embrace of her arm, watching her go about doing her magic. Arms fold and she steps back, looking at what comes to be.

Cultist, two women on the sacrificial table. She waits, lips pressed to a thin line.

Jinx has posed:
"It's like - in ancient Greek. And it seems to be some kind of transference spell." Jinx clasps a hand over her mouth for a moment almost puking. "They were sacrificing her and me to give my mother her powers.." She motions to the other bound woman.

"I think?" Time slips from her grip and starts playing out.

"JUST FUCKING DO IT ALREADY!" shouts Jinx's mother. The father lets out a shout of adrenaline and the woman laying on the other table squirms desperately and Jinx.. she can't watch it. Not like this. Her mother is telling her father to do a ritual, sacrificing this other person.

She reaches out her hands through the magical time barrier and with a burst of wind knocks her father away from both women. Suddenly Harley and Jinx are visible to all of them. The bound woman makes garbled noises in to her gag begging for help.

Jinx's mother yells, "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU GET THE FUCK OUT!" While Jinx's dad stumbles back to his feet - having completely lost his nerve he turns and runs out the back door in to the forest. That's when Jinx sees her own baby head crowning and she loses the magical thread entirely.

The whole past motif, a slither of time, flashes past them and the air around them begins to woosh past their ears. "Oh no.... I.... I think I just fucked it."

Harley Quinn has posed:
So much for no interference!

Harley's eyes go wide as she realizes what's going on, but this already happened after all and she was warned quite a few times by Spiral that they can't change the past without some serious repercussions to the future.

"Well, shit! What do we do now?"

Jinx has posed:
Jinx stares back at Harley, "I have no fucking idea..."

Then the crippling blinding light hits Jinx's eyes. A migraine of sorts. She grips her head tightly and lets out a cry of intense pain. Another life plays through her eyes. Her father and mother arrested for kidnapping and attempted murder charges. The third woman - saved by the police.

Jinx grows up in an orphanage again, but this time not the child of a double homicide. The stigma doesn't stick to her quite the same and she does get adopted eventually - not by HIVE. They have no interest in a messed up young woman without mutant or magical talents.

She snaps out of it as the snow turns to dust around them and all is quiet in the year 2023, June, once more. Jinx looks dazed, confused, as she tries to reconcile the second life she just witnessed. Another reality, the one where a stranger turned up and stopped the ritual.

It's too overwhelming for her to feel any real emotions right now. She holds out a hand to Harley for a lift back up. Whatever that other life was it wasn't hers. Hers was still the same. Though, now it feels like she's carrying something heavy about inside of her and she's not quite sure what that is.

Harley Quinn has posed:
It all goes by a flash but Harley seems alarmed, eyes wide. "Oh no no no..." she shakes her head, "Something is off. We messed with the past, and she told me never to do that." she chews on it for a few, "At least you still got all yoh fingers and toes.." she mentions, looking Jinx over.

"And you haven't exploded in a cloud of gore as you might had if you had changed the past too much!", a nod and she reaching over to help Jinx up to her feet, "Was probably the paradox of you seeing your younger self." when did Harley turn into such a pro at time travelling?!

"Hey, you okay?"

Jinx has posed:
Jinx doesn't feel okay. She looks down at her hands. They aren't glowing pink like they should. She can feel it - the word fits - paradox. She just created an alternate reality, another version of herself. One which has magic and one which doesn't and now those two realities are at odds with each other. Personal paradox - she can't feel her magic or even the bad luck she uses to jinx people.

Now she understands the town. It was that same paradox reaching back in time. She was predestined to fuck this up. She dusts her hands off on her jacket to cover up the introspection of it all but still she nibbles on her bottom lip.

The shit she just saw - her parents, being yelled at by her mother and pushing her father away with magic. And who was that other woman? why did the ritual not work the first time. Her mother and father were really going to use up her life force to give themselves the powers of the woman they'd kidnapped? and what was that ancient Greek book.... So many fucked up questions.

"Uh.. yeah... yeah I'm fine. Let's get the fuck out of this shit hole."

She squints at the sun peaking just over the trees. The weather is normal. There are no bodies on the ground. The doctor isn't even laying there unconscious. Whatever that craziness was that had consumed the town, it was gone now.

"I just want to go home." Titan's Tower. She loops her arm with Harley's. Finding their way back to the car - if it's even still there - will be much easier now. They can kiss this sorry little town goodbye and never come back to the fucked up place where she was born.

[ https://youtu.be/b9IUj1mDENg ]