2903/Harley Sessions: Netflix and O'Neil

Harley Sessions: Netflix and O'Neil
Date of Scene:	13 August 2020
Location:	April's Apartment
Synopsis:	Terry and Harley speak on April's couch.
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Harley Quinn

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Terry O'Neil has posed:
The Cheshire and the Therapist
Were talking close at hand;
He was afraid, he would admit,
in manner rather grand:
"I have to ponder, just a bit,
If this was poorly planned..."


"...it's not so much that I mind having a secret identity," Vorpal says, laid out on the couch in the manner in which one is accustomed to when discussing one's problems to someone paid to hear them, "But I really have to wonder if I am not doing a disservice to Lois and my mom, you know? I mean..."

He gestures in the air above him, "Colette thinks I should tell, because the risk to them is no greater than a cop's... but I don't think that's really true. I hate /lying/ to them... but is a lie okay when said for a good reason?" He turns his head on the couch to look at one of his best friends, combat mentor, confidante, and occasional unrequested matchmaker for his cousin.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Here sit Harley in short shorts, tanktop, and two high scalp pigtails dangling down around her shoulders. A bowl of caramel popcorn rests in her laps, legs craddled around it, nodding as she slowly pushes a piece in her mouth with the tip of her right index finger.

*CRUNCH*

Slow chewing crunch.

crunch-crunch-crunch-speed chewing trying to not make it crunch.

Swallow...

Big blue eyed stare.

"Well, ya mom would prolly unnahstand if she had sexual relations wit a big man-sized cat, right? I mean this is all up in her wheel-house..." CRUNCH.. "Lois, she... well.. I mean she has Supahman protectin' her, so, I think she'll be fine... eithah way tho.. sometimes the truth is moah painful than the lies ya tell."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
" I hadn't really thought about that," he mutters, "the Superman thing. I guess that's really not a problem... maybe the conflict of interest? Cub reporter who writes about superheroes actually /is/ a superhero? That could be hot water..."

He pauses for a second, and then shudders, "Okay, ixnay on my parents having sex. You do realize I've got some of my dad's memories? I don't need that brought up. But." He raises a finger "... he never actually told mom who he was. He went AWOL before I was even born... I suspect so my mom wouldn't see him vanish out of existence when I was born."

He sits up on the couch, legs gathered up to his chest, "There's also this thing I didn't tell ya. Sometimes I get..." he looks around the room, satisfied that April isn't home yet. "Sometimes I get funny thoughts. When I've been in this form too long." He gestures to himself as the Cheshire cat.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"I'm sure it aint the foist time some supahheroes pretended to be a journalist-" Harley points out, specifically using the word attempt with a great deal of contempt. "-Wrote about they ownselves like that aint fuckin' sketch, so I wouldn't think ya too bad if ya got a lil bit of tha journal-dollahs yaself, ya know?" CRUNCH. Another piece slides into her mouth, chewing it in her back teeth rapidly.

"As foah ya mom an' dad doin' tha nasty..." Giggle fit. "...I'll not mention it, but.. ya could make a killin' writin' a tell all book: My mom an' dad doin it, an I know them deets." Waving her hand up above her like a marque. Pausing at the far right, eyes on Terry, "What kinna thoughts?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Oh god nooooo" Terry covers his face, "Nonono, I'd die just /writing/ that! I don't want to know if my memories include... twinkle twinkle litttle bat, how I wonder what you're aaaaat-" that last bit is Terry switching into singing to purge the memories. He shakes his head a couple of times, just to make sure his mental eye doesn't try to conjure any images, unbidden, and then pays attention.

"Well... sometimes... when I've been like this for more than... I unno, say a day, things start seeming funny to me. Not like hahaha funny but... sort of like people seem /strange/. Like, not too long ago after the Brainiac thing and I was out for like, two days, I woke up and I had this strange notion that people were like... these things made out of paper and that they had a little bird perched inside their hollow heads. The bird kinda told me about what kind of people they were... like Gar had a Mynah bird, and..."

He shakes his head, as if trying to forget, "It lasted like ,a minute or two, but it scared me. It's occasional, but it's like humans are /strange/ to me and I don't share a lot with them. But..." he taps his chest, "I'm human. No? So why would I think that?"

Harley Quinn has posed:
Harley, being Harley, is not so easily swayed to let Terry distract himself. Lifting her left hand to incert her right index finger through the O made by her thumb and pointer on the other hand. Grinning.. well... grinning like the Cheshire cat.

It stops, at least slows, she's still doing it just not with as much grandure the whole time, as he shifts conversations to something more serious. Even if her smile remains. "Uhhh okay... well, I unno about tha, but I know theahs mental conditions wheah ya associate verious foahms of arbitrary objects to people an' can sometimes visualize these physically.. could be something like that."

As to being human?

"Girl, I date't a fellah who dress't like a clown an' spray't people in tha face wit hydrochloric acid from a lapel flowah, my metric foah what is human behaviah is kinna skewed.. ya aint normal, but what even is normal? Ya jus' built outta different shit."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry shudders when he catches sight of the hand gesture, and for a moment wonders how long it'll be before Harley forgets and finds a new toy. He can sometimes see the future, and right now the future looks like random moments when they're hanging out together and she does... the thing.

"Yeah, I wonder about that. It's only when I've been the Cat for long. I wonder if it's... I unno. Wonderland brain. Is that even a thing?"

He deflates a little, "Yeah, I guess it's true about the fact that we're /all/ unusual here. I guess I'm kinda scared of some of these new things. Maybe afraid I'll fall down the rabbit hole and can't come back. And then, who'd come get me if I go..." he waves his hands "I dunno. Not 'dark', I don't think my Cheshire side does that. But I'm afraid that I might get the temptation to go /wild/. Does that make any sense?"

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Sure, that makes sense." Harley assures Terry, shrugging one shoulder. She's resumed consuming her popcorn for the time being, gripping a handful at a time, but only eating them one kernal per, "You just have to moderate how often it happens. It's gotta be like everything else, wheah ya can learn ta control it... Nothin' happens inside a bubble in ouah world." Motioning around at the apartment, but definitely meaning a great deal more than the apartment.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"That's right! I can try to balance myself..." The response seems to put him at ease a little, proving the adage right that with great power comes great response ability, "Maybe things are just getting to me stress-wise. I've got to finish that huge article on the Titans and I've been getting a little burned out." He stretches his legs and looks around at the apartment, exhaling a little. "Once it's done, maybe I'll feel better... I do have some vacation time due after that..."

He pauses, and then turns to look at Harley after looking up at the ceiling. "Heeeeeeeeeeeey... you like road trips?"

Harley Quinn has posed:
Harley is about to start saying something ELSE when there's a mention of ROAD TRIPS... "I MEAN WHO DOESN'T?! Wheah is we goin'?" Practically bouncing in the cushion of the couch with the popcorn spilling out across the top of her shins. "We goin' ta Atlantic City?!"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Wherever!" Terry is swept up by the enthusiasm, sitting up straight and gesticulating, "Atlantic City. Seattle. Hollywood. Springfield? Run over at Disneyworld? We should just do it. Rent a car, you an' me on the road for a whole week Thelma and Louisin' the shit outta this." He pauses to add a clarification "Minus the driving over a cliff thing. But think about it! Adventure, mystery, potential traffic infractions. I'll turn it into a travel log. I mean, we /just/ had an alien invasion. They usually wait a couple of months in between, so a week should be fine, right?"