8507/Thinning Of The Veil

Thinning Of The Veil
Date of Scene:	31 October 2021
Location:	April and Harley's Apartment.
Synopsis:	Harley gets a chance to unleash the power of her imagination. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Harley Quinn, April O'Neil

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Terry O'Neil has posed:
EIGHT MONTHS ago it was that Terry and Harley faced the eldritch horrors of a spell gone awry.

Eight months ago, April's apartment witnessed the massacre of porcelain and paint, of tulle and taffeta dresses, little toy shoes and wayward curls ripped from little doll heads.

Eight months it has been, and everybody has gladly forgotten about that lugubrious incident, our protagonists free to lead lives of wanton chaos and trouble-courting, safe in the knowledge that whatever it is that they will face, it will at least be of mundane origin.

Eight months, however, is but an instant to arcane forces and, once invoked, they have a tendency to linger around ere they be thoroughly exorcized, excoriated and ostracized from their mortal realm tethers by magical means. And that-

Thas has not happened yet.

So it is little wonder that the events which are about to unfold will... er, unfold.

Hey, give me a break, YOU try to maintain the cool Vincent Price Ominous Looming all the time without breaking, and we'll talk! In any case, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by your silent judginess (don't even try to deny you weren't, I could hear you not saying it!), it is time to return to the building where once, eight months ago, a true horror was released-

"You know," Terry says, looking around in the shop, "One of these days you're going to just put this in order and make a proper catalog of it. Do you need a speedster to do it? I know Impulse. We could totally get Impulse to do it. You just gotta feed him."

They had gone down to the shop to look for any potential thing that could be used for costume props and the like, at Terry's suggestion. If it ever dawned on anyone that twenty-somethings were too old to go around in costume on this night of nights, Terry might have quickly pointed out that he goes out in costume /all/ the time, so it can't be that, bad, can it?

Harley Quinn has posed:
Eight months go by in a jiff! Why, almost as fast as one can spell out 'KLAATU BARADA NIK...' cough cough cough. Still, Harley PROMISES that she and Aimee followed the magic ritual in the book to the letter. Well, with a few shortcuts, sure, but some words can be a mouthful sometimes! And they did send all those critters back to the uh ..., porcelain heaven or wherever those spirits linger anyway so all was good. Everyone was fine..

In fact Harley was SO fine that it's almost as if she had mind read Terry, having DISAPPEARED in this ominous day to do some clean up on the shop in preparation for trick and treating! But as a true clownette of chaos it hadn't lasted long, for while cleaning out a vent she had found it. A pen. Old-looking, so flourished and beautiful and almost demanding that it was drawn with. So ideas of cleaning had been tossed down the vent! And another idea had come to the fore... To draw some pictures, perhaps to place on the shop for the kids!

She wasn't sure how long it had gone by, devoted to that task, the only break now being the voices coming down the stairs. "Apes! Terry!" She calls out, waving a pencil-holding hand towards the duo, "Look at what I have done!"

Another hand waves one of April's drawing pads. In it? It seems to be an hyena, but walking in two feet and ..., why is it dressed like a ninja? "I am just finishin' ta draw hyena force five.." she exclaims proudly. "The kids are gonna love it!" Yes, because who doesn't love scary hyenas?

April O'Neil has posed:
April is behind Terry on the stairs and is shoving her plastic blaster pistol in to the off-white holster around her thigh. She's wearing her Episode 2 Padme Amidala Arena battle damaged costumed... a pute white top and bottom set with a silver bicep arm band, a off-white belt around her waist and the midrif of the top ripped open with claw marks on her back. Her hair is bunned up on the nape of her neck and she has light makeup on her face to simulate a bit of dirt and grime.... Padme-April!

"I'm telling you, Terry, I"ve been all over the Antique store inventory." April is saying. "I know it head to toe. There's pretty much only old lady stuff down here..." She trails off then, one hand going to the railing of the stairs as she stops her booted feet from walking any further.

"What the hell is that?" April asks when she sees the thing Harley has ... manifested ... just outside (Inside?) the store.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
What the hell indeed. There is a faint, pulsing light that eventually shines forth from the drawings. It is not too long before Harley's creations spring forth from the page, fully-formed like Athena from Zeus' hangover, but these creatures are decidedly /hairier/ than Athan. And, depending on your point of view, not exactly as friendly. Maybe.

The Cheshire cat stops dead in his tracks with April, eyes wide.

"Um.... Harl..." he says, sounding hesitant. "Are these... friends of yours?"

Because Hyenas. Harley. They go together like rama lama lama ding dong.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Don't insult hyena force five!" Harley admonishes Padme-April when she asks what the heck they are. "Or I'm goin' full on teen Anakin on you..!" waggling eyebrows, ".. if ya know what I mean..." she doesn't seem to have noticed that the creatures are coming to life. She shows the one she has drawn on her pad, the ninja. "This is Yellow Tooth, she's a ninja o' the Cacklin' Clan. Deadliest hyena with a knife in the world..." she informs them..

"I also got a sexy agent. Redhead o' course, the broody, mysterious soldier and ..." Eyes squint and she looks between Terry and April. "Why do you two look as if theah's somethin' real scary behind me?" lips purse together, "Just cos it's Halloween ya shouldn't be scarin' me like that! My poouh heart!"

Still they look real genuine about it though so ..., Harley turns... And screams! "What the heck! Why is this happenin?! I sweah I didn't do any magic incantation this time!"

Approaching them are indeed a group of eccletic hyenas, all walking as if human but still as small as she drew them.. A4 sized! The 'ninja' starts climbing out of the drawing, brandishing a knife towards Padme and Terry, eyes full of glee, teeth showing. Certainly not friendly!

April O'Neil has posed:
April stops at the bottom of the stairs and looks over to see Bud and Lou inside their large cages in the corner of the stairwell, they were not happy about it but over the months they'd gotten more resigned to spending time in there, plus they got loads of treats while being in there, so it balanced out! Plus the trick or treaters needed to not be Hyena mauled...

The initial comment about Anakin had gone right over April's well maintained hair and head, as she watches whatever that is manifest itself in to reality. "Oh for god's sake..." April mutters before she sees another just leap right off her drawing pad in the screaming Harley's hands, this one with a knife?!

Now April is screaming and drawing her plastic blaster to aim at the 'thing' and ... well pull the trigger to make the end light up in a bright red, and release a pathetic movie captured sound effect through a little speaker on the side!

PA-TEW!

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Are you /sure/ you didn't chant-- nevermind!" the Cheshire quickly darts to the side, reaching for an old antique bag that was on hand, and throws it at the Hyena ready to attack April.

"How many of these did you draw by the way?" Terry asks, trying to get a count on how many of the Hyena Force Harl may have drawn repeatedly. "April are there any of your dad's golf clubs left in the store? We're going to need them!"

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Look I didn't chant!" Harley says, wide-eyed. "It was only one word really, and it was on the pen and...!" she doesn't finish her sentence because of the henceforth known as gremlyenas jumps and grabs on to one of her pigtails, hissing. Which prompts the clownette to go into a frantic attempt to get it off. "Let go o' my lekkus!" she calls. Maybe she is still thinking of her Halloween outfit as a Twi'lek! "I will try to get to Bud and Lou!" starting to make her way there..

The 'shot' by April proves that these gremlyenas aren't the smartest. Because the 'ninja' tries to dodge her shot ..., only for nothing to happen. The 'ninja' looks a bit dumbfounded until that antique bag hits it in the head and knocks it out!

"I dunno how many I drew ..., I was sort of in a roll!" Harley then tells them... The chittering of the critters is heard louder now, throughout the antique store. Harley was busy apparently.

April O'Neil has posed:
April realizes the ridiculousness of firing the toy blaster, so she quickly slips it back in to her holster and then looks to Terry as he does his action bagging! She rushes toward where he is, but skids to a stop on her booted feet. She hears his question and looks frantically toward Harley to see her rushing around with a Gremlin-thing on her. "oh come on!" April shouts as she feels one of them slash at her back where there are already claw marks as part of the costume!

April turns around to see one of them on the shelf she was standing beside clawing at April like it was trying to mimmick the marks on her back. April just grimaces at this and then punches the thing in the nose!

She turns and runs in to the store room where she comes back with a whole bag full of clubs! "I got like five of these!" She says as she pulls out a driver for TErry and tosses it toward him!

Terry O'Neil has posed:
April is taking care of the creature besieging Harley, and once Terry catches the driver, he turns around and prepares a swing to /whack/ one of the tiny army of sharp-toothed little creatures across the room. Unfortunately, that's only one of them, and there are many. He lets out a yowl as some sharp teeth sink into his calf, the offending ninja hyena propelled across the room by a kick.

"Somehow we started off in the Goonies and now we're in the middle of Gremlins. There's too many of them to fight in the store... let's get to the roof!" he says, stepping aside and gesturing towards the door. "Harl, Ape, get up! I'll bring up the rear!"

He's being all heroic and whatnot, letting his friends lead the retreat while he whacks the hyenas, probaby incurring a lot of bites and scratches in the process. "Harley, do you still have... whatever it was you used to draw these guys?"

Harley Quinn has posed:
*POW* *KABLAM* It's all sorts of cheap CGI effects as all heck breaks loose on the antique shop. Small gremlyenas jumping over shelves, knocking things over... "You break it you pay it!" Harley calls out to one of them who seems determined to ignore her threats, lunging towards her and biting at her hip. "Owwwww!!!!", a beat, "Why, you lil...!" the one that was hanging on to her hair stuffs one hand into her mouth..!

"Freakin...!" She spits out the hand and then picks up the offender, tossing it down to the ground. One boot stomps on it. "Alright, no moouh Miss Nice Gal ..., time ta show these fucks why I'm the Alpha Hyena..."

Dramatic pause moment!

And then she runs. Because there's a LOT of those things running after her. So much for being the Alpha Hyena! Of course that she goes to the cage where Bud and Lou are, opening it. "Bud. Lou! Open way for us to the roof!" and so they go, the two REAL hyenas opening way through the ones in front of their way to the roof.

"Go go go!" She calls out to April and Terry, running close to them and showing an ancient-looking pen. "I used this!" she states.

April O'Neil has posed:
April is wining out loud as she grabs a club for herself out of the bag! She swipes at one of the creatures but it nimbly jumps over the club then lands and just stares up at April as she stares down at it. It then hisses loudly at April and she screams and runs toward where Terry is telling them to go! The little thing chases after April with its hands up in the air like it just wants her to pick him up.

April rushes past Harley as she gets BnL out of their cages, bounding up the stairs with a club in her left hand and her right gliding up the old wooden railing!

Once at the top, April uses the golf club to grab the dangling chain on the roof access stairs that she pulls down and catches the stairs as they unfold, then sets them down and starts up them. "What the hell are these things?!" April shouts before she scrambles the rest of the way up through the roof access!

"Oh, man... they're gonna destroy mom's stuff..." She whines once up on the roof.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Scrambling up onto the roof, our intrepid heroes have a break- brief though it may be, to recoup and recover. Panting and rubbing the bites and scratches on his leg, Terry says "I... I don't know. But Harley somehow drew them to life!"

Turning to the clownette, the Cheshire cat says, speaking slowly and deliberately as if an idea just came to him. "Harl... you gotta think about this, okay? You created these guys. You know what their weaknesses are. So... is there anything you can draw..." he gestures to that antique pen "... that is the One Great Weakness of the Hyena Force Five?"

Because there is clearly some sort of magic involved, and now that magic has made it so that they are in an episode of... whatever it is, inside Harley's head. So they need to rely on her headcanon to see this through. And to stop the threat, before April's mom's stuff is wrecked for good!

Harley Quinn has posed:
The gang breaks out to the roof and Harley lets out a big breath. Leaning forward, hands on her knees.. Bud and Lou are still chomping on one of the drawings-come-to-live, which disappears as it's chewed down by the duo, turning into a paper sheet once again! All chewed up and goooey. Eewww.

As Terry suggests that they need to find their weakness it makes Harley think, "Well, they awhe all pretty bad ass and they sorta compensate theah flaws with each other's strengths BUT ..." and Harley squints her eyes now...

"They have one big secret ..., foh they used ta be the Hyena Force Six, but one of theah membahs went rogue, betrayin' them to the Cat nation. She sold out theah secrets, bitter due to unrequited love towards...." oh gosh, this is starting to turn into a soap opera. But an helpful Bud *bonks* Harley on the leg as if to make her get to the point...

Harley pauses, a look to Bud, then the others, "The cat army! The one that knows theah weaknesses!"

And she starts drawing frantically on .., the ground. Which the pen miraculously seems to be able to. Magic! Yet even as she is drawing those cats they don't seem to be coming to life just yet! And the gremlyenas are heard clawing their way up to the roof!

April O'Neil has posed:
While Terry and Harley talk it out near the door down to the 2nd floor landing, April runs over to the garden area where she grabs up a big bag of bird seed. She starts wobble-walking past Harley, Terry and the Hyenas as she reaches the door downstairs.

"Where did that pen even coming from?!" April grunts as she tips the bag over and starts raining bird seed down on to the Gremlin-yenas trying to climb the ladder-stairs to get up at them! "Take that you creepy little crap balls!" April shouts down at them as one leaps up at her and bites at her nose!

April screams and jumps back, narrowly avoiding having her nose bitten off, and falls on to her butt right beside where Harley is drawing the new picture on the ground!

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Off!" Terry shouts, giving a wild swing to the Hyena that tried to bite April. Fortunately, there is an army that is coming to their rescue- and it just so happens that April and Harley have a big cat with them to direct the fight.

"Brave felines, we have need of you! Drive them back against the walls!" he says trying to sound as royal as possible.

And to April, he says, "Ape. Do you still have those jugs of solvent?" he asks, getting an idea after seeing one of the hyenas reduced to mushy paper. "If that cat army can corner them..." he says, seeing if April and Harl share in his lightbulb moment.

Harley Quinn has posed:
It's when Harley speaks up the word on the pen, "REVELATIO!" that the cats stir and start getting up from the ground. And ..., look. Harley isn't an artist! And she was drawing them on a hurry so ..., they might be somewhat nightmarish cats. But tis the season and all that! Whatever demented story she has about those cats seems to have gone to their demeanor though, hissing when they spot those first Hyenas coming up ...

They start rushing them, following Terry's instructions as they bravely enter a battle royale right on their roof, hisses and slashes in the air. All heck is loose!

"Bud! Lou! Protect the King and uh ..." pause, "Is Padme a Queen. I don't think she was a Queen was she? Former Queen and Senator?" this is a great time to start talking about Star Wars Lore apparently.

"Anyway! Protect them!"

April O'Neil has posed:
On her butt.

April scrambles backward as her Titan cousin rushes forward! "Be careful!" She shouts to him even though he's survived space, alternate dimensions, and something called the 'Doom Gate' that April hasn't even heard about... let alone all the OTHER things she hasn't heard about.... But yeah, Gremlin Hyenas are gonna do Terry in for sure!

Just as she reaches the wall to her back, April points over to what Terry is asking for. "Yeah, its right over there." She scrambles to her feet as Terry holds them off and Harley unleashes an army of creepy cat things.

April jumps over one, screaming at the sight of it.

"Senator!" April confirms on her way of Padme's role at this stage of costuming!

She gathers up the jugs and starts running back toward Terry with them now!

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Senator. And she had a very inappropriate relationship with a teenager. So she's probably a-" before Terry can make a political joke, April brings her jugs over to Terry and he grabs them. And if you read something entirely difference in that sentence, you need to be thoroughly ashamed of yourself.

"Harl, I'm sorry, you have a wonderful imagination, but I need to cancel your comic right... now!"

He waits until the armies are fully engaged and driven back against the walls, so that they are all right there in place. A touch of his chaos magic and the jugs fly up into the sky, arc, and then descend onto the gathered armies like a bomb, exploding and sending solvent everywhere within a wide radius, drenching the enemies completely.

Trigger Gremlins meltown scene, except it is not gross, since they're paper. Just... mushy.

"Harley... you have a wonderful imagination. I see this story going places. You should totally draw a comic about it...

He turns around and holds his hand out with a grin, "But not with that pen."

Harley Quinn has posed:
"This is true. Theah was some seriously horny frolickin' all ovah Naboo!" Harley says helpfully while kicking one of the gremlyenas back. Just in time for that touch of chaos along with the solvent to start sending them all back where they came from!

Harley's imagination!

Also, cue creepy melting sound as the creatures starting dissolving. Harley then gasps, "I didn't even get to finish my first chaptah....!" so sad that she is now. Pouty even! But even she realizes the necessity of it all.

"Fine, I won't use pens that I find on your store anymoouh, Apes..." Sad clownette... "It was inside a vent that I was cleanin' up. I wondah who it belonged to, you ever saw it?" she asks April while placing the pen on Terry's hand. "Seems like an O'Neil artifact!"

April O'Neil has posed:
April is just left watching as she sees the creatures get melted away in to their paper forms. She leans forward on to her knees and just hunches over there like that, panting. "Anakin was in his twenties, you pervs." She says breathlessly. "Don't take away my Hayden Christiansen fantasies...." She then straightens up and starts to walk to where they are exchanging the pen.

April's hands go to her hips as she stares down at it. She shakes her head side to side. "I've never seen that in mom's stuff before..." She trails off before she looks up at Harley. "You're gonna have to show me right where you found it..." And then over to Terry. "Do you know someone who can ... tell us what its all about?" She asks her cousin then next, before she looks over to the melted paper monsters. "That is so wild..."