10181/Surprise! Its HAAARLEY!

Surprise! Its HAAARLEY!
Date of Scene:	25 November 2019
Location:	April's Apartment - Brooklyn
Synopsis:	Harley BLASTS HER WAY onto the scene inside April's apartment! Only to find... April is seeing another BFF?!?! GASP	! <dramatic music> With My Little Pony on the tv, a smashed window and glass everywhere! What will happen next! Well... some hugging, talking, pizza eating, and a lot of MURDER AND DEATH AND MORE MORDER! of course... that's what!
Cast of Characters:	April O'Neil, Copycat, Harley Quinn

---

April O'Neil has posed:
April had driven out to where Vanessa was to pick her up in her yellow and black Camero, Vanessa had texted her and asked for a ride, so April was more than willing to deliver. On the way back to Brooklyn they decided to get some food and hangout at April's place, so Angelo's Pizza was hit up on the way home. Some drinks were bought, some pizza and spaghetti purchased... with streaming movies back home on the living room TV they were in for a fun casual home-in night.

The lights in the antique store come on as they arrive home, and April leads the way through the store with the bags, talking to Vanessa about something she'd gotten into on the subway a couple nights back. "So the train just plowed right into Strange's face and he vanished beneath it. I mean, I thought he'd died... but then other people said he showed up walking right out of the train like he'd been a passenger the whole damn time."

They ascend the steps toward the front door of April's apartment through the hallway in the back of the antique store...

April doesn't lock her apartment door usually, since she does lock the store's doorway, it feels a bit paranoid for her to lock both. So if 'anyone' is inside they can likely here April talking as they ascend the steps out on the front landing.

Copycat has posed:
Vanessa had been glad for the ride, even if she doesn't live all that far away from April. In truth, she'd seemed just a little occupied with something tonight.

Vanessa had asked a number of questions about the subway thing though, especially once she found out it wasn't someone in the subway without pants, or maybe carrying around a mug to drool into.

You know. Normal, New York City subway stories.

"Well, seems like the odd stuff is just kind of ramping up around here," Vanessa says, carrying the drinks behind April as they head through the store to the apartment. She glances over towards a corner of the store. "Ah, by the way, something to mention about the store," she says. "Not that it's part of the odd stuff. I mean, well, ok it is, but not odd by your standards," Vanessa says, shaking her head and laughing a little bit as she realizes her own standard for 'odd' has changed lately too.

Harley Quinn has posed:
There's a tell tale sign that something is amiss. Either April left the television on at an unusually loud volume, on cartoons no less. Or maybe there's an unexpected guess. Who can truly say?

There's the scent of a burnt brownie wafting through the apartment, and a trail of brownie ingredients marking a path towards the kitchen from the living room. There's a sound of clattering coming from the kitchen still, and a big mallet is resting across the couch with pieces of shattered glass still about it.

It doesn't take long to hear a rather shrill voice singing, "if I knew you were coming I'd've baked a cake, baked a cake, baked a cake..." the Sesame Street classic. Also coming from the kitchen, oh, and likely at this point very recognizable to April at least as Harley Quinn's voice.

April O'Neil has posed:
April is glancing back to Vanessa then and showing her a smirk. "Did something happen down in the store? I caught a guy trying to peer in the windows a few nights ago. He was acting shifty. Said he knew who I was, but that he was just a fan and was hoping to get an autograph... He seemed harmless enough though, pretty old, really. Sixties or seventies."

As they steop up to the front door, April finds it partially open and can hear the TV on inside. "Thats... odd." She mutters as she pushes the door inward and steps inside. All of the signs come together very quickly for her once she sees and hears and smells them. So standing there with two pizza boxes and some tin foil wrapped up spaghetti, April speaks out. "Oh shit."

She quickly peers around the doorway to the kitchen, she can hear Harley singing. Had Harley seen them? She's not sure, slowly... and quickly (which is weird af), April starts to step back INTO Vanessa and tries to close the front door and pretend they weren't ever there!

Copycat has posed:
Vanessa lets out a very quiet laugh. "Oh, not a peeper. Actually, I... ah... sort of had a nice dance with a Tur-" The story is cut off before she reveals who she danced with. A Turk? A terminally ill patient?

The mystery will have to wait for another time as Vanessa hears the noises from the apartment at the same time that April is already reacting and trying to close the door and back away.

Vanessa's eyes immediately widen in alarm. She silently mouths the name, "Harley?" as she looks towards April. She has a drink in each hand, and her purse with her gun over her shoulder. Vanessa sets the drinks down on a counter as she backs down the stairs, trying to be quiet. Adrenaline hits and her fingers fumble to unzip her purse.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Did Harley notice that April and Vanessa were in their way in? Well, a good indicator is the gun shoot that flies from the direction of the kitchen towards the front door, just sailing past April and Vanessa before Harley appears in a series of cartwheels, flippy flips, and a perfect 10 landing that would do the gymnastics team proud. "Surprise!" Harley cries out in excitement, parting her hands with a flourish. "You weren't going to leave after I went through all the trouble of baking you brownies, now wouldja?" Harley asks with a big smile on her face. A somewhat disturbing smile, one might say a somewhat demented smile.

But almost as soon as that smile flashes brightly, it soon turns into something of a disapproving frown, as Harley points a gloved finger at Vanessa, "who's the chick? She's not your bestie, is she?" Harley questions, squinting her eyes at Vanessa, before snapping, "I only made enough brownie for two, so you'll have to share!" She sets the rules as if there was ever any demand for the burnt smelling brownie.

But just as soon as her mood soured, so does it improve, "wait a minute...you brought me pizza and a drink?" She looks from April to Vanessa, not once considering the unlikelihood of her question, seeing how she obviously broke in uninvited. "Well, maybe toots there ain't too bad..."

April O'Neil has posed:
Its an odd thing to hear a scream of fright stop half-way through it and get turned into a scream that is meant to convey... happiness/uncertain-surprise?

But thats what April does when Harley so suddenly appears in front of the still partially open front door of her apartment. It goes from fright, to... feigned joy! Then she calls out her name. "Har-Harley! I didn't know you were coming over!" She states, giving a quick glance over to Vanessa who's had her question confirmed now.

Talk of dancing with Turs- down in the store are completely forgotten now as the two women are confronted by a third... a third who's mental stability and reliability has been called into question by... almost everyone else in the world.

"Who? Wha---" April does a double take between Harley and Van. "Oh, uh, this is Vanessa. She lives nearby. Needed a pickup and we decided to get some food!" April raises the pizza and spaghetti up to happily present them to Harley as she starts to force herself to step forward and go inside her apartment.

They were caught now, after all... the odds of successfully turning and screaming and running out of the store downstairs now were a bit low - so she assumes anyway.

Copycat has posed:
Vanessa jumps at the sound of the gunshot. Her hands fumble on her purse still, which is perhaps for the best as Harley is then standing there in the doorway. Vanessa lets her purse swing free, standing very still and tense as April begins to speak to the psychotic brownie cook.

When April introduces her, Vanessa gives a little lift of her hand and a wave with her fingers. "Hello," she offers, though it takes clearing her throat once before her voice comes. Vanessa picks back up the two cups of soda and nods. "Yes, a Coke and a Dr. Pepper," she says, "If you have a preference?"

Vanessa quietly reminds herself what April had said before. Maybe they could ride this out. Or maybe one of the Turtles would come by to check on them. Whichever, she had few doubts what the outcome would be if it came down to her gun against Harley's.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Harley laughs hystericaly at the scream of fright that followed her gunshot, "don't be stupid, I'm not going to shot my BFF!" She seems utterly amused at the concept April would even be scared, "I just wanted to get yer attention!" She beams with delight, "worked, didn't it?"

A finger moves to tap along Harley's temple, as she boasts, "that's why I'm so smart! The whole point of a surprise visit, is the surprise! Of course ya didn't know I was coming!" Harley moves her hands over her heart, looking quite touched, "I can't believe you both thought me and got me food, that's very sweet, but I can't have all of it. I insist we share! Plus, there's dessert!" She reminds them of the treat she made.

Looking over Vanessa, Harley reaches to snatch the Dr. Pepper, "you can always trust a Doctor, y'know." Moving aside to let the other two walk further into the apartment, she motions at the tv, "hope you don't mind My Little Pony, it's a funny show, though it would be better if they had guns." Walking over to the couch, Harley moves that ridiculously oversized mallet so there's room to sit, and leans it on the wall instead.

"By the way, I was really impressed with the number o'locks ya had on yer door, so I decided to test yer security, n'guess what?" Harley turns to look directly at April, before pointing in the direction of her bedroom, "the window over there was totally compromised, shatters real easy, ya really should reinforce it. I mean, just imagine if it wasn't a good friend like me who popped by, but some psycho? Ya wouldn't want that, wouldja?"

April O'Neil has posed:
April gives another glance back to Vanessa, a sympathetic look and one meant to portray... 'I'm sorry. I promise we probably won't die.'

She turns then and steps further into the apartment, then moves to set the boxes down on the coffee table. "You got me there, surprises are surprises and boy did ya surprise the hell outta me this time!" April says with a little nervous laugh as she straightens up and gives a little swinging pump of her arm to emphasize her words... a gesture that reeks of the 1940s or 50s in fact.

April's eyes then shoot over to the broken window that is just pouring in cold air. She glances at the TV with the MLP cartoon on it and the just puts her eyes back on the window. "Oh shoot, you're right. Well I better get some... get a trash bag and tape it up over that window so the cold doesn't freeze us to our core in here while we eat and have a... good time, right?" April grins to Harley, grins to Vanessa, and then goes toward the kitchen pantry to get the garbage bags and some duct tape...

Copycat has posed:
Vanessa Carlysle is glad that Harley takes the soda cup, that way it's out of her hand and the quiver that might have set the ice rattling like a castanet isn't likely to be noticed. Vanessa moves inside, following April and her brain straining itself to try to figure out how to keep from setting Harley Quinn off.

"I'll sweep up the glass," she offers, looking to Harley to make sure she doesn't react negatively to this before going to get the broom and the dustpan.

Vanessa clears her throat as she returns with them. "So, do you prefer to be called Harley? How is that you got to know April?" Vanessa asks, just trying to keep Harley occupied on something that doesn't involve focusing on April or herself.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"You betcha!" Harley gleefully says to April as she acknowledges how surprised she was, and what she thinks she must do about the cold air from the shattered window. Sadly, when April heads into the kitchen, she'll encounter the aftermath of Harley baking a brownie -- there are eggshells on the kitchen counter, egg shells on the table, and in the sink. It took her awhile to separate yolks it seems, and she's not big on cleanup. Dusting of cornstarch and flour are all about, but luckily, they're hard to spot over the multitude of foam from the fire extinguisher she had to use due to a fire she created while operating the oven. Somehow, the burnt smell of the brownie set on the table, manages to overcome other smells in the kitchen. The brownie itself is decorated with a whipped cream cartoon face of Harley and April, much like the ones she painted on the bestie mug set that April was gifted.

But with April heading to the kitchen, Harley has more time to study the new girl, which by a more balanced point of view, is likely an older acquaintance of April than Harley, by, probably a whole lot. "Sheesh, toots, just because you're a chick doesn't mean only you got to clean around the house..." Harley tsks, before screaming at April in the kitchen (because why go there to talk in normal volume) "HOW ABOUT THIS CASEY JONES DUDE? DOES HE EVER COME OVER TO CLEAN UP? SHOULD I CALL HIM?"

But there's nothing that distracts Harley more than someone taking an interest in her person, and she immediately jumps on the couch, patting a spot next to her for Vanessa to join, "oh I love that story, it's the best!" Harley pauses for a sip of Dr. Pepper and continues, "so I was minding my own thing in Arkham Asylum, y'know? When all of a sudden, Warden Grabbypaws comes to drag me out because some hotshot podcaster wanted to interview me! Can you believe it? That podcaster was sweet little April over there..." Harley absolutely squees at this point. "She coulda had a choice of the full circus buffet at Arkham, but she recognized that I was the diva! April has an eye for talent, so after we had the best interview in history she invited me over and we became BFFs! Isn't it great?" Harley may not be the most accurate with some of those details, but it seems to be how she remembers it at the very least.

April O'Neil has posed:
April believes in trying to be safe rather than sorry - sometimes anyway - and in this instance she moves into the kitchen and her eyes scan over the mess there-in... she's admittedly used to that because of the Turtles, especially Mikey - but in regards to them she just mutters something and turns to dip into the supply closet.

Whilst inside the closet she quickly yanks her phone out of her pocket and starts to text message with one hand while her other grabs a broom and a dustpan and extends it out into the living room on her right. "Vanessa, here ya go!" She states loudly as she continues to write a text to send off to the Turtles themselves.

April moves to stuff her phone back into her jeans pocket behind her right butt cheek and then does a little laugh out into the living room for Harley's sake. "Oh, you'd hate Casey." She says in a very happy-go-lucky voice. "He's a classic Man's Man. A real a-hole. He doesn't even know how to SPELL clean!" April adds, with a smirk as she ducks back into the closet and sets out to get the supplies.

She'll turn then and start to step out into the living room once more. "Boy those brownies sure smell good. And you're right, thats precisely how it went down... Remember that Batman Girl with us? I think she absolutely hates me after that interview..." April really does feel bad about that. Funny how thinges go. The Bat-fam member hated April after the interview and Harley seems to have gone the other direction...

The broken window is approached and April sets out to try to cover it over with a garbage bag after staring at all the broken shards she has to carefully walk around.

Copycat has posed:
Vanessa Carlysle forgoes the sweeping for now to move over and sit with Harley. Vanessa's profession, thankfully, has left her proficient at portraying emotions and interest even when she doesn't really have them. So she is able to seem like a rapt audience for Harley's tale, with only Vanessa's fear that grips at her heart with an icy fist, to say otherwise.

"I'm glad that she got to interview someone as interesting as you. I'll have to see if I can listen to it later," Vanessa tells Harley. She glances to April as she returns to the living room, talking about Casey. "He's the guy you said is old news anyway?" Vanessa asks, as if she knows less about April than April's BFF Harley. And also trying to remove any reasons that might pop into Harley's head to go visit one Casey Jones.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Oh yeah, I remember that Batbrat wannabe," Harley giggles as April steps out of the kitchen and reminds her it wasn't just her and April, though to be fair, it was likely a requirement for April's safety to even conduct that interview in the first place. Gotta hand it to April, she's got guts to go interview an Arkham Asylum inmate. "Don't worry about her, April, it's just because she was jealous that we're besties. I mean, I never made her a brownie, ha! Betcha she's eating her heart out!"

"Oh you definitely should! You'll love it!" Harley eggs Vanessa on when she offers to listen up to that interview, "I think April could win a noble prize for it. Or a pulitzer? Whatever they call it..." it sure seems like Vanessa's act of being riveted is working, because Harley is all aglow as she speaks of the interview and how she and April are now offically BFFs. So much so, that Harley eventually calls out to April, "I think Vanessa ain't half bad, ya can keep seeing her and stuff, just so long as she doesn't replace me...because there can't be two BFFs." It's spoken ever so casually, but a keen ear might pick on a very serious threat there.

"It's a shame this Casey Jones guy is old news, I could have roughed him up a bit fer ya, April, get him to help around the house more..." Harley offers the half finished Dr. Pepper to Vanessa, "I think yer good people, wanna sip?"

April O'Neil has posed:
Taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaape noises.

Crinkly garbage baaaaaaaag noises.

Crunchy glaaaaaaass noises. Crunch crunch crunch.

Quiet cursing as well!

April glances over to the two on the sofa and she affords them both a smile, it might look like 3 Besties all hanging out together in here if an outsider observer didn't know the truth that two of them were afraid the third might snap and try to kill them both any second!

Once the window is taped up good and solid, April is about to drop the duct tape down onto the nightstand beside Harley then she - well she thinks better of it and starts to walk it back to the kitchen.

"Oh yeah, I don't really see Casey anymore. Not much anyway. He's... he's not for me, you know? Too busy with his job and his hockey games to worry about a relationship with." Thats not entirely true, though mostly is.

Once the tape roll is put back into the closet, April turns to glance into the kitchen again... at the makeshift art on display that Harley leaves behind, and everything else. She smirks and then turns to walk back to the living room.

"Vanessa is great, right?" She asks Harley then with a smile. "But yeah, that BFF title belongs to you, Quinn! Don't you ever think otherwise!" April then does the finger-gun thing, with both hands and even adds little corny 'pew pew pew' noises, along with nervous laughter.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"Oh the cruelty of professional guys dedicated to their jobs," Harley whimpers out of the blue, as if she just heard one of the saddest stories ever, when April merely offered a conversation point. "It's so tragic, you try to impress them, but they're too busy with work to notice."

Harley shifts closer to April, and it looks like she means to give her a bear hug, unless April moves out of the way in time. "Don't feel bad, he'll change his mind...maybe I can help? I have good experience with this." Harley tries to convince April to let her help with Casey, who she know erroneously believes April wants to date. "Why one time while I was treating Mistah J, he said we could never ever date, because I'm a sensible normal doctor and I won't fit with his artistic lifestyle!" Harley's momentary surge of sadness is dialed all the way up to maniacal joy, as she laughs hysterically and concludes her story, "most gals would give up, y'know? But not me! I just went out there and blew his mind out! Well, not literally, I mean I just blew his cell door, maybe shot a few guards, and broke him out...that impressed him alright! See? It's all about how far ya willing to go fer yer puddin!"

"I'm so glad to hear we're truly best friends forever," Harley all at once calms down from her hysterical laughter, and even tears a bit at the touching gesture. Reaching into an inner pocket of her jacket, she draws a bedazzled silver and gold revolver with an ivory grip, twirling it around her fingers, "I just don't know what I woulda done otherwise! Our friendship means a lot ta ma, y'know? Ya came to talk to me when nobody else cared, I was really touched!"

April O'Neil has posed:
April allows the hug, why wouldn't she. Part of her doesn't entirely fear Harley, part of her knows that there was a 'normal person' inside of her. A Doctor too, no less, once upon a time anyway...

So while Harley hugs April, and just goes on that long spiel, April looks right over the woman's shoulder to Vanessa with HUGE EYES!!!

Up until the hug ends and Harley pulls back to twirl her gun, which makes April's blue eyes nearly go crossed as she stares down at it. A quick grin up at Harley then and April has to shake her head side to side making the curls of her dark hair sweep this way and that against the sides of her lovely face. "Oh, no no no. Nah, psssh. Nah, giiiiirl." She tries her best Will Smith impression. "Course I wanna talk to you. You kiddin? All my listeners were enthralled by what you had to say on that show! So was I too!"

April does something a bit ill-advised and reaches out to place both of her hands on Harley's shoulders and give them a good squeeze! "You're a smart lady, Harley, and Mister J is a fool for not having you around all the time, cause you're... a gem!" She grins at her then before dropping her hands again to her sides.

"Now, lets not worry about dumbass men. Right?" She moves over to sit down beside Vanessa. "We got food and drinks and cartoons to watch!"

Copycat has posed:
Vanessa Carlysle accepted the offer of Dr. Pepper, taking just a sip and thanking Harley for it. After, Vanessa looks back to April at that private look, her expression meant to be reassuring. She moves off though rather than let Harley catch any extra communication between the two. Sweeping up glass into the dustpan and then finally carrying it over to the kitchen to dispose of.

Vanessa is there when the gun twirling happens. She is watching it closely, and also glancing briefly to where she set her purse down. Though April hopefully has the matter in hand, so Vanessa just comes back over and takes a seat over in a chair, leaving the couch for the two BFFS. "Oh good, I don't make enough time to relax and enjoy shows like this," she comments of the cartoon, smiling as if enjoying it. As opposed to being... well, not the most terrified she's been in her life. The vampires in the subway have that honor.

Harley Quinn has posed:
"You always know what to say to cheer me up," Harley whimpers at April, even though they really haven't known each other for THAT long. When April moves to squeeze Harley's shoulders and reassure her about her lover, there's a momentary pause. Harley seems to delay a moment, processing the words, but then she holsters the revolver again and embraces April again. "Yer the best, ya really are. I'm so glad I got to meetcha." The proposition from April seems to cheer her up a great deal too, "that's wonderful, I don't often get to watch cartoons with friends. We can do a My Little Pony marathon!"

Looking aside at Vanessa, she adds, "don't worry, I'm sure April is willing to share the brownie with you. I don't need to have any, because I'm looking over my figure!"