Remembering the Dead

[sweetcandygirl]

Harley Quinn is seated on a large rock in the Nexus today. She seems to already to be in the Halloween spirit, as the colorful young woman is dressed as a circus ringmaster. But despite her colorful costume, her usual energetic spirit seems to be missing today.

She has a bouquet of flowers in her hand. And takes one of the flowers, then slowly removes the petals of the flower one-by-one, scattering them underneath her.

"This year is going to be the first time that I am not in Arkham, during a death-a-versary. And I am not really sure what I should do?" She bites her bottom lip for a moment. "How do you remember those who are gone, without letting the memories overwhelm you?"

Comments

[sweetcandygirl]

"Nothin' you can do to change things, honey. It's not your fault."

Harley knows that she is paying her dues for her crimes. But in her opinion none of them deserved to have nanite bombs implanted in their heads.

[boldygoing]

"Yeah, I know, but that's a really shitty thing to do to someone."

He frowns a little. "If you're here, does that mean you're not under their thumb anymore?"

[sweetcandygirl]

"I arrived here while my team was entrenched in a gun fight. I rolled through a door to get some extra shielding, and suddenly was here."

Harley frowns. She hugs her knees. "I haven't really tried going back yet."

"I don't know if they miss me. I don't know if they got hurt, because I was missing. I was told that time sort of freezes when you are here... but I don't even know if that is true."

"I just... don't want to go back. Get shot at. Save the day. Go back to jail."

[boldygoing]

"It does for some people. You never know until you go back and see for yourself."

Her situation definitely isn't a straightforward one. If he was in her place, he's not sure what choice he'd make. But he does know one thing for sure. Nobody here can make her do anything she doesn't want to. "Then don't. The Nexus doesn't kick people out, as far as I know."

[sweetcandygirl]

She looks at him for a moment, when he points out the thing that scares her the most. What if she goes back and they are all gone? What if they have left her?

Harley is fragile enough as it is. She feels torn about what to do.

"So there might be a slim chance of it happening, and with my luck... I would be the first to be kicked out."

[boldygoing]

"I don't think that'd happen. This place has some kinda idea what people need. That's why it brings us here when we're looking for advice." Jim rather doubts that the Nexus would expel anybody. If it let Khan and his men wreak havoc without booting them out on their asses, then he really doesn't think it'd throw her to the wolves. She can't possibly deserve it more than Khan did.

[sweetcandygirl]

"But it could decide that I need to go back to my world. That I am just not worth being here. That it is time for me to go back to my team?" It is a valid concern.

[boldygoing]

She's asking the big questions, and sadly, Jim doesn't have all the answers. At least he can speculate. "I don't know. If it knew that's what you needed, maybe? But I don't think it decides 'worth.' You're here, aren't you?"

[sweetcandygirl]

"Now that is a dangerous philosophical debate to get into right now. Are any of us really here?" Of course it has crossed Harley's mind that the Nexus is a delusion, and she is still in her cell. Laughing. Crying. Alone.

[boldygoing]

“Well it sure isn’t a dream or a hallucination, if that’s what you think.”

[sweetcandygirl]

"How do I know that for sure?"

[boldygoing]

That’s the hard part, isn’t it? “Look, if you don’t think this place is real, then you’ve got a hell of an imagination. If you want my take on it, find something to read. Trying to read in a dream usually gives you blank pages or just gibberish.”

If that doesn’t satisfy her, well, he’s got nothing.

[sweetcandygirl]

"My imagination is my strength and my weakness." Harley points out softly.

She paused. Picking up another rose. "Sorry." A simple apology for getting him riled up a little.

[boldygoing]

Jim wouldn’t call it riled up so much as put on the spot, but he accepts the apology anyway with a brief nod. “I’m serious about the book thing, by the way.” Anything’s worth a shot, right?

[sweetcandygirl]

"I think I saw a library around here, somewhere. I should try to kill two birds with one stone... and look for a book on the Day of the Dead."

[boldygoing]

“Good idea. Good luck, Miss Quinn.” Jim approves of libraries, and it sounds like something that might help solve her problem. Or at least point her in the right direction.

[sweetcandygirl]

"You can just call me Harley."

She sticks out her hand. Giving him a warm smile. "It was nice meeting you."

[boldygoing]

Jim shakes her hand, and nods a little. “You too. See you around.”