beforethepunchline | we rode on horses made of sticks

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yona

we rode on horses made of sticks

It's a pretty weird city, yeah, but Harley's seen stranger things by far. Just recently, she took a little break under the sea, so this Darrow place can't hold much of a candle to that. It was a nice vacation, too, her and Pam-a-Lamb underwater and under the covers.

That's the part about Darrow she doesn't like. She hasn't seen vine nor tendril of Pam since she arrived, and it's kinda got her worried. They haven't been much separated since they met. She was pretty set on that being the new status quo, and then she wound up here, where what she wants doesn't seem to enter into it. Pam would've come if she could have, though, so it's not like she doesn't want to be with Harley, Harley's pretty sure. She hopes, at least. It's just strange to be without her, is all.

She's a tough broad, though. Harley's not too worried about her staying safe. It's the Nazis that oughta be worried.

That's something about Darrow she does like: no Nazis, far as she can tell. It's a nice change.

She misses the circus, though. Pam and the circus and Raven and all the people they kinda took under their wings (branches?) there for a while, and the animals. That's what brings her to the zoo, you see. It doesn't do to be a clown who's blue, but even she's having a little trouble finding the humor in all this. Animals always cheer her up, though. Zoos are sort of dangerous, because some of them aren't too nice to their animals, and that gets Harley real worked up, but at the nice ones, it's a chance to be close to animals she doesn't otherwise get to see. This one seems okay so far, so she's taken up space at the hyena cage, leaning close to look through the bars at them. "Hiya, babies," she coos. "What a bunch of cuties. This would be a lot nicer if I could snuggle ya."

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"Thank you," Yona says, all but beaming at that. It's only been in these past few years that she's been able to do anything with her hair at all; the train wasn't exactly equipped with anything to clean it with, at least not for people who weren't in the front section, nor was there much in the way of a mirror for her to use to see how it might look worn different ways. As it is, even now, she generally wears it down more often than not, hot as it can be in the warmer months, but there's a shine to it that there didn't used to be, and she likes that. Now, though, she wonders what it would take to get a bright, vivid color in her hair like that, the sort of shades that comprise most of her wardrobe.

She wonders, too, what Curtis or Edgar would say to something like that, the idea somehow making it seem all the more appealing.

"Did you do it yourself? Add color like that?"

"Sure," Harley says, nodding enthusiastically. "It's pretty easy, though I guess you'd have to bleach your hair first to get the color bright." The girl's hair is dark, which is part of the loveliness of it, a deep, rich color like shadows even in the sunlight. That means extra work for dying it, but if she really wants to do it, it's not that much more trouble. Harley's just delighted someone's hanging out with her, and more than happy to dole out hair advice as a result. "You'd look pretty cute with some pink in your hair!"

Yona has never been one to shy away from doing or trying anything. On the train, there wasn't very much she could do, nearly every day like the one before it with no real variation in the routine, though huffing Kronole helped make it a little less monotonous. Here, though, an entire world has opened up for her, quite literally speaking, and she never once has taken and has no intention of ever taking it for granted. Putting some color wouldn't be the strangest or most impulsive thing she's ever done. It's just one more item on a long, long list of things she's never done before, and she means to try to tick them off one by one. "I'd like that," she says, bright. "How do you bleach it?"

"Easy peasy," Harley chirps, clapping her hands together. It seems like it's probably even easier here than it was back home. From her trips to different stores, she's found a wide range of dyes are available now, colors no one would have thought to use back in her day. It offers some pretty exciting possibilities. "You can get bleach in any ol' store now, seems like, and the instructions are right inside the box. You sorta rub this goop in where you want it be bleached, like blonde, see, and then you can put whatever color you want over it."

It sounds easy enough, which only makes the prospect more exciting. She might not know what it is or how it works, but rubbing goop in her hair should be easy enough. She's gotten used to shampoo and conditioner, after all, what still seems like a strange, wonderful luxury. To her, they hardly seem necessary, but they also come in bright colors and so many different, appealing smells, and that alone makes it worth the extra effort when showering. "I think I'll try it," she says, short and decisive. "I don't know what color yet, but I want to."

Harley claps her hands again. It's exciting to watch other people try new things, and to find someone who wants to embrace the unknown like this. Even if it's just dying her hair, it's an adventure.

"I'm partial to pink," she says, going back to leaning against the railing, glancing between the girl and the hyenas. "And red. Blue's real nice, too. I don't think you can go too wrong. And if you don't like it, you can dye it again!"

"I like any of those," Yona says, nodding in agreement to the idea of not being able to go too wrong. That might just be part of the fun of it, she thinks — she can go with one color now and another later, change it down the line when she feels like it, cycle through as many different colors as she chooses. It's finding a starting point that isn't easy, but she could always just stand in front of a shelf, close her eyes, and point. Doing so could be even more exciting. "Red is nice and bright."

Harley lights up at that. "I like red and black together," she says. The nice thing about being blonde is that colors take to her hair easy, but so what? It'll just be one extra step, a little more work, but the results will be worth it. "That'll look real cute on you."

Still, even if it's just one thing more to do, it's all stuff the girl's never done before. "I can show you if you want," she decides. "I ain't got anything else to do." She's too new in town for obligations, which is both nice and galling. It's strange to be left to one's devices after always having something or someone else to occupy her time, but at least Darrow is full of interesting things to do and people to meet.

"Yeah?" Yona grins in turn, pleased at the thought. A little company, in her opinion, is never a bad idea, and while she'd have had no hesitation in trying something like this on her own, whatever the outcome — if she fucks it up, it's just hair, after all; it grows back — but it will be far more fun and, probably, far more successful with the assistance of someone else. It might even be that much better for the fact that it's someone she's never met before now. The people and the sheer number of them, all sprawled out rather than packed together like on the train, have always been among her favorite parts of Darrow. There's always someone new to meet. After a lifetime spent thinking she would never know anyone other than the people who surrounded her on a daily basis, there's still a thrill in that. "I'd like that."

"Sure," Harley chirps, brightening in turn. She could sure use a friend around here. It's not that big a city after London, but it's more than big enough for a girl all on her own. Even at Arkham, while she wouldn't say she had all that much of a social life, she was friendly with people. She tells herself it'll be better than that here, that she'll have real friends. It's just gonna take time. She just wishes Pam and the others would show. In the meanwhile, she'll just have to put her mind to playing nice with others.

"It'd be fun." She grins and offers her hand. "I'm Harley Quinn."

"I'm Yona," she replies, expression bright as she reaches out to shake Harley's offered hand. "Namkung Yona." Most people here, she's found, don't give their names the same way she does; then again, neither did a lot of the people on the train. She's always stuck with what she was taught, though, the same as her father gave his. It would feel too strange to do otherwise, to flip it just because it's what the majority of people here do, even if she doesn't know the reason behind the difference. She's never really cared much about what other people do or think of her anyway. Now is no exception. "It's nice to meet you, Harley."

She's heard people say the same as a formality, as if the words don't have any meaning at all. She's never once said it and not meant it entirely.

Harley's said it a bunch of times without meaning it.

Scratch that. Harleen has. Harley doesn't really need to play by those charm school rules the way Harleen once did, back before Mistah J came along, when following after him felt like breaking free. Those days are long since over. She does what she pleases now.

It pleases her to meet Yona. "Thanks," she says cheerfully. "You, too. You come to the zoo a lot, Yona? I love it here."

"I do," Yona responds, nodding as she does. "We didn't have one back home. I'd never seen so many animals before." Just like all the plants and trees and the way that spring always follows winter, there's something about it that's remarkable to her, that probably always will be. There are more types of animals than she had ever thought possible before Darrow, and to have them all in one place, not for a specific purpose or for food but simply because, makes it seem all the more special. "Which one's your favorite?"

"These l'il babies," Harley says, smiling fondly as she nods and gestures toward the hyenas. "They remind me of a couple I knew before this place. I traveled with a small circus for a little bit." They didn't travel very far, but they traveled together all the same, and she's so glad they did. The opportunity to ride a giraffe is not one easily forgotten, though she does miss her babies now. She's not sorry for knowing them even so.

"How about you?"

"I like some of the birds," Yona says, an impulsive, instinctive answer, but one she decides after a moment that she's satisfied with. She could have said anything and it probably would have worked just as well, but her rationale makes sense, she thinks. "They're so colorful." Nearly all of the animals here, she'd never seen anything like before Darrow, but the birds in their enclosures are so wonderfully vivid, their feathers bright and vibrant; when she's there, they're hard to look away from. "But everything here is nice."

"You can't really go wrong," Harley agrees cheerfully. As long as the zoo in question takes good care of its animals, she's pretty sure every animal in the zoo just plain makes her happy. And in a place like Darrow, it seems like this is the only way to see these creatures. It's a good thing this zoo seems so well-kept, because she's not sure how the animals would do in the wild if she had to spring 'em. "I love the birds. And the reptiles! I was gonna check out the lizard house, but I kinda got sidetracked by these cuties. You wanna go look?"

"Okay," Yona says, likewise cheerful in turn. She never has any problem with spending more time here, and whatever they wind up looking at — the lizards, or if they get sidetracked again by something else — is bound to be worthwhile. Everything here is. She wouldn't come back so often otherwise. It's like seeing something new every time, though, each experience never quite like the one before it, and all the more worthwhile because of it. "I like them, too. They all look so interesting."

Harley nods, waving good-bye to the hyenas before she sets off in the direction of the reptile habitat. "I think they get a real bad rap sometimes," she says, "lizards and snakes and all. Poor babies. They're just doin' their best, just like anyone else." She knows what that's like, though. People look at her and tend to assume all kinds of things. But she's just trying to do her best out here, even if she isn't always sure exactly what that means.

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we rode on horses made of sticks

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