5.2--Deal With It

Harlan hears from Shalonda a couple of days later.  There's new samples coming in from Sunset Valley and Bridgeport over the course of the month; but until then, he's stuck milling around the house with nothing to do.  It doesn't help that Henrietta and Dafne are making out and loudly expressing their fondness for each other at all hours of the day... and night.


(The dreaded "hover hand[s]" makes a return.)

Public affection just reminds him of his very recent break-up.  No matter how frequently he dejectedly walks around the house, Henrietta and Dafne continue to suck face right in front of him.

However, his constant frowning is no match for Henrietta's.  She's a pro and, quite frankly, scares the shit out of him so he keeps his complaints to himself.

When Shalonda forwards some extraneous geological work his way, he takes it without hesitation.  At the very least, it'll get him out of the house for a few hours as well as earn him some much needed rent money.

Hoping to avoid the girls, he slips out of the house quietly, only to be confronted by his much more colorful roommate Dafne.

"Hey there, stranger! I've barely had a chance to introduce myself ... well, without Henri's presence, I mean." She laughs. "I hope you aren't leaving because of us."

Harlan feels the need to defend himself, or at the very least, make sure she's not offended.  Pissing off both of his landlords within the first week wouldn't be setting a very good precedent.  "No, um..." He frowns deeply when no words come to him.

Dafne laughs again, slapping his hands down playfully to combat his defensive posture.  "It's okay.  I'm not angry. Hell, if I were in your shoes; I'd leave too.  Well, no... actually, I would probably ask if everyone was down for a threesome." She smirks when Harlan simply stares at her, apparently satisfied with catching him off guard. "Henri is testing you." She finally admits. "You know, pushing boundaries and whatnot.  She does that with everyone.  And the best part is, I get to reap the benefits."

"Well I'm glad one of us is getting something out of it."

"You get something too!" She protests.  "Two sexy girls who kiss each other on a regular basis."

Harlan can't hide his blush and Dafne smiles as she reaches her hand out to touch his reddening cheek.  "You're adorable."

"Thanks, I guess."  He moves his head away slowly from her hand.

"I can push boundaries too." She whispers, letting her hand graze Harlan's arm.  Harlan laughs nervously at the sudden contact, not sure whether it would be entirely impolite just to move his arm away from her - but before he can make a final decision, Dafne drops her arm and smirks.  "And don't worry about Henri.  She's actually really nice.  Just give her time."

"Right.  Thanks... again."

"No problem." Dafne winks. "Let me know if you ever want to take me up on that threesome."

Harlan turns to leave abruptly, hoping that she won't catch the flush in his cheeks, but her quiet laughing as she enters the house tells him that he turned too late.  "Dammit." He mutters.  


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Searching for space rocks turns out to be as boring as he thought it would be.  Having to chip off samples from a giant meteorite and dig around the site for anything else interesting is not the kind of freelance work Harlan imagined he would be doing when he moved to Redwood, but at least it paid well.

When he returns home, dirty and tired, he flops down on the couch unceremoniously only to be joined by Henrietta a few minutes later.


"So..." She starts, looking at him and smirking, "...you smell like you did something interesting while you were out."


Harlan frowns, sniffing his shirt and crinkling his nose in disgust when he realizes he smells like dust and sweat.  "Sorry.  I'll go take a shower."


Henri shrugs.  "I deal with un-showered patients and bedpans on a daily basis, remember?"  Harlan chuckles as he gets up from the couch, hoping to make his way toward the shower - but Henri's hand on his shoulder stops him.  "Wait. Sit. I wanted to talk with you."


His curiosity rising, Harlan sits back down and waits for Henri to continue.  "I'm not normally one to notice, or even care, when people are bothered by what I do - but I, uh..." She fidgets, turning to face Harlan; "You seem like a nice enough person and I apologize-" Henri grimaces as she emphasizes the word, "-if I made you uncomfortable."

Harlan quirks his brow and smiles.  "What brought this on?"

"Dafne.  She wields guilt like no other and she told me that she thinks you might be distressed because of something that happened recently."

"She's perceptive too, apparently."  Its Harlan's turn to fidget.  The room suddenly feels suffocating and he wouldn't mind leaving it... immediately.

"Do you... want to talk or whatever?"  Henri has never proficient at this sort of thing.  Anytime her sisters, or even Dafne, came to her with their issues - she would find a partially nice way to say 'get over it' and that would be that. But somehow that seems callous in this situation and she's surprised to find that she actually cares enough not to be deemed so by Harlan.

"Nah."  Harlan shakes his head as he gets up from the couch.  "Thanks for the offer, but I'd rather keep this to myself for the time being."

Henri furrows her brow as she contemplates forcing it out of him - she may not be good at this, but she can tell when someone needs to vent - but nods instead.  "Well - you have two people here if you ever feel like not being annoyingly mysterious."

Harlan laughs. "Noted."

Harlan finishes his shower and joins the girls in the dining room for dinner.  To be entirely honest, he was debating just going straight to his room, but his name being mentioned not so casually in the kitchen piqued his curiosity.  He instantly regrets his decision when both women turn their attention to him once they are all seated at the table.

"We're taking you out." Henrietta announces. "Tomorrow night we are all going to that new club in town."

"Clubbing isn't really my thing." Harlan frowns.

Dafne laughs quietly to herself when Henri dons her determined look.  She knows that look well. "Just go with it."  She whispers to Harlan.  "Trust me - when Henri has decided something, she won't give up until everyone else is on board."

Not one to give up either, Harlan continues trying to talk Henrietta out of it. "You'll be embarrassed by my poor dancing skills."  His excuses are getting worse and worse the longer this conversation goes on and he can't help laughing at Henri's growing grimace and Dafne's incognito chuckling.

"Don't care." Henri says, getting up from the table and effectually ending his rambling. "You're going with us whether you want to or not."

Dafne laughs openly once Henri leaves.  "She never loses an argument.  You lasted a long time though. Very commendable."

"She cheated." Harlan scoffs jokingly. "Dropping the argument isn't the same as finishing it."

"To be fair, your counterpoints were getting pretty ridiculous.  She saved you from further humiliation."

Harlan smirks. "Maybe I should thank her then."

"Yes. Maybe you should."

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So my hiatus from my legacy is due mostly in part to both my lack of motivation and the fact that my life is a poorly written soap opera right now.  I swear, if there is some sort of deity, they really like fucking with me.


Anyway - Harlan's generation is shaping up to be a fun one.  I've been playing around with his story and character for the last couple of weeks and I can say with complete confidence, assuming everything plays out accordingly, that his life is partially eff'd.

Good luck buddy.

On a side note: Henri's tattoos glitched and stopped showing up for some reason, so just pretend she still has  her badass ink.  *imagination!*