“A hero who is questioned and then is able to answer is more compelling than a figure who is so powerful that he is never doubted.” — Susan Orlean
~~~
Stephanie hums and taps her fingers idly. “Harls. Can I ask something?”
Harls pushes the bowl away. “Stephanie. You have taken me and my boys in when you didn’t have to, when all o’ Gotham was bayin’ for our blood, and given us food and shelter.” She shrugs helplessly. “At this point, you could ask me almost anything and I’d do my best to answer.”
Stephanie makes a face. “Let’s just… put a pin in that for now. And it’s Steph, not Stephanie.”
“Okay, then. Steph.” That’s going to be an adjustment, but if she can come around to thinking of him as her abuser, to thinking of herself as Harls instead of Harley, then she can think of Stephanie as Steph.
“Right. So. Hypothetically. If you could have brought your abuser to justice, would you have done it?”
That takes Harls aback. “If I could’ve brought him to justice…” She double blinks. “That’s a loaded question for this early of a mornin’. Wait, is it still morning?”
Steph looks at her watch and winces. “Close enough.”
Probably not then. “Okay. So… I think that my answer depends on if I knew I’d be believed, and sometimes not even then.”
Steph hums again and sits back, looking thoughtful.
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