This was the last thing I expected when walking into my studio. Having just returned from a successful night at the theatre, no wardrobe malfunctions, all my costumes looking wonderful and even getting compliments and the promises of mentions in articles about my designs. So what I had been expecting after the after party was to crawl into my flat above my studio, climb into bed and sleep the rest of the night away. Instead I found Harley Quinn standing in my studio, bent at the waist and examining the bust of a work in progress dress.
I was frozen in the doorway, simply staring at the woman who had her back to me at the other end of my studio, both hands on her hips and seemingly unaware of my arrival, until she spoke.
'Do you make all these yourself?' She straightened her back, now looking over her shoulder at me with a glint in her eye.
'Uh.' Was the only thing I managed out for a few seconds. 'I design them but I have a team that helps...' My stupid dumbfounded brain spat out.
'They are mighty swell, Tailor.' She grinned and I almost corrected her and told her my name but thought better of it. I didn't need one of Gotham's most dangerous criminals knowing my name, it was bad enough she was standing in my place of work and home.
'Um.' I quickly shut the door behind me, realising I had been standing there like and idiot with my hand still grasping the door handle. With careful steps I walked further inside, keeping my eyes trained on the woman that was trespassing. I might be able to chance a phone call to the police if I timed things right. 'What are you doing here?'
Harley was now merrily walking over to the large rolls of various fabrics that hung on the wall, fingers gently gliding over the bright and rather expensive fabrics with an excited smile on her face. At my question she spun round and that's when I saw the crumpled up sheets of paper in her hand.
'Oh! I was wonderin' if you could make these for me? I need some new outfits.' She said as she thrust her balled up fist towards me, the crumpled papers waving at the motion. I hesitated but she waited rather patiently for me to approach. Honestly, this felt like some awful trick, I would come close and bam! Snagged. But what on earth would Harley want to kidnap me for? But then again who could decipher why her and Joker did anything. My shaky palm outstretched towards her, while I tried to keep myself as physically far from her as possible. She opened her hand, the papers falling to my own and I grasped them. 'Hey, careful with those.' She said making me raise a brow, they were already scrunched up from how she had gripped them.
Bringing my hand to my chest I took a cautious step back, eyeing the woman closely before pulling the papers open and taking a look. On them were crudely drawn stick figures, in crayon I might add, of herself. The clothing was clear, her designs were well thought out despite having looked like they were drawn by a child.
'So, whaddaya think?' She puffed her chest out proudly, hands back on her hips as she tilted her chin upwards proudly.
'Um. These look great.' Came stuttering out and she smiled.
'Really? 'cause Mr J didn't think so...' She trailed off.
'Really. I can clearly see your vision.' The tailor within me wanted to actually create these outfits and the extra challenge of getting it right based off these designs was a little exciting. I smiled. 'I can draw up some more detailed versions and see if you like them, once we have the perfect design I can get started, if you like?' Any thought of calling GCPD was out the window and Harley beamed. Hands clapping together excitedly as she bounded up and down on the spot.
'Oh! Yes! This is so exciting!' She suddenly calmed, a smile on her face as she pointed her finger at me. 'So, I'll leave these with you and will be back in a few days. You're the best, Tailor. See you 'round!' With that she skipped to the door, not before grabbing hold of her graffitied baseball bat and flinging the door open and further skipping out into the night.
It was safe to say that this had to be a personal project of mine, all of my staff were capable of helping me create such items, but it didn't sit right with me to involve them in what I had realised was a criminal contract.
While everyone else was sewing and fitting outfits for yet another theatre show I was in the back with Harley's scribbles and transforming them into fully detailed designs, my only hope was that she liked them, if she didn't then things might get dangerous for me.
Nearly a week had passed by and I had fully designed the four outfits commissioned for Harley. When closing time came there I lingered with my sample fabrics and new designs alongside her original ones laid out in a presentation for Harley's eventual arrival. Not that I knew she was arriving tonight but I just had a feeling.
Turns out that feeling was correct as a knock on the frosted glass door of my studio came and the blurry silhouette of Harleen Quinzel stood outside. I was surprised to find that she had knocked and waited for me to answer, given our first meeting was her being a trespasser making me invest in better locks for my windows.
She greeted me with a grin and nearly barged past me once I opened the door.
'So, what you been up to, Tailor?' She asked as she bounded in and scanned the room excitedly. Her eyes found the display of her potential outfits and in a flash she was standing before it.
'I've been busy with this.' I gestured with a chuckle and she squealed as she looked over it all. 'So I gathered you'll want some durable fabrics given your... profession. Hemp and linen are probably going to be your best bet, but it's all up to you.' Now I pulled forward the designs I had created. 'Based off your designs I came up with these, keeping them as close as you wanted as possible,' flicking through the papers I came to three newer ideas based off what I had, 'these ones are inspired by what you wanted, just some ideas that came to me but you don't need to-'
'I'll take them all!' She said, causing me to sputter mid sentence.'
'All?' I repeated with eyes wide and she nodded while taking hold of the sample fabrics.
'I don't know much about this sorta thing, so I trust you to decide.' She flicked through them all with a smile before placing them back down on the desk and shrugging a bag from her shoulder. 'I almost forgot.' The bag thunked on the floor and she bent at the waist to open it up and dig around the contents. 'Ah, here it is.' Suddenly straightening up she pulled out a brown paper bag and thrust it into my hands. 'Will this do?'
Peering inside it I half expected a dead rat or something, instead was three fat wads of cash. I'd rather not know where she got this from. I nodded with mouth agape, I honestly wasn't expecting her to pay me for this, she didn't exactly seem the type.
'Um, yes this'll do nicely. It'll take quite some time to get them all made, I hope that's alright?' She nodded with a shrug. 'Cool, also I'll need to take some measurements and during the process some fittings.'
She got all excited at that idea then linked her arm through mine and dragged me over to the raised platform in front of the large mirror. Unlinking herself she stomped onto the platform playfully and spread her arms out with her head tilted back. 'Measure me!' A laugh left me as I placed the undoubtedly dirty money down and grabbed my measuring tapes.
This was turning out far more enjoyable than I had initially imagined.
