Chapter Text
Arthur had moved to this new neighborhood and he actually liked it. After the death of his mother, Penny, he wanted to move away from his old life and start something fresh and new, a life he could call his own.
But as his two jobs as street artist and hospital clown didn’t pay that much, it wasn’t easy to find a new place. Then, one of these days wandering through the streets of the city on his daily work dressed as a clown, he found this rental ad over a Taiwanese restaurant.
“Yeah, I have another small apartment upstairs, I can still rent” the elder man called Doc said “The other one is rented for a very nice girl, lotus flower.”
“Her name is Lotus Flower?” Arthur asked, amused.
“No, it’s not. I can’t tell her name. You probably will not see her around very much.” Doc said, smiling. Arthur knew the city enough to read the message Forget I talked about her all over the old man’s smile.
Then, Doc took him to know the place. It was smaller than the place he shared with Penny, but it would do for now.
“I’m taking it.” Arthur said, shaking hands with the man to seal the deal.
Arthur finished bringing his things over to the new place during the weekend. He spent some days sleeping there and he had never managed to take a look on the girl next door that Doc commented on. He heard some noises, mainly TV noises, but that was all.
I think he was right, Arthur thought, She must be a shy person.
He finished bringing his things and organizing the space. He felt good. It bothered him that his mother’s death bought him a weird kind of peace. He was also happy that he was getting all the medicines he needed, which was not a routine due to the instability of Gotham’s public services. He told his social assistant that he was feeling fine and she congratulated him.
“HEY! You must be the new guy around!!!” Arthur met the ‘lotus flower’ girl on a lazy Sunday morning, she seemed to be back from grocery shopping, as Arthur witnessed her coming up stairs full of bags, back to the apartment in front of his.
“Yes, I am. Nice to meet you, flower girl. Do you want some help?” He asked, when he saw she had plenty of bags with her.
“Yeah, I could use some strong man help”, she said giggling. Arthur noticed her features then. She had a high pitched voice and a very funny appearance. She kind of looked like a clown, with her blonde hair colored at the end of her small ponytails, her shiny clothes and the tattoos all over her body and her face.
“I’m not a strong man, but I can help” he said. He took some of her bags and waited while she opened the door.
Her apartment was the extreme opposite of his. His space was impersonal and mostly grey, with the few house furniture scattered all over the place. Hers was very messy, full of colors, mainly pink, blue and brown, with lots of furniture – some nonsense ones, even – all over the space. There was also a lot of information over the walls.
“You can put it over the table, thanks!” she said, smiling. “You know, I have a friend living with me, my hyena, Brucey, please don’t get near him. He is not very fond of strangers.” She said, smiling. Arthur settled all her grocery bags over the table, then noticing the big hyena chained to the wall.
“You have a fucking hyena!” he said, astonished.
“Yeah, man, I do”, she said, giving him a deliciously expressive smile “Other folks have cats or dogs. I have a fucking hyena.”
Arthur looked to the brown furred beast, which faced him back, snarling.
“Brucey boy is a nice guy, believe me. The best friend a girl could ask.” She said “By the way, what’s your name?”
“My name is Arthur Fleck. I’m a street artist.”
“Hey, how nice! I’m Harleen. I’m…” She hesitated a moment, rolling her eyes over the walls “I’m currently unemployed and kind of freelancing in… Several areas. But I’ve got a PhD, I’m a psychiatrist.”
“Wow, that’s great. Why don’t you work with it?”
“That’s a long story, Arthur, believe me”, she said, smiling.
He turned around and he saw a man’s face drawing full of knives on the opposite wall.
“Bad break up, huh?” he said.
“The worst one! Mr. J is a dick!” she said and then she put her hand over her mouth like a child that was caught saying improper words by an adult.
“You’re probably way better without him, Harleen.” He noticed she didn’t tell him her last name.
“Yes, I am.” Then Bruce snarled loudly. “Hey, it’s time to feed Brucey boy”.
Arthur got a little bit unsettled by the idea of seeing a hyena eating in the apartment of a complete strange and thought he better be going.
“I gotta go. I will rehearsal my acting for the week.” He said “Nice to meet you.”, he moved towards the door, followed by the girl.
“Thanks for your help, Artie Boy!” she said “Can I call you like that, right?”, she opened the door and before he answered, she hugged him warmly and intensely. “See you around!”
Then, she closed the door.
Arthur stood several minutes on her door enjoying the ghost feeling of her body pressed to his.
He had liked this lotus flower girl very much.