THE SHADOW OF SINNERS | how many times do people have to fall into the darkness to try and find the light?
BRUCE WAYNE x FEM!OC
PART OF THE SINNERVERSE
The Batman, 2022
August 22nd, 2020 - ???
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THERE ARE MOMENTS IN EVERY WOMAN'S LIFE THAT THEY LOOK FORWARD TO, ONE OF THOSE FOR HARLOW WAS FINDING THE DRESS. You know the one, the dress that makes your head spin because it's exactly what you've always wanted it to be. For some people, their dress was just a simple outfit they got for a conference, for others, it was the prom dress that swept them off their feet. For Harlow, her dress has always been the one she would get married in. She was sure of it. Something about the white fabric and dress designs had her heart pitter-pattering inside of her chest at a young age — and it hadn't gone away as she got older. In fact, it only got stronger with age. As she got older, she realized just how much time went into planning a wedding. Though she had never been that interested in all the moving parts, she always believed the dress would be a saving grace. Perhaps it was just a romanticized idea like something plucked straight out of a fairytale story told to children. Maybe it was a story her mother told her that she kept close to her heart while growing up. But, Harlow Finley always loved to dream about her future wedding. Her box was full of magazine cut-outs with theme ideas and dress ideas, and anything in-between was enough to show that. The idealization of her future wedding dress made it difficult to find the one. In all of her time of casually looking through dress catalogs (and admittedly, looking through the racks at a few of her friend's dress fittings), Harlow had never found something that piqued her interest. Something that stole the breath straight from her lungs, the dress that made her world start spinning again.
That was, until, she stood in a small store just outside of Gotham. Far enough out that she wouldn't be recognized by anyone, which was exactly what she needed. The engagement ring sat heavily on her finger as she walked through the racks of white and off-white dresses, she stopped every now and then to admire how the diamonds shined under the bright lighting in the bridal boutique. Her mother and Margaret walked behind her, showing her dresses they wanted Harlow to try on. Harlow smiled with each one, nodding her head in agreement to try them on (though she knew it was just to please them both, just by their style, she knew they weren't the one). Something told her this shop was different, or perhaps her outlook was different when it came to dressing shopping this time around. She had a reason for finding the dress. Somewhere to be with a wedding dress. Unlike all of the times before, Harlow Finley needed the wedding dress, and somehow, that made her think more about what her perfect dress would be.
Obviously, she had thought a lot about it before, but now she couldn't help but question what exactly she wanted. Did she want lace? If so, where? And did she want it to be perfectly white or a shade of off-white? Ivory, maybe. Was she interested in having any sort of beading on the dress? Sleeves or no sleeves? Train or no train? Princess-styled skirt or form-fitting? Harlow Finley wasn't sure about any of it anymore. Not when she looked at all of the wedding dresses in front of her and realized that perfect was subjective, it didn't matter what everyone else had told her growing up. How her mother always said she would look best in a mermaid-style gown, or how Margaret always said the prettiest of wedding dresses had lace. She wasn't getting the dress for anyone other than herself, so, why would she go with anything other than what she wanted it to be?
