metalogs | [OPEN] Leave that old record spinning~

Entry tags:

[OPEN] Leave that old record spinning~

Who: Jason Todd

robintohood and you!
What: Grand Opening Week of Descendant Karaoke Bar and Lounge
When: Week of November 28th
Where: Central City
Content Warnings: N/A for now. Will edit if needed.

[Throughout November, you may have seen posts across all the major social media platforms about a new Central City karaoke bar opening up. They even include some nice professional photos of the interior taken by Mark Bryant. Or maybe you’ve heard vague rumors in the criminal underworld about a new safe haven for discussing and doing some illicit business.

Meanwhile in Central City, the renovations of a two-storied building with a basement and an attic were being done swifter than any legally permitted construction project. The owner made sure it was good work done too.

And now at the tail end of the month, there’s a newly opened karaoke bar and lounge known as Descendant. Everyone is welcomed, regardless of their meta status or if they’re part of any guild.

Descendant’s entrance door is relatively innocuous. As soon as you step into the building though, you’re in the security check area and met with bouncers holding metal detector wands. No one’s allowed further in until they get checked. Once you check your weapons, you’ll receive a key labeled with the number of the locker your weapon(s) are in.

In a nod to Ascendant, the previous bar that attracted some of Central’s criminals, much of Descendant’s interior basic layout is similar but now with a speakeasy-esque decor. Once you walk through weapons check, you’re greeted with the first floor being an open space for mingling, drinking, and eating. The walls are visibly brick and the tables and chairs aren’t too fancy. The first floor is also where the bar is.

Further towards the back of the first floor are private rooms for guests to enjoy if they reserve ahead of time and pay extra. The cheapest karaoke rooms are simple and while the most expensive are more luxurious.

One room that makes Descendant unique is the reading room everyone is welcome to use. You're free to drink and enjoy some quiet reading time. Take a book for keeps or donate a book! Quiet conversation is welcome, but overly noisy patrons will be kicked out.

On the second floor are a couple of arcade machines, pool tables, and a stage for live performances. There are plush lounges for people to sit and enjoy the shows, or to take a break between rounds of pool.

With the exception of the reading room and the employee-only areas, you’ll hear music throughout most of the building. It’s either coming from the karaoke machines or from a separate playlist.

Whatever you decide to do, the owner and other attentive employees hope you enjoy your time at their establishment.]

((OOC: Mingle post! Enjoy yourselves. More information about Descendant is here and here, including an opt-in form for the BatFamily to spy on your character.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ah, damn. I counted poorly, clearly.

[Though he was definitely shocked by the forcefulness of the door closing. Wow, Tim, that was a thing.]

I'm observing how predictable Loki is in some of his likes, Tim. And I'm not here to represent him, at all. If he's being an idiot and not communicating properly, don't look at me. I'm just his teammate, not his keeper. Though seeing as none of my teammates talk to me until the matter is forced, I'm not shocked. Though magpie explosions are new to me.

[No, Loki isn't here, and David is mostly moving on to the next point.]

Bart was right. We really do share a level of paranoia don't we? Yes, it's more or less serendipity. While you and Kon are worrying over Inertia's presence and fussing that Bart should not be at the farm, I'm chicken sitting. I needed groceries, and random black dude poking around in Little Love to look for the right groceries and being a fussy gourmand might be weird. So I came to Central for some supplies, saw the flier, and thought I'd get a warm drink, maybe text my boyfriend, and then do my shopping.

[He shrugged.]

I have no clue why you're here, but I'm assuming working. Are you old enough to work at a bar?

[ That - is some incredibly tempting bait, but Tim meant it when he said that Loki can tell it to him himself. Including if Tim is his type and whether or not it's predictable. ]

He didn't actually turn into magpies. It sounded on-brand.

[ Just for the record, since apparently all anyone can do is talk about other people. ]

There's different levels of teammates. I'm not his keeper, but Bart's my friend. I like to know what he's up to, and yes, that goes double right now. I'm sorry you're stuck in Smallville babysitting chickens, but I'm not going to apologize for wanting him where he has backup besides the damn chickens. It's not paranoia. It's prudence, and I'm tired of having to defend it when Bart is acting like - I don't even know what he's thinking. No, I do.

[ But he doesn't know if he wants to let David in on that. Even if he thinks Bart's acting like a moron, there's still that urge to not share more than he has to. At least David is giving him things to be sarcastic about for no reason, because Tim's already keyed up about the Inertia thing. Reminders aren't helping. ]

Yes, I'm legal to serve, drive, and vote, but that last one: not in this universe. Not legal to drink, that helps you pin it down. Why does it matter?

I'm not entirely sure if it would be on brand, or if he would be afraid to do it because of trauma.

[Does the formerly trapped as a magpie god still shift into that form? Or does he only refer to himself as a magpie? David didn't know.]

I know he's your friend. And I'm trusting you and Kon to have his back, while I watch over his home. I'm not upset to be babysitting. I'm glad you guys have him covered like that. In the end, Prodigy is no use against a speedster beyond the ones I have specific knowledge of. Robin and Super Boy might be. It's important that he has the safety you two represent. And the paranoia is more over assuming I'm here to do something rather than simple coincidence. If you showed up at my work, I'd think you were after something too.

[He agrees with Tim's caution. Hell, his own first reaction had been trying to figure out how to support Bart. Knowing his best friends had him had been enough for David to move on to secondary concerns.]

And it doesn't 'matter', I actually don't know legal age to work at a place like this on this Earth. It's more of a 'I'm shocked you're here' mixed with 'I realized I have no clue how old you are', with a sprinkle of 'I've assumed you were younger, and therefore wouldn't think to look for you in a bar'.

[ The look on Tim’s face when David says that. Nobody looks that carefully neutral when they hear that the person they like has trauma.

Tim hadn’t been serious when he’d suggested that Loki turned into a flock of magpies. He knows that magpies have come up at least twice and so Loki and magpie are connected in his head. Now it’s a permanent connection.

Neutral is the best he can manage. ]

Is it actively traumatizing him?

[ He asks the question reluctantly - Tim’s concerned, but he can’t handle two crises and make it through a shift. He has to work if he’s going to stay unaligned. If Loki’s not in danger, he can rationalize that Loki would tell him if he wanted Tim to know. It’s not as if Tim has shown Loki all of his scars. ]

Please stop mixing names. I know I’m compromised already.

[ No need to rub it in. ]

I’d only turn up at your work as a last resort. Given everything - I might’ve overreacted. Bart’s being too calm about this.

[ It’s got Tim right on the verge of doing something stupid. If he could come up with a reasonable crazy plan, he’d enact it. But his judgment is clouded and he can’t even come up with “crazy enough to work” plans. ]

He’s humoring me, and all I can do is stand around talking about how old I am.

[ There’s no controlling the situation. How is he supposed to keep tabs on two speedsters? There’s no solution, and admitting he doesn’t know what to do means Bart will stop listening. ]

I don't know. Getting a god of chaos, magic, and almost the combined essence of change but being impossibly stuck to the old definitions put upon him can be hard to predict. I don't think it's as active if he's joking about it, but Loki is... Complex beyond normal standards I think.

[It's more the 'do you want to turn into the form that you suffered most under the machinations of your evil older self in? He doesn't know.]

I think he likes cats more anyway.

[The request to stop mixing names earns a nod. So long as they've got that clear, he's not going to touch it anymore. Or point out that figuring it out was Loki's fault.]

Bart's being very calm about this. I have to wonder if the ability to be calm about it comes in some part from the fact that he has people he trusts so powerfully that he feels he can open himself up to that risk.

[Control is the hardest thing to deal with when you're close to speedsters.]

One of the hardest things I've had to do in my life is accept that sometimes I can't stop the speedsters in my life from making their own choices, even if I disagree. I just have to stand by them, just like I know they willstand by me.

[ It hasn't been explained enough for Tim to know the details. All but one of Tim's dating relationships are shallow, basically by design, so if David said it wasn't active with confidence, Tim wouldn't need to follow up with it. But David's hedging, and Tim knows that kind of hedging: because god forbid he be wrong. He really doesn't know.

Tim will follow up with Loki later. For real, without being distracted. ]

Yeah, I saw -

[ He saw that Billy guy's post, because he's a stalker... whatever, it's not like David doesn't know that. ]

Flattering, but it would be more mutual friends than me, if that were the case.

[ Superboy and Wonder Girl would be better suited for this, but Cassie isn't here and Kon is being equally reckless. ]

I just wish he would trust me on this.

[ Like he used to. Tim's been trying so hard for seven months to adapt to the differences in Bart. The new friends, the farm life, the willingness to pretend Kid Flash is a gamer loser. He doesn't want to hold Bart to the definition of the-Bart-I-know, made that mistake before. ]

Has he told you everything? Even what he wasn't there for?

[Yeah, Loki was good at being distracting, so good luck with that.]

We can't force trust, especially in the people who are choosing to be more idealistic. So I'm choosing to trust that you will help him when I know I won't be able to.

[He sighs. He had heard some things, and this wasn't what he had come here for, but yeah, he can deal with it.]

That he tried to kill Bart and replace him, but that's from forward of where this kid is from?

Succeeded.

[ Tim's tight-lipped about it, but he's not going to keep his mouth shut so Bart can "choose to be more idealistic." This isn't the conversation that either of them want to have, but the opportunity's presented itself. ]

He later succeeded in killing Bart, but he didn't replace him. Bart can split whatever hairs he wants. It doesn't change the fact that in less than 2 years, that kid kills Bart, and the only reason you or I or anyone still knows Bart Allen is because of a supergenius and his 31st century resurrection tech.

There was implications of death. I respond to those sorts of things differently, sorry. Been through enough that I have learned to let people make their own decisions. And I don't like it. But...

[David sighs.]

I understand the guy was sorta made to replace Bart. That's gotta suck for him, right? Maybe he needs support. Some people can change. One of my best friends back home, his grandfather could be rather bad, and he became an amazing person. Does that erase what he did? No. But is it wrong to deny someone a chance to change? No.

[ Tim shrugs. He's not going to continue arguing pettily that he's been through enough that he knows when someone's going to make a stupid decision and will intervene out of self preservation.

That's... that's too much to share. Hell, he hasn't even said it that concisely to Bart. ]

I'm not denying him the chance to change. I'm not publicly ID'ing him and outing his crimes. I don't think his victim should be the one supporting him. That's better than I'd treat him at home.

[Sometimes the problem with being smart and paranoid was that you could crush the needs of the people around you. David had done it too often. He hoped Tim was better at this than him.]

At the end of the day, though, it's Bart's choice.

[ Yeah, but Bart’s making the wrong choice. He doesn’t say it, because the argument would circle back around endlessly.

Just a nod. He knows it’s Bart call, but Tim will still run interference. That’s just how it has to be.

Time to talk about something else. ]

So, is it really that bad in Little Love, that you had to come all the way here to be comfortable? Why is the guild basing heroes there if the town is that ignorant?

[So many circles possible there.]

It's bad enough that I didn't mind using half of my teleport chances for today to get some good food. The snow's getting pretty brutal. I want to be stocked up. And the town isn't ignorant, at all. It's peaceful. If I wasn't a technopath, I might even choose to be there, just to be away from all of this.

[ Huh. Tim had thought it sounded a lot more personal (and frankly offensive) than that, but it's not his place to push. They're acquaintances and, in a way, it's Tim's fault that he's there. ]

I'd go crazy. You can't hear the traffic; there's birds and skunks everywhere. You probably caught lyme disease 3 times today.

[ It shouldn't be surprising that he has a very city-centric idea of what "wild animals" must be. ]

Everyone knows you.

[ He feigns a shudder. ]

I've spent time living in major cities, in suburbs of major cities, and in quieter, rural areas. Which in a way, makes me just as content in house sitting. Plus I do love Kat-El. A lot.

And no Lyme disease.

[he wants to laugh at the idea of there being wild animals to worry about, or that the ones listed are all that bad.]

There is value in neighbors who know you.

I've always lived in big cities. Spent a lot of time in San Francisco, though. That's smaller.

[ Raccoons are also wild. ]

There's value in neighbors who don't know you exist. I'm in an apartment building right now, and one of my neighbors keeps stealing my cereal.

Oh man, I miss San Francisco.

[Yeah, he's spent a lot of time there too. He missed it at times, but only very briefly. Because it had gotten so fucked up there too.]

I'm sorry about the cereal. I live in a guild apartment, I'm lucky with that. I can be close to people I care about and have less people stealing from me.

You’re from Sam Francisco?

[ It’s genuine, uncalculated interest. He wonders if Bart’s explained about the Cali connection.

He wants to branch off into friendliness. Tries as much as he can, without saying he has a lot of the people he cares about as neighbours. ]

Why are you apologizing? I know who's doing it, but I’m disinclined to stop it. And tell the guild side of you to stay off duty: the cereal thief won’t be apprehended.

Chicago, but I lived in San Fran for a while and then on an island in the bay for a while longer. Honestly, before the whole 'mutants suck' thing started, San Fran was one of the most welcoming communities in my life. I'm just about every way.

[David snorts in amusement at the lone 'guild side of you'.]

The guild side of me is polite fiction. Excelsior is dangerous enough before you get the 'you're evil because you don't want to be a superhero'. I get the apartment and work support and do my hours, and I hide from all their shit.

And cereal theft is best solved in my opinion with buying more cereal.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[OPEN] Leave that old record spinning~

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