metalogs | [open] sun's up, a little after 12

Entry tags:

dcau: jason todd

[open] sun's up, a little after 12

Who: Bette Kane

feathersandflames and you!
What: Bette is visiting Descendant Bar and Lounge!
When: Shortly after her arrival/the Confluence
Where: Central City
Content Warnings: N/A but will update as needed!

Bette’s used to staying in strange hotels in different cities. Not that the hotel she’s situated in currently is strange, but the circumstances she’s found herself in - falling through the sky, fighting a giant robot alongside Red Hood, and then finding out that she’s on some alternate, parallel Earth - some might call that a typical Tuesday, but it was a little far out, even for Bette. Still, she’s spent a couple of days acclimating herself to life here - or what life is going to be - and though she’s spent her days shopping and reading up on things that needed reading up on (and there was a LOT that needed reading up on) she’s also starting to feel the bite of loneliness. Ergo, Descendant. Red Hood had suggested this as a place to check out, and bars are generally where you go to meet new people, right?

Right.

She’s left her costume and weapons at home - she’s never really been one to wear her costume under her civilian garb, it bunches up in the wrong places and looks unflattering under the wrong fabrics - but with the slightly wide-eyed look in her sky blue eyes, it’s clear that she’s new here. She’s clearly looking around for a familiar face - any familiar face - as she approaches the bar and orders herself a Paloma.

Once she gets her cocktail, she’s going to wander around, check out the arcade machines on the second floor, maybe waft through the reading room, though she’s feeling a bit too energized right now to sit and read anything more serious than the latest issue of Vue or Elle.

How’s the visit going to go? She’s not sure, but she’s hopeful, and she’s excited to find out.

[OOC: Feel free to come across Bette anywhere in Descendant and say hi! If you have any other ideas, hit me up on Plurk or DM me!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Jason's lounging in an armchair and taking a break in the reading room when Bette walks in. He doesn't recognize her yet but it's not an unusual occurrence. Descendant is a busy enough business that new customers arrive every day.

"Can I get you anything?" He asks.

"Do you work here?" Bette looks Jason up and down. His face looks vaguely familiar to her, but then it's possible that it's just one of those faces. She gives him a smile - all bright and chipper, the way she tends to do in most situations - and steps closer to him. "Sorry, no, silly question. Like why else would you ask, right?" she chuckles softly, looking around the reading room. Honestly, this place on a cool evening, with something by Joan Didion or Edith Wharton and a hot toddy seemed like it could be very relaxing. "I'm new in town, and someone recently told me that this might be the place for me to find some friends? I thought I'd finally come to check it out."

“Depends on what kind of friends you’re looking for,” Jason says. Unlike the tone he uses as the Red Hood, his civilian voice is lighter and less rough. “We get all kinds of people here.”

Different vocal tones is one of the things Bette herself never really got ahold of. In costume, out of costume, on the tennis court or off, she pretty much sounds the same. Thankfully, she's never been popular enough for anyone to make the correlation between Bette in her civilian life and Flamebird in her costumed life. It's not like they haven't both been on TV.

"Oh, that wasn't like...code for something?" Except it kind of ways a little teensy bit, but she couldn't just say that to someone. "Not that I was expecting to walk into a where-everybody-knows-your-name kind of situation, but I think the hope was I might run into a familiar face or two. Which sounds ridiculous, now that I'm saying it out loud. Life's not a tv show, Bette! But the all-kinds-of-people does explain the metal detecting bouncers up front." Another reason she was glad she didn't wear her costume under her clothes. No matter how common superheroes might be becoming her, that would still be awkward to explain, especially in a place where she doesn't really know anyone. If she was like carted off to the police station or whatever, who would her first call even be?

The mention of her name and the familiarity of her voice has Jason strongly suspecting the new customer is Flamebird. Jason continues to calmly smile.

“Yeah, the security is there just in case. I hope that didn’t scare you too much,” he says. “Where’re you from?”

"Honestly, it's not the weirdest thing I've had to go through to get into a bar," she confesses. As to what the weirdest thing might have been, she leaves that up to the imagination. "I'm from Gotham City, by way of LA." Not a Midwestern girl by any stretch, this bubbly blonde. "I'm also clearly someone who's like totally lost her manners after, er, moving here. I'm Bette. Hi!" She gives him a little limp-wristed wave at that.

“Hi,” Jason grins, amused. Bette didn’t appear to be much different from her vigilante persona. “The name’s Jay. And actually, I think we got some mutual acquaintances from back home.”

There are some things in life that Bette is unbelievably consistent about, in or out of costume, and her personality is definitely at the top of that list.

Bette tilts her head at the statement, an eyebrow quirking up in curiosity. Her eyes roam and rove over Jason again, trying to place him.

And then knowledge seems to dawn in her eyes as she lowers herself into a chair near Jason.

"Wait. You?"

Jason nods.

"Nice to see you again. This is much better without out a giant robot around," he replies. "Been making yourself comfortable?"

"It's nice to see you too. Like, nice to actually. You know. See you. Without the - you know -" she mimes, acting as though she's putting a motorcycle helmet onto her head. "Not that that isn't nice too, but like I told the last Hooq date I had, it's sometimes nice to put a face with the torso." She wasn't above swiping right on six-pack abs and rippling pectorals.

She seems a little bit more visibly relaxed now that she's speaking with someone a little familiar. There was a stiffness to her shoulders that has loosened up, and the smile on her face is warmer and more natural, a bit less practiced than it had been moments ago.

"I mean, they put me up in a pretty luxurious hotel and gave me access to some funds and things, so luckily I'm not just running around in the clothes I arrived in." Because that could have been awkward, and constantly wearing a trench coat - no matter how stylish - to cover it up would have gotten ludicrous at some point. "Comfort's weirdly less of an issue than one might have expected it to be? Mostly I'm just trying to acclimate and catch up. You know how it is - new town, new people. There's the danger of everything from finding a bad nail technician to finding a bad baddie."

Jason snorts as he listens to Bette. His own body language is a little more relaxed now that they've confirmed each other's identities.

"Tell me about it," he says. His voice was now back to its natural deeper tone. "You're lucky you missed some of the big drama that was happening to the guilds."

He then stands up.

"Come on. I got an office in the back. We can talk there."

The masks, it would seem, were off in more ways than one. She's a little in awe of the voice thing, really. While it's not something she aspires to learn - no matter how much Kate and Uncle Jake probably thought it was a good idea - but it has her idly wondering how much of Gotham's caped-and-cowled crowd do it.

"Points for consistency, at least. I always somehow manage to miss out on the really big drama." She stands up, ready to follow him. "I wanna say I hope it didn't get too ugly, but unless you're shooting, like, the Young and the Restless through a soft-filtered lens, drama's never pretty."

“Nah. It would’ve been too nice to us if it was that easy,” Jason says.

He leads Bette out of the reading room and back out to the hallway. As they walk towards the back of the building, employees walk past them. A few greet him while others ask him a quick question. They address him as either “Jay” or “boss.”

Soon they reach behind a metal door with a couple of locks on it. Jason takes out his keys and unlocks it. The room is plain and boring. In the center is a metal desk, an office chair for Jason, and a couple of wooden chairs for guests. Against one wall are a couple of file cabinets. One of the cabinets has a noticeable dent on one of the drawer doors.

Once Bette enters his office, Jason shuts the door behind him.

“Okay, now we’re free to talk,” he says.

As she follows Jason, she keeps her eyes peeled, taking the whole place in with new eyes. Well, slightly newer eyes than the new eyes that took it in just a few minutes ago. The fact that they're calling him boss either means he's the manager or that he owns the place - by the way he moves, she's fairly certain it's the latter. Okay, she's impressed. ~~And not because he's cute.~~

The office is less cute, but then it's an office, and not one in the RH Kane building back home. Besides, it's probably more important that this place be more functional than anything else, although she is curious about the one with the dent. Fight? Punching bag? Secret entrance to some sort of Robin's Nest or something?

For a beat, she wishes that she'd had some kind of cool hideaway back home. Not that it would have gotten much use, she supposes.

"This is an impressive way to keep your eyes on what could be going on in the city," she says, once again takin a seat, this time on the wooden chair. "I'm guessing that's what you were, like, referencing out in the library lounge area? All kinds of people in here?" That's Bette for you. Sometimes, she's distracted by the pretty, other times, she's able to see a situation for what it might be. "You've been here for longer than I thought you were."

Jason nods as he sits in his chair. His office is meant to be more utilitarian than fancy but the chair he was willing to indulge a little in, given his position as Descendant’s official owner.

“Tim and I have been here for over a year,” he begins to explain. “The others came later. And actually, having our own version of the Iceberg Lounge was Tim’s idea. He knew I had the resources and connections to get a place. Officially and publicly, I’m the owner but it’s more of a family affair here. Dick’s one of the bartenders and Tim’s a busboy.”

Every head of state needs their version of a throne, right? The boss's chair. "Better an Iceberg Lounge run by a Robin than one run by a Penguin," Bette agrees, her brow furrowing. There are puzzle pieces here that she should be putting together, but can't, quite.

"When you say it's a family affair...Tim...and Dick." A thoughtful shadow crosses her expression. Tim. Dick. Jay. There's something about the way those names fit together. The only Dick-and-Tim she knows that would be any sort of family were her cousin Bruce's wards, Dick Grayson ~~who she may have harbored a giant crush on at one point~~ and Tim Drake.

And then wasn't there that other ward? Jason?

Oh.

Oh.

Realization dawns on her face. "Oh my god! Family?! Family? Batfamily?!" It's at this moment that she realizes she's still holding the now mildly-sweaty Paloma she'd ordered when she first entered Descendant and she takes a sip for her suddenly very dry throat. "Just to like clarify, you don't mean like...Dick Grayson when you say 'Dick', do you?" After all, maybe she's just jumping to conclusions.

Jason stares back at her with a raised eyebrow and surprised by her surprised reaction. He knew Bette’s relationship with the BatFamily was distant but he hadn’t realized just how little she was aware of Bruce’s branch of the family. Dick and TJ did say they knew her but it was possible no one revealed their secret identities. Also very possible is one side knowing more than the other.

“Actually, yeah. I do mean him,” Jason replies. “Richard Grayson. Bruce Wayne’s first adopted son. I’m Jason Todd, Bruce’s second adopted son and back from the dead. Which would make me and Dick brothers.”

At first it's a little laugh. A giggle, at the absurdity of it all. Her shoulders quake, and she reaches out and places the cocktail down so it doesn't spill anywhere.

Dick Grayson. Nightwing.

Jason Todd. Red Hood.

Tim Drake. Robin.

God, does that mean that Damian was the current Robin? She hasn't met the kid, even if they are related, but...

God. God. God.

That meant Bruce Wayne - her cousin, Bruce Wayne - was Batman.

And her cousin Kate Kane was Batwoman. (Okay, that much she knew, but Kate had to have known who Bruce was, right? She was in so deep with him.)

Which made Bette...what? The literal bright sheep of the family? Cousin to both Bats and forever kept out of what was literally the family business?

It's a mix of emotions, almost too much to take in. Anger at secrets kept when they all knew who she was. Doubt, because if everyone else could be let in, then why did they always try to shut her out? Kate had given up on her so quickly - even if she did later let her back in - but through it all, Uncle Jake had been the only one to take her side and truly try to train her after years of her trying to make something of herself.

How long had Kate known that Bruce was Batman anyway? She hadn't even become Batwoman until Bette had been Flamebird for awhile. God, that stung too.

She laughs again, a strangled, broken sounding one. Heavy. It all clicks, now. A weird piece of the puzzle that she hadn't realized was missing, and now so much of everything makes sense.

"Sorry, sorry," she says after a long moment. "This is just like a lot to take in and like so not your fault, because you probably assumed I knew most of this. But no. So cousin Bruce is Batman. Wow! I - that should have been obvious, right? You know, I have to admit, I suddenly envy Supergirl a bit. Superman probably never kept her in the dark about who he was, right?" And if he did, he was almost as big a jerk as Bruce. "See, I was being like so literal when I said I was in the guest house when compared to everyone else. But like not even that, because guests are usually invited in."

Edited 2023-11-15 00:50 (UTC)

Jason frowns from seeing Bette’s reaction. This was clearly hitting some of her personal issues and in a way he hadn’t anticipate. Of course his immediate family were going to be secretive to most people. That was a given because of the work they all do. But at the same time, there was something about keeping other vigilante family members in the dark that hits Jason in a way he doesn’t like. It uncomfortably reminds him of the times when he felt like Bruce was icing him out.

He pulls a tissue from a tissue box and offers it to Bette.

“Sorry you learned like this. I thought you already knew,” he says. “And with everyone on different timelines and different alternate universes it’s hard to keep track. Back in my world, the Kanes are around and related to Bruce but I have no idea who Batwoman or Flamebird. Though I’m guessing for the latter, it’s another version of you.”

Bette takes the tissue from him and gives him a feeble, mildly embarrassed smile. "No, you don't have to apologize. How could you know?" Out of everyone involved in this brand new mess of a situation, Jason was the only one who she couldn't blame. Back home, she only knew him as one of Bruce's wards, and sure, while it was weird that he'd like died and come back, that happened more frequently than one would think. So, weird? Sure. But not enough to raise any suspicions, unless she'd been playing closer attention to things, but she'd never had a reason to.

But Kate? Dick? Bruce?

That was a different story.

"There was another Flamebird for awhile, back when I was busy doing the tennis thing and taking a break from the costumed crimefight-y thing. Kryptonian. She could fly and had, like, fire-based powers or something? But that makes sense. I mean, I learned about the name from Superman. I just sort of co-opted it because I liked how it sounded." Granted, if the Flamebird was teamed up with Batwoman, it was good chances that it was another version of Bette. She could dream, anyway.

"I'm sorry, Jay. I...didn't meant to overwhelm you with my freak out? Finding out secrets about your family while on an alternate Earth just wasn't on my bingo card for today. Though new world, so maybe I need a new bingo card drawn up." She chuckles softly. "I know Bruce, Kate, and Dick from back home. You and Tim, only very vaguely, through what I've seen in the news, mostly, and Damian not even a little bit." Some days more than others - and especially today - it felt like Bette was family in name only.

“I don’t think I’m that much better than you in knowing our whole family. Or at least not by a lot,” Jason says sympathetically. He thinks back on when the Confluence first dropped him onto this version of Earth. It was a shock to him on multiple fronts, including learning about the Robins that succeeded him.

He leans back in his chair with his brow still furrowed.

“Part of it was because I was dead but also because in my Gotham, I was the last Robin,” he continues. “After I died, there wasn’t a third. Then I get dropped here and find out on day one that Bruce didn’t learn his damn lesson after I died. That was when I first met Tim too. Right after that, I found out about Steph and Damian too. I still barely know who Damian is. And Kate being Batwoman is news to me.”

"Steph?" There probably is a Steph on her world, but she has no idea who the hell that might be. Oh god. Wait. Was it that blonde Robin that ~~Batman~~ ~~Bruce~~ Batman had had for like a week?

"That sounds...like a lot to deal with. The dying thing, and the coming back thing. How did you deal with that? Because, I mean, I was in a coma for a few months and that's traumatic enough, but I can't imagine what your situation was like and I'm really sorry you had to go through any of that."

She pauses for a second and then adds, "From what I hear about Damian, he's apparently quite the personality. Which, again, makes so much more sense."

"I came back from dead because of someone else, not because I wanted to. But once it happened, that was that," Jason says. His face and tone are neutral, trying to downplay just how traumatic the whole experience still is for Jason. He usually doesn't like to talk about his psychological damage. He then shrugs his shoulders. "What's done was done. I still don't understand all the details to when it happened. I just knew I wanted to keep going."

"Do you regret that you were brought back?" Bette hadn't been ready to die, and honestly, if Uncle Jake hadn't visited her every day, she wasn't sure if she would have survived or not. She knew the doctors thought that she was a gone case, but Uncle Jake had thankfully held on to hope. "Like I respect the fact that you, like, came back and like...did this." She indicates the room around them, meaning Descendant in general. Wherever Jason had been before he died - whoever he'd been - it was clear that here, he's built something pretty damn extraordinary for himself. It's admirable.

“I don’t think about it,” Jason lies.

The truth is that when his mind goes to a dark place, he sometimes thinks about what it would be like if he had just stayed dead. Would he have been better off? Would his family have been?

But then he’ll pull himself out of it and just keep going forward as the Red Hood. It gives him a purpose and helps him not fall into utter despair over all the trauma he’s gone through. It’s like blinders on horse. Just focus on taking out criminals and have some sense of control to help people. Otherwise, all the suffering he had gone through would have been pointless.

“I just do what I can. And it’s not like Descendant was a solo project.”

"I'm sure you don't think about it as much as I don't think about my near-death experience." Which was to say that Bette still had nightmares about her fight with the Hook, and how he'd all but left her for dead. Honestly, if it hadn't been for the DEO trying to figure out Batwoman and Batman's secret identities, she probably would have died that night.

With the exception of Uncle Jake and Aunt Cathy - maybe Kate - she doubted anyone would have missed her. Or noticed she was gone.

"Solo project or not, don't sell yourself short. People like us have a bad habit of doing that. Keeps us from getting all evil and egotistical, sure, but it also robs us of our accomplishments. At least that's what my therapist said when I was feeling the imposter syndrome over my tennis career. I figure like the same applies here."

“‘Therapy?’ You really are the white sheep of the family,” Jason dryly jokes. It’s not a secret the Wayne side of the family could use counseling but the chances of finding a mental health professional who wasn’t going to be a supervillain were alarming low in Gotham. “And this isn’t me being humble. The way I do things doesn’t usually earn me friends. There’s a reason why you’ve been warned about me.”

"Between childhood beauty pageants, intensive tennis coaching, the early celebrity that came with being a teenage tennis wunderkind - at one point they were calling me the next Steffi Graf - I...needed the help. So I reached out for it, you know?" It wasn't like she could tell her therapist about Flamebird or the Teen Titans or anything, but there was other stuff that she had been able to deal with, and it had helped, immensely. "It's a safer bet in LA than it is in Gotham, where it feels like everyone except the Joker went to grad school before going evil." Which begged the question - did grad school turn you evil? Was she that intent on becoming Dr. Bette Kane one day? Maybe it doesn't matter anymore, here, now.

"It's the guns, right? The mysterious resurrection, the guns. I don't know about you, but where I'm from there are rumors that 'Red Hood' used to be Joker's old identity before he turned into the criminal clown he is now. I'm assuming - judging by the bar and who is and isn't allowed in (and unless they're armed, it doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of isn't) - that you're maybe tied to the criminal element a little bit?"

The way she says it, all brightly and easy, without any sort of judgement or disdain, is probably different from how other Bats and Birds have handled his connections. But she's seen how Batwoman has worked with the likes of Clayface and even tried to help Alice become more heroic as Red Alice, no matter how short-lived that was. Maybe it's not the way she'd do things, but he's from a different world - both literally and figuratively - and she sort of understands that. Or at least she's keeping an open mind about it.

At this point, Jason’s met several family members and multiple versions of family members from different universes. They all have different personalities and come from different backgrounds before becoming vigilantes. But Jason has also observed that something that’s been consistent between most of those family members is their lack of rejection of him despite knowing at least the general details to his work as the Red Hood. Apparently, Bette might be the newest addition to that group.

Jason still doesn’t understand why none of them have tried to get into a bigger fight with him. He had long wrote himself off as someone who can never be a “good guy.” He had already accepted that he was a criminal with a special agenda.

Jason keeps his expression and body language calm and neutral as he listens to Bette and as he responds.

“Not just a little bit. I was a full blown crime lord in Gotham,” he says. “Wrecked Black Mask’s shit and caused shit for the Joker and Bruce too. I knew what I was doing and I still don’t regret any of it. You’re better off controlling crime than fighting it. And yeah. I stole the Joker’s old moniker. I was trying to get his and Bruce’s attention. Didn’t see why I should ditch it afterwards. I still don’t.”

Edited 2023-11-19 01:40 (UTC)

"Are they trying to get you to change the moniker? Because believe me, I've tried it, and it doesn't always stick. I briefly went by Hawkfire, and it like so wasn't it." She takes another thoughtful sip of her drink. Even with the ice watering it down a bit, it's still good. Descendant clearly has a good staff on hand. "I think the most important thing is staying true to who you are. If that's Red Hood, then own it. Don't listen to all the noise." Though she already has a feeling that he wasn't listening to it.

"So how does this work then?" Bette asks after a moment. "You said Dick and Tim work here, but I'm assuming they aren't doing the crime lord thing. Is it about balance, them and you, or is it strictly a bat-brother thing that's keeping you together? And if I'm getting too nosy, tell me and I'll stop. I'm just curious. There's a lot of dynamics here I'm trying to understand...but mostly I think it's so cool that the three of you have managed to stick together here, too."

“I think we’ve managed to pull this off because we still got some shared goals,” Jason replies. “Descendant kinda works like the Iceberg Lounge. We’re in neutral territory so Central’s gangs can come here and talk business and do a little bit of business. The private karaoke rooms especially are good for that. As far as those customers know, we’re a business that’s not too scared of who we’re serving.”

Jason then vaguely gestures at the door to where the rest of Descendant is.

“What they don’t know is that the whole building is bugged. This is how we’ve been getting a lot of intel on Central City’s underworld. Getting a bar and using it for spying was Tim’s idea. He talked me into it because I had the resources to pull it off. And my own crime lord shit is separate from all of this.”

"Jason Todd, proprietor of Descendant. Red Hood, crime lord. But only a few know they're one and the same." That's her best guess, at least. "Not that you need my validation, obviously, but this is like a totally brilliant operation. I'm guessing you don't act on every piece of criminal activity that's discussed here, since it would be a conflict of interest with some of what you do, and also tip your hand about this place being what it secretly is?" This is something she may not have put together on her own in the before-coma-times, but training with Uncle Jake and the Crows had taught her a thing or two about surveillance. When she was paying attention, anyway.

She swirls the ice around in the cocktail's highball glass thoughtfully. It's a ~~Bat~~ Bird-run business, she thinks. God only knows how Dick's going to react when he realizes she's here. And hadn't Jason said something about a Batman...? That's going to be another bridge to blow up when she comes across it. Hi-Bruce-you-may-not-know-Flamebird-but-surely-you-recognize-your-younger-cousin-Bette?

But if time here the last few days has taught her anything, it's that she needs a place to ground her, a place to tie her to people in some way. It's not like she can pick up the phone and call one of her girlfriends or a spa day or something, not here. They don't exist.

"So, Jay. What are the chances that Descendant is hiring? Because I'd like in."

Jason smirks at Bette’s blunt question. He likes the attitude and so far it seems like they won’t have much trouble working together.

“When it comes to our family, I’m always hiring,” he replies. “Dick’s one of the bartenders and Tim’s a busboy. When Cass, the stitched-up Batgirl, was here she was a bouncer. Steph was a server. Most people who work here don’t know what we actually are but obviously family members and our closest friends and allies do.”

So far the current setup has served Jason and the others well. Jason wants to continue it.

“And yeah. We don’t act on every intel. It’d be a dead giveaway if every Descendant customer got arrested after visiting us. We just focus on the bigger fish.”

That took a lot less convincing than she had been prepared to give. She grins brightly. Was this what it felt like not having to fight for every inch of space and acceptance? "Actually the ninja Batgirl makes - made? - a lot of sense as bouncer. She's tiny, but she's tough." Bette remembers that much from the few times they've worked together in those giant group ordeals that seem to pop up once a year. "So, wait, what happened to Cass and Steph if they're no longer working here?" Pause. "Also, do you guys collectively get together and decide which intel to act on? Is there a whiteboard somewhere?"

“Confluences took back Cass and Steph a while ago. No one knows how that works either,” Jason says. While he’s glad they’re both back home, he still misses them. “And for intel, we trust each other’s judgement and keep each other in the loop. If looks like it’s gonna be a bigger operation, we’ll talk more but so far we haven’t had to over Descendant intel.”

Jason then points upstairs.

“The attic’s a safehouse by the way. It’s only for family and whoever we trust with our secrets.”

"These confluence things sound keen." It's snarky, but only in so much as she doesn't exactly love that there aren't answers for how it works - more so for the fact that she could suddenly get pulled back home. But she wasn't going to think about that. Not just yet. "The basement's not like a Batcave, is it?" It's a joke, but hey, you never know. "So what do you need me to do? It sounds like you're down both a bouncer and a server, and between the two, I'm like pretty sure I'd do better as a server?" She's watched 2 Broke Girls, she knows how to carry a tray.

Jason lightly huffs in amusement.

“Now why would I be that obvious?” He jokes while putting a hand on his chest in mocked offense. Though they set up Descendant to be relatively safe, it still wasn’t wise for them to cluster too many of their resources in one spot. “Nah. The basement really is just for storage. The building is Prohibition-era though so we got hidden doors and passageways. I’ll show you those later.

As for the job, I can always use a server. You can do part time or full time.”

"I was joking about the cave - mostly - but I do love a good secret passage!" As a child, she'd been convinced that Wayne Manor had housed them, but she'd never really been allowed to explore the few times she'd visited. (Though it was now dawning on her that there probably WAS a secret passage that at least led to the legendary Batcave.)

Given that most of the Kane family resided in the Diamond District, they were more high rise people than outskirts-of-Gotham-mansion people. There was a mansion belonging to the Kanes, but Bette had never visited it, and lately, they mostly stayed at her Aunt Cathy's mansion, which technically was more a Hamilton thing than a Kane thing.

"I definitely think I'll start out full time, at least for now? It'll give me something to like ground me while I get my bearings, you know?" Besides, working there was probably a better way for her to familiarize herself with Central City and its people than anything else. Even if it didn't pull in everyone - what place did? - it would give her enough to get a gist for the place and the people.

And being around some familiar folks definitely didn't hurt.

“You’ll definitely learn a lot once you deal with the customers,” Jason assures her. “Also, you can fight back if someone’s being an asshole. We’ve literally thrown out people before. Don’t be afraid to bust someone’s wrist if they deserve it.”

As important as it was that they all maintain civilian covers, it was also important that nobody think any of them were pushovers. Firm boundaries are necessary, especially given the kind of customers that visit Descendant. Not everyone was a criminal but there were enough to be on extra guard.

"My favorite thing to do is to scare the ones who think I'm a harmless, defenseless, blonde ditz," Bette laughs. "So it's good to know I can get punchy if they get handsy or something." Given that violence isn't usually Bette's first resort, she doubts she'll gain a reputation for being the ball-busting server, but it's reassuring to know she'll be able to defend herself if it comes to that.

Jason laughs as well. He’s witnessed other BatFamily members impressively defending themselves from a bad customer. It’s always entertaining.

“It’s a great way to flip what could’ve been a bad night into a good night,” he says.

"It's always fun seeing someone's face when they realize they've underestimated me. Don't get me wrong, I know I'm not Black Canary, but I can hold my own when I need to." She's been underestimated for a chunk of her life for many different reasons and the only thing it's ever done is push her to work harder, to improve, to prove her naysayers wrong. "Also, you know. Thank you, Jay. You've already taken a few chances on me since I fell out of the sky, and I really appreciate it."

“It’s fine. You haven’t given me a reason to do otherwise so far,” Jason says calmly.

He hasn’t thought of himself as a good person in a long time and it probably won’t change anytime soon. His work as the Red Hood is ugly and even his work at Descendant is partially for selfish reasons. However, Jason feels no regret in any of it. As far as he was concerned, it all necessary.

“I told the others that you’re around after we took apart the giant tin can. Nobody seems upset.”

She'll be heading to California soon, on Alliance business, but letting her friends know that she'll be absent for a while isn't the only reason why Diana's ducked into Descendant tonight – she's also developed an intense craving for those lobster canapes Jason introduced her to.

As she waits for her order, she catches the eye of the slightly familiar-looking woman walking about. "That looks very refreshing," Diana says, indicating the cocktail the other woman is carrying. "What is it?"

Bette hasn't bothered to look up California here yet, but when she finally does, she's going to wonder if it's at all like California back home, or if anything has changed. Like, is the Grove around?

"Thanks! It's a Paloma - tequila, grapefruit soda, lime - it's all tart and sweet and - oh!" Bette stops talking when she finally looks at Diana. Tall. Statuesque. Gorgeous. There's an undeniable warmth emanating from her, and Bette finds herself just blankly staring at her for a moment. Is it...maybe? Is that even possible? "Umm. Hi." Well, she's clearly in awe.

Diana smiles back at her, warm and welcoming as a summer morning. And there at her hip – yes, the golden glimmer of the lasso, even though she isn't in costume right now. The lasso goes with her everywhere. "It sounds delicious," she agrees. "I think I'll get one for myself."

She indicates a free seat near her. "And I've just happened to order what I know are too many canapés for one person... they're really meant to be shared. Would you like to join me?"

Bette has to admit, just the woman's presence is calming and reassuring. Any trepidation she's been feeling about her new circumstances are gently smoothed away with just that smile. Bette basks in it for a short moment before snapping back to attention. "I...I would be honored to!" It's funny, she thinks to herself as she settles down near Diana. Bette's known Donna for awhile, they've never been close, but they were Titans together, and while Donna inspires something in everyone she meets, that feeling is somehow increased with Diana.

Carefully, she takes a sip of her cocktail and sets it down on the napkin it came with. "Sorry if I'm a little flustered. I'm, er, new to town, and I certainly wasn't expecting to meet you here. But I'm quickly learning that maybe I don't need to be like, so surprised?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[open] sun's up, a little after 12

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