[OPEN Mingle] Happy Anniversary and Happy Holidays!

[robintohood]

Who: Mingle post! Jason Todd robintohood is also available in a separate top-level comment
What: Festivities at the Descendant Karaoke Bar and Lounge
When: Week of November 27th and throughout December
Where: Central City
Content Warnings: N/A for now. Will edit if needed.

[By god, the weird (and only sometimes shady) New Jerseyian karaoke bar in the middle of Michigan has made it. The Descendant Karaoke Bar and Lounge has hit its first anniversary. To celebrate, there are special discount rates for customers and even deeper ones for the repeated loyal clients.

Because Descendant’s birthday is also at the very beginning of the winter holiday season, the whole place has been decorated to reflect the occasions. There’s the usual colorful tinsel, wreathes, Santa hats, and fake holly plants but there are also special additions the Descendant’s staff did. There are hidden Santa Gritty figures and decorations throughout the building. More blatant are the Christmas trees throughout the building adorned with Gritty baubles. Instead of an elf on a shelf, behind the bar on the top shelf is a Gritty figure next to the maneki-neko figure Mayuko gifted Jason last year during Descendant’s grand opening. Both figures are there all year round but for this time of the year, they’re rocking Santa hats too.

As for the Descendant’s owner, his presence is oddly sparse despite his business hitting a milestone. Jason’s still monitoring daily operations and is still making sure tasks are being properly delegated but during these last weeks of the year, he’s not at Descendant as often as he usually is. He can still be contacted though, namely if there’s an emergency.

Meanwhile, if one were to carefully eavesdrop on some of the Descendant’s more shady customers, one might hear that the Backbreakers gang and their leader, the Red Hood, might be having… problems holding their remaining territory. The rumors have been going since mid-November after the mysterious bombings to several of the Backbreakers’ safehouses.

So come in from the cold and celebrate, be it Descendant’s birthday or a winter holiday. Have a holiday drink like a spiked eggnog, a gingerbread martini, or a wassail. The karaoke machines are full of holiday songs to sing to as well.]

((OOC: Mingle post! Go have fun, folks. Jason’s own top-level is right here. My contact information is on this journal's profile and I'm in the game's Discord server. Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns as well. I also have a feedback post.))

Comments

a

[purplexing]

[Donnie's been absolutely ecstatic about going out for karaoke, so he's glad that they're finally doing it. What can he say, he loves to put on a performance! He hasn't even tried to push Accelerator into having a turn, but it seems that the experiences from the festival have stuck. Not that he'll say no if Accy did want a chance to belt out any songs, of course.

He's going through songs with Leo when the esper comes back, pausing to glance at Accelerator with the lack of a grumpy commentary forthcoming. His brow arches as he notes the light on the choker, a frown pulling across his face. On?]

Wha..?

[He squints at the tiny device that Accelerator finds, pulling his goggles down as he picks it up.]

Why though? Wait, just how bugged are we talking?

[faceguy]

[Leo's never really been in a bar before (well, at least not as a customer), and being in a bar for karaoke is even better! It feels super cool and adult and he's absolutely trying to look the part (though whether he's succeeding is up to interpretation).

(He's a little miffed that apparently Donnie and Accelerator have both been here before, but that's okay! He can be even more cool and adult than them, just watch!)

Worries about coolness and maturity aside, he's been having a blast singing karaoke with Donnie. He doesn't have high hopes for Accelerator to join in, but he's hanging out with them and not leaving to nap, so Leo takes that as a win.

He's about to try to convince Donnie to sing Girls Just Wanna Have Fun with him when Accelerator comes back and distracts them from everything with a new revelation. Bugs, huh...?]

...Well that's not suspicious at all.

[levelshift]

[Accelerator sits back, folding his arms. He isn't sure what to think, here. Being under covert surveillance isn't anything new to him, Academy City was full of that kind of thing, being an esper - especially the strongest one - always meant he never had any real privacy, but... Central is different. Central is a normal American city.

Maybe he's getting soft, but he's a little annoyed.]

'Suspicious' is putting it lightly. These things are everywhere. I take it normal American bars aren't usually like this.

[purplexing]

Did you forget who you were talking to? [Donnie's tone is as dry as the look he gives Accelerator. Like they ever went to normal anything!]

Everywhere in a public setting is highly suspicious and irregular.

In general, having them everywhere is strange because someone would have to have good access to this place to do it.

[He frowns as he pulls up his computer.]

Wow, that is a lot of signal activity for a bar.

[faceguy]

[Leo leans in to take a look at Donnie’s computer, frowning.]

A normal bar, yeah. I wouldn’t be surprised to see something like this in Big Mama’s place, though, what with the whole, illegal bloodsport betting ring thing.

[He taps his foot against the ground, thinking.] But this is Jason’s place, right?

[He trusts Jason, or he thinks he does. He seems like a nice guy.]

[levelshift]

[Accelerator can only shrug at Donnie. They may not have much more experience than himself, but they're the Americans.

Anyways. Illegal bloodsport betting right. That sure was a collection of words Leo just said.]

...................

[Probably more important is what Leo says after that, and with Donnie's surprise it's quickly clicking in his mind. Right, yeah, Jason is a crime lord so a place being bugged shouldn't be that surprise, but it's not as if he makes that part of his life public.

He looks between the two of them, his expression reserved.]

I should go tell him.

[purplexing]

[Donnie nods in agreement with Leo but offers no further elaboration on Big Mama's malpractices. He frowns at the point Leo brings up.]

Yeah.... That's...kind of weird.

[He looks at the little device again, frown turning thoughtful before he closes his hand around it. There's a brief, faint golden glow that flickers between his fingers but it could easily be a trick of the light. If no one knew any better. Smirking, Donnie sets the little thing down and starts tapping at his computer.]

Probably a good idea. Meanwhile, I will just... There, that should do it. And probably draw attention eventually but I've basically set up a virtual deadzone in our vicinity.

[faceguy]

Whoa, that was fast. Nice work, Dee.

[He'll give him a slap on the shell, grinning. He's still really curious about what's going on here, and maybe attracting attention isn't the best idea, but he feels better if no one is listening in on them - even if all they'd get right now is their definitely very good singing.]

[levelshift]

Maybe you should do that for the whole bar.

[He isn't serious, if whoever set these things up is an enemy it'd only be putting an even bigger target on Donnie's back. Not that the three of them couldn't handle a fight, but why make things more difficult?

He gets to his feet, looking around, and will head off to look for Jason.]

[purplexing]

[Leo gets a big ol' grin back. And yeah, it's probably not a good idea to attract attention but when has Donnie ever stepped away from a technical challenge?]

I'm tempted to but then we might spook whoever's set things up.

[Or the whole attention thing. He glances over as Accelerator gets up again before looking to Leo.]

Well, guess in the meantime...

[faceguy]

[Leo will give a little wave to Accelerator, before turning back to Donnie and grinning back. He'll hold out the list of songs again.]

Back to it?

[purplexing]

[Pssh, like Donnie's going to let a bug problem stop them from having fun! He smirks at Leo.]

Back to it!