[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

Reading room I guess???

[levelshift]

[After finding the bug and informing Leo and Donnie, Accelerator goes to find Jason. It's probably the wisest decision he can make with what little information he has, figuring the bugs have something to do with the whole crime lord business. But he isn't sure, and he doesn't want to misstep and cause some incident because he got annoyed with the surveillance and broke everything.

So he's playing it cautious. When he finds Jason in the reading room he approaches.]

I need to talk to you. Somewhere private.

[robintohood]

[Jason closes his book as he looks at Accelerator. He knows the teenager well enough by now that whatever’s on his mind shouldn’t be taken lightly]

Yeah, sure. My office works.

[He puts the book back on a shelf before leading Accelerator out of the reading room and out to the hallway. He heads further towards the back of the building]

Something up?

[levelshift]

...........

[He'll follow, remaining silent. There's a good reason for that for once - he's switching his choker back on and checking for more bugs before saying anything.

There's more of those vectors in the hall, so he just frowns.]

Yeah. I don't know if it's a big deal, but it's fucking annoying.

[robintohood]

[Soon they reach a steel door with two locks. Jason unlocks it and lets Accelerator step in first.

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]

What is it?

[levelshift]

[Accelerator steps into the office and looks around, taking in everything as he also pays attention to his reflection. The vectors reflecting off of it.

There's more of them in here, and he purses his lips.]

Not here.

[robintohood]

[Jason frowns as he looks back at Accelerator]

Why?

[levelshift]

...........

[He doesn't answer. Gripping his crutch a bit tighter, he just shakes his head and walks over to one of the file cabinets. Pushing it away from the wall, he reaches over and grabs one of the bugs.

Then he holds it up, between his fingers, for Jason to see.]

[robintohood]

[Ah… This is going to be a problem. Jason stares at his own bug that Accelerator found and then back at the teenager. He then grabs a notepad and a pen and writes “How many and how many did you find? How did you find them?”]

[levelshift]

[Well, that's quite the reaction. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he supposes this means Jason isn't aware of them.

After putting the bug back in its place and moving the cabinet back, he switches his choker back to normal mode. Then he takes the pen and notepad and writes a response.

"They're all over the bar."]

[robintohood]

[It’s a problem for Jason but it’s not the problem Accelerator’s thinking of. The Descendant is a family affair. It’s not just his bugs all over the building. The others in his family planted bugs as well. Jason doesn’t want Dick or the others outed so he’ll have to pretend he’s been in the dark about all the listening devices.

It’s one thing to let Accelerator be aware of his crime lord activities. Plus, they were fellow Society members. But BatFamily affairs are different. It’s not that Jason distrusts Accelerator. But spread information about the family wide enough and eventually it could fall into the wrong hands.

For Jason, it was already a big step and a big risk to confess to Nico and Dylan what his family really is. Dylan had to call him out about all the secrets. Jason would still rather lie, just like he’s doing now.

Jason writes on the notepad, “Does anyone else know?”]

[levelshift]

[He stares down at that question. It's kind of funny, the normal answer for him would be to say no one. The #1 Level 5 doesn't do friends, the #1 Level 5 doesn't socialize, the answer should be no one.

Except he's having to write back: "Donatello and Leonardo."

Whether or not it was a good idea to tell them is still up in the air. It's not as if he told people about UNDER_LINE back home, but this isn't Academy City and it seemed like the right decision. If only so Donnie could take a look.]

[robintohood]

[Great. The people who know are exactly the kind of people who know how to do stealth and likely counter-stealth. Jason keeps frowning.

He writes, “how did you find the bugs? Your powers?”]

[levelshift]

[Accelerator nods at the question, providing further explanation in writing.

"The wireless signal. I can track those to wherever they're sending the data, if you want."]

[robintohood]

[Jason mentally kicks himself when he reads Accelerator’s explanation. The kid’s powerful. He already knew this. He should’ve known Accelerator could track the bugs.

There’s a short pause while Jason thinks of what to write next. This could go further wrong if he’s not careful. He then takes the notepad and writes, “no. I’ll take care of it. This is probably hood shit. How did Donnie and Leo react?”]

[levelshift]

[That response has Accelerator raising an eyebrow. Jason knows he can handle himself, so why wouldn't he take him up on the offer? It's not like he's asking for anything in return. It wouldn't even take that much effort.

And why does Leo and Donnie's reactions matter?

He doesn't hesitate in writing an answer, though his mind is turning all of these questions over.

"They thought it was weird."

Which isn't a lie, they did think it was weird.]

[robintohood]

[Jason decides to further elaborate when he sees Accelerator’s expression.

“Can’t say I blame them if they’re worried or pissed about this”

Which is true. He just didn’t want anyone to find out about the bugs.

“Alot has been going on. Been playing clean-up and these might be from rivals. Don’t want more people involved than necessary. I know you can take care of yourself”]

[levelshift]

[There's a frown appearing on Accelerator's face as he reads Jason's reply, but he just shrugs. If he wants to take care of things on his own, that's his prerogative.

He won't bother writing out a reply, his words feel vague enough that it shouldn't be a problem.]

If you're sure. You're looking a lot less like total dogshit.

[Given the last time he saw him was during that fight.]

[robintohood]

[Jason snorts]

Thanks. I just needed a little rest.

[It helps when he’s in a symbiote bond. Jason then sighs]

And thanks for letting me know about this. Can’t say I’m happy about it but it’s important.

[levelshift]

Only a little?

[He's raising an eyebrow at that. The older Jason had been a total wreck.]

Whatever, not the first time I've had to deal with this kind of thing.

[robintohood]

You had ways to counter it or you just had to live with it?

[Based on what Jason was told about Accelerator’s home, the latter seems possible]

[levelshift]

It was a part of daily life. The city made some of it public, like if an esper wanted to fuck off on holiday or see their family there were certain medical procedures that were required.

[Trackers injected into the bloodstream, is what he means.]

Some of it was a hell of a lot less public, because people would be really pissed off if they knew.

[robintohood]

How invasive did it get?

[The place certainly sounds extreme by Jason’s standards]

[levelshift]

[Accelerator snorts.]

Take the most invasive method you can think of and multiply it by ten.

[Academy City is nuts.]

[robintohood]

[Dryly]

Must be big fans of 1984.

[levelshift]

[Pfft, yeah.]

Lately I've been thinking the board chairman used it as a guide.