[Closed] Happy Deathday

[robintohood]

Who: Jason Todd robintohood and whoever has CR with him
What: Jason dealing with his deathday anniversary
When: December 20th to 21st
Where: Central City
Content Warnings: PG-13 level violence and mentions of self-harm and suicide ideation

[The closer it gets to December 21st, the less present Jason Todd the civilian is. It's harder to catch him at the Descendant during this month because he hasn't been there as often as he usually is. He's not spotted as often at other places either his favorite libraries or any bookstores. Meanwhile, there's an increase in Red Hood appearances.

At first, the crime lord is seemingly burying himself with his work and trying to regain what his gang lost last month. Plenty of fights with other gangs, muscling in on territory, dodging bullets from mobsters. The beatings he dishes out on goons seem to have intensified. But as December 21st creeps closer, even most of that work gradually gets less attention from him.

The beatings continue though with a change in what information Jason wants out of his victims.

In place of most of his crime lord work are solo recon missions. Lots of decrepit properties are checked. Unused fairgrounds, warehouses, and even empty properties that used to be toy stores get searched. Jason's always on the lookout for reports of gruesome crimes involving things like deadly laughing gas, frozen smiles, and clowns too. Jason knows the Joker loves gimmicks.

For all of Jason's vigilance though, there's not even a chuckle or any other hint of the mass murderer. The quietness feeds into how unsettled Jason feels. He’s expecting something to happen. That's how the Joker works sometimes. He’s a sick freak who likes to put his own twist on special occasions.

So Jason keeps searching around Central City. That's what he tells himself what he's doing. He has so much rage, fear, and other negative feelings he doesn't want to contemplate. Once he finally kills the Joker he’ll finally feel at peace.

It’s either December 20th or it's December 21st when one might spot the Red Hood in Central City.

He could be zooming all over the streets on his motorcycle. He could be curbstomping and bludgeoning someone with a tire iron outside of a dive. He might be lurking on a dark rooftop overlooking the city, or staking out a waterfront warehouse.

Whatever the case is, he’s clearly in an extremely foul mood]

((OOC: 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

ᴏɴ ᴀ ᴅᴀʀᴋ ᴀɴᴅ ʟᴏɴᴇʟʏ ʀᴏᴏꜰᴛᴏᴘ

[heartofthedream]

It's hard to say how long she's been listening; the woman who can hear the thoughts of those as far away as the moon, who, with far further effort, can speak telepathically across the lines of some dimensional walls. Perhaps, since the beginning. Perhaps it passed too close to miss one of those nights. Or, perhaps, it's the slow ramping unceasingness.

She understands the mania roiling through the city better than she'd like to admit.

Her approach doesn't give itself the airs of normality. She's not there, and then she is, a girl alight in the darkness, in midair, not too close but not too far behind him, hovering above the rooftop where he's been a while now. Though it's not visible, a telekinetic shield hovers close, mere millimeters above her skin. One doesn't approach the dangerous while they are bleeding out, even metaphorically, without self-preservation—or respect.

"Find what you're looking for?"

[robintohood]

There are no mental defenses from Jason as psychic abilities aren't something he usually has to face. He's much more concerned with physical attacks. For anyone who can sense his feeling or thoughts, rage, fear, sadness, and exhaustion are flowing out of him like a river during a rainy day. He's trying to be focused on finally spotting and catching his quarry but the emotional miasma he's under distract him more than he would like to admit. So when Jean speaks, he's startled and whips out both of his guns as he spins to face her.

He nearly fires but he still has enough trigger discipline to stop himself. He doesn't put down his guns though.

"Maybe I'm just out for a little nighttime viewing," he retorts.

He recognizes Jean from a couple of previous encounters but this is the first time he's facing her as the Red Hood. He doesn't trust her to think he'll let him continue tonight's mission.

[heartofthedream]

Jean doesn't blink or look away from his eyes at the guns.

How many times has she stared down her possible death? (How many times has she died?) How many times has she set her hand, unguarded, into the mouth of a monster—knowing that it wasn't a monster, but something deeply wounded and capable of only acting from that wound, still needing more in the offer, in the being there, than in the self-preservation of space?

She's not in danger, but that's not the same thing as being safe.
But she didn't appear in the sky looking for safety.

"Nighttime or nightmare?"

It's an easy question, parrotted soft on the wind, without judgment.

[robintohood]

Jason remains on guard but something about Jean’s body language and tone suggest that maybe a fight isn’t her first priority. There’s no aggression like he would expect from Bruce, his other self, or anyone else who has tried to fight him over his moral code. However, that lack of aggression is only enough for Jason to keep talking. It’s not enough to lower his guns yet.

“Why does it matter to you?” He asks shortly.

Part of Jason knows it’s a stupid idea to be volatile towards someone who clearly has superpowers. Presumably she can do more than just fly. But he’s not in a social mood.