[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.))

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[demigoth]

Nico doesn’t go looking for the dead.

Popular misconception, really, that children of Hades prefer the company of the dead. No, thanks. He prefers the company of the vibrantly alive. And a quasi-gothic aesthetic doesn’t have to be macabre. He just prefers it that way.

The truth is, ghosts find him. They find you, too - you just don’t know it. Nico’s used to ignoring them. There’s too many shades drifting through the world, and he can’t help them.

He listens to the ones that’re more corporeal sometimes, like the Hurley sisters in Sunset Falls. Ghosts get lonely too. He only really makes an effort when the shade stands out.

Like there’s this one little blue shade in Central City that he always sees when he’s getting a hot dog from the good food truck. It hangs out in the old warehouse with the half-busted windows.

It’s not very tall.

Nico knows they died young, and that’s… that’s a whole mess. Ghosts usually linger in important places. Where they lived. Where they died. Nothing good happens to a kid in an abandoned warehouse.

He thinks about the shade a lot. It keeps him up at night. It woke him up this morning with the horrible thought that the kid was going to spend another Christmas there.

That’s stupid, he’s chided himself all day long at school. He doesn’t know what holidays the shade celebrated. This isn’t his problem, as he shelled out the money for a twelve pack of Mountain Dew and four Happy Meals.

Will would be so mad about how much power he’s using without telling anyone, Nico thinks as he looks at the hole he’s ripped open in the floor of the warehouse’s basement. Well, he couldn’t dig a grave through the foundation without a lot of zombies, so he made it work by calling up a horseshoe of huge, jagged rocks to crack the ground apart. Their slick black surfaces catch the flickering green firelight licking up through the spiderweb of cracks in the foundation. Nico turns off the flashlight on his phone.

He sits at the foot of the grave - the tallest rock is opposite him, doing a good impression of an obelisk - and begins to chant in Ancient Greek with the solemnity of a priest. The sodas are emptied into the pit with a sense of ceremony, and the fizz grows louder when the Mickey D’s splashes in. In no time at all, the hole is filled with roiling, murky green liquid. The food colouring is almost fluorescent in the green firelight.

The skittering sounds of rodents falls away into deafening silence. Vaguely humanoid shapes drift into the warehouse, all seeming intent on the green pool.

[robintohood]

Jason had been searching up and down the industrial area for any signs of the Joker. So far he found no sign of him.

While on the rooftop of a warehouse, he spots strange lighting from next door. Ominous green liquid was not at all what he was expecting and stirs up painful memories for him. Also alarming him is seeing Nico right there are the edge of the pool.

He jumps over to that warehouse. His heart begins to race as he checks the skylight for a closer look inside. All sorts of possible scenarios are coming to his mind. Has a League of Assassins member arrived? Does this Earth have its own version of Lazarus Pits? Has Nico been captured for his abilities? Nothing Jason is thinking about is pleasant.

CW: Previous injuries/death of a child

[demigoth]

The chanting stops abruptly as one of the larger shades gets too close by the grave. Nico throws out a hand towards it with a sharp command, “That’s not for you.”

Most of the shades glide backwards, faster than they’ve moved before, repelled by the force of Nico’s will.

He looks at the smallest ghost and beckons it closer. “I only want to talk. Have a drink and tell me your name.”

The ghost knelt at the edge of the pool and bent down to drink, slowly resolving into definition and full, if muted, colors. A boy, maybe thirteen years old, with blue eyes and dark red-purple bruises on his jaw and temple. His shirt is stained red.

[robintohood]

Jason’s heart breaks when he sees the child ghost. It’s too easy to imagine how the boy had met his demise. Jason has heard too many horror stories of when children were the victims.

He quietly picks at the skylight and opens it. Then he carefully and quietly climbs in and lands on the rafters. He wants to see and listen more.

It… doesn’t seem like Nico is in danger? Instead, it seems more like he’s trying to help. It makes sense though as he’s a child of Hdaes.

[demigoth]

“Who are you?” Nico prompts again, but the spirit only shoots him a fearful expression as it sneaks a nugget out of the roiling soda.

The dead are like this. They can be helpful, they can be annoyingly un-present. Worse, they can be vicious and insidious. Nico has so much to maintain: the summoning ritual, strengthening the the boy’s ghost, holding back the others. He still hasn’t learned how to not draw so many extra wraiths. It makes him grumpy and short, and the demigod barks an order in Greek. “Speak.”

The room explodes in chittering. Gods, it’s like being in a traffic jam in the Fields of Asphodel. He can barely hear the boy answer over drone of vocalisations devoid of meanings or memories. “Andrew.”

Nico glares around the room, wherever he can feel a presence. Outside of the green glow, the dark warehouse is darker still. The shades are nigh invisible to him. “The rest of you shut up.”

But - wait, there’s something else. Some one else. And unlike everyone else other presence in the warehouse, they’re not dead. Only a little dead-ish. Mortals shouldn’t see this. The reality of the afterlife doesn’t fit the popular belief systems. It’s horrifying, really, and they’re better off scared away. “Who else is here? Find them.”

Compelled by the ghost king, the bigger shades begin to search the warehouse. Nico goes visibly paler with the effort.

[robintohood]

So much for being stealthy. Jason can see Nico struggling to maintain his abilities. There’s not much use in hiding now, especially as he doesn’t want to hurt the teenager. He takes out his grapple gun, hooks one end of the line to a beam, and then scales his way down.

“It’s just me,” he says.

[demigoth]

It’s me isn’t very reassuring, nor is dropping down on a rope like a giant spider or having a blood red helmet on one’s head.

Nico’s hand is on the grip of his sword. The ghosts aren’t necessarily lemures, unfriendly and angry, and wouldn’t be able to do much to protect him even if ordered. “This is Andrew’s place. Find your own place to camp.”

Not for the first time, Nico missed the Mist. There’s nothing to hide how weird this must look. Ghosts are normal here, and magic, but people don’t like darker powers. He’s had to stop summoning skeletal forest creatures when he’s bored.

“It’s not my place,” Andrew says in a voice that crackles like a dusty old book. “It’s the clown’s.”

[robintohood]

Jason freezes and stares at the spirit. So the bastard was here. But nothing about the scene before him is making sense. Is the green pool a Lazarus Pit or something else?

“The Joker’s?” He asks. The growl he uses as the Red Hood is dropped and in its place is a more solemn tone. “The Joker is who got you?”

[demigoth]

The ghost shrinks back behind Nico, and Nico glares at the interloper with righteous fury. He isn’t sure what’s making Andrew wary, aside from the guy in general. How dare he just interrupt like this, when Nico’s busy trying to get Andrew’s spirit to rest. Doesn’t he know how dangerous it is to upset the dead? Imbecile.

“You don’t speak to him,” he says angrily, ordering the man like he’s another shade. “You aren’t welcome here. Leave.”

[robintohood]

Jason remains where he stands and keeps his hands visible to show he means no harm.

“Nico, it’s me,” He says. “Jason.”

At this point, the teenager already knows more about Jason’s family than most people do. He’s friends with Tim and knows things about his family’s costumed life. He might as well know about the Red Hood too.

[demigoth]

Nico considers this. Now that the man’s closer, he can see that he’s the right build and, yes, admittedly he does sound like Jason. Nico probably should have realized sooner, but he’s a little caught up in controlling the dead -

“I said no!” Another ghost is knocked away from the grave, its misty energy sucked down into one of the cracks in the floor. “I only want to talk to little one. And stop distracting me, Jason.”

[robintohood]

Jason still feels very uneasy by the whole scene before him particularly the green pool.

“What are you trying to do?” He asks, gesturing at the pool. “What is that?”

[demigoth]

“It’s a grave,” he says like Jason just asked Picasso what a crayon was. “I dug a grave to find out who Andrew is and why he’s stuck in the warehouse.”

Obviously. This can hardly be a surprise that it’s a summoning.

[robintohood]

It’s an explanation at least, though not one that relaxes Jason. He pulls his gaze away from the green and towards Nico again.

“The Joker. He was one of the Joker’s victims,” he says solemnly.

[demigoth]

“The gangster with the guns and gas.” Nico’s been warned about him in the past, but he hasn’t taken the warnings as seriously as one might hope. He’s used to monsters and armies. He can take one clown in a purple suit.

… oh but the ghost did say it was a clown. “He might not want to talk about it. I was going to help him cross over if he didn’t want to stay here.”

The ghost pipes up faintly. “Not supposed to go south of 17th. I want to go home.”

[robintohood]

Jason steps back a little, wanting to let Nico focus on what he was doing before. The ghost needs to rest and he doesn’t want to distract Nico further.

[demigoth]

He... really doesn't like having a witness to this. It bothers people, like Percy and Reyna, even if they don't say it and don't treat him differently. He knows that they know, and then it's always hovering in his head when they look at him.

And he knows that this isn't a normal situation - if it does involve the Joker guy, well... that's Jason's only personal quest to solve. "How did you end up here, if you're not supposed to go south of 17th?"

CW: Death of a child

[robintohood]

The ghost named Andrew stares back at Nico with regretful eyes.

“Was taken,” he replies sadly. “He said he needed a guinea pig. See if it could put a smile on me.”

Jason’s blood goes cold at the response. It’s too painfully easy to imagine what happened.

“Was it a gas?” He asks seriously.

The ghost nods sadly.

“Tried to fight but…”

Andrew looks away from Jason, evidently not wanting to talk more of what happened.

Jason remains still as rage and sadness boil and mix in him. How many victims does there need to be before someone finally ends the Joker?

“Nico, can murder victims be put to rest?” He asks grimly.