12757/What Big Apartments You Have, Red Hood

What Big Apartments You Have, Red Hood
Date of Scene:	11 September 2022
Location:	8204 Jason Todd - R.H. Kane Building
Synopsis:	Gabby invades Jason's apartment to complain and make omelettes.
Cast of Characters:	Jason Todd, Gabby Kinney

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Jason Todd has posed:
Mid day on a Sunday. After being out most of the night helping to shut down a drug operation near the waterfront, he had come home and crashed out hard till finally waking up when the sun began to blind him from the gap between the curtains.

Finally stepping out of his bedroom after a long hot shower, he wears shorts and a teeshirt. Barefoot he makes his way to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee before moving to the living space. Dropping onto the sofa, he flips on the tv to check on game scores. It was the first week of football. How could he not?

Propping his feet up, he channel surfs and sips coffee.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
It's not long after he's sit down to enjoy the television that his phone goes off with a quick series of text messages. Short, rapid fire, energetic. Gabby in a nutshell.

'Hey where you at?'
'Shoot sorry, you awake yet in the first place?'
'And if you are, you got some free time?'
'I know you're not at the garage but it's early for patrol so I figure you're at your apartment.'
'I mean I checked at the garage and you weren't there anyway.'
'Damn I sound stalkerish sorry.'
'But seriously you free?'

While texting, Gabby herself is out in the hall leading to his apartment pacing back and forth with her phone in one hand and a few plastic grocery bags in the other. "This is dumb," she mumbles to herself, "I'm being dumb. Why am I being dumb." Yet. There she was.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd had begun to sip his coffee when his phone blows up for all intents and purposes.

"... the hell?" He pauses his sip to pick up his phone. As he thumbs through the messages he sips from the mug and can't help but chuckle.

One handed, he thumbs back a reply.

- I'm at my apt.
-I'm up but just barely.
-I'm as free as a bird.
-Yes. Still at my apt.
-Pretty stalkerish. I don't mind much. It's kind of hot.
-As free as a serious bird can be seriously free.

A moment later he texts back with the address of Kane Towers and his floor/room number.

-Just let the doorman know you're here to see me. I'll send Al a message so he knows to look for you.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
There's an awkwardly long pause before there's a knock at the door. It wasn't anywhere NEAR long enough for her to have been on her way here. She was already here. SUPER STALKER.

Gabby shifts her weight from one foot to the other feeling like an idiot. A quick text is shot back, simply, 'Already here.' As if the knock on the door wasn't evidence enough.

Looking up again she puts on a sheepish smile waiting while bouncing one leg in aggitation and repressed energy.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd smirks.

- I kind of figured. My place isn't exactly secret.

He stands up and heads over to the door. He knows enough to open the door and step to the side to let the HyperBadger bound in. His ribs were a bit sore after the night before.

"So. Hi?" He closes the door. "Coffee is fresh if you want any. I think they'll arrest me for causing a disaster if I give you caffeine and sugar in your present state. Might still be worth it. Anyway. What's got you bouncing like a superball?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney breezes in through the door holding up the grocery bags on her fingertips to indicate them as she heads in. She starts in one direction, only to veer off as the scent of coffee indicates where the kitchen is.

"Wouldn't do anything to me other than maybe be like a placebo or something," she responds about the caffiene and sugar situation. Who knows, maybe she liked that though. It did smell good.

"First off, I need to apologize because I really upset Phoebe accidentally and you might want to check on her, I'm telling Tim this too, and I just--" She pauses, stopping where she is to take a deep breath.

"Just had a lot of reality hit me at once and I need a distraction. Want a omelette? I'm not a great cook but I know how to make that at least."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd kind of watches Hurricane Gabby blow in. He knows better than to try and slow her down. Instead he follows along behind her, intent on warming up his cup as she talks. But then he frowns.

"So.. you upset Pheeb?" He looks to her, knowing that wouldn't have been done out of spite, "What happened?" He then gestures, "Sure, if you like. Pans are to the right of the stove. The drawer above has a couple spatulas. I've got some half and half if you want to use it." Not everyone uses milk or cream in their omelettes. But some do.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"It's complicated. Long story. Maybe not so complicated," Gabby reasons aloud, still jabbering as she thankfully sets the groceries down on the counter. The pan is gathered, stove flicked on, and she searchese for a bowl by opening every cupboard unless he directly says which one it's in. Eventually she finds it.

"Phoebe was originally being trained by some of the founders of the JLD, and a fake demonic John Constantine. She considered him a dad--Until he was banished and found out to be a demon. But Jon and Chas were also father figures to her in a way, kind of, and so it was a lot of emotional turmoil for her and part of why she keeps running off to try and take care of things herself." A stiff shrug comes and she flips out the carton of eggs.

Poor eggs. They start to get cracked open into the bowl, and she pauses to blow a length of hair out of her face.

"Could you pull my hair back? Trying not to get it in the eggs," she asks innocently enough. "So, uh, Jon and Chas and Rien my oldest sister, ended up running the JLD after they had a falling out with Phoebe."

"And Jon recently decided to go exploring other dimensions with his family and stepped down. Only, then," another egg crack. This one is a bit too hard and she cracks it straight through to the edge of the bowl causing a mess.

"Chas and Rien apparently started a relationship and decided to also step down and leave and I broke the news to her yesterday that they're gone. She was upset."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd reaches up and gets a large mixing bowl for her, handing it over as she begins to explain. Once she has the utensils, including a whisk.

He had turned to refill his mug and gets asked for more help. Happy he walks back over. "So. Am I like holding your hair or do you have a hair tie? Wait. I've got this. I can do this." He turns and pulls one of those packs of twist ties out. Peeling one off the card, he walks back over. Problem solved. He gathers up her hair and carefully wraps it around but only gives it one twist. Enough to hold it as requested.

"Okay. so... this is like a soap opera of Justice League Dark. If I'd have known that, I'd have gotten the scotch out. This is going to get good, I can tell.." He doesn't mean the parts about Phoebe. He's concerned about her. But the rest? It's already sounding like the world turning on inspecific hospital.

"I.. well. you know I only know a little. I did meet Rien and Chas and Jon when we helped Jessica free her ring. Other than that? I think it was... Cael? I think she was the first I met. Anyway. doesn't matter." He pauses, finally getting his coffee. "Ok. So it wasn't you that upset Pheeb as much as it was the news you gave her?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney dips her head down just a little bit when he gathers her hair up to put it up with a... you know, she didn't want to know. It worked for the moment so she wasn't going to be overly picky about it. "I did in my pocket but this works too." Whatever it was. It worked. Besides, did she really need him reaching into her pocket? Probably not.

"Yeah," she agrees with a deep sigh. "I mean they basically fucked off to who-knows-where without even saying goodbye. That's got to hurt." The whisk is taken up to flip through the eggs in the bowl, pausing only after a few moments to add some shakes of salt, pepper, and the like. Garlic powder? Just a bit.

A glance is cast back over her shoulder at Jason with a wry smile. "Completely like a soap opera. Everything just went so fast. There were these elder gods trying to break through into our dimension we were dealing with, and we pushed them back, sealed the rift, and then everyone just kind of..." Her hands lift, whisk in one hand to gesture with a simple, "Boom. Gone. A lot of people decided to take a break after that. They went through hell, I can't blame them. Just now we're left without any active leaders. Or at least, not the same ones."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd chuckles. "I'm pretty cavalier but even I know better than to try and do that even if you gave permission." He'd nudge her but, cooking. "Yeah. I can understand that. Not an easy thing to face, people you think you know just turning away or leaving without word. I'll have to try and catch her and talk to her."

He leans on the counter beside her, watching as she cooks, sipping at his mug. Nodding, "Yeah. That's.. not something I'd care to have to fight. I'd just bleed all over. Not very useful. A break does seem like a fair chioce after something like that. But no. All leadership of any group turning over at the same time? Mm." He shakes his head.

"Everyone has to do what's right for themselves but that not a good thing." He stops short of asing what she needs him to do with the group. He already backed away from being active. Talking with Tim had made it clear that other than being a bit of support it wasn't a thing he cared to get into full time.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Smart man," Gabby concedes when he points out he wasn't going to reach into her pocket. It does earn a little grin at least which was needed after her rambling session. The fact that she was moving around and cooking right now seemed to help as well given it put her hands to work doing something. The promise of food was always a good thing too.

"Right, exactly. Everyone leaving, completely, is just a death knell. There's still good people there that need help and support of a team like that, though. Plus we just got another new recruit in--"

The sizzling of her egg concoction cooking causes her to pause with spatula in hand to stir it around before it completely cooks. It helped to fluff up the egg per Gordon Ramsey. Then she leaves it alone to crack open a pack of shredded cheese also in her grocery bag.

"So I'm... I kind of took over. Temporarily. Kind of. I'm not a magic user but maybe that's a good thing. I can organize and do all that stuff I've done for the Outsiders before."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd smirks, "I have been known to have my moments of clarity."

"Anything I can help with? You want some bacon? I've got some of those microwave packs. I hate making the place smell like bacon after pan frying. It takes forever to clear the air." He also turns to get out some plates and forks. "Toast?' If she's going to cook a breakfast food it needs to be a full on breakfast or it just isn't proper.

"Okay. So.. you're going to be running things? Are congratulations in order? Or is this where I'm supposed to tell you that this sounds like a very bad idea? I don't know if it is. But I play to win, so I'll tell you if it helps me win points." He is only half joking.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney nods solemnly. "If I ever turn down bacon, I'm an imposter. And I'm kind of freaking out over this now that things have sunk in. I know I can do it, I've done it before, but this is a bit unexpected." Then again so was Tim and half the Outsiders getting kidnapped.

"Toast, yes, and there better be some of that coffee left," she adds with a growing grin. At least breakfast was going to be good from the way it was going. "I need to meet with everyone and let them know what's going on, explain my stance on things. See if anyone wants to help. Though I'm going to be reaching out to some of the more well-known magic sorts, too. I think it'll be fine. Just realizing how much of a commitment I'm taking on when I have to wear a necklace just to tell me when magic is being done around me."

"That's kind of my point though. I know when I need help with things, I'm not about to go off on my own trying to tackle every problem solo." Unlike some others, goes unsaid.

Finishing the omelette she flips it in the pan, then splits it down the center with the spatula before sliding one part each on a plate.

"... Sorry for dumping all of this on you, Jason. Thanks for listening though."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd says, "Noted. You turn down bacon, bullet to the head immediately." He's joking. JOKING.

Right?

"Yeah, it's pretty sudden seeming. I'm sure you can do it. And.. I'll be holding a sign of encouragement for you from over on the sidelines? I'm really not looking to get into playing leader for any group of scouts. Particularly a group that fights things I can't even see half the time." Ghosts peering in ear holes for example.

"Toast and bacon it is." He gets the bacon in the microwave and then toast in the toaster. It's good break - sourdough.

"Hey. You need to talk. I'm here. What isn't to like about that? I get fed, you get to talk. Seems win-win to me."

He sets out the plates. "Still some coffee yeah. I'll get you a cup and start a new pot.""

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney flips off the stove as her portion of The Breakfasting was done being made. The promised coffee is turned to at that point and she steps over reaching out to lightly touch Jason's back as she waits for that to be made up. "Still, thanks. I don't blame you for wanting to not lead something like this of course. It's the same concerns I have regarding it. Maybe magic ought to be tempered with one of us not-quite-magic sorts sometimes though. Not a 'reality check' so much as like, an anchor to ground them."

"Maybe after this we can do something stupid."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd shakes his head, "I don't want to lead anything. Not my calling right now" he says with a smirk. Soon the toast is out as well as the bacon. "Butter for the toast. Jelly or no?" He gets it all out because he's going to us it himself.

"Cream and sugar for your coffee by the way?"

"You've just given the title of my autobiography, you know that right?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney leans her elbows on the countertop allowing him to go to work on the toast and coffee. "I'm good with just butter. Cream and sugar in the coffee though, please. I can drink it black or with just sugar, but it's more relaxing to drink it with both." Right now there was no immediate urge to be trying to keep herself awake to all hours.

An amused grin creeps over her while she watches him go about the tasks, just enjoying his company silently for a few moments. Her hand lifts to gingerly touch the back of her hair figuring out by feel alone what it was he'd held her hair up with. It earns a faintly amused snort.

"Is it? Because it's me. I'm the stupid thing." It's all said super innocently, a bad joke she wasn't sure she'd even offered out properly. Once the coffee is ready she reaches over to pull it close for a quick sip.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd gets out all of the required fixings for, well, everything. He lets her prepare her meal first. "Coffee needs cream and sugar unless I'm trying to punish myself." Like Bruce or something."

He prepares his food as he likes once Gabby finishes. Then he moves to drop onto one of bar stools to begin eatting. After a bite he nods. "It's good. Really good." A nod of affirmation.

He heh's softly, "You're not stupid. This whole thing is a lot of presusre. But you're handling it well." He lightly bumps her bicep with his elbow. "You make a good team mate and friend. Because you care. It's good." Like he is one to say much about good or bad. Still.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney takes a good, long sip of the properly creamed and sugared coffee letting the warmth soak into her. It really was relaxing in that manner. Just as she picks up a fork to start in on her own plate that little elbow and reassurance comes from Jason earning a grin.

"Thanks. Enjoy your omelette."