13566/Missing Church

Missing Church
Date of Scene:	13 December 2022
Location:	Red Cave (14th Street Garage) - Park Row
Synopsis:	Jason arrives home to the 14th Street garage and finds its resident furry curmudgeon is among the missing. A brief investigation - no AR needed - to find Phoebe up in the rafters with Church betraying Jason's definitely-not-affection towards the (darn) cat. He's really just mad that someone snuck into his home and not that he was concerned the cat was missing.
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Jason Todd

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Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    You know the drill, how it goes. You come in, you go about your day, and you realize that something's not right. Something's missing. Sometimes it's that your alarmclock got moved. Or someone was rustling through your underwear drawer, or looking through your dirty laundry. The shampoo was out of place. The soap put in the wrong corner of the kitchen sink. It just nags.

    And sometimes the place is quiet... a little too quiet... missing a furred friend who should have been complaining about a foodbowl being empty.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd had a long day. It rained all day because Gotham winter is never really a 'White Christmas' kind of town. If it has snow, it's covered in grime. Or it's yellow.

He was tired. He was cold. He was wet. He was cold and wet and he was grumpy. More grumpy.

Rolling into the garage on his bike, Red Hood parks and shut everything down. Walking toward the loft, he sighs, pulling his helmet off, he has serious helmet hair and he just don't care. Even with his armor, the rain has managed to find ways to soak into his bones. Parts of his anatomy are numb.

Trudging up, he makes his way to start the water for a shower to thaw out and feel human again.

Then it hits him, when he's halfway undressed, his armored jacket and top tossed onto a chair. He frowns and glances around. He looks down at his still booted feet.

".... Church..? HEY. Church!"

Silence.

He frowns and walks out of the bathroom to look around the living space. "Church? Where the hell are you?" It wasn't like The Cat to be anti social. Sure, he only liked to co-habitate and seeks out affection and pettings on his own terms, but he was part of the Garage. He'd made it -his- Garage. As much as Jason scoffed at that notion, deep down he knew it was true. And it was an unspoken comfort. There was something - someONE - to come home to. Even if the little bastard ate him out of house and home practically.

"... Church?" The tone was more suspicious now. Bordering on concerned. "Church!"

The food bowl wasn't empty. Water was still good. "... the hell -are- you, stupid cat..."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Maybe the cat is caught in a closet, stuck between the window and the screen. Any manner of places cats can wander around to. The doors hadn't been opened. The security alarm hadn't activated.

    The couch, though, was ruffled. Looks like someone put a cushion back on slightly the wrong way, and it's hanging at an angle.

    The blinds had been adjusted.

    Someone had been here.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd frowns. Church has never been so clumsy, even with his size, as to get caught in a closet, or a window.

The cushion causes him to frown. The window? That causes a bigger frown.

"... the hell is going on here." Time to put detectiving to use. No one could just open the window and bypass the security. Only Selina could do that in Gotham. Bruce wouldn't bother with a window. Everyone else knew how to get in. So.. " Dark thoughts are to be had.

Looking at the window, he turns, jaw set. He hasn't drawn a gun. Because this is his place. But if someone hurt Church? That someone was gonna pay. Dearly.

No one was in the loft. Turning, Jason made his way silently down the stairs to the garage, looking around suspiciously. The hot steaming shower water left running and forgotten.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The garage is exactly how he left it when he entered. There is no sign of church here, but there is a cloying flowery smell. Sweet and spice.

    And a mostly dry bootprint. Too small to be Jason's. High arched. Maybe one forty, one thirty. The bootprint is nearly dry.

    And there is a bright pink catnip mouse hiding among the workbenches. Who'd buy Church catnip toys? ... especially in bright pink?

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd knows that smell. He can guess at the bootprint. The mousie toy? That's.. odd. He pauses and looks around slowly. No alerts were sent indicating the Red Cave was accessed. So. Here.

He walks around slowly, searching because he's sure she's here, now. Just not where.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Well, she's not in his room. Not in the livingroom. Not in the garage. Definitely not in the shower (that's still running). And Church is still nowhere to be found. Where else was there to even look? Did she take his cat?!

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd frowns. Glowers. Scowls. This is most distressing to him as much as he would never admit it. He walks over to the pink catnip mouse and looks at it. Why was it there.

Absently, he looks up. Because no one ever looks up.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    No one ever looks up.

    Phoebe is there. In the rafters of the garage, her wet hair wrapped in a towel, wearing an under-armor shirt and a pair of boxer shorts, with Church sprawled out over her lap. She has the biggest, shit-eating grin on her face as she reaches down to pet on Church's head.

    "He was all worried about you, huh Church?"

Jason Todd has posed:
Caught.

He scowls. "Don't like thinking someone's broke into my place." But that's not it. He looks at the cat, then to Phoebe. "Pink mouse toys? Really?" He holds it up and scowls at it then up to Church, not at Phoebe. That he is cold and damp and aching from the day out in bad weather is once again on his mind. Now that the Case of the Pilfered Phee-line has been solved, he mutters, "Going to shower. Be out in a bit."

A glance is spared for Church.

"Traitor."

But is he really? If scritches are to be had, pettings to be given, how can Church not turn-coat? It's a no brainer. Scritches win.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Well. If you want gentle head-scritches I can give those to you after you get outta the shower?" Phoebe offers, mostly in jest as loops a secure hand around Church, and she comes down from the rafters with a smile, letting Church go.

    "And the mousey is enrichment. He doesn't care what color it is." she retorts.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd misses half a step. He glances over his shoulder at Phoebe's joking comment, then looks to Church as if pondering if the not-so-little bastard wasn't actually the smarter of the two of them.

"Enrichment" Jason grumps. "He's a cat. Not flour." Someone protests too much.

Jason disappears with that, seeking said hot shower that has now turned the bathoom into a poor man's sauna.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "He's a sentient being, and sentient beings need mental enrichment! And it's a catnip mouse, it's not like I'm dressing your cat up in suits." Phoeb gives a laugh, rubbing at her hair as Jason goes to disappear into that steaming room, and she turns her eyes down to Church.

    "I know for a fact he has enrichment. Punching bags, deadweights, having no cat toys for you for enrichment's just mean." she jokes to the cat.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd heard the comments but is more interested in getting that shower. If only to avoid having to talk about the fact he was concerned. About a cat.

Even if it is Church who is no ordinary cat.
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