15628/The quiet after the storm (party)

The quiet after the storm (party)
Date of Scene:	16 August 2023
Location:	Upstairs - Red Cave
Synopsis:	After the rest of the Family suprised Jason with a party on his birthday, Phoebe drops by to visit and talk a while. Then bad movies were watched. A perfect birthday probably.
Cast of Characters:	Jason Todd, Phoebe Beacon

---

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason had been set up. Lured out to do the most horrible thing ever. Spend time with Family to celebrate his birthday. It even made him smile and laugh a few times. The horror.

With the arcade closing and the party officially ended, Jason made his way back to his place at the garage.

Heading up to the living space, he tosses his jacket on the back of a chair, like most of the clothing in his place to be honest.

He sets the gift card and the uber-powered blender Tim gave him on the kitchen counter and grabs a beer from the 'fridge. Walking back to the couch he drops easily onto it and opens the bottle of beer. He mercilessly flicks the cap over Church's head causing the lanky, bushy Maine Coon cat to leap into the air to try and grab at it.

With a grin, Jason turns on the TV and lets out a quiet sigh. It had been a fun night. Not that he wanted to admit it.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The orange porche cabriolet that Phoebe drives (and drives is a very loose term; she's not experienced as the others in the family yet and all of her driving lessons end when she ends up violencing someone for some reason) would have been too obvious, so of course she prefers her usual, slightly beat-up Honda Cafe racer that's been souped up to be very much not street legal.

    Also illegal is the six-pack of long necks that she pulls from the saddle bag, along with a bag of cat treats to bribe Church with, and she makes it up the stairs with the six-pack in one hand and the heels she had been wearing in the other, calling out a 'KNOCK KNOCK' to alert Jason to her presence.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd looks up, "Door's locked" he quips dryly. "C'mon in Pheeb." He sees the 'presents' and smirks, "Not even Church's birthday and he gets presents too. Spoiled little bastard." He doesn't really mean it. He loves that cat even if he doesn't ever say it.

"Have fun at the arcade? It was pretty cool." The gathering, his siblings and extended family remembering him. But the arcade was cool too.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Yeah, I mean got distracted trying to beat ASS on the Addams Family game -- seeing Damian get the King Cheddar rating though was satisfying." she states, and she gives a little wiggle of the six pack she's brought too.

    "Curtesy of a cat behavior specialist working out of Bludhaven." she jokes -- it's a fake ID stating she's 23. Generally for use for getting around the country legally as Not Phoebe and not using her magic card.

    "And Church is a spoiled bastard. Who's a cute spoiled little cat?" she asks of Church, and then joins him on the couch.

    "Don't tell Dick though. Him knowing I've had *two* alcoholic drinks might put me on the Cop-dar." she jokes, and then she frowns "... or Tim's Tres Disappointment chart."

Jason Todd has posed:
"There was ASS all over that arcade. Someone's got money to be beating all those games." He snorts, "Watch it's probably Bruce. He's got the coin for it." A grin.

"Yeah? Well sounds like that specialist needs to know this little fluffy bastard better" he mutters lightly.

"Dick and Tim will both just.. know. They take after Bruce." He shrugs, "But believe me. Being on their Cop-dar or Disappointment lists isn't anything to worry about. I've been on both of them as long as they've known me."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "ANd the patience, the willpower, probably the knowledge of how to tilt juuust enough --" Phoebe comments, her eyes narrowing as she draws up one of the bottles, and with a little more difficulty (and probably a curse word) manages to open the not-twist cap.

    "We all take after Bruce in some ways. I think it's just inevitable -- Dick doesn't interact with me much though. Our paths never cross more than a short 'oh hey you exist'." Phoeb points out. "And... you already know all about my loyalty crisis to Tim. Heh-- poor Tim." she holds her drink a moment, and then lifts the bottle to her lips.

    "At least my separation was clean. I still owe Lonnie theft of kneebaps." she mutters.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd says, "Clearly someone there is a wizard of some sort." Then he laughs, "It's Barbara. Has to be her" he grins. "We'd never guess she'd use ASS as her alias to beat all the gamer geeks!" He grins at himself.

Sipping at the beer he already has, he gestures, "Help yourself.." she brought them to share after all, right?

"Tim borrows his own trouble. He'd be better off if he'd just relax." Then he pauses, "Separation?" Brow arches, "From Tim?""

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    There's a snort from Phoebe, then she smiles and shakes her head "I don't think I could part ways from Tim. He brought me into this whole mess and was my first mentor. He doesn't get to escape from me so easily." she jokes, and then she leans back against the arm of the couch, her legs folded under. She's still wearing the Red Hood "Bat" T-shirt she had at the party.

    "No... ah... Robbie and I split." she states, with a careful tone to her voice. "We hadn't seen each other in person due to work. So..." she shrugs quietly.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd nods, "I know. Still. You poor thing. Stuck with him" Tim that is. It's a joke. Brothers do this kind of stuff.

He idly flips through channels on the menu guide. Crap. Crap. Repeat Crap. Crappity Crap. Conspiracy Crap. Alien Crap. Having every streaming service and not finding a single good thing on. First world problems.

He turns off the tv and tosses the remote on the couch between them.

"Yeah? Sorry to hear that." He sips at his bottle, "That's pretty much what happened with Jess and me. You'd think being called out nightly for patrol was bad. Guess the life of a Green Lantern is worse. Haven't.. heard or seen her back on Earth since she said goodbye. Last fall." He shrugs. "Moving on isn't easy but everyone says it gets better. Guess it does. Eventually."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Could be worse. Look at Essix. She's stuck with Dick." Phoebe points out playfully, her eyebrows rising up, and then she breathes out. Her shoulders and jaw slack, and there on the other end of Jason's couch is the Real Deal Phoebe. The one who has quietly filed away everything she's ever done wrong and examined it over and over to get it right next time. The one who twitches if you reach too fast to touch her.

    "It's a bit different." Phoebe replies quietly, and she fiddles with the lip of her bottle, looking towards the TV and the reflection of the room.

    "He was patient as I worked through my problems with touch. There's only like, three or four people who can touch me, you know? After what happened in Montana, after all the shit last year. With him I wasn't the most dangerous thing in the room." she looks at the label of the bottle in contemplation.

    "I didn't realize how much I missed being touched."

Jason Todd has posed:
"Yeah... she seems an odd one. Something more to her than I know about I'm sure. But I guess if Dick thinks she's okay to have around?" He shrugs. "That's on him and Bat Daddy."

"Different isn't bad. It's change. We all hate change. We like the status quo. Even when it isn't right. It's comfortable." He shrugs quietly.

Then he nods. "Yeah. I can see that. Though you were never the most dangerous thing in a room" whether he believes that or was just never scared of her might be two different things.

"Yeah. Humans aren't really meant to be completely isolated."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "she's learning fast. She'll probably end up joining TIm's group, since we have a moritorium to keep on drafting Aliens." Phoebe jokes about her Outsiders. She was protective of everyone in the group -- including Jason himself. Which doesn't show when she mutters:

    "... with the right spell and enough magic I could teleport your spleen to Alaska and cause your kidneys to produce glitter instead of urine." Phoebe replies ruefully, and she leans down carefully to grab her notebooks from her bag.

    "I'm not completely Human, regardless."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd looks over at Phoebe, "And with anything, including a facial tissue I could find a way to kill you in under five seconds flat." It's matter of fact. "People forget that I was trained by the League after I came back." And a lot of people underestimate him as a result of forgetting.

"Neither am I."

"Coming back by way of a Lazarus Pit... things aren't the same. They never will be. Change. Different. It's how life is."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "And currently being trained by Talia. Bruce seemed to think we were good for one another." Phoebe purses her lips, and her nose wrinkles when she gives a smile. "Surprised the hell out of Damian when I pulled one of his mom's disarming moves on him, then got told off for not following through with the stab through the stomach." Phoebe adds conspiritially to Jason.

    And she offers a small sound as she tilts her head back, exposing her neck. "My ancestors kept careful pedigrees to avoid 'What Plagues the Pharoahs as not Gifts and Godliness, but punishment and weakness'" Phoebe appears to be quoting, "There's more than one Homo Magi line in my ancestry. Probably some weird ones from around NOrth Eastern Africa." she pauses, and looks back to Jason.

    "... it's true that it causes madness, doesn't it? Coming back in a Lazarus Pit?"

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd frowns. Darkly. Hearing that Talia is training Phoebe doesn't seem to sit well with him. But all he says is, "You need to be careful." He has his reasons apparently.

"Doesn't matter what you are, Phoebe. What matters is who you choose to be." Now that sounds just like a certain someone doesn't it? And he'll shoot anyone who makes that comparison in the face. Twice.

He takes a long swallow from his beer then nods.

Inclining his head to the side to affirm, he adds with a weary tone, "It's true." He idly swirls the last of the beer in his bottle around in the bottom. "No idea how long I was back but not myself. Days. Weeks. People think I was a ball of rage when Red Hood first showed up.."

He stares off across the room without focusing on anything and he snorts bitterly.

"No one wants to see that Me."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "I know. They get into your head. I've had enough actual demons trying to manipulate me. Talia's taken a shine to me though..." Phoebe replies quietly to Jason, and then she breathes out.

    "But is it really you? Or just an effect? Like, if I were to turn off my healing ability, that just lets me drink horrible poisonous things continually and actually get drunk -- is it the real me? Or just a focused part of me?" she questions, holding up her beer like Vana White.

    "I had my emotions erased once. I thought it let me See, clearly. But having no emotions at all just made me monstrous." she replies quietly, and then she toys with a page in her notebook.

    "I think I have a seal that will dampen my healing abilities now. I was working on it for a Special Project."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd listens and considers, staring at the swirling golden liquid in his beer bottle.

"THat's always the question. Not sure I have the answer."

He tosses off the last of the bottle's contents. "I just know that -that- me wasn't really me. Can't speak for you, Pheeb." He shrugs. "Monstrous wouldn't be an inaccurate word for it, yeah."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "It wouldn't be." Phoebe agrees quietly, and she reaches down to the bottles she brought, and hands one over to Jason.

    "I'm glad I got you in my life, Jay. I can always trust you to not sugarcoat or hold back." she states, and then she looks over to him, and leans back against the arm of the couch again, and she opens her mouth, then closes it quietly.

    "Look, this is gonna be a weird request -- but can I lean up against you instead of the couch arm? I just... I miss being able to be touched."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd glances over, "It's only weird because you asked" he says with a faint smile. "Of course you can." He lifts his left arm. "I've said it before, you don't scare me. I.. am glad I can offer you opinions that are useful." Not a lot of people think his are really.

"I always spoken my mind. Usually gets me in trouble" he says with a chuckle.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    ANd Phoebe shifts around, and leans against Jason, settling in against him as she closes her eyes.

    "Yeah, that's because some people don't like it when you're not agreeable. Then they tell you you're weak and useless, and you end up wrong-calling a demon and moving to Kansas after your vocal cords are ripped out of your body."

    She tilts her head back, and finishes her bottle.

    "... or maybe that's just me."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd lightly wraps his arm around her shoulders, hugging her. "No. I think that's probably just you. But let's stop making things like that a habit?" He grabs the remote with his free hand. "So. Bad movie night? There should be plenty of those on.." he offers with a smile.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Especially if it's a Japanese Kaiju movie. I can tell you where the translators got it wrong." Phoebe smiles, settling against Jason.

    "Happy Birthday."