16296/It's Always Raining in Gotham City

It's Always Raining in Gotham City
Date of Scene:	09 November 2023
Location:	Level 4 - Recreation - The Roost
Synopsis:	A meeting with the newest Outsider, pizza and Laura's hot sauce are involved.
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Bart Allen, Conner Kent, Tim Drake, Kiden Nixon

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Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    It IS always rainy in Gotham City, except when thematically appropriate. Unfortunately it's raining today.

    Which means Phoebe is a bit soaked, her pink hair damp, wearing a hoodie that *certainly* doesn't belong to her (as it's too big for her frame), carrying several boxes of pizza, a couple trays of pasta, some plastic bags with soft drinks, and is teetering slightly, wearing jeans and a chonky fall sweater decorated in warm colors.

    "Bart? Baaaaaaaart are you in? I could use a hand with some quick set up! Conner's bringing by the new recruit!" she calls out to the speedster as she teeters slightly "Man I hope five pizzas is going to be enough for everyone -- there's also two tupperwares of the Cherry Tye-Dyes and the Raspberry Lemonades in the kitchen, and I think there's a platter of Alfred Brownies in the freezer unless you've already found 'em!" she calls out, good naturedly.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen has came in today to make sure all the animals are fed. He might not stay at the roost as much as he used to but he makes sure to make multiple stops in during the day. So now, he has set out food dishes for all the pets who live here, and is kneeled down on the floor in the kitchen, giving Mr. Murder Mittens the black cat who lives here scratches as he eats. Bart has his costume on but his hood down. "So you like that Triple M?" He says to the cat, and after a bit more scratching he will stand and move to raid the fridge, so anyone coming in will see one of the most common sights around a speedster's back half with the front half in the fridge. When he hears Phoebe, he comes into the main room with eggroll in hand. He will munch it, and says "Oh cool" He moves to take the food, and sets it on the table setting stuff up for her. He finishes his eggroll afterwards and says "Hmmm, I have met her as Bart, wonder if I should do hood up or down."

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner sent the info about Kiden a couple weeks ago. So, background checks were done, Laura vouched for her, and she was invited to an operation that didn't go very well (because teleporting mages cheat!). And then he starting dating her, which was unplanned, but he is not complaining.

But it means he is the one that brings the mutant girl to the Roost, using the secret entrance from the lower floor of a parking garage a couple blocks away. The place has been 'closed for reforms' since forever.

"We have been here about three years now," he tells Kiden. "Before this... well, there was a place north of New York. But it was borrowed. This is all Robin's." All being a lower floor that seems to have labs and a gym, and then upstairs, through an elevator, to the 'rec room' which pretty much is what one would expect of a group of people that were about 18 when the set it up.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Usually Tim likes to be around for proper introductions, but he's been busy with some undercover work for some time now, and more recently has been gone on assignment for Bat-work in an undisclosed location. He makes a point of traveling back to Gotham for this, though, and his bike is parked in the garage when Conner arrives escorting Kiden.

    Though for the moment Tim himself is nowhere to be seen. Really, he'd meant it to be just a few moments, stealing off to the manufacturing lab in the levels below for some secret project or another, one of the ones he's always working on. He's aware that he's running late now, the Roost's computer network alerting him of everyone's arrivals, and he falls back on old habits rather than sheepishly arrive via elevator.

    Which is a long paragraph to explain that Red Robin pops out of a vent in th rec room ceiling that looks way too small for him, drops silently to the floor, and reaches up to adjust his domino mask before offering a wordless wave. "Welcome to the Roost," he says, casually.

Kiden Nixon has posed:
Kiden is completely stoked about the whole thing, from the secret entrance, to the opulence of the place (hush, she lived on the street until two weeks ago!), and the excitement of meeting 'the gang'. She moves along with him, nodding here and there as she listens, head bobbing agreeably.

"I mean, you could have brought me to some low-rent housing project and I wouldn't know any different. But this is great! I'm just.. you know.. happy to be here." Lifting a shrug, she offers a lopsided smile towards Conner.

Kiden is in one of Conner's leather jackets, a bright orange fitted v-neck t-shirt, and shiny black pvc pants, and knee-high boots with thick rubber soles. That said.. the moment someone pops out of a vent, she jumps and gives a little shriek, "AH! What?!" She seems to have... blurred.. a little there... for a moment. Bart gets that weird heat-wave sight of her again, jumping, starting to run, then pausing, and returning back to Conner's side. She lifts a hand and offers a sheepish smile, "Uh.. hi."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Balm steps out of the kitchen, wearing dark gray tech pants and a bolero-style hoodie, with a fancy domino on with the blue lenses. She gives a wave and her digitally altered voice states:

    "Welcome! Have some of the pizza before Impulse gets to it. There's two pepperoni, two supreme, and the bottom one is Mushroom, Green Pepper, Onion and Extra Cheese." she states, and she pauses. She looks at Red Robin. She looks at the vent. She tries not to laugh which results in her giving a snort.

    "Ordinarily there'd be more, but a lot of people are out working tonight."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen decides he trusts Conner's opinion. If he is bringing her here then she can probably be trusted. He keeps the mask down and comes walking over with a piece of pizza, and says "There is still most of two supremes there." He offers. He looks over and says "Yea, not the speed force, something different for sure." He will wave and says "Good to meet you again Kiden. We have cats, and a few others about but no possums."

Conner Kent has posed:
"Robin, damnit," Conner facepalms in embarrassment. "It is Gotham," he explains to Kiden, "there is something in the air that gives people the urge to use vents instead of staircases. I promise you Robin is actually mostly normal. Also the ventilation system here is like... like the ones in Hollywood movies: Perfectly suitable for sneaking around."

Oh look, all kind of pizza. Tasty distraction! "We have a... what about possums?" Beat. "Nevermind. Oh, you know each other? Are you on codenames or first names? I guess we get pizza first and then the tour."

Tim Drake has posed:
    As a Bat, Tim is entirely unfazed by Kiden's reaction to his sudden appearance. It's an occupational hazard of knowing any of them. That and disappearing on you when your back is turned, they also love to do that.

    "It's a busy night," he confirms after Phoebe explains why more of the Outsiders aren't here. "But we'll make sure you get to meet the crew. Sounds like a good reason for another movie night."

    And then the siren call of pizza must be heeded, so he wanders that way, dark cape swaying behind him.

    Soon enough he has a slice of the veggie pizza in hand... and another slice in his other hand. Dual-wielding, one might say. As he's about to take a bite, he hesitates and asks, "We're not adopting a possum now, are we?"

Kiden Nixon has posed:
Kiden's momentary scare is all but forgotten in the face of PIZZA. "There's pizza? SWEET!" She beams up at Conner, "Good people." Then there's someone else she recognizes! "Oh hey Bart! Good to see you again. Oh, that's okay, I... wait.. is that an option? Can I have a possum?!" She looks between all the people with a big grin.

She also heads towards the pizza, stacking three slices on top of one another.. veggie on the bottom, pepperoni in the middle, supreme on the top. Heading back out to the main room, she holds the trio in both hands.. and for good reason. Kiden wide-mouths and CHOMP into all three slices at the same time. Nomfomnomom.

"All good! I am still in 'street mode' in strange places." Then Tim's shooting down the possum and her face falls a little. She looks to Balm and smiles again anyways, "Hi, Kiden Nixon. Nice to meet you." Because costumes protect identites! The glance moves to Tim to include him in the introduction. "I'm sure at this point you guys know more about me than I do, but.. it's nice to be here anyways!"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "We met briefly," Balm states, "With our disappearing Saif Hassan. You were our look-out on the outside. You did good." she pauses, and looks back over to tim, and then leans into Kiden's space and stage-whispers: "We have had so many more weird pets than a possum. Give it time." she explains with a playful note.

    "Some of us have been there before. I've been there before. Hard mode to get out of some times." Balm explains as she cracks open one of the two liters of soda.

    "And ah - forgive the lack of anything more exciting than fruit punch soda -- house rules. And some of us aren't of age yet." she gives a small wave of her hand.

    "Anyway, I'm Balm. I'm sort of the medic-group mom-medical type person and the magic specialist. I've been at this for about three years now. I'm not one of the original crew--" she offers Kiden a red solo cup of too sweet carbonated beverage product "-- but I manage." she jokes.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and says "She came by the zoo, one day when I was working, and since she was a friend of yours and Laura's I made sure she got the full tour of the zoo, at normal speed." He says. He has already went back in and got a couple pieces of pizza, and is not munching a cookie. "Might be able to get ya a closer look at the ones in the zoo sometime after hours."

Conner Kent has posed:
"Yeah, he teleported before we could grab him," mentions Conner. "What was he brewing in the weird containers? We still analyzing it?" He grabs a slice of pepperoni pizza while he talks. Between Kiden and Bart the pizzas are unlikely to survive five minutes. Although they are missing some of the usual suspects.

"It is a Thursday, things are more lively the weekends," he notes to Kiden. "I am not around in Gotham in Thurdsdays unless there is a mission. Still, it is a shame Laura and her sister couldn't come."

Tim Drake has posed:
    Post-kitchen run, Tim returns with his purloined pizza, one slice already half-devoured. Vigilantism is hungry work, after all! After his next bite, he says, "It's good to have you. And don't worry, the content of my background checks isn't available for the group at-large, so your personal information is yours to share when and if you're comfortable."

    Aside for what Red Robin himself already has locked up in that mental vault of a brain, at least. That part goes unspoken.

    "Oh, just the entire contents of a pharmacy with some synthetic vitamins," is the answer he gives Conner. "Speaking of suspicious cocktails, I think we have some of Laura's hot sauce around here if anyone wants to doctor up their 'zza."

Kiden Nixon has posed:
Kiden motions with her tri-zza towards Bart, "What he said." She goes for another bite, then pauses in the middle, finally catching on to the fact that Bart is.. not in street clothes. That's a custome. That's a HERO costume. Blinkblinkblink. "BART! You're... but.. you never... oh that's COOL! What's your thing? Wait, no, don't tell me... actually, yes, tell me! I'm terrible at guessing games." Then, it gets better. "Wait, seriously? Hell yeah! Zoo after dark! Awww, but the possums would be sleeping. Ooooooo, but other animals wouldn't be."

She may be a little overstimulated... new people, new surprises, pizza, new place.. it's all exciting and overwhelming and... oo, pizza! Kiden resumes chewing on her tri-zza, looking up at Conner between bites and smiling, "No, this is good... smaller groups to start is good."

Nodding between Conner and Balm, she offers, "It was definitely some form of spatial folding movement. I was shuttering during that bright light thing.. never saw him leave. Also, a little disppointed the Doom Preacher was just a Doom Preacher. Also a little relieved. He was intense." Then she's looking to Robin and lifting a shrug, "I'm not really keeping anything hidden. It's fine. I can answer questions if anyone has them. I think it's probably in my best interest to not keep anything back." She offers a smile and takes another big bite of the pizza.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "... aren't opossums nocturnal?" Balm asks to Red Robin in consideration,a dn she looks to Conner, then to Red Robin and she shakes her head.

    "Ooh, Healfactor Hotsauce warning -- going in." Phoebe states, and she listens to the both of them.

    "I can confirm. It was a magical teleport. But he went to like, eight different places, a bit like bouncing a signal along several different waypoints so you can't be tracked as easily." she explains, taking some hotsauce and putting it on her pizza before she walks back into the rec room.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and says "I'm fast." He offers in explanation of his powers a bit surprised she did not know that. Then to Phoebe "They are kept in the same room as the bat, where people can see them awake during the day, Artificial night during the day and day during the night for them." HE explains.

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner protects his pizza slice from the deadly hot sauce by devouring it quickly, then stares at Phoebe, as she places the sanity-rending compound on her pizza. "Don't do it, it is a trap," he points out to Kiden. "That sauce is only for masochists that can regenerate."

It is only a slight exaggeration. Conner suspects napalm is a base component for Laura's hot sauce. He goes to find another slice that is sauce-free and returns to add. "If he did that, he must know you could trace him. Does this guy know you, Balm?"

Tim Drake has posed:
    As the most baseline average human in the room, Tim chooses not to partake in the hot sauce either. There's an actual non-zero chance of it for real killing him, probably. Like Conner, he scarfs down the rest of his pizza, then perches on the back of a couch, arms crossed casually over his chest as he watches the conversation more than he directly participates in it.

    Though he does add, "They're also nomadic. Possums don't like to eat in the same place." Why there are possum facts in his brain, well, it must have been useful to Red Robin at some point.

Kiden Nixon has posed:
"They ar-... what he said!" Kiden grins when Bart beats her to the explanation, then nods to him at the power explanation, "Oh that's cool! I'm.. not fast, but I seem like I am? It's complicated. OH! But I can show you! I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it is." She lifts a shrug, "It isn't typical chronokinesis. I don't stop time entirely. More like.. I step into an alternate timestream that overlays the real world, but this timestream operates MUCH faster than the real world." She cants her head to one side, "I actually do get as much time in a day as I need. Super efficiency!"

There's a blink as Phoebe goes for Laura's hotsauce, and she shudders, "Oh man... even with a crazy Wolverine heal factor, not sure I'd want to go there. She's way braver than I am..." Letting out a breath, she nods to Conner, "Oh I know.. her tastes have always veered towards the extreme." Shuddering, she shakes her head and looks back to Tim with a grin, "They are my spirit animal. They've actually started moving into New York City as all the surrounding natural areas are being overtaken by suburbs and construction. Can learn some good survival tips just watching the possums."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "That is absolutely true. It is solely for masochists who regenerate." Phoebe states, folding a slice in half and taking a bite. She doesn't seem particularly bothered.

    "Wouldn't matter if I could trace him. If I could do it that cleanly and quickly, it'd be what I'd do too if I didn't want to be followed. BUt the speed in which he set himself up--" Balm purses her lips,a nd then she also drops her head.

    "... I don't remember there being opossums in the bat tank when we went." she considers quietly her last trip to the zoo that didn't end up with a baby cheetah named after her.

    And she looks over to Kiden with curiosity.

    "That is... a really, really interesting ability. Can you take others with you? Or just yourself?" she questions with her eyebrows rising up.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen hmms and nods his head a bit to this and scratches his chin a bit to add "Stopping time, I don't know much about, a bit of time travel, and alternate dimensions maybe." He looks over to Phoebe and says "Didn't know you would want to see them, we can go next time you visit Geoffry is you want." He hmms and is off and back a moment later with a couple of Little Ceasars pizzas, and crazy sticks, adding them to the table.

Conner Kent has posed:
"I am pretty sure Bart could keep up with you, Kiden," comments Conner. "But please, don't experiment now. Bart breaks the sound barrier when he moves quickly, wait until we finish the pizza." Because picking up pizza slices stuck to the ceiling is disgusting, particularly after they go unobserved for a few days.

Conner glances and Phoebe, shaking his head. That guy teleported quickly several times to avoid magical tracking, which means he suspected magical tracking. That is a level of paranoia above the average super-villain. He munches his slice thoughtfully. Definitely will go over the case files again before returning to New York.

Tim Drake has posed:
    The overly sugary drinks get a pass from Tim, but he does a brief disappearing act (not nearly as fast as Bart) and comes back with a cup of coffee. To go along with dinner. Yep.

    Well, he is a Bat. It's already been established that they're nocturnal.

    "We can get a room set up for you if you like," he offers to Kiden. "Technically there's one waiting for you already, but it's not personalized or anything. But we can work out those details later." An alert goes off in the display of his domino mask, and Red Robin sighs, taking a noisy slurp from his coffee before he stands up. "Looks like I'm needed out there. I'll talk to you all later." Rather than leaving via vent, he just strolls over to the elevator. "And again, welcome to the Outsiders!"

Kiden Nixon has posed:
Kiden takes a few big comps of the pizza to finish it off, making sure to wipe her hands clean of any grease, then her face, then holds a hand out to Phoebe with a grin, "Want to see? It's.. for a long time, I preferred No Time to real time. But.. I've been finding things to enjoy in the real world more. But it's still.. it's amazing."

She nods to Bart and grins, "Anyone that 'sees' me assumes speedster, and for a long time that's what I thought, too! I spent a loooooooooong time looking into it at the New York Public Library. Learned a lot of crazy stuff! I'm not a genius by any stretch.. but I have literally all the time I need to study a subject. So just like.. a big cheat."

Nodding to Conner, she laughs, "Oh I'm sure he could! And that is one of the benefits to my powers. Completely silent. But it does beg the question.. could Bart move at his speed in No Time? That would like.. less than a quintillionth of a second for multiple actions... that would be *insane*." She glances between him and Phoebe, "If you have an idea of where he went... I can scout it. Get you a location, maybe an idea of basic security measures? I wouldn't interact with anything, doing it from No Time tends to have... crazy effects. Stealth would be the name of the game. Just a quick perimeter check to make sure he's there and what we can expect to run into."

Then there's Tim. And he's offering her a room. Her smile all but breaks her face, "Oh sure! That would be great, thank you!" And then he's called away and she chuckles, "Must really be a busy night. Thank you again!"