16558/A Day at the Zoo

A Day at the Zoo
Date of Scene:	13 December 2023
Location:	16558-Gotham City Zoo
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Julia Carpenter, Jason Todd

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Julia Carpenter has posed:
It's been awhile since the Carpenter girls have gone on an outing. Rachel only had a half-day at school today (teacher workday), and Julia was blessedly work-free, so she suggested they hop the Hyperloop to GOtham and go to the zoo, then maybe check out that Batburger place that's so popular there.

They get dressed for a day outdoors and head on over! A cab is called from the Hyperloop to take them to the zoo, dropping the pair off at the frotn gate. Tickets are purchased and the pair enter!

It's pretty obvious to anyone with eyes that Julia and Rachel are mother and daughter, they look so very similar. Both with the strawberry blonde hair, the blue eyes, the same smile. Rachel has a smattering of freckles that Julia likely shared when she was Rachel's age. Rachel is dressed in a fuzzy Pikachu hoodie with hat and scarf, the hoodie having the trademark ears, and the tail sticking out from the back of the hoodie; jeans, and bright yellow boots that have the Pikachu striping. Julia is much more sedate in a sky blue pea coat over a black thermal shirt, jeans tucked into a pair of Timberlands, with slim-fitted gloves and a fleece headband that both covers her ears and lets her keep a bluetooth earbud hidden away, just in case.

Rachel immediately wants to head for the red pandas, being a favorite of hers, and Julia laughs as she jogs to keep up. "Careful Rache, no getting out of my sight, okay?"

Jason Todd has posed:
The Gotham Zoo. A place of high crime and danger. There are criminals behind every wall and super villians on the other side of every doo... wait. Wrong setup.

Jason Todd wanders the zoo on this typical cold Gotham day. There is snow on the ground but there are still animals to be seen. The cool animals come out even in the snow. The big cats. Like Catwoman. The flightless waddling birds. Like Penguin. Even the hyenas seem to like the snow. Which means Joker or Harley may well be around. Even if Harley's (mostly) reformed these days.

Seriously. What's a vigilante got to do to enjoy just looking at animals when most of them remind him of one criminal or another. It's pretty pathetic.

So goes the inner dialogue as Jason moves along the path toward the arctic exhibits. He'll probably run into Mr. Freeze at this rate.

As distracted as he is, he almost manages to avoid running into the various other visitors to the zoo. Except for one would-be Panda hunter. The girl zooms past close enough to brush his elbow, causing Jason to effortlessly spin around and away without losing his balance.

"Careful kid. Most of us adults have three left feet." It's muttered but not really aimed in anger or annoyance.

Julia Carpenter has posed:
"Rachel Hannah Carpenter! You turn yourself around right now and apologize to that man!"

The Mother Tone that brooks no refusal or rebuttal. Julia shakes her head even as she approaches Jason with an apologetic smile, "I'm so sorry. She's so excited for the red pandas, she was practically vibrating in the cab over here." She looks towards Rachel to make sure the girl is returning to offer her own apologies.

Rachel halts at hearing her full name in That Voice, shoulders cringing as she turns around and slinks back towards Jason and Julia. Peeking up at Jason and offering a smile with just a slight gap between the front teeth, she murmurs, "I'm sorry Mister. I should've been more careful." She darts a glance to her mom, then back to Jason, grinning now, "Wanna come see the red pandas with us?"

Julia squints a look at her daughter, then chuckles and shakes her head. Looking back to Jason, she smiles, "Well, abrupt as that was, you're welcome to join us to view the exhibit. Maybe I can buy you a hot cider or coffee or something by way of apology?"

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd didn't even have to pull his hands from his pockets. Apparently he has better than average adult balance and coordination. No three left feet here.

As the middle name card gets played he can't help but grin.

"It's okay. No harm done. The red pandas are pretty cool admittedly."

When Rachel apologizes he nods again, "It's okay. It's good to have things to be excited about." A glance to Julia. He knows her. But he's also a member of the Bat family. Hiding surprise behind a poker faced expression is critical.

Considering the invitation, he shrugs. It would give him a chance to get a better sense of who Julia is. Even if it wasn't entirely fair to her. But not everything the Bats do is 'fair', just for the greater good.

"Sure. I was going to go check them out a bit later. Now's as good a time as any." He then offers, "I'm Jason." He has Rachel's whole name so it seemed only fair.

He offers Julia a smile. "You don't need to buy me anything. Seeing her have fun will be more than enough." It wasn't like he had the best child hood. But stealing the rims off the Batmobile -was- pretty epic.

Julia Carpenter has posed:
Rachel beams that bright smile at him and gives a nod, "SUPER cool." Julia chuckles and gives a small nod, "Very cool, yes."

Jason's introduction has the girl grinning once more and holding out a gloved hand, "Hi Mr. Jason! I'm Rachel, and this is my mom!" Julia smiles at him, "Hey, Julia Carpenter. It's nice to meet you, Jason." She will also offer a hand out to him!

Once the introductions are past, Rachel will attempt to keep hold of Jason's hand to tug him along with her, "C'mon! The red pandas are this way!" Julia, if sent any sort of look will simply shrug and smile. Rachel is adorable, it's just a thing. It's her super power!

Julia will pace alongside them, glancing sidelong to Jason with a smile, "It's a cold day. We're going to get drinks and snacks anyways, you might as well join us."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd pulls his hand from his coat pocket and shakes each of theirs in turn. "Nice to meet you."

He blinks at the hand grab and tug. Oh boy.

He shoots Julia a glance to make sure she's okay with it. Never cross a mom. He may be wreckless and violent yet even he knows that rule of the universe.

"Yes they are.." The signs even say so but he's pretty sure she has it memorized by the way she is tugging along.

He nods, "Sure, thanks. You just don't need to treat me I meant." He offers a thin smile then looks back to Rachel, "So. Uh. What other animals do you like or are you just here for the red pandas?"

Julia Carpenter has posed:
"Oh, we'll see as many animals as we can. She just really wants to see the red pandas first. Since they're closer to the back, I figure we'll start there and work our way upt to the front, then we can just head out, grab dinner, and jump the Hyperloop back to the city." Julia lifts a small shrug and smiles at him, glancing ahead towards Rachel, the smile softening. "It's been a busy few weeks at work, I wanted to treat her to something nice."

Rachel grins at Jason over her shoulder, C'mon, we're almost there!" She gives a small tug on his hand and urges him along. Julia chuckles softly and nods, "It's okay Rache, we have plenty of time."

Looking back to Jason, Julia gives a small nod, "Fair enough. I can respect wanting to pay your own way. I'm the same way."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd nods. He almost forgot he was holding Rachel's hand. At least until she tugs him again. "Whoa there, Muscles. If you pull any harder you're going to hurt my shoulder" he teases. It's kind of awkward but then it isn't like he's had a lot of experience with kids; running in a gang definitely doesn't count.

Nodding to Julia he agrees, "Makes sense. I had the polar bears, snow leopards and other winter animals on my mental list. They seem the most likely to be out and active given the weather."

Julia Carpenter has posed:
Julia laughs softly at Jason's teasing and Rachel grins up at him, "Mom's the strong one! She says I'm the smart one." There's a very serious nod given before Rachel finally winds herself down to a less frantic pace.

"Oh, the snow leopards are definitely on our list. Rachel wants to know if they actually hold their tails in their mouths." Julia supplies the response, but Rachel gives the big grin and nod. "Yeah! My science teacher said they hold their tails in their mouths sometimes!"

They finally manage to reach the red panda exihibit and Rachel lets out a small squeal of joy, rushing up to the edge of the enclosure to peer in at the red pandas, grinning at their capering.

Julia approaches more sedately and glances back towards Jason, "That's sort of what we figured, too. Any other animals you'd recommend seeing while we're here?"

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd has some idea about Julia's singular talents, that's for sure.

"I have no idea if they do that. But I've seem videos of.. what are they? Palas cats? I think they're from Russia? Siberia or something. Anyway, the videos show that they wrap their tails around themselves and then stand with their front paws on it to keep them out of the snow. Maybe Leopards do things like that too?" he offers with a non-commital shrug.

Slowing as the Red Panda enclosure comes into range, he lets go of Rachel's hand. His disappears back into his pocket again, like the other. Looking around curiously to see where the animals may be within the exhibit, he glances toward Julia, "Well, the Arctic area is pretty cool. The North American area has a brown bear, I think? A couple cougars and a bobcat display. Maybe it was lynx?" They're fungible for the most part.

"Beyond that, getting warm, the Elephant and Giraffe house is great. Or the reptile house."

Julia Carpenter has posed:
She does have a few!

"Smart cats. I bet their pawpads are more sensitive, so they stand on their tails to stay warmer. But I wouldn't be surprised. Cats are strange animals, but they always seem to have a reason behind the strangeness, even if we don't understand it," Julia gives a nod as she steps up next to Jason and Rachel, looking out over the exhibit, seeking out signs of the red pandas. Rachel is waving and pointing to where a pair of them are rolling around and playing in the snow.

Julia smiles at Rachel and gives a nod, glancing towards the pandas before looking back to Jason, "Do they have any snow foxes or arctic wolves that you know of?" I agree that the Arctic animals are most likely to be out and about now.. but maybe not the only ones?"

Nodding, she chuckles, "Well then.. would you like to be our guide today? You clearly know the zoo better than we do."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd lets out a snort at the comment about cats being strange. "That's for sure. Some years ago a Maine Coon cat decided my garage was going to be his new home. He's moved in and taken over. But at least I don't have trouble with pests. At least of the four legged sort."

He considers. "I... think so? It's been a while since I last had time to check the zoo out. The directory should show. I'd bet if so they're in the Arctic area. Because I'm observant that way."

Julia Carpenter has posed:
"I mean, that sounds pretty typical of cats. They pick the people. Anything I've seen about cats say they pick the people," Julia lets out a small chuckle and quirks a half-smile at him, "But they tend to only pick good people, so.. I guess that makes you a decent person."

Rachel sidles over all sneaky like (because kids are eerily quiet when they want to be), then hooks her arm through his and grins up at him, "Pleeeeeeeeeease, be our zoo guide, Mr. Jason? We've *never* been here, so you still know it better than we do!" Julia glances from Rachel up to Jason and tries valiantly to suppress a smile, "Can't argue with that."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd smirks. "I'm just a guy that works on restoring cars. If that makes me good, I guess?" He shrugs.

As the sneaky but not so sneaky kid grabs his arm, he pretends to be surprised, partly turning to look down at her.

"Well... I don't know. You might turn out to be very demanding and difficult. I might have a miserable time if I agree."

He shoots a glance to Julia; he's teasing of course.

Looking back to Rachel he asks, "Are you difficult? Do you cause people to be miserable?" He eyes her skeptically.

Julia Carpenter has posed:
"Hey, the cat found something to like about you," Julia lifts a small shrug and half-smiles. "Must be something good about you if a living creature trusts you with it's life and safety."

Rachel looks up at him with wide eyes, shaking her head, "Oh no, Mr. Jason! I promise to be on my best behavior!" She beams a broad, bright smile up at him, "Please, Mr. Jason?"

Julia stifles a chuckle and turns a smile towards Jason, motioning to him with one hand, "It's your choice, really."

Rachel shakes her head quick to his questions, "No, sir! Mom taught me to be nice and friendly and polite! I won't even tug your hand anymore!" She unloops her arm from his and tucks both hands behind her back to smile up at him.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd shrugs at the comments about something good in him. He lives with himself and he knows better.

"Well.." he considers aloud.

"I didn't have anyone else to explore the zoo with. So if you're both certain, why not?" He offers a smile to Rachel. "So.. now that we've seen the Red Pandas being a holy terror in the snow, what do you want to go see next - and why is it the hot drink stand because it's really stupidly cold."

Julia Carpenter has posed:
Rachel lets out another little squeal and grins up at him, "Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" She pauses at his question and considers it, then smiles brightly, "Snow leopards! Then the bears!"

Julia chuckles softly and nods to Jason, "I think we're both certain. Thank you for volunteering." She leans in and bumps his shoulder lightly with his.

Reaching out to take Rachel's hand, Julia smiles at Jason, "If I remember correctly, it's between here and the snow leopards."