19187/Watch out for the last hole..

Watch out for the last hole..
Date of Scene:	30 September 2024
Location:	Krazy Golf, Gotham City
Synopsis:	Jason and Barbara get out for a little bit of mini golf that turns into more heartful conversation than they may have anticipated. Gosh.
Cast of Characters:	Jason Todd, Barbara Gordon

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Jason Todd has posed:
At the agreed on time, Jason stopped by the Clocktower to pick up Barbara, this time in his vintage Mustang. At least he's not dressed in a suit and tie this time. Instead he's gone casual, wearing a black tee-shirt with a vintage Johnny Cash, Live at San Quentin album cover print, jeans, hiking boots and a red, green and white plaid flannel as a jacket over it all.

As he steered the car back onto the street and toward their destination, he looked to Barbara with that crooked smile. "I'll have you know that I've been ready for this all week. I'll warn you - I am fully prepared for you to kick my ass at this. But I promise to not enjoy it very much.."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Barbara had been ready by the time Jason made his approach to the Clocktower to pick her up. She was already at the garage, waiting for him, in fact. Thus, the two were off in a split, with Babs dressed similarly in casual attire. She had on a dark purple Gotham Knights t-shirt, with a black hoodie folded over her forearms, when he arrived. With black jeans and black and yellow sneakers, she seemed as casual as a teenager going out on a date. But she definitely wasn't a teenager anymore.

The casual nature of Jason, is what made Babs feel comfortable around him. At her age, she had a lot of expectations on her shoulders, when she rode in traditional social circles. She 'should' be married by now, she 'should' have at least two kids waiting at home for her, and she 'should' be balancing her career and home life, while maybe even wondering if her husband was running around on her behind her back. This is what it felt like in most Gotham City social circles that fell in to similar income brackets as she had, but she wasn't like those people. She was a lot more like Bruce, and her father, mixed in with some measure of the nerds from the Big Bang Theory.

Seated in Jason's car, Babs let out a light laugh, as she slipped her phone back in to a pocket on her rolled up hoodie. "Waht, why?" She asked, glancing over at the younger man with a smile. "This is supposed to be fun, not stressful."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd grins some, "Oh, it'll be fun. I'll lose with grace and dignity." He won't. At all.

Those societal pressures are very real. But to Jason? Fuck'em. It's what he preached to Phoebe whenever she stressed over what others were thinking. Maybe it's just a result of having died and been fortunate enough to come back, whatever the reason, he doesn't believe there is a point to dancing around. Get to the point, say what you mean and be who you are.

For Jason, he is who he is. Abrassive to some. Brash to many. But loyal to a fault, despite wanting to come across as if he weren't committed to anyone or anything. It's easier to safeguard himself from disappointments. But for family? He'll defend and support to the bitter end.

"So how was the day? Anything interesting?" Small talk was never his strong suit.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs' let her eyes go to the window, watching the scenery drive by, as she heard Jason pose his question. She looked back to him, and showed him a soft smile. "We're, uh... I guess it is fine to say it. We've got some plans, that we're presenting to the city to setup a stretch of highway with a new pressure plate technology, that is a power generator for the city's grid. We're hoping that we can get through some of the red tape, and put down a sample of the technology, as a proof of concept. Cars drive over the plates, which are just beneath the surface of the road, and it creates its own sustainable, renewable energy. Just the latest idea that we're hoping to make a reality." She speaks on her work with her company, a shake of her head offered after she says it.

"The Mayor is onboard, I think, but since it is an election year, such a radical idea might be a lot to get through the city. My hope is to have all the major roads lined with this technology, in fact. But... we'll see. Progress, right?" She smirked, as she raised a hand up to brush some of her hair out of her eyes, a pair of sunglasses worn over them.

"What about you? Mechanic work? Hows the car running, anyway?"

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd listens as he drives toward the mini golf course, just a few minutes away now. "That's.. really impressive, Barb." He casts a quick glance of admiration toward her. "It'll be interesting to see what the test data yields. These are the sorts of things they promised us as kids. Still no flying cars. I'm waiting on you resolve that next, just so you know.." he looks at her with a playful smile.

"Hopefully they'll listen and see the value in it. Anything to help clear out the smog in Gotham is a good thing. Hard not to see that."

"Yeah" he admits with a laugh. "Always working on something." He looks to the car. "It's been good." He stomps on the gas causing the engine to roar and push them back in their seats for a brief moment. "Thanks for helping with the repairs by the way. Always makes it go faster. Didn't mind the company either" he admits with a smile.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
There comes a soft laugh from Barbara, as she hears him touch on the subject of smog, and flying cars. She let out a wistful sigh, as she put hher right elbow on the window's edge, then placed her fingers up to her hairline. "Flying cars are called helicopters." She said, shooting him a smirk, before she looked ahead again. "Smog is complicated. Electric cars are only one symptom of that situation in Gotham. Another is the industrial infrastructure is so old, that its a major reason we still have so much of that. Weather is another contributing factor too, and I am sure you know how good our weather is." She grinned a bit, before she lowered her hand back to her lap, and gave him a warm smile. "I'm happy to get out of the house, and do something fun with you again too. Been awhile since I did mini-golf. I hope there are water hazards... I kinda like to aim for the water, when there are. The 'sploosh' is just too much fun, as is digging the ball out with your club."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd nods, "Yeah." Agreeing. She's the expert but he gets the basic jist of it.

"Flying. Cars." He states emphatically. "Helicopters are helicopters. Not the same" he adds defiantly.

"Yeah. Every time we have to wander into the sewers it's obvious how old most of the city is. It's a miracle it hasn't just all collapsed in on itself like a huge sink hole."

As she says she's happy to get out of the house, he nods with satisfaction. "If I get any say in the matter, you'll be getting out of the tower more often for socializing." A smile tugs at the corner of his mouth when she talks about playing to hit the water hazards. "Well yeah. That's the fun about mini golf for sure. Playing around the obstacles and theming. I love it when they have the tubes that route the ball some place completely different." He grins and gets out of the car as they park and he walks around the car quickly. If she hasn't gotten out yet, he'll get the door for her.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The comment back about helicopters has Babs laughing again. "Okay, fine. Anti-gravity technology is a thing, now, but it is very hard to setup. It is terrible on the average battery consumption, and until an easily reproduced solid state battery can be created, an manufactured at a cost the general consumer can afford... You just are not going to see Star Wars speeders flying around." She smiled over at him, "But it's not too far off. So don't worry. I think you'll see it by the time you are Bruce's age."

And then they were there. She was checking her phone, and was half way out of her door, when she realized he was coming to help her out. "Oh, how nice." She said up at him. "Like one of those old timey movies, where men helped women. Ya know, before the angry feminists ruined it." She spoke that with a big smile, and a lean toward him. "Don't tell them I said that." She whispered, giving the side of his arm an affectionate stroke.

She took in a breath of the cool evening air, and slipped her sunglasses off her eyes. "You ready to stomp me in this?" She asked him, as she moved to take one of his arms to walk along with him.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd grins as she laughs. "I know. I still want a flying car. If anyone can figure that out it'll be you. How do I know? Because if Stark or Kord were going to do it, they already would have. So you can make them look bad." His confidence in her is unshakeable. Even if he is sort of joking.

He clears his throat. "Yeah.. well I see it more as a sign of respect and appreciation than anything like that." Which he knows she realizes. "I heard nothing" he assures with a laugh.

"Hmm.. well I'm ready to punish these poor golf balls, dunking them in water, launching them off the course.." He grins, maybe flushing just a bit under that beard as she takes his arm.

"What color ball do you want?" he asks with a smile.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
As they walked through the parking lot, Babs stepped over the concrete curb, and smirked at his words. "Yellow, idealy. Unless the yellow is old and dingey. Bright and shiny yellow is my favorite color. Beyond that, purple is a close second. But it has to be a hyper purple, the kind of purple that makes you wonder how that color is even possible on the visual spectrum..." She kept her smirk, as she glanced at him on her right side. "If those two aren't available? Red, Crimson red. Fiery red." She grinned more openly at that, as she carried her hoodie in a rolled up bundle against her left hip.

"You do know that my company isn't a car manufacturing company, right?" She asked him then, laughing softly once more. "I bought a Blimp. Give me some air car credit for that, at least! Not to mention the jet I built to put on top of it..." She said that last part a little more softly, since it wasn't something you should be publicly admitting so brazenly!

"Do you know this place well? Have you been here before?" She asked, as she let her eyes soak in their new surroundings.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd grins. "Well I'm sure we can get them to break out a fresh ball for you if we ask them nicely." He grins more, "Well yeah.. I get all those colors. For me? Red. Or black."

Nodding, he admits, "Yeah, I know Barb.." he grins. "I'm just looking out for you. Helping you find areas to expand into. You can thank me later. And yeah, that's a pretty cool addition for sure."

"Here? My step mother and Willis brought me once when I was probably nine." He pauses. "It didn't end well. For anyone." He shrugs "But that was a lifetime ago. And it seemed like a fun idea to try something new for the both of us."

The course has the usual astroturf greens lined by wooden railings to keep the balls in play. Some of the holes have uneven, undulating greens that challenge aiming ability. Others have obstacles. A windmill whose blades slowly spin to make shots require timing. One has a model train circling it. If the ball is hit a certain direction, it will follow an angled path to land in one of the train cars. As the train circles, an opening allows the ball to fall free and get deposited very close to the hole.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
As they pass by the view of the various holes, and their assortment of obstacles, it leaves a playful grin on Babs' visage, helping to draw out a child-like innocence at the sight of the place. She looked back to Jason, beside her, hearing his words, and knowing that he had a troubled upbringing, which had her raise her hand up to give his shoulder another soft rub. "Well, I'm honored to be the retry for the place, and I hope it ends in a much better memory." She told him, as they passed in to the clubhouse itself. She acquired herself a lovely bright yellow ball, and a fresh club that she bought new, so that she could take it outright once they were done, rather than use one of the dinged up public use clubs. She naturally offered to get Jason one too!

Once they were paid for, and ready to go, they emerged out in the courses, and with a smile returning to her lips, she spoke up. "I love the fact that they have a windmill. That is the one mini-golf thing that I think is most likely to pop in to anyone's head. Like if you were going to draw a mini-golf advertisement, the main hole image would have one of these." She said, glancing over at him. "You wanna go first, so I know what I'm up against?" She inquired, as she stood off to the side of the first hole, her sneakred feet lined up with the edge, as she leaned her new club against her thigh, and went about pulling her hoodie on, to free up her hands, a few quick tugs given to it to zip it up to the middle of her stomach.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd looks at her and smiles. "It already is, Barbara."

He picks a bright red ball for himself. "Yeah, windmills seem to be obligatory for these places." He pauses after picking his club. "THe nice thing is that you can suck at this and still have fun."

Once they're at the starting hole he smiles. "Ladies first."

The first hole is pretty easy, just to get players to feel confident before the course makes them suffer on later holes (or so it seems). The green is straight, the hole is unobstructed and it just requires measured aiming and control of the club to guide the ball to the cup.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs had her hoodie on, with her hands adjusting the hem around her trim waistline. She had her hair tied back in a loose ponytail since he picked her up at the tower, and with her sunglasses pushed up in to her hairline, she shoved her long sleeves up near her elbows, before she looked toward him, and then toward the hole. "Ladies first, such a gentleman." She stated again, as she gathered up her club, and stepped over to the start of the course.

Her ball was set down, and a second later she was lining up her shot...

Click.

The bright yellow ball rolled down the green faux grass, and instantly veered off to clip a corner of the wooden railing wall, resulting in it bouncing to the exact opposite side of the course, before it settles back against one of the wooden bumpers.

"Womp womp..." She said, as she laughed and stepped to the side. "Show me how it's done, Mister."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd watches with a smile, leaning casually on his club as Barbara takes her swing. He isn't really watching her club or the bright yellow golf ball she is preparing to smack with said club. His gray-blue eyes are instead watching her. In spite of himself he's smiling a bit as she adjusts her sunglasses and prepares to take her first swing.

As she hits the ball and it becomes a yellow streak rolling down the green, he finally shifts to watching where the ball goes.

Sucking a breath through his teeth, he grins, "Oooh. Just a bit outside.."

Making a show of it, he twirls his club with ease and steps up to position his ball on the starting pad. "Hah. we'll see about that.."

Pausing to attempt to aim using the little groove in the top of the club's head, he draws back and smacks the ball with entirely too much force...

The red ball streaks down the green like an angry meteor before bingoing off one side bumper then the other then the back of the green before settling to a stop in the corner.

"See? Nothing to it" he bluffs before grinning.

As he walks toward the hole to watch Barbara take her next swing, he casually wonders, "So, given all the time you're programming, sorting books with the Dewey Decimal System, founding energy start ups.. what things do you do for fun or to relax?" He realizes he hasn't ever figured that out. COnsidering the extra curriculars of the Bats, the idea of idle or down time is foreign to most of them.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs takes a stance beside the railing where her ball is closest to, with one foot up on it, the other on the short grass beside the course. She holds her club like a walking cane, but doesn't put any weight on it. She smiles at him, and watches his ball streak past like the Flash, and with a raise of her chin, she shows him a defiant look. "Nice shot." She said, ultimately though.

Stepping over the railing, she stands on the green felt top, as she considers her previous errors and how to improve. His question is heard, as she lines up her shot.

"uh.... well. It varies. I kind of lost myself in work, back when I first ended up in the chair. Educating myself, so I could provide something new to the team, beyond just physically being there. I had to find a way to be something new. So for the past decade, I really didn't relax a whole lot... But I've started to more."

She takes her shot, and her bright yellow ball bounds down the course, bouncing off a wall, and rolling to a stop just beside the hole. She crouches a bit, before bouncing back up to her full height. "Damn, that was so close." She says, as she laughs lightly, and starts forward again.

"But, I mean, video games were the obvious outlet. World of Warcraft, since I was a little girl. Skyrim, and Fallout too. Cyberpunk has been a big one for me, but that one came out after I got free of the chair. Movies, tv shows, they're good outlets too. I need to start reading more fiction books... I told myself I'd try to get through Harry Potter again, and not just be a filthy movie casual."

She stood up by her ball once more, lined up the shot, and tapped it in for that satisfying sound. "I love that noise." She muttered, as she leaned over to snatch the ball back out of the cup.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd nods. "I'm a natural, clearly." He grins at her.

Watching as she prepares to take her next swing. As her ball rolls around and reaches so close to the cup, he nods in approval. "Nice." As she knocks the ball in since it's so close, he nods again. They weren't 'really' keeping score but still, there's prestige or pride on the line for the both of them.

Once she reclaims her ball he moves to prepare for his next swing. He has to coax the ball away from the railing to even get the club in place. He studies the shot while listening to Barbara. He nods.

"Makes sense. I was.. well. Focused elsewhere. Then trying to piece everything back together. Bruce kind of told me to leave you alone after.. well." Then he shrugs, "So between that and my dirt nap I just realized I don't know as much about you as, uh.. as much as I'd like to." He offers a smile and quick glance to her.

He pause to tap at his ball. It rolls partway to the hole then stops. With a grunt of disgust he walks up to it and taps it again. Once again it doesn't quite reach the hole until he taps it a fourth time. Only then does it clatter into the plastic cup.

"Go me. And yeah that sound is pretty cool. It's unique."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
As Jason takes his final shots, Barbara stands off to the side, she is all smiles at his troubles dropping his crimson hued ball in to the cup, but as he speaks, she takes her eyes off of the turmoil he is going through, and instead tilts her head gently toward him.

"He told you to stay away from me?" She asked him, sounding surprised by this. "Why would he do that?" She asked further, before she saw him sink the ball, and it made her smile softly to him. "We gotta work on your hand eye coordination, I think." She idly chided him, as she waited for him to join her to walk to hole 2.

Once at it, she looked back toward him, before she set her ball down to take the first shot, after winning the last one.

"I would have happily been there to help you through as much of it as I could have. You were still so young when it happened. Hell, you're still so young as it is now." She paused, and looked at him. "I mean, I know we share that similar 'trauma' and all, which is why I think it is weird to have told you to keep your distance from me." She states, as she takes her line of sight in, readies herself, and takes her shot!

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd leans down to get his ball and mutters, "My coordination is fine thank you very much. It's just harder than it looks to judge how much power to use.." He almost sounds petulant before continuing on the other topic, "Not exactly like that. More that he said you needed time to recover and process everything." He shrugs, "Maybe it's just how I took it. But yeah. It felt like I was supposed to give you space. Not that I'd have been trying to bug you constantly anyway." He pauses and grins, "You were well out of my league then." He adds, "Probably even now." But hey. A guy's gotta try.

Falling in beside Barbara, the path curves around to the next hole - this one a bit more complicated. The green is a large L shape with the hole at the end of the smaller leg. This time, however, there are what amount to speed humps scattered along the longer leg of the green. There is no one path to navigate through easily. It depends almost entirely aim and power to just will the ball over and past the humps to get near the hole.

He nods, "I know you would have. The timing of it all was just off." He shrugs, "It's water under the bridge. I believe he was just trying to be sure you weren't getting pressure from any of us while you healed. But it was probably as much Bruce punishing himself through punishing us." His tone is wry, because that would have never happened. Right?

Watching her take her swing, he grins, "Go get it Barb!"

"I'm not young, Barbara. We're not kids. Even when we were, the life we chose made us all grow up quickly." He turns to study her. "This isn't the first time you've said I'm too young. We're, what, six years apart? That's not a big deal. At least to me." He looks at her with a hint of caution as if she might speak up and put an end to their outing.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs stood and watched her ball zip down the course with a bit of gusto behind it. She started to wince, as she saw it veer in to one of the bumper obstacles, and when it caught the edge, and got locked up in the joint of the L, she sighed. Her club dropped back down to rest as a cane, as she glanced over at him. She shot him a grin. "You're eight years younger than I am... And I don't know... I just have a mental image of us when we were fresh faced, still stuck in my head. I mean, I am 33 now.. I don't even like SAYING that outloud." She stated, a grim laugh coming from the redhead, as she smirked at him taunting her about her shot. "I'm going, I'm going."

As she walked, she looked back over her shoulder. "Yeah, cause I'm such a HIGH league catch." She owns a historic clotktower, a blimp, a high profile green energy company... and she still has a self depricating edge about herself.

"I'm here on a date with you, Jason Todd. Open your eyes." She told him, as she stood by the corner junction of the L, and waited for him to take his shot.

"I believe in you." She added, playing a bit with him.

Jason Todd has posed:
Well one thing is clear, Jason's math is off. But that's okay in his mind.

"Eight. Six. It really doesn't matter. Ten or twenty? That easily puts us at different points in life where it's hard to relate. I don't see it that way for either of us. But I know. It feels like last week I was just starting out. But a lot has happened. The years haven't always been kind. But the present is what we choose to make of it" he offers rather philosophically without intending to.

As she hits her ball, he watches and grins, "That's not bad. YOu got through the speed bumps at least?"

He pauses to look at her, "Yes you are." He takes the moment to look at her seriously. "Barbara? You're smart. You're caring and compassionate. Friendly and tolerant. God knows you have to be to put up with someone like me all the time" he remarks. "And you may not choose to go around in high fashion or designer labels every day. That doesn't mean you're not amazing and beautiful." He clears his throat a little to try and chase down the nerves. "So yeah. My eyes are open. And it's still surreal to believe. But I like it. I like what I'm seeing."

He quickly turns to focus on his ball so he doesn't put his foot farther into his mouth. Clearing his throat again, he takes his swing. A medium powered stroke this time. The myriad of bumps mean it isn't going to go where he wants it to, but the ball does weave its way smoothly through the challenge to bounce off the back wall and come to a stop just foot or so away from where Barbara's currently rests.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Everything that he says is listened to closely, and the smile on her face begins to fade, throughout his words. She doesn't look somber, just a bit serene, before he takes his shot, leaving her standing there a few feet away.

What might surprise him, though, is when he looks up from his shot, she is standing directly beside him. Utilizing some of that training Bruce gave her? Against him!

She glanced at his ball, but looked back to him, as she stepped in closer, raised one hand up to place it on his chest, and then moved it up to his shoulder.

The older redhead leaned in, and moved to place her lips to his, to offer him a soft kiss, one that became a bit more intense within seconds, should he indulge her.

Right here on the mini golf course, with a few other guests across the park on their own holes. This place was a date magnet, they surely would not be the first to end up like this out here!

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd had some sense that she was moving. Still he can't help but admire how easy and skillful she is in closing the distance.

He turns to face her curiously. Watching her, he was keenly aware of how close they were. The hand on his chest, then to his shoulder. The change of posture was an obvious Tell, still he waited, letting her take the initiative. Mostly because he was sure he'd mess up the moment if he did anything.

As she leand close to kiss him, his hands moved to her waist to hold her. Returning the kiss, he wasn't one to refuse a Good Thing when he's found it. Or when it has found him.

His free, non club bearing, hand reached up to lightly trace fingertips along her temple and above her ear. Yeah, there are places that just seem to be magnets for couples to go out and spend time together. Sometimes those places intersect with places families bring their kids. At the moment? Jason Todd didn't give a damn whose childrin were scandalized by the sight of two adults kissing in public.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The kiss lasted for a few moments, having reached a peak of intensity, before Babs' better judgement told her she needed to slow her roll, and back off. She pulled back from him, but kept herself close enough to keep the message sent to him. she looked in to his eyes, with her own greenns. A smile came across her visage, her lips were soft, and tasted like some kind of berry flavor, hell she smelled like a berry sundae, for that matter, vanilla and sweet.

"You've got me up on a pedestal, Jason Todd." She quietly said to him. "I'm way not as good as you think I am... But, hearing you say it is still sweet, and because I know you're honest, it goes a lot further than most who've said similar things to me before."

She said all of that, while just being up close and personal to him.

They were getting a few looks, of course, but she didn't care.

"I appreciate how nice you are to me. I don't know /why/ you are, but I still... like it."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd was in no hurry to end the kiss, himself, but yeah. PDA and all that. He took a breath afterward, easily smelling her perfume or shampoo.

He looked down at her and smiled. "I'm just a jerk. You've heard enough say it to make it true. I don't follow the rules, I've got a temper five miles long. I'm rash and violent." He shrugs, "But those are my good qualities so."

He wrapped his arms around her back and shoulders to give her a hug and another kiss to her forehead.

"None of us are perfect or innocent anymore. It doesn't matter to me." Looking into her eyes he smiles, "Barb? You of all people know I'm not just nice to people. That's someone else's job." His fingers returned to play with her hair. "If you're on a pedestal, it's because you deserve to be there. But more than anything? When I'm around you, when you look at me? It makes me want to be better." He shrugs a little. Talking wasn't his strong suit. Usually it was gunfire. "You deserve to be happy. To not be alone. And if.. I can be the one that can give you those things? I'll do it as long as you'll have me."

He suddenly became aware of how cheesy he must sound. But it was genuine.

Sure enough there are two golfing parties now waiting to play through the second hole and trying hard not to be overly rude about the two making eyes at each other in the middle of the green.

He comments quickly, "We should.. probably finish the hole or, uh, let everyone behind us play through.." he grins a little.