Owner	Pose
River Banks	It had started with a text from River. >>No Trouble. Have extra food from a neighbor. How do you feel about biryani? Rio's passed out early and I still don't have other friends in the city.     And of course, she was on the rooftop. It hadn't rained today -- a nice change from the normal. She's dragged up a couple of couch cushions and laid down a blanket. She's got an electric lantern for light, and hasn't bothered to cover up the scars on her shoulders or chin, though her nose is still bandaged up, her black eyes have faded to that yellowish-green of healing, slowly. She's somehow managed to drag all this up with her arm in a sling.
Jason Todd	>>Good on the lack of trouble. Haven't had biryani in ages. Sounds good. Can be there in about 20. True to his word, he is there within twenty minutes - Jason Todd that is. It would be so easy to just grapple line up to the rooftop but Jason Todd doesn't do that sort of thing. Instead he a bit awkardly makes his way up the fire escape and steps onto the rooftop. He's dressed in jeans and a blue teeshirt bearing the logo and characters of School House Rock. Frowning as he sees what she's done he offers quietly, "River. How are you? -- You didn't have to bring everything up yourself. If you'd have waited I would have helped."
River Banks	"Hey, Jason." River gives a smile, and she gives a wave of her good hand, and a soft 'pshaw'.     "Ah would have done it even you didn't show up." she smiles, "Jus' took me a bit longer is all. C'mon." she motions, wearing jeans and a T-shirt promoting Thompkins's clinic.     "'Sides knowin' my luck, Rio woulda woken up and started askin like a billion questions." she replies, and she picks up a tuppeware container of rice, spice, and some sort of stringy meat in it.     "An' Ah'm fine. Jus' layin' low until I get that all clear from the doc. She's beginnin' to think Ah'm not as clumsy as I says I am." she smiles, leaning against one of the couch cushions as she manuvers her own tuppeware container.
Jason Todd	Jason Todd nods, "Still." He moves over and settles on the other cushion. "Isn't that his normal state of being?" Asing questions all the time. "Laying low while you heal is a good idea." He looks at her visible injuries, "You seem to be moving along the spectrum at least. ow're you feeling, though? The shoulder?" He nods to the injured wing. "what's the Doc saying?"
River Banks	"Yeah, but it ain't the norm to have people over. Not for us. Lived in a lotta places and outta a lotta car trunks an' uninhabitable trailers in the back a' courts. Not gonna lie, this is one of the nicest we've stayed in. Has a separate bedroom an' all." she struggles a little, using one hand to open the container of rice, but manages.     "Doc says I shouldn't be doin' anything too strenuous. Recommended Physical therapy but it's just a dislocation an' relocation. Had 'em before when I was a kid. Rio's dad would pin me 'gainst the stairs and pop it back in 'fore I went to school." she taps her fork a little against the plastic lid, and then looks over to Jason.     "You don't gotta open up none to me. But the way you said that the all-the-time injuries like my nose weren't my fault... seems like that's comin' from a place of knowledge, not investigatin'." she states, and she gives a nod.     "An' I wanna say thank you for it."
Jason Todd	Jason Todd watches and listens. He'd help but she is clearly trying to be self reliant so he lets her without additional intervention. "Therapy is a good way to rebuild the strength and support for a joint" he observes. At the comment about Rio's dad he tilts his head, "Rio's dad?" He thought they were siblings but that didn't mean they shared both parents obvilously. "The things I see, all the time, in this city tell me a lot. No one is so clumsy they're always falling down the stairs. No one is so clumsy they are always running into the wall in the middle of the night. Once. Maybe twice. The rest?" He looks out over the skyline briefly then back to her, "The rest are things done to them that they're trying to down play or outright lie about. Usually because they're afraid. Maybe because they're trying to protect someone." "Thank me?" He isn't quite sure what she's thanking him for.
River Banks	"... yeah. Rio an' I have the same mom. My dad skipped out 'fore I was born. Rio's dad... piece of freakin' work." she mumbles a moment, looking up and listening to Jason as he speaks. Not quite hanging on every word, but she's watching him with all the signals of someone used to having to get out of the way in a hurry, her muscles give brief tenses when he moves to look back at her. She stirs her rice, lips pursed before she replies in a gentle tone:     "Well, yeah. For caring. Ain't something I encounter much.. then again, I'm always pushin' people away 'coz almost always there's an alterior motive."
Jason Todd	Jason Todd nods, understanding the relations now. "Know how things like that go" he offers without any further details. "Caring has many faces and outlets. I'm less touchy feely and more showing that breaking the law has consequences." Usually violent ones when he is involved. "But you're welcome. As they say, sometimes a hand up is all someone needs." He offers a faint smile.
River Banks	"Or just a warning shot with taser bullets." River replies in a rueful voice, but she shrugs her good shoulder up, and then looks over to Jason.     "You got a good smile. Should wear it more often -- unless..." she tilts her head back a moment "... that's what the mask's for. On account of the smilin' during the 'pewpewpews'." she considers, but is clearly joking, relaxing against her cushion.     "So, native son of Gotham?"
Jason Todd	Jason Todd looks at her obliviously. "I prefer live rounds if I'm honest." That's probably a bit sobering to hear after being one of his former targets. He snorts when it's suggested he should smile more. But he leaves that topic a lone. "The mask has a lot of uses. Tracking, communications. Others" he adds vaguely. "Born. Not exactly raised. More.. unleashed" he says with a relfective tone.
River Banks	Yep. That was sobering. And River finds her heart seizing just a little bit, and she turns back to her biryani as she stirs it, trying to gather her next thoughts.     "Well. I wouldn't know 'bout that. Most tech I usually used was a walkie-talkie, provided it didn't get too wet." she mumbles a moment, and she rubs the back of her neck with her good hand, setting down her fork first.     "Unleashed. So you were a highly unsupervised child then." she replies thoughtfully. "Too bad Gotham ain't like Miami."
Jason Todd	Jason Todd looks at her. "You could say I'm having a change of heart. Or trying." About live rounds vs tasers. "Certain.. managers in the city don't like dead criminals. So." "Dad was a criminal. Got his ass arrested plenty of times. Mom was a druggie. Step mom didn't exacty give a shit about me. Made my friends on the streets." He smirks, perhaps just a bit too evilly, "Stole the wheels off the Batmobile when I was 15."
River Banks	"I suppose as a former member of the Southern Criminal Element I should say thank you for your change of heart." She pauses. And then she makes an awkward stretch, and she pulls out a sixpack of cheep beer. They're cold, at least, and she offers one to Jason.     "Also please don't tase me anymore, that shit hurts." River has try to be sombre there with her joke, which becomes real as she listens to the rest of the story, and she gives a nod.     "Beau, the man who taught me the business, was a career conman an' robber. He saw me usin' my powers, he was keen on usin' it to rob banks. He'd take me outta school early to panhandle. Always get more from church ladies if they see you got a kid. Wasn't sad when he went to prison. Spent a couple months in jouvie but they couldn't prove nothin' so I was released back to my momma, who jus' had Rio. So I stayed outta school to care for my brother while momma worked herself sick."     And she looks back over to Jason.     "Did you *seriously* try ta steel the wheels offa Batman's ride? Boy, you had steel balls as a kid didn't you?"
Jason Todd	Jason Todd pops the tab on the offered beer and takes a drink, "Thanks." Looking back he studies her, "Don't break the law and we're good" he adds simply. There's no malice in the tone however. Just matter of fact. Break the law (in his eyes), get tased. "Growing up is hell" he states. After another drink, he nods. "I did. I had two off and was working on the third when he came back. Managed to bypass his alarms. Those have changed since that night" he adds with a measure of self pride.
River Banks	"How old were you when you tried to steal from *the Batman*?" River asks, perfectly incredulous as she stares at Jason for a fair half minute, before she takes a long drink of her beer.     "An' I'll have you know, these are legal, I'm twenty-two." she quickly adds that she is not breaking any law. Well, maybe public intoxication, but who cares about *that*?
Jason Todd	"15." He sips at his beer again and then looks to her. "Not the kind of law breaking I mean and you know it." He reaches to get his serving of the food finally and takes a bite. "It's good. Thank you." "So. What are you thinking about doing? How are you going to move forward. Make a living?" he asks quietly. Something other than crime that is.
River Banks	"Well. Took a gig, I'm pretty good at hidin' bruises and cuts with make up so I was a model at the re-opening of a whoopie cushion and prank factory by Acme."     She purses her lips.     "That went south quick. Some... version of the Joker showed up. Then a fella in red and black armor and a cape showed up and said if I got the Joker's attention, to run, hide, and find you. Said you'd be there with *bells* on to take him on." she states quietly.     "Caught a bomb. The other fella dismantled it. I was pretty scared I wasn't gonna make it home, but made sure all the other girls got out." she gives a small sniff. "Appears I've caught altruism, but my modelin' career ain't gonna go places like that. So I still fix up old appliances and hawk 'em on Ebay and Craigslist, but ah... doesn't quite cover all the bills."
Jason Todd	Jason Todd frowns, his beer lowering as he listens, his expression darkening at the mention of Joker. Any Joker. "Wait. Red and black? Describe him." It's less of a request than it should be. "When was this?" he presses. A terse nod is offered as she says others got out safely. "Good." Then he looks over the city, "What else did this guy in the red armor do or say?"
River Banks	"Maybe three, four inches taller than me, black mask, kinna had a squeak to his talk. Second time I've encountered him. First time was when a buncha people were lookin' at a dead body and then a bunch of weird zombies came outta the woodwork and attacked us, but didn't expect to see him again?"     And she goes on to roughly describe Red Robin, because at the moment River's player can't remember which version Tim's using right now but hopes it's not the one with the cowl because that just looks silly with no bat-ears on it.     "An' he deactivated the bomb that the Joker dropped." she adds quietly, and she looks over at Jason.     "You... you gonna be okay Jason?"
Jason Todd	Jason Todd is rarely okay. On hearing about this encounter, he is less so in the moment. In the movies when someone is angry or evil it seems like the light around their eyes falls to the shadows. In this moment Jason looks much the same. Maybe it's just because he's lowered his chin and his brow is preventing light from falling on his eyes and cheek bones. "I know who that is." "I'll be fine." He's good at lying to himself. He takes a long drink from the beer, emptying it. "If you ever do end up someplace with Joker. Or anyone that looks like him or his clowns, you call me. Text me. Whatever you can do. I don't care what time of day or where you are." This also is far less of a request than it should be. It is clearly a serious subject to him. Crushing the empty can, he looks to her and changes topics. "Fixing small appliances is a good skill. But it's not a career." He looks at her then out over the city. "If you had the chance, would you like to go to school? Community college, Gotham U. Even a vocational school? Have you considered something like that?"
River Banks	"Hey, you got it. If I come up against him again, I call you, an' I leave the call connected so you can find me. You've probably got all the tech. You found me in New York based off a voicemail." she states, softly, and though she's not the hugger, she's not the kind one, she reaches out and just puts her finger tips on his arm, if he lets her.     "Ah promise. I imagine there's reasons that the fella with the red armor would want me to go to you. An' you don't have to say 'em right now. I know a raw nerve when I sees it."     And then the subject change. River gives a soft 'hah' sound, and she shakes her head "I ain't been to school since I was in eighth grade. Beau figured keepin' me dumb an' specialized would make me more /compliant/. Nah, just made me dumb." she snorts, and she leans back again, looking out over Gotham City.     "As long as I make enough to keep my brother in what he needs, Ah'll be happy. He stays in school, uses that big brain of his, and he gets into a good college an' I can focus on getting me square."
Jason Todd	Jason Todd doens't stop her from touching his arm. He looks to her and nods. "Make sure that you do. He's the most dangerous man alive" is the answer. Regarding school he nods. "It's as much about you as it is Rio. You've got your whole life ahead of you. There's no point in just scraping by when you can take some time and learn something you would love to do and that can help you look after yourself, and him, far better."
River Banks	"Uuuuugh, now you're asking me to find something I like more than the thrill of cracking into places I'm not supposed to be and taking things from people I'm not supposed to be taking things from. You're askin' a *lot*, Jason." River replies playfully, but she's stopped eating her rice, and she raises her hand up to touch her own shoulder lightly.     "Thanks for comin' out. The lady next door always gives us too much, and Rio's still in his 'dino chicken nuggets' phase of food adventure." she states quietly.     "I appreciate the company."
Jason Todd	Jason Todd nods. "I am. Because I'm trying to help you find a better way through this life. It's too short to aimlessly move through. Think about it." "YOu're welcome. Thanks for the meal and the beer." His watch chirps. Without glancing at it he stands. "I need to go." Someplace he needs to be. Or rather that Red Hood needs to be. "Take care of yourself, River." With a half wave, he drops over the edge of the rooftop to descend the fire escape.
River Banks	"BE safe out there. Heard there's some asshole drivin' round in a Mach 1." River calls out gleefully, and hen leans back in the cushions, looking out over the city.     "Careful out there, Jason." she adds softly and sincerely, and settles back to watch the sky.