2nd Annual Charity Carnival and Celebrity Date Auction!

[stanleecameo]

Who: Everyone
What: 2nd Annual Carnival and Date Auction Charity Benefit
When: the week of July 4th
Where: Gotham
Interactions: OPEN
Warnings: This is an open event thread. Thread jacking, hopping, character romance, violence, and any and all things in between are possible. (But if you're going to do some private intimate things please make a separate thread about it)



The first most noticeable thing was the lights. In a perpetually dreary place like Gotham they could stay on no matter the time of day, casting a warm glow all about the streets and parks that had been connected to create the Charity Carnival. The streets were opened up during the day so that people could get to and from work, then in the evening they were blocked off so that pedestrians could meander about freely withoiut worrying about the cross walks. But whether in cars or on foot; they could always see the lights.

In the inter connected parks scattered around the Wayne Resilient tower there were myriad attractions:

Boothes where games could be played for prizes,
Rides,
Foods of all kinds (mostlly either fried or sugar coated),
and even a small section where locals had rented tables to sell arts and crafts that had been hand made.

And at the center of it all was the Wayne Resilient tower which contained a 5 star restaurant that was the staging area for the Celebrity Date Auction to be held later in the week.

Even the first two floors of the building had been repurposed into a kind of exhibit featuring current and upcoming Waynetech devices designed to improve the lives of the people who used them. Including the prototype for a brand new line of Waynetech smart cars. The event was in honor of the 4th of July but the entire week had been scheduled and included things like live music, fire breathers, gymnasts and a petting zoo.

And on the night of the 4th of course; a fantastic fireworks display arranged by Wayne Resilient with another new innovation of theirs; safe fireworks. Specially designed for sound and color and burst with no heat behind it to endanger fireworks handlers or civilians.

With everything that had been planned and all the staffing involved it was truly looking to be a week to remember.

Comments

[voted_dead]

Really. That was a question Jason was still trying to answer for himself. Still, Mindy was right. Trust required reciprocation ... so it was with only a slow hint of hesitation that Jason pressed the secret release in his jacket, causing the red helmet he normally wore to pop out and cover his head.

Though he was an unknown in Metropolis and some of the other big cities, even a year after his disappearance people in Gotham still spoke about the Red Hood. After all, he'd managed to near-successfully wage a one-man war on organized crime in the city, killing about every major player and then some. "I'll understand if you're freaked out. Most people probably would be."

[purplehazegirl]

Her eyes went wide as soon as she recognized the metal helmet. Her jaw almost dropped to her feet. "YOU?!" She squealed. "Whoa..." Ok, in retrospect that made a lot of sense, mostly how he was able to tell she was more than she seemed.

Mindy bounced in her seat, causing the ferris wheel cart to creak and sway. "Whoa! I never would have guessed! Wait, then, why did you keep that super from finding me? Wait, who cares! How many people have you killed? Do you prefer semi-automatic handguns or revolver pistols? Butterfly or switchblade? How much do you spend on kevlar? Do you like shoes with a better grip or with more flexibility? Nylon, hemp rope or steel cable? Do you like clean or messy kills?"

[voted_dead]

Some of the questions confirmed she was a cape. Others struck Jason as being a little beyond the pale ... and others still struck even the hardened anti-hero killer as being messed up. "I don't use butterfly knives or switchlades; it's just more parts to break. In today's world there's no need for a revolver, either. It's slow, slow-to-load, and there are semi-autos with even better stopping power than most revolvers."

"The cable I use is none of the above. It's a polymer of my own design, though inspiration goes to Iron Bat. Messy kills leave lots of evidence, and I don't keep track of how many I've killed because it's not about killing them to me. It's about what their deaths accomplish."

"Lastly," and here came the easiest to answer question, "I'm not a super, so I'm not particularly on any one super's side. Get me? I figured you knew what you were doing, not wanting found. I gave you the opportunity I felt you deserved." Again he hit the release, and the helmet tucked back in to its secret compartments in his outfit, as though it had never been there in the first place.

"Now, are you still needing a place to stay?"

[purplehazegirl]

By the time he finished talking, her fists were under her chin and she was all but gnawing on her knuckles.

"YES!" She cried in utter excitement, maybe even some sort of hero worship? "No wonder you didn't piss me off like everyone else usually does. Because of who you really are. Oh, I'm Purple Haze. Some people killed my family because my mom was a mutant and my dad and I were going to avenge her but the same people killed my daddy and now it's just me and I promised to kill them so that's why the super's are after me because Killing Is Wrong and Guns Are Bad and stuff and I think my powers are fading away for some reason because my detection power is going all wonky lately but I'm also super strong and can't really be hurt but if I use my strength I get super sleepy and it also makes me hungry a lot how long have you been a vigilante I'm a vigilante too and Power Girl didn't approve so I went to Metropolis because a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do."

[voted_dead]

"Jesus Christ, someone needs to switch you over to decaf. You talk like a Flash. One step at a time: what's this about Power Girl?" The darker stuff could be dealt with later.

[purplehazegirl]

"Why? Who cares about Peej? This is about you and me, bringing down the fuckers who killed my parents! A real duo, worthy of the halls of fame! Unless...you have a thing for Peej."

[voted_dead]

What straight guy doesn't have a thing for Power Girl? Jason came nowhere near saying this. "Just trying to get things straight. Heat-vision hotfoots don't sound too appealing. Look, you want the bastards that got your parents..." This was hard. Did he have any right aiding this kid down the same path he was going? What would it do to her?

Then again, she deserved satisfaction like any other victim. And unlike most, she was in the kind of position to be able to get it herself. "--I'll help you. But while we're in my town, we go by my rules until the time comes. That sound fair?"

[purplehazegirl]

"That's fair," she agreed with a nod, then poked his chest. "But don't think I'm helpless. I could kick your ass for sure, no matter what you threw at me."

[voted_dead]

"Confidence is great, Sport," Jason replied, "but cockiness will get you killed."

[purplehazegirl]

"Isn't that from a movie? And I can't die. Buildings have fallen on me, cars have hit me, lasers, explosions..."

[voted_dead]

"Everyone can die, Mindy. Everyone. I know it personally." He'd forgotten how irritating that overconfidence from being a meta could be. It helped to remind himself he was dealing with a precocious, if murderous, preteen girl.

Give her a couple years and a boyfriend and she'll at least have things to think of besides balisongs and decapitations.

[purplehazegirl]

Mindy hesitated. Maybe Jason was right, after all, her mom had powers and she got killed. Her feet fiddled on the footrest of the swing and the soles squeaked against the grated metal. "...who did you know who died?"

[voted_dead]

"...Me." It was obviously one of the weirdest answers she could have received, but he wasn't going to half-ass it. Not when she was only now acknowledging the possibility that she wasn't utterly immortal.

[purplehazegirl]

She looked up at him with that scrutinizing look, as if she was trying to pick apart if he was lying or not.

"You?" She repeated quietly, carefully. "How...how did you come back?"

[voted_dead]

"Fountain of Youth." It was true, in its own way. "You wouldn't know it by its real name, but it's kept one of Iron Bat's enemies alive and kicking for over six hundred years."

[purplehazegirl]

Mindy frowned.
"Could it bring back mom and dad?" Her voice was so very small, quite uncharacteristic of the rest of the afternoon.

[voted_dead]

"I don't know. Ra's warned about the dangers of trying it on someone too long dead. He stole me-- my body-- from Iron Bat about a week after my death. I wasn't too far gone, I guess, but it still--" There wasn't a night that went by he didn't wake up in a cold sweat, remembering his first fevered moments of new life in the Lazarus Pit.

"It's dangerous."

[purplehazegirl]

Mindy, out of costume, was actually a very sympathetic little girl, and powers or not, had a knack for sensing when people were upset. So out of empathy for another person, she put her hand on Jason's.

"It must be hard to die..."

[voted_dead]

"Thanks. Look, if you want satisfaction for your parents' sake, I get that. But you can't afford to be careless. If a Kryptonian on Earth can die, or come damn near close to it... see what I mean?"

[purplehazegirl]

"But-..." She exhaled. "Fine. I'll try to be careful and you're calling the shots. But remember, I'm no helpless kid."

The ferris wheel had completed it's rotations and they were let out.

"By the way..."Mindy looked up at him. "Thanks. For...everything. For today. You probably came here to scope out bad guys but instead you helped me have a little fun."

[voted_dead]

"Hey, don't sweat it," Jason replied, patting Mindy on her hat-covered head.

"You helped me have a little fun today, too. I needed an excuse to have a corn dog again."

[purplehazegirl]

Night had long fallen and the carnival was all lights against a black, moonless sky.
They walked together, Mindy taking a step and a half for every one of Jason's.
She suddenly yawned, and her tired eyes followed the stuffed wallaby that was still snug and secure, nested in the crook of Jason's arm.

[voted_dead]

He was no Bane, but Jason was still just above the maximum human peak for strength. A handy tool sometimes, those Lazarus Pits. With a slight grin, Jason used his other arm to lift Mindy, putting her into a sitting position on his arm. "Don't worry; it's not too much farther," he encouraged.

[purplehazegirl]

The instant Jason's rhythm changed, Mindy's lifetime of training kicked in. Her entire body tensed as if she were anticipating an attack. Only an instant before he actually touched her did Mindy let herself relax.

She let herself be lifted up, her expression appearing quite perplexed for a moment. It took several seconds for her to relax in Jason's hold, but she didn't fight him.