6083/Should old acquaintance be forgot

Should old acquaintance be forgot
Date of Scene:	31 December 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Shadow, Batman, Spoiler, Batwoman

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Shadow has posed:
    The idly rich never need an excuse to party extravagantly, but it's so much more fun when one does. As the year draws to a close, various charities and NPOs have a polite but bloody brawl over which of them gets to host /the/ biggest charity gala of the year. This year, the lucky winner is the Veterans for Veterans, an organization staffed almost entirely by former military personnel who do their best to advocate for and support their less fortunate brethren.

    They've managed to get themselves a wealthy sponsor or two for the event, and pulled out all the stops. The guest list is a Who's Who of the Forbes 500, captains of industry rubbing elbows with politicians and robber barons, the catering earned their third Michelin star this year and the live band has an actual orchestra as backstop. It's going to be exactly the kind of party that convinces the wealthy to feel good about parting with their money.

    Of course, charities aren't the only people who'd like to part the wealthy from their money. Word reaches some of the bars Steph has bugged: Someone has been hiring a lot of muscle, and the type of muscle he's been hiring suggests a big -- and better yet, /loud/ -- job. Most of the regulars haven't taken the offer, but they /have/ been noting the date, because a job that big and loud will be a lovely distraction for the cops and capes. Her information doesn't extend to what and where precisely, but she does know the general area - New York - and the time - New Year's Eve, during the celebrations.

    Meanwhile, in three different mansions, three different people with surprisingly similar secrets are examining identical letters in gold ink: You Are Cordially Invited to attend...

Batman has posed:
Batman might normally skip out on such an affair and simply provide his usual donation. It's not on the regular list of Gotham Society galas, honed since time immemorial by society doyennes and newspaper gossip columns. But Bruce decides to attend for a couple of reasons. He believes in the cause. He'd rather avoid some of the usual crowd who show up at the Gotham Opera performance (and they're doing something in English this year, for goodness' sake).

And because those same rumors have reached his ears, about something likely to go down. He arrives in his usual immaculate tuxedo, white and black, sending Alfred to take his extra 'equipment' in for personal use. Not often someone attends this sort of thing and brings along their own personal servant, but Bruce Wayne is used to being spoiled, it seems.

"Let me know if you see anything untoward," he says, the microphone nestled in his cufflinks coded to an earpiece in Alfred's left ear. "Also, warn me if you see Mrs. Bueller around. I cannot take another half hour conversation about my 'marriage prospects'."

Spoiler has posed:
Spoiler is no grand tactician. She knows how to keep herself (usually) out of bad situations. She knows how to plan a simple series of visualized take downs. She's learning. But planning and getting the details on something like this once the initial information was gathered? Nope. But she does know when to go to the big guns. Fortunately she has met two such figures in Gotham. Only Batgirl wasn't available to user her Oracle system to ferret out more solid intel to move on. So she left a message with the Birds of Prey and then went to the one vigilante she knew she could track down - her boss by day, AKA Batwoman at night.


"... so.. that's what I picked up. It does sound like there will be at least one attempt. But it could just as easily spawn more trying to use it as a smokescreen." And from there? Spoiler knew when to let professionals take over. She was there to help, certainly, and to learn. So she followed Batwoman's lead.

Batwoman has posed:
    Normally, Kate would do her best to make a grand showing of her presence at an engagement like this. When Bruce isn't around, it's an easy thing to garner some attention for her mundane self. Donations here, socializing there- it's the kind of thing she can't necessarily stand anymore, but grandstanding when she can sheds light on an alter-ego that, the more she does, could not and would not possibly be Batwoman.

    She is dolled up, to an impressive degree. While the debate might rage about whether her strapless, tastefully sequined, flowing red evening gown cost more than a certain member of Gotham Royalty's tuxedo, the amount of extra detail in every inch of her appearance does belie that it certainly took her longer to get ready. Especially since tonight, she's brought along her own servant.

    The instructions had been simple: Bring this suitcase. Wait in the wings. Don't screw it up. Don't do anything unless Kate says. Don't screw it up.

    Normally, these things are insufferable bores. Kate has made it worse for Stephanie, who for the time being, is somewhat akin to having to watch an insufferable bore on television.

    Regardless, Kate is making the rounds- though for the moment, she's practically avoiding Bruce.

Shadow has posed:
    "Certainly, sir," comes Alfred's dry deadpan through the comm. "Although I believe Mrs Bueller's last daughter married in June, so you should be safe from her helpful advice." A moment of silence, then: "... Unless, of course, she decides that given your reticence it might be wise to start laying the groundwork early -- her eldest granddaughter will be of marriagable age no more than two years from now."

    Inside, the main hall is everything Bruce and Kate probably feared. There are lights. There is glitter. There is gilt. There is a lot of all three, and the designers have clearly heard the word 'overkill' and decided that it was something that applied to other people -- although in their defense, everything has been arranged tastefully and the aesthetics are not clashing; there are simply so very many of them. The live band is still setting up, but the orchestra is softly playing background music as a warm-up.

    Over by the food table, the Mayor of Gotham is... entertaining... several guests, who are doing their best to smile and pretend to be interested as he explains at length how he's the one who arranged the catering, "Best damn restaurant in the city" and how proud he is to be of assistance to this wonderful charity. Slightly outside of his immediate personal space various people are milling around, clearly trying to decide if they're hungry enough to risk getting drawn into the conversation.

    The mood around the drinks table is slightly better, as various people seem to be catching up on old times over what does look like an excellent year for Californian wines...

Batman has posed:
Batman steers himself clear of the mayor, although he makes sure to keep track of him. Mayor of Gotham was practically an election to be a target, which meant only the greediest, meanest and most cutthroat of politicians would ever be so power-hungry as to dare bother with the post. Bruce exchanges his full flute of champagne for a mostly empty one from the tray of a passing waiter, to provide the illusion that he's been liberally intoxicating himself.

He sees Kate across the room and makes momentary eye contact, raising his glass in greeting but letting her keep her distance. Whatever he knew or didn't know about her, she was another player on the field, of that much he was certain. Now he just needed to find out what game they were playing.

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie Brown lingered near the edges of the gala event as she was told. She was dressed well above her own comfortable Gotham U student style. Her hair was done up in a twist and she wore a really gorgeous dark purple gown. But she was also hanging out over with all of the 'assistants'. Those who were largely tasked with keeping track of any stock changes while their employers rubbed elbows amongst each other. Already she'd had to shut down a half dozen attempts to get her number. The last thing she wanted was to get constantly bothered by someone else's assistant trying to get a meeting with Kate or someone else at Hamilton. Plus? ew. Most just weren't even cute!

Batwoman has posed:
    This was sort of a ballet. If Kate knew, then she figured Bruce knew about thirty minutes or more before she did. It wasn't necessarily true- but it was safe. Which meant that when things hit the fan they'd probably need their own specific avenues, and doubling down, their own specific routes to keeping everything contained and controlled.

    Kate was safe at these particular events, to be fair. Her discharge wasn't exactly private knowledge, and even if it were, it's not as if the rumors following were going to be especially easy to keep down. People take pictures, and a tall ginger wasn't exactly going to be easy to hide. It just meant more attention for people like Steph.

    When Bruce avoids the Mayor, Kate takes a level of pity on him and engages the man herself, just so that Bruce doesn't get caught up in that whirlwind. She's less famous and less prestigious, so it won't be as bad.

    "I'm not sure if it's the -best- restaurant in Gotham, but I guess if anybody would know, it's you."

Shadow has posed:
    Stephanie involuntarily finds herself something of a minor center of attention. Part of that is the fact that she's /not/ trying to draw attention -- which puts her a shade more interesting to a certain type of bored socialite than the high society bachelorettes that /are/. More than that, there's a certain unconscious grace to the part-time crime-fighter's steps that's different from the well-trained society ladies. It's exotic, therefore interesting. Meanwhile, several of the now-ignored ladies are glaring daggers at the poor girl's back hard enough to make her twitchy and expecting a real one...

    The Mayor is clearly eyeing Bruce, but equally obviously can't quite figure out a way to call him over without being crass about it. Still, when Kate interrupts him he accepts it with reasonably good grace - he's nothing if not an excellent politician. "Miss Kane, so lovely to see you here. Of course, hardly unexpected I suppose - I imagine this cause would be one dear to your heart, as a former soldier yourself..."

Batman has posed:
Batman decides to take pity on Kate and retrieve her from the Mayor, stepping over and interceding with the easy entitlement of a man who always gets what he wants. "I could never do it myself. I admire the veterans, but I couldn't do it. All that violence. I'm scared of the needle when I get my flu shot. By the way, Mayor, I hope you had yours, some of the waitstaff tonight looked a little sniffly," he says.

"Could I borrow her for a moment, your honor? Just a little thing I wanted to discuss with her and, if it's any consolation, we'll give you cover for a minute so you can sneak a cigarette on the balcony while the press is otherwise occupied?" Of course, officially, the mayor quit months ago, but Bruce usually has the inside track on the personal habits of the rich and famous.

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie Brown has taken down skeezy criminals countless times. But navigating high society in matters such as these? It's new territory. She mutters into her earring comm, "Kate... if these highschool dropouts turned errand boys don't leave me alone soon? I'm going to have to plead temporary insanity for breaking their collective noses..." She manages to murmur it into her comm while holding a perfectly neutral smile on her face. She still carries the briefcase she was given charge of. No way is that one getting away from her.

Batwoman has posed:
    Double-pity! The kind of social collision that can only happen when two people who hate this particular shindig decide that the other could use a reprieve. Kate had engaged the Mayor so Bruce didn't have to, and now Bruce is engaging the Mayor so that Kate doesn't have to linger. Still, it's a credit to the Bat's cleverness that he maneuvers -both- of them away from the situation.

    "I prefer not to talk about my time in the Marines." she had begun- it had been short, somewhat, so there wasn't a whole lot to tell that wasn't embarrassing- but at the same time, Bruce approaches. "I'm sure you could make it if you -really- tried, Bruce. You'd just have to make it through the innoculations, there are no needles in service after that." she jokes, then, moving closer to her cousin with the clever gait of a socialite.

    "Oh for sure, I've heard some -ghastly- rumors that I'd just love to see if you could clear up." For the moment, she can only speak to Bruce- Stephanie, sadly, is left to the sharks... Because there is no real opportunity to speak into any sort of communicator.

Shadow has posed:
    For a fraction of a second the Mayor's face twists into the confused expression of someone who realizes he'd just said the wrong thing but can't for the life of him figure out /why/ it was wrong, but then his polished Man Of The People expression comes back -- just in time for it to freeze when Bruce butts in and yanks Kate out of his clutches, leaving him no way of keeping either of them here unless he wants to display even poorer manners than Bruce just did -- and unlike Bruce, he can't afford to be that tactless. "Ah. Yes, of course. By all means, enjoy the gala..." He trails off as Bruce and Kate depart, only to realize that most of his captive audience has taken advantage of the distraction to flee as well. He gives one last dismayed look at the food tables, then squares his shoulders and stalks off to one of his bigger political donors while behind him a number of relieved guests finally crowd around the food now that it's finally safe to eat without risking death by boredom...

    Stephanie, for her part, is still having to fend off a would-be swain whose conversational skills appear to be limited to asking her opinion on something, and then following up on the answer with a lengthy explanation of his own take on the matter, complete with a lengthy elucidation as to how he came by it. He probably thinks he's being interesting.

    Bruce's conversation with Kate is slightly interrupted by Alfred's call on his comm. "Master Bruce, I feel I should warn you that Mrs. Bueller's limo has just arrived. Unless you want to risk having to entertain her, I recommend you do not let yourself be seen alone."

    Meanwhile, the group by the wine table erupts in laughter -- but oddly enough, it's the kind of laughter that seems to indicate they found something genuinely amusing rather than the more forced laughter when the person who told the joke is several times as wealthy as everyone else put together and no one wants to be the first to give offense...

Batman has posed:
Batman strolls casually with Kate, "I didn't actually have anything particularly to talk about, but I know he can wear your ear out. Liking to hear yourself talk comes with the career, I guess," he says. "Big turnout tonight. Bigger than they expected, I'd wager. They'll be out of crab puffs by ten," he says.

"Assuming the party lasts that long, of course," he says, giving her a cool appraisal. "Shindigs like this have a bad habit of getting interrupted. I might duck out early, myself, just in case of fireworks."

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie Brown has learned the art of pretending to listen while utterly ignoring the person in question. It's a helpful skill in class when the professors drone on for an hour. Not unlike the Mayor really. She finally interrupts Smarty McSmartypants, "Okay. Y'know what? You're /wrong/. Not only are you wrong, you talk about this like you're the leading expert. Except I'm reasonably certain you've never actually studied a thing about Samurai. And it's not kat-anna. It's Ka-Ta-nna. Okay? Ka-tanna. If you mispronounce it once more I think a real Samurai might just show up and stab you himself. It's a crime against Japanese culture and their language."

She shakes her head, standing up to move to a completely different spot with her case in hand - a firmly gripping hand at that. "I'm sorry to burst your bubble. But that movie with Tom Sail? It's just Hollywood sensationalism. Do yourself a favor and read some real journals and articles." And so she walks away, sounding more like a witch than a lovely and capable assistant. But a girl has to draw the line with stupid people somewhere.

Batwoman has posed:
    Kate walks along with Bruce and offers a few nods. "Yeah, he's a chatterbox alright. Gotta rake in as many votes as possible, and if you flood the memory with a bunch of good stories, then you don't necessarily remember the philandering unless you were only ever going to remember it."

    There's a short scan of the room for a moment- Kate trying to figure out where exactly they're going to enter, when they do. Almost as if an afterthought, she responds to Bruce. "I think fireworks might be better than this, for sure, but I think I have to rescue my assistant. She looks good in purple, you should meet her, but you've probably heard a lot already. Word travels."

    With that, Kate is making her way towards where Stephanie is fending off one of the gala-goers. The party has gone on quite a while- by now, Kate is figuring that if it's going to explode at all, it'll be soon.

Shadow has posed:
    ... Leaving Bruce on his own, when he can already spot Mrs. Bueller walking through the doors. He figures he has maybe ten seconds before she sees him, and fifteen after that for her to reach him unless he's willing to make blatantly obvious moves to avoid her.

    Charlie is clearly taken aback by Steph's forceful correction, but only briefly, and he's just opening his mouth for a "Well, actually..." when the sudden hush that falls over his cohorts clues him in on Kate's approach. It's one thing to be forward and pushy at a girl with no social standing; it's another to be caught bothering the personal assistant of someone significantly richer than you...