7527/Doom Patrol: The Left Behind

Doom Patrol: The Left Behind
Date of Scene:	18 May 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Beast Boy and Crazy Jane make contact at Caulder mansion and worry about friends over coffee and oil paintings.
Cast of Characters:	Crazy Jane, Beast Boy

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Crazy Jane has posed:
    The letter from Niles wasn't surprising - he likes to stay in touch with his 'charges'. The request, perhaps a little more so.

'My dear Garfield,

    I was so glad to hear that you and Vorpal have managed to patch things up. It's never good to leave loose ends. I could tell when we met that you weren't happy with how things had worked out, but I knew you had it in you.

    'I'm afraid I'll be away a while. Something has come up - you know how it is. I wonder if you could do me a little favor while I'm away? Drop into the mansion when you can, and look in on Jane. She's not used to being left alone, and I do worry about her. I know that you and the others were not all that enamored of her when you met, but please be understanding. She was nervous of meeting you and somewhat defensive. Defensiveness does not bring out the best in her - literally. Normally she's nicer than that. I still believe that she could make an excellent addition to the Doom Patrol. I do hope the others come back safe from their various personal missions. There are times when the world needs the more unusual talents that you, my favorite charges, can supply.

    'My thanks, Garfield. As always. I will see you when I return.

    ' As ever, your friend, Niles.'

    The Mansion isn't a long journey, particularly for one who can fly himself there. The familiar grounds are as ever peaceful and somewhat overgrown, the old mansion building as neglected yet homely as ever. Finding Jane will not be a difficult task, as she's standing in the grounds in front of the mansion, working on a painting.

Beast Boy has posed:
     Gar ticked the letter back into the envelope and packed a small knapsack with some essentials before he sighed once. "Okay Gar, it will be better than last time. Hopefully she doesn't have a knife around..." Of course, the Doom Patrol was his family, and the Titans an extension of that family. When he left to join the ranks of the Titans, he promised to be there for the Doom Patrol.

  He shook off his jacket and put it in the knapsack, before his features started to change, his snaggleteeth receding and a beak forming, from each arm feathers erupt in an emerald color. Jeans and other clothing slipping off of him as he completed the transformation into a Peregrine Falcon and flew in the direction of Doom Manor.

  Once he landed outside of the secluded mansion, he places that knapsack next to a nearby topiary, diving behind it. A green arm grabs the satchel and soon, the clothed Beast Boy steps out from behind, knapsack in tow.

  He reaches into a pocket, and extracting a green anodized key from the pocket. The bolt opens with a hearty thunk, and Gar enters the hallowed halls of Doom Manor. "H-hello? Cliff? Larry? Arani? Jane? It's me, Gar! Anyone home?" He knew only one person was expected to be here, but he didn't want to let on that The Chief asked him to check up on her.

Crazy Jane has posed:
Jane doesn't look up from her painting, her attention deeply focused on it. She moves her brush slowly across the canvas, intent on working on some fine details. "Hello Garfield," she says quietly. "I'm sorry, nobody is at home at the moment apart from me."

    Taking a step back, Jane gives a long look at the canvas, then dips her brush in a jar, swishes it around a few times, dabs it on her palette and starts working on another detail. "It's nice to finally meet you Garfield. I've heard a lot about you." It's an odd thing to say seeing as they have met before a few times, but Gar has had the short version - Jane isn't always Jane. When they met before she kept telling people that she wasn't Jane, and that her name was Hammerhead. That's a rather more polite way of putting it that she had at the time.

    "I was expecting you," Jane adds. Maybe she already knows about The Chief's request?

Beast Boy has posed:
     "Oh, heya...new person!" Gar comments, putting his knapsack by the door and walking up to the painting Jane. "What's your name?" He asks, already knowing it wasn't Jane. "You were expecting me?" He asks, now a little embarrassed he tried to pull a stunt.

  "I...am glad it's someone new, and not someone else."

Crazy Jane has posed:
Jane finally looks up from the painting. She's silent a moment as she studies Gar's face. "I'm the Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. But it's okay if you want to call me Jane. I know it's confusing for other people." Her voice is much softer than when she was Hammerhead. She switches to a smaller brush, dabs a little white on it, and makes a couple of quick marks on the painting.

    "Yes, I knew you'd be coming," she confirms. "Penny wanted to see you. I think she's quite a fan. But she's a little shy. Were you looking for The Chief? He's not here. They've all gone. It's just me here now. I don't know when he'll be back. He promised it wouldn't be long. He's very protective. Wasn't happy about leaving me alone."

    Jane frowns slightly and looks back from the painting. "Did he ask you to check up on me? It's okay if he did. It's the kind of thing he would do. Is that why you came?"

Beast Boy has posed:
     Gar, at his very core, is a good person, and a poor liar. "Okay, Jane." He says, smiling. "Yeah, he did...wait if you knew I was coming, how did you not know The Chief asked me to swing by?"

  The green young man takes a seat, and relaxes a bit. "I just flew in from the city, and my arms are tired." He says with a chuckle.

Crazy Jane has posed:
Jane reaches down to a hamper at her feet and pulls out a thermos. She pours out some coffee and offers it to Gar. "I just guessed," she says. "Because you're here, and it's the kind of thing he'd do. I didn't know you'd be coming today, I was just expecting to see you soon."

    Jane swishes brushes in the jar of turps to clean them off, then blots them on a piece of sponge. The paint-covered palette is placed carefully on top of the hamper, and tubes of paint returned to a box. Finally she pulls off the painter's smock that was protecting her clothes, and folds it neatly. This version of Jane seems to take things very slowly and precisely. When she's finished, she turns the easel, so that Gar can see what she has been painting.

    The brushwork is vigorous and bold, perhaps slightly surprising given the slow, calm mannerisms she's displaying. The tone is dark and the colors muted. The subject is a landscape, and a familiar one. The mansion is in the background, just as it is in life right now. The familiar grounds are there. However the familiarity ends just a few feet in front of where Garfield and Jane are now positioned. The mansion appears to have been torn out of the ground, and is floating in a void. Three figures are visible at the foreground edge. One is kneeling, a hand testing the broken ground at his feet. The other two figures looking out towards the viewer. These two are clearly Gar and Jane. The third, with his face down and hidden, isn't as obvious - but surely it's Vorpal.

    "I knew I'd be seeing you soon," Jane explains. "...Because I started painting this."

Beast Boy has posed:
     Gar looks over the painting and his eyes grow wide. "Y-you paint...premonitions?" He asks, getting closer and observing Vorpal's body on the ground face-down. "So...what does this mean?"

  the usually chipper Beast Boy has grown increasingly worried after seeing this painting. "I mean...why else would you paint something like this?"

Crazy Jane has posed:
    Jane's head tilts slowly to the side, and she's slow to answer. "It's not really like that Gar. It's not so much that I paint premonitions as... I mean as an artist, you... well most people paint what they've already seen, one way or another. I paint what I haven't seen yet. But you have to remember it's a painting."        
Jane steps back, and a shimmer of light seems to pass across her face. "Don't ask her that question, Garfield." There's no visible change, but the lightness has all drained from her voice. She shakes her head, studies her fingers, smells them and makes a face. "She's an artist. Never expect an artist to explain themselves in a way that makes the faintest god damn shred of sense. Turpentines. Fuck. Now I have to wash my hands for like fifteen minutes to get rid of the smell. Why can't she use acrylic paint? But nooooo, has to be oil."

    Jane looks up from her fingers to Gar. "I tried hiding her oils once, bitch found them though. Don't worry about the painting. It'll drive you crazy trying to figure it out. Art is..." she struggles for words, then throws her arms out expressively and turns away from the canvas, walking towards the house. "Symbolic and shit. I need some coffee, coming? One day something will happen and we'll go 'oh yeah, that 's what that fucking painting was about.' That's art for you."

Beast Boy has posed:
     It takes Gar a moment to catch up, it without fail, he chuckles and follows Crazy Jane as she moves towards the area of coffee items.

"Sorry, I just...don't often see oil paintings where my boyfriend is lying down face first in the ground." He comments, following Jane towards the coffee. "So...who are you?" He asks, still trying to broach the subject himself.

Crazy Jane has posed:
    "That was your boyfriend?" Jane asks. "How could you tell, is he normally face down? What the f... wait, forget I asked." Hands go up quickly in a defensive gesture. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm Jane. " She leads the way into the kitchen and starts the coffee brewing. Leaning casually on the counter, she turns to study Gar.

    "He was face down, but he didn't look dead to me," Jane says. "Could be symbolic. Maybe he's just trying to hide his face. Don't ask me. So, any idea where the Chief has gone? You're probably closer to him than anyone. He didn't tell me jack. Actually I'm kinda fucking pissed at him to be honest. Left me a note. Didn't even say goodbye properly." She glares at the coffee pot, as if glaring will make the coffee go faster.

Beast Boy has posed:
     "Either way, the manor, him face down, it doesn't sit well with me, Jane." Gar comments gently, giving a slightly uneasy face.

  The green goober just shrugs with the last question from Jane. "Not exactly, he never told anyone where he would go. But I was a kid when I was in the Patrol. Hell, I'm still the youngest member. I could try and ask dad if he'd heard anything...if anyone he would know more." He adds in, taking out his phone and shooting Steve Dayton a text.

Crazy Jane has posed:
    Jane stares silently at the coffee pot, willing it to finish, as Garfield sends the text. Eventually it does, and she pours out a couple of cups of coffee. "Hope you like it without sugar or cream, I ran out," she offers. "So kinda tough if you don't."

    Somewhere in The Underground, Jane's mental landscape, a voice pipes up, offering to go to the store. Flit could be back with supplies in no time, she says. Jane pushes the offer down as she drags one of the old, worn chairs out from the table and sits in it, glaring slightly at nothing.

    "He still never tells where he's going," she admits. "But I dunno. I'm worried. There's something different this time. Some of... some of them are uneasy about it." She looks up again. "I'm worried, Garfield," she repeats.