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Bruce Wayne (capedcrusade) wrote in modernage,
@ 2010-05-01 08:34:00

Entry tags:

!plot 02: happy birthday mr wayne, atlee | terra, barbara gordon | oracle, clark kent | superman, damian wayne | rook, dinah lance | black canary, katherine kane | batwoman, ted kord | blue beetle, thomas elliot | hush, {alfred pennyworth}, {bruce wayne | batman}, {duela dent | harlequin}, {floyd lawton | deadshot}, {hiro okamura | toyman}, {karen starr | power girl}, {scandal}, {talia al ghul}, {zatanna zatara}, ∴ scenes: ongoing

Thread: Bruce Wayne's 36th Birthday Party
Who: Party Hosts and Guests, including Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Duela Dent, Dick Grayson, Zatanna Zatara, Kate Kane, Barbara Gordon, Tommy Elliot, Damian Wayne, Clark Kent, Dinah Lance, Karen Starr, Hiro Okamura, Atlee, Talia al Ghul, Ted Kord, Scandal Savage, Deadshot, and Harley Quinn.
Where: Wayne Manor, Gotham
When: Saturday 17 April 2010
Summary: Party! It's Bruce Wayne's 36th birthday party and everyone who's anyone is there.
Note: Need details? The plotting post is here. Start subthreads!

Alfred had been given permission to "outdo himself" and outdo himself he did. Wayne Manor was polished to a shine and decorated to the nines. The catering had been meticulously planned, with Alfred making several of the recipes himself. The ballroom had a stage that would have a live band with dancing for most of the evening and Zatanna's magic show at other times.

The only cause for complaint was due to the guest list. With all the plus ones, it was all a bit chaotic. While everyone either needed an invitation or to be with someone with an invitation to get in, it seemed that wasn't much of a barrier to entry.

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Floyd + Open

rainingbullets
2010-05-03 01:28 pm UTC (link)

Pretty much exactly as his teammate had predicted, Floyd had quickly excused himself from the party after making a show of helping to set up the buffet. A man with no vices was hardly any kind of man at all, in his considered opinion, and the mercenary gunman made a point of induging his at every possible opportunity. So there he was, his back against one of the ivy-covered walls of stately Wayne Manor, puffing away on what was probably his eight or ninth cigarette of the night.

Of course, it wasn't all loitering and shirking. The Six had parked their nondescript van at the rear of the mansion, just like the rest of the help. Out here, Floyd could keep an eye on it, make sure their freakshow wheelman didn't get jittery and bail on them before the job was through. And in the event any of the extra security prowling around got too suspcious about the scrawny stick figure in a chef's hat hunched over the wheel of their getaway transport, well, he'd be on hand to provide some discreet backup.

As long as the cigarettes held out, anyhow. After that, the guy was on his own.

Wasn't like Scandal couldn't hold her own in a room full of disaffected rich weirdoes, either way. Hell, she could probably gut a dozen or so of the Gotham elite single-handedly without breaking a sweat. The only thing Floyd was really worried about was the magician. Once she was out of the picture, it would be smooth sailing to payday.

Yeah. Why did he have an uneasy feeling things weren't going to be that simple? Pattern recognition, most likely.

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Floyd + Zatanna

giftofthemagi
2010-05-03 08:11 pm UTC (link)

Her set had been over for a bit already but Zatanna only now was able to escape the accolades she just didn't care to receive. (It wasn't that she wasn't happy they'd enjoyed her act-- she did, really-- but this was a party and although she wasn't invited in the strictest sense, she would like to be able to mingle a bit, since she had friends in attendance.) First, though, she was intent on getting a bit of air. Her nerves were a bit frayed and she wanted a moment to collect herself.

Stepping outside, she saw the telltale signs that someone was on a smoking break. Well, so much for that alone-time she'd been wanting. Zatanna smiled, though, nodding her head. "Hope you don't mind; needed a quick break myself." If the lighting had been better, she might've realized there was something slightly familiar about the face of her unwitting companion but it wasn't and she didn't think to pay any extra attention. Her mind was on her (and maybe Bruce just a little) at that moment.

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Re: Floyd + Zatanna

rainingbullets
2010-05-03 08:50 pm UTC (link)

It was much darker outside the mansion than it had been inside, certainly dark enough to make facial recognition of casual acquaintances difficult, at best. But Floyd hadn't need to see Zatara's face to know exactly who she was right away--it helped she was wearing her work clothes. He would have recognized those legs at the bottom of a coal-black mine shaft. The assassin's composure was sorely tested in that first second or two, but he managed to relax a little when he saw he hadn't been made yet.

Amazing what a difference a monkey suit and a spritz of cheap cologne could make.

Floyd smirked, though he wasn't sure whether he was amused more by his amazing ability to go undetected by magical superheroes or apparently suicidal impulse to press his luck, saying, "No problem. Plenty back yard to go 'round, I think." He blew a succession of wobbling rings into the air out of the corner of his mouth. "Smoke?" he offered, holding out the pack to her. She probably wouldn't take him up on it; he couldn't remember ever having heard anything about Zatara being a smoker. Still, polite was polite. And so much easier when the girl was in fishnets.

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Re: Floyd + Zatanna

giftofthemagi
2010-05-03 09:22 pm UTC (link)

"Point." Zatanna had to give Bruce credit there-- he did have the whole mansion thing down pat. Granted, he'd inherited it (and she knew more than a little about that) but she knew it would've been easier to just let it all go to pots. Of course, she seriously doubted Alfred would allow that to happen. He was rather dedicated, after all.

Resisting the urge to wrinkle her nose at the offer of a cigarette, Zatanna shook her head. "No, thank you." No reason not to be polite (that she was aware of, anyway; the fact that he was the "help" didn't bother her-- technically she was, too) and, hey, if she did smoke, she'd probably be grateful to him. (She'd worked with enough smokers to see just how demanding the nicotine habit was.)

It occurred to Zatanna then that this man might know more about the plan for the evening than she did. "I'm curious, do you know if Alfred's set up any surprises?" She wouldn't put it past him to throw a curveball now and again-- especially where Bruce was concerned. "I'm just curious if you think my second set will start on time."

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Re: Floyd + Zatanna

rainingbullets
2010-05-04 12:35 pm UTC (link)

... what in the name of all things ballistic was an Alfred? Floyd wasn't really sure, but if he'd had to guess, he would have supposed he was the guy that had thrown the party together. After all, it wasn't as though rich people went to all the trouble of staying rich so they could do things for themeselves, was it? Though in this case, he supposed he could grudgingly acknowledge that even poor people didn't generally plan their own birthday shindigs. Not after they passed thirty, leastways.

Still, weird as it was to think about it, they owed this Alfred guy. If it weren't for the mass chaos that had descended on Wayne's mansion in the form of scores of guests and hundreds of anonymous event staff, Floyd had a feeling it wouldn't have been nearly this easy to infiltrate the place. So ... good on Al.

"Surprises?" he drawled, finding a certain humor in how beautifully she'd set him up. There were definitely going to be surprises, all right. "Well, now. I can't give too much away, you understand. Professional ethics. But since you're also on the clock tonight, I guess it couldn't hurt to suggest you might want to keep a little wiggle room in your schedule."

And now his eyes had wandered back to the silhouettes of her legs. Maybe he should have picked a less distracting term than "wiggle". Damn fishnets.

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Re: Floyd + Zatanna

giftofthemagi
2010-05-05 02:34 pm UTC (link)

Later, when she reflected on this moment, Zatanna would berate herself for not realizing she was being set up. In the moment, however, she simply suppressed the urge to roll her eyes because this guy? Yeah, he was so checking her out. "A little wiggle room," she repeated with a quirked brow and small smile. "I'll keep that in mind." Luckily this sort of thing was par for the course when it came to private parties.

Taking a deep breath, Zatanna pushed away from the wall and straightened her hat. "Well, I should grab something to eat before round two." She smiled a bit wider. "It was nice talking with you..." And that was when she realized she hadn't gotten his name. (And he probably knew hers; it wasn't ego on her part, just simple fact.) But she just shrugged it off, offered a wave and headed back inside.

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Re: Floyd + Zatanna

rainingbullets
2010-05-05 11:36 pm UTC (link)

"Pleasure was all mine," said Floyd as the magician took her leave. Ever so subtlely, his posture relaxed. Now that Zatara had left, the possibility for random violence had diminished to its baseline level. Which was still somewhere up around eighty percent, or so, but it was a rough business. A guy had to expect things to get dicey, because they usually did. Murphey's Law, and all that.

Plucking his cigarette from his mouth, the assassin dropped it onto the flagstone path leading back to manor's rear access road, crushing the burning ember at its tip out beneath his patent leather shoe. He supposed it was about time he started getting ready, too. The real party was bound to start any time now.

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