revolting | (no subject)

The outside of the gambling den looks as if it's barely occupied. Someone with a good set of eyes and training in trying to spot this stuff can see that it is. The guy who walks around the front of the building does it in slow, cautious shifts. He and another man rotate, in and out, keeping watch. Jason doesn't think they're fooling anyone. They aren't fooling him. Or maybe they don't care. Open secrets are often the hardest secrets to prove.

Worth of mouth says a lot.

Jason doesn't have the connections for worth of mouth. Not yet. As he approaches the den from the shadows, he spots someone else coming up behind him. He nods toward them, raising a shoulder and pointing out Shift Number Two guy. "Think he knows he's that obvious?" Just in case this isn't someone here looking for similar dealings, he doesn't say anything. He just nods, and then looks back. Yup, totally obvious.

"And if he is obvious, how much do you think he'll take for the passcode? Think we can trick him with a non-zero amount of credits?"

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Sniper gets over their bemusement fast. There's a smile on their face by the time they've tracked the pointing finger back to this stranger's face: Tall, stacked, and clearly about to get into trouble. Sniper liked him immediately.

They walk a bit closer, coming up beside this stranger to peer up into his face. "Bribing someone isn't much of a trick. How else are they supposed to get new clients?" If the den was worried about being found by the wrong people, it wouldn't be so obvious. But it sounded like whoever this was already knew that. Which begged the question why he was lurking around outside. Their face is all innocent curiousity. "You want to go in?"

"Truthfully? I wanna see why they're saving face with guards." That's not the whole story. Jason isn't going to give it all away just yet. When he spins a tale, he likes someone to wonder what else he's getting at, and right now, he has this person baited.

He smiles easily, rolling his shoulders back. "So, a bribe might be the wrong angle. Maybe this is all some crazy hazing ritual. Or this place—" he motions toward it, canting his head at the same time. "This place just isn't the 'real deal'."

Oh yeah, Sniper is baited. Sniper's original assessment that this kid was about to do something stupid was still feeling pretty accurate. But why drag someone else into it? And Why Sniper, specifically? Sniper was well aware of how people saw them in this world—Vulnerable, easy to take advantage of. It had been easy to fall back into the 'old' (it'd only been a few months since everything went to hell after all) patterns of being a harmless doll. Nobody doubted it.

How did that play into the kid's scheme?

"It doesn't sound like you want to gamble." They couch their voice so it sounds equal parts wary and curious.

Jason barks a laugh, not even bothering to measure his tone. Right now, he's playing at the idea that he's terrible at getting into a place. Maybe it's the right angle. Maybe it's the wrong one.

But "gamble" has a bit of a double-speak connotation of it. Life is a game. He had always insisted that to Bruce back in the day. Nothing about that changes now.

"Depends on which kind of gamble you mean. Tell me, were you just moseying on by, innocent? Or did you have a place to be?"

"I was just taking a walk." Which was true. This was a new neighborhood, they needed to scope out where to get the best food, new jogging paths, criminal organizations that might be able to give them a gun for enough credits. Normal stuff.

And staring at the four walls of their crashpad was driving them a little crazy. They needed to bide time, bide money, and bide information.

But perhaps this was an opportunity.

"Just taking a walk," he reiterates. Jason looks them over again, eyebrows raised as he considers them. They're frail, dressed in a way that puts them at odds with seeming like they'd belong over here. But they're also good at getting at what Jason wants them to say. That's not a coincidence.

"Just taking a walk here, and you haven't told me off like I'm some kinda crazy person. You seem like the type who would normally be well-versed in ignoring the usual stress riffraff. If needed."

They grin up at him. "You're not usual." There's no point in being coy, now. What had they always said? A killer can smell a killer, even in this blighted future where more humans considered themselves predators than not.

This wouldn't be the first time their luck manifested in making meeting the right person at the right time.

"No, no I'm not. But humor me. What if I had gone all in on tricking you to sidle up to one of those 'guards' like you were lost? I mean, that may still be the plan, but tell me: would you have played along?" Jason hadn't taken that tack, but he likes talking in hypotheticals.

Plus, he's feeling particularly chuffed about being referred to as "not usual."

"No, because that would have been a stupid idea." Said without rancor: they're talking hypotheticals, after all. It's charming to think the stranger might be saying dumb things on purpose just to suss Sniper out. Ordinarily they'd encourage that along, but now that a break in the monotony of laying low was on the table, they couldn't dream of turning it down.

"How about a deal? If you promise me it's for a really good reason, I'll get you in."

"You have a plan." It's a statement, not a question. That or they're going to improvise and have done this before. How fortunate. Jason just hit the jackpot. Then again, he works alone, so he didn't need help. He just needed something to make this interesting.

To add stakes.

Ah, the gambling puns will never cease. They're well-positioned here, though.

"Wish I could tell you the long-term plan, but in the short term? No one runs an outfit like this and makes it their main ..." He considers his words. "Squeeze." His teeth flash in a grin. "I don't like being on the outs with businesses like this, and I'm waaay out."

"We have similar goals, which is good enough for me." Since they were about to 'break into' an illegal gambling den, Sniper goes with frank and honest. Sniper was not deluded over the fact that resources and information (and a gun!) were going to come from shady places. They didn't mind except for the part where it was going to take forever to get a foot in the door. As for why Jason wanted the same—they could talk about that later.

Forever being like, a couple weeks to a month tops but Sniper's perception of time here was subjective. Given what they had been torn away from, of course every hour that dragged by felt like a year.

"Are you ready?"

"So, I've just gotta watch you work." There's some amusement in his tone. Jason motions forward, indicating for Sniper to lead the way. "After you."

Sniper pulls of their hoodie, tucking it away and holding a hand out to Jason with a smile. "Your jacket, please." They weren't dressed for this particular plan, but the jacket would help conceal that, and they could make up for the rest in delivery.

Under the hoodie, they had just been wearing a tank-top—the hoodie was more for anonymity than warmth. With their arms bare it's more obvious how delicate their frame looks; they hadn't quite gotten back all the muscle tone they'd lost during... However long they were captive. A fact that irritated them everytime they looked in a mirror, but they knew better than to try and rush.

Edited 2018-07-24 19:56 (UTC)

Too bad he doesn't have any weapons just yet. Jason could make a show of pulling them out of the jacket so that Sniper could know how he came prepared. Instead, the inside of the jacket will show the intention of this—in time. It's nowhere near the Kevlar get up he has going for him at home, so he went for style. Something tells him he'll have a lot of explainin' to do if he has to ask for Kevlar from anyone.

Bridges to be crossed later.

And Jason hates asking for favors.

He tugs off the jacket without much drama and hands it off. Without it, Jason's left in a simple T-shirt. He doesn't ask for much here. He's already made a note that the underside of New Amsterdam can put the worst parts of Gotham to shame. It helps that there's a great deal more hypocrisy in play.

"Now that you've left me out to the cold, do I stand here or look like a fool?" He cants his head to the side. "Just asking. I wasn't planning on giving anyone my jacket tonight, but it seems I've met someone special."