milliways_bar | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Cat is sitting at one end of Bar and staring at three different take-out boxes while she works on a hot dog. The containers are open and have a plastic spoon poking out of the food--which is cheap and easy to make, the type you find in free food given to the homeless. Each spoon also has a bright spot of green in their bowl.

Someone is seriously targeting street kids and Cat isn't sure what she can do about it.

[OOC: Here for about an hour and then slows till tomorrow.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Jay approaches from an easy line of sight. "Kitten, you okay?" He recognises the residue of his testing kit.

Cat looks over when Jay speaks and smiles.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I didn't eat any of these, just testing them." Her voice sounds a little subdued, though.

"Smart. I'm glad that kit came in handy." He nods to the bar. "Want something real to eat?"

He snags one of the containers and takes a sniff. Then orders a more complex testing kit from the bar to find out what's in it. "Gotta a line on who's handing this out?" Jay's more that happy to go beat someone up for this. However mild he's playing it.

"I've got a hot dog," she answers, though it has cooled and is now gross. "I don't know who's leaving these boxes though. I got these from three different drop sights and the boxes are all the same as the charities that usually drop there."

She reaches out to flip one lid closed. "This one even has a rubber stamp like Saint Mark's."

"Saint Mark's use to be one of the safe ones." Jay muses unhappily. "What's the bet someone's using their stamps to make people trust it." He fiddles with the machine again. "Damn it! Gamma hydroxybutyric. Not good." He leans back in his chair. "You need to get the word out to all your friends to be careful."

He turns to face her, packing the tester away. "Do you want me to come back with you? See if I can't find whoever's doing this?"

"Saint Mark's is good and this one didn't come from their usual drop off. IN fact it was a few miles away."

"What's 'Gamma hydroxy....hydro...that stuff?"

"So someone is intentionally drugging people." He muses, a little angrily.

"GHB." He has to think about it for a moment, trying to work out the timeline. "The street name might be liquid ecstasy or blue nitro. A small dose will make you feel giddy and pliable but too much will drop you. This," He gestures at the food, "is dangerously strong stuff and clean. Half the box, which most street dwellers would eat in a hurry, would put them straight to sleep."

He taps his fingertips on the bar. "It's a pretty common date-rape drug, used to get a girl in bed whether she wants to on not but the way it's being distributed..." He trails off, thoughtfully. There's a simmering anger under his skin.

Cat's eyes go big as soon as he says GHB; her mother had already given her that talk.

"That could explain the kids that seem to be missing. I think it's only a couple but it's not like we keep exact numbers. How am I going to convince the other kids to not eat any free food they find? It's not like I can say I've got a magic bar I go to and had the food tested."

Jay grits his teeth, hating the thought that this was happening to kids. "Could tell them you've seen someone go down from it? Warn them to past the word along. I can help you take some clean food drops back with you if you think it'll help?"

Cat doesn't even bother to think about, just nods.

"You ready now, or are you busy?" She glances at her hot dog as she says this, not quite hungry any longer but not quite willing to leave food unfinished.

"Get yourself a hot chocolate or something and give me ten minutes to get my gear together." He assures, keen to help but not willing to go in unarmed.

"Bar, I need food parcels - hearty but stuff that will keep. Enough for say... fifty people?" He looks to Cat to see if she thinks that's enough. "Box it all up in a shopping cart or something for us please?"

Her eyes go big again and she squints in thought.

"I know I can scare about about fifteen kids, but I know that food wouldn't be wasted with grown ups around. Your choice."

"Alright, lets make it half fresh meals and half things that will keep. That way your friends can stash what they need for later. And fresh water in collapsible filter bottles." Because he knows the difference clean water can make.

A large shopping cart appears next to them full to the brim with a napkin on top that says No charge. It was seem the Bar doesn't like people drugging homeless kids either.

"Alright, Kitten, I'll be back in a tick." He heads upstairs, taking them two at a time.

Gavroche glances at each of the containers, which she clearly doesn't intend to eat, then at Cat's face.

"Something bothering you about them?" he asks gently from his own bar stool.

Cat looks over with an arched eye brow. SHe is quiet a moment, deciding how much to share about her thoughts.

"Yeah. Kids on the streets have been disappearing and no one know how or why. I think I found how, though I don't know why yet. This foods' been drugged."

All trace of a smile or levity vanishes from his face, if there was any there to begin with, because there's no possible way that means anything good.

"You seen who's been handing it out?"

Cat shakes her head. "Not really. I was there for one of the drop offs, the van was from a local charity, but not the others. Each of these look like they come from different charities around the city. I'd warn the other kids but I don't think they'd believe me. I can't say I got a drug testing kit from a magic bar and have them listen."

"And you can't tell street kids they shouldn't trust food that's made up to look just like they should trust it", he says with a nod. "Unless... you got one of them to eat this, or ate it yourself in front of them, somewhere safe. Let them see what happens. But then, it might do something really nasty..."

If there is anywhere safe.

"What if it's poison and not something that just makes you pass out?"

Yes, Gotham is that sick of a city that this is a valid concern.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking at the end there. There's not really a good way to test that, is there."

"Do you think the doctors here might test the food for me?"

[OOC: This can happen after the chat. =)]

"Oh yeah." He brightens. "They've got all sorts of machines in there, they could tell you exactly what it is. But then you've still got to convince the kids not to eat it."

"Hmm," she replies, chewing her lip. "If it turns out to be a drug and not poison, I could always feed some to a rat or pigeon to show the others it's not safe."

"That's true", Gavroche agrees. "And, well... if it was a poison, they probably wouldn't be missing for long."

Cat quirks her lips into something like a smile.

"You could be surprised. Lots of places in Gotham for people to disappear to."

"Gavroche right?"

"That's right." He grins. "And you're Cat, and if I can, I'm going to help you put a stop to this."

Street kids are his people.

"Cool," Cat says, a little unsure. Trust isn't the easiest thing for her. "I'm not sure how widespread it is since kids tend to keep to themselves, but now that I know for sure something is up, I can get the word out."

"You watch out for them?" he says, not entirely a guess. "Even when they try to keep to themselves?"

"Not really. We watch out for each other mostly."

After all, who else is going to watch out for them. Of course, Cat tends to be more active in the watching out than others.

"And everybody looks out for the littlest ones", Gavroche agrees with a nod. "...are there any little ones?"

"A few," Cat agrees. "Not too many though. Family services keeps a closer eye on the younger kids and so it's harder to run away and harder to keep off their radar."

"Family services?"

Somehow that's slipped by him, even living in the modern-ish world.

"Cops who take kids who don't have families or whose families beats them or whatever. Usually, kids end up in foster care, which isn't care at all. People in foster care are just doing it for money and don't really care about the kids. And that's just the nice kids. Kids like me or ones who have problems end up in group homes or juvie."

"That's jail for kids."

Selina is such a cynic... or maybe Gotham just really does suck that much.

"They have special jails for kids? And they take them away from bad families?" He smiles crookedly. "I was born in the 1820s, by the way."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only