September 2nd, 2008
"Nah, I haven't gotten around to it. Why don't you tell me a bit more?" Juno asks, burying her apprehension about Lonnie. Even if she wasn't the most psyched about this whole set up he'd made, or the pretty open hypocrisy he was showing, she wasn't about to call him out in front of his adoring fans. The whole point of coming up here was to start rekindling their friendship and make a new ally. Openly calling him out on his bullshit wasn't really the way to do that. Juno also reminds herself that she doesn't really know Lonnie that well. The boy she knew was still in elementary school, almost a decade ago. She needed to learn more about who he was now before she could actually call him out on anything.
There is almost a brief flash of something, disappointment, boredom, in Lonnie's eyes before that easy smile returns and he begins to speak once more. "Oh thats fine. Its a bit of an older movie. You were always more of an artist than a cinephile anyways." Juno nods her head, ceding him this point. "Anyways, its about a group of 3 young women in Hollywood in the 60s who, due to the pressures of fame and the patriarchy, descend into drug abuse, to often fatal consequences."
"Yesh, I'd say that I'm glad things are less bad nowadays but its really not." Juno says with a frown. Juno was usually a big entertainment news fan, E! and TMZ and all that stuff, but the last two years it had been pretty hard to keep up with stuff. The media was just so awful to Briteny and Dahl. It had been kind of fun to follow along with at first, Juno wasn't above gawking at a celebrity breakdown or two, but things had just gotten too mean. She was glad that Teen Vogue was usually pretty much free of the meaner stuff.
"Sadly we still live in a world where men both put women on a pedestal and demonize them. The whore and the Madonna." Lonnie says sadly. Juno detects some sincerity in his voice, buried underneath something that felt sickly smug. "It is only through education and discussion that we can rise above the toxic background of our culture and be better."
"Thats so true Lonnie. We should all be like, way more independent." One of Lonnie's girls, Juno was starting to get increasingly guilty about not bothering to ask or learn their names, speaks up. "My mom is like, involved in the free the nipple campaign and its suuuper cool."
"Very good, I'm glad that you're taking such an interest in our conversations Charlotte." Lonnie says in a tone that Juno can't help but notice the condescension of, her smile getting a little firmer as she struggles against setting her jaw. The look of adoration form Charlotte, and the jealously seething from the other girls, is starting to become too much. Juno is suddenly faintly happy that she didn't hang out with Lonnie in her more vulnerable periods in middle school. He notices her look and, rather tactfully, speaks. "I do miss our talks, Juno. You've reminded me how nice intelligent conversation can be. You should visit more often."
"Totally!" She says, getting her tone steadily perky. "You've given me a lot to think about Lonnie, I'd love to discuss this topic with you later!" After she had learned about more about her new old friend here. He did seem to legitimately care about what he was saying. Was he just too arrogant to realize what he was doing? She stands and starts to leave, not feeling as hungry as she had when she sat down.
"That sounds great, see you later Juno." Lonnie said, giving her a lazy wave as she leaves. As Juno walks through the doors where she had had a brush with a more piggish version of the patriarchy she is pretty satisfied with this outcome. Despite feeling a little dirty for ignoring his bullshit, Juno had pretty successfully built the foundations for hanging out with Lonnie more. There was something to explore there, something real to dig out underneath the smug. She could find it and bring it into the light, helping people was why she was here. Someone had to be the bright sun in the murk that was Gotham.
Septermber 6th, 2008
The Lacerator was not Iceberg Lounge, but for a sleazy metal club it was nice enough. The floor wasn't that sticky, Juno was only mildly worried about getting knifed and the bartender had at least thought about asking for an ID when Jimmy had bought at beer. Still it was a mid range club in Gotham, which meant that it was a shithole in any other city. The Bowry wasn't even Crime Alley, or even the Narrows, but it was still a pretty rough patch of the City. Even Jimmy had seemed a little withdrawn when they had gotten off at a dilapidated bus stop a few blocks up from the club, stepping over a barely moving bundle of rags and misery curled up right in front of the buses doors as they had gotten out. Juno had been happy to stay in the shadow of his trench coat, actually feeling comforted for once by the sheer amount of knives Jimmy carried on his person.
While outside it was a cold September evening in the City, inside the club it was hot and hazy from the sheer crush of bodies forced into the decaying brick building. What had once likely been an old brewery was now packed with punks, posers and wannabe scene kids from all over Gotham. Goths with gages and heavy black eyeliner brushed up against spike haired punks and leather jacket wearing metal heads. A group of Clowns, hair greasily dyed green and blue, glared across the crowd at a group of gangly Harvestmen in raggedy clothing. No weapons though, the club was pretty strict about that, so a gang fight as unlikely. Despite Jimmy looking at both groups with open envy Juno managed to maneuver the two of them away from any part of the Element. She really, really didn't think the night would end well if either of them got talking to henches.
"Still can't believe you ditched running off with Boy Wonder to fuck around in this shithole." Jimmy said with a laugh as he sipped at his pabst, the two of them leaning up against a big support pillar that came down in the middle of the room. Juno daintily slurped her diet coke with a straw, fingers tap tap tapping on the glass. "I've seen how you look at Todd, like a goddamn 12 year old seeing a tit for the first time."
"First off, weird." Juno says in a dead pan. "Second off you know I wouldn't leave you hanging Jimmy." She pauses to take another sip of her drink. "I wouldn't do that to you, you're my friend. I know how much this crappy music means to you."
"Says the girl who likes the Backstreet Boys." Jimmy says, but he can't hide the emotion in his voice. The slight quaver, the warmness underneath it all. "Still Juno, thanks for coming. It makes my job of showing you real music a whole lot easier."
They stop talking as a group of giggling scene girls pass them by. One with black and red striped hair and a fairly reasonable nose ring pass just in front of the two of them. Jimmy stands up a bit straighter, flashing her a quick smile. Her eyes fall on him. On his trench coat, the acne scars on his face, on his greasy red hair. Her nose wrinkles up and she looks away, Juno hearing her laughing about the 'freaks here' as they continue on. Jimmy deflates, face going carefully blank. It can't hide the mixture of pain and anger that fills his eyes, nor how his breathing starts to quicken.
"You're a good guy, Jimmy." Juno finds herself lightly putting a hand on his arm. He looks up, blinking in surprise. "I really wouldn't dip out on you just to hang out with some boy. Like, look. Jason Todd miiiight be ultra super duper hot," Jimmy's lips twitch up in a smile, "but hes not my best friend. You are, and that means something."
He turns away, rubbing the back of his head with a hand. "Christ Juno, you're such a fucking softy. Total suburb kid." She just smiles as she hears the sincerity in his voice, underneath it all. Jimmy, despite all his Jimmyness, really was a good dude. He had always looked out for her, always wanted to help out when he could. Juno didn't know what having a big brother was like, but she was sure it was a lot like what she had with Jimmy. Bit by bit she cut away at the harsh and rude and violent exterior he put out to the world, revealing the sensitive guy underneath.
The first band started up, an act with a utterly foul name that Juno refused to even think. Their music was, much like their name, harsh and grating and really not Juno's style. She hides a grimace by taking another sip of her diet coke, trying to focus on things other than the music. Jimmy, however, did what he usually did at shows like this. She watches as he first stills, eyes glazing over as he starts to stomp his feet in time with the music. As he got more and more into it stomping turns into a weird, aggressive shuffle, accompanied by a lot of swinging his arms about. His eyes are devoid of their usual hardness, softening as he vented his inner anger into motions dredged up by the music.
A mosh pit starts to form, as one was likely to do at these sorts of things. Usually Jimmy stayed in the back with Juno, making sure that no one tried to mess with her. But, across the club, the group of scene girls had met up with some goth guys. The girl with the red and black hair stands up on her tippy toes to kiss a guy who looked to be about 5 years older than her on lips. The two part as he moves into the pit, throwing off his spiked jacket as he enters into a maelstrom of flying fists and writhing bodies. Jimmy watches him the entire time, eyes sharpening once again. He turns to Juno, uneasy smile on his face. "Hey, I'm gonna head into the pit for a bit, take this."
Something is shoved into her hands, Juno looks down at once of Jimmy's many switch blades, a black cylinder like thing that had a knife pop out with a press of a button. Before Juno can argue Jimmy's gone, shoving his way towards the pit with a single-minded intensity. Hes heading straight towards the older goth guy, hands clenching firmly in his trench coat. She doesn't need to see the gleam off metal of his brass knuckles to know that hes slipped them on. Part of her is numbly surprised that he didn't pull out a knife, but she guesses that Jimmy wants to use something a bit more deniable.
Where she is Juno can hear the scratchy voices of the Harvestmen as they wander towards her support pillar. They're getting close enough that she can smell the shitty straw scent the gang tends to spray on their clothing in mimicry of their leader. Juno's stomach churns with nerves as one, a thin kid who can't be more than a few years older than her, of them lingers on her. Before he had gotten caught by the Bat and sent to Arkham Dad had been fighting with Scarecrow over the Narrows and parts of Coventry, a gang war only put off by Dad's sudden absence. Scarecrow hadn't forgotten though and was supposedly still not happy with Two-Face. Juno's face, while not super out there, had been used in a few pieces of advertising by the foundation. It wasn't impossible that this guy had seen one of those ads and was close to recognizing her. Her hands grip the switchblade tight, knuckles going white. She didn't know how to use a knife. She didn't really want to learn.
A sudden commotion from the front of the room draws the Harvestmen's attention. In the pit a real fight was starting to break out, fists flying in a more directed manner than before. At first it looked like a random outbreak of violence, super common at these kinds of clubs, but Juno was pretty sure she knew what had kicked it off. She could see Jimmy decking the goth dude across the face with a mean right hook, spray of blood sparkling in the light for a second. She winces in sympathy, Jimmy sharpened the edges of his brass knuckles. He quickly starts to kick and stomp on the goth guy as groans on the crowd before getting socked right in the stomach by a punk dude. From there hes lost in the storm of violence.
The Harvesten are well and truly distracted by the growing fight, a few of their number rushing off to go join in. Juno takes the chance to duck behind the pillar, leaving the world of the henches the second she exits their view. For the next ten minutes Juno stands there, diet coke forgotten, clutching the knife while she tries to stay small in the chaos. Its only when she hears a familiarly high pitched laugh start to come her way that she peeks around the corner.
"Crazy fucking show, huh? Great shit." Jimmy says through blood speckled teeth, a good portion of which has to come from his bent nose. Not enough for a break, but enough to hurt to look at nonetheless. His glasses sit cooked on his face, the telltale slight red of a shiner start to appear around his right eye. Despite his wounds Jimmy exudes a giddy satisfaction, sighing happily like he had just run a marathon after eating a huge meal.
"Yeah, great." Juno grumbles as she follows in behind him as they leave the club, now settling back in for another set. She had a lot more digging to do.
((Thursday is technically the weekend if you believe hard enough. No vote this update, weekly vote on the next one.))
