So. Fallen London. I'm trying to get a pair of theatre performers in Mahogany Hall to give me something. They'll do it if I perform a little favour for them. The range of potential favours they would be happy for me to perform?
Hide a bad luck charm in a rival's dressing room.
Straight up murder a man? (temporarily, mind, this is Fallen London, death won't stick)
Convince their drug dealer to ignore how one of them recently kicked him in the balls and start selling to them again.
dead on main first meeting but it's really awkward
"Danny, where have you been?!" Is the first thing Jazz snaps once she answers her phone. She has a right to snap. This isn't Amity, this is Gotham. A place where the villans weren't just ghosts, where her little brother wasn't just a vigilante. He was trafficking bait. He was an accidental drug mule.
He was supposed to be back at the hotel three hours ago. She was allowed to be stressed.
Although, she can't help but add to that question. "Do you...have a cat?"
"Hey Jazz," Danny's voice is sheepish, almost entirely eclipsed by the rumbling vibrations that seem to be coming from right next to him, if she was to hazard a guess. "Sorry, I uh- got caught up in something?"
"In something." Something still sounds like trouble, but it's not coming with the edge of villain, or worse, police, so she exhales. Allows her shoulders to relax.
Crosses her free arm across her chest, because Danny might not be In Trouble, but he is in so much trouble.
"What kind of something?"
"Well... see, here's the thing." She can hear shifting through the receiver, before the purring stops. Almost immediately, Danny lets out a sharp yelp-- and the purring continues, just as sharp and vibrant as before. "I got a little lost, and next thing I know, uh- I think Red Hood thinks I'm some kind of ecto-plushi?"
They both fall into silence, for several moments. The purring does not stop.
"Red Hood."
"Yeah."
"The crime lord vigilante?"
"Yeup."
"Is using you as a teddy? A ghost teddy?"
"Mhm. It's been like... four hours, I think? He calmed down for a while, but calming down doesn't mean letting me go, apparently." Danny huffs, loudly. Ignoring her absent reprimand for making the phone peak. "Nightwing tried to help for maybe five minutes, but I told him to get lost."
"Why?"
"I think he was crying?" Danny mumbles something about photos, but right now, that really isn't important.
Her little brother had been kidnapped off the street. By Red Hood. For cuddles.
"...Huh." Okay, sure.
She can't say this is the weirdest thing to happen to them. Sighing, Jazz strides over to her suitcase, digging through her clothes to pull out the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick. "Just send me your location, I'll come get you."
The way Jack slipped into character to try and manipulate Dean into submission is so intriguing.
He used intimate physical touch, something that he has been withholding as a norm in their relationship, to try and overwhelm his senses
And Dean is so suspicious (and tempted)!
Jack told Dean what he thought he wanted to hear. And when Dean smiled(and what a sad smile it was!), Jack went to reinforce this assumed submission with more physical intimacy.
Thankfully, Dean saw right through Jack's manipulations (as he's surely been through this act many times before).
And rightfully so, as in the very next scene, Jack is back at his manipulation tactics once again.
Raffy approached him and Jack saw an opportunity to try and take control and mold Raffy's actions and emotions.
In the past, we've seen Jack distance himself from Raffy or subdue the obvious vying for attention. But in this scene Jack pulled himself up to the same level as Raffy and called Raffy by his name. He used the intimate movements and language he knew Raffy craved to draw Raffy in.
Unfortunately(?), Raffy does not have years of experiencing Jack's manipulation. So it is super effective.
Look at that doe-eyed fool. Tsk tsk.
With Raffy properly stunned, Jack asked for his cooperation. And when Raffy agreed, Jack again reinforced that submission to his will with physical touch--using the mirroring of Raffy's earlier shoulder touch to trick Raffy into thinking they are aligned not just mentally but physically as well.
Jack's character comes off as level headed and grouchy--not obviously toxic and twisted like Raffy or clumsily disastrous like Arnold. Jack has a truly terrifying subtle toxicity that I can't wait to see more of.
