Sheila and I already held our family Christmas celebration. We need no more shopping. But I like visiting small towns. Sheila never said no to checking out a boutique or gift shop.
This is Waseca, MN. The drive here was just over one hour south of the Twin Cities. 9,200 people live here. It has a downtown with hose old, two-story brick buildings I like.
Were I to win the lottery, one of these stores, in any small town, would be high on my list of things to buy. I don't know that I'd even try to run a business. No, I'd make it into my own brick, two-story man cave with a big glass window overlooking Main Street and several nearby small bars and grills (and certainly a nearby boutique for Sheila when she visits me).
The county courthouse here is cool.
This store below is the equivalent of the big, overstuffed chairs located in department stores under the escalators. Those places where men wait while wives shop. As Sheila checked out another store I wandered over to this place. Sadly, it's only open on Saturdays. If I had a small town business, that schedule would be a goal of mine.
Even better, I could have a self-serve business, the kind which only requires me to leave the massage recliner chairs in my man cave as often as I need to empty boxes of quarters. Below is a self-serve, two station dog wash with a clever name and no attendant on duty.
We made an obligatory stop at Kwik Trip. I was very tempted to buy a Don'z Pizza to bring home. How can you go wrong at that price?
Despite the gloominess of gray skies and intermittent rain, we had a pleasant drive home. I will never understand ow someone spend a small fortune on a nice car, especially once that comes with HD-Matrix LED headlights with Audi Laser Lights, and not even let the automatic feature to turn them on during a low visibility day. Your gray Audi is pretty, but it would be wise if people could see you coming from more than 100 feet away on a day like this.
Tonight we have a holiday party just two houses away. I'm looking forward to it because there will be four couples there, all whom I like a lot, plus some relatives of the hostess whom I've met a few times and also really like to be around.
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Dpx Dc AU: Ectoplasm is required for Ghosts to be visible to the human eye- And Danny creates his own ectoplasm.
Danny is visiting Jazz in Gotham and its weird how friendly everyone is. Like, the city gets a really bad rapport, everywhere he goes there is someone trying to strike up a conversation or answer his questions about getting around to the tourist spots. A few people even pointed out restaurants and ways to find off the beaten path gems! Jazz seems to role her eyes at him, but when he brings up her 'roommate' being kind of cute she flat out laughs.
Danny then comes to understand the Jazz doesn't have a roommate and that Ghosts in Gotham don't move far from their haunts- He's just been inadvertently turning these undead folks visible by accident of generating abnormal amounts of ectoplasm.
Which, is comforting in a way, he's never walking this dangerous city alone and really, most of the ghosts have been really friendly! They disappear once he's a few blocks away from them anyway.
---
Tim Drake is having a horrible day.
He'd been given intel that one of Black Mask's guys was going to snitch but that he'd died before given the opportunity to reach out to the GCPD. He tracks down the guy's last know whereabouts and yikes. Its next to the Theater. Tim was often grateful for his childhood obsessions, this time it backfired.
Tim and Bruce get into an argument about trust and respect and, worst of all, mental health. And even though Tim was vehemently against Batman accompanying Red Robin to the alleyway - that's exactly what happens.
They arrive and Bruce is closing up faster than a clam in the contaminated Gotham Bay- Clearly being in the Alley bothers him. No fucking shit. RR gets started on collecting evidence, there are a few extra blood splatters and a single left shoe... When a kid walks into the Alley.
"Uh, sorry to intrude-" The kid looks scared shitless, and runs away. And then, all of a sudden, Batman and Robin aren't alone in the Alley.
Tim can hardly believe his eyes as the dead man appears and quickly blabs Black Mask's bank passwords and what the plan had been- and While he's over joyed to have that closure, he turns around to Batman weeping in the arms of his parents.
The ghosts fade, and the emotions are certainly charged as this was never something Bruce or Tim would have ever dreamed of happening. Ghosts in Gotham. Talking, floating, granting closure.
"RR, Bats, come in." Oracle calls into their ears.
"Reporting in, but, uh, we need a minute."
"A minute? We have a case on 4th and-"
"O, we just saw the ghosts of the Waynes. It's going to be a minute."
"...Lots of Ghost reports lately then. Any chance you saw a kid looking like he could be adopted?"
"Yeah, actually, black hair and blue eyes. He was super polite before he ran away."
"We have work to do. Oracle, lets prioritize finding our person of interest and divert Nightwing and Robin to the case on 4th." Batman cut between them on the comms and he sounded... calmer than either of them anticipated.
---
Jazz is no longer laughing when Batman appears at her door explaining that he's looking for Danny (Who already flew away from town to get a good night's sleep before class on Monday). Turns out Danny reunited the man with his dead parents just briefly- and then the second guy appears and mentions how Danny had also given a guy who'd been murdered by a Mob enough time to explain the ongoing threats the city faced.
Jazz just rolls her eyes and says that it's not like the ghosts are going anywhere anytime soon and Danny will visit in another month. When pressed, she just explains that her brother is a weirdo. No of course he doesn't have powers. Gaslight and Girlbosses her way out.
And Jazz thinks that the game is up for at least another month, obviously when Danny visits more shit will stir up, but then this new guy appears.
Unlike the other Bats who are keen on watching her from a distance, the Red Hood knocks on her door. Are her eyebrows all the way into her hairline when Red Hood asks her to send his thanks along to Danny because somehow this whole situation led to his Dad expressing remorse for his actions and apologizing? Yes, yes they are.
But Jazz can smell Dissertation Data off of these vigilantes- Who is she to send them away? Jazz welcomes Red Hood into her place for a cup of tea and a small chat.
The story then devolves into Jazz getting shit done, Danny being cute by proximity and also bringing ghosts to the party, and the Bats having trauma resolve between them.
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