Summary:Barbara and Stephanie share lunch and catch up on happenings. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It had turned out to be a rather nice weekend, really. The city hadn't tried to destroy itself, yet. Barbara had been able to get some project work done and now she was preparing a quick and easy caprese. Slices of juicy red tomatos were laid out on a plate, followed by slices of fresh mozzarella cheese. Next came roughly chopped fresh basil leaves sprinkled over the plate and then the whole thing was drizzled with balsamic vinegar. The dark acidic liquid contrasting so nicely with the other ingredients. Last, a side plate with thinly sliced proscutto ham offered some protein to the salad as desired.
Glancing to her guest for the afternoon, Stephanie Brown, Barbara smiled. "It's a nice afternoo. Want to go eat out on the patio? The view toward Manhattan was the reason I picked this place." She then laughs. "that and it's top floor and has some very discrete exits for certain times of the night."
Stephanie is the embodiment of struggling college student. Even with the assistance from their benefactor, she still tries to not ask for more than she needs. And patrols and the hero things don't leave much time for part-time work for her. So the invitation to lunch was very much appreciated.
"Oh, the patio sounds great," she says with a nod. The blond moves over to pick up the beverages and some napkins and then moves to follow Barbara along. "Arm is feeling better," she says. She still has it in the sling, though it is a good bet that were she not around someone who might report back to Bruce, she might have it out of it by now. She doesn't seem to have any problem holding the beverages with that hand anyway.
Barbara Gordon nods and carries out the salad and plates. it isn't a large patio, just enough for a small cafe table with two chairs and some space for three or four more people to stand at most.
Setting the salad down she smiles, "Here we go. Help yourself." She takes a sip of her drink, just an ice water. A sigh, "It's nice to have a little time to just sit and think. Though I'll have to confess I'm not sure how you got hurt? I hadn't heard about it." She looks to the sling curiously.
Stephanie sets down the things in her good hand, then transfers the drinks to the other to pass Barbara's ice water to her. She takes a seat then and says, "It was on the recon mission to the boat a couple of weeks ago." Stephanie adds a little of the ham to her plate. She waits for Barbara to being eating before she starts herself. And not trying to let on how she would scarf the food down in no time but for the fact she's not alone.
"I planted some flashbangs stickies and then went into the hold where these four guys with AKs were playing cards. Long story short, someone got noticed and all the search lights came on, and they sent robots after us. I took out mine and had to jump away from the explosion, back into the hold. And this lady that Selina was fighting shot me I guess. I don't remember it. Went through my arm and then hit the body armor on my torso. Armor piercing round. If it wasn't for my arm and the armor on the sleeve slowing it?" Stephanie shivers at the thought.
Barbara Gordon listens intently and nods. "That's why we wear armor. We never know what we're going up against. If you'd been out as Spoiler with your original costume - yes. it would not have gone so well. I'm glad we got you proper armor for that very reason." She smiles. "How's recovery? I can imagine you're getting eager to be back out there."
She waits for Steph to take some of the salad and then helps herself, taking a slice of the tomato and mozz, getting some of the basil and a slice of the proscuto. She fastidiously cuts the slices into quarters and cuts the ham accordingly to get some of everything in each bite. "What we do is absurdly dangerous. It's why he pushes so hard for all newcomers to drop out. He doesn't want to see any of us get killed or critically injured."
Stephanie Brown smiles over to Barabara and says, "Yes, the armor quite literally saved my life." The girl's blue eyes shine a look of gratitude over to Barbara. "I suppose it also is a good reminder that the armor doesn't make me invulnerable," Stephanie says as she gathers some sliced tomato up on her fork. She pauses and tilts her head as she looks at Barbara. "It /doesn't/ make me invulnerable, does it? I mean there's not some secret forcefield setting that you just haven't enabled for me yet?" she asks in a joking tone. Well, mostly joking.
Stephanie eats the slice of the fruit that everyone calls a vegetable. "Recovery is going well. At first they wouldn't let me do anything, but at least I can do cardio with my legs now. Hurts to move my arm around a lot, but I can lift while before it was pretty much just let it hang. The broken ribs are improving. Barely hurts when I laugh now," she says. "So speaking of eager to get out there, anything happening lately? What have you been up to?"
Barbara Gordon listens and then smirks. "No. I'm afraid it doesn't make you invulnerable. Bruce may have access to composites that can stop rifle rounds or armor piercing. But I'm afraid I do not. Unless you want a little automated pingpong paddle to pop out and try swatting some bullets aside for you" she retorts lightly.
"That's good" about the recovery. "It's hard to be patient. But take it slow. There's no need to rush. Let it heal correctly and you'll probably come through it stronger than you were before. The human body is an amazing machine." She then takes a bite of her salad followed by a sip of water before replying to the last questions. "I've met a few Mutants over in Brooklyn. And a SHEILD Agent. I think she may have been fairly new to field work. Her methods were anything but optimal. She was chasing a thief that stole a weapon from SHIELD's labs and fled into the disaster zone. We tracked him down relatively easily. No one got injured. But his pride took an awful beating."
Stephanie lets out a laugh about the ping pong paddle. "That would be so amazing to do though. Someone pulls out a gun and you just…" and she swings her good arm like she were playing ping pong, "Right back at him!" she says, chuckling warmly. Stephanie takes another bite of her salad, managing it well despite just having the one hand.
Stephanie leans back in her chair as she listens to the chase into the disaster zone. "I suppose it's not bad to have a favor in your back pocket with them. I've pretty much stayed away from the law enforcement types so far," Stephanie replies. "Yourself excluded, of course," she says with a small grin. "Batman has a bit more gravitas with such things than Spoiler did though. Never quite knew when the cops might try to scoop me up."
Barbara Gordon grins at the imagining of the ping pong paddle. "We'll call it The Paddler Active Defense" and if someone gets too close it can slap them silly too. We may be onto something." A chuckle and a bite gets followed by a nod of agreement.
"I wasn't expecting to run into any SHIELD operatives, i was just patrolling the disaster zone to make sure no one was trying to interfere with Ivy's efforts to bring nature back into balance there. She's done an incredible job so far. It's so good to see her using her plant talents for the good of everyone. Even if she might not, quite, have much of a choice in it."
"My law enforcement experiences begin and end as Barbara Gordon with my dad and the SIPD officers that view me more like a kid sister or niece. Batgirl still doesn't get a lot of leeway like Batman does." She shrugs. "It won't stop us either way. Can't keep Batgirls down" she declares.
Stephanie Brown grins across the table, setting down her fork and picking up her ice water to offer it in a toast to clink glasses. "Amen to that," she agrees about not keeping Batgirl's down. "So Cassandra sure has been an interesting one. Have you had much of a chance to get to know her? Still working on our communication, but getting better at it," Stephanie comments.
"I'd like to get a story out of her someday. Seems like she's had far more extensive combat training than I have. I think Bruce mentioned being familiar with some of it," Stephanie comments. She returns to eating her food, working her way through it quickly, if short of gobbling it down. "This is so good. You have no idea how it hits the spot today," Stephanie says.
Barbara Gordon smiles and touches her glass to Steph's then takes a drink. She nods in agreement about Cassandra. "I've only had the chance to meet her the once. But she clearly has more martial arts training, at the least, than would be logically expected from a girl her age. As for her history, I really don't know. I tend to stay out of Bruce's way when it comes to the pasts of his adoptees. If he accepts them then they are almost certainly trustworthy. I can't see him mistaking a judgment on someone's character that egregiously."
Babs smiles at the compliment on the salad. "Thanks Steph. And I'm glad. It's such a simple thing. But if it's made with low quality tomatoes or mozzarella, it just isn't the same. The tomatoes have to be firm. Or it's just mushy textures all the way through" she says with a disapproving expression. "But I'm glad you like it. It's pretty healthy, really. And, for me anyway, it doesn't make me feel sluggish even if I've had three or four of the slices, you know?"
Stephanie works her way steadily through the plate as they talk. "Yes, I need to get back around and meet up with Cassandra again. Now I'm up and about more I thought I'd show her my apartment," she says. Stephanie's been managing to hang onto her own place, rather than staying with her mother. Though it's a close thing some months on making rent.
"Whew. So delicious," she comments as she finishes up. She glances down at the plate with a suspicious eye. "Wait a second. Doesn't leave us feeling sluggish. That mean we're going to do some training?" asks the girl in the sling who can't wait to get back at it.
Barbara Gordon nods in agreement about meeting and spending time with Cassandra again, soon.
A sly look is offered toward Steph. "Wondered when you were going to catch on." She winks. "Can't be lazy all the time or stamina and strength go down the tubes as they say. But you've got another fifteen minutes or so to relax. It's just as bad to jump into training after eating as it is to neglect training. Thought we'd see how a nice jog around the park feels, then maybe some arm work without weights to get your muscles going again. Sound good?"