Summary:Nachos are the Food of Bat Summoning. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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It's a beautiful summer day at Wayne Manor, where the air conditioning is cool and the amenities are endless. Helena's already visited the pool, but swimming laps left her hungry, so she raided the kitchen, and then…Well, if you're going to enjoy an ill-gotten treasure trove of the sort of processed food Alfred usually hides, then you take it to the media room.
So she's sitting in the media room in sweatpants and a tank top, her hair still wet from the pool, with a giant plate of nachoes (including fake cheese) on her lap and a collection of candies spread out on the couch around her, while some movie full of fast cars and chase sequences plays in the background.
It's not like she's not going to burn it all off later tonight anyhow.
It's been some time since Tim was regularly around Wayne Manor; now he's back from Paris, and refreshing himself on his way around. With Steph at his side, he walks the halls, pokes into rooms, and figures out where all the new secret passages are. Right now, he does all this wearing a plain red t-shirt and jeans, and with his nose buried in his phone. Peripheral vision is enough for navigation.
And hearing is enough to tell something's happening in the media room. The soundproofing is never quite perfect, and they don't want it to be. (Do you really want to risk someone's screams of need going unheard just because you didn't want to bother people with movie noises?) He peeks up from his phone long enough to take in the scene. "Oh hey, Helena." And then back to the phone. Tap tap tap. He leans against the doorway, making room for Steph to peek inside too.
Rarely feeling like she belongs in this very fancy, very rich, very extra ultra super lux of a house, Steph follows along with Tim, a blonde puppy on his tail. Her hands clasped behind her back to keep herself from reaching out and grabbing at shiny things to look at, and then accidentally breaking something that costs more than the house she grew up in. Like her guide, she hers the noises, neck starting to crane as they draw near. With part of the doorway left open to her, Steph comes up to her tip toes to peer inside.
Helena, Tim said. Steph's blue-green eyes settle on the other young woman, and her plate of- "Are those nachoes?"
Steph's tone is high, light, airy, and adds to the air that already hangs around her as being way too young to be mixed up with this sort of crowd, even if too many of them started at that too young age. Some even younger. The cheerleader high ponytail added to the My Little Pony shirt she's wearing, tucked into skinny jeans, and white tennis shoes doesn't help matters at all.
Damian Wayne is the newest member of the household, both the Waynes, and technically now a Bat. Though he probably has a good deal left to prove before he's trusted to do anything actually important, the newblood arrives in the area and he looks at Tim and Stephanie as they arrive, tilting his head at them since he doesn't know them, but he looks specifically at Helena. "Sister."
Then to the other two. "I don't know who you are. Who are you?"
Of course, Damian had just the - best - way of greeting people.
"Hey, Tim!" Helena grins around a mouthful of nachos, twisting to see him at the door. "Welcome back. How long've you been in town?" When she hears Stephanie, she raises the plate into view. "Come on in, plenty to share. You might have to, uh…"
She glances down at the candy littered on the couch around her. "You might have to make some room, but hey. When you find Alfred's stash of confiscated goods, you clear it out like you mean it before he gets a chance to move it." She grins, holding up the nachos like an offering plate. Growing up in the Wayne household comes with all sorts of interesting lessons.
Like how to deal with unexpected siblings.
Helena sets the nachos down to hit the mute button on the movie, waving everyone inside. "Guys, this is Damian. Apparently he's my brother. We've found a topic that I don't feel compelled to dig into the details of. Damian, this is Tim and Stephanie. More the family. Both sides."
Tim hears an unfamiliar voice and looks up and across to Damian, one eyebrow raised. Well that's new.
But he takes in the detail from Helena. 'The family, both sides' is clearly a subtle indication that, yes, they're all involved in extra-curricular activities. "Tim Drake," he says. "Been a family friend for a while now. This is Stephanie Brown." He steps more fully into the room and starts clearing discarded wrappers off seats, to give Stephanie a place to sit. "You might have heard of us?" Depending on how much homework he's been given, and how much information he's been provided. There's a level of caution there, feeling out just how much to tell the slightly-younger ninja.
From nachoes to grumpy Lil' Wayne, Stephanie follows Tim into the room, murmuring a thanks to him for tidying up the wrappers. She had been smilng brightly at Helena's comments of indulging before it was found out. It's a familiar sentiment, and had the blonde nodding. A blonde, amid a room of brunettes. It's an easy guess to make that she's only on one part of this cracked out family tree. Still, despite the brightness of the smile fading slightly in the begining, Stephanie pulls it back on and moves to offer Damian her right hand for a shake.
"Nice to meet you, Damian," she says after Tim's introduced her. She'll wait to grab some nachos in a moment. Must be polite!
Damian looks at Tim as he offers his introduction, then to Stephanie. He shakes her hand and looks at both of them. "Time will tell if this will be a pleasure. But for the moment, its nice to meet you both." which is as close to a polite greeting from the son of batman that they are ever going to get at first notice.
"I don't know either of you. But I look forward to seeing your skills." What did he mean by that? Doesn't matter right now, before he looks at Helena. "What kind of snacks are you consuming?"
There's footfalls in the hallway, a new arrival to the media room. Having gone for a swim after Helena - because she gets so embarassed so easily - Bruce is dressed for preparing for the evening. A robe covers the under armor that he's wearing beneath the robe as he steps into the media room. A media room filled with some of those closest to him.
"Evening." comes the offer from the oldest of the clan, hands settled in his pockets. "If I am interrupting something?" he asks, a lift of his brow. He's in the Bruce form at the moment - so there's none of the stern words or looks he usually gives - just the caring father he's become in the past two decades.
Helena rolls her eyes slightly at Damian's response, but it already seems like it's a habitual gesture. Apparently introducing Damian to people usually goes like this. "Nachos," she points out the plate of chips covered in fake sauce and canned meat, "And a wide assortment of candy." She spreads her arms to indicate the variety spread across the couch and the coffee table in front of herself.
When Bruce shows up, she flashes a grin at her father. "Found Alfred's stash," is the only explanation she offers. "It's all nutritionally terrible," she adds to Damian. "But delicious. And it's not like there's anyone in this house who isn't getting enough exercise to make up for it."
Tim smiles at Stephanie. "She showed her skills damn well just last night. Sorry you weren't around to see us in action. But with a city like this, there will be more than enough opportunity soon." He assumes that Damian wants to see their skills in proper action against the city's criminal element. If there's going to be an impromptu sparring session, it may catch him by a little bit of surprise.
And there's Bruce. Tim gives him a nod of his head. "Good evening, sir. Helena was just introducing us to Damian, while we're all being horrible and talking over her movie." He belatedly slips his phone into a jeans pocket. Whatever project he's working on, it can wait.
"Mr. Wayne," chirps Stephanie. She pulls up straight from having started to reach and bend for soem of Helena's horrible for you nachos that smell heavenly. There's a faint hint of pink on her cheeks, left over from Tim's complement of her to Damian. She had smiled back at Tim when he looked at her. The tension at her lips gave away that she wass biting the inside of her lower lip during that blush.
"Your timing was impeccible as always, Tim," she had offered back, the hand that would turn into her nacho-reaching-hand, moved to tuck a non-existant strand of hair behind her ear.
Damian turns his head to look upon Bruce as he arrives and he gives a bow of his head. "Father." There was no reason to act all cordial and modern when he was in the comfort of the house. This was just what he was used to in terms of greeting. But then he looks at Tim. A nod touching his features. "Then I look forward to it all the same. Be it in the field or as a spar."
Then back to Stephanie. He notices her blush, but he says nothing of the sort, until his eyes fall back upon Bruce.
With everyone looking at him like he's supposed to say something profound, Bruce raises his brow at the group. "Well." he says. Looking to the pile of junk and then to Helena. "…Pepto Bismol is in the guest bathroom cabinet." comes the offer to the kids. "And none of you better throw up in the car." There's a slight smirk at that, before he does decide to address something.
"You're all welcomed here. As are your guests. Keep in mind what else happens beneath this house though, and make sure we are aware of visitors." Surprise visits will be frowned upon.
"Nobody watches these movies for the dialogue," Helena chuckles to Tim, gesturing to the screen where several brightly-colored cars are engaged in a chase sequence that even people with Batmobiles may find ridiculous. She leans forward to scoop up a nacho, grin crooked even as she chews.
"Right. No telling strangers about our extracurricular activities. Which is why I usually warn people before I bring Peter over." She notes Stephanie's look at Tim, but like the rest of her family, makes no comment on it. Apparently squirreling away information is a Wayne family trait.
"You never know when someone's going to end up bleeding in the kitchen." Or other things.
Tim shrugs. "Like you said, you could have got him. I was just close enough to the area to chip in." He pats Stephanie's shoulder. He notices the blush, the reaching which turns to hair adjustment, and he looks sidelong at Helena. "May I?" Once he gets a nod, he'll grab a chip from the nacho plate. There; now someone else has been the first to go, and Stephanie's in the clear. He laughs at Bruce's comment. "I'm sure we can keep enough moderation to avoid that." He nods to Damian. "I'll look forward to it. Sparring's not just a good way to keep in practice. If we all know each other's measure, we know how we can work together." He raises an eyebrow and gives Helena another sideways look. "Who's this Peter? And where can I see the results of his background check?" Because of course nobody's going to date a Wayne without a thorough one of those.
Something on the TV catches his eye. "Did… did he just shoot out that helicopter's rotors? With a nine millimeter?"
Blonde pony tail bobs as Stephanie nods to Tim's words.
"Yes. Well. Thanks anyway," she mumbles, lips pressing together after his hand leaves her shoulder for a nacho. With being in the clear to grab one, she reaches out for one for herself, munching quietly. Her eyes dance about as Tim asks all the questions, wondering who Peter is too, and like Tim, hoping his check came back clear - assuming that it did otherwise Bat Dad over there would have done something, no? Not that she's got any hill to stand on in this fight. Instead, she takes teh topic shift Tim offers and looks at the TV.
"Maybe he hit a weak spot where the blades attach to the axil?" Steph guesses.
Damian looks at Bruce as he apparently lays down another ground rule. He doesn't seem to mind it though, since…well, he doesn't have friends. He gives a nod. "Very well." Is Bruce upset with Damian for being a surprise visitor?
Nevertheless, he looks at Helena as she speaks, and he nods, understanding the example. He seems to be approving of Tim so far. "Agreed." Then to Stephanie….then to the television. He says nothing at it, but something implies he disapproves.
"If I had you sit down and pick out all the inaccuracies in the film, Tim, you would forever spoil movies fror Helena." Was that a pun? Perhaps. Bruce looks between the others. Peter is Helena's information to share. Though he also seems to pick up on the process that his newest one is going through. "They would probably appreciate a spot of debate, Damian."
You know, be a kid. He's trying to figure this out, so he changes the subject, sort of. "How was your evening with Mary Jane?"
"Yes. Because the bullet beating the helicopter is the most inaccurate thing about these movies and not, you know, the general disregard for the laws of physics," Helena chuckles, leaning back on the couch and opening up a package of Twizzlers.
"Peter is my boyfriend, and he's very nice. And smart. He asked me out at the science fair. And," she adds, taking a bite of one of the twizzlers, "Steve actually tried to recruit him for SHIELD's science division, and if he's good enough for Steve to make a personal visit to recruit him, I'm pretty sure he's okay."
Also, he's Spider-Man, but that's a different discussion. Bruce's question to Damian gets a more confused look, brow quirking. "Did you…give him weed?"
Tim waves off the warning about spoiling things. "That's Stephanie's job." Yes, he's treating it as a pun. With Bruce having grown more paternal in the past several years, 'dad jokes' are a requirement. "Several mutants have the power of photographic reflexes, able to mimic whatever they see — and they use movies like this as fuel. So it's important to see the gaps and impossibilities, so you know what to exploit if you're up against one of those mutants." It's not just about the 'physicist watching Star Trek' problem.
He watches Helena intently while she explains about this boyfriend of hers. "I'll have to meet him." Because a vote of confidence from Captain America isn't enough, clearly. But then an alarm goes off on his phone, which he soon withdraws. "And that's homework time. Steph, want to come to the gym with me? We can make it a combo." Working out while studying. Because who has time to do them both separately?
"Hey!" Stephanie complains at the joke. A little pout on her face and her hands falling to her hips. And then, silence.
".. Okay, it's true, but still!" she adds, before the false hurt is giggled away. She nods at Tim wanting to meet Peter, even as she too seems a bit surprised that Brucewould give Damian pot. It's not … maybe, the weirdest thing but still. The homework alarm has her nodding to Tim.
"Sure. Summer finals are in two weeks," she says, giving the room at large a wave as she heads out with her study partner.
"I'd be easier to shoot the pilot in the head." Damian notes about the apparent movie, before he looks over at Tim as he seems to try and leave. "Farewell." is all he says. "He is friendly, but an annoying person who enjoys yodelling for no reason."
Then he looks at Helena. "No. I don't need a leaf to put me in a better or a condition in which I feel more alive." apparently he wasn't a fan nor a user.
Then he looks at Bruce. "It went tolerably. She took me to a silent disco."
Helena shrugs. "You don't know how you perform if you're drugged unless you know what your body does when you're under the influence," she points out. Who wants to place bets on whether or not there was a drunk driving simulation involved in Helena being able to get her drivers license?
Meanwhile, she continues to pump sugar into her system via Twizzlers.
Damian looks at Helena as she apparently agrees with him. "Its not about performance. I simply don't want or need it." He crosses his arms. "I don't drink or take pills either." Because yes, anyone can lace anything with anything, and he also doesn't seem worried about being affected by it.
He looks at Helena then. "…sugar seems to be the exception."
"I don't want or need it either, but I want to be able to tell what I've been dosed with if someone slips something to me," Helena shrugs, smile slipping crooked at the mention of sugar. "Best legal high around," she chuckles, reaching for a pack of Reese's to toss at him. "Try those. I'm going to hazard a guess they didn't keep a lot of interesting food in baby assassin school."
It's not that she's heard anything about Damian, per se. It's that she's watched him fight, read all the files on Talia, and done a little mental math for herself. There's certainly something about him that reminds her a little of Natasha when she's not putting on an act.
Damian catches the Reeses cup, and he eats it after looking at it questioningly. "…tolerable." which was his way of saying good. But he goes back to crossing his arms. "I'm not saying I haven't before. THe League made me try and perform many different kinds of drugs to build a resistance to their effects, the same with toxins and poisons."
He's seen her fight, but he's never fought her.
Good to know. That smile ghosts across her features again at his verdict, head shaking. "Do you ever just enjoy things?" she asks, shifting to sit cross-legged on the couch where she can better look at him. She's seen the nonsense on the television more times than she can count. But this new brother is a mystery. "Or is that frowned upon where you come from?"
Damian looks at her for a moment as she asks him a rather personal question. "I do. Though they made it a point that when your enjoying yourself, you are at one of your most vulnerable moments." He says with a straight face. He keeps his arms crossed, and he looks into his sister's eyes.
Helena tilts her head, looking more thoughtful than surprised. It's not a surprise that assassins would consider enjoying something to be a vulnerability. But then she has to consider all of the implications of that belief.
"Kind of depends on what you're enjoying, I guess," she says after a moment. "Maybe you enjoy driving fast," she points a thumb at the television. "Not so much a vulnerability if you're being smart about it. Besides, what's the point of doing anything if you're not going to enjoy what you have because of what you've done?"
Damian doesn't look particularly convinced over Helena. "You say these things like I enjoy them." Even if he did like driving fast. "I enjoy fighting, I enjoy winning, and I enjoy outsmarting my opponents, no matter what field it may be." he enjoys other things too, those are just the ones that come to mind. Its just how he was raised. He can come up with several liabilities for driving fast, but he elects not to speak about them.
He doesn't respond to her about meaning and point if he doesn't enjoy it.
"So what makes those things weaknesses?" Helena quirks a brow, biting off another piece of Twizzler. As innocent as she sounds and looks, there's something in her eyes that reflects their father. She's spent a lifetime pretending to be just another rich girl, nothing for anyone to take notice of or think twice about. She's good at it.
Damian looks at Helena. "I like to fight. You tell me how that can be a horrible thing." He looks her in the eyes, challinging her to connect the dots herself. Warrior frenzy, makes you reckless, pride is downfall. Arrogance is deadly. Damian is very new to the rich kid scene, only having just been given the $5,000 dollar max spending card. Its a fun life. He has a suit and everything.
Helena's smile quirks once more. "All depends on how important enjoying it is to you, I guess," she shrugs. "Could be you enjoy fighting so much that you don't let fights end. Sure, you can overtrain, too. Life's all about balance." For all Helena may resemble their father, she has quite a bit of her mother in her as well. That may be the harder part to pin down, when it comes to it.
"Me, I enjoy learning new things. Kind of a survival mechanism around here," she adds with a low laugh, gesturing toward the door where Stephanie and Tim left. "Always someone new coming in."
Damian looks at Helena as she starts to speak about some of the problems he faces mentally. An aggressive personality leads to an aggressive fighting style (usually), but Damian was quite the fighter already, he just needed to overcome his temper and arrogance in more ways than one. Damian knows Helena is like her mother because she inherited her penchant for snark.
Nevertheless….yes, Damian has done his own reading and homework.
"Always. I imagine its been difficult for you, at times."
"Honestly?" Helena leans into one corner of the couch, chewing on her Twizzler. "Probably less for me than for them, most of the time. Jason and Tim probably got it the worst. Jason, because I thought when Dick decided to move on, it would be my turn to be Robin, and instead Dad found him. Tim, because he was the first after we lost Jason, so not only was I getting pushed out again, but he was pushing out Jason's memory too. Or at least that's how it felt. Safe to say, I was pretty difficult to live with for a little bit with both of them."
Damian looks at Helena and he seems to nod a little bit. "I didn't have any siblings. In many ways, with the League I was spoiled rotten. Was told I would inherit it from Ra's. But…I didn't want that. I wanted to be like my father, and walk in his footsteps. You can imagine how this went with my mother."
"Probably almost as great as it went with mine," Helena agrees, smile wry. "Although I've got a feeling we've got some different definitions of 'spoiled.' Around here it usually means having too many cars, toys, and video game machines." She chews, watching him still. "What made you decide you wanted to be like him instead?"
Damian smirks a little bit. "In my home, it wasn't any of that. Instead, it was being given the best training…the best supplies before a mission…the best 'wisdom'. Things that enhanced yourself and not material belonging. Respect. Probably more than I deserved." He takes a breath. "I didn't want to be like my grandfather, who basically kills for sport…something he has long believed to be for honor or vengeance. The Lazarus pits drove him mad…and that is not a fate I want for myself. When I heard of the Bat, I wanted to be like him. To be feared, to be respected, but for the right reasons."
"To help people." he adds with a whisper.
"That, I get. More or less." Helena shifts, drawing one knee up toward her chest. "Around here, though, there were limited avenues for actual experience." Except for the side trips with Mom, but those are secret.
At his last, she nods, somber. "Helping people is what we do. The whole point of it. I don't…know how much Dad's gone into things with you. The fact that you're not just some kid off the street makes me feel like it's a little more up to him than I'd usually leave it. But if you mean that, then you're in the right place."
Damian looks at Helena and he gives her a little nod. "Yeah." he shrugs a little bit. "He's been very…welcoming despite my previous concerns. Its nice, really. He's been preparing to tell the world that I'm his blood relative during his 'playboy days'. Even have a room here now. Though…I do not know if I will receive a costume like you all have." yes, he looked.
"But, I am happy to be part of something…better, than what I was."
"Well, if you want help working one up, let me know," Helena says with a shrug, unfolding from the couch to start collecting the scattered candy for a new hiding place. "I made my own. Helped Silk with one, too. And helped Spider-Man with his latest. Dad didn't really want me getting into the life," she explains. "So I figured things out."
Once the candy's picked up, she turns off the movie, picking up the tray of nacho crumbs. "I should probably get to checking on it, speaking of which. Have a few tweaks I've been meaning to make."