Summary:Damian, Gwen, and Helena meet at Cafe Wha? to discuss…life, really. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
   |
Cafe Wha? is a popular hotspot for students who just want a hot cup o' joe while they do their homework. While in the night, there's multiple music performances by various up and coming artists or just people who do it for fun, the morning is much more….boring and quiet. Sometimes people read poetry or play music on a guitar, but its not nearly as packed and its not nearly as loud. Its like background noise to replace the more commonly-used radio.
Who's present of note?
Damian Wayne. Son of billionaire Bruce Wayne, step-son of Selina Kyle, and half-brother of Helena Wayne. He currently is studying Forensic Science (and acing the class) and looking predominantly bored while he does so. Damn entry-level classes. Good thing he already tested out of most gen-eds and now he's kinda doing what he wants. He has his computer out and he wears a simple longsleeve black shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, black cargo pants, and boots. His hair is nicely done and his emerald eyes look focused as always.
He did call his sister if she wished to speak, because he does regret not spending more time with blood.
Completely at random — or at least partly — Gwen Stacy wanders into the place. The young blonde is wearing an ESU T-Shirt (gotta represent), a knee-length skirt, and a jacket. She's got a backpack slung over one shoulder that looks like it has multiple textbooks in it, and for once? Hey, she's got a hairband in. (Isn't that kinda last century's fashion?)
She hasn't noticed Damian yet; it appears that right now, Gwen is on a mission. "Chocolate milk," she demands of the guy behind the counter. "You serve that here, right?" She looks up at the menu, then down at the display of cold drinks that don't have to be made to order. "AH HA! You do," she declares triumphantly, siezing a carton and plopping it on the counter. She pays the slightly astonished clerk, and takes her prize as she goes looking for a seat.
Helena's class schedule is a little more stringent than most colleges. SHIELD Academy is sometimes more like boot camp than college, especially in the beginning. But Damian is her brother. And still a mystery. And…Well, he sort of fits the family mold when it comes to not being great with reaching out and being personable, so when he does it's hard to turn him down. You're supposed to reward good behavior, after all.
When Helena shows up, she's in uniform, so to speak. Ironically, it's not all that different from Damian's garb, though the shirt is short-sleeved, with a SHIELD emblem on one sleeve, her hair neatly braided back.
She heads for Damian first, sliding into a seat next to him to glance at the laptop. "Not hacking in to change your grades, are you? I hear that's frowned upon," she grins.
Damian kept typing away, if one were to look at his work, he's already starting on his Thesis paper. The topic? Explain how you would go about analyzing data for a 'basic' murder. Considering that Damian can solve this in his sleep, his training with Batman notwithstanding, he figures he might as well get it done early.
When Helena arrives and takes a seat directly at his table, Damian looks over to her with a raise of the brow. "I don't need to lower myself to changing grades to satisfy my own pride." Then he eventually looks at her SHIELD emblem. "How's the new job?" He tip-taps away on the keyboard without missing a step.
Then of course, he hears Gwen's voice. He lifts a hand high enough so she can see him and he waves her over.
Oh hey! There's Damian! …And Helena too! "Hello Damian, Helena," she greets as she wanders over, chocolate milk in hand, with a straw. Hey, where's the fun in being an adult if you can't have chocolate milk? "Thanks for the invite," she adds, as she pulls a chair and takes a seat. Her bag is unslung from her shoulder and positioned protectively between her feet; must be expensive textbooks or something in there. (Yeah, 'or something'. No webshooters, honest.)
"Fancy seeing you both here. I thought I was doomed to drink my chocolate milk in solitude, while I wait for my organic chemistry lab to start. How're you both doing today?"
"It's interesting," Helena answers Damian, propping her chin up in one hand. "Learning things. Maybe not necessarily what they're teaching, but learning things all the same." When Gwen mentions an invite, she quirks a brow briefly at her brother, though it turns easily enough to a smile for the other girl.
"Heya, Gwen," she greets. "Nice to see you again. I'm doing all right. Checking in on this guy," she points a thumb in Damian's direction. "Lab sounds…fun."
"As long as your learning. I still don't think joining a secret intelligence agency that fears both secrets and intelligence to be a wise move…but hopefully you will prove me wrong and make something of it." At least Damian is kinda-sorta giving his approval on that front. He looks at Gwen then as she sits down proper. "Hello, Gwen." he greets her, his eyes shifting towards her own for that brief moment, even managing a smile.
Damian's clearly been listening and observing during social situations. "Organic Chemistry, huh? I'm taking the same class, but our hours are different. How are you performing?"
"Straight A's so far," Gwen replies. "Man, I remember the time I came home when I was in grade ten after getting a C on an assignment. I thought my Dad was gonna kill me." She pauses, "Of course, he's a cop, so 'Killed only daughter over passing grade that didn't pass enough' might look awkward on his record, but hey, he got the message across." She shrugs lightly. "You're doing organic chem too, hunh? How's your going?"
She shrugs to Helena afterwards, "Actually, it's hideously basic. Boiling orange peels so you can do an analysis. My grade eleven science project was more complicated." She chuckles, "Well, what can you do. How's SHIELD?"
"I don't think there's any room in our collective glass house to throw stones about paranoia," Helena smirks at Damian, keeping her voice low as Gwen arrives. "SHIELD is pretty cool," she answers. "Tough, but…cool. Physical's making me really glad I stuck with the cross-country team, that's for sure."
The experiment earns a wrinkle of her nose though, sympathetic. "At least the experiment being easy should free you up some time for the classes that are more interesting," she offers. "I don't think I realized you two knew each other," she gestures between Damian and Gwen. "Did you meet in class?"
Damian stares at Helena when she speaks about glass houses, beofre his attention shifts proper to Gwen. "Straight A's." He replies. "I found that previous classes were more difficult. Yet, at the same time, it coincides well with my Forensic science class. Thus, its acceptable." He gives a smile and a nod to Gwen before his eyes shift to Helena.
"We met here, actually. We had a coffee and talked about school. To my knowledge, we have many things that make us similar, such as our classes." He looks to Gwen for confirmation on this. But he does tease Helena. "Contrary to popular belief, I do have friends." he's gotten -MUCH- better at socializing. Or fake socializing. Whichever.
Gwen ehs, and shrugs, "I still have to spend the three hours doing it," she points out. "And no matter how good my grades are, I can't make water with orange peels in it boil any faster. And unfortunately, no matter how smart I am, I can only type up results as fast as my fingers can go." Which has gotten a lot faster lately, but that's… not something to be commented on.
"Oh god, physical," she groans. "I had to take a gymnastics course once, that was awful. Me and sports are not friends in any way. I don't do athletic." She holds up a hand and jabs a thumb towards herself, "Solid nerd material here. …Probably why Peter and I get along so well." She grins, "And yes, I can verify that Damian has friends. Or at least one, anyway."
Helena squints at Damian, giving him a dubious look. "I mean. I'd argue, but she does clearly know you. And still came over here on purpose…" A grin flashes, along with a wink. "Honestly, physical's not that bad," she shrugs to Gwen. "I kind of like it. But Mom and Dad are kind of fitness buffs, so they were big on sticking with sports of some sort. I drew the line at cheerleading, though," she shakes her head, cutting one hand through the air in front of herself. "It's a noble practice and I respect the skill and dedication. But I have a yelling limit."
Damian looks at Gwen with a soft smirk touching his features. "You can help it boil faster by putting a little bit of salt in the water as you boil it. Salt is an excellent acidic additive that speeds up the heating process and has very little effect on your final results." See, food for thought! No wonder Damian gets out of that class so fast.
Then he looks to Helena as she implies perhaps something more than friendship between Damian and Gwen. "While I would be open to such, I don't think Gwen is interested." But he may yet be surprised! "That Father is still a fitness nut while he juggles with business and events is a clear display of hard work thats passed down to us. I appreciate them setting the bar for us to strive towards."
Gwen blushes softly as the conversation debates her status as single vs attached, and her preference thereof; but she doesn't give any sort of answer to confirm or deny anything. Introverts represent. She ahems softly, and scratches the back of her head. Quick; change the subject.
"That's a great tip, and I should've thought of that," she replies, snappointing at Damian. "Please, feel free to give me any ideas you ever come up with. I am not above using the Half Blood Prince's textbook, afterall." Harry Potter references are a go too, apparently.
"I did cheerleading for six months, while I made the mistake of dating a guy who was on the football team in high school. It was a six month long mistake. Peter told me it was a mistake. I didn't listen. I did it anyway. Peter was right — as usual." She says this with no hint of resentment (at least, not towards Peter.) "I'm perfectly happy just watching Kung Fu movies and shadow boxing afterwards." She grins at Helena, "You must be learning all the moves at SHIELD, though, right?"
"Whoa, I'm not fixing anyone up," Helena chuckles, raising her hands defensively. "I'm just over here being impressed you made a friend. And a good one, too," she adds with a grin for Gwen. "Peter thinks the world of you, you know." The fact that Helena isn't threatened by Peter's two best friends being intelligent, capable, attractive women say something about her life.
"Right now I'm mostly learning the best ways to fall on a mat," she chuckles to Gwen's question, shaking her head. "They're not much for pulling punches. But hey, at least there are mats."
Damian nods softly to Gwen and notices her blushing. Her body language spoke more about her thoughts on that matter than her words ever could. Of course, she was also likely just embarassed. Either way, he smirks at her. "I know more than a few quick tricks." Though when she calls him the Half-Blood Prince, Damian tilts his head.
He doesn't get the reference.
Helena and Peter haven't caught him up on the pop culture! ALERT! ALERT! "But I'm more than likely to assist you in this matter." Then finally back to Helena. "Are you certain?" he asks her about the whole 'fixing up' thing, apparently teasing her. "I have the capability of making friends….even if I am inexperienced in such."
Gwen ahhhs, "Well, falling on a mat sounds… handy," she admits. "Probably handy to know how to fall if you get into a fight, which I'm guessing is an occupational hazard if you work for SHIELD?" She pauses, and giggles, "Well, I can tell you I know how to fall onto a mat, or a carpet, or a concrete floor. It's easy. I lose my footing. I fall down. I say 'Ow'. …And I look like a dork in the process."
"Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince," she explains, catching that Damian clearly… didn't catch it. "In the book Harry gets a used textbook for his potion making class, which was used by someone who signed it as 'property of the Half Blood Prince'. It was full of tips to make potion-making easier. Seemed appropriate." She pauses, "And, uhm, don't worry. I don't have a lot of friends either."
"Ah, I see," Helena nods to Gwen with exaggerated sincerity. "It's the 'ow' part I've been missing. I'll be sure to add that in next time. Extra flavor." She grins, glancing over to Damian as Gwen explains the reference. "I started with Star Wars," she admits to the other girl, shrugging helplessly. "He's nerd-challenged, so you know. I figured basics first." It had nothing to do with that fact that they're her favorite.
Damian gets a wry grin. "Super sure. I don't do the fixing up thing. Most of the time. Definitely not when it comes to one of my boyfriend's best friends. That's a surefire way to get myself in hot water."
Damian gives an 'ah'. Clearly this is a book and/or movie thing. "So I see." He gives the softest of nods before he ponders. "In a way, I suppose that is a befitting title." after all, Damian was a half-blood member of the Bat Family. He's related to Bruce as his son, but not to Selina. Technically, he's a Prince of the Cowl as well, since he's the only member of the Clan who wants the cowl.
Either way.
"Well, perhaps now is a start." he teases Gwen. His attention is soon on Helena. He raises a brow?
Gwen takes her turn to be completely oblivious, "Start what?" She pauses. "Oh! friends. Don't mind me, I'm slow on the uptake sometime. Also, yes, friends is good." She looks at the chocolate milk in front of her that she has, up until now, entirely forgotten to drink. In a hurry, she tears it open and chugs it down in one gulp. "Yeah, Peter is very protective of me," she admits. afterwards "Which is sweet. And I of him, too."
Gwen stands up and collects her backpack, slinging it back over one shoulder in one… apparently practiced motion. "I'd better get moving, or I'm going to be late for that lab. I'd rather not be late! Good to see you both again," she adds. "I'll stop by here more often."
"Yeah, good to see you, Gwen," Helena grins, waving as the other girl gathers her things. "Look at you," she chuckles to Damian. "Out here making friends and jokes." She fakes a sniffle, wiping at a non-existent tear. "They grow up so fast."