(Untitled)

[i_spoiled_it]

Stephanie is in the bar. Well, more or less. She's in the rafters again, although she's not walking on her hands this time; she's lying on a beam being Very Still and Watching People.

She's holding, not wearing, her mask, and she doesn't look like she's entirely comfortable without it on yet.

[Akito and Steph talk about heroes, wars, and giant

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[shipscook]

Part of fighting in space is learning to think in three dimensions. Otherwise you can watch the entire area around you and still be surprised from above or below.

Akito's still getting used to fighting in space. So he walks right under Stephanie two or three times without realizing she's up there.

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Steph, on the other hand, has been trained to notice everything. She doesn't always remember to do so, of course, but it's getting more and more like second nature.

The fourth time Akito passes Steph she decides she wants to be distracted, and she drops until she's hanging by her knees so that the (fairly heavy) hem of her cape swings across his field of vision and possibly into his face.

"Hey, hi, Akito, isn't it? Still stuck here?"

[shipscook]

Right, and tea, forgot the tea... Akito makes his trip back to the bar pretty briskly, which means he's walking back to his seat at a decent clip when Steph swings down in front of him.

"WAUGH!"

And the teacup gets surprising distance, too, as he sits down hard on the floor. "I...gah! Uh..." he stammers, blinking up at the cape.

"...oh, hi! Stephanie, right? Uh, yeah, still stuck. Haven't tried to leave yet."

Somewhere off over -there-, there's the crash of cup meeting floor.

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"Oops." Steph blinks at the mess. "I really didn't mean to do that." She tucks her cape into her belt, so it's not dangling. "Oh, man, I just keep embarrassing myself here. I'm so sorry."

She feels weird talking to someone without her mask on. She's probably going to be a bit fidgety and awkward all night.

There's tea ... everywhere. "Um, do you want a tissue, or anything? I'm sure I've got some kind of Bat-Hanky in my belt."

[shipscook]

Akito sheepishly wrings at his shirt. "It's okay, this is nothing compared to some of what Yurika put me through." he explains. "But uh, something to mop up with would be good, sure."

"Bat-Hanky?" The mental image that gives him is deeply alarming. "I think that would involve way too much starch."

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Steph giggles, and hunts around in the pockets of her belt, eventually producing a soft and surprisingly absorbent piece of cloth. "It's probably not really called a Bat-Hanky. It's kind of a long story." She proffers the cloth, still hanging from her knees. "One of the guys who trained me, he had this way of referring to everything as Bat-This or Bat-That. It was mostly to annoy our, our mutual mentor, I guess. Who's Yurika?" Steph grins. "I'd probably like her."

[shipscook]

Akito looks kind of amused at the history of the Bat-Things. There is toweling after he takes it, and it lives up to the reputation of the Bat-Objects as being surpremely appropriate for the job.

"Yurika Misumaru is a complete raving nutbar." he explains helpfully. "We grew up together on Mars, and parted ways for a long time. Now she's the captain of the ship I serve on, and you can imagine -that- gets really awk...ward..."

He trails off, something finally hitting him. "Hey, you have eyes." he jokes. "Mask get uncomfortable? I bet they do if you wear them too long."

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Steph's hand automatically jerks to the nonexistent edge of the mask. "Heh. No, they're designed to fit our faces perfectly, 'cause we never know - um, knew - how long we'd have to wear them for, or if we'd have to sleep in them or whatever. Secret identities are kinda our big thing. Our big Bat-thing." She laughs.

"I met a guy the other night who pointed out there wasn't much point hiding behind a mask now that I'm, y'know, dead. I'm not so sure he's right, but I figured, what the hell, I'd give it a go."

She realises she's babbling, and shuts up; she doesn't realise she's still rubbing her face where the mask should be.

[shipscook]

Akito just smiles and nods along, looking attentive. "Were you hiding? I mean... you told me your name and what you do for a living and all, that's not exactly stealthy." he points out reasonably.

"Your friend is probably right though. I mean, it's just my philosophy I guess but I've been thinking of this as a place where it's allowed to just, just not be all worked up about stuff like that."

He watches the rubbing for a few seconds. "...you're getting kind of a red patch there."

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She locks her hands behind her back, embarrassed. "Oops. I ... I don't know, you know. I never thought I was hiding, but look at me, I'm a mess, and it's much easier to be messy if nobody can see your eyes. It's like, y'know, the guys who wear sunglasses all the time. Like a way to be much cooler than you really are. That's pretty stupid, huh."

[shipscook]

Akito scratches an ear with his fingertip and looks down thoughtfully. Last time he was incredibly awkward. This time, in spite of being covered in tea and patting hmself dry with a Bat-Sheet, he's not going to fall into that again. He needs -something- to say.

So he goes with what he knows best.

"There was an episode of Gekiganger like that once." he starts absently. "With a villainess in a mask because she couldn't face herself and it was easier to hide and be someone else, instead of someone who could see her own mistakes." ... "Er, and then she sacrificed herself at the end of the episode to save the heroes from the real bad guy, so maybe this isn't anything like that at all actually."

There is no escape from awkwardness.

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Steph hauls herself back up on top of the rafter, to cover the silence, and then leans over to look down at him. "It's comfy up here. If you wanna come up. I'm not in a ground mood, really, but there's heaps of space for everyone." She finds his awkwardness vaguely endearing.

"Hey, um, the dead thing. Don't worry about it. I'm gonna have to get used to it sooner or later."

[shipscook]

Akito looks kind of relieved. He wasn't going to say it. "It's just hard to be pressed into getting used to something. So I've been trying to go easy, y'know?"

He eyes the rafters and looks dubious. Still, he's willing to try, if nothing else. "Okay. Just let me, uh..." He gets one foot up on a chair, and reaches up. No? Okay, he gets up on a table and reaches upward, grabbing for a rafter and trying to flail his way upward through force of will alone.

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Steph watches, amused, and then offers him a hand. She's surprisingly strong for a teenager. "Here, grab on and I'll haul you up. Hope you got thick pants on, 'cause if my outfit wasn't Kevlar I'd have splinters in my butt. It's cool up here, though. There's more space, and you can see everyone, and stuff. I ... My city, Gotham, it's ... it's a lot bigger than this bar. I kinda feel cramped here."

[shipscook]

Akito lets himself be dragged up into the rafters, and looks kind of startled. She -is- strong. "It's okay. The pants are kind of reenforced." he grins. Reenforced clothes, he decides, are one of the cooler things about being a pilot.

"I... see what you mean. Wow this is a big place. Not city-big, but for a building?" He stares out over the bar, looking around. "I don't even know if there's an outdoors here, you know that? I went up and got a room and I've barely looked around at all."

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"I went outside." Steph shrugs. "It's ... it's kind of freaky, that on one side of the bar there's a lake and a lawn and sunshine, while on the other, well, y'know." She gestures at the observation window. "Anyway, gardens aren't my thing. Rooftops and sneakiness. Mostly at night. That's me." She laughs, a bit wryly. "How about you? Fan of flowers and living things and stuff?"