* Bruce pushes open the door and walks inside, and... magic, blue hair, bathroom creeper. Oh, good.
* Grayson puts his face into his hand.
* Saetan vanishes the illusion, uh, belatedly. Good job, Saetan.
* Stark is just your run of the mill ugly dude with nasty roadrash? :D?
Bruce: "Evening." You wacky band of troublemakers, you.
Garion: Well jesus fuck, it's Bruce Wayne. Garion puts on a bright, sunny smile, oh-isn't-this-day-wonderful, and *now* he downs the entire glass because it's like his childhood reading material just shat itself all over his head and he cannot cope with this thank you very much BOOZE NOW.
* Pelagia eyes Bruce from her sprawl over on the sofa. Well, aren't you interesting.
* Grayson drinks his soda and says nothing. >_>
* Bruce nods at Pelagia, polite, and then eyes Grayson slightly as he goes to get a glass of water.
* James rejoins Pela with his second martini for the evening. (Well, the second one he's had in Stigmata, let's be honest.) He nods amiably to Bruce as he goes.
* Garion takes another glass. (No, you read that right the first time.)
Pelagia: "Who are you, please?" The please is so she sounds less demanding. It does not totally work.
Bruce: "I'm Tom." If the peanut gallery says anything - yes, he noticed you almost saying his name the other day, Dick - he'll drop a house on you. For the record.
* Grayson has /delicious soda/ and it is delicious. >_>
* Stark suspects that he's at some sort of nutjob convention where everyone has swapped names.
* Garion opens his mouth. Closes it. Maybe he's just hallucinating then. (Not likely.) "Tom," he says, evenly, then smiles like it's no trouble at all to fit the name around his tongue in spite of the face in front of him. He tips his glass. "I'm Garion." Note: this is the first time he's given his name! Yay!
Bruce: "Garion." Apparently he's capable of being semi-polite without prompting, today. He sits near Dick and stares at him. Politely. "I didn't catch your name the other day."
* Stark raises his glass. "Stark." Just Stark. Like Cher.
Grayson: "Robb." Dick says resignedly, looking for a newspaper or something to hide behind. There isn't one within easy reach, unfortunately. Hopefully JAMES FUCKING BOND will be sufficiently distracting.
* James is lazily smoking and drinking, instead of doing anything suitably superspy-esque. Although, arguably, existing is kind of enough.
Bruce: "It's nice to meet you, Robb." Somehow he manages to sound both friendly and like he thinks Robb is full of lies at the same time. It's a gift.
* Pelagia will also try to be distracting. "Only James has a last name, apparently." No, she heard Robb's earlier, but.
James: "Bond," he supplies. "James Bond."
* Grayson sighs a little, but doesn't move. There, have fun with that, Bruce.
* Garion definitely thinks existing qualifies as enough on most days. And ponders the possibility that Batman is flirting with the guy he's sitting next to ... nah, Batman's not gay.
* Stark fails miserably to hide his smile behind his glass. eeee.
* Bruce quietly strangles Garion on the other side of the th wall and then turns his head to look at Bond, James Bond. "Hi."
* Garion nearly spits out his drink. WELL THEN. "I have a last name," he says, a little too loudly, to hide the coughing.
Pelagia: "You did not say it," she says, serenely, "Mine is Lijax."
Stark: "Me too." Look, he'll slide a napkin over to Garion. He's a ~helper~.
* James salutes Bruce with his cigarette. "And you can keep yours," he says of Pela, which, don't ask him to explain that comment.
* Grayson slinks off to the bar for ice cubes.
Pelagia: "Why would I take anyone else's? That's for men." Oh.
* James laughs into his glass.
* Bruce watches Robb go, like, no you aren't off the hook, creeper. And then, to the lady: "Do you have a first name to go along with it?" Look, he can even be nice.
Garion: "Eddings," he says. "It's Garion Eddings." Thaaanks, Stark. He mops himself up a bit, quickly and as unobtrusively as possible, which isn't much but he's trying to pretend he didn't just nearly spray everyone with whiskey okay.
* James the misogynist and Pelagia Lijax the misandrist; together they fight crime and have fantastic sex.
Pelagia: "Pelagia," she says, smiling at Bruce, "Of the Royal House Syrinx. Yes, I am a mermaid; some people find that surprising."
* Pelagia says, as though she could be anything else. Sure.
Bruce: "Some people," he supplies, and smiles.
Stark: "I get the feeling I should make a nametag with spray painted macaroni." Well now, he -does- look impressed. Never met a mermaid before.
Garion: "Some people," Garion unintentionally echoes.
* Grayson makes an actualfax drink that he won't actually have, just something on the rocks he's not really paying much attention to-- it's not outlandish, though, he used to bartend. He does not echo 'some people', though it's tempting.
* Pelagia likes people looking impressed at her, because her ego is like the entire galaxy. "Yes. I would show you my tail, but it is too dry here."
* Garion just gives her a Look that says "As long as you don't tell me you eat babies, I don't care".
* Pelagia regards Garion impassively, giving away nothing. MAYBE SHE DOES. (No.)
Garion: (He does not say it ... the narration forgot to drop the double-quotes.)
Bruce: "I imagine it's just as lovely as the rest of you."
James: "It is," James says, although he says it more like a fact than a compliment.
* Grayson returns to his seat with his drink and a Nexus newspaper, the real reason he slunk off. There, talk to him now, Bruce. He's filling out the crossword with /completely wrong answers/.
* Bruce is probably the only asshole on the planet with the balls to flirt with who is obviously James Bond's girlfriend. It's been a boring week, okay.
Pelagia: "How charming you are," she says, pleased, "It is, yes, as he says."
Bruce: "Only accidentally," he says, about his charm. Shut up, Bruce.
* Pelagia briefly gives James a secret litle look which approximates puppy eyes, from a mermaid.
James: "You know what I'm going to say," he says, mildly, taking a drink.
* Pelagia sighs and returns her attention to 'Tom'. "Accidentally is much more genuine."
* Bruce pretends not to notice this exchange, tactfully. Which means he's staring at Robb over here again.
Garion: "Can she keep him?" Garion says, to no one, and with eyes raised to the heavens.
* James laughs, quietly.
* Grayson hehs without lifting his eyes from the newspaper.
Bruce: "...Do you like, get out much?" deadpan, to Garion.
* James doubts it, ostentatiously, without even saying anything.
Garion: "No," Garion says, immediately, just as deadpan.
* James salutes Garion with his glass. ...for what, being easily read? (Yes.)
* Stark chuckles. This is fantastic entertainment.
* Bruce rolls his eyes faintly.
Pelagia: "I would not have to /ask/," she chides Garion, "James understands how things are." ...... quiet, matriarchal society girl
James: "Bollocks," James says, in an amiable tone.
* James just likes to remind her that /he's/ not from a matriarchal society.
* Pelagia doesn't care, she is her own society and he is being acquired.
Grayson: Kory, Dick internally sighs. It probably shows on his face.
* Bruce half-smiles at them, though he doesn't comment, this time. Aaangst.
James: "Though you know I'll never mind the women," he adds, thoughtfully.
Pelagia: "Of course not."
* James kisses her cheek.
Grayson: ... hmm. Kory? Dick is going to be distracted for the next few minutes, sorry.
* Garion ... resolutely does not think of bitey women with eyes like metaphorical battle-axes, no he does not.
* Pelagia looks somewhat mollified. "I like human women very well, thank you, although they don't assert their superiority as well as they should." It makes her sadface :(
Stark: "Some do." Ahem.
James: "I'm fond of them." .............you all know who he is.
Bruce: "You're not hanging around the right human women." And he hasn't even *met* Selina yet.
Pelagia: "Those are the good ones." She sits on his lap. "No, they're rarer than you think."
Pelagia: Note: in Pela's home men don't, like...speak without permission from their mate, sooo.
* Garion coughs. Politely. "You've never met my ex-wife." Oh, let's not go there, Garion.
* James drapes an arm around her hips, obligingly.
* Bruce is considering stealing that newspaper and filling the crossword out correctly.
Pelagia: "I might have." She refrains from noting that she has nailed a lot of chicks in the Nexus. ...but she has.
* Garion ... looks genuinely *pained* there, for a second, like he can't help but concede she might actually *have* ... and it's a perfectly valid reaction for him to have given - well, and now he's off mentally muttering about Ewoks again.
* Grayson is hanging onto the newspaper quite tenaciously. What's a letter word for partner...?
Bruce: "Comrade," he deadpans.
Grayson: "Consort," 'Robb' counters. ... There is absolutely nothing psychological in their answers, okay.
* Bruce snorts, quiet.
* Grayson lifts his eyebrows, against his better judgment.
Garion: Garion returns to his earlier line of speculation, helped along by copious amounts of booze.
* Stark picks up his smokes and heads out. "Night."
James: "Goodnight."
* Bruce tilts his head at Robb, like, what? And then he looks over to watch Stark leave.
Grayson: "Night," Dick says to Stark, before lowering his eyes again.
* Garion ... is making short order of that bottle, there.
* Bruce decides to attempt turning his cell phone back on.
Grayson: "Maybe you should slow down, there?" Dick glances at Garion with mild concern.
* Bruce is suddenly assaulted with beep after beep after beep of YOU HAVE A MILLION MISSED VOICEMAILS AND TEXT MESSAGES.
* Pelagia pulls a face. "I despise those things." Human technology >:O
* Bruce promptly shuts it back off with a quiet, frustrated sigh and leans his chin on one hand. "...I'm ready to throw this one out the window," he says to her, absent.
Garion: "No, I really shouldn't," Garion says, dreamily.
* James refrains from commenting. (Because he's an alcoholic.)
* Grayson shrugs, his own drink untouched, and goes back to the newspaper.
* Bruce is picking apart his phone. Bruce, why.
* Pelagia observes this. "Won't that damage it?"
Bruce: "Yes."
James: "That's why I leave the tech to other people." ...usually.
* Grayson watches him with. Amusement, sort of. Pained amusement. So this is what Bruce was like to other people when he was this age.
* Bruce gets the casing off and a corner of it snaps and goes flying. .... Ffff.
* Pelagia tsks. "Men. Always breaking their toys."
* James thinks of some of his ex-girlfriends.
James: (I'm sorry.)
Garion: It hits Garion in the head, because the universe likes doing this sort of thing to him when he's started to nod off, however little he's actually nodding.
* Pelagia meant your cars, but those too, James.
Bruce: ".......Uh. Sorry."
Garion: "... I've had worse thrown at me, I'll live." Like a bookcase, for example. "Thanks."
* Bruce goes back to pulling little pieces of wiring out. This is what happens when he gets left alone, apparently.
Grayson: "So you're... not worried about having missed anything important, huh." Dick observes.
* Grif teleports in.
* James ... raises an eyebrow. And that is the extent of his response to Grif's arrival.
* Grayson tenses, then relaxes.
Bruce: "I--" Oh, hello. "My..." Pause. "Housemate." Yes, that's a suitable word for it. He's not exactly a butler anymore, is he? "Is on vacation." Forced vacation. "He's just a little obsessive about making sure I'm not dead."
Bruce: ... This sounds like it's a joke, but, sadly, it's true.
Grif: "Huh. Bunch of faces I don't think I've seen before. Uh, hi!" He gives a big friendly smile... then remembers his helmet's still on and removes it.
Garion: "... hi." Giant walking talking suit of armor. Okay. Garion ... is someone who can just accept these things as they are, it's one of his endearing qualities.
Grayson: Housemate. Dick shifts his gaze to Grif rather than stare. Anyway. "Hi, I'm Robb, nice to meet you."
* Pelagia claims James' lap for Merland.
* Garion is doin' just fine on that bottle, yep. There may be a glass left now. Oh his poor liver ... actually it's pretty sturdy, but nevertheless it's the thought that counts.
Bruce: "Hi. Tom." This is all true.
Grif: "I'm Grif. Nice to meet you." And okay, he dares to hope that the mood around here today's not as down as yesterday, and just gets himself a beer.
* Garion is the picture of sunny cheerfulness. ... okay not really.
* Bruce is actually in a good mood, comparatively.
* James has a mermaid in his lap, a drink and a cigarette. His day is going fine.
* Grayson seems fine enough, though in fact he is mildly stressed by Bruce's presence. It's a little depressing to sit there unable to speak to him properly.
* Bruce would probably benefit from talking to Dick, but then that'd be doing something not soul-crushing, and that is not how his life is going, lately.
* Grayson just continues to watch Bruce mess with his phone, then. It seems safe enough to do so at this time. Shut up, Garion.
* Garion refrains from drawing little hearts around Robb's head whenever he's looking at "Tom", then.
* Bruce is perfectly aware he's being stared at. "What do you do for a living, Robb?" he asks without looking up.
Grayson: "I bartend, actually. Just not here." He's not going with 'teaching acrobatics', it's too close to home. "And you? Tom?" GO AWAY GARION.
James: "Really?" James is interested in this, he's just going to join in their conversation. "Where?"
* Bruce is going to let them talk about bartending while he tries to come up with something that isn't 'I'm a professional golfer'.
* James will tell people he's a diver if anyone actually asks.
* Grayson has to smile. "Finnegan's, in Gotham. I doubt you've been, I would remember you."
* Pelagia is being quiet. Whether that is good or bad depends on your perspective.
Bruce: And now he does look up.
* James takes that as a compliment. "Maybe I'll have to stop by."
Grayson: Well, now he has to laugh. James Bond in Finnegan's, ahahaha. "It's a cop bar, so your mileage may vary."
* Pelagia perks up. "I will go too, I like policemen." ...lady.
James: "For some reason they're not very fond of /me/," James reflects.
Garion: "You probably intimidate them," Garion says, flatly.
* James cannot imagine why American police might not like him. By the way. :
* Grayson puts on an expression of polite disbelief-- oh Garion.
* James ...laughs. "That must be it."
Bruce: "I'm sure they'd cheer up with her around." He's helpful.
* James dislikes them right back, actually, because they get in his way and American intelligence knows too much about him for his comfort. But that's ... not going to come up in conversation. Hello.
Grayson: "Yeah, I'm sure." He grins at Pelagia. And is only a little concerned about the idea of them showing up in a run-down cop bar where he hasn't worked for maybe - years. Oh well, different universes! Funny how that works.
* James probably won't, see: police and the getting along that he doesn't do, but you never know about Pela. He should be more concerned about that.
* James fails to be, drinks.
Bruce: "Do you like working with servicemen?" To 'Robb'. "The climate's pretty interesting." You know, politically. IN GOTHAM.
* Garion actually finished off that bottle a few lines of dialogue ago, by the way; he just doesn't want to *leave*, for some stupid iritating reason that has nothing to do with not wanting to be stuck with nobody else to talk to.
Grayson: "I hear a lot of things," 'Robb' acknowledges, crossing his legs at the ankle under his table. "I can't help but sympathize with how hard it is to stay clean." He's also covertly watching Garion to see if he falls over any time soon.
Bruce: "Mmhm." He watches him for a moment, then: "I'm an accountant." Really, Bruce.
James: "Really." Look.
Bruce: "It's boring."
James: "I'm a diver," James offers, innocently.
* Grayson maintains a straight face throughout all.
Grayson: ... of this.
Bruce: "That sounds fun," he muses, barely not deadpan, and a bit of wire springs free of the wreckage of his phone and he snatches it out of the air neatly, as to avoid any more assaults on Garion.
Grif: "I'm a toy wholesaler." He waits to see just how people react to that.
James: "It really is." ..................toy wholesaler, Grif.
* Bruce does not laugh, though for a second it looks like he's going to.
* Grayson bites his lip. Damnit, Grif.
* Grif waits another moment, two, three, then adds, "I mean, when I'm not being a super-soldier. I assumed that was obvious. No, really, I have my own business and everything."
Bruce: "You're as bad as the talking fox."
James: "I don't want to know," James forestalls elaboration on the talking fox.
Garion: "I'm an architect," Garion says, belatedly. "My ex-wife cavorts around the galaxy with Luke Skywalker."
James: "Your wife left you for Luke Skywalker?" James almost sounds sympathetic. Almost.
Grif: "Enfys?"
Garion: "... and Ewoks." It's important, Garion feels, to remind people of the fucking Ewoks.
* James ...foresees this getting interesting.
Garion: "... yes," Garion says, gritting his teeth *just slightly*.
Grayson: Only in the Nexus. Dick leans on the table and sort of covers his mouth with his hand.
* Bruce exchanges a look with Robb before he thinks better of it, kind of like, what.
Pelagia: "You are 'divorced,' then, yes? That's the term?"
* Grayson smiles wryly at Bruce.
* Grif nods, only avoiding any sort of epiphany-related look by means of that not explaining nearly as much as it might've for someone who actually knew her better.
James: "My sympathies." Not really, but he was recently harangued about marrying Pela and can't be held responsible for his issues with matrimony.
Pelagia: Pela's mystification with divorce revolves around the fact that it /doesn't exist/ in the magical land in which she was raised, sooo that's probably sensible.
Garion: "Don't ever get married," he says, "it's the worst thing that you could to do the best thing that might ever happen to you."
* James ....................... pauses for longer than is necessary. Uh.
* Grayson winces.
Bruce: "Hey, there's a pool table." ... He says, kind of obviously.
Bruce: Look the rest of you dropped the ball.
* Garion coughs, then very loudly shoves his chair back and makes for the door.
* James is spared responding to that - thank Christ - by distraction. "Shall we?" he asks Bruce, amiably.
Pelagia: "What are you doing?" She is unfamiliar with pool.
Garion: "Sorry, that was out of line, wasn't it." And he shakes his head, opens the door, grimaces, and steps out.
Garion: ... as the door closes, he can be heard to go "oof!" and then, just before it clicks shut, "... oh, perfect *timing* -" and then *click*.
* Bruce watches him go, only distantly sympathetic, and then shrugs and stands up, abandoning the remains of his poor innocent phone.
Grif: o_O "Well. That was... interesting."
* Pelagia apparently intends to gratuitously make out with James before he gets up to go play pool. Look, she knows how to cheer this man up, don't question it.
Grif: "And a little fucked up, but mostly interesting."
* James ....................ain't complaining, that'll cheer him up no end.
Bruce: "Yeah, poor kid." Bruce, Garion is older than you.
* Grayson makes a noise of agreement. Don't ever get married, or one of your teammates will turn evil, don BDSM gear, and abduct your fiancee! ... Damnit, DC.
* Pelagia extricates a little while later, looking pleased with herself. "Okay you can go now."
* James bites the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing, so if she meant to fix the emotional nut-punch he got from that marriage remark....................it worked. "You're so thoughtful, Pela," and he is actually going to investigate the pool table.
Bruce: "I haven't played since I was in college," he admits, adeptly having ignored that explosion of PDA. (Batman went to college, yes, it's Nolanverse, I do what I want.)
* Grayson gets up to move to a spot where he can see them play. He's nosy like that.
James: "It's just like riding a bike." Not exactly, but good enough.
* Bruce laughs, once. "Well, you can start, if you like."
* James will go right ahead, then, racking the balls up to break them.
* Bruce is messing around with a pool cue in the mean time.
* James breaks. "I think the last time I played pool was - in Cancun, probably. We were on vacation." 'We'. ...'vacation'.
* Bruce stops balancing the cue on the palm of his hand and tosses it slightly to hold it. He's pretty sure he's actually got a pool table or seven in his house, not that he uses any of those rooms. "I think I sucked at this even back then, so..." He thinks?
James: "I'm more for cards, usually." But he's not bad at pool.
Bruce: "Cards, I can live with." He shoots and... yeah, misses everything. Huh. He stares at the table layout, expression puzzled. He will figure this out.
James: "I'm not convinced teaching Pela to play poker was one of my better ideas." Now, the tango, that was a /fantastic/ idea.
Pelagia: "I would have learned one way or another." :>
James: "And not a bit of gratitude," without missing a beat. Or his shot.
Bruce: "I bet she's a menace," he observes, and yeah he's probably calculating angles or something, annoyingly.
James: "She followed me home," James shrugs, stepping back from the table to lean on his cue.
Pelagia: "You /took/ me home," Pela begins, indignant, "after you bought me underwear."
* Bruce does better this time. Hah.
James: "And a sarong," he reminds her.
* Grif snrks, considers it fairly likely she's not kidding.
* James isn't actually correcting her, so.
Pelagia: "Yes. None of your revisionist history," she scolds, "I remember what happened." Hmph.
James: "I liked you better when you didn't speak much English," he drawls as he leans down to shoot. (This, also, is a lie.)
* Bruce is losing pretty soundly.
Pelagia: "I still have this Bellini and I will pour it all over your nice white shirt."
James: "Then what will you steal from me later?"
Bruce: "Pink would suit him," he mutters, from where he is crouched down, eyeing the surface of the table, like this will help him suck less.
* Grif laughs.
James: "It does," James says, pleasantly. ...of course he's worn pink.
Grif: "At least you'd be willing to admit it was pink, and not, like, lightish red or something."
Pelagia: "I will steal your trousers." She will, too.
James: "They don't fit you." Does he know this because she's tried before, or because it's logically obvious? Discuss.
Pelagia: "I don't care." She is a touch petulant. "I speak /many/ languages now, you can't avoid my understanding."
James: "Darling." Absent-minded placation, enjoy it.
Bruce: "Must've been some vacation." Apparently bats suck at pool.
James: "Oh, yes." Really.
* Bruce is here. An hour later. Wake up. B|
* James has beaten him at pool.
* Bruce fails.
* James and Bruce answer a question you had never even asked: who would win a game of pool, Batman or ?
* Grif has been drinking more beer and, idk, doing paperwork with his neural implant or something.
Bruce: "Well. I guess I'd owe you a drink, if this were a bar that charged."
Grif: And watching James pwn Bruce.
James: "I'll collect some other time," James suggests.
Bruce: "Maybe at that cop bar." No.
James: "Grand plan." No.
* Bruce looks briefly amused.
* James is getting himself one of those free drinks here, in the meantime. Does Bruce want anything?
Bruce: "I'm good. I have also not really had a drink since college, I'm better off that way."
James: "Most people would be," James agrees ... as he makes something viciously alcoholic for himself.
James: Hmm.
* Bruce balances the pool cue again for a moment - straight up - and then sets it back on the wall.
* James doesn't believe that 'Tom' is an accountant. ...everybody present is a liar except Grif and Pela.
* Bruce is totally, totally an accountant. Look at his mad math skills.
* Grif totally assumes that Tom, whoever he is, is a fucking liar but is okay with that for now. And for that matter, Mr. whatever-your-name-is, you may be a diver, but it's obvious that's not all.
* Bruce goes back to his destroyed cell phone now that he's done getting wrecked at pool.
* James takes his drink with him to bother Pela. ...'bother'.
* Pelagia delicately balances her Bellini in her hand like she's thinking about spilling it on him. (She won't. Probably.)
* James steals it from her, tastes it, and then hands it back.
Pelagia: "Take me somewhere tomorrow," she 'suggests.'
James: "Mmm? Opera, maybe. If you think you can keep a dress on long enough."
Pelagia: "Of course I can. For that, anyway," she adds, pleased.
* James looks amused. "I'll get us a box." More accurately he will wheedle someone else into getting them a box. It amounts to the same thing.
* Bruce does not like opera. Aaangst.
* Grif quietly finishes his beer and heads out.
* Grayson returns from his unannounced absence to say quietly to Bruce, "That was pretty ugly." Meaning the pool, of course.
Bruce: "If only it was a math battle." Because he's an accountant, see. "You any better?"
Grayson: "Of course. ... Better?" Oh do not even.
Bruce: "At pool." Oh really.
* Grayson was parsing that wrong. "Yes, but that's not saying much, is it."
Bruce: "Oh, I see." These kids. On his lawn.
* Grayson grins unapologetically.
Bruce: "Care to back that up or are you busy staring at your drink?"
* Grayson tilts his head for a moment, then says, "Sure, I mean. My college days were a little more recent than yours, I'm guessing. How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?" It's an innocent question, really. He gets up to go to the table.
* Bruce raises his eyebrows, but shrugs. Okay. "Probably. Thirty-four. I dropped out, anyway."
Grayson: "Me too. Dropped out, I mean." Everything else took precedent. He does the math; it's about the right time for... but he won't ask. He won't.
Bruce: "Where'd you go?" He gets up. He sucks at pool, genuinely, there is no hussling happening here, but god he's bored.
Grayson: "Hudson U." Dick is, as he said, better. "Life got busy, though. You?"
Bruce: "Princeton." Ughhh. "...Life, yeah."
* Grayson whistles, but doesn't say any of the things he could. He just. Really can't, not to Bruce, not even pretending. "As soon as life gets /un/busy I'll go back. Good luck with that, though, at this rate I'll sleep when I'm dead." He sounds relatively cheerful about it, though.
Bruce: "I went on something of a sabbatical after a little while... never went back. I wasn't the best student, anyway." Someday, he will facepalm really hard at this exchange. "You real busy, bartending?"
* Grayson laughs. "I'm involved with the family business, too." Tok. He sinks one. "Nice that you were able to pick up an accounting job without a degree," he prods gently, the smile only in his eyes.
* Bruce opens his mouth and closes it, laughing silently and then staring at the table, and his second round of utter pool failure. "People didn't buy the golf enthusiast line, either."
Grayson: "Hm." It's a kind of laugh he learned from Bruce. "Maybe... art history?"
Bruce: "Maybe," he agrees, sounding mildly amused but not convinced. "I guess you majored in mixology." Because they teach that there.
* Grayson grins. "Law enforcement." It's usually a surprise to people. He nearly sinks another, but it bounces off the wall instead.
Bruce: "Really." Maybe not that much of a surprise. Bruce actually manages to get a decent shot. Go go geometry go. "You should keep at it."
Grayson: "I was a cop for a while. Bludhaven." He looks a little thoughtful, which is a substitute for looking sad. "Before it blew up, anyway."
Bruce: "Do towns often blow up where you're from?" Haha, he is .. not looking at you when he says this, 'Rob'.
* Grayson 's little grin /is/ sad, this time. "Not /too/ often. I'm surprised Gotham hasn't, honestly." Ha ha, enjoy that.
Bruce: "Yeah." He misses his next shot, and gives the table a dry look, like it was this inanimate object's faul. He is refusing to think about Ra's. For the record. "Me too." Oh, so that's where you're from, Tom. LIKE NOBODY KNEW.
* Grayson is amused at the look, but more interested in the brevity of Tom's reply. People have, by and large, generally stopped trying to blow Gotham up by Dick's point in time. "I'm losing track of whether the Joker's in jail or not."
Bruce: You are getting kind of blatant, sir. He still at that, and doesn't reply, waiting for him to take the next shot.
* Grayson gives in with good grace. Nobody can make Bruce talk if he doesn't want to, he knows that probably better than anyone. He takes his shot in silence, hitting the ball he aimed at but missing the pocket entirely.
* Bruce shoots, and.. misses, but not horribly, at least. "What's your real name? Since you know mine."
Grayson: "Richard Grayson." He says quietly, figuring saying 'Dick' right off the bat will result in incredulousness. He doesn't suppose it means anything to Bruce.
Bruce: It doesn't, but he expects it to - the fact that it doesn't bothers him, and he's at a loss to explain why. So he just nods.
* Grayson just smiles slightly and lines up another shot. "I don't bartend, either. So we're on even footing again." Tok. He finally gets another one.
Bruce: "Somehow I still feel like you've got one over on me," he says, quiet.
* Grayson looks apologetic, a little pleadingly so. Deferential. "I think--" I know. "-- that if we were from the same world, I would be in your future." But he's not, so. Helpless shrug.
* Bruce tries to look neutral, but he's honestly unsettled. Hey, your life sucks, here's a fucked up dimensional bar, also, somebody who knows you. It should be comforting, so of course, he's pissed off, because he's Just Like That. "Huh."
Grayson: "I work for you." He didn't ask, Dick. "That's why I was in the bathroom, I thought you were-- you know." FINALLY. He gets to explain that.
Bruce: "Oh." He's working on saying something, he really is, but it's just kind of ... well, sudden. He knew there was something up with this guy - this kid, but he's not a kid, but he flusters like that here and there - but this was not in the realm of possibility, in his head.
* Grayson just had to explain, but he falls silent now. And he's too bothered to keep playing pool, but he doesn't want to stare at Bruce either, so he just kind of looks away and waits for something.
Bruce: "I'm actually not working right now," he says, suddenly, after what feels like ages. His voice doesn't sound like his own, to his ears. Like he's talking under water. Is he really doing this? "A-- people died."
Grayson: The look in his eyes is painful sympathy. "Yeah?" He says softly.
Bruce: "Yeah." Short, clipped; he straightens and puts the pool cue back. There should be no surprise here that the second something emotionally significant begins to unfold, he's going to bolt. "It's morning. I'll see you around."
Grayson: "See you." Dick doesn't make a move. He knows better.
* Bruce is out of there, with predictable silence.