11241/DDR Therapy

DDR Therapy
Date of Scene:	20 May 2022
Location:	Historic Clocktower - Training Facility
Synopsis:	Helena Bertinelli watches Cassandra dance off some nerves, then they share a drink.
Cast of Characters:	Cassandra Cain, Helena Bertinelli

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Cassandra Cain has posed:
It's dark, and Cassandra hasn't turned on the lights. She's moving in the shadows, but not for stealth. Not stealth, nor for training. In fact if one were to walk in on her, you'd have to say that she's dancing.

Her heart hasn't been in the patrol duties that she normally takes on, and Gotham has suffered for it. But with what's happened lately she's lucky she even came back alive let alone whole.

Ballet slippers are on her feet, and she's wearing yoga pants and a tank top. She steps forward, positioning her feet. Then rises up onto her toes, arms above her head. The music is dark, painful. Some kind of thrash metal, like she's trying to block out the world.

Ballet punk. She's invented a new genre.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Helena Bertinelli wasn't on patrol tonight. She'd just completed grading a stack of Finals papers and tests almost as tall as Wayne Tower. She needed to get out of her apartment for a while so the Clocktower was her destination. It seemed a likely place for some down time and things not school related.

The elevator chimed softly, perhaps lost under the angry music that is otherwise filling the clocktower at this hour. Emerging as the doors opened, Helena glanced around curiously. Barbara must be experimenting with other forms of music from her typical.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Without adding 'combat' to the genre title, Cass dances. She dances angrily, using the ballet to express the emotions that she has right now. She hangs her head, hurt, and then whips a leg around behind her. It stomps, an action not done in many ballet productions off broadway.

Then she leaps, arms crossing and pulling in tight. The act seems energetic, but closed-in. She lands softly though, keeping her arms in close. Then she pulls herself upright, a leg lifting up to the sky.

She lowers it almost sloppily, an act of loss. As if she's given up on the motion and has nothing left with which to hold on.

For a dance, it's really very expressive. And she's not seen Helena yet, though her own silhouette is quite striking.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Helena Bertinelli paused at the wild movement. A closer look revealed it was certainly not Barbara. Cassandra. But in that moment, the young woman was, well, occupied? Helena was not skilled at reading body language in the manner that Cassandra was raised up. But even so, it was clear that the dancing dervish was working through some things. She could hazard a guess about some of it, given her minor involvement with some of the recent events and what bits she had heard of.

As they say, discretion is the better part of valor. To that end, Helena attempts to quietly make her way to the kitchen to avail herself of a glass of wine. It was one of those nights as far as she was concerned. Hell, she might even look the other way if Cass decided she wanted something stronger to drink for herself after her dancing is finished.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass twists mid-air, managing to alter her course as she jumps. She lands on one knee, then turns with a torn legging and presses against the window to the outside. She makes a fist, curling her fingers against the glass hard enough to make scraping sounds.

Then she turns, toe-walking to the music player. Where she presses a button and suddenly the Clocktower is in silence.

Nothing for a moment, and then she looks in to the kitchen. She watches the woman and the wine. The look on her face is flushed, but not upset. It's like she isn't connected to her dance.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Helena Bertinelli pours herself a glass of wine then looks up at the sound of the impact against the window. As Cassandra finishes, she offers quietly, "I could never move that fluidly. You have a true talent." She then offers, "Can I get you something to drink? Water? Stronger?" She knows that Cassandra isn't one for sugared up drinks so doesn't offer those.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass' head nods at the..comment? Compliment? She thinks so, but so often she's wrong about those things. The offer of a drink causes her to pull off of the door frame and enter the kitchen.

She sits on a chair a moment. The dancing hasn't even sweated her yet. Perhaps she'd only just begun. But as she sits, she looks at Helena with eyes that seem tired. She's not slept since she was returned home. Likely nightmares.

Would you blame her? The reports said that she'd personally murdered dozens of citizens. If she weren't haunted, she wouldn't be worth keeping on the team.

She reaches for a glass, then tips it toward the tap. Water apparently.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Helena Bertinelli did mean it as a compliment. She smiles to the indication of some water. So she goes for proper water - a large glass filled to the top with ice first, then the filtered water from the 'fridge over that.

Turning around, "oh. Oops." Cass already had gotten some. So she sets the iced water down on the table. Someone will drink it. Probably.

Taking her glass of wine,s he moves to sit at the table. "I'm no expert on advice. Probably one of the last you'd want it from, really. But if you need to, uh, talk? Or just want some silent company, I'm happy to offer either." Or both.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass hadn't gotten water yet, had just indicated the sink. She leans over and accepts the glass of ice water, sipping it one time only though. She then presses it to her own forehead, letting the coolness penetrate what might appear to be a raging headache.

Remaining in her own chair, Cass turns to watch Helena sit at the table. She blinks, then her lips seem to quirk with silent amusement. She pulls her right heel up into her own lap, holding it with her free hand, and then raises her left eyebrow in a nonverbal commentary all its own.

She lowers the glass, then gives a head-lift toward the other room she was dancing in. A single finger indicates Helena herself, and a soft shrug as a follow-up turns it into a question.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Helena Bertinelli sipped at her glass, but was watching Cass. She tilts her head, "You'd rather go in there?" she tries to clarify. Unlike Steph who seemed to be able to all but completely understand Cass, Helena was still very basic. Adults.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass frowns slightly, then shakes her head. She waves it off, apparently not worried about the answer to whatever she was asking, then presses her glass between her own breasts a moment. She visibly sighs, which weirdly also is done without sound, then turns her gaze back to Helena and quirks a smile.

Nothing more, she's not trying to say anything now. Just cooling off with a friend? At least she's not being goth and brooding. We all know that that's always a risk around here.

Helena Bertinelli has posed:
Helena Bertinelli nods. "Okay. Here, it is." She settles into her seat then. Occasionally sipping at her glass of wine, she wasn't certain what she had been looking for by coming to the clocktower tonight, but this wasn't bad at all. A different sort of comfortable and relaxing.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
And that's when everything went wrong. The Lex Luthor plot that'd gotten them all into the building together, with Captain Marvel holding onto the infinity stones, and this random chick with a playstation handheld warping reality as she blogged her shopping trip all came down to this one point.

Yes, it's now. The time, the place. When Cass reaches over and clinks her glass against Helena's, and then gets up to go and have a shower.

Only a small portion of that you just read was true. I leave it up to you to decide which section. I'd go for the Playstation handheld part though. Probably the coolest idea in there.