12583/To the Subway

To the Subway
Date of Scene:	26 August 2022
Location:	Outside ESU on the way to the trains
Synopsis:	Alexander and Dinah talk a bit while they walk home.
Cast of Characters:	Alexander Aaron, Dinah Lance

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Alexander Aaron has posed:
    At the end of classes there was not much to do in truth. The straightening, putting the mats away, making sure they're wiped down from footprints and sweat and even a bit of blood from the prior efforts. Then it was mainly putting gear away which is what he did in that short bit of time. It left him standing there on the edge of the mats as his training partner had run in for a shower, which, to be fair... he could use one himself as he took a brief moment to sniff an underarm.
    Yet even that small human gesture made him laugh a little. A small crinkle of his nose and he looked towards the men's locker room off the side of that gym and figured that well... perhaps even if Dinah didn't thank him, the people on the subway likely would if he took a quick shower. So he took his turn, half-jogging as he padded off toward the men's locker room...
    And disappeared for twelve minutes. Which might very well have him emerging around the same time Dinah did. Stepping out of there with his hair slicked back and shiny, not wearing the same t-shirt nor sweats, he had those in a gym bag slung over his shoulder. Right now... he likely was wearing what he kept in his locker now and again which was a big over-sized t-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts in blue. White sneakers were on his feet and ankle-high socks were barely visible inside them.
    "Hey," He lifts his voice as he catches sight of her emerging as he shakes his head, "Finished up the straightening."
    Turning he extends a hand toward her and should she take it he gives it a small squeeze, just a way of saying hello again then leaning in to touch a small kiss to her cheek. "So you sure this is going to be okay?"
    Turning he starts to walk to the door, hands sliding into his pockets as he strolls. "You don't have any roommates who will flip out? Or any ex-boyfriends that will stop by in the middle of the night drunk and yelling at your window from down in the street?"
    Then his lip twists up as he adds, "Or do you have like a Justice League Trouble Alert that could go off?"

Dinah Lance has posed:
"Good, because I didn't want to help anyway," Dinah quipped as she looked at his change of attire and the fact everything was already put up. She was dressed in the clothes she had worn over. As she had not intended to join the martial arts lessons, instead having just planned on watching. Not that there had been that much effort as this was a beginner's class. Thus, she would not be offending anyone with the scent of her clothing. As for the rest of her, she had utilized the ESU lady's locker room to get a shower and clean up a little. Her black hair was wet and curling in all directions.

A little squeeze of his hand and she gave a negative shake of her head at his questions. She walked with him toward the door. Then she paused as she really thought about that question. "I don't think so." Because it seemed the safer bet than no, of course not. "No one has a key." At least that should be reassuring. Maybe. Okay, maybe not.

Though the other question was easier to answer as she slipped out the gym door into the night air. "I do have a communication device for the Justice League. If something bad enough happens, they call. It's like an app on my phone but even if my phone is off, it can come through. Kind of annoying, to be honest."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "No, that's kind of cool." He says as they reach the door and he pulls it open, glancing outside first then gesturing for her to precede him. Oh so gentlemanly. Then he follows after and walks after the tiny... so very tiny blond woman as he sets into an easy gait at her side.
    "It's clear you've set foot on a path that has..." A look to the side, "Honed you. You were really good when we were training together, you're much better now. I can see how you'd get recognition on the superhero stage of things." And it's true, he respected what she had wrought for herself. There are not that many people on the League, and few whose time is valuable enough that they are constantly on call.
    Then his lip twists a little as he adds, "I mean, it's clear I likely inspired you." His grin is wry as those pale hazel eyes drift off toward the distance, hiding that slight smug look upon his features and playing it straight.

Dinah Lance has posed:
The very tiny...not that tiny blond woman shook her head negatively as she laughed softly. "Feel free to believe that if it lets you sleep easy at night. But we both know I was on this path before I took you on as a student back then," she offers in that good natured tone.

She does give a nod though as they work their way across the campus. Not a lot of people out and about at this time of night though there were a few people here or there. The place was never completely quiet. "It has been a lot of work but well worth it. And for a group like the Justice League to even bother having me as part of them? It's truly an honor. Though intimidating. Yes, I'm a good fight. Maybe even a great fighter." One of the of the top 20 on the planet probably. "But I'm on a team with people like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman. It's surreal."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    A hand lifts to waggle a little back and forth, as if he could argue that point she makes, but the fact he can't give words to it likely weakens his case as he strolls along with his hands sliding back into his pockets. This time of night on campus, there are a few couples walking. The time of night when people tend to move in groups as it's so late though a mugger choosing to ply their trade on this particular couple might be a very unlucky mugger indeed.
    Though as she speaks to the Justice League he nods as he strolls, stepping to that old wrought iron gate that leads off campus and onto 30th Street leading toward the subway down the line. "I've had it described to me that sure Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman are super capable in their area. But even they can't fill all roles, can't be everywhere at once."
    He rubs the back of his neck, "And sometimes it's good to have another person's insight or point of view."

Dinah Lance has posed:
"I agree. They all have things they bring to the tables. I have my own gifts, I can recognize that. But when someone can lift a battleship with one hand is on a team with someone like me who can kick really hard, not sure that's the same." Dinah shrugs a little. "But not all threats are equal either. I can appreciate that. You don't use a nuke when you can use a small caliber weapon instead."

Then she smirked over at him. "If you make a short joke, so help me I'm going to punch you. Again." Since in the sparring, she had done her fair share of that.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "It's not so much that," Alexander says as he moves, the way he speaks has this ease to it. When they were training together he barely spoke, was always attentive, and quick to answer. Since they had met up again, she perhaps was still getting used to the almost laconic manner, the way the young man moved with the world and that curiously harmonious way he had about himself. Which likely didn't match with her opponent on the mats.
    "It's more Diana might be able to lift a battleship." He smiles a little, "But she's not going to be able to sneak into a hideout and learn what she needs from an informant too easily. Or she won't be able to blend in with a crowd as easily as someone who is perhaps... of smaller stature."
    His grin widens a little as he accelerates a step in case she was inclined to follow up with that threat about short jokes. Though he does slow up enough so if she's feeling really vindictive well she can catch him. "Just like Batman isn't going to be smashing an asteroid that's hurtling toward the planet, Superman isn't going to be able to track a shipment of weapons through a computer manifest."

Dinah Lance has posed:
There it was. The short joke. Though it wasn't quite a short joke but it was on that border that made her suspect it was meant as one. When he speeded up his steps? Proof!

"One can be tall and still be stealthy. Size doesn't change that," Dinah said as she speeds up her own footsteps. Rushing forward to him and making a leap. Not to hit him. But to land on his back, arms around his neck, legs at his waist. His very own personal brunette backpack. Which allows her to hopefully smack him in the arm with her fist a moment later, once she has her spider-monkey lock on. But then she seems content to stay there for a moment unless he has some sort of protest about it.

"I get it. We all have our strong points. Mine is kicking people in the face. Even better, I enjoy that. So it all works out."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    He had been just about to look back when suddenly /whumpf!/ Dinahmonkey. Laughing as he stumbles a few steps he instinctively grabs onto her arms to hold her to him even as she locks her legs in place and proceeds to hold on and then /thump!/ his arm with much meanness.
    "Ow ow, hey!" He says as he straightens up and keeps walking with her, seemingly entirely at ease with his new passenger while he strolls along. Though they do get some sidelong looks and a few giggles from passersby. Even a little bite of the lip from a pair of college girls whose eyes seem to say, 'awww.'
    "That's my point, yah, it works out for the better." He squeezes her forearm as he walks and to be fair from her place on his back she gets a little better view of the people they pass as they walk, not quite towering above the crowds on the street at night, but definitely a higher point of view.
    "Also your cry," He says, "Sonics are a weakness for a lot of strange things out there. Some day you might save the day with your big mouth." Which is perhaps not the wisest thing for him to say as he has an evil spider-monkey attached to his back.

Dinah Lance has posed:
As she rides along, Dinah feels...comfortable. It's weird. It's such a casual position, something that she doesn't remember having done in the past. But it had seemed right at the time and now she just remained there for the moment. She had her arms loosely around his neck and it felt nice having him hold her in place. Though he wasn't really holding her. Just touching his arm. Maybe that's what was nice about it, this casual closeness.

"I will have you know, I've already saved plenty of people with my big mouth, thankyouverymuch." THe last words said so quickly they ran together like a single word. "I know it's powerful. Something I could use more often. But I lost it in the past, to the point I had to use tech to replicate it. As such, I try not to rely on it too much. If I can take down someone, or something, using just my other skills, I'd rather do that."

She laid her chin on his shoulder and glanced over at his face. "Is that silly?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Not at all," Alexander says as he walks, taking a longer step to jostle her up on his back a little more and securing her arms with one hand, while the other goes down to her ankles and he helps to provide purchase so she can lean back a little without risking falling off. It's like that that they stroll down the street, his gym bag bouncing against her side as they stroll. Still they get half-grins and smiles, one guy rolls his eyes as if to say, 'kids these days.'
    "If we used everything at our disposal all the time, we'd never train ourselves really. If I gave into that part of me that lets me... point at someone and have them pass out. Then I'd never have trained myself to be as self-reliant. And some day down the line I wouldn't be able to use that ability and suddenly I'd be out of luck."
    He tilts his head to the side and makes a small 'smooch' face though he can't quite reach her before he turns back and continues the stroll. "Part of me feels like learning, training, forcing myself to excel. That's the real part of me, not the... legacy that I'm connected to."
    He lifts his chin a little, "Different for you though in part I imagine."

Dinah Lance has posed:
"Yes and no," is Dinah's response. Although, she's quite aware that they are getting looks. Perhaps too many looks. Although Alexander seems comfortable to keep carrying her that way for as long as she remains there, she figures she probably should stop embarrassing him. She starts to wiggle around before , unfolding her arms to indicate she wants to get down now.

"I'm a legacy myself. My mother was the first Black Canary. Though she didn't want me to follow in her shoes. Though she and my father allowed me to take all sorts of martial arts and stuff. Then there was uncle Ted. He taught me boxing and some other things. To help me be prepared to be a vigilante myself. Mom was not pleased. But when I developed my powers, I think she knew the writing was on the wall and she wouldn't be stopping me. It became a game of her catching me or else I was out playing vigilante when I was far too young and inexperienced to be doing so. Training saw me through it at least."

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    As she wiggles he lets loose and she drops to the sidewalk with him walking beside her again. He smiles as they stroll and he eyes her sidelong as he listens, "Yeah?" When she mentions she's a legacy and then proceeds to give him some insight into her past. Those hazel eyes widen a little then he nods slowly as he understands.
    "So, you were pretty much set on this path, but good thing you seemed to enjoy it." He stuffs his hands back into the pockets of his basketball shorts and smiles albeit distantly. "My path was more... that my father was trying to prepare me for everything that could happen and best way was to teach me how to fight, take care of myself."
    His eyes widen a little, "Which is why he probably chose you, since I think he saw you at a kumite that you won and he was impressed. Surprised." A moment as he considers then he smiles a little. "I think he'd be pleased that we're together."

Dinah Lance has posed:
"No pressure." That is said with a little laugh as Dinah thinks about that. Really thinks about it. This is Alexander Aaron. Son of John Aaron. Who was better known--in a weird way since it was a secret--as Ares, God of War. Now, admittedly, few people knew Ares and John Aaron were the same person. But most people knew the name Ares from their Greek mythology in school. It was just harder for them to accept that such a being might be real.

And she was just playing spider-monkey on the back of the God of Fear. A lot of people might have wanted to ask about his powers. To see them. Dinah never wondered. She never wanted to experience them. She already knew her greatest fear. And that fear experienced to the magnitude he could cause? SHe would literally lose her mind.

"I think she tried to set me off the path. Which of course meant I had to get on it," Dinah says with a little chuckle. "I think they were trying to prep me in case things did go wrong but didn't want me in spandex. Or in my case fishnets. So, sort of like your father, yeah."

She considered a moment then looked at him sidelong as they approached the steps down into the subway station. Which is where she would need to go to head home. "I mean impressing your father. Like with my fighting? Really?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Yah, sometimes kids have to be contrarian to forge their own path." Alexander says, nodding as he likely well knew that considering some of the arguments he had with his father. Though all of that interplay she had, those thoughts and reflections about his father's identity, his own. He likely had no real grasp of it, for him his father was this thing yes, but he was exceedingly more... his father.
    It was like having a dad who worked at Nintendo. Sure all the kids were in awe, but to the kid... not that big of a deal.
    "She was just trying to look out for you." He smiled a little, then he adds, "Which mine is trying to do with me, so I guess I can understand."
    She stops then and looks at him, asks him about his father being impressed. That has him stopping too and turning to face her.
    "Yeah, you and a few others. Top five." His lip twists then he says.
    "Hey,"
    As if to stop her from protesting. Or just to stop things for a moment. A pause in the world as they stood at the top of the steps into the subway.
    "Hi." He says as his eyes meet hers, his own irises drifting back and forth looking into her own gaze. He lightly bit his lower lip...
    And then with no reason, no spurring, no particular moment calling for it. He kissed her. It was one of those kisses when two young lovers are together. When they are off doing something together...
    And one just wants to kiss the other.

Dinah Lance has posed:
Top five. At the kumite or total. She's positive it isn't total but it is good to have such things clarified. Because a God of War had to be more impressed with far greater--worse?--feats than she has achieved.

Before she can comment on the top five and that she's surprised she ranked that high on the list, Dinah is interrupted. That quick Hey. It is enough to let her know he's had a sudden thought and she looks up to see what it might be, giving that polite quiet attention that is required in such moments. Though one might say 'what' she doesn't. Only to hear that soft hi and the way his expression changes. His body language. That slight /lean/ that is too a thing! It isn't extreme but it is enough for her to feel the tension between them instantly.

Then he leans down and she tilts her head up, turning a bit to the side so there is no nose impact. Few things worse than nose-bumps during kisses early in couples getting to know each other. Her eyes closed as she felt the pressure of his lips on hers.

When he finally pulls back, she takes a shaky breath and leans her forehead against his for a moment before opening her own eyes. "Hi yourself. That was..." She smiled a bit and pulled her head back, realizing at some point she ended up with a hand at his waist and another on his chest. "Lovely."

Then she frowned at she glanced to the subway station and back to him. "This is where I go." Since the subway below would take her back over to Gotham, by way of a few stops in between of course before it reached the outskirts of the city and ran over the bridge and back home. "You ever been to Gotham by chance?" She asks suddenly. "It's a great city. Really pretty at night." Said No One Ever who knew Gotham.

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "I've been before," He says as his features are still warm with that kiss, a hint of color along the lobes of his ears, the sides of his neck. He smiles as he takes her hand and starts walking with her down the steps. With him two steps down that puts them on eye level as he pause and looks to her. "It's the Summer..."
    He looks up the steps, then back to her as he tilts his head a little to the side, "I could ride with you since I have..." A small shake of his head as he looks back to Empire State, then back to her, "No obligations tomorrow or the next day. So, if you wanted..."
    He doesn't quite say it, offering to come with her as he turns to look back down the stairs. He tilts his head as he looks back and adds, "Though I figure you might... you know. Want your space."
    Then his eyes soften a little as he draws in a shallow breath and then says quietly, "I just don't want this night to end, Dinah."

Dinah Lance has posed:
"I've only been around a few hours tonight. I think I can stand the sight of you for a while more," Dinah says as she bounces down the stairs at his side, a little extra oomph in her step. Since he was walking her down and accepting her pseudo offer with a pseudo answer. After all, she hadn't said 'Do you want to go back with me' outright like she could have. So, she'd asked, been open, but not quite as clear as perhaps she should.

It was the fear he would've said no. Something he could have sensed. But now that he said yes, the fear was gone like a puff of smoke in a strong breeze. Once on the platform, she turns to him with a negative shake of her head.

"I promised clear communication. So here goes. I'd like you to come back with me to Gotham. I'd like to spend tonight together and see how that goes." She suddenly feels like she's twelve years old, telling a boy that she likes him. Something that she absolutely hates. Because she is a confident, grown woman. One who shouldn't have any such problems. She forces herself to look at him confidently, blue eyes meeting hazel.

"So, though the night ending is not something I can prevent as the sun will rise, we don't have to part until then. If you would like that?"

Alexander Aaron has posed:
    "Yeah," He says with that smile that lights up his face, "Yeah I'd like that." That beautiful smile that makes him seem so vibrant and alive as he lifts a hand to brush it through her hair. An affectionate caress, then he takes her hand again and together hand in hand they descend those steps into the subway, with him hopping the last step and landing with a thwap-thwap of his sneakers.
    Up to the turnstiles they walk and he digs into his pocket for his wallet, swiping it over the sensor and causing it to /beep-beep/ with awareness as to his student pass. Then he waits for her to do her own thing before he extends his hand for hers again. Some reason now... that connection is made. They're not parting, they're going somewhere together. So holding hands seems all the more natural.
    Leaning to the side he tells her with a curl of amusement to his features, "I'll cook breakfast."
    And as luck would have it there's the hissing whine of the approaching train, the whirrrr of those hydraulics and the double honk of the arrival of the Gotham Express. He grins at her then starts to half-run down the next set of steps onto the platform, slipping past a few people as he darts toward the cross-town night commuter.
    If they're quick enough they should be able to slip on board before the doors close.