13608/Coffee and Witchblade

Coffee and Witchblade
Date of Scene:	20 December 2022
Location:	Arcade Diner - Park Row
Synopsis:	Two cops catch up over coffee and really good pancakes.
Cast of Characters:	Dick Grayson, Sara Pezzini

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Dick Grayson has posed:
    Dick had realized he hadn't really checked in with Sara for some time, and hers was a friendship he didn't want to fall by the wayside. And so, after a phone call, he finds himself sitting in one of the booths at the Arcade Diner. It's about as quiet as usual this time of night, with any more troublesome clientele restrained by the fact that there are two uniformed cops sitting at the counter.

    He's pretty easy to spot but even so he still waves when he sees Sara step through the door. "Grab a seat, I told the waitress to bring coffee when you arrived. If you want to eat, we can order after that."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Under normal circumstances Sara avoided Gotham, not because of the city itself or the crime or even the darker feeling the place often gave off. Nope, for the Witchblade Gotham was usually avoided due to Batman, and knowing how much the man hated outside heroes doing things in "his" city.

Tonight the NYPD officer and wielder of Witchblade made an exception for coffee with her friend and fellow officer, Dick Grayson. The chosen venue was more than acceptable, nothing like breakfast for dinner after all, and she fully intended to let the Bat Family handle anything that might come up... unless they asked for assistance.

Returning the wave as her eyes landed on Dick, she made her way to his chosen table and claimed herself a seat. Even before she was fully sat down the waitress was arriving with the coffee.

"Good work Detective," she chuckled as she settled in across from him and offered a smile. "Coffee is a requirement, food on the other hand is just a suggestion." A slight wink at the joke there. "How are you doing?"

Dick Grayson has posed:
    "Not too bad. Lord knows, Gotham always makes sure a cop has a lot to do. I wouldn't really mind if the crime rate went down a bit, but even with Batman and his people handling some of the really bad stuff, there's still more regular crime to keep us running. Sometimes I swear the entire city is built over an Indian burial ground or something."

    He picks up the menu and looks it over, not that he doesn't have it memorized already, but sometimes you still need to see it before your brain goes 'that's what I want'. After a minute's thought, he orders a short stack of pancakes and some scrambled eggs.

    Returning to the conversation, he continues "Pretty well settled into the lakehouse with Steph, and I'm even getting used to the pitter patter of little feet running around."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
A little sugar and cream go into the coffee as Dick starts talking, giving Sara that moment to truly get comfortable and make her coffee perfect. Everyone had their own way of preparing their coffee, but truth be told Sara would drink it any way she could get it, she just preferred it with cream and sugar.

Reaching for a menu, she was just about to give it a look over as Dick talked about the Indian burial ground. She offered a slight chuckle and nod of acknowledgement in that moment and then all of her thoughts were derailed.

"Pitter patter of little feet?" she blurted out hastily with wide eyes while her brain spun around all the possible answers that could be other than a child.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Dick chuckles at the reaction, explaining "Yeah, you'd be surprised how much noise a duck makes running around on wood flooring. I thought the heated duck house on the dock would work, but Steph decided it was entirely too cold in Gotham in the winter to leave Hazelduck out there, so now there's us and the duck living inside. I did build him little stairs so he can get into the bathtub and float around a bit."

    He takes a sip from his coffee, then pours a little more cream into it. "I'm just hoping we don't end up with a menagerie within the next couple years. Steph seems to be just a touch weak to cute things. I should get her to hang out with Damian, he likes his animals more than people any day of the week."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara had managed a simple list of things in her head... duck was not on that list. So hearing him explain about Hazelduck made the woman blink a few times, and just soak in the information that he now lived with his fiancee and a duck.

"You know, if it were any other guy out there I'd probably believe you were trying to pull my leg," she began with a snort, starting to look over the menu. "But you... yeah, I totally see you giving in and letting the duck live in the house with you. This just tells me exactly what I'm getting the two of you for your wedding."

She peeks out from behind the menu with a mischievous grin on her face. "Wouldn't want the duck to get lonely after all."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Dick reaches out, menu in hand, and attempts to lightly bap her on the head with said menu. "I do not need to be fighting a flock of ducks for the shower in the morning. At least when things warm up the duck will be back outside terrorizing the entire lake instead of my bathtub."

    "They do really good pancakes here, if you're having any trouble deciding. I try to swing by at least twice a week. Any more than that and I'd probably start putting on weight." He grins and adds "I don't have enough seniority on the force to be a fat cop yet."

    He looks out the window, then seems to be following something outside. After a moment, he relaxes and returns his attention to the table. "Sorry, gang car cruising by, always best to keep an eye on them. They know cops eat here, and sometimes you can't be sure what they're up to."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara accepts her menu bapping like a good plotter, chuckling over his comment. "What, you don't shower /with/ the duck?" she asks in a cheery, taunting tone. "Oh come on Dick, what about saving water and thus saving the planet? Shower with the duck, Dick. Soon to be ducks... plural."

She wiggles her brows at him, fully set on getting another duck or two for the lake, all against Dick's desires and knowing Stephanie would likely welcome it. "Pancakes and eggs, that's sounds perfect to me actually."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Sighing, Dick lets it go. Either there will be more ducks in the future or there won't, it's basically out of his hands at this point. The food comes pretty quickly, eggs being easy and pancake batter already made in large batches for the diner's most ordered item. They are as good as Dick said, served with butter and a high quality real maple syrup, a bit of a surprise for a small diner in a big city.

    "Just don't tell too many people about this place, I don't want to have to call ahead for seating. So how about you, anything more interesting than a duck in the house?"

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Several bites of the pancakes are required before Sara comes out of the heavenly 'breakfast for dinner' haze, once again grinning at Dick.

"You were right, these are fantastic," she offered, wondering how much it would cost her to have them delivered to NYC... probably too much. "I won't tell anyone, since most people I know are in another state anyway."

A sip of her coffee later she holds up her right wrist to show Dick the singular bracelet of Witchblade. He was one of the few who had, not too long ago, seen the two bracelets as one which was no longer the case.

"I uh... have an apprentice, and WB here has a... son? Twin?" she shakes her head a little. "Still not quite certain how it all works, but there's another one."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Dick raises an eyebrow then nods, saying "Ok, think that one might outdo my duck life. Well, I'm pretty sure you'll do a good job walking your newbie through things. Always nice when you've got someone to watch your back, after all." He then descends into pure geekdom saying, "A good master you will be, yes. Train him, you will." in his best Yoda impression before taking another bite of his pancakes.

    "Did it end up with another cop, or are you working with a complete civilian?" Not that being a cop is a guarentee of being a good superhero, but it at least prepares someone for stressful situations.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Until that moment, Sara hadn't thought of Dick's pitter pattering duck comparison to a child as matching up to Witchblade having a child, or whatever it was that Digitabulum was. A chuckle-snort is offered over the Yoda impression

"Agent of SHIELD actually," she said quietly, more so than she normally would about that sort of thing. "Not my place to say more than that however, until they decide how secret they want to be. I'll add though, that they seem to be accepting it all /way/ better than I did because they have someone to help them through it."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    "Yeah, that makes sense. Not going to pry into that kind of thing, but at least you know the person has to be pretty stable to have that kind of job." He applies himself to the pancakes a bit more directly. "Anytime you want to talk about that kind of thing, feel free to give me a yell. I've trained a few newbies, not with godly jewelry mind you, but I think the basic techniques remain about the same."

    Once they both finish up their pancakes and just talk for a bit, Dick pays the bill, adding a good tip for the waitress (All that money is useless sitting in a bank) and gets up to leave, holding the door for Sara on the way out. He heads over to his car and waves once more before hopping in and heading off into the Gotham night.