13927/Dinner In The Union

Dinner In The Union
Date of Scene:	21 January 2023
Location:	Gotham University
Synopsis:	Dick joins Stephanie on campus at the union for a late bite. Jordanna shows up and does her best to get under Stephanie's skin.
Cast of Characters:	Stephanie Brown, Dick Grayson

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Stephanie Brown has posed:
Christmas break is over. Stephanie's classes are back in full swing. School has never been particularly easy for her. The kind of smarts she has don't lend themselves to academics as well as they do crime fighting. Tonight she's worked late with a group on a project. And after that needs to put in some extra time in the chemistry lab on her assignment for the week.

But in between? She's arranged to meet up with Dick for dinner. Nothing special, just a meal in the Student Union on campus so she doesn't have to spend extra time in transit.

Her work session on the project ran a little late, and Stephanie is jogging down the sometimes slick sidewalks to the Union to try to make up for it. She's wearing a jacket and has on a hoodie, the hood hanging out the jacket behind her head. Blue jeans and a pair of sneakers. Typical college student clothing. Her blond hair is pulled back in a pony tail as she arrives at the Union, stepping inside the doors and adjusting her bookbag as she looks about for Dick.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Tonight was a motorcycle night, Dick decided. So there's now a rather well-tuned Harley in one of the college parking garages, and Dick is headed towards the student union in jeans, motorcycle boots, a T-shirt with a terrible Pi joke and leather jacket. His helmet dangles from one hand - It's got a lot of _very_ non-standard electronics built into it, so it stays with him rather than the motorcycle.

    It's not hard to spot Steph at this time of the evening, most students are back in their dorms or home by now, except for the late workers like her. He grins a bit as he watches her run along the sidewalk, which does some interesting things to various womanly body parts. He waves and heads towards her, stopping and spreading his arms for a hug as they close with each other. "Hi love, I see you're keeping busy."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie turns and spots Dick coming in the door. Her face lights up, the girl's blue eyes could be accused of being luminous for how bright they get at seeing the man. She takes steps to meet him in the middle, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tight. "Mmm, the best part of the day," she whispers into his ear before letting the hug go.

Glancing down at the helmet, she says, "Brought the bike? Not too chilly I hope?" she asks. Stephanie reaches up, brushing her fingers through his hair as if he has a little helmet head that needs to be cleared away. Though in trust she'll do that whether he does or not!

"Hope you don't mind college fare," she says, turning towards the union, where there are tables through the middle, across three different levels, while around the outside there are counters that serve various kinds of food. From a grill to various ethnic food, and even a few well-known fast food or other franchises.

Someone raises a hand to wave to Stephanie. She waves back to the young man. "Rick, he's in my project," she says. He's sitting with two women, turning back to them after exchanging waves.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Returning the hug, he smiles and shakes his head. "Nah, it's not too bad. Leather jacket and thermal suit, no problems." Said thermal suit is also the base of his Nightwing gear, so he can respond to trouble quickly. When she mentions college fair, he laughs and reminds her, "I'm a cop, remember? This is several steps up from what we usually eat on stakeouts and the like, it'll be just fine."

    "So what's the current project, anything terribly exciting? And remember, while I won't give you all the answers, I can be used as an expert law enforcement source." He winks at her then turns to the counters.

    Scanning over the choices of cuisine here in the union, he says "We might as well get food and then grab a table, I see it's not too crowded this time of night." Apparently making his decision, he heads for the grill, letting her go to whichever type of food she may be in the mood for. He orders a loaded burger and fries, turning to lean against the wall and observe the large open area while he waits for the food to cook.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
"Oh, Economics," she says, letting out a sigh. "Have to find some current examples for this one theory. Critique a business's moves based on whether their actions took it into account, stuff like that. I swear everyone's doing New Coke. We're doing it on that rib sandwich that Big Belly Burger came out with," she tells Dick.

She gives him a kiss on the cheek before heading over to a chicken place. She gets chicken tenders and a side of fries, a side order of cheese sticks and marinara to split with Dick, and a slice of cheesecake. It seems like a lot, but then he knows how many calories he burns.

She fills up a soda cup and then takes her tray over to a small table that seats two. She flashes a smile over to Dick and picks up one of her French fries and nibbling it while making a game of eyeing him with interest.

In the distance behind her, the doors open and a small group of six students come in, three boys and three girls. Dick might recognize Jordanna and Francisco among them, two who were with Stephanie at the pool bar before he and Stephanie started dating.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    It doesn't take all that long for the burger to cook, and in a short time Dick is headed over to the table with his meal. And no, he's not worried at all about calories. Getting fat was one thing none of the bats had much fear of, considering the sheer amount of physical effort even an uneventful rooftop patrol took. As he sits down opposite her, He glances to the door and says quietly, "Well, looks like one of your favorite people has decided it's a union night as well."

    Since they're officially an appetizer, he snags a cheese stick and dunks it in marinara before he starts on the burger. Raising an eyebrow in a bit of surprise, he comments "That's pretty good for college food. They've improved a good deal since I was a student, it seems. He watches Jordanna and company as they walk through the union, waiting to see how Steph reacts to seeing them.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Dick joining her at the table earns him another smile from Stephanie. She's starting in on her food, eating one of the baked cheese sticks too. Double dipping in the sauce, whether because she just does that or knows it's ok with Dick, who knows?

"Yeah, they have a few tasty things," she agrees. "And if the grill isn't good there's always the fast food which is pretty much what you expect."

His comment about her favorite people causes Stephanie to swivel and look behind her in the direction Dick indicated. She smiles as she spots Francisco and some of the others at first. The smile doesn't quite fade at the sight of Jordanna, but it slips a little bit. Francisco sees her and waves, getting a wave back from Stephanie that sparks waves from two others in the group. Plus a disapproving smirk from Jordanna. The group head over to put in orders at various places.

"I might ask you a few chemistry questions later, will call if so," she tells Dick. Her chemistry lab the thing she's off to do after they eat. "Though I want to give it a go on my own first." She's good at following recipes to make things for their equipment, but still working on the general principles of the topic.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    "I don't imagine you should have all that much trouble with it. I happen to know you have a certain hobby that sometimes involves determining what a certain chemical is, or how to counteract it." All the bats have a fairly solid grasp of chemistry given how often a random supervillain threatens to contaminate the city's water supply or launch a chemical attack on a shopping mall. Know your enemy and all that sort of thing.

    At least as far as Steph is concerned, Dick pays no attention to double dipping. If he was worried that she was going to give him cooties or something, they shared a number of activities that were far more likely to cause it. Finishing off his cheese stick, he collects another and starts in on it.

    With a slight smirk, he asks "So have you managed to rub her nose in your rather pricy engagement ring yet? I know it's a bit petty, but she probably deserves a bit of ego deflating now and again. Good for the soul and all that sort of thing."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie finishes the cheese stick and gives a chuckle. "Hey, want to eat six pieces of string cheese?" she says, in what turns out to be the first part of a two part conversation she conducts with herself. "No, I'm about to eat, that would ruin my meal," she replies to her other self. "How about if I fry it and serve it with marinara?" She replies again. "I'm in you son of a bitch!" she replies with a soft chuckle.

She starts in on her chicken strips, dipping one in honey mustards before she lets her gaze seek out Jordanna. She's returning to a nearby table with a tray, along with the rest of that group. They all take a seat as Stephanie answers Dick. "Nah. I mean, she does deserve it. But I just... you know, that's not really me," she says with a little shrug of her shoulders.

The blond coed smiles across the table at Dick. "She doesn't get to have any part in this, not that I'll recognize. Not even jealous observer," Steph tells Dick with a warm smile. She rubs her foot against the side of his leg briefly as she smiles at him.

Apparently that catches Jordanna's eye. Though their conversation hasn't really quite been loud enough to be caught, short of lip reading, she leans forward a bit as she says something. Her voice rises just enough that, "...gold digger..." carries before her voice drops in volume again.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Shaking his head during her inner monologue, he just comments "Count me in too, whoever first had this idea had better be pretty rich by now." A third stick is dipped and eaten, then it's finally time to try and eat the burger without having it shed ingredients all over his shirt.

    Dick smiles at his fiancee, "Fine, be less vindictive than me. Showoff. I mean, I have to work to be vindictive, not like Jason or Damian."

    At the suddenly audible comment, he just looks over at Steph and rolls his eyes. "If she only knew what we put ourselves through, she might not be so snarky." He considers that for a moment, then says, "Nah, she probably still would be. Some people are just like that."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown avoids flashing a glare over towards the other table, though it takes some willpower. Francisco's voice can be heard raising as he tells Jordanna, "Knock it off. She's not like that." The Latino's eyes flit over to check if Stephanie heard Jordanna, but Stephanie's attention is on Dick, so Francisco relaxes a little bit more, thinking the barb did no harm.

Stephanie reaches across the table to brush her fingers along Dicks' arm. "I know that you know that has nothing to do with how I feel about you," she tells him. "And that's really all that's important."

She still does things that show she's a bit uncomfortable with the wealth now and then, even if the sheer amount of time they've been together has resulted in Stephanie adjusting a little bit. Not ordering the cheapest thing on the menu when they go out, things like that.

"I like you just how you are. I don't need a murder fiance who thanks people for stabbing them with a fork," she teases, blue eyes flashing warmly to Dick. Stephanie starts back in on her meal. "How was work today? Any new cases, or any new leads?"

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Giving her a warm smile, Dick says "Yeah, kind of the opposite, really. It's ok though, I've had the money for so long that sometimes I forget that not everyone can decide to take the jet to Rome for the weekend. You help keep me a little grounded in reality as far as the money thing is concerned." Not that he's ever been one to show off his money, but he also doesn't really see it as unusual.

    Taking another couple bites of the burger, he nods appreciatively at the taste. Once his mouth is clear again, he says "Hell, I may start coming here a little more often, this is a pretty darn good burger." He dips a couple fries in ketsup and eats them as well.

    "Come to think of it, it's a little hard to make that golddigger comment hit home considering I came to you to eat at the student union. Not like I sent a limo to take you to the finest restaurant in Gotham. She really should think a little longer to come up with better insults." He covers her hand with his own for a moment, giving it a light squeeze before letting go to take another bite of the burger.