14295/Alleys and Nessas

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Alleys and Nessas
Date of Scene: 01 March 2023
Location: Alley
Synopsis: Nessa and Talia chat about carrying giant swords and diners in a Gotham alleyway.
Cast of Characters: Talia al Ghul, Nessa Donovan




Talia al Ghul has posed:
It's in the middle of the night in a dimly lit, dark, and dangerous alleyway. Talia Al Ghul walks amongst the shadows. On her back is a rather large sheathed katana, a curved blade to it. She's wearing a black bodysuit and a hood over the edge of her face. A dark gloved hand is casually scrolling along through the display of as martphone.

She is, however, walking fully out in the open in the alleyway. No hiding, no ksulking, no stealth..

Nessa Donovan has posed:
In general, Nessa avoids dark alleys, especially in Gotham. The event she was at, however, ran late and lack of a car meant she was often hoofing it where she was at. She doesn't look terribly impressive, dressed down in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, certainly not someone most would target for a mugging. She hasn't bothered with a jacket, but for some reason /has/ bothered with gloves.

As she passes the alley, she sees a silhouette of someone down the way, and it gives her cause to pause. She comes to a halt at the mouth of the alley, staring in the direction of the figure in it.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Apparently someone carrying a giant sword while on a phone does not qualify as 'weird' anymore by Gotham standards. Or New York, really. Talia goes to scroll through some newspaper headlines. One being that of the Onion, featuring a picture of J Jonah Jameson in full rant mode looking like some sort of cartoon caricature, the headline being 'THAT MUSTACHE, THAT MENACE'.

Talia walks across the alleyway, soemhow ending up heading in teh direction Nessa is.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Gloved hands tuck into the pockets of her jeans, and Nessa glances in Talia's direction. The woman might not be weird for Gotham standards, but anyone with a giant sword tends to attract her attention if only for the fact that it is /slightly/ less common. That and she happens to like swords. She opens her mouth as if to compliment the katana, then decides better of it and for once in her life decides it's better not to say something.

So instead she keeps walking casually, unbothered by the fact they're both headed in the same direction.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The katana, as much as one can tell from the sheathe, is very well taken care of and is in excellent quality. At least, gong by the sheathe - and the rather ordinary, rather than ornamental style hilts many of them had when they were showpieces or heirlooms.

Talia would turn to face Nessa, and deadpan, "No, you can't borrow it to see how it feels."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa glances in Talia's direction. "Oh, no, if I wanted a sword I know where to find one," she says with a tone of amusement. "I was honestly going to compliment it, but you never know how someone would take that in a dark alley in Gotham. Especially a weapon that's not just for show."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would shrug, "Fair enough. I suppose that ti's not particularly grandiose to stand out here. If I was some sort of Swordmaster I'd probably need a quadruple handed one or something to qualify in this town."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"That's the truth," Nessa says with amusement. "Gotham never ceases to amaze me at how it has to continue to one-up itself with what would actually classify as abnormal. I should probably wear a sword myself just to fit in and look normal when I'm here." She nods her head in Talia's direction. "Everything's bigger and bolder in Gotham."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would shrug," Well, we live in a world that has multiple groups of people who fight crime as bowmen and use rocket p owered boxing gloves on the end of sticks. Gotham must seem very pedestrian to outsiders. It just has evil clowns, people with very specific fetishes.."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa shrugs a shoulder. "People are just being people. I just think Gotham tends to show the more extreme side of things more openly than other cities. You've got that everywhere, some cities just do it more subtly. I don't think Gotham's ever been subtle whenever I've been here."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would nod, "I suppose. Then ther'es New York with all the people dressed as animals. I suppose there aren't quite as many as there are here.. Or Metropolis,e ven."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"Metropolis has always seemed like the place where things are black and white as to the strange and the normal. New York likes to think that the unusual is every day and try and make everything and everyone fit in without really actually fitting anyone in. Gotham, though, is all shades of grey and grand personalities that change like the weather," Nessa says, drawing on her own observations on the cities in question. "Not entirely sure which brand of weird I like best, but I've mostly stayed in New York."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would shrug, "I find Gotham to be rahter consistent, at least. It's gone for the morbid tone of broken down souls and kept upw tih it. One has to appreciate that level of dedication to turmoil. But, I digress. Lovely to meet you." Offering a hand.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa offers one of her own gloved hands to shake. "Lovely to meet you as well. Gotham certainly has its own strange charm, even if it is chaotic."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would smile, "Well, you're the first that I've seen refer to it as charm but I suppsoe the real estate agency will take what it can get. I still haven't figured out how this town has an abandoned amusement park district and several practical joke factories."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa grins, shaking her head a bit. "Consider it character. It has its history, albeit often dark. Abandoned amusement parks I can see, economy can turn in the blink of an eye and people who thought to make a cheap buck off of a consumer might be out of luck, or the family determined to put love and personality into their business doesn't make aggressive enough business decisions. However, more than one practical joke factory is..." She laughs. "There's no real explanation or excuse for that."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would nod, "I can't fathom why there's one, let alone several. That's not going into the abandoned confectionaries, things that make candy.. I'm still not sure why there are multiple still functioning places that had clown themed candy production.."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"I suppose /someone/ must have thought there was some kind of market for that," Nessa chuckles. "Or they thought they could make a market for that. I don't know, business isn't really my cup of tea. I couldn't tell you what goes into marketing that sort of thing."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would nod and shrug, "Yes. I suppose that there are stranger ventures out there. There's still the SETI array despite hte large number of aliens present on the planet,a fter all. SOmeone's funding it."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"You have enough money you can make a venture out of anything," Nessa says, shaking her head. "Someone with money is funding these things, either because they think they can profit off of it or because they're stupidly throwing their money around. Maybe some of both."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would shrug, "At the very least with New York, you know that it's going to Damage Control and there can only be so much laundering going on with a company that has to rebuild districts of the city several times a week."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa makes an amused sound. "I don't know how they can manage to keep up with the destruction the city has and still have any city left. Managing a company like that must be incredibly difficult. You'd never be able to keep up with all the work." She glances up at the sky for a moment. "Kind of makes it seem weird when you're out of New York but used to it. You almost have to refocus things, remind yourself the building next to you isn't going to explode but instead you're likely to run into someone more over-the-top than you'd believe is real."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would mm, "I'd like to think that most people of the city have learned to adjust to it after all. Gotham is mopey, Metropolis is shiny, New York mostly doesn't care about much of the outside world and persists in it's own sort of detatched judgement about the rest of the world." She would deadpan.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
That gets a loud laugh from Nessa. "You've summed it up pretty well, I'd say. Different flavors for each city. It sounds like you've seen enough of each to really have a finger on the pulse of them. Is Gotham your favorite, then, or do you just feel like it's the easiest to wear your sword without getting a second glance?"

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would shake her head, "Oh, it's easier to tkae the sword out in New York. Gotham's more of a gatling gun kind of town. I suppose I could try and switch it up to a hockey mask and chainsaw, and that might go over better. I'm not particularly fond of Gotham but it's where my job takes me."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"New York, I'd say depends on where you are with the sword," Nessa chuckles. "I've certainly seen people with stranger weapons just waltzing down the street. You're right, Gotham feels like old money, old mob. Gatling guns and suits. Going where the job takes you, though, isn't much of something you have control over most of the time. Thankfully, /most/ people live off of food, so it at least gives me job flexibility. Every city has a shitty diner with one really good thing on the menu."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would smile, "Yes, they can be quite nice. I'm not a fan of diner food but it's generally reliable and consistent no matter where one can find them. So there's something to be appreciated about consistency that isn't fro fmast food. Or that one is desperate enough to have something that's fried in enough grease to qualify as a condiment."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"I've worked in enough diners to know what you really could make differently but that it's just not fast enough to," Nessa comments. "Money tends to be where it's at, and if it's cheap enough, people will eat it when they don't have much of a choice. That and late hours mean people wander over when the bars kick them out. I do like that you know what you're getting out of the experience when you walk in. There are few constants in life, but I feel like that's one of the few. You're always going to be able to find one somewhere and it'll be serving the same food."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would nod, "Yes, where the decor is mostly having linoleum that won't show the stains, tables that are easy to clean off, and cushions that no one minds if there's a bit of rawness on. And yes, enough grease does make things palapatable. Or to thsoe that need it and that sort of familiarity. You spent a lot of time in them? As patron or cook?"

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"Cook," Nessa says, but gestures around. "But I like to think of myself as a wealth of knowledge when it comes to them. There's a lot more to them than the food. The type of people who go there can vary as greatly as the three cities we've mentioned. I like to people watch in them, when I'm not working."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would ah, "Fair enough. That's rather philosophical. I do approve. Tha'ts a rahter unique way of looking about the world and everything going on. And is a very lovely perspective."

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa grows a smile. "Thanks, I like to think that even if I haven't done a lot in life, I've seen a lot. People don't always realize what they reveal when they think no one is looking. Diners tend to be great examples of that. Familiarity in food and atmosphere means people find something comforting. When you're comfortable, there are all kinds of stories a person can tell without realizing it." She gestures to herself. "If I wasn't comfortable with a strange woman in a sword in an alley, I probably wouldn't be sharing this."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would shrug, "I like to think that everyone has a massive sword on their backs, no matter if it's literal or metaphorical. WE just all choose to weaponize it in different ways. Whether it's a gatling gun, harsh language, or just threatening the people next to us on the subway."