14509/Or We Could Have Alfred's Cooking

Or We Could Have Alfred's Cooking
Date of Scene:	26 March 2023
Location:	Kitchens - Wayne Manor
Synopsis:	Stephanie is in search of a quick meal before studying, and finds Talia and Phoebe in the kitchen, along with adorable pupper.
Cast of Characters:	Stephanie Brown, Talia al Ghul, Phoebe Beacon

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Stephanie Brown has posed:
It has been a busy weekend. Batgirl spent Friday and Saturday running down the Riddler's quips, which led her to a group of captured scientists just in time for Riddler to make them play "Wheel of (Bad) Fortune". Fortunately all of the scientists were saved despite the wheel coming up on Bankrupt once. Riddler managed to get away, though the bulk of his goons were captured.

That means that Stephanie Brown is way behind on her preparations for her History exam. After dropping by a friend's to pick up notes for the day she missed, she pulls into the manor. Rather than heading straight to the lake house, Stephanie stops off at the main manor, heading straight for the kitchen. "Something that isn't microwaved would really hit the spot right now," she says to herself as she heads for the kitchen to see if Alfred has left anything out.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul is over in the kitchen, where she's busy going through the wine cabinet - the things that are kept up and out if there's available company. SHe's glancing through it while murmuring, "Too high end, too expensive, too old.." She would shake her head and sigh, "I'm almost tempted to go to a corner store to get something." If anyone was around, they might shudder over at her musings.

As Stephanie would enter, she would rise up from the cabinet, "Ah, hello." Her Arabic accent rather deeper than usual.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    History, the worst subject, because inevitably you've got what was reported and what really went down. Kinda like reading the police blotter for Gotham City. Always two sides to every report... and the report usually doesn't include 'local flying animal based vigilante team member also hit a wall on the way out'.

    Phoebe comes into the kitchen through the dining room, preceeded by the fully raised ears of Idu, who immediately yawns and stretches his red and white legs, his curly tail giving a wag, and blue eyes immediately assuming the 'I have not been fed in centuries' gaze, the long nose of the hound poking up at the counter.

    Phoebe's wearing pajama pants with happy rainbow colored Baphomets all over them and a T-shirt with Poison Ivy on it warning 'Don't Touch'.

    "... did I miss a meeting announcement?"

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown spots Talia there in the kitchen. She's used to seeing her enough now, even if Stephanie hasn't quite worked out which of Damian and Talia is the more likely to stab her.

That was a joke. Definitely Damian.

"Oh, hey," the blond coed says towards the lady assassin. "Don't suppose Alfred has been cooking up anything lately has he?" she asks. There's often dishes in the fridge just waiting for someone to come through looking for a meal in those stretches Alfred is working on other things.

Going over to the fridge, Stephanie opens it up and peers inside. She pokes her head back up to see over the door as Phoebe comes in. "Hey Phoebes. No meeting, just looking for some fuel for a history cram session," she says.

Her head goes back into the fridge, and moments later, "Score!" can be heard. Stephanie emerges with a pair of containers that appear to hold fried chicken and some kind of pasta dish in a light sauce.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would muse, "I thought he always was. I'm somewhat new to here so I don't know where he's prone to keeping the fresh things. Does he mind if someone does late night snacking?" As far as Talia is concerned, even though Bruce owns here, Alfred is the true master of the Manor. And so she'll defer over to him on anything when it comes ot proper etiquette and politeness.

"I'd offer my help wtih history but my particular take on it will be somewhat.. Of a niche perspective. And PHoebe, hello. Idu, it has been some time, I hope that you've been well." Hand going down to automatically offer itself for Idu to smell and if allowed going to pet them.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Don't give him any treats; he got into the fridge last night and made off with the tail-end of a beefroast." Phoebe explains as she hops up to sit on one of the counters, opens a cabinet and retrieves her own store of Girlscout Cookies. Which she opens and finds and entire sleeve gone already, and gives a distraught look.

    "Same here. Well. Not history. Medical terminology and Business Ethics. Frosh Life." she rolls her eyes a moment as she leans back and cracks open the thin mints.

    "What period of history? And Where?"

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown gives the hound a little pet on her way to the counter with the bounty of food. "We're sort of an odd hours bunch," Stephanie replies to Talia. "So he's pretty used to there needing to be food at about any hour. Of course he prefers to be there and making it himself. As it is I don't know how he keeps with everyone," she says with a grin as she grabs a plate and then opens the containers.

A quick inhale results in a muttered identification of the pasta dish. "Mmm, fettucine alfredo," Stephanie murmurs before transferring that to the plate and using the microwave to heat it up. Apparently going to have the chicken cold.

"Test is covering the impact of trade routes with Africa and the East on Europe. 1300s through 1600s," she replies. "It's not until after lunch so I have a little extra cramming time tomorrow too." The plate comes out of the microwave, and Stephanie adds some chicken to it, looking to see if anyone else wants some of it. "What are you up to?" she asks both ladies.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul would smile over at Phoebe, "Quite invigorating. It's good to be fluent in them." She had takens ignificant training in them. For an assassin, it was extremely useful. KNowing what parts of the body to target in a fight. She didn't mention that but it was quite easy to come to that conclusion. "And business ethics are simple. Whatever's the easiest way to make the most money. That's the American system of capitalism."
    Talia would 'ah' over. "So before large scale colonialism and much of the continent was taken over." By 'taken over' she meant 'by the EUropeans'. She would keep her tone rather polite over. Her opinions quite strong. "Merely looking for something to drink that's within my palette range and not making me feel like I'm taking something more expensive than warrants."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Ugh no medical terminology more has todo with how to describe procedures for the most convoluted ness and business ethics is just 'we're going to reverse actual ethics and install anti-homeless archetecture and tilted toilet seats so that no one's comfortable on a personal break'." Phoebe rolls her eyes.

    "I also don't like the professor, so there's that." she looks over.

    Idu had accepted gentle headpats from Talia, and was following Stephanie around, tippy-tapping on his little feetsies, attempting to look cuter than Hazelduck in order to get chicken.

    "And yeah, I've come in at like, four in the morning to find Alfred slicing meat for sandwiches in case anyone was hungry. Or baking cookies. Or handing me a falaffel wrap as I pass by and confiscating my junk food." Phoebe gives a slight grin at the memory, and then she hurms a moment, and monches a cookie.

    "I have a couple of books from around that time period, but they're mostly record of births in the area of the village I was born in."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown looks down at the pup and gives him a quick wink that could be interpreted as Stephanie planning to look for a moment to drop a choice bit of chicken meat on the floor.

She settles the food on the table, then goes back to the fridge for some juice. It goes into a glass while she talks. "Well, I'm still finding my way around wine," Stephanie says. "Though more expensive than warrants is kind of a sliding scale. With a lot of room for the sliding here," she comments. "Anyway I'd have thought you were used to something like that. Does Nanda Parbat have a fantastic wine cellar?" she asks Talia.

Stephanie takes her seat then, eating with the speed of a college student needing to study. "Thanks Phoebes, though probably not on the test," she says with a light grin. "Mostly focused on how the early influx of trade, money, etc, drove events in the coming centuries, imperialism, etc," she says. "Granted I don't know that it's all that helpful for a forensics examiner. But it fulfills one of my requirements."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Idu is given more scritches before Talia stands up. "The point of ethics in business is.." Well, there was a reason why the League had a 'tear down the system' outlook that had significantly colored her perspectives. So she goes quiet before going into an extended lecture on the American system of capitalism to leanback and then go to scritch Idu once more. "Simpler to do what Alfred instructs you to do. You'll end up doing it anyways and he'll appreciate it." Something Talia did have a very, very specific viewpoint on, oddly enough.
    "Yes, most things here that I've seen are.. Quite, quite beyond what I feel is reasonable for met o have for myself regardless." No, she's not going to take a bottle of wine that likely costs several thousand dollars merely to indulge slightly. Noddin over at Stephanie, "Focus on goods that flow each way. Those give you a good perspective of priorities and what was sought after. Trade was pursued by the wealthy, so that gives you an idea of what brought in the most."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Probably not on the test, specifically." Phoebe gives a small smile, "but that *is* where my ancestors are from, you know? They might have affected --" she's cut off short a moment as Idu hops to his back legs and attempts to not let Stephanie forget his presence there, looking at her with those baby blue eyes, blue like the desert sky at midday.

    "And yeah, I generally do what Alfred says, even sometimes over Bruce. I mean, before the actual adoption went through anyway." Phoebe replies and she leans back.

    "Different woods and materials to make dyes were popular, but ah..." she purses her lips "Yeah most of my explicit knowledge wouldn't be on the test. That's about the time when--" she pauses again, and she looks down to Idu.

    "Stop. Begging. You know better!"

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown can't help a little internal grin at the irony of talking about the ethics of business, in the home of the world's foremost capitalist. Even if in reality, his ethics are quite different than most of his peers.

"Yeah, I get the gist of most of it," Stephanie says. "At this point it's down to memorization so I can quickly pull up the details. This professor likes his essay questions so I want to be able to shotgun out my bullet points for an answer without having to sit and ponder it for awhile first. Time runs low on those exams," she says with a soft sigh.

Stephanie takes a bite of a drumstick. "Mmm, the Colonel can eat his heart out," she says of whatever herbs and spices Alfred has used on the chicken. She pulls a little bit of meat off the drumstick and looks over to Phoebe for permission before passing it on to Idu.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Giggles came from Talia. "Yes, recite back at him what he wants to hear in the way he wants them, and you pass. Unless he's taken a personal dislike to you. Then you're not being original in your responses or covering the material thoroughly." Talia knew the way the world of academia worked. So many pretenses.
    "Use a mantra. Simpler for cramming. Just get the main points and turn it into something easier to recall. Hum it to a song you like, make a rhyme of it.. Something you can recite in your head to get the important details very simply. In a couple of minutes at most." A mnemonic technique.
    "If you're looking for a more in depth discussion of the material and want an actual perspective.. Talk to Phoebe sometimes after the test."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe's issue with the business ethics is that none of it was ethical. At all.

    "Yeah, go ahead, he's not going to leave you alone unless you give him some chicken." Phoebe replies in defeat, and eats another Thin Mint. It disappears, and then she looks in alert over to Talia.

    "I've just got second hand information from the records of trade in the village, I'm not summoning an ancestor. The last time I had any sort of summoning I got a wrong dial and now several people in the mystic community are ignoring my existence!"

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie takes a bite of the pasta, swirling it around her fork to make it easier to eat. When she finishes chewing and has swallowed it, she replies to Talia of the mantra suggestion, "Thanks, I'll give that a try."

When Phoebe gives permission for the bite of chicken, Stephanie grins to the dog, reaching over to scruffle his head before offering it.

"That's about the time when-?" Stephanie says, looking back up to Phoebe. Repeating the phrase that Phoebe had said before Idu's begging interrupted the comment. The question asked, Stephanie goes back to eating. She's not wolfing it down, but is eating quickly so she'll be able to get on to studying.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The 'wrong dial' got a twitch of Talia's lips upwards. A rare smile. Or just a show. "You need to remember not to try the psychic hotline when you're trying to be a medium. It doesn't quite divine out all right." The pun there was feeble and rather painful and not in the 'that was a good bad pun' way.

"Still thorough. Trade information from one area is likely to give a broad cue to get an idea through wider things."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe clams up, and she wraps her arms around herself a moment. She purses her lips unevenly at Talia's statement, bristling visibly at Talia's joke as her weight shifts at the counter.

    "Just some village politics, not important to your test." Phoebe states quietly, and she picks at another thin mint.

    "You should finish up. Don't want to waste time when you've gotta cram."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
The generally lighthearted blond takes another bite of her chicken, though the blue eyes peer towards Phoebe's body language insightfully. She picks up a napkin, wiping her fingers clean before reaching over to give Phoebe's arm a little supportive squeeze, accompanied by one of Stephanie Brown's warm smiles.

"Yeah, just going to get through this and then get back to the lake house and immerse myself in my notes," she says, continue to work her way through the quick meal. "Beats a microwaved hot pocket which is about all I'd have taken the time for otherwise."

Stephanie drinks down the juice as well. Adding some vitamins which hopefully will help with her cramming. "Sorry Idu, just the one bite," she tells the pup as she finishes up and begins clearing and washing her plates.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia nods over at the two. "Very well." She had been speaking for Phoebe, after all. And volunteering her for something that the girl didn't feel like she knew enough on. A light bow of her head was a subtle gesture of apology to Phoebe.

"Studying never becomes easier. Just awareness that it is required. A skill never mastered. But teaches focus in a way beyond mere repetition." Talia would go to stand up, leaving the wine bottles behind she had been inspecting. If she wished tohave some, it would be a 'drive to the supermarket and get the cheapest brand'.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    And Phoebe feels like she's killed the mood, and even as Stephanie grasps her arm a moment, the other girl tenses, and then lets out a breath and she takes her cookies, giving a bit of a salute to the assembled group.

    "C'mon Idu, we can get out and do some running around the woods while the sun's up this time. Maybe I won't whack into a tree." she states to the canine.

    "Good luck on the test, Steph!" she calls back over her shoulder.

    She's notably heading for the family wing, and not outside.