20019/Hot Dumplings, Hidden Agendas

Hot Dumplings, Hidden Agendas
Date of Scene:	05 February 2025
Location:	Hot Dumpling Restaurant
Synopsis:	By chance, Tim Drake meets Katsumi Oshiro at a dumpling restaurant, they make smalltalk and have dinner together.
Cast of Characters:	Tim Drake, Katsumi Oshiro

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Tim Drake has posed:
Early evening falls in Gotham City. As the sun lowers over the Gotham River, old folks everywhere take advantage of their early bird discounts. So does Tim Drake, an early bird in his own right, though he doesn't get the senior discount. He makes up for it by charming the proprietress of Hot Dumpling Restaurant (what's in a name, right?) by ordering in fluent Mandarin. "Surprise me." he tells her, sharing a moment that can only be had between a restaurant owner and a regular customer. Of course, it helps that he's rich.

Tim finds himself sliding into a booth, where a waitress quickly takes his order for a home made iced tea, of the peach variety. "No rush, I have time." Tim reassures the waitress as the door opens and yet another few couples walk in and wait to be seated. From his perch in the booth, the young vigilante has an excellent view of the street, and the color of the sky. If he's needed out there, he'll be able to see the Batsignal.

Katsumi Oshiro has posed:
Katsumi Oshiro had decided she needed a change in scenery. Enough trying to surround herself with familiarity; it was doing little other than to depress her. She needed to experience life again, even if tentative. Even if there's a looming, unspeakable threat of a world-eating something-another hanging in the distance. What does someone even /do/ with information like that?

Tonight, she's managed to get some time away from Herukage. No fluffy overseer making demands or her, talking down to her, nothing of the sort. Tonight is about her just getting out, bundled up in a pink fur-lined coat, and treading the nearby Gotham.

Because, you know, bright pink isn't veritable culture shock to the locals or anything.

Despite her best efforts, Katsumi has still found her way to Asiatown. But that's fine. She's in the mood for food, and dumplings sound good. The door is popped open, and she nudges her way in, looking distinctly more ritzy than the typical clientele that might wander in. That is, save for Tim Drake.

Immediately taking up a menu, she pauses realizing it's in Chinese. "Aaahh, crap," she mutters. Her Mandarin is... shaky. This might take a minute.

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim busies himself on his cell phone while he waits, occasionally looking up to people-watch. Every notification he gets during that time is quickly swiped away, he's more interested in the subreddits he follows at the moment. It's like reading the newspaper, but for young people!

The drawstrings on his hoodie get tucked into his collar when Tim's tired of them swinging around with every movement, which usually doesn't bug him like this. Right now, he's just always looking down, and maybe slightly on edge for a call to action on the Bat-Comms, so he tucks them away and looks up. Most people are now seated at their table, all of them in pairs except for one young lady in pink. The one who stands out -so- much, even to the untrained eye. Tim studies the woman's face and realizes the isssue.

Casually, he slips out of the booth and approaches Katsumi. "Hey. First time here? I noticed you frowning real hard at the menu." he offers simply, with a soft smile.

Katsumi Oshiro has posed:
"Cho-.. wan.. ki... ugh, f***'s sake!," laments Katsumi profanely, but at least mostly to herself. So much for seeming upper-class! She suddenly perks as someone approaches, her bright, unusually-colored gaze flitting up to Tim.

"I don't speak Chinese," she reports bluntly, then turns the menu around to him. "I know, like, a few words. If I stare at it forever, I can work it out. But do they seriously not have, like, just normal menus?"

Perhaps surprising that Katsumi's grasp of English is comparatively exquisite. Her accent is comfortably metropolitan, with a breezy, effortless handle on colloquialism. Her cadence and delivery would be right at home in urban Los Angeles.

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim's eyes narrow slightly as he notices, obviously, Katsumi's eye color. Even in the warm shaded lights of the restaurant, they stand out. "Yeah, it can be a hassle." Tim agrees quickly with Katsumi's frustration with the menu being fully in Chinese characters. "Tell you what though, I ordered already but that lady is going to cook me -much- more than I could eat by myself. You could join me, and not worry about what you're ordering? I asked her to surprise me, so it's going to be some of everything." Tim explains quickly, then adding, "It's not the first time." as a sort of lame excuse.

Scratching the back of his head, Tim gestures at his booth, where his coat is still sitting in a u-shape around where he'd sat down. "I'll help you figure out the menu, too. If you want to eat here again, that is. I can't promise I'll be here next time." he notes with a wry grin, already starting to move back to his booth. Even if it's just to intercept the waitress with his iced tea.

Katsumi Oshiro has posed:
Katsumi Oshiro doesn't seem to notice the brief concentration on her eyes. Sometime between when her naturally green eyes started to turn magenta and having been popped out of a pocket dimension prison, she's stopped registering her eyes as strange. "Yeeaah, sure, okay. Money's kinda strap right now, anyway. Until my career makes sense again." She sets a hand to the back of her neck, sheepishly accepting the invitation. She trails along after him, moving to slide into the booth opposite him.

"I'm not too worried about the Chinese. It just takes forever," she sighs. "Oshiro, by the way. Oshiro Katsumi."

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim explains to the waitress that he'll be joined by Katsumi, so there's a free table elsewhere. The waitress nods and smiles, walking away just to come back with a second menu for the table. "For drinks." she says sweetly.

Tim takes the menu and slides it across the table to Katsumi. "They make their own iced tea here, it's all I drink when I'm here." he explains, gesturing at the menu. There's several flavors, ranging from classic peach and lemon to melon and forest fruit. "Don't worry about money." Tim assures Katsumi resolutely. "Tell me about your career, what do you do?" he asks, leaning forward slightly in anticipation of her reply.

"Oh. Yeah. Tim Drake." Tim Drake tells Katsumi when she offers her own name. "Nice to meet you." Meanwhile, the gears in Tim's head start turning. He knows that name from somewhere. Maybe not recently, but from -somewhere-. If he doesn't figure it out quick it's going to be bothering him all night!

Katsumi Oshiro has posed:
"Peach," Katsumi says quickly, simplifying the situation immediately. She doesn't need anything complicated right now. The less complicated, the better! "And I'll get ya back for it sometime," she says with an unconvincing dip of her head. She has no idea /how/ she would do that, per se. They're only just now meeting, after all.

His name doesn't ring any bells. Katsumi is about as far removed from a social Gothamite as one can be. Something to the tune of 'opposite side of the world'. So she takes the name with a mild little nod, and, "That sounds like a rapper name." Go figure!

The question about her career gets a small perk, however. She opts to play coy about the profession, innocently eyeshifting. "Oh, I put on fancy undies and roll around with other women."

Beat.

She draaaws her focus back to Tim.

"Get paid a lot to do it, too." The corner of her lips quirk upwards just a hint. "In front of thoouusands of people watching."

Bring on the confused and scandalized reactions. She is so ready for it.

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim smiles at Katsumi's offer. "Sounds good." he replies, noncommittally as can be. Politely calling the waitress back, he orders, again in Mandarin, the drink Katsumi wanted. It's not that he's -flawless- at it, he just orders it so much that he got it down perfectly.

Her face doesn't seem to brighten up with recognition, but that's totally fine for Tim. Preferable, even. There's no, 'oh my god, you're Bruce Wayne's (adopted) son!'. No sudden designs on his wealth. No expectations. A rapper name. "Um. I.. haven't heard -that- one before.." he replies with a grin, clearly not minding the idea. It's odd, but at least it's nothing nefarious.

She puts on fancy undies.. that makes two of them at the table.. and rolls around with other women. Sure. Red Robin has to occasionally do that too. Then the differences start piling up. She gets paid to do so, while thousands of people watch. Imagine.

The gears turn and turn, and Tim figures it out. "You're cute about it, but I figured you out." he suddenly speaks up. "You're a pro wrestler." Just like that. They don't call him the World's Second-Greatest Detective for nothing. People call him that, right?

If she was waiting for a different reaction, it's not coming from the young man. He's a fan of it, has been since childhood. Did his mind wander to the scandalous professions of the world? Sure, but would it be -so- surprising in Gotham? Absolutely not.

Katsumi Oshiro has posed:
And the response Tim is met with is delighted laughter and a quick clap of her palms together, apparently pleased. "Right! Hahah, no one guesses that at first! They're always giving me that 'now listen here, young lady' face. You know the one," she giggles, then flaps a hand, "No, I mean, you wouldn't, but you know!" It felt good to laugh again; more natural. Heck, more natural than a lot of her time spent in the States has, come to think of it. Ever since landing in the West, things have been tense, stressful, and on edge. That's no way for her to live!

"So.. yeah," she says, by way of retreading the train of thought. "Been on, uh.. I.. guess you could say hiatus, for a while. But it's lookin' like my career is gonna transition from Japan to America."

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim snickers. "Do I look like the type to go 'listen here, young lady'?" he asks, collecting himself gradually. He halts suddenly, moving some things around to make room for the waitress approaching with a wide steaming basket, while another puts down plates before her.

Of course he knows the face. Alfred makes it sometimes, when he's well and truly exasperated. And who wouldn't be, with people like Steph and Damian around -all- the time?

Katsumi mentions transitioning to America, and Tim grins. "I didn't know Gotham City was such a wrestling hot spot." he muses. Of course, the closest thing -he- knows to a local wrestler is Bane, who is really from Santa Prisca. And isn't exactly a wrestler as much as he is a mercenary. A brutally effective one. With a luchador's mask. Considering his question carefully, Tim asks, "So are you wrestling anywhere soon? Maybe I'll buy a ticket and come watch." he offers, hand moving to the basket lid slowly, though his eyes are on Katsumi. Out of politeness, of course. They're having a conversation!

Katsumi Oshiro has posed:
And not at all because her eyes are of a remarkably inhuman shade. Katsumi gives him a good-natured smirk and leans back in her seat, letting him deal with the foodstuff. He ordered it, after all! "Yeah, it ain't. I think, anyway. But it's over in New York." The smirk blooms into a more natural smile. "And yeah, soon. I get my first match in.. in a hot minute. You wanna catch it? Let's make sure you know when it's happening, huh?"

And so, the two will settle into likely smalltalk. He might even catch a number. But he'll certainly get references to some videos of her previous matches!