6142/A Hooting Good Time At Hot Dumplings

A Hooting Good Time At Hot Dumplings
Date of Scene:	06 May 2021
Location:	Hot Dumpling Restaurant
Synopsis:	The Bats take Strix to Hot Dumpling now that she's able to go mingle with people.
Cast of Characters:	Stephanie Brown, Strix, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe

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Stephanie Brown has posed:
Now that Strix is able to safely spend some time in public, Stephanie reaches out to her to invite her to a place that she says has some of the best dumplings in town. She mentions it's kind of an official unofficial hangout.

At the appointed time, Stephanie arrives in Chinatown, outside the tiny restaurant that has chickens, alive and dead, in the windows, and lacks an English sign. She came from school, and waits at the door for Dick and others to arrive, rather than going inside. She probably just doesn't want to be first and feel the stare of the woman behind the counter on her. Stephanie kicks at a spot on the pavement. "Can't wait for my language classes to start up," she grumbles, glancing in through the window.

Strix has posed:
Strix was overjoyed at the invitation. Normal hangout? This is what normal people do! She hasn't done normal people things since she was a kid, so she's leaking enthusiasm.

She dresses in her normal garb. Overalls over a plain white tee. Heads turn since she's wrapped her head in bandages to hide the myriad of scars, but she seems immune to the stares that garners.

When she arrives at the dumpling place, she gives Stephanie a wide grin and a wave, and walks up to join her in waiting for the others to arrive.

Jason Todd has posed:
A red '68 Mustang hard-top circles the block once, Jason lounging behind the driver's seat. The engine is loud. He eventually finds parking a block or two down and climbs out of the car. He makes his way down the block to the restaurant. Dark jeans, scuffed boots, a faded Smashing Pumpkins shirt, a leather jacket and a Gotham Knights baseball cap pulled low. His usual clothing, really.

"You only invite me cause I can read the menu, huh?," he asks with a lopsided, teasing grin as he steps up to the others.

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick Grayson roars up on his motorcycle, slotting into a parking space along the curb. He climbs off and sets the alarm with a boop-beep and walks over to Steph, "Heya love, how have you been?" He slips his arms around her and gives her a kiss, then grins, "Still not willing to go in on your own? I keep telling you that you need to let me teach you the language."

He looks around as Strix walks up, nodding to her, "Hey there, good to see you out and about. You'll like this place, I think. It's our favorite." Looking over as Jason joins the crowd, he replies, "Nah, we don't need you for that. So it's good that we kind of like you or something."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown greets Strix with the kind of big smile that says without words that she's glad Strix came. The grin and wave garner equal measures of both back towards the other woman. "Glad you made it," she says warmly.

She watches Jason's car loudly putter on past and park before he approaches down the sidewalk. "I can order," she says, poking Jason in the shoulder. "Just, you know. She gives me that... look of mild disapproval," Stephanie tells the man.

The hug from Dick is returned with a joyous one from Stephanie. "Well, if we can find time for it. Though I've got some language classes on my schedule during the summer," she says to Dick. "Ok then, shall we?" she says, pulling open the door and holding it for everyone else before following inside.

Strix has posed:
Strix wanders inside when the door is pulled open for her. She goes and finds an open seat at a table that has enough room for them all, snagging a couple of the menus along the way. She sits there for a moment, brows furrowed at the chinese characters having no idea what they mean, which means that she makes her choice fairly quickly.

She finds one where she finds the characters to be particularly pretty and turns the menu around to show Dick, tapping on her choice. She manages to have chosen a particularly tasty meal entirely by accident.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason Todd grunts when Dick mentions liking him, and he glances away as if to fend off the feelings. Emotions that aren't negative? YUCK!

"This place has soup dumplings, right? I want soup dumplings," he softly growls. "And a Snow Beer." Ah, chinese beer. He nods to Stephanie when she pokes him in the shoulder, and he adjusts his cap. "So, she feels the same way we all do," he says teasingly. His gaze turns to Strix next, and he offers her an up-nod in greeting. "How do you find time for school? I'll never understand it. You're crazy." He moves to follow the others in, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He sees where Strix sits, and he ends up plopping down next to her.

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick Grayson slips an arm around Steph's waist and walks in the door with her, greeting the old woman at the counter in flawless Cantonese, which gets him a big smile and flood of Cantonese greetings in response, as well as something about 'Oh, so now you like silly blonde girl?' She waves them in and over to a table, then he sits down with Steph beside him. While the others take seats, he picks up the menu, "Now, what do I want today?"

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
No car. No bike. No public transit.

Despite all that Charlie slips in the door after everyone else. I mean there is so little chance she actually got the drop on any of them coming in from around the corner and catching the door before it shuts. "Wait... we like Jason?" she asks chipperly. "A bird told me there was food... and it looks like I am not late. Which is awesome... I am hungry enough to eat the chickens in the window.... and only part of me still wants to."

Okay she may be making serious light of a bad situation or worrying Stephanie and Dick for no reason. She is kidding right.

She also hasn't seen Strix like this yet, there is a smile though to the other person. "I'd honestly just have Dick order for the table .. or well adventure."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie flashes a smile to the woman behind the counter. "Hello, you're looking very nice today," Stephanie says in her winningest voice. She gets back a flat look from the woman who, after responding to Dick, passes the menus over to Strix.

Stephanie sits down, grumbling softly, though it's more show than anything. "Charlie!" she says brightly as the younger woman comes in. At the chicken comment, she gives a grin to Charlie and shakes her head. "You're on your own for that meal," she teases back.

Stephanie looks over the menu briefly. "I'll go with the spicy chicken and the spicy pork," she comments to Dick. She looks over to Jason then to say, "Well, it does require burning the candle at both ends. And melting that sucker in the middle too. It would help if I was a genius student or something. In truth, it's a lots to keep up with and keep my grades up," she says. "But I don't want to lose my scholarships, so... I'm managing."

Strix has posed:
Strix has already made her random choice, and makes sure that Stephanie or Dick sees the one she's pointing at.

Charlie gets another enthusiastic wave from the young woman. It's the first time she's seen the girl as herself and not as a Talon so she might not be immediately recognizable. So Strix pulls out her notepad, flips through the pages until she finds the right one and holds it up for Charlie to read.

HI!

The enthusiastic greeting has little hearts drawn around the word.

Jason Todd has posed:
"New to me, too," Jason grunts in response to Charlie, and he raises a hand to give her a small wave. "I do that without the studying," he says to Steph. That's a known fact in the family. He pushes himself to harder places, especially as he has no day job or persona. It's amazing he isn't dead yet. Well, you know what I mean.

"Soup dumplings and a Snow Beer," he says to the waitress, adjusting his baseball cap. He tries to act distant and 'cool', but the note with the hearts on it from Strix to Charlie makes him grin. He sits back in his seat.

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick Grayson orders the spicy chicken and soup dumplings as well, stealing a play from both Jason and Steph. Instead of a beer though, he just orders a Coke, and then orders the dish that Strix pointed out while calling her attention to the drink section of the menu to see if she wants something for there as well. Looking over at Charlie, he tells her, "Order whatever you like, it's all on me tonight. I'm sure you can find a few things you like."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
"Souuup dumplings sounds amazing... also spicy chicken... spicy pork... oh and Dan Dan noodles..." she just sort of rattles off what she is thinking would be good towards Dick as she curls up into a seat. She points to the items, then to Dick "HE is paying." she notes to the server. Her metabolism is .. inhuman really.

The notepad is glanced at and she grins "Hi" putting some pieces together, she flashes the classic internet gang sign of a heart back at Strix with both hands.

"I am being forced to go to school if I want to work the after school job.... I don't see why I have to... but it is not an argument I am going to win." with Babs. Nope. No way of winning that argument.

"Honestly I am surprised we didn't hit a mexican place, it is Cinco de Mayo right." a slow pause and thoughtful glance around. "Does Gotham have good mexican.... I knew this decent taco joint run by immigrants in Suicide slums, was pretty authentic." then her eyes widen "Ooo.. I could totally bounce out for Tacos if you show me where to go sometime.. get uber authentic and spicy..." nod. "Definitely spicy"

Stephanie Brown has posed:
In the back, on of the mahjong players stubs out a cigarette and mutters in Cantonese before lighting up a new one. The person across the table from him grins and makes a few comments about badly his friend lost that last one before they set up a new game.

Stephanie tells Charlie, "Well, Strix wasn't able to come out with us before, and this place kind of is our unofficial restaurant. Wanted to bring her here. Anyway, the Cinco de Mayo fun is at the bars. Not that either of us could go," she says, grumbling quietly at that last fact. "Or, well, drink anyway." Ok there are places she can get served. Charlie? Probably not as likely.

The blond coed leans over to Dick and gives him a little bump with her shoulder. "Thank you," she tells him warmly as he says he's picking up the tab. She slips her arm about him. "And there's a couple of dive places that are decent I can show you, up in Bristol, and one near campus," she offers to Charlie.

Stephanie looks back to Strix then. "So have you been able to get out and enjoy yourself now that things are... better?" she asks.

Strix has posed:
When Dick points out the drink section of the menu, Strix looks through it, then around to what everybody is having. Feeling a little daring she points at Jason's beer. Should anybody argue, she sets her mouth in a hard, stern line and points firmly at the beer. She's never had alcohol before, and she really wants to try it.

At Stephanie's question she nods, and scribbles something down on her notepad.

WENT TO
FITE
WAS FUN!

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick Grayson knows that though she may not look it, Strix is more than old enough to drink, and orders a beer for her. Not like the staff in here is going to ID one of them anyway, well, except maybe Charlie. He leans a little against Steph with a smile and once the food starts arriving, grabs chopsticks with his other hand and collects a dumpling, dipping it in sauce then popping it into his mouth. Once he swallows, he complements the old woman in Cantonese, which earns him another smile.

With a grin, he reaches over and steals some of Steph's spicy chicken, even though he's ordered the same dish. If she gives him a look, he just says, "What? Stolen food tastes better, everyone knows that."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
Charlie ohs and looks over the drinks. "Bars are kind of full of losers anyhow." she notes. Knowing nod. "I'm in it for the cheese... did you know cheese releases the same sort of brain chemical response as morphine... that is natures way of saying Cheese is good I think... like on nachos.. or tacos.. or quesodillas.. or ...."

The chaos muppet trails off and leans to look at what sTrix is writing "You went to fight?" curious about that.

She rocks happily while the food is prepped and arrives. She pivots her Dan Dan noodles around so people can try them. "Steal these, warning.. mouth burning spicy goodness..." though she has no issue scooping some up into her mouth.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown sits up a bit more in anticipation as the food comes out. "Oh I'm so hungry," she says. "Some day I should figure out how many calories I burn a day," the college freshman comments. "I think we probably give those crab fishermen from Deadliest Catch a run for their money. What they eat like 6000 calories a day I think?" she says.

She digs into her food, dunking a dumping and then nibbling at it to avoid burning her mouth. When Dick steals one she gasps and looks over at him like he'd just sent her a declaration of war. "Oh so. So you're saying, crime DOES pay then?" she asks him with a grin.

Stephanie motions to the food. "Have you had dumplings before, Strix?" she asks. "Really tasty, hope you like them." She grins over to Charlie. "A little cheese on them might not be too bad." Which earns her a hard stare from the Chinese woman behind the counter. Steph can't win.

Strix has posed:
Strix shakes her head at Stephanie. She's never had dumplings before, so she watches as everybody picks up their chopsticks to deftly use them to eat their food. She looks down at her own, and mimics holding them in her hand, flexing her fingers experimentally. She goes and tries to pick up a dumpling, but it manages to just slip out of the chopsticks right back onto her plate. She tries again, with the same result. Frustrated, she just spears the dumpling with a single chopstick, and pops it into her mouth, chewing in smug satisfaction.

When it comes to the beer, she gives it a cautious sip, giving it a taste. The bitterness is too much for her, however, and she makes a face and shakes her head. sliding the bottle over to Jason for him to finish off. She, then, points at the glass of coke and looks at Dick hopefully.

When asked about the fight, Strix nods to Charlie, miming a few punches. It's something she wants to talk about, but there are so many words that she can fit onto a page of the notepad. If she had her art supplies she'd draw them a picture of the underground fight matches that she'd participated in. She screws her face into a thoughtful expression and finally picks up the notepad.

WENT WITH
KASS
WE FITED
2GETHER

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick grins at Steph and replies, "Sometimes it does, especially where food is concerned." He returns to eating from his own plate, however, having already scored the stolen bite for the evening. When Strix rejects the beer, he orders her the coke she wants without a moment's delay, chuckling a little at the spearfishing method of dumpling consumption.

When she writes aboiut fighting, however, he tilts his head and asks, "What kind of fighting?" Lowering his voice to almost a whisper, he continues, "Like, teaming up to fight criminals or something?"

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
"I hear people in Antarctica eat like sticks of butter in the research stations to calorie bomb due to how hard their systems work in the extreme weather... so yeah doesn't surprise me on the crab fisherfolks." she stuffs a couple of soup dumplings into her mouth there. "I bet we do... my bouncing around burns an obscene amount of calories according to the blood work done..."

Of course Babs did testing on Charlie's teleporting.

"No cheese on anything but the cooked sushi rolls...." Charlie protests "Otherwise it is just a soup raviolli..."

"I am unsurprised that you and Cass went somewhere and fought someone... that is a very Cass thing honestly...."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie is slowly making her way through her meal. "I'm going to have to put sign language classes on my schedule too. But you'll have to take them as well assuming you don't know it," she says to Strix. "Would be handy though, being able to talk back and forth."

Another dumpling is dunked and then consumed, Stephanie letting out a happy sigh. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen any of the mahjong players brandishing a knife like that," she comments.

The moment Dick turns to look for said knife - which is very non-existent - Stephanie reaches over and snags back one of his dumplings, dipping it and waiting for him to turn back before she eats it, blue eyes shining with her grin.

Strix has posed:
Strix slowly makes her way through her plate of food, coming it with unorthodox ways to use her chopsticks in which to eat it. She shakes her head at Dick and scribbles something out on her notepad.

FITE IN
CAGE

The young woman tilts her head curiously at Stephanie when sign language is mentioned. She isn't familiar with that, and would like to know more.

At Stephanie's antics, her shoulders shake in a silent giggle.

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick looks back from the knife scare to see Steph brandish and eat the stolen dumpling and grins back at her, "See, told you it worked with food, that one tasted better, didn't it?"

After a moment, he looks at Strix' pad and raises an eyebrow, "I don't know that you should really be doing that, it's a little bit illegal. And could be dangerous, depending on who's running it. Probably something we should poke into."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
"I will need to report this sad... sad descent into criminal acts from you two..." she sounds almost mournful and shakes her head so very sadly.

Then she totally eats some spicy chicken.

"Daang.. Cass hasn't ever taken me cage fighting. I am not entirely sure if I should be jealous or note." she considers. "I probably wouldn't be allowed...." which she makes sound so lame.

"Sign language is talking with your hands. Cass knows how to do it I think..."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown lets out a laugh. "Well, yes, I suppose it did add a little to the flavor," she admits to Dick with a grin. She gets the next dumpling from her own plate though, but not before sticking out her tongue at Charlie with a laugh.

The curious look from Strix seemed to be picked up on. "American Sign Language. It's a language of hand signals that is mostly used by deaf people to be able to communicate," she says. "I only learned a couple of things when I was younger. A few letters, you can spell something out if you need like a name. But then all the other words pretty much have a sign for them. Like this is a baby," Stephanie says, moving her arms like she were holding and rocking a child. "This is 'smile'," she says, showing the sign for it.

Strix has posed:
Strix seems unconvinced that the underground fight she participated in was in any way dangerous, so she picks up her notepad, flips it back a couple of pages, underlines WAS FUN and shows it to Dick.

Charlie gets a sad look and a pity pat on the shoulder. Maybe next time. When sign language is explained to her her eyes light up and nods.

WANT 2
LEARN

is written out for everybody to see. This means that the rest of the Bat family will have to learn too.

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick just laughs when Strix underlines the fun, shaking his head, "Ok, ok, I know when I'm beaten. Just be careful if you make a habit of it. As for sign, that's one someone else will have to teach you, I never learned any of the sign languages. Though I might take lessons with you so we can talk. And it looks like Steph will be joining also, although she seems to have a head start." He looks to Charlie and Jason, "Either of you guys want in? The more people who can talk to Strix, the better, is the way I look at it." He dips another dumpling and eats it.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
"Sure, may as well learn something much more useful than math at least." Charlie has low opinions of math class at school.

She pitches her voice lower. "We can learn our own hand signs and take on it... make it like a sekrit language too not just asl."

Yup need bat thieves cant in her opinion.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie hrms. "I'll be surprised if Bruce and Alfred don't know it already," she says. "If Alfred knows it maybe he can teach us all at once?" she suggests. Another dumpling finds a home in her stomach, Stephanie sighing happily and then taking a sip of her Coke.

"And sure we can work out our own. But it would probably be a good thing for Strix to know. There are other people who know it that it would help her talk with," she suggests.