6237/Titan Memories 2012: Donna and Caitlin Meet Again

Titan Memories 2012: Donna and Caitlin Meet Again
Date of Scene:	16 May 2021
Location:	Big Belly Burger - Amusement Mile
Synopsis:	Back in 2012, Donna and Caitlin meet in less stressful circumstances. This time Caitlin manages not to tear her hair out, and Donna manages to wrangle a discount.
Cast of Characters:	Donna Troy, Caitlin Fairchild

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Donna Troy has posed:
    There had been an offer of cookies. Maybe that was it, maybe that was the reason Donna had contacted Caitlin a few days after they'd exchanged phone numbers on that rooftop to arrange to meet. A few texts had been exchanged, and arrangements made. The Big Belly Burger at Gotham's Amusement Mile, not too far from where Caitlin lived. Donna had indicated that she was more than happy to visit Gotham, which she had as yet not seen.

    Should Caitlin have warned her? It might normally seem the thing to do when someone from overseas and unfamiliar with American ways plans to set foot in Gotham, but then considering the circumstances of their meeting, would it really be necessary?

    The conversation on that rooftop in New York had been a little confused, and the status of the mysterious Donna in terms of superheroism had not exactly been established with any clarity, but she probably wasn't in much danger from Gotham's notorious visitor-unfriendliness, was she? She'd flown, after all.

    Flown up to the roof of the building, carrying Caitlin. Someone who could /fly/, like the superheroes Caitlin admired so much, and who's sightings she followed avidly.

    And she'd insisted that Caitlin had powers, too. She was of course right. It wasn't /normal/ that Caitlin could lift the kind of things that Caitlin could lift. And there had been the whole thing about being shot. The bruise had already vanished -- and that's not normal, either. You shouldn't get shot at short range and end up with nothing more than small bruise.

    Was it really the same though? Would she be insisting that Caitlin had /powers/ again? That Caitlin should become a /superhero/? Or was she just expecting chocolate chip cookies?

    In fact Donna's journey to Gotham had been quite uneventful, and she had enjoyed a couple of hours of roaming the city before the appointed time came, without discovering anything of the darker and more criminal side of Gotham. Even wandering the streets with her phone out, making her way to Big Belly via Starkmaps had not attracted any potential phone-snatchers. She had been only slightly delayed by the attractions of Fun Land on the way, and arrived at the burger place only minutes late.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Parking on Amusement Mile isn't terribly murderous, fortunately. But Caitlin's still close to ten minutes late when she arrives, puttering along in a rusted old VW beetle with an uncomfortable grimace on her face. The faded salmon-pink Bug pulls into an empty space with a wheezing groan of relief. It takes Caitlin a few seconds to extricate herself from the vehicle, accomplishing the task with no grace or poise. From the look of it she was folded nearly in half while driving.

Her hair's back in a loose, messy ponytail and she's wearing a set of mechanic's coveralls and old sneakers instead of something a bit more stylish. The purse she retrieves from inside the car is a worn old canvas bag from some market giveaway in the distant past.

Head down, slouched into her shoulders, Caitlin tries to step out across the street before anyone notices her. It only takes her a few strides to reach the door and she slips inside, looking for Donna and flashing an embarassed smile.

"Sorry I'm late, there was traffic on the turnpike," Caitlin apologizes when she nears. One of the chairs at the table is pulled out and she moves awkwardly to sit in it, banging her knee on the underside of the table in the process. The impact doesn't phase her but it does make the contents of the table jump and wobble dangerous.

"Oh gosh! Sorry--!" she yelps, and tries to stabilize the table with one hand.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna isn't exactly in haute couture mode, but there is (again) a definite difference in manner of dress between the two. Sneakers with a slight wedge-heel, black pants and a matching jacket, a blouse with a busy pattern of muted colors make an outfit that's definitely on the smart side of casual. Even to Caitlin's inexpert eye it looks like it probably wasn't bought cheaply, and is pretty on point for 2012 fashions. Donna has had help 'fitting in' to American culture from her rather fashionable big sister.

    "Oh it's no problem," Donna says in that deeply accented, soft smokey voice of hers, such a clear mark of her foreignness. Her own hand whips out to help stabilize the table, but it's the foreign girl's only reaction to the minor accident.

     "Hello again Cait-elin," she says, smiling her wide smile. She sounds a little more comfortable with the name now. "This is my first time into a Big Belly Burger Restaurant. I am looking forward to eating, burgers are nice. How are you? And how is Hector and Esesmerelda?" She still hasn't figured out the name Esmerelda yet. "Are they okay? No problem with the police for their restuarant?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Oh, h-hello to you, too, Donna," Caitlin says, and flashes a nervous smile. "Hector and Esmerelda are OK. The restaurant, too. They asked me t-- to tell you you that they really appreciated you stepping in like you did. And that you can come by any time for a free meal," Caitlin adds.

Caitlin takes her seat a little nervously, sitting properly in the chair with her canvas bag resting across her knees. She takes a second to look around the restaurant, and nods agreement with Donna's sentiment. "I didn't use to eat here a lot, but I kinda like it now," Caitlin clarifies. "I'd get sick if I ate too much beef in one sitting. And the cheese, I couldn't really do a lot of dairy before. Now though I can't seem to get enough of either, I'm hungry /all/ the time," she admits.

A server comes over with a pair of menus for the two women, and Caitlin looks over the options before digging a worn old men's wallet from her purse and counting through some faded, crinkled bills in it. "Not saying they're super-good, but at least they're cheap. I don't really know how to cook, I live off of like... canned ravioli."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna watches Caitlin with an odd expression as she listens to her talking. "Canned... ravioli?" She asks, taking the menu from the server with a smile of thanks. "I don't know this food. So only you know how to cook cookies? Still, this is a good thing to know how to cook. I am not good at cooking and cannot even cook cookies. It sounds like something a bird would say, I think. Cook cookies."

    Donna studies the photos in the menu intently. "Cheese. The first time I had a burger in America, I asked, what is the orange thing. My sister told it was cheese. Still I do not truly believe. It tastes very strange in America. Not strong flavor. This kind of cheese," she clarifies, pointing to the photograph of a cheeseburger drenched in sticky molten cheese. "Burger cheese is strange. I had American cheese in sandwich sometimes which is more like real cheese, but burger cheese is... I do not know. I am not surprised you can not eat so much of it though. It has very much oil."

    Donna looks up with a sudden grin. "Oh! I remembered. I have for you a small gift." She fishes around in her backpack and pulls out a small paper draw-string bag of the time that some moderately fancy boutique might bag cosmetics in, and hands it over to Caitlin, smirking. "In case you get /anxious/ again," she says, getting the word right this time. When they'd met previously she'd come up with 'anxietous' and it hadn't sounded right to her at the time. She's learning. "I do not want you to pull your hair some more, but I thought in case you did it is good to be prepared, yes? So I got you a hair brush. You have too nice hair to spoil it. It reminds me of someone I know back home. She also is tall and strong with red hair."

    She pushes the bag across the table with a playful laugh. "You seem calmer today. This is good. I thought a lot about how was your reactions since we met. I think you need someone who you can discuss with. It must be for you quite... stressful? Because you have not an example of how to react."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Oh golly," Caitlin frets, instantly. "You don-- didn't have to do that, Donna," she tells the Amazon. The brush is removed and examined like it's a foreign object; one gets the sense that Caitlin's the sort of girl who makes do with a stiff comb rather than a proper hairbrush. "I didn't get you anything, I'm so sorry. Is that a cultural thing? I'm sorry," she adds again, getting visibly distressed.

"Oh my gosh, I forgot the cookies," Caitlin says with a mortified expression. "I totally promised you I'd make some and I am SO SORRY. I'll-- I'll make a double batch next time, I really will," she says with an expression of distressed earnesty.

"I've just been so-- it's been busy, I've had school, and I needed more hours at work because I can't stop /eating/, I'm hungry and tired all the time. I don't feel it at work but every morning I get up I feel sore and just so exhausted I'm barely lucid."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Through Caitlin's protestations, Donna's smile just grows wider and wider. "Cait-elin!" she says, hands patting down at the air in a 'bring it down a little' gesture. "Already you are being anxious again!" Yes, she knows the correct word now, and is intent on using it. "Please, there is nothing to be sorry about. I got for you the hairbrush as... as a little joke, to make it more light. Because I was worried you would be embarrassed of your behavior before, so to make a little joke from it shows you everything is okay, yes? You didn't need to get also something for me. Also you get from it a nice hairbrush, and this is useful to have."

    "As for the cookies..." Donna gives her shoulders a little shrug and leans back in her seat, gesturing to the menu. "We are here to eat burgers, and if we have cookies too, we cannot eat so much burger. This just means we have to see each other again another time. I do not have yet many friends in America, so I do not mind this."

    Another smile. She has a wide smile, and she's the kind of person who's smile seems to light up her whole face. "Tell me about your work, Cait-elin. What work do you do? Maybe you need some work that is more money and less hours, so you can eat and sleep properly."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Donna's smile does relieve some of Caitlin's mounting anxiety, and she manages to bring herself back down to Earth with a nod and a few slow breaths.

"Um... I'm still in college, I'm just a sophomore," Caitlin says. She glances at Donna. "Oh, er, in my second year. Of four years. Well, it'll be... I tested really well, so really it will be out of like... three years. Unless I go for an advanced degree or something. Which would be five years. But I'm ahead of schedule so it might be closer to four."

A beat passes. "Oh, you asked about work. Well it means-- studying I have to do, first, my priority is good grades so I can graduate, and get a better job. But it's really hard to find work in the city that pays anything, and my rent's really expensive. But I got a job at an iron yard, it's where they make the um, big girders for buildings. So I load them onto trucks and sometimes they send me to job sites to help if like the, um, forklifts are broken down. But it's really hard work, so I'm burning a lot of energy, and then that makes me hungrier and it costs me more to eat. So I'm doing a /little/ better than I was, but it's not really work I wanna do forever, either."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "An Iron Yard," Donna repeats, her expression thoughtful. "So, part of the time when you are not at school, you earn money by carrying the iron? And this is hard work, of course. Perhaps harder for you than for other people who do this job, yes? Because the other people cannot carry so much as you can carry, correct?"

    Donna leans forwards, resting her elbows on the table and her chin on her fists, looking at Caitlin with an intent expression and the hint of a grin. "Just imagine if you were not working for them, Cait-elin. When the forklift is broken down and they do not have someone so strong as you to help them. I guess this would for them be a big problem, maybe cost much money for them to resolve, yes? Probably they are very happy to have you to work for them. Who else can lift such weights? And yet they make a mistake."

    She sits back again, her grin widening. "You see, if they depend on your strength, and you are not eating properly, then you cannot work for them with most efficiency. There is a solution to this, that you can do to help them. With my solution, they will achieve more success. You must ask for increased money."

    "Often people do not have enough foresight, so they might foolishly wish not to increase your money. This would be a mistake, so you must help them. You can ask them to consider how much money they would lose if you were not working for them. Then ask them to consider how much money they will gain if you can work more efficiently for them because you are less hungry. Then you ask them for a fifty percentage rise in money. If they are still doubtful, you can ask them... tell them to consider whether another iron yard would be happy to have your services instead of them, and to have the benefit of your strength."

    Donna raises a hand to forestall an immediate reply, and continues to talk, a little more quietly. "I think I understand something of you, Cait-elin. This is the same as when I said you that you have powers, and you say... it is not the same. Not real powers like a superhero has. You do not value yourself. But you are a kind person and you can do things that very few people can do. This is value, yes?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Donna's enthusiasm is infectious and carries Caitlin along in the Amazon's wake. The idea of asking for a raise clearly is something that flatly hadn't occurred to the redhead, and the gears spin behind her green eyes as she contemplates that possibility.

It takes her a second to focus on Donna's words again when the rhetorical compliments are delivered. Her gaze ducks down bashfully and she retreats a little into her shoulders. "I dunno, I... I guess so?" she hesitates. "People in the city are kinda mean, I suppose. I don't understand why. I've met people from the countryside around here and they're way nicer."

She fidgets with a straw, unpeeling it from the wrapper inch by inch. "But I don't do anything that a forklift can't do," she points out. "And there are a lot more superheroes around these days, and I know a bunch of them are stronger than me, they can do crazy stuff like lift buildings and carry tanks around. I can't imagine doing that."

The waitress comes over to save Caitlin; she flashes a forced, embarassed smile as she's caught woolgathering, and checks the money she has in hand. "Um... five of your American Burgers," she requests. "With everything. And a soda."

The waitress eyes Caitlin with a little wry amusement. "You're the one who was in here last week, right?" she inquires. "The manager said you can't do the Big Beef Challenge again for at least a month or two."

Caitlin turns pink and the waitress looks to Donna. "How about you, hon? Burger, salad, some fried fish...?" she trails off, pen readied over a notepad.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "And how much does it cost to have a forklift?" Donna asks. "I mean, compared to the money they pay for you to work with them. One thing you can do that a forklift can not do is, you can lift the iron when the forklift is broken down. So this makes you more valuable to the iron yard than the forklift. Maybe you are not so strong as a superhero who can lift a building, but how much would your iron yard have to pay to employ one of them? I do not think they can afford this, correct? But they can afford to give you fifty percent more money. I am sure of this. They might not like it, but they will decide they can afford to pay you this extra money more than they can afford to have you work for a different iron yard."

    Donna's financial advice ends when the waitress arrives, and she's intrigued by the entire process. "Big Beef Challenge?" she asks curiously, studying the menu. "Ah, I see. In this challenge, if she eats all of the food rapidly enough, she does not have to pay for the meal, this is correct?" She looks up at the waitress with a smile. "Your manager says she may not enter this challenge because she won?" she asks, the smile not shifting but something in her eyes looking a little dangerous. "And now your manager wishes to surrender in advance, so she will not have to pay for her five American burgers then?"

    The waitress's expression freezes as she parses through what Donna's saying, but Donna spares her having to answer by quickly laughing to show she's not entirely serious, and says "I will please have two of the 'belly buster' burgers and some coke. Thank you. Do not worry, my friend does not wish to cause your restaurant financial problems. But I do think if she agrees to help you by not taking this challenge to often it would be fair to offer her some benefit in return, don't you? Perhaps you can ask your manager if she can have a discount in exchange for not taking this 'big beef challenge' Do you mind to ask him for us?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
The waitress gives the two women a thoroughly nonplussed look. "Uh... yeah, I'll ... pass that on," she says with a wary uncertainty. She retreats to the kitchens to hand over the orders, and Caitlin gives Donna a look of envy and mild distress.

"Golly, how did you do that?" Caitlin asks, taken aback. "I did the Big Beef Challenge here a while back and they stopped letting me do it after the fourth one. I'd never think to ask someone for a discount on food or something. I don't think I'd be able to ask even if it occurred to me," she admits.

"Is that like a European thing?" she ventures a guess. "Haggling, I mean. I've heard about it and seen it in movies. I guess smaller restaurants might do it but the big chain stores usually aren't allowed to make changes, unless it's something they're trying to get rid of. I'unno," she says, undercutting her own point. "I guess but...." she trails off, shredding a few more strips of straw wrapper. "But what if they fire me for asking? Or reduce my hours? I really will be in trouble if I get fired, I don't have much in savings and I could end up losing my apartment and moving back into the dorms. I'd have to take out student loans and the interest on those is just awful."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "They aren't allowed to make changes, like they cannot take this 'big beef challenge' off the menu?" Donna asks with a slight smirk. "Then already they are bending the rules for themselves, yes? So we ask if they are willing also to bend the rules for you as well. Perhaps the manager in this restaurant does not want to say to his own manager that they lost so many challenges, but perhaps also he does not want to say to his own manager that someone is write on Twitter that the challenge is not real?"

    Donna gives an open-handed shrug and leans back again. "We asked nicely of this manager. Maybe she agrees. Maybe no. If yes, you get a discount. If no, you pay the same you wanted to pay before, and nothing is hurt."

    On the reasons for her confidence in haggling, Donna says nothing. It comes to a fundamental difference between the two -- Caitlin lacks confidence, Donna lacks none. On her part it's not so much being accustomed to haggling as it is seeing an opportunity - Caitlin worries about the costs of eating, so why not try to reduce them? Utimately, Donna's just fearless of trying, but how do you explain that? It probably helps being royalty, but it'll be years before Caitlin learns that little fact about her new acquaintance.

    "Just ask them," Donna says with equal confidence about the wage issue. "No... do not ask them. Tell them. You can do the same work as how many of the other workers there who do not have your strength, Cait-elin? Two, three, four? Then it is fair if you are paid two, three, four times as much. Yet only you ask for half again. They will be very stupid if they do not agree."

    "However, ff they do not give to you what you ask, then you go into another iron yard, and you pick up one of the... long iron... sticks. Girder! Pick up one and tell them that they are very lucky because today they have the chance to offer to you a job and because you love so much working in iron yards, you even are willing to work for them for an amount they can afford, instead of the hundreds of dollars per hour they are thinking it would cost to hire a person with superpower."

    Donna glances over to the kitchen, where at that moment the waitress is passing on her message to a probably equally nonplussed manager "Just because you do not see in yourself your own value does not mean that other people cannot see that value, Cait-elin. When I told to you that you one day can be yourself a super-hero, you do not believe me. Can you at least believe that you can work in an iron yard better than almost anyone in the world?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Y--" Caitlin hesitates and looks at Donna, and sags. "No. I don't know all the iron works in the world. I don't even know all the ones in Gotham. It's just not that simple here," she says with self-frustration in her voice. "They could just decide that they don't need me. Or what if everyone else is asking for raises too and then they say 'well Caitlin's the newest, we have to let her go'," she speculates.

"I don't have a whole lot of other options if things go wrong," she concludes. The shredded pieces of paper are deposited into a napkin and balled up to be thrown out later. "The way things are now is... it's not great, but it's not bad, either. It's OK," she clarifies. "And this isn't a long term job. It's just for the next year or two of school until I can get an internship or something with some local tech firm or civil engineers. I can get an M.E. certificate and maybe even get hired at one of the big engineering companies, like Hammer Industries or something."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Ah yes, because they will think, if we must let one person go, we should let go the person who can do the most work, and provide for us the best value, hmm?" Donna asks skeptically. "They can work more with you. So they make more money with you. So they can afford to pay a little more."

    The waitress arrives with the drinks, and to her great relief Donna does not demand an update on the discount query, assuming that the manager is thinking things over in some back room. Instead Donna just gives her a big bright smile and 'thank you', before attacking her Coke with gusto, piercing the lid with the straw and draining about a third of the drink in one go. Donna likes Coke.

    "I think still there is the problem that you do not value yourself, Cait-elin," Donna continues once she's sated her immediate cola-hunger. "So, I ask you to think about this in a different manner. So I ask you to imagine a person who is not yourself. But this person is so strong as you are. This person has super-strength, yes? Not like most people, but strength like a super-hero. How much do you think this person is worth? How much money is right to pay this person?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin's weight shifts and the chair under her creaks in protest. "Donna, I don't-- I don't /know/," she says, with audible distress present in her voice. "This is the first job I've ever had that wasn't just some minimum-wage work study program. I didn't even think to ask for a wage scale. My friend Hector got me the interview. And what happens to him if I ask for a raise and the bosses get mad? Then it blows back on him because he brought in a troublemaker. I'm not even totally sure it's legal for me to use my .... powers, at work," she says, trying to get the word out. "Like there's gotta be some noncompete clause in the city labor laws. Otherwise there'd be metahumans doing jobs all over the city. Like that um, Flash guy, imagine him as a courier or something. He'd put all the bike messengers out of business overnight."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "This is why you ask only for a fifty percentage increase, Cait-elin," Donna says with an encouraging smile. "I do not think they will be offended. Ask if you like your manager the question I asked you, about how much it is worth if someone has super-power. I am sure it is clear to them the answer is that what you ask is for them a very good deal. If it worries you though -- talk to Hector. Tell him first what you are thinking, and ask of him his advice. Discover if he thinks you are a trouble maker. Perhaps he will help you by asking for you for the extra money."

    Donna sucks Coke thoughtfully through her straw, watching Caitlin over her cup. She puts the cup back down again with a precise motion, and rests her fingers against the edge of the table. "I don't know the Flash guy," Donna admits. The Flash is very new on the Superhero scene, but still that might come as a bit of a surprise to a cape-watcher like Caitlin, particularly as she'd originally assumed Donna was part of the cape community herself. "He is a super-hero?" she asks. "Then perhaps he does not do such things because he is too busy from being a super-hero to be also a courier. What did you say, that it was better than being a celebrity?"

    Donna raps her fingernails in a rapid tattoo on the edge of the table. "One day perhaps you will be a super-hero too, because you have the powers, and because it is your instinct to help." She tilts her head to the side. "But nobody has trained you. And you already are busy and have not enough time for training. That is a dilemma."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin makes a skeptical sound. "/That/ isn't likely," she remarks. "I can't imagine anyone having the /time/ to train me. I'm busy with two jobs and school full-time," she points out. "Imagine knocking on the door of the, the Baxter Building," she suggests. "Ben Grimm's already one of the strongest heroes out there. Sue and Reed Richards have been active for like... twenty years, and it's not like they have taken on a whole buncha new interns or anything for the Fantastic Four. They'd just tell me they're too busy."

"Besides, they handled the thing with the aliens a couple years ago, remember? Them and Superman?" Caitlin points out. "I can't imagine something that the five of 'em can't handle. Even if they needed me, I'd just be underfoot."

The food arrives and Caitlin leans back to accomodate the tray. Once it's in front of her she starts unwrapping one of the burgers. "I'm not even sure how long I'd have to train for. I can't imagine a situation being desperate enough to jump into it without anyone there to show me the ropes."

Donna Troy has posed:
    Given the sheer size of the order, the waitress does not bring both women's trays at the same time, but carries Caitlin's over first, followed by Donna's. She thanks the waitress with a smile and a huge grin, and leans forwards to say to her in a conspiratorial voice, "That manager give you any trouble, you send her... or him... over to speak to me, okay?"

    It's an odd thing to say. Maybe Caitlin will dismiss this as another weird European habit, but it makes the waitress smile, so apparently it serves some kind of purpose.

    Donna unwraps one of her burgers and inspects it closely. She scoops a little melted cheese onto one finger tip and shows it to Caitlin with a triumphant "See!" before popping the finger in her mouth to eat the smear of cheese. "I told you. Not correct cheese."

    "Richards... that is Fantastic Four, correct? Hmm, maybe they and Superman are very strong, but also they are only five. Is five enough? I do not think so. But I can tell you how long you have to train for. For always. It is never that you cannot any more get better, so you keep training. Each day that you train, you become a little better. A little more able to help people. I cannot say how long it takes before you can help, because... it is not my experience that you should not already be trained. But I will help you, Cait-elin."

    Donna takes a large bite of her burger and chews on it thoughtfully. After a while she nods her head. "Yes, this is good. But also bad. This is a very American thing. All the time people in America eat food that is very bad, but also tastes delicious."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin plows through her first cheeseburger like a woman starving, and starts to unwrap the second one while still chewing the remains of the first. She's at least not a terribly messy eater, but the sheer volume of consumption is pretty conspicuous.

"Well the one thing I've got going for me with all this: I'm apparently pretty tolerant of a lot of different calorie sources," Caitlin mumbles from behind a napkin. "I haven't had food allergies in months now. Even stuff that's probably not good for me, I'll eat it."

She gets into the third burger before she slows down, and gives Donna a wary look.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" she inquires, hesitating. "We don't know each other, like, at all. Not that-- not that it's not nice," she amends, worried she's treading on Donna's toes. "I'm just... I'm not anyone special. You're probably already hanging out with some cool superheroes, the way you broke that fight up. I don't even like fighting. I got sick to my stomach after. Remember?"

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Because to you it was new, and you did not know how to react," Donna says with a dismissive wave of her hand. "This is why it is important to do training. So you know what to do in every situation, and then you are more effective. It is like if you jump from a cliff into the sea. The first time you stand on the top, your stomach tells you it does not feel good. But then the second time, not so bad. The third time, less. When you did it one hundred times, mhhh." She gives an expansive gesture. "Nothing."

    It's an odd comparison to make for someone raised in New York or Gotham, but perhaps where she comes from jumping from cliffs isn't that unusual.

    "Cait-elin," Donna says, putting her burger down. "You are the first American I have met with super powers. I do not hanging... hang out with cool super-heroes. I am new in America, only living here for a few months so far." Just for a moment, that air of total confidence wavers, and Caitlin for the first time gets to see that Donna may be feeling a little home-sick. It passes quickly, and again Donna's smiling her wide smile.

    "I don't have a lot of friends yet, but I think now I have a new friend, yes? We have something in common and this is good, because it means we can talk to each other about some things that other people cannot understand. To me, it is hard to not be able to be myself when I am with people in America. With you, I can be myself. I am sure for you it is the same, that you worry about how people think when you are much stronger than they are, yes? But with me... same." She waves a hand between the two of them. "We can talk. We can be ourselves. I think this can be nice for both, yes?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"You... you wanna be friends?"

Caitlin blinks in surprise. It is entirely possible that it's the first time someone's approached Caitlin in such a plainspoken manner. Donna's peerless confidence and determination is enough to nose even Caitlin's self-esteem into motion.

Still there are a few seconds when Caitlin gives Donna's regal bearings a wary look. It's not likely Caitlin could pick up on any but the most blatant of tells, if Donna intends subterfuge; but still the redhead takes Donna at face value.

"I guess... that'd be nice," she allows, finally. "I don't have a lot of friends either. The guys in my engineering club were really gross and weird after--" she gestures vaguely at herself, which even a little mussy and oil-stained is still fairly calendar-worthy. "And I don't really like to go out clubbing or partying, so it's not like I really wanna hang out on Greek Hill with the girls who party at frats." She makes a face.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "This is what we are doing now, isn't it?" Donna says with a musical laugh. "Cait-elin, you and I are meeting here together to talk about things which concern us, yes? Offering to each other some support, and enjoy each other's company. This is... being friends already, I think."

    She tilts her head to the side, lips pursed with amusement. "Though you are very... American, and I don't always understand you. I have spent much of my life hanging out on Greek hills, but I don't know what is 'party at frats'. Maybe we have a word for this also in my language, but I do not know the translation.

    "Still, I think even if we can only hang out on American hills, perhaps instead of party at frats, we can do some training, yes? I am not a superhero, but I can teach you a little how to fight. I trained most of my life how to fight, so I am sure I can give you some help."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Oh gosh, I'm doing it again," Caitlin frets. "I'm sorry. Umm... I meant on Columbia's campus. The University I attend?" she clarifies. "Greek Hill is where all the, um. Frats-- fraternities and sororities are. They're sorta... social clubs, for students," she hedges. "But mostly they're for people who just want to party instead of study. They get drunk and vandalize the campus or steal things. I don't understand the appeal," she admits, with a shrug.

"I guess if... if you're going to teach me some, uh, fighting moves, I can teach you some slang and idioms," Caitlin offers. "But really I don't know that I wanna be a fighter. I want to build things and discover stuff. Not... fight. Not that there's anything wrong with fighting. It's just not something I think I'd be very good at," she admits, and props her elbows on the table to eat her last few bites of burger.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna finishes off her burger and licks her fingers clean before wiping them with a napkin. "I would like to learn some slang, Cait-elin," She says with another laugh. "I am good now at understanding English, except people say a lot of slang things and I am unsure what they are intending. I know I speak still in the wrong order sometimes. Or do not remember the correct word. I am improving though, I only started to learn English a few months before I came here so not so bad. The slang though, this isn't in the books I read."

    She stares at her second burger, still wrapped, and without saying anything slides it across the table to put it in front of Caitlin before she nibbles on a few fries. "It is noble to wish to discover things, and to build things. You can do this and also learn a little how to fight. Then you are more able to help your friends like Hector and Esesmerelda, yes? Not everyone should be a warrior, but even if you are not a warrior, it is good to be able to protect those who are weaker than you are."

    She slurps the remainder of her Coke noisily, and leans back, one arm dangling over the back of her chair, looking content. "That is how your super-heroes think, yes? To protect those who are weaker. Even if you do not wish to become a super-hero, it is good to be able to do this. And even if you think you will not be very good... I am not sure, Cait-elin. I think someone who can ignore being shot and break a gun with her hands can become good at fighting."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin eyes the burger hungrily. In truth her appetite hasn't abated in the slightest, despite eating the better part of a pound of All-American Cheeseburger. Donna's given a look of gratitude and embarrassment. It's too good to leave until later though, so she unwraps it and starts eating while Donna talks.

"I ... I'm kinda used to being the one who gets bullied," Caitlin admits. "I got picked on a bunch all the time. After my dad... passed," she says, working past the emotional word, "I moved out of Grinnel and into Brooklyn. My brother let me stay with him while I finished high school at Midtown Science. Then I got into Columbia, but I only knew a couple people there, and..."

She clears her throat, realizing she's rambling. "It just took me a while to find my feet and then when I finally felt like it was, um, normalizing, then the ..." she gestures at herself. "This happened, and then I was starting over all over again. I'm really just a giant nerd, Donna," she admits. "Literally as well as figuratively, now."

Donna Troy has posed:
"A giant nerd who can break a gun and ignore being shot?" Donna says, head tilted curiously. "Hmm. I think that is a good combination. Reed Richards is also a big nerd, I think. It is not such a bad thing to be a big nerd if a big nerd can become a big super-hero."

    "I think I understand though," She says, watching Caitlin make short work of the extra burger. "When I left home... I left a place where I fitted in, but to me also that was something... new. When I was younger I did not fitted in, and only recently I started to feel like I was not so different to other people. Now I come to American and this is a place where I am not fitting in so well. People think I am strange. But I think this is normal, because I am somewhere new. With you, the same. Even if you did not move to another country, you are in somewhere that is new because people react to you differently from how they react before."

    She pauses a moment in thought. "It is opposite, but the same. I am the same in a different place, so I do not fit. You are different in the same place, so you do not fit. But for both of us I think this will change, Cait-elin. Because it will not be forever new. We both will find out the shape of the world around us, and then we can fit in."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"You make it sound pretty easy," Caitlin remarks. Donna's enthusiasm, and confidence, are infectious; the redhead starts to smile a little. "I guess that's not so bad," she concludes. The wrappers are neatly rolled atop one another and bundled up with the few scraps that remain on her platter. "I'll try to help you find ways to, um. Integrate?" she hazards. "I think that's the word. No! Assimilate," she says, correcting herself. "We'll get you assimilated fast. Do you..."

She trails off and looks into the middle distance with a furrowed brow, thinking. One hand absently tugs some red locks through her fingers. "There are books and stuff, but I'm not really a great literature person. How about movies?" she inquires and focuses on Donna. "We can do a movie night, um, thing," she offers. "You can see some of the films that people like and it'll help you with your English and the idioms and stuff. And you'll get some pop culture references, too," she offers.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Movies are good," Donna says with a huge grin. "I love movies!" She gestures towards the waitress, calling for the check, and turns back to Caitlin still grinning. "I watched a lot of movies with my sister since I came to America. It will be fun to watch with you. But I think the best way to learn the slang is just talking. Like this, with you. I today learned a few new words already."

    "Next time I think though, we go to a park. I shall show you a few things about fighting so if you have to protect Hector and Esesmerelda another time, you are a little bit better able. And also we talk, so I can learn some more slang and pop culture lessons from speaking with you. Also do not forget: cookies!"

    The waitress comes over to deliver the check to the table without a word, but wearing a distinctly amused expression. Donna looks down at it, smiles, and pulls out enough to cover her share and a generous tip before sliding it over to Caitlin. A hand-written addendum to the bottom reads '20% discretionary discount for people who won the beef challenge exactly four times and not a single time more.'

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin counts out enough for hers and a tip as well; the math she did in her head leaves her with perhaps enough change in her palm for bus fare, and every cent is put back into a little coin pouch in her purse.

She cranes her neck to read the note and laughs, flashing a grin at Donna. "Okay, it worked /this/ time," she allows. She splits the difference on the discount, adds half to the waitress' tip, and puts the rest away for later. A little more cautiously Caitlin gets to her feet and slings the canvas bookbag over her shoulder, and carefully holds the giftbox with the comb between her hands. "Thanks for this. Well, for everything," she amends, her ears pinking minutely. "It was really thoughtful of you. The park sounds great for next time," she agrees, and starts towards the door with Donna.

"But there's no pressure, right? It's not like there's gonna be another invasion or something anytime soon," Caitlin observes. She presses through the door and the two women head out into the street, exchanging final farewells before going their separate ways.