9754/Burgers and Confessions

Burgers and Confessions
Date of Scene:	22 January 2022
Location:	Gotham University
Synopsis:	Chat over burgers. Helena tells Roy about her world and Roy tells her about the Outsiders.
Cast of Characters:	Helena Wayne, Roy Harper

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Helena Wayne has posed:
Now that the 'cat is out of the bag', in a manner of speaking, Helena has been checking in with Roy on a daily basis. They both agreed that he needs an addiction 'sponsor' who understands his double life, and Helena is taking this seriously.

Tonight they are meeting for burgers at a diner near campus. The place is usually busy, which will provide more than enough background noise for this particular conversation. Helena arrives first, and has carefully selected a table with a bit of privacy. Roy can definitely spot the purple street beast she rides parked outside. She's dressed casually in jeans and black leather boots with a purple silk topunder a jacket that matches the boots.

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy comes in from the street. He's dressed in his usual low-stress sort of street wear. Jeans, beat-up old black Dockers, a grey and blue sweatshirt, and a distressed black leather jacket. He's freshly showered, his hair is combed for once. His cheeks have a ruddy hue from the cold outside. You know, he's not a bad-lookin' dude. He could probably stand to be a couple inches taller, but whatever. He gets a couple looks from some girls and a couple dudes.

He sees Helena at the table in the back. He smiles and lifts a hand briefly, heading in that direction. He peels off the jacket and hangs it on the hook by the table as he sits down. "Hey, Helena. Were you waitin' long?"

Helena Wayne has posed:
Helena Wayne spots him and returns the hand-lift with a bright smile. When she's not in costume her lipstick is red, and it suits her. Just like the smile. "Just long enough to order a Coke." she replies. And seeing him hang up his jacket prompts her to do the same, reaching around to hang it on the hook next to his.

"You clean up pretty good, Roy." she offers, passing him a menu. "Doing okay tonight? I'm going to tell you that story I promised. After we order, that is."

Roy Harper has posed:
The young off-duty vigilante gives Helena a very warm smile as he picks up a menu. "Well I can't look like shit all the time, I guess," he quips as he peers over the menu. "Man I'm so hungry I could eat the north end of a southbound buffalo." He flips through several pages. "Oh man these burgers looks amazing."

When a waiter stops by, Roy smiles at the dude. "Hey, can I please get a vanilla Coke with extra vanilla and extra ice, a double bacon mushroom burger, fries, and some onion rings? And whatever my friend is having." He hands his menu to the waiter.

Helena Wayne has posed:
Helena Wayne wrinkles her nose at the metaphor, but she grins as she does the obligatory eye-roll. The waiter brings Helena's Coke as well as straws and napkin-wrapped cutlery for them both. "Single bacon cheesburger, barbecue sauce, as many onion rings as you can fit on the burger with the rest on the side."

Passing the menu over, she looks at Roy as she adds with a wink. "I know it's light, but I'm driving." The waiter confirms their orders and moves along, leaving the two in brief quiet. Helena takes a sip of her Coke, collecting her thoughts and exhaling slowly.

"Okay Roy, you might wanna buckle up. Let me start by saying that I grew up in Gotham City, but not THIS Gotham City. Not exactly, anyway. I'm from Earth of another dimension."

Roy Harper has posed:
Yes. This has come up once before. Over milkshakes. Has Roy decided that he believes her? Well one thing is for sure, Helena has advanced combat training and you don't learn to fight that well that young unless you have someone upstream from you who is a true master. So he has decided to hear her out with an open mind.

"Okay, got it. Earth from another dimension. I mean, that's honestly not that hard to swallow. We get invaded from other dimensions like every other day it seems."

Then he narrow-eyes Helena playfully. "You're not an alien invader, are you? Are you here to eat my brains? Because if you are, you're probably going to want to order extra onion rings so you don't starve to death."

Helena Wayne has posed:
"I told you I'm a light eater." Helena quips back, on the subject of brains. "And no, not -alien-, just extra-dimensional. For example, in my Gotham the Police Chief is named Richard Grayson. Supergirl is..." she pauses and holds both hands out from her chest, cupped upward to significantly exaggerate endowments. "... different from the one here. Just a couple examples to show that people are... were... different back where I'm from."

She takes another sip. Inhale, exhale. "And yes, Bruce Wayne was my father. He married Selina Kyle." Which was extremely weird when Helena saw THIS dimension's Bruce and Selina arm-in-arm at his birthday party.

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy thanks the waiter when he brings his vanilla coke, extra vanilla, extra ice. He takes a deep drink and makes an appreciative noise in his throat. "Oh man, perfect!" He slides it a little bit closer to Helena. "Wanna try?" he asks. Then he reaches up and pulls down his lower lip playfully. "This fungus here is usually not even contagious. You should be fine." What a nerd.

He leans back in his chair. "Okay so billionaire father. Everyone knows Bruce Wayne. But I never heard of this Selina Kyle. Does she even exist on our Earth?"

Helena Wayne has posed:
Helena Wayne eyes his drink with a little suspicion, but swivels the straw around to try a sip anyway. "Wow... that's a lotta vanilla." But she takes another before pushing the straw back around. Helena shrugs at the question about Selina. After all, she only saw the woman across a crowded ballroom.

"If she does, then I haven't checked. In fact I've deliberately been giving Mister Wayne some space. Saves me the embarassment and saves him the restraining orders." She smiles at that, then gets suddenly serious.

"Okay, so now for the plot twist, and here is where I must insist on your absolute secrecy. Don't tell anyone, not even other capes." Pause. "This is bolt-in-the-brainpan serious. Okay?"

Roy Harper has posed:
Since they both ordered onion rings and both seemed hungry, the water brings over a huge basket of onion rings to share and tells them the rest of their food will be along in a few minutes. Roy thanks him.

"So first of all, I been to AA and NA meetings with people who would Freak. You. Out. to know their names. But we live by a strict code of secrecy. So in that regard, I'm your guy."

He crunches on an onion rings. "Holy crap this is good." He blinks a couple times, surprised at how crisp and flavorful it is. He washes it down with some soda.

"But, if it's so hush-hush, why tell me? I mean this is exactly the third time we met, and the second time we met you busted me buying drugs from a known felon and convinced drug dealer."

Helena Wayne has posed:
Helena Wayne watches his face as he replies, and the girl seems to be satisfied by his honesty. She plucks up an onion ring as well, taking a very careful bite before she answers. "Damn, these ARE good. I'll put this place on my repeat-visit list."

"And it goes a bit deeper than that already, actually. I know your alter-ego and you know mine, so there's already a good bit of trust between us. Which isn't very common amongst the hero-crowd here, I must say. We had to learn to trust each other before the end. Before the world ended, I mean." And she is almost casual about it.

"Back home, my dad also had an alter-ego. He was Batman, and my mom was Catwoman." She pauses for him to process that. "They both taught me, and when I was a teenager I started going out on patrols as Robin."

Roy Harper has posed:
For several long moment Roy sits there studying Helena intently. When you routinely have to take on a dozen dudes without so much as a single lick of super powers, you learn to read people. You learn to read people or you die, it's really that simple. His eyes lock on Helena's. He watches her pupils. He observes her body language. His gaze scans her skin looking for excess perspiration. No polygraph could be more accurate.

"So if your world ended then how did you end up..." Then he stops and his jaw just literally drops, like a scene from a movie It just drops. He leans in close because THIS is not something you EVER say above a whisper. In a hushed, low, fast tone he says, "areyoutellingmethatbrucewayneisthebatman???"

Helena Wayne has posed:
Helena Wayne keeps it together, plucking up another onion ring while holding his eye contact. She lifts an index finger and shakes her head. Slowly. "No. I'm telling you how things were in -my- dimension. I seriously doubt that the same applies here." Crunch-crunch-crunch.

"And I got thrown through a portal machine just as it was collapsing, otherwise I'd be dead. Just like the other heroes back home. I dropped the Robin moniker when our world was invaded, becoming Huntress instead."

Roy Harper has posed:
Yeah there's a little bit of narrow-eyeing going on here. This is a lot of shit and Roy is going to need to process this over a few days at least. But one thing is for sure, it's about as interesting a night as he could have imagined. And the onion rings ain't bad either!

"So are you solo here? How do you fund all of this? I know first-hand how expensive it is to..."

He stops talking as the waiter arrives with the remainder of the food, asks if there is anything else they need, and then leaves them to their conversation.

"...how expensive it is to do this shit. I spend five grand a month just on BOW STRINGS." He lifts the top bun from his burger and makes circles on it with the mustard dispenser. Gotta have mustard on your burger.

Helena Wayne has posed:
Helena Wayne's burger came with barbecue sauce, and that's apparently good enough for her. She does get a refill on her Coke... with vanilla this time. Then it's back to the conversation.

"First of all, I came through in costume and with my gear. As for funding..." How do you say that you regularly skim from the Wayne Foundation? "That's a trade secret for another conversation."

Helena smiles and starts trying to figure out a way to pick up the burger without dumping the contents onto the plate. "But yes, I'm here as a solo. Near as I can tell. Supergirl protected me from most of the explosion, but I never saw whether she made it through..."

As her voice trails off, Helena takes a crunchy bite. "This is -really- good... So anyway, I put down stakes in Gotham and set my territory."

Roy Harper has posed:
When Helena says the funding conversation is for another time, Roy nods in understanding. "I can respect that. Inter-dimensional trust is earned, not given," he says half seriously, half playfully, like he tends to do.

After a few silent minutes of eating, he wipes his mouth with a napkin. "You know, you don't have to go it alone. If you don't want to. I'm part of a group of..." He thinks for a moment. "...of strays and misfits. We're all different, we're all independent, but we support each other. I'm a full member. My recommendation would carry a great deal of weight. If you're interested."

Helena Wayne has posed:
Helena Wayne looks up, arching a brow at his offer. "That does sound like my kind of group, actually. I mean so far I've met two Batgirls, Flamebird, Batwoman, Black Canary, and another Huntress. Not to mention some mystery person who goes by Oracle." She pauses, then adds. "Oh, and a Red Robin who assured me that the other 6 colors of the rainbow are adequately represented."

Helena pauses to take another bite before she continues. "So strays and misfits, hmm? Tell me more."

Roy Harper has posed:
One thing about Roy is he has a healthy appetite. With his training regimen and his patrol schedule, he probably has to eat 10,000 calories a day or more. He tears into that burger with abandon. I wonder if alternate-Earth Roy has the same philosophy as this Roy: never trust someone who doesn't have an honest appetite.

With most (but not all) of his mouthful swallowed he says "Funny you should mention Red Robin. He's our leader. I could set up a meeting. We're called the Outsiders and we're /very/ active in Gotham and beyond. We get all up into some bullshit that the big-name heroes can't get into because it will tarnish their precious reputations. Sometimes people need saving and you gotta get into the mud to do it."

Helena Wayne has posed:
Helena Wayne manages not to choke on her drink when he says that Red Robin is their leader. "Oh, of course." she quips back. "Probably just as well I didn't shoot him when we first met, I suppose." Another sip to keep from choking, then she reaches for another onion ring. "I'm still on probationary status with Oracle, but there's a group of women capes as well. I don't think that one group excludes the other."

Helena may not exhibit his voracious appetite, but she makes steady progress on her own burger. A closer look would show manicured nails and minimal makeup, very neatly applied. The leather is genuine, and high-end as well. Yes, the woman was raised with money.

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy shakes his head. "I doubt it's exclusive. I run with the Titan sometimes. I'm not a full member over there, but I run with them sometimes. I also, of course, work with Green Arrow. I mean, obviously."

When the burger is devoured, he starts to put an obscene, possibly illegal amount of ketchup on his french fries. He pops one in his mouth appraisingly, then adds a bit more ketchup. Dude likes ketchup.

"Do you want me to talk to Red Robin? Set up a meet?" He shrugs. "Or you can think about it. This isn't something you do unless you're absolutely, positively sure you want to do it."

Helena Wayne has posed:
"Titans? Okay, I'll file that away under multiple Batgirls and Robins." Helena replies. She pulls a couple of napkins from the dispenser, keeping her fingertips neat while eating the messy burger and greasy onion rings. She watches him drain the ketchup and can't help but to stare judgementally at the end result.

"Talk to whoever you need to, yes." she replies. "It doesn't hurt to meet, and I'll never turn down good help at my back in Gotham. After all, I'm still trying to figure out the roster for both teams."

Helena pauses, then asks. "How many of the Outsiders know about your... problem? And I'll tell you the basic info I've been sharing with the other capes about me."

Roy Harper has posed:
Immediately Roy answers, "They all know. Helena, I'm an alcoholic and a drug addict." He's used this phrasing with Helena before. "Whether I die on patrol tonight or on my death bed at the age of 100, I will be an alcoholic and a drug addict when they put me in the ground. If I go the next twenty years without using, I will still want to get high and drunk as fucking badly as I do right now. These guys put their lives on the line for me, do impossible things for me and for one another. And me for them. They have to know the full truth. It can't be any other way. There is no other way." He maintains eye contact with Helena as he goes through his recital, almost mantra-like.

Then he breaks eye contact to look down at his ketchup-drenched fries. He pulls some out and eats them. The only way to battle back his demons is with truth and candor.

Helena Wayne has posed:
Helena Wayne nods slowly, meeting your gaze with her own. "I wanted to know, in case something comes up." she replies in a lower voice. "It's not my story to tell, Roy." Just like her story isn't his to tell. Helena is still watching his face when he turns his attention back to his fries. She reaches over, then, with those neat, manicured fingers to pick up one of the messier fries from the pile.

Helena offers it to him. "Thank you. For sharing, but just as much for listening. It gets a little easier with each telling, doesn't it?"

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy smiles and leans forward and takes the fry, eating. Yeah, most people don't like their fries with that much ketchup. Weird dude is weird.

"No," he disagrees. "I can't ever let it get easier. The moment I let my guard down I do something stupid." He smirks. "Like getting busted by an inter-dimensional, world-hopping vigilante." He lets out a chuckle, smacking his forehead. "I'm the only person ever to have luck like that.

He looks up at Helena. "But seriously, thank you. You saved my ass from a Bad Mistake. I'll always owe you."

Helena Wayne has posed:
Helena Wayne smiles, watching him eat the ketchup-drenched mess and pulling her fingers out of the way before they become a casualty. "You're very welcome, and I really do mean that. We all need someone we can trust, in the cowl or out of it."

"And you can trust me that the -next- time you make a mistake like that you'll never even see me coming until you wake up on your back." And with that, Helena smiles sweetly and takes another sip of her now-vanilla Coke. "This IS good." she declares.