Owner Pose
Cole Cash The Bar with No Name is rarely a upper-class looking drinking club. It transient nature means most of the locales chosen are cheap, often dilapidated, sometime outright illegal due to safety considerations. It is a shame, because many of the patrons are wealthy, or at least temporarily wealthy. But criminals tend to be misers with their money.

On the other hand the booze is above average, and that even more than the occasional business and the bragging, brings some patrons back. Like Cole Cash, who is not -that- much into crime, and prefers outright lies to bragging, but really likes good cheap scotch.

Just back from a well-paid gig in the Far East, Cole is not going to have to worry about rent for a while, unless he drinks all its money or he hears some of his friends are in financial troubles and he gives it all away. But that might be tomorrow, today he plans to get a good buzz, find a poker game, and maybe play without cheating for once.
Lucy Blaze Zannah's been showing up at the location-hopping bar more and more of late. While not a villainous sort, her personal code is grey enough that she's welcome here. Her body count helps to back that up. Tonight, she's between jobs, missions, so she comes to the bar to seek out others like herself for more mundane company. Perhaps swap some stories over a few drinks.

She very nearly turns right back around and walks out when she sees Cole at the bar. While their split was clena, he was clearly unhappy with it, and she's been trying not to aggravate that situation. But perhaps it's time to rip the bandaid off. So it is that she approaches the bar, offering a brief, "Cole," as she settles onto a stool and nods to Roscoe behind the bar.

While her drink is being made, she glances sidelong at Cole and murmurs, "Been awhile. You're looking good, though. Keeping up with your meditation?"
Cole Cash There is a difference on opinion about how clean was that split. For Cole, who had never let any woman get close enough to hurt him, it was pretty nasty. And yet he can hardly hate the woman that saved his mind and probably his life, can he? Instead he was rather unhappy for years.

It is also a good thing he was not drinking when Zannah greets him, he would have spit the whiskey all over the bar. It takes a full second to recover his composure, put his blase mask on and mutter a "hey, Lady Z," he glances at her. "You look great, as usual. And... sure, I am fine. Good and healthy living, as always."
Lucy Blaze "Mmhmmm... which is why you're here, drinking scotch?" Zannah lifts a brow and sends a pointed look to his glass. Pausing, she lets out a short breath, "Sorry. That was rude, and presumptuous. Old habits are the hardest to break." Straightening a touch, she turns her attention back to him, watching. Lacking anything appropriate to say, she simply watches him.

Thankfully, Roscoe arrives with her drink and Zannah's distracted for a moment, turning to take up the glass, filled with a black-ish looking brew of some sort. She takes a long swallow from the glass, seeming to be almost preternaturally focused on the glass. Trying not to say something they would both regret. Trying not to tell him how to live his life.
Cole Cash Sarcasm missed, Cole snickers. "It is good scotch," he comments, about to add something else when Zannah apologizes, which makes him shut up. She rarely does that. Or did, it has been a few years... except that is almost nothing to her.

"Yeah, here for old habits," he raises his glass and sips from his drink. "So, what brings you to Gotham? Hmm, it is not about Lynch or Slayton, it is?"
Lucy Blaze Lifting her glass in return, Zannah tips it back for another swallow and shakes her head, "Its where the Bar is tonight, so that's where I went." Looking down into the liquid, she shakes her head, "Not this time. I'll be heading off in a few days to go hunt down some Daemonites in space. Shouldn't be more than a few days." Looking sidelong at him, "What about you? Any jobs lined up?"

Waiting a beat, she lets out an aggravated sigh, "Okay, this is stupid. I hate... dnacing around like this. It's ridiculous." She looks at Cole, "How have you -really- been doing? I've been trying to stay out of your way but I can't just keep ignoring your being here."
Cole Cash "I live in Gotham," admits Cole. He feels guilty, but the rent is cheap and the food is good. "I have been... uh, fighting for money. Getting my troubles with Uncle Sam cleared." He shrugs. "I just got back from Siancong, got some kidnapped people out of a nasty hostage situation and I think I am going to buy a new motorcycle with the cash I got."

How is that for a summary? He avoided hows and names, but he is never as direct as she is.
Lucy Blaze "Nothing wrong with that, just don't get on the bad side of the Bat and you'll be fine," Zannah lifts a small shrug and glances his way, cracking a tiny smile. She gives a small nod and looks back to her glass, "What troubles do you have that need clearing? Anything that.." Cutting herself off, Zannah frowns at her drink. Not her place. "Sounds like you've got some good things going."

Her eyes turn back towards him as she murmurs, "Seeing anyone?"
Cole Cash "Well, the CIA, the IO and a few other alphabet soup agencies wanted me dead, remember?" Because they really hate losing their super-experiments super-soldiers. They get pricky. "But I got some allies in the DEO helping out."

He shrugs. "The old Bat leaves me alone; truth is I barely get any work in Gotham. But it is just a good place to get lost."

Her last question makes him blink. "You don't have..." that is an irritating question. "I am not married," he decides to answer. "Are you?"
Lucy Blaze Zealot lifts a brow at him, staring steadily. "I've never been married. You of all people should know that's not a thing my people do."

Turning back to her drink, she stares down at the bartop for a long moment. "I'm surprised you haven't found the means to get your information out of their databases yet, get yourself clear of all that shit." She glances back to him and lifts a shrug, "It would at least get you out of some of your problems."

Zannah lifts her glass for another swallow, then glances back down, "So. You're still upset?"
Cole Cash "Doubt it would help, records from the 90s are rarely electronic, and I am pretty sure even Team 7 at their best wouldn't do well raiding the Pentagon and the DEO archives, or whatever I.O. has become," offers Cole with a shrug, "and even if we did, some people won't forget. Or die. Don't think we have not tried to kill Bendis or Craven a few times. Not even Wilson or Lynch could do it."

Maybe they would if they had worked together, but some things are not going to happen.

And that other question, that can be read in so many ways. "Upset me? They say a life without regrets is not really a life, it is? I deal with it."
Lucy Blaze "I/O would never be part of the Pentagon. Too dark ops. It's going to be its own self-sustaining subsidiary of some defunct government program that still somehow receives funding despite nobody having done anything with it in decades. And records were coverted to electronic format as older forms of recordkeeping became obsolete, but still needed to be maintained." Zannah glances sidelong at him and shrugs, "If you could find the main database for I/O and destroy it, or at least remove your own records from it, that would save you from having to run."

Zannah lifts her glass for another swallow, then lets out a small sigh, "Deal with it by drinking and gambling and forgetting everything I taught you?"
Cole Cash Cole shakes his head. They were soldiers before the experiments, of course there are files in the Pentagon and only God knows where else. There is no simple solution for his troubles with the government. Ah, maybe he will just outlive them all.

"Forgot nothing. But I need hobbies. I tried knitting and didn't work, and computer games are too easy." And he usually wins when 'gambling'. Which is not gambling, as the card games require skills he has.

He smirks again. "Stop. Or I am going to start thinking you are worried about me. Think about your tough woman facade."
Lucy Blaze Zannah snorts and shakes her head, half-smiling as she lifts her glass towards the bartender for a refill. "And there's clearly nothing at all in the hobby category between knitting and computer games. It's amazing that I managed to last so long without drinking and gambling to sustain me... surely I should have gone mad by now." She sets the glass back onto the bartop and shifts slightly to look at him.

"Cole... what did you think would happen? That we would... what? Be together forever? You have no idea just how long that can be. Or would you have me watch you grow old? Watch you die? That we would.. what, marry, have children?" Zannah stares at him for a long moment before shifting away again and staring down at her hands. "Doesn't mean I won't think of your wellbeing and want you to have a better life."
Cole Cash What was he thinking? Nothing, it was just living. She got tired of him before he got tired of her, he guesses. It is not as if he is aging much. Someone (was it Lynch) calculated he would live at least three hundred years. Cole just laughed at the idea he would die of old age.

"To be honest, I thought we would be together until one of us died," he decides, "which was not looking to take too long. I guess we are too good at surviving, uh?" Marry? Children? Them? One of the few things Cole fears is the idea he would have to raise a child. The responsibility! He is sure he would be a terrible failure as a father. Just look what Slade Wilson did for confirmation.

"Yeah. Caring is good, hmm? Don't friendzone me, Zannah. It is a bit too late for it."
Lucy Blaze "I'm not friendzoning you, Cole." Zannah sighs heavily and looks to him, "You have no concept of how long you'll live. Not yet. And yours is still a drop in the bucket compared to mine. You don't realize how difficult it is to maintain a relationship that long." She purses up her lips and murmurs, "People change, Cole. Feelings change. Things get..." She shakes her head.

"I didn't want to see the change from love to indifference in you. I would rather remember the love." She groans, rubbing her fingers across her eyes, "I hate this. I hate.. talking about feelings."
Cole Cash Cole laughs for a few seconds, then loses the smile. "Yeah, I do too," he admits. They are really bad about it, was the L word even mentioned once while they were together? "We better stop now. Are you up to anything interesting lately?" He can't talk about the Suicide Squad, but if she is curious he can tell her about the last couple months in the Far East. He is good at making war stories sound interesting and funny.
Lucy Blaze Zannah reaches out to poke him in the shoulder, cracking that half-smile again, "Before one of us admits something we don't want the other to hear?" She chuckles lowly and gives a nod, lifting her glass for a drink. "I was working for the Greeks briefly, but between jobs at the moment." She lifts a shrug, "Other than that... just hunting Daemonites. Jacob's looking into a few more possibilities, but nothing yet." She glances back to Cole and lifts a brow, "And the black ops save the world stuff? They put a bomb in your head, too?"

Without looking at him, she lifts her glass for a drink, "I've thought about volunteering.. I know a few people attached to the program. The only issue is whether or not Waller would accept that she can't control me the way she does most of her squad."
Cole Cash "What? No," Cole looks a bit surprised Zannah knows about the Suicide Squad. Waller is going to be very unhappy if she finds out. "Can't talk about it," he grumbles. He needs Waller, after all. Also, he made a promise to keep that entire deal secret.

If Zannah knows Waller a little she would know the chances she would let anyone in the Squad she can't control are either zero, or the mission is so critical that the whole would blow up otherwise.

"Jacob? Jacob? Oh, he is one of the other Kherans still around, right?" Cole might have met him once or twice.
Lucy Blaze "Cole. This is me you're talking to." Zannah's tone is flat as she watches him. Shaking her head, she tips her glass back for a drink, "But sure. We'll just ignore all of that." She sets the glass aside and looks down to her hands, sighing, "What else would you like to talk about? Is there anything else we even have in common?"

RIsing up from the bar, she mutters, "Yeah. He's one of my people. See you in another six years, Cole. Don't forget your meditations."