Owner	Pose
Stephanie Brown	It's evening when Stephanie pulls up at the gate on her oft-repaired motorcycle. She buzzes and says who she is, the gate swinging open, Stephanie not sure if it's Alfred or someone else who opens it. She putters up the long drive to the mansion, going over in her head what she's going to say. "Waste of time, I'm going to end up forgetting it the moment I see him," she says to herself with a sigh. Stephanie pulls the motorcycle into a parking space and dismounts. Her helmet is removed and hung over the handlebar, a hand ruffling through her blond hair to get it back into a semblance of its normal state. She's wearing jeans, with a deep purple shirt and a black jacket overtop of it. The colors could be her own, or Batgirl's. The choice was a conscious one on both accounts. Stephanie walks quickly towards the front door, shoes clicking softly on the pavement and then on the steps up to the door where she rings the bell. And tries not to look too nervous.
Bruce Wayne	The door opens smartly on the second chime. There's Alfred; back straight, polite, and with a friendly smile on his face. "Miss Brown, how good to see you," he remarks, and steps out of the doorway to invite her in. The door shuts and he offers to take the young woman's jacket. "I assume you're here to see Master Bruce. He's in the study; down the hall, third floor on the left, with a gryphon over the frame," he advises her. "I'll set a kettle on; can I make you something to eat while you're here? Finger sandwiches, or some fresh vegetables, mayhaps?"
Stephanie Brown	Stephanie's face lights up a bit as she sees Alfred. She always got on well with him, and considered him rather kind to her. "I think I'll hang onto my jacket," she says. Color schemes. "And... thank you for the offer, but I think I'm fine on refreshments." Her fingers grip and ungrip each other a few times at her waist as she glances in the direction that Alfred motioned to. "Yes, here to see Mr. Wayne," she says. "Thank you. I... I'll just head along then. And see him," she says, feeling butterflies start up in her stomach. She gives Alfred a little wave and then heads off towards the study. Along the way she takes a few deep breaths, managing to calm her nerves some. One last deep breath near the entrance before she steps over into it and gives a soft knock on the doorjamb to make herself known, assuming the door is already open.
Bruce Wayne	"Enter." The command is given a moment before Stephanie knocks on the doorframe. The door is ajar, and the portal swings open to admit Stephane into the study proper. It's quite a proper study; fire in the hearth, books on the shelves, a piano in the corner. But everything about it looks contrived. It doesn't 'fit' the man sitting behind the desk at the window, any more than he'd look in place at a board meeting or in a Bat Burger. Bruce Wayne does these things, yes, but Bruce Wayne isn't who is there in the room. Not the careful visage of public appearance that he cultivates for the public. Batman's sitting there at the desk, in khakis and a collared shirt, and the expression on his bare face is no more readable than if he had a cowl on. Piercing blue eyes stare at Stephanie as she crosses the threshold, making no invitation for her to enter or sit-- and not bothering to ask why she's come around to see him.
Stephanie Brown	The high school senior steps inside, returning the door behind her back to the state it was when she arrived. "Hello," she says, her hands moving to hold each other before her waist. Though without the fidgeting her fingers had after coming inside the door of the mansion. Stephanie walks over a little nearer to Bruce, her eyes only taking a second or two to look around the room before they attach themselves to the man. "I wanted to talk to you about me being Spoiler," she says to him. "I know what you said before." Nearly a year ago, that she should give up her costume. "And, I wasn't willing to give it up." She stops a few feet away from where Bruce is sitting. "I'm going to keep at it. And, Barbara had me come over and told me she'd start training me. I didn't know if I'd be welcome here, as well, or not. I'd like to be part of what you've built," she says, doing her best to keep her voice calm and level, though her emotions are running pretty high.
Bruce Wayne	"Batgirl's welcome here," Batman points out. The greeting and the explanation are left unreturned; there's no polite discourse or perfunctory welcomes offered. It's part of what some people find so frustrating about Batman, this lack of clarity between being deliberately rude and merely being bluntly spoken. He stares at Stephanie for a few long seconds with that eerily piercing expression. Cutting through layers of not just surface bravado, but as if he can see right through the walls people erect around themselves. Their own foibles and insecurities. Just as Stephanie starts to inhale, he finally speaks. "You are being trained by Batgirl. Have your own identity. Own goals. Habits. Don't need us. Don't need 'this'," he remarks, and with a curl of two fingers expresses a paranthesis around the entirety of the Bat Family. "So. Why are you really here?"
Stephanie Brown	Stephanie does her best to stand confidently, and she does have some gumption in her which helps in a moment like this. "I know I'd be better with a team. I've gone it alone enough to know my limits. I think I can bring things that can make a team better," she says to Bruce. "Having Barbara train me... look I know what my limits were. The best training I could find was tai chi at a community center. I trust Barbara. Batgirl's been my idle since before I was a teenager," Stephanie says. "I know she went it alone before too. But she's a part of things here and she works with you. I'm trusting she's found it's the best way for things to be." Stephanie swallows down some emotion. "But I know I'm not Barbara. I want you to give me a chance to prove myself. That's all I ask for."
Bruce Wayne	Batman's silent again. Processing. Or just staring intensely at Stephanie with the intent of making her squirm some more. Perhaps he's testing her in his own way, seeing how she responds to that scrutiny. Putting pressure on the weak chinks in her insecurity and her ego. "We're not a team," he says, finally. "This is a family." Batman slowly gets to his feet and walks around the desk, facing the fireplace. Shadows curl around him as if brought closer by the will of the Dark Knight. "Teams are brought together by choice. They come and go when they feel like it. Break up when it's convenient." Then he turns his head to look at her. Half his face disappears in shadow, as if he'd donned the cowl between eyeblinks. "Family doesn't get to walk away forever. Even when Nightwing was gone, he wasn't 'gone'. It's a lifetime commitment. You don't get to just ask for a spot. It's not softball. It's forever. You're not ready to make that kind of decision. You're too young."
Stephanie Brown	The pressure definitely found one of her weak spots. The girl with absentee parents for the bulk of her life, and a father in prison that made her an easy target for other adolescents feels that one hard. Stephanie stands quietly, eyes blinking once or twice her only motion. Finally she says, "I've chosen this life." One of her hands moves as if to make a gesture but she pushes it back down to her side. "It's what I have. It's what I'm good at. What I want to do. When I help someone, it means /everything/ to me." The eighteen year old draws a deep breath. "You all are the only other people I have. I'm not too young. I'm older than Tim was. I may not have his smarts or inventiveness. But I don't give up. I'll keep doing it. Alone. Or with Barbara. Or alone..." she trails off, having to stop talking to push down some emotions.
Bruce Wayne	Batman's head is already shaking in disappointment. "You think I'm talking about age?" he says, and shoots Stephanie a reproachful look. "The boys were men before they were adults. They were men the day their parents died. Batgirl was a woman when she was younger than you. They had their reasons. Their motivations. They understood them. You don't understand it yet. You don't understand yourself, or what you want. Why you want it." He turns his back on Stephanie then, hands clasped loosely behind him. An attentive person might notice his faint reflection in the window watching Stephanie-- but then again, attentiveness is not often a hallmark of someone mired in self-pity. "Batgirl's training you. She's welcome here. If she says you're welcome here, then that's on her. My opinion of your readiness doesn't matter. When she says you're ready, you're ready. Not before." At that, he turns to look at Stephanie. "Word of advice. Don't go around her again to appeal to me. She's your trainer. I'm not. There is no court of appeal here. I wouldn't overrule her even if I were inclined to. She put her trust in you. You should put your trust in her."
Stephanie Brown	Stephanie reacts the most to the talk of her having gone around Barbara. It doesn't seem to dawn on her that she would be considered to have been doing that. It definitely hits her that it will have seemed disrespectful. Stephanie wasn't kidding about how much she looks up to Barbara. The blond girl's eyes stare out into the distance as she realizes she's going to have to tell Barbara that. She finally refocuses back on where she's at. Her eyes search about for a moment and then she turns to walk back towards the door. She reaches it and swings it back open, but pauses. "I became a woman the day I decided to send my father back to prison," she says quietly without looking back, before continuing on her way out the door again.
Bruce Wayne	Batman doesn't stop Stephanie. Nor does he correct her, or check her departure. Just stares at the girl with those unblinking blue eyes until she departs, and perhaps even until she's sure her footsteps can't be heard from the study or not. Perhaps she's right, then. Or she's learned the lesson she's meant to. Or Batman's leaving her with some final rumination to consider. Then again, a cynical mind might consider two other choices: that Batman's silence indicates she's still not internalized the lesson he expects her to. Or that he's concluded she never will. Either way, that silence chases Stephanie along the hollow halls of the Manor until she's escorted out by Alfred's kind countenance and her bike can take her away from that place.