2014.04.14 - A Rousing First Date

Log opened 12/04/2014 - 18:56:37
Upon introspection, Jason realized that maybe he said too much to Tim the other night. He ran at the mouth a little, covering his irritation at losing Rearden to the fires of the Amazo's self-destruct sequence with talk. It was a Robin thing to do, he thought to himself as he went his way. But he wasn't Robin anymore.
Right now, he wasn't anybody in particular either. Forged documents proclaimed him to be James Rache; nobody important, some random yutz from New York.
Right now he was a random yutz with some serious pain and a need for calories, though, so he left his safehouse behind in what passed for casual clothes. A small but powerful pistol was hidden under his jacket, a knife was slipped into his boot. The little things that made you feel better about being in a violent city where masked madmen ran rampant. Hair freshly dyed -- Tim had seen his hair after his helm had gotten cracked-- he was the picture of a twenty-two year old youth, maybe fresh from college. It was about that time for finals, right?
Didn't matter. He blended. He slouched his shoudlers to diminish his bulk, kept his eyes hidden behind his sunglasses so no one saw how hyperaware he was, and he looked for a good place to stop and get something to eat.
Cassandra looked like any ordinary girl wandering the streets of Gotham, dressed in fairly casual clothing but despite this she still managed to stand out. Even though she was fairly diminutive in size, she had a certain grace and power that she exuded when she walked.
Her stomach was also growling and she was drawn in by the sweet and spicy smells from a near-by restaurant, she pauses outside of the window to the restaurant; staring at all of the people inside eating for a moment.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a bunch of crumpled one dollar bills, wondering what she could get for that. Maybe luck would have it, Jason would arrive at the same Thai restaurant she was standing outside the door looking in.
Like it or not, Jason had been picked up off the streets and in few short years he'd been with Bruce, Alfred had given the boy a profound education in general decency to one's fellow human being that Bruce never quite managed. Oh, Bruce gave him a lot of lessons in other things, but Alfred taught him politeness.
It's why he stops, as he opens the door, noticing Cass. He asks, "You headed inside?" and holds the door open for her.
The crumpled bills says 'homeless', but nothing else about her does. Something odd about this one.
The girl reaches up to brush her bangs out of her eyes and nods to Jason when he asks her if she is heading in. Of course, in her life she had seen little kindness, so even a simple gesture like Jason opening the door for her catches her entirely off-guard.
Cassandra takes a moment to think of the correct word as she stands there smiling awkwardly at Jason, before saying a hesitant, "T-thanks."
Jason offers a smile; even with the sunglasses, it makes him more boyish and less sharp. He keeps his hand on the door, waiting for her to go through.
"No problem." And it wasn't. His body language was guarded in a general sense, but there was no fear of her, and no hostility either.
Cassandra takes in Jason for a brief moment, blushing just a little as she realized she was 'checking' him out. She heads inside of the restaurant, taking a deep breath as she smells the food.
She wanders towards the counter and picks up a menu, squinting at it as she tries to read it, of course her dyslexia doesn't help her much with this task; neither does the fact she has the menu /upside down/.
Left with the dilemma of how to approach this, Jason was left standing at her side, watching her. When someone asked to seat him, he reached out and said, "Would you like to have lunch with a perfect stranger?"
He wants to help.
Suddenly, Cassandra's head hurt a lot less as she watched the man offer to have lunch with her. She could see his good intentions in his body language and she realized, without Babs to read the menu for her, she was as good as blind.
"Yes." The word comes out of her mouth with no hesitation as she steps a little closer to Jason. She had to admit to herself, this was going better than she had imagined it a few minutes ago.
What had Alfred taught her to do when meeting someone new? She extends a hand to Jason and says, "Cassandra." Strangely enough, she couldn't recall the last time she had introduced herself to anyone since Barbara and Bruce...
"James," he said, and that's the first lie he's told since he met her. "But you can call me Jay." Which is a much more honest thing. He lets them be lead away, pulls her chair out for her but allows her to tuck herself to the table as she likes.
"Is English your second language? I'm a polygot myself, so..." He's trying to read her difficulty; she could be an immigrant, a tourist, but... those don't seem right to him, either. "If there's something you're more comfortable speaking, I might know it."
Polygot? There was a term she didn't know, did he mean Polygamist? She had read about that hadn't she? Oh God. Cassandra blushes at the question and shakes her head, taking a deep breath and concentrating as she speaks, each word coming out slowly, "I know English."
She takes a breath, smiling at Jason or 'James' as it may be and points to her mouth in explanation, "Just hard to speak."
She signs to Jason in ASL rapidly, 'I know Sign Language also.'. Although it was clear she wasn't deaf and she wasn't a tourist; the immigrant possibility still stood however, but how many recent immigrants knew English and ASL fluently?
Little does Jay know what Cass is thinking; he can't read her confusion quite that well as she reads bodies, after all. But when her hands start to move, he brightens. Yes, that he knows.
'I know Sign Language.' he gives back; he moves with less flow -- probably someone who learned to know for utilitarian reasons, not because they were immersed in Deaf culture. There was a thickness to the way his hands moved as opposed to the deft fluidity of a Deaf speaker.
'Do you have difficulty reading? I can help. What kind of food do you like?'
She watched Jason's hands and frowns just a little bit, she hated when people noticed her flaws. It made her feel incomplete, stubborn as ever she picked a menu up off the table and tried desperately to read it. Focus Cassandra. Make the letters make sense, if even for a moment.
Her mind manages to put together noodles and something else before she gives up, she doesn't sign back to JASON (WTF? OMG? TIM!?!?!) but instead switches back to English. She wanted to speak, she had to if she was going to get better.
"Tea. Noodles." She smiles, the last bit she has no trouble saying at all, "Chocolate Iced Cream." She sets the menu down and asks James, "From Gotham?" Clearly curious about the young man. For an 18 year old girl, it was sort of an ideal situation. Hungry and then a cute guy asks you to lunch?
"Tea and noodles, then," he said, and nods. He leaned over and tapped items on the menu, starting to explain what each was. Why not? Then she could choose what she liked.
"I've come in from out of town," he said, and that was the truth, but there was something he was clearly avoiding. It was another guard. Sitting at the table he, he had taken off his sunglasses, and had his clear blue eyes on her. God, how long had it been since he had a 'date'?
She couldn't help but look into those blue eyes as he explained the menu to her. How long had it been since she had been on a date? Never. Was that what this was? She blushed again just a little at the thought, pointing to two of the menu items Jason had explained to her without much care.
She smiles at his explanation of him being from out of town, perhaps choosing to ignore that the man was hiding something; she had a very dark past to hide herself. Feeling normal, if even for a moment, it was good.
Pointing at the motorcycle jacket that Jason wears, she says, "Nice Jacket." Before trying to learn a little more about him, "You Ride?" She makes the sign language symbol for 'Motorcycle'. That one was a real tongue twister to say.
Despite his hardship, when a girl looked his way, Jason still smiled like a young man -- easy, friendly, open. No matter what he wasn't telling her-- and who was really honest with a stranger? -- he seemed pleasantly surprised by how she noted and spoke. Whatever her problem was, he enjoyed tackling an issue that wasn't all about who was killing who in Gotham.
"Yeah, actually. East Coast has some hella fine bike culture," he said. "I didn't drive because Gotham at this hour is gridlock hell, but that's what your feet are for, right?"
Well, that and after being punched in the chest by Amazo, he wasn't sure he could handle the power of his motorcycle right now. Best to let himself recover a day or two before he hit the roads on high powered machinery.
She sort of liked this guy, even if he was a polyglot. Cassandra sat across from him, looking into those dreamy blue eyes and she realized, that perhaps this could be some sort of sinister polyglot plot. What if she was misunderstanding though? Curse her poor language skills.
She leans on the table, asking nervously of Jason, "How many wife?" She blushed immediately after asking it.
"...what?"
Cue confusion, especially since the waitress came up at just the right moment to hear that. Everyone exchanged looks, and then he clued in. "OH! Oh no, polygot! It's-- a play on words. No, I -- I speak multiple languages. I don't have multiple wives! I don't have any wives!"
The waitress began to giggle, but there was an edge of spite; after all, Jason was attractive, and Cass was... well, odd. Obviously not in the league of a scorching hot young man with no ring on his finger.
Jason just shook his head, and smiled all the while, though he cut a glance to the waitress and gave his order shortly. "Your turn, Cassandra."
Cassandra suddenly looked like she might die. The laughing and giggling? It was at her expense, how was she supposed to know there was different types of polys? She bites her lower lip, trying to ignore the giggling from the waitress.
She doesn't exactly know how to read what Jason had pointed out to her, but she did remember the words, the explanation he had given her.
She had to make up for that embarrassment, for her own misunderstanding. She had to make the bitchy waitress realize, she wasn't a simpleton, "Green Tea." Check. "Pad Thai Noodles." Check! "Chocolate Iced Cream!" Checkmate! She had done it. She smiled proudly. It was a victory to nobody but her unfortunately.
Once the waitress is gone, Jason let his smile slip, watching her with something ugly in his eyes. But he blinked it away, and addressed Cass instead. "Ignore her," he told her. "Look at her. No scars, no hardship. She'll be out of Gotham as soon as she realizes how hard it is to live here."
He hated entitled people; he had callouses on his hands -- that woman did not.
Cass nods to Jason at his assessment of the waitress, noting with a smile, "Entitled and Insecure." Still, she fought to protect people like that young woman on a daily basis. Maybe she laughed at her now because she had a difficulty with language, but if she met her as Batgirl; she would be grateful.
She leans onto the table a little more, cocking her head to the side a bit before asking slowly, "Is this.... a date?" Oh the irony of it all, Bruce would be pissed if he knew the two of them was here together given who Jason was; fortunately Cassandra didn't have a clue herself.
Jason nodded along; yes, Cass was right. He was glad she could see it. That was the truth. But the next question got his eyebrows arched, and he timed his answer to the waitress coming back with their drinks.
"Of course it's a date," he said, grin cocky and full of slyness. He had no idea what he was agreeing to-- who she was, who he was. Little did they know just how much trouble they'd be in if they knew who the other was...
Cass goes silent for a few moments when Jason confirmed her suspicions. So he wasn't a /polygamist/ and he wasn't the Joker or one of the bad guys that she could tell based on body language anyways; what was the catch? Of course she would be suspicious, but she didn't let it show.
She reaches over to touch a scar on his face, rather gently, provided he doesn't flinch away, asking, "From what?" Clearly curious how the man had gotten his scars.
Jason stilled; there was a certain readiness to be attacked, but he allowed her to move within touch range, keeping his eyes on hers.
"I had a rough childhood," he said, and truer words could not be spoken. "Got into more of my fair share of fights, that's all."
It doesn't take Cassandra's body reading ability to tell Jason is not lying, she sympathizes with him; perhaps more than he could ever know. Her voice takes on a sad tone and she replies, "Me to."
She starts to pull her hand back from Jason, asking, "Father did this?" It was the most common abuse she knew, so it was the first conclusion she would jump to.
Jason's expression hardened; he closed off. He didn't want to talk about fathers at all.
"My father," both of them, "let me down, but -- not like that." Willis Todd was absentee, walking out on his son and addict wife, and Bruce? The less said about how failed Jason the better. "We'll just say he wasn't there when I needed him."
Cassandra takes the hint immediately when Jason's expression changes. She feels like she's said the wrong thing and now she wishes she had never brought it up or asked.
"I'm sorry...." She doesn't know what else to say. She was good at fighting, but at socializing? Not so much.
"It's okay. It's just not a great date topic," Jason said, looking down into his water. Time to change the direction of the conversation.
"So, how long have you been in Gotham?" he asked. Cassandra was a new acquisition of Bruce's, and of less importance to Jason than the information on Robins that Talia had manipulated him with. He knew that Batgirl existed, but unlike Tim, he didn't know much about her.
"Sorry. Never dated." It's the best apology she can muster to the explanation on Jason mentioning it wasn't a good topic. Of course, how much stranger did she look now in admitting that fact?
"One year." She glances around at the people in the restaurant, smiling, "Nice people here. Like you." Her gaze settles back on Jason.
"I don't exactly get out much either," Jay admitted; honest, but also there to make her feel better. "Work doesn't allow it. I'm a junior contractor. Go where the work is." It's... not quite true, that; there's a twisted bit of truth-- he just didn't take payment for the work that made him travel.
They were interrupted though by the arrival of food; her Pad Thai, and he got a creamy Massaman curry. Everything smelled delicious, and Jason was pleased by the layout.
Cassandra begins to wolf down the food like she hasn't eaten in a day, or at least after a night of hard patrol and a morning of training. Did she sleep? It was debatable at times; she always had so much to do.
When almost all of her plate is finished in what seems to be perhaps 30 seconds to a minute tops, she sets the chopsticks down in near embarrassment, remembering something Alfred had told her; manners?
Manners, right. She was supposed to be gracious, but she had already eaten all of her food. She sips her tea, slowly, trying her best to look like a lady, although it's clear most of the people around their table have just watched her eat her food like it was about to be taken away from her. Ten years on the street did that to you.
She asks Jason, "Contractor? Like Mercenary?" She knew what mercenaries were, all too well. Her eyes narrowed a little.
"Mercenary?" His surprise was apparent; that she'd leap to a conclusion that was close to the truth was unusual. Maybe she was a refugee from a war-torn country? The food she consumed defintely spoke of a background where such things were scarce...
"No, that's not what I do. Building contractor." That's a boldfaced lie, but no one else could tell it by looking at him. "Drywall."
Cassandra looks embarrassed again; she had failed horribly at being on a date as far as she could see it. Of course, there were other types of contractors other than hired killers and soldiers. It's just not something she readily knew in that reference.
She looks like she might get up at any moment, she says, "I should go." She begins to pull the crumpled bills out of her pocket to put down on the table.
What was she doing here? A Date? She wasn't normal. She wouldn't be normal no matter how hard she tried. She was a killer, a murderer trained from birth no matter how hard she tried to atone for it. She was nothing more than a weapon and how could a weapon fit in with others?
He'd upset her; he could see it in her tension. Now it was his turn to reach out. It wasn't an attack, it was attmept at comfort, though awkward. He wasn't a caregiver. It'd been ground out of him years ago, after the death of his mother.
"Hey," he said, "it's okay. I - was just surprised, that's all. You've been some really rough places. I get that. Been there myself, just-- different." Her speech, her mannerisms -- she'd endured trauma. So had he. The least he could do is show a kindred spirit some kindness, no matter how awkward.
A year ago she would have pulled away from Jason and rushed out the door, she had never really let anyone close; that is until she had gotten to Gotham City. She smiles just a little and replies, "You Understand?" She seems just a little surprised.
"Yeah," Jason said. "I get it. I do."
He was still awkward about comfort, patting her hand briefly before he waved down the waitress. "Can we get her ice cream now?" The woman nodded, and went to get it-- may as well let her have her dessert early, since he was going to skip it, and he still had curry to get through.
Cass noticeably peaks up at the mention of iced cream, finally! It was practically her favourite food in the whole world, but it had been explained to her numerous times it was not a meal but a desert much to her disappointment.
When the iced cream arrives, she eats it much slower than the Pad Thai, seeming like she may have something on her mind.
She smiles beautifully before asking Jason, "Date again?" She points to him, "You." Then at herself, "Me?"
She wanted to see him again? That was-- definitely new. He died before he turned sixteen-- now? He was on a date, an being asked for a second. Enjoy his befuddlement, Cass.
"Yeah, okay. I mean, I work... weird hours," how true was that, "but... yeah. We can." This was so weird. But she was so genuine and trying so damned hard, how could you not admire her sheer tenacity?
Cass could read the befuddlement in Jason easily but it surprised her, he was tall, dark and handsome. Surely he was used to girls asking him out? I mean she had mistaken him for a polygamist, only to find out what polyglot truly meant!
A small smile tugs at the corners of her lips and she asks Jason, "First time dating?"
She eats a spoonful of iced cream while waiting for his reply.
Jason dropped his gaze as he put another spoonful of curry in his mouth.
"Yeah. I was schooling abroad, didn't really had time for seeing people." Talia didn't count. Jason knew what that was: sex to muddy the waters between them, get him distracted and confused. That's all. He didn't care. She'd used that on the wrong guy. He knew all about sex, even if he didn't know about dating. Growing up on the streets of Gotham rarely meant you got to keep your innocence for long.
"Work'll probably keep me busy a lot of the time, but-- yeah. I think we could do that."
She had never considered what she would say if someone asked her about her work. She couldn't exactly reply that she was Batgirl and she prowled the streets at night looking for bad guys to take down. Thank God Jason had not asked her about work.
She reaches into her pockets and places her stack of crumpled ones on the table, straightening them out until there is nine of them; hardly enough for the meal, "I pay." She smiles.
Wha? Again, befuddlement, but -- he smirks, and then said, "We'll go dutch. I'll get mine, and you'll get yours, okay?"
She was trying; maybe it was terrible to lead her on -- he couldn't be anything to anybody, really, he was married to the job as much as Bruce ever wa -- but at least he could buy hre dinner or show her a good time at a movie or something.
But the check was approaching; Jaso has cleared his plate, and the waitress was returning. He pulled out a wallet and handled his cash, and gathered Cass's to combine for the check.
Likewise, Cassandra had finished her iced cream. She had no illusions of ever being a normal girl, but it was nice to pretend, if even for a little bit. She smiled and nodded, "Sure." She had no clue what going dutch meant, she hoped it wasn't bad.
While they waited for the cheque she decided to glance around the establishment and see what kind of people were around, something admittedly, she should have done so long ago.
Damn those dreamy eyes!
So far, so good. Jason let the waitress go with their cash -- and then glanced back to to Cass. She was curious about the place now? Well, that worked. A moment later the waitress came back with their change, and Jason divvied up her (small) tip.
"Let me give you my number?" he began, but then the door jangled harshly on the hinges, as two men came in. They approaches the hostess station, speaking in harsh, quiet voices. Radiating aggression, they began to intimidate, and started following the greeter toward the back. Jason knew a strong arm when he saw one.
"... sorry, I've-- got to go."
Then, he was up and moving after them, pulling a long red cloth from inside his coat. He'll have to play Hero without the Hood.
Cassandra wasn't about to let anyone be robbed on her watch. Suspicion filled her head as the men followed the greeter towards the back, she expected trouble but she wasn't in disguise; it had never stopped her from helping other before she met Oracle & Batman.
When Jason had started to say he had to go, Cassandra was already up; moving as quickly as she could after the men. She was a trained assassin and those skills came in handy when fighting crime.
Muscled tensed and her body coiled like a spring, she prepared to leap at the larger of the two men.
"The hell are you doing?" Jason hissed as she, to his mind, came with him. He was already tying his kerchief around his face, drawing his hidden side arm from his coat. No time to argue, though; the greeter was taking the to the back, crying softly.
Cass offered a curt reply to Jason when questioned what she was doing, "Job." At the sight of the gun her eyes go wide, "Bad. Put gun away." Her tone was utterly seriously, "No killing."
Shit. She's....
He stops, looking at her. The face shape. Her body. The way she moved.
"...Batgirl?"
There was a bang in the back. "No time! Argue method later, get civilian out safe now!"
And then he was running forward. That door? Going down. The two men towering over the hostess who was crying over her now-shot boss? Confused as hell, but armed and dangerous, and ready to engage. Jason went down on his knee to steady himself... and provide Cassandra a clear window to leap over him. He knew she was more than capable of it, after all.
Cass reaches over towards a near-by table and grabs a pair of plates before running towards Jason Jason using him leverage to leap into the air. She flies through the air, throwing the pair of plates like improvised batarangs towards the men and their sidearms in the hopes of disarming them.
To the waitress who had looked down on her earlier, she says seriously, "Run!" She prepared to fight the large men as she landed on the ground in a tumble, hoping her gambit had paid off and they were now unarmed.
The disarm is up and perfect -- fingers are broken and guns drop as the two begin to yowl; Jason holstered his gun, watching her work. She was poetry in motion alright. When one of the two tried to rush him, the elbow strike that broke his nose and dropped him like a stone seemed fairly anticlimactic.
"Well, I can see why you've never been on a date now," he said dryly.
Cassandra winces just a little as one of the men goes for Jason, but she cannot help but hide her surprise when he seems to take the man down almost immediately. She finishes her target off, knocking him unconscious before rushing over to grab Jason's arm.
"We go now." She points to the back exit to the restaurant and seems to have an excited grin on her face. She loved fighting.
Yes, now was the time to go. Jason moved quickly, but everything in him screamed conflict; he needed to get away, before she clued into who he was, and made everything awkward.
One in the alleyay behind the Thai joint, he headed for the nearest fire escape -- it as time to get some elevation and get the hell away from here.
Of course, Cassandra had no reason to suspect Jason might be trying to escape her now; but she didn't want to wait around for the police either. She heads up a near-by fire escape as well, running a parallel escape to Jason up towards the rooftops.
If he wanted to escape, there was likely some way for him to cause a distraction.
Jason stopped once he was at the top of his roof-- standing still. This was all wrong. Of course, the first person he meets outside the mask is one of them. He should have asked Talia for more information, dug deeper -- anything to prevent himself from being caught unaware. Dammit, he was a fool. He'd made the mistake of thinking the new Batgirl would be like Barbara-- rebellious, but not with a proper background to be truly dangerous. But Cassandra was nothing like Barbara. Jason would spend the rest of the afternoon kicking himself over being so short-sighted.
"Hey!" he called. "Smooth moves there, sister-- but I'm going to warn you only once. Next date, no quarter. Stay out of my way, Batgirl!"
A flashbang, even in daylight, would still dazzle and disorient-- he threw one at the edge of her rooftop, and took off in the opposite direction. He had to revise his plans.
Cassandra couldn't believe her luck. Who the hell was this guy? It's a shame she hadn't seen him making his dazzling escape, it's likely she could have put the pieces together. Next time they met and he was in the mask, it was certain she would, especially given how much time they had spent together.
She doesn't try to run after Jason when he tosses the flashbang, she just frowned as she wiped her eyes trying to see straight, "Why?" It was the only word she could manage to utter.
Her first date and the boy she liked had ran away from her. There would be no second date obviously. She would be telling Batman everything. Her heart? It had been broken.
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