milliways_bar | (no subject)

Steph is doing something similar, perched on a rafter on the other side of the room. There is this thing that happens when two people are both subtly watching the room, where there's accidental eye-meetings, it is awkward. Perhaps it is happening!

Steph has a milkshake, though, not coffee. It's delicious.

Also, people perched in the rafters are noticeable.

Um. If you're Trowa.

The second time their eyes happen to meet, he inclines his head to her slightly in what might be greeting.

Steph grins, and waves happily. Hi, fellow-person-watching-the-world!

Then, deciding, she jumps up and finds her way over from rafter to rafter to alight in the chair next to him - and only just manage to not spill her Casstastic milkshake.

"Hi!"

Trowa does not grin and wave. But it's a fairly amicable deadpan!

(He might be very faintly amused. But it doesn't show, if so.)

"Hi," he says, also amicably.

Her acrobatic descent into the chair gets the (invisible) approval of professional assessment, but no surprise.

"Ooh, good spot." She observes the room from this new spot, grinning. "I'm Steph, hi!"

It's got excellent sight lines, yes. That might be a reason Trowa picked it.

MAYBE.

"Trowa Barton," he says.

"I like your hair." Steph is bright and chipper. This may or may not be due to the sugar in the milkshake.

. . .

"Thanks."

Trowa is faintly bemused. But hey! Easier to respond to than the ones from people who ask him what styling products he uses, or how the hell it works. (This is the hazard of being from an anime and not knowing it.)

Steph beams at him, and is apparently then content to sit curled up improbably on her chair, watching people.

For a little while, anyway. Not Talking is not a thing for Steph.

"Hey, that guy in the corner there - think he's going to start trouble?"

Trowa follows her look.

It's a good question. (Interesting that she chooses to ask him. But she's gregarious -- and, also, that utility belt of hers has a familiar sort of look to it.)

"Probably not. But he's thinking about it."

Steph is impressed! Most people wouldn't have picked that up. She reappraises Trowa quickly and approvingly.

"If he starts trouble with Green Lantern, I bet he'll regret it. ... but ... it'd be kinda fun to watch."

Trowa thinks it's obvious! But Trowa disagrees with much of the world about what is and isn't obvious.

"He's got powers?"

Steph knows his name, and he's wearing spandex. It's kind of a tip-off.

"Yep, he's all - I actually don't know how it works." Steph regards Hal thoughtfully, and with a little awe. (He's Green Lantern.) "But he can create things with his mind. It's pretty cool."

"Handy."

And, you know. Dangerous.

But hey, good to know.

"Yeah, he's a big name on my world. Or he was, I guess, I have no idea if he still is. He could have gone evil since I was last there." Steph looks suddenly thoughtful, intrigued by the possibility of an evil Lantern.

"... nahhhh."

Trowa never discounts the possibility of people suddenly going crazy, manifesting other personalities, or abruptly rearranging their life priorities!

However, Green Lantern isn't showing any particular signs of it. Insofar as one can tell from five minutes' observation. (Which, admittedly, is far from conclusive.)

"He might still be a big name," Trowa points out.

Either he's got an excellent deadpan, or he's not actually joking. Or both!

Steph eyes him for a second to try to work it out.

... it is like talking to Batman. Only with better hair.

"He swaggers like he is," she agrees, grinning a little. "I don't think I've ever actually talked to him, there or here. I guess I could ask."

She really is gregarious. Asking people when you could lurk and compile mental dossiers instead is such a bizarre notion!

. . . So, yeah, Trowa and Batman would probably get along just fine.

Trowa considers asking if she thinks Green Lantern would usefully answer the question, and then discards the notion in favor of an impassive sip of coffee.

Steph sips her milkshake thoughtfully, still quite cheerful.

"On the other hand, if I ask him, and he is evil these days, what's he going to say? And if I ask him and he's not evil, he'd probably be offended. Maybe. Or maybe not, I guess. I don't know. I'd be offended, but I'm the one with the temper, and he's a real hero, so I guess it'd be different for him."

Apparently Trowa's participation is not necessary for the conversation to keep going!

Trowa gets along quite well with people who do all the conversational heavy lifting! For further evidence, see his sister.

He listens to this soliloquy without reaction, except for a brief sidelong glance at the beginning.

"Do people go evil a lot in your world?"

Her terminology. Trowa does not, however, believe in audible quote marks.

"More than you'd expect," Steph says, and grins suddenly. "Less than the media thinks."

Trowa does not grin back, but Cass might spot the amusement.

"It makes a good story."

Cynicism, thy name is Trowa Barton.

"Especially if it's Superman." Steph balances her milkshake glass on her knee, realises that won't last, and leans over to set it on the table nearest. "I'm pretty sure they all think Batman's evil already, T-- Robin said something about that once, but that was a while ago."

Up to date on DC canon, Steph is not it.

"Man, I haven't read a newspaper for ages."

Trowa, who follows his own world's news with the obsessive frequency of the paranoid, is making a note of all these names.

What he says, though, is "Oh?"

It's probably to the part about Batman being evil. But he'll accept any answer Steph opts for.

"Doesn't seem all that relevant," Steph explains cheerfully. "If it doesn't affect my friends, then I don't want to know about it, you know? Otherwise it's all the end of the world and people exploding and"

(that time she looked in on her mother from the Rock of Eternity and didn't like what she saw and)

"you know, it just gets really tiring after a while. Dead and all."

Ah. That would affect the situation, yes.

Trowa acknowledges, with briefly lowered eyelids and perhaps an infinitesimal head-tilt, that this is fair enough.

Steph decides she likes him. He reminds her of Batman, only, yes, with better hair.

"I'm pretty sure they'd let me know if anything huge happened, though. Probably." She considers.

"If people knew, anyway. So hey, where are you from? An earth place?"

"L3." Mostly.

"It's a colony orbiting Earth," he adds. Bonus words for the congenial Bat-person!

THAT IS SO COOL, says Steph's expression, with rather a lot of emphasis.

"Like, in space? That is seriously awesome!"

"In space," Trowa agrees.

Even by Trowa standards, this isn't really a smile - but the amusement might be a little more transparent than before.

"Wow. Was it much like here? Different? Better? What's it like being here instead? Do you go back often?"

"Here or Earth?"

Clarification before answers!

He could clarify while answering, but that would require using extra words.

"I meant Earth," Steph says, and considers her words, "but both! Answer for both."

"I'm in the circus. We tour Earth too."

Beat.

"I'm not Bound," he adds.

By Trowa standards, this is practically a monologue!

"The colonies are a lot more enclosed." This isn't said with any particular weight; Trowa likes them both. It's just a fact.

Cathy flops down next to him with a magazine, swinging her feet up onto the coffee table and carelessly balancing the hot black tea in her hand.

(The magazine is Acro-Chat and has a trapeze artists in green-and-gold bodysuits hanging on the cover.)

Trowa does not say hello, because the word is totally unnecessary. Neither does he shift over, because there's room on the couch. He does have a sip of coffee, though.

Yo, sis.