milliways_bar | (no subject)

"No. Way." Charlie kind of freezes when she walks through the door, because what. What. While she's still staring, one of the waitrats approaches her to tug on her worn-out jeans and hand her an information pamphlet.

"...Am I a Disney princess?" she blurts out. (Animals are walking up to her and helping her. That seems like a pretty Disney Princess thing to happen.) But okay. Who is she to deny small fuzzy creatures helping her out? She reads the pamphlet.

This? Is. Awesome. She's kind of not sure what to do first. The urge to run around and see everything is definitely there, but on the other hand, free food. She kind of hasn't eaten in... uh, yesterday. Which is cool. It's like a fast. She's fasting to get the creative juices flowing while she brainstorms ideas for her new costumed identity. It's artistic and monk-ish and oh god she is so freaking starving, she needs burgers STAT.

So yeah, the first thing she does is sit down at a booth and order a giant burger and fries and a milkshake. And while she's waiting, she's kind of attempting to dry-clean off her Bat symbol t-shirt, because she just noticed there's a funky stain at the bottom hem and ew.

[tiny tag: Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe]

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Lock leads her over to a corner of the workshop, carefully guiding her around piles of stuff and machinery. Some of it quite dangerous looking.

Laid out over a series of large benches is a massive stain glass panel. Or more accurately one of a set of panels. Each one depicting a scene that seem to form a story. It's hard to make out as they're out of order at the moment but it looks like it might be about the drones themselves. Lock passes the bottle to another drone who examines it, then clamps it down and starts cutting shapes with an intensity accurate little laser that seems to be inbuilt to the drone's body.

Jay follows them, moving very quietly out of habit. "It's coming along well, Lock."

Edited 2016-01-16 01:19 (UTC)

Whatever it is, it's really cool. Like a giant stained glass window in a church, except... not.

"What is it?"

"Their story." Jay explains, pointing to the panels stacked against a wall. "Their history. They've been through a very rough time to get here so Lock's helping them record their history in colour and light."

He turns to Lock. "Got one set up?"

The drone nods and leads them to another part of the workshop, curtained off with heavy black drapes. A single panel has been braces upright with something set behind it. When Lock activates it, projected light shines through the panel, the facets and textures seeming to move with it. It shows a great ruined dome, parts of it seeming to fall as the light catches them just so. And two human figures, their arms full of drones, running towards a door and safety.

One of the figures is recognisably Jay. "Oh hell, Lock. It's beautiful." He seems genuinely touched.

Okay, upgrade pretty to beautiful now. Charlie kind of awkwardly hugs an arm around herself and shifts from foot to foot. Sometimes, she's not oblivious to the mood of the room, and she's not totally sure what to do now. She feels sort of intrude-y.

Jay notices her discomfort and nods towards the door. "Lets get some air." He gives the drone a warm scratch as they pass.

He leads her back to his area and the motorbikes, pulling a bottle of zesti from a fridge under the bench and offering it to her.

"Thanks," she says to Lock, quickly. And then to Jay, later, before opening the soda and taking a sip.

"What happened?"

"Something bad. Some kind of worldwide holocaust. Lock and four others made it here at the time. Gav, the other guy in the image has magic, made it possible to speak the them. He found out the story and Stock, their leader, took us there. We managed to rescue twenty survivors but the rest of the hive was destroyed. They're pretty much the last of their race."

He cracks a soda of his own, nodding to the bottle. "So you are a Gotham kid?" Only Gothamites drink Zesti. It's just one of those things. He keeps them down here for Tim.

She's way quieter and less bouncy now than she was starting out this thing, but who wouldn't be. "Yeah."

Or, well, Metropolis, but. Gotham for right now, totally counts. "You?"

He nods. "Born and breed. But I haven't been back in a year or so."

"That's cool."

Or something. Words came out; she wasn't really paying attention to what they were. It happens.

Jay cocks his head, watching her with rather piercing blue eyes. "Charlie, you okay?"

She blinks. "Yeah? I'm good."

Beat.

"So what are you working on?" Stealthy topic change for the win?

"Just tuning one of the bikes. I build a lot of this here but the bikes are my passion." He rests a hand on the bike's flank. "This one was designed by someone I use to work with. I've been adapting it ever since."

"That's cool."

Even actually cool this time, instead of just stuff that pops out of her mouth.

"Do you ride?" He ask, still watching her face from the corner of his eye.

"Uh, no. Still waiting on my mom to let me get a learner's permit and stuff," she says, like that wouldn't be one incredibly long wait.

(Maybe Babs will teach her how to drive. You know, once she gets Babs to accept her for the totally awesome teen superhero and protégé that she totally is.)

So not a street kid then? Interesting. Can't be in a good place if she's not eating regularly. "How old are you? If yo don't mind me asking?"

"Sixteen."

Or. Almost sixteen. Also totally counts.

Ah ha, sure. "Old enough to learn to drive or ride. If you want to, that is."

"My mom wanted to be the one to teach me, and she's really busy right now."

Jay nods. He's heard the same tone from Cat when she talks about her mother. "Far enough. If you ever want to learn here, let me know. I'm happy to teach you the basics."

Babs will totally teach her. Charlie's decided. But okay, it's cool to have a backup plan that she won't ever need. "Thanks."

Not that she even really needs to know how to drive a car in the first place, but secret identity!

Jay nods and goes back to tuning the bike. "So, what's your story, Charlie? The bar's a good place to learn new skills, if there's something you want to do."

Like super-awesome ninja-superhero skills? Those would be pretty cool.

But. Secret identity. Shhh. "I'll think about it."

"No worries. I'm down here more often than I'm not. And the drones almost always know where to fine me."