fandomhighdorms | Out on the School Grounds Near the Dorms, Wednesday Evening

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Out on the School Grounds Near the Dorms, Wednesday Evening

Even a few days in Gotham City was long enough for Stephanie to notice how quiet Fandom was by comparison. She didn't mind; it wasn't a bad kind of quiet, just a little jarring at first.

She had a slight frown on her face as she made her way back up to the school from the causeway, weekend bag slung over her shoulder. Holiday weekend or not, Batman hadn't taken it easy on her in training.

Guess the big guy doesn't believe in long holiday weekends. Or holiday cheer.

. . . Batman had been, shall we say, generous with the constructive criticism, emphasis ironic.

Lots of working out, sure, and Stephanie was still a little stiff from that, but she'd spent a lot of time working on observational skills and mnemonic techniques. Her head was full, and she was mulling over all kinds of detectivey things.

And in no hurry to get inside, either; you just didn't see stars like this in Gotham.

[OOC: Open, sure, whee!]

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Toby had gone outside with the intent of getting away from the endless mental chatter of his fellow students. Not that walls really made much of a difference, but distance sometimes did, and he'd planned on making his way out to the campground.

But then- he'd caught a flicker of a thought- enough to pique his curiosity, and so he casually strolled over to where Steph stood. "Not a sight you really get to see in the big city," he commented, tilting his head up towards the sky.

"Totally not," Stephanie agreed in an awed tone, her head still craned back except for the moment she took to sneak a sideways look. "Heya, Toby. Have a good break?"

Hopefully yours was less boot-camp-y than mine. Oh, the wisecracks I can't actually make. Curse you, cruel secret-identity world!

"Quiet," Toby said with a shrug. "Food, a few presents, definitely no running around and dodging," he coughed, realising he was responding more to her thoughts than her actual words. "...Since I decided to forgo the Boxing Day shopping and all." A decent recovery, he thought.

"Boxing Day?" Poor uncultured Stephanie, but at least asking the question was a good coverup for her surprised look.

BUT THAT WAS MY HEAD VOICE, RIGHT? YIKES.

"Is that what they call the totally crazy after-Christmas sales?"

Totally your head voice. Unfortunately for Stephanie, that wasn't actually a problem for Toby. Or rather, it was, but not in that sense of the word. "Yeah," he nodded. "more of a Canadian thing than ere in the States, then?" it wasn't like he had much experience out in the wide world either.

"I guess. It isn't a big thing for us -- as you might guess since I had to ask," Stephanie replied with a chuckle. "It isn't actually a fighting holiday, is it?"

"No, well," Toby amended. "It's not supposed to be. But I hear some of the shoppers at the electronics stores can get pretty vicious."

Stephanie huffed sardonically. "As long as they're not actually knifing each other for TV sets -- not that I'd rule it out."

Ever, really. But particularly around the holidays.

Wear it on your sleeve much there, Brown? Yeesh.

"That's pretty cynical of you," Toby observed dryly. Not that he actually disagreed. He'd had a lot of experience when it came to getting to see the worst in people, after all.

Stephanie couldn't dispute that, so she just shrugged apologetically. "It's like blood in the water, you know? Offering huge price cuts on the luxury things everyone thinks they need? Of course there's going to be a feeding frenzy, and people'll do anything."

She sighed. "Sorry. Not very cheerful of me, is it?"

"It's okay," Toby shrugged. "Thing is? You're not wrong. People say they don't care about that sort of thing, but in here?" he tapped his temple, "Most of 'em..." a slight pause, "Er, what do you want to bet that's not the case?"

"You mean they're all thinking it anyway?" Stephanie guessed, then rolled her eyes. "So totally. It's not always a bad reason, either. Sometimes . . . they just want to make their kids happy. Feel sort of successful, you know?"

And then sometimes they're like Dad, and take that too far.

"Voice of experience?" Toby raised an eyebrow, because he was ~~nosy~~ curious like that.

Huh. Stephanie. Brooding. And staring up like she was looking for the Ratman signal or something.

Topher read too many comics.

He checked for squirrels as he came over, then hissed, "You're you right now, right?"

Thank you, Topher.

Who knew? Maybe some of the new tech in Stephanie's bag included something squirrel-repellent along with the nifty new batarangs.

"Is that supposed to be a trick philosophical question?" she asked, genuinely confused. "And by the way hello to you too, Topher."

"No, I meant you-you," he clarified. "No costume. But you're brooding."

Superheroes always brooded.

Yeah, but not superheroes who were also technically sidekicks! They weren't supposed to do that.

"Not brooding," Stephanie said, almost a whine but mostly just an objection. "Just thinking. It's completely possible to think without brooding, y'know. Sheesh!"

Well, if Steph would up and say that she was a sidekick, maybe they wouldn't have this problem.

"So... you're normal you."

He just wanted to know where he stood here!

"'Normal' being somewhat relative, but yes." Stephanie tapped the corner of her eye as if to indicate the lack of a mask. "Sheesh -- jumpy or something?"

She could've forgotten to put it on! Or left it off to avoid messing up her makeup or something. He didn't know how girls worked.

"No," Topher said, folding his arms. It wasn't a great look for him. Rumpled the sweater vest and all that. "I just didn't want to interrupt you if you were superheroing."

See, she preferred to think of it as superheroing, sidekick status or not.

"How unbelievably considerate of you," Stephanie said, and it was only partly sarcastic. "But no, no, no interruptions here, except from stargazing."

Awkward pause.

"Did you go anywhere for the break?"

"No." Topher wrinkled his nose. Why would he want to go home? Gross. "Lemme guess. You went to Rhodey's with Tony?"

Not even a little, Topher.

"Me?" Stephanie smothered a laugh. "Not even. I went home to see Mom for a few days."

'course, she'd had to work on Christmas Eve, but . . .

"Ew. Sorry."

Not that Topher knew Steph's mother personally. Just sort of a gut reaction.

". . . seeing my mom is not an ew thing, oh my god," Stephanie protested.

Topher eyed her skeptically.

"Weird."

"You're back!" Hello to you as well, Tony. Because there weren't enough people with To-- names there yet.

EVERYONE BUT STEPHANIE. GOD.

"I am!" Stephanie bounded over to throw her arms around him. "And so are you! Did you peel yourself away from the video games for more than, like, two minutes?"

Tony took a deep breath, shaking his head before leaning against her. "Bruce and I ended up in the future where we had to fight a giant, robotic Charles Dickens."

Was he joking? It was hard to tell.

". . . seriously?" Stephanie eased up on the hugging just a touch. "You did both make it back --" yes, she'd listened to radio this morning -- "so I'm assuming that at least turned out decently."

"I'm thinking this is a lesson in why I don't go anywhere with Bruce." Sorry, Bruce.

"Oh, you shouldn't let that put you off the idea forever," Stephanie replied, always quick to defend him (which was a little dysfunctional, but there you go). Although she could totally see that being a recipe for trouble. "Was it fun, at least?"

"I built a version of the suit powered by steam." That was totally a yes.

"Translation into Tony-speak: a complete blast," Stephanie decided, laughing. "You'd find a way to work on something mechanical on a deserted island, I swear."

IN A CAVE. WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS.

"Depends on what I have with me. I'm not the Professor, you know. And coconuts aren't good for radios, in case you were wondering."

HER POINT EXACTLY.

"They're not?" Stephanie snapped her fingers. "You mean the television's been lying to me all this time?"

And back to the hugging.

"I'm glad you're back. And un-stomped."

"And you survived home," Tony added. "Oh, I finished your gift after I got back."

Seriously, Tony. The lab wasn't your second bedroom.

". . . have you even seen your dorm room since you got back?"

Stephanie and your narrative were on the same track here, Tony.

"Yes?" Not at all.

"Uh huh." Totally not believing you here, Tony.

"I got distracted by work." Which was the story of his life, really.

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Out on the School Grounds Near the Dorms, Wednesday Evening

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