"Wasteland is New York," says Vicki, and Bruce follows up with, "Yeah, Gotham's the hellhole." (Muted in the background from someone or another, 'and nobody cares about Florida.')
Talk of an after-after party coupled with Tony Stark (a novelty in these parts) and Bruce Wayne (still a novelty himself) has drawn a little circle of glamorous interested people - completely unsurprisingly. At this late hour the respectable company has all withdrawn, leaving them with only the most determined social climbers and honest party animals. It's the sort of scene that Bruce would truly like to veer back from but-- it's a spectacle. Vivid and hallucinatory details will be all over every digital page six tomorrow, and it's what Bruce Wayne's image needs. Detached, he watches himself laugh and call over one of his standby concierges and ply Vicki with more champagne that costs more than some peoples apartments. He imagines feeling any of that acted humor with honesty, and finds he can't. He wonders if Stark can, or if he too is using it as some kind of shield - even a less fantastic one than his.
"I thought he weren't talking about work," Bruce says over his shoulder at Tony, migrating somewhere, he really doesn't know for sure but he assumes the party's hive mind does, "And otherwise that's too much from me on the first date." (Vicki gamely accuses him of being a liar and he kisses her briefly to shut her up; one of her friends squeals in delight at it.)
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Talk of an after-after party coupled with Tony Stark (a novelty in these parts) and Bruce Wayne (still a novelty himself) has drawn a little circle of glamorous interested people - completely unsurprisingly. At this late hour the respectable company has all withdrawn, leaving them with only the most determined social climbers and honest party animals. It's the sort of scene that Bruce would truly like to veer back from but-- it's a spectacle. Vivid and hallucinatory details will be all over every digital page six tomorrow, and it's what Bruce Wayne's image needs. Detached, he watches himself laugh and call over one of his standby concierges and ply Vicki with more champagne that costs more than some peoples apartments. He imagines feeling any of that acted humor with honesty, and finds he can't. He wonders if Stark can, or if he too is using it as some kind of shield - even a less fantastic one than his.
"I thought he weren't talking about work," Bruce says over his shoulder at Tony, migrating somewhere, he really doesn't know for sure but he assumes the party's hive mind does, "And otherwise that's too much from me on the first date." (Vicki gamely accuses him of being a liar and he kisses her briefly to shut her up; one of her friends squeals in delight at it.)