"Sometimes." Niko would admit that much, anyway. Sometimes Robin was quite useful. Sometimes he was just a pain.

Dani studied him for a moment.

"You don't talk much, do you?" she asked.

Niko's lips quirked in a faint smile for a moment. "No," he agreed. "Not much." Especially not recently. This was probably more than he'd spoken yesterday.

"That's okay," Dani said cheerfully. "I can probably chat enough for two people." She glanced at the bar to see how well Maggie was doing. "I take it you're here keeping an eye on your brother? I assume that one is your brother, anyways, you've got the same eyes."

Nik nodded. "Cal," he provided. It wasn't quite true; Cal was keeping more of an eye on him, for once, but it was close enough to pass, anyway.

"Maggie," Dani said in return, gesturing to the half-peri. "My step-sister."

"Step-sister?" That got a raised eyebrow, because Ish had claimed Maggie as family, and Dani was certainly not peri.

"Yeah, her mother married my father when we were kids," Dani said, shrugging. "We're not blood sisters, just related by marriage." She grinned. "I know you know what Maggie is, but I bet it's itching at you trying to figure me out."

Niko just shrugged. Yes, he was curious, but not as curious as he normally would have been. Although part of that was his normal reticence around new people, too.

Dani watched him for a reaction and almost pouted.

"Well, you're no fun," she said, although she did flash a teasing grin.

Nik snorted at that. "I've been told that before," he said with another little shrug. Because he didn't care if he was fun or not.

Dani grinned.

"By your brother, I'm assuming," she said. Because that sounded like a very sibling kind of thing.

"Among other people, yes." Niko glanced at Cal again to make sure everything was still fine.

Cal was sending a Look towards a pair of lilu in the corner, but otherwise wasn't getting into trouble.

"I'm going to assume you're the older brother," Dani observed.

"Yes," Nik agreed. Because that was pretty common knowledge for those who cared to look. "He's younger."

"Maggie and I are the same age, give or take a couple of months," Dani said. "She likes to lord it over me sometimes that she's the older one." She made a bit of a face.

Niko snorted. "Some people are like that," he agreed. "A few months isn't very long, though."

"Nope, it's not," Dani agreed. She grinned. "Maggie mostly only does that to tease, so it's all good."

Niko nodded. Yes, he understood that as well, although he and Cal didn't normally tease so much.

Dani settled into her seat a bit, not offering any more conversation. She was running out of mostly-polite smalltalk.

Nik let the silence stretch. He didn't mind, after all, and it let him get a better idea of her when she wasn't distracting him. He still wasn't sure what she was, though, and it was actually starting to bother him.

Dani glanced at him from time to time, but didn't try to force any more conversation. She just sipped her soda and watched the rest of the bar for a while, subtly waving off a succubus and the pair of lilu from before. She wasn't interested in any sort of encounter that night.

Niko noticed that but didn't comment. It meant that she'd seen them before, which wasn't a surprise. But that they listened to her without trying to persuade her otherwise was a bit surprising. They actually respected her, in their own way.

Dani noticed the glance from Niko.

"What?" she asked. "I don't want to deal with them right now."

"And they left you alone without a fuss," Niko said, although he didn't say anything more than that. That observation alone told him quite a bit.