I see you wishing on your star and wishes cannot lie [Closed]

[teamsad]

Who: Jessica Drew and Clint Barton, professional superheroes
Where: A restaurant, close to Alpha Tower
When: March 11, the night of the kidnappings
What: Shit's going down. The senior members of Alpha Force are unaware and hungry.
Warnings: Dumbasses. Awkward romance. Awkwardness in general.

For the record, they have been doing their job. They've been out for hours, patrolling and looking for anything that'll point to where fake-Dynamo is hiding out. They've run into a few cyborgs, sure, but they obviously couldn't tell them anything useful, and once taken down, there's nothing on them to point to where they came from. Maybe the CONDOR retrieval teams they called in to pick up the pieces will have better luck. They stopped a break-in at an electronics store, because Clint insisted on it - the way Jess looks at it, they have bigger problems to deal with, but at a certain point it's not worth arguing with him.

But at a certain point, even superheroes need to eat, and even if things are weirder than normal for LA... there is nothing earth-shattering going on. The world can spare them for an hour or two.

A quick change into civilian clothes later, and they found their way to a restaurant near the Tower - there's only so much takeout a person can handle in a month.

"Do you have a free table near a wall?" Jess asks as the waiter leads them into the restaurant. "Maybe in a corner?"

So she likes to watch the doors. Paranoia serves you well when you've pissed off crazy terrorist organizations the way she has.

Comments

[makethatwork]

"Definitely a corner," Clint agrees, and points out one that has a table near it. "We'll take that one, actually."

The waiter doesn't look particularly pleased at being told where to seat these two clearly paranoid weirdos, but he obliges, letting Clint drag the table over a couple feet to give them the best defensible position.

Clint also takes the time to drag both chairs over before Jess can help, making a point to hold hers out for her.

"So, best seat in the house for a couple'a spooks like us, right?"

[teamsad]

Jess stops for a moment, tilting her head slightly as she looks at him with amusement. No one's ever held out a chair for her, and she's not sure how to feel about it.

"Looks like." She pauses for a moment, and then takes the offered seat. "It's been a while since I've actually... been to a restaurant. Not a lot of places I'd trust in Lowtown, you know..."

[makethatwork]

"Not a lot of places in rural Canada period, much less trustworthy ones," Clint adds, nodding. He settles in his own seat, poking at the menu.

"Lowtown's definitely worse, though. Why you'd spend any time there without being forced is beyond me."

[teamsad]

She shrugs as she picks up the menu, grateful for something to look at that's not him. She always feels awkward during this conversation - talking about TRIDENT, about why she even cares. Barton knows, but that doesn't make her feel that much better.

"Lots of TRIDENT there. Not a lot of people who care enough to do anything about them. Or volunteers to go to Madripoor to deal with it." A pause, and another shrug, trying to seem entirely disaffected by it. She just comes off as an awkward teenager, really. "And maybe I have some issues to work out."

[makethatwork]

"Yeah, but there are other places with TRIDENT. That aren't Madripoor." Clint shudders.

Look, he had to spend some time there a few times and he really Does Not Like It.

"Issues, though, issues I get." He squints at his menu a bit and scratches at his ear. "You ever eaten here before?"

[teamsad]

"It's not so bad. You punch the wrong person, there's a good chance they deserve it anyway..."

She considers asking what he was doing in Madripoor, but it's a little rude to ask about other agents' missions unless they offer information.

"A few times. It takes me a while to get tired of takeout, but I do eventually." Cooking for herself is just out of the question. She doesn't have that kind of patience.

[makethatwork]

"Well, there is that."

Yeah, it was mostly just 'certain people need to take an arrow to the knee or get punched in the face - Barton, get on it' stuff. Nothing to write home about. He just really can't stand it.

Clint can't really cook in small, meal-sized portions. He can cook certain things in huge batches that are more suited to a joint Alpha Force-Trailblazers picnic than dinner for two. Or one. Whatever.

"Anything you recommend? Never had a chance to eat here before I, uh. Left."

[teamsad]

"Uhhhh I am a big fan of pasta. All the pasta." Her metabolism isn't as accelerated as a lot of superhumans', but it's above human normal. Carbs are her friend. "Also the steaks aren't bad..."

[makethatwork]

"I like pasta," Clint allows, and sets about perusing the pasta section of the menu. It's starting to occur to him that he's out to dinner alone with the team member he's sort of half been flirting with, and he's uncomfortable with this on a whole load of levels.

A major one being that Bobbi hasn't even been dead a year. If he's flirting with someone else, even lightly, doesn't that make him a shitty person?

"So what do you think could make a robot go crazy and start worshipping humans?"

[teamsad]

Jess shrugs, tilting her head thoughtfully.

"Lots of things, probably. Stray line of code... maybe it got a virus..." She purses her lips, and shrugs a little. "Orrr maybe someone did it on purpose. Some weird attempt at making it loyal to its creators? Misguided attempt to get rid of trolls that went a little overboard? I guess we'll know more when we can track it down and take it apart, see where it came from."

Pause.

"Is that weird? Now that we've got Legion on the team? Is it gonna be okay with robot-murder?"

[makethatwork]

"Or maybe it just found god and got all psycho," Clint offers. "Happens to white Christian dudes often enough..."

The waiter chooses that moment to come by and take their order, which Clint does eagerly enough, still considering the question of Legion and robot murder. Once the waiter moves off, he leans forward, resting his elbows on the table.

"Well, I mean, you're a human. Are you okay with human-murder if we have to stop someone who's hurting a lot of people and can't safely contain them?"

[teamsad]

Jess stares at him for a moment, wondering if she ought to debate that human part - she's not sure she is, entirely, but it's probably not worth that conversation. After a moment, she purses her lips and shrugs.

"Well, yeah... but I don't know if I'm the person you want to ask. I was raised by terrorists, after all."