8025/Surprise Party! (part 3)

Surprise Party! (part 3)
Date of Scene:	24 June 2019
Location:	Clint and Skye's, Greenwich Village
Synopsis:	The Stark tech goes live! Skye eats incognito veggies and nobody tells her. Steve's side of the gift table gets some interesting, but plain, packages. And Clint commits the faux pas of suggesting May use frozen pie shells and canned filling. His assignment in Siberia is pending...
Cast of Characters:	Jemma Simmons, Hawkeye (Barton), Quake, Melinda May

---

Jemma Simmons has posed:
The birthday party hasn't yet reached public disturbance levels, much to the relief of the local populace. Of course, seeing some of the faces that have passed through the door into the residence of one Clint Barton and Skye Johnson, the neighbors might be in a little shock, or most likely envious, to worry about such things as contacting New York's finest. Still, regardless of the supposed guest list, the actual proceedings are actually quite subdued for the moment. The various party-goers have sorted off to micro-groups, mingling here and there amongst themselves as those groups orbit around a central point.

The food tables, to be precise.

And...it is the food tables that draw in the pair of Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz. After their initial entrance, they had squirrelled themselves away into a corner. Or, rather, Leo had found the Rock Band games and somehow managed to talk Jemma into attempting to play drums. Which proved to be quite entertaining, for those watching, as it was swiftly discovered just how much rhythm Jemma did *not* have, though Leo was fairly good with the guitar. Fortunately for all present, the pair did not sing. But...all that playing had made the pair a bit peckish...hence the casual drifting towards the food.

A drifting that is detered by the sight of Skye playing with Stark tech. Leo pauses, in mid-step, staring with such envy that it is easily apparent just how badly he wants to go over to 'help'. Otherwise known as 'fanboy over tech'. It is certainly apparent to Jemma, who grabs Leo's hand and tugs him towards the chips. "Come on. It is not yours, you know."

Of course, Jemma has her own distraction when she gets a look at the glow-in-the-dark salsa. Scientists....you just can't take them anywhere without their curiousity being piqued.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint comes in from the deck with a plate of only slightly burnt burgers.

"Sorry, got distracted with the gift thing so these ones are a bit well done, got another round on the grill that should be a bit better," he says setting the plate down. "Though everyone's welcome to these."

Spotting Jemma and Fitz, Clint grins, "We were looking for you two earlier, Skye's got a new gift she migth need a han-," ahem. "Some help with if you don't mind."

Quake has posed:
Oh, hey... Leo over Clint any day when it comes to tech setup. Especially Stark tech. Especially Stark tech holo interfacing. No, really, Skye is giving pleading looks. She might love Clint to pieces, and he might be one of the world's pre-eminant archers, but damn the boy is all thumbs when it comes to tech.

Yeah. Skye had set up their stereo system. And they'd recruited friends to help him put the barbecue together.

"Beer?" she suggests to Clint helpfully. Hopefully. You know, in that 'this is going to give us both face saving grace' kinda way.

His stepping up and inviting the Bobsey twins makes her smile her thanks. "Love you, but yeah.. besides, aren't you supposed to be burning meat stuffs?" Teasing. Even if he did burn the meat, it's better than the char she'd produce. To each their own skillset, and cooking was still a skillset Skye was mastering.

Melinda May has posed:
May is still working on getting the sides for the 'main course' prepped -- in other words, she's getting veggies sliced and into containers for the burgers and hot dogs and heaven knows what else Clint has going on the grill. Speaking of, there are some freshly overdone on the grill burgers now. She notices their interest in the salsa and offers, "Rhodes' niece Lila made that. It's a very good sweet salsa." Now that she thinks on it, she can easily imagine that it would would taste fantastic on a burger.

Overhearing Skye's request for a beer, she pulls one from the cooler tucked under a folding table pressed into buffet service and touches the chilled and slightly drippy bottle to the archer's arm.

You know, only to get his attention.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
"I never seen salsa with bioluminescence. It is certainly an attention-getter." After all, it successfully snagged Jemma's interest. "Unless, of course, it isn't a biological agent producing the reaction. Though I certainly hope it is." The biochemist suddenly realizes where exactly she is and turns off the scientific commentary. She takes a step back, waving her hand as if performing a Jedi mind trick. "But I am sure it is just fine and delicious." Real smooth, that Simmons.

Leo, on the other hand, sees the unspoken pleading from Skye....and positively lights up. He turns to Jemma, just as she finishes her awkward moment. "Sorry, Jemma. It's lookin' like Skye needs some help. Ya got things here, yeah?" He doesn't even wait for confirmation, as he bounds off towards the hacker and the sweet, sweet Stark tech she is currently attempting to assemble.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
There is a decidedly unmanly yelp as the cold beer is rested against Clint's arm.

He also jumps about a foot off the ground and grabs a near by piece of tech, ready to throw before his reflexes turn off and his brain kicks in.

"Damn it, May," he laughs and takes the beer. He sets it down next to Skye and transfers her straw.

Oh and don't worry, Leo, he puts down the bit of tech as well.

"There you go," he says to Skye. "Want a burger or something while you work?"

Quake has posed:
Skye mutters under her breath, "You clearly haven't seen me make salsa, then." She wasn't unaware of her cooking prowess. In fact she expected someone (Clint) to follow up with how her last attempt in the kitchen had been declared a bio-weapon and the FBI was requesting first dibs.

And joy! There's Leo offering to help, and now the concern isn't telling a non-tech person where each connector goes, but hey! That's my toy, let me help too!!

Her beer is taken and set aside, kinda. After a sip - look, no straws anymore! Woo, she's graduated some in her mending. "Burger would be great, unless we have those sausage things?" It wasn't like anything he cooked wouldn't get eaten by someone here.

Melinda May has posed:
Nope, not sorry at all. May simply nods as Clint takes the beer after being startled by it, then moves to start assembling a plate for Skye. She's evil, though, or perhaps psychic.

The food on the plate is all things that can be eaten easily either with a fork or like hors d'ouvres. Yes, the burger included. It now looks like a little group of sliders with all of Skye's favorite toppings and a little bit of the glowing salsa so she gets a taste of that too.

"You missed the first round of potstickers," May tells Jemma while she's doing said assembly. "I'll cook up some more soon."

Jemma Simmons has posed:
It does take a little coaxing, but Fitz does come around to not just putting the whole thing together as his version of 'helping'. Still, he gets to play with Stark tech, so whatever speed or stipulations Skye wants to impose is just fine with him. He is more than willing to take his time. Just means longer to play with...err....help Skye set up the holo interface. And more time for Leo to see how it works. Occasionally, there is a soft muttering about infrared sensors coupled with video cameras synced with software. Other times, just silence as the mind works to try to reverse engineer a particular functionality. Leo well and truly is in his element.

Jemma, on the other hand, feels the need to save face. She reaches for a small plate, taking a little handful of chips and combining it with the salsa. It is under the pretense to eat it....but, if one is careful, one might spot Jemma performing some sort of visual analysis upon the salsa. A few mental notes are taken as she holds the plate up to eye level, inspecting the concoction. Finally, the plate is placed down, as Jemma approaches the salsa with an empty chip. A decent (test) sample is placed upon the corn chip, then eaten. Rather carefully.

"It is good! See, I told you there was nothing to worry about." As if people were suddenly worried about glowing in the dark. A smile and a nod is given to May at the mention of potstickers. Jemma certainly approves of the notion of additional pot stickers.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint steps out of the way of the nerd herd and lets them work on the tech, leaving to the deck with a "Sure," over his shoulder about the sausage.

He's not gone long before he back with a tray of those and delivering one to Skye. "More food to forget you've got," he teases with a wink and a nudge.

Then he grabs his own burger and sausage, smiling at Jemma's declaration. "Sure you don't need to run more tests?" he asks her with a grin.

Quake has posed:
Skye is.. okay, likely using her hands more than she should, but she's at least not straining them in any obvious manner that would require Jemma to step and an put a halt to things. She's also nibbling at things on her plate, taking this bit and that other and dipping it in the glowing salsa, which, she has to admit looks scary, but tastes pretty damned decent. "We should use this for a Halloween party," she declares, chomping on a 'fry'.

It's likely just as well Skye really isn't paying all that much attention to what she's eating, or voluble protests and complaints about 'sneaking vegetables into my diet' would ensue, the 'fries' being nothing more than breaded zuchinni sticks.

The sliders may also have thinly sliced bits of green this, and colourful that stuck between meat and bun, hidden, or topped with the usual and expected condiments enough that they're given a pass..

"Think it would be too rude of me to try this out," she asks of Fitz - who is likely a biased source of answer on this one. "All we need to do is finish syncing it up to the house servers and uplink, and we're good to go. And hey, I didn't thank you for the setup in the basement. At least I think it was you hooked everything up and made them leave the good stuff behind?"

Because, yeah, Chez Miscreant had seen a tech upgrade even before Tony's surprise had arrived.

Melinda May has posed:
Yet another successful round of 'will Skye notice the veggies?'. And May isn't even turning them into puree or sauce, though that tangy sauce that feels somewhere in between ketchup and barbecue sauce and tastes Asian is far more greens and gourds than water. It helps that she's put it there right alongside the other condiments, and at least one of the little slider-portions of Skye's burger has that on them.

With just about all of the prep work complete -- there will always be more things to fry up, and she has potatoes currently baking in the oven -- she assembles a plate for herself with a burger and most of her sneaky foods and sauces on it and goes to see what Skye and Fitz are working on. She also nudges Clint to taste the non-glowing sauce on her plate. If he endorses it, maybe Skye will give it an honest go.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint for his part misses the veggies being slipped to Skye though, he would approve if he had. Not that he was the best eater either but still every bit helped.

He chows down on his burger, watching the work on the tech, and hearing the question meant for Fitz, Clint offers a reply, "Go for it, still got time before more people show up."

Quake has posed:
Skye doesn't need a second urging. Besides, she'd be shocked if Fitz said no. Now, Jemma, she could see saying it, but Skye was of the opinion that if she moved fast enough she could claim that she didn't hear that. There was still the danger that May might stop her, but enh, that was also part of the challenge - getting past May and down to the basement..

Skye also had a second reason for her little side trip - finishing Steve's birthday gift. It had taken - well, since Peggy Carter had arrived, actually, though Skye had been curious about a few things before then. Mostly because, well, she was elbow deep in papers and files from that era up to present, though the records closer to present day were *Mostly* digital. It was the hardcopy bits and pieces, and finding any number of redacted files tucked away that had given Skye the idea.

Collating had been the harder job, but she'd managed, somehow. The ream of dot matrix paper had been the needed finishing touch..

All, as it happens will eventually be explained.

And May's Asian salsa? Totally approved with the 'fries'.

Skye was going to be eating crow later. Then again, if nobody told her, it might become part of her regular diet before the news needed to be broken to her. She was eating that soup May had taught her how to make, after all.

Melinda May has posed:
May delicately sets some object or other aside so she has room at the table to set down her plate. "Once this party is officially underway, though, you're going to need to set that equipment aside." So play now.

"Clint, would you have room on your grill for chicken or vegetables?" She knows that's going to elicit faces from Skye, but unlike the hacker, some people here enjoy vegetables, and grilled are even better.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint smiles watching Skye getting up to whatever it is she's doing, before turning to May and nodding.

"Yeah, left a section clear for the veggies, for anyone we know that's full vegan," Clint says making a slight face as he does since well, he is a devoted carnivore and going without seems completely insane.

"Room for the chicken too, let me know when you want me to get it started."

Quake has posed:
"I heard that," Skye calls out as she breezes by May, who, it seems, is going to let the hacker toddle off to the basement. "I want you all to know I'm making faces. Vegetables are what you feed your meal..."

Anything else she may have to say is lost to the depths of the basement, and the faint buzzing zzzzzzt of a dot matrix printer doing it's thing.

Skye might have a limited window on playing with her new toy, but whatever it is that has her busy in the basement seems to be getting priority attention.

Melinda May has posed:
The moment Skye disappears into the basement, May looks actually honestly smug, and plucks one of the few remaining 'fries' from the hacker's abandoned plate. She breaks it open so Clint can see that the filling is actually zucchini, then dips it in the sauce to eat.

"She's just eaten the equivalent of a third of a zucchini, some spinach, bok choy, and about fifteen other things I put in the sauce. How long do you think it'll take her to realize it?"

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint cocks his head. Was that one of those old printers? The kind that screeched like a banshee? He had no idea they even had one of those. Though it wasn't like various archery gear didn't just appear in the house either.

The fry revelation is met with a stifled laugh. "Oh god, not sure when she'll figure it out but I need to make sure my surprised face is ready when she does or she might murder me." Still the archer is laughing

Stealing a fry he tests it out, chewing thoughtfully, "Actually, not that bad," he admits.

Quake has posed:
Odds are, if nobody tells Skye, this whole hidden veggie thing could be milked for a long while. Or at least until she's paying more attention to what she's eating, which isn't going to be anytime soon tonight.

And yep. That's one of those old printers. Totally not appropriated from SHIELD basement storage.. Okay, fine, TOTALLY appropriated from SHIELD basement storage. She might have signed it out. Or something. It's not like it was on any records.

Besides, May had only okayed this little project under certain parameters, and this fell under that.

She'll resurface soon enough.

Melinda May has posed:
Honestly, it's a bit or a relief to have Skye off happily doing computery things. Bored Skye on restrictions is really unpleasant to be around Skye.

May continues eating her meal in a relaxed manner that is honestly rare for her. "If you want, I'll get the recipe for at least the sauce. Not sure Skye will want to use them, but they'll be there."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Definitely," Clint says taking a final bite of his zuccini fry. He grabs another and dips it in the sauce. "Yes, definitely the sauce as well."

Then he's back outside to check the next round of burgers and sausages bringing them in again.

"Wonder what she's doing down there" he muses to May.

Quake has posed:
Skye really didn't have or need a whole lot of creature comforts. She liked her computers and hacking, and since being with Clint, she'd learned to like archery. She wasn't a book reader. Or a game player. There was only so much small talk she could conjure up that wasn't business (let's face it, that covered all of the SHIELD agents, but when they were busy doing things she was forbidden to do..). It wasn't like she *meant* to be that annoying in one small, portable package. She just was.

Eventually, she returns from the basement, and the observant (that would be Fitz, if Simmons hasn't dragged him off and away from Skye's new toy) would note that lights were blinking... red.. red.. red.. green. Then the blinking stopped. A Cursor hovering in the air above the unit, as well as on the unit itself.

All systems go, it would seem.

Skye wandering back upstairs with a flat box lain out over her forearm and balanced in place with her opposite hand -- see, May? She's not lifting things she's not supposed to. At least not without taking care. Nothing straining her hands and putting undue pressure on the nicely knitting bones that medical and Jemma had taken pains to heal in what was, to them, a jiffy, but to Skye a torment of ages.

"Hells, yeah. Look at that. It works."

The box she's carrying gets placed carefully on Steve's side of the present table.

Melinda May has posed:
"Something beyond both of our comprehensions, I'm sure," is May's reply to Clint. She knows vaguely WHAT, but certainly not NOW.

Her gaze sharpens at seeing Skye carrying the box, but then she sees the care taken in doing so and doesn't promptly get up to scold.

Shocking. Really.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"I think it has something to do with ones and zeroes," Clint says around a smile as the thing seems to come online.

When Skye returns he grins, "Looks like it, the good news is now I can't even threaten to turn off your computer while you're working, I have no idea how."

Seeing the present dropped off for Steve, that stirs Clint's memory and he goes to the hall closet to get his gift for the Star Spangled Man, a tall thin envelope that could fit a magazine or a comic which Clint had written: Steve, on the front.

He drops it off by the box and says to Skye, "Yours is for later."

Quake has posed:
Skye's gift looks a little plain against some of the others on the table, but Clint's envelope is a nice match for it. When he mentions her gift, she smirks crookedly and declares, "How's that a gift? I can have that anytime I want."

Laughing, she elbows him. "Hey, I wanna play with my toy for a few before the others arrive." Though she's trying not to make a mad dash for the thing. So far nobody has been trampled. All lives and limbs are still accounted for.

Melinda May has posed:
May's gifts for both are the food she's been preparing. Well, and getting Stark to agree to loaning the hardware. So nothing to put on the table with the other items.

Upon Skye's return she calls out to the younger woman, "Say, did you want me to start some desserts?" But if someone says pie, she'll tell them no. She HATE making crust almost as much as she hates coffee.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Ha!" Clint laughs. "Hey what if I have a headache," he says with a wink. "Though seriously, it's not that, or well, only that."

He did have something for her though also covertly procured. Though it could wait until later like he said.

As for deserts Clint gives a nod. "Sure thing, I am not sure what you have in mind but we have some frozen pie crusts in the freezer," he says. "Oh and some filling in the fridge." Though that filling seldom actually made it into the crusts.

"Go for it," Clint says about Skye playing with her new toy for a bit. "Got to get back out to get the serious grilling started before everyone gets here."

Quake has posed:
"Pffft, Better not be just that. I mean, you're good, but not that good," Skye laughs.

Clint has dessert covered, and while he horrifies May with talk of frozen pie crusts, she gets her fingertips on her new toy. Well, so to speak. No typy typy. All motions in the air, her hands tracing shapes, and moving blocks of text from here to that.. and yeah, Tony may have to come dismantle this and drag it out of the house himself, because there is no way Skye is giving this up voluntarily. It's already even odds if she remembers that there are other human beings in the house at this moment.

Melinda May has posed:
At the mention of frozen pie crusts, May turns to stare at Clint. She probably keeps staring long enough to make it uncomfortable. Such is the level of her disappointment. "Forget I said anything."

Seeing that Skye is happily lost in holo-computer land over there, she takes her mostly cleaned plate back to the kitchen and gets started making a dessert that DOES NOT USE FROZEN PIE CRUSTS.