12634/Dinner Served At New Hope

Dinner Served At New Hope
Date of Scene:	11 January 2021
Location:	New Hope Shelter, East Harlem
Synopsis:	A day after the attack in Mutant Town, a trio of persons show up at a Mutant friendly shelter to help out.
Cast of Characters:	Phantasm (Drago), Falcon, Winter Soldier

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Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
While there's usually a stereotype that goes with shelters typically assigned by those who have never stayed in one. Quiet, solemn, sad. New Hope has been... well a place of hope. It provides shelter, education, a place to get exercise, food. And, it is one of the few mutant friendly shelters in the city.

That said, after the events of last night over in Mutant Town with the DAMT group appearing and shooting up the crowds with the cure. Dinner tonight has been like that sterotype. The scrape of utensils brushing against the plates can be heard. The chatter that normally comes with the meal. Gone. And a few regulars appearing physically different sit, eyes red as they choked down their food.

The TVs in the Mess Hall have been strategically left on the kids educational channel. Judging from the one broken tv still smouldering. It's the only safe channel at the moment.

That was about 20 minutes ago. Now the last of the residents have finished their meal, collected their kids, and have made their way over to the residential hall.

Hall now empty of people, Nick steps from the back area, glancing over to the door for a moment before he starts gathering plates off the tables. Similar to those who were in here earlier, he's not smiling either.

Falcon has posed:
The night had been quieter than most Sam was used to, usually eating at the Triskellion, but people had to be fed and these folks were in need. The Falcon's dressed down in a black sweater and jeans tonight. As he gets out from behind the counter he heads over in Nick's direction to help gather plates, "Need a hand with those?" Without waiting for a response he starts to pick some up.

Winter Soldier has posed:
    Cheerless, hopeless... it's a stage of life that has defined Bucky for quite some time, and one that he can empathise with. If he has any empathy... the jury is still out on that one. But for whatever reasons of his own, James Barnes is here, tonight, serving food and supporting the hollow-eyed and hopeless through the darker times of their lives. And while he's being the stoic, cleaning up tables and casting an eye over the floor with a view to do some mopping later, Lilli is doing her level best to keep the kids entertained though sheer force of canine presence. Honestly, after cheering up the Winter Soldier, cheering up kids is no great challenge.

    "Always hurts, doesn't it?" he finally manages to say, having stacked a few dozen plates on a tray casually held in his left hand. "When genuine philanthropy leads to domestic terrorism, and it's hard to figure out which side your own government is on?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick glances up to Sam's offer, giving a nod, "Thanks Sam. You get that row and I'll get this one." He moves over to a row of tables parallel to Sam.

The musician's eyes shift over to Bucky, listening to the observation. "It's a tricky thing. The cure." Nick allows, tone sifting at the pronouncing of 'cure'. "I can see instances where it would be beneficial in certain situations but- not this one. Not the way they were using them."

He glances to the doorway to make sure no residents were popping in before glancing back down the table, shifting over to collect more plates.

Falcon has posed:
"Alright," Sam replies to Nick, doing as the musician instructs to try to get things cleaned up as quickly as possible.

"Something like this 'cure' should only be used on people who volunteer for it," says the Falcon. "Taking away something like that from people is pretty messed up. Wish I'd been there to do something."

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "Cure..." the loathing expressed in the word stretches the semantic possibilities of the English language to its very breaking point. "It's not a cure when it's administered against someone's will." Bucky nods to Sam and walks past holding an entire table's worth of plates and cutlery on one hand. A gloved hand, granted, although he'd nearly shown up in his full hero outfit, just to show the people here that he cared. But cooler heads prevailed just in time... Lilli hadn't approved.

    "That's when we call it a weapon." The stack of plates is offloaded, one at a time, into either the sink for a first clean, a small pile for scraping, or straight into the industrial dish washer. He's being careful with the crockery, but there's still quite a bit of clanging. "As for being there to do something..."

    His head pops around the door frame to the kitchen, so he can watch Nick and Sam while he's talking to them. "In the last few months, I've fought to protect mutants, fought mutants to protect others, fought others to protect mutants, and now..." He shakes his head, eyes narrowing, a sight Sam probably understands all too well. Memories... "Go up the hill, take the machine gun nest, come back down the hill, go back up again... It's what it feels like."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"I think that was the point." Nick agrees with Sam, "Like a mutation that directly threatens the life of the person who has it or maybe their loved ones. They might want it. Set up a doctor appointment. That type of thing."

As he reaches the end of his row, he comes back towards the kitchen, carrying half of his. He's not going to show off. He can split it up into two trips.

"There was a group there to stop things but damage was still done."

The musician glances over to Bucky, lips starting to part before he pauses, closing his mouth as he brings his stack around the door. Setting them on the counter before he turns back to the door to get his other stack.

Falcon has posed:
Sam's strong and got great balance but he's not about to compete with Barnes and his awesome metal arm. Nope, he's carrying a reasonable amount of weight each time. Looking over towards Bucky he says, "People are always going to need help out there. Might seem like the same thing over and over again but it's up to us to keep going out there, trying to do the right thing for the most innocent people."

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "Same..." and suddenly Bucky looks around to make sure there's no innocent ears nearby to hear what he's about to say, considers that if he needs to check for innocent ears he's probably better off not saying it, and then lapses into time honored slang. "SNAFU."

    At least there's honest work to be done, scraping plates and transferring them over to the sink. "There has to be something better we can do. And once I figure out what that is, I'm going to do it. For now..." sigh. "... people need a place to stay, food, safety. The more things change..."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"The more they stay the same." Nick responds, filling in the blank with the first phrase that comes to mind as he brings the second stack in. "It doesn't stop at what happened yesterday for them either. They've had issues with residents being targeted at various shelters too. Lucius has been upping security for this one because of that." He glances over to Bucky, "That- other problem might have been kicked off by one of those instances when I was delivering supplies elsewhere."

Falcon has posed:
"I hate that people are trying to stick it to mutants," Sam says as he works. "Or anybody who doesn't have it coming, really, but mutants are the big concern right now if they're being targeted by terrorists." He ends up at the pile of dishes that need scraping, getting to work on the grossest stuff first.

Winter Soldier has posed:
    Grossest stuff first, a very apt analogy for how to deal with problems like these, inside the kitchen and out. "Always best to use a knife..." is Bucky's advice, as he scrapes plates with the dogged determination of someone happy to do this all night, and remembering other times when he's done just this.

    "And when we're done scraping, we can get a start on mopping up."

    Hopefully he's talking about the shelter...

    Hopefully.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"I just don't like bullies in general." Nick replies, grabbing a knife, taking a plate over to the container to scrape the food remnants in.

The door to the back of the kitchen creaks open as a woman's voice speaks up. "Mr. Drago? Um, if its alright with the others, Could you provide some assistance in the music room? The kids are getting anxious."

Nick pauses mid scrape looking up to the woman, then over to Sam and Bucky, guaging their response to the request. Satisfied there's not going to be a revolt in the kitchen, he looks back over

"Sure, Jenny. I'll be over in a few."