14798/Dojo Deli

Dojo Deli
Date of Scene:	15 March 2023
Location:	Chikara Dojo, Lower East Side
Synopsis:	Danny and Colleen... don't get attacked. What gives?
Cast of Characters:	Iron Fist, Colleen Wing

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Iron Fist has posed:
Danny Rand is a billionaire. He is the principal stockholder of Rand Enterprises. When money is no object, objects can start to lose their value. So, while he could do anything he wanted, within a very small window of reason, instead, he chose to live his life in surprisingly ordinarily means: like he did tonight.

With their last class of the day complete, and for the moment, no one wanting to break in, attack them, or otherwise cause them harm, they could actually settle in for a comfortable evening. Danny had gone shopping to a local grocery store, picking up what was on the list for tomorrow and the rest of the week, as well as some fairly ordinary, comfort food type things.

He had picked up some sausage, salami, a few other assorted deli meats, a variety of cheeses, both hard and soft, pate, and some crackers. It wasn't fancy, but it was filling, and for some, comfort food. He was preparing a communal dish, from which they could both pick at, slicing everything up nicely, showing that being good with a blade had more uses than just combat.

In the other room, they had the television set to the news for now, which was talking about whatever was going on in the world. None of it really made a difference in their lives. For they lived quiet lives of comfort, dealing with students and for the most part, street crime.

Colleen Wing has posed:
For her part, Colleen put beverages on her to-do list. Specifically tea. She was going to do the ceremony come Hell or High Water. (Tougher BY FAR to learn than all of her martial arts put together!) She had the tools of the trade: simple, functional, but elegant instances of them (not the fancy tourist-focused or rich person-focused ones), and she'd spent a few hours in the backstreets and byways of Chinatown before finding a good source of the proper tea. Then, from memory, as Danny's concoction came to its close, she started the process of making the tea.

It's drinkable. Almost. So she did it right. But she lacks the flourished grace that a true tea ceremony aficionado would be satisfied with.

"Looks good," she offers, as Danny brings out the food, bringing her own preparations to a close. "What do you call it?"

Iron Fist has posed:
"Charcuterie," Danny said, "it's French, has to do with the way the meats are cured, from pork, though, it's since come to mean more of a fun plate of meats and cheeses." It required no actual heat, just a knife, a plate, and some patience. He had arranged the slices in a decorative fashion, making out the yin and yang symbol with darker materials on one side, for the most part, and lighter on the other.

He brought the plate, as well as two smaller plates, each with a napkin, into their den, setting them on the coffee table, since they weren't even eating at the dinner table, "is that your tea? I'm sure it's excellent." And he was going to react as if it were excellent, no matter how it tasted. That was just Danny. He tried to always put a positive spin on things. It could be damned annoying at times, charming at others.

Colleen Wing has posed:
Colleen's fragile smile is the reward for his reaction. A smile that fades into a wince when she tastes it herself. She pinches the bridge of her nose and shakes her head. "Sorry, Danny," she says. "That was awful. I'll never learn this."

She sets her sipped-upon tea to one side (future Colleen reporting in: she never touches it again) and focuses on the food curiously. "I thought French food was all that fru-fru shit with the sauces and tiny portions and never-ending parade of bizarrely-named parts of even more bizarre animals?" She takes up a cracker and snags a piece of the deli meat, pins it against the cracker with some cheese, and pops it into her mouth.

"If I'd have known this was French I might have thought less dire thoughts about the French," she says after a very thorough chewing, swallowing, and blissed smile.

Iron Fist has posed:
Danny was saddened that she took the tea before he got to taste it, "I'm sure you'll master it with practice." And he might be able to offer some advice too. "There's a lot of different foods from France, but I don't think they are as good as they claim to be. There's great cooking from all over the world, not just France."

He took a cracker, places some Brie on it, and munched, chewing and swallowing, before talking again. His next bite had some cognac pate on it. His third a nice sharp cheddar. His fourth, some salami. Each was a small portion. "We can also double up, multiple items on a single cracker." Even though he hadn't. "So, what should we watch? Maybe a movie, or what's a good show?"

Colleen Wing has posed:
"I hear good things about this season's WWF lineup," Colleen says teasingly. "Macho Maverick Marvin Mayhem gets a lot of good reviews." Her grin is very badly suppressed. "Or, you know," she relents, "there's always that odd-couple comedy with the Kryptonian guy and the Asgardian chick. What's it called again? Who's (Really) The Boss?" The reality of the world has led to some very strange on-screen mixes and it shows. "There's also a Bruce Lee retrospective on public access. Or we could just watch whatever latest schmalz they come up with on Netflix." Like anybody watches anything on Netflix for non-ironic reasons.

Iron Fist has posed:
Danny gave her a completely blank stare at the mention of the World Wrestling Federation. "Macho... Maverick... Marvin... Mayhem... this is in English, right?" Then he heard about some reality television show, or perhaps it was just a parody. He wasn't sure. "I do like the Bruce Lee retrospective, but maybe we could watch something classic on Netflix, like Back to the Future, or Die Hard?"

Colleen Wing has posed:
"Ooh! Back to the Future! Retrofuture is always loads of fun, yes!" Colleen starts enthusiastically paging through Netflix's algorithm-overridden UI to find something that she actually wants to watch, eventually locating it with a little triumphant fist-pump.

"The whole series here: 1-3. And ooh! Lookie here! Tremors right next to it, so if we get bored with Marty and company, we can always look in on Bert the gun maniac hunting graboids!"

She hops onto the sofa facing the screen, leaving little room for someone else to sit without being a very good friend. Almost as if this were intentional.

"So BttF1, then decided as we go where to continue?"

Iron Fist has posed:
Danny echoed her triumphant fist bump, but was half a second after, as he did it after seeing her do it. It looked super awkward, which somehow seemed to work for Danny. Almost as if it was expected. "How could we get bored with Marty? But Bert seems like a good followup. Back to the Future slash Tremors movie marathon?" He asked, probably thinking the same thing she was. He saw down beside her, getting comfy on the couch, and put an arm on the back rest. "To be continued..." He was quoting the end of the first film there.

Colleen Wing has posed:
Truth be told, Colleen knew the movies by heart and really didn't need to watch them again. But she also knew that Danny had missed out on fifteen years of pop culture and needed to see the classics to understand the call-outs in later ones. So while Danny may have watched the movies, her own thing is a bit more complicated. She watches the movies, yes, with one eye. But mostly she watches Danny watching them, sharing in his reliving of things that are to him still fresh.

Silently watching him laugh. Watching his fist clench as Biff attacks Marty's young mother. Watching him tense up during the countdown to 88.

That was more fun than the movie, after all.

And the fact that she can relive her own early experiences with the film in the process? That's icing.

"I wonder how you'd react to Ghostbusters?" she murmurs thoughtlessly.

Iron Fist has posed:
Danny had seen some, especially the old ones like Back to the Future, but he saw them when he was a kid. It was so long ago, that it was like seeing it again. He had missed a lot, but his early research gave him the feeling that he missed the stuff around the time he disappeared, and the more recent things... don't really matter. It's like there was a drop off in quality for some reason. He watched the movies, ate, brushed against her, and just had a great time. One arm went around Colleen, and stayed there. "We could watch that. One or two?"

Colleen Wing has posed:
"There is no two." Deadpan, almost dangerous, voice. "Ghostbusters was the pinnacle of its form and its creators recognized this and left well enough alone."

Call in the police negotiator. There's someone about to die on a hill. And maybe take half of Hollywood with her.

Colleen then relaxes. "I mean the first one, of course!" she says in a chiding 'don't be so silly you silly goose!' sort of voice.

Like with BttF, she can recite the movie from heart without effort. Unlike with that one, she still laughs and enjoys every moment.

"I like watching you watch things," she adds out of nowhere. "No, scratch that. I like watching you. It's why I have cameras everywhere in your life and a large room filled with nothing but computer screens."

She grins at the thought of being able to AFFORD all that.

"Like the supervillain I am," she adds.

Iron Fist has posed:
When Danny saw Ghostbusters II, he was a kid. They appealed. The cartoon, the Real Ghostbusters, also appealed. He did not see Ghostbusters: Answer the Call or Ghostbusters: Afterlife. He gave her a slight smirk at her tone, the strength of her conviction, the way she seemed so focused. He did not want to poke that particular bear.

It was a relief when she relaxed, and he did too, having felt a bit tense there. Her teasing had him wary for a moment, "and your fiendish plan is to use me for your own amusement?"

Colleen Wing has posed:
"Use you, yes." Colleen half-smiles mysteriously, looking away in what might be the first hint of embarrassment after realizing what her constant staring might feel like.

"Yes, my plan was for amusement. Nothing more sinister or wayward than that."

Yeah, she's definitely not making eye contact there. She's staring fixedly at the movie. "So ... how 'bout Tremors to get us more in a laughing mood and then we'll hit up the Ghostbusters team, K?"

She starts fumbling blindly with the controller as she talks, trying to navigate the screens with now-shaking hands.

"We might have to enact the gatekeeper and keymaster, though," she adds in a low, almost inaudible voice, as she navigates the horrific user interface.

She freezes then, momentarily, the unfreezes long enough to ask, "I didn't say that out loud, did I?"

Iron Fist has posed:
He gulped, looking a little bit nervous in that mysterious half-smile, but he trusted Colleen, and felt confident that she didn't mean him any harm. This was just her being coy, teasing him, right... right?

"You really should have made a mission statement for your villainy then. If it's just for your own amusement, how are you going to call that fiendish? That's kind of, well, typical, these days, isn't it? "

"Whatever you think will be fine by me, Colleen. You know these films better than I do." He shifted his body, taking another cracker with salami and cheese, and when he leaned back into his seat, he was just a tiny bit closer to Colleen on the couch.

"The what?" He asked, not remembering it in enough detail to know that reference. "Um, no, you didn't say anything out loud?" This time, he was playing along, trying to spare her any embarrassment.

Colleen Wing has posed:
"Never mind," Colleen says, voice relieved. "It was just a dumb thought anyway."

Stupid like a fox...

"For Tremors, as it starts, she nestles up against Danny, never quite acknowledging even to herself that she's doing it, though her breathing relaxes significantly as the close presence warms up her chilly front. For this she's watching the movie more than Danny's reactions to it. Partially because she hasn't watched it as many times as the previous, but mostly because she's now directly experiencing his reactions through tactile feedback. By the end her cheek is on his shoulder and her fingernails are gently scratching the back of his head and upper neck.

Idly tracing out the weak line where a hard jab could get past the skull and do damage. Training is a bitch.

"Feel like a beer?" she asks incongruously as the movie ends, as the credits roll and before Ghostbusters begins.

Iron Fist has posed:
"There are no dumb thoughts, only those we stop trying to realize." He leaned into her, shoulder brushing against hers. Though as they watch, her cheek ended up there instead, her fingers caressing his back. He felt comfortable with her, it felt right. Though a part of him was contemplating the same thing about the skull, and how to defend against it. Training really was a bitch.

"Sure," he said, at the offer of a beer, "or something stronger, if you want." He was content. Good food, good films, good... friend? No, she was more than that, so much more.

Colleen Wing has posed:
"That's funny," Colleen drawls. "You don't look like one."

How long had she been storing that one up!?

She chuckles and, with visible unwillingness, detaches from Danny and heads over to the fridge, poking her head inside to find the bottles concealed behind all the healthy stuff.

"It's decent stuff. Microbrewery whose owners owe me, so I get beer at cost plus 10." She straightens out with four bottles in between the fingers of one hand, the old-timey snap-cap variety. She brings them over to the couch, setting them down on the end table nearest Danny before retaking her position, reaching past him to claim one after he claims his.

"You know, it's nice to just chill here for a change. I mean sure, it's fun to hit the theatres or a fancy restaurant, but ... here we can just be ourselves. Don't have to care what other people might think of what we say or how we look or behave."

Iron Fist has posed:
He really couldn't say how long she had been holding that one in, but she got him, the joke even went over him at first, but he got it in the end, especially when she chuckled. He didn't like that she had detached herself from him, but it was nice seeing her walk away. So at least there was that.

He claimed one, and had to smile when she reached over him, brushing her body against his, to claim one. That had to be intentional. "The world will come to us, sooner or later. Until then, we have each other, and our own lives. This time is ours, to do as we please."

Colleen Wing has posed:
"As we please, yes," Colleen says, a little wistfully sardonic. She swallows heavily, like holding back words before taking a swig of the beer to wash them down. "I really don't get you sometimes, Danny," she chooses to say instead. "You're up in the boardrooms swimming in money. You've got more cash than Croesus." A little classics reference there. "You could point to practically any woman in NYC, snap your fingers, and they'd be wherever you wanted to be."

Another swallow of beer.

"So you come to this ..." She looks around the place with a wry expression before paraphrasing the movie, "... unique fix-it-up opportunity to hang out with a killer. Are you crazy or something?"

The last question asked fondly, not accusingly.

"Or is this some kind of self-punishment monk thing?"

Iron Fist has posed:
"As we please," he repeats, putting emphasis on the 'we' portion. He was his usual upbeat self, so unrelentingly positive about the world. It worked for him. "I don't spend that much time in the board room, and I haven't figured out how to swim through money like Scrooge McDuck." But then she takes a bit of a turn for the worse.

Holding her closer, rubbing his hand up and down her arm, "It's not nice to point, I don't know how to snap my fingers, and wherever you are, Colleen, is where I want to be. And..." Looking around the place, "this is eclectic. Besides, I'm crazy about you. You know that, don't you?" The first sign of a possible crack at the end, a noticeable nervous lilt in his voice.

Colleen Wing has posed:
"Emphasis on crazy," Colleen laughs. But the eyes are saying 'you said the right thing'. Danny can relax.

Or maybe he can't, given how she's curled up on the sofa now and leaning whole-body against him as the movie starts, the index finger nail tracing each muscle in his left shoulder as they watch the movie. In a way that's very distracting, given that it's not too hard, causing pain, but not tickling either, as if she's walking that cusp between the two.

The fact that as the movie progresses she seems to stop watching as much, spending more time just resting her head against his chest, ear listening to his heartbeat doesn't help. Nor does the other arm snaking across said chest to hang down from a grip of his shoulder.

The keymaster visits the gatekeeper in the movie. The question is ... does Danny now recognize the reference?

Iron Fist has posed:
"Hey, I'm not that bad, am I?" He shared in her laughter. He did breathe a quiet sigh of relief with her body language, especially those eyes, giving him the signs that he was in the clear. He had passed that particular little test. He was well aware of her efforts. His body wasn't on display, given his clothes, but she could feel how wiry and strong he was, never going too far in either direction. For him, power was just as important as flexibility.

He cuddled with her while they watched, one hand casually stroking her arm when they shifted positions, other times, he let her caress him. They were content, though he was probably enjoying the films more. They were mostly fresh and new to him, as it had been years since he had seen them. As they get to the aforementioned scene in Ghostbusters, their third film of the night, he looked to her, and gave a simple, "oh" in realization.

Colleen Wing has posed:
"I did say that out loud, didn't I?" Colleen asks, giggling nervously when the scene arrived together with Danny's sudden awareness. "I love that line. It's perfect cheese delivered with such perfect sincerity. Can you imagine real people talking that way?"

She props herself up a big, separating from Danny, locking eyes with him. With a husky voice, she breathes, "I am the Gatekeeper. Are you the Keymaster?"

Strangely, however, she's not laughing. She's staring intently at Danny's eyes.

Iron Fist has posed:
"I don't have to imagine, I... may... have heard it out loud." He was giving her a way out if she wanted to duck out from having said that line. If she wanted to pretend it didn't happen, he was okay with that. Though she seemed to be taking it at face value.

Either that or it was one hell of a good joke. Laughing nervously, he made eye contact with her, "I think I might want to find out what happens to the keymaster before I answer that." He remembered Ghostbusters, but only vaguely, having seen it before he wound up in K'un-Lun. This was like his first time. It was part of the appeal of watching films with him. She could vicariously enjoy it for the first time through him.