Difference between revisions of "3312/Pizza Time"

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(Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2017/12/05 |Location=Unknown |Synopsis=Summary needed |Cast of Characters=245, 1320, 86, 87, 1274, 118 |pretty=yes }} {{Poses |Poses=:'''{{#var:245...")
 
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{{Log Header
{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2017/12/05
|Date of Scene=2017/12/05
|Location=Unknown
|Location=NYC - a particular pizza place
|Synopsis=Summary needed
|Synopsis=Pizza Chat does not prevent certain young justicekateers from hiring Jessica Jones
|Cast of Characters=245, 1320, 86, 87, 1274, 118
|Cast of Characters=245, 1320, 86, 87, 1274, 118
|pretty=yes
|pretty=yes

Latest revision as of 04:52, 19 March 2018

Pizza Time
Date of Scene: 05 December 2017
Location: NYC - a particular pizza place
Synopsis: Pizza Chat does not prevent certain young justicekateers from hiring Jessica Jones
Cast of Characters: Jessica Jones, Brick, Hyperion, 87, Breath, Ghost Spider




Jessica Jones has posed:
There's up time, down time, crazy time and sane time. Right now, according to Jessica's clock, it's most certainly pizza time. That means her cell phone is turned off, she shuts down the world, and for this holy lunch break, she is going to enjoy her $1 pizza in silence. Which is what she's currently in the process of doing, sitting at an empty table, one cheapass paper plate before her, and a bottle of something in a brown bag.

Brick has posed:
(shree)shreeeee*BOOM*krakle
The noise outside is not entirely unheard of, but it's not the same whiny annoying pre-sound that the Apokaliptian troops used. The flash is similar. The boom is the same. The *foom* as the tube closes is different. Anyone out in the alley would have seen a tube of bright light appear, and something move through it in a blur, and then it faded out with just a bit of Kirby Krakle left over. There is then a short, rather broad man standing at the end of the alley, and a quick-eyed person might see the colorful cat person he carried through the tube leap out of his arms and assume the "I meant to do that" position.

"She has lunch here every few days, so if she isn't in her office, this is a good place to look," Brick says. "Besides, pizza."

Hyperion has posed:
New York Pizza. Second only, in the right mood, to Chicago pizza, is one of those sweet ambrosias that appeals to one and all. Walking through the front door of Gino's, Hyperion is wearing his civvies and as he strides in, he sniffs at the air and then like a mouse lead to the cheese, he steps up into the trap and orders his slice of heaven.

"I'll take all of that," he says, and points at the remaining half of a pepperoni pizza. His finger extends multiple times, as he points at the pizza, and then smiles at the person behind the counter and pays promptly.

He does glance up briefly from his pizza-purchasing to look at the wall between himself and the boom tube, and after a long second, just goes back to looking at the pizza which he takes and after looking around, takes a seat at a table adjacent to Jessica Jones.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
The Cheshire cat by Brick's side smirks and crosses his arms at the mention of Pizza. "You can take the boy out of the Titans but you can't take the Titan out of the boy, eh? I guess that if we can't find her right away, there's nothing wrong with a round or so. Your treat, though. I've got nowhere to put cash." That is not necessarily true, since his suit does have hidden pockets, but it's a great bluff to see if someone buys you lunch. "Are you sure Angry Bird isn't going to rage about us looking up another detective? You know how he is with his whole 'son of the greatest detective in the world' thing..."

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica, being Jessica, didn't even flinch at the booming sound and flashing light outside. There just has to be somekind of Avenger or other on call for that kind of BS, she's having her pizza. That one is probably out of her league. What does catches her attention is Hyperion's healthy appetite, his order being a bit large to ignore, looking at him from over her shoulder she snorts, "leave them for the kids, they been saving their allowance, sheesh, talk about being hungry!" Then Mr. Hungry Hippo comes to sit in an adjacent table, and she waves at him, "nothing to drink with all that pizza?"

Breath has posed:
The white-and-sky-blue clad hero...ine..? maybe? just.. sort of.. uh.. wanders after behind the cat and daredevil. Hmph. Boys and their dramatic entrances. She looks around a bit. "Angry Bird is hard to track down. I've tried walking in on his training time, but the gibs get to me. You think you can try not doing any cool tricks that break stuff this time? I mean, it was Awesome Ay Eff, but like.. I don't think that guy is letting us come back anytime soon." She straightens her skirt and hair and stuff and tags along in back.

Hyperion has posed:
Looking up from his pizza, Hyperion laughs just ever so slightly, more of a sharp exhale from his nose and says, "Do I not look like I eat a lot? I've been told that I look like I eat a lot," he says to her and leans back in his chair. His tight shirt stretching slightly over his stomach as he makes an effort to push out his abs, which are usually typical hero-washboard type looking, so that it looks like he has a bit of a gut. Which he promptly pats.

When she points out that he isn't drinking, he gets back up and goes over to get the cup which he had paid for, and then promptly forgot to fill, and fills it up with lemonade. When he sits again, the chair protests slightly under his mass.

"Thanks," he says aside to Jess again.

Brick has posed:
"If he has problems with it he can always do the work. Besides he's got his own highly secret things to do, right?" Brick heads inside. He's wearing his 'I am a professional idiot, don't try this at home' outfit that he wears for his "social media" stunts, but the neon and sparkles are turned off, and for some reason Maire Boit is not pinging very loudly at all.

"Any preference for pizza? I'm going to get a half Hawaiian, but no deadfish this time."

He has no problem whatsoever paying for pizza for himself, Vorpal and the blue-clad lass. It depends on their planning for lunch rush whether or not this becomes Crunch Time.

Jessica Jones has posed:
"Oh I'll let you have that one," Jessica concedes the point, "let's drink to that," she adds before lifting her bottle in a brown bag and taking a long swig. "That's me, saving the day and making everyone happy," she offers Hyperion with a beaming, if a bit fake smile. She then takes another bite of her pizza.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen Stacy says, "Aha. I've finally found you. You're not getting away this time, Bodega-" Outside a young blonde haired, blue-eyed woman is overlooking the alley outside Gino's. She is wearing a black short-sleeved shirt, hoodie, and blue jeans. Just now she is watching as a young man with dirty blonde hair and a scraggly beard makes his way to the Pizza Parlor.

Then there's a flash and the air is rent asunder. The sonic boom is almost deafening as it overtakes the alley way. "...Thief?" For a moment Gwendolyn is stunned but she quickly recovers. There's a quiet yelp of alarm as she leaps aside ahead of the ensuing chaos. Her bodega thief lets out a shout and takes off sprinting down the alley way.

"...There he goes again. Sometimes I think he's smarter than he looks." Sighing, the petite blonde turns toward the pizzeria and strolls casually toward the doors, still blinking away the flash of light. "Touche, bodega thief. Touche." She shakes her head as she moves toward the counter. "Two slices of extra pep- if you have any left."

Jessica isn't the only one staring at Hyperion's order. No wonder, really."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"That wasn't exactly my fault, you know," Vorpal says to Breath. "Spontaneous chaos reaction. It's totally a thing that happens. I can't be held responsible for every substitutiary locomotion that just happens to occur around me."

He totally can.

"Oh, I'm good with anything. Just let it have meat."

He peers at Hyperion's order, and blinks. Then he turns to Brick and says "That guy over there is having the Ghost of Future Orders To Come for the next ten years for dinner, by the way." He also notices Jessica, and elbows Brick.

It has sort of become an unspoken agreement between the two that Vorpal should never be someone's first impression, when they're trying to talk shop to someone. Very few people are prepared for Vorpal as a first impression. He then also gives Breath a meaningful glance and tilts his head Jessica-wards.

Hyperion has posed:
Eating his pizza by the slice, Hyperion is just sort of shoveling it down like it is about to go bad and he can't risk any given slice getting cold. He barely looks like he has time to breathe, if one actually watches him, but he does it so smoothly and precisely that he does it without making a mess or chewing excessively. Like a well oiled machine, for eating.

Opening his plastic cup filled with pink lemonade, Hyperion holds it out to her, and makes a little wiggling motion with it, with a pointed look at her bottle. "Top me off? Just a little? Please?" he asks, not at all trying to be imposing, because despite Jessica's abilities, she still does just look like a skinny woman, and he looks like he eats smaller weightlifters to absorb their gains.

Leaning back then, he relaxes in his seat and goes back to eating. Pleasant as pie.

Breath has posed:
Breath shrugs a bit. "I actually LIKE dead fish. Not subjecting you to them though. I totally know it's not a usual people thing. Not quite Kore level though."

She looks up at Jessica, waits until she looks a all in her direction, and smiles, tilting her head and raising a hand in a vague wave-ish motion, putting one foot behind the other. "Heya. Um, is this a bad time?" She crosses her hands in front of her politely and waits.

Jessica Jones has posed:
When Jessica takes note of Vorpal looking her way, she makes it a point to look extremely unfriendly, before intentionally ignoring him and taking another bite of her pizza. But that was before Hyperion commited a cardinal sin, which makes Jessica put down her pizza and turns her body entirely to face him. "Excuse me guy I don't know...?" She seems abrasive as she pushes the bottle in the bag to the other end of her table, as far away from Hyperion as she can, "you think I'm letting you mooch off my hard earned bottle? You know how much these things cost?" Also, she's seen how he eats, he's not getting her whiskey. No way.

While she doesn't quite answer, or look at Breath, it seems Hyperion made it into a 'bad time'.

Brick has posed:
Right. The intended target. Brick notices that her cell phone is turned off. Well. Can't sneak a message that way. He orders a large meat lovers, an extra-large Hawaiian/extra-pepperoni, and (if they have them at this time of day) a Grandma Pizza. Of course if they don't he'll just order a Margherita, because why not.

(*ping*) "Oh? Well, I'm sure it's coincidence," Brick says quietly, as if talking to an imaginary friend because he wouldn't talk to himself, right?

A quick glance at Jessica, and he says, "We need to not interrupt her lunch with work. I get a bad feeling if we do that."

Hyperion has posed:
The man, Hyperion, looks at Jessica's bottle and bag and he thinks for a second, "Well, then I won't share my, stuff, either," he says, and laughs a little, seemingly not the least bit perturbed by the refusal. Instead he just puts the lid back on his lemonade and sits there drinking. Catching the tension between her and the people who arrived via the space-tunnel, he licks at his teeth a little and turns his head to look back at them.

Then seeing as nothing has happened to warrant a word, he just goes back to eating.

Putting one foot out, he crosses the other over the top of it, and leans back slightly on his chair. The pizza he ordered is nearly gone. "I'm Marcus, by the way," he introduces himself, it's New York, and he doubts she cares, but he's Canadian and she'd made a point about not knowing him, and he realizes he should probably introduce himself.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
The unfriendly look doesn't phase Vorpal too much, because he's a New Yorker by birth. Unfriendliness is part of the reason tourists pay the big bucks. You haven't been to New York until you've been pickpocketed in Times Square, stalked by a creepy guy who keeps talking to aliens* nobody can see, and insulted or glowered at at *least* five times on your first day. What does phase him, though, is the fact that the woman also projects the kind of hostile threat that a crowbar would love to have, and nobody messes with crowbars**.

"I'm open to suggestions on how to approach this. I still have only dated one guy in my entire life and I've yet to go to a Dazzler concert, I don't want to die just yet." Because he's got priorities.



Footnotes:
*.- The world being what it is, there is no guarantee that the man isn't, in fact, actually talking to aliens nobody can see. But it's best not to risk it, right?
**.-Just ask Jason Todd.

Breath has posed:
Breath hrms, and sizes up the situation a bit, because Hyperion is being a bit of a huge boor. So if that keeps up... "Just... relax, okay? Get some pizza. Gawd, you're gonna end up looking like some kind of creeper if you keep obsessing."

She keeps an eye out though, because, yanno. Girls stick together and all that. Even if she is a bit of a Craigslist quality girl.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen is staring at the room in question, blinking as she slowly studies the room in question. She clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth and shakes her head. For a brief moment it seemed as though New Yorker apathy might be overcome by curiosity but the girl seems to be content with retrieving her sliace and sitting. As close as possible to the commotion.

"Turns out this is the place to be tonighT," Gwen reflects as she studies the people in front of her. She shakes her head slowly and then takes a bite, scanning the individuals present. Weird alien guy. Weird alien guy's less talkative friend. Resting bitch face. Overly friendly Canuck...

In the end it is Breath who is favoured with a bright smile and a brief wave. Gwen doesn't proceed further, however. There is pizza in the way and she must eat it for the sake of humanity.

Jessica Jones has posed:
"Good," Jessica snorts with a roll of her eyes, "one is quite enough, I'm not trying to get on My 600lbs Life or anything like that." As he goes on to introduce himself, Jessica mutters while chewing pizza, "y'know, Marcus, I think you need to take classes on people's skills."

When Breath chimes in Jessica's support, Jess gives her an appreciative nod of her head. It was a nice gesture after all, don't see too much of it out there in New York.

When Gwen seems to talk to herself, Jessica nevertheless confirms her assumption, "it's the place any lunch time, can't beat $1 slices."

Brick has posed:
Having ordered whole pizzas rather than slices, Brick and company are served shortly after the initial fuss, and he pulls a deck of self-stick notes from a chest pocket (not clear where that was, it's skin-close without strange edges before and after) and begins folding slices of paper as protypes for where he folds his slices of pizza.

"This is a possible thesis. Optimal folding of foodstuffs for maximized enjoyment with minimal loss and drippage of oil."

Hyperion has posed:
"Do you think they have weekend discounts on classes?" Hyperion agrees and looks down at his pizza with a pensive face, then like water off his back, he just lets it go and goes back to eating. Apparently not slowing down much, he packs it away swiftly. After several more bites and a great deal of replaying the conversation in his head, trying to understand the thread, he shakes his head and shrugs to himself.

He barely seems to notice the new entrants, beyond sparing them all a look, though he does look at Gwen when she starts to talk.

"I was told this was some of the best in the city," he says to her, to explain his decision to come here, since she seemed to be inviting a dialogue on the matter. "I think I still may prefer Chicago style, but I get it," he says to Gwen. "Good cheese," he goes on, thoughtfully, thinking about why he appreciates the pizza.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"You are an absolute nerd," Vorpal says to Brick as he talks about Pizza experiments. He shakes his head and looks back to the table. A sort of general rapport seems to have been established, for good or ill, with Breath starting everybody off on the side of 'for good,' so points to her!

The question of how to approach Jessica was a difficult one, since she clearly wasn't into getting approached at lunch, as everybody saw. It was best to do it by proxy. Sort of.

"Hey, that's quite a meal you've got there, dude." Vorpal says, approaching Marcus and giving him a grin. "Are you a competitive something or other trying to win all the belts in the world or something?"

Vorpal's approach needs work. Especially since he is somehow deluded in thinking this might get Jessica more likely to talk to him.

Fortunately there are two other team-mates in his group who are sane and can course-correct, should he cause a catastrophe.

Ghost Spider has posed:
"I guess it is," Gwen responds thoughtfully, as if she might be mildly surprised. She nods once for Hyperion's benefit and then turns her attention to her food again. TRhe blonde corsses her legs at the knee and the nadds, "And you're right, at a buck a slice it can't really be beat." There's that cheerful grin, one which seems to just be part of her face.

Settling into her seat the petite blonde listens as Marcus continues to speak and arches a brow briefly, tilting herhead slightly as she does so. "You know, some people in thewse parts iwll take that Chicago style thing you have going as a declaration of war. And New Yorkers are kinda sore losers." The grin is teasing, if anything.

"But you're right. The cheese is good. It's - better than I remember." The brief melancholy accompanying that statement doesn't take long to vanish from Gwen's features. She nods at Brick's summation of how to eat pizza, folds her own slice, and takes an enormous bite.

Breath has posed:
Breath smiles back at Gwen, making sure to keep the corner of her eye on the Hyp/JJ interaction. She sits at the table with the others in her group, and keeps lightly scanning that part of the room as if expecting something to happen. What, she couldn't say yet; she doesn't really know anybody there yet. She opens her mouth to say something, then pauses as Vorpal tries some random thing. Which is... actually probably not half bad, but maybe not for the reasons Vorp might have in mind. "Well... OK. What is he trying to do..? What-ever." She picks up a slice of pizza daintily and nibbles at it, eschewing fancy folding techniques and manly eating performance.

Jessica Jones has posed:
"You're a persistent one, aren't you...?" Jess murmurs at Hyperion, somewhat surprise at his complete lack of reaction to her attempts at being abrasive. Is she losing her touch? That would be a huge concern! She soon finishes her pizza, left with a paper plate full of crumbs, so only thing left is to have some more of her choosen drink. A sip to wash it all down, and then she looks aside at Hyperion, "how long have you been in New York, Marcus? Because there's no way Chicago style is better, won't hear that coming out of a New Yorker. Ever. You lose your NY credentials if it happens." To be fair, the man is outright handling himself as an alien, so not a New Yorker wouldn't be out of the question.

Gwen gets a thumbs up from Jess, she's a New Yorker, that's for sure, knowing to appreciate the value of $1 slice.

Hey what do you know, Gwen gets the bit about Chicago style being terrible too, yup, Jessica's detective intuition never fails, a fellow New Yorker right there.

Brick has posed:
"Chicago-style pizza and New York-style pizza are sufficiently different to count as completely different foods," Brick says conversationally. "They even need different ovens. If I'm fueling up my body for a major effort, then I definitely want a Chicago style for caloric density, with enough flavor to keep it from tasting like synth-food. But for simply enjoying a lighter, more subtle food that feeds the soul, New York style every day."

Hyperion has posed:
"I just eat a lot!" Marcus replies to Vorpal and pats his belly again, doing that thing where he pushes out his abs again. Because Vorpal hadn't been there for the joke the first time, and he doesn't mind doing the same shtick twice, for the sake of humor. He seems oddly perfectly content to talk to anyone and everyone, as if they'd known each other for years. His chair occasionally creaking under him as he shifts his weight, the metal and screws protesting at his considerable mass.

The man looks back to Jessica then and lifts his phone out of his pocket, checking the time with a flick of the thumb, "Nineteen minutes. And not better, just different, I'd say. Thick like a pie, sometimes.." he begins and then looks over at Brick and says, "That man has the right of it. It's like a different food. I'm not sure which I like more, but they both call themselves pizza, so I suppose beg a comparison."

Finally, he looks back to Gwen and smiles.

Breath has posed:
Breath decides it's probably best to not even mention St. Louis pizza, so stuffs her secret love for provel down deep. sulk. nibble nibble. She smiles a bit and watches for the moment, since at this instant, the technical talk of pizza styles is a bit out of her depth, and she just doesn't want to demonstrate her uncultured hick pizza tastes among such lofty taste buds. Her time shall come, muah hah.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"I know someone who eats like that. But they run three times around the world in a minute or something ridiculous like that." Vorpal pulls up a chair, casual as you please, as he responds to Hyperion. This could backfire terribly, but this is his way of integrating himself into the table. "Don't mind Brick's calculations, he's the extreme sports guy of the team. He launches himself at dangerous things and often dents them. I'm more along the lines of the pretty face of the team." He gives Jessica a grin that clearly states that the feline doesn't believe that for a second, before turning to Marcus again.

"I like pizza. I mean, the real pizza. But you gotta go to Rome to eat it." Which he can do thanks to the ability to go anywhere he wants to.

People in Rome are kinda crazy about cats, he found out.

Brick has posed:
"I have never dented anything that didn't deserve it," Brick complains. "Especially that so-called John Paul statue ... Darth Pope."

Yes, he did impact the back of the rejected statue as it was being returned to its maker. Yes, it cracked. Critics found it an improvement. The same way they admired his effect on the Seagull Cinderella in Massachusetts. It looked better on fire.

"Anyway, the best pizza is served in Castilia in the small fishing towns."

Ghost Spider has posed:
"Okay, so it's a different food. Justice Scalia said that it's more like a tomato pie..." Gwen's expressi n is one of careful thought. Finally she shrugs and finishes off her first slice with a quick shove. She chews and then swallows, manging the bite nimbly beforre looking around the room again.

The young woman continues to watch, even if her eyes glaze over slightly as Brick launches into the specifics of his pizza eating and heroing. Breath earns another glance and a nod. Then Brick continues to speak and - "A hero treated like a punk, you know that's unheard of?"

Then Gwen pauses and covers her mouth with a hand. "..Mmm." Oops.

Jessica Jones has posed:
"This clearly shows, you know nothing about pizza," Jessica concludes her discussion with Marcus on which is which. In her book, there's New York pizza, and Chicago can go hang out with Philly for all she cares, or Boston, it's all the same. "Yeah, very different, Chicago is piles of dough, with piles of stuff," then Vorpal joins and he brings up Rome pizza, leading Jessica to snorts, "sorry but they can't make pizza in Italy."

Reaching for her bottle and snorting, she takes another swig before adding, "listen to me kids, don't ever be heroes."

Breath has posed:
Breath looks over at the discussion of pizza, then rolls her eyes a bit. When nobody but Gwen is looking, she nudges the tip of her nose up with a fingertip, then holds up her fork with exaggerated faux snooty upper class etiquette and lightly saws at her pizza slice for a moment. She quickly puts her hands back down innocently, then picks up the slice and takes another bite, yup yup, nothing to look at here, yup..

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Well, too late for that- 'cause who helped stop an Apokalyptian brigade trying to capture a magical relic? //This// guy!" the Cheshire cat says with a grin, pointing at himself with his thumbs.

Granted, he didn't know EXACTLY how he ended up summoning an army of ravens. Nor, exactly, what happened to the magical relic, outside of it no longer being there. Nor is he quite certain how to summon the ravens again... but nobody has to know that, right? "Actually, speaking of alien invasions..."

Hyperion has posed:
"You're probably right," Hyperion says to Jessica being perhaps almost too agreeable as he rises to his feet to walk over to the counter to refill his cup of lemonade. Filling the cup all the way up before he sits down to finish the last slice of pizza, which he is taking a bit more time with. Perhaps getting near capacity limit, or maybe he's just savoring it more.

Extending his legs again, he settles his weight back in his chair and looks around at everyone as he loses the thread of the conversation again.

Bites left: 3, 2, 1.

Rising to his feet again with his lemonade in hand, the big man walks over to dump his stuff into the garbage and comes back to wave at all of the friendly New Yorkers he met. "Have a good evening," he says to them all.

Brick has posed:
"Meanwhile I was in heavy lock-down during most of that stupid thing," Brick says, "until the fish-men attack. Which was perversely short-lived."

He looks over to Jessica.

"Why do you advise against being heroes?"

He might be suicidal. He does salute Marcus as he leaves, waiting for him to be outside of expected eavesdropping range before saying sotto-voce, "that man has a measurable gravity gradient."

Jessica Jones has posed:
"Wow. You did that?" Jessica asks Vorpal, entirely deadpan, "should I go get you a medal now? Or is it okay to send one in the mail?" But before she can continue to skewer Vorpal verbally, Marcus is actually leaving, and after all of the weird interaction, at best she can offer a wave of her hand, "be well, Marcus, just, be well."

"Is that a serious question?" Jessica asks while glowering at Brick, "because I don't have the time to give you a full answer. But short one? Nobody gives a fuck, nobody cares, and you'll fuck up your life like nobody's business doing that shit. Sure, they like you at first, but you'll end up worse than Spider-Man on the Bugle." She doesn't go on to mention the stuff that doesn't make the media is the very worst stuff.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen stifles a giggle when she sees Breath's expression and nods a couple times. Then she is surveying the room again quietly, those azure eyes wide as she takes in everything at once. Then the girl surreptitiously picks up her plate and walks over to Breath's table.

"Running out of seats." Gwendolyn her head toward a recent arrival. She takes a deep breath then. "Room for one more? My name's Gwen." while she speaks she allows her gaze to wander back to the room at large. In the end she just stares at Jessica intently and listens.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
".... Hi, Gwen! Welcome to the Existential Ennui Table. My name is Vorpal, and all life is mysery, therefore pizza isn't real- because it's too good for a unverse of abject misery." He gestures towards the pizza slices. "Enjoy your collective delusion. The good news is that, since it doesn't exist, it doesn't contain any calories. It is, on the other hand, full of Sturm und Drang."

He slowly turns his head to look at Jessica, and smirks.

Breath has posed:
Breath ohs! "Sure! Hi!" She smiles. "Just trying to keep those two out of trouble. I don't know if it's working very well yet, but.. you know. I go by the Breath when I'm on duty like this, which I'm kind-of-sort-of supposed to be, even though I think this is probably a kind-of-sort-of stupid and totally obvious excuse to eat pizza somewhere different." She listens to the conversation, trying to figure out what they are even doing at this point.

Brick has posed:
Well, if you insist on knowing.

"Ms. Jones, we don't want to interrupt your lunch with work, but sometime later today, we'd like to hire you as a detective. But only if you can bring yourself to tolerating the activities of ignorant young people who might accidentally be labeled heroes by other ignorant people."

There. Brick's dropped the bomb. Now she can utterly reject them beforehand, or not.

Jessica Jones has posed:
Unlike the hapless Marcus in his attempt for a sip, Vorpal apparently needn't ask, because Jessica pushes her brown bag wrapped bottle towards him, "you look and more importantly sound like you could use a shot, so be my guest," turns out she can be nice and share. It's all about approach. Not that Vorpal had any ploy at work for a taste of Jessica's booze.

But then Brick has to go and ruin it all by mentioning they know just who she is, bringing her to take the bottle right back in hand, taking a long swig this time. "That's just fucking perfect, well, we're not in my office...obviously," she motions at the pizza place as if she even needed to gesture, "but go ahead, see if you catch my attention, what's the gist?"

Ghost Spider has posed:
"Delusions that don't contain calories but taste like food? I think I just died and went to New York Heaven. Unless we're still serving Chicago pizza, in which case I just hope there isn't any German potato salad." Both Vorpal and Breath earn their nods, and then the blonde has taken her chosen seat beside Breath at the table, staring at her companions like they literally fell out of the sky in an alley and started pretending to understand Earth cust- ...Wait asecond.

"They're always like this?" Gwen asks Breath in a faux conspiratorial tone. "I knew NYC was a cultural hub but this is ridiculous. I'm pretty sure the Canuck was an alien too." It doesn't stop her from snagging additional pizza.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Always," Vorpal says to Gwen's question to Breath (big cat ears, after all) and politely turns down Jessica's offer. "Thank you, but I'm not twenty-one yet. I know. Hard to tell with the fur and all. Also I'm a creature of chaos magic, so alcohol is probably not a safe choice for me. But I appreciate the offer nevertheless!"

He leans back and begins to munch on his pizza. "I'll let my team-mates do the pitch. I have a hard time keeping things straight. Myself included."

Brick has posed:
"There's a lot of apok-tek and other alien weapons scattered around. Someone's being an entrepeneur and collecting it, and it's not safe. Our big name good guy types were ... dealing with it, to an extent. But they're caught up in this political stupidity, and we don't want to be reactive. You're the kind of person who can find out what's going on without endangering yourself and others, and you can let us know so we can stop things before they become stupidly complicated."

Brick shrugs, looking almost like a dwarf. "We also know how to play well with the police and I have connections to the people who can contain, destroy, or handle the stuff. And I'm not willing to let them turn us into a profit center."

Breath has posed:
Breath looks up at the ceiling, spreading her arms in a 'Why, o heavenly one, why me?' expression, shaking her head a bit, then slumps over the table dramatically. "It's true. It's horribly true. Seriously, it's so bad they had to bring ME along as their token anchor to normalness."

She nibbles on the pizza a bit more. "At least they haven't made a complete mess of things. The last time, it was.... uuuuh...." She looks around awkwardly, "Well, let's just say there's a reason we're eating HERE now."

Jessica Jones has posed:
"Him being an alien is the only excuse he gets," Jessica notes to Gwen when she muses about the Canuck. Because he was super weird.

When next Jessica puts her bottle on the table, it's empty, and she leans back in her seat, practically staring at Brick, "okay, so you need me to do some snoop work...? Find out a source? Seller? Is this government territory? Because I don't need the Avengers on my ass...had enough of that, thank you."

She pauses a moment to knead at her temple, well, she did just finish a whole bottle of whiskey. "You know...I think we should set a proper appointment," she reaches into the pocket of her jacket and tosses a business card at Brick, "Alias Investigations, though I guess you knew that already. Call me."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
He was willing to call this a victory. Or at least, a step towards victory, anyways. He turns to Breath and says cryptically, "In my defense, I had no idea lobsters would react that way to chaos magic."

And then he gives Breath and Gwen a grin, and proceeds to devour his slice. They were told to set up an appointment! He'd fist-pump, but that would mean letting go of his pizza.

Brick has posed:
"That's pretty much it. You'll know pretty quickly what you can find, and you can let us know what you can do for us. But at this point, we're wanting to gather information and I don't want to keep Angry Bird up past his bedtime every day," Brick says drily. "Not that he won't be anyway."

He catches the business card, runs a hand across it and there's a *PING* that registers it.

"We'll call you later, or tomorrow, whichever."

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen continues to munch on her pizza and nods as Breath explains what is going on to her. "If it helps you seem relatively normal so it isn't a hard choice to make. Especially given the choices." Another smile is offered to all those present, complete with a nod for Jessica. Then Gwen is simply listening as the conversation washes over her.

Then Jessica introduces her business. Gwen starts to stare. "Wait. THE Alias Investigationa? You're Jew-" Then gwen starts, her eyes widening with mild alarm. Thinking quickly she crams her pizza into her mouth, mumbling something muffled pastthe food.

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica was listening to Brick, or Vorpal, or anyone really. One would hope so, she's looking at them, though she's already perfected that dozing with eyes open schtik. It's amazingly useful. But then Gwen opens her mouth. And she says something, that sounds like she was about to say, that name which must not be named! Not out loud anyway. Not by any non-Hellcat people. Not by anyone ever really!

"No, I'm sorry, I'm not Jewish," Jess is quick to complete Gwen's cut out 'Jew-'...naturally to others it should make sense that's what Gwen was trying to say, right? But if it wasn't, there's no time to check, because the empty bottle of Jack Daniels is left behind in the brown bag, when Jessica hurries up on her feet and rushes for the door, "just remembered, got an appointment, I'm late, see you all, been a blast."

Breath has posed:
Breath blinks. Looks between the two and notes the rushed exit. "Ummm... Am I missing something I should be worried about, or was that like one of those slips where you really don't want anybody to notice that you just freaked out? Because like, if it was the second one? I didn't notice anything..?"

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Vorpal watches the proceedings with an amused expression. Once Jessica has made her exit, the cat finally speaks, something he hadn't done before out of fear of getting karate chopped to the neck.

"Hey, this is the first time something incredibly awkward has happened and I haven't been the cause of it!" He smiles at Gwen, and sips his drink.

"Progress!"

Brick has posed:
"Careful not to get too close to secret identities," Brick says. "For those of you who have them, they're pretty important."

Which is to say, not Brick because he's a weirdo that way, he's been public record most of his life.

He looks at Vorpal. "Yeah, how DID you do that?"

Ghost Spider has posed:
"Oh, no. It's nothing. I just thought she was osmeone I know," Gwen replies in a genuine voice that leaves or more or less the entire explanation for current events. She takes a deep breath, watching as Jessica beats her hasty retreat toward the door and tilts her head slightly to the left. "I didn't mean to upset her like that," gwen notes then before breahting a heavy sigh.

Vorpal gets a nod. "Progress," Gwen agrees somewhat sheepishly. "I wish I could say this was my first time bieng the cause but someone around heere has been to Macy's on Black Friday..."