3790/Chocolate & Twitter

Chocolate & Twitter
Date of Scene:	02 February 2018
Location:	Upper West Side - Manhattan
Synopsis:	Laurel and Lar discuss SHIELD, humans, and chocolate.
Cast of Characters:	Mon-El, Andromeda

---

Mon-El has posed:
    As Laurel had demanded earlier, Lar returns to her apartment the following day with chocolate. Though, it's probably not the right kind of chocolate. Nope...it's totally baker's chocolate. The kind that isn't even sweet and you are supposed to use it for making cakes and add your own sugar. He comes and plops it on the table in the living room. "Hey Laurel, I brought chocolate, as per your earlier demand." he informs her, smirking a little.

Andromeda has posed:
    "Thank you." Laurel scoops up the chocolate in question and carries it away to the kitchen where she proceeds to break off a few hunks begin to work it into the brownies she is apparently working on. The fact it is unsweetened doesn't even cause the young woman to bat an eyelash and she even flashes Lar an infuriatingly smug smile. "That will do nicely. So... How was your day?"

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar peers curiously at what Laurel is doing, watching the brownie prep over her shoulder as she puts the chocolate in. "It was fine, I guess...what are you making?" he asks, not really understanding why she is looking all smug. "I joined a network called Twitter. Apparently, there are a lot of people on it. Have you heard of it?"

Andromeda has posed:
    "Brownies. You'll love them," Laurel relates simply. Then Lar brings up Twitter and Laurel nods slowly. "Yes.It's become quite useful for learning how to phrase complex ideas in only a few sentences," she offers helpflly. "For the most part I prefer not to post myself." she shrugs her shoulders lightly.

Mon-El has posed:
    "Brownies." Lar repeats the word, peering at the mixture. "Well, it certainly is very brown." he observes. "Why did you want me to bring that particular ingredient? I mean, wouldn't it have been easier for you to just get it yourself instead of having to wait for me to arrive?" he questions.

    "Yeah, it was kind of weird that it wouldn't let me enter more than a certain number of English characters. Guess it had to be intentional. Kind of hard to understand most of what everyone is saying on there, though."

Andromeda has posed:
    "It had nothing to do with needing you to pick the choolate. It's..." Laurel sighs an then shakes her head. "Anyway, Twitter eems to be a unique sort of repository of knowledge. I've spent some time studying it but there's a great deal of depth behind those unusual messages." Laurel shrugs slowly at this statement. "Anyway, have you done anything else? Give me thirty minutesand I will have fresh brownies and you may have some if you like."

Mon-El has posed:
    "It's what?" Lar pushes further, an eyebrow going up. Then he folds his arms, smirking. "Wait, don't tell me. It has something to do with the reason you slapped me the other day."

    He doesn't answer her latter question because she might very well have the same response to him contacting SHIELD as Kara and Drake did. Besides, it's on Twitter--if she wants to know it's there for her to see if she looked for it. Well, the public parts, anyway.

Andromeda has posed:
    "I slapped you and then immediately demanded chocolate. Your grasp of the obvious is illuminating, Lar," Laurel replies, shaking her head as she does. The tray of brownies goes into the oven and then she straightens slightly. "You did something," she concludes after a moment. "Will I find out what if I go to Twitter since you aren't talking?" Even small breaks from routine are dangerous.

Mon-El has posed:
    "What -is- chocolate, anyway?" Lar asks, flinging his arms in the air. "I mean, other than an ingredient in human food? If you ask me, it almost looks like someone took feces and compacted it into a rectangular shape." he postulates. "But it doesn't smell that way, so I'm hoping I'm wrong on that one."

    He shrugs at the Twitter comment. "Well it's there for all to see, in public so it's not as if I can stop you from looking." (18/27)

Andromeda has posed:
    "Lar! Are you kidding?" Laurel's eyes flash and then she is shaking her head firmly. "It's a plant extract. I can't believe you. Nevermind, you do *not* need one of these." Now Laurel is scowling even as the smell of chocolae is permeating the apartment. She steps away from the oven and retrieves her phone. Twitter, here she comes.

Mon-El has posed:
    "What?" Lar gives her that same incredulous stare from the other day when she slapped him. "It's brown like feces are!" he isn't even laughing, so maybe he wasn't even trying to joke about it. "Fine, I never asked for some anyway." he says, folding his arms. "You never answered my question about earlier. What is so obvious about slapping and chocolate? Is that another one of those Terran customs I'm unfamiliar with?"

Andromeda has posed:
    "I slapped you because you were behaving terribly and making Kara incredibly uncomfortable. Chocolate is used for calming people and often given as a gift. It's a way of making amends. Apparently women are considered particularly susceptible to this," Laurel states then in a gentler, more instructive tone. "And things looking like feces is a bit irrelevant. I suppose your hair is made of obsidian and your skin is made of paper?" She shrugs her shoulders slightly. "Feces are distasteful. You obviously understand that. Telling people their food resembles feces is bad for their appetite --- and very rude." Laurel continues to flip through the Twitter results while she speaks.

Mon-El has posed:
    "How was I behaving terribly? I told her I loved her, it's the truth!" Lar says defensively. He looks pensive at the information about chocolate. "Oooh, I see now. Well, that's a useful bit to know."

    He shrugs. "It's just what I happened to think of, that's all. -Sorry-." Though he doesn't really sound all that sorry. "I mean, I guess obsidian could just be used to refer to a dark color, too."

Andromeda has posed:
    "If you'd enjoy me packaging fecal matter with all of your lunches and eating while immersed in the smell of it then I suppose you can fairl yclaim there's no reason to complain about the comparison," Laurel replies simply. "And it's all well and good to say things that are true. But she just got out of an emotionally complex and difficult situaton. Burying her in the depths of your feelings for her is very insensitive. she needs time to heal. Truth be told-"

    There's a brief pause then. Laurel looks up from her phone. "Lar, you didn't," is the only thing Laurel has to say. This, of course, makes it clear: Laurel found the tweets in question.

Mon-El has posed:
    "I -said- I was sorry, okay? Grife. I can hardly believe we're even -having- this conversation." Lar retorts, though he is still smiling a little. Though it fades when the topic drifts over to Kara. He sighs. "Okay, okay. But I thought it might make her feel better, to know that he wasn't the only one who loved her. Well, maybe I should get her some of that chocolate? Since you said women tend to be particularly fond of it."

    He arches a brow at her as she looks up from the Twitter conversation. "Didn't what?" But he very well knows what she's talking about. "Look Laurel, I'm just tired of running around chasing dead ends, and tired of having no idea what I'm doing and getting people hurt and killed because of it."

Andromeda has posed:
    "I understand, but.. .it's SHIELD," the woman starts slowly. "These people actively hunt down and contain threats to the human world. You might reasonable be judged to be one by their standards. It certainly isn't the safest thing you could have arranged." There's a soft sigh and then Laurel shakes her head in her usual cascade of golden tresses. She takes the phone and tucks it away now, moving back into the kitchen.

    "Very well," Laurel continues after a moment, "You may have a brownie. You can bring Kara some chocolate if you like - or a few brownies - but try to stick to mentioning being friends rather than confessing your undying love. Maybe?" The blonde pauses for a moment before adding, "And I, meanwhile, should prepare since I'm going with you to this meeting of yours."

Mon-El has posed:
    "I mean, isn't that what groups like the Justice League and all that do, too?" Lar challenges that argument. "Let's be honest, 'erratic' is a pretty accurate descriptor of my behavior as of late, especially to someone who doesn't know me. It's only reasonable that they'd be suspicious of me. Maybe if I offered to cooperate, then they wouldn't be as cynical. It can't hurt to talk to them, at least. What's the worst that could happen? An ambush, maybe, but I'm sure I could just deal with it." That's some overconfidence right there, but it's hard not to be when there aren't too many on this planet who can actually take a punch from him. "Fine, you can come with me--if it'll make you feel better. I'm meeting them tomorrow at a 'Gino's Pizzeria' in Brooklyn."

Andromeda has posed:
    "It's not the same. SHIELD is a spy organization, not a superhero group." Laurel shakes her head and sighs heavily as Lar speaks of easily handling any potential ambush. "You're assuming they don't just bring a wizard ("Sorcer Supreme"?) and paralyze you on the floor like a Lar Gand doll then carry you off to a laboratory somewhere," she observes somewhat bitingly. "Nothing to do for it now. We'll meet with them together and we can continue from there," she finishes simply. "You're right that they may be able to do you some good. But first... Brownies."

Mon-El has posed:
    "Okay, so you're slanted against them just because they have different -methods- that aren't as grandiose as the ones we're used to? Come -on-, Laurel. It's run by humans, subtle methods are all they -have- to their advantage, especially up against people who can throw things to the moon and shoot lasers out of their eyes." Lar argues, exhaling in a somewhat frustrated manner.

    "Hah, them bringing a magic user to the ambush is the only way it'll even -be- a challenge." he points out. "Because then we'd have to squish them -before- they cast anything at us." he rolls his eyes, then watches her take the desserts out of the oven.

Andromeda has posed:
    "I'm not saying they're bad, I'm saying they might be bad at helping people like you," Laurel replies, a bit sharply, even as the alarm on the oven starts to go off. She removes the tray from inside, even bothering to wear thoroughly unnecessary pink oven mitts whie she does so. "But like Isaid, it'sa bit late now. We'll just have to keep our eyes open."

    With this stated Laurel looks over the tray in front of her carefully. "We have to let these cool completely before we try to cut them," she notes then. "Normally I try to do things the human way..."

    Laurel takes a deep breath then exhales sharply over the pan. The cool air sweeps across the tray. "But who wants to wait for brownies?" Then it is simply a matter of producing a knife.

Mon-El has posed:
    "Bad, bad at helping me, whatever it is you're trying to get at here." Lar shrugs. "I just think you might be judging them a bit too quickly. You and Kara. And Drake." Yep, that's pretty much most of his close friends right there. "Just because they're spies or whatever. Spies are only bad if they're not on your side. So we get them on our side, right? Whatever they're planning, we'll handle it."

    He watches as she cools the brownies quickly, chuckling. "Why's that?" he asks, regarding the 'human' way of doing things. "Pretty sure you didn't need those protective gloves."

Andromeda has posed:
    "If you want to live among the humans without... Scaring them... You have to make some effort to fit in. People who could destroy their planet without too much effort justifiably scare them. You'll be terribly lonely if they start to fear or resent you. Better to do some simple things the hard way, I think."
    After making this solemn proclamation Laurel levers a couple brownies out of the pan, puts them on a plate, and brings them to Lar. "Eat these while they're sitll warm and tell me what you think." Laurel might not be the most experienced cook but she understands the chemistry of brownies better than most anyone after some study.
    After sharing brownies Laurel gently ushers Lar out the door so that she can get ready for her night. A lot of which will be spent staring thoughtfully at a wall.