7044/AWhole New World

AWhole New World
Date of Scene:	26 March 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Jessica and Barry have lunch while contemplating the meaning of a Xeroxed life, and decide where to have dinner.
Cast of Characters:	Spider-Woman (Drew), Flash

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Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Dear Sir," Jessica's pointlessly formal text began. "I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to invite me to lunch. You were chosen from a number of possible candidates, and were selected for, among other reasons, your taste in lunch. Please don't make me regret this decision." The text is signed, "Sincerely, The Lunch Hiring Board." Only it is spelled 'Broad.' Possibly accidental. Probably not.

Flash has posed:
"Dear Ms. Lunch Hiring Broad." Barry begins after fishing his phone out of his back pocket, "After much deliberation amongst staff here at; are you free today at noon, we have concluded that your offer is both genuine and magnanemous. We regret to inform you, however, that we will not be free for lunch until just after 2, despite our LLC." This text is signed, "Sincerely, CEO of AYFTAN, except at 2."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"We, meaning myself, here at "Totally Free at Two, but Likewise Not at Noon, would like to extend an acceptance to your proposal, and invite you to meet us, meaning me, at our designated location (heretofore referred to as 'the usual place') so that you may transport us, meaning me, to Central City at the appointed time, which is more after twoish, and not at noon at all." She manages to get herself lost in the text at least three times before hitting send.

Flash has posed:
"Congratulations, you, not them, fully aware of the associated agreement policy regarding travel plans shortly prior to 2, but distinctly after noon. You have booked passage for travel aboard the fastest transport alive." Barry, could please stop staring at your phone and do some work? You were already an hour late. "Sorry, Joe." He says with a hand waving at the detective, then finishes his text. "G2G, duty here at after noon, but closer to 2 is picking up and my regard for my future plans have become irrevocably tied into anamosities amidst my peer group. See ya at 1:59."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"See ya at 2:15 <3," comes the response from Jessica, although she realizes that she is setting herself up for an hour long wait by mentioning a later time. And at the appointed time of 1:59pm, she is waiting near their park bench, paper bag in hand. She's the only person she knows who packs a lunch to wait for her lunch ride. Just...in case.

Flash has posed:
It's a good thing she brought that lunch too because it's closer to 3:15 when, electricity still crackling around him, Barry shows up at the designated place of meet. "Sorry, got tied up stopping a bank robbery..." Probably true, likely somewhere in Istanbul. No telling when it comes to the Flash. "You ready? Is that from Angelos?" Pointing down at the paperbag with wide eyes, "Did you bring me a Double Double Subble Lubble?" She probably didn't. His eyes are still wide, though. "Now I want Angelos. You know they cut their deli fresh every morning from never frozen meats?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"It /is/, in fact, NOT from Angelo's," Jess replies, opening the bag and revealing the apple and the generic strawberry banana sugar free yogurt still in the bag. "Ain't nobody got time for /that/," she explains with a nod toward the bag's contents. "I'd rather starve for a couple of hours..." Jess winks, shuffling a little in her black leggings, which are worn as pants, but in fact are NOT pants, a black tanktop and an oversized green sweater. "So let's find something that will keep you from starving to death, right?"

Flash has posed:
Barry recoils back from the contents of the bag as if they physically struck him, "Oh sweet god, you poor woman. What sort of torture are they getting up to at the mansion?!" He stresses the words, rather than shouting them, "Come on, let's get a proper meal in you before you catch the Anorexia." One arm opens against his side, "I know just the place. It's Taco Tuesday, I'm thinking Locos Hermanos. Two for Tuesday special, yo. Two tacos, two burritos, and a cup of queso cheese!"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"You had me at Locos," Jess replies, and tucks in against Barry, holding fast to him, but not too tight. It's a practiced ease by which she goes with him - just about anywhere they go. Unless he does a flyby YOINK and drags her off to parts unknown without warning, due to emergency circumstances. Then she clings. Because clinging is necessary. "You fly, I buy!"

Flash has posed:
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Barry says infront of Locos Hermanos in Central City meer moments hence. He's careful about how fast he runs with company, however, so as not to crush them or set them on fire or generally do their body ill intent unintentional. "So I strongly suggest the double stuffed dorrito crunch wrap, but I'm partial to high frucotose corn starch and carbs." Since he burns it off almost as quickly as he consumes it. It's good to be the Flash.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Hey, I'll have whatever you recommend, as long as it's the most delicious thing on the menu," Jess replies. "I feel like you have a real handle on the deliciosity of tacos and taco - related paraphernalia."

Flash has posed:
"I am well versed in their delightfulness, it's true." Barry agrees, pushing open the door at the same time and allowing both to enter to a relatively sparce, but still busy, resteraunt. "Here and Big Belly Burgers are basically staple food groups in Central City." Said as an aside, with no small amount of pride, about a fast food joint. "We'll have three double tacos, two double burritos and a large cup of quaso cheese, please. Also a big gulp of Mountain Yeeaaah."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jess glances quizzically at Barry for a moment. "Are you on a strict diet? Or have you already eaten?" Perhaps in Istanbul. "You could put away twice that before I could finish a double burrito..."

Flash has posed:
"Listen." Barry glances at Jess with his hands out helplessly, "I'm a slave to my stomach, aren't I?" Both those hands pat at his flat belly expressively, "I've already had lunch twice while we were standing in line." That is an exageration! He was probably only once. "I had early lunch and late breakfast with Joe. He insisted and I couldn't keep denying him. Besides, I was starving and had a thirty second run across the world. Also, Swarma." So he's eaten a couple times today. "And I want to save room for cake."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"And I'll haaaaaave...that giant burrito in the picture." Jessica points to it and tilts her head. "Are those fresh jalapenos? Yeah, no. Leave off the jalapenos, please. And a Tamarindo." She pays the cashier and turns to Barry while they're waiting. "Do we get a table or do we wait up here? Never been here before...obviously." She offers a sheepish grin.

Flash has posed:
"Living dangerously." Barry murmurs loud enough for Jessica to hear him and rocks back and forth on his heels with his arms folded across his chest, "We can get a table, they'll call out our number once it's done and I can come pick it up." Said with a grin and a motion at the tables where a smattering of law enforcement and a other patrons are enjoying their late lunch. "For cake I'm thinking something from the corner mart.. if you haven't had douglas donuts you're not living life to the fullest."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"That was going to be my next question," Jess replies, finding a table in the corner and watching the other patrons. "I thought maybe you were attending a wedding. Or a baby shower...." She lets that comment linger innocently enough. "I haven't had anything here except our burgers. So yeah...yeah I think that sounds fantaaaastic."

Flash has posed:
Barry drops down into a seat at the table with his back to the patrons like he's got no worries in the world and grins across at Jess with a biig shrug, "Well, my son hasn't come back from the future to tell me anything about where I'm going to have my wedding or just drop the photos in my lap." His hands spread out in something like a shrug, "When I really start thinking about it, I have a very strange life..." He thinks about it for half a second, then shrugs, "At least there's tacos. So many tacos. So many very excellent tacos."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"And you have made it your life's work to obliterate them all," Jess responds with a playful but very judgmental shake of her head. "I feel like I'm just enabling you at this point, to be honest." She grins and leans back in her seat. "So what did you do today, apart from zipping all over the world for food, and consuming it?"

Flash has posed:
"I don't trust tacos, if I'm honest. Left to their devices they will almost certainly form a rudamentary government structure that ultimately leads to domination of the entire food court." Barry is a helpless bystander doing the right thing here. Look at his innocent expression and fluttering eyelashes. "Eh, nothing exciting. A couple hold ups, two store robberies, a car jacking in Los Angeles, and a drug deal in Shanghai.. That was purely by accident." He says quietly, leaning against the edge of the table, "There was a double homicide last night, me and Joe worked it for most of the morning."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica listens to Flash's long list of heroics, totally prepared to make an offhanded insinuation that he was the perpetrator in all these crimes, until he gets to the double homicide. "Oh wow...a double homicide /here/? I didn't think stuff like that happened here. "

Flash has posed:
"Usually they don't, but I can't be everywhere no matter how fast I run." Barry says with a little frown and a glance down at the table. "I was on Apokalyps when it happened." He explains with a hand motioning outward, "If you're not familiar with this location, imagine literally the definitive picture of hell and you've basically got it pegged."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Oh...that's where you guys were headed the night we met out there in that..." She gestures vaguely. "That place. Out there." Because words gain more meaning when repeated. "How did that go, anyway? I was just...really in the way there, it seemed like."

Flash has posed:
"Yeah." Barry nods a few times, motioning with a flick of his wrist, and is just about to go into details when they call their number. "Back in a flash." Out of the chair and headed to the counter to juggle all of his food and her smattering addition back to their table shortly there after. "Your lunch, madame.." Reseating, "Where was I? Ah, yeah, so... hell. Plus a made a couple duplicates of myself and one of them may or may not be endlessly running through the speed force being chased by a Time Wraith, you sure you don't want one of these tacos? I have twelve..." Nonchallent, completely nochallent.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Wait, copies of yourself?" Jessica pockets the conversation she was about to delve into, because there is now more than one Barry. In fact, there are at least three Barrys. "No, I'm...I'm good, what do you MEAN you made copies? You can't do that, can you?" She's pretty sure he can't. She's read his +sheet. "And if there are copies of you running around out there, even literally RUNNING AROUND out there, how do I know you're my Barry?"

Flash has posed:
"Copies is kind of misleading." Barry explains, two of his twelve tacos have simply vanished, never to be seen from again on this plain. "Technically I run so quickly that I create echos of myself... kind of like if in high school when you would pass someone on the track? Well, the person I'm passing on the track, is me." Another taco gone, possibly between words in his sentence, who even knows where these things go. "So they're copies in the strictest sense of the words as they are mes from miliseconds in the past. One of them died, one of them... well.." It isn't like he's cavalier about it, but the fact is he could have been the echo that was called upon to make that sacrifice and he'd have done it just like any other of him would have. "As for that last question.. you sure you want to go with that? We playing phrasing or... should I answer it?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Well..." Jess stammers uncertainly. "I mean...you could be a copy. But if you're a copy then you're still...you. Right? I mean...God, now I'm even more confused. And one of them died? It could have been you. What if it /was/ you??" Jessica's anxiety over this seems to be increasing with further explanation, rather than abating. "What if something happened to you and I only don't know it because you're sitting here in front of me playing hide the taco?!" Her coherency, however, seems to be abating.

Flash has posed:
"Strictly speaking, yes, they were all me." Barry has come to terms with the whole thing, clearly, but he thinks about things in a completely different way. Probably at the same speed as he does everything else, like eat another three tacos. "So something did happen to me, it just wasn't me me.. or this me.." Tapping himself on the chest, "It's really kind of complicated, Jess. Not that I don't think you're completely capable of getting it, but we're talking fourth demensional. They aren't copies, they're me.. and I never would have done it if it weren't necessary. Superman was going to die. They were going to kill him and I had to do something about that." That something was making echos and dying a couple times, apparently.

Barry Allen, this is your life.

"Honestly though, is this the strangest thing I've ever told you? I have a grandson from the future running around telling me about things that haven't happened yet. A Telepathic gorilla who wants me dead and a... reverse flash.." Motioning, for lack of a better word, "Who apparently came back in time and killed my mother because... I have no idea why. I lead a very convoluted existance.."

That said, he keeps waiting for the answer to his final and, to him anyways, most important question. "Can we get back to where you called me your Barry? Was that an accident?" Because that's totally the best question after spilling all that.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Don't try to distract me, I am still wrapping my mind around stuff," Jess replies quickly, her cheeks flushed. "I think....yes. I think this is definitely the strangest thing you've told me. I mean...you haven't told me ALL of that other stuff before. But..." Her expression softens and falls with one realization.

"Then.../you/ died, in other dimensions. You. Even if you're here." It isn't the copies anymore. It is the fact that a living and breathing Barry ceased to be.

Flash has posed:
"Yes." Barry follows the gravitas being laid down by Jess and even sets down one of his two remaining tacos to show how serious he's being, "I died." At least one of him did. It's still very complicated and he has no real recollection of having died, "It wasn't me Barry, but it was me. I see where that can get kind of heavy to spread on your burrito.." Which he's eyeing, for the record.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica is getting her brain back into focus. She takes a pull from her Tamarindo and then begins to cut her burrito in half. "So it really doesn't matter which you is here and which is gone..." She is speaking slowly. Talking herself down. "I don't like that you were hurt at all." Her expression is one of remorse somehow, even if it isn't her fault. Hopefully.

Flash has posed:
"It'd be me either way." Barry says with a slow nod, letting her process it at her own speed. See how slowly he's eating this taco? "I feel like I whammied you a little and I didn't mean to. No more so than any of the other strange things that go on in The Flash's world." It is a strange place, afterall. "And I didn't do it for the express purpose of having cannon fodder because it could have been me that died, it was me that died.. but like me me.. this me." Again motioning at himself with his half eaten taco that then just disappears along with the one that laid unopened meer miliseconds before. "It was not an easy decision for him to make. I know because I wouldn't have been an easy decision for me to make, but we're sort of like that, Barry Allens, all in for the greater good."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica nods slowly, taking a bite of her half of the burrito, and slowly sliding the other half over to Barry. A measured and practiced move. Something that brings her comfort. "What if one day you run out of copies to take your bullet?" Jess asks, swallowing hard at the thought.

Flash has posed:
The burrito makes it a respectful distance away from Jess incase she changes her mind, formality mostly, and then disappears into the bottomless void that is Barry Allen. "Wont happen. I rush off into the speed force at some point in the distant future and don't come back." Not comforting, he doesn't sound comforted. "I don't know exactly when and I don't know exactly why Bart would tell me that, but..." He motions, "The grim adventures of Barry Allen's tragic life."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jess doesn't even respond. Her expression doesn't flicker, and her eyes betray nothing of her thoughts as Barry responds to her query. It was something she hadn't thought of - that he already knew that, even if he knows little else.

Jessica pushes her plate to the center of the table and leans back in her seat. She takes a sip of her drink and finally looks at Barry. "Are you okay with that?"

Flash has posed:
Barry lets the silence drag on, but he does so really awkwardly. A few fidgets, a glance around the shop, even seconds of silence is like an eternity in his head wondering if he'd said something truly horrid. When she finally asks her relatively simple question with the fundamentally complicated answer, he opts for simplicity himself, "Do I have a choice?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Valid point," she concedes. "I hope nobody from my future ever comes back just to tell me how I die. What if the very fact that he told you that causes you to get too comfortable and you make a mistake that pops him right out of existence?" She arches her brows. "I don't have a DeLorean, Barry. I can't fix that," she deadpans. Mostly.

Flash has posed:
"I would love to think that when that moment finally comes I'll recognize it." Barry says in a rare moment of seriousness, none of his usual subtle humor undertones, "That I'll instinctively know that oh here it is, I'm about to be gone forever." He motions at his eyes with two fingers and then around the shop with a pensive expression, "I probably wont know, but even if I did know. Even if I was absolutely certain that what I was about to do meant I was gone for good, but it would save even one person?" He smiles slightly and shrugs a shoulder, "I'll do it ten times out of ten, Jess."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"I know you would," Jess says softly, looking around at the others he's indicating. She knows, too, that she is included in that one, like everyone else. "Well, for my part then, I'll just have to be extra careful to make sure I'm not the one who'd pay the price along with you. Cause there are those of us who'd definitely suffer if you shuffled off just to save someone." It isn't everything she's thinking. Nowhere close. But it's the only thing she can definitively say aloud. Then she shakes her head.

"So it sounds like the hunt for that bride of yours is on. Do we need to get you on Tinder? Imagine how fast you could swipe through everyone you don't like cause there's still someone better."She takes out her phone and opens up her photo gallery. "We'll have to find you a better picture, 'cause every single one I have of you looks like this." She shows him a shot of what is presumably Barry, but is in fact just a giant blur, because he was either sneaking a snack or taking off for a quick trip to Russia.

Flash has posed:
Barry quirks his mouth to the side, hoping perhaps, that what he's been told is wrong. Nobody should know that theyre not actually immortal. Revelations like that have a way of darkening the doorway of a usually bright room no matter how many lights the person turns on inside.

"Honestly, I don't know if I want to find her... I keep thinking that maybe I can change my grandson by not having a son to have a grandson in the first place." Double points at Jess with a trademarked ayyyyy face. Which would be an absolutely terrible Tinder picture.

Obviously she should take it quickly.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Oh, Jess snaps the photo. But not for Tinder. "Oh fantastic," she says, looking at the photo. "That's certainly one way to ensure you don't find her there," she says with a grin. "And now I have a picture of a certifiable goofball on my home screen," she adds with a few more taps on her phone. "Fine. You'll know when you find her. Till then, I'll just usurp your time and try to make sure you don't get bored." She grins...because as fast as he works, it's likely he is bored a lot of the time when he's not speeding off somewhere.

Flash has posed:
Barry make no attempt to try and get the phone away from jess and even snickers a little at her photography of his goofiness, "Homepage status, huh?" Finger steepling slightly, elbows on the edge of the table with his eyes looking over the tips of said fingers. "Do you like labels? I'm not sure how I feel about labels, personally. Like, I get that The Flash is sort of a label, but it's not like a label. I peel all of them off my coke bottles." He explains, awkwardly, rambling a little. "What about you?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica nearly chokes on her drink, and sets it down, blinking owlishly at Barry. "Labels? I uh..." She gives her drink a quarter turn and sits back again. "I mean sometimes labels are helpful. They can help compartmentalize someone's life. Labels like...names, titles...well, those are up for debate I guess. But I sort of...label everything. Because if there is a labeled spot for everything then you know if you've run across something that doesn't fit. And if it doesn't fit, I dont....I don't need it."

Flash has posed:
Barry nods slowly while listening to Jessica explain her love of labels and, if he's going to guess, probably label makers. "I have this cute image of you putting those little labeled stickers on everything in your apartment." He pantomimes the creation of these labels a second, then lays his hand down upon the table. "Would you go out with me?" Disarming tactic, then come in with the swift fury. He's careful about how he says it, but still manages to jumble all the words together into a single long word. As cool as he might have thought he was about to look, he's still a huge dork.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jess flushes guiltily in Barry's assessment of labels in her apartment. She also has to suspect he might have been to her room at the Avengers' Mansion while she was setting her new home screen. But then, she doesn't even have her drink in her hand to disguise her splutter. "I um....I would, but I'm currently out...with someone." She looks around the restaurant. "I mean, I thought I was. Maybe it's just a copy...My god it is going to get expensive feeding you guys. Like having a pack of Irish Wolfhounds."

Flash has posed:
Barry glances around with his eyes hooded by his forearm of the hand scratching the back of his neck. "I mean, sure yeah, out at lunch for a lunch, with me, out.. out. For lunch." All the courage he'd summoned up for the original question is gone now, "I mean, yeah, that's it.. totally a copy right now. Haha, yeah, see right up there? There's a camera.." He waves at nothing, "Ashton Kusher should have already come out. I got you, you should have seen your face. Wow, yeah, I'm starving. You want chinese?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Barry..." Jess is just as fitful in her answer as he was. "I have...I have a terrible track record. I think I'm broken. The last person who asked.....well I said no. And we still did. And I finally started to let down my guard. And he dropped me anyway. And now I..." She doesn't want to tell him no. "I don't want to tell you no." There, that should do it.

Flash has posed:
"I get it." Barry holds his hands up and waves them a little, "It's cool, Jess. I just told you that at some point in the future I'm going to disappear and that... like.. I have kids. With someone. That's a lot to take in when someone is asking you out." In a lot of ways he has no trust issues, in others.. "You don't have to say anything, I wont be upset at you for staying true to yourself. Just disappointed a little because I thought you knew me better than that." Thumbing at the shop with a half turn, "I was serious about the chinese."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Anyone else telling her they were starving for Chinese while still sitting at a lunch restaurant would give her pause, but not Barry. Jess grins, looking down at her half-eaten half of a burrito. "I'm guessing you never even heard of a To-Go Box, have you?" She laughs and gathers her few things. "Fine. Chinese. You may have to eat half of mine again," she adds, as if that isn't already the norm. "Let's get Chinese. I'd love to. Just..." She fidgets a little. "For now, let's not put a label on it. Okay?"

Flash has posed:
Barry looks back to Jess and nods, grinning like the goofball he is, "I intended to eat half your's anyways. You have tiny appetite, but my biff is strong." He teases, side rolling out of his seat, just in time for his phone to start ringing. He fishes it out of his back pocket and slugs it up to his ear, "This is Allen..." Brow rising at whatever he's heard, "...Yeah, I'm on it Joe, I'll be right there." Hanging up, phone slipped away, "Raincheck? I'll come by New York later and we can get dinner?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jess nods. "Whatever you need to do. I'll be around." Jess replies. "I'll work up an appetite in the meantime so I can impress you." She grins. "Be safe, yeah?"

Flash has posed:
"I'm always safe." Barry says, turning towards the doors, then back, "Except when I'm not.. You know I'm kind of not sure I should have mentioned the echos thing? I realize now how poor form that was. Hey girl, I died.." motioning around awkwardly with his hands. This is why Barry is always late, for the record. "Alright, I'm gonna go... yeah, I should go. I've got to get across town in twenty minutes." As if that might somehow be a problem. Which it might if he goes through China to get there. "Seeya later, Jess."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"It's fine. I'm cool..." She is. Mostly. "See ya later, Barry." She smiles as he goes, knowing it isn't the last time something is going to weird her out entirely. Good thing Jessicas are resilient.