7507/The Distraction

The Distraction
Date of Scene:	16 May 2019
Location:	Savannah, Georgia
Synopsis:	Flash and Spider-Woman take on world hunger, but they start with their own. Nothin' like pulled pork in a cemetery for a distraction like no other.
Cast of Characters:	Spider-Woman (Drew), Flash

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Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica has eaten all of her popcorn. But she doesn't feel like going out and buying more. She's also eaten every scrap of beef jerky and every pop rock on the premises of the Avengers' Mansion. Food ran out yesterday. Patience will run out...tomorrow morning. And that'll be it...

Tonight...tonight anxiety is taking its turn at eating. Fretting at Jessica's edges until they're frayed. She can only pace, and wonder, and worry, and pace some more. There has to be something else. Something more. She picks up her phone every few minutes and checks it, as if there will be anything new waiting for her there. Finally, she picks it up and for once does something besides look at it. She opens a text and thumbs a few words. "Wanna go to Mexico?" And she fires it off to its intended recipient.

Flash has posed:
Barry is less anxious by comparison, but there's always a level of anxiety that comes with living at the speed of light. Time within time to think about every detail of every decision as if there are infinite seconds in a minute is enough to drive most people to drink. Thankfully, he hasn't sunk to that level yet.

Finishing up his work in the lab, Barry peeks at his phone turned over on the desk and brings it closer to thumb out a reply of his own. "Im not smuggling any drugs for you." Send, immediately followed by, "Sure. Real Mexico or tourtist mexico?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica's first response is swift: "Well, shit."

The second response reads, "Real Mexico. I need away from here. I need to do something. The trip's gonna be hell on my hair, isn't it?"

Flash has posed:
"I knew you were narco." Barry thumbs out with a grin, packing up his things in a normal person hurry since there were still other techs at work. Last is his light check which he lays across his arm as he heads for the exit, "See y'all tomorrow morning." Waving as he escapes.

"Probably. There is a lot of sand. Sand and tequilla. Are you trying to get me drunk because you know I cant get drunk." Phone in his back pocket, Barry jogs down the steps and out the precinct. Once he's out of eyeshot, he crackles with yellow golden lightning and disappears in a woosh of air.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"No tequila involved," Jess replies, still in white feety pj's with a unicorn hood, down in back. Her hair's been washed, but not styled, and it lies flat. Flat, flat, flat. It does, however, complement her green mud mask quite nicely, if you like that alien look. "I'm in my room at the mansion. How long will it take you to get here?"

Flash has posed:
Knock knock knock

Right after she sends her text asking how long until he's here. "About three seconds ago." Beep, reply. "You want me to run around the block a few hundred times or are you ready to go?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
The knock nearly scares Jessica out of her skin. There's a "JESUS" and a clatter and a few loud thumps, and the door opens as an even more harried version of the previously-described Jessica opens the door. "I um...Hi. I didn't expect you so...on time. I mean we didn't set a time, I guess. If we had, you'd have been late, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I totally didn't expect you so quickly or I'd have..." Her hand lifts to touch her face. "Oh crap." And her hair. "Crap crap crap." She looks up and down the hallway, and drags Barry into her room and shuts the door behind him.

"I can explain..."

Flash has posed:
Barry pulls an expression like he's not sure where to fit words into Jess' anxious mumbling and then he's pulled inside, further still, into her room where she promises explanations, "Explain what?" His jacket is tossed on her bed where he sits with his hands clasped between his knees pushed together against the knuckles. "You were relaxing after what I can only suspect was a hard day, which I totally get, and I flashed over her like the Flash." Both brows rise, "That about the jist of it?" Grinning all the same.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Hard day. Hard week, really. Hard everything. I need to breathe. I'm turning green..." Jess retreats to the bathroom to wash off the green mud, then exits patting her face with a towel, and unzipping the onesie. Beneath it, she's wearing spandex shorts and a sports bra, so at least she's not scandalizing the poor guy. "So I figured it was either pulled pork and home fries, or Mexico. But then I figured hey, we can get pulled pork and home fries on the way..." She slips into her spider suit while he sits on the bed, and she twists her hair up into a careless updo with tendrils escaping already. Her mask is stuck into her belt, in back. "Should I cover this up? I should cover this up..."

Flash has posed:
"What's on your mind?" Barry asks with a rare moment of seriousness, "Or is it one of those situations where you'd rather not talk about it?" Raising his voice just a little when she disappears into the bathroom to wash off the mud, then glancing down when she unzips her onesie even though she's plenty clothed beneath. There's a lot of things can be said about Barry Allen, but he's definitely a gentlman or something. "I'd probably put it up under something, if you can. If we're going by Flash Express there is going to be a lot of dust." As for food, "I know a place in Georgia that has the best pulled pork this side of the Mississippi."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Sounds good!" Jessica grabs her Avengers jacket, and pulls up the hood, securing her hair inside. She also puts on a cross-body pack that seems...full, somehow. Of something. Probably not drugs. "I'm ready. You ready? We can get some food on the way through Georgia, then head on down."

Flash has posed:
Barry pats his thighs and stands up from the edge of Jess' bed in a smooth motion, "I'm ready." Said with a grin, one hand extending so that in a flash of motion he's standing in his crimson red costume. Easier to explain why Flash and Spider-Woman are together. Also easier to run fast without catching himself on fire, "Hold on tight." Smiling beneath the half mask, he waits for her to grab hold and then they're both flashing amidst the lightning inherent to the speed force as landscape passes on either side of them like a reel of greens and blues.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jess holds on tightly. Losing hold of Flash at this speed would be catastrophic. But it's always a beautiful and amazing experience, traveling with him this way. Faster than a speeding bullet. And all that jazz. Jess is nearly breathless. Nearly.

Flash has posed:
The landing is the hardpart, but Barry has gotten pretty good at it by now. Even with a passanger he skids to a stop, throwing off tendrils of energy all around him like a cut electric cord bouncing dangerously in the street. "You okay?" Grinning, crimson head jerking towards the little shack behind him. Probably looks like something straight out of Texas chainsaw Massacre. "Best bar-b-que on the Eastern seaboard."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Sounds fantastic!" Jess lets go and stumbles blindly for a few steps before regaining her composure. "Wow, that's always such a trip. I can't even imagine having a mind and body that work that fast. I can barely keep up with my own..." She pulls down her hood, but keeps the jacket zipped. "I bet they don't get heroes here often..."

Flash has posed:
"I stop in fairly regularly." The Flash says with a lopsided grin, motioning for her to follow him up to the little shack. Sun hasn't quite set yet, but the sign says they're open until after ten anyways, "The chicken is great, but their pulled pork sandwich is second, literally, to nobody." Door opens for her, the few seated patrons all turn to stare... some of them in shock at who's walking through the door.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jess leans in to whisper to Flash, "They must be staring at you, I'm just a huge Avengers fan. I collected all their action figures, and this hooded jacket..." She winks and takes a table. She picks up the menu, but she already knows what she wants. "I'm definitely having the pulled pork...OH and the home fries..." She grins at Flash. For all she knows, he'll be having one of everything. She'll never see him eating it all, anyway.

Flash has posed:
"Uh... yeah.." Flash puts on his best sheepish grin and waves at the various patrons, stopping to take a couple pictures and sign a few napkins. It's easy to forget how big a deal the Justice League is when you're part of it. "Okay, sorry about that.." To Jess, slipping back up beside her at the counter, "I'll have whatever she's having, only six of them... yeah, six. Do you have enough? I eat a lot." More sheepish grinning, "And several cokes." Stage whisper to Jess, "This was a lowkey bad idea with the costume, huh?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jess giggles, and slips off her jacket, draping it over her arm. "I'll do this in solidarity with you," she says, now wearing her crimson gradient suit, emblazoned with a brilliant gold spider and webbing across the chest and down the arms. "And a slice of lemon meringue pie." She glances at Flash. "I mean the whole pie. Just bring the whole pie. Please."

Flash has posed:
"Yeah, probably best to do the whole pie... and everyone's bill on me." Flash motions around the eating area, fishing out his money clip as he does. It is not nearly as thick as he'd probably like, but super heroes gonna do these things, peeling off a few big bills to lay on the counter. "Never know when you might have to Jessie James down in the deep south, eh?" Winking playfully at Spider-Woman. "Want to eat here or take it all to go?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Probably be best to take it...I mean, unless you want people studying how the Flash eats..." Jess grins and nudges him. "To go works for me, that way we can have dinner wherever we want."

Flash has posed:
Flash up nods slowly, grinning off one side of his mouth, "I've got just the place." He says cryptically and leans a hip against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest, "So, what's on your mind tonight?" Usually he'd have dropped it, but it was clearly bothering her... at least earlier.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"The situation. All of it. Sebastion. I'll elaborate more when we can talk more..." She shakes her head. "Just...all of it."

Flash has posed:
Flash wets his dry lips and smiles at the man behind the counter handing over several large bags of food, "Thank you, thank you. Smells as good as always.. y'all have a fine evening ya hear?" With the bags all dangling from his hand, Barry touches two fingers to his right brow and starts towards the exit. "Alright, but I don't know how we're going to do this running thing. You hold the food? Jump on my back? We should have brought backpacks, I know that now."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"There's this," Jess replies, thwipping up web-netting as soon as they're out of view of the patrons outside. She wraps it securely around the bags of food and thwips a couple more lines, attaching them to the main pouch. "Backpack. I can wear it. AND piggyback. How easy is this?" Jess grins mischievously as she leisurely puts on the backpack.

Flash has posed:
"You're like a swiss-army hero." Flash says with a smirk, patting one shoulder with the oposite hand while turning his back to her. "Hop up and we'll head to the prettiest place in Georgia for dinner. Then Mexico... for god only knows what reason."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica hops up onto Flash's back and clings tightly. "All right, cleared for takeoff! I'll trust your judgment on this. But it really better be the prettiest place in Georgia, or I'm going to look at you with disappointment in my expression."

Flash has posed:
"You'll see." Barry says over his shoulder, the only indication that he's about to start running is that thunder like crackling of energy around him as he turns on his heels and blazes down back streets at speeds far exceeding their limit. Where she might only see a blur of colors as they pass street-lights and establishments, Barry sees every car and obsticle clearly and avoids them well before they'd ever be a problem.

Soon back woods gives way to a city and a city to a river, turning sharply into a neighborhood. They run right up and over a Wrot Iron fence and through what appears to be a cemetary until he once more slides to a stop with energy bleeding from him like an open wound. "Boneventure Cemetary."

The cemetary is massive, with low hanging trees with spider silk like spanish moss clinging to every dangling branch. The grave at which they're standing is shaped like a bench, surrounded by blooming flower bushes, and sits right at the base of the Savannah River with a clear view in all directions of old style steamers with glittering lights like they'd just run directly back to the 1800s.

"This guy.." Tapping the bench what is a tombstone, "Had his headstone fashioned into a bench so you could sit and watch the ships pass while drinking a martini." One hand out for their dinner, "I didn't bring martini's, but pulled pork should do, right?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jess looks around at the area Flash has chosen, and raises her brows. "This is absolutely not where I expected you to take me," She says thoughtfully, looking over the river. "But you're right, it's beautiful. Think ol' Lawton will have a problem with us eating the best barbeque this side of the Mississippi on his bench? Think this might be exactly the spot we needed to go. If the dead can hear us talking, maybe they can offer some advice..."

Flash has posed:
"I know." Barry reaches up and pulls the hood of his costume back with the thumbs of both hands so that it hangs down on his shoulders, bags temporarily set upon the bench as he does so. "There are other places, obviously, but I love it here." Quiet, reverent even, "And nobody gets to see it this way anymore.. at night I mean. At least not undisturbed on a night with no event." It's quiet, except the ambiant noise that is natural for a cemetery at night, obviously.

"I think he'd be offended if we didn't." Grinning as he looks back to Jess and motions for her to sit down while he digs in the bags and sifts through their various meals. "If there's any place in Savannah where the dead might be willing or able to give us advice, this is definitely it." Not trying to sound spooky or anything, he genuinely believes that. "One pulled pork dinner with home fries for you." Held out in one hand. "So, tell me what's on your mind. What's happened since I met Sabastian."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica sighs deeply, uncovering her meal. "That's the maddening part of it, Barry. I haven't been able to see him. He's been...busy. I hear mutterings that he's been upgrading the sentinels with his own AI. I've heard that he has merged with them. They say he's become one of them now, and has lost his humanity. That was the one thing he wanted to retain, and I promised to help him do that. But I haven't been able to see him. Not one conversation. And after that weird armpit sex that went on that day, well...I don't even know what's going on in his mind now. Or if he's just given over to it all completely by now."

Flash has posed:
Barry sucks barbeque sauce from the thumb of his costume while she explains, walking around to sit down beside her with his fork in hand but not yet used to shovel food irrationally fast into his open mouth. Just listening, at least until she's done. Or he thinks she is, "He gave me a pretty weird vibe and I'm on alright terms with Cyborg." A few bites of pulled pork, mostly chewed thoughtfully, but still far faster than most could or would "I've thought about that meeting a lot, honestly. It's like..." Motioning with his fork, staring off into the ether, "It's like he saw the Speed Force for the first time and knew that's where he belonged. The way he looked up at those Sentinels. It wasn't some passing curiosity that...." Side glance at Jess, words clipping off as if with a knife through butter. "Sorry. I'm sure he's not gone, but I do think he's going."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"I was supposed to save him..." Jessica laments quietly. "I promised him. I felt it in his touch. I felt that it was what he wanted. And now..." She shakes her head. "Now I'm not sure he'll ever be salvageable, and that kills me. It breaks me. It was my promise. I had /one/ job. And what I did was allow him the freedom to become close to those...things. And he felt their call. I failed him, Barry."

Flash has posed:
Barry takes a few forkfuls of pork, leaning forward on his elbows with the styrofoam container in his lap, "What would you have done differently? Lock him up in his room and not allow him to ever interact with them?" He asks sidelong, already shaking his head. "You didn't fail him, not yet. You had to let him figure this out, but you don't have to let him take him over. As long as you're still trying, as long as you always keep trying, you wont fail him." The container is set aside so he can lay his hand on her shoulder, "You can't protect people from themself if they don't meet you halfway."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"I guess you're right," Jessica replies with a deep sigh which very likely smells like barbeque. "I have to keep trying. I wanted....I wanted to go to Mexico, because the people and their needs there are straightforward. There is no question what they need. Only how to meet those needs. I felt like maybe if I fixed something there, I could...I could fix me, too, somehow."

Flash has posed:
Barry's hand slides off Jess' shoulder and brings his plate back to his lap, "I don't want to keep questioning your thoughts on what you're doing, I feel like I come off as some know it all." Said after another dozen or so bites of bbq, "When you're not feeling yourself, I can tell and I don't like how I feel when you're down." He side eyes and looks back at the pork in his plate, "If you want to go beat on some Narco cartel, we can totally do that if you think it'll make you feel better."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica laughs and takes a bite of her dinner, then picks up the crossbody satchel, opening it up. Inside are dozens of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and skads of tiny toys. On each sandwich bag is written in sharpie, "Te amo, Arana."

Flash has posed:
"Spider-Woman, curing world hunger." Barry jokes, looking down into her sachel, "I think you're being too hard on yourself, Jess." He adds, again, straight forward this time. "But if you need to do this, I'm there with you. I'm always there if you need me, no matter what."

After a second, and wiping his mouth, Barry reaches for a sharpy marker out of her bag and takes one of the sandwiches to scribble something on it and hands it back to her.

Te amo Arana.

His tongue drags across the front of his teeth and he wordlessly goes back to eating.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica blinks, holding the sandwich in her hand, her gaze fixed on it. Well, toward it, anyway. Because there are tears blurring her vision. She looks up to Barry and moves to wrap her arms around his shoulder, burying her face against his chest. If he was wanting to continue eating, he might be out of luck for a few moments. She doesn't respond verbally. There's nothing she can say at this point that won't break the spell of the night and this moment.

Flash has posed:
Barry was basically done eating the second he wrote his inner thoughts down on a sandwich wrapper, if we're being completely honest. His stomach was doing cartwheels, fluttering with butterflies, and he felt his heart trying very hard to pound right out of his chest. Earlier there was mention of how many infinite seconds exist in a minute for someone who sees everything passing by super slowly, which makes every second between her reading that little message and wrapping her arms around his shoulders an eternity to his mind.

The otherside of that is that he can live in that moment forever if he wants to.

One hand comes up to lay against her cheek, right back from her loose ponytail while his head bows forward so his forehead is against the crown of hers. "I have the worst timing." He murmurs against her hair, "I've wanted to tell you so many times. I just... you know things about my future that would either scare you away or tell you way to much about your future and neither option seemed like something a sane person wouldn't be apprehensive about."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Shhh..." she utters softly. "Timing..." Jessica giggles and sniffles, hugging more tightly. "There's no reason to fear the future, and no reason to be apprehensive. Why worry about any of that when there's this moment, right now, to focus on?" She takes a deep breath and relaxes by degrees. "I'm happy with this. And I'm not afraid."

Flash has posed:
Barry stops running off at the mouth and settles his tense muscles visibly. Relaxed in the little snuggle on a bench in a cemetery by a river with the smell of bad ass pulled pork wafting in the air. "Me too." In a rare moment of few words from the usually talkative speedster, he turns his head and lays his cheek against the top of her head. "Told you it was beautiful here."