7900/No Frou-Frou Allowed

No Frou-Frou Allowed
Date of Scene:	16 June 2019
Location:	Clint and Skye's, Greenwich Village
Synopsis:	Post visit with Captain Frank Quaid of the NYPD, Skye and May debrief. May drops a surprise in Skye's lap.
Cast of Characters:	Melinda May, Quake

---

Melinda May has posed:
It's late evening going into full night time. Earlier, May had tapped Skye to accompany her to speak with someone from the NYPD about the possibility of inter-agency cooperation. On the way back from that, May texted Barton.

Text from May: ETA 20, bringing dinner. No frou-frou allowed.

When May and Skye arrive, they're carrying two completely different bags. One looks and smells like takeout (and not Asian this time, more like deep-fried starchy evil), the other appears to be quite heavy and occasionally clinks like the contents are in glass bottles.

Quake has posed:
Skye is uncharacteristically quiet, though she's barely through the front door when she complains, "I'm getting out of these slacks, because ugh. Not much better than the skirt. Besides, I still feel kinda.." She shakes her head, knowing they'll talk once she's changed. "You know where everything is. Make yourself at home."

Like May wasn't already.

The house blips and thrums with the quiet machine noises of the still resident tech running programs, crunching numbers, and going through countless simulations, creating data sets for Skye to look over later.

Skye is gone for only a couple minutes - it's a good guess that dress uniform is lying on the floor of the bedroom she shared with Clint, and not at least hung neatly over the back of a chair, the younger Agent finding a corner of the couch to perch in as she pulls up a laptop. Her main one as it happens. May hadn't forbidden the thing yet, so Skye peeks.

Melinda May has posed:
Of course May knows her way around. She disappears into the kitchen while Skye goes and changes, and by the time she's pulling her laptop closer, May is there with two plates. One has Skye's burgery burger of evil burgerness with a mountain of fries on the side, while May has the only slightly more sensible turkey burger with mushrooms and four kinds of cheese on it. She sets them down then disappears into the kitchen again to return with two glasses that appear to have iced tea in them.

"So?"

Quake has posed:
Burger wins! Skye's laptop is set aside - she's already been assured that the programs she left running are doing their things. A particularly greasy example of fry is picked up, and the tip bitten off. Her brow furrows thoughtfully, "Honestly? I think that was his true colours. He might make nice for the cameras, but if he thought that was appropriate because I was just a peon, then odds are in private he'd be looking at us like we're dirt."

She doesn't sound too happy about that.

"I wasn't sure if - it was blunt, but after he avoided the question, that's what I suspected. And I'm guessing you might be wanting me to issue an apology?"

May hadn't scolded her, or looked disappointed, but that didn't preclude the other by any stretch.

Melinda May has posed:
"No. He asked for that by presuming you were an underling. If he doesn't understand how SHIELD works, he won't learn like this." She starts in on her burger, the one they brought for Clint already tucked into the fridge with a note written on the top of the container.

And then a stray thought crosses her mind and without any explanation to Skye, she actually smiles a tiny hint of a wicked smirk.

Quake has posed:
Skye gives a small shrug and nods. "Pretty much. We couldnt' function if we had to ask permission in triplicate for every breath we took." It was a pretty fair guess that the NYPD not only didn't understand how SHIELD functioned, quite possibly because /they/ couldn't function the way SHIELD did. It would be utter chaos.

Not that it wasn't a certain brand of chaos in the Triskelion on any given day...

The fry disappears, and then another before Skye reaches for a burger. "Hell, half the shit I've done I'd have been fired for if I worked for him." She grins. "Probably came close here, too." Not that you got far in SHIELD by living inside the box. There was that cardboard ceiling for those sorts. "Think the first person I told what to do who outranked me was Clint. That training exercise where we were to stop Lara."

It had been just the first in a long series of Skye not doing the expected and acting above her pay grade.

The wicked grin is noted, Skye cocking her head to one side, "Either you've just thought of something entirely evil, or you put something in my drink." Or both. It could be both.

Melinda May has posed:
May nods and points to Skye. "That's the gist of it. I suspect it would take Quaid seeing agents in action in the field for him to understand how we work." And she's not holding her breath on that ever happening in any planned sense.

When Skye comments on her smirk, she doesn't deny either option. Instead, she just picks up her own tea glass and takes a sip. Spoiler: hers is actual normal tea.

Quake has posed:
"So mean," Skye complains, knowing she's not about to get an explanation from May. At least not so directly. "And what's in this anyway? Looks kinda frou-frou to me." Only without the umbrella. Nooot that that stops Skye from picking her drink up and taking a swallow, expecting it to be fruity and light and welp, it's not. It might not be burn your gut straight swigs of bourbon, but it still packs a punch, but surprisingly, once you get over that initial burst of *damn skippy I'm a serious drink* it's pleasantly sweet, and terribly smooth going down.

Skye eyeballs her glass, "Damn. A person could get to like those."

As for Quaid, "Yeah, we're not the army, are we? I think people forget there are other ways to do things." And that a SHIELD agent might very well have to depend upon themselves and their own intuition for most of their missions. Most of their work depended on not being *seen* as an agent, unlike the police or the military, and that kind of precluded waving around badges every time you did a thing, or marching around in a uniform.

There were times and places, and in SHIELD, those times and places were few and far between.

Melinda May has posed:
"It's long island iced tea." Which May very well knows is one of the most misleading liquor names possible. She's been kind to Skye, though, and only about half the glass is actually liquor. The rest is normal tea.

"While SHIELD did originate from a military organization created during wartime, the point of the agency and the way we do things has changed considerably since the nineteen forties." She wouldn't work for SHIELD if it hadn't. "Other organizations, like the police, have to rely on more rigid ways of doing things. I can understand why." She just doesn't have to agree with it or go along with it.

Quake has posed:
More long island iced tea goes down. There's a reason this drink earned itself a name in the ranks of frat houses worldwide as panty remover - Skye barely noticing how strong the drink is now.

"Can you imagine me working in the military?" Skye scoffs. Sure, SHIELD had its history there, but it had evolved, like most things, to suit its particular needs.

"You know what I always liked about here? Even when people thought I was just the IT girl it was never like that was an insult. I mean, they still treated me like I was valuable." If only because for many it was truly a crisis if they couldn't remember their passwords. "He looked at me like I was something he'd stepped in on the way into that meeting when I spoke up. It hit me if that's how he really treats underlings, or thinks they should be treated, then what must he really think of people that everyone else already has branded as sub human."

Yeah, that bothered her. And not just because of him. The whole world had taken a huge uptick in the anti-mutant direction. The Sentinel problem had just exascerbated it, doing what many people wished they could, and uniting others in fear out of being the next victims if they didn't agree.

Melinda May has posed:
Skye? In the military? Pfft. Even more unlikely than May herself in the military.

"That is one of the reasons SHIELD still exists. Not only does the agency adapt to the times we're in, but none of the leadership from the division heads up forget that our most valuable resources are our agents and employees." She knows that Skye has seen it. Even the janitors and kitchen staff are treated with the utmost respect. And any behavior otherwise is never tolerated.

"This is part of why I've been thinking of putting a new team together, maybe working it up to a full division depending." Of course, she'll need to get a hold of Fury to run it past him before it can ever become more than just a thought. "A team entirely comprised of people with powers."

Quake has posed:
Yeah, Skye can't see herself in the military either. Not for any longer than it would take to pick up her uniform and report to the nearest holding cell right after. She figured she'd last that long before her mouth or her actions got her into trouble.

"I like the cafeteria folks. They're the only reason I ever ate anything other than instant ramen." Skye knew exactly who made her food. There was no way she was dissing those people. "Besides, aren't they the people we do this for? It seems a bit stupid to treat the people we're putting our lives on the line for like dirt."

She chuckles softly, taking a bite of burger, listening to the rest of May's words, looking distantly thoughtful. "I can see that. And testing out the waters of attitudes of people we'd need to work with started with folks like the Captain. So we know it's going to be an uphill battle of sorts, especially if they outright knew it was going on. So you're thinking small, covert, and specialized assignments?"

Skye was thinking that was the angle.

Mmoving directly to the next obvious question, "So where do I stand in this? Because you're not telling me because I look cute in my wrist guards. Advisor?"

Skye. Utterly brilliant at seeing through the bullshit at times. Also, sometimes completely oblivious.

Melinda May has posed:
Advisor. Cute. "Something like that." She's not about to say more in case it never happens. But, really, if Skye were paying more attention, she'd realize exactly what May's been grooming her for.

It's a topic for another day, though.

"Changing prevailing attitudes is going to be an uphill battle, and you know it. Just look at what other examples of diversity have had to deal with. Suffrage. Civil rights. Sexual freedom. And those are just to name the big ones."

Hm. Maybe she should have made her own tea 'leaded' as well.

Quake has posed:
It will hit Skye later. Like likely when she's about to fall asleep. Or in the middle of crunching some particularly gnarly code. Or in the shower. Somewhere. Eventually. Because she's not stupid. Just a little distracted.

Like now, burger in one hand, and Long Island in the other.

Skye has to drag her thought away from considering what such a team would look like. "You know, before all this happened to me, I had the luxury of not having to care so much. I mean, I didn't agree with how people treated mutants, but it wasn't so close to home. Now I see it and think that could be me. Only I'm in a position to do something about -- "

Okay, that's where it hits her. She's in a position to do something about it, and all the pieces fall neatly into place, leaving Skye quiet, before, "So all of this, it's not just been teaching me how to tone it down and hold it back. To know when to." Like Fury had told her. This might not have been the *specific* spot he'd envisioned, but it was the path. Triggering her Inhuman genes had merely cemented a particular place where she was uniquely qaulified to step in.

"When?" As in when had May known. Not that it changes anything, but the younger woman is now curious, a lot more sober than the drink at the club and most of a Long island should have left her.

Melinda May has posed:
"Not as long ago as you think. But I have yet to see any reason to not continue as we are and see how things pan out." She takes a sip of her own tea. "But this whole debacle with Zola has made it very clear that you're not only capable of handling this, you'd be /very/ good at it."

She finishes her meal and moves to take her plate back to the kitchen. "This is not going to happen tomorrow, so don't keep yourself awake thinking about it."

Quake has posed:
There's a wryly amused snort of sound from Skye, "Like I have time to let that keep me awake. We're so close to done with the virus I can taste it. I think Fitzsimmons have all they need as ready go. Or close. Trust me, when I'm not sleeping tonight it won't be that keeping me awake."

And it won't be. Though it was somewhat humbling to hear the words of praise. Those weren't things May tossed about lightly.

Speaking of Zola, "I think we're ready, though, to start moving things into final positions. Get our forward stations into place." Darcy had worked her magic overseeing requisitions - a slow and sleatly process while everything else had gone on, things added to the list as they'd come up, so that nothing was overlooked, and not everything had been supplied at once so it would have been difficult to pinpoint what was going on by supplies alone unless you knew exactly what you were looking for, and when to have started looking.

Everyone had their mission specs. The Birds were on standby. All that was waiting was the go ahead on the virus itself, and that Jemma and Leo's parts were ready to go at a moment's notice.

When things went down, it was going to happen fast.