8744/That Little Place Outside Austin

That Little Place Outside Austin
Date of Scene:	11 August 2019
Location:	Dining Room - Avenger's Mansion
Synopsis:	Tony, Steve and Wanda return from a mission with Tex-Mex from Austin. Jessica's taco eating neatness is all or nothing. Also, Fiji is a magical place.
Cast of Characters:	Scarlet Witch, Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Woman (Drew)

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Scarlet Witch has posed:
The mission down to Mexico was not as eventful as worries originally made it out to be. Reports of the reappearance of the fungal entity that was such a problem a year before, turned out to be completely erroneous. Merely a test batch of plants by some whacked out geneticist. Which itself could be troubling, but he was just working on a better plant to try to make tequila with.

Loaded down with a few bottles of his latest test batch, the team was returning when someone in the quinjet mentioned knowing a great little place outside of Austin that made the best Tex-Mex. The proprietors were rather surprised to see the jet touchdown in the field nearby, but happy to serve up large to-go containers that would be enough food even if Hulk were here. Well, maybe not Hulk, but surely the rest of the team.

Now the jet is back, landed at the mansion, and the staff is ferrying the food to the dining hall and setting it up. Wanda went off to change, coming into the room in jeans and a yellow blouse. She draws in a deep breath. "No, someone is going to have to explain this to me," she asks slowly in her soft accent. "What is the difference between Mexican, Texan, and Tex-Mex when it comes to food?"

Captain America has posed:
Steve's taco makes a delightful crunching sound and almost comes apart in his hands. Bits and pieces of shell and innards fall to the checker-patterened paper on the table below. He glances up and between the people present as he chews. Wanda presents an excellent question, one he'd like the answer to himself.

"Wouldn't know, m'self," he opines after a big slug of water. "What is the difference?" He's out of his stealth suit and into the more standard jeans and t-shirt approach he usually takes around the manor.

Iron Man has posed:
"So, when she asks, it's no longer man-splaining," Tony shares aside to Steve, voice raised. Perhaps there had been a need to define what mansplaining is (likely due to Tony being guilty of it). He'll need a minute to strip out of armor, though he'd partially already done it on the way back. It's just the bottom half, and it slides off his body like a slippery dream.

"I think it has to do with how much cheese is in it. Ingrediants? Something like that," Tony supplies, uninterested. "That's a guess, I don't store this information locally, unless JARVIS counts," smirks the iron avenger. Sweaty from exertion in armor, he's otherwise dressed very comfortably: when a mission is clearly coming, Tony wears a sleek version of athletic wear, in black and silver. His arc reactor vibrantly glows through the chest fabric, as he comes along to plop at the table in a comfortable sprawl. One chip is selected and dipped in salsa that gets steered closer to his spot.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda gives Tony's answer a curious look, and then glances over to Steve to see if this is right. "Well, I like it whatever it is," she says as she pulls a chair over by the menfolk and takes a seat in it. Wanda looks over the fare and gets a little bit of everything to try. A pork rib, some brisket, a slice of bread, beans, and of course one of the seasoned tacos.

Wanda spreads a napkin in her lap before picking up her fork. "Steve, when you grew up were all the different food ethnicities as popular as they are today? Or did that sort of spread over time?" she asks curiously.

She waves a fork towards Tony before telling Steve with a grin, "And I asked," she reminds, lest he mansplain unintentionally.

Captain America has posed:
Steve returns Wanda's look and shrugs. His run-ins with Tex-Mex food and its variants are few and far between even in modern times; back in the Good Ol' Days, it was unheard of in his neighborhood. This he explains after the Witch asks of it.

"The borroughs had their cultural staples. You had the Irish, like my family, for a long time. The Italians and Jewish folk moved in afterwards. I don't know if I'd call the different types of food 'popular', but everyone was proud of what their heritage brought to the table each night. Buck's family was big on kugel -- potatoes and cheese, though it was potatoes with only a little cheese most of the time. Cheese was expensive," he explains with a small, distant smile.

Iron Man has posed:
"But today, you can have all the cheese you want. Perks of being an Avenger. Or knowing me," Tony says idly, with a gesture of a chip in a circle to indicate all of the amazing food array that has been procured on the Stark dime. It isn't a play for a thank-you, though: more just that it is where it came from.

"Another time we'll get you some fondue. Haven't had that for years and years, though." Some of the continued memory attached to his father liking it goes unsaid, but it does tame Tony's chattiness a little as he focuses on the taco selection instead.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda takes a bite of the taco, chewing it appreciatively before telling Tony, "And thank you for that. Also the jet rides," she says. At first she hadn't cared for them because of the noise. Though in time she's come to enjoy flying the quinjets. There are even rooms of her doing loops when no one else is aboard, backed up by flight logs.

Wanda takes a sip of iced tea. "Oh, I love fondue. It's been a long time for me. Seems like something people aren't into as much as they used to be," she comments. She starts in a rib, nibbling it slowly. "I thought these were supposed to have barbecue sauce, but it's more just seasonings," she says of the rib. "I like it though."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
From somewhere upstairs, Jessica has been drawn out of her ocd-ly organized warren as if by something supernatural. Something that told her that there might be companionship and cameraderie nearby.

"Do I smell tacos?" she asks tentatively, as if all of this might just be a figment of her imagination. "Oh my god, tacos...." Or maybe she was just drawn out by the smell of tacos.

Captain America has posed:
"I appreciate the amount of cheese, Tony." The state of Steve's ears do change, their color deepening. He finds his own set of tacos, another two yet wrapped away, to be very interesting for a second. Lips twist into something not quite a smile at a memory from long ago as he unwraps the bundling with marked care.

"Yeah, fondue..." he echoes distantly before laughing to himself. "French, if I remember correctly." He glances up at Wanda's food. "Should be some sauce in the fridge, if you want any."

Hearing another voice, the Captain glances up. "Oh hey, Jessica. Yeah, there's tacos, come get some. Extra're in the bag there," and he points towards a brown paper sack towards the center of the table, amidst the collection of foods and condiments.

Iron Man has posed:
"I know how to keep the little people happy," Tony teases in return about cheese amounts. He promptly then bites a taco, and it breaks into several pieces, causing some taco pieces to end up on his shirt. He isn't bothered, but does get up to go to the sink to shake off the bits there instead of more fully into his lap.

"French, seems about right. You know, we're due to for another good vacation," Tony comments, perking up, as he uses a sponge on his shirt.

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda gives a little shake of her head as Steve mentions the sauce. "I like them like this. Well, I like them with the sauce too. But I've never had a rib with this much flavor without it," she comments. Wanda finishes the rib, putting the bone down and wiping her fingers clean.

"Jessica, there you are. Come join us. We were flying over Texas so decided to stop off," she says. Wanda goes back to her taco, taking another bite of it. "I am looking forward to meeting Anna. Have heard a lot about her," Wanda tells the other woman. "She sounds absolutely precious," the Scarlet Witch says.

She glances back to Tony as he mentions vacations. "Where was the last one?" she inquires, including Steve in the question.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica Ooohs, and sidles over to dig into a bag for a taco. "I was just in Central America for awhile, but you clearly can't get Tex-Mex down there. It's all the real thing or nothing at all," she laments, unwrapping the taco and seating herself. And somehow, despite every semblance of awkwardness she has ever displayed, she manages to take a bite of the taco and it remains pristine, without a single shred of lettuce or chip of the shell falling. It might be the only things she has ever bitten into that didn't gravitate toward her chest.

Captain America has posed:
"Haven't had a vacation in...since the island, if I remember correctly." The Avengers at hand might remember a brief foray to a tropical island before it all went to hell in a handbag due to someone playing with a magical Orb beyond their purview. Regardless, this means literal months for Steve, who doesn't seem bothered by the idea. What's a vacation? Pfft.

Having finished his third taco, the Captain pauses to kill the rest of his water and then rise to go get more. "When would we have time for a vacation?" A solemnity lingers in his face even as he shrugs. If anyone's ever joked about shooting Steve with a tranq in order to get him to quit doing his job, it applies here. He's quick to get water and return from the sink.

Iron Man has posed:
"Or Vegas. But I was very drunk. And Italy, for my birthday," Tony says, pausing as the sink runs with water, as he remembers. He shrugs some, sponging off the last of the food from his shirt. He wrings it out into the sink, and then returns to the table. Whether it is Tony's innate ease, or perhaps walking through Jessica's pheramone cloud on the way back, he settles into his chair in his wet shirt and flashes a charismatic little flirtatious smile. Tony needs very little pheramone encouragement to channel playboy.

"In between killer robots is where I ususally try to schedule them. And Vision's on the mend, so I'd say it's between."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
"Oh, right, the Caribbean trip. I'm sorry I missed that. Well, the first part of it anyway," Wanda says, just having read the incident report. "Vision was great to have back. He and JARVIS were able to track down the paramedic," Wanda says, her expression falling just a bit.

She turns back to her food to deal with that emotional lull, gathering up some of the brisket onto the bread to make a little sandwich out of it. After she'd disappeared, Wanda and Josh were gone for about a day before they returned, looking no worse for wear other than being shook up. And his skin turning golden.

"A vacation would be something welcome about now," Wanda agrees. "Any thoughts as to where?" she asks, glancing about at her teammates.

Captain America has posed:
Steve nods to each of Tony's points. Indeed, these were vacations, in a sense, celebratory in a much needed way. Having seated himself again, the Captain lingers over the last taco as if uncertain he could fit it into the bottomless black hole that is his stomach. He glances around the table in turn, his brows meeting in consideration.

"Now that Vision's up and about, that's one less thing to worry about." He says this with a tired gratitude, as if hearing someone survived open-heart surgery. "Janet would say a vacation to someplace warm and tropical," the Captain adds as he reaches back to rub behind his ear, attention gone into the middle distance towards the wall, as if something else was being mused over in turn.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica winks at Tony and takes another bite of taco, causing the entire thing to crack down the bottom and dump taco innards into her lap. Because she is just that smooth. She sets about crunching the bite and sweeping taco stuffs back onto the wrapper from her thighs, which are luckily clad in short cargo-style shorts, and mostly bare where the tacofluff landed. She sets about the task as if it's nothing new. To be expected, even. "Oh, but we aren't exactly in between death robots..."

Iron Man has posed:
"Warm and tropical? All right. Hawaii? Bahamas? Belize?" Tony says, randomly throwing out some favorites off the top of his head, each with a gesture of a chip. He's collected most of the various salsas near him, and is minding the chips more than the other food, at the moment, unconcerned.

A snap of fingers. "Laucala Island in Fiji," Tony decides. He uses his free hand to draw his mobile-like device out, and begins to, pretty clearly, schedule something. "There's always an upcoming death robot. Sebastion's still missing somewhere," he comments. "Maybe he's in Fiji, we could check."

Scarlet Witch has posed:
Wanda stirs her force through the beans on her plate. "And also my father," she says, "in addition to death robots. So you had a chance to speak with him, did I hear correctly? Any positive results come from it?" she asks.

Wanda finally tries the beans. She liked the other things, but seems to decide to leave the beans unfinished then. She slides the plate away a little, bit finished with it. "That was a good place to stop off," she comments. "And Fiji sounds perfect," Wanda agrees. "I haven't been too very much of that part of the world. Not counting flying over."

Captain America has posed:
"Fiji, sure." The super-soldier's comment is quiet and distracted all to hell, indicative of him more than half-swamped by the speed of the cogs and wheels within his skull. Wanda brings him out of it with the comment about her father and Steve blinks at her as the present comes back around him as sharply as the influx of a rogue wave.

"I...did speak to your father, actually, yes. He's inclined to be part of any assault we choose to make upon the Sentinels, got his radio open for further information we might gain." A weariness makes Steve's eyes age as he considers his taco. "It's a good thing. He's nothing to sneeze at."

Iron Man has posed:
"Yeah, I can't imagine he'd be a great fan of the Sentinels, either. We can get him and Trask in a room and just see what survives," Tony says dry. He's joking: that'd probably mean death for Trask, and Tony isn't a murderer. "We could use all hands on deck against Sentinels, though having a lot of mutants out looking for blood would just fuel that engine even further. I'd like to handle it quietly, without involving the population. But we can go over some ideas I have later. I've got an idea for that standing army you've got, Steve," Tony says, starting to feel cold and wet in his shirt. He gets to his feet.

"A bit later. I need a shower; Avenging's sweaty work," he chuckles, and with a tip of finger gun at the team, heads towards the gym.