Owner	Pose
Melinda May	The evening after Skye's rather bratty outburst in the cafeteria, May goes over to the hacker's residence to have a bit of a chat with her. It's both to help her deal with what is no doubt a lot of stress regarding this whole Zola business, and to call her out on her immature way of expressing said stress. In consolation, she's brought soup. And she has no intention of saying what's in it until after Skye tries it.
Skye Johnson	Oh, Skye knew she'd been petulant. In many respects she didn't have a lot of ways of letting off steam - fewer since all work had to be done of site, including any discussions. She'd gone to the archery range after the meeting with Sibil and May and spent several hours shooting her bow. It meant she was that much behind on her work, but it had done her a world of good. It hadn't gotten rid of all the stress, but it had helped. Tonight finds her at home again, running yet more sims. They were almalgamating code now, and working on fine tuning the results. It was tedius and time consuming work - but beyond getting them to what was needed for the attack on Zola, and the countervirus specific to SHIELD itself, Skye was getting a lot of information on how these things evolved, and fine tuning her own skills as well. She's on her second pot of coffee, and ensconsed at the kitchen table.
Melinda May	As usual, May doesn't knock. She just lets herself in and finds Skye quickly enough at the kitchen table. The brown paper sack with the takeout soup containers in it is set on the table gently enough and May looks at the younger woman without sitting down. We're starting off in disapproval mode, even though she can tell that Skye has settled some since earlier today. She must have taken the time to decompress, then. Good. If the hacker were still all wound up now, May might have to do something about that. Like, go borrow Lili to sit on her until she takes a break.
Skye Johnson	There's a frown marring Skye's brow that threatens to become a permanent feature some day. However, she's still young enough this isn't a current worry. She is, however, mulling over a snippet of code that isn't behaving itself. "Augh. Why are you not working?" Repeated loops of trials make no progress, and with a sigh, she pushes the laptop away, intent upon getting a fresh coffee, only to find May there. And a brown takeout bag. "Uh.. did I forget an appointment?"
Melinda May	"Yes." Not really. "I want to talk about what happened at lunch today." Of course, since she doesn't elaborate on exactly what about lunch she wants to talk about ... At the same time, she starts to unpack the brown bag, which has two good-sized soup containers and a wrapped lump of something unidentifiable. It vaguely resembles a deflated ball and seems to be lacking in structural integrity.
Skye Johnson	Skye avoids the deflated ball in favour of the soup containers. "What's this? And yeah. I know. Things are just piling up. And everyone keeps bugging me about vegetables. What's the deal with that anyway?" The container is opened and sniffed at. "Anyway, sorry about that. I didn't know how upset I was getting until it all kind of tumbled out." Grudgingly, she admits, "That thing wasn't so bad. I mean, I wouldn't make a habit of them, but it was okay."
Melinda May	May unwraps the bundle to reveal one of those artisan loaves of bread, already sliced into quarters, and claims the other container of soup for herself. "It's soup." She disappears into the kitchen just long enough to get a pair of spoons, and offers one to Skye. "And people bug you about vegetables because if you keep refusing to eat more sensibly, your body's going to make you suffer. Just ask anyone who gained weight the moment they turned thirty."
Skye Johnson	"Ugh. I'm never turning thirty," Skye says with all the confidence of one still in her twenties while totally ignoring the fact that short of dying it was going to happen. Bread is reached for, a fat quarter taken and broken into bits, Skye munching on one after dipping it into her soup. "I don't like them. I grew up without them. My tastebuds.. And I don't get why they care anyway." Back to that sudden and stubborn denial of being cared about that she'd dwelled in when she'd first been at SHIELD. And for May, it might suddenly all make sense - if you didn't care, you didn't hurt. If Skye could deny all this, then it wouldn't hurt if something happened. And she was afraid something was going to happen.
Melinda May	"And I used to say I'm never turning fifty," May retorts while digging into her own soup. It's got an almost 'cream of' soup consistency, with LOTS of cheese and rice and cubes of what feel and taste like chicken. "But that's one thing that no one can stop. So, why not make your run as good as you can? And not by eating whatever junk you want and then paying for it later." She lets that topic drop there. "So, I'm guessing you had a chance to let some of that stress from earlier go?"
Skye Johnson	"I eat meat," Skye says defensively. "Besides, you bring us stuff. And we have ramen. They put some vegetables on that. I'm not so bad?" Hopefully. Another bite of bread and soup go the way of the first, her stomach waking up and declaring she's hungry now that she's remembered it. "I went down to the archery range for a bit. Meant to just say for a few quivers full. Ended up there for a few hours. Not sure I worked it all out, but this stuff isn't writing itself so I packed it in and came home."
Melinda May	"Good that you took the time to do that. The job you're doing now is incredibly stressful, you have to remember to give yourself outlets. Preferably ones that don't involve alienating junior agents." She eats her soup and bread as well, and it's clear that it's different from Skye's with lots of very visibly generous chunks of vegetables. "You should plan to give yourself about an hour of range time every day to keep from getting to that point," she suggests.
Skye Johnson	"I was doing better before I injured myself," Skye admits. "And I'll apologize to her." It's the other that has the younger agent's attention, though. "I remember Hammerfall. It's like that all over again, only worse. Then I was so worried about making mistakes and I don't know what. Now it's all what if I make mistakes that get people killed. What if I get Samantha killed? I promised her I'd make sure she got out alive and now I'm sending her with Peggy." Skye continues to eat the soup, actually looking like she's enjoying it, not just feeding herself methodically. "I trust Peggy. And I know she'll protect Samantha with her life, but it doesn't change the fact that I told her it would be okay and she might not make it out. She's not ready for that. We're taking her in because we need her and I can't help but think do we? Could we do this without her? Am I making the wrong choice in having asked her? I'm the reason Zola is still in our systems, May." Which wasn't true, but it was understandable why under this stress Skye might blurt that. "Fury said I was ready for this. Learning this side of it. Only I feel - how do you get up every day knowing this is what you do? How did you do it with me and not lose it? I was a horrible trainee. I never listened. Forever threw myself into danger. How didn't you lose it?"
Melinda May	"Honestly? I got through that with judicious applications of bourbon and punching bags." May lets Skye get that little mini-rant out before pointing at her with a small chunk of bread. "No one can judge your choices, and you can't second guess yourself. You are making the best decisions you can with the information you have available. And Fury said you're ready for this, then you are. I'd tell you to trust yourself, but I can tell you now, that never happens no matter how much you tell yourself that."
Skye Johnson	"Bourbon and punching bags, huh? Wish you'd have told me your secret. And I'm sorry about that. I know I was a bit of a pain. I think I turned out okay, though?" Skye sounds both contrite and hopeful there. "I trust myself. I just can't trust all the parameters of the mission. It's scary. So many things could go wrong. And every person we add to this the harder it gets. I have to trust them, too." Then she laughs at herself, albiet softly and with some irony. "Yeah. So that's part of the job too. Trusting my instincts in picking the right people, and that they know the job too." She tilts her head at May, considering. "It took me a long time to figure out I was doing what I was supposed to. Fury could have had anyone like me, but he picked me. He wanted what I brought to the table, and that meant my going off book and taking the risks I did.. but you, you were my SO." It's something of a come to jesus moment for the younger Agent. Like the one she'd had with Fury. "You trusted me, too. Even if you worried. And you're trusting me now. That I'll figure this leadership thing out the way I figured out the other." There's a soft, knowing laugh. "And you'd tell me if I were making mistakes. At least the big ones. Little ones are for learning from. Big ones hurt people. Which means as bad as this all feels right now, I'm not doing too badly?"
Melinda May	And there, May nods. Skye's finally catching up. "You're not doing too badly. Though that should help explain to you why I agreed with and encouraged the change in plans to send Carter and Mack with Twining instead of keeping the two of you together. You know she'll be in the absolute best hands possible short of yours." Setting her mostly finished soup aside, letting Skye claim the rest of the bread if she wishes. "How close do you think you are to getting that algorithm sorted?"
Skye Johnson	"They'll watch her. I know. I'll feel better when it's over and we're back home, but I've done the best I can for her now. For the rest of the team, too. Short of this stupid code." Runing a hand through her hair, Skye almost turns the laptop to face May, but remembers it's not going to mean much to the other so she settles for a verbal, but not before dunking more bread in her mostly gone now soup. "So most of it is behaving. Just a few pieces are running slower than I like. They're the difference between him getting a new foothold or the thing being truly dynamic. I'd like to pull my contact in more formally if they're willing?"
Melinda May	At Skye's request to pull in her contact, May nods approvingly. "Do it then. It's worth it. If you want your contact here, let me know. I'll arrange for secure transportation." "Oh, and for the record, the soup you just ate? It had broccoli, squash, zucchini, celery, and onions in it." Yeah, May's just a little bit smug at having gotten the hacker to eat a healthy serving of a variety of vegetables unwittingly. "Not so bad after all, huh?"
Skye Johnson	"Sure. I'll send word to her," Skye says, distracted for the moment, typing something. Until May says that. "Ew?" It's a half hearted ew at best. "Fine. I ate vegetables. But that doesn't mean anything. Only tell me that was chicken in the soup?" Because now she has a sneaky suspicion it wasn't. Mind you, Skye has eaten tofu before.
Melinda May	"Yes, it was chicken. I considered using tofu, but honestly it's not worth the effort." Their lives mean that they have to maintain physical preparedness, and insufficient protein can be a killer. Yet another reason to harp on Skye's eating habits. "You could make this if you wanted. It's easier than roast chicken or ramen if you have a blender or food processor." Which she knows Skye does. It's whether or not Skye knows she has one. Ah, the gateway to eating veggies: process the dookies out of them.
Skye Johnson	There's some serious consideration from Skye. "So, if I say yes, you're not going to go gloating this all over, right?" But she at least intellectually understands some of what May is saying. And she's heard the spiel enough from enough sources that maybe, just maybe she's willing to relent a little. As for a food processor... "Which one is that? Is that the one with the bucket or the bowl?" Honestly, she thinks they're both in some top shelf that only Clint can reach because he's the only one who actually cooks in their household. "I don't actually have to look at them a whole lot, do I? Or cook them special or something?" She buys bagged salad for god's sake.
Melinda May	"No gloating. I'll just help you and Clint get vegetables and recipes to use with them. The food processor is the bucket-looking one, and the blender has a tall, lidded measuring cup for a top. The bowl is probably a stand mixer. I don't think you'll need that unless you want to bake something." May settles a bit, then goes on. "And for the soup all you have to do is rinse off the vegetables, shove them into the food processor until they look like mush, then dump them in a soup pot with milk, butter, chicken, rice, and cheese."
Skye Johnson	"I have a blender?" Wow, when did that happen. Did Clint bring it? Did Clint know how to use one? "Wait.. rice? How do you even rice?" It hadn't sounded *too* bad until the rice part. "Let me guess, more cooking lessons for me. Man, this being responsible thing sucks." Her complaint is only half-hearted, though. She was awesome good at being responsible in other areas. She just didn't adult well. At least not in the traditional sense.
Melinda May	May looks amused. That means her normally stoic mask shifts ever so slightly. "That's the beauty of that soup. You just dump the raw rice in with everything else, and it cooks right alongside, no extra pots and pans." After a moment of consideration, she adds, "You two should get one of those instant pot things. I hear they actually work well."
Skye Johnson	"Instant pot things?" Skye looks utterly lost and confused. "Does that mean shopping?" Skye and Clint were not shoppers. They didn't even pretend to play shoppers on television. Unless you counted computers or bows. But that wasn't shopping. That was.. well, it wasn't shopping. "And you've had my pasta. You said that was easy too."
Melinda May	"Really, Skye, it's all practice. Did you spring from your father's forehead fully formed and capable of hacking the Pentagon in your sleep?" May knows the answer to this. She watches Skye to see if she catches on. "Well, one step at a time. Let's get this mission over with, then you can try making soup."
Skye Johnson	"I don't get it? My name isn't Athena?" She knows the reference, but not why May chose that specific one. "Point taken, though. Just, I don't really like it a whole lot and failure isn't making me like it any more." Mind you, she did like when Clint liked what she cooked. And when May found something edible, so she supposed those were two possible reasons. "And no charges were laid that time. You can't prove anything." "Understood, though. And I'll make sure to get ahold of my contact to see if we can get a face to face."
Melinda May	"Good enough. I'd better get going. Let me know what you hear back from your contact." With that, May stands, packs up the left over food to put in the fridge, and unless Skye has any other questions for her, she'll leave and maybe actually get to head home for a rare night's sleep.