10323/SHIELD Sobananigans

SHIELD Sobananigans
Date of Scene:	01 March 2022
Location:	Kanagawa Teahouse
Synopsis:	Happy noodles, everyone!
Cast of Characters:	Jane Foster, Cael Becker, Jemma Simmons, Darcy Lewis, Jessica Drew, Peggy Carter

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Jane Foster has posed:
Kanagawa Teahouse occupies a pretty little corner of Gramercy Park. While the lovely gardens might be a tad too bold to wager this early into March, a large square room sealed in shoji screens will do just fine for something other than a stakeout. Unless that stakeout happens to be a large tray of soba noodles and the interrogator wielders a large pair of chopsticks to help dole them out.

Sometimes perks help -- SHIELD perks, "I'm recording a podcast for an internationally famous show" perks. The kind helping to secure a whole wall of rooms for privacy in a culture that values discretion matters.

"So these ones happen to be cold ones," Jane points at the zarusoba, because that's the huge pile in front of her side of the table. "I also may marry that pot of tea, and no one judge me if I do."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael wouldn't be here at all - without a solid and entirely logical shove from a certain Agent Martin Blackwood. It went something along the lines of 'Look, people are going to be eating noodles. You like noodles. GO EAT NOODLES' - all with an implied under current of 'before you go insane, or drive me insane.'
    Now here she is - looking at the massive pile of soba noodles, as Jane doles them out to each of them. "Uhh... thanks," she says a bit awkwardly as one of the plates is pushes towards her, complete with the dipping sauce and- "That's wasabi, right?" she asks, dipping a single chopstick into the green blob, and licking it. Yup. That's wasabi.
    She sits cross-legged on the floor - rather than in a proper kneeling, seiza position - and she's dressed in her usual jeans, topped off with a leather jacket. Peeking out of her left sleeve is a brightly colored leather cuff in blue, teal, and gold with the shapes of butterflies cut into it. Cael's blonde hair has dyes in matching colors layered into the underside of her hair - and both of her hands have a single line of flames tattooed across the back of them in black ink, licking towards her wrists. It seems she's changed her look a little in recent months.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
"I sincerely doubt that anyone would bat an eye, Jane. It sounds perfectly in sync with you."

Did...did Jemma just crack a joke? It is hard to tell. The phrase was delivered with such seriousness that it practically drips British sensibilities. Such a dry wit. The scientist even sells it with her expression...completely somber with just the proper amount of pleasantness. "Honestly, I may beat you to the proposal, myself." Oh...yes, there it is. The slight smirk that cracks the visage. Jemma is definitely playing around tonight.

She, however, doesn't immediately engage in noodles right away. Instead, just a little bit of that tea is in a cup, held just so. And Jemma seems perfectly content with just the single cup...for now. After all, she does seem to be standing just a bit closer to said pot than Jane...

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Darcy has arrived a little late. She gives a wave to Jess, Cael and Jemma but goes straight over to give Jane an unequal hug. That is, Darcy is still standing. "Whatup Space Sister," she jests and then points to the noodles. "These are for me; what are the rest of you eating? I'm starved. Tate I need coffee..."

She holds out her hand toward the door expecting the junior agent to roll in somehow. But he doesn't. "That's minus one point to House Tate for not anticipating my irrational need for him to get me coffee while out with friends."

Darcy seats herself and scoops up the chopsticks. "Is it wrong that hanging out with SHIELD makes me feel like a slightly more normal person? Because that's how I'm feeling right now. SWORD gets weird sometimes."

Jessica Drew has posed:
Matcha in March makes for an agent happy to be participating in Foster perks. Jess splurged on sweets for the table, buying sakura mochi and an assortment of harder candies shaped like cherry leaves and blossoms especially made for the Doll Festival.

Comfortable in seiza, the agent helps herself to the cold noodles while her tea is being prepared. Chopsticks poised to take another mouthful of food, "If they do hot soba, it would take the edge off of this cold weather. What do you generally podcast about Jane?"

Jane Foster has posed:
"That makes you the tea-maiden of honour, though no one else is likely to want the job or come with such sterling credentials." Jane's assessment there carries just a tinge of sardonic humour. Not sarcastic, considering Jemma usually lacks the acerbic bite to harm someone unwittingly. Hers is a lasting quiet that shimmers with dulcet amusement all the same.

The small green pot shows its weight, forcing her to use both hands to manage to top off her cup and offer to do the same without the exact finesse of the Japanese practitioners hired for performance here. Still, she can achieve a certain elegance even if it's not chanoyu-levels of excellence.

"Let's all celebrate having survived into March, shall we?" Her smile cracks wider. "I certainly would appreciate hearing how everyone is doing, and the zanier the better. If you want hot soba, Jessica, go ahead. The kitchen makes it all well."

Her breath comes out in a laugh and the brunette shakes her head. "Secret races assumed to be pagan gods. Actually, cosmological matters, women in science, all that."

Jessica Drew has posed:
"Far from the usual, like its creator." Jess returns the smile and promptly flags one of the kimono-garbed servers to order a bowl of carb heaven in the form of tanuki soba.

Amused, she glances at Darcy. "No one is normal here but we have survived in more or less one piece which is an accomplishment."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Cael is a fan of noodles - they are, in fact, her favorite food group. (Yes, noodles are their own food group to her). Somehow, though, she's missed 'zarusoba' in her education of noodles, and she waiting to see how the others eat theirs, as she sips her tea, and then fixes a look worthy of a 'deer caught in headlights' on Jane.
    "Well," she remarks. "My boyfriend was killed by an angel. His husband insisted I get out and not mope around, driving myself to distraction with every anxious thought about everything that's probably going to go wrong - because in a day or so I'm supposed to eat a bug, to get into the Egyptian afterlife, to try to bring him back. Oh, and three months ago I didn't think magic is real. So either the world's a lot weirder than I knew, or I'm overdo to be fitted for a warm, white coat with extra long sleeves," Cael remarks, before taking another sip of her tea.
    "So yeah. I'm just fine."

Jane Foster has posed:
And yes, Darcy gets herself a hug. Because that is not something Jane would overlook. The squeeze is welcome enough from one Spacy sort to another.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
Jemma returns the wave to Darcy, fingertips twiddling in the air as she turns to regard the others in the room. Jane's comment of zany antics gets a smile as Jemma starts to lift the cup of tea to her lips....

Which pauses in mid-raise as Cael launches into her ordeal. Death by angel? Journeying into the afterlife to retrieve her boyfriend? The cup hangs there in the air, as Jemma's expression shifts from pleasantness to confusion to deep contemplation. And....finally back to pleasantness. The cup finishes the journey, a sip is taken, and Jemma deigns to speak.

"Well, anyways...I went to the Moon. But of course you know that, Jane, dear...you managed all the arraignments. And it was a quite lovely time, even with the blatant mistrust demonstrated. Not that I fault that at all. It was perfectly understandable."

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Darcy raises an eyebrow at Cael. How does one regard the complex set of statements that just flowed out of her mouth. "I stand corrected. I feel more normal discussing images from the JWST." Her hand finds some of the Japanese tea and she takes a sip. "Yes, I need this. This is what I need in my life right now." That and the noodles.

She notes which ones were claimed to be cold and avoids those, getting some in to a bowl and saying, "You know. There are probably easier men to date then ones who get in fight with ali-..." she pauses and glances at Jane. "Nevermind. I'm terrible at this kind of advice. We'll all likely be dead in a few years time any way."

Jessica Drew has posed:
Unbeknownst to Jessica, she quite comically mirrors Jemma's expressions at Cael's recital of tragedy and eminent gustatory exploration. She nods politely and finishes the noodles she served herself but makes no comment.

"Oh, Jemma. The moon! How was the trip?"

With a sideways glance at Darcy, a dimple deepening in one cheek as she represses a smile at alien, she allows herself, "Well, they can be a tough lot to tangle with...sometimes."

Jane Foster has posed:
Cael's got the trump card on news, since 'dead by angel' and 'go into the Egyptian afterlife' brings a wide-eyed look on that. Or should -- the rational mind compartmentalizes these things quite well after a moment. "That sounds rather serious. Try to dodge the crocodiles." As one does, all in all. Her take on that comes with the long experience of bending the laws of reality on its bleeding edge, and more significantly, a thing that rhymes with "Sore."

"I acquired a vial of moon dust and some spectacular views of Earth," Jane demurs into the cup she holds. It certainly brings a smile to her lips at the memory or she has reason to hide behind the joys of a strong matcha. Can anyone take her or Jemma seriously when they share that same extremely dry humour? "The world is a lot less weird when you come to appreciate we discover and find new things everyday. Don't look at me for dating advice. I merely happen to benefit from an extremely stable relationship."

Or, you know, she's the dead soul in their midst.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "That is my job these days - to make other people feel normal by comparison," Cael remarks in a dry tone. "But I've been told repeatedly that everything will be //fiiiiine//, so," she gestures to her plate. "Noodles."
    Her attention shifts towards Jane as she adds helpfully, "I hear it's the hippos you gotta look out for, actually. I think the description was 'murderous water horse.'" After another sip of tea she adds, "Going to the moon would be a nice change of pace. Maybe I'll look into that after all this other shit is done and over with."

Jessica Drew has posed:
Not one of them sitting at the table with its spread of Japanese food would be considered normal by societal standards. Jessica doubts that any of them long for 'normal' but suspects she may be projecting. One eyebrow rises at the information on hippos.

In a lull, she inserts, "Fairly normal goings from my end though I may be joining you up there if all goes well. Hopefully. Erickson has plans."

A steaming bowl of soba arrives, eliciting an eager look as she settles herself closer to the table's edge and takes her first helping.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Darcy gives Jane and Jemma a stare, "You went to the moon? I work for SWORD and I haven't gone to the moon." A slightly joking pout, "Unfair." Because there's only so much jealousy one can have when you work a quarter of the year on a secret space station. Still, it's the moon!

Tea, though, is sipped. Because it's nice. She glances around the room. "How does SHIELD pay for this any way. Are you like NASA and have a secret patent on microwave ovens and zippers?" Though she expects unreasonable leverage of their badge might have been all that was needed.

Jane Foster has posed:
No one is normal in SHIELD. Being a spy in a modern day society doesn't count as 'normal' and, past that, they all actively pursue careers in that spy agency. Therefore someone will have a story about the time a rock turned them green or they had to fight cybercrime in literal cyberspace. One where they might have turned into a spotted serpent.

"You didn't call! I would have gone to visit you, it's not like I like the clearance, Doctor Lewis." Jane chides and beams at her once assistant in kind, tipping her hand on that. "Besides, you stayed out of the way of the troubles down here. Isn't that worth something?"

Taking up chopsticks, she goes after the cold soba noodles, because they deserve to be enjoyed by someone. "I paid for this," she adds. "Not drawing it out of the general budget." Since someone wants to ask. "Let's all enjoy the food. And trust me, I don't trust hippos -- no one should."

Cael Becker has posed:
    This was the invitation Cael was waiting for. She picks up the chopsticks, stirring a healthy amount of wasabi into the sauce in a copy of Jane - and then struggling as she tries to pick up the noodles with the chopsticks and dip them into the sauce. Look - she didn't grow up eating asian cuisine, and it's clearly a challenge for her.
    "Well, if I ever get a chance to go to space - I doubt I'll say no. Experience everything you can, while you can. Except for incest and folkdancing." And given that she has no living relatives she knows of? She only has one of those things to avoid.

Peggy Carter has posed:
The rumors that there's some sort of agent get together did stretch all the way to the Chief's ears. Whether they wanted it to or not. She needs to get out on occasion. She's in a lovely warm dress and her no longer quite fitting winter wool coat. The coat is handed off to the staff and there she stands in her grey and gray patched plaid that is just tight enough to definitely hint at the fact she is pregnant, not just growing soft in her current rank. She steps closer to the SHIELD table, a softer smile on her features as she listens and watches, just content to see them having fun. Maybe she shouldn't intrude.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Darcy offers her chopsticks for a 'tink' like one does with glasses, "Dr. Foster, you are always but a phone call away - except when you're off doing fancy dress parties on Asgard." Or dead. Darcy doesn't like to talk about that time period. Period. "I suppose I was 'safe', as safe as one can be with Erik, but who was there to get things done when you came back all 'argh the universe is ending argh' .. Darcy was."

"So, little green acidic snot monsters are taking over human bodies like destructive parasites and they might be capable of taking over the whole world if we don't figure out how to stop them.. just fyi, a regular Tuesday."

She stuffs her mouth with food and talks, "They're like, acid spitting zombies. And if too many of them congregate it's possible they'll merge in to a super snot thinking brain blob and that'd be very bad because they travel through space and puppet human body nervous system with shocks of acid. Or so the doctor tells us at SWORD."

Dead pan look is given to Cael, "What's wrong with folk dancing." She holds it a little longer and then smirks, giving up the gag. She has no beef, she just likes to get people off balance from time to time. She thinks it's charming, but usually it just comes across as the driest of dry humour.

"I discovered the monsters, but don't name them after me." She shudders, "It's not like Jane got to name the Asgardians, the Fosterians. So, whatever these things are called, they are not Lewisians."

Jessica Drew has posed:
Green acidic parasitic monsters capable of combining forces deserve attention. Jess is about to frame a question when a stir at the door attracts her attention. She lays her chopstick back down on the clever blossom shaped rest provided and shifts on her knees to look, then moves to her left to make room.

"Chief! Welcome in." She wonders if the now obviously pregnant woman will seat herself on the floor.

"How far away are they, Darcy?" she asks, wresting her attention back from Carter's arrival.

Jane Foster has posed:
Cael's bound to find Jane very comfortable with those chopsticks, and equally content to dip the noodles in the provided sauce. Hot soba is another matter, slippery and chewy noodles waiting to curl up in the pit of the belly and laugh in the face of anything cold.

She swallows, and then dabs her lips with a napkin. "Never turn down opportunities to try something new, that's my philosophy. Look where it has got it me, surrounded by colleagues and friends." Her positivity is a dangerous function. Darcy redoubles it like a mirror, and Jemma or Jessica bump it by a factor of ten. "Fancy dress parties are not overrated, but we look best in jeans, you have to admit that. No designer dresses in the field. It's ridiculous to even try, especially when we have to calibrate things atop a mesa or slog three miles before reaching anywhere clear. I'll take that over the green mucus monsters. I find it... concerning, anyway. I /hope/ you have a good xenobiologist up there."

Her gaze lifts, the shoji screens dotted by naturalistic screens. Happy staff will direct Peggy to her employees on someone else's dime. No budgetary overruns here! "Tell me those aren't lurking on the backside of L2."

Cael Becker has posed:
    Despite her difficulty with the wet noodles, and her chopsticks, Cael's expression lights up when she shamelessly slurps up the noodles. "Mmm! This is good!" The slurping isn't even because she knows Japanese culture - nope. It's because she simply doesn't give a shit, and slurping is easier.
    At the mention of strange green mucus aliens, however, she lets out a sigh, and rolls her eyes to the heavens. "Can you tell your aliens to take a fucking number and wait their God damned turn? I'm not done with the //last// apocalypse yet. Jesus!"
    She's slurping another clumsy pinch of noodles from her chopstick when Peggy enters - and she quickly swallows, offering a nod of her head towards the woman. "Umm... ma'am."

Peggy Carter has posed:
She's pregnant, but certainly not yet a whale. In that golden second trimester where everything is sunny, nothing hurts too much yet, and her body still mostly feels like her own. It means it's not too difficult for her to get down onto the floor, though it's also not as easy as it was a few months ago. She shifts around to one of the pillows nearest Jessica Drew and, wordlessly, uses the woman's shoulder to help lower herself onto the pillows. "I do hope I don't intrude... Now what is this about aliens? What proper dinner conversation did I miss here?" She asks with a wry smile.

She's then settled in on a pillow, looking curiously at the food they've got spread out in front of them. "As you all were. Eating... goopy noodles and talking about alien mucus, if I am correct? Sounds proper." She'll reach a hand over for any appetizer that is left up for grabs, popping that past her lips, at least. She's already got some tea on the way.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Perhaps Darcy's tone doesn't elicit the level of danger Earth is in, it's just the way she talks after all, "Hm. Dr Jazuat isn't too bad I suppose. She knows her stuff. There are others too. SWORD attracts them as you know," she says and then looks back to Jess.

"Wow, straight to business. Bad news, they're already here. But there's a heap more on the way and we aren't sure where they're coming from yet. Definitely not L2, JWST would have seen them. But they are very small. We have a fancy new sensor array called SENSE"

"... creative naming, I know. It can see them. And their unique cosmic radiation signature. So, we know where they all are. I think Brand is meant to ask SHIELD for man power to round them up."

She looks over to Peggy and says, "You look motherly." Then continues, "The alien acid cubes are helpless when encased in glass. So, keep that in mind if you meet one in the field."

Jane Foster has posed:
Jane doesn't point with her chopsticks, she knows that much. Wiser instead to abolish any notions of being naughty on that front, instead offering a smile to Peggy. Jessica has the balance and holding up their pregnant director in hand (or shoulder), and the fondness that passes over her face is almost distant. Poignant as much as anything, if the watercolours of her expression give a clarity otherwise absent. "You never intrude, you should know that. Would you like some tea?"

Cups and pots galore dot the table, and pouring is certainly on her list of abilities to achieve. "Jemma has affirmed it's quite good. They have other options. The sushi is excellent, and made to order. We should have a flight coming through at some point." Or whatever they care to call that happy boat full of colourful goodness.

"SENSE? That's as bad as /we/ are at naming thing," she tells Darcy with a groan. Given how bad astrophysicists are at naming things, matched only by their quantum physicist cousins, this should be /considered/ as a problem. "Something that should be kept under glass? Oh, fabulous. Well, sign me up if you need support."

Cael Becker has posed:
    "I have a red fox just outside the Triskelion in a run... named //Redfox//," Cael points out with amusement, on the subject of uncreative names. "But I mostly did that to mess with same, and poke fun at the name of his 'metal bird son,' his drone, Redbird. "I think we still don't really know what the whole 'deal' is with Redfox. Some sort of... extrasensory perception to make up for his blindness? And we never did get to the bottom of that strange mist..." Unless it was simply classified above her mere 'recruit' paygrade. Which is, after all, possible.
    "Wish I could help with mucus aliens - but I still have my hands full with angels and the like. Hopefully that'll all be handled soon, though..."

Peggy Carter has posed:
"Among things that this century does not *allow* me to have while incubating... sushi is on that list. Next to more than one cup of coffee, alcohol, and deli meats. You know, I wonder how any of us got born a century ago with all these rousingly dangerous things we were doing." Peggy is only half teasing about that. She does miss her sushi. But she can take a share of noodles and she dips her head in affirmation to the tea offer. "Tea would be lovely. Thank you. Now...continue. I'm listening."

She really is here to mainly get caught up on the gossip, both personal and the new information from space, it seems. She tilts her head curiously at Darcy, ready to hear a bit more about this. "And yes, I am motherly, apparently." She deadpans to the young woman before going quiet again.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Holding still under the pressure of her hand, Jess murmurs, "It's good to have you with us, Chief. They know how to cook here. And we swept for bugs."

Despite the care she knows Jane took, Jess had discreetly checked the high-tech monitor she carries in her bag. Last check was all green. "Bet you they get called green globs or snot colloquially. And deserve the name, too."

"Want to taste my noodles, Chief? They are fish free if you don't count the stock which shouldn't be on the forbidden list. When you have that baby we will subscribe you to fresh coffee beans to be delivered straight to the house for your husband to grind."

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Darcy takes this in her rather dead-pan way and replies to Peggy's quip about death by sushi, "The mortality rate for women was two to one, the average life span was 45 compared to the men which made it to 75; the average pulled down by how many died. Modern medicine is awesome."

"Also, modern drugs are awesome. Take the epidural if they offer it," she recommends and then digs in to the food a little more. Then the tea. Then peers at Jane, "What? like I wasn't expecting you to help. Actually it's strange. I lost Agent Fry who had worked with me for almost two weeks - but now I'm in a team with Danvers, Ghost, and Ellison. This is a lot more team people than I'm used to teaming with."

Jane Foster has posed:
"That mist and that fox... Mysteries abound." Jane puts aside the small dish of noodles, or what remains of them, and shall recount the simple joys to herself of companionship, tea, and conversation. "They cook well here, I agree." Nodding to support Jess' theory, she lapses into the kind of content silence that comes with being in a conversation but not necessarily contributing scads to it.

She merely grins at Darcy, a quick flash of a smile that brightens. No point in telling of their communal history or the battles waged in the most exciting ways -- over paperwork and crazy vans!

Peggy Carter has posed:
"The noodles sound lovely, thank you." Peggy doesn't need an entire meal, so she does steal a few bites of Jessica's noodles onto a side plate, using her chop sticks expertly even with the texture and sauce on the noodles which does make this a little more challenging. She makes a small, approving sound in her throat at the taste of them, before looking back to Darcy.

That full, very scientifically given response gets a long blink from Peggy, looking like she might be affronted for just a moment, before she cracks a smile and dips her head in quiet agreement to Darcy, "Truth. Point taken. Thank god for science." She raises her tea cup to Darcy in a silent toast to Darcy and then takes a sip to complete the salute.

Cael Becker has posed:
    "What are these noodles called again? I've never had this kind before. I mean - simple but... perfect. The essence of noodles." She's slow at eating them - but that's all due to her clumsiness with the eating utensils, rather than any lack of eagerness on her part. She slurps up a few more, then adds, "You're welcome to come check on Redfox anytime you like - if that helps with anything. He's strangely friendly for a fox - though he seems to prefer me." For all that she's the one who shot him the day they found him.
    It was an //ICER// though. She's not heartless.
    "Being told what I can and can't eat - yet another reason you won't ever see me incubating," she remarks, making a face - before suddenly seeming to realize she might be coming across as rude to her boss.
    "I mean- though I'm very happy for you. I'm sure it's very exciting."
    Smooth.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Hiding her smile, Jessica lifts her bowl to finish the remaining broth after the Chief has taken her fill. She lets the talk of pregnancy wash over her with a distant pang, certain in the knowledge that she can't bring a child to term. (Little does she know.)

After setting the bowl down, she catches Jane's eyes then pulls the dish of sakura mochi over toward Peggy. "How about sweets? Bet these aren't on the List?"

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Darcy is nothing if not 'helpful', "If someone did order sushi for you I'll throw myself on that sword for you, it's not a problem at all." She nods to Peggy in all seriousness, though anyone who has known her for a while knows she is partly joking too. Though, she will absolutely eat that Sushi.

"This is a good reminder to us all: never get pregnant. The sacrifices are far too great," she summarises based on the so-far list from Peggy of what she must deny herself for the sake of her unborn child.

Her look goes to Jane though, "You're paying for me, right?"