13186/Apartments Don't Decorate Themselves For Halloween

Apartments Don't Decorate Themselves For Halloween
Date of Scene:	26 October 2022
Location:	Steve Rogers' Apartment
Synopsis:	Halloween is coming, and Lara brings by some decorations for Steve's apartment. She gets her first taste of carving jack-o'-lanterns.
Cast of Characters:	Steve Rogers, Lara Croft

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Steve Rogers has posed:
The last time Steve Rogers saw Lara Croft was on the evening of the birthday party for the Maximoff twins. A first chance for him to show her the mansion, though the full tour would have to wait for another day as it was late by the time the part ended. It was a chance for her to see some of it though, as well as Steve's room there which if comfortable decorated, was a little more on the spartan side of that measure.

Tonight he's taken her up on an idea she had of helping him decorate his Brooklyn apartment for trick or treaters. They'd talked on the phone about it. Though he does do text messages, he's more likely to call than text for other than brief messages. At least he doesn't go looking for a pay phone to do so. He'd said he was going to pick up a few decorations but if she had any ideas he'd happily compensate her for anything she might pick up for it. Also there was mention of food, whether having something delivered, or if Lara wanted to brave his cooking.

The place didn't need much tidying up at all, old habits instilled in the military die hard. Though it's much more comfortable than his Avengers mansion room, it being the first place he settled after coming out of the ice. At least comfortable for him. It reflects Steve even more than the mansion suite does.

Steve sets a few bags of decorations down on the kitchen island and pours the contents out. He goes over to the door, unlocking it and opening it up about halfway so it'll be open when Lara arrives, then goes over to start a fire going. He moves over to the records after that, thumbing through the vinyl albums thoughtfully.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara had mostly just been at work catching up since she'd been taken away to London for nearly a full month. She had a lot of pending work waiting for her to review, and messages to respond to and that took up her whole day.

Now, with the sun already done, Lara's silver and black Jeep Wrangler pulls up outside of Steve's place, Lara exiting and closing the door behind her. She's dressed in a black leather jacket, a white hoodie worn beneath it, a pair of brown denim pants and some black shoes. She's got a pair of bags under her left arm that she's carrying toward his place.

Soon comes a wrapping of knuckles on his open doorway and Lara peaks in. "Hello?" She calls out. "I'm hhheeere." She tentatively announces herself, her familiar voice doing everything to say that it's her indeed!

She steps in to the room and closes the door gently behind her before she looks around the place with a light smile at what she sees of it... It's very Steve.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers turns from the shelf containing albums, sliding back in the one he'd been looking at and the records forgotten as he moves over towards the door to greet Lara as she comes in. "You found it ok," he says warmly. "Hope that getting parking wasn't too much problem," he tells Lara as he moves over to her, reaching out with an expression as if offering to take the bags off her hands. He also leans over to give her a gentle kiss on the cheek in greeting.

The man turns to glance around his apartment and gesture to it. "So this the most 'home', I've got," he says. The apartment is on the top floor, just topping the building across the street by about two floors so there's a little bit more of a view before taller buildings block it.

"Would you like something to drink?" he asks. "Did you come straight from the Triskelion or where you in town already?" If Lara lets him take the bags he moves them over to set with the other decorations.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara lets him take the bags filled with decorations, not the kind you'd get in a store, she also returns the kiss with a shoulder squeeze from her right hand. She smiles at him then. "A bit of both. I went in early the past two days, and have had lunch at home. Jonah brought my dog back... He got me a German Shepard for my birthday last year... well, no, I suppose it was the year before that. God, time is flying by." She shows a warm smile then as she pulls her leather jacket off, and drapes it over a chair. Her hands go to the waistline of her white hoodie and she tugs it gently around her hips.

"I know you said something about food, I saw a Chinese place just down the street, I thought that might be good?" She asks, as she pulls out a bottle of wine. "And I brought this. It was a gift from a friend..." She smiles again at him before offering the bottle toward him.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Oh, you could have brought him with you," Steve says of the dog. "I didn't realize you had one. What's his name?" he asks as he walks back from setting down the bags with the decorations. Along with the things he bought, there are a pair of pumpkins sitting on the island, and some utensils and other necessities for pumpkin carving set out nearby.

Steve takes the bottle of wine from Lara, looking at it. "That sounds perfect. I do like Chinese," he tells her. "Though I'm guessing you probably know the dishes better than I do. Do you want to order for both of us while I get this open?" he asks Lara. His eyes linger on hers as he breaks out in one of those warm, genuine smiles of his that signal how please he is that she came over tonight.

He goes to get a corkscrew and a pair of wine glasses from a cabinet. "And how is Jonah doing? I haven't had a chance to stop back in since that day we were texting each other," he says. "Though that was a pretty amazing meal that he made, so definitely looking forward to going back."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara just shows a slight grin at him. "Yes... Jonah felt it was a good idea after my place was broken in to." She says as she takes another look around his apartment. "His name is Max, short for Maximus." She tells him with a soft smirk. "Jonah provided the name too. I've never had a pet before, so I've had to look in to a lot of training methods, and the like. It's been... an interesting experience. He does have quite the set of ears on them though, admittedly. I am often amazed at how he reacts to things that I can't even hear."

While saying this, Lara is stepping over to the fireplace, and observing it for a moment before she looks back at him. "Ah, yes, I have the number memorized. I'll call something in..." She states, pulling her phone from her back pocket and stepping over to a chair to sit down on the edge of.

"I brought a number of creepy items, that I thought might help give the allure that you're hoping for when you open up your door to let the visitors see inside." She says proudly, smiling up at him. "And... at the bottom is something I saw at a store beside my place. It's a packet of Halloween Vegetables in individual sacks that you can give to the kids who are less than kind, should that occur." She grins lightly for him then before the phone is ringing and she's holding it up to her ear as she stands up again and paces while making the order.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve brings Lara her glass of wine, though waits until she isn't occupied on the phone if she wants to wait to take it from him. "Creepy items," he says with interest, heading back over to start pulling things out of the bags she brought. "I stopped at a place that I've passed a dozen times and never noticed a Halloween store there. Spirit Halloween I think it's called? I thought it was a... Something Coat Factory. Maybe it's just opened," he says.

"Decorations have definitely come a long way," he says. He pulls out the vegetables and gives a quiet chuckle. "Might have to give out a few just to see if they say anything in complaint, before giving them the candy," he says. "I wasn't quite sure what kids favorites were," he says, moving over to his pantry and pulling out a bag of Snickers. Then a bag of Hershey bars. Then a bag of Twizzlers. Mike and Ikes. Dum Dum suckers. Pixie Sticks. Packages of Whoppers malted milk balls. Resse's Peanut Butter cups. And a few more bags after that.

He looks up to Lara from all of that and says, "Hopefully I got something they'll like?" he asks. He scoops up his glass of wine again and moves to rejoin Lara.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara orders a decent selection of various things before she watches him pull out the candy, which has her smiling on the phone. Once she thanks the person on the other end, she hangs up and slips it back in to her pocket as she walks toward him. She picks up the Snickers bag and turns it over, then looks at the others. "I believe you've gotten every type of candy that I have ever heard of, and then some..." She notes in her calm British way. Her eyes dart up to him then a second later and she's widely smiling at him. "I think you're going to be remembered as the 'cool' house on the route. Especially if they recognize who you are... you might get a line outside then..." She says before setting the bag of candy bars down once more.

"Food is on the way." She tells him. "And, yes..." She states, reaching in to her bags to pull out a dark mask with a large red nose, and strange features. "This is a Death Mask. A Japanese ceremonial mask worn by a shaman overseeing the preparation of ushering a soul in to the afterlife..." She sets it aside, then pulls out a gnarly looking dagger. "This is a Mexican dagger, found inside a temple by a local who was just sweeping some steps when she found vines covering a crack in a wall. The dagger was just within it... a burial chamber. It's an interesting story." She distractedly says before setting the dagger aside.

Then she pulls out a roll of cloth that she starts to unroll, brightly colored images of spirits and strange creatures all across it. "Native American." She says with a smile at him. "Used to symbolize the death of one's enemies to keep the spirits of them away from your home."

This is draped over a chair before Lara reaches in once more, then pulls out a jar with a few nails in it. "And... this... well... is a Witch Bottle. We can set it outside your door, to keep the evil Witches away..." She grins at him then. "And if you pee in it, it becomes even stronger magical ward..." She notes in good humored fun.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers looks at all the candy he's set out. "Well, I didn't want to risk running out," he says with a sheepish smile. "And besides, if there's a lot left, I can pretty much just set it outside of Bruce Banner's door and sooner or later the Hulk will go through it," he says, giving Lara a quick, joking wink.

He moves over to stand at Lara's side as she starts pulling out the decorations. A hand reaches over to rest gently on her hip as he stands close by and looks at each of the items. "Maybe the dagger can just be displayed somewhere back out of reach," he says. Before Lara tells him about the Witch Bottle. Steve Rogers' head tilts to the side as he seems to be trying to decide if the last part was serious. "Are you pulling my leg now?" he asks her. "If not I am not sure if I should ask how that became the tradition or not!" he says with a warm laugh.

"Thank you, these looks like they should be excellent," he says. "There's a farm out by a house that Carol has upstate. If I can find the time to get up there to her neighbor I thought I'd see if I could get some corn stalks or something to put up in bundles outside the door. There was a movie on my list of things to check out, called Children of the Corn. Though I haven't gotten a chance for that one yet. I gather it's a creepy one?" he asks.

Steve leans back against the kitchen island, facing Lara as he takes a sip. "So were you very easily scared as a girl? I'm guessing given where your interests lie that if people tried to scare you they probably just got you excited about the history of... whatever it was?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara laughs lightly as she hands him the Witch Bottle. "You've not heard of the man who was appraising the bottle of wine that he thought was well over two centuries old? He put a syringe through the wooden cork, then sampled it and said it was most definitely a delicious wine. But, when they actually opened the bottle, it was filled with nails, and ... very old urine." She tells him with a grin before the glass that he brought her is raised up and she sips from it.

"Oh, and the dagger can..." She reaches in to the bag and pulls out the Skull that she unwraps and sets beside the dagger. "Can likely go here, with 'Boney' as he was named by the people I was working with when Strange created this." She notes of the Skull.

Lara then steps slowly toward Steve and just grins at him. "Doctor Banner has a sweet tooth?" She asks, tilting her head. She nods softly then to him. "You should get Carol a horseshoe to put over her door. It's another way to keep out Witches..." She adds with a grin.

"And I haven't seen that movie. I didn't watch horror films much growing up, nor any films, for that matter." The Briton states. "And... I'd say that most things scared me quite normally, up until a few years ago. But now? Well... fear, is a funny thing. Some part of me tries to use it as fuel to burn, to keep me going forward."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers breaks out in quiet laughter. "No, I can't say that I ever heard that story," he tells her. "Though I notice that anecdotes like that seem to make it around much, much faster now than they used to. I suppose that didn't do his appraisal business much good," he says, still chuckling at the end.

Looking over at the Crystal Skull, Steve picks it up and looks it over. "Stephen has been very helpful. But it's still strange to me the things that he is able to do," he says with a shake of his head. He sets it back down and then looks to Lara saying, "Well, not so much Bruce as the other guy. When he gets hungry, it's more about quantity than quality usually. Also feeding him is a good way of cutting back on necessary repairs to the mansion. Not that... I don't want you to think that he gets out of hand often. It's mostly just joking."

Steve smiles to Lara as she comes nearer, and he moves to slip an arm about her waist and brush a little kiss to her temple. "I was more of an action movie fan than horror," he says. "And that sounds like a pretty healthy way to handle the things you've been through. Sort of the same for me. I just focus on what needs doing," he says.

There is a knock at the door and Steve grabs his wallet, pulling out some money and going over to pay for the food. The man doesn't seem to recognize him, just thanks Steve for the tip and heads off. Steve closes the door and brings the food over. "Ok, so what do we have?" he asks. "And should we eat while we start carving the pumpkins?"

Lara Croft has posed:
A smile comes from the kiss before Lara just watches him pay, she smirks at this and shakes her head gently. "Next time it's my turn." She tells him then with a teasing grin as the food is handed over from the delivery person. At the talk of Steve liking action movies, Lara ponders something then.

"Have you had a chance to watch the one called Gladiator?" She inquires. "It's where Jonah got the inspiration for the dog's name. It's based on Roman history, though it's got quite a few things wrong, as movies do... But... as movies go, it's actually quite a great one. I think you'd identify with the main character quite a lot too." She tells him, as she steps to the food and takes in a breath of it.

"Smells delicious." She says before setting her wine glass aside.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Gladiator?" Steve repeats, shaking his head. "I don't think I've seen that one," he says. He reaches into the back pocket of his jeans and pulls out a little notepad. Flipping it open he reads down two pages worth. If Lara looks she'll see there are all sorts of things listed in it, from songs to movies and books even places. Many have lines through them crossing them out.

He grabs a pencil and writes in it, speaking aloud. "Gladiator. Watch with Lara," he says, smiling to the woman when Steve looks back up at her. "So is that your dog's name, or something from the movie?" he asks as he returns the notepad to his pocket.

Steve inhales the aroma of the food. "Mm, that does sound good," he agree. He pulls out two pairs of chopsticks and holds them up. "Are we going authentic, or want a fork?" he asks as he offers a pair over to her.

Leaning back against the island, Steve lets Lara take her pick of the containers before he'll grab one for himself. "Let's see," he says as he takes a bite of a spicy chicken dish, looking thoughtful. "What's your favorite movie? If it's not Casablanca or Star Wars then there's probably a good chance I haven't seen it," he tells her.

A glance over his shoulder is taken at the pumpkins. "Do we want to just do faces, or are you feeling creative?" he asks with a motion towards them.

Lara Croft has posed:
"Traditional." Lara says with a sly grin as she unwraps her chopsticks and reaches for the honey walnut shrimp container. She samples some of it then before she sips her wine. "It's delicious." She notes before leaning back against the counter too. Her eyes go over to him.

"Gladiator is roughly surrounding the fall of the Roman Empire. It's main character, Maximus Decimus Meridius was not a real person, but he was inspired by an amalgamation of many actual historical figures. He represents a 'side' of the Roman Empire that was not happy with the direction it was headed at the time." She quietly says while poking around at the food.

"Want one?" She asks, holding a honey glazed shrimp up for him between the sticks she holds.

"All the same, it's a great film for entertainment value, and the special effects are rather amazing, even for being so old... I think I was three or four when it came out. Of course, I never saw it until Jonah... that, and the 'Die Hard' movies, which are Christmas staples in the Maiava household."

She grins softly then before returning to the food. her eyes dart up to the pumpkins though and she chews for a moment. "Faces to start with. This will be my first pumpkin carving, after all..."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers takes the offered bite of shrimp, leaning forward just slightly so Lara can place it in his mouth with the chopsticks. He chews it slowly, savoring the taste. "Mmm," he says after trying it. "That is delicious. This one is more spicy," he says of the General Tso's chicken. He offers a bite of it to Lara as well.

Listening to Lara's explanation of the movie while he eats, Steve looks like his interest is piqued. He takes a sip of his white wine before saying, "Rome is a pretty amazing city. Though my visit there didn't really give much opportunity for sight seeing. Still what I was able to see was just..." he says before trailing off and trying to find words. "Awe inspiring? I didn't get nearer to the Coliseum than a few blocks but could see it in the distance," he says.

He walks around the counter, getting pumpkins and setting them where they can get at them easier. He slides a few knives over of various sizes, plus a couple of bowls for holding the pumpkin innards as they are removed. "Your first pumpkin carving?" Steve repeats in surprise. "We did a few of them as kids each year. Though a lot of them ended off getting thrown off the rooftops. Not by me. But the other kids. We didn't have the treat part of trick or treating," he says with a wry smile and a shrug of his shoulders.

A few more bites of food are taken and then Steve cuts a plug out of the top, mentioning it's best to angle the cut so the plug can close the top then rather than falling back into the pumpkin if it was a straight vertical cut. "Die Hard I have seen. I think it was Falcon that put that on the list," he comments. "So have you met Jonah's family then?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara accepts the shared food from Steve, chewing with her lips closed as she lets the taste sink in to her tongue's tastebuds. "Mmm. Quite good..." She softly tells him before setting the box down and reaching for one of the others to peer inside. "Terriaki Chicken. Mmmh." She raises her own white wine glass up to sip from it again as he speaks of the pumpkins, and the movie. "I have met his mother, and one of his sisters. He has two sisters, and ... had a brother, but his brother passed away some time ago, before I ever knew him. His father isn't around any longer, but... we're supposed to all get together in Hawaii this coming summer, which sounds absolutely splendid. I've actually never been to Hawaii... I'm curious, to say the least." She smiles brightly at him before she takes a seat at a chair and watches what he does with the knives and pumpkins.

She eyes the knives specifically, then reaches behind her to pull out a fancy pocket knife, it looks very expensive. She flips it open and holds it's curved blade up. "Think I'll use this... seems like it'll yield more dexterity." She says with a little smile for him before she starts to cut the top off. "Tehse are filled with seeds, aren't they?" She asks then. "Are we making anything out of them, or just tossing them? Seems like a good opportunity to make something tastey, I would say." She says before cutting it appropriately and popping the notched top off witha tug of the little stem at the top...

Steve Rogers has posed:
Sky blue eyes watch Lara pull out her own knife, and a grin grows across Steve's lips, starting at one side and spreading to the other. "Mom always warned me about a girl that brings her own knife," he teases Lara. "Though I have to say it's kind of endearing."

A huge serving spoon is taken up and Steve pulls some of the pumpkin's insides out, confirming all the seeds and the stringy core as Lara had suspected. "I have never cooked them myself, but my mother used to do baked pumpkin seeds. She had a couple of different flavors with different spices on them. I imagine we could probably find a recipe for them if you want to give them a try. Or, we could cheat and take them back to the machine and ask the cook there. Though I'm game to give them a try ourselves if you are," he says.

Steve takes a pause from scooping out the inside of the pumpkin to try another dish. "Orange beef," he says, giving a nod of approval at the flavor. "I'm glad you've got a friend like Jonah," he comments to Lara. "I can't really ever try to express what Bucky has meant to me over the course of my life. It's good to see him so happy and having turned things around, after what he went through."