15032/A Friendly Lunch

A Friendly Lunch
Date of Scene:	29 May 2023
Location:	Empire Diner
Synopsis:	On Memorial Day, Kitty, Warren, Beast, and Peter Parker gather for a late lunch in the city.
Cast of Characters:	Kitty Pryde, Henry McCoy, Warren Worthington, Peter Parker

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Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty was in the city for Memorial Day, and had sent out a round of texts looking for anyone else who was similarly away from the school (in the case of the other X-men) or just a friend who was free in the case of Peter Parker and his girlfriend.

So it was that they met up at the Empire Diner for a late lunch. Kitty arrives, wearing shorts and a t-shirt. She was planning to go boating with a friend, but according to her texts, something had fallen through on it. So she's dressed for being out on the water, signs of a bikini visible beneath the shirt as she takes a seat at a table, moving her sunglasses to the top of her head.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Henry, having moved off campus a bit ago, was more than happy to meet up with Kitty and others for a relaxing lunch. He arrived, dressed for the warmer season - an aloha shirt, cargo shorts, and wide sandals. Spotting Kitty at a table, he offers a wave as he heads over in her direction.

"Kitty!" He calls over, even as he finds himself a chair. The big man needs to settle in carefully, not wanting to damage the furniture of the diner. "How have you been?" The Beast asks, a happy smile on his face.

Warren Worthington has posed:
Warren Worthington arrived dressed quite similarly, having come from a different event, a public beach party in Brooklyn which celebrated, among others medal of honor winner John Earl Warren Jr. His skin was beautifully tanned, hair embodied by the breeze and the salt water, a classic Hawaiian cut for his wings and left open to show his statuesque midriff, shorts and a pair of chancletas purchased on a whim from a bodega. He made midtown look like it was his backyard, comfortable, happy; sunny in disposition with a bottle of something red he'd only had to negociate briefly to walk in with in its concealing brown bag.

On approach he let out and amiable "Ayyyyy." in greeting.

Peter Parker has posed:
Unlike the others, Peter Parker is _not_ dressed for the weather upon his arrival. He is wearing a pair of plain brown pants and a light tan colored turtleneck. His left arm is bound across his midsection in some sort of brace or sling, and he is moving in a slightly less than comfortable fashion. Unlike the typical cheery smile that rests upon his face, the smile seems a bit forced, and there is a slightly more grey coloring to his complexion than usual.

But, none the less, he has answered the call and arrived at the dinner, offering a wave with his free hand towards Kitty as he approaches her table. And notes the presence of the two prominent mutants with her. Each gets a smile and a nod of greeting. "Sorry I'm late," he offers, despite not truly being all that late.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde rises to her feet to greet the arriving men. Beast and Warren both get big hugs from the younger woman who has known them for a half dozen years now. She settles back into her chair to greet them both. "Glad you guys were free," she says with a bright smile. "My plans kind of fell through, and figured might as well make something of having come down to the city," she tells them.

Kitty peers over at Warren's back with a bit of open curiosity. "Whatcha got there, Wings?" she asks him as she looks at the bag.

Then Peter is arriving, and Kitty is back on her feet to give him a hug. "Oh Peter, what happened to your arm?" she asks him in a concerned voice. "Peter, these are my friends, Hank McCoy, and Warren Worthington. Hank was one of my teachers. Warren and I both went to the same school if a few years ahead of me," she says. "This is Peter Parker. A sweet guy I ran into competing to buy Wonder Woman comic #1," she explains.

Henry McCoy has posed:
The hug is of course returned to Kitty from Hank. "Well, I hope we can be a happy alternative to your previous plans?" The big man offers. Remaining standing, he offers a nod to Warren and a smile. "It's been a bit, Warren. How are you?" To Peter, he extends his right hnd in greeting. "Pleasure to meet you, Peter. Please, join us?"

He does look to Kitty then to Peter, certainly curious about the injury. Doctor's are going to be concerned over injuries, of course.

Warren Worthington has posed:
Warren Worthington lowered the bottle on the table, "This is a bottle of twenty ten screaming eagle from Napa." he looked to the web slinger and amused himself with "Scored a perfect one hundred 'Parker' points by the by." he glanced at the bottle whistfully, "I was going to give it to Len Blavatnik as kind of a fuck-you present, I save the French stuff for 'the ladies', but I didn't even wanna bother with him today." he added in explanation "There were bikinis' everywhere. Why ruin it by being passive aggressive with a Russian Tycoon."

Peter Parker has posed:
"Long story," replies Peter, managing the smile even as he semi-awkwardly reaches around Kitty to hug her with his good arm. "Gwen sends her regards, but couldn't make it." He sighs quietly about that. Something not quite right with the normally cheery Parker.

He nods in response to Hank's invitation and extends his hand out for a shake. "Happy to, thanks." He flashes a brief grin towards Warren. "About the only time I'm likely to hear "Parker points" and "one hundred" in the same sentence."

He heads over and takes a seat, leaning back a bit after adjusting to get comfortable.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde ends up back in her seat as everyone else is seated. She has menus that she slides around to everyone. "Well I was hoping to have been one of the people in bikinis," she shares. "Was going to go out with my friend Megan on her boat. But she ended up having a family thing come up. So no day spent sailing on the ocean for me," she says with a soft sigh.

"How about you Peter, did you have much going on today?" she asks him. Kitty opens up the menu and begins glancing it over as they talk. "Hank, I saw Roberto's brownstone the other day. He got a place in Chelsea. So when are you going to have us by to see your own place?" she says in a slightly teasing voice.

Kitty turns the page on the menu and then looks up and over to Warren. "So no one special meeting up with you later?" she asks, still sporting that teasing tone she's had with the other two men.

Henry McCoy has posed:
All settled in, Henry all but blushes at Kitty's teasing. Thank goodness for thick fur! "Quite the expensive back-handed insult gift, Warren." The Beast grins. "At least you can enjoy it personally, instead of giving it to someone who might discard it due to the intent?" Silver lining, right?

To Kitty, he smirks. "I think I will see if we can host a dinner, Priscilla and I. I would love for you all to meet her - though I think some of you may have at the expo she hosted some time ago. She's a brilliant scientist." He beams, proudly - high praise from the geneticist.

Warren Worthington has posed:
Warren Worthington dimmed his eyes with amusement at Kitty. He seemed content to observe the two conversation threads currently in motion; the drawing out of whatever was infecting Peter and the pleasantries with McCoy. He somehow managed to set his wings comfortably in place with a quick expansion expertly timed with the waiters passing. "Fucking mutants." came a lazy mutter from the nearby counter as a patron, mid sip, looked over the brim of his cup at the group. Warren lifted an eyebrow, curled his smile into the corner of his beautiful lips and ignored him. He poured wine into cups for his friends, as if the aspersion was the echo of a war he'd already won.

Peter Parker has posed:
"No, was just going to relax at home, recuperate a bit," replies Peter, raising his injured arm just a little bit. "I'm not used to having downtime, so it's a bit of a change for me." He glances briefly down at the menu and then looks up. Clearly, he does not need to peruse its contents to make a decision. He settles back to watch the conversation continue between the rest.

Until the comment is made about, presumably, the two "other" looking folks at the table. He leans back in his chair, pushing off a bit with his foot, balancing himself in what seems almost a precarious position - if the chair were to lean too far back and his feet slip from the table, it would be quite a clattering - so he can get himself as close to the speaker as possible. "How many times have _you_ saved this city, or this planet? Hmm?"

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty beams a smile over to the blue-furred mutant. "That would be wonderful Hank. I'm sure some of the old gang from school would love to meet her," Kitty confirms. "I did get to meet her briefly at the conference," she adds in confirmation.

The glass of wine from Warren wins him a pretty smile from Kitty. "Thank you," she tells him warmly, waiting for everyone to have a glass before trying a sip of it. "I think I'm feeling kind of in a burger mood. The bbq burger, even if I have to get it without the thick cut bacon," she says, eying the description and giving a soft sigh. Bacon does smell so good.

She glances up at the comment from the man at the counter. Kitty's expression hardens just a bit, though only a little. As if not intending to let the man bring her mood down.

"It's ok Peter, we don't need to cause a thing," she tells him quietly, but gives him a thankful smile at his standing up for her friends. It isn't the first time that he has shown his support for mutants in Kitty's presence.

Henry McCoy has posed:
The hate speech is patently ignored - Henry was all too used to it, Beast as he is. It's impossible to fix some levels of stupidity and hatred, so he simply keeps from addressing it at the moment. The wine is scented, nodding. "It smells lovely." He offers to both Warren and Kitty. "A fine gift, a lovely vintage." He smiles toothily.

He does watch Peter, offering a polite smile to the young man. "It is appreciated, Peter - but unnecessary. It is America, people are going to have their own opinions." His tone is warm and friendly, not at all menacing. No need to prompt the unknown bigot to act rashly.

Warren Worthington has posed:
Warren Worthington lowered his voice and to Peter offered consolation "He's probably a veteran, its an easy bait." he places his palm on Peters shoulder. "He says mutant, you said hero, he says veteran. A lot of those guys came back from Nam feeling cheated. You know, they watched their fathers come home from World War II as heros, parades, kissing nurses. The guys came home from Nam with depression, addiction, mysterious illnesses, and the government branded it some kind of illegal war. No parades." he paused and then offered. "Got more in common with that guy than you think."

Peter Parker has posed:
Considering the words of admonishment from each of them, Peter defers easily enough, allowing gravity to pull his chair back until he is sitting up stably. "Sorry," he says, adjusting his arm for a moment. He looks at Warren, allowing his words to settle in. "Yeah. You're right. He's trying to pick a fight, and I..." He sighs, and looks over at Kitty. "Sorry. I probably wasn't ready to come back out just yet, after all." He nods to Hank and Warren in turn. "Nice meeting you two," he says, sliding back in his chair. "I'll catch up with you later, Kitty..."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde rises from her chair to move over to Peter. "Tell Gwen I said hi," Kitty tells him. "And thanks, you're sweet. As always," she says, grinning to Peter Parker before letting him go.

She retakes her seat then, getting a sip of her wine. The waitress comes by to take their order. She eyes Beast's fur and Warren's wings a little, but doesn't express anything negative about them. Just seemingly curiosity.

Kitty orders her burger and then passes her menu to the woman. "So what have you been up to lately, Hank? Working on anything new?" she asks him.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Henry is all smiles for the waitress, and polite. His order is rather hearty, what with his metabolism. Once that's in and placed, he settles back and glances over to Kitty. "Nothing in specific - just keeping up on some older theories. How about yourself? How goes all your fancy tech projects?" He wonders, grinning over to her.

"Peter seems nice. Hopefully his arm mends up well.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty takes another sip of the delicious wine. "Good, work is going well. Interesting stuff. Working on programming for an AI," she tells Hank. "And just saw Roberto's new place. He has a brownstone in Chelsea. Pretty sweet layout really. Though I told him some of his network could use an upgrade. Not that it's old, just it's not the cutting edge anymore. Offered to help with it," she tells Hank.

The waitress brings out a little sampler platter of appetizers that Kitty ordered. She motions for Hank and Warren to help themselves. "What about Priscilla? I don't know quite where she works or what she does," Kitty asks Beast.

Henry McCoy has posed:
His brow arches, Henry watching Kitty for a moment. "AI is a tricky subject, yes? I've ... run across too many that wound up going rogue. Or rather, turned against their intended purpose." A slight chuckle. "Of course, I've seen some amazing results with AI, and have made some wonderful friends of that sort." A shake of his head. "Just be careful, all right?" He winks.

A proud smile. "She's a Doctor of Biochemistry - she works for a company called Artios." The blue-furred fellow mentions. "She also works in promoting her company, along with the furthering of scientific research." The man shakes his head. "She is brilliant."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The nod that Kitty gives to Hank confirms she's aware of the potential dangers of AI. "I'm not quite sure what the aim is for this one yet," she says, "Though I won't be surprised if it ties into Tony's armor in some fashion." Kitty doesn't know it but her guess is close but wrong. It's actually intended for someone else's suit of powered armor.

Kitty leans back in her chair, sipping her wine and grinning as she notes the pride that Henry has for his beloved. "That's awesome. Need someone with a big brain to keep up with you," she teases him warmly, reaching over to give Hank's arm a squeeze.

The rest of the food comes out, Henry's big meal sat down before him, and Kitty's burger is pretty big at that. She cuts it in two and squashes it down a little more so it'll be easier to eat.