16513/Stubbornly Cooking Outside In Winter

Stubbornly Cooking Outside In Winter
Date of Scene:	07 December 2023
Location:	Avengers Mansion - Back Yard
Synopsis:	The Avengers grill out despite the winter weather.
Cast of Characters:	Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Janet van Dyne, Greer Grant, Bruce Banner, Pepper Potts

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Steve Rogers has posed:
It's winter. There's snow on the ground, though only about an inch of the white stuff that fell the night before and hasn't melted. Just enough there isn't much of the grass below showing through. The snow dusts the tables and railings and chairs outside.

But that doesn't mean that the outdoor recreation area isn't in use. Steve Rogers is standing there, wearing a sweater and jeans, with a leather jacket overtop. He's manning the grill, which is exuding a sizzling sound, and the delightful smells of some kind of meat cooking.

He shifts from one foot to another as if to help warm himself against the below freezing weather. There's also a coffee mug which is steaming that he has set at hand. Steve picks it up to take a long sip of the warming beverage, then glances towards the door back to the kitchen, where there might be people waiting for the steaks and baked potatoes he's cooking.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
There's no signs of Loki with his Tiki Palace, which makes Natasha a bit more willing to come to some of the exterior common areas. Without the Prince of Lies there, there's less risks at having to play the sorts of games that would come up. She would go on out wearing a light sweater and jeans - one might snark by Siberian standards this was t-shirt weather. She heads on out to join the others, having a large thermos of tea with her that she would be sipping.

"I'll just have some borscht." Russian tonic for the ages. Heavy like lead swallowed in concrete chunks.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
A *click* comes from the door and the outdoor warming lights start to bathe heat down on the patio. "Is it just, like, a military thing to be perpetually uncomfortable?" Janet asks. "Or are you just weird that way?"

Drink in hand Janet steps out to the patio, looking for any chair that's not wet or snowed upon. Her shirt is a loose-fitting, asymmetrical poncho sweater made of woven Alpaca fur, paired with black tights and a chunky-heeled set of tan calvary boots that come up to her thigh. A little saunter takes her over to Steve's location and she gives the food a critical once-over. "Gonna burn that one," she advises him with a wrinkled nose. It's unlikely Janet actually knows that for a fact, but she puts a pretty good face on. Steve is given a wholly insouciant look and she walks over to perch on her chosen seat, hooking one bootheel on the rug and crossing her legs at the knee.

Greer Grant has posed:
Winter and snow doesn't get to Tigra, much. That built in fur coat helps out in that regard, letting her get by with a light shirt and pair of loose jeans over her bikini to deal with the cold. She's sitting in a patio chair downwind of the grill where she can take in the scents of the Captain's cooking, in her case it will be a pair of hot dogs. "Can you grill gorscht?" she asks Natasha absently, before looking up at the click of the warming lights. Leave it to Janet to dare even the weather to get in her way.

Bruce Banner has posed:
Bruce Banner is returning from an early morning trip to a lab at Empire State, consulting on a few small matters picked up in recent radiation experiments. Avengers, monster, or whatever he was, Bruce Banner was still one of the foremost experts in his field. Scientists will overlook a lot if they can get insight on their data. Especially from a genius who isn't likely to bother them about publication rights.

He's got on a plain stocking cap and a black windbreaker. His hands are stuffed in the pockets as he makes a beeline for the food, "You realize I grew up in basically a desert environment? This kind of cold is the antithesis of my natural climate,' he says.

Steve Rogers has posed:
The great thing about the mansion is the staff, who can do the cooking for them if they wish. Though many of the members do still like to cook for themselves at least some of the time. But even apart from that, they are great about keeping the kitchen stocked with what the varied tastes of the Avengers might wish. Like borscht.

Steve turns a few grilled beets over for Natasha's borscht. "I can help with giving them some flavor, but the rest of the prep, yeah, not really a grill thing. I mean you could cook it here, but not sure it would add much after that," he agrees with Greer.

The heaters come on and Steve glances up at them, then at Janet as she emerges from the mansion. "Little bit of both, I suppose," Steve replies flashing a warm grin over to Janet. "Just didn't seem like it was worth firing them up for as long as I'd be out here." He does adjust the steak that Janet points out, whether it needs it or not, sliding over to a spot not quite above the charcoal so much.

Bruce Banner's arrival also draws a quick smile. "Well, I always figured it's easier to dress warm than to cool off when it's hot. And who doesn't love a nice warm sweater?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would glance over at Janet, "Good to see you Janet. I thought that you'd be out in Europe shaming some of the fashion houses. Or is it not quite that season yet when all the galas start?" International fashion trends were very much thier own thing after all. Natasha does look very plain in her current state - and she was quite happy to. At Greer's question, she would shake her head, "It's mor eof a heavy gruel. One can certainly chop up meats to throw into it though grilling them isn't particularly necessary." At the snarking from Bruce she would note, "And you never had to go anywhere at night in the desert?" Then again his 'other' had tended to start out that way.

At Steve's readiness, she would smile, "Thank you. It's nice to have a taste of home." Russian cuisine would be rather bland and heavy to pretty much everyone not from there. Carb heavy. Not the things to have on a diet.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Fingers uncurl from around her warm coffee mug and Janet wiggles them at Bruce in greeting. "We're already through the Winter fashion show. Summer shows will start in February," she explains to Natasha. "So yeah, I'm giving the industry a reprieve."

"Speaking of," she adds, looking to Greer and Bruce. "Greer, I promised you a dress, so let's set up a meeting to get you fitted. It'll be a perfect summer look," she assures the feline Avenger. "Bruce, you come too," she adds, waving her coffee mug vaguely in his direction. "We'll get you a new suit. Something tasteful. I'll make it with tear-away seams or something." The offer is accompanied with an amused twinkle in her eyes as she gives Bruce a little friendly teasing.

Greer Grant has posed:
"I suppose you could try to grill it. Try to keep it on the grate, keep it from splashing through. Think you'd have to be a speedster to pull that off, though." Tigra leans back and stretches out her legs absently. "That might work for a celebrity cooking show sometime. Who can do up the best meal using their powers. Condiment King need not apply." One of the nice things about powers, aside from cooking utility, is how they tend to help keep heroic figures, even eating carb heavy foods, though Tigra prefers something less than bland, typically. Janet gets a broad grin. "Absolutely. You just let me know when's good for you, lot easier for me to make room on my schedule. Been wanting to have you improve my wardrobe for a long time."

Bruce Banner has posed:
Bruce Banner gives a slightly nervous nod to Janet, the true-born nerd obviously a little intimidated by the socialite. Long acquaintance or not, she was versed in skills and abilities no gamma radiation would ever give him - social grace and self-confidence. She was like an alien. It was a superpower in and of itself.

"I'm fully aware of the theory, but in practice, my teeth are doing their very best not to chatter. This is not an ideal situation when one is preparing to eat sausage of questionable origin. Please tell me you bought them from a real deli and not a grocery store."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers gives a quiet chuckle at Greer's comment. "I'm sure the Grim Reaper probably does a pretty mean beef and vegetable skewer," he cracks about the scythe-armed Hydra villain and often-nemesis of his. "Though I'd worry about his presentation," he adds with a wry smile.

The steaks are checked and turned. The baked potatoes are wrapped in foil and have been cooking three times as long as the steaks. Because that's how long they take. You can pretty much just toss a potato in the heat at random and by the time it's done, you might feel hungry.

"Oh, I'm sure the staff gets this stuff from some butcher that has been in the same family for three generations," Steve says of the meat. "And probably the farmer's market for the vegetables." Said vegetables needing some turning, they are getting a pleasing char on them.

"Steak for you, Bruce?" he asks. "Vision dropped of a case of some microbrew. I didn't quite get the story of how he came by it, but figured anyone willing we could give those a try today."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Everything ends up in a mixed gruel that Natasha goes to then vastly overseason with peppers to give it some flavor. "Make sure that it's purple." Of course related to elastic pants. There was something that was almost a rule about that if one were to be tongue in cheek. "You're a traditionalist, Steve. Not a bad thing when it comes to cooking."

Her own heavy combination mixed together as she would move to dip in with a large spoon to start to take a bite. "Excellent." Even as she takes a sip of a drink that smells rather foul - heavy potato vodka. If one wasn't into it ghastly stuff.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Unfortunately for poor Bruce, Janet can sense that intimidation in him like a shark smelling fresh blood in the water. It nets him a sly wink a a beaming, flirty smile, making of it a little game of eye-contact chicken.

"Seriously though, Natasha, we have a world-class chef and one of the best kitchens in the world," Janet advises the others. "/And/ the world's best-stocked wet bar," she says, eying Natasha in reproach.

"I know Greer agrees with me," she adds, gesturing with a shoulder roll in her direction. "There's no reason to eat radishes unless they're pickled and on a burger. I've got a policy about eating anything that's stored in a wrapper," she says with a little wrinkle of her upturned nose.

Greer Grant has posed:
"Don't worry," Tigra says to Bruce, tapping her nose. "Everything here's the good stuff. I don't know where they get everything, but I'd know if the quality was lacking." Her tail gives an amused flick as Janet turns the smile on Bruce. "Not that there's anything wrong with liking stuff that's...not necessarily from the best stocked bar," she adds, with a glance towards Nat's vodka. "On a burger, great big one, with cheese, onions and ketchup, thank you. Best way to take anything radishy."

Bruce Banner has posed:
Bruce Banner blinks first, quite literally, his gaze plunging towards his feet when Janet looks his way. At least he doesn't trip over his own feet. Get it together, Bruce. You've fought literal gods. No, you didn't, Hulk did. Does that count? He woudln't count it normally, he doesn't want to be responsible for what the Hulk does. Oh great, now he's hiding in shame.

"Steak would be good. Please no blood. I know, I know, it ruins the steak, I don't want to taste blood, I'm not a vampire, I'm not a wolf or an obligate carnivore, I'm just a regular homo sapiens who likes cooked meat because the taste of blood indicates the danger of infection. Please follow my few remaining hunter-gatherer instincts and give me a fully cooked steak. I'll take a seat and drink a beer while I wait. Please and thank you," he says. He shuffles over, a little nebbishly, and parks his tuckus.

Steve Rogers has posed:
"Maybe I was actually avant-garde in my day. Just that's all become traditional now?" Steve teases back at Natasha. "In all honesty, the food is so much better today." He doesn't go into it, it's something that people have probably heard at some point in the few years they've known him since he emerged from the ice.

"Ok, think these are ready. Greer, you wanted yours rare, right?" he says, transferring steaks and baked potatoes and grilled veggies to plates. "There's sour cream and cheese and such for the potatoes as well," he says.

Janet's steak goes on a plate, Steve knowing how she prefers it. And then Bruce's which is well done. His own is plated and then Steve says, "Let me go get those beers." He makes sure nothing left will burn in the time it will take, and heads inside, emerging soon after with the cold beverages which he passes around to any who desire them.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would glance at Steve and smile, "I remember the finest meal I had over as a child." she would go back to some old recollection. "When the Stalingrad pocket was broken, and the area was secure and the fascists were marched off to prison camps.." By prison camps she means the gulag. "And the area was secure enough to bring rations to the civilians that had survived. It was from the Americans. Spam. At the time it was the most deliscious thing I'd ever had. I still have memories of that."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"I'm still not sure Spam is a real thing." Janet accepts her plate from Steve and busies herself for a few moments by immediately cutting the steak into bite-size bits. It lets her sit back down and hold a fork in one hand and her drink in the other. Much like the rest of them, Janet's metabolism burns at very high efficiency, so the cold hits her harder than most.

"Like, I'm aware it's used in some meals, but when I first heard about it I thought it was a boarding school prank. Fried, greasy ham in a jar? No thank you. Give me a few slices of Iberico ham any day of the week," she vows.

Greer Grant has posed:
"Thanks, Cap," Tigra says, stepping over to get her food, returning to the plate and folding her legs up under her before she starts to dig in, having resisted the urge to flash sharp carnivore teeth at Banner. No point being mean, after all. After her first bite, she nods a little to Natasha. "That sort of thing, that kind of helps keep things in perspective, I would imagine." She frowns a little bit in thought, and then looks at Janet. "What is Iberico ham? Don't know if I've heard of it before."

Pepper Potts has posed:
Cold. Snowy. Wet. Dreary. This is the opening for this winter, which could be much, much worse if it weren't for the holiday lights that blink, that are up all over the city. Red and green, blue and white, there is room for all in the Avenger's Mansion.

Now, Pepper is almost never late. She has assistants that attempt to keep up with her schedule and a 'personal' house assistant. When all those fail-safes fail?

*click*click*click*

Heels on the floor of the hall of the Mansion. Pepper's late. But, arms are filled with a couple of bags, and as she passes through and makes it to the back, she's quick to set them down.

"I'm so sorry," she begins, setting her bags down. "I got stuck talking to France, and they just went on for a little too long." Now, 'France' could be anyone, from the President down to a subsidiary... "But, I think these might be good for an apology. You all just need to eat them before they get cold."

Out of the bags marked 'Magnolia Bakery' are pies; apple pie, mince pie, and a good helping of WARM brownies.

Bruce Banner has posed:
Bruce Banner takes a sip of the beer and then accepts his plate from Steve gratefully. He hadn't eaten at all today, having been so focused on the research that he'd gotten on the train. He could have gotten something from a food cart but, again, scientific knowledge is not your friend. Not that it had stopped him sometimes, during his days on the run. He'd eaten a lot worse things than a street cart wiener. But not MUCH.

He's going to let others take the lead in conversation, honestly grateful to just be in the background, to eat, to experience cameraderie without the effort of conversation.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers brushes off some snow from a seat. The heaters that Janet has turned on are taking the nip out of the air, and Steve unzips his leather jacket a bit, revealing the white, grey and blue sweater with a moderately wintery feel to its coloring.

"Pepper, have a steak and baked potato for you if you want," he says. He made a couple of extra for Clint and Thor and others should they be coming by. Not like some leftover steak in the fridge goes to waste around here!

Steve opens the beer and gives it a try. "Not too bad," he says. "Will have to get the story from Vision how he came by it. I mean if it was a 'thank you' for saving someone, not exactly the kind of thing most people would give him, I figure."

He takes a bit of his steak and then sighs. "Oh yes, SPAM is real. Nearly a delicacy during the war. Though best meal I had was in this bombed out Italian village on the coast. Little family restaurant there, they insisted on cooking for us. It was... hmm, think it was Peggy, Howard. Zinda was there, and Logan," he says. "We kept telling them they didn't have to but I think they must have dug deep to put that meal together."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova is settled over in the corner and listening to the rest of the chatter. "It traveled well and was fairly readily presreved. Easy to ship over and had some level of taste. Calorie dense so was useful for those in a bad state of hunger. Effective rations." Listening over to the story that Steve was saying, going on thoughtfully. Any sort of followup question she would have is not important now. Now it's a time to relax and enjoy company.

Memories from that era don't make for good casual conversation.

Greer Grant has posed:
Tigra offers Pepper a wave of a fork in greeting, then eats quietly as she listens to Steve's story. "Doesn't surprise me. I've heard for a lot of Italians, the first thing they say to someone is 'have you eaten?' There's definitely an Old World culture there, of hospitality, and sharing what you can with your 'guests,' all the more so when the guests are liberators."

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Oh, thank you," Pepper returns as the packages are set near the warmers, "I'm actually starving."

Making a path towards the side of the grill, brows do rise befoe she nods, "Spam is actually //still// a delicacy in Hawaii. Restaurants all over the island have some dish made with it. I know a chef there whose whole restaurant is based off of spam. Amazing, really." Once her plate is in hand, she turns to look for a seat, waving to all. Bruce gets a smile, perhaps a touch of relief there on her face. She does worry about him, but she's got her hands full with one genius to look after already.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve is making slow but steady work on his steak. He added sour cream, cheese and bacon crumbles to his baked potato, which is steaming and melting the cheese by the time he gets to eating it. "It was a somewhat surprising reaction to me, the Italians, at first," he comments. "I mean they were on the other side of the war. But they had suffered so much during it that a lot of Italians saw us as liberators. Even in some of the cities that had been hit pretty hard," he says, his voice quiet but only a touch somber.

"Hrm, I wonder if Jonah has a SPAM dish on the menu at his restaurant," he comments. "He grew up in Hawaii mostly. I'll have to check. I don't recall if I've seen one on it," he says, nodding to Pepper.

"Oh and while I'm remembering, Bruce and I were talking about doing a winter campout that the team will be welcome to of course. Get some snowmobiles. Maybe do some ice fishing. Could pick somewhere near to a ski hill and spend a day over there if people wanted. Open to ideas, though also somewhere kind of nice and 'get away from it all' would be nice over a frenetic time."

Greer Grant has posed:
"You'd know better than I would, I think," Greer says, in the tone of voice of someone who's going to say something anyway, "but what I've heard is that the Italians weren't as big, as a country, on what was going on as the other...participants were, on either side. And probably half of them had relatives in New York, anyway. That's what I've heard, at least, and I'm not a history major or anything." She purses her lips, thinking maybe she shouldn't offer opinions on that particular war to Captain America. She unfolds her legs and stands up gracefully. "I should step out, got something I need to go check on. Thanks for the steak, Steve."

Pepper Potts has posed:
The War. Not something she, or her family, had been part of. War, however, Pepper is familiar enough with, and its ramifications, complete with 'trickle-down'. After all, she does work for Stark Industries. And, well, Tony's a victim of war, after a fashion.

Finding a dry seat next to Janet, Pepper crosses her legs and sets the plate down on her knees to cut through. Pink and lovely, melting like butter, or like soft snowflakes that fall on a proper winter's night. "Sam Choy. He has a restaurant called 'Sam Choy's Kai Lenai. It's.." she pauses before chuckling, "..remarkable." Yes, apparently she's eaten spam there. "He's brought it to Michelin star level." So, of course she has!

Food is always a good topic, a safe topic, and when it moves to yet another safe topic, that is, some winter wonderland campout, Pepper is half-way through her steak, and is pecking at her potato. "I'm certain I can find a place in Maine, if that's good enough? Forested?" Mountains, too. Locations are always negotiable, of course, and as the evening wears on, ideas are tossed around, and excitement grows the opportunities to 'get out of the city', if only for a little while.