17162/Pancakes with Belinda!

Pancakes with Belinda!
Date of Scene:	12 February 2024
Location:	Lounge and Kitchen - Young Avengers HQ
Synopsis:	Belinda finds the kitchen of the Young Avengers HQ and serves up pancakes to Bunny and Mark. And Sunny finds out that while she was at cheerleader practice, she's become the Queen of a planet. What new rules will she implement for travel visas for Baby Dinos?
Cast of Characters:	Belinda Gutierrez, Mark Grayson, Bunny Macleod, Sunny Harlow

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Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
In a world stuffed to the gills with troubles of all kinds, from the mundane to the monstrous, the malign to the meteoric, some things remain forever and eternal.

Young Avengers Pancake Breakfests: 'a Tradition since Last Tuesday or so'.

It is the scent of fresh coffee that wafts through at first, the dark, rich smell of something black and blissful weaving its wholesome tendrils through the domain. The sizzle of bacon, ham, sausages. The warm smell of fresh pancakes, lofted from pan to serving plate, joining the stack already growing into a towering monstrosity of wheat-cake goodness.

Hair tied back, plain white apron worn in full display, Belinda Gutierrez celebrates life in all its glory with a KITCHEN!

And joining the Young Avengers. But really, a stocked, prepared, clean, ready kitchen. Priorities.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Mark and Bunny could easily go out for pancakes. Or make them in their place. But sometimes, it's better to visit the team headquarters. As he arrives with her, the first thing he's doing is making sure she's not flying. But the second, he's currently recounting a story.

"So Sunny wrestled the staff away... and apprently that is what gave her all her powers? And Sunny might be a Queen now? I don't know. But Universa has asked to speak with her."

There's a shrug of his shoulders. "I mean, it'd really suck if Sunny had to go be a queen on another planet." Though the way that Mark is saying that, it does not sound like it will be happening.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Well if she's moving to a different planet to rule it with an iron fist, then obvs we're going to have to figure out a way to commute to work and see about their Baby Dinosaur laws." Bunny comments as she sets down a bluish-green-and-brownish-gold four-legged battle turtle. AKA the Baby Ankylosaurus, Beeper.

    Beeper gives a happy sounding 'geep!' and begins to run, the club on his tail protected against giving bumps and bruises by a foam pool noodle sliced and held in place with rubber bands.

    She is not in costume. She's wearing jeans and a T-shirt with a blue bear on it that announces that she is, in fact, Grumpy, pink hair braided and set in Space Buns.

    Which means she is surprised at the smell of breakfast, and she stops, tilting her head back.

    "Someone... is making breakfast." she announces, and jabs a thumb inside. "This bares investigation."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
The smell of cooking. It is warm. Delicious. Unspeakably delicious. Wickedly, tempting, insidiously delicious. Enough to soothe any Hangry Beast.

And the blithe cook working inside is humming along to a song played by a common (old fashioned!) tape-player, a Walkman that has seen better days, clinging snugly to her hipo. And earphones-- actual earphones, rather than earbuds!

Naturally, all is for naught as the sound of a great lizardy sound announces Beeper's presence inside, accompanied by:

1) A squeal of surprise.

2) A squeal of laughter.

"Pequeno dinosaurio!" comes the happy sound of delight from inside. "De donde vienes, adorable lagarto? Where were you hiding? Caramba!"

Mark Grayson has posed:
"If she's queen, she'd set whatever laws she wants, eh?" Mark starts to ask, "But the way she made it sound, they are very very far away and I don't know if I can hold my breath that long." he admits with a small smirk, as he catches the scent of something cooking. "What the...?"

And before they can investigate, Beeper toddles ahead, and the squeal of surprise becoming laughter causes him to speed up a little as he floats into the kitchen area. There's a pause and then relief. "Oh, hey!" he greets. "I see you found the kitchen." he offers, also not in costume as he reaches up to rub at the back of his head, dressed in a dark sweater and a pair of jeans.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Bunny hears the voice, and she gives a grin as she rounds the corner, giving an upnod to Mark as they come and see Beeper, who has excitedly greeted Belinda with a gentle headbutt to her shin, and then is running around in little circles.

    "Hey!" Bunny greets with a smile. "I see you've met my small heavily armored child. This is Beeper." she introduces the small dinosaur, who gives a 'GEEP! GEEP!' sound, rearing up and peddling his little feets in the air because he wants a pancake.

    "He's also a big fan of the pancakes."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda's laughter matches the cheer of her grin, kneeling down to rub the armored tiny'saur's head with joyous affection. "It was hard to miss," she says, eyes twinkling as she waves back. She gestures to the counter, filled with its food ready to be served. Unmistakably, the coffee pot does *not* steam. Vile, overly complicated machine. Instead, an old-fashioned kettle percolates to one side of the oven and electric range, oven mitt casually set to one side.

"Ah, Beeper!" she exclaims, giggling to herself as she nods. Quickly, rising to take one of the smaller 'cakes fromn the plate; quick to serve and present to the Adorable'saur racing about at feet! "We used to have a hound," she says, smiling wistfully. "And whenever it was time for dinner, he was there. Because it was time for dinner!"

She gestures again to the counter. "Just ready, most of the things. Bacons frying, so beware of hot there. Also, el embutido, the sausages, are spiced with jalopeno. I could find no different; lo siento, sorry!"

Pause. "Who is ruling what and where with an iron fist? Should I make more?"

Mark Grayson has posed:
Mark quickly adds, before there is any question. "I'm not the father, but I'm considering adoption." There's a wink at Bunny as he heads for the fridge, pulling out a bottle of water. Much less complicated. As he cracks it open to drink from it, he goes to take a seat on one of the stools.

"We've met a few times, but I think the only time was out of costume was when I was first dating Bunny." That seems so long ago now. Yet not long enough at the same time. "I'm Mark." because, again, unsure.

"Oh, that would be... well, Indestructibelle. We ran into some trouble last night at a nuclear power plant, so alien was trying to siphon off the power, and she was able to force the staff from her hands, and she may now be the Queen now. Politics are weird. Especially for aliens."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "Politics here on EARTH is weird." Bunny exclaims, but she smiles as she goes to help bring about plates to tables and lend Belinda a hand. She's clearly used to doing the lion's share of the cooking (except Mark insists on healthy foods).

    "Bunny!" Bunny introduces herself, with a wave to Belinda, because yes, Belinda knows who Bunny is. She's been to the Happy Harbor Game Night, met a couple of times at Rain Beau's -- many times the crossing of paths.

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda listens for a moment, eyes widening before she nods slowly. "Caramaba," she utters again, shaking her head. "No stranger than some here, though. Did not a ruler in England achieve royalty because someone threw a knife at him from the lake? Oh!"

She grabs a handtowel, wiping the flour from her hands before offering her grasp forward. "Belinda. A pleasure to meet you! And thank you both for the opportunity. I shall clean up after. Also, I did not wander too far into the base. It would be rude, and I do not yet know where everything is. Wandering into someone's room while exploring-- no bueno, no good at all!"

Mark Grayson has posed:
"Nice to meet you, Belinda. Well. Again." Mark offers in a bit of amusement, as he swivels in the chair, a little twist around in the chair. "Oh. I ... I don't think anyone actually lives here." he admits thoughtfully. "I know Bunny did for a bit before she got her own place." he offers, a glance aside towards her in acknowledgement.

"There's not much to see, admittedly. We don't have the same type of set up as..." a pause, as if to recollect his thoughts. "...some of the more established teams." Which reminds him. "I contacted my old group." he offers to Bunny. "Rudy said he'd look into your issue and looks forward to meeting you."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    " Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government." Bunny recites as she sits down and helps out with a few more items. "And you don't need to clean up, at least not by your lonesome. I'll help." she replies to Belinda, and gives a smile.

    "Yeah, I slept in the basement for a short while, and it's full of spiders." she states, pressing her lips together and gives a wry grin to Mark.

    "I look forward to meeting your old team and Rudy."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda giggles laughter, offering a quick, grateful glance to Bunny-- and a sharp wince of sympathy. "Spiders," she repeats, shuddering. "We had no basements back in New Mexico, but spiders- brown recluses, everywhere. Blech." She pauses thoughtfully, slowing; she casts the range a last glance, turning down one of the dials to 'simmer' before moving across to the sink.

"I promise I did not and do not expect anything..." she begins, glancing overly slyly. "...do we get to meet Capitan America? Asking for amigo."

Totally sly. Like a brick.

Mark Grayson has posed:
"She knows she can ask me to help." Mark offers when Bunny volunteers to assist Belinda. He's easy like that. As they discuss spiders, he smirks. "Hey, at least they aren't likely to give you powers? Maybe?" There's nothing radioactive down here? He doesn't think?

He's not really sure.

Then comes the question on Cap. "We've met him a few times." Mark offers to help bolster Belinda's hopes. "Last time was what..." he glances to Bunny for confirmation. "The Halloween costume give away?" he suggests.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "The Halloween costume give away, yeah. And he was at the promotion that Damian Wayne kid threw, with Uncle Bucky." Bunny recounts as she tilts he rhead back and considers.

    She takes a couple pancakes and starts tearing them into little pieces with her hands.

    "Aaah, Ant Man comes sometimes to help. Bucky's been around. He's great. Very serious, but he cares, deep down, I can tell."

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda almost squeals at the mention of the possibility of MAYBE Cap visiting. Maybe.

Squee.

"Syrup is over there," she says, pointing to the carousel, loaded down with the serving packets of butter, margarine, salt, pepper, garlic, hot sauces (from 'Lame' to 'Nuclear Hellfire' levels), with a smattering of small jars of jelly and jam, grape to strawberry and more. "Hombre Hormiga?" she asks quizzically, tilting her head. Small plates taken out, the first loaded with bacon stripes and sausage links. "Does he climb walls and shoot things from his hands?" she continues, offering the first saucer to Bunny. She begins loading the second, listening anew. "Bucky... He was a paperboy, wasn't he? Mi bisabuelo, my great-grandfather, did not often speak of him. Or at all!" She grimaces. "Not that I remember his stories very well. It was long ago."

Mark Grayson has posed:
As the pancakes are offered, Mark watches Bunny as she tears her down. He goes to get some forks and knives to hand them out, before he nods to Belinda. "That's the one. Blue and red. I stay in contact with him sometimes. We have a couple on the team, though." Andi. Miles. Cindy. More than a couple, really. Deferring to Bunny for her to get meats first, he contuinues.

"Bucky was Cap's sidekick back in the war. Things happened, he does his own thing now. But Bunny's right, he does check in on us now and again."

Belinda is handling the cooking while Bunny and Mark are setting up plates. And Beeper is out and about as Mark takes part of a pancake and offers it to the dinosaur. Because he's probably about to go check if there's any fruit in the fridge.

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    Bunny was not tearing her own down.

    She was tearing Beeper's.

    He gets his own plate, and happily begins to tuck into pancakes with a little syrup, before Bunny begins to assemble her own. A stack of flatcakes. Bacon. Whipped cream. Maple syrup. The powder from a hot cocoa packet. And, extracted from a cabinet in the kitchen -- Unicorn Mix rainbow jimmies with little candy stars!

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
"And he knows who we all are?" Belinda asks guardedly, brown momentarily furrowed. Concerned. Shaking off fear with a sigh. There is bacon to consume!

And pancakes to assemble.

Pushing her simple coffee mug aside, Belinda begins the careful task of transferring pancakes to her plate. One, two, three-- pause, consider, add a forth. Accepting a set of offered silverware from Mark, she hums to herself as she begins slicing up the stack-- holding back a sigh of delighted pleasure.

"Also--" she adds, totally changing the subject. "Beeper! Where did you find him? Get him? I thought they were supposed to be all gone, extinguido, extinct."

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "No, he knows who some of us are. He's come as 'supervisory adult in the room' on a mission or two. He's really cool. I think maybe with enough time he might come out of his shell, but I know he's... going through stuff." she states, and she cuts into her food.

    "Beeper? Oh! I was ah... kidnapped by a black-market dinosaur and ancient creature collection ring. I think they were gonna use me for a demonstration buuuuut..." she trails off. "Some superheroes broke it up. Beeper hatched and I kinda stuck him in my shirt because he imprinted, and I'm not gonna leave a baby there all alone!" Bunny states.

Mark Grayson has posed:
And while Bunny is piling on the treats, Mark gets out a small clam-shell container of fruit. Bringing it over, he takes out some strawberries and green melon, setting them on his pancakes with some blueberries. And perhaps in a shot fired, he reaches over with a strawberry and tries to place it on the very top of Bunny's stack.

Beeper is Bunny's story to tell, so he instead turns his attention to Belinda. "He is part of the roster yes. Most of the team know Bunny and I in and out of costume, we've been together nearly six months now, so... they're used to seeing us together. There's another part of us, she may be joining us shortly." And he puts just a little syrup on his panackes with all the fruit. A compromise. See. Sweet stuff!

Sunny Harlow has posed:
Speaking of strays they sort of picked up along the way...a quick text message sent in was about all the warning the others got before Sunny arrived. Pushing through, her hair was down and wild, her clothing casual and simple and...whatever tiedness she was dealing with seems to have taken a double-take as the scents hit hwr nose. "Am I smelling pancakes?"

It might not be her most glamourous introduction, between the track pants she was wearing along with the jacket that suggested she'd been at some 'civillian' event...and it might have gone on a little while longer than she'd planned.

Even Viltrumites could have long nights!

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Eating stops as Belinda /stares/ at Bunny, nose practically twitching. "You," she announces quite firmly, gesturing with the fork, "Are not a dinosaur. Or ancient creature!" Pause. "Or Batman," she adds, "Though he may qualify as 'ancient creature' if he is really Dracula!" Eating resumes with a grin, a perk of the ears as she nods with a grin. Hrm! "More coffee?" she suggests, pointing to the kettle. "Could make tea..." She trails off, grimacing. "Not real tea. Only could find those instant packets! Ick. And lo!"

She waves to the entering dishevelled Viltrumite, smile wide. "Si, yes, there are pancakes. And coffee. Kettle-made because I have not figured out your...." She glances at the coffee-maker, glowering at it. "....thing. They are fresh, ready-- come eat, please por favor!"

Bunny Macleod has posed:
    "... no but I *do* own a Batman kigurumi with the ears and everything." Bunny states with a bright smile, and straightens up. "SUNNY!" she greets the other blonde (in spite of the fact Bunny's hair was currently pink, she was naturally blonde), and she waves.

    "And don't feel bad about not getting the coffeemaker. Wiccan had to teach me like /five times/ before it stuck." Buns replies, and she makes a small, questioning sound.

    "... what's wrong with tea packets? Sometimes it eve n has the lemon flavoring in them --"

Mark Grayson has posed:
"Noone uses the devil's coffee maker. Except Billy. And... speak of the devil. Sunny knows how it works as well." Though Mark is taking in her appearance, a brief look of curiosity over his features before he pulls her in for a quick nuzzle and kiss to her cheek. "Long night?" he asks curiously before releasing the other Viltrumite.

"Belinda, this is Sunny. Sunny, Belinda." the young man offers. "The aforementioned queen we were discussing earlier." That said in a small tease as he listens to the others go on, and turns his attention to eating.

Sunny Harlow has posed:
"Only because I've been through the hell of food service," Sunny offers light, coming in to wrap her arms around the excitable pink-blonde's form and offer a quick kiss to the cheek before Mark intercepts her for the same fate and a little giggle is given.

Alright, she -might- be giggling because she's stealing a little pancake for herself from his plate.

She's about half-way to the promise of coffee when Mark's introduction brings a blink.

"Aformentioned what now?"

Belinda Gutierrez has posed:
Belinda sputters, coughs! A look of abject horror crosses her face as she reaches up to wipe her lips with a napkin, eyes wide as she stares in the face of that mortal affront. "But it is instant!" she protests. "It is not real tea! Real tea is made with tiny baggies of things or prepackaged leaves and hot water boiled just so and poured into teacups--"

Fume, twitch, bite back a grin. "...usually. And it might have been mentioned while we were discussing ways and means of politics and choosing royalty and such things..." She spears a pancake slice on her fork, mischief brightening her features before she chews down.

"So, preference for title? Your Highness, your Majesty, or Alta Reina Suprema?"

Mark Grayson has posed:
As Sunny greets the pair, Mark totally notices when Sunny goes in to steal a bite. He immediately scoots over so that she may sit next to him and share, a playful poke of his tongue out at Bunny as Sunny chooses the /HEALTHY/ pancake with fruit over her... beautiful disaster pancake pile. With unicorn sprinkles.

"So, the alien we fought last night. Her name's Universa. And apparently she is the ruler of another planet. You know all this already. Anyway, she claims that the staff you took from her is the Staff of Leadership for her world, and now that you possess it, she said that you are the ruler of her planet and people and wishes to discuss the plight of her world with you urgently."

A pause.

"Cecil should have left you a text message or something for it." he offers, a tilt of his head. He did, didn't he?

Sunny Harlow has posed:
A blink, slow as it was and Sunny looks up at Mark, her expression the epitome of 'What?' spoken without a word. Instead she fishes into her jacket pocket and lifts her phone, exhaling a breath. "My...my phone died."

So it seems she was unaware of her current status as an intergalactic queen after all.

She'd been too busy with a cheerleading event to realise.