1933/Dinner at the Deli

Dinner at the Deli
Date of Scene:	01 June 2020
Location:	Barney Greengrass Deli
Synopsis:	Roy and AJ have dinner, talk graduation, and load up on snacks.
Cast of Characters:	AJ Strong, Roy Harper

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AJ Strong has posed:
A while ago AJ had promised to bring Roy to his favorite Deli, and a nice warm day in June seemed the perfect day to do that, a trip downtown and dinner at the deli. Today he's dressed in shorts and a tee, the summer warmth driving him out of his usual hoodies. He inhales deeply as he enters the store, exhaling with a sigh. "I love the smell of this place. Fresh baked bagels, nothing like it." He grins at roy and heads up towards the counter to scan the menu, finguring out what he wants to eat. "Lox is always a good choice."

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper had been looking forward to the trip to AJ's favorite place to eat since he'd mentioned it, and true to his word, he hadn't tried to wheedle out of him what it was. And so it is on a lovely June day that Roy strolls along with AJ toward the deli, dressed in his usual red chucks, though the jeans have been traded in for a pair of shorts, and a dark blue t-shirt with a red ball cap on his head. He follows AJ in and takes in a breath of the smells of the deli and grins. "Smells good." Then he eyes the various options, following along behind to the counter. "Don't think I've ever had lox. What's a lox?"

AJ Strong has posed:
"Smoked salmon. This place specializes in fish." AJ steps up to the counter. "E.T. bagel, with lox, cream cheese, onion, and capers, chips on the side, large Coke.. Oh! And three poppy hamentashen. And whatever he wants." He jerks his thumb to Roy with a grin as he pulls out his card, waiting for Roy to order before he can pay.

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper steps up to the counter and looks at the various things on offer, and after a moment he says, "I'll have what he's having, just no capers, please," deciding that'll be the quickest way to get something he knows that he'll likely like without holding up the line for too long. He grins a little and takes a look around. "So this is your favorite place, huh? Pretty cool. Bagels are your thing, then?"

AJ Strong has posed:
"Bagels are New York's thing, dude." AJ says with a laugh. "Yeah, one of the nurses use to bring me food from here all the time, I think she lived near by. One of the first things I did when I could do stuff on my own was come down here and get it myself." He slips his card into the card reader, then nods and takes their number, moving to one of the tables, once a bit off to the side. "It's not fancy, but you know it's the little mom and pop places that have the best food."

Roy Harper has posed:
"I'm not from New York," Roy points out with a grin and then shrugs his shoulders. "Okay, so, bagels are a New York thing and I am officially doing bagels in a New York Deli. I can cross something off /my list." Not that he has a list, but if he did, he makes a check mark in the air. Checked. He follows AJ Over to one of the tables and slips into his seat. Then he grins, "I'm not really a fancy kinda guy, anyway."

AJ Strong has posed:
"Well, we have to get you used to some local things. New York is all about bagels and pizza, simple as that." AJ smirks as he settles into his chair to wait. "Your uncle never dragged you off to a fancy restaurant? Lucky you, those dinners are torture. I've had to do a few.. dad has a dinner meeting with a business partner, bring the family along." He scrunches up his nose and sticks out his tongue. "Even worse, you get to sit there and listen to business talk, can't pull out your phone to entertain yourself, elbows on the table are scandalous.. It's painful."

Roy Harper has posed:
"Alright, well, I've definitely had New York Pizza and folded it in half like I guess you're supposed to but I've always done that so wasn't aware that was a New York kind of thing," Roy says with a little grin as he sits at the table, bouncing his knee a bit, arms folded on its surface as he leans against them, taking in the place and AJ across from him. "Oh sure, I've been dragged some fancy places, but not often. I'm not really fancy dinner material. And he's got Thea to take to those things." He grins in comfort to AJ and says, "Sounds pretty miserable."

AJ Strong has posed:
"Only because proper pizza is wide, thin crusted, and floppy. You gotta fold it or it bends and everything goes sliding off." AJ nods his head as he passes on his sage wisdom about New York cuisine. "At least the food is good, and dad is usually so distracted he doesn't notice when I order something.. um.. pricey." He laughs. One of the staff comes over with their food on a tray, setting it down on the table with thanks before heading off. AJ quickly picks up his soda for a sip.

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper grins at that and says, "Yeah, well, I do that with most pizza anyway for those reasons. Mainly so all my toppings don't end up all over the place." He laughs then and says, "Oh, sneaky. But then I guess, that's what business meetings are for, right? Wining and dining the guests. May as well take advantage if you're a mandatory guest." He grins and says, "I'll have to remember that next time there's some kind of fancy thing I need to show up to." Which is pretty much never. He grins up to the waitperson and says "Thanks," before grabbing his bagel and examining it. It looks good. It smells good. He takes a bite.

AJ Strong has posed:
AJ sets his coke down for his bagel, taking a bite but watching Roy expectantly. IT's one of those things people do. Introduce a person you like to a thing you like and hope they like it. He mmms softlyas he chews away on his bagel, wiping some stray cream cheese from his mouth. "This is the bad part of living in Happy Harbor, I can't get down here easily anymore."

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy looks thoughtful for a moment and then he nods, apparently approving of this bagel with lox thing. "That's pretty good. I like the lox with the cream cheese together. I don't think I'd eat it on itself but it's pretty good with the bagel and cheese." Which is evident because he takes another bite, and then another, chewing away contentedly. "Yeah, that's too bad. But you can if you're staying with your dad some this summer, right?"

AJ Strong has posed:
"Lox isn't really an eat on it's own thing.. I sometimes get it with a fried egg instead of cream cheese, and man.. that is a mess but so good." AJ contents himself to eat, occasionally crunching away on a potato chip between bites of bagel. He nods at the question, swallowing before answering. "Yeah, a couple of long weekends, I told him I'm doing some self-study stuff this summer, so he understands me staying at the school."

Roy Harper has posed:
"Fried eggs are pretty good, especially the ones that come in the middle of the bread. Eggs in toast or whatever. With all the butter, then the yolk gets all runny all over everything and it's great. Little salt. Perfect." Roy sighs, clearly finding that to be a favorite of his. He nods then about staying at the school. "Yeah, me too -- staying at the school mostly, whenever I'm not going down to the house. Which, you know, you still need to come down to Starling with me so I can introduce you to Green Arrow." He grins a little sidelong.

AJ Strong has posed:
"Just let me know, I'll be right there." AJ grins. He finishes off one half of the bagel and leans back in the chair to si at his coke before deving into the other half. "You know, if you don't want to hike back to the school tonight we can stay at the apartment. I think dad is out of town right now so we'd have the place to ourselves.. big couch.. big TV.. HBO.." He grins a bit lopsidedly.

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper grins, "Cool. We should do that soon." He continues to make his way through his bagel without hesitation. Clearly, he's appreciative of this particular New York cuisine, because he even licks the last bits of cream cheese off of his fingers before sighing contentedly. "Yeah?" he says, both brows raising. "Your dad wouldn't mind? Or.. are we being clandestine? Oh! Is that something to cross off your list -- sneaking a boy into the house?" His eyes sparkle a little bit with mischief.

AJ Strong has posed:
"Why would he mind? I live there and have a key." AJ laughs softly. "Well.. I've never considered sneaking a boy into the house before.. so no.. not on the list. It'd be too easy to do anyway." He smirks around a potato chip. "I just figure it's getting late and rather than ride the subway and ferry back over, we could do that tomorrow, not like we have classes to miss."

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper shrugs his shoulders and says, "I don't know. Sometimes that's a thing that parents mind, I guess. TV tells me so, anyway." He reaches for his drink and takes a sip before munching on a potato chip. "So cool, we'll stay here then and take the ferry back tomorrow." He grins. "Nope, no classes til fall. You know, I think this is the first year I've actually stayed in the whole year, all the way to the end."

AJ Strong has posed:
"We should get you a cake." AJ sounds half teasing half serious as he smiles at Roy. "I'm going to take come credit for that though.. It's because of my excellent tutoring and motivaton." He sticks out his tongue, then picks up the other half of his bagel, bringing it up to his mouth. "We should pick up some snacks, too, there's a bodega on the way there."

Roy Harper has posed:
"Definitely the motivation," Roy says with a little sidelong grin as he takes another potato chip and pops it into his mouth, though after a minute or two he gets a little more serious. "Hey, but seriously -- it is kind of thanks to you. You really have helped me study, and stick around, and pay attention to classes. Not gonna lie that some of it was just because I want to spend time with you, but.. my grades are actually alright this year. They wouldn't be without you. So.. thanks." He then grins and says, "I am definitely up for snacks." Even though they are /presently/ eating.

AJ Strong has posed:
AJ is a bottomless pit when it comes to food, so talking about snacks while eating is not that strange. Still at the thanks he smiles slightly. "Well, I guess that's good to know, and a good thing I'll be sticking around another year. Then you can get you high school diploma then do what you want." He pops the last bite of bagel into his mouth and leans back, sighing contentedly.

Roy Harper has posed:
"Yeah," Roy says, about getting his diploma. "Weird. I never really thought I'd graduate. I figured I'd just keep fucking up until they'd kick me out and that'd be the end of it. It's weird to actually think I might actually do it next year." He smiles a little lopsidedly, and takes up his soda to take another sip. "Then I just gotta figure out what I'm going to do with my life." He smirks. "Nope, not ready to be that responsible yet."

AJ Strong has posed:
AJ nods as he finishes off the last of his meal. "I mean, that's a good thing, but you don't need to be thinking about your future yet. Unless it's college, then there's that whole annoying applying process.." He sighs. "Next year is going to be annoying. Gotta figure out where I'm going, since dad insists on it." He gets to his feet, pulling out some bills to set on the table as a tip.

Roy Harper has posed:
"Yeah, I don't think I'm going to college," Roy says as he picks up the trash and throws it all out before coming back to pick up his drink to take with him. "But I bet you'll get into a good one. Where do you think you'll go? Do you know what you're going to do already?" Some people do. Not Roy. He has zero plan whatsoever.

AJ Strong has posed:
AJ snorts. "My grades aren't as super fantastic as you think they are. Other than music and foreign language I'm kind of.." He wiggles his hand. "So.. Julliard is on the list, because someone insists. But I heard Sterling City has a nice music conservatory.." He picks up the bakery treats he ordered and waits for Roy to catch up before heading to the door. "I'm craving... oreos."

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper raises both brows when AJ suggests that Starling City has a nice music conservatory and he studies him. "Yeah? Is it a good one? Are there better ones in the area? Because you should apply to all the best ones that you can, go someplace that's really going to let you do what you want to do." He scuffs a little bit at the sidewalk as they walk in the direction of oreos. "I mean it.."

AJ Strong has posed:
"It's a decent one. Don't worry, I'll apply across the board, but.. I'm sticking to the area. No going out to California or some shit for me." AJ smiles as he bumps his shoulder against Roy. "'Sides, you know what I want to do. But, I guess a fall back career wouldn't be a bad thing."

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper grins a little and bumps his shoulder against AJ. "Not gonna lie, I want you to stick around nearby, too, and you know, if we're going to train and all, it'd be good if we can do that. But.." He shrugs his shoulders, "Just want to make sure you're doing the best for you, you know? Even if I want to be totally selfish." He grins then as he turns around backward and walks a few steps to the bodega that way so he can look at AJ as they talk. Surprisingly, he doesn't trip, fall down a hole, or back into anything.

AJ Strong has posed:
"Well, I want to stick around, too. And, well, I'm not sure how much a degree in music will get me, I'll probably just end up playing in some orchestra.." He rubs the back of his neck. "Or maybe I'll do the language thing.." Then he wrinkles his nose and shakes his head. "Nah, that just seems like a pain in the ass."

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper grins and says, "Hey, as long as it satisfies your dead that you got the degree, then you can get it in whatever you want, right?" He glances back over his shoulder in the direction of the bodega and eventually spins aroudn to walk forward again, grabbing the door and holding it for AJ as they head inside. "OKay so important question -- what type of oreos. This is an important life choice, right here>"

AJ Strong has posed:
"Original flavor, double stuffed, as if there is any other option." AJ snorts, grabbing a basket as he wanders over to where all the snacks are kept in the small store. He's shopping with his stomach again as several things besides oreos end up in the basket.

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper nods approvingly at this choice and says, "Excellent." He kind of hangs out off to one side and doesn't pick out anything, letting AJ fill up the snack supply. He seems to trust the other boy's choices as well as his propensity for volume that even exceeds Roy's. He does wander over to the cooler though and grabs himself a glass bottle of orange crush. "You want anything?" he asks, offering to grab AJ a drink.

AJ Strong has posed:
"Coke." AJ brings his basketful of snacks up the to register, waiting for Roy to bring up the drinks. He waits for everything to get rung up and shoved into bags. Bags. He got a lot and no doubt what he doesn't eat is getting dragged back to the dorms tomorrow. Once he pays he nods and grins at Roy. "Okay, let' get out of here. I'm ithing for some movies."