6853/There's Something About NYC Pizza

There's Something About NYC Pizza
Date of Scene:	08 July 2021
Location:	Angelo's Pizza
Synopsis:	Bruce Banner is feeling antsy and takes a walk in New York. He encounters April O'Neil in Angelo's Pizza.
Cast of Characters:	April O'Neil, Bruce Banner

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April O'Neil has posed:
April is walking down the sidewalk with her yellow and black 'Bumblebee' bike rolling along beside her. She's wearing dark designer sunglasses ove rher eyes and her hair is flowing ove rher shoulders. She's wearing a dark blue tanktop and has a yellow hoodie tied around her waist over her blue jeans that have tears over the knees and a few small ones along her outer thighs.. Summer weather, summer attire.

Her eyes are down on her phone in her left hand while her right holds on to her bike. She stops outside of Angelo's and hangs a bit as she taps with her thumb. <I'm bringing the pizzas, Mikey, relax. You guys need to pick a film this time that I will enjoy. I mean it!>

She waits for a response to see the movie title <Die Hard 5!> and sighs...

Using her bike lock, April hooks it up outside the shoppe and goes on inside. She glances over her shoulder and mutters something to herself. "How are bike locks even legal?"

Her hands come up to remove her sunglasses and she smiles at the boys behind the counters, teenagers, of course, and they're always happy to see her. "Hey guys." April says to them as she approaches.

Bruce Banner has posed:
Though the other Avengers might joke about a baseball cap being the preferred disguise of Steve Rogers in the modern day, it is something that Bruce Banner had adopted long before the Capsicle was found and thawed out. Today he has his baseball cap, a plain dark green one with no logo or lettering, pulled down low. A simple pair of dark blue jeans and a button up shirt do not make him stand out particularly either as Bruce walks down the New York Street.

His fingers dry wash against his palms. He decided rather spur of the moment to go for the walk. Something about being in the mansion was making him antsy today. Unable to focus on the research he'd been doing down in the lab.

A rumbling in Bruce's stomach serves as a reminder that he hasn't eaten since breakfast. Up ahead a beautiful young woman catches his eye, just going inside of a pizza shop. As Bruce draws nearer to it, the aroma of baking pizza causes his already noisy stomach to start to make a fuss. "Alright, pizza it is," he says to himself, drawing his hat a little lower and then stepping inside the doorway to look around. A few people at tables. The woman he saw enter up at the counter. The brightened looks on the faces of the teenaged boys makes Bruce have to work to suppress a grin.

April O'Neil has posed:
There's a small line of people in front of April so she just spends some time folding her glasses up and slipping them under the hem of her low scooped tanktop's hemline. She smiles at the people ahead of her when some of them look back at her and one of them rats her out in fact.

"You're April O'Neil, from the tv!" The short balding pudgey man says.

April flashes a smile at him, she's taller than him in fact, they shake hands. "Guilty as charged." She replies firslty before they share a few words.

Once they have their food though they turn around to shuffle out of the place. April waves goodbye to them, then notices Bruce and offers him a smile. She doesn't recognize him! She steps up to the counter then and leans on it on her palms on either sides of her hips. "The usual, Andre." April says to the tall teen behind the counter. He grins at her and nods. "How a girl like you puts away eight pizzas in a week si beyond me."

April smirks. "I've told you. I have people over at my place a lot, and I give some away! Stop questioning me, ya Conspiracy Theoriist." April says at the kid with a grin before she looks to Bruce and motions to him. "Do you believe these guys?" She asks, playfully of course.

Bruce Banner has posed:
Bruce Banner's hands go into his pockets as he waits behind April, not so much eavesdropping as just overhearing what's said. It's a posture that seems to disarm people, though in truth he probably often stood like that long before a certain accident happened.

He does glance up though at the mention of eight pizzas. Eyes going from the counter to the young woman herself. Who really doesn't look like she eats eight pizzas in a night. Not to Bruce anyway.

His eyes have just come back up when April looks his way and addresses him. "Probably impresses them more if you did put them away yourself," Bruce comments to her as the teens get to work on making her pizza. Bruce's eyes that had drifted to them, look back to April. "So I'm guessing you recommend this place then?" he asks, glancing around in a way that makes it clear enough it's his first time there even if the words didn't reveal that.

April O'Neil has posed:
April shows a knowing smirk at Bruce and just leans her left hand on the counter to keep herself aimed toward him. She looks back at the teens behind the counter before shaking her head and looking toward Bruce again. "I'm all for exercise to stay as fit as possible, but I'm not sure I could even muster enough to keep myself from being completely transformed like I ate something I wasn't supposed to at Willy Wonka's factory, if I dared to try and down 8 pizzas every week."

Every week! She's here a lot!

She grins at Bruce then. "I do recommend this place. Angelo was a dear friend of my father'. , Rest their souls." She flashes a somber smile then at him and looks Bruce over from head to toe. "You look familiar..." She says, because she's keen on thes things, very keen!

Bruce Banner has posed:
The man gives a small smile, somewhat subdued at the Willy Wonka comment. "Well, looks like I chose wisely then," he says of the pizza place. Though any thoughts of pepperoni are put on hold for the moment as April comments on Bruce seeming familiar. "Eh, I've got one of those faces I guess. Always look like someone's uncle or their old English teacher or something," he lies with a little shrug of his shoulder, and in a tone that seems meant to wipe the thought away as being inconsequential.

He turns his attention to the sign with the menu, and has just made up his mind when the teen returns behind the counter. "It'll be about 20 minutes, April. Want a soda while you wait?" he asks, pulling out a to go cup and setting it on the counter for her, apparently free. The kid looks to Bruce then, who tells him, "Could I get a slice of that... Meat-pocalypse one?" Bruce asks. "And a drink, for here," he says, noting they have a soda fountain where you can fill it yourself.

April O'Neil has posed:
April grins at the man's response to her, she's not so sure about that, and what he says reeks of someone who's not being entirely honest with her. "Right..." She says. Investigative Reporter, after all!

April takes the cup off the counter and smiles at the kid. "Thank you." Even if he's only around 5 years younger than her! "Feels like a Lemonade kind of night." She says as she steps around Bruce and smiles at him as she goes.

She approaches the drink fountain and fills it up with ice, jiggling it a bit to settle the cubes, then puts it under the Lemonade fountain and presses the button to make it gush in to the cup. Sqqqqqqqqqqqooooooooooooooosh! Lemonade!

Bruce Banner has posed:
Bruce relaxes and lets down his guard again as April seems to him to accept the explanation. He pulls out a phone and uses it to pay for the pizza. The kid slides a cup over to him. "Yours will be out right after hers," he says, the teen's eyes following April over to the soda fountain, in case Bruce wasn't clear who the kid was talking about.

He takes the cup off the counter, "Thanks," he says, and then follows April over to get a drink. He looks over the offering of sodas. Not one of the newer machines that has 28 different flavors of Coca Cola plus everything else. Just four on each side.

Bruce holds the cup under the ice dispenser, the cubes rattling as they stack up in his cup. "I agree, it does seem like a lemonade day," he says, waiting for her to finish there and then fills up his own cup. "Welcome to take a seat while you wait," he tells the younger woman, motioning to an empty table that he seems intent on taking after he gets a straw and the lid for his drink.

April O'Neil has posed:
April's eyes are on her cup as she hears him agree and also get the lemonade. She's putting the lid onher own cup. "Ah ha. See? I know what I'm talking about. I have all the inside information on how things work." She states, unwrapping a straw and sliding it in the lid-hole. She looks over at the man and grins at him. "Part of being a reporter who never sleeps. " She takes a pull from the straw and then looks to the table where she goes to sit down.

She leans back in the seat and crosses her legs at the knees, her free hand going through her hair. "Sorry to make you wait for your order, too, I meant to call this one in before I came up here but I got busy at work... and time just got away from me. It's rude of me to make people wait for eight pizzas, even if they have..." She tilts her head. "Two... stoves? Maybe more back there?"

Bruce Banner has posed:
Bruce moves to take a seat across from April, his own lid going on the cup and the straw down inside so he can take a sip from it. "Ooh, that's kind of tart. Like it when it's not too sweet," he says of the lemonade.

A little wave of his hand is given at April's comment about her pizzas making him wait. "I didn't have anywhere to go anyway. Just out for a walk. As good to spend it in here as out there," he says.

Bruce considers removing his baseball cap, but leaves it on against the odds of someone recognizing him. People tend to know the Other Guy's face far more than his own. But then after years of being a fugitive, plus his Avenger's status, there are a few who might recognize him.

"So," Bruce Banner asks, "What kind of reporter are you? Television I'm guessing?" he asks April. "One of the local stations, or are you on a network?"

April O'Neil has posed:
April nods her head about the lemonade but when the man moves on to detaling his walkabout, then asking her a question she just smiles over the table at him. "I work at C6 Eyewitness News out of Manhattan... in the Goodman Building, Midtown." She tells the older man, admittedly she's been trying to judge his age... he is definitely in his 40s, is all she's ascertained.

"I've been on the job for a couple years now, actually, but I'm making more money online than I ever could at the station... So even if I do get asked to go 'up' in the tv business..." She shakes he rhead and runs a hand thorugh her hair as she looks outside, shaking her dark locks a bit over her shoulder. "I don't think I'll even take it. " She looks back at him and smiles then. "What about you? Lonely walker. What are you grinding away at to earn your pizza money?" She asks before sipping from her drink again.

Bruce Banner has posed:
Bruce keeps one hand on his lemonade. He knows he has a tendency to fidget and it helps him resist that urge to occupy his hand at something else. "Ah, I don't get a lot of time in front of the television," he says, as if the older man feels like he should probably apologize in some fashion for not recognizing her. "But I'll have to tune in sometime. Be able to tell everyone, hey, I met her. She has good taste in beverages," he says with a soft smile that he has to coax out of his otherwise subdued demeanor.

He lets go of the cup to gesture though, talking with his hand as he says, "I'm kind of, in a transient moment in a way," he says. "For a little while." There's pause before finally the man adds, "I did lab work mostly. Science stuff," he says with a wry, self-deprecating smile.

April O'Neil has posed:
April's hand comes down from the side of her head to rest on the table as she watches him and grins at his first response. "Not many people are watching tv anymore, it's why it's unlikely I'll hitch my wagon to that horse much longer. It does help me funnel some watchers to my online presence though, where I can talk about a much more wide open range of topics." She sips from her drink again before she hears his explanation of his work and it results in her tilting her head to the side a bit.

"Lab, huh?" She asks. "That's where I feel like I know you from... My father worked in a genetics lab his entire adult life. I'd ask you if you knew a Oliver O'Neil, who passed away back in 2013... but, I imagine that's a bit rude to assume all scientists know each other." She grins once more for him.

"You look like a man who's spent too much time in the lab though, if you don't mind me saying. I'm sure that's probably rude too, but I just mean, you look a bit stressed out." She looks away then smiles and shakes her head. "I'm sorry. I'm a snoop, I stare at people and try to figure things out about them too much." She says as she looks back at him. "I've done it my whole life."

Bruce Banner has posed:
April's comment is a fairly prescient one, though Bruce Banner doesn't mention how he -does- feel stressed out of late. Or maybe irritable is a better way of putting it. "Can't say that I remember an Oliver O'Neil," Bruce tells April. "Though I do know an Ed O'Neil. Well, know of. Used to watch him on a TV show back... well, it was years ago," he says, as if deciding at the end maybe he won't date himself by mentioning Married With Children.

Bruce picks up his lemonade and takes a sip from the straw. "And it's fine, I probably do need to get out more anyway," he says. Bruce makes a little circular gesture with is fingers, "I heard some people talking about this 'sun' thing. And that it changes the color of your skin this time of year if you're out in it enough. I might have to give that a try sometime," he says, his humble self-effacing delivery working for the man somehow. "But I'm sorry about your father passing. I lost mine just before I went to college," he says, eyes on April as if he's comparing her age to his own when he lost his father. "It's... well, I suppose there's no good time to lose a parent," he says.

April O'Neil has posed:
"Mother to cancer, father to a fire." April replies then before she shows a sympathetic smile to him. "Sorry to hear about yours. But hey, if you're in a lab all day, hiding from the sun then that means you're probably doing okay in life, which would mean he'd be proud of his son." She raises her drink up again but speaks above the straw. "So that's good, yeah?"

She takes another sip from the straw before she lowers it again. "So are a local?" She asks him. "Brooklyn is a relatively small area, and I haven't seen you walking around these streets before." She hints at a grin. "I'm snoopin' again, if you didn't notice."

Bruce Banner has posed:
As April mentions Bruce Banner's father must be proud of him, the man's eyes look away, and Bruce perhaps thinks he's suppressed his reaction adequately. Though it wouldn't take someone with April's observational skills to pick up on the emotions that leak through to Bruce's face, suggesting his relationship with his father might not have been a good one.

Bruce clears his throat and takes another sip of his lemonade, and seizes on the change in conversation. "No, Ohio actually, and then the Southwest," Bruce tells April. "I didn't make it to New York until... ah well. Much later," he says. "And I live over in Manhattan. I just... I don't know. I've been feeling antsy lately," he says, the man giving a small, troubled frown and a tiny shake of his head. "You're from Brooklyn originally though, I take it then?" he asks her. "Long enough to recognize a million people by sight, right?" he says, joking at the end.

April O'Neil has posed:
April does pick up on the reaction, and gets ideas, it's not like a father and son having a bad history together is rare in this world. But she lets it lay. Instead she just nods her head at his small rundown of where he's been in life, then shakes her head. "I don't know a lot about Ohio or the south west." She says wit ha faint brief grin.

"Sounds like you're getting a bit of cabin fever and set out to see something a little new for the day. Too much lab." She grins more openly then befor eshaking her head at his question about her. "No, not really-- well, I mean... I went to live with my Aunt's family when I was 13 near Boston and was there for five years before I came back here to go to college at Berkely. So there was a five or so year gap where a lot of things changed in the neighborhood, faces I don't know so well. But I've moved back in to my parents place here, so I'm pretty settled in now, with college in the rear view mirror and all..." She flickers another little grin before looking toward the counter and back to him.

"I'd invite you to come eat pizzas with me, but the friends I'm having over ar ea bit... well, they struggle with new people. You gotta ease in to being around them, so to speak..."

Bruce Banner has posed:
"That must be it," Bruce agrees about his needing to get out. "And I really can't complain about how it turned out. A pizza place that comes highly recommended. And a celebrity to chat with," Bruce says with a gesture that seems to indicate the restaurant itself, and April of course.

"Berkeley," he says. "Really good school. And thank you for the thought," the man says of the thought of inviting him. "I can relate, I sometimes struggle with people a bit as well," he admits.

The teen calls over, "April, your mountain of pizzas are ready. You sure must be popular showing up with this many." He sets a plate beside the stack of pizza boxes, "And your slice is ready sir," the youth says, his eyes barely leaving the comely reporter while he delivers the update to Bruce.

April O'Neil has posed:
April affords the older man a larger smile at his complimentary words. "That's sweet of you." She says to him as she turns to look at the kid Andre. "Okay, okay." She says with a grin. "Yes, life of the party, that's me." She stands up from the table and walks over to the counter to pay for the pizzas. Her phoens buzzes with a text in her pocket and she groans at it... Mikey has very little patience.

With the pies in hand, and a few parting words for Andre, April turns and walks back to Bruce to offer him a hand. "Was nice to chat with you..." She says, fishing for a proper name to refer to him by. "If you happen through the neighborhood again, knock on the Sunny Rose Antiques store, it's my mother's old shop." She smiles at him again.

Bruce Banner has posed:
Bruce Banner rises and moves over to the counter with April, picking up his plate and transferring it over to the table before turning back to April as she approaches him. He takes her hand in both of his to shake it. "Nice to talk with you too, April," he tells her before letting her hand go. "Sunny Rose Antiques. I'll try to remember that," he says.

"Oh," he adds, as he realizes he never introduced himself at all, but had picked up her name from the conversation. "Bruce. Feel free to call me Bruce," he says. "Maybe not the kind of 'sun' I was looking for, but I suspect it's probably a bright place too," he says. And afterwards looks like he suspects that probably sounded pretty corny. So an apologetic look follows.

April O'Neil has posed:
April shifts her boxes around enough to shake his hand, a little laugh escaping her lips as she does this, but once the shake is completed she grins at his sun comment. "A scientist and a poet." She replies to him before she makes for the exit after snatching up her drink.

"Bye, Andre!" She calls back over her shoulder at the lanky teen no doubt still eyeballing her.

Her phone buzzes again on the way out, Mikey is SO impatient. Once outside she puts the pizzas on the rack on her bike and gets it ready to roll. Within moments she's going past the window and waving to Bruce thorugh the glass.