Owner	Pose
Jessica Drew	He couldn't have picked a better place for them to come down after the fight. The brightly colored paper cut-outs waving gently from the ceiling gave the restaurant a festive air. Oilcloth table cloths in bright green, chunky chairs, hand-turned with woven seats were like a piece of Oaxaca in New York. A narcocorrido plays in the background discreetly enough to hear but still hold a conversation. When the waiter brought out the menu offering 100% sipping mezcal with sangrita chasers, Jess bit her bottom lip, her feet beating out a little dance under the table. "We are going to start with beer, right? Then, I'm ordering a mezcal." Glancing at Alex and then the waiter, she nods, "Let's start with your guacamole. Then tacos del pastor. We can see if we have room for sopapillas at the end." After the waiter leaves, she says one word to Alex. "Perfect." Leaning forward, arms on the table, green eyes bright, she sighs, bleeding off more adrenaline from the earlier battle.'
Alexander Aaron	That is perhaps another thing that splits Alexander off ever so slightly from humanity, beyond the more obvious aspects of his existence. The fact that even though they had been in a life or death situation only a handful of hours ago that the youth did not have that burst of adrenaline for that fight. Oh he had focused and performed well enough, handling his small corner of it...     But he did not feel any fear nor doubt with what he had to do. It was just done. So right now he's not coming down off that high that Jess might well be feeling, though his smile is warm and he seems pleased at how she's being, a nice side to be seeing.     "That sounds great." He says and closes up his menu to hand it to the waiter, then tells the man as he's getting ready to take his order. "I'll have the same, maybe some water with lime?"     Social contract complete, transaction finished for the moment, he turns back and settles a little more into his seat, shifting a bit on the red cushions of the booth and crinkling his nose a little for some reason before he looks across the way at her. "You should come here on All You Can Eat Fajita Fridays." He nods his head.
Jessica Drew	"Aie, aie, aie." Exaggerating the eye roll, Jess shakes her head in disbelief. "Gringo night, is it? How much can you eat?" Head swiveling to glance over the only half-filled restaurant, "I like this." She returns her gaze to him, one eyebrow lifts as she purses her lips mischievously, "Though come to think of it, I should have asked for Greek food. How do people in your family celebrate or eat together for important occasions?"
Alexander Aaron	A snort comes from him as she gives him grief, arms folding over his chest as he settles into his seat a little more. Head tilting to the side he looks across the room to the rest of the people in there, then back to her as he tilts his head right back. "A few? I dunno. Eight?" His lip twitches, "On a good night."     But then he sits up as she asks that question and his eyebrows raise with eyes widening, as if trying to dig up that answer or memory. "Man, umm, don't think I've ever sat down and like... ate a meal with them beyond my father."     He looks to the side and frowns, but this time the one over her shoulder as he ponders, "I mean. They've had parties, and there was eating at those. But they were... crazy parties." She can tell there's some trepidation there, likely not an entirely pleasant thought considering some of the Greek Gods and their customs.     "But a dinner where we sit around together and talk? No never."
Jessica Drew	"Eight?" she mouths loud enough to hear. An incredulous laugh, cuts off her breath and she repeats it silently. "You have the metabolism that we all wish to have Alex." The waiter arrives with a cart, its centerpiece, a stone molcajete surrounded by all the ingredients for guacamole. After he has their attention, the waiter picks up a knife with a little flourish and cuts open an avocado. They watch his quick, precise movements cutting onion, the chunk chunk of the pestle mashing the avocados timed with the music. He presents their plates with a lift of his hand, then wheels the cart away. "Some families, never talk." Laying down her fork, her head tilts to one side then the other, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Too many peplum dramas with Olympians laughing heartily and drinking ambrosia on my part. My family was English. They liked a good curry on Saturdays and a roast and pudding on Sundays."
Alexander Aaron	"I mean," Alexander sort of grins and looks away, features coloring a little as he rubs a hand at the back of his neck, "I don't overstuff them, just a little of each thing I want. So yeah, eight. Sheeeez." Curious that of the things he's self-conscious about it's /that/.     But then the gauacamole cart comes on by and the server starts to work that magic. For a time conversation stills to allow the fellow to make the guac ready and to add each of whatever little element they might want ever so subtly differently. Then when they have theirs and their chips, Alexander will start to casually chomp on some when their conversation resumes.     "It's not that big of a deal." Weird familiness and all. "Just most of my family doesn't care for most of the rest of my family. And they don't really... seem to eat too much for pleasure beyond Dionysus who is into that whole hedonism thing."     A hand uncurls to the side as he gestures, "Just felt like when they came together in one place there wasn't very many of them that actually liked each other. And there was always this feeling of violence in the offing."
Jessica Drew	The little flush over his eating habits is filed away with an amused sparkle in her eyes. Then he is working his way through the subject of his family. Laboriously. Nothing glib or practiced about it. "Lovely." Chip suspended in the air loaded with guacamole, she nods with mock solemnity. "Families! Though, if we are in a weirdest family competition, I believe you win. Dionysus beats out mad scientists any day." She salutes him with her beer, pours more into her glass and takes a drink. "I do like Greek food though. If you are this good at finding places to eat, please, give the address of one."
Alexander Aaron	"See now," Alexander dips another chip into the guac, getting entirely too much for a single chip to carry where it's less him having some chips in guac and more him having some guac with chip fragments. Yet he chomps and indeed he does seem to have a hearty appetite. "You're telling me your secrets, I'll take this away with me some day when I join the bad guys and I'll tell the guy head leader of my evil organization, 'Yes, Jessica Drew, the way to get at her is with food and good guacamole.' And then bam, instant promotion to head henchman."     /Crunch/     He chews for a time on his chip and guac, then swallows and takes a sip of his sparkling water before he tilts his head to the side. "So feeling better now? The edge off from your near death experience?"
Jessica Drew	"It's true!" She laughs, head back, no posturing or need to impress him. "Starve me and you'll have all my secrets." A memory comes back, her eyes slide to the side, distant for a moment. She forces herself away from delving deeper into it, covering the moment with another sip of beer. "HYDRA conditions agents to face their weaknesses. So, yes." Her accent prim, "I doubt it would work." Plates in both hands, the waiter arrives with a bus boy who makes room on their table for sauces and a plate of soft tacos piled with grilled beef and lamb. "I am now. Give me that mezcal and I will be saying, "What bullet?" That said with only a hint of bravado.
Alexander Aaron	She likely can see the youth's eyes narrow subtly when she mentions Hydra, likely catching that. But something that might surprise her, he has the wherewithal to not mention it, perhaps knowing how that might not be a thing to speak to considering how she seemed but a moment ago. Instead he takes a breath and sips his water, then goes about digging another chip into the fresh guacamole.     Now that the food is here though he shifts his attention for a time until the service is finished, and he'll wait for her to pile in before he starts picking at the food, seemingly hungry... but not that hungry.     "I was thinking that sometimes people..." His eyes lift to hers, then distance a little as he considers the right words to choose. "They seek out dangerous moments, wild times and incidents so that they feel like they've paid a price. Or a toll to the Fates or whatever. So they can say, 'Look I did this thing, and I risked my life. Now... life owes me and I can do what I really want to do.'"     A tilt of his head the other way, quizzical in some ways like a curious canine. "Do you feel that way with something like this, Agent Drew? Like now you have a surplus of life credit that you can make some bad decisions with?"
Jessica Drew	She finishes a mouth full of meat drizzled with a piquant hot green sauce. The fumes mount to her eyes making them water. Lifting them, she steadies her gaze on him, unconsciously, mirroring his canine-curiosity. One shoulder lifts slightly as she looks away, thinking, then her eyes return to his. "Do you mean a 'Do Not Go to Jail Card', carte blanche to do as I like?" Putting down her knife and fork, she sits up quite straight, her gaze drifting away as she considers, "No. I've never thought of it as a trade. But, I do feel like I want to leap off a waterfall or dance all night after a difficult moment in the field. Sometimes. It sharpens my appetite."
Alexander Aaron	Head bobbing a little in agreement with her words, he does seem a little thoughtful for a time, letting her chew while he gathers those meanderings. Then Alexander looks back and murmurs, "I knew some people who sort of viewed it like that. I mean, not... fully consciously. Like if you broached the topic to them they'd deny it of course since it's all just a bunch of hooey."     He settles back in the booth seat and extends his legs, accidentally touching hers with the toe of his shoe but then peers under the table to see if it was the table leg or her own, then murmurs. "Oh oops, sorry."     Then he straightens up and continues with his original thought. "But you could kind of see it with them, after they did something big or out there crazy they'd feel like the world owed them then do something... I dunno. Mildly self-destructive I suppose."
Jessica Drew	"Adrenaline junkies." She pronounces the end of the word like 'lean' which underlines her disdain. "There are the secret ones and the ones who can't wait to see their names in the press. Just saying, that they are /often/ glory hounds. They don't last at SHIELD." A brief smile and shrug for the toe touch and apology. Then, she queries, eyebrows hitched high, "Only mildly self-destructive?" Pushing her plate away with a satisfied sigh, "To sopapilla or not to sopapilla? That is the question."
Alexander Aaron	"First person I dated seriously was one of those." He offers up that tidbit, now that he's actually putting together a small smattering of goodness upon a tortilla, and indeed not overstuffing it at all but building a sampling of particular flavors he was seeking.     A pepper is claimed by a stab of his fork and then added to his tortilla as he murmurs lightly, "An adrenaline junky I mean, not a sopapilla." His lip twists, but other than that he has a pretty good poker face as he keeps assembling his little bit of a meal.     "She'd dive headlong into crazy things and once she emerged from it then she felt like, 'ok I have the freedom to be normal for a time.'" That said he folds up the tortilla some and then takes a bite of it. A small shrug is given, "Just thought it was curious since it's hard for me to... empathize with that sentiment." Considering his lack of fear.
Jessica Drew	Acknowledging his words with slight dips of her head, she studies him, taking small sips of the mezcal that was delivered with the tacos. A corner of her mouth lifts at how he qualifies the relationship, but she encourages him with a nod. Puzzled, she chews the inside of her lip, "You mean she'd deliberately get into scary stuff so she could call the rest of her life normal? Is that what you mean?" Snorting softly, she shakes her head, lifting her hands in the air, "If we could do what we do without a moment of wondering if we're going to come out of it alive, I'd have NO problem with that."
Alexander Aaron	"I'm not so sure that was how she viewed it." Alexander chews another bite and then sets the last half of it down, perhaps letting it rest for now. "More she couldn't let herself relax or do something she viewed as normal unless she paid the price somehow."     He takes a moment there to consider that, those pale blue-green eyes distancing then meeting hers again. His lips twist up a little, "But then again I think it also might've screwed with her coping mechanisms to consider someone like me as part of the normal side of her life." Since the youth opposite her is very much not normal.     He then pushes his plate forward a little and murmurs, "I think I'm done for now, not /hugely/ hungry, but was a lil hungry." He then lifts his chin and says, "So yeah, sopapilla please."
Jessica Drew	Jessica reserves further comment about the woman, her face softening as she reflects on how people make their way through the world. Though, she gives a faint chuckle scoffing at the idea of Alexander screwing with someone's ideas of normality. "Well, none of us are 'normal'. That's a hellish word meant to cover a lot of bad actions done in the name of normality." Their waiter is excellent at his job and is at their table before either of them needs to call him over. "Shall we split an order of sopapilla or do you want one of your own, Alex?"
Alexander Aaron	Having slouched to the side a little and lifted a foot to the seat beside him, Alexander looks rather comfortable as he leans there, resting his shoulder against the wall and looking entirely peaceful in his own way. So when the waiter comes around and asks for their dessert order he ponders and hrmmms to himself, then says. "Nah, just get the one if you want, or to go. If needs be I'll steal some of yours."     Which might be a dangerous act in and of itself.     But once the waiter starts to head off he looks back at her and says, "By the way you're paying, since you guys stuck me with the bill last time." When May and her came by his school and strong-armed him viciously into paying for their dinner. The poltroons.     "I get mixed signals about the whole normal thing." He says as he continues the conversation after that brief interruption. "I feel like my father wants me to have a normal life. But then sometimes he asks pointed questions about what I've been doing, as if I should be part of some sort of super team by now, or finding my own adventures. I have no idea how he'll react to the fact that I did this operation."
Jessica Drew	"Great idea to get it to go. Bad idea to think that you'll share it." She holds up a finger. "But. You were pretty normal today, so as your reward, I'll pay. I did ask you to have something to eat, after all." She fishes her credit card out of her suit pocket and lays it down on the table, smirking faintly, "An agent must always be prepared." While they wait for the waiter to run her card, she says, "What makes you think that your father has a handle on what's normal? I rather think he'd have been proud of you, if you'd like my opinion. The other agents were pleased. I could tell."
Alexander Aaron	Leaning forward on the table with his elbows resting on it, the youthful deity quirks a smile as his eyes drift away toward the waiter as they wander off to handle the bill. He looks back and meets her gaze with such an open consideration. There's no hesitation there, no modesty, no shame. A curious thing to see in someone, complete confidence in some ways, yet not twinned with its cousin arrogance.     "Are you certain there's no way I could convince you to share?" And if the handlers of the agency were to hear the tape of this conversation, none would be able to discern a hint of anything there beyond the simple sounds made, the curiousity in the tone. No hint of subtext beyond the norm.     Yet her being there, and seeing the gaze of those hazel eyes and the deep rings so close to the pupil that are almost golden, she can see the slight hint of temptation. Daring. As if presenting the words to her easily, yet it's through his eyes that she'll see the first hint of the smile, and when that smile comes it speaks of a wry wickedness that might give her some hint of insight into why the Greek Gods always had such tales about their lovers.
Jessica Drew	"They are best hot, dipped in honey and then savored quickly before the honey drips off quickened by the heat. You have to lick your fingers." All said with her green eye dilated with laughter, eyebrows lifted in mild query and a tone no more noteworthy to their handlers, if they listened, of course, than commenting that the APR rate on her credit card is fixed. A box is brought to the table along with her card. "Street sopapillas. What will convince me to share them?" Turning to the waiter who has pulled out her chair, "La comida estuvo excelente, gracias." With a look over her shoulder to Alex, "Shall we?"