Owner	Pose
Peggy Carter	Since Peggy mentioned they should make it a regular Friday tradition, she's kept her promise about meeting May at Quon's every week but one. It's a pretty good track record for women as busy as them. But this week was extra special. Peggy phone ahead to inform Wendy that May's birthday is tomorrow, but Peggy will be celebrating a little tonight. She requested a special matcha crepe cake, and all of May's favourites. There's a bottle of excellent, dry and unfiltered but quite expensive Sake on the table already warming on the little hot plate. Peggy's sitting in their usual corner table, a large bag of something doused in dark puffs of black tissue paper next to her. She's arrived early to make certain everything is set. Celebrating May is important to her.
Melinda May	May isn't late arriving, but neither is she significantly early. She comes in and greets Wendy with a brief hug, arching a brow as she's led to the table. A wry smile touches her lips. "What's all this?" she says as she greets Peggy as well. "You expecting a party?" She's not. Though she can certainly make an educated guess.
Peggy Carter	"No. Though I would have been if I didn't think you'd hate me a little bit for it. I suspect you wouldn't love half of SHIELD popping out of the woodwork to celebrate your birthday. But, maybe next year..." Peggy states with a little quirk of a grin, studying May's features, curiously testing the water if that might be enjoyed more than her instincts on her friend say. "But, that doesn't mean I'm not going to celebrate. If I drug you out to the house tomorrow, you'd know something was up. So... Happy early birthday. Daniel would still *like* to cook for you tomorrow, if you feel up to the hike out to Long Island. For tonight... your favourite food. The best bottle of sake Wendy recommended. And a few small things..." Peggy nods to the darkly wrapped gift, "In your colors."
Melinda May	"Oh, don't even think about it," May says. She knows 60 is fast approaching. And unlike Peggy, she doesn't have a magical serum cure to reset her to her prime. She's getting old, and she knows it. It won't be long before she's seriously considering an Academy job or something less active. Oh, who's she kidding. She'll die with her boots on. But she doesn't have to die at a party. She glances down at the present and her lips quirk slightly. "Easier to disappear into the shadows," she says. She reaches for it, since Peggy obviously intends her to. "I appreciate the thought, certainly." Carefully, she starts removing the wrapping, pulling out the tissue to look within the bag.
Peggy Carter	That's when Wendy brings around the first course -- the coconut milk chicken soup which May loves, a step above the usual hot and sour or egg drop that they usually get for lunch. It's been spiced up a bit, made fresh and with Melinda's pallette exactly in mind. Peggy isn't the only one that has remembered today. It's with a side of her favourite dumplings in a steamer basket, but everything is fresh enough that steam is rising from it all, so they have a few moments before it's edible. "Thank you, Wendy. You're a dear." Peggy murmurs to the woman, truly grateful that she helped plot this with her. Then Peggy is sitting back, waiting for Melinda to dig into the bag with a curious, cat who ate the cream smile on her face. Inside the first bag is a brand new leather motorcycle jacket. Perfectly made in Melinda's size. However, as she examines it closer, there's very careful wiring running on the underside of the whole thing. It's heated for winter riding, with 5 different settings depending on external temperature. The second bag? A matching helmet, with similiar warming technology, anti-glare and anti-fog face shield. Nothing fancy on them. No flashy colors. Just sleek, black, practical and bespoke. "I know riding can get... cold this time of year." The last, smallest bag? Gloves for the same set. May could ride below freezing with this get up.
Melinda May	May's brows rise as she unpacks the various gifts. "Peggy... this is..." Way too much. "This is lovely." She can feel her friend's pleasure and, really, she reciprocates it. The gifts really are thoughtful. And with a pair of lined riding chaps she'd be set. "Actually, this is awesome." She takes a moment to admire the helmet and even lets her jacket slide off so she can try the new one on. She feels the leather and the fit. It's a good look for her. "Thank you." But the food is coming and it smells good, so she slides the new jacket off, too, and sets it aside. "How long did it take you to plan all this?"
Peggy Carter	While Peggy can't directly sense Melinda's emotions, she knows the woman well enough to feel like she's not putting on a show of liking the gifts. Peggy might have actually gotten it pretty close to right this year, and that makes her flutter with warmth. She smiles a little wider, scooping up her own green tea (the Sake really is all for May, though Wendy has brought two cops) and taking a sip of it to try and hide the pride behind her grin. "Well...not *that* long. A few months on the custom job for the jacket. Luckily, your measurements were all up to date in the SHIELD database. I'm just glad you didn't have a heated one already. I know riding is a way... it's one of the few things you do to relax. If there's anyway you can keep doing it comfortably all winter, I wanted to help with that."
Melinda May	A few months. No. Not long at all. May suppresses a snirk in favour of another small smile. "It is. I haven't done a lot of riding since the weather turned." Because, really, she feels the cold a little more now than she used to. She reaches out to dish some of the soup and notes that Peggy is sticking to tea. "Did you see Jemma?" she asks now, switching the focus off of herself. She is concerned that Peggy takes care of herself, for all that she doesn't want to pry too far.
Peggy Carter	Now that gets a full smirk from Peggy and a firmly levelled look, "Not your smoothest change of topic ever, you know? You *can* enjoy a night being about you..." Peggy nudges the soup in her direction, especially since she can see Wendy hovering in the background, waiting to see if she managed to make it exactly to May's tastes or not. Peggy, meanwhile, steals up one of those dumplings and utterly dredges it in duck sauce. At least she has an appetite tonight. "But yes, I did see Jemma and she's agreed to keep an eye on things even while we're keeping matters quiet. Oh...and did confirm the... Matter." Peggy's still a bit stiffly British about the whole thing. The conversation with Jemma had to have been a very amusing, supressed, British dance of talking around things.
Melinda May	May shrugs, giving her friend a shameless smile. "It was by far the more pressing question," she tells her. "And you know I don't like to be the center of attention." Still, she picks up her spoon to try the soup. Discovering it to be an adjusted version of the usual recipe, she glances around to find Wendy. She gives her a small smile and a nod of thanks, truly appreciating it. Moreover, she is glad to hear that Peggy actually did go to see the doctor. Really, she might actually be a little surprised by it. It's not often Peggy makes such a concession. "Good," she says with satisfaction. "Good. I'm glad. Even if you aren't sharing the news yet." A decision she entirely understands and even supports.
Peggy Carter	Peggy's nose wrinkles a bit as May mentions it being a pressing question. "Ahh. I... suppose so. I've mostly gotten used to the idea, by now. Rather excited about it all, if that's not an embarrassing thing to say after Daniel and I acted like undisciplined teenagers." Peg admits with a half laugh, but there is a hint more of a blush climbing on her cheeks. She knows she could have timed this better. She dives into the soup herself once she sees May has given the thumbs up. Sweet and slightly spicy, it's wonderfully warming in compare to the bite of early winter which certainly seems to have come on outside. It's already almost freezing and not that much past dark. Peggy shrugs slightly in response to the news. "I...dislike everyone hovering around me as if I should be walking on eggshells. I know nowadays it's not quite so bad as it was, but... All things considered, just safer to keep matters quiet. But Jemma seems to think that everything should be... Normal is as normal does. Whatever magic she and Bobbi worked truly... Worked." Peggy's smile widens. "So...that means you're going to end up in the field twice as much a few months down the line, you know. Take your vacation now."
Melinda May	May chuckles softly, lingering on her soup before she reaches to snag herself a dumpling. "It's not nearly so embarassing, now, as it was a few decades ago." Undisciplined teenagers, indeed. It's not at all a big deal, she knows. But she does understand why it would be for Daniel and Peg. "You've got a desk job now, mostly," she shrugs. "If you decide to have a child, now is as good a time as any." She understands this. She once contemplated the same thing, after all. And she intended to somehow manage a field career at the same time. She snirks softly at the suggestion about vacation. "Oh, don't worry. I won't have trouble keeping up. You just worry about yourself." And, given the glint in her eye, she obviously means more about work than she does the baby. She's not, actually, inclined to fret about that just yet. Not if Peggy actually approached Jemma.
Peggy Carter	A dip of her head comes in agreement about the desk job, "Mostly. I still miss the field. Planned on getting back out there a few times... Still might." Depending on danger. Peggy actually does seem to be playing it safe this time, starting with going to Jemma. Even Chiefs can grow up after so many decades, it seems. Peggy pointedly stares at the comment about not worrying. "I mean it, Melinda. We talked about relaxing before. Have you managed it at...all? Taking a few days to go somewhere isn't a bad idea. Especially when we seem to have a bit of breathing room and I'm still more than capable of stepping in on a mission of it's that dire. Don't tempt me to get you a resort vacation for Christmas. As is, I don't know how I'm going to do better than the jacket." Peggy grins. She really had been thinking about that for months.
Melinda May	May laughs. "You can't top the jacket, so don't even try. I don't need a resort vacation. I'd go stircrazy within hours." Unless, of course, it was a place like Santa Prisca. Then, of course, she'd probably be up to her ass in aligators before the first day had finished and calling in an air strike by the end of day two. Never leave an elite agent in the middle of organized crime territory. "Peg, really... I'm good. If I take more than a weekend off at a time, I end up stranded in the Himalayas or running from HYDRA in some back alley somewhere. Seriously. I'm fine."
Peggy Carter	Dark eyes narrow on May, considering just how honest those words are. Peggy finally lets out a quiet breath. "I don't know that I would say you're entirely fine, but... I believe you that the vacation won't much help. I hardly know what to do with them myself and I am fairly certain you are actively worse at relaxing than I am," Those words come with a gently accusing smirk, but it's a fond one. "Speaking of HYDRA... I'm entirely torn between letting them lie with how quiet they've gotten, or trying to figure out what bees nests are left to poke. We have some information from Underwood but really...it seems we've cleaned almost everything left out. It feels like a...trap."
Melinda May	"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," May says archly, adopting a primness that is entirely foreign to her -- save that she's seen her mother's cronies use it for decades. It's a pretty good mockery, all things considered. She relaxes then and shakes her head. "I'm as good as I'm going to be until the holes in my memory are filled." Or she learns to make peace with it. Nevertheless, she nods as Peggy, blessedly, turns the conversation toward work. "If it involves Maelstrom--" which it does-- "it's a trap." There's definite personal experience talking there. She has never quite let go of her anger about being setup as 'Blackbird'. Then again... when does Melinda ever let go of her anger? "I'm as torn as you are," she tells her. "We know there's more out there -- Mallick and others. I don't like giving them time to regroup. But I like driving them so far underground we can't keep our eyes on them even less." It's always been a spy's dilemma. Stop the crime, or bide the time.
Peggy Carter	There is a sympathetic pinch to Peggy's eyes as Melinda mentions about the holes in her memory. "I...I know. I'm feeling it too. I'm just trying to ignore it but it's... hard to ignore." She admits with a little huff of a sigh. Peggy really was doing her best not to think too hard about the lacking memories. "Whatever we did... it turned out. I keep holding onto that." The fact she got her husband back probably helps smooth much of it over in her soul, but there is still a disquiet there. "For now... I think we monitor. We let them think they are on steadier ground, that we are resting on our laurels. And then the moment they take a step out, we cut them down again. We've got a tighter hold on SHIELD than ever, and clean up from their time to continue. I'm more worried about the 084s, but Jane, Blackwood and others are well on the hunt for them. We need those back under control before we go making more problems." And then the second course is coming. Waygu steak. Lightly done in Wendy's own seasoning, but this beef speaks for itself. Cooking perfectly medium rare (closer to rare).
Melinda May	"We did what we set out to do, yeah," Melinda agrees. Daniel's safe. And Arturo, apparently, is dead. Mission accomplished. But her gift has changed somehow and it bothers her just a enough to make her nervous. She doesn't like surprises. "Monitoring them makes the most sense," she says as the beef arrives. She pauses to allow the server to place down what they need, and takes the moment to pour herself a glass of Sake. "The 084 teams are doing well," she concedes once they are alone again. "And if Pezzini can handle Becker and her tagalong, that will sort itself out, too." She shakes her head. "It's too bad we don't have more properly field-certified WAND agents. I know magic changes the rules, but still. They need basic field craft." Not that it's her place to say, but she's found too many of them to be worse than green cadets. She chuffs out a soft breath and tests the Sake. Finding it a good choice, she smiles. "I'd say we're finally on top of things, but I don't want to jinx us. So, instead, I'll say... we've still got work to do. But, we'll manage. We always do."
Peggy Carter	Peggy raises her cup of tea, leaving the Sake to May, in a quiet toast. "To continuing the work we love... With people who we love as well. It wouldn't be the same without you here, Melinda. To you. Happy birthday." Peggy then clinks glasses gently with the woman, still smiling, but she hopes Melinda gets even some bit of a sense of how much she does care about her, and how happy Peggy is to have the other woman at her back. Once the toast is done, they settle into a comfortable, enjoyable dinner. More small talk, Peggy asking a lot about how riding the bike works over winter, and planning some light things for the holidays. It's not that much different than their normal Friday night, but the celebration hangs warmly in the air over the whole evening.