Summary:Susan and Ben chat over pizza when Dinah pops in Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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If Susan Storm-Richards has learned anything since this life of hers started, it's that getting either Johnny or Ben to eat anywhere of any sort of repute is like pulling teeth on Mount Rushmore.
If there's anything she'll refuse to admit to her grave, it's that Mario's greasey pizza is a major guilty pleasure of hers.
These two things tend to collide when Susan wants to spend time with Ben Grimm while getting him outdoors in public, so she finds herself taking a seat while juggling a plate with two slices of pizza and a glass of Coke. "Wait, are they playing Crocodile Rock?" She notes, peering at the speakers as she sits down. "I haven't heard that since I was kid!"
Ben Grimm has gone to his default move in the restaurant, which is to pull two chairs side-by-side and to set one rocky cheek on each of them. Through his pants, of course. He has made his usual token effort to avoid notice today as well, meaning that he spots a large, tan overcoat and a wide-brimmed fedora. It is hardly a convincing disguise. The two of them, out together, attract open stares and not a few cellphone pictures with varying degrees of covertness.
Ben flips open the lid of the pizza box in front of him. He's opted for one of his usual choices, with sausage, pepperoni, mushroom, and olives. The thing it swimming in garlic sauce and hot sauce as well. It's no wonder the guy never has a date, for so many reasons.
At Susan's comment, he blinks and looks up toward the speakers nearby. His lips curl into a grin - the expression always seeming tight on his stony face. His eyes return to the lovely blonde across the table from him. "I think you're right," he answers. "You sound glad to hear it. Didn't figure you for a glam-fan."
Susan came away with with pepperoni and mushrooms, because she is either sensible or boring depending on who you ask in regards to dietary extravagance. "Well, I- oop!" She stops mid sentence as the lid of the box goes up. A moment later the lid becomes invisible and Susan looks up at Ben through it. "Well, I don't know if I'm a *glam* fan, but it sounds good, right?"
She COULD make Ben invisible if he really wanted - and she has when the impromptu photography and curious onlookers got to be too much; but it might draw MORE attention if chairs started moving around by themselves and pizza started vanishing. "So! Uh… a funny thing happened in the lab this morning."
Ben turns the pizza box so Susan doesn't have to maintain the invisibility. The lid drops off to one side. He picks up one of the slices of his pizza, cradling the large, thin slice with his lage, orange fingers. His hand makes the slice not seem undersized at least. "Elton John," he rumbles in answer. "Like it or not, you gotta admire the skill." He bites of a piece of pizza and is chewing it when Susan begins her story. He looks up with his sharp blue eyes. "Wha?" he answers around a mouthful of pizza.
Susan wrinkles her nose a little as Ben talks with his mouth full, but seems more amused than anything. You live with this long enough, you either go crazy, or you start being charmed by it. Which may be a symptom of having gone crazy. "Well… not to alarm you, but an alien supermodel might have shown up at the top floor window and offered to buy the Baxter Building." She says, then averts her eyes innocent while taking a bite of pizza.
Ben Grimm is sitting at a table with Susan, the two world-famous heroes seeming to try their best to keep a low profile. Susan isn't dolled up in moviestar fashion and Ben is wearing a trenchcoat and a fedora. He's sitting on two chairs, side-by-side, so that they can handle his weight together. Teamwork!
Ben chews slowly, his inflexible brow lifting slightly. It is a clear indication of surprise on his understated features. "Aliens have supermodels now? Like, she was that with the alien race, or with us?" he asks. It's at least one of a number of follow-up questions that he could ask.
Susan shakes her head, "No, no, I-" She blinks, "Well, I don't *think* so." She peers to the side thoughtfully. "I just mean she looks like a girl in a magazine. Like, one of Johnny's magazine's. Like… 'good thing I'm not the jealous type'." She says, and then laughs a little too flatly and takes another bite. "Though she *did* offer to model our merchandise."
Dinah wasn't exactly a great example of hidden identity either, but the musician turned vigilantie didn't quite come close to the recognition of the 'Four'. One thing she -did- share with them from the looks of things however is a desire for pizza! Pulling up outside with a rumble of her bike, the blonde was wrapped in riding gear of leather pants and jacket, but she's quick to leave the helmet outside before pushing through the doorway and cast her gaze over the patrons and service alike.
Ben Grimm's gaze flits toward the door as it opens. He watches Dinah for just a moment before he leans forward a little nearer Susan. "Hey,"he digresses. "You recognize that broad? She looks familiar to me." Ben doesn't have friends. He doesn't get out much. Maybe Dinah is famous? Maybe she's a hero? Maybe both! He gives Susan a moment to consider Dinah before he adds, "So you tell this alien to take a walk? I thought *you* were our model."
Susan blinks, "I- hmm?" She looks left, then looks right, then turns her body so she can look toward the entrance. "Oh! I don't- hmmm. But maybe…" she turns back to Ben, "I think that might be Michelle Pfeiffer? She looks so young, I dunno!"
Towards the counter she moves, but there's a little comment and question that catches her ears before she glances over her shoulder to the pair. There's a moment of staring, eyes narrowing in thought before she blinks. As recognition goes, the pair were a little easier to place. Not everyone has a dedicated skyscraper after all! "Oh huh…"
Ben's gruff voice calls out to Dinah when there is that moment of recognition. "Come on over after you grab your slice, if you want," his recognizable, blue collar voice calls out. Then he's turning back toward Susan. "So… she wanted to buy the building? And if not, model for us? This is soundin' mighty curious, Suzie." He then takes the opportunity for a second bite of the slice he's picked up of the pizza he seems to be ready to eat all by himself. Looks like each slice will take him three bites to finish.
Susan throws her hands up to either side of her head. "Ben! You can't just invite celebrities over!" she says in a hushed embarrassed voice, before hanging her head and sighing. She doesn't lift her head again until Ben follows up on the matter of their interstellar visitor, at which point she rubs at the side of her head embarrassedly. "Curious is the word. She seemed… really confused." She pauses. "*Really* confused. But also really nice? I can't really go into it here, but me and Reed kinda… want to help her. Maybe give her some space on the lower floors…" she brings the glass close to her lips then hurriedly adds, "…andmaybetwelveofherfriendsandahorse" before taking a sip.
Whoa. Now she was getting an invite to the table? Why not? Of course, then there was the obvious questions. What to talk about, what to say, how not to fangirl about people who'd been doing the 'hero' thing a little longer than her…what does she settle on when she retrieves her own slice and comes over?
"Uh hi…I'm Dinah."
Masterful.
While Dinah is busy getting her slice and Susan is getting embarrassed, he points out to her, "Come on, Suzie, *we're* celebrities too. You especially. And every star's gotta have the one loud-mouth in her entourage. Just like in that show, you know, about the that world-famous star and the entourage… you know, Nashville?" Ben gives another of those expressions that serves as a grin for him, before giving Susan a blank look across the table at the talk of 12 new people and a horse moving into the building. His lips draw into a tighter line, but then Dinah arrives.
Ben looks up and he draws a chair out slightly. "Come on and grab a seat,," he invites her. "I'm Ben. This is Suzie. I thought I recognized you from someplace. Like… work, maybe." He glances back across the table toward Susan and he notes, "If you'n Reed wanna, I'm fine. If we need better soundproofing or somethin' though, *he's* on inventin' it." Then Ben returns his focus to Dinah.
Susan grimaces sympathetically to Ben "I knoooow, I knooow, and nothing's settled or anything, but we'll make sure they can't get in the w- heeeeyyyyy!" Susan transitions from speaking to Ben, to greeting Dinah mid word, smiling kindly, though her eyes dart to ben and her brow raises embarrassedly as she realizes she completely guessed wrong. "Susan Richards." She adds after Ben introduces her, reaching out… then rubbing a napkin on her hand real quick, then reaching out a second time to shake Dinah's hand. "Good to meet you, Dinah."
The handshake? It was almost missed as Dinah reaches to take her first bite, only to give a quiet 'Mmpf!' and wipe her own hand before making the shake. Making a tilt of her head to Ben's words, her eyes go a little wide for a moment. Could they have heard her music? She -did- make that local music festival. "I'm a singer?" she manages to avoid blurting out. "Working on getting out there and all that." That and she's been beating up thugs and bankrobbers in her spare time.
"So…you guys just come out to get pizza like this?"
Ben watches the handshake between the two blondes, then extends a finger out to Dinah. It's a way he can be sure not to crush her hand, after all - so if she wants to wrap her hand around that rocky extremity, she's welcome to do so. "Oh… no, I meant *our* work. Uh." This is awkward. He glances toward Sue for help. "I'm sure you're real good, though." There is a slight wince as Captain Grimm looks like he's going down in flames once more, in his attempt to make friends. He tries to save himself, at least, "But… yeah! Pizza. Suzie here tells me I gotta get out among the normies now 'n again."
When Susan hears that Dinah is in a band, she looks like she just stepped on Dinah's foot or something, but with the sort of tight lipped smile of someone trying to keep it cool. "Oh! Your- oh your- you have a- lovely! That's lovely, I'm sure it's lovely! I just- we just- Ben just-" Noooo she can't sell him out, but Ben corrects it first and she gestures to him. What he said.
When asked about pizza, though Susan blinks and says, "Well yeah! It's Marios." She answers, and smiles briefly at her pizza, then gives Ben a wry look. "You're a normie, Ben, don't be silly! And you deserve pizza sometimes!"
Okay, so they'd heard…or thought they'd heard of 'that' part of her outings? The woman is quick to put her pizza down and lift her hands, waving them palm-out and apologetically. "N-no it's fine, I mean you're not wrong and…" she trails off, biting her bottom lip for a moment and then clearing her throat. "I do…other stuff too. Kinda like what you do but without the," she gestures to Ben only to realise what such a move could be taken for. "Team. Without a team or suits or…all that. I just sort of started and…"
At least if Ben was going down in flames, his wasn't the only crash landing impending.
Ben Grimm retracts the finger offered as the hand-waving begins. He pops the last of his first slice into his mouth, grinding it between his stony teeth as Dinah struggles with her response and completes the trio of awkward round-the-table greetings. Finally, he snaps his fingers and proclaims, after swallowing his large morsel, "I figured that was it. I think I saw some local news bit, I dunno. But, any case, welcome to the biz."
Susan nods "Yes! Welcome! Well-" she starts to say the Fantastic Four aren't totally EXACTLY superheroes, but that tends to make people think they don't care, so she steps on that particular line of thought and just smiles.
Think of something to say!
"What's the name of your band?"
"Oh uh…it's 'Canary Cry'," the younger blonde offer's Sue's question, giving a little sheepish grin. "It's fun and it pays the bills rather than me having to mooch off the family so…" once more she trails off, but this time it was easy to muffle the akward silence. Another bite of her food, deliciousness was the best counter for another akward moment!
Ben Grimm picks up his second slice and takes a bite, looking back and forth between the blondes for a moment. The name of Dinah's band doesn't ring any bells for him, but it's true that Sue typically drags him out. He commends in his rough voice, "Good for you, doin' the work without hiding behind a mask. That's the kind of folks we need." He looks back toward Sue for agreement on that point.
Susan nods once and smiles, saying, "I'll check them out!" Ben's comment draws a bit of a thoughtful look from Susan, who clasps her hands together, wringing them slightly as she tries to ponder this in the microsecond she has to tactfully respond. "Well it… builds public confidence, certainly! Not that people in masks don't do good work-" she tilts one way, then the other, then smiles, "But it's nice to know who you're working with." The tipping factor may have been that grouchy Bat fellow. She looks a little embarrassed and adds, "… May be a teensy bit bias, though."
"Bias is alright in this case I think, huh?" Dinah grins, taking another bite of her pizza before she clears her throat. "So far it seems so good, it just sort of…happened. I didn't have a mask so I sorta just didn't start." She tilts her head, looking towards the door. "It was really uh-…cool to have ran into you two and such."
Of course, she also had a place to be. Making to stand after a moment, she wipes at her mouth. "I hope to run into you guys again."
Ben Grimm's brow lifts slightly, expressing some measure of surprise for the second time that night. "All right," he answers. "Take care of yourself, Dinah." He looks back to Susan then. As Dinah takes her leave, he says, "Let's get back to this horse though…" Evidently, he's circled around the issue in his head. There are details to discuss…
Susan smiles and straightens up a bit, "Oh, it was our pleasure~" She says and gives friendly wave as Dinah leaves.
Then Ben has her attention again, and she takes a deep breath and nods her head once. "Okay so…" Susan steels herself a bit. "… So the horse can fly."
Details indeed.