Summary:Sarah Black arranges for two of her rather unique friends to meet Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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This time, Jen wasn't using her usual aura of uncomfortableness to mess with people by blocking the ice cream machine. Not that she didn't have ice cream, though. She did, and it was slowly melting into the slice of cake on her plate. She hadn't expected it to be this good, but apparently SHIELD also hired highly trained chefs as well as scientists and others. Fiddling with her phone in one hand, she threads the needle through the gap in her visor with another bite, she continues to wait.
With Eve being a known person to SHIELD, it's a matter of fairly quick formality for Sarah to sign her in through security as a visitor. And so after a relative minimum of hassle, she escorts her into the cafeteria, where it's not terribly difficult to spot the young woman in the yellow containment suit. Pointing her out, Sarah says to Eve, "There she is. Let's go."
A walk across the seating area later, the pair are approaching Jen's table. "Hello, Jen," Sarah says, as she comes close enough to not need to raise her voice overmuch. "This is my friend, Eve. Eve, this is Jen Takeda."
It's true that Eve is a known quantity. WAND has a (big) file on her, actually. She's accompanying Sarah, of course, dressed and made up as gothically as ever, though this time in a more casual sense than the last time Sarah saw her. Flowing ruffled skirts and lace traded in for merely stylistic raggedness.
She studies Jen for a moment, eyes unblinking, before she offers a warm smile. A look of askance towards Sarah, briefly, before her eyes go back to her.
"Hello, Jennifer," she offers, warmth in her tone.
Jen looks up from her phone, tilting her head to one side. "Huh. You're not really what I expected. Hey Sarah." She takes another bite, before gesturing to the other chairs at the table. "You might as well sit down, nobody else wants to yet. People seem to think they'll die if they're around me with my helmet open. Guess they don't trust Fitz." That gets a bit of a wry smirk. "Desserts are surprisingly good for cafeteria food."
Smiling and gesturing to one of the chairs, Sarah says, "Have a seat, Eve. I'm going to get myself an iced tea and some of that cake. Would you like anything?"
"I'm not sure what you were expecting," says Eve, glancing towards Sarah. Was /Jennifer/ briefed on /her/? Now she has to wonder what got said. 'Oh, sure, you're just going to have dinner with a human consciousness folded around the being of an elder spawn. No big!'. Probably not that.
Probably.
Eve pauses a moment to study Jennifer for a few more unblinking seconds before she's placing her hands on th4e table, one atop the other. "So, yeah. I'm Eve. It's nice to meet you," she adds. Another look at Sarah.
"Oh, I'd love an iced tea! I'll have what you're having." She doesn't seem eager for cake. There's something about Takeda that's giving her a chill. She hasn't quite pinned it down yet.
"Probably another spook. A surprising amount of people in this building all wear identical suits. Honestly I'm just waiting ot see how long you actually stick around." Jen smirks a little wider, raising her laden fork in toast before devouring the deliciousness. "I'd offer to shake your hand, but you probably don't want to. Nobody really does. What brings you to SHIELD, anyway?"
Sarah goes off to the nearby serving area, and is soon back with a tray laden with two tall plastic glasses of iced tea and two slices of cake. There's also a small paper cup with a couple of lemon slices in it, and a couple of packets each of the various sweeteners. And, of course, the appropriate utensils.
Setting the tray down, she says to Eve, smiling, "I wasn't sure how you took your iced tea, so I brought what they had so you can fix it how you like it."
Having overheard Jen's last question, Sarah says, "I asked Eve to come by because I thought the two of you should meet. Eve is… special, like me. Well, not the same way as me, but the point is, she's someone who can't be hurt by your powers."
"As long as you feel like company, I suppose. I don't have too many friends these days and Sarah felt we could keep each other company, I suppose," a glance towards Sarah again.
"So, a while. I'm harder to kill than most." Understatement, thy name is Eve.
"…Ah." Jen looks kind of puzzled for a bit, taking another bite while she ponders this. "Well, more people to talk to who aren't the internet is good, I guess. I'm still kind of just stuck living here until SHIELD decides what they're going to do with me. …What do you do, Eve?" This… is an interesting question
"I thought it would be good for you to have someone you can just hang out with and be friends with without either of you needing to worry," Sarah says to Jen. "And Eve's a good person and completely trustworthy." The question about Eve's occupation, she leaves for her to answer.
"Oh, I do landscaping," says Eve, cheerfully, "And a lot of video games, of course. I stream frequently. I imagine you get pretty good internet here on the Triskelion." She drums her fingers on the table, thoughtfully, glancing towards Sarah before adding, "But, yeah. You can't hurt me and I can't really die anyway." She shrugs her shoulders.
Jen raises an eyebrow. Beside FitzSimmons, and Kori, who just seemed entirely bubbly when not pissed off… She wasn't really used to people being nice to her for the sake of it. …It's kind of nice, though. "Internet's okay, but I'm pretty sure it's all monitored. And I'm not exactly top priority behind all the people who actually work here. Lots of cat videos, though. And assorted other cute things. And Netflix." A sage nod follows.
For the moment, Sarah just sips her tea and eats a bit of her cake, and doesn't get in the way of her two friends getting acquainted with each other.
"RIP Grumpy Cat," says Eve, solemnly, to Jennifer.
"I get it. I spend SO much time on Netflix." Somewhere, there's a Netflix data guy who is so confused about the usage metrics of Eve's account.
She has a sip of her iced tea. "I can't imagine its easy when everyone around you thinks you're, like, some kind of embodiment of deadly deadliness." She has no personal experience with this whatsoever. Honest.
"Rest in peace." Jen nods, again raising a bite of cake in toast to the fallen feline, before giving a one shouldered shrug in response to the next statement. "It has its ups and downs. Some of the scientists are nice, as are a few others. I've also started seeing how many people I can get to suddenly remember they had something different to do just by being in a room. I mean, I can't fix it, might as well have fun with it, right?" The smirk is a bit more hard-edged.
"We're all hoping that someone in Sciences will come up with a better solution, but until then, we want to make things as normal for you as we can," Sarah says to Jen. "I do," she adds. "You got dealt a bad hand, powers-wise, but if I can help make it better, I will."
Eve raises her iced tea with a nod towards Jen, sympathetic.
"I mean, it's good to exercise a little control, right? You don't have a whole lot of options. I didn't. You gotta get through the day somehow." She does nod to Sarah, though. "I mean, fingers crossed, right?" She makes a show of exactly that to both of them. "But if you ever want company, even just streaming, you can totally4 find me on STEAM. I'm Morning Glory1992LTD," she adds.
"Pretty sure normal went out the window when my ex went into a coma from swapping a bit of saliva, Sarah." Jen sighs, rolling her eyes a bit. "Honestly, If I could just get rid of my powers… might actually do it. Not really good for anything." She gives Eve a nod, expression softening a bit. "Don't actually have a computer or anything, but I can look you up from that." She picks up her phone, typing the name in, and it suddenly buzzes in her hand. Reading the message, the suited teen sighs. "More testing. Welp." The cake is rapidly devoured, Jen's helmet hisses closed, and the fork is sealed into a plastic bag printed with assorted chemical hazard symbols. "Nice to meet you, Eve. See you later, Sarah."
Giving Jen a wave and a smile, Sarah says, "Keep me posted on anything new the lab people have to say, okay? And I'm going to put Eve on an authorized visitors list, so she can come by to see you without needing me or someone else to sign her in. Take care of yourself, okay? I'll be around tomorrow if you want to grab lunch."