Summary:Sarah teaches Chris how to fold a burrito so that the filling doesn't fall out. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
Chris and Alison had returned the night before from their little foray out to Chinatown with a tale of some strange sky manta-ray creature that they'd led out of the city. There was some stuff on the news about a transformer or two blowing in the area, but aside from that, not too much had been made of the incident. After that adventure, Chris had crashed out at HQ, as he does some nights. Eventually he had surfaces mid-afternoon to shower and dress, and now he makes his way out of his room and toward the kitchen in search of a foodstuff that Kori has not adulterated with mustard.
As it happens, he stumbles into someone actually making said unadulterated foodstuffs, as Sarah is busy cooking up a batch of burritos. Because they're better than the store bought frozen kind and if everyone is going to be eating them, then they might as well be GOOD burritos. Besides, it's cheaper arguably to cook them fresh and freeze them than buy them. She's currently peering into a slow cooker she picked up, from which wafts the scent of barbacoa, while she's got a bowl of grated cheese, diced potatoes, onions, and green chile
Because given a choice, she puts the last on EVERYTHING, because it's pretty much how she was raised.
"Oh, hey Chris, what's up?" the Amerindian girl asks. She's dressed in comfy looking cut off shorts and a black t-shirt that has reads on the front "Dear Racists: Your Car is Japanese, your Beer is German, your electronics are Korean, your Fashion is French, your Oil is Middle Eastern, your Vodka is Russian, and never forget the land you live on is Native American.'
"That smells kind of amazing," Chris can't help but say as soon as he steps out of his room and the smell of the cooking burritos assails his senses. Like a cartoon being lead by the nose toward the kitchen, he sniffs his way over there to peer at the slow cooker. He breathes it in and then he draws back a little bit, so as not to be in the weed. "Hey," he says. He's been kind of in and out a lot, and so he hasn't really spent much time around Sarah. "It's nice to smell something that doesn't have mustard in it, or hot sauce on it." He chuckles and goes over to the fridge, reaching in to grab himself a can of Coke, cracking it open and lifting it to take a sip. "How are things going?" He's got on a pair of comfortable faded jeans and a black t-shirt with the cartoon image of a skull with some small leaves and vines growing out of it. (https://tinyurl.com/y6b3qplt)
"It's pretty much ready if you want to try some? Do you know how to make a burrito?" she says curiously. Because not everyone knows how to fold one properly, after all. "And there's hot sauce in the fridge, but I prefer adding actual chile over sauce when I can get it." she says with a faint smile. "If you make it right to begin with you don't need to add more heat."
"I can get the stuff in the middle, but how to get it all to stay in there is one of the great mysteries of the universe," Chris admits as he leans up against the counter with the can in hand. "Want to teach me?" He shakes ihs head when she mentions the hot sauce and says, "Nah, I don't need it. Though, a little sour cream maybe." He does go into the fridge to get that out, and finds a spoon.
Sarah laughs, her eyes twinkling. "Sure, there some in…oh, you got it, never mind.." she says, then wanders over to pull out some tortillas from a cupboard, bringing them over and getting otu a plate to set one on. "It's not too tricky just you have to know the order to fold it and not overload it…" she says simply. "Everything here on it? I only have barbacoa for meat, but up to you if you're a cheese or potatoes or chile guy."
"I am an all-of-the-above sort of guy," Chris says as he comes over and flicks on the burner on the gas stove, heating it up. Once the flame is going, he grabs a pair of tongs and he tosses one of the tortillas right on the heating element, waits a few seconds, then flips it over with the tongs, warming it up without burning it. He then drops it on his plate. "Want me to do one for you?" he asks, reaching for another tortilla.
"Sure, if you don't mind…I haven't had lunch yet." Sarah admits with a smile, watching curiously. "Hmm, you even know how to heat it, not bad." she notes. "Potatoes aren' fried, if you want that, btw, just baked." She wanders over to watch Chris at work.
Christopher Powell grabs another tortilla and heats one up for her as well, depositing it in her plate and turning off the burner once it's warmed up. "I don't like them cold. They don't taste as good as when they're warmed." He then grins over at her and says, "I cook at home for my mom and brothers sometimes. I try to give her a break from time to time." He then stands in front of the ingredients and says, "Baked are good. So, show me how to stuff this baby and roll it so I don't wear it." He grins over at her, waiting for instruction.
"Huh. Well, the important thing is to give yourself plenty of space for folding…these are twelve inch, so you want to not overfill it…like seven inches long and four across." she says, pausing to get a large spoon to ladle out the barbacoa from the slow cooker, then adding potatoe, cheese, and chili to each, along with a daub of sour cream. "Then you start with a short side first so it doesn't spill out, like this..then, one of the long sides, then you push it down like this so you get a good seal, so the edge is tucked down, then you fold the other short side over…" She demonstrates. "Then you fold the other long side in and flip it over, like this, and give it a moment for it to set properly so it's molded together…if you don't do that, it'll pop open easily again instead of staying closed. See?" She steps back, giving a game show girl pose. "Ta daaah." She grins. "Warming it up is the secret really, if it's cold it won't mold as well to stay closed."
Christopher Powell watches carefully as she puts the ingredients onto each tortilla, noting how much needs to go in, and then he watches as she folds one, mimicing her motions to do one short side, then the long, then the other short, and finally the other long side. His is a little oddly shaped, but not bad for a first attempt, and looks like it might actually hold together. He surveys it critically and says, "Huh." Then he flips it over so that it can set and he gives it a little pat. "Good burrito. Stay together." Then he looks over at hers. His is not quite as neat and tidy, but it's not terrible. He grins then and says, "I'll have to remember that for next time."
Sarah laughs softly as she starts laying out others, starting a little assembly line for the remainder as she sets them in a tupperware container to seal up and freeze. "It gets easier with practice, it's not hard. Just a few little tricks to get it to work." she says simply, glancing over. "So…ah, you've got family in town, then?" she says curiously.
Christopher Powell stands next to her and helps with the burrito construction project, offering potatoes and cheese while she puts in the meat and things. He's precise with his measurements, making them even, uniform, so everyone who grabs one will get a bit of everything in it, and so they aren't overstuffed. He learns pretty quickly. "Yeah," he says when she asks about his family. "My mom, and my twin younger brothers, Jon and Jason. I have a room back at the house but it's pretty tiny, more of a closet. So I kind of split my time between there and here. What about you?"
The Apache woman shakes her head slightly. "I have an uncle, but we're not close…my mom passed away a few years back from cancer." she says simply. "And I can't really go back to visit my uncle because, well, goverment goons out to mess with me. Safer to stay away and not bring that down on him."
Christopher Powell frowns a little bit and says, "Sorry to hear that." He pauses for a moment and then says, "I kinda brought danger to my family, so I went away to California for a while, to work with the Avengers out on the west coast. They helped me get control of things a bit more. And.. earlier this year I decided to come home and come clean to my family. No more secrets. If danger follows me, at least now they're prepared and know how to get help or defend themselves, instead of.." He trails off a little bit and then sighs. "It's still a mess. But .. we're better for it."
Sarah nods slightly as she tucks the filled containers into the freezer absently. "Yeah…my mother and my uncle Billy knew what I could do. My other uncle does a bit, but not as much. He's more…distant than Billy was." She shakes her head a bit. "It's fine. I've had time to mourn them." She frowns a bit, turning around to lean back against the counter as she scoops up the plate with her burrito. "Yeah. Better to be honest with family, right? I'm kinda suprised, if you were already in an AVengers group, isn't it a step down to come back to the junior varsity, sort of?" She takes a bite out of the meal, savoring it as she chews.
"Yeah, if you can be, it's always better to be honest," Chris says, having learned that lesson the hard way. He pushes himself up to sit on the nearby counter and pulls his plate into his lap. Lifting the burrito he takes a bite out of it, careful not to drip and drop fillings everywhere, which helps since it does hold together. He shrugs his shoulders and says, "I wanted to come back home, where my family was. I was on my own. I hadn't really talked to the Avengers here. Then I woke up on this crazy ship with Kori, and Kate, and Noh-Varr and Peter and others, and we fought our way out together. And they seemed interested in fighting together. It was kind of nice to do something like that with folks my own age, you know? Besides it's not like anyone from the Avengers was looking for me or anything. Figured I'd stick around. I don't consider it a step down."
There's a brief nodd from Sarah before she swallows, licking her lips for a moment. "Kinda why I'm sticking around, yeah. I mean, it's not like I have anywhere to go, and I'd rather do something helpful with my abilities instead of hiding out in the desert again. Not like it helped me last time." she says wryly. "And living in the Baxter Building means at least I won't have to worry about government goons trying to drag me off again."
"Yeah, well, nobody here is going to let any goons take you away," Chris says with a kind of easy confidence about that. "Pretty sure that between all of us, we could make sure that didn't happen." He smiles over at her and says, "Besides, it's nice just to have the company. Everyone here is pretty cool, even if Kori's taste in food is uh.. questionable, sometimes." He smiles a little wryly.
"Eh, as long as she keeps it to toppings she can add to normal food everyone else likes, it's fine." Sarah says, waving it off. "She's getting better at reading how to act in social situations and understanding Earth culture too. I mean, she's got, like, nine stomaches, did you know that? So she can eat a wide range of things."
Christopher Powell shakes his head, "Nah, I didn't know that. And yeah, it's cool. It's just when the toppings come already on the food that it gets a little awkward." He grins a little bit wryly though and then shrugs his shoulders. "It's fine. She's cool. Just different. But then, aren't we all?" He takes another bite and chews it thoughtfully for a while before he swallows and asks, "So, are you close to folks in the group?"
Sarah bites her lower a lip. "Mostly I've been hanging out with Kori lately…" she admits. "Though I'm managing Ali's career too now. She's got an agent to get her gigs, but I'm trying to organize everything else. I mean it's not like I have another career or something to fall back on…" She shrugs. "I'm still needing to get an actual legal GED, since the goverment kinda fucked me on that, and I've never gone to college or something, so who knows if I could actually take courses. KOri and I have been looking at some places we could maybe app to together though."
"Oh, right, she mentioned that the other night when we were out, that you were her manager now," Chris grins, remembering the conversation that he and Alison had had earlier. "I do some courier work, bicycling important documents and packages around the city," he admits. It's not glamorous, but it helps to pay the bills. "I've been thinking about trying to go back to school," he admits. "I'd kind of like to."
Sarah takes another bite out of her meal, munching on it as she thinks, then swallows. "Well you could apply to Empire State and stuff like me and Kori? I mean, as long as you had decent grades you should be fine. There's some community colleges aorund too that could be good if not." she says thoughfully. "I did a lot of reseach on possibilities that were nearby and not too terrible for a commute back and forth."
"Maybe," Chris says a little bit tentatively. "I'll have to see what kind of appliation procedures there are and give it a try." He looks thoughtful, and then he bites into his burrito again, clearly enjoying it. "This is really good, by the way. You make a damn good burrito." It's said only after he finishes chewing. At least his mama taught him some manners.
Sarah grins. "One of the benefits of living out in the middle of nowhere with just me and mom for a long time, you end up cooking all your own meals. I haven't gotten to really cook in a while though, it's nice to have a kitchen and stuff like this, and people who actually want to eat what I make."
"Well, any time you want to cook, I will happily eat whatever you want to make," Chris grins. "So long as you let me return the favor every once in a while so I don't feel like a giant mooch." He takes another bite and then washes it down with a swig from his can of soda. "You don't happen to know anything about weird flying critters that make smoke and lights and seem to communicate in colored light flashes, do you?" He doesn't look like he expects that answer to be yes, but hey, it never hurts to ask.
"Eh, it's not like I'm buying all this food out of my own funds, it's from the group's funds. I'm just making sure it's decent food instead of junk food all the time." she says amusedly. "I won't say no to someone else cooking now and again, I'm sure people will get sick of Southwestern and TexMex eventually." She tilts her head curiously, then shakes her head. "Smoke and light and colored flashes? Nope, not really. Doesn't sound like anything I've run into or heard of, anyway." she answers, taking another bite from her meal.
Christopher Powell makes his way through his burrito with relish, but not actual relish, just the enjoyment sort, devouring it and finishing, setting the plate down next to him on the counter when he's finished and grabbing a paper towel to wipe his hands off on. "Well, we can mix it up a bit. I can do some Italian stuff, and some other random things." He grins when she isn't familiar with the thing. "Alison and I ran into this thing last night. We're pretty sure it's gone. We have no idea what we said to it, though."
"And it just…blinked and smoked at you? Didn't attack or anything?" The Apache finishes off the last of her burrito, before getting a napkin to wipe off her fingers absently as she thinks. "And where did you run into it at, exactly?"
"Chinatown. We were at the market buying some uglyfruit and stuff," Chris explains, which might explain some of the weird lumpy fruits and vegetables that appeared in the fridge overnight. "It was giving off this electrical charge and as it got closer to the street it was exploding neon signs and electricity was arcing everywhere, so we flew up and she made some lights to distract it. Then it seemed to mimic her lights and colors. So she started changing colors, and it mimiced her, then she mimiced it. We led it out over the water away from people. Then it seemed to get calmer, no more stormcloud around it, lights flashed calmer.. and then it just.. kind of disappeared. Super weird."
"Very." Sarah agrees, frowning as she considers. "Alien maybe? You should ask Kori, maybe she knows something about that. Or, if it's over Chinatown maybe it's some weird Chinese mythological thing? They have a lot of unusual critters in myth and reality."
Christopher Powell nods, "Yeah, I'll ask her when I see her next. That, or extradimensional or something." He smiles and says, "Yeah, could be. Not sure what happened to it, but at least we know how to calm it down if anyone ever sees it again."
Sarah huffs. "I don't know anything about mystic stuff like that, sorry." she says with a frown. "I don't even know who you'd aks about that, I don't think we have anyone who does magic stuff currently, right?"
Christopher Powell grins, "It's alright. I don't know a lot about it either, myself. Neither did Alison, but figured it didn't hurt to ask." He hops down off the counter then, taking his plate over and rinsing it off before putting it in the dishwasher with the other dirty dishes. "I don't think so, but we probably have connections to people who would know. It's alright. I mean, it's not like it's a current threat, so I'm not going to sweat it too hard."
With a push off from the counter, Sarah walks over to do the same, rinsing off her dish, then starting to work on the other cooking utensils and plates, moving the remaining supplies to tupperware as well. "Well, as long as it didn't hurt anything…you could also see if SWORD knows anything about it? I mean, they deal with aliens usually, right?"
Christopher Powell helps to dry things off and put them away until everything is once more in its rightful place. "Yep," he says, agreeing that he could talk to them. "Noh-Varr is part of SWORD so I figure he'd probably know on that count, too. I used to have a friend at SHIELD, but he's off somewhere on a mission right now, I think." He smiles, "Anyway, it was more weird than anything else," he says, having exhausted that topic for the time being.
Sarah glances over as she washes more of the dishes. "What's Noh-Var's deal, actually?" she says curiously. "I mean, he seems kinda…I dunno. Little full of himself, maybe? Not sure what to call it, but definitely getting the 'I'm better than the rest of you' vibe off him."
Christopher Powell glances over at Sarah when she asks about Noh-Varr and says, "I guess he's some kind of alien warrior and they're like, genetically engineered to be superior. So he's definitely got that.. vibe." He leans back against the counter, folding his arms in front of him and crossing one ankle over the other casually. "I mean, I guess in part, it's justified. He is really strong, and a good fighter, and smart and hot, and … all that. So why wouldn't he be confident about it? On the other hand, it's like, yeah, definitely a superiority thing. I like the guy, but at the same time, he intimidates the fuck out of me."
Sarah frowns a bit. "Glad to know it's not just me. Mm, so he's an alien too? I wouldn't have guessed it, he looks pretty human." She shakes her head, stacking up the tupperware and sliding it into an empty space on the fridge shelf before she closes it up. "Haven't really gotten a chance to talk to him. Or Rose. Though she also seems like she DGIF from what I've seen."
"No, it's not just you," Chris says with a little bit of a sidelong grin. "He is really good to have beside you in a fight, though." There's definite respect for the Kree warrior, even if he still unsettles Chris. He grins then and says, "I like Rose. I like that she gives no fucks, speaks her mind, and is skeptical. She doesn't just accept things. She questions. It's a good quality to have."
"She's definitely a cynic…" Sarah says wryly, putting away the last of the dishes in the washer, then starting it up after adding a soap pod. "I mean, not a bad thing…I think we've got plenty of more optimistic types already."
"I think it's good that we have a balance, you know? We're all such a mix of different personalities. It's kind of weird sometimes, but it's also kind of cool. I feel a little out of place sometimes, though. I mean, without the suit, I'm just a guy. There's nothing really.. special about me." Chris shrugs his shoulders just a little bit and smiles wryly. "I feel a little intimidated by alien princesses and warriors and folks with actual real superpowers. If I was ever without my suit.. I'd just be.. me.. you know?"
"Well, that's kinda where we'd all be, if we didn't have a mutant gift or alien powers, or metahuman abilities or battlearmor like you and Riri." Sarah says simply. "You got here because you earned being here, I'd say? I mean, I think you're the only one of us who has actually /been/ in another super team, after all."
"Yeah, I guess that's true," Chris says, for some reason always downplaying his previous experience. He's a giant ball of insecurities, that much is clear. He takes in a deep breath and then lets it out slowly before smiling and looking back up. "I'm glad to be working with all of you guys, though. It's cool, and I like having a workspace here where I can tinker with things, and the resources to be able to get things to tinker with. It's.. been pretty cool, actually."
Sarah smiles. "Yeah, this place is pretty nice. A year ago I would have never guessed I'd end up living in the Baxter Building in New York, with friends like this." She tilts her head a bit. "Tinker with? Are you an engineer type? I don't know a lot about how you got your armor…"
"I like to tinker with things, invent things, or fool around with already designed things to improve on them," Chris says. "I'm not as good as someone like Riri or Peter, but I like science, mechanical and electrical sciences mostly. The suit's something different, though. It's alien tech. I didn't design it. I can't tinker with it. I just like, make little drones and stuff like that with a buddy of mine from SHIELD."
Sarah looks curious. "Peter? I don't think I know him." she says , folding her arms absently over her chest. "He's an engineer type over at Stark Industries like Riri?"
"I think so, yeah. I just know there was this Peter guy on the ship, too, and he helped us get out. He seemed cool," Chris says, "Though I haven't seen much of him since then," he admits.
"Huh. Maybe we should see if he wants a job here? I mean…we're gonna need people who can look over bad guy tech we capture and stuff. We've got Riri but I'm sure she wouldn't mind having someone who's job is just the tech side of things, without having to go off and fight in battlearmor or something?" Sarah muses.
"I mean, I could.. help with that too," Chris points out, but then he shrugs and says. "Yeah, if I ever run into him again, I'll see if he's interested." He smiles then and pushes away from the counter. "Well, I should probably go run by the house. See if mom needs anything and torment the little brothers for a while before I come back. It was really good talking to you, Sarah."
The Apache smiles. "Sure, nice chatting with you! Have fun with the home visit, I'll see you later." She waves cheerfully, then starts padding back towards the exercise room.