Summary:Anya goes to Luke's to get back her backpack, and a SHIELD agent goes there to experience Luke's amazing BBQ. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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For a bar, midday is not the busiest time. You get a few day drinkers here and there, but generally a place like Luke's is going to be hurting for customers this early in the day. Still, every dollar helps when you are a small business owner so Luke Cage is prepping for the day.
Dressed in his usual attire of a t-shirt that barely fits his frame and a pair of jeans, the large muscular man is in the process of taking out a sandwich board to the sidewalk out front. Upon the board is written today's specials for the happy hour and mid day crowd. Looks like ribs are on the menu today.
As he places the sandwich board down, he wrinkles his nose and sniffs at the board, a curious look on his face before he shakes his head dismissively, "Nah…"
It's not that Chasi doesn't like bars. It's more that American bars are still new to the Romanian SHIELD agent. Dressed in smart casual, much to his annoyance….Chasi pauses walking down the street to check the sandwich board. There's not a sandwich there like he thought….which disappoints him. Chasi has a few minutes to kill.
Stepping in, Chasi heads into the bar, all five eleven of his muscular frame with a military poseture. His shoulders are a little too straight, his head a little too focused as Chasi waits for a moment. He could rreally use…what was it Agent Petrovna said? Good coffee.
I don't know if you've figured it out yet or not, but if you have, please please please don't tell anybody!
Anya Corazon stares at the text message on her phone that hasn't yet been sent. She's lurking about a block and a half way, just far enough that she can see Luke's bar without really standing out amongst the dozens upon dozens of people walking to and fro. "Esto es estupido, estupido," she's murmuring to herself, clearly unable to decide whether it is more stupid to send the message, or to waltz in there carrying out her clearly unbelievable cover story. Chewing on her lip, the young woman has been hanging out there for nine or ten minutes, clearly at a loss, before she finally deletes the message and shoves the phone into her back pocket.
She's dressed differently than last night. Ripped up jeans, a black nondescript t-shirt, minimal makeup. Not her usual edgy vibe, save for the pink Mohawk that is not often seen among young Latinas. She finally makes her way down the road but slows as she sees Luke setting down the sandwich board. "Does he ever go home?" she mutters to herself nervously, before putting on her best sassy smirk and crossing the street, headed for the entrance.
Sandwich board in place, Luke nods to the short (at least to him) gentlemen who walks into the bar, following in close behind. If he noticed Anya's approach, it didn't show.
Inside of Luke's, the smoky smell of BBQ permeates the air wafting in from the back room. "Afternoon." says the big man as he walks around the bar and continues the procedure of opening up the place, picking up a bar towel and polishing a spot close to where he might think Chasi will sit. "Welcome to Luke's. What can I do you for? We have a special on ribs today, with a pint, for $13. Well drinks are half off, and domestics are a two bucks."
Chasi sits where Luke thingks….much as he wants to sit one seat over, nah. He riases an eyebrow at the greeting and drink list. "Ah it is afternoon, yes" he says in a heavily accented English."Do you have, ah, coffee? Good coffee?" he asks and looks hopeful then sniffs the air. "You are cooking the chicken and beef and on grill? I would like some" he says. It's an odd way to phrase it, but….he doubts this guy speaks Romanian. Instead, sticking to his odd English it is. Smoothing out his cargo pants (yes, Chasi's somehow making cargo pants work today somehow), and pulling his wallet out of his casual smart jacket, Chasi relaxes a little. "So this is bar, it's nice. Not like on TV. No fights, no dead bodies" he adds, with a slightly joking tone as Chasi looks around then back to Luke. "Da, you have nice bar. I like it"
Chasi's definitely trying to master English and talking through drool and hunger isn't really helping much, Chasi is hungry. Breakfast was hours ago at the Triskelion. No he's here for actual lunch. As he opens his wallet, his SHIELD badge and ID is visible. Agent Dimitrescu. "I'll take coffee and food please" he says after another inhale of lovely BBQ scent.
"Soy tan malo en esta parte," Anya is muttering under her breath as she approaches the bar. Still, she bravely pulls the door open, and is immediately accosted by something that smells unfairly delicious.
Her little stomach, with that impossibly mean appetite and metabolic rate, starts grumbling.
"God, that smells good," she says to herself, before approaching the bar. Her brown eyes dance from Luke to his other visitor, and serve to give Chasi a good up and down once over. She can't quite keep her nose from scrunching up and a slightly dissatisfied expression from forming on her face, and she decidedly chooses a chair at the bar with at least one stool separating her from the stiff backed man. Whatever caused her sense of distaste, however, it seems to fade somewhat at the accent. A glance is given toward the man just as he brings out the wallet, and manages to just barely catch a glimpse of the SHIELD ID.
Now it's time for Anya's back to straighten again. Her hand rises to rub awkwardly at her her chin, and she turns her eyes on Luke with a smile that forces a happy look through one of barely contained anxiety.
"Yes, it is the afternoon." Luke says with a smile, "Do I have good coffee? Well, I've never had any complaints." He starts to move to get a mug. "So, I take it you are not from around here?"
Pouring a cup of joe from the pot, Luke places it on a coaster and slides it over in front of Chasi, glancing down at the flash of a badge as Chasi's wallet opens. "Coffee is on the house for an LEO. I'm afraid beef and chicken aren't on the menu today, but I do have baby back's on the grill in the back. We will call it an even $7 for a plate, that cool?"
Luke glances up as the front door opens and levels a nod at Anya as she walks in, "Here for your stuff, chica? I have it safe upstairs in my place. I can go get it for you, give me just a minute to get this guy settled in." He pauses for a sec and arches a brow giving her a quizzical look as he looks at her expression but says nothing about it.
"Uh huh," Anya answers, nodding her head to at least make sure Luke knows it's an acknowledgement of his question. I mean, why else would she be here? "Thanks," she says to him, and takes another look around, observing that there aren't any windows busted out, and really, a lot of the tables and chairs are still intact. "Glad to see they didn't fuck up the place too much."
Chasi laughs, "No, I am from Romania" he says and nods, "Seven dollars is fine though for food" he agrees and sets his wallet back in his pocket again and relaxes a little. GOne's the stick for a spine, he's actually looking….normal. As normal as a SHIELD agent can be, mind with how they are. He cracks a mile at Luke. "So, coffee better than usual government coffee? Ah" he says with a sip of the coffee. "Good coffee"
Chasi nods and takes a look around for anything out of the ordinary but nothing catches his eye, then he glances over one stool and gives a quiet nod. As if saying in his own wy something like 'Hey, I notice you there'.
"I wouldn't know. I have never had government coffee, but I would have to assume that it is about as good as it sounds." says Luke with a smirk, "So, Romania? What brings you to the States?"
Luke starts to make a drink for Anya, it looks to be a replacement three-pointer, "Yeah, it's not too bad. Could have been much worse but one of those Spiders showed up unexpectedly. There is a little damage to a stool or two, but nothing that can't be replaced." He pauses, "Though I wouldn't be surprised to find a tooth or two somewhere under a table. I haven't had a chance to do a thorough search yet."
"If it's as bad as the stuff they sling at Social Security," Anya points out, kind of sidling her way into the coffee convo, "Then yeah. I can vouch, government coffee is garbage."
Chasi becomes the recipient of a brief upnod from the young woman. "Hey. Good place here," she tells him. "Apparently some fascist dickwads tried to rough it up last night."
Noticing that Luke is remaking the drink she only had one slug of last night before everything went to crap, she visibly relaxes… for a moment. At talk of spiders, she drops one hand, then two hands under the table, in order to hide her fidgeting. "Yeah, I saw her - them? - when I ran out. Couldn't really tell, they… they weren't talking." Talk of missing teeth helps her to stammer a bit less. "If you do find any, you should totally frame them. Put 'em up behind the bar. Kind of like a sign that says, 'Don't Fuck With Luke's'." She grins a bit at the thought, clearly having no love of the skinheads. "Did, uh… did that purple girl make it out okay?"
Chasi gives Anya a smirk. "Da, I was in the Romanian Army, and then SHIELD" he says. "I think coffee taste like my grandma's piss warm up, ya?" he chuckles, translating an Eastern European saying into English as he smiles. "Ya, government coffee is veeery bad" he says drawing out the last two words as he sips his coffee again then raises an eyebrow at Anya. So they got dealt with?" he asks. Much as he wants to, he can't call the shots for SHIELD. He's just an agent, not anyone in charge. He can though decide to be here. Sure, SHIELD may get iffy for a $7 lunch but come on. It's good food. Plus he's out and just found a lead. What's not to like?
The smirk becomes a full on grin at Anya. "Ah, you know how bad coffeee is. I am almost…" he pauses searching for the right words. "Almost upset at that. Everyone needs good coffee" he adds and nods to Luke. "I came here from the Romanian government, I worked for our…what is it…intelligent services" he says, with a gentle look. "I am now SHIELD as you saw. So for the food what does it come with on the plate?" he adds and sounds like he's been working on his English. Some phrases come bettr than others. The simple or SHIELD related things? Easy. Everything else? Not so much. He's at least looking like he's relaxed though with a smile, an actual smile that reaches his eyes.
"Her. Definitely a her. Nice curves." Luke says to Anya as he places the drink on a coaster and slides it over to the Latinx. "I'm surprised you saw her, since I didn't even notice her come in, but then again I was a bit busy. I didn't see you get out either, but she said you bailed. Probably a wise move."
At the mention of framing the teeth, he laughs a belly laugh. "Now that is the best idea I have heard all day. I was just going to start a collection in a jar, but displaying them might detour any more asshatery. Yeah, she got out just fine. Not sure her ties, but they certainly wanted her. I'm just glad we were able to persuade them otherwise."
He turns to Chasi, "Ok, one plate of ribs coming up. I'll toss about a half a dozen ribs on there with some potato salad and a helping of mama's baked beans. You'll love it. If you will excuse me, I need to head in the back and toss em on the grill for a bit to get them back up to temp, so give me a moment. Anya, I'll bring you a plate as well. Keep an eye on the place for me."
With that, Luke steps from behind the counter and moves towards the Employee Only door, "Be back in a moment."
Chasi's remark draws a snorting laugh from Anya, which further helps her awkward nature to dissolve. "I-" she says through laughter, "I don't wanna think about your grandma's piss. Or mine. Or his!" She gives the SHIELD agent a curious look now, while quietly hoping that the awkwardness of this whole affair has finally gone away.
Nope.
Not so lucky.
Another snort, and a furious darkening of her tanned skin, at Luke's remark about the spider person's curves. "Jesus," she curses, her own ethnicity softening the J. "I missed that? H-how could I have missed that?" She stammers, and quickly snatches up the cocktail. She raises it and slugs it, completely ignoring the inappropriateness of taking it down like a shot. Not just a shot, or a double, but a triple. "Hey, I ain't new," she points out. "I know when to kick rocks and when to bust out some teeth."
Awkward, awkward, aaaawwwwkward!
"He's got a thing for jars," Anya tells Chasi, and jerks a quick nod toward the Swear Jar behind the bar, before swinging her attention back to Luke. "Well, they were Nazi's, probably nothing more complicated than, you know, mutant, not white, not homo sapien. The usual fascist asshattery." The blush gone from her face now, a wave of gratefulness washes over her at the sheer fact that her hungry tummy is about to be filled with whatever is married to those delicious smells. "You got it, stacker."
Eyeballing her now empty glass, Anya slides it toward the other edge of the bar, and turns to face Chasi directly. "So, Romanian army, huh?" she asks, wanting for anything to stop talking about whatever happened here last night. She just wants her damn backpack! And some BBQ. "That's like, a thing. How did you end up here?"
"Ya, Romanian Army" Chasi says and smirks. "No, I don't drink grandma's piss. I just hear that's what bad coffee's like" he says with a smile…though there's a hint of it being a guarded smile as he listens. "Nazi fascists in here? I thought this was land of free?" he asks then looks skeptical and a little worried.
Looking to the jar, Chasi laughs, "If I had one at work it'd be full within hours" he admits with a conspiritory look, as if saying Shield's a bunch of cluster F-bomb throwing sailors who stubbed all their toes and other important parts. Chase is. Caveat: In Romanian as Chasi looks to Anya again.
"You know how to fight and the man who runs the bar likes jars? Am I dreaming?" he asks. "Or did somebody slip things in coffee this morning?" he asks and chuckles. He's not commenting on curves, merely waiting on food, and cradling coffee one handedly.
"Freedom of speech," Anya is quick to point out. "Kind of a two edged sword. Upside is, it's pretty easy to tell a racist jerk from a crowd when there's no law preventing it from happening." She makes a hand gesture and adds, "Same law that lets them spew hate is the same law that lets me call them pricks though, so, it's a wash." She doesn't quite get into more detail about it though, she'll save it for DSA club at school.
"Well, I grew up in Spanish Harlem." She jerks a thumb in the general area of 'East'. "Back when the Latin Kings ran the streets. Gang banger B.S., hookers and blow, a general abandonment by the city made it easy for them. So, yeah. It was pretty much… learn to fight or end up a walking bruise, or worse. Number one rule of knowing how to to fight… is knowing when to fight." She smiles in a friendly way, seemingly more at ease now that Luke is out of the picture. "I'm Anya." She offers a handshake. "Born in Mexico City, raised on the other side of the park."
The door to the back room opens and Luke re-emerges with a pair of plates in his hands, "Alright, food's on!" Setting down a plate of food in front of Chasi and then Anya, he slips back behind the bar and cleans up the empty glass from in front of Anya, and set about making another one. "It's an old family recipe for the rub and the sauce. I hope you enjoy.
He looks to Anya and shrugs a shoulder, "I don't know how you missed it, but she said she saw you bolting. Hell, maybe she snuck into the bathroom to take a piss when I wasn't looking, and just happened to be in the right place at the right time."
Chasi looks to Luke again with a a smile before he inspects the ribs, cautiously looking them over for a moment. The smell is amazing, he's not complaining on that one. Instead, he's keen to dive in. Coffee….and ribs for lunch. Sure why not? He carefully bites into a rib, eyes closed as he's enjoying the flavor. There is a certain delicacy to how he's eating, sure. But….but….he's also hungry too, but not wanting to eat like a wild animal chomping meat off of bones. WHich….in a way is what ribs are. Meat off of bones. With a grin, Chase salutes with his coffee then set it down with a neat thud. He nods and dives right back into the ribs again.
Finished making the second Three Pointer, Luke passes the drink over to Anya so she has something to wash the meal down with and then turns his attention to Chasi.
Not being able to stand by and abide drinking coffee with ribs, Luke grabs a pint glass from behind the bar and moves over to one of the taps, and selects a nice dark ale to go along with the ribs. He slides the glass over to Chasi, "You can't have coffee and ribs, it is just..something isn't right about that."
Once he is finished speaking, something catches his eye and he moves around the bar to go pick something up off the floor and rolls between his fingers for a moment before placing it into his pocket. Looks like it was a flattened piece of lead. "Can never keep this place clean enough. I should hire more staff."
The plate of ribs is observed with wide eyes. "Okay, that… that looks…"
Without preamble, she dives in, and eats like a mad woman. Chomping meat off bones is exactly what she does, and it doesn't appear as if she plans on stopping. In fact, she seems to blatantly ignore talk of this Spider-Girl chick, probably because she's so hungry. Eventually she takes a break, and wipes her face and hands with a napkin. "That… that is… really good."
Chasi eyes the pint then the ribs and shrugs. I doubt I'll survive going back to work drinking a pint of ale. But tell you what. I come back here tonight after work and drink that pint, ya?" he asks setting down his ribs. With a smile, albeit one coated in ribs, sauce, and a bit of everything on the plate, Chasi looks from his coffee to the pint glass, and ignores both for now. He settles on….more ribs. And a bit of everything as he's not a fan of going back to the Triskelion drunk, he'd doubt he'd get within five feet. He can see the headlines now. Man's body pulled from river, alcohol involved. Chasi does though look to Luke and laughs. "I am not Russian. I can eat food without alcohol. Is trait of my country" he jibes, taking a shot at the Russian stereotype of vodka with, well, everything….as Chasi looks to Luke again with a more serious look. "Pint of soda" he offers, "Pour the coffee away, soda, ice. I come back. I drink alcohol tonight" he offers, sounding….just a bit sincere. Or, hell, he's going to sneak it into the Triskelion. God, the computer lab could use livening up really, Or worst case scenario, play poker and have it as a drink for card games maybe? Chasi just doesn't want to drink on the clock. "I am on clock" he says. "Not allowed to drink, I fired if they find me drinking, you understand that right?" he adds with his English a mix of trying to find the right words, and somebody who has learned enough to be dangerous something like that. He does though nudge $5 across the bar for a soda. When he takes the money out, his SHIELD ID is visible again. He's leaving the question of should the bar be giving alcohol to SHIELD members unspoken. He's not going to turn down great food from this place.
Luke Cage grinning at Anya, Luke replies "My mama always told me that if I wanted to be a hit with the ladies I needed to learn how to cook. Mama wasn't stupid. Oh, right! Your backpack. Let me go get it."
Luke slips into the back room once again and returns moments later carrying the backpack over his shoulder, "I, uh, I was going to look in it to see if your address was in it but when I unzipped it I saw…well, I didn't want to go rummaging through it any more than I did. So, sorry." He shrugs his shoulder, letting the backpack fall into his hand and then sets it onto the counter top next to Anya.
He turns back to Chasi and shrugs, replacing the pint of ale with one of soda and nods, "Na, I get it. Good on you for sticking to the rules." He takes the ale and sips at it himself as he isn't going to let it go to waste. "Next time when you aren't on the clock, I owe you a beer. How does SHIELD pay these days?"
Chasi laughs, "Can't tell you. It's secret" he says. It is, or he's underpaid, or he's thinking up ways to get a raise from SHIELD. Any of the above are valid in Chase's head. "Army taught me rules and discipline. I stick to it" he addds between bites and nods. "Yes you owe beer, keep the money" he adds gesturing to the $5 on the bar, as he raises his soda in victory, then looks to the backpack as he finishes up his ribs with a grin and wipes his mouth. "SHIELD pays enough to live on" he says. Which…..if anyone happened to find Chasi's apartment….would suggest he's not paid a lot. Not true, he's just frugal. Or not used to spending a lot of money but that's solely down to where he grew up. Still though he sips the soda and looks pleased. He shakes his head at Luke and Anya for a moment, just sipping the soda in silence as he's glad of a good lunch and, even, new acqquaintences. Time will tell if they're friends. But given Chasi's life, friends are hard won and he is guarded from the closest of them.
Anya observes Chasi's demeanor and fun way with English and it seems to put her in an even happier place. "That wouldn't make 'em happy, I'm sure," she agrees, before turning back to Luke.
"Tu madre tenia razon!" Anya answers, and for those who may only partly understand the Spanish, it doesn't sound as if she just insulted her. She dives back in after having a drink of her three pointer, and seems genuinely happy to see her patch-covered backpack again. She stands up and reaches for it with a grateful expression, but when he… admits that he went looking for her ID, some of the color drains from her face.
What did he find in there? A gun? A severed head? A huge bag of coke? No, she knows exactly what he found in there, and once the backpack is in her hand, she slumps back onto her bar stool.
"Oh." She glances down at her shoes, then back up to Luke. "So, um. Thanks. For… keeping it… safe." She continues to stare at him for a moment, visibly mortified.
Luke Cage chuckles. "I'm no stranger to rules and regs, but I gather this is one of those if you told me you would have to kill me kinda thing, huh? Fair enough. I was always curious about how much you special agent types pulled down a year, but I guess I will have to go on wondering."
Luke walks back around the bar to take the money laid on the table over to the till, still in a joking manner until Anya's mood suddenly changes. He looks at her curiously, leaning in and uttering softly, "Chica, I've seen panties before. It's nothing to be…" he motions with his hand at her "…like this over. Hell, if it will make you feel any better you can go peek at my boxers."
He leans back up and gives her a wink, "Cheer up, at least they weren't holey or covered in skid-marks or something…or if they were I didn't look that close."
Chasi's torn between jumping in, or saying nothing. Given he's got a half pint of soda….nothing's a good idea. But he does chuckle, an act that snorts soda out his nose with a yelp of pain, apparently, Chase trieshasn't learned that drinking and laughing don't work. Much to his annoyance, then he begins laughing at his situation, with a smile to the other two. Chasi edges the stool back just a little from Anya and Luke, and finishes up his soda. Not that he wants to go, but lunch is only so long. Still, he adds another $5 as a tip. Apparently SHIELD types get paid well enough to tip at lunch in bars. Chasi looks over from Anya to Luke. "What? I saw boxers too and not shamed of it" he adds, stepping into it. "I mean, it's clothes, nothing to be shamed about ya?" he adds as he heads, finally, reluctantly, for the door. See, SHIELD can be human too, Chasi's proving that. He finally steps out the door and gives them both a wave. His mind's at ease as he's setting off walking down the sidewalk.
Anya's eyes go even wider, and not… for reasons any of them seem to be suspecting. Then her eyes finally narrow and the color comes back to her face. "Did you… did you just call them panties?" She glances to Chasi and over exaggerates gagging, before swinging her head back to Luke. "You're really lucky I like you," she tells him, before forming a mischievous smirk. "Or else I'd throw this three pointer all over your face."
Glancing to Chasi, she waggles her fingers in farewell.
"Panties, thong, g-string…whatever. As I said I didn't go examining them in detail," Luke says as he raises his hands in a mock surrender. "Sweet Christmas, it's not a big deal." He smirks, eyeing the three pointer for a moment before looking back to Anya, "Yeah, I'm safe. You wouldn't waste the tequila."
Anya turns to watch, just to make sure Chasi is really gone. For a moment, she considers just webbing him in the face instead. Her fingers even twitch at the idea of it, the sheer temptation, but… she's just dodged a major bullet here. So, she stares at him for a moment, before busting out laughing. "You got me there! Guilty as charged." The drink is taken in hand and sipped, not slugged, or turned into a syrupy projectile. "So your mama raised a gentleman, or so she thinks." The glass is lifted in a salute, and she finally seems to be her old self again.
Luke watches Chasi leave picking up the extra bill and then turns back to Anya who know has his undivided attention, "Oh, I'm a gentlemen when I need to be." He places his elbow onto the counter top and leans against the bar as he sips his beer, "Other times, not so much. Just depends on the situation."
He glances at the backpack, then back to Anya and gets slightly serious but still trying to keep it light. "I'm not going to pry, but just tell me one thing, there isn't anything in there that I would object to having in here is there? No drugs or anything like that? You don't strike me as the type but that reaction of yours was a little strong for just some underwear, Chica."
There's a flash in her eye, a glimmer of mirth at that remark, and she's totally not gonna touch it. Instead, Anya goes back to her ribs, which are all but gone at this point.
When things grow serious, she sets down the last bone and cleans herself up again. She fixes him with a dead serious look, and shakes her head. "No, no drugs," she answers with a quiet tone, the kind meat to be heard only in close quarters. "No severed heads. But if there was a gun in there, and I took it out and shot you with it, I don't think you'd get hurt. Not one bit."
She'll give that a moment to sink in, but before he has a chance to say anything in response, she goes on. "Victoria's Secret, last season, ultra low rise panty in red. Shorts that I grabbed at St Vincent's and modified. The OutKast shirt I got when I had an older boy sneak me into one of their shows when I was underage." That's right, she's detailing all of the clothes she was wearing last night, which were left in her backpack. "Oh, and some ratty old combat boots. I don't remember where I got them. Do you seriously think I got naked in your ladies room, then took off sprinting back to East Harlem in the buff?"
Luke Cage glances over the bar, and then glances at his watch. Reaching into his pocket he pulls out the metal slug that he picked up off of the floor and flicks it at Anya, not hard but not soft either…but with plenty of time for her reflexes to catch it easily enough.
Not even waiting to see if she catches it our not he wordlessly, Luke pushes off from the bar and heads to the front, flipping the little sign that says 'open' to 'closed' before turning the bolt on the door. "Come on." he says, motioning to the Employee Only door, "if we are going to talk about this, lets at least talk somewhere more private." Luke pushes open the employee only door and holds it open.
Anya's hand snaps out to grab the shell out of the air, moving as if it had been snapped lose from a spring. She watches him go to shut the place down, then turns to inspect the shell while he's turned. Her eyes widen a touch as she turns it over and over, then cups it between her fingers to keep it out of sight.
Rising, she starts toward the employee only door. "I wouldn't put that one in a jar," she remarks as she passes him, and though her face remains serious, there is at least a note of humor in her eyes.