Summary:Jimmy and Darcy get drinks at the Tavern, and meet Toni. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Jimmy's no stranger to bars, no tee-total-er. He often goes out socially. Tonight in particular, a few work friends have hit the Tavern on the Green, and he's come along. But by now, all the others have gone — various kinds of Thanksgiving prep still to finish — and Jimmy is still at that corner table. He's not drinking to excess, just a cocktail or two. But there's still a clear, morose bent to his expression and the way he keeps to himself. He's usually so much more gregarious.
Work having run a little long, Darcy's a bit late to the party. But, she rushed over as soon as she could manage, striding in still in her work attire. Her tall heels granting her some added height, Darcy finds her boy and makes her way to his table.
"Hello, Handsome. This seat taken?" she asks, as if she were flirting with him for the first time.
Jimmy looks up as the door opens, and gets a small smile when he sees who it is. The flirting makes him laugh — and then blush, when he remembers how the flirting went when it was not-Jimmy here in the Tavern. He pushes the chair out for her. "It is now. C'mon over."
A blush! She didn't even try thta time. Smirking, Darcy settles herself into the chair he pushed out for her, setting her purse on a free chair near her. Her other hand grabs for one of his drinks.
"Whadawee drinkin?" she drawls slightly, bringing his cocktail to her bright red lips.
There's a rumble in the air, before an armored figure rounds the building down the block, soaring over the street before the star spangled figure slows, then drops carefully to the ground with a clank of metal on pavement, before the power suit walks over to the startled maitre di. "Table for one…well, two, for the armor." a female voice says from inside, as Iron Patriot reaches up to remove her helmet, shaking out long purple hair as she runs her fingers through it, tucking her helmet under an arm.
The woman nods, then snags a menu as she leads Toni over towards a table next to where Jimmy and Darcy are chatting, setting it on the table. "Uh, your, um, server will…be right with you..miss?" the maitre di notes, before scurrying off as the armor parks itself next to the table, then unfolds, a slightly bedraggled Chinese-American woman hopping down out of it, dressed in a bodysuit that she promptly unzips a bit at the front slightly to cool down, padding over to sit down at the table as the armor seals back up, setting the helmet on the armor as she goes past.
Jimmy reaches out once Darcy's seated, wrapping his arm almost possessively around her. Just a little bit clingy. "Been making my way through the cocktail menu," he says. "Not really one for beer. Cocktails make things more interesting. That one, I think, is an Elixir #2. Though they spell it wrong on the menu."
Then comes someone in armour. His eyebrows lift with surprise; sure, he's more or less open about his identity these days, but he's not that open. He lifts his drink to her. "Evening. Must be comfortable to be out of that suit."
"Of course they spell it wrong on the menu. That's how they make their shit uni—-" Darcy's cut off by armored Mecca Suit. She glances the suit over, then seems to disregard it whilst everyone ELSE openly stares and gawks. Darcy busies herself with a healthy swig of Jimmy's drink and tucking herself more fully into his side. When Jimmy greets the mech-pilot, Darcy looks over and smiles, lifting 'her' drink as Jimmy does.
"Easier on the eyes out of the suit," she comments, as if the brain to mouth filter were broken. (READ: Darcy usually lacks a brain to mouth filter. #SorryNotSorry
The woman tilts her head, dark eyes flicking over as she smirks, catching said comment. "Thanks. I'm kinda fond of the aesthetics though. The first one was more Chinese-styled, but didn't have clean lines…made it a pain to try and fly with the air flow and friction at high speeds. Not to mention it wasn't really a full power armor, more power assist…" she says distractedly, turning her attention back to the menu for a moment before slhe flips it close. She's gettin ga few people pointing cellphones at her, rather than their trendy food at the moment, though she kinda seems to ignore it as she tugs out a cylinder, then pulls it out into what looks like a transparent screen, about the size of a tablet. The armor is pretty striking…mostly blue but with definite American flag motifs going for it.
Jimmy shakes his head. "Oh no, not that kind of wrong spelling. It doesn't use a 'C K S' or anything like that. It just has an E instead of a second I. Straight-up mistake." Darcy's comment to Toni makes him choke — good thing he wasn't taking a sip! — and turn redder. "Yes, but you wouldn't mind seeing her without either suit." He nudges her with an elbow. "I'm, uh, no connoisseur of power armour, but it does look good. Sleek and strong. I'm Jimmy, and the irrepressible one is Darcy."
"Or Tits," Darcy offers to Toni, grinning mischievously. She leans to the side, as if making a very visible show of studying both power armor and under armor. She hums softly, thoughtfully, then straightens and looks back at Jimmy.
"Truth, but between the two, the underarmor's nicer. Star-spangled ass cheeks are only hot when made by the correct application of riding crop." All straightfaced and serious, while wearing professional business attire that would not be out of place in a bank, lawyer's office, or government building.
Another snort from Toni as she lets out a laugh. "Mmm, no filter, huh?" she says simply. "I'd be wearing something more normal and comfy, but this is better for long stints as Patriot, more temperature controlled for one." She grins. "But my ass cheeks thank you for the thought, at least." She doesn't seem bothere din the slightest by the turn the conversation has taken, riding crops and all. "Nice to meet you both though. I'm Toni, Toni Ho." She tilts her head and raises a brow, her lips twitching. "You two come here often?"
Jimmy lets out a low, whining sound while his face heats up. With Toni taking it so easily, it seems it's up to Jimmy to be blushingly discomforted. That's Darcy's gambit, isn't it? Make his face grow hotter so he makes a more comfortable accessory in these cooling months. He shoots her a glare with his eyes narrowed. "That's part of her roller derby name," he provides. "That and McGee." What, can he not just outright say 'Tits McGee'? "Sometimes. It's not a place of 'first date' significance or anything. I have to say, I really admire what you do — not just Overwatch, but that you're so open about it. A lot of people in that position keep things more secretive."
"You CAN say my whole name, you know," Darcy quips at Jimmy, smirking at the blush, eyes dancing brightly at the whine. She blinks innocently, looking between the two as Jimmy changes the subject. Like the sweetheart she is, Darcy follows the subject change.
"What's Overwatch?" she asks of them both.
"Star-Spangled Ass Cheeks McGee? That seems kinda long." Toni comments with a straight face. "But hey, memorable." She grins a bit as she pauses to order a blackberry iced tea from a server who stops by and some truffle frieds, then pulls her legs up to sit crosslegged. "Thanks." she says simply to Jimmy. "I mean, I don't see the point to hiding it, I'm already a public figure. And RESCUE's purpose is to be helping the public, so we should /be/ public. To my thinking." She taps her tablet absently, multitasking a little bit as she talks, answering Darcy. "Overwatch is the local and international crisis response team RESCUE support to respond to worldwide disasters and emergencies that requires rapid and sometimes out of the ordinary responses. Hurricane relief, forest fires, tornados, that sort of thing. Which currently consists, in terms of superhuman individuals, according to common nomenclature, myself, as Iron Patriot," she thumbs at her armor, "then Augmenta, Posse, and Athanasia…she's an angel." She shrugs. "We also contract with the city for emergency response, but only since they disbanded Code Blue…didn't get along with that group much. All anti-metahumans and stuff. Mutant hating." She frowns.
Jimmy gives Darcy a hard stare. In a completely dry tone, he says, "Darcy Lewis." That's what she meant by the full name, surely. Or at least, it's something he can get away with after that quip. He goes quiet for Toni to answer the question: RESCUE's hard company, so it's no surprise she'd like talking about it. He does tilt his head at the mention of those in the group. "An angel?" He sounds surprised; there aren't too many of those around, and he knows he doesn't go by 'Athanasia'. He wrinkles his nose at the mention of Code Blue, though, shaking his head. "Mmn. I'd be disappointed if you did get along with a group like that."
Jimmy's dry hard tone is met with the sticking out of Darcy's tongue. Brat, the expression seems to say. Brat, and I still love you. She turns to liten to Toni talk about Rescue, making a mental note to do some research on the group, in case he employer needs something. Code Blue is also filed away, in the 'Boss needs a target for his ire' bin. It's an ever growing list.
"Yup. Believe me, I was just as floored. Angels. Who knew?" Toni shrugs a bit. "But she wants to help, and we give her the chance, and that's what it's all about." She shrugs slightly, then grins. "Darcy Lewis. Cool." She nods to Jimmy. "Yeah. PCB has a boring by committee name, but it's a definite improvement. Posse's actually with them, but she works with us in an emergency too." She pauses as her fries are delivered, pausing to dip a few into the ketchup that comes with it in a cup and munching on them.
Jimmy smiles back at Darcy's poking tongue. Yes, he is totally a brat. His arm loosens slightly from around her, fingers running nearer the middle of her back. And he keeps his face utterly straight and stoic. Angels, who knew? Certainly not Jimmy. Really, it's stoic enough to be a little suspicious. "And that's where RESCUE and Overwatch focus, right? Not so much on the big, superheroic battles, but more just… keeping people safe from disaster?" His earlier brooding seems to have… at least gone below the surface, while he focuses on this.
"The gods, probably," Darcy quips in the silence left by Jimmy's Too Stoic expression. Darcy sets her first drink down and collects a different one from in front of her man, bringing that up to sip at.
"Keeping the muggles safe is pretty damn important, if you ask me. Most of us don't have enough sense to run for cover instead of trying to Facebook Live the bullets and explosions."
"Right. I mean, we are on call if the NYPD runs into something they can't handle in an emergency, but fighting supervillains isn't usually our thing." Toni replies, munching on another fry. "Mmph. Exactly.' she says, waving another at Darcy before it gets munched on too. Apparently a bit hungry, is Toni. "Not interested in my armor being turned into a weapon's platform anyway, it's why I go with nonlethal devices. Much more interested in helping people in need than having a superpowered punch fest downtown." The last is said in a dry tone. "I created RESCUE to give people the tools to improve their lives, to save people. Not to blow holes in things."
Jimmy smiles at that, nodding his head. "That's a good perspective," he says. "Focusing on the protection, the improvement. Not the violence. I like that." Darcy would know a bit more about Jimmy's perspective on… such things. He's not talking about this from the viewpoint of a muggle. "How do you get new members in RESCUE? It doesn't sound like Athanasia was there from the start, at least."
With teh new drink in her hand and nothing in her stomach since lunch, Darcy happily drinks the cocktail down, mind a pleasant buzz of 'what's she saying? She looks nice. Jimmy looks nice too. He's so warm….'
Toni's gaze flicks to Darcy, a brow rising slightly as she notices just how quickly those cocktails are being drown. "Hmm…want some fries?" she offers. She looks like she might need something in her stomach to help there. "Well, usually people apply…I mean, not everyone with metahuman or superhuman abilities goes to Overwatch, only people who want to undergo the training or already have it. But, well, a direct application can be made to me or Dr. Kelsey, I suppose." She looks thoughful. "I guess really I should formalize that, huh? I just met Athanasia by chance and gave her the invite, really.' Yes, she is worst HR person evah.
But hey, she's honest. She isn't putting up fronts of RESCUE PR Policy or Cannot Confirm Nor Deny or whatever else. She's acting like a person, and that's important for making connections even if it doesn't make for new employees.
Jimmy nods softly. "Training, huh. There'd be a fair bit of that, right? Crisis management, teaching people how to think when the situation could so easily turn to panic. And that's aside from specialised skills like medicine — there'd be need for a lot of that in what you do, right?" He sounds like he's mulling something over.
Ooh, fries! Darcy leeeeeeeeeeeeeans to get some, the drink leaning with her. She keeps the liquid owning that only to the fact that she drank nearly all of that.
"If you need medical stuffs, Jimmy here's super awesome with that crap. Studying for it and everythin," she blurts out with her mouth full of the fries she took. Table manners? What table manners!?
Toni nods simply. "Yup. We deal with emergency situations, it's not for amateurs. I mean, there are non-powered rangers who support the main team too, so it's not like you /have/ to have a power or something to be part of it. We hire lots of ex-first responders and some military types. There's actually a program in place to help people with cybernetics when they're injured in the line of duty too. But there's some RESCUE based training classes we have, to keep people current and bring them up to speed so everyone is on the same page."
Toni grins a bit at Darcy as she snags the fries, then raises a brow. "Medical? Sure, we can always use more doctors. Got a particular field you're interested in? About half of what we do is medical research actually…mostly tech research, cybernetics and biomedical implants."
Jimmy laughs at Darcy's blurting, shaking his head. Him, medical? Compared with Dr. Ho and Dr. Kelsey? Nah, not so much. "Still studying and training for it," he says, emphasising that particular point. "But, uh. Emergency medicine and psychiatry, in particular. It's to go with my counselling psych. And ever since… 2014, I've wanted to do more for people physically, too." 2014. The attack that made the Disaster Zone.
"Counseling, huh?" Toni says thoughfully. "Well, counseling is a thing we could use more of, actually. Lots of people need a friendly face to listen to them after traumatic events. Not sure if that's what you're interested in?" she admits, cocking her head. "But also things like getting people used to loss of limbs, or used to cybernetics maybe…"
Jimmy nods gravely. "Learning how to live day-by-day, after something that changes them like that. A friend of mine has bionics, and part of what she notices is that people started treating her differently afterwards. More staring from strangers, less treating her like she's… you know, a person."
"That and the whole phantom limb thing, or body dysphoria from having a part replaced with a mechanism, it does cause issues." Toni frowns. "It's why most cybernetic replacements on a large scale just don't work…most people can't adapt to it and start developing psychoses, then need to revert to simpler replacements." She munches on another fry, scrolling her tablet slightly. "We do have an internship program, but really Roni…er, Dr. Kelsey handles that side of thing. I'm more hardware than cyberwear."
Jimmy nods firmly. "People are complicated things. When there's that big a shock to the system, all kinds of things can get… damaged. And everyone is different, everyone needs a different response and may need different interventions. Most people can't adapt to the large-scale replacement, but then there'd be the rare few who can. There really are very few hard-and-fast rules in psychology. That's what drives 'harder' scientists crazy about it." He nods slowly. "But… in any case, it's definitely something for me to look into more and think about it. Does the website have a way to contact you? As in, you plural?"
"Yeah, believe me, I'm one of them at times. But I'm not a neural specialist like Dr. Kelsey, she'd be the one to talk to this. Cybernetic pathways and programming, that I can do. Body stuff not so mcuh." She shrugs, popping another fry into her mouth as she thinks, then rummages in the pockets on her bodysuit, tugging out a car then handing it it over. Business card with a QR code and her name and email. "Sure, can contact me like this, but I'd recommend doing an actual application for the internship first ,so we've got that information too. I can mention you to Dr. Kelsey though?"
Jimmy takes the card with a smile, looking it over, and brings out his phone to scan the code. "I hear that. There's so much specialisation in fields like these. I couldn't even imagine learning more than one kind of medicine, with how much goes just into the basics." He nods. "I'll need some time to look into some things first, like considering my internship with Dr. Yendez. I still do want to finish my psych training as well as the medical, you know? So I can do the most good." He tucks the card away and comes out with one of his own: name, phone, and email, with the card stock from Doctor Victor Yendez's counselling practice.
Toni takes it, then runs it under her tablet, typing a few buttons as the card is scanned, then hand sit back. "Got it. And I understand, I don't know that we have any specific psychology-based internships, to be honest. But maybe part time?" She shrugs her shoulders, then grins. "If your girlfriend there," she adds, nodding to the drowsing Darcy. "wants a job too, maybe there's something for her. We don't have a roller derby team, sadly. That'd be cool." she says thoughfully.
Jimmy settles the card back into his jacket, nodding. "Part time sounds good. A little bit with Doctor Yendez, a little bit with you, and I could do all kinds of good while still learning more." He smiles softly as he looks down at Darcy. He plants a kiss on top of her sleeping head. "I think she's happy where she is, working at the Asgardian embassy. The coolest political science job, she says."
"Hah! I'll bet. Rubbing elbows with would be 'gods' and all that." Toni says wryly. She finishes off her fries, munching away as she snags a napkin to wipe off her fingers. "Hmm, well, you probably should get her home. Need a hand, or you got it?" she offers. "I can at least snag you an Uber or something to drive you. My treat."
Jimmy checks his phone once more — eesh, is that the time? "Yeah, I'd better get her back to her place. Thanks — time can really get away from me sometimes." He smiles. "Thanks for the offer, but I'll be fine." He starts gathering her up into his arms, holding her carefully, and her weight doesn't seem to bother him at all. Huh, does his skin look a little more shiny than it had before?
The nice thing about a snazzy trendy bistro? Really easy to pay. Which Toni does with a few taps of her tablet before she gets back to her feet. "Hmmm. Okay then, nice meeting the two of you. Feel free to drop me a line if you do get interested in the job though." She snags the helmet, sliding it into place on her head, as the Iron Patriot armor opens up again, before she turns around and steps back into it carefully, the armor resealing around her as her electronic voice says. "You two have fun then…" she says, idly salute with a brush of her fingers to her helmet, before her thrusters kick in, lofting the armor up as she hovers for a moment. "I'd say stay out of trouble or something, but sheeeee looks like a handful." she notes cheerfully. "Ciao!" With a rush her armor lifts off, then soars up into the air, heading roughly in the directly of the Disaster Zone.
Jimmy smiles fondly. "Much more than a handful, but all absolutely worth it. Have a good night, Toni, and I'll hope to talk with you again soon."
Once Toni's gone, Jimmy pays his own tab and carries Darcy out of the restaurant. But not to a car. Instead, he finds a convenient spot to hide behind, and then a veiled demi-angel flies away, Darcy in his arms. Much better than an Uber.