8/23 Issue: Part of the Job

[Svartfreja]

<Carol> Carol sighed as she piled up the three boxes of parts, kicking off her work shoes, because she was not negotiating stairs in those when she couldn't see her feet, and opening the front door. She and her boxes made it all the way to the curb and she set them down in a row with a sign to the owners of the parts to come and get their stuff. Job done, she turned to go back inside the house.

<Carol> She slipped her shoes back on then swapped her outfit to continue getting ready for the event after the other event. Stupid fancy clothes...

<Shinobi> Obi had been working in his home office, oblivious to what was going on outside of his door. Case preparation was always a time suck. Unfortunately, he was out of coffee, and he took this as a sign that he should take a break. Obi stretched, getting up and wandering to the office door to open it to ... whatever chaos Carol may have wrought while he was busy.

<Carol> Carol was not causing chaos. The chaos had been dealt with. Instead she was trying to find the shoes that matched her dress for the stupid evening event but it was not going well. Where the hell had she put them? Maybe they hadn't made it upstairs yet? She grumbled to herself and started back down, "Chewie, now is not the time to be under my feet..."

<Shinobi> He could hear her, but he hadn't seen her yet. Obi headed toward the muttering and stopped when he caught sight of her. "Wow." The word was out of his mouth before he could stop it, but... wow. She looked like a girl. Dress and all.

<Carol> She froze at the voice, "You see nothing." Aha! There were her shoes! She pulled the box over to her and fished them out.

<Shinobi> "Oh, but I totally do. I see everything." He made a face at himself and then gestured. "Well, I see you in a dress."

<Carol> "Yeah... that happens sometimes..." she turned to face him, "I have a work thing..."

<Shinobi> "What sort of work thing, because..." he gestured again. "You look great. Not that you don't normally look nice, but... you know what I mean..."

<Carol> She blushed despite herself and looked everywhere but at him in an attempt to make it go away. "I have a press thing and then a fund raiser thing... and there's not much time in between to change so..."

<Shinobi> Obi cleared his throat. "A press thing and then a fund raiser thing. Sounds horrible. Have fun!"

<Carol> "Yeeeeeah, thanks..." she laughed and shook her head, "Oh, speaking of press... there's a few drones on the sidewalk now so either we watch the owners walk of shame to collect their many pieces of tech and sue them that way or we can donate all the pieces to Beth when no one comes and she can do whatever she does with random junk... I took the memory cards out."

<Shinobi> "That's what you've been up to," he laughed. "We'll probably start getting cease and desist orders from the media next."

<Carol> "Well they started it so... I don't really think they have a leg to stand on." She leaned against the wall to apply her shoes. "What are your plans for the evening? Better than mine, I hope..."

<Shinobi> "Working on a case, so not really." He rain his hand through his hair.

<Carol> She made a sad face for him, "I'm sorry... You got a lot to do?" shoes on, she smoothed her dress down again and straightened up.

<Shinobi> Obi tried not to let his eyes wander at her smoothing and shimmying. Now he understood why Tony threatened him with slow death. "Yeah, I'm prepping for a bench trial."

<Carol> She wrinkled her nose, "Well, if you can pry yourself away you could always come to the stupid fund raiser.... or I can suffer alone and bring you dessert. Your choice."

<Shinobi> "What is it raising funds for? That might make all the difference." Although, escorting her to an event would just add fuel to the tabloid fires, and get Tony breathing down his neck again.

<Carol> "One of Tony's mutant causes," she frowned, trying to remember where she put the invitation. Oh right. A wave of energy passed over her, setting her back into her uniform and she fished it out of her jacket to hand it to him. "It would suck way less if I wasn't on my own but I won't make you go."

<Shinobi> "Well, he can't complain if it's for one of his own charities, can he?" He read over the invitation. Black tie. "I'll take a look at my files and see if I can take the night off, okay?"

<Carol> "Thank you, that would be awesome... I hate going to these things... no one else ever comes." She gave him a genuine smile, "The press thing before is a whole other pain in the ass but those I can do."

<Shinobi> "I'll... hide. From that part." He chuckled and started for the kitchen to get himself some coffee.

<Carol> "You can absolutely do that. No judgement," she assured him, "Want me to tell them to send a car to pick you up?" she followed him to the kitchen, Chewie trotting behind them both and meowing at their backs. "Hmm... I guess I should feed you now..."

<Shinobi> "Even alien kitties gotta eat," he said, opening the coffee tin and giving it a sniff even though he knew what was in it. "Yeah, that sounds good. It'll give me a little extra time with my files."

<Carol> "Normally I'd feed her later but I won't be here..." She took out Chewie's bowl and food to sort that out for her, "Don't want her trying to feed herself... all those tentacles everywhere..."

<Shinobi> Obi nearly dropped the carafe of water before he could refill the pot. "Nope, we definitely don't want that." He gave the cat a sidelong look and decided he was definitely going tonight, if only to not be alone with that cat.

<Carol> His reaction made her smirk and shake her head, "Chewie, don't try to eat Obi while I'm not here, okay?" Chewie mrrrrowed at her and wound her way around Obi's legs.

<Shinobi> He froze and let the cat have her way with his legs. "Thanks, Chewie?"

<Carol> That made her laugh, "She likes you. You're safe," she reached to pat his shoulder, "If she didn't like you, you'd know by now. She doesn't like Jess at all, it's kind of hilarious."

<Shinobi> "Well, that's a relief." Maybe. It might just mean he'd get tentacled in his sleep instead of wide awake. "Why wouldn't she like Jess?"

<Carol> Carol shrugged, "I don't know... maybe its the pheromones or something... but she goes crazy all angry kitty mode." She set Chewie's bowl down for her and petted the space cat while she nommed her dinner.

<Shinobi> "I'm glad she likes me then," he said, dumping the water into the pot and flipping it on when the cat abandoned him for her dinner.

<Carol> "At least she doesn't hate her enough to deploy the tentacles..." she added as she put the cat food away. "So we know there are different levels for her..."

<Shinobi> "Yeah, I'm good with never seeing the tentacles. No offense, Chewie." He watched the space cat eat, ignoring all conversation.

<Carol> "I feel like they're for emergencies only so you're probably safe... or if you need to see them you won't care because the other thing'll be worse," she reasoned out.

<Shinobi> "Emergencies. So, like, Rogue." He made a face.

<Carol> "Apparently... Chewie thinks I need supervision. So I figured that was her protecting me from something I was afraid of..."

<Shinobi> "Does Tony count as something you're afraid of, or just Rogue?" He was still watching the cat, half listening to his coffee percolate.

<Carol> She shook her head, "Why should I be afraid of Tony? We have a great relationship with each other."

<Shinobi> "I don't know, I was just thinking since he showed up playing dad of the year to check up on us."

<Carol> She gave a soft laugh, "It was a surprise... but we get along well, so it's easy to just talk it out... he's a reasonable guy if you tell it to him straight... even if someone else tries to shove you under the bus."

<Shinobi> "A reasonable guy," he laughed. Unlike his daughter. "What, Rogue tried to shove you under the bus?"

<Carol> "Oh yeah, big time." She sighed and leaned against the counter, "After he was here being all 'what are your intentions for my son-in-law?' she decided to just casually mention my feelings for you so he came back here and interrogated me about that under the excuse of fixing Jarvis. That was a super un-fun afternoon because Heather also accidentally outed me as alien."

<Shinobi> "Oh. Well, shit." He wasn't sure what else to say about that. "Did Tony care that you're an alien?"

<Carol> "He was mostly upset that Fury kept it from him," Carol shrugged a shoulder, "I explained the reasons for that and he kind of had to agree with them so I don't think there's gonna be any trouble from that."

<Shinobi> "Yeah, he likes to think he knows what Fury knows and I think Fury just likes to let him believe it." Obi shook his head. "It's good he's okay with it. With you, I mean."

<Carol> "Yeah... I was worried he was going to take me up on my offer to go back to DC... but he wants me to keep leading the team so that's what I'm going to do... hence..." she gestured at her outfit.

<Shinobi> "You couldn't con any of the actual team members to go to this with you?"

<Carol> She shook her head, "Nope... and I don't want to make them go... no one wants to be there it'd just be worse that way..."

<Shinobi> "You know, bribery works wonders..." He smirked and cocked his head, reminding himself not to look her over.

<Carol> "Okay sure but who are my options? If I bring Andi, then we bring Silence and have to spend all evening apologising for the weird shit she says. If I bring Beth she's gonna be high. Tandy's too shy and Bobby is dealing with way too much personal shit right now and I'm pretty sure if I ask Jean to come she'd bring Jamie and then I'd still be on my own so..."

<Shinobi> "I don't think I've met Andi, so I have no idea who that is." He laughed and shook his head, checking on the coffee. "Bobby's personal shit is his own fault. He should do it."

<Carol> She shook her head, "He's gonna have his fill of boring shit now he's Rhodey's bodyguard..."

<Shinobi> "Rhodey's bodyguard, huh? They decided to reassign him?" Obi swallowed, taking longer than necessary to check that coffee so he wouldn't get lost worrying about Hope.

<Carol> "They had to... being on government babysitting duty is what's keeping his ass out of jail."

<Shinobi> "Oh right, for his little murder spree."

<Carol> "Yep," she nodded, "Life is super complicated..." she glanced at the coffee machine as it finally finished sputtering. "I'm sure they'll swap him back when Hope comes home from her adventure."

<Shinobi> "I'm sure," he said, giving her a wan smile that showed how much faith he had in it.

<Carol> She frowned a little in sympathy, "She'll come back... she has to..."

<Shinobi> "Does she? I mean, there's as good of a chance as any that she'll never find anything and just decide to stay with David, living the adventurer's life."

<Carol> "She can't just leave you here... she made a commitment... that's not fair on you."

<Shinobi> "Since when is life fair?"

<Carol> "That isn't just the universe shitting on you..." she sighed and looked away before she said things she'd probably regret later. "Nevermind... forget I said anything."

<Shinobi> "Why not, it's been plenty shitty before?"

<Carol> "It doesn't matter..." she shook her head, "I don't have the right to say what's in my brain so... can we just change the subject?"

<Shinobi> "Why not?" He fetched a coffee mug, then thought about it and got another. "Why shouldn't you say what's in your brain?"

<Carol> "Because Hope's your wife and I'm standing in her house?"

<Shinobi> "Yeah, but Hope's not here. She hasn't been here for weeks." He poured coffee into both mugs and handed her one.

<Carol> She took the mug and looked down at the liquid inside, watching the steam curl on the surface, "She wasn't really here before that either..."

<Shinobi> "Not always, no." He sighed. "It's like when she was reminded I was here, she'd pay attention, but otherwise..."

<Carol> "She's taking you for granted... I hate that... it's not fair... after everything you guys went through..." she pulled a face and lifted her coffee for a sip because she should stop talking.

<Shinobi> Obi nodded. "I know. You're not saying anything I haven't already thought a hundred times."

<Carol> "Why do you let her do that?" she looked at him, "I know you love her... I get that... but, I don't know... I think she uses that against you so she can do what she wants and know you'll still be here waiting for her to get her head out of her ass..."

<Shinobi> "I can't really argue that, but it's just how she is. Part of what I love about her is that she goes after what she wants, and fixates on the mission, it just stings when you're not the mission of the moment."

<Carol> "You don't deserve to be forgotten about and left behind like that... no one does..." she shook her head, "You should be first in her brain all the time."

<Shinobi> "I'm near the top, it's just that no one is more important than whatever she's doing at the time." He shrugged and took a sip of coffee.

<Carol> "I get focusing... but at the end of the day when she goes home and when she wakes up in the morning?" she sighed and turned for the hallway, "I'm sorry... it's none of my business..."

<Shinobi> "When she's here, things are fine, but of course she's gone." He sighed too. "It's fine. It's hard to avoid talking about it considering the situation. I should get back to work so I can get away tonight to keep you company."

<Carol> "I'll let them know they need to pick you up..." she offered him a small smile over her shoulder, "I have to leave soon..."

<Shinobi> "Have fun with the press, tell them to keep their drones to themselves."

<Carol> "You don't think all the pieces on the sidewalk is a big enough hint?" her smile became a grin, "I'll save it for another time otherwise they'll just get all sidetracked by our non existent scandalous affair."

<Shinobi> "Have fun shooting them down then," he said, cocking a finger gun and pointing it at her as he turned to go back to his office.

<Carol> "If I'm not here, Chewie'll get 'em," she assured him, "I'll see you in a few hours, I guess...."

[Esynthia]

Now I want to know what Chewie does when she's alone in the house with Obi LOL