Starring:
Summary: Team Gunn has a pre-holiday feast.
Date It Happened: December 22, 2001
Punch And Pie
Team Gunn Lair
"Kick! Good job! Now, Punch! Nice, nice! Kick!"
Charles Gunn, leader of Team Gunn, is standing to the side of a group of younger teens… as they play PaRappa the Rapper. Training, apparently, is over for the day… evening… and now he's decided to let them have a little down time. Whatever teen is playing at the moment, on the mostly busted up television, seems to be doing a good enough job. Considering.
A rare moment of peace for Team Gunn.
Ava could cook. After all, it's the holiday season, and she knows how. But it goes against her principles see, to actually do manual house-wife-y labor if she can help it. So a few carefully planned thefts from a couple of homeless shelters and one catering van resulted in her arrival of a shopping cart full of already cooked food - turkey and ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce, even a couple of pies. The witch is setting it up in one corner, undoubtedly distracting Gunn's would-be trainees from their efforts. Besides, they aren't likely to see this much food again in a while.
Reggie emerges from shadows in the back, wiping her hands off on a filthy shop towel which just seems to be spreading the grease around rather than actually wiping it off. But she doesn't seem to mind. Drawn both by the sounds of … apparently not training but some video game, and the smell of a proper feast, she lingers on the periphery a moment, just looking around at those gathered here. When her hands are as clean as they're going to get without the aid of some actual soap and water, she tucks one end of the towel into her pocket, letting the rest hang down.
Eventually, the one teen ends up losing the game and Gunn checks the clock. "Aight. That's it. Go get washed up, guys." And he's snatching the beat up playstation controller, before sending the teens on their way. After all, there's food to be chowing down on shortly. The TV is unplugged, so it doesn't burn the place down and he's on his way over towards Ava, tossing a nod in Reggie's direction. "Hey Reg." And his feet continue on over to Ava, so that he can see if he can snatch a piece of something good. "This looks amazing, Ava." Distractionary statement and reach!
Ava smacks Gunn's hand with a scoop spoon. "Bad Gunn!" she chides, and goes about fixing up a pair of plates. "Wait until they get back. You can go first, though." she promises. The two plates are covered and set to the side; means to feed hers and Nicolae's faces later. "Alright," she says and calls out, "Coooome and geeeet iiiiiiit!" Cue rush of devouring locusts - err, hungry teens.
Reggie offers a little wave at Gunn's greeting, and that seems to be enough recognition to get her to drift further into the room, still a little awkward about it. And then having to step more lively as the more enthusiastic begin to swarm, causing her to scoot to one side. "That's a lot of food," she observes, seeming impressed. "It smells good."
Gunn actually has his plate and is ready to get to chowing down, while trying to shake off the pain from the scoop-slap he recently received. And now he's already rolling the plate from one hand to the other as he holds it out for Reggie, at the same time moving out of the way of the teens that are all over the place and getting ready to chow down like crazy. "Then you better dig in." Yeah. Santa Gunn is making sure all of his people eat before he does.
"I actually managed to get the catering van guy to give me two hams." Ava says proudly. "So I left that with Anne." For th teen center, no doubt. At the moment she's mother henning over a table loaded with stuff she stole/conned off of a catering van and a couple of homeless shelters. Hey, kids have to eat! Two covered plates are set to the side, which she is guarding fiercely.
Reggie takes the offered plate with a grin, lifting it over the heads of those shorter as she tries to get out of their way, managing to at least get over to one side where the rush is quieter. "We were just talking about Christmas feasts," she remarks to no one in particular. "I didn't think I'd have one." Ava's words sink in and she gets a nod. "Two hams would feed a lot of people."
"As long as my people eat, that's all I'm worried 'bout." But a nod is given from Gunn to Ava in regards to the whole Teen Center thing. "I should stop by. Say happy holidays and all that." Yeah, that's something that needs to get on his To Do List. He''s going to have to make the Christmas rounds and maybe even check in with Angel Investigations to make sure they're not all dead. His phone hasn't had a Missed Call from them in a while. Hrm. "Hey! No fightin'! Everybody's gonna' eat!" is shouted at a couple of knuckleheads.
Some days, Nicolae seems like he's fresh off the metaphorical boat and other times it seems like he's missed it entirely. It's not as though he wasn't notified about the holiday dinner. He's answered his phone and had conversations, twice, about it, and still he shows up late. And it doesn't look like he brought anything to eat. Rather, he tromps in looking slightly bedraggled and carrying a burnt out hunk of metal and plastic that still roughly conforms to the shape of a chainsaw, and still vents plumes of smoke whenever its bouncing upon his shoulder pulls at the crack in the casing. He wanders into the midst of the proceedings, and drops the ruined power tool into the nearest wastebasket before acknowledging the others, despite having had to walk past a few of his teammates along the way. "Is no good," he declares, pointing to the mess in the trash can. "In movies, they make it look like good idea." After raising his voice to offer this public service announcement he looks at the spread on the table, enthusiasm lighting the shadows beneath his brow.
Ava as per usual, gets the completely dopey smile that generally accompanies the arrival of Nicolae when he's been away from her longer than say, half an hour. She quickly moves to pick up the first of the two plates she fixed up, and holds it out temptingly. "Chainsaws are messy." she points out philosophically. "They're unwieldy and when you run out of gas, you're screwed."
Reggie has just begun chowing down, using her greasy fingers because, well, it's just grease, right? When Nicolae comes storming in, he catches her attention - or rather, the busted machinery does. "What did you do to it?" she asks, curious rather than accusing, trying to extricate herself from the tussling teens to go and rescue it from the garbage, plate still in one hand. Even if it's irreparable, she could probably still salvage some parts. Maybe. No harm in trying, anyway.
Gunn just seems to stand back and admire at this point. His teens are eating and Nicolae has been doing some destruction. Maybe his team's not so doomed after all. "Now you see why I stick to the axes and the swords." Gunn offers with a small chuckle, before snatching up a piece of meat from somebody's plate as they pass by and he nibbles on it. He's actually happy. This is turning out to be a good night.
"Messy!" Nicolae agrees, raising a declarative finger, "But fun!" The atmosphere of the gathering is contagious, and it's to the point where he can feel that little melty smile he wins from Ava whenever he shows up late for something, and it's all conspiring to shift his archetypal behavior, at least for the night, from 'scowling guy with the funny accent' to 'boisterous foreigner-guy'. His smile has entrenched itself securely into features that tend to default to brooding when they're not axe-murdererish with the scowling intensity of his concentration. "For two minutes, you feel like death god!" That was how long it took for monster goop to gum up the works, evidently. From that point, as Reggie will discover with her research, it was used as a bludgeon. He turns to offer an emphatic nod to Gunn, and reaches for the plate Ava hands to him, leaning forward to aim a quick, sloppy kiss toward whatever part of her face he can impact with before addressing the demands of his belly and peeking under the topmost plate to see what she's set aside for his dinner.
A slice of ham, a turkey leg, some stuffing, and some cranberry sauce await Nicolae's dining pleasure. The sloppy kiss is returned emphatically; by now most of the team is accustomed to the frequency with which Nicolae and Ava swap spit. And once Nicolae has his dinner, Ava picks up hers. "There's pie for afterward." she tells them all and notes casually to Gunn, "I stopped by the Hyperion today. I gave Wesley a reading. He's a very nice man."
Reggie has by now set down her plate so that she can heft the broken chainsaw from the garbage and give it a closer look. "Well, you killed this," she points out, to Nicolae's 'death god' comment. She mutters something consolingly to the chainsaw, setting it lightly down on the ground and giving it a comforting pat before she straightens back up, wipes her hands on the towel dangling from her pocket, and then picks her plate back up. "I don't think I can fix it, but it has parts." That's her way of requesting no one put it /back/ in the garbage please. Turning back, she perks at the mention of pie, but it's short-lived, replace by an expression somewhat wary as readings come up.
"Yeah? How is he? Everything all good?" Gunn may sounds just a bit more worried than he should, but that's because he's been neglecting the A.I. quad in lieu of this one. It's a very hard thing to do, balancing both groups that he cares about so much. It's not easy on him, in case anybody thinks it is. He hasn't even made himself a plate from what's left as the pie is mentioned and that has taken all of his attention. "… What kinda' pie?"
Nicolae expresses his approval of the meal with an enthusiastic grunt, and then reaches across a nearby table for some utensils to eat with. He smiles around a mouthful of turkey as he straightens, content to stand and eat and look around at everyone as he savors the atmosphere and the flavors in equal measure. He chuckles soundlessly as Reggie laments the state of the dead chainsaw, offering up an apologetic shrug. In unison with Gunn he turns toward Ava again at the mention of pie, this time making a querying sound around a mouthful of stuffing. Pie?
"Pumpkin and apple." Ava supplies helpfully, and catches Reggie's look. "Oh for heaven's sake, Reggie. It's not like I was floating pencils or turning him into a rodent." (Can she do that? Yes.) She looks back to Gunn. "He's fine. He gave me some helpful info about a warlock who might potentially be trouble. I'll be taking precautions. Though I hadn't realized the vampire you went on about was Angelus." Her tone is casual. "He's got a nasty tendency of murdering women in my family, in case you didn't know."
"I didn't say anything," Reggie points out with a twitchy, abrupt shrug, promptly stuffing in another mouthful of food before she /can/ say something and make herself a liar. Of course, she lets her tone make it clear that there are, perhaps, things that could be said. "If he's a warlock, I'd say he's already trouble." Damn, she swallowed that mouthful too fast. Oh look, there's more food here. Though she drops her steely gaze to her plate, she hasn't stopped paying attention to the conversation, following it more raptly than she usually bothers.
"Far as I know, he's only Angelus after sex. So as long as he stays Without Some, I won't have to turn him into a pile of dust." Gunn maybe didn't know the historical ramifications of working with the vampire that murdered people in the clan of his teammate, but he sure has heck can make sure she knows he'll take him out if he has to. That's always been something he's had to consider and make sure he's able to do anyway. His eyes pull over to Reggie and he nods. "Agreed. Maybe we can get to him before he gets to us?" That last question is poised to the group at large. Warlocks are nasty dudes to deal with.
Nicolae grunts again, loudly, and bobs his head at the mention of the warlock. There's a momentary pause in his chewing as he looks up, poised to comment, and then looks back down again. He's got his mouth full right now. When the subject changes to Angel he looks up again, back and forth between Ava and Gunn…and then decides to leave well enough alone there. "Warlocks are easy," he declares once his mouth isn't full. "Take them by surprise, they bleed well enough. Or to be safe, burn down house, warlock runs out.." He makes a finger-gun and drops the imaginary hammer as he whispers, "Pow. Solved."
"It's a bad idea to start a war with a warlock." Ava says, her mouth curling at the odd pattern of her word choice. "I might try to tighten our mystical defenses around here. And my own personal ones." She languidly looks toward Nicolae. He's so adorable when he's contemplating violence. Then back to Gunn, "He's Angelus if he achieves a moment of perfect happiness. His curse is to have a soul so he feels remorse and regret for all the pain he's inflicted and lives he's taken."
Reggie glances between them without lifting her head, following the conversation, trying to keep up, though neither topic is one she likes. What works best for vampires is killing them. "I will add some traps," she decides. "Tighten our … other defences." She just manages to refrain from saying their /actual/ defences. "If you want," she adds in deference to Gunn. "What does the warlock want?" She makes it sound like a dirty word. She takes another mouthful of food, having mostly finished her plate by now, and drifts back towards the table to set it down.
"Done and done." is offered to both Ava and Reggie, as he thinks both of them are capable of making sure that Team Gunn's Lair is protected in all the ways possible. Physically and Mystically, never let it be said that Gunn isn't one to use the resources available to him and all of that good stuff. He nods to Ava, though, understanding her stance. "I hear you, Ava. And you can bet that the next time he goes Bad Dog, I'm puttin' him down. You have my word."
"Is only war," Nicolae corrects patiently, "If enemy lives to hit back. Otherwise? Is good business." He hails from a dwindling clan of dedicated demon hunters who answer out of superstitious deferrence to the Khalderash clan, and it's for precisely this reason that they do. Left to their own devices they'd do a whole lot of damage in the process of getting themselves extinct, and there'd be that many fewer demon hunters. Exercising restraint has always been someone else's job. Aaaaaaaanyway.
Upon having the tale of Angelus's curse summarized, he tilts his head toward Ava while spearing a slice of ham from his plate. "Coppersmiths," he murmurs bemusedly. "Is best to stay on their good side."
Ava says archly, "Good to know, Gunn. The warlock's name is Seth Ward. He carries a cane, and has previously owned a male tortoise shell cat that's apparently special in some way. He doesn't like the fact that I don't quake in my tiny little boots when he talks to me, and he's a racist." So there. "I'm not going to hex him, but I'm going to make damn sure that if he comes after me, he'll regret it."
Reggie gives a nod as Gunn gives her the go ahead, already starting to ponder on what can be done. Which involves a bit of murmuring thoughtfully to herself before she realizes and stops abruptly, tuning back into the conversation. "Good. That's something we agree on then," she replies to Ava's last. Even if their methods of making him regret it might differ. But she's all about making him regret whatever it is he might do.
"Speakin' of dust… I should probably get on patrol." Gunn remarks, already making his way to the weapons wall. He's going to need to get some dusting in tonight. "Thanks again for the eats, Ava." is tossed over his shoulder, as he snatches up his axe and props it on the same shoulder. "And if I see this warlock, I'll be sure to introduce him to my axe. Repeatedly." Grinning, he's already moving towards the door. Not really wanting to ask for people to join him, since it's 'holiday' time. People should get the chance to relax. "Just somebody stash me a piece of apple pie!"
"Save some for me!" Nicolae insists of Gunn as the other man makes ready to head out, offering their leader a quick salute. He looks for a moment as if tempted to volunteer to tag along, but then glances down at his plate, and then at Ava, and then at the ruin of the chainsaw. He wouldn't admit it, but he's a little winded after his own little adventure. "South is clear," he informs Gunn, gesturing vaguely in that direction. "Or was, before."
"Don't be silly, " Ava tells Nicolae, "I won't let you go without pie." A few of the teens make gagging noises and Ava gives them a look and makes a waggly finger gesture at them. They quiet down, but continue to grin. "I'll cut a slice for you, Gunn." she promises. Then she looks over to Reggie. "We should talk about it. Make sure our efforts don't conflict with each other."
"Be careful," Reggie says simply to Gunn, rubbing absently at a splotch of grease on her elbow. She ignores the sentimentality between Ava and Nicolae, to the point of looking distractedly puzzled at the reaction it gets from some of the teens. "We can talk," she replies cautiously, nodding in slow agreement. "I wouldn't want to cause conflicts." There might be a second meaning to that. "And I haven't ever trapped a warlock before. I would want to do it right the first time." Because trying and failing to trap a warlock doesn't seem prudent.
"Lock up when I'm gone." Gunn tells one of the side TG Members as he gives one last wave to the crew and disappears into the corridor leading to the depths of the Badlands. Off to fight evil!
Meanwhile, Nicolae is not off to fight evil, unless it's taken the form of stuffing on his plate. "<I meant for Gunn to save me some warlock to make a trophy from,>" he clarifies for Ava in Romany.
Ava makes a face at Nicolae. "That's barbaric!" she says to him in English, then pauses. "Well, warlock's eyes might be worth something on the occult market. And we might be able to manage a hand of glory…" she blinks, shakes her head. "No, that's bad. Bad Nicu." The grin she gives him is almost too naughty for tv. She looks back to Reggie. "Do you know if any of your traps will run on electricity?" she inquires, back to business.
Reggie arches an eyebrow at Ava's response to the foreign language. When it turns into more occult talk, she lets out a little sigh through her nose, but makes no more complaint than that. No, she'll stay focussed. While she's so often oblivious, that grin is naughty enough to get her notice, and she glances away for a moment. "Electricity?" she goes on with a thoughtful frown. "Yeah, maybe. If I could run a wire… So long as we were all grounded…" Right, someone else is in this conversation. She looks back over at Ava. "Does electricity cause problems with your…?" She makes a jerk of her hand instead of using the word.
Nicolae has the gall to look smug as he's scolded by Ava, smiling happily as he cleans his plate to make room for pie. When there's nothing left but the turkey leg, he picks that up to accost with a vigorous appetite. He listens attentively as the talk turns to things he actually knows a little bit about, his gaze switching back and forth between Ava and Reggie as the latter poses her question. He's keeping his mouth full and listening along quite contentedly.
"Magic?" Ava fills in the blank. "It's a tool, you know. It's not inherently evil of itself. It's like one of your hammers. You can use it to build a house, or bash someone's head in. And electricity can interfere, but if I know how you're using it, I can accomodate."
Ava absently reaches out, and assuming Nic's sat down to eat his food, lets her fingers sink into his hair, like scritching a particularly viscious docile who's only docile out of personal choice for the moment.
"We don't fight rogue carpenters," Reggie points out wisely. Or nonsensically, depending on how well one can follow her train of thought. "I'll use some," she continues as if without interruption. "Not a lot. I'd have to figure out voltage if you need that…" She moves back a few steps, finding a wall to lean back against.
Nicolae has in fact found an empty seat near Ava, and keeps his plate poised beneath his mouth as he decimates the meat from the turkey leg in his hand. This does little to dispel impressions of him as a dangerous animal kept heeled by the girl's affection. "I fight anyone who causes me problems," he claims casually in between bites. "Do you need help with traps? I know some things." It's implied by his tone that he doesn't know much, just that he's willing to lend Reggie a hand. After Ava's done playing with his hair, of course. He's going nowhere as long as she does that.
Ava shakes her head. "Just show me where and how when it's raiding, so my energy doesn't cross with yours. Like in the Ghostbusters movie." She gives Reggie a faint smile. "You should take him up. He's good."
"Me too," Reggie allows, supposing that she /would/ fight a rogue carpenter if one showed up looking for trouble. "Help is good. I'll collect some supplies and be here tomorrow." She looks back up at Ava then, nodding her head. "You can come too, if you'd like. You'll be able to see how it works. Or I can just give you the schematics once we're done." Because everyone knows how to read those, right?
"Excellent," Nicolae agrees. "I will be here." He nods resolutely, but carefully so as to not dislodge Ava's fingers. By now he's stripped the turkey leg down nearly to the bone.
Ava is amused. "He's like a vulture, isn't he?" She rolls her eyes and then defers, "I can read schematics like you can read Ancient Babylonian." Her tone is ruefully kidding. "Once you get it sorted out, just take some time and explain to me what it's going to do and where it's going to go, and I'll adapt."
"At least there's no waste," Reggie allows with a bit of a grin, before returning her attention to the matter at hand. There's some … not surprise, exactly, but realization, when Ava point out that reading schematics isn't going to work. "All right. I'll show you once we're done then. That'll be easier. I sometimes make things up as I go," she admits. "Sometimes the pieces just fit."
Conceding with a grunt and a nod that he is as fluent with schematics as Ava, as in, not, Nicolae then lets himself chuckle at comparisons to a vulture and polishes off the last scraps of meat from the bone in his hand. As if to back up Reggie's comment he holds it up to display, cleaned of anything that might possibly yield nourishment.
"Now, that I understand." Ava says cheerfully. Regarding Reggie a moment she says, "Look. I get that you've got something against magic, and you're entitled to your opinion. But I'm not going to hide who I am. Maybe that means we won't get along as well as we could, but I'm hoping you'll decide otherwise." To Nicolae, "You want your pie now?"
Nicolae gets a grin when he shows off his handiwork, though Reggie sobers as Ava goes on. "I don't trust it," she replies candidly. "It makes the bad worse than it makes the good better. It doesn't take much to use it wrongly. And I don't understand it. I can't trust something if I can't see how it works." She pushes her hand back through the mop of hair. "But if you can make this place safer, then I'll work with you," she goes on with a shrug. "I promised to help, not hinder."
"Yes, please," Nicolae replies to Ava, looking up at her with a smile few outside this building, or even really this conversation, are ever likely to see. He then leans back slightly to pitch the fleshless leg bone into the trash, and holds up his plate to accept a helping of pie. "We Lakatos take a dim view on magic, mostly," he says to Reggie. "We would rather the coppersmiths leave it be, but they insist. So," he shrugs, "We let them. But only them. You can trust Ava. She is careful. Anyone else? Probably best to stay away."
"It's true, it's been in my family hundreds - if not thousands of years." Ava concedes. "I grew up learning it at the feet of my mother and grandmother; or as we say, my baba. She's a powerful old thing, and all the men are afraid of her." She can't help grinning. "She's the only person I've ever seen take Nicolae by his ear and wheel him around like a misbehaving monkey. I was seventeen. She caught us making out behind one of the trailers." Who knew the old bat had such a grip? "I see things. If I see something for you, I'm going to tell you about it. Not to cause strife, but to help prevent it. You understand?" Ava serenely doles out pie to Nicolae, and then turns to Reggie, holding up a second plate. "Apple, or pumpkin?"
Reggie glances down at Nicolae, seeming to actually consider his words in vouching for Ava's use of magic. Not that she's ever likely to actually trust it; she remains wary still, following the conversation carefully but delicately. Still, despite the seriousness of the topic, the mental image of Nicolae getting wrenched around by the ear does get a quick grin from her. "I hope that you are careful. But sometimes it's the tools you think you can control that get away from you without your noticing. Any tool can be used wrongly, true, but some do a lot more damage." She shrugs then, considering the matter of pie. "Pumpkin, I think. And you can tell me whatever you want to tell me. I like honesty. I just … don't like magic."
With widened eyes, Nicolae looks up at Reggie and mouths the words 'absolutely terrifying' with exaggerated clarity as Ava describes her baba. His free hand strays to his ear as he winces at the memory. He's quick to drown his sorrows in pie, digging in eagerly as his mood brightens. He glances up at Reggie again as she puts the final word in on her dislike of magic, offering up a lopsided shrug and a faint, musical sound of agreement. He then sets his plate on the table and reaches back to slip an arm around Ava, a measure he deems 'preventive maintenance'. "The Sight is different from magic," he offers. "When she Sees, it is…" he falls back on the notion that no one really expects him to have much of a vocabulary in the first place, "…different," he concludes with a shrug. Then, back to rubbing Ava's back and eating pie. Both at the same time, because he is very skilled.
Pie is handed off to Reggie, pumpkin for herself as well. Then Nicolae's rubbing Ava's back, and her spine straightens like a cat arching its back. She too eats. "It's true." she says. "Magic is an act of the will. The visions come as they want, though sometimes divination helps me tap it a little."
Reggie's grin turns sympathetic as Nicolae nurses his ear, reaching forward to take the offered plate. "Thanks," she replies, studying the pie thoughtfully for a moment as she considers this new information. "Doesn't it frighten you? Something like that happening, beyond your control, beyond understanding. It would frighten me," she's not ashamed to admit. She carefully cuts off the tip of the pie and eats it before looking back up. Seeing the two so familiar and comfortable together gets a thoughtful look of a different type. "I should really start my plans," she decides, beginning to stir into action.
Proving that he's not the only one to be easily pacified by a touch, Nicolae dons a mildly triumphant grin as Ava responds to him. Neither of them has been especially testy tonight, so it's not quite as noticeable. "You get used to it," He offers to Reggie. "Much of my life is beyond control, and understanding. After a while, it takes away guesswork. Sun still rises on time. Nothing changes, really." When she announces her departure he offers her a quick salute, a sharp upward jerk of his chin since both his hands are busy. "Tomorrow," he declares, pointing with his fork, "I will be here to help."
"I can see how it would be scary." Ava says. "But it's been part of my life for so long that I can't see magic as inherently so. I used to try to be normal, but I wanted it too much." She smiles fondly at Nicolae, and looks to Reggie. "Good night." she says. "We'll see you tomorrow."
Reggie seems skeptical that she will ever get used to these things, but gives a nod after a moment. A thoughtful smirk then to Ava's comment. "Normal," she repeats, like a foreign word. "I'm not sure what that is. I don't think anyone I know qualifies." So it's not just the magic that takes away normal. "Tomorrow then. I'll see you both then. If you find any big sheets of metal, bring them." There's no explanation offered as to why before she starts heading back off towards the shadows, plate still in hand.
As the lamentations of lost normalcy begin, Nicolae gives Ava a brief, apologetic glance and smiles softly, catching her look in turn. He turns his attention to Reggie, furrowing his brow as he considers the instructions given. "I know where to find some," he says. And by 'find' he probably means 'acquire through means other people frown upon'. But he'll have something for the cause tomorrow morning, one way or the other.
Ava takes a few quick bites of her pie, but doesn't eat the crust. She's that kind of girl. Instead, she plops down on Nicolae's lap. "Home?" she queries.
Nicolae settles his arm around Ava, pulling her close against his chest as he finishes off Ava's pie and his own and then, only then, responds with, "Home, yes."
