nexus_sages | Sibling Rivalries: Chili Edition

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Current Location: VSW Meadhall, the forum
Current Music: Lindsey Stirling "Roundtable Rival"

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Sibling Rivalries: Chili Edition

Flyers have been going up around the Forum and Commercial District for the last week or so. This morning,the lights in the VSW Meadhall came on. By noon, anyone getting close enough to an open door would know: chili's on!

Inside, everything's set up and waiting for the hungry and the curious: Clint's cooking in one corner, and Verity's in the other. Between them, tables are laid out with the necessities: bowls, plates, spoons, and plenty of napkins. There's beer and iced tea, some lovely tres leches cakes provided by the Nexus' favorite Japanese detective, and various toppings for the chili: bottles of sriracha and sweet Thai chili sauce, red pepper flakes, green onions and red, lime wedges, diced bell peppers and jalapeños, crumbled bacon, shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream. Cornbread and tortilla chips round things out.

Long tables with a mix of benches and chairs fill the hall on either side of the fire pits. One has board and card games stacked neatly at one end (they were neat when they were put out, at least). Another has two boxes, one wrapped in purple paper and one in pink, for depositing voting slips.

Poll #17301 1st Annual Chili Cook-Off

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 7

View Respondents

Who gets your vote?

View Answers

Clint--Avengers Assemble!
3 (42.9%)

Truthfully? Verity.
4 (57.1%)

The fire pits are lit, the food is waiting, and there are games in want of players. What are you waiting for?
((There will doubtless be further Cupid-based shenanigans, but this weekend, it's all about the platonic relationships. Bromances, BFFs, and family ties rule the day! Let's celebrate! Threadhopping, tangents, games, and mischief are all encouraged. Just don't start a food fight or Verity will have to yell.))

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Kaz seems perfectly content to let her puzzle over his flirtation. His gaze wanders back over the gathering crowd. "I gotta say, this is the first time I've enjoyed chili with this much pageantry. What does the winner get out of this?"

She glances around as well; she hadn't thought this was pageantry so much as not daring to invite everyone over to the tower for this. But she supposes he wouldn't know about that. "Mostly, bragging rights. And he'll make me his special waffles filled with bacon if I win."

Miller gives a low, impressed whistle. "Well, shit. Now that I know how high the stakes are, this is gonna be that much harder."

He sets down his beer long enough to take an initial taste, which results in appreciative nodding. "I'm getting some mole vibes from this. You throw a little chocolate in there?"

"I know, we ask so much of you," she sighs. The teasing might be less obvious if she weren't smirking so much.

"I did!" She's impressed he can tell. "Bittersweet chocolate and a little cinnamon. The trick is to toast the cinnamon before adding it to the pot."

"Mmmm! Really rounds out the flavor," he manages between a couple more bites.

"I swear to god, if I go back to base and have to eat another bite of luke-warm canned chili after this ambrosia ..." Another swallow is chased by a swig of beer. "Ain't gonna be pretty."

He might be exaggerating a little, but he is really hungry and the mess hall food is depressingly lackluster.

"Thank you." She gives the chili and the extra hot sauce some attention while he's eating. If someone built her a pot-stirring robot, she would love them forever.

"Aw. I'll hope they don't serve chili for a while, so it doesn't mar your memories of today." He's laying it on thick, but that just makes it a game for her. "And, you know, there's always the hope of chili yet to come. The future could hold all kinds of things."

She's heard about military-grade sustenance. She wouldn't call it food.

"You know, we could reduce the likelihood of that happening," he says with a sideways glance. "You could always enlist as our lead chef. Flexible salary, medical benefits, paid leave."

He waggles his eyebrows. "Did I mention our base is in the Caribbean?"

"Mm, tempting. I like the job I have now, but if this museum thing doesn't work out, it's good to know I have options."

Ver in any kind of military environment would end badly. To say she doesn't deal well with authority figures is putting it mildly, like saying the ocean's a little damp.

Oh boy, but she would be so helpful in an interrogation. If Miller had any idea, he might be reduced to begging.

"Museum, huh? Doesn't sound nearly as exciting--" Kaz tries to play down his surprise at an extra spicy bite. He clears his throat and has a drink, but his voice is still hoarse. "... but suit yourself."

Wouldn't she just? How in the world SHIELD classified her as 'basically useless' is a mystery for the ages.

She's not smirking at him. Really. She's smirking at that column behind him. Yeah.

"Maybe not. But I've had enough excitement for a while. You okay?"

She could make the process a lot less painless. No more bamboo manicures! Maybe.

"Just got some extra kick there. I'll live." At least the shades hide the watering eyes. Another swig of beer and he's mostly recovered.

"Whew... Excitement around here, or back at home?"

Less painful for everyone else, maybe. She doesn't miss the constant headaches.

"Mm, I should hope. Otherwise, I'm going to have to suspect Clint did something... and worry about you, of course." It'd be the other way around, but she doesn't need to advertise what a sap she is.

She doesn't exactly want to answer that question, but... she suspects he already knows part of it. "There is no 'back at home' anymore."

"And for my next trick, I will proceed to stick my foot directly in my mouth..." Kaz mutters.

He inhales sharply through his teeth. "Jesus. Let's uh, just rewind the tape a little and pretend I didn't ask that."

His tone veers back around to its earlier cheeriness. "Tell me about this museum instead!"

"No, it's okay, you didn't know. I just. It hasn't been very long."

But yes, talking about something else is a good idea. "My boss, Schön, has a considerable art collection that he's decided to share with the public. So right now we're scouting locations and trying to decide if we want to renovate or build new. I suspect we'll do some of each. The collection's pretty diverse, so splitting it up wouldn't ruin the experience I don't think. But that's a debate for the curators, I'm just handling the business side of things."

It's worse than Kaz may have feared: she's an accountant. And she likes it.

Miller listens, tucking into more chili.

"I can't imagine how, ah... interesting negotiating real estate must be around here. You need any help slogging through paperwork and crunching numbers, let me know. That's half my job." She's not the only closeted accountant around these parts, shhh.

"Is the collection gonna stay in this Nexus area, or were you scoping out places in -- you know -- normal dimensions, too?"

"It has its challenges," she agrees. "I'm still not entirely sure how it works. That's for my boss to deal with."

His secret is safe with her. Nobody's got time to fill out all the forms in triplicate in order to get her to talk. "It's never a bad idea to have someone double-check things. Should I have our lawyer send over a contract for you?"

Yes, she takes things that seriously.

"We plan to stay in the Nexus at present. There might be traveling exhibits or something in the future, but again, that's for the curators to decide."

"Hah! Sure! If your lawyer can find me. I've been doing the couch surfing thing these days." More like bed-hopping, but he's being polite.

"Your boss have any particular tastes when it comes to art? Genres, styles, mediums...? Or just 'rare and expensive'?"

It's a politeness she appreciates. Yes, even she appreciates lies sometimes. "Well, I can always have it waiting for you when you show up for your first day of work. Assuming you don't find your way home first."

She has to think about that for a minute. "Brightly-colored. That seems to be the most common thing about his favorites."

"Fair enough! Just let me know the when and the where and I'll be there with bells on." Not like he has much else to do as a Nexus bum. Besides, he's always down to make inroads with people of means.

"Maybe you can show me a sample of his collection. I could use a little culture."

Someday, she's going to have to have a serious think about how she's ended up some kind of job recruiter around here. Something something permanent resident something not as bad as she thinks and so on.

"Bells on? Sounds distracting. I think I might have to ban that when we write up the employee handbook." She looks so serious, but there's this little crinkling around the corners of her eyes that she can't quite suppress.

"You free day after tomorrow, lunch-ish? We can meet at the Harp. You know where that is, right?" She assumes most people have found the Harp after a few days, being close to the Forum and, therefore, obvious.

"I'll ask him when that'll be an option. Most of it is in storage right now, so, showing it off is quite a production."

"Lunch at the Harp. Hold off on the bells. Got it," Kaz confirms with a smile and nod.

He scrapes his spoon against his bowl, gathering up the last few bites of chili. "Eh, don't worry about the private show. Fine art should be admired in a proper setting, right? I'll just wait patiently with the rest of the public."

Once he's confirmed the time, she gets out her phone to add it to her calendar. She's remarkably scatterbrained, sometimes, for someone as organized as she is. Better not to take any chances.

"Oh, I'm sure there'll be chances for us to see it. It just might not be right away. Previews will be one of many perks of this job. The healthcare package is excellent."

Miller doesn't note anything, mostly because his schedule is embarrassingly wide-open.

"Hey, I thought this was just a contract gig! Now you're trying to rope me in with talk of benefits?" he says with mock indignation.

Yeah, she did the aimless wandering thing for a while too, when she first got here. But there are a million ways to keep oneself busy, and she's found a few.

"Oh yes, how terrible am I, offering you things like access to medical care. Next thing you know, it'll be paid vacations and sick days." She can deadpan with the best of them.

"Alright, fine. Fine! You win," he says with a defeated sigh. "You can torture me with all the sordid details tomorrow."

By now, Kaz's chili bowl is empty. He gives his beer bottle a shake -- same story.

"In the meantime, I've gotta decide if Clint's chili holds a candle to your masterpiece." A wink is almost visible through the tint of his sunglasses.

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brave_heart_verity - 2016-02-11 06:22 (UTC) - Expand

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