xp_logs | Doug and Jake out to eat

Doug takes Jake out to eat and they chatter about this and that.

"...So what you're saying is you were eaten by a giant computer. Made out of people." Jake shook his head in disbelief as he held open the door of the diner for Doug. Wanda had been threatening to make Jake go grocery shopping if he continued to eat the contents of her fridge at his present rate of speed. Discretion being the better part of...well, most things, he'd decided that the wisest course of action would be to find food elsewhere.

"Yes, but that's not common knowledge." From reading up on Jake Gavin's past at the mansion, and a few things that had been said (or implied) in the office, Doug was fairly sure that the former courier could be trusted to keep secrets. Wanda didn't let just anyone sleep on her couch, and Amanda wouldn't have beer and cookies with him if she didn't trust him. Jake had come by begging to be taken out to eat, so Doug had grabbed a jacket and taken him out.

Jake held his hands up, palms out, an innocent look on his face. "I know nothing." He grinned at Doug then. "So what's the second most exciting thing to happen around here lately?"

"Exciting's sort of a relative term when you're talking about us," Doug demurred. "Nazi bees? Getting stuck in the 1950s? I mean, come on." He kept his voice low-pitched so as not to carry more than a few feet beyond them as they walked.

"Fair enough," Jake said, sliding into a booth. He glanced at the menu. "What's good here? Or, rather, what's not good here? I'm pretty sure they'll look at me funny if I just order one of everything."

Doug snatched at the menu and shook his head. "You won't be needing that." A stout woman in an apron came to the table, and Doug grinned. They exchanged a flurry of rapid-fire Greek, and the woman, who was clearly the owner, whisked the menus away with a final admonition. Doug nodded. "One of everything. She says you're too skinny."

Jake blinked as the menu was pulled from his hands, watching the exchange between Doug and the owner with growing bemusement. "She's right," he admitted. "It's rather annoying." He leaned back in the booth, slinging one arm casually over the back of it. "I take it you come here often."

"Like I said, knowing a place is like my second mutant power or something," Doug explained. "Jamie's seems like always knowing a guy. Slightly different, but yeah." He shrugged. "I take it Wanda hasn't introduced you to the Globe Of Meal Deciding yet?" he asked.

"No, not yet," Jake replied, smiling; it was nice to be back among people who appreciated the random capitalization of words. He toyed with his silverware, trying to think of something to say. He and Doug had never been particularly close. "So are you in school at all, or just working?" he asked finally.

"I have a shiny degree in computer science." Doug paused, then shook his head. "That Emma bought me. So it's kind of both. The degree helps with my cover, but I still have to go back and do all the work for it."

Jake nodded. "Emma's handy to have around," he said, "especially when you need something." He paused as the owner arrived with platefuls of food, watching with a wry smile as she conversed with Doug again. He had the feeling she would have called him too thin on a good day; although he had no idea what she was actually saying, he would have guessed that she was taking personal offense to his current scrawniness. She tsked over him as she set plates in front of him, and it appeared she had in fact brought him one of everything. The food was good, too, Jake noted as he dug in.

Doug nodded emphatically. "Given that she was the one that helped to cut me out of aforementioned Russian meat computer..." he said with a cock of his head, "I owe her my life in a very real sense."

"I don't even want to know what was involved in that, exactly, do I?" Jake asked, wrinkling his nose. He speared another bite of food with his fork. "Of course, if I manage to get Emma to not shoot me, she'll probably consider that a debt in her favor."

"There was a lot of gore involved." Doug's voice was somewhat flat and emotionless, a bit of a departure from his normal tone. "And I was naked. I had been partially digested, and I basically had to seize control as she was falling apart and put myself back together." His face was deadpan as he ate somewhat mechanically while telling the story.

Jake blinked. He hadn't actually expected Doug to elaborate. "Sounds like it was...complicated?" He wasn't quite sure what the appropriate thing to say was when someone told you they were hacked out of a computer made from people, although he imagined Soylent Green jokes might be somewhat out of line.

Doug shook himself loose. "Complicated isn't even the word," he said quietly, a bit shaken at the remembrance.

The shapeshifter poked at his food. He wasn't sure if Doug wanted to talk about it, or if he'd rather Jake change the subject. "At least the world didn't end?" he finally offered with a shrug.

Doug nodded. "Silver lining." His increasingly short sentences were practically a plea for Jake to change the subject.

"Fair enough." He took another bite of food. "So what's with the sword in the server room? Afraid of being boarded by hostile accountants?"

Doug shook his head. "You know Emma and her...affiliations, and you couldn't guess?" he asked with a wry quirk of his lips.

Jake tilted his head, pausing with the fork halfway to his mouth. "Emma's...You--" He stopped, setting the fork down as he realized what Doug was saying. "You signed up?" He had a strange, amused smile on his face.

"Yeah. Impeccably tailored white suit and all." Doug continued to chew on his food in lulls in the conversation. "Given my impending position as White Knight, I got to break out a sword and demonstrate just how well I can use it."

It was Jake's turn to shake his head. "That's...wow. No offense," he added, picking his fork back up. "You're just not who I would have pegged to join the Club. Which makes a certain sort of sense, when you put it through the Emma lens," he said, chewing thoughtfully. "She does so love to keep everyone on their toes."