line up your soldiers one final time

[usavatar]

WHO: Steve Rogers and Others/Open.
WHERE: Various.
WHEN: The past week and a half or so.
WARNINGS: N/A
SUMMARY: STEVE DOES THINGS AND PEOPLE HAPPEN.
FORMAT: Any.



See below for threadstarters, and feel free to add anything you'd like - I'm totally open to CR.

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OPEN

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[IN THE MANSION'S KITCHEN, COOKING FOODS. Because having a fridge full of old take-out and withered grapes is not enough for the folks who live here or their occasional guests, as far as he's concerned.]

[smarterthandad]

[Val, wearing a t-shirt with a brightly-colored applique flower on it and a pair of welder's goggles resting on her forehead, wanders into the kitchen.]

Hi, Captain Rogers.

[Greeting delivered, she pushes a stool to the counter and climbs up so she can reach the top row of cupboards, from which she produces a box of Cookie Crisp and starts the journey back down to the floor.]

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Miss Richards. [It's not said with the condescension of an adult to a child - he means it with every bit of the politeness he would have afforded the...........

......hologram.

That's still weird.

He stirs the mixed vegetables and meat he's frying, wooden spatula turning them over in the spiced sauté he managed to put together from seasonings in the kitchen and a few he remembered to pick up.]

Are you hungry?

[smarterthandad]

[It's not weird. Your world is just technologically disadvantaged.]

Uh-huh.

[That would be the point of the disgusting cereal, yes. Since Steve is obviously occupied, Val starts to push her stool to another cabinet where she can get a bowl rather than ask him to retrieve one for her.]

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[He shifts the pan to another burner and sets the spatula aside in time to come around the counter and rest a hand on top of Val's head, keeping her from climbing up the stool again. He retrieves a bowl, setting it on the counter.]

Do you want something better than that stuff?

[smarterthandad]

[She looks up at Steve, all blue eyes and innocence.]

You have Hulk Bits?

[She's misinterpreting him on purpose, but not obviously, unless one is familiar with the fact that Val's more than perceptive enough to pick up the intended implication of a comment. As one might be if one had been fooled into thinking she was an adult for almost an hour.]

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I have meat and vegetables and fruit. [He gives her a Look, plucking the cereal box out of her hands and setting it on the counter next to the bowl.] Which are all better for you than whatever is in there. Hulk Bits, really?

[smarterthandad]

[Val scowls. NO FAIR BEING AN ADULT AND TWICE HER HEIGHT.]

I take a multivitamin.

...And Dad likes Hulk Bits.

[I can find the panel proving it if I have to.]

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Whatever a multivitamin is, it doesn't excuse you from eating your vegetables.

[He shifts the stool over so it's closer to the stove and knocks his knuckles against the top of it, indicating she should climb aboard or be brought aboard.] You can have the cereal after you've had something that actually counts as food.

[smarterthandad]

I won't want the cereal then.

[She's on to his sinister plan, and noticeably not climbing up on the stool.]

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Good. [With that, he picks her up and sets her on the stool.] You can't tell me no one here's been making sure you eat right.

[smarterthandad]

[Val goes limp when picked up, like a resigned cat. She has a roughly equivalent expression, too. A mere 15 years until people can't legally pull this on her. No big deal. That's only five times as long as she's been alive.]

Define "right."

[usavatar]

Balanced. Healthy. [He shifts the pan back to its burner and its contents start to sizzle again.] Something that's better for you than the box it comes in.

[smarterthandad]

Mr. Barton got Chinese the other day.

[Given the contents of the refrigerator, the fact that the Avengers' current childcare policy seems to be "benign neglect," and that Val is basically self-sufficient, especially when she's trying not to draw attention to herself and whatever plan she's concocting, it seems likely that she's eating a diet rich in sugary cereal, pop-tarts, and microwave popcorn.]

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Is that what your mom gives you? Chinese food and cereal that looks like cookies?

[RAISED EYEBROW. He tilts the pan, letting its contents slide into a waiting container, which he labels and dates using a piece of tape. That goes into the fridge along with several other such tupperware.] What kind of food do you like?

[smarterthandad]

[Val doesn't want to talk about home, so she only answers the last question.]

I'm not a picky eater.