Participants:
| Scene Title | The Get Lucky Pizza |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Panucci's has never seen such an unlikely gathering of people sharing the same table. |
| Date | Aug 6, 2010 |
Pannuci's Pizzeria
Cloistered in between taller buildings is Panucci's Pizza, an old time pizzeria that has been in business for almost fifty years. Standing the test of time, the place is well known to locals in the area. The worn brick two-story facade showcases a wide window covered by awnings of green, white and red. Above is the fading handpainted sign that gives the place it's name. While small, it's take-out and delivery service is bar none.
Once inside, the first thing to assault a person's senses, would be the mouth-watering aroma of various italian cuisine. That's right! Not only does Panucci's offer a wide selection of pizza, but they also make spaghetti, stromboli, calzone, and lasagna! Oh, Mama Mia!!
Stepping inside, one finds a cozy, yet busy setting. The walls are spackled in a mild yellow color, wooden girders built into the ceiling and reflected in the antique wooden racks hanging above the seating areas, which hold vines of grapes and dimmed lighting. Located up front, there is a collection of tables and booths where diners can sit, the area most often served by one or two waitresses at the most. The tables themselves are covered in the traditional red and white checkered cloths, with the booths upholstered in a matching red. It would appear that most of the business of the pizzeria is found to be in it's carry-out or delivery services. A small buffet isle rests at one end of the counter, offering a select array of italian eats for lunch and sometimes early dinner. To the other end, is where most would order, pay and pick-up their selections. Beyond this counter, the kitchen is found to take up most of the back of the shop.
The place is run by Mr. Panucci himself; a short, fat, Italian guy who's grey hair is fast receding atop his head. He can be heard to talk in a scruffy New Yorker accent as he yells at employees over the din of the back. He's there from opening to closing, and knows most everyone who comes in regularly, down to what their favorite toppings are.
It looks like it's going to be another miserably hot and stuffy day today. The sun is bright out, and it's already warm enough that shorts and a tank top are comfortable. Hopefully it won't get too much warmer today, otherwise it will be just plain miserable.
Elle Bishop is certainly looking like she's seen better days. The petite blonde is wearing a pair of capri jeans a tank top, and sandals. Completing this outfit is a pair of sunglasses resting atop her head, and her left shoulder wrapped heavily in bandage, with a sling for extra effect. Damn gunshot wounds make life so difficult. She reclines in a booth at the moment, her feet slung up as she looks positively unhappy.
Sure, Vicodin helps a lot, but it doesn't make it any less obvious to Elle that she has a big hole in her shoulder from a bullet. Two weeks in the sling, and another two weeks after that of no strenuous activity. Having only one arm makes life as a Company Agent difficult.
The blonde stepping in the door is wearing a pair of black cargo pants tucked into a pair of combat boots and a black tanktop — it's not precisely uniform, but it's hotter than hell out there and if she has to wear black, dammit, she's going to be comfortable. She's pulling sunglasses off blue eyes and tucking one arm into her cleavage to hang them off her shirt, hair caught back in a French braid.
When the phone rang with the invitation to lunch, Elisabeth just so happened to actually be in town for the extra day due to a meeting with her boss to place a special request. So she agreed with pleasure to have pizza — and Panucci's is one she's never tried before. She glances around the place, looking to see if the person she's supposed to meet is already here, and when she doesn't spot him immediately Liz heads for a table. It takes several moments for her brain to note that the woman in the sling might be someone she recognizes, though she doesn't turn to stare as she slides into the booth. Instead, she considers the matter — she watched Elle Bishop get shot last night. Should she talk to the woman? Hmmmm.
Sure, it's only 11:00 in the morning or so, but that doesn't mean an early lunch isn't a good idea. Being the boss and being caught up means that you can close when you want and go where you want and meet whoever you like to boot. Jaiden actually stopped at home and took a quick shower to wash the grease and sweat off before making an appearance, wearing a plain pair of dark blue jeans and a ruddy maroon T-shirt tucked into the waistband with a black pair of Oakley's hiding his eyes from the glare.
The engine of his Mustang rumbles softly as he pulls up in front of Panucci's (Home of the BEST pizza in town!), somehow getting a decent parking position with a meter still ticking down. He gets out, locks the door, shoves a handful of change into the guardian of the parking place and, after a cleansing breath, throws on his grin and heads into the Pizza place.
The bell rings, heralding his arrival, drawing a greeting from the person behind the counter, and as the door closes behind him, he slips his sunglasses off, tucking them into a case on his waist. He scans the restaurant - fairly quiet for a Friday Afternoon, and when he catches sight of Elisabeth in her not-too-proper tank-top ensemble, he grins and whistles, a sharp, lout *ffwwweeet!* "Hey! Good morning!"
Elle is not nearly as polite at Elisabeth. A glance at the woman out of the corner of her eye prompts the girl's bright blue eyes to hone in, and then she's staring as Elisabeth sits down. Recognition shines in those bright blue eyes of hers, though perhaps not for what Elisabeth might think. In reality, she really doesn't remember much about who was there. She knows that Veronica and Maria were there, and she's pretty sure Elisabeth might have been there, but…her mind is certainly on other things.
Jaiden's appearance and subsequent whistle draws Elle's attention, those blue eyes turning briefly toward him. But then, she's back to staring at Elisabeth. It's been a long time since she saw her…not that Elisabeth would remember that meeting, as it was ten years in the future. Her good hand rubs at her lips for a long moment as she ponders something, before turning back to her soda and taking a sip.
The blonde's head jerks around at the whistle and Elisabeth rolls her eyes in amusement. "Shit, man, if you're gonna whistle like that, maybe I'll actually wear a skirt next time we catch up," she retorts with a grin. Turning back around like that gives her the opportunity to look at Elle once more without it being staring. In point of fact, she nods to the other woman in acknowledgement. "Glad to see you're all in one piece, Ms. Bishop," she comments. She and Elle have only ever met in the company of Norton Trask, for the most part. They've not spoken since the group returned from 2019.
"What can I say? I find a good whistle is one of the best ways to get attention. In a clear day, you can hear that for kilometers without too much trouble, and if you wear a skirt the next time, I'll give you the two-fingered version which is a shade louder and longer." Jaiden looks relaxed, comfortable in his own skin, and clean too, his hair still a little damp from his shower. He runs a hand through his hair and moves closer to join Elisabeth, leaning over to give Elle and her injury a quick once-over before straightening again, his attention going back to Elisabeth. "Ma'am." Polite as always, isn't he?
"You haven't been waiting long, I hope? I know this was kind of impromptu, but you did say for me to give you a call. I just wager you didn't expect it to be a little past nine in the morning for a meeting the same day." He grins, hooking his thumbs in his beltloops as the pizza man works on one of his lovely pies, twirling the dough over his head as he gets the crust ready. "I got the idea to give you a ring last night about two or so, and I'm very glad to see you accepted."
The small blonde woman blinks a few times, before offering a small smile and a wave with her good hand. "Thanks," She murmurs, brushing at her hair. She hasn't seen Trask in a long time…she kind-of misses him. Memories flood back of conversations held ten years in the future that, while they happened for her, may very well never actually happen there.
Her attention is then turned toward Jaiden, slurp-slurping at that Soda. She falls silent, listening to the Australian man speak. She can't help but smile a little bit. It's one of those 'I love your accent! Say more words!' moments, but it's mostly quiet and being said in her head. Something about foreign men with accents is just so dreamy. She smirks, turning to watch the employees create the pizza with a thoughtful look on her face.
Elisabeth offers Elle a small smile in return. The woman could have had Liz chucked in jail, could have bagged and tagged her, could have had her hauled into Company custody back then.. and she's done none of that. Liz doesn't mistake it for friendship, but she does think it earns Elle politeness as well as some amount of gratitude.
Looking at Jaiden, Liz replies, "Nah, I just got here, handsome. And since I don't want to be deafened by a two-finger whistle, I'm glad I'm not in a skirt this time." She laughs. "C'mon… I'll eat anything on a pizza except green peppers and little hairy fish. Can't stand those things. Why on earth were you still awake at 2 in the morning?"
Jaiden bows at the waist, gesturing toward one of the booths (in the back, with a view of the whole restaurant). "No green peppers. No anchovies. Gotcha." He straightens and gets a thoughtful look on his face, rubbing his stubbly chin as he thinks, scanning the menu until he sees an interesting item. The Lucky Pizza - Tell the chef what you don't want and see what you get!
"Well, off with you then, Liz. I'll place the order and get a pair of drinks. And if your friend would like to join us, that's fine too." He gives Elle a smile before heading to the counter, leaning over and waiting to be served (and giving Liz a perfect view of his nicely-shaped backside).
Elle returns the small smile to Elisabeth, still slurping at her soda. At least, until the bubble of a straw searching for liquid but finding none sounds, and she turns to frown at her empty glass. Hmph.
Jaiden's suggestion prompts the Company Agent to blink owlishly, her brows raising. Friend? Not quite. Blue eyes are drawn toward that backside of his as he walks off, brows raised. Was that an invitation on his behalf? Scratching idly at the bandage over her shoulder, Elle turns to peer quietly at Elisabeth, her brows raised questioningly. She wouldn't mind the company, per se, but she's at least slightly unsure. "Um…"
Mmmm. And that is one nicely shaped backside. Elisabeth definitely admires it. Heh. Her wary blue eyes land on Elle again, though, and they share one of those looks women get when they are admiring a very cute ass. Friend? No… not really. "You heard the gentleman," she offers to Elle mildly. And since the other blonde seems somewhat interested in the idea of company…. she slides into Elle's booth on the other side. She tilts her head and hesitates to ask. "Have you been well?" She knows the Company's going to hell in a handbasket, and given what she knows Elle's father's been up to (and how Elle felt about the man after her trip to the future), she wonders if the blonde's doing okay. Not that she expects to be confided in.
Jaiden waits at the counter for a moment or two before Mr. Panucci himself comes out from behind the prep line to take his order. "What?" Mr Panucci's voice echoes over the restaurant. "No Green peppers or Anchovies?" Jaiden smiles and shakes his head in the negative. "Just one of your Get Lucky pizzas - a large, I suspect, since we've got a guest, and two more drinks. And miss?" He's calling out to Elle. "What're you having? I'll grab a refill while I'm up.
The man is blessedly unaware of The Company and all it entails. Perhaps this is the day when the proverbial shit hits the fan and he learns things.
Pizza, pizza, pizza. The bell that's hanging from the door rings softly as Cardinal shoulders it open and walks along inside, relieved at the relatively dimmer light in here - at least compared to the unrelenting burn of the sun that was starting to give him a headache, even through the shades that he's wearing. He starts walking past the booth the two women are sitting in to head for the counter, pauses, and backs up two steps to cock his head to one side, a smile crooking to his lips. "Office Harrison. Funny meeting you here…" An easy nod to Elle, as well, a brow ticking upwards. Heyyyy didn't he see her the other day? Jaiden, over to the counter, isn't noticed yet.
As Elisabeth slips into her booth, Elle offers a small smile, nodding slowly. "For the most part." A lie, of course. She has, in fact, not been doing well. But nobody needs to know that. "Aside from getting shot. Guns suck so much." She offers a shrug of her right shoulder, doing her best to keep her injured left shoulder from moving within the sling.
Elle smiles over to Jaiden. Damn, he's cute. "Pepsi, thanks." She smiles warmly. Nice, too. He would probably be fun to play with. Not that she gives voice to that train of thought.
Then, she blinks slowly up at Cardinal as he arrives, quietly scanning her mental files to see if he needs to be recognized. After coming up mostly blank, Elle smiles up at him, offering a sheepish wave. Well, she's just meeting new people left and right today, isn't she? She, of course, doesn't recognize Cardinal, not having had the chance to see him the other day. She was too busy going zappy after being shot to spot him.
"My flight got delayed… my boss decided that my request for a specialized helmet needed more information than she wanted to be given at 10:00 at night," Elisabeth retorts to Cardinal good-naturedly. "Richard, meet Elle Bishop," she offers. Because he might just find that little tidbit quite useful and entertaining. "Elle, my friend Richard." Cuz he's doing business under his own name lately, after all. "And I think you've met Jaiden," she offers as well — because it looks like lunch isn't going to quite get to be the fun flirt-fest she was originally envisioning…. or maybe it will. After all, two cute guys with hot asses….
Cheesburger, Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger. No Fries, Chips. No coke, Pepsi. Jaiden's charm allows him to snag another cup from the counter for Elle and the Aussie manages to balance all three in one hand once he's done filling them up, walking back to the table with an exaggerated stride, like he's on a tightrope. "Oh, another guest?" He really only sees the back of Cardinal's head as he approaches but, when he spins around to slide into the booth next to Elisabeth, it's like a light is switched on. "You! We met at Tartarus the other evening. had a lovely conversation regarding the state of politics in the United States. Bourbon, if I recall correctly."
Elle… Bishop? A questioning flicker of a glance to Elisabeth, and then back before a smile curves easily to Richard's lips as he greets the blonde in affable tones, "Good to meet you. Any friend of Liz's…" Then there's the mention of Jaiden, and he looks up just in time to see his approach, brows raising over the edge of his shades. A grin, then, "That we did — and you've got a memory for booze. Missed your calling, should've been a bartender."
Elle peers up at Cardinal, watching him quietly for a moment, before offering a small, slight smile. "A pleasure, Richard." Part of her wants to ask if she can call him Dick, but thankfully, she doesn't give voice to that. Not that she thinks badly of him, but…she amuses herself in strange ways. Then, her eyes are trailing across the faces here, fidgeting a bit. Taking her soda, she smiles up at Jaiden thankfully, nodding slowly.
Wonder which one of these handsome fellows is going to sit next to her? She'll have to try not to be too much like herself.
Richard's flicker is met with a very slight nod, indicating that yes — that's exactly who she is — and nothing else. She scoots over to let Jaiden slide into the booth next to her and winks at Cardinal. "So… now that we're all friends, Richard, do join us for pizza." After all, Jaiden invited Elle, so she supposes inviting Cardinal isn't out of bounds at this point.
"I ordered a large 'get lucky' Pizza, so hopefully it'll fill up everyone nicely. I can eat, but honestly, making a right pig of myself is not something that I enjoy doing in front of newly-met people. Cardinal gets a smile, despite the sunglasses. "Pleasure to see you again, Mate." Elle, on the other hand, gets a more discerning look and a warm smile following up. "Jaiden Mortlock at your service, miss. A pleasure to meet you." And he offers his hand across the table…the correct one for Elle to shake with her non-injured hand.
Well, it wouldn't do to refuse such an invitation! As Jaiden slides in next to Elisabeth, Cardinal for his part slides himself in beside Elle - not impolitely close, though, he's not that rude. Some people like their space. "Sounds like a plan… and I see you took me up on my suggestion, Jaiden," he observes with a grin, "At least as far as writing again's concerned."
Elle smiles sheepishly at Jaiden, reaching across the table and shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you, Jaiden. I'm Elle Bishop, like Elisabeth said." She smiles faintly to the man, before leaning back. Cardinal is offered a sheepish smile as he slides in, the girl scooting over enough for him to be comfortable. She idly scratches along the edge of her bandage, frowning slightly, before sipping at her soda. Stupid guns. Stupid stupid bullets.
There's a smirk and Elisabeth retorts, "You ordered a 'get lucky' pizza?" Her demand is teasing. "You know, that is just so ridiculously obvious in terms of what I could respond, I'm not even sure it's worth the bother," she admits on a laugh, taking the soda that Jaiden brought with him for her. "You're wrote something for a paper, Jaiden? Cool!" she adds. "Just tell me it wasn't that clusterfuck that Elle and I were caught in last night, okay? Cuz damn, that sucked."
The Australian seems taken aback slightly, both by Cardinal's assertation that he's writing and Elisabeth's story about a clusterfuck the previous evening. "What? No…the only thing I've written recently is on an online blog or two. Just stories about life on the ground here in the US for people back home in Oz. I wasn't aware that you were in any kind of engagement last night. I guess your injury, Miss Elle, is due to whatever she was referring to?"
The comment about the 'get lucky' pizza? It's only responded to with a smug little smile and a playful wink.
"The 'net is a lot more prevalent than print media these days," Cardinal admits in rather wry tones, "Blogging's more and more influential these days. At least that's what people keep telling me." He leans back a bit, slanting a look to Elle with surprise, "You're a cop?"
Clusterfuck indeed. Elle grimaces at the mention of said clusterfuck, her good hand moving to her shoulder. "That really sucked. Don't ever get shot, it hurts like a bitch." She grins to Jaiden and Cardinal, then, smiling. "I tried my hand at crowd control. Then I learned that I really should start wearing kevlar when I deal with crime scenes." She smiles to Cardinal. "Sort of. Specialized Department."
"Ffft," Elisabeth retorts to Elle mildly. "That was not crowd control, woman. That was you shooting your wad in the middle of a bunch of already riled citizens and getting shot for your trouble. And why the hell the lot of you in that division don't wear vests, I will never sort out. Sawyer's just as bad, and she's squishy too. Christ. You'd think someone in your Company wouldn't treat all of you like expendable resources," she bitches mildly, blue eyes slanting a glance at Cardinal with a neutral expression. He'll read the subtext easily enough, she's quite sure.
Sipping her soda through the straw, Elisabeth says, "Gotta be careful about blogging." Her comment is mild. "These days, Big Brother seems to watch everything. But I do wish someone would say the stuff that needs saying." Just her opinion.
"I just wrote about that blackout thing that hit a bunch of people." Jaiden shrugs, steepling his fingers as he looks out over the restaurant, focusing on the glass storefront where people bustle by in the heat of the day. "Kind of helped me get into the right mindset for things. And yeah…I thought I hid my tracks well enough, but if you were able to trace me down, Cardinal, I must not have been hiding well enough." Ah well.
Jaiden takes a sip of his tea, looking to Elle. "In my time with the SASR, I had been shot a few times, but the vest or equipment always kept me safe. It was like getting sucker-punched with a fist the size of the tip of a cue stick. Deep bruises hurt, but it's better than having your blood outside." Jaiden glances over at the counter, waiting for the pizza to come out, taking a sip of his iced tea and thinking. "I've also found keeping ones head down when the bullets are flying is a smart thing to do unless being heroic is something you feel the need to be." A glance to Elle. "Did you solve whatever problem there was?"
Jaiden does not ask what 'shooting your wad' entails.
Elle offers a mild shrug to Elisabeth, offering a small smirk in response. "To be honest, that kind of thing really isn't my cup of tea. I was trained for…other things. Which involve less random people." Mainly, hunting is her strong suit. Not crowd control, not investigation, hunting. All of these crime scenes only serve to put her in a bad mood. "Yeah…you'd think they'd try to give a damn, wouldn't you?" Seems she's none too happy with the Company, herself.
She smiles to Jaiden, then. "Not so sure. I was in no condition at the time to really understand the situation much." She smiles over to Cardinal. Then, she suddenly frowns. "I'll…be right back." Once Cardinal moves, she quickly darts to the bathroom, purse in one hand.
"Just posting under a different name does not 'covering your tracks' make," Cardinal points out, a smile tugging up a little at one corner of his lips before he looks back over to the girls as they discuss the Staten Island incident. A shoulder lifts in a shrug as he points out mildly, "You know how they are, Liz. All the worse these days… honestly, I'm surprised the turnover rate isn't higher. I guess the retirement package isn't very good."
A pause, then he asks, "Whose jurisdiction is it in? We'd be more than happy to contract out to the cops if they need to borrow the licensed postcog we have on staff."
"It's in Elle's division," Elisabeth informs Richard. "FRONTLINE doesn't handle investigation." It's the part of the job that Elisabeth loved and the part she misses the most…. she was good enough at it. Though she's good at what she does now, too. She glances at Jaiden and says quietly, "They found a New York senator's body on Staten Island, and we were all trying to let the forensics team do its job. THe crowd on Staten was… understandably… less than helpful and more than a little pissed off at the fact that law enforcement would show up for the political asshole but not for the rest of the resident who live there. It's…. " She pauses. "It's a third-world country over there." There's something dark in her tone; not merely sadness, though that's there too, but a kind of rage that the island was abandoned. A deep, long-held rage. This is her city.
It's hard for a bloke to keep track of all of the acronyms being thrown around. FRONTLINE. The Company. Those names get an arch of the eyebrows and, as Ell runs off to the bathroom, he winces. "I've broken an arm before and I had troubles going to the bathroom. I can't imagine how difficult it would be with the other side." He shakes his head and leans back in the booth, giving Liz's foot a bump with his beneath the table, before taking another relaxing sip of his iced tea. "Posting under a different name…I didn't really think my experiences during that blackout a few months ago was really that interesting."
Cardinal stands up, letting Elle out - and then he slides back into the booth, folded arms leaning onto the table as a slightly crooked smile curves to his lips. "You might be surprised," he says quietly, gaze trailing after Elle's departure - because Liz isn't the only one who can appreciate a nice ass - before looking back to Jaiden, "Any posts about flashes end up on my desk sooner or later. I have people constantly digging them up, verifying them, and filing them."
Leaning her elbows on the table, Elisabeth grins slightly. And bumps the foot that bumped hers under the table. "I didn't get to see what you wrote. I haven't exactly been reading the news lately," she admits. "Back and forth to DC every couple of days is killing me." She pauses and glances between Cardinal and Jaiden. "So… now that we have a minute alone… " She looks around and pops a silence bubble up around the table so that the sounds of the pizzeria are gone, returning her eyes to the men in her company.
"I don't like beating around the bush. And since you've already met both of us anyway, seems like now might be a good time to get it out of the way. Jaiden… would you be interested in an in-depth look at what caused those blackouts… and in attempting to stop the riots and ugliness that appear to be destined to come to pass?" Liz sips from her soda. "You've already been pretty vocal about your views. And if you want to keep blogging, I'm already kind of worried about you and would like to ask a friend to make sure that you can't be traced electronically so you can continue to post." She smiles faintly. "But the reporters I know have a tendency to want to know the whole truth — and I thought maybe I'd offer you the opportunity to be the guy behind the scenes. Could get you a Pulitzer in a few years… if it doesn't get us all killed first," she says, not entirely teasing.
Jaiden digs in his pocket and pulls out his iPhone as Elisabeth talks, tapping through a few screens and bringing up the blog post he wrote, setting it on the table in front of Elisabeth to read if she wants and waits for her to finish reading what he wrote before responding. "Seeing yourself fall from a helicopter to, what could very well be your death in the middle of a riot after the president speaks puts a perspective on to things. It took me this long to get it written out right. To prove to myself that I wasn't insane when I started finding other people who had the same experience."
Jaiden's eyes close, the man leaning back in the booth, pinching the bridge of his nose like a headache decided to run up and kick him in the medulla oblongata. "I'm a reporter at heart. I've been interested but haven't had a chance to find anything out. No-one talks, and my contacts don't know anything or have vanished off the face of the earth. Not good when you deal in information." He sits up after a moment, giving Liz's foot another bump. "I'm not in it for the prizes. I just want to tell the truth."
"And I'm not registering."
"Well, that's good to hear," Cardinal replies in wry tones, "There aren't any prizes anyway, whatever Liz might want to think… the only prize about knowing what's really going on is a lack of sleep most nights." He brings a hand up, fingers rubbing against the bridge of his nose. Liz always was more blunt than he cared for, but that's who she is!
The hand drops, letting his shades fall back into place, and he notes dryly, "That's because the people who talk, Jaiden, get vanished. Killed, or more often either blackmailed into silence or memory wiped - or otherwise 'adjusted' - so they stop talking. Or they go into hiding and release information while on the move, like Dean."
Elisabeth can be tactful. But she's got a notion that it's not required in this instance. "Hey, he could get a Pulitzer out of it," she argues good-naturedly with Cardinal. "Hell in some other future, other people got statues!" She heard about that. She picks up Jaiden's iPhone and skims the blog, paling when she gets the mental imagery in the sparse language. "Fuck," she whispers. "That's….." She pauses when something about Jaiden's phrasing catches her. "Richard… you've read this?" she asks, looking up at the man across the table. "What's this part look like?"
Elisabeth hands the iPhone over to Cardinal, pointing out the top couple of paragraphs so he'll take a closer look. A frown furrows her brow as she wonders, but she keeps her thoughts behind her teeth for the moment.
Looking fully at Jaiden, Liz says quietly, "You're a good man. The truth needs to be told. And I think the people that he and I know could be good sources for you, if you want to hear what we know." She shrugs slightly. "Can't promise you won't have nightmares. God knows, the rest of us do." Something passes behind those bright blue eyes when she says it — she's seen a lot more than he knows, but the look of a soldier is unmistakable to another soldier.
"I don't think wanting has any part of it." Jaiden says quietly, watching the pair discuss the bits of his blog post that interest them most. "I don't mind seeing horrible things - God knows I have - but just letting them happen without telling the story? It's like every bit of suffering that went on was meaningless." Jaiden takes on the look for a moment of a weary war-torn witness, ground down by the weight of what he's seen, but with a shake he straightens and that smile appears after a moment. "how do you know you can trust me? Yeah, I'm a good man, but it may be a cunning ruse to get you into my good graces."
"I've read it," Cardinal says with a slight nod to Elisabeth as she offers the phone over, gaze sliding back to rest upon Jaiden's face as a smile crooks up a bit at one corner of his lips, "Never said we could. Why don't you stop by the office sometime - you still have my card? We can talk more when we're not, y'know." A look around, "In the middle of a pizza place."
"Indeed, it might be," Elisabeth acknowledges mildly. She meets Jaiden's eyes, bumping his foot lightly under the table with a smile that doesn't quite reach those blue eyes. "But how do you know I won't just turn your brain into tapioca with a short, focused burst of sound waves if I even think you're fucking around with me?" she retorts, mostly joking but maybe not quite. She winks at him. "You have to take a chance sometimes. And considering you've spent time hiding Evos in your basement, I'm willing to take the chance. And since he is too," she jerks her head toward Cardinal, "that's pretty much the bottom line for me."
There's ringtone from her phone — it's the theme to Jaws — and Elisabeth rolls her eyes and sighs. "The boss is calling. Apparently my meeting with the geeks went through. New helmet for the audiokinetic upcoming, we hope," she comments idly.
She doesn't answer the phone, though, nudging Jaiden lightly to let her out of the seat. "Gotta go back to work, boys. Play nice."
Elle is seen exiting the bathroom, looking rather pale. She offers a small wave, but it seems like she's not returning to the table. She's actually walking out the door instead.
"I'll come and visit sooner or later." Jaiden says with a smirk, his hand turning palm-up on the table, a ball of water congealing from the air, resting in his hand. "You make my brain tapioca, I'll get you all wet." And as an afterthought. "and not in the good way." He straightens and waves to the pizza as it's wandering over. "Dinner's here. Let's eat."
Elisabeth shifts her body to cover that and murmurs, "Now you boys really do need to play nice." She shoots them both a smile and follows Elle out.