ic Guess Who's Coming to Dinner [IC]

[Gizmo]

Ellie Espadas paced nervously back and forth in the foyer of her family's modest home, tugging absently at the bottom of her vintage vest as she made a conscious effort not to look at the clock hanging nearby. Failing miserably, she noted with some irritation that the hands hadn't moved perceptibly from the position they'd been at when she'd checked moments earlier.

"You're going to dig a rut in the linoleum, hermaita," her brother noted dryly as he stepped downstairs. Erik Espadas had donned one of his nicer dress shirts at his sibling's insistence, though he'd left the collar unbuttoned. Perhaps more telling, however, was that he'd taken time to shave without being asked.

Stopping in her tracks, Ellie turned to give him a baleful look before sighing. "I just want this to go well, okay?" she told him with an emphatic gesture that gave way to running her fingers through her hair. "It's important."

"Worried we'll embarrass you, dear?" Gina Espadas asked her daughter, raising an eyebrow as she wheeled herself out of the first floor bedroom, tilting her head slightly to one side with a faint, amused smile.

"Yes, exactly!" the youngest member of the family answered immediately, throwing her hands up in the air.

[Fox]

Meanwhile, Mara was not too far away challenging Ellie's monopoly on fretting. She kept catching herself fidgeting with her hands (and could only seem to stop for as long as she could keep herself from being distracted by some new worry), and if she bit her lip any harder she'd break the skin and wouldn't that be a good first impression showing up with a bloody mouth and--

no She set her face, straightening her shoulders and heading for the door, one hand on her worn cloth messenger bag and one desperately kept from playing with the edge of her black slacks. calm - focus - met Jack already - just have to meet her mother and oh god

She faltered at the door, just for a moment, before she swallowed to calm her stomach and quietly knocked.

[Gizmo]

The door opened almost immediately to reveal a relieved Ellie, who gave Mara a quick hug and a peck on the cheek before pulling the shorter girl inside, conveniently solving both of their fidgeting problems by slipping her hand around her girlfriend's. "Hey! Come on in. Did you have any trouble finding the place? I know all the houses out here pretty much look the same and-"

"Give her some breathing room," her brother suggested, leaning against the banister of the stairs with his arms crossed. It was easy for Mara to recognize the swordsman she already knew as Jack of all Blades, although his short cropped hair was now the same dusty brown as Ellie's roots when she forgot to touch them up, and his demeanor was considerably more relaxed than that of his animated, swashbuckling persona. "Erik," he introduced himself simply, giving the new arrival a small wave and smile.

"And I'm Gina," the older woman added, wheeling herself further into the foyer. There was no mistaking the familial resemblance between the mother and her children. While Gina Espadas' features were a little less angular than theirs, her manner and expression was familiar, as was the fit musculature. "Well, let me get a look at you," she insisted warmly, giving Mara a look of comically exaggerated assessment. "Hmm, you're right, dear, she is a cutie."

"Mamá!" Ellie groaned.

[Fox]

Mara squeezed Ellie's hand as the family introduced themselves; the urge to duck her head down was awfully strong and she was only partially successful in fighting it back. "Ah. Hello. Mara." She winced a bit. need to try not to sound completely crazy - always awkward - try harder "I am, I mean. It's...nice to meet you both. Have heard good things. Mostly." That last bit she just couldn't resist, and was apparently directed at Erik as a still shy but definitely impish jab. "And...sorry for the...mmh. Speech patterns. Not as crazy as I sound, promise. Can always focus on talking normally if it bothers you."

[Gizmo]

"Ha! Well, we figured you had to be at least mostly crazy anyway," Erik responded with a broader grin, straightening from his reclined posture. "Just look at who you decided to dat- ow!" The young man rubbed his arm where his mother had smacked it as she rolled past.

"Ignore him, dear. We certainly do," Gina advised their guest as she led the way into the kitchen. "Ellie tells me you speak five languages fluently. I'd say you're entitled to whatever sentence structure you like." Her firm tone made it clear that she wouldn't hear any more fretting over the matter.

Ellie's cheeks darkened slightly as she walked with Mara. "It, y'know, it just came up, is all," she explained, a little embarrassed.

[Fox]

Now she really did duck her head down, self-consciously pulling a lock of hair back behind one ear with her free hand. "Almost five," she corrected, though she looked pleased at the compliment. "Still...polishing my Spanish. Different accent...takes time. Need more practice. Always other things to do, though."

She gave Ellie's hand another little squeeze at her girlfriend's explanation. "Certainly worse things you could have told them about me," she reassured her, the corner of her mouth tugging into the ghost of a wry and nervous grin. "But...phrase. So far, so good."

[Gizmo]

"You're doing fine," Ellie promised with a smile of her own, returning the squeeze as moved into the next room.

The kitchen took up most of the first storey's left side, a long room with a door to the back yard at its far end. The outer wall was covered by cabinets and drawers along with the usual large appliances, though Mara was able to see that the upper shelves were mostly bare. The rest of the space was taken up by a rectangular table, draped with a simple, off-white cloth and set with plates and utensils. While Gina took a place at one end of the table, Erik squeezed past the girls to reach the countertop and uncovering a large plate of tamales, unwrapping and discarding the corn husk wrappings.

"Well, it's about the only thing she has told me," Gina noted, giving her daughter a pointed look. "I realize that it's all secret identities and confidentiality and double lives with you kids, but honestly."

"Well, there's that," Erik quipped as he brought the serving plate over to the table. "She also probably didn't want to go over her dates in too much detail with her mother, amirite?"

Taking one of the two seats along the long side of the table, Ellie glared daggers at her brother. "I will destroy you."

"So you keep saying," he replied airily. "What can I get everybody to drink?"

[Fox]

best avoid caffeine and alcohol "Water. Please."

Mara carefully took a seat next to Ellie, trying to keep an eye on both the food and the Espadas family's social cues; those tamales were starting to win out, though, as her stomach reminded her that she'd been too flustered to remember lunch. "Secrets are...unfortunate. But usually necessary. Can try to answer any questions you have, though. Some things are more complicated than others, but...well. Ellie's family. Worth trusting." with most things - answer carefully - approval...oddly important - mmh - odd feeling

[Gizmo]

"That's sweet of you to say, but I'm not going to interrogate you," Gina promised with a small smile and a reassuring wave of her hand as Erik retrieve glasses for everyone and set about filling them. "...of course, I was a police officer for a very long time, so if I ever had to--"

"Mamá!" Ellie interrupted sharply, her voice strained. "You are killing me here!"

"Don't take it personally, Mara," Erik suggested as he placed a glass of water in front of the blonde girl. "If she didn't already like you, she really would be interrogating you. Or subtly working her shooting range record into the conversation." Distributing coffee and juice to the other women, he took his seat. "How about you just tell us a little about yourself?"

[Fox]

Mara glanced carefully between Erik and Gina, blinking. "....noted," she said, carefully. "About me. Mmh." She tilted her head and just kind of...unfocused for a moment, fidgeting a little and apparently not very used the question. "Not...that interesting," she admitted, biting her lip. "Born in 1991, dual citizen. France - French mother. American father. Didn't live in France long...childhood was.....isolated. That's why I talk the way I do. Sorry, again." She frowned, but shook her head to clear the thought. "Currently live alone. I...build things. Try to keep myself busy."

[Gizmo]

Gina's expression softened with maternal instinct as Mara stumbled through her brief description, obviously aware that nervousness was making things more difficult for the young woman. "Do you have any family in Freedom, then?" she asked more gently.

"Her mother passed away," Ellie filled in quickly to spare Mara the trouble. "Her father... isn't in the picture."

Some of the new softness melted from Gina's expression. "Men. Typical."

"Oh, yeah, this is a fun direction of conversation..." Erik muttered quietly under his breath as he scooped a tamale onto his plate.

Silencing him with a curt look, Gina turned back to Mara. "Well, you're welcome here any time, dear. No use being cooped up on your own all the time."

[Fox]

Mara shot Ellie a grateful look, though she was reminded that she still needed to share the events of the 15th with her. "Not that cooped up," she said, fairly brightly - her home was a source of no small pride and satisfaction and she still got a warm and happy thought at having it, as atypical as she knew it was. "Renovated warehouse. Plenty of room for just one person. And...wouldn't want to impose. Suspect I'm not easy to live with. Keep odd hours, strange habits. Tend to spread my personal projects all over available space. Admit I'm considering getting something closer to the center of the city, though."

[Gizmo]

"Pfft, it's not called 'imposing' when it's family, it's 'togetherness'," Erik scoffed with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You're welcome at the brownstone, too, obviously. Lynn basically squeals with delight any time you even come up in conversation, so." The fencer paused for a moment before admitting, "Granted, she's in a pretty constant state of delight-squeal, but still."

"It's not like I don't show up at your place all the time anyway," Ellie noted with a wry smile that slipped a few notches as she suddenly looked surreptitiously over at her mother. "Er..."

Gina rolled her eyes. "Yes, because I was never eighteen," she drawled dryly. "I remember, in my first year of college--"

"Dios, Mamá, there is no way any of us want to hear the rest of that story," Erik interrupted with a pronounced wince.

"Fine, fine," his mother sighed with exasperation. "Regardless, help yourself to the tamales, Mara. Honestly, I thought these two were sticks."

[Fox]

Mara relaxed a little, sighing. She had to admit she'd been worried about that - being fine with your daughter's orientation was one thing, but finding out she was sleeping with someone (sleeping with someone who lived alone in a warehouse!) was probably something else, and it had occurred to her that it might be a source of tension. Having it come out in the open, even accidentally, was one more thing on a rapidly-shrinking list of things to worry about. "Not that skinny. Trying to take care of myself," she insisted as she reached out for a couple tamales, her empty stomach reminding her that that was fairly close to a bald-faced lie. "Better care of myself, at least. Still miss a meal or two, but usually make up for it."

[Gizmo]

"Young lady, you are pretty damn skinny," Gina insisted flatly, retrieving the tongs and scooping a third and forth tamale onto Mara's plate, then seeing to it that Ellie's plate was similarly well stocked. "You bunch, training and working and studying all day then running around the city at night, you don't eat, you don't sleep and you think you can get up the next day and do it all again." When her daughter began to protest, Gina brandished the utensil sternly. "And you should know better. Think I'm sending you off to learn medicine if you can't even take care of yourself?"

"She can keep this up for a while without any actual input from us," Erik told Mara with a casual lack of concern. "So, you mentioned personal projects? You're like a freaky, techno genius type, right?"

[Fox]

Mara "Mmh?"'d distractedly at Erik - partly from the forkful of tamale that was just popping into her mouth, and partly from watching Gina threatening Ellie with servingware. Watching the family interact was apparently absolutely fascinating, and she was having a terrible time not taking pleasure in watching someone else get chewed out for poor health habits, for once. And the food was delicious.

"Right," she responded to her girlfriend's sibling once she'd swallowed. "Get material, build things, fight crime. Works...fairly well. Not perfect. Large project in the works to...upgrade. I guess. But will be a while until it's done. Always other things to do."

[Gizmo]

"You always downplay your work," Ellie chided Mara, evidently glad for an excuse to redirect the conversation. "Even her 'side projects' are totally groundbreaking stuff," she informed her family proudly. "The only reason they take a while is that she spends so much time consulting and fixing other people's mistakes."

Gina paused her reproachful tirade to give the couple a contemplative look. Finishing a mouthful, Erik made a sound of interested approval. "Oh, right, you work at that new big science lab deal downtown, right? What's it called?"

"The Lab," Ellie supplied.

Her brother raised an eyebrow, trying to decide if she was kidding. "Bit on the nose, isn't it?"

[Fox]

Blushing, Mara ducked her head down, pulling a little hair back behind one ear. "Not...that groundbreaking. I mean it is, sort of, but...can't commercialize most of it. Safe with personal oversight, but not for public use. Unskilled hands. Risks bad things with names like 'event horizon'. Unfortunate. Teleportation alone would be very useful to...mmh. Hospitals, for instance." She gestured at Ellie, but shrugged helplessly. "But...just not safe. Working on that. Hard to predict people. Phrase...'Nothing is idiot proof, because idiots are ingenious.' Add in criminals, supervillains...."

She took another bite of tamale before realizing she'd been asked a question, albeit one Ellie had gotten to first. "Mmh," she nodded, finishing her mouthful before talking. "Yes. The Lab. It's...simple. Descriptive. Was unintentional, though. The name, I mean: everyone called it 'the lab' while planning. Lower case 'l'. By the time we needed a real title, it had stuck, nothing else seemed...right."

[Gizmo]

"There's nothing wrong with the name," Ellie noted, as much assuring Mara as glaring at her brother. "This coming from the guy who works out the 'The Brownstone'."

"Hey, I wanted to call the base the Underground!" Erik protested around a mouthful of tamale, raising his hands in his defense.

His sister smirked knowingly. "Because it's under the ground?"

"Well, I... yeah, but--"

"That's a very responsible attitude to take," Gina commented to their guest as the siblings argued, nodding appreciatively. "Working out the bugs instead of trying to cash in quick."

[Fox]

"Mmh. Some of it just...mmh." Mara took another bite of tamale, partly because it was delicious and partly to buy her time while she tried to phrase things. "Not...only bugs. Don't mean to imply that it isn't safe, though. For...given values of safe. Don't needlessly endanger myself or others -" - she glanced at Ellie, mostly out of reflex - "- outside of testing. But just...some of what I build could be misused. On purpose or by accident. Could try to prevent it, but someone would find a way, and...risk is too high. Could spend all my time building for safety and someone would still - don't know. Gut a teleporter for the engine, use it to turn a building inside out." She shrugged, frowning. "Better to keep them where I can see them, and use them properly."

She gathered another forkful of food, pausing thoughtfully halfway to her mouth. "And don't usually want to sell my own work, anyway. Not entirely rational - was...exploited, for my brain. When I was younger. It...phrase. 'Left a bad taste in my mouth.'"

[Gizmo]

At Mara's offhand revelation, Erik abruptly halted his amused bickering, the wry grin slipping from his face as his jaw set in a way that made his angular features look suddenly much more severe. His mouth was already opening to say something when a subtle, placating gesture from his sister quieted him, Ellie's own expression tightening slightly while sadness pulled at the corners of her eyes. Gina's reaction was slower, the change in her manner taking effect gradually and with a markedly greater degree of self-control, but anger and concern played over her face just as certainly. For all their jovial manner, the Espadas family were ultimately very serious people.

"Well," Erik began again after a few awkward beats of silence, "I'm always saying folks need to put in the time to learn to do something properly. Lotta tech just makes things too easy that way."

[Fox]

Mara paused, blinking at the assorted reactions. Her past wasn't easy on her by any means, but she hadn't meant that much by the comment - it was certainly an unhappy memory, but she'd been focusing more on what it had left her with, and not the thing itself. stupid - mental note - don't bring that up - happier topics? "Important to learn...responsibility if nothing else. Don't think most technology is bad, just misused or mishandled or misunderstood. People are...shortsighted and unpredictable. Not always. But too often."

She coughed lightly, and tried to change the subject. "Don't know much about you, Erik. Occupation? Hobbies? Curious."

[Gizmo]

"Hm? Oh, sure, fair enough," Erik blinked a few times as he switched mental gears. "The crime-fighting thing pretty much is my 'occupation' these days. The Interceptors have a... patron? I guess that's the word. I can't really get into specifics..." The young man gave Mara an awkward, apologetic look, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.

"Don't take it personally," Ellie sighed, a little exasperated. "This is actually the kinder, gentler, less rabidly paranoid Erik."

"It's true, I'm making a real effort," her brother confirmed, moving his hand to place his finger melodramatically atop his heart. "As for hobbies, besides training, obviously..." He trailed off for a moment, frowning slightly.

"You can see why we're not terribly judgmental on the subject of mental health," Gina drawled, giving her son a wry shake of her head.

"Hey, I do other stuff!" Erik protested. "Like... well, I do a bit of cooking," he countered, indicating the serving plate of tamales.

[Fox]

Mara raised her eyebrows, glancing from Erik to her remaining tamales and back again. "They're good," she complimented, nodding. "Cook a little, myself. Sort of learn when you live alone - not many restaurants near my home. Don't always want to deliver out there, either. Still," she dryly noted, "depressing to know someone spends less time on hobbies than me. Very sad." She glanced at Gina, gesturing at her son with a fork. "Should get him an instrument or something. Girlfriend maybe. Or boyfriend. Not in a position to judge."

[Gizmo]

"Tch. No respect..." Erik grumbled, crossing his arms as his sister chuckled.

"Let's just say I figure you two have a better chance of making me an abuela," Gina noted drolly, resting her chin in one hand.

"Hey, can I help it if most of the single women I meet are actively trying to kill me?" the fencer argued, taking another bite of tamale and slouching slightly in his seat.

Ellie coughed lightly into the back of her hand, covering both a smirk and an involuntary reddening of her cheeks at her mother's comment. "At what point do you start wondering if the problem might be you, hermano?"