Evals

[comic_awareness]

(bendytime to after the "Dire Wraith" invasion, but before Asgard stuff.  Probably)

When sign-ups for the evals had gone up, Bruce had made sure he was first on the list.  Team leader, his responsibility, all that, blah blah blah.

At the appointed time, he headed to Ms. Pryde-Wisdom's office.

Deep breaths, Brucie-boy, he thought to himself.  You did fine.  I'm sure.

Comments

[lil_hulk]

When the sign ups for evals had been put up, Jay saw Bruce's name at the top. The sometimes green teen signed his first name at the bottom margin of the paper and walked away. He had no desire for an eval. One had already been given on the field in front of everyone else.

Currently, Jay had picked up Boo and was going to the kitchen to grab both of them a snack. He put the space creature on his shoulder as he ambled down the hallway.

[enduring_pryde]

Kitty can already be found in the kitchen, and in fact she isn't alone. She's there making an ice cream sundae for her own space buddy Lockheed. SWORD was giving him some time off and so he had made it a point to come visit Kitty.

"There's some extra cherries for the universe's best dragon," she said, spooning three more cherries into the bowl of chocolate ice cream. The super intelligent alien dragon made cooing sounds.

[lil_hulk]

Jay almost pulled up short. Almost, but he definitely had a hitch in his stride. He shook his head in disbelief. He tried to quietly get to the fridge and out. Possibly because he didn't know if the small, purple dragon was going to eat his miniature giant space hamster.

It was going quietly well... until Boo blew a raspberry at the duo. The small creature got squinty-eyed at the dragon as Jay hurried his pace a little to the fridge.

[enduring_pryde]

And Lockheed remained cooing. There was ice cream to be had. Boo wasn't any consequence to him.

Jay had been exceptional at dodging her. Kitty was going to give him the space that he needed, for the most part. There was no point in pushing him by trying to explain to him the purpose of the training exercise.

"Good evening," she offered cordially. "How are you both?"

[lil_hulk]

"Hey," was Jay's response. Boo turned around to keep an eye on Jay's back as his big, tall human dug through the fridge to pull out some raspberries and a 2 liter of Cherry Coke.

"We're good." He wasn't one for talking. Well, not when he wasn't Hulked out.

[enduring_pryde]

"Yeah? Well that's good. Haven't really seen much of you guys lately." She gives him a soft smile. "Do you have a few minutes? I was hoping that we could talk." This probably was the only way for her to talk to him at all.

[lil_hulk]

Well, crap. If he had been raised with no manners, he could have easily avoided this. Jay let out a slow breath and carefully shrugged. Mostly being careful not to dislodge Boo, who was making grabby hands at the container of raspberries.

"I got time," he said as he handed the container to Boo. Jay ignored the small creature as it immediately started wrestling with the lid.

[enduring_pryde]

And Lockheed was too busy devouring his ice cream sundae to be bothered.

"Grand. Okay if we take a little walk?" She nodded toward the door that led outside. "Just around the property. I don't know about you, but I feel like I think better outside."

[lil_hulk]

Jay glanced at the door to the outside. He almost grimaced. He was from a desert people. February in New York was not his thing.

"Sure." He could just think of it as a warm up to jogging around Central Park later. Boo was covered in fur and could disappear down Jay's shirt if his big, floppy ears got cold. Jay started toward the door. He opened it for Ms. Pryde-Wisdom to go through it first.

[enduring_pryde]

Lockheed remained in the kitchen--not only finishing his ice cream sundae, but opening the freezer to get to more ice cream. Kitty smiled at Jay after he opened the door. It was a nice thought, but it wasn't necessary.

"Thanks." This was her kind of weather. Having spent her winters in Deerfield, New York and England? She was perfectly at home with this. "I want to help you, Jay. I am here to help, advise, assist, in whatever you need help with. But I don't know what your needs are. Could you explain them to me?"

[lil_hulk]

Jay was never going to assume someone was going to walk through the door. Mostly because he wasn't always sure how other people's powers worked. Though he was slightly tempted to shut the door behind Kitty and run away. Instead, he did the polite thing and followed her out.

He crossed his arms in front of his chest as he walked. Mostly to keep his nipples warm. "Uh, dunno. Figured you had me pegged as needing a lot of help since you lumped me in with Vincent."

That might have annoyed him just a bit.

[enduring_pryde]

"I don't have anyone pegged, Jay. I have an idea about all of you based on your files and what I have seen in the field, but my knowledge is sparse. I don't really know any of you yet. I don't see how I lumped you in with Vincent, either. How did I do that?"

[lil_hulk]

"Well, if you ever get your hands on Sammy's SHIELD files, you'll learn I have more gold stars than anyone." He did, too. It was his drive to be more funnily dangerous/useful than his peers.

He winced slightly when Boo got the container of raspberries open and whapped him in the head with the lid. Thankfully, the critter wasn't strong enough to do damage. Also, Boo was too busy stuffing raspberries into its mouth.

"On the field in front of everyone. I make one little joke and I'm almost as bad as a moody sorcerer."

[enduring_pryde]

"I've put in a requisition for your files already," she said honestly. Her status at SHIELD was still active for the time being. She figured she should use what pull that she had left.

"Ahh, about Boo." She smiled. "I don't compare you to Vincent, Jay. And I don't hold either of your reactions against you guys. I didn't know how what to expect. I'm happy with the results, though."

[lil_hulk]

"Boo still doesn't approve." He glanced at the miniature giant space hamster gorging himself on raspberries. "But he's busy at the moment."

Jay shivered slightly at the temperature. "Just the same old Young Avenger reactions to danger."

[enduring_pryde]

"Well sometimes Boo might not approve, but I think he can work with things." It's what Lockheed had to do. To this day, he was still stealing Pete's cigarettes to this day.

"You looked good out there. You make a good team." She raises her eyebrows. "Now how about this: what is your opinion of me?"

[lil_hulk]

"He'll work out how to get more raspberries. It's his favorite past time." Though Jay was starting to wish he was covered in fur. Or Hulked out. Though he'd be more chatty if he was Hulked out. Darn lack of inhibitions.

"With Marcus at least. He's about the only one who tries to help if I'm in trouble." He took a deep breath. "You're from SHIELD and one of Wolverine's gals, so I'm naturally wary of you. Being a former X-Person levels it out a little, I guess. They're mainly okay. No idea what to think beyond that."