Players:
Summary: Travis and Rashmi have an amazing Valentines Day.
Date: February 14, 2012
Log Title: Valentines Day Date
Rating: G (or DC for Diabetic Coma)
NYC - Le Bistro Bestial
At the Le Bistro Bestial there are no menus, all the specials for the day are written up on chalk boards around the restaurant. A variety of sandwiches, soups, salads and other small dishes can be found featured here. There are shag carpet covered chairs and tables are set up around the small restaurant and in the summer there are some tables set up outside on the sidewalk. On the walls are colorful Richard Scarry pictures along with a faux Lion head above the bar.
Le Bistro Bestial has been in business for thirty years is run by two families, one American family and one French Family. Both have mutant children and grandchildren who help in running the restaurant. One reason their food is so good is the head chef has the mutant gift of knowing and understanding flavours.
Now that classes are ended for the day Travis has decided to take Rashmi out for a Valentines Day dinner. "I know it's not the fanciest or most romantic of places but I figured it'd be nicer here and allow for a more…free atmosphere." He says as he pulls out the chair for Rashmi to sit in. He's dressed in a nice pair of slacks and a polo shirt, designed for his six arms, which currently aren't hiding under his usual jacket. In one of many hands is a shiny red gift bag, obviously meant as a gift to her.
Rashmi chuckles softly, a wide grin on her face as she slips out of her jacket, hanging it over the back of the chair and dipping her head in thanks. "But what it *is* is one of the *best* places in New York, so, that makes it more than nice enough, doesn't it?" A box, wrapped in red and silver heart-splashed paper, is set under her chair, and before she sits she turns back to face Travis, leaning up on her tiptoes and brushing her lips against his. "Besides," she murmurs, "it's nice just having a date, y'know? We're too busy sometimes."
Travis returns the kiss and grins as he takes his seat, resting four arms on the table. "I know, we don't get a chance to just go out anymore and Barnes is keeping me really busy. A lot of training and stuff and then all the talk about my future and such." He says reaching a hand forward to take one of hers. "I need to sneak out and crash at your place more often, get away from the underground." He teases.
"Oh is *that* why you show up," Rashmi murmurs, squeezing Travis' hand and tipping him a wink and a wider grin. "Better be careful, Dex might start getting jealous." Running her thumb over the top of his hand, she tilts her head. "How's your classes going, anyway? Training's not too hard?"
Travis shakes his head. "No, it's not to bad. Getting better with somethings but I don't know why I can't seem to get the hang of doing more than one thing at a time. And Dex is an adorable cat but I know he wants you all for himself." He says grinning. "And your training and all your classes aren't to hard this year?"
"Not *that* hard," Rashmi says, lifting her shoulder, "mostly it's work, which is just *busy,* not even really hard now that I know what I'm doing. Ms. Drew is still pretty brutal for training, though… I guess that's to be expected. Anyway!" Shaking her head, she lets go of Travis' hand, just long enough to lean down and pull the box out from under her chair. "Did you want to do presents now, or after dinner?"
It doesn't seem like Travis even needs to think about the question as he reaches down under his chair and puts the red gift bag in front of Rashmi. "I really hope you like it." He says grinning hopefully. "And Ms. Drew is rough, but then she's an Avenger right? Avengers are supposed to be all badass and awesome."
The practically-teleporting bag makes for a merry, soft laugh from Rashmi, and her box is pulled up and handed across the table. "Here," she says, eyes bright with anticipation, "you first. At least I *hope* I got it right, anyway…"
Travis takes the box in one hand and starts to open it, looking curiously at Rashmi. "Oh I imagine that anything you got me would have been 'gotten right'." He's surprisingly delicate with the paper wrapping, opening it along the seams as to not just tear it off. Once the paper is off he opens the box and pears inside.
Inside the box, folded to make the lettering on the front visible, is a baseball jersey. Specifically, a Rockies away jersey, with a Sharpie scrawl looping across the left sleeve. "So it turns out Ms. Walters is pretty well connected," Rashmi says, almost conversationally. "It took awhile, but she managed to help me convince the owner to let go of one jersey, for a hometown fan. … …..Jason Giambi's jersey, see, he signed it there."
Travis takes out the jersey and there's a big grin on his face. "This is great, I love it Rashmi. I can't believe you got it signed. And thank god it's a Rockie's jersey and not a Giambi yankees jersey." He says grinning. "Okay, now it's your turn." He says still holding the Jersey and looking at the signature on purple jersey over the white number '23'.
Rashmi blinks at the revelation, peering at the jersey a little closer. "…Yankees? ….Huh…. I *thought* the name sounded familiar…" Blinking and shaking her head, she tugs open the bag, nudging aside the tissue paper to see what lies within.
Inside the bag, among the pink and red tissue paper, is the typical box of chocolates from Godiva and a Hallmark card with the standard touching romantic words across the front. Inside the card though are two tickets to the New York Ballet, Romeo and Juilet to be exact. "I thought, you might enjoy a classy date, something…special where you can dress up for it. I don't know if you've ever been to one before."
The chocolates are accepted with a happy noise, set aside in favor of the card. Once opened, the tickets nearly fall out, but she catches them and turns them aside to read the touching romantic punchline, and make plain her appreciation… And it's only then, tht she realizes what the tickets *are,* and her eyes widen, a soft gasp catching in her throat. "*Travis!*" she breathes, when she can finally find words, "this is *amazing!*" Luckily they've not ordered yet, for she rises from her chair to lean directly across the table and throw her arms around his neck. "Oh I can't *wait* this is gonna be *wonderful* oh *thank you!*"
Travis returns the hug with all six arms and an affectionate kiss on the cheek. "And thank you for the jersey, I'm going to get it framed and hang it on my wall so that way the autograph doesn't fade. And I'm really glad you like the tickets, I won't lie and say my mom didn't help me out a bit with the idea." He says grinning, just happy to see her so happy. Even it if means he has to sit through a ballet.
"Well," Rashmi says, "I'll definitely have to thank your mom too… And hope that you won't be *too* bored when we go," she says with a wry grin, raising her eyebrows. "So, y'know, it's extra-sweet that you'll suffer through all that 'froofy ballet nonsense' just for me." And here, she actually giggles, a step away from a squee, matching Travis' peck on the cheek with a much more insistent kiss full on the lips, clearing her throat when she finally pulls away. "Um! Right, restaurant, people… so… Dinner! …..Or at least drinks where is oh hi Rennault!" Blushing fiercely, she wiggles her fingers at the more than mildly amused man behind the bistro counter, sinking back into her seat and trying not to flush worse than the average stoplight. "…..I *do* love the present," she says meekly.
Travis returns the kiss, not shying away from it just because they're in public. He then chuckles at Rashmi as she sits back down. "Well it's cause I love you." He says to her. "And the ballet is next Saturday so, I hope Ms. Walters doesn't have you doing any extra work because I'll be stealing you away for the night." He says nodding. "Yes, dinner and drinks, and I'm happy you enjoy it. Really happy."
"I do," Rashmi says, bossing her head with utter certainty. "I really, *really* do. And I'll make *sure* to take the time off work… Probably Ms. Walters'd give me a pass anyway, just because it's a Valentine's present, but still…" For a moment, she looks about to squee again, her eyes practically sparkling, but she manages to suppress the urge. "And I'm *really* glad you like your jersey. I tried looking up third basemen, but, it doesn't look like the team kept any from last year?" Pouting faintly, she shrugs. "But I picked good anyway? I'm glad."
"Oh yeah you did good, Giambi's been an allstar before and he's quite a player. Even after he admitted to using steriods he still did pretty good." Travis says as the grin on his face doesn't seem to be able to vanish. "I love it, I really do. Anything with the Rockies is awesome, also because you remembered I used to play third base too. He's a really good player."
"Good!" Rashmi says, leaning over for another brief kiss. "So. Food. Iunno about you, but I'm *starving.* Then maybe go back and watch a movie or something? Connor's got a bunch of explodey action things he leaves out for us to watch if we want."
"Explodey action movies are always good, or if you want a nice romance I'll watch since it is Valentine's Day after all." Travis says as he happily accepts the brief kiss, reaching forward to take one of her hands. "Oh I'm always hungry, let's see what they have today." He says looking over at the day's menu bored. "Oh the a filet mignon with a hollandaise sauce." Anything with steak is good by Travis' book.
"That does sound good… I'll um… Oooh, that looks *really* good… Salsiccia alfredo alla carbonara…" While Rashmi tends to stay away from heavy, greasy foods, it seems there's little hope of denying sausage, cream, cheese, and bacon after a hard workout and even harder workday.
"Okay I know alfredo and carbonara but what's Salsiccia?" Travis says not pronouncing the word correctly. "Is it a type of pasta?" He asks as the waiter comes to the table and Travis starts to place his order, for the steak of couse. "Only ten more months and I'll be able to try one of their recommended wine pairings." He jokes.
Rashmi chuckles. "Sausage, is all," she replies. "…Ooh, and tea please. The orange pekoe," as an aside to the server. "So basically it's porksausage in heavy cream sauce, with bacon and cheese and pan-cooked pasta. Probably I'll end up waddling home with you, but it just sounds *good.*"
"That does sound really good but I can't pass up a steak, especially once that's covered in yellow sauce." Travis says chuckling. "Besides he practices at school are so intense I think a little rich food is fine once in a while. Man, somedays after those practices I fell like my arms are going to fall off." He says.
"I bet," Rashmi says, with feeling. "It's the same with my head when we do a really powers-intense session… feels like my brains are leaking out of my ears…" Shaking her head, she squeezes Travis' hand. "I'm already having the best Valentine's Day ever, just so you know."
"I'm also doing really well with all the extra study with Mr. diLucci to help with my healing. Who knew that understanding the anatomy actually helps with healing." Travis says grinning. "So are your roommates going to be home tonight too or do they also have Valentines Day stuff going on?"
"Connor might be doing something," Rashmi says, pursing her lips in thought. "…Depending on whether or not he and Heather want to admit they're dating and have any idea what to do, anyway… Robyn… probably not. He broke up with his boyfriend around the time we moved in, so… probably it's going to be hard on him, today."
"Well as long as they don't mind us cuddling up and watching a movie, and Heather, have I met her before?" Travis says trying to remember as he's met a few Xavier's kids but most of them were on the Africa fiasco. "I'd say we could go to a movie after this but I don't think staying out all night would be good since we got school tomorrow and well, doing our school work on a lack of sleep…" He can't help but chuckle.
"….Something tells me if you intend to stay over tonight, staying in won't keep that from being a problem," Rashmi murmurs, a wide grin spreading on her face. "But we can *try* to get to sleep at a decent hour."
Travis grins slowly and is decent enough to look a bit guilty at her words. "As long as we try." He says as two sets of arms shrug. "I don't exactly intend to sleep over tonight but if it happens to go past curfew and I happen to still be at your place…" He says grinning innocently. "Okay, I was intending too."
Rashmi chuckles, patting Travis' hand. "Somehow I figured," she says, shaking her head. "But yes, you're right. As long as we try. On Valentine's Day. Before," she says, pitching her voice low enough that only the two of them can hear, "we go back to the biggest intelligence agency in the world for school. I don't think they'll be all that surprised if we *are* late, really."
Travis can't help but chuckle. "Sometimes I find it hard to believe that my college education is coming from the biggest intel agency in the world and that they're pretty much…well they are, training me to be an agent. It's just kind of hard to grasp. I guess it makes up for not being able to play baseball in college." He says grinning.
"Even if it ends up boring," Rashmi says, nodding her agreement, "it's still something you can *definitely be proud of, yeah. It'd be hard for me to believe too… Except I guess I have a little practice, since my last year of high school was spent being taught by the X-Men…"
"I have a hard time seeing it being boring, well unless I suck so much or something and I end up having to clean floors or something. Six hands can accomplish more polishing!" Travis says as their dinner arrives to the table along with their drinks. A tea for Rashmi and coke for Travis. "My last year of High School was spent at quite a few parties."
"Then you had a much nicer high school experience," Rashmi points out, chuckling. "By my last year I'd already been to Hell and had to fight experimented-on teachers. I can't say it wasn't good for helping me get used to the sort of superhero insanity this city seems to attract… But I think a party or two might have been a nice change of pace."
"The only odd thing in my high school experience was, I was Liam Otter. Man, who decides on the last name Otter." Travis says shaking his head. "Though maybe it's a bit better than Smith since everyone's last name is Smith. I think some guy at Barnes didn't believe me when I first told him that was my last name." He says trying to think back. "Yeah, I don't envy all that but I think that's why you're so awesome Rashmi. You've been through hell, literally, and you're still amazing. You never let it defeat you."
"Yeah, I don't know what those people were thinking when they handed you guys that name," Rashmi says, shaking her head and picking up her fork. "I mean okay, on paper it should wash, but *still.*" Shrugging, she picks at her pasta, pushing noodles about as she thinks on what Travis says. "Well I mean, what else can I do? Sure it shouldn't ever hape happened, and in a sane world it *wouldn't,* and a lot of times I thought it really *was* too much for me. But in the end it ends up turning out okay, so… why shouldn't I expect anything less, y'know?" Taking a bite, she blinks in surprise at her food. "…Oh wow, this is *really* good. here, try some…" And without any more comment on her troubles, she forks a slice of sausage and alfredo sauce, scoops up a couple noodles, and offers it across the table.
Travis leans across the table and takes the offered sample of Rashmi's food. "Wow, that is amazing. Rich but really good." He says slicing off a piece of his filet and making sure the hollandaise sauce is on it before offering it to Rashmi. "This is really good too." He says as the food here is always amazing. "I guess they were trying to go with something that wasn't anything like what we had before and this time they went for generic as possible. Just glad I'm not Steve."
Rashmi leans forward, taking the bite directly off Travis' fork, seeming to melt slightly in place as she chews. "…Oh wow, that *is* good. And actually I think it's just as much a mark of a world-class chef that he can make regular stuff as incredible as the super-fancy food, y'know? Oh man… that's great stuff, though…"
"Honestly this has to be my favourite resturant that I've found in New York." Travis states as he takes another bite of his filet. "We didn't have places this good back home and one thing that's awesome and horrible about this place is the menu isn't the same everyday. Just when you're craving something and it's not on the list, you're out of luck."
Rashmi chuckles, tucking into her food with a will. "I *know,*" she says between bites. "But at least if they don't have what you're really wanting, they probably have something good enough to swap your craving over, y'know? Like oh my Lord, one time I came in and someone had dared him to make a curry steak pizza. It was just…"
"Curry Steak Pizza?" Travis says sounding a bit confused. "But then you do love your curry." He says grinning as the curry Rashmi makes is amazing. "Then again this is New York and after eating pizza here I don't think anywhere in the country could compare."
Rashmi smirks, wrinkling her nose. "No, it was something this guy was talking about. Like, this little place up in Canada run by this Indian family. They went with indian food, then tried to be a steakhouse, then a pizza joint, then just gave up and served all three. I guess the guy'd never thought of asking for all three, and now they're closed, so he wanted to see if Rennault could handle it."
"That's quite the combination. I think the only time I've really had Indian food is what you and your family has cooked." Travis says as he's not sure if he'd try that combination on a pizza. "Did the pizza have cheese on it? I guess I'm just trying to figure out what kind of cheese would mix with curry."
Rashmi tilts her head, eyebrows rising. "Well, there's sheep's milk cheese, that usually goes pretty good with Indian food… Some of the softer cheeses too, but you want to be careful. If it was just stuff on hand, I'm pretty sure it was feta he put on the pizza, though, that'd make sense and taste pretty all right."
"I guess I normally think of the one type of cheese on pizza." Says Travis as he's nearing the end of his dinner. "I'm not the most adventurous of eaters, I'll admit. I'll always be partial to my Mom's cooking." He says grinning the same grin that's barely left his face all night. "So do you think Barnes and Xavier's will have another dance this year?"
"I really don't know," Rashmi muses, using the end of a breadstick to gather up a dollop of sauce. "I could ask, though… Maybe during the summer? It'd be nice, last year's *was* pretty nice, even if it was kind of a pain getting everything organized. Still, it's something to think about." Every now and again, her eyes drop to the tickets, her smile refreshed by the thought of the ballet on offer. "…Travis? Thank you. Seriously. This is the best Valentine's Day I've ever had."
