|
    |
Once again, Kai has brought Lambert to the mansion. It is no doubt a security risk, but Kai has given Lambert the rundown of how utmost secrecy must be employed here. This is important. This is the Avengers. What is seen, heard, and discussed within these walls must never be spoken of.
So far, the great secret that must not be revealed involves Kai in the kitchen chopping and crushing garlic for Lambert, because it's time to cook for 'the boys' again. 'The boys' being Bucky's horde. "So then I said, 'fine, see if I care, it's not my car.'" And he laughs.
Lambert does actually laugh, because while he is more human than Kai, he still has a big taste for mischief. He, too, is chopping, slicing tomatoes with a blur of movement. He has just nodded at 'secrets', and seems content to keep things on the down low. There are pots of water boiling, and fresh herbs. Lambert has all the lights burning in a blazing heap above him, and even though his vision is now very poor, he still knows his way around a kitchen "You know, that makes me wonder something," he muses.
There's the orignal Buck, come to help. HE's showered, cleaned up. The kids are still keeping themselves to themselves, skittering shadows at night. They come and go sometimes, not merely lurking in the upper stories. Nevermind the palpitations it gives Buck when they're off, or even being babysat by Steve. "Smells good," he says, as he comes in.
Kai looks up and beams at Bucky. "Beer's in the fridge," he tells him. Apparently helping starts with getting a beer. He presses a knife's blade flat against a garlic clove and smacks it with such strength that it pulverizes the clove beneath, then he sweeps it into a little bowl before dooming another clove to the same fate. "What does it make you wonder?" he asks Lambert.
"Simple food tonight, good, fresh ingredients," claims Lambert, who brightens as he spots Bucky. That is right. Bucky was in the underworld with him and Loki, while they went to rescue Kai. Yes. This is a good night for finding out things. Since Bucky last saw him, his always slightly clouded eyes, with poor vision at night, have developed much more obvious cataracts over them. The chopped tomato has basil added. Tonight, the clan is getting more vegetables than they likely want. Lambert muses "Well. Is it your…less lawful nature that attracts Loki to you?" He should _really_ be better at keeping _that_ kind of thing quiet in front of people he does not know. What if Bucky decides men with men is worth a punch up?
"Thanks," replies the SOldier. He seems neither surprised nor offended by that question. But then, he crashes in Kai and Loki's place, now and again, and has for months. He's well aware of the nature of that special friendship., such as it is. "I bet it is. Law and order types'd be boring for him, I imagine," he opines. As if he had any idea.
"Huh," says Kai. "I never thought about it." Smack! He crushes another clove. "Maybe it's that I wasn't afraid of him. I mean I was afraid of him. Terrified. But it didn't stop me from coming around. Maybe he favors the bold. I think my runins with the law amuse him, but it also amuses him that I'm an Avenger. I don't know why he's into me." He smiles, cheeks dimpling. "I'm just glad he is."
Lambert sprinkles some salt to make the tomatoes sweat, and then he says "Hmm. I see. So if I want to seduce Loki, Kai, do you suggest I act like that around him?"
That expression should be accompanied by the world's loudest record scratch. Bucky pauses in mid-chug, ends up choking on his mouthful of beer, and turning away to sputter for a moment. Even supersoldiers can't deal with a lungful of liquid. "Are you crazy?" he asks Lambert,when he can speak again.
Kai stops what he's doing and turns to look at Lambert. One brow ticks upward. He opens his mouth to say something, thhen snaps it shut. Another false start, and he finally settles on, "I suggest if you have something to tell him, tell him. There's no trick that will out-trick a trickster." He turns slowly and takes up another clove, sliding it under the knife. Smack.
Lambert says to Bucky mildly "I don't think so. Do you think so?" He beams at him. And then he nudges Kai lightly with his shoulder. "Well, you know how I feel about _you_," he says "And he hasn't killed me yet, so maybe…but hmm. I really don't want you to kill _me_ either." Now he muses, looking up at the ceiling, and then he says "It's those horns that he has."
"I'm so confused," Bucky says, simply. He looks to Kai, brows up, lips parted. "Kai and Loki….I don't think they, uh, look at anyone other than each other?" he offers, lamely.
"We don't," Kai says. "He is all I could ever desire." He gives Lambert a sidelong look. "And my dear friend, I would never kill you. Flirt with him all you like. He deserves adoration. But if you sleep with him?" He smiles, and it's the sweetest of all smiles. "I abhor killing."
Lambert reaches out and pats Bucky "If it helps, although it isn't correct, you can think of me as the cheapest of all drunkards whoever used an alcohol metaphor for sex." He then adds brightly "I just. Don't really have an easy time of remembering that friends are off limits. I mean, there's so much pleasure that could be shown." He then wrinkles his nose at Kai, and has to lean in quite close to see his expression "Hmm. Why don't I quite believe you - wait. Have I offended you?"
Buck is still owl-faced. "Loki, he's the jealous type," he warns Lamb. "He's gotten up in my face when he thought I was angling for Kai, and I, uh, I'm not really in to guys." So why is he blushing?
Kai's quick eye catches that blush, and his smile broadens. He smashes a final garlic clove, then goes to wash his hands. On the way, he claps Lambert on the shoulder. "You haven't offended me," he says, "I've no reason to be offended. Loki likes boldness, so don't shrink from him. If he offers to take you on an adventure, go forth! Let him have fun. I think people who hesitate bore him." He winks at Bucky. All of this is fine, Buck. What's the worst that could happen?
"I am," says Lambert brightly "I like their muscles, the way they smell, their skin, their hair…hands especially. I really love their feet too. Men have such beautiful feet." Of course, being what he is, get him onto the topic of women, and he will be similarly effusive. And possibly rather more x-rated. The satyrling then says curiously "What's it like not being into…oh, I could ask Kai that question too. Not being into both. Seems a little strange, to me." And then he brightens as Kai claps him on the shoulder "Oh! Okay! I'll make you baklava," he decides, never one to shy away from bribery. What _is_ the worst that could happen? Lambert clears his throat.
Buck is so pink now, it's absurd. "It's just….it's…they just don't move me like that. I mean, you don't wanna screw everyone you meet , right? YOu meet perfectly nice people that you still don't want to sleep with?" By his uncertain tone, he is vastly unsure that this is true.
Kai shrugs a shoulder and says, "I don't know. It's just the way that feels right. I like women, I think they're beauitful. I love to dance with women and see them all in their pretty dresses. It's just that, at the end of the night, I want to see them home safely and wish them sweet dreams. With men, there's urges." He looks around for more to do so he can work while he talks.
"No, not _everyone_," says Lambert, a bit shocked "There are children, you know. Well, and evil people. It's a turn off. Evil people. And some of the people I meet, I suppose there are logistics issues - you know, they're immaterial, or maybe they really, really loathe me?" He asides to Kai "You know what that's like, or maybe you don't, but you know when someone's _utterly_ disdainful of you? Turnoff. Complete." He wrinkles his nose as Kai speaks, fascinated by him "Huh," he says, puzzled "Well, I suppose we can't all be me - here, can you get some wine out. I think this sauce needs a little something extra."
Bucky flops into a seat, feigning absorption with his drink. Not able to look up, that embarassed. Nothing to offer, for the moment. The kids upstairs've got to be feeling that chagrin, through the link.
Kai eyes Bucky sidelong as he fetches the wine and brings it to Lambert. Then he washes off apples and starts cutting them in thin slices. "There's all sorts of stuff Bucky's not telling us," Kai says in a sing-song. What, did Bucky think Kai would just let it go? "I'm not attracted to disdain," he says. "Petulance is too childish to capture my fancy." He pulls a face. Ugh. His cutting technique is a blur, swift and uniform.
Lambert eyes Bucky, curiously. Shame. Huh. What _is_ that? "That looks like how I feel when I get the sweet-sour balance wrong," he says to Kai, and then he comes over and he sits down near Bucky, regarding him with his milky eyes "What's the matter?" And then Kai is speaking, and Lambert's eyes glitter. Mischief. Bad decisions. He pats Bucky's shoulder, and he says "…aww, you can tell us. I'm trustworthy. What is it? Kai _always_ knows."
He shoots Kai a look, does Buck. "I'm fine," he insists, quietly. "Guys, really, I am. I just….on earth, here, we don't talk about liking guys like that, is all."
"Yeah, out there," Kai says, gesturing toward outside with his knife. "This is a safe place to talk about this sort of thing. Unless Cap walks in." He laughs a little. "He's just too pure for this world. But it's just the three of us." The apples, once cut, are laid in layers just like he's seen Lambert do before. He estimates the spices, sniffing each one first. Just some cinnamon and sugar. "It you don't want to talk about this stuff though, we can change the subject."
"Why not?" asks Lambert with open curiosity "I'm from Earth. I mean, sure, not from amongst humans, but…oh, do you mean Captain America?" Lambert looks fascinated "He is so inspiring! The way he stands in the way of injustice. I can admire that. He is very brave." He pats Kai and tells him "Good work." And then he turns back to Bucky "I suppose we could. Just is it really _that_ bad knowing my proclivaties? I'm a satyr."
"You got no idea," Buck says, wryly. "Steve Rogers is as brave as a lion and dumb as a fucking fencepost, sometimes. You shoulda seen him as a kid. Little runt kept getting in fights, and I had to keep pulling him out of them." There's a funny, soft reverence in his voice, despite the gruffness of his words. Oh. So it's like that, is it?
"Dumb as a fencepost, huh?"
Of course the most Eagle-y of the Boy Scouts omits the curse word as he enters the kitchen. Bucky gets the first gimlet look, softened enough by friendship and a quaint sort of acceptance for the bland truth of what the Soldier just shared with the kitchen's occupants. In a white tank-top and black jeans, he saunters in like he owns the place — which while he doesn't, may still be true in some sense. "I still don't like bullies." That's the reasoning for the fights, apparently. "I smelled the garlic and wondered who was in here," he explains as he glances over at Kai and Lambert. He recognizes both gentlemen. Bucky gets another side-look as the fridge door opens and he begins to rummage around. "Remind me to tell you about the time when he didn't wait until the count of one to leap over the barricade we'd set up against three platoons of German soldiers, including a mounted machine gun." His soft laugh is a little muffled as he reaches waaaaay back…and pulls out a chunk of sharp cheddar. It'd been picked at with a knife before, judging by its angles, and the Captain pulls out a pocket knife to whittle at it more once it's unwrapped and in his hand. He leans against the kitchen counter and smirks at his oldest friend.
Kai beams as Steve walks into the kitchen. "Captain," he says, all perky-warm. He and Lambert are both dressed tonight, so that's a change in a positive direction. "Bertie, come look at these apples. I'm doing it from memory. Did we bring enough lamb? These guys eat a lot." Kai bought a lot of lamb, so he already knows the answer, but now that he's playing at being chef, he's futzing.
"We usually make enough for quite a few mouths," says Lambert to The Big Boy Scout, a little cautiously for a moment, though he then beams "Hello!" he says to him brightly "You usually have a lot of bright ideas, right? How would one go about seducing Loki?" And then he leans over to examine the apples "The apples are fine," he tells Kai "The width is the important thing, for even cooking. No, this will be good - did you get clotted cream?" And then the satyrling looks up and says to Bucky and Captain America both, curiously "What is a platoon?"
Buck goes red and mute, lips pressed together. Not looking around to face Steve. "I was drunk at the time," he says, in his own defense, tone so sheepish he should be shearable. To Lamb, he explains, "Group of soldiers, usually thirty to fifty, depending on the army you're talking about," Buck volunteers. Then the question from Lamb, re: Loki, sinks in, and he chokes on his beer again.
"Kai, Lambert," says the Captain to each, sure to meet eyes and grin politely. "It smells good, cross my heart. I didn't show up to complain about the garlic." The pocket-knife flashes beneath the bright lights as he works at the cheddar. His glance over at his friend twinkles. He nods slowly as he chews on a squared chunk of cheese, looking far too pleased with himself for the flush in his friend's cheeks.
"You were…about as drunk as a skunk, yes," he agrees in regards to Bucky's explanation. He too does not catching onto the implication of Lambert's question at first. The knife pauses, embedded in the cheese mid-push, when it clicks into place and he looks up at the Satyr-kin with wheat-gold eyebrows high.
"…seduce…who?" A bewildered look to Bucky and then back to Lambert. Oh yes, that's a blush at his cheeks, light as it is.
Kai eyes Lambert. "You can't ask Captain America how to seduce Loki. Cap's a pure cinnamon roll, too sweet for this world, and Loki, while past incarnations have dabbled in villainy, has been largely reformed, and I'm dating him." That much he's told Cap, at least. He hipchecks Lambert. "I'm permitting this flirtation because my darling deserves to be adored. Shower him in flattery." He gives Bucky and Steve Rogers a worldweary look. Satyrkin, y'all. Lambert gets a squeeze on the shoulder. "Apples are done. Give me something else to do, and let's talk about Cap-friendly things, like goodness and righteousness."
Lambert says to Bucky "That sounds like a _lot_ of soldiers, but I suppose if you were drunk that makes it all make sense." He nods, soberly, with the serious and fond expression of one for whom drunken shenanigans are a constant. Lambert's eyes are clouded by cataracts when they meet Steve Roger's, and he is clearly having some difficulty focusing on exactly where things are. But a kitchen is a kitchen "How drunk do skunks get?" he asides to Kai, and then he tilts his head, and he shrugs, and gestures at himself "It's…you know, never mind. Everyone is right. You're too innocent for these things." And then Lambert says, awkwardly, hissing under his breath "But I'm not a hero, or very good, and I'm very _rarely_ right! Let's make some butter pastry!" He side-eyes Captain America, one of the greatest heroes in the world. And then an eyebrow lifts, thoughtfully. Sneh heh heh.
"I was really drunk," Buck affirms, solemnly. He's closed his eyes for a moment, as if to blot out his own mortification. "It's a metaphor. Stinking drunk. And Loki is Kai's sweetheart," he says. That's brutally blunt for something delivered in Cap's presence.
Still appearing rather nonplussed, Steve frowns down at the wedge of cheese in his hand. He works the sharp edge of the knife at it, intent on taking off a chunk to nibble on, and speaks quietly.
"Y'know…it sounds a little to me like you expect me to have an issue with this. It also sounds like you're making a mockery of my…proposed inability to 'get with the times'. This whole business of yours? What you're asking after? It's nothing new." He glances up from his paring. "You think thousands of men, alone by themselves, didn't get to hijinks? That the Army was free of it? It wasn't my job to police it nor will it ever be. What I don't step between is lovers. Love's a freedom that no one should be denied. Flirting with your other half?" His eyes flick to Kai. "Nope. Not interested."
Kai shakes his head and says, "It's not that. I know you're not ignorant, and you've been swell for as long as I've known you. I know men have been getting up to this for awhile now, the American Revolution was no different." He helps Lambert with the cooking, guiding him to this and that, and he helps the chef start in on the pastry. "I just think you're kind of above it all. You really are the best of us, and I figured it's probably a topic you've got no interest in. I could be wrong, but never would I mock you."
"You know, I don't actually think I've ever _charged_ about, I don't know, like, ninety people with guns when drunk," murmurs Lambert, in the tones of one for whom this may well be an achievement to replicate "Wow. I'm actually kind of amazed that you could walk. You must have the sort of stamina his lot do." He jerks a thumb at Kai, and then he says to Captain America, puzzled "Are you talking to me? Wait, what times? Sorry, there's so many weird times. I mean, I know this guy, and you'd swear he's from like, that Dracula book. And then there's this other person I know." Lambert drops his voice, confidingly "He reckons he's from the future? How weird is that. I don't believe it quite, because that's _super_ -" Oops. Steve was not talking to him. Lambert coughs in embarassment and he works on the pastry. Fingers, not the palms of his hands, to avoid melting the butter. So it will be ridiculously light and puffy "Oh, no, he means me. I flirt with everyone. Actually, wait…" He clicks fingers at Bucky "We established that I don't!" And then his face goes ashen "Oh God am I glad you guys didn't meet my dad."
Bucky is refusing to look anyone in the eye. Hello, beer, we have a lot of things to discuss. While I am bright red to the ears.
A snort from Steve and he finally works free that chunk of cheese. He sets aside both knife and block on the countertop before shaking his head. "You don't have to watch your words around me." It's a statement to all present in the room. Maybe Bucky can feel the Captain's eyes rest on him in phantasmal weighted curiosity at the profuse blush on the Soldier's skin, but they slide away soon enough. He can pry later, if there's an opening for conversation.
"Your dad came to visit then, Lambert? Where's he from?" This seems like a safe tack in discussion. He nibbles on the sharp cheddar, pleased for the calories present in it. That super-soldier serum is hard to keep content in terms of intake.
"Lambert's dad is the best," Kai says. "He's an old-school satyrkin, I mean there's more satyr in him, and he has no concept of right or wrong. Utter chaos. He turned one of my friends into a Maenad for awhile, and turned some nerd into a for-real satyr. He didn't mess with me because I'm already mythological." He stands by to help Lambert with the pastry. "I mean what's he going to turn me into? I'm ljosalfar."
Lambert eyes Blushing Bucky, and says "Man, so nervous. And what a waste of pun potential with that name - I'd just feel bad teasing you." He sighs. No talking about getting thoroughly bucked here. It would just be cruel. And then Steve says something that is _not_ safe discussion "…ergh," says Lambert "Er. Well. Originally, Greece, but he moved out to Texas to follow my mother. We're. Bad at being married, but good at being in love." He fusses around until he can find the best thing for rolling pastry on - a marble surface, to keep it nice and cold "…_what_?" he says to Kai "Oh my God, I had such a mess to clean up. I had to pull favours to get him bailed out!" And then Lambert sighs "Man, sometimes I think it would be easier if I was less human so I didn't ever feel guilt. Guilt is so awful. I hate guilt…oh, yes, he did." Lambert's tail _and_ ears noticably twitch. He then says "Y…yes. And you've clearly already been messed with. But basically, why change you, indeed? As you said, you're ljosalfar. He was trying to make me into a full satyr, but he got distracted." Lambert rolls his eyes "It's possible an interesting bug caught his eye, you know? Or he saw a penny. That's all it would take!"
More beer for Buck. Maybe someone can catch him in the fifteen minutes where he might be drunk, and get him to confess something. But he's not volunteering anything. "Guilt's awful," he agrees.
The more Steve hears, the more he grudgingly stops avoiding the realization, and acceptance, that this must be…some sort of magical business. Between the Elf and the Satyr-kin, no one's sported any of the tells of lying, what handful that the Captain knows from his time in SHIELD. He eyes the beer in Bucky's hand and sighs, almost folornly, to himself. No getting drunk for him.
"So…what I'm hearing is that flicking a shiny penny on the floor will distract a…Satyr…?" He asks haltingly after finishing his wedge of cheese. The block is taken up once more and subjected to the pocket-knife. The Captain keeps minimal attention on the sharp edge as he works at the orange chunk.
"It'll distract Lambert's dad," Kai says. He takes a break as Lambert toils away, and he claims a beer for himself from the fridge. It may not get him drunk, but there's just something so delightfully humman about it all. "We should make Lambert our official caterer," he says. "You're front and center for a fresh meal, Cap. You're lucking out. It's some of the best food you'll eat." He glances over at Lambert. "Are you doing okay? I can show you around some more."
"Guilt's terrible. But useful," says Lambert, a little sadly, and then he moves back to put water onto the stove. Pasta, shortly! He is going to swear it is Greek pasta, at least. Even if the Italians seem to be the modern Euro-masters of it all "What's the big sigh for?" he says, following Cap's eyes "Is this another one of those 'some people can't get drunk' thing? Because trust me. I can get you drunk." He salts the water, and then assists, and says to Kai "It sure will - Mr America, er, my father's just. He can only focus on some things. One of those? Is his vineyard. The other is chasing girls. But if you did something in front of him, he'd forget it all." He quirks his lips, and then he flushes, pleased to be praised, and he tells Kai "Ehhh. I'm nearly blind these days. Bright light helps. And my hearing and smell are better than human. But it's getting a bit depressing."
"I wanna see you manage to get Steve drunk," Buck says, finally breaking that silence. Whatever else he's about to say is stifled by the sounds from upstairs, and he sighs. "I need to go check on the kids." AKA the eight nearly identical murder-polyps that he's so proud of.
Incredulity dances across Steve's face and laughs aloud as he gives his friend a look that promises a punch in the arm later. It's a bright sound, something rare. "You would, Barnes." Disappear after such a suggestion to tend on the Bucklings? Without a doubt.
He watches the brunet leave and snorts again. "Y'know, he's at least half the reason why we got into the trouble we did," the Captain claims with pronounced airiness of tone, almost as if he knows that the brunet might hear it down the hallway in his departure. "Though if you're looking for someone to help you taste-test a recipe, I'm happy to help." Half the cheese block is gone and he's still hungry. It's the usual issue for the man. He sets the knife aside to return the re-wrapped wedge back in the fridge. "One of the side-effects of the serum is an increased metabolism," he explains as he turns back to Kai and Lambert. "It functions at double-speed, at least, and I can't get drunk. I've tried many times, believe me. Can't get a buzz off anything made on this earth." An important distinction, that. "Doesn't mean that I don't appreciate a home-cooked meal and I'm deeply thankful that you'd share your culinary skills with us, Lambert."
"Satyrs brew wines meant to inebriate gods," Kai says. "Even I think twice before I drink them. If you ask me, the food is the crowning glory, though." His brow furrows as he watches Lambert. "We'll get your eyes fixed," he says, "if you travel to Asgarad with us, and if things go well, and the All-Father is in a good mood, or suitably distracted, we'll get your eyes fixed in no time."
He asides to Steve, "Cataracts, and at such a young age." As if it were Lambert's ears that needed fixing, not his eyes.
"I'll keep it in mind!" Lambert calls back up to Bucky happier, and then he starts to pour out the pasta. As long as he is here, with the scents of a kitchen, and Kai having already primed him? He can do what he needs to. And then he says to the Captain as he speaks "Yes. It takes me a bit of effort to get drunk too, though that's related to something different. I just, erm. Am magically hard to poison. Or we evolved that way! Old style satyrs spent a lot of time eating mushrooms and berries in the forest. But sometime let me try my -" And then Kai has given it away! Lambert grins "Heh," he says innocently "Well, yes. I worship Dionysis. Oh, what I make might wipe a mortal out for days, but you said your constitution was very strong, right? I'll give you what I give the Asgardians…" And then Kai is pretending Lambert is hardly there. Lambert says dryly "It turns out that headbutting your horned relatives so often has drawbacks. My skull's too hard to give me a headache, but…" Then he reaches out to tweak Kai "Serve, reprobate."
"Wine, huh? And Dionysis. That rings a bell. I spent some time in Greece and the men would tell stories every now and then," Steve shares as he meanders over to the kitchen table. Pulling out a chair, he sits and then rotates it to better face the ones at work over their cooking utensils and steaming pots of deliciously-scented cuisine. "I mean…" He scratches at the nape of his neck in passing. "It's not that I don't believe the wine will work, but…it'll have to have a kick to it. If it gets the Asgardians drunk, though…" The blond falls to contemplative silence, his eyes off to one side and brows nearly disappearing into his hairline for a second. "Maybe on one of my days off," he finally hedges.
"I wasn't going to mention your eyes, but I noticed them." Because manners, of course. "No one here in New York can help? Or is because you're part Satyr-kin?"
Kai squeaks, shoots Lambert a look, but then serves up dinner dutifully. He can balance dishes with the ease of a practiced waiter as he brings them over to the table where Steve sits. Greek pasta, lamb, vegetables in fine sauces. "You need to take a day off," Kai says. He sets out warm olives as well, and bread with whipped butter. Kai knows his audience, and the portions are generous. "I know he isn't one to brag, but you remember how Bucky and Loki and a few others traversed the planes of life and death to bring me back? Lambert was there. He's pretty heroic as far as chefs go."
"Wine. I also brew a mead from hell," says Lambert, speaking literally. He beams as Kai serves, and while he might be a ridiculous lecherous flirt, he does seem to pay more attention to how everything is laid out then who is doing said laying out. Important! And then he says to the Captain "It has a kick to it. Or, er, I know you seemed a little awkward earlier around talk of magic, but to be frank, it is magical. Ah! Well. Er. My lenses are not human-shaped, and I look like a mutant, and I do not have an endless reserve of money. All of those things are bad for surgery here. I do have someone called Doctor Morbius who might help, but things are getting tight, and to be honest, he is possibly better used keeping people odder than I am alive. Technically this is, er, elective. I guess." He then flushes up entirely as Kai mentions him visiting the realms of the dead "I like people," Lambert mutters "I don't like bad people. I know sometimes I'm not a great person. But I try to be _good_."
The entire spread smells amazing. It's far different than the usual fare that Steve manages to grub on, mostly take-out if one's being completely honest. Long hours at SHIELD and out on reconnaisance if not outright involved in missions do not make for home-cooked meals. He plates himself up a little bit of everything and says as he's heavily buttering a piece of bread,
"Good on you, Lambert, for standing up for a friend." Yep, still thoroughly ignored the whole magical take on things, though this doesn't detract from him point made. "That takes courage, and courage is one thing that all heroes have, big or small." He doesn't mention that it's called 'stupidity' when you die. A bite of bread and he makes a muffled happy sound. He dips into the sauces on his plate and is certain to have his mouth cleared before continuing. "
Unfortunately for me, I don't really get days off. I get a few hours off here and there, but nothing like a weekend. I hope you find a way to get your eyes fixed, however," and he gives the chef and his sous-chef a warm smile. "Could've fooled me that you were having trouble seeing as is."
Kai ferries all the food to the table in serving dishes, spread out all nice, then he gets a bottle of a nice table red to go with the lamb. Once wine is poured and Steve has been served, and only then, he dishes some up for himself. "Dr. Morbius seems nice," Kai says. "He should be able to help you. If not, there's always Asgard. I saw Thor the other day and we were talking." His features brighten when he speaks of Thor. Who doesn't like Asgard's Golden Boy? He pausse to make sure there's nothing he's forgetting, then he ushers Lambert to come sit.
"Here's to making those few hours count," Kai says to Steve with a dimpled smile. "A warrior's respite. Speaking of which, how have you been? Any news worth paying attention to?"
"Kai is in my herd," says Lambert, a little distracted by the fact that Steve _eats like a satyr does_ "Wow. You were starving, were you? I see. And I feel that way, myself, because I run a restaurant and those eat up all of your time. But no rest is a bad thing for your soul, Mr. America. It means you may burn out, start to feel the weight too heavily. It's not something that you want to have happen, no rest, no play, no delights." He shakes his head, and then he settles down next to Kai, with his own food "You were talking to Thor? Isn't he the Asgardian God of Mischief?" Riiight. Lambert raises his glass, and turns his head to look to Steve as well.
"To making those few hours count — which I do," Steve quietly insists as he lifts his glass of wine in salute. A solid table red, nothing to sneeze at, and he enjoys the flavors mulled about his tongue as he sets down the drink again.
"Insofar as news…nothing I can share with you at this table." His tone as well as expression is apologetic, wheat-gold brows drawn together in mild consternation. "You know SHIELD. And if you don't, don't let it keep you up at night." He's silent as he finishes the slice of bread and then digs into the rest of the food piled on his plate. Lambert called it true; he was very hungry once the golden scent of garlic hit his nose. Once he's cleared at least a third of his plate at relatively quick speed, he clears his throat and asks the table in general, "But what about you two? Anything beyond artwork and the restaurant?" With that, he settles in to eat and listen, offering up small sounds as to encourage further conversation. Can't talk with your mouth full, after all — bad manners.