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Clarice snorted softly, "Yeah, his advice was pretty stellar, but I could have done without all the insinuations and innuendo that went with it." With a small smirk she pointed her fork across the table, "I've spared you that much at least."

She took another bite and, remembering the current state of the Deus kitchens, took a long slow moment to memorize just how happy her mouth was right now. Hopefully is would get her through another week of vending machines, stealthy take-out "missions," and poaching H's hidden caches.

"Oprah would say I was paying it forward," Clarice rolled her eyes a bit, "...but honestly, its been kind of painful to watch. Nothing like seeing reruns of horrible past-mistakes. Plus you seem pretty alright, given half a chance."

The tart and sorbet were gone by this point, but that didn't keep her from swiping a finger along he bottom of the plate, trying to make the delicious last just a little bit longer. Licking her fingers, the blonde continued, "And maybe a good dinner. I feel the dinner was absolutely vital, don't you?"

Translation: this was a dinner born from her vast wisdom, and totally not due to self-indulgence after a week of being deprived at home. Obviously.

Leaning back in her chair, Clarice took another sip of her drink, gave the man a friendly leer, and drawled in H's typical tone, "Are you so sure of that my ah...succulent plum?" She quirked an eyebrow at him in a terrible come-hither.

The plate licking brought both a grin and a speculative look at her own but...no. She wasn't that far gone. Yet. "Time will tell, but it's a hell of a motive to make a few personal changes. And you seem to be taking it well enough, all things considered." Of course he had nearly an entire bottle of wine in him, but she;d take what she could get.

The waiter brought them the check, along with a small dish of freshly baked Madeleines and hot Nutella. The blonde sent him off with a smile and the Life division expense card. Then she quickly plucked up two of the cookies and gave Rep a yeah I took two, come at me bro - stare as she dipped one and took a bite. Finishing the first one, she gave the trainee a little smirk, "The Island has a bar, you just don't have clearance. Probably for the best, all things considered. Be a much more dire situation if you had to show up drunk to missions for people to think you were tolerable."

Unoffended by his lack of swooning in the face of her seductive wiles, Clarice settled for being pleased at the change in mood. She did the depressing s**t on a daily basis, and lingering tensions would made the meal slightly less delicious, which would be a damn shame if there ever was one. She bit her lip as she eyed her second cookie, decided why the hell not? Scooping up a large glob of Nutella, Clarice put the whole damn thing in her mouth. It was an act of gluttony. She'd gone from proper lady in a nice restaurant to a chipmunk faced kid who had no need for restraint when it came to cookies.

Tomorrow she may feel a little embarrassed, but tonight it was totally worth it because goddamn.

When she was finally fit to talk again, Clarice finished off her wine, and made a mental note to make sure the man did not have easy access to booze during external missions. He may be able to handle it, or at least think so, but no sense in going around begging for disaster. His clearance and access to the outside world would increase with his rank, but he'd have to live that long in the first place. The waiter brought back her card and she signed off on the bill, feeling the dinner was well worth the expense. Which was paid for through by her division, but she'd been killed twice already in H's little shows this year, and thus no ******** were given.

"If it makes you feel any better, you probably will anyway," assuming that shining meant crazy. But maybe that was a reference to the book. In which case did he mean psychic? Clarice had enjoyed one too many glasses of wine to safely fall into the rabbit hole of understanding what the ******** he just said, so she'd just assume that she was right with her first guess. "You ready to book it back to Mystery Island, guy?"

She grinned and cocked an eyebrow at the man, "When the road happens to be a short walk to the elevator? Not a chance, guy." Getting up she adjusted her dress, picked up her clutch, and double checked how stable she was on those heels. Pretty damn stable.

Placing her hand once again on his arm, "Right, then, let's go."

The trip back was relatively uneventful beyond a broken heel and a few close stumbles. When they exited the portal the clock read 1:00 am. Noticing it, the blonde grimaced, "Ahh...I though that was finally fixed but...time and traveling through portals are kinda...unpredictable together." Glancing at the red head she smiled, "You'll get used to it, and at least we made it to dinner on time. Um so, anyway, I'm glad we were able to do this, and don't worry tonight. About going to sleep. I promise you'll wake up tomorrow morning." It was just every morning after that he'd have to worry about.