20246/Coffee Talk After the Space Trip

Coffee Talk After the Space Trip
Date of Scene:	14 March 2025
Location:	Cafe Lalo
Synopsis:	Things were getting very psychologically valuable, but then a car crash outside completely disrupted the train of thought, as the (anti)hero had to go outside to look.
Cast of Characters:	Darcy Lewis, Laura Kinney

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Darcy Lewis has posed:
The staff of Cafe Lalo were likely unhappy. What looked to be an eccentric homeless lady had taken up residence at one of their tables and spread out what looked to be some kind of witchcraft as she muttered to herself and tapped at a cellphone. Darcy sometimes enjoyed the perks of being associated with the sprawling community of super heroes that inhabited Earth and took a break from her most recent pet project to snap a quick message to Laura across super cool superhero networking. "Heya - if you're not busy being important, there's this ridiculous cafe i'm at - kind of uptight, but I bet their coffee is good and it's kind of funny people watching. You should drop by."

As a very tall coffee was dropped off at her table - carefully placed so as to avoid her work, she hunched back over in the eaves of her coat and pushed her glasses back up her nose before resuming her work. Equations and scribbles were side by side with doodles of what could only be a poor rendition of a symbiote beside... a wizard? as Darcy let out a sigh. "Math wizard, show me the ways... how do they talk?"

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney will make her way in! Dressed casually, not in an X-Men suit but a crop top and jeans, every move she makes even in a casual setting has the grace and controlled action of a predator.

When she gets there, she sees Darcy with her whole situation,a nd gives an awkward wave, before ordering a latte, a peanut butter cookie, and a coffee eclar. Then finally carting it over to the table.

"Hi, thanks for infiting me Darcy." she says softly, looking around to see if there's room for her to join.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Missing the wave as she leaned over her very science-y calculations, Darcy continued to talk to this math wizard for some time. It was definitely a problem solving process and not insanity. Then her acquaintance was at the table. "Oh! Heya Li-" she began, perking up as her eyes flashed behind her glasses in delight before biting her tongue. "Hey Laura - take a seat!" she enthused while taking a sip of her coffee.

"She waited for a moment - almost expectantly - before she quickly began to pile up the papers and charts she had been scribbling on to make space for Laura's meal. "Sorry - I -just- realized you aren't familiar with my office. Eclair stains are a regular blemish on any theoretical physics coming out of it," she joked. "This place is ritzy huh? I came in because I saw someone yelling at a waiter as they walked out and thought it might be fun."

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney tilts her head, and slowly sits. Squinting slighlty, skeptical of the whole thing. "This place does seem like normally they'd throw someone like me out. But they let you in doing all of that so, it must be fine." A faint smile, and she takes a careful bite of the danish.

"I feel like I should use the claws to eat this. It would be cleaner."

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Snorting in laughter, Darcy pulled her beanie from atop her head and shook her hair out. "I mean, money and all - captialism, ya know?" she quipped, shrugging. Trying to tidy up her papers she slid her coffee in front of her and clasped it in both hands. "How have you been? I've been..." she paused, gesturing toward the papers. "Working, I guess. Trying to figure stuff out."

"Thanks for helping me out up there... how have you been?" she finally asked, drawing to a more subdued tone. "You guys were good - hero wise and all... you been doing it long?"

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney carefully takes another bite of the eclair, and her nose has a dab of cream on it, that she doesn't do anything about right away."

"Thanks. I mean, yeah. Some of the X-Men have been at it for many years. I was born in a genetic engineering program taking Wolverine's DNA and my mother's, combining to create a weapon of war."

She holds out her hands, and taps where her claws come out.

"Feet, too. But yes. Some of us had regular childhoods. Some of us did not, at all. I've only been free a few years."

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Nodding in understanding, Darcy's fingers lace around her coffee cup. "I've... read a little, about -" she waved her hand vaguely. "The things that happened and are happening with, uh... y'know - the M word," she hazarded. "It's certainly not fair. But it seems like you have a good mentor, and a nice group of friends." A nervous smile flashed across her face, "I think that's the thing I like about all of 'em - the people like you guys. You're all very tight."

Her nose scrunched up, head listing to the side for a moment, "Not that I -don't- have friends or anything, but... I -really- have to ask... if you get out of bed at night and stub your toe, do you break things? Not fully awake, not pulling your punches, and bam - suddenly you need a new bedside table?" she asked - it might be an obvious attempt at adding levity to the situation, but her face cracked with an objectively curious grin. "I feel like it's got to be -wildly- inconvenient sometimes,"

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney just resists the urge to snikt the eclair, and instead just...st uff the rest of it into her mouth in one go. Nodding, as she eats it, and then cleans off her fingers and her nose with a napkin. "Good, but messy," she decides. Sipping her coffee to wash it down.

"Oh that's what you meant up there. By accident. I don't. I mean. I thought you were asking if I broke things out of anger. No. I guess you could say my problem is I'm never... off. I'm always on. It's how I'm designed to be."

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Nodding furiously, Darcy's eyes light up - a mixture of scientific curiosity and genuine empathy at the explanation. "But I mean, you're not on -now-. It's like the thunder guy," she remarks casually of Thor. "He's -ALWAYS- a god, but he's pretty ok at a party or what not too. And we're sitting here drinking coffee," she replied quickly, leaning over the table and somehow vaguely sipping her coffee in an almost Lovecraftian fashion.

"What I mean Laura is... you -have- to be off sometime, and... the things you mentioned, I mean, maybe you just don't realize it? It's like those boogers we found up there," she continued at a rapid clip, her cheeks flushing in excitement. "You can definitely be programmed for something - do you know Pavlov? - but you can also break that programming!"

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney starts in on the other treat she ordered. She holds it up, the peanut butter cookie. "When you regenerate, you burn a lot of calories."

Bite. "I do try to break the programming. But when I came into this room, I sized up everyone by threats and how I would address an attack. And where the best tactical positions and escape routes are."

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Glancing around, Darcy lowered her head conspiratorially, "Can you size everyone up and tell if the bartender has a gun behind the bar?" she asked, breaking into a grin. "Y'know, like Jason Bourne?" she asked in explanation of the quip. "SHIELD thinks I should do the same sort of thing - it's just... hard." There was a sigh, sipping at her coffee again before steepling her hands and resting her chin atop them. "I have to say sorry. In my head, this all sort of makes sense, but being around it all is just kind of hard if that makes sense."

Adjusting her glasses, she continued cautiously. "All the people we interact with are cool but it's just kind of stressful being -normal- around them, and I guess you probably see it from the opposite side of things, huh?"

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney smiles. "I'd have to watch him a bit more." She pauses, looks back, turning to watch the barista as she sips. "No, no gun. Probably a bat, but he's not supposed to have it."

Then looking back to Darcy. "So you grew up normal, you went to school, you went to college, you got hired by SHIELD, and this is your first exposure to Mutants, not on TV?"

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Darcy's grin grew wildly as she glanced toward the barista. "Great, so if they decide to throw us out we've got 'em on the ropes," she quipped before snorting in laughter again and turning back to take a sip of her extra large coffee again. It had to be getting cold by now.

"Yeah - I guess. Went to college, worked as an intern, ended up with Jan - uh... Dr. Foster and Dr. Seilvig, met the Thunder God, all that... and then yeah, SHIELD. I mean - I went BACK to school, and I guess i'm -kind- of a big deal in the science community because of association but... still pretty small potatoes," she explained, shrugging. "But I get to do all kinds of cool stuff, see things, end up in... well, a lot of trouble, as you know."

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney nibbles on the cookie. Sitting back, getting casual, listening to her story. "You do. I hope you keep it that way. As both Logan and I know, too many people with too much time on their hands start like that, and then up doing things that are unnatural and hurt innocent third parties."

"Just make you stay on the right isde of ethics, huh?" She smiles, but there's hurt behind that.

Darcy Lewis has posed:
"What, get into trouble?" Darcy asked, her cheshire grin spreading. "But uh... you were talking about ah..." she paused, trailing off, her eye glancing around as the grin faded and she frowned. "You know, some stuff... do you want to talk about -that-?" she asked, pointedly - almost clinically, her brow furrowing.

"That kind of stuff isn't healthy, even if it's kind of, forgive me, meaningless..." she offered in a hesitant fashion before suddenly clutching at her coffee again. "I did something similar as a kid, I know it's not the same, but it was kind of lame getting picked on all day. People are cruel, and I know -you- have to deal with it more than anyone, all you X-Folks..."

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney nods. "I mean get everyone else in trouble." And then she changes the topic.

Laura takes a bite of her cookie, and chews slowly, otherwise going still. Then flexing her fingers a few times. "Unlike anyone else who does it, I suffer no permanent damage. But... I guess you're right? But I'm not sure how. Maybe you can tell me."

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Darcy frowned, her head listing to the side again - this time not recovering as she blinked in consideration of the request. "That's what I mean. The... intent is still there, but -" she paused, her brow creasing. "It's like this work they were doing up -there- right?" she began earnestly. "It was for a purpose, it had an intent, and we thought it was good... but... maybe it wasn't?" she suggested - gesturing toward her stack of papers.

"That's what i'm trying to figure out, right?" she continued in an almost frantic state. "It isn't hurting us now that we did this, but it might in the future and... well... I mean, you're like..." she paused to drop her voice, "You're like Little Wolverine, right? Or Lady Wolverine?" she hazarded before lifting her voice again.

"We -need- people like you, like we need the Thunder Guy, or, or... I mean, -any- of you. I'd be some alien breeding pod or something if you guys hadn't shown up right? And..." she stopped suddenly, taking another sip of her coffee. "I'm just saying, I -get- that you feel you need to do it, but... you're not just hurting yourself, and we don't recover as easy as you. Where would -I- be if you weren't there, ya know?"

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney takes a deep breath through her nose. Floored by this, she stares into space, has another bite of some cookie, and slowly chews while staring, and thinking. "So what you're worried about is I might find a way to hurt myself?"

"But yes depending on who you ask, he's Wolverine and so am I. Or he's Weapon X and I'm X-23. Or he's just Logan and I'm just Laura."

She hms. "It's nice of you to worry even though we only just met."

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Darcy's brow furrowed further. "Well, you kinda saved my bacon, Laura. But it's a bit beyond that right?" she tried to suggested, her head nodding in some kind of indicative fashion before she picked up her own trail. "Yes i'm worried you might find a way to hurt yourself. I know you guys over there have your own research, and I guess everyone has the -right- to off themselves," she remarked flippantly.

"But by the same token, I mean, maybe even me... even if i'm just some junior SHIELD dweeb, don't we have a duty to try and help? I just think... y'know... honestly hurting yourself is irresponsible. To family and friends."

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney slowly breathes. Looking down at her cookie now. Very still. One more bite of cookie, and now it's gone, so she has nothing to look at but her fingers as she chews. And she flexes again.

"When you're designed to be an emotionless killing machine, it's important to feel."

Darcy Lewis has posed:
Nodding, and sipping her coffee even Darcy grimaced at this point, and then took another sip. Caffeine was caffeine. "It just seems to me like the design failed, if I can be that bold. I think..." she paused, trailing off for a moment. "When I was going for my doctorate, people thought i'd go in for something crazy, right? Because I had a reputation - even if just a little one. Sucked up in super stuff, I must write my thesis on that," she explained in a hurried fashion, her smile returning.

"It might not make any sense to you, I get it, but I did my doctorate thesis on the influence of dark matter on space communication. Nobody saw it coming, right?" she professed earnestly. "We -aren't- what people want us to be. I could have done my paper on the Asgardians and the Bifrost and all of that but..." she trailed off. "I didn't want to. I didn't want it to define me."

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney is clearly struggling a bit here. She swallows, taking long moment to shift, and think. "I don't know what to say," she murmurs, glancing around. "I woudl not have expected you had trouble. What went wrong with you growing up?"