2124/Sanity Break

Sanity Break
Date of Scene:	16 June 2020
Location:	Empire Diner
Synopsis:	Dan and Val have lunch and catch up. Thankfully, Valeria was kidding about getting complacent and hanging out more with Johnny.. wasn't she?
Cast of Characters:	Daniel Hastings, Valeria Richards

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Daniel Hastings has posed:
The city was in a lull. There were no more Nazis, at least fake ones. No more dinosaurs. No more gorillas. No more arcane alien creatures intent on dominating the world. The latest kidnapping attempt at the school was foiled. So what's a fellow to do when he has a moment to breathe? Well.. invite his would be lady friend to dinner of course. He hadn't Scienced in a good week or two aside from keeping up with other peoples' research so it was starting to wear thin. To say nothing of the fact that he'd missed her. So, the Empire Diner it was. Daniel was seated at a table waiting for Valeria and otherwise trying to be incognito. Thankfully, New York was a big city and he wasn't exactly front page hero face.

Valeria Richards has posed:
Valeria has been a bit preoccupied herself lately. While being a part of the founding family of heroics has its perks, it also tends to come with its fair share of...unplanned trips. Things happen in the lab sometimes. It's usually better not to ask.

But now that the spare lab space is connected to this reality again, everything is fine!

The bell at the door rings lightly when she steps inside wearing shorts and a t-shirt, waving as she comes over to drag her chair around the table to his side. "Hey," she smiles broadly, leaning in for a hug. "Long time no see. Visit any strange planets lately?"

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel tilts his head to look at Val curiously as she comes around to his side. The hug though. That makes it all okay and he smiles back, slipping an arm around her to hug back. "Not so much. Unless you count Earth. Earth seems.. to have a way with itself these days." He takes a deep breath then exhales. "Or.. I guess for the last forty years or so. And it's looking to try to beat its last record of strangeness tomorrow.. or maybe the day after. Just give it a second, it likes surprises."

Daniel doesn't remove his arm right away. Instead, he lets it linger a moment. "I missed you." He offers at last before taking it back and picking up his menu to offer it to you. Seems he's already decided. "Been thinking about taking a job with the Hayden Planetarium. Get back into research. Teaching was a nice moment of relaxation but my brain feels like its stagnating."

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Nothing against teaching, but I can see that," Valeria nods in understanding as she takes the menu, shifting just enough in her chair to lean her shoulder against his. "I mean, I'm sure the kids will be disappointed. Girls especially," she teases, grin flashing. "But. The planetarium, huh? I bet they're excited about the possibility of someone who's genuinely //been// to space."

And then she pauses, looking up from the menu. "Or are you not allowed to talk about that since...you know, SHIELD?" She wrinkles her nose at the last.

Daniel Hastings has posed:
"I'm pretty sure it's fine to talk about space so long as I'm vague about how I got there." Daniel offers with a shrug and a nudge of his shoulder against hers. "I can be mysterious about that though. You know 'that's classified'." He picks up his water and flags the waiter over. "Of course, I still have to talk to Doctor Foster about it but since she's still active.. I can't imagine she'll say no. You can't exactly run about the planet and do special projects all the time and still administrate a planetarium. There's not enough time in the day. Plus.. it'll keep me in the city. Not.. that that's a problem for me per se.. but if someone wanted to surprise me for lunch now and then I wouldn't object."

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Mmm, I can't imagine who you'd want to surprise you for lunch," Valeria laughs, looking back down at the menu. "Sorry I haven't been around much lately," she adds. "I mean, there were some projects we were working on, but the big part was there was an accident in the lab and part of it //sort// of got cut off from this reality so we had to find a way back."

Only for the Richards family does this qualify as as normal as losing your keys.

"We worked it out though," she concludes cheerfully. "And met some fascinating people there. Creatures? I don't know, but they were all very nice."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
"Sentients." Daniel offers, "After being on a planet with.. I don't know.. forty or more different species all of whom were interacting and negotiating and relating.. people becomes a humanocentric stereotype. Unless you just scrub the word and include everyone you can talk to in it. Which.. gets down to sociolinguistic semantics and that's not really my forte." He did learn how to speak to magical dogs though. So that's something. "Glad you made it back." He reaches out for your hand and gives it a squeeze.

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Sentients," Valeria agrees with a nod and another flash of a smile, returning the squeeze of his hand. "Anyhow, it was a pretty low-stakes thing, given the way things usually go, and all's well that ends well. I really ought to get some things...more in shape with the idea of the Future Foundation though. And I keep meaning to talk to Uncle Victor about magic, but that's just a whole can of worms, you know?"

Setting the menu aside, she leans back to get more comfortable now that she's decided what she's going to eat. "What is it you think you'll do at the planetarium?"

Daniel Hastings has posed:
    "Small one." Daniel holds up his fingers with small gap between thumb and finger. Okay, big gap. He grins. "I suppose that depends on what sort of job they offer me. Mostly, I want access to a decent lab and enough money that I can eat. Everything else is secondary. I want to find the jump gate coordinates from the ship that were programmed in and hit that bit of space with every sensor I can aim at it. If we can deactivate the gate, interfere with its use or at least figure out how to use it.. we'll be in a much better position to defend ourselves from what's out there.. and be able to get ourselves ready to join the galactic community when it comes time. Right now? Our best defense is anonymity. Who knows how long that'll last."

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Mmm," Valeria hums thoughtfully. "Deactivate the gate. That does seem like it would be useful. Though anonymity might be a little bit...closing the barn door after the cows are out," she smiles ruefully. "Pretty sure that are already a good number of big bads out there who know we're out here. Why they're so excited about us, I couldn't say. We've got the be the Nebraska of the galaxy."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
"The who?" Pop culture reference fail, thy name is Daniel. "All I'm saying is that there's.. oh.. five or six entities.. culturally significant empires.. that know about us. Most of them consider us beneath general concern because we aren't travelling in any significant fashion. The moment we /do/ however.. Earth becomes a lot more significant than a proverbial weirdness magnet." He frowns a touch. "The flip to closing the gate though is that not every society uses it. Some.. are more advanced than that. The Oa for example. Not that I've read much about them other than they're a.. general watchdog sort of bunch. Tries to prevent universe spanning calamities. So I'm not that worried about them so much." He shrugs again. "I /have/ been making myself useful though. In an Origin of the Species sort of way. Not to be one upped by you, I've been hitting the books again. Organic chemistry, bology, rounding out the sciences. Working on a dissertation based on observations in Andromeda. Convergent evolution has brought about shared humanoid traits throughout the universe. Of course.. the alternative is a seed theory.. and I've not ruled that out either. Considering."

Valeria Richards has posed:
"No, the Who is a band," Valeria grins, unrepentant. It's not all that often that she gets to be the more culturally aware person in any given situation. She listens along to his concerns, nodding. "Thus the barn door," she says ruefully. "It's not as though we're not on anyone's radar. But still, being able to turn it off and cut off any invading forces would be useful. Also just fun," she admits, grin flashing. "I'm not against locking the door in people's faces if they're not behaving themselves."

And this is what happens when you let ten-year-olds help thwart alien invasions.

"There are more things in heaven and earth..." she trails off, eyes bright. "I wouldn't rule anything out."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel is silent a moment, introspective. "Is it possible to propose to opposing theories in one thesis? Is it.. ethically unsound to propose one while secretly wondering if the opposite is the truth? Or.. is it enough to simply postulate with evidence knowing full well that other evidence may yet come to the fore to make a fool of you when faced with powers beyond the kenning of mortal man." Call it rhetorical but he looks over at the drink service in the distance and prepares you a glass of water, the glass appearing beneath the dispenser, ice appearing in the glass, his finger depressing the trigger to pour the water, the glass simply appearing on the table before you. All things happening to subtly that nobody pays it any mind. It's a glass of water on a dining table. "And all of that.. because I touched something.. so powerful.. so.. all encompensing.."

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Not if you get two degrees and write two theses." Again, this is a Richards solution to the problem. Valeria watches the preparation of the water in amusement, head tilting until he's finished when she takes a drink. "Just //touched// it," she agrees. "Which makes you wonder, of course, what it could do on purpose. Though sometimes...it's better to keep certain things out of certain people's hands." Like her godfather's.

"Do you think it's changed who you are fundamentally?" she wonders. "Like at an atomic level? Or do you suppose there's some sort of...charge that might run out one day?"

Daniel Hastings has posed:
"Oh I know it has." Daniel replies somewhat flippantly. "Though I suppose you meant.. and.. I guess the answer is yes. I've tapped into something.. primordial. Universal. How.. can I sit here and talk about unified field theory with someone.. gravitics.. faster than light travel.. when.." He gestures towards your water glass. "Yes, sure, the mathematics is sound but.. is it? We keep violating our own rules daily. Coming up with new ones to define the new experiences. But.. what if there aren't any rules? What if.. in the end.. it is simply a matter of excercising consciousness over perception?"

Valeria Richards has posed:
"I'm not sure I'd say there are //no// rules," Valeria muses. "Probably more that the rules are more like...guidelines, rather than immutable facts. We just keep finding new ways to interact with them. Electricity was a marvel to people a hundred and fifty years ago. There's nothing saying that this won't be just as obvious in another hundred years."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel Hastings offers a soft laugh. "Will it? Think about the Kree. They've been kicking around for a thousand years and more. They found the warp gates. Figured out how to use them. Got complacent. Who's to say we won't do the same since I know we have a gate in system. Use something that an ancient long gone society developed and then.. mysteriously disappeared." He sips his water. "But maybe that's the thing about us humans. We never settle for someone's leftovers. We're always pushing the envelope." He lifts his glass. "To humanity. Tripping over our own progress and proud of it." He grins.

Valeria Richards has posed:
"To humanity," Valeria agrees, raising her glass to tap it lightly against his before taking a sip. "And to science. And I promise I at least won't get complacent. What would I even do if I was being complacent? Probably hang out a lot more with Uncle Johnny," she muses to herself, answering her own question. "That wouldn't be healthy for anyone."