359/Diner Stories

Diner Stories
Date of Scene:	08 March 2020
Location:	Sunrise Diner, Metropolis
Synopsis:	Daniel and Lois meet for an interview. It does not go as expected.
Cast of Characters:	Daniel Hastings, Lois Lane

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Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel had gotten a business card. He also.. had something of an agenda. Everyone does. After his speech at the memoriam, he knew he'd outed himself enough that someone like Lane would eventually find him. So he might as well rip the bandaid off and control the when and where. Without deep pockets, his options were limited but a diner not far from the Daily Planet seemed neutral enough. It wasn't as though he was asking her out on a date and a booth in a bustling anonymous eatery wouldn't likely have a plethora of spies.. or SHIELD agents.. in the room. So there he was seated in a booth casually with his back to the door so that someone would have to make an effort to identify him. Waiting. For what may be the planet's most memorable reporters. Hmm.

Lois Lane has posed:
It was always a boon when she could combine a meal with a work related dialogue. Eating was necessary for survival but also took up precious time. So Lois was more than fine with taking advantage of the diner's close proximity to the Planet to meet there. When she walks in the door it takes her a moment to find who she's looking for, but when she does she heads directly over, not bothering to wait for waitstaff to escort her there.

Lois shrugs out of her coat and smoothly slides into the other side of the both, tucking both coat and purse on the seat next to her on the interior side. "Food here's good," she offers in lieu of a greeting. "And the coffee. The coffee's the best. Diner coffee is usually awful, but this stuff's good."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel lifts his own cup. "So I discovered." There's a faint smile on his face that says irony or some other mirth at the moment. "I haven't been around long enough to recommend any restaurants. Which.." He sips it then waits for the waiter to arrive before informing the fellow it would be one check. "I don't suppose you were at the memoriam. Or watched the coverage?"

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois grins at his coffee cup, taking a quick look over the menu. She's familiar with most of it, she just needs to figure out what she feels like. It only takes her, at most, twenty seconds before she's done with the menu. "Not present personally, but I'm certainly in the know about a lot of events like that. I heard a lot of it. Genosha's story is a big one with a lot of little pieces to it." Ones that were becoming more clear to her as time went ont.

Daniel Hastings has posed:
"Then you know I spoke at it." Daniel certainly hopes she does or this meeting is going to be much more awkward than planned. He orders a simple burger with the works and french fries. Sometimes, it is the simple things in life. "I'm sure you have questions." He straightens and sits back into the booth. "So.. I might as well give them to a professional rather than wait for the likes of Jameson to post some sort of op ed."

Lois Lane has posed:
"I caught that, yeah," Lois says, ordering just some bacon and eggs and a coffee before looking back over at him. "Hate to say it, but Jameson's not even gonna give you that kind of coverage unless you proclaim you're some kind of Spider-Person. He's got a bit of a thing for that." She rolls her eyes. JJJ isn't someone she takes too seriously. "So here's the thing. I've found when people want me to tell their story, they want the world to see them in a certain way. They're worried about being looked at the wrong way. It's an image thing. I'm not a spin doctor, though. If that's what you want I can direct you to another reporter."

She folds her arms across her chest. "What I like to look for is the truth. The straightforward brutal honest truth so that people don't feel like they're being lied to. So tell me your story, and I'll tell you if I believe you."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
"I have no reason to lie to you, Miss Lane." Daniel begins. "Though I understand your skepticism." He sips his coffee then lowers it to the table. "My story.. begins in 1920. In a suburb of Quebec City. An average family. With an average talent in music. My father had an outstanding ear though and soon was hired by a company in Toronto that built and maintained pianos. He didn't need to use the tuning forks and.. if anything.. was used to tell when the forks were out of tune and needed to be replaced. It was a handy talent. Myself? I had a knack for math and a habit of questioning everything."

Taking another breath, he looked to the window. "I got an early appointment to university. Accepted to Oxford's doctoral program, I worked with the developers of radar and.. naturally.. that's when the war started." The. War. Number 2. "My talents caught the eye of some high security blokes and off I went to work on projects that I can't mention even now." His eyes roll back to Lane and he shrugs an apology while picking up his coffee again. "One of those projects.. ended up sending me to another galaxy. Andromeda to be precise. I was presumed dead." He pauses then to look at her. To see if she was still with him or she was going to pack up and leave.

Lois Lane has posed:
There's only the tiniest hint of impatience at the beginning of the story. Lois has heard a lot of stories like this. It isn't until he mentions going to another galaxy that she bothers pulling out her phone... not to call anyone, but to take notes. "You're clearly a math and science guy for sure, your story structure is pretty bland." She gives him a nod. "Alright, so what I'm hearing is that we're talking about you, going to another galaxy, mid World War II. We on the same page?"

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel Hastings arches a brow at her.. clipped nature? A faint tilt to his head following. "Yes. To a planet in the Kree empire. Where I survived.. let's just say survived. I'll spare you the gastrointestinal distress. The Kree aren't keen on non-Kree but as it happens humans look an awful lot like a race they call the white kree. As opposed to the blue kree. So I managed to blend in.. except for not speaking the language. At least initially. Once I did, I began studying them and seeking a way back home."

Lois Lane has posed:
Now that he's getting into the meat of things, Lois seems a lot more relaxed, less rushed. "Alright, so you blend in with an alien race as well as you can while trying to figure out a way home." She starts to take a couple of notes down on her phone. "How long were you stuck there?" She does stop for a moment to visually look him over. It's a Captain America moment--gotta assess how old someone from the earlier half of the century looks.

Daniel Hastings has posed:
"That's.. harder to answer." Daniel replies after a moment of thought. "The days were longer.. 30 hours I think? But the year shorter.. 256 days I worked it out to. The problem is that I only did that once I had the language down and a regular knowledge of what food I could keep down. At least five years.. there. It's an estimate. A minimum at least." He looks about thirty.. give or take looking a little thin. Though not as thin as when they first met. He's been getting some meat on him. He almost looked gaunt compared to now where he seems more healthy. His skin had better color now anyway.

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois leans forward, just slightly. "Okay, so you spend some time there, manage to survive, learn the language... how do you get off a planet and back to the galaxy you're from? That sounds like the complicated part."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel Hastings laughs, lifting his cup to her in toast. "I stole a ship. /That/ was the hard part. It took planning. Lots of planning. Mostly to learn how the fly the blasted thing. Knowing the codes to start it. Sadly, the military didn't train me to be a pilot so dogfighting isn't my forte. I took off.. was soon pursued by the local space forces.. and nearly shot down." He sips his coffee then gives a nod of thanks to the server for the food, requesting a top off on his drink. "Thankfully, I engaged the warp drive just in time.. not so thankfully.. it was damaged and when you involve relativistic speeds in defiance of Einstein.. things had better be in pristine order or strange things happen. Like say.. arriving some eighty years out of joint?"

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois lifts her mug, though she shakes her head a bit at the thought of trying to somehow escape from another galaxy. "So for you five years have gone by since World War II, and you end up in 2020?" She whistles. "That has to be a bit disorienting. I can sort of see why things would be kind of a mess."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel Hastings dips his chin to her. "It was. Is in many respects. You see, for me its not about the technology but the sociology. Earth now is pretty backwards from what I'd grown used to, you see. Unfortunately, it is.. still fighting authoritarianism and bigotry. The same bloody nonsense that I fought a war to stop, I remind you." Ahem. "Apologies for the language." The coffee is put down and the burger is taken up. "And then.. I found out that my genome is.. was.. I suppose the reason I survived the accident in the first place and wasn't scattered into constituent atoms." He takes a healthy bite of the burger, chews, swallows. "Which brought me to the memoriam. Honestly, I'd have gone regardless. That level of genocide.. well.. I understand this Magneto fellow to be a survivor. So I can understand somewhat his.. viewpoint? If you will. Not that I condone violence. I fought a war because it was the right thing to do. Not because I wanted revenge."

Lois Lane has posed:
"Genosha is sort of hitting people in different ways as time goes on. I became much more invested in it when I was there, briefly. Seeing the destruction... the /smell/... you know, there are still some fires burning there?" Lois seems a bit lost in thought for a moment, then she looks down into her coffee. "So I guess you're a story of survival, more than anything. You went through a lot and you came back, but you aren't just stopping your fight... you want to bring help?"

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel Hastings laughs lightly. "Bring? I don't know who I'd be bringing. My.. previously employer.. may be taking me back." The burger is lowered. "That's classified by the way. Can't tell you." And back up. "So I will likely be helping in an official capacity. I may also be helping unofficially. On my personal time. Thankfully, my abilities.. let me get around." He winks. "That's also classified. I know I know. The best parts I can't tell you about. It's in your best interest. At least since if I do get my old job back, there's rules. And if you did learn my abilities.. and published them.. you could be in as much danger as I. Villains being what they are these days."

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois slowly puts her hands up to cover her face, rubbing slowly. She lets out a deep breath. "You know, I'm glad you have abilities to protect you, I really am. It's great. I'm glad you have a place and a purpose and you help people." Her hands go back to her coffee mug. "But I swear I am so sick of people keeping me from things because I might be 'in danger', or holding back around me because it's 'too dangerous'. People who don't let me decide what danger I want to face." She picks up her fork but doesn't eat, she just uses it to gesture with.

"I know it's not your intent, but just be aware that not everyone needs to be protected. Or /wants/ to be."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel Hastings tilts his head. "Miss Lane.. I don't say this because I think you're bad at your job. Or even that I believe in some.. damsel in distress fairy tale. I recently was educated in the rather.. skillfull.. talents of a woman in my field." He rubs his jaw. "And I understand that your job is dangerous as well for obvious reasons. But let me then reiterate this. If I told you, it might compromise possible missions. It might compromise me. Then it has nothing to do with you. Does it?" He sets his burger down on his plate. "Maybe this was a bad idea. I should have waited to hear word and I'm sure they'd love to know I was speaking to a reporter no matter how well intentioned I was. I'm simply.. longing to be me again. I thought if I told a reporter my story that maybe my relatives whom I've never met might begrudgingly open their arms to me and I'd have a family again. Eighty years, Miss Lane. That's.. four generations? Two of them dead? I assure you.. nobody alive today remembers me." A beat. "Maybe one person." He has a hard time lying.

Lois Lane has posed:
"You made it about me when you said that it were in my best interest," Lois puts the fork down, folding her arms in front of her. "Self-preservation, I understand. Protect yourself, sure. Everyone should do that for themselves. But don't come in saying you have my best interests in mind by telling me you have secrets that I don't get to know because you think it'll make me safer. That's like offering a kid candy and then eating it in front of them while telling them that it's probably better that they didn't rot their teeth with candy anyway."

He seems to have pushed the wrong button. "Don't make an offer to someone you can't back up. You want a story out of this? You've got the straightforward one. Guy ends up in space, has a hell of a time, finally comes back but ends up here at the wrong time. And then you reunite him with his family. Everyone loves a good survival story."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel Hastings takes a deep breath. "I did say that. And.. that's a fair analogy." His fingers drum on the table as he thinks. "I'm.. afraid that's all I'm able to offer. That and lunch. Print it. Don't print it. I'm certainly not the last person who will waste your time, I'm sure. The tab is mine. Call it an apology for the damseling." He looks to the coffee as if he had hoped it was a beer. "I can't even tell you what happened to the ship I stole." Because surely she wouldn't forget that detail. "Which.. makes my story about as verifiable as.. well.. here." He reaches into his back pocket and takes out his wallet. The plastic picture fold portion is taken out and he slides it across to her. "These are in public archives so common enough knowledge." They're all black and white photos of him, looking a few years younger, standing with a number of scientists. Flip. Him and.. is that Howard Stark? Flip. Him and.. Captain America? Flip. A.. family photo? Him, mom and dad and an older brother. All of them look careworn and faded.

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois gives him a slow nod, leaning in a bit as she flips through the photos. "Here, I'll tell you what. I'll do some checking, see if I can verify enough of your story to roll with it. You find your family again, whoever's left, you meet up with them, even if they're new to you... tell me about it later and I'll run the basic story. Survival, uplifting to the future. Nothing top secret, nothing that'll get anyone killed, but you get to be you. Sound good?" She slides the wallet back to him.

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel Hastings takes the wallet back and stuffs it away. "Not exactly front page stuff, is it." For which, he's almost thankful. "You can even call Oxford if you like. Rumor has it they named a lab after me." There's a faint laugh. "Alright, not a rumor. I saw it. Was actually tickled by the gesture. Nobody recognized me of course. I.. didn't recognize any of them. It was a rather bizarre sort of time capsule. Seeing some things that changed and other things that didn't." He has a moment of reflection then looks back to her. "I suppose it won't take long to figure out one detail I didn't give you.. but then you'll understand." He'd taken out some cash.. actually he'd emptied his wallet.. and put it on the table while you were looking at the pictures. "Thank you for lunch, Miss Lane."

Lois Lane has posed:
Lois gives a small smile as she tucks her phone back away into her purse. "And thank you for lunch. You have an interesting story, it's one I think will be good for both you and some people who probably need to hear it too." She scoops her stuff up, getting to her feet. "Don't get yourself killed with those top secret projects."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel Hastings chuckles. "They already declared me deceased once. What's the movie called again? You only live twice?" He dips his chin to her. "I'll try to avoid it this time."