4439/A Medicine for the Melancholy- No Rx Needed

A Medicine for the Melancholy- No Rx Needed
Date of Scene:	20 December 2020
Location:	Pym's Mobile Lab
Synopsis:	Tea and sympathy in the lab.
Cast of Characters:	Hank Pym, Saeko

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Hank Pym has posed:
Soft music plays through the mobile lab. The lights are dim and several scented candles are lit. The scene might be taken for a romantic meeting. Hank is sitting on his lab table, shirtless and cross-legged. If you think this, you don't know Hank Pym. In the candle light he peers at the book on meditation he is studying. He looks from it to the hologram tracking his seratonnin levels and frowns.

"Prayer? Give me a break. I don't pray for some vague power to help me. They're all just memes personified and aliens running a scam on our primitive ancestors. Still... "

Hank gets a weird look in his eyes. "Consider Hope as a finite quantity... under what conditions does it flow from higher concentrations to lower? It often doesn't. The hopeless remain hopeless."

Like that he's up and at his whiteboard and begins sketching out a mathematical model, for hope.

Equations have power to them. With the proper equation you can predict, control. They are an abstract writing that imposes order on the Universe. Thus a kind of magic. Hank works happily at the numbers.

Saeko has posed:
There's really a fine line between science and magic, logic and nonsence, possible and impossible were side-by-side after all. Was it so strange that things would blend and blurr?

Saeko had already been a little less particular about her 'rules', a cry for help that was non-specific enough could easily be taken for Inari as one who invoked her directly. It had lead to a rescue the evening prior, now? It lead to a tug on her senses that was hard to ignore, like someone yelling outside the window when you were trying to sleep. Something had to be done.

Compared to ancient days where one would appear in the woods, wrapped in traditional clothing to a devout worshiper, the sudden clearing of a throat behind Hank was probably...startling. A woman, clearly a beautiful one but not a human entirely thanks to the marks on her face, the triangled points of her ears and, of course, the array of tails behind her rests leaning against a nearby wall tilting her head.

"How did you do that?"

Hank Pym has posed:
The mansion has wards. Hank knows about as much about them as Wanda does about the security system. There have been some occurrences of late causing concern. But a security system will not work should you let the intruder have your ID codes. So it is here. Hank opened a door and when you do that, the wards go right out. Probably, Wanda will have some strong words for him when she reboots them or recasts or rebukes or whatever.

As for his immediate response? He's gotten jumped enough to have... certain skills.

The blaster in his hand grows from a capsule the size of a rice grain, concealed in his waist band. "Who are you? How did you get in here? Don't move!"

As for her nature, he's already surmising some connection between her and Greer, which might be a good thing, might be a bad thing. Cat people?

As he looks at her though, he feels his mind reset. There's no hostile intent here beyond his own. He tries to figure out his next move. Call Wanda, Mike?

Saeko has posed:
Wards were like walls, solid and strong...and this equation may as well have been a VIP access door for Saeko. A rather insistant one at that.

While Hank goes for the weapon, the seemingly young woman doesn't move for any aggressive action, she doesn't bare fangs or conjure dangerous mystical flames. Instead? She crosses her arms at her chest and tilts her head to the side.

"You called, rather loudly, I was sent to answer."

A lift of her chin, she nods toward the board with a little quirk of her lips. "It is very different, an invocation rather than an offering but...you are a 'smith' of sorts, no?"

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym keeps the gun leveled and thinks furiously. He says, "Hardly. I have four doctorates. But I do create. This equation brought you... wait... assuming a quantity called hope... there's no natural law or algorithm to account for its spread in such a manner. It must have some coherent and sapient agents... I think I just refuted my atheism." He glances back at the board ten to the woman. Eh. If Kang sent her or any of their other enemies she would have attacked. Not ones for subtlety, Avenger enemies. The gun barrel drops though the tension remains, the readiness to fight.

Hank doesn't have a lot of fight in him as compared to the other Avengers these days.

"I am Doctor Henry Joseph Pym. Would you like a cup of tea?"

Saeko has posed:
"Honors and accolades," Saeko muses, shrugging her shoulders. Instead of the kimono she'd worn previously, the figure was dressed in modern slacks, a button-up blouse. If it wasn't for the wavering tails and the occasionally twitching ears she'd look like just another office worker.

"You are a creator, an artist in your own medium...and one who has found struggle of late."

The offer of tea? She bows her head and makes to stand from her leaning position. "Tea would be lovely, thank you."

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym sets a kettle onto his heated press and turns up the heat under it. "I'm afraid I only have tea bags, Earl Grey, Green or Tetley. I yes... I have had struggles. I'm struggling with bipolar disorder, emotional swings between mania and utter depression. My personal life... forget it. No one can help me. I appreciate the offer. My BPD is what it is. All I can do is monitor it, control it, and try to make each day a little better, forever. My personal life... people are going to be what they want. You can't change that. How do you bring hope? I've heard certain heroes embody it, Superman, Captain America. I need some thing more than a stirring speech and a winning smile. I... didn't get your name..."

By reflex he extends a hand tp help the woman to her feet. Being a hopeless BPD patient doesn't mean you have leave to be rude.

Saeko has posed:
"Whatever you can offer will be fine," the vixen offers, taking the hand to stand and then moving to sit down upon the floor where Hank had been meditating earlier, awaiting the tea and then gesturing for him to join her. "You seek to improve, to make things better. For yourself, for the others around you. Every 'management', every time you work to help with the aftermath of mania or pull yourself from a low...you are trying to make things better."

A pause, the cup is taken when it arrives and she bows her head in thanks, tails lazily coiling out around behind her and waving in the slow sluggishness of comfort.

"Seeking to make things better, if that is not hope, what is?"

A small sip taken, finally the 'intruder' offers her name. "I am Saeko." As if that were explanation enough.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym sits down beside her. The blaster is set aside. "For me it's survival. I feel a growing disconnect with people I never would have thought it possible. I am indeed trying to make tings better. But, with one exception, I am alone. If the Avengers are a family, I am the crazy uncle they keep in the attic. My daughter, doesn't need me and prefers the company of her friends in the Titans and my... former spouse it seems. My company pretty much goes on without me... under my ex wife's control. In the face of this disconnect I'm floundering. I want to be a better me, for /me/. But somehow the answers to move forward elude me. How can you help?" He sips the tea, a little nervously.

Saeko has posed:
There's a sad little quirk of her lips at that question, a tilt of her head and a turn of her gaze to meet his own. "I cannot erase this, change your being and rid you of your highs and lows. Blessings Inari can bestow through me, but the shift of fortune is not the same as remaking you as something entirely new Dr. Pym." The woman pauses for a moment once more, perhaps watching reaction or perhaps merely peering at the man. A Tenko was supposedly ment to be enlighted to all knowledge... but that was myth. Insight into the possibility of the future was far from omnipotence after all.

"Survival is possibility, the desire to do more and to keep going is the candle from which the warmth of hope can radiate." Another pause, but she shifts a little and tilts her head. "Forgive me, it has been a while since I have been called like this, and such people are usually different; seeking fortune or inspiration. But..."

The cup is sat down for a moment, Saeko turning on her side to reach a hand up and brush the back of it against the man's cheek. It's not flirtatious nor enticing, more...almost motherly. "You face uncertainty, unsure if what you are doing is really helping. I would offer you the modest gift of assurance, of encouragement. You -are- a better man Hank Pym, every effort you make builds to that. Mistakes of the past are not erased, but your path is forward. You may falter at times, that is okay. Every road walked will tire feet after all, but what you are doing matters."

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym holds the hand touching his cheek softly. The piercing blue eyes shut tight, perhaps holding back tears? The blond man's head droops wearily.

When he speaks it is almost a whisper, "I am so tired of being alone. I am surrounded by people who don't hear me or understand me. I am so tired Saeko. Reassurance is a precious gift." Then he holds her hand between his. Not in a flirty way but an expression of gratitude.

"People... are greedy or lazy or impatient and sometimes will not accept advice and sometimes are blind to the answers that are right before them. I... was trying to change all my relationships and interactions at once and growing frustrated. In science, we experiment by making little changes to a system. I need to be alone. I need to rest. I need to keep working on Hank, without distractions. I need to absent myself from all this: Avengers, Pym-Tech, mentoring (hah), everyone. Thank you. Will... I see you again? For tea perhaps?"

Saeko has posed:
The thanks was taken, a squeezing of her hand returned and a small little smile on her lips as she nods her head. "Hope will always be there for you," Saeko speaks softly, tone remaining that soft and almost motherly reassurance, "Not because of me, but because of you and your desire to be better..." another sip, the woman offers a little shrug of her shoulders. "But that does not mean we will not meet again. It seems you have found a rather direct way to call me. And I am always happy to enjoy a nice cup of tea."

Clearly, divine servants could be rather easily satisfied some days.

"Rest now," she urges, folding her hands in her lap for a moment and then finally making to stand. "I wish you good fortune Doctor Hank Pym. Until we meet again." She'd appeared rather suddenly, and it seemed the Kitsune was intending to leave.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym gets up, suddenly tired, no, at rest. He nods to Saeko climbing onto his lab table, which was made into a sort of bed with a futon, sheets and a few pillows. He wonders whether he will remember this as a dream in the morning. His eyes close almost before his head hits the pillow. Someone had told him not to think in absolutes. Surely expecting constant progress was such an absolute. Things would get better, though sometimes not.

Hank Pym slept well for the first time in years.