571/Tea In The Park

Tea In The Park
Date of Scene:	17 March 2020
Location:	Central Park, New York City
Synopsis:	Lara and Daniel wax on about each other's talents until the conversation segues to.. pizza?
Cast of Characters:	Daniel Hastings, Lara Croft

---

Daniel Hastings has posed:
    There had been a letter. More importantly, there had been a response to that letter. It meant that Daniel spent some time finding himself some proper attire and even one of those kitchy picnic backpacks they sell online. He'd immediately replaced the 'tablewear' with something more durable than plastic. It was a sunny afternoon in Central Park. The temperature wasn't balmy but thankfully brisk is not cold. Certainly, the ice rinks were starting to lose money trying to keep them frozen when the weather wasn't anymore. Daniel had found himself a bench near to the memorial to John Lennon. In the short time since his return, he'd suffered from Beatlemania so the location had stuck out to him when choosing a place to meet. Now? He waits.

Lara Croft has posed:
The invite had been received. Well received no less. It was an unusual thing in today's age to get such an old fashioned invitation, so Lara had welcomed the chance to spend a bit of time out with the nice individual who'd sent it to her.

In a black leather jacket over a dark red sweater, a pair of black slacks and some simple black shoes, Lara's hair is tied back, she looks nice and casual at the same time. "Strawberry fields." Lara says from off to Daniel's side as she approaches him with her hands inside of her jacket pockets. She stops near to him and lets her gaze roll around the area, then back to the man.

"A good choice. I should say. Thank you for the invite as well, Daniel. I have to say, it was a nice change of pace from a text message or an email."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel rises to his feet the moment he hears Lara's voice. Turning towards it, he smiles and dips his chin. "Yes. Well. I realize that these are more conventional means of communication. Certain a phone call would not have been out of order. Yet.. somehow they all felt rather impersonal. And so, since this planet still has a postal service intact, I thought I should make use of it. Flex the hand and mind together." He gives a gesture to a path.

"Perhaps we could walk a rue a bit? Lest we be spotted in the open?" His consideration of the paparazzi that inevitably try to track her down notwithstanding, he lifts his backpack up by one strap and slings it over a shoulder. There's no offer of a hand or an elbow no matter how 'gallant' it might feel. If anything, it looks like he's trying to.. keep things casual. "Thank you for coming. I.. have to admit I was rather of baited breath until your response arrived. That is something for email. An immediate response stabs at the beating heart of anticipation." He smiles amusedly.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara watches the man rise up to his full height, not offering to help as he seems to be in good enough shape to handle the mere task of standing up. She does smile at him though, and gives a glance off to the side where the paths are that the most people near-by are on. "Its fairly rare to be spotted here in the States. Most don't know me from any other tourist from across the pond. But... thats changed a little now, after this past Fall's events." With regard to the island and everything that went down there during, and after, it was a media blitz for a time. But it's settled now.

"Still though, I do get random glimpses of people taking pictures. Now and then."

Lara does indeed walk along side him, her eyes go forward as they find their pace and then she looks over at him. "You know, you'd excel as a teacher with the skills and knowledge you have to help students in today's age. I've found that modern teachers are often far less... good, at actually being role models for their students. But I suppose the longer you mix in with the modern world, the more it'll wash itself over you." She shows him a faint grin. "You'll be tapping away at a phone's screen non stop soon enough, I fear."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
"Obsessed with devices you mean?" Daniel inquires for clarity with a roll of his eyes towards her. "I doubt it. They're a means to an end. Now.. place a chalkboard before me and a mystery and I shall sleuth it to the bitter truth." There's a chuckle proferred at his own expense there. "It's funny that you should say that though. You're the third person who's told me that I should teach. It's not for lack of want.. but.. for a lack of time. Now that I've been reinstated, I must get up to scratch rather quickly in the realms of self-defense and the like. While I've successfully finished a race.. that's hardly besting someone at fisticuffs now is it?"

He takes another half-paranoid glance about them then.. seems to shrug it away. "What about you then? Solid tutelage, clearly some esoteric talents, don't you consider yourself worthy of being a teacher? Or do you worry for being a role model given that you.. do not mix with the modern world?" A jest, perhaps, towards her love of all things ancient.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's own phone is buzzing inside of her left jacket pocket as they speak. The irony isn't lost on her. But though she is fairly similar in age to him, physically, they were raised in very different times. But as far as people go today? She's probably one of the more similar to him that he'll meet. She didn't even have a television growing up. Not in any room that she could watch it regularly, nor did she have any desire to watch one. She wanted to read all the books in her parent's home and consume all the same mysteries and stories that her father was so obsessed with.

"I think the world is trying to tell you something, Mister Hastings." Lara says in her soft and soothing voice with a sideways glance and given given to him. She looks ahead again as they walk then speaks on. "For me, I'd say it's time... but more-so it's a matter of experience." She places her hands inside of her jacket and turns her phone off without taking it out to look at it, she has manners after all.

"I think I'd love to each, some day. But I only just gradated last Spring and well... I've been eager to get out on my own and experience things myself now. Which, one could say I've done in bulk already, but... I'm not done yet." She glances back to him and smiles lightly. "I've only just begun in fact."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
"You are wise beyond your years, Miss Croft." Daniel tenders with a faint ahh. "For myself.. I feel as if I've lost time.. skipped it entirely. My youth that is. I was a bit of a brain, you see." He tilts his head towards her with a wry look as if to say 'yes, he knows she knows and he's really trying not to be fussed about it himself'. "Went off to university early. In fact.. well.. that's not important. It all got scuffed by the war anyway. We all had to grow up. Lads and lasses alike. That I had a go of it.. somewhere else.. is merely the cherry on top." He shrugs and looks back to their path.

"Ahh, how's this then?" Daniel points to a bench beneath a cherry tree just off the path. "No.. I can't fault you for wanting to get out and 'do' things. I feel like I've packed two lifetimes into one some days.. but then.. I'm still doing so clearly I'm not dead yet."

Lara Croft has posed:
"I had good mentors." Lara says to the wisdom observation, adding on to it with a soft laugh. As they walk, she lets her eyes roam over the pathway ahead of them and glances to those passing them by heading in the opposite direction since it's New York and it's always busy. When they reach the bench beneath the tree she nods to his offer and moves to settle on to it. Glancing down at it she brushes some leaves off of the cool surface and then sits down upon it's edge.

To him she looks then. "You're living an extraordinary experience." She tells him then. "Truly. You've gotten to see in your life time, two distinctly different - yet still modern - eras of human civilization. First hand. Not in... artistic interpretation be in the cinema or in a novel. You've gotten to see it, smell it, feel it. You're certainly not dead yet either, no." She says with a slight and soft laugh. "And with your physics abilities, I imagine you've got quite a story yet to tell yourself. SHIELD alone will likely ask you to put that ability of yours to use in a number of ways."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
There's a conceding not to her words as Daniel leaves plenty of space between them to set the backpack and begin fishing out its contents. Tea, as pormised, appears in the form of a thermos and two metal cups into which he pours the steaming liquid. "Lemon, yes?" And so he remembered, a small bottle with a spritz of lemon to her tea before he is satisfied with two lumps from a baggie. A quick stir and he offers her a cup.

"They already have. In fact.. I think there's a war between research and field work as to which one of them will get me in the end. I'd have been perfectly satisfied with research mind you.. skipped the whole madness of my jaunt.. but by the same token.. I feel as though we ought to have gotten.. well.. further along." He looks around them thoughtfully. "But then there is flight and certainly some advanced technologies.. we've an orbital station.. so it's not all lazy windmills." He grins.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara watches him prepare the tea and she has a faint grin before she pulls both of her hands out of her leather jacket to accept it with a gracious dip of her head in a nod. "Thank you, yes. That's perfect." She says to him then, wrapping her hands around the cup to feel warmth of the drink from the thermos that kept it so. While he speaks, Lara raises the cup up to sip from it and she scans her eyes to the front before sweeping them back toward him. "You've got quite a lot on your plate indeed then. 'No time' makes a lot of sense."

There's a faint grin then as Lara sits with her back straight on the bench's edge and then looks down to the tea before she takes another sip from it.

"I must say though, SHIELD does seem a bit odd of a choice for you. What would you say drew you to it, beyond... just your circumstances alone? I know mine was the opportunity to cross borders with a bit more legal impunity, admittedly, among other things. But that alone really does help me in what it is I do."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel takes a deep breath. "Because.. I /do/.. Miss Croft. As much as I love a challenge of the mind, when I found out there was a task force on the cutting edge of technology solving problems for the betterment of man? I jumped at it. Granted we were in wartime but I could have stayed in my lab if I'd wanted. Enjoyed my exemption. While I never saw front line combat.. well.. almost never.. anyway. The point is that it's not in me to just.. sit around. I could teach, certainly, but.. I've been given a gift. Not just of returning home but.. of powers I have yet to fully fathom. What would you do with them?" He looks down at his tea then sips it.

"That, more than any other reason, is why I signed back on I think. I'm sure I could get a grant at any major university to do work but.. to.. well.. to have this power.. and sit on my hands when I could help thousands? I don't think I could live with myself." Daniel sits in silence for a moment, sipping his tea, but then he looks to Lara and smiles. "Besides, this way I get a badge and don't get labelled a vigilante. So long as SHIELD continues to be an ethical agency.. I'll stick about. Captain Rogers will be my guide there I think. The day he retires.. don't look for me in the office."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's stare is sideways over on to him throughout what he saids. The cool air blowing across them beneath the tree send the loose strands of her hair across the sides of her face, at least those not bound in the ponytail behind her shoulders. When he pauses she glances down at her drink and mulls over the thought of what 'she would do' with those powers.

"You're a noble man then, Mister Hastings." She says to him after another sip of the tea. She glances back to him and offers a faint smile. "I've yet to meeting the famous Captain Rogers, though I know the name well." She laughs softly and glances away. "Even my father had a Captain America knicknack or two of the Captain's around his office." Another sip is taken before Lara settles the cup down against the top of her legs held together at the knees. "When I was young, all the other children I used to be... forced to interact with... were obsessed with the idea that they might grow up to have super powers as well. I feel like I was the only one who wanted to just be the best version of myself that I could possibly be."

She grins then and glances back to Daniel. "Though, I would happily take the ability to fly. Make no mistake there." She looks back toward her lap then and shakes her head back and forth. "We live in a remarkable world though. Filled with remarkable people. So I'm glad you've decided to put your abilities toward the betterment of the world."

Daniel Hastings has posed:
Daniel laughs, "You say that as though I have a choice. I.. suppose I do.. but what is my alternative? Apathy? Gluttony? Which of the cardinal sins should I excercise on my spiral towards villainy?" There's a shake of his head and a soft sigh. "Thank you, I suppose. For your compliment. But.. I am just a man. I'm not the best field agent for certain. When it comes to the likes of Romanov or Barton.. I'm out of my depth. Or even you for that matter." He lifts his cup in a toast to you.

"Truly, you are a remarkable woman in your own right, Miss Croft." Daniel insists, "While I've managed to get myself to snuff running again.. I'm no.. Bruce Lee.. nor am I Mary Lou Retton.." He's caught up to the 80s anyway. "And if you asked me to pick a lock, I'd just as easily cheat and bypass the door. Skills.. knowledge, you see.. real tangibles.. will never replace powers that come at random to people of varying.. moral fiber." He sniffs once then sips his tea again.

"As for Captain Rogers.." Daniel laughs faintly. "I think he should hold the torch for nobility. I happened to see his before picture.. to become the specimine that he is.. and maintain his character throughout.. bravery.. self-sacrifice.. there's a reason people follow him. Perhaps one day, I should be so worthy."

Lara Croft has posed:
His compliment toward her gets a smile from her and a light nod but his words keep her focused on listening to him. It's not until he finishes that she lets his statements settle a bit in both of their minds before she speaks up. "My mentor, Roth--" She glances over at him again. "He took me in when my mother and father both passed." She explains before continuing and glancing forward again at some birds fluttering about on the far side of the stone pathway. "He said that people craved to follow strong leaders, but strong leaders were only as good as their morals and ethics would allow them to be. So it's through those ethics, through our moralities that we even get an opportunity to rise to a position that could present us with a chance to lead, and from there? Well then we find out our strength and fortitude under the pressures of leadership." She looks back to him then and smiles softly.

"I see someone in you with good ethics and moralities. So I don't see any reason that you couldn't rise to a position like that of Captain Rogers, or any other famous SHIELD Agent." She looks back down and raises the cup up for another sip of the warm tea. "As for me. I just want to take what knowledge and skills I've learned to hopefully shake a few branches, see what falls out." She glances back to him then and grins lightly again.

Daniel Hastings has posed:
"Yes.. well.. perhaps." Daniel demures the accolade and moves to top off his tea. "We will see. I don't desire fame, Miss Croft. Nor, I think, does Captain Rogers. Despite what the billboards all say." Buy war bonds? "Here's the rub. For all that I seek to look forward.. to bring new technologies to the fore.. it is our recognition of history that teaches us how to be better human beings. So in that.. I think you have the cake this day." He dips his chin. "Now.. if we are done polishing each other's medals.. perhaps I could ask you a more personal question. Such as.. a favorite meal?" It is very much a leading question.

Lara Croft has posed:
"That's why Archaeology is so important, yes." Lara softly replies, before his following change of subject makes her look away and then laugh lightly again before glancing downward.

After a second of thought she shoots her stare right back and over to him. "You'll laugh." She says then. "But it's pizza. Not even good pizza. The most domesticated kind of pizza there is. Such as... Pizza Hut or Dominos. There's a Papa Johns just near my loft and well, I have to stop myself." She is grinning ear to ear then, arguably even blushing a little because it is a somewhat embarrassing fact about herself. "My friend, Jonah, he's a world class chef who is just only now getting started in the business here in Manhattan, he's absolutely taken aback by this 'sad state of affairs' as he calls it. He tells me he'll cook me the greatest pizza I've ever had, but I tell him it's far easier just to place an order."

She's still grinning a little then. "I think he's going to stop talking to me if I don't 'come around' on the matter."