7382/The Devil is in the details. Or maybe he's not at his club tonight.

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The Devil is in the details. Or maybe he's not at his club tonight.
Date of Scene: 15 August 2021
Location: Lux
Synopsis: Heather and Shuri meet at Lux and discuss charity, girl scouts, S'Mores, and super powers.
Cast of Characters: Heather Danielson, Shuri




Heather Danielson has posed:
    If one were to show the dance floor in a slow-motion montage, they might see the blonde Heather Danielson with hands over her head, gyrating to the music with a smile on her face, and her eyes closed as she just... revels in the beat and the feel. She's not dancing -with- anyone... of course, a few might be trying to get her attention to change that fact.

    She's got a stamp on the back of her hand to show that she is under 21, and thus unable to purchase or consume alcohol on the premises, but as a celebrity of one sort or another, it's not like anyone was going to tell her she couldn't come into the club.

Shuri has posed:
There's an easier way to get "carded" for Shuri, despite being underage. The diplomatic passport. Brandish that aggressively enough, show enough impatience, and look older than your age just by sheer force of will and bearing, and you, too, can enter a club that you're technically too young to enter.

And escape the stamp.

Once inside, however, her youth and relative sheltering makes itself very visible as she stares around her, wide eyes sparkling as she laughs with joy.

"This is better than I thought it would be!" She, too, heads out onto the dance floor, looking around before having her eyes fall on Heather. Watching her moves for a bit, and listening to the music, she decides that she too will dance.

Not realizing that dancing alone is unusual, not expected.

Her own dance is every bit as unselfconscious as Heather's. She has natural grace, but untrained for dance, and her own dance moves are ... very different. Tribal. "Primitive." Almost animal.

Of course that's hard to spot given the light show that her gown adds to the mix...

Heather Danielson has posed:
    The 'feel' of the crowd changes subtly, and as someone for whom such crowds are common and normal, Heather cracks her eyes open to see what it was that changed about the feel. She spots the primal dancer and laughs out loud. "Now that's a dancer!" she calls out as she steps over and orders a simple bottle of water. Then she buys a second one.

    She herself has worked up a bit of a sweat... er... dancing girls glisten, right? Either way she works her way through the crowd.. a crowd with guys that she is relatively adept at ducking and dodging as they do their own pickup routines.

    Finally, she ends up near the princess when the song ends, and she calls out, "You've got skills girl. Need a water?" she asks as she holds the cold bottle out.

Shuri has posed:
"Would you believe," the woman whose accent is hard to place ... somewhere African for sure ... asks, "I've never taken a lesson?" She grins and straightens out from her final stance. "I'm Shuri, Si..." She pauses. "Just Shuri. I've always wanted to see an American dance club. You hear so much about them."

She looks around the place in wonder.

A wonder whose source will soon be clear.

"Are they all so wonderfully retrotechnological?"

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Looking about the place with new eyes, Heather smiles. She has one of those rare smiles that really reaches all the way to her eyes. I mean sure, she is like the very image of the whitebread blue eyes blonde American girl. But she doesn't let that stop her from being a good person.

    "Well, welcome to an American club, and America. As for the retro whatever... there are thousands of clubs, and almost every one has its own theme, style, decor... you name it. So Shuri, I'm Heather. Your accent... it sounds similar, but not identical to a friend of mine from Nigeria. Can I ask where you -are- from?"

    She holds out the water bottle once more and takes a sip of her own as she does so. "Keep hydrated Shuri. It is important."

Shuri has posed:
"I'm ... part of the ... ah ... Wakandan embassy," Shuri decides to go with. Wakanda. The unimportant African nation nobody cares about. Whose king had just suffered an assassination attempt, no less, and who recently was caught on video promising to 'fix' a neighbourhood in the Bronx.

A poor African nation, and a woman dressed like this in a gown that probably costs as much as this entire bar. Corruption is as rife as ever in these little, unimportant, impoverished countries, isn't it?

"Oh, thank you! That's very kind of you to be concerned about!" She takes the bottle and opens it, sipping from it idly, as if not really noticing it. "Wakanda is a very hot country, so keeping oneself watered is one of the most important things to do," she agrees. "It's not very hot in here, but I guess for locals it's a scorcher, isn't it?"

She means white people. Obviously.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "Oh, it's not the temperature in here. It's the sweaty dancing for hours that works up a sweat for me. Plus... my metabolism is a bit unusual." offers Heather. She -does- have a public ID, both as a model and a member of the Titans. Not that she expects anyone from across the ocean to know or even care about that.

    But she gulps down some more water. Then she lowers the bottle and shrugs, "But yeah. My family -is- mostly Swedish. I guess I prefer it in the low seventies... Fahrenheit that is." But she grins and gestures to a nearby table. "Maybe we can sit? I'd love to hear about your home."

Shuri has posed:
Some kind of display pops up in front of Shuri's eyes, like a glass HUD, only it couldn't possibly be glass.

"Heather Danielson. Knock-out. One of the Titans." Her eyes focus through the display on Heather. "I'm impressed! You're an actual celebrity!" Her wide smile lights up the immediate space as she looks around, finding a booth and gesturing that way. "I think that's free. And yes, exertion would make hydration more important. Thank you again for thinking about it."

The fact that her gown would have warned her when she was dehydrated goes unmentioned. When people do nice things you don't no-sale it on them.

Winding her way through the crowd, her own approach at people who get too close is in stark contrast to Heather's. More belligerent. Confrontational. With a note of "how dare you, do you know who I am?" in the body language and facial expression. (She doesn't, to her credit, use those words.)

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Details such as that are fairly obvious and they do stand out. Heather leads the way however, and isn't looking back the whole way. She finds a table and sits down to place her water before her atop said table.

    "You -are- well informed. Though I wish I had something like that optical overlay. It'd help in the field a lot. I mean, I have a comm earbud, but that's not the same, is it?" she asks.

Shuri has posed:
The display vanishes into the aether from whence it came leaving no visible trace behind. "I made it myself," Shuri says proudly as they reach the table. "I also have a communications system. It helps keep me in touch with my security detail."

Those would probably be the dour-looking women staring daggers into Shuri's back from the balcony, positioned in a way that gives them a commanding view of the entirety of the club.

"They had a bit of trouble getting in, though. They're going to be very unhappy with me for a while."

She doesn't even seem slightly remorseful. Indeed more proud.

"You danced very nicely. Did you take lessons?"

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "Lessons? Well, I was a cheerleader. So that had its own sort of dancing involved. But most of it was.. what I call trial and error. The best way to learn most skills in life. I mean.." Heather shrugs and smiles, "If we always succeeded at everything, we'd never learn anything.. right?"

    But her eyes flicker over towards the angry-guards and she lifts a hand to wave at them, "Tell them you are being escorted by a Titan maybe?" she asks. "It might appease them just a tiny bit. The way they are staring however makes me wonder if you are just an embassy employee.. or the reason -for- the embassy."

Shuri has posed:
"Very scientific of you," Shuri chirps. "Trial and error is the core of science, so long as your trials are informed by past errors and repeatable when they're not errors."

She waves her hand, "They won't care who I'm escorted by. And no, I'm not the ambassador. Ancestors no! Could you imagine having to meet all those old, self-satisfied men knowing that you're their superior in every single way imaginable but not being permitted to say so because..."

She does air quotes. Actual air quotes.

"International Incidents Are Bad."

And her tone of voice is as if she's reciting something she's heard multiple times.

"No, I'm just family. I have no job at the embassy."

And yet the guards suggest...

"So what's it like being a Titan? I'm really interested in the meta groups and the scientists entering them here."

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Glancing at the guards once again, Heather sips her water and smirks with a shrug, "Well, I tried to help at least." she says, "Family huh?" She asks.

    Then she tilts her head as she tries to think about it without the benefit of Shuri's invention. "Okay then." she says... and then the Titan question comes, and she welcomes the change of subject. "Oh, it's great! I get to actually help people and do more than just pose for a camera. The team is like friends and family too. Quite rewarding." she says. "Even if I'm not the -most- useful member of the team." She adds with a lopsided grin.

Shuri has posed:
"I would very much like to help people. I think it is my duty to." Shuri warms up quickly to the subject, leaning forward in her intensity. "I am most interested in helping the poor and disaffected overcome their plight." She beams proudly. "There is a neighbourhood in the 'Bronx' I was told I would manage the mission for. It will be my showcase for my talents and abilities."

There was something in the news about a Bronx neighbourhood and gang violence and the Black Panther.

"If that goes well, then I can be proved right and manage larger projects."

Shuri grins eagerly as she talks. "This is all so exciting!"

It's like she's cosplaying concern for the poor. I mean, come ON, the money she's flashing around in clothing alone while her impoverished nation ...

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Of course, Black Panther is from Wakanda. Heather nods her head a bit. "I think it's more important what is done for the people than... if it showcases your ability to do it."

    "I tell you what. I do a lot of charity work myself. Sure, I show up and do PR. But mostly my whole 'showcase' is to make others donate money. My favorite charity event I ever did was when I took a dozen girl scouts camping on our own.. no cameras, no reporters. Just.. a bunch of girls who couldn't afford the camping trip the troop had... so I took them myself. They deserved the experience."

Shuri has posed:
Shuri nods eagerly, Heather's message going over her head and flying at the speed of light to Pluto.

"I agree, I think what is done is more important than the showcasing. But the showcasing will let me do it for more. Right now I'm not ..." She makes a wry face. "Believed in. I'm young. I'm inexperienced. I know more than people three times my age, but because I'm this..." She waves a hand at herself. "...I'm not taken seriously. That project in the Bronx will show that I can do this. That I can help people. That I can plant baobab trees and use the seeds from that to plant plenty more!"

Baobab. Trees.

"It's an exciting opportunity to showcase both my management skills and the potential of people otherwise without hope. I really do want to help."

She laughs and thinks, "And maybe my camping trip story will be a story about basket sportball."

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Inclining her head, Heather finishes her water. She sets it down and adds, "I'll make you a deal. You let me come help you with your project. I'll use whatever influence I can bring to bear to help with your project. And then... next month, when it starts to get a bit less hot.. well hot for us here, then you come with me on the next Underprivileged Girl Scout Camping trip."

    That said, Heather holds a hand out, and then closes it into a fist for bumping. "I'll even try some basket sportball with you."

Shuri has posed:
"Hah! You'll lose!" Pretty cocky, that girl with the infectious grin and attitude. Especially for someone who can't say "basketball". "But you're on! Wilderness survival is always lots of fun! What food animals will we be hunting? I need to research hunting methods beforehand so I can hold up my end of the workload!"

Mother. Of. Mercy.

The fist held up is inspected in confusion a moment before something seems to dawn. "Oh, right!" She gently bumps the fist with her own, like spaceships docking, as if afraid of hurting Heather or being hurt by her.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Chuckling, Heather shakes her head, "It's not about winning. It's about having fun playing together. You are welcome to win if you can. I -will- bring my A game though." Hah! She was a cheerleader, not a basketball player.

    And then she goes pale... (paler?) at the mention of hunting, she shakes her head quickly. "Oh, it is camping. Not survival. It's just fun in the outdoors with no tech gadgets to get in the way. We are not hunting.. these are eleven and twelve year old girls. The important thing is that they get to have the outdoors experience... tents, campfires, roasted marshmellows.. you know. Recreational camping."

Shuri has posed:
Nodding along, Shuri says, "Yes. At twelve I had to hunt a boar alone. Without technology that I didn't make myself. It's a rite of passage that all in ..."

Her eyes widen and she freezes. You can SEE her cursing herself behind her eyes.

"... in my family must undergo to become adults." Then that streak of stubborn pride. "Most don't succeed at twelve. I did. I made my own spear using a rock I'd flaked myself as the tip."

Then she shakes that off.

"Roasted what now?"

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "Cultural differences I suppose. In the States, not only is it not a rite of adulthood to hunt and kill a beast... it is just... well different." Heather shakes her head, "The hesitations make the wheels start to turn in her head. But.. she has done enough to try to avoid attention at times. I mean imagine going on a date when everyone wants to watch and report on your every activity.

    She simply makes the decision to not bring it up. To give the illusion of mediocrity. It is the best gift she can offer here and now.

    "Marshmellows. Really unhealthy total bundles of sugar that are whipped to like... almost a fibrous consistency, and overly sweet still. They are a staple of American culture when it comes to camping." A pause and she grins, "Actually, the penultimate variation is putting marshmellow and chocolate between graham crackers having melted the marshmellow. They are called S'mores."

Shuri has posed:
Now it's just blind confusion.

"Some mores. Graham crackers." Of course she isn't asking about chocolate. Because aliens 50,000 light years away know what chocolate is!

"I look forward then, to trying some mores."

Is it really worth correcting her?

"And I look forward," she says, more solidly and certainly, "to thrashing you on the court of the basket sportball! I've watched many play and I know the secret of victory now!"

Oh Lordie!

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "Oh?" asks Heather, "What do -you- think is the secret? I've never played it myself, aside from just a handful of times with my older brother in the back yard."

    "I'm more of a volleyball or soccer girl. Though.. I -have- been studying some martial arts lately, so tournaments there might be fun sometime."

Shuri has posed:
"The secret is to get the ball into the hoop before anybody comes close to you to take it away."

Paging Captain Obvious.

"I have done the calculations and I think I can get the ball into the hoop from anywhere on the court without difficulty. If it falls into my grasp, I score. I know all the trajectories!"

Paging ... Overconfidence Lass?

"It's really just the proper application of mathematics with a modicum of physical control."

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "There is more than math to it." offers Heather. "There is questions about how inflated the ball is, as well as the -feel- of the court. You can't calculate the entirety of any competition sport." she adds with a smile.

    "There is also having enough strength and aim to get it that far from wherever you happen to be. Also... others getting in the way, or intruding on your shot."

Shuri has posed:
Shuri listens in the young person obviously not listening sort of way. Young, sheltered person obviously not listening. Young, sheltered person too smart for her own good not listening.

It will probably be fun to take her down a notch.

"Can I ask you a question, Heather?" Shuri asks, then, not waiting for the answer, continues, "Next time the Titans do something important, can I come along? I would like to see how the costumed do-gooders of this nation do things. Maybe learn some things from them. There's more to bringing hope to people than just supplying jobs and education and opportunities, after all. There is also protecting them."

Heather Danielson has posed:
    Winding down from her speech, Heather is bamboozled by the question about the Titans. She quite literally opens her mouth to reply and no words come out. Then she shakes her head like she is trying to shake off a left hook in a boxing match.

    "Well.." her eyes flicker towards the security ladies and then back to Shuri. "I somehow do not think that the choice to join us would be -entirely- yours. Perhaps you could ask your family about it? I could not guarantee your safety you know."

Shuri has posed:
"Nobody's safety is entirely assured. And..."

She leans in a bit closer to lower her voice to barely being heard above the din.

"...I understand at least one of your number can cause items and people to transport instantaneously from one place to another. I think this could be put to good use in this project."

Shuri winks and leans back again. She becomes more aware of her surroundings. "Why are all these men hovering around our table?" she asks, mildly startled. "Oh, right. You're a celebrity."

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "Well, you're not exactly unattractive. Plus, that dress makes you look like a million bucks." offers Heather as she looks up to the young men.

    She offers an apologetic smile, "Sorry gentlemen. I somehow think that the rather intimidating ladies by the door would -not- make your night any more enjoyable should you join us."

    And then she returns her attention to her tablemate and laughs, "Vorpal is interesting for sure. But he is the literal Cheshire Cat. One never knows where he will be, or when. I mean I'd do -my- best to be your bodyguard. In fact, with my ability to heal from almost any injury, I might make a good bodyguard for anyone."

Shuri has posed:
"Oh, this was much more than a mil..." Shuri winces and shuts up. "Let's pretend I did not say something that crass, shall we?" she pleads. "But thank you for the compliment."

The 'gentlemen' in question look at the door questioningly. There was no need to point out the referenced women. They stood out as dangerous without even trying to. Without pausing they start to amble away, though quite a few still surreptitiously check Heather out.

And Shuri.

Mostly Heather though.

"Heal from any injury?" she asks. "So you don't get hurt and injury heals quickly?"

Because feeling pain from injuries you heal quickly from is just scary.

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "Oh, I get hurt. Pain is something that just goes with the job these days. But I heal almost faster than I can get hurt. I could demonstrate, but I wouldn't want to cause an incident." states Heather.

    "But yeah... every time I get stabbed or shot, I feel it and it hurts. It just heals stupid fast." A pause, "And I can push myself beyond normal limits... my current deadlift is around eleven tons."

Shuri has posed:
Shuri raises an expressive eyebrow at that, blurting out, "That's quite a bit more than ..." and then she clams up, looking instead at her arms, then at Heather's. "Eleven, you said?"

Beat.

"Could I study you? I can do noninvasive scans and find out what's behind your powers. I'm good at science and technology."

Sure. She was top in her class in her backward nation, right?

"I'm always intrigued by science."

Heather Danielson has posed:
    "I don't see why not. From what I understand, there was somewhere between thirteen and twenty two failed serums for super soldiers being transported... I was accidentally exposed to them due to an open cut. I have no idea how many of them I was exposed to, or how much of those I -was- exposed to..." Heather shrugs, "I'm not a science type." she adds.

    "But yeah. I guess I hit the super power lottery." she adds with a shrug.