7876/Cubicles are Radical

Cubicles are Radical
Date of Scene:	18 September 2021
Location:	W.A.N.D: Triskelion
Synopsis:	Lara and Hellboy share a bit of casual conversation in the WAND cubicles. Cookies are enjoyed.
Cast of Characters:	Lara Croft, Hellboy

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Lara Croft has posed:
It's the weekend at WAND so not many agents are here. Lara Croft is not your typical agent though. She's been here since early in the morning and is seated at her section of cubicles. There's six of them all lined up three facing three, with hers on the end corner. She's seated at her desk and is poised on the edge of her chair with her back straight and her hands on the keyboard of her computer. Spread out across her desk is a series of books, some open and some closed. She's typing something from one of the open books on to her computer while looking between them.

The young WAND Agent and world explorer is dressed in a dark blue Henley top with long sleeves pushed up to her elbows, a pair of hiking pants on her lower body with boots on her feet. She's got some accessories on of course, like a smart watch and her jade pendant necklace around her throat too. Her hair is tied back in a loose pony tail that flutters here and there as she looks from book to monitor screen... and she's absent mindedly tapping her foot on the ground and spinning back and forth lightly in her office chair... to the sounds of the music playing on the radio beside her, turned down nice and quiet...

The rest of the offices and WAND level are dim and quiet too due to the weekend and all.

Hellboy has posed:
    The elevator doors open. With the office so dark, the huge behemoth of a man's form stands silhouetted against the interior. He steps in, only plunging his features further into darkness. A few people notice and stare, but this is WAND, not accounting, so they don't freak out so much. With surprising quietness and calm, the looming fiture walks through the office floor. He arrives at Lara's cubicle and casts a shadow over her books, waiting for her to notice him.

Lara Croft has posed:
The spotlighting from the ceiling high above is blocked out some by the arrival of Hellboy and it only takes a few seconds before Lara realizes that it isn't just someone passing by her desk, but lingering instead. She tears her eyes from her work and looks over, then up, and up a gain to Hellboy's face. "Oh." She says upon recognizing him. "Hello." The Briton tells the tall red one himself. She shows a quick smile for him and turns her chair to face to him, her hands going to the arms of her chair. "Found me?" She asks in good nature. "Welcome to the spooky WAND offices." She adds as well.

Hellboy has posed:
    "Hello, Dutchess," Hellboy says. He lifts his arm and leans it on the cubicle wall, which flexes enough that he picks it up again and wipes it on his heavy coat for some reason. "Did some reading on you. Figure you were doing the same on me." He moves to try to find somewhere to sit with her so he's not sticking multiple conspicuous feet above her cubicle drawing attention. "Also wanted to see you again. You have a cute accent."

Lara Croft has posed:
There are other desk chairs at the other cubicles, so its not hard for him to nab one and wheel it to where he so desires.

Lara will turn in her chair to face him as he does this too. His words cause her to smile lightly at what he says, her hands remaining there on the arms of her own chair. "Well thank you." She says with a slight grin at his compliment of her accent. "There's quite a large number of British citizens here in SHIELD, London variety and otherwise. But yes, I do believe we're a bit over run by all of the American influences." She smiles a little again. "I'm told my accent has drifted away from being pure British, but I think thats related to my traveling from a very young age. Being exposed to a wide variety of dialects, and so forth."

A second later then and Lara reaches up to brush her long bangs out of her eyes. "How are you doing?" She asks him back then. "Keeping busy?"

Hellboy has posed:
    "Maybe I should just say you're cute, then," Hellboy says as he sits in the random co-worker's office chair which strains under his weight, "if you're going to refuse accent compliments." He slides behind one of the walls of her cubicle so he's not so visible to be stared at. "Busy is a relative term. They don't let me out unless the bad guy is supernatural, usually, so I have time to read up on things like British royalty."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara just lightly smirks at his response to her. She tilts her head then to the side a bit. "I'll accept the compliment, whole heartedly then." She replies before hearing the rest. She draws in a light breath then and nods once to what he says of the nobility. "I'll admit, I generally try to hide from that side of my life. Which is partly why I chose a career that lead me living here in the States now... but I do maintain the title and all that comes with it... because it was important to my parents. Especially my mother."

She pauses then for a second before eying him a bit more. "So you read up on me then? I guess you've seen all the negative things people say about me too." There's quite a lot of negative press on Lara out there after the events on the Island of Yamatai. Some say she's an outright bloodthirsty murderer, while others claim she only saved herself on that island of cannibals, rather than did as much as she could to save others in peril there. The list of positives and negatives about her in the press is extensive, and even more-so online in social media and so forth.

Hellboy has posed:
    "You think any of this shocks me?" Hellboy says, lifting up his reading material on Lara up. Was that hiding in one of his pockets? That's A4 paper...or 8.5x11...whatever SHIELD uses. "I'm a demon. Before the UN thing, I was an illegal alien who sometimes destroyed public property to save people from things they didn't know existed." The folder disappears again on his person as he shuffles his coat around.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara places her hands on her lap then and sits back in her chair as he produces that file folder filled with reading material about her. AT his question she just smirks and shakes her head. "No, I don't imagine you're surprised one bit. But, I'm going off of what I'm most used to when people ask me about myself, especially lately." She watches him slip the folder away again. "So what inspired you to read up on me?" She asks then. "Are you needing help with the supernatural 'things' that they send you out to hunt?"

Hellboy has posed:
    "Not exactly," Hellboy says, hesitantly. "I thought you were, too." He shrugs. "The way you looked at my arm, I thought you would be curious and start finding things about me. I figured I'd find out everything I could about you, then we'd be on equal footing, you know?" He waves with his left hand, dismissively. "I'm not just some obsessive demon with a crush."

Lara Croft has posed:
This causes Lara to smile again and tilt her head once more at the 'crush' part. "That's sweet." She says back at him softly. She then shakes her head side to side as she glances back at her computer to her left. "I mean, admittedly, yes I'm curious what your story is..." She says before looking back at him. "But I hadn't delved in to it yet. I also... teach at a school south of here, so I've been catching up on the week I missed and am just preparing to grade a bunch of papers too." She grins lightly then toward him and slowly shakes her head again. "So, I barely have a moment's free time. Which is good though, I never know what to do with free time anyway."

She nods her head once at him then. "But yes, I did have it on my to do list. To read more about you that is... whatever I could dig up anyway."

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy smirks. "So I'm on your 'to do' list," he growls, playfully. "Good to know." He keeps eye contact while the joke lands, then gestures at the books near Lara. "So, what's that, school stuff or something else?" he asks.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara gives another faint smirk at the joke coming from the giant red demon man across from her. She doesn't respond to it, as its not like she hasn't lived the past 10 years of her life getting similar jokes, especially by the time she got to college.

At his question though, Lara looks back to the books on her desk. She reaches out to one and lifts it up to turn it over. "Well." She says. "This is a bit of a personal project, but it does relate to my work here with SHIELD." She holds the book out, if he's interested enough to take it. "This is a journal of an explorer in Siberia who was tracking down ever lasting life. The ability to restore the dead, restore your health.... restore your youth." She smiles lightly then and shakes her head again vaguely once. "It's mostly full of ramblings and nonsensical leads to uninteresting dead ends. But... some of it may have some credence, at least in part."

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy reaches under the book, his left hand touching Lara's as he cradles the book carefully, not wanting to hurt her precious research material. He looks over the page the book is open to for a few moments before glancing up at Lara. "You want to be young and beautiful forever?" he wonders aloud.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara cracks another smile at the red one before she just sits back in her chair and shakes her head softly side to side. "Not... exactly." She tells him. "It's something my father was after. After the death of my mother he became obsessed with finding a way to ... well... yeah." She draws in a breath between her lips and lets it back out with a heavier huff. "I thought he was a madman throughout my teenager years. But... after what I saw on that island, and what I've seen since then? Since joining SHIELD?" She seems a bit scatter brained by all of this as she talks. "I just... I know he was on to something after all. And if something like that actually exists? It's... part of my job description here now to find it, and secure it, if at all possible...."

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy holds out her book carefully back to her. "If you test it yourself," he says, "we can be beautiful forever together." It's not as flirtatious a comment as some of the other things he's said. Something akin to loneliness comes through.

Lara Croft has posed:
the book is accepted back from his offered hand and she accompanies it with a smile toward him. "It may yet come to that. A life of immortality is not really something I am looking for, nor do I think I could handle it very well... but, one never knows." She lets another quick smile come and go from her lips before she sets the book back where it was. "To be honest though, I'm far more likely to end up a cold body on some mountain top, or food to some hungry predator in the wilds somewhere." She states with a smirk back at him. "But, yes. I'll do my best not to end up as such!"

Hellboy has posed:
    "Hard to hear," Hellboy says, his expression hardening a little, looking at the book. He looks as if he's thinking hard about something for a moment, then his eyes move to Lara's and he says, "I like you. You're smart and pretty and you've got a cute accent. I'm sorry if I crossed a line suggesting you test that thing if you find it. I've lost a lot of people in the past eighty years. Getting Cap back is the kind of thing I try not to expect, but he'll still grow old and die. The thought of having someone like you to watch the eons pass with got me a little optimistic." The last word seems to almost hurt for the demon to get out: "Sorry."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara's eyes are on him as he speaks these words. She shows a faint smile at him before she just lingers her stare a moment longer. He seems innocent in a lot of ways, almost youthful for someone who is as aged as he is. "I can only try to understand that." She says quietly. "Because yes, more than likely I'll pass on in the blink of an eye like many many others before me. But..." She draws in a breath then and smiles just a little at him. "There's other immortals around, more and more have been cropping up in the past decade alone. From... Thor to Wonder Woman. We've just gotta get you in their social circles, so it seems." That ghostly grin returns for a second or so.

"You're doing good things though, for this world, clearly so. You'll get rewarded for it, I'm sure." She reaches to her desk and picks up a tupper ware container that she offers to him. "Cookie?" She asks. "Fresh baked. A co worker brought them to me this morning." She offers the cookies to him and jiggles the container just a little.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy does not hesitate to take a cookie. "Thanks, but I actually might feel a little guilty I somehow made this about me. I came up here to talk to you about your stuff. Artifacts and whatnot. Maybe get your notes about how you'd improve an artifact weapon made out of other artifacts in more detail." He noms the cookie like it was bite-sized, one-biting the whole thing.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara lets him have the whole container of cookies if he so desires before she sits back in her chair again and smiles lightly once more. "Relics and such." She takes a second before laughing a little. "I've had a few major successes since joining SHIELD. Some that could arguably be labeled less than successful too though... But, I'm staying positive." She considers him for a second before she continues. "As for your gun, it looked to me like it needed to be oiled more regularly. I imagine the parts are jamming fr that reason alone, but it could be worse than that, it might need to be fully rebuilt Especially if you've had it with you for so long. I imagine you've seen a lot of action in your years of service."

Hellboy has posed:
    "Was oiled," Hellboy says, plopping another cookie in his mouth. "The parts sometimes don't like playing nice with each other." He plops another cookie into his mouth. "That thing's so holy, I'm sometimes surprised I can pick it up." He swallows and stuffs his hand in the tupperware before he says, "You have no idea how hard it would be to replace that thing." He picks up a few more cookies and plops them in his mouth one after the other. He lifts the tupperware and looks through the translucent bottom toward Lara's blobby shape. He hands it to her. "Did you make those? They were good."

Lara Croft has posed:
This makes Lara lean her head back a little as she understands what he's meaning about his gun. "Ah, it has enchantments then... So yes, that is likely far out of my ability to assist with." She watches him as he looks through the container and then hands it back. She accepts it and smiles before setting it back on to her desk. "Me? No. I wouldn't know where to begin with baking cookies." She states with a little laugh. "They were from Agent Carmichael. She's a wonderful culinary expert." She shows another moments grin. "I'll let her know she has a new fan of her cookies. I'm sure she'll bake you a full batch."

Hellboy has posed:
    "Thanks," Hellboy says. He looks at Lara and says, "I still like you, even if you're not immortal. If you want, I wouldn't mind going through some expendible artifacts and relics and seeing what we can come up with as far as a new sidearm. It would be hard to get one better, but it would be nice to have something to fall back on. Thougths?"

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara tips her chin up a bit as he asks this question after smiling at the first bit of what he'd said. "Well." She starts as she glances back at her desk and then back to him. "I would say that a man of your stature could use a large melee weapon of some variety... but then." She motions to his hand. "I imagine that is basically the same as any such ... hammer or maul could ever be. If not remarkably better." She looks back to his face then. "Maybe a sword of some make and model?" She asks of him. "There's a number of mythical swords out there, allegedly. You seem like a claymore type... more than say a Katana...."

Lara stands up from her chair then and walks over to a small bookshelf near to her cubicle. She starts to root through the books. "I've some information on lost two handed swords that were used in the search for the Holy Grail..." She says while scouring the spines of the books...

Hellboy has posed:
    "I've used Excalibur," Hellboy says like it ain't no thang. "They didn't let me keep it. Besides, like you pointed out, Right Hand of Doom is pretty impressive for punching evil up close. I meant relics or artifacts that could be used to construct a new sidearm. Still, I love your enthusiasm."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara pauses her search when he clarifies. She turns back to look over her shoulder at him then from the book case and shoves her sleeves on her shirt back up to her elbows. "Oh." She says softly at him. "Yes, of course." A moments through and Lara speaks up again. "Then you're likely after easily enchanted metals, or ones with pre-existing mystical elements to them... Gold and silver are the obvious choices, though you'd want the purest silver you could find..." She crouches beside the bookcase then and finds a particular one before she stands up again and walks toward him. "You'd want a specific kind of wood too, I believe, if you're looking to make a magical infused weapon. Such as the bloodwood trees from South Africa." Lara tells him as she opens the book to a page about the bleeding trees. "They're said to have magical blood that gives the wood a protective element to those who keep it close, or build homes from them." She says as she taps a paragraph about the trees, with pictures of truly odd looking tree trunks dripping red blood down to their bases in the ground.

Hellboy has posed:
    "Sounds like good stuff," Hellboy says, looking at the picture. He looks up at her. "I suppose getting all this stuff isn't exactly your job description, is it."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara stands there beside his chair then and laughs softly at his question. She folds her arms across her stomach. "Not exactly." She says before she glances away and then back to him a second later. "But there are people here that do that kind of thing for us. We often run in to strange situations here that require us to have those kind of things, so if I submit a requisitions document, then I could likely have these things within the week. From there, we simply have to do the crafting and replacement process... Or... rather, even try to build something new with them. Whatever you're comfortable with." She tells the big red one with a light smile.

Hellboy has posed:
    He smiles back up at her. "I really appreciate you putting in all the effort for me," he says. "I want to help you with your project, too. If it's alright, when we get some free time, maybe you'll let me take you out for dinner. You know, just to help repay you for all this work you're putting in for me." Definitely not an infatuated demon with a crush. Nope.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara accepts the book back then and walks back to her desk to set it down upon it with the others. She hears his response and as she turns to sit back on the edge of her seat she palces her hands together between her knees. "That's sweet of you. And yes, I'm here to help. I'm happy to help." She says in her calming British voice. "I'm sure we could find time to enjoy some dinner too. I have partial ownership of a restaurant in New York, a close friend of mne is the head chef. I'll have to see to it that we go there some time and enjoy some of the cuisine. It's quite nice, if you like a.... themed restaurant. It's not overbearing though, but yes, its a ship theme, high seas, I suppose." She grins a little.

Hellboy has posed:
    "I'm sure it'll be fine," Hellboy says. He stands, reminding Lara of how tall he really is. Also: The pneumatics on her coworker's chair are probably done for. "So, we exchange numbers, set something up? I don't do this much."

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara watches him stand up and ask his question. She has to laugh softly at it as well before she turns back to her desk. "Of course." She says then as she moves some things out of the way beofre she reaches for one of her business cards i na little plastic container behind the corner of her monitor. She turns back in her chair to look up at him and offers him the card. "Here you go." She says, showing a quick smile again. "And I'll let you know when those items arrive and what we might be able to make with them. I'll ask around too, we have quite a lot of talented people around here, you kjnow?"

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy takes the card with his left hand and looks at it. He looks back up at Lara and nods with a smile. "Thanks," he says. "Alright, I'm going to let you get back to grading papers." He takes a step back and puts his red right hand on her cubicle again, warping it before remembering and pulling his hand back.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara swivels her chair back toward her desk then before looking back at him and laughing softly at the attempt to not damage her cubicle wall. "It was nice seeing you agian. I'll tell Agent Carmichael you're a big fan of her cookies too." She says with another quick smile before she looks back to her computer and reaches for one of the books she'd been transcribing...