Owner	Pose
Jane Foster	At 8:15 AM, a call drops into the switchboard at Happy Harbour from the Hayden Planetarium at the American Natural History Museum squished in Central Park. Understanding the clamour of the first semester coming to an end, the planetarium director -- Jane Foster -- leaves a message for Richard should he be occupied by, likely, his occupation. The phone number connects to said institution of astronomy and public-facing scientific work. One thing connecting to another, and she suggests an authentic Irish pub on Staten Island as the venue. While a painful trudge from her Central Park-facing office and home, the locale has its advantages. For one, she books the entire back room. A ceilidh currently on stage keeps Guinness flowing and convivial music playing throughout the evening, which is still young enough to see locals filtering in. Black winter coats aplenty pile up on the hooks, and the brunette is most certainly among those who divests herself of ample layers. The private room is intended more for Irish dancing or harp lessons than fancy dinner parties, small and well soundproofed. It pays to know these things, and she's taken advantage of it several times in the past. Craic's owners receive a premium payment for the privilege, and she nurses a cider.
Richard Stadler	Some sort of call isn't exactly a suprise, if Rick were to be honest; he just expected it to take a bit longer than it did. Both government and academia sometimes took ages to move a inch, so any sort of call after the events of the UN was something that Rick fully anticipated fielding sometime after the New Year. Not that he had a problem with moving quickly. Paper-grading and planning for next semester was all very well and good, but even someone who went through paperwork with a certain amount of glee could use a bit of a break... Though, whenshe had mentioned Craic's on the island itself, he had thought perhaps a small booth in the corner, or perhaps a section of the bar that wasn't too occupied... not an entire room. He'd forgotten what black budgets bought you these days. It made things easy enough to find once he did arrive, a scant 20 or so minutes past 8, peeking his head through the doorway of the room and giving a bespecled scan of the place itself. Jane wasn't exactly easy to miss, esspecailly after he had seen of her... skills on the eastern side of Manhatten just a scant few days ago. He's got his own coat off, but generally prefers to fold the thing up with him, giving a nod to the woman as he moves into the room itself, and places it on a chair nearby. "You know, I don't think I've been back here." He opens with, quickly unbuttoning a worn suit coat before taking a seat across from her. "I don't suppose this food's on some GSA charge card? I haven't eaten since this morning."
Jane Foster	Craic's advantage of convivial atmosphere and good libations might lure someone out of Happy Harbour or the other modest institutions peppering Staten Island, which faces the Jersey shore and turns its back on New York's skyscrapers and madness. The pub better fits in Dublin or the suburbs of Belfast, a cozy sprawl with a whole second floor for various functions. Irish dancers need a stage and a spot, and the whole idea of a public house means a public venue. So not entirely a black budget affair; a couple hundred dollars tops. The brunette looks comfortable in the way of winter attire, a knit sweater and looped scarf of the more stylish sort than wholly functional. See, no black ops team lurking behind whiskeys and freckled smiles. She muses over the cider's contents, tilting the glass back and forth to watch the bubbles climb from the bottom to pop in a light froth. Given the benevolent tyranny of doors and walls, she doesn't respond to Richard's presence until either he sees his way in or the hostess stops gabbing about college classes to show him in. But it's a friendly smile that meets him, a tilt of her head giving acknowledgment once he settles in. Then they have a small corner of honeyed wood and stained glass paradise to themselves, courtesy of Guinness. "I'm so glad you could make it," she chimes in, and pushes a menu his way. "My treat, the least I could do for asking you to come out. Jane Foster, by the way. Jane, if you like." She glances briefly at the menu, smiling. "The boxty is authentic and the Irish stew not to be missed, though I'm entirely aware of how stereotypical that sounds. Used to spend plenty of time here warming myself up after too much work."
Richard Stadler	Richard smiles a bit as he moves to set across from Jane, giving a quick nod in acknowledgement to the server that's walked him here, his jacket placed on a spare chair nearby; checking it would have been smart, but... better to have it nearby in case something happened. Granted, 'something' wasn't liabel to, but paranoia that served you well wasn't easily left by the wayside. "Oh, I was glad to. Certainly getting a lot more social exposure these days, but it can get a bit lonely in that dorm room sometimes. At home too, certainly." He admits, before cocking his head. "Your treat, well. Certainly not dissuading me about that charge card." He notes, quickly scanning over the menu. A couple hundred dollars it may be, but he wasn't wealthy enough to throw that much money away; leave this meeting to him and he'd have picked somewhere that one could pay with friendship, rather than meager cash in hand. "A little too heavy for the boxty... if it is what I think it is. Only been to Ireland once and that was more of a... business trip. I won't turn down a stew in this weather, though. And an esspresso, if you have it, and the blackest coffee you can make if you don't." He says, addressing the server with another quick nod and the menu handed back to her. "Good to meet you, Doctor Foster." He says, clearly the type that aims for the more formal addresses. "I did a quick literature review when you asked to meet; a lot of things over and outside my expertise... with what I could find, anyway. JSTOR's not exactly a website you can plug in a clearance level."
Jane Foster	Manners maketh the man or woman, for that matter. Jane's not ordered anything beyond her drink, and she more than happily forfeits the conversational side of things long enough for Richard to situate himself, decide on food, or leap out a nearby window for safety's sake. She chuckles softly into her glass as he references the dangers of being cooped up in a dorm. "Perils of academic life, or scientific. We come out of our labs trying to discover where the last decade went." The quip softens the camber of her smile, deepening it as she turns the humour on herself. Pushing aside the tongue of her scarf so it doesn't sit tickling her throat needlessly, she settles in. A server comes and goes to take their order; added to his, she requests a bread bowl with the cup of the stew instead of the full fandango. Nothing like delicious bready goodness on a wet night. "I try to keep most of my work open and available. Unfortunately, the majority tends to be written like a theoretical or quantum physicist. We use peculiar words like quarks and charms, and leap outside the vaguely familiar landscape awfully fast." Hazards of the Nobel type. Laughter simmers behind the words. "From the UN's perspective, being the very visible person who found the very obvious extraterrestrial society put me on the map. Asgardians rather than Kryptonians, but the impact was about the same. I'm curious how your research brought you there. Familiar with Doctor Lewis?"
Richard Stadler	Oh, he wasn't considering leaping out of the window; they made you pay for that, too. Besides, it was unlikely that Jane brought him here for some nefarious purpose. ...Not impossible, certainly. But unlikely. Certainly something he could wait and see how it developed. But there's a bit of a wave of a dismissive hand. "Oh, it's not all bad. You do a lot of interesting, important work in that decade, and you get to be happy the world's still here when you blink owlishly in the sunlight. Plus, all the movies you miss; you know I didn't see Titanic until ought six?" Certainly the tone indicated it could be a joke... or just his own bit of self depreciation. "But I can appreciate that from an... outside perspective, of course. I've got a few..." He stops, and muses to himself. "...No, not that one. Right, a few on the public side of things myself. Mainly on infectious diseases. One on biodefense in... '18? That was with JSS, though. Not exactly the... common type. And certainly nothing within the realm of that level of physics. Just a general understanding of forces, here, not space travel and black holes and the like." A mminuate shake of his head. "Oh, no. I'm gettiing to know Doctor Lewis; she certainly has a comptenecy about her I respect, but that's to be expected, I would say, given her associations. I just... knew someone working over at the WHO's office down here, who indicated I might be of some help to the right people." Rather vague, but that's a hard habit to break."
Jane Foster	The Third Defenestration of Staten Island lacks the snappiness of Prague, alas. However, defenestration isn't used nearly enough. Self-defenestration ought to be worthy of a black belt. Or a black blind. Jane laughs, picking up her cider. "Was the ending a surprise, though?" she asks of the Titanic. "I never quite fathomed how selfish a person could be about a door." Her smile tugs up again while she eases back, resting her wrists on the edge of the table. A posture that speaks to openness and ease in her surroundings, a place she clearly finds familiar, even if Richard's companionship is a new thing along the lines of colleagues or professional acquaintances. "Doctor Lewis -- Darcy -- was one of my PhD students and a dear friend. The mind on that one, cutting edge and irreverent in the best of ways. How wonderful, though, that level of expertise in pathology and virology is no mean feat to accomplish. I'd say it's fair I work on a macro scale; you work on the micro. WHO tagged on this one isn't entirely surprising; xenobiology and the possibility of infections outside our ecosystem have to weigh on the minds of public health officials and doctors at all levels. Having undergone a few decontamination protocols in their infancy," with a tone implying it wasn't exactly a choice, "I can sympathise. Have you performed any research into possibility of first contact to an unknown species, or was there something specific that flagged a concern for participation? I'm admittedly quite surprised that genetic engineering was brought up. Not because it's invalid, but a loaded topic." A pause, and that sigh drops her shoulders. "A loaded topic if there was one, not the least with questions stirred up around eugenics or cosmetic applications. The Russian delegation -- along with the Germans -- are in an utter furor about it, as to be expected, for wholly different reasons."
Richard Stadler	Richard Stadler put his hand out, giving it a little bit of that 'so-so' wiggle on the question of the Titanic. "Oh, cinematically, no. Cultural osmosis saw to that. But I expected at least one mention of the Californian; you know it was just a few miles away? Shut her telegraph off at night, really deserved some of the blame there. Can't recall one mention. I was... irrationally angry about that, but that might have been the stress." Richard does seem to be a bit animated, himself; poised and professional, and 'languid' as a term to describe him was certainly defenestrated out of the self-same escape window at this point. His eyebrows raise in a bit of suprise t the description. "Well, I didn't know you too were that close... though... perhaps I shouldn't be too suprised at this point. Get to a certain level of expertise and the pool of collegues gets small, even more so when you consider the..." He pauses for a good second, trying to find the right word. "...enhanced nature of the individuals at that level. For the most part. Though I feel you might be... over exaggerating my skills a bit." Braggdicio was a dangerous drug, after all. "I've known some rather intelligence pathologists in my time, certainly with more citations to their name than my own. I just know a few of the right people and have a good skillset in certain scinearios. Not that it isn't a /fascinating/ subject, microbiology. Honestly, the mechanisms you can develop these days with mRNA vaccine solutions... quite exciting!" There's a bit of a grin on his face at that, befroe it's brought back down when the WHO is mentioned. "My contacts are always concerned about that. It's always been a... concern at WHO, CDC, PHS, ever since terragenesis back in 2012. Jury's still out on what exactly happened there, and we're worried that the next release will be less... transformational." He shakes his head slightly. "Generally, shadowy groups going after this level of biotechnology and equipment triggers a lot of warnings on anyone in the biodefense community. But first contact... wasn't on the radar until we did some digging." There's a slight grimace. "Germans certainly have a right to be concerned. Russians, I honestly couldn't give two wooden nickels for what they think; I've yet to find any trust that they're concerned with anything but scoring points for the cameras at the Security Council."
Jane Foster	"They might have at least shown something with the telegraph room, the captain who refused to bestir himself from bed. Understandably you were upset, to think how that might have turned out had Californian steamed around the ice field." Jane shakes her head, the glimmer of copper shot through her dark chestnut hair playing under the lights. "Though the Carpathia deserves to be remembered well for acts of bravery and pushing themselves to the limits to reach there. I was rather put out by several elements, though at least James Cameron showed some of the steerage passengers and the heroic efforts of the boiler crews, doomed though they were, to keep those engines going. But in many ways, Titanic is a tale of human hubris, rather than being greedy over a door. It rather signalled the end of the blind faith in technology and science, along with World War One. Something that in an era where we continue to push out all sorts of technological innovations as the panacea for everything, we still need to be mindful of." Richard has little to fear from her; if anything, the reputation of Thor and *that hammer* probably indicate no nefarious HYDRA agency or horrible underhanded methods at her disposal. As if a block of enchanted metal can really gauge character. "We could probably spend a week talking about the possibilities of mRNA, as long as you're willing to put up with me checking resources and Googling a few things in the meantime. The whole possibility of tailoring therapies or preventing infections or illness is magnificent -- when regulated and ethical, available to the public." The hitching point there nonetheless is a limited break in the conversation, one of those elements that bubbles up to the surface before she smoothly carries on. "I work with an absolutely brilliant biochemist, whom was at the meeting, and you'd probably get on like houses on fire." And they can probably speak at a reasonably high, non-Reed Richards level. Still, his turn of mood mirrors hers. "The process you're talking about hasn't been widely broadcast or spoken of, particularly. You're referring to the events in Australia, the invasion, yes?"
Richard Stadler	Richard Stadler gives a firm nod at the quick and accurate take of the film. "Oh, certainly, the event itself is a reminder, and the film certainly establishes the theme well enough; folly of man, beleiving that technology would save them to the point of lettiing contingencies to the contrary languish. Certainlly the Carpathia wasn't a focal point in the movie itself for the reason it would have robbed from the theme itself. Though looking back on that time, I think it was more likely the stress that made my hyperfixate on that one point." He leans forward just a bit, a hand moving to push the square spectiles perched on his nose just a bit more securely aganist his face, the dim light refflecting breifly on them. "I beleive in technology as a cure to the world's ills. It has done wonders in battling the enemies that the entireity of humanity shares." And he'll lean back just a bit. "But I suppose that a discussion of mRNA technologies would prove my point well enough, if the time was avalible for it. It really is fascinating in terms of what can be done with the body's own cells as a factory for the right agents... somewahat relaated to the sort of genetic engineering we're speaking of, honestly, if not in the more permaent space as a retrovirus changing actual DNA. Which will be decidingly not ethica, depending what they plan on doing with it" Stadler looks... somewhat concerned at this, lost in thought for just a moment. The raid he had just been on... they were shutting down their facilities. Which means they may have already accomplished production objectives. No. No reason to bring that up here. It wasn't as if it would do any good, anyway. Instead he picks up the mention of a biochemist. "Oh, really? I wouldn't mind meeting someone of like mind. Biochemists certainly deal more on the applied side than my own field. Another... member of your organization?" He ventures. At the mention of Australia, Stadler pauses for a moment. "Ye-... yes, Sorry. Threw me for a second. Most of my experience with the invasion was... outside of Australia. But I admit, my knowledge of it is fairly limited. There was some reports coming through of a release, and the effects, some request for opinions; Unfortunatly, capabilities for analysis were signficantly degraded post-invasion, and the resources just weren't there to gather information. By the time they were... things were entrenched, and we lost the political will." He notes, shaking his head a bit. "Terragenesis as it's own phenomonon, though, not as concerning here as the fact that an alien species released an agent with worldwide effect on a select portion of the population, with genetic activation a strong possiblity, if one that I haven't been able to conclusively prove."
Jane Foster	"The Carpathia still plays a principle role in the story, but then, it's much less exciting for a feel-good romance to focus on the crew that puts itself at risk selflessly than to have Leonardo Di Caprio playing a seal." Jane can't help but laugh, the matter easily discarded in favour of more serious events or those less inclined to the counterpoints of what Titanic really embodies in the cultural milieu. She pauses only to seek the spoon to go after that stew that's finally delivered, the bread a happy boule waiting to be torn to mild shreds. Bread bowls may be more comfort food than anything else, deliciously sampled around the carrots. She nods to Richard over the carrots melting into a rich beef base, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Oh, she's undoubtedly a marvel. Doctor Simmons has her own reputation in the field, but she does work for the government." A simple hook to seek by, simple enough, if he chooses to seek it. A comfortable silence stretches out while she listens, mannered and attentive, though not about devouring the comforts of the stew. It's just pleasure for her; necessity perished on an Orcadian field what feels like ages ago, but this is still an act she refuses to be parted from. "Sorry, I didn't mean to throw you for a loop. Information wasn't particularly well disseminated from the events and what is out in the scientific community seems utterly contradictory. Or at least it's built on a good deal of hearsay. As you said, significant lack of resources and doing things after the event can often give an imperfect picture. Something we deal with all the time in my line of work. If the background radiation, so to speak, is all we have then we make a lot of guesses, often wrong ones." She toys with the spoon, thoughtful. "There also lies another element, which is groups that /would/ weaponize any kind of potential science like this. And they aren't alien, they do not need to be. The majority are perfectly entrenched organizations with resources and reach to hook on to several possibilities brought up in research, if they hadn't contemplated it before. A process that is itself inherently natural or neutral, at least, can be turned into something horrific by no more than someone grasping for a new tool for their own aims." A pause. A slight stress there, if he's able to catch it. "Undoubtedly a contact for one of those groups was in that room and it's a risk you need to be aware of. You saw the more obvious problem there, which we defused but could not prevent from observing or transmitting." She sighs. "/That/ one was trouble enough, and I hope the Hail Mary throw keeps attention off of you. But."
Richard Stadler	"Oh, certainly. If there's one thing Cameron knows how to do, it's make an entertaining film regardless of the premesis... though, at the end of the day, I strongly prefer Aliens to anything about social classes on a ship just before the Great War." He notes. And then food is delivered, and Richard hadn't been lying about his skipping a meal earlier. A spoon is brought out, a healthy chuck of vegtable lifted out of the broth and consumed, followed by a quick swing of some decently strong coffee without any of those fru-fru additions to mask the /horribly/ bitter taste. There was a bit of soda bread dipped in, though it seemed like Rick was true to his word about avoiding the heaviness of carbohydrates. "Doctor Simmons... common last name, but it sounds famailar. Maybe I've read something by her... or could it have been Geneva? I'll dip into the old mind palace to find out. And I certainly appreciate government work." He notes, before taking a bit of time to devour the stew while it was still piping hot. There was a tiny shake of his head. "Not to worry on that. It was a big event; different people focused on different places. Just... I was rather focused on a single place during it. But I'm not surpised. Data networks weren't exactly top notch after; hell, if it wasn't for CNN in DC I didn't even know if Atlanta was still a going concern for half a day afterward. But we work with what we have, and I'm hoping the picture will continue to firm up with extra resources provided." But at the question of weaponization, he gives a almost unconcerned shrug. "Oh, anyone and everyone. Nonstate actors, multinationals, state organizations, the list goes on. At least for those who have the will. The facilities and resources, a somewhat shorter list, but there are a lot of ideologically motivated organizations who feel like a biological weapon is a bargaining chip, no matter the danger. People who forget that disease, virii, are the biggest danger facing mankind; at least in my opinion, and always neatly wrapped in Pandora's box. In terms of risk..." Another shurg. "I'm sure they're were, and I'm sure I'm on some sort of list at this point. If the attack, just have to survive it, and move through with a proper counter attack."