Summary:Wasp and Nico meet at Central Park, chat, and get some burgers. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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People come to Central Park for all sorts of reasons - tourism, business, health or even the food. Nadia is not one of those people. With a brown bomber jacket that has the logo for G.I.R.L on the back worn over a simple yellow summer dress and set off with sturdy & practical boots she ambles along the perimeter of one of the no-entry cordons that mark the aftermath of the attack. A gadget that looks like a smartphone with ambitions on becoming a satelite dish clutched in her hands.
Whatever the machine is it seems to be taking up all of her attention, especially when it makes a shrill noise of alarm. Nadia herself doesn't seem especially alarmed by the noises but does stop each time. Frowning as if deep in thought.
"…So, is that some kind of spastic metal detector or something? I wasn't going to say anything but it's- you know. Pretty hard to ignore." Nico was one of the passersby, but she ended up coming to a stop not too far from Nadia's left and just… Looking at her openly, an eyebrow lofted, gesturing animatedly with her left hand toward the machine Nadia is hauling around.
Nico, for her part, is fairly distinctive. Her hair is pulled up into a classic Japanese bun, a long needle-like hairpin used to hold it in place. Dark eyeliner, black lipstick, black earrings dangling little pentagrams, and a black dress with fishnet at the neck and on the arms, a ruffled skirt, and tall black boots. At least she'll be easy to remember.
"Spastic metals?" Nadia repeats, her accent faintly Russian and her attention almost totally fixed on the device. "I am not familiar with the… Oh wait. I think I understand what you…" The machine makes a longer beep. "It's recording six dimensional spatial topography. One of my friends back at my lab is working on a device that will allow instant travel between here and L.A. and before we even think about turning it on I want to be absolutely sure it won't tear any holes in space or time."
She eventually glances up and flashes Nico a beaming smile. "I'm sorry if it is bothering you… I could plug some headphones in just… I will need a minute to build in a headphone socket. I think I have the right tools on me somewhere…" She pats at her jacket, digs a hand into her left pocket and pulls out a full size tool kit. "Oh I suppose a bench of some sort would help." Her brow furrows again. "But I didn't bring one with me."
Nico covers her eyes with her hands for a second and takes a deep breath. "Dimensional topography? Is that actually a thing? …Wait, don't tell me. I don't want to know." She shifts her weight for a second and then pauses, glancing at the machine and then back up to Nadia. The bright smile apparently takes Nico by surprise because she slowly starts to smile in reply, arching a brow as she does.
"Right. No bench. Guess you'll have to work on it later. It figures the first person I meet today would be the cuter Russian version of Chase." A brief pause. "So… A portal from here to LA? Did you guys, you know, ask the authorities or anything first? I think SHIELD is going to have a cow."
A beat passes before Nico adds rather drily, "Actually, it sounds like a great idea. Do it. So… You just need to image the 'dimensional topography'-" Big air quotes, "-in the area to make sure you don't portal through any load bearing reality disturbances or something?"
"Oh I think SHIELD are probably following what I do," Nadia admits with wry amusement. "I'm Nadia by the way. Nadia van Dyne, it's nice to meet you…?" Her head tilts. "I can with the utmost certainty assure you I'm not a female version of anyone but myself. I ah.. I checked." She coughs. "It is… how do you say.. complicated?" The toolbox goes back in the pocket that should in no way be big enough to contain it. "But.. yes the plan is for a stable gateway between the two cities allowing you to walk from one to the other. It's still in the very early stages of development. Right now it tends to deposit people roughly twelve foot east and four foot up."
She gives the gadget another look, as if committing the data to memory. "We're researching in partnership with several colleges in the L.A. area. Everything is above all of the boards. But the load bearing reality bit is /roughly/ correct." She holds her hands up and shrugs. "But you said not to tell you. So…"
"Nico." No, the last name exchange witll not be reciprocated. "I'm sure it did go over the heads of all of the boards," Nico adds in that perfect deadpan, but she is nodding along as Nadia continues to speak, watching her expressions intently. This morphs to a faint grimace when the young woman's words are being used against her. She purses her lips and breathes a soft sigh, apparently weighing her options.
"…Go ahead and tell me. I love a good dimensional portal. Maybe the dark dimension can invade New York again. So, you have a portal going that teleports people here from LA, just it's off by a few feet? I'd love to be be able to get to LA without having to- anyway." Nico waves this off. "You could, like, build a platform or something to land on, right?"
"Oh! No no right now it only /extends/ twelve foot. From where I am standing to about… there," Nadia explains in a rush of words, gesturing a short distance away. "It is a prototype and it's not really mine as such. One of my friends came up with the design but everyone at G.I.R.L helps each other out." She turns and points at the logo on her jacket. "It stands for the Genius in action research lab." She can't help but beam with pride as she points. "Anyway the portal works by accessing a fundamental layer of reality in which the concepts of time and distance have no meaning. It's very safe in theory. Statistically we're more likely to be struck by strange matter and have the planet cease to exist than we are for the portal to cause problems. But it never hurts to be sure and… well people do not like to provide funding when you mention potentially ending the universe and can't follow up with 'but we have evidence to show this won't happen'."
She flicks what is probably an off switch and the scanning device goes silent. "We did consider the platform idea until someone asked what would happen if the portal deposted you /inside/ the platform. For now when we test it someone just borrows some wings."
"World ending calamities are cool. Lard Hadron Collider. I might have been rooting for the black hole." Nico is actually drawn in by the jacket logo, and the conversation, even as she does her best to lookk disaffected and aloof. That is an expression admitteldy helped along by her makeup and dark clothing. What really betrays the young woman's attention is her eyes. THe way she's watching Nadia speak.
"So, you know. That's… Cool. Can you get back to LA from here or is it just a one way thing for now? …Hey, is there a chance it'll destroy LA, at least? I keep waiting for it to slide into the ocean but the San Andreas fault line just keeps disappointing me."
"Oh no we're not based in L.A. and I got here by flying. So I'll probably get home that way too," Nadia explains, digging her hand in the other pocket. "I have a business card. We're in the New York area. See." She holds out the card and sure enough it has a New York state address. "And personally I would rather not destroy the world. Hypothetically I suppose I could work out how if I wanted but…" She grins and earnestly adds "I'd rather fix it. It might take a while but I'm sure it can be done."
She takes a few steps further along the border of the no-go zone, then leans forward to peer through a little gap in the fence. "Do you think there is a central registry of what caused each of these sites to be closed off?" she muses. "I could probably save myself a lot of time if I knew which parts of the city had exotic phenomena occur in them."
Nico accepts the card and glances it over briefly before tuckng the paper away into one of her pockets. She shrugs slowly and then takes another deep breath, turning slightly to study the fence in question.
"City Planning Office probably has a map of all the off-limits areas, at least. Um. You'll have to go online and look up where that is," Nico shrugs slowly. "So… You're serious. Like, you actually flew here and you're orking on a dimensional portal to LA and- all of that stuff?" It's hard to find the limit of Nico's skepticism, but her tone suggests she is at least open to the possibility. She gestures vaguely to the device again.
Nadia Van Dyne looks up from the gap in the fence. "Serious? Why wouldn't I be?" she replies, brushing her hair back out of her face. "Although if I was making a joke the jacket would suggest I was very committed to it… But no I'm very serious." She pulls out a small flat metal object that's about an inch thick and has hexagonal sides.
With a grin Nadia reaches over her shoulder, presses the gadget against her back and suddenly it's opening up. Straps wrap around each of her arms and mechanical insect wings unfurl. "They're my own design but I was a little bit inspired by news articles on some superheroes. There's a proper suit to go with them too but I won't be flying for long enough to need it."
"I don't know," Nico replies defensively. "I know this guy who kept trying to tell evereyone at our highschool that he'd invented a time machine. I mean, it turned out he was right, but still. It was a whole thing." Nico shrugs, her nonplussed expression quickly becoming one of mild amazement as those wings unfurl.
"Okay. So that? Is kind of awesome. So… Are you trying to be a superhero or something then? Flying around with a special suit aand saving people from transdimensional baddies? Because Central Park /does/ seem to be the place to be to meet those. …Wht do you call yourself then?"
"A /time machine/!?" Nadia practically bounces with excitement at the notion. "I worked out a schematic for one once. But you would need to fire yourself at relativistic speed and slingshot around the universe so… Does it still exist? Or work? If so do you think I could I see it some time?" She pauses long enough to take a full breath. "And if it's broken I'd still be happy to see it."
The wings flutter and buzz a little and she lifts a foot off the ground, does a little twirl and then lands. "I'm not sure about being a superhero. I fancy being a science adventurer instead. I guess they are not too different, both involve going on adventures and ideally saving people. I would just rather fix problems rather than symptoms though, if that makes sense?" She gestures her hand at the barrier. "Anyone can stop a robbery, but often that's just hurting a person who is poor and desperate. I'd rather stop people becoming that desperate in the first place."
Almost as an afterthought she adds "Oh well.. I guess my 'codename' is Wasp. I don't really keep my identity a secret though."
"Yeah, uh… My friends and I tried codenames once. They didn't really stick," Nico replies slowly. She is still staring at Nadia as if trying to determine whether she's grown a second head or is simply a more mundane variety of insane.
"So. First off. I want to see you fly." Nico grins at that, her epxression almost sly. She rocks back on her heels for a split second. "Call it curiosity. And… You know. Actually curing society's problems sounds kind of nice too. I guess. I don't know if that's really… possible, though. Socials systems aren't really rebuilt in a day. Most solutions just create other problems and—- nevermind. Fly. Come on. If you pull it off I'll buy you a soda."
"Yeah, uh… My friends and I tried codenames once. They didn't really stick," Nico replies slowly. She is still staring at Nadia as if trying to determine whether she's grown a second head or is simply a more mundane variety of insane.
"So. First off. I want to see you fly." Nico grins at that, her epxression almost sly. She rocks back on her heels for a split second. "Call it curiosity. And… You know. Actually curing society's problems sounds kind of nice too. I guess. I don't know if that's really… possible, though. Socials systems aren't really rebuilt in a day.
"Most solutions just create other problems and—- you're flying. Like, actually flying. Jesus. I mean-" A beat. "That wasn't flying, you barely left the ground." Then Nico taks a deep breath and gestures for Nadia to follow her. "Come on. Do you like milkshakes? I could use a milkshake."
Nadia Van Dyne raises a brow at the 'you barely left the ground' comment and lifts off again. This time hovering at the top of the barrier fence as she tucks her scanner into the same pocket as the toolkit came from. There don't seem to be any actual controls she's operating and yet she flits around without a care. "It might not be something I live to see finished," she admits, glancing over the barrier and frowning at whatever she can see over there. "But that doesn't mean it's impossible. Or that it's not worth trying regardless!" A pause. "Also I /do/ like milkshakes. We didn't have them where I grew up… or burgers. I am perhaps a little bit addicted to American hamburgers. They are /so/ unhealthy but.. very good brain fuel."
She motions her leg as if about to 'leap' off the barrier and flits down to follow Nico. "I'm going to put the wings away for now," she decides. "So as not to startle anyone."
"That's more like it. Perfect. Let's go." And so they will. Nico leads Nadia otu of the park and down perhaps a block, over to a small burger shop that seems to have been crammed betrween two larger businesses as an after thought. The rent is, no doubt, still enough to get an entire building in the Bronx. Nico acutally holds the door for Nadia, scanning the restaurant as she does.
"Burgers and shakes, perfect. Alright… Let's see." The goth seems to be rooting around in a couple well-concealed pockets in her fairly elaborate dress. Nadia might just notice her pull out a seemingly empty hand as she makes an elaborate gesture with her fingers and calls quietly, "Pocket change!….?"
Apparently, the hand wasn't so empty. She's carrying a couple ratty green $20 United States bank notes rolled in her palm.
"I should probably insist on buying my own burgers though," Nadia points out as they walk along. The backpack wing device folding up and returning to her pockets. Despite all the things she keeps putting in there at no point does it actually look like the jacket pockets are full. Or indeed like they have /anything/ in them. "I eat a lot more than you might expect due to a… uhm… high metabolism. Five or six tends to be a normal lunch."
"You mentioned that you and your friends tried out codenames before, was that for crime fighting? Or something else. Like a club or sports team." She asks curiously. "Perhaps I might have heard of you?"
"No, probably not," Nico replies absently. "it was just- silly kid stuff." She shakes her head then, scanning the counter as she is doing so. "We were messing around. Anyway, how about I buy you a burger and a milkshake and if you need more burgers you can figure it out?"
Nico is moving up to the counter then, scanning over the menu."So… Bacon cheeseburger, strawberry milkshake… Pssh…" She's making idle noises as she checks out the menu. Then, "Dude! Fries are separate? Burgers are like eight bucks. Come on."
The man behind the counter shrugs. Nico glowers before glancing back over her shoulder at Nadia. "So… What kind of milkshake do you want?"
"It's still much better than having beetroot soup every day," Nadia offers brightly at the price of the fries. "I will have the same burger but a chocolate milkshake. Oh and can you please get me.." She bites her lip thoughtfully. "Five more burgers but as another order. Bagged up to go." She price doesn't even seem to register and she simply hands over some notes without waiting for any change. "That should be enough to keep me going until I next get chance to stop for food… Sometimes the lab gets very hectic."
She glances around for an empty table and, matter of factly, adds "One thing I have discovered is that people often underestimate anyone younger than them. It happens all the time when I have to slow down to explain that just because someone has tenure at a college it does not mean my math is wrong. It's just more complicated than they can follow."
"Yeah, I… Know what you mean," Nico replies, a bit more earnestly than she had before. her voice has mellowed a few nnotes. When her order comes up she takes the tray with thtwo burgers, a huge basket of french fries, and two milkshakes over to a corner table while Nadia approaches the resiter to pay… And just in time to be cut off by someone sliding into the seat ahead of her.
"Whoa! What the fuck? That was my table."
The person who cut Nico off is about six foot one, probably nineteen or twenty, with brown hair carefully parted to the left, blue eyes, and a faint smirk. "It doesn't look like it.. I didn't see you here before I got to the table. I guess you'll have to find another one."
"No, I will /not/ find another one. That's the last table. Come on. Get out of my seat, alright?" Nico glances over at Nadia. The guy's eyes follows.
"You're embarrassing yourself in front of your date. Why don't you buy another My CHemical Romance album and go cry on your girlfriend about it?"
Over by the counter Nadia, blissfully unaware of the commotion for now, is giving the staff behind the counter a minor panic attack by fetching a tupperware container from her impossible jacket pockets, putting the bag of burgers inside and then making the whole lot disappear into her pockets.
The display is over quickly enough that no-one quite gets chance to record it, but there is a brief moment in which the customers at the closer tables stop what they're doing and scramble for their smartphones. When the silence breaks it's with an excited murmur as everyone who could see tries to explain what exactly just happened to those who couldn't with varying degrees of success.
Not that any of this seems to bother the petite Russian girl. Her casual display of impossibility complete she gives the room a friendly smile and heads over to where Nico is. "Is everything okay?"