astrophysics mingle 6 ( OPEN )

[hypoxic]

Who: Anyone!
Where: Fourth floor @ room 052 (Basement Lab if needed?)
When: 5-April to 31-May
Rating: PG-13 to cover shenanigans bases.
Summary: A day in the life of the physics lab! Where the science is made up and nobody minds! In fact: you don't even have to science at all -- there's cleaning to do and probably gossip to chat over and maybe half-built equipment to fight for! This post is a MINGLE, so feel free to make open top threads (they count toward your post requirement for AC!) and have fun! Players who've spoken with Rin here probably have an idea about what your character does - and otherwise, feel free to hit up Team Science via PM or plurk. I'm at eljkofantastico, and would love to get more people involved in the Eway scientific community. A busy lab with varied research is what Rin was shooting for when she started this tradition of giving awkward nerds a place to be awkward and nerdy together.

The Story:

Projects currently in process:

Expansion into two additional rooms for a supercomputer
Scanning & photographing library documents for archive
Data mining & processing
Energy scanning & analysation
Scientific study of magicks of various worlds
Construction of various astrophysics and astronomy equipment
Mild botany
DNA analysis of superhuman biology (tissue samples welcome)
DOCTOR FOSTER, PLEASE STOP DISMANTLING THE SECURITY SYSTEM

Comments

[hypoxic]

[But by the time Darcy gets around to asking about it, Fitz is already shutting down. There's no reason to open up to Darcy when she's like this. She'll just try to cut him down, and go running to the Captain to request a browbeating if he tries to stand up for himself.

On a normal day, if he was feeling comfortable and confident, he'd shout back at her. Today, his head lowers.]

As if you care.

[sorryitasedyou]

Would I really still be standing here if I didn't care? I mean, if you want to behave like a passive agressive teeny bopper that needs to have a regular diet of angst to survive, go for it. I'll ask again because this could possibly affect Jane and if you're gonna assume I don't care about you, at least have the courtesy to know I care about Jane and her safety. [ Because not everything might be stopped by the aether, especially if she gets knocked out or something. She takes a breath and shifts her tone to something softer without hopefully sounding condescending. Look, no one said she was great at dealing with Fitz. ]

Who did you piss off and are they human? [ If he keeps shutting down, she's just gonna pop a squat right next to him until he answers because #stubborn. ]

[hypoxic]

[He doesn't respond right away. He hunches over, staring down at his desk. When he finds his voice, it's a small grumble.]

Made a friend, actually. The problem is that my friend has enemies. Nonhuman. Likely to harm us as a means of hurting him.

Concurrently, there's a new arrival. Former SHIELD. Decided he liked HYDRA better. He's already sent us. ... [He presses his lips together, eyes narrowing.]

What's the word... Oh, it doesn't matter. But is that enough, or would you also like to discuss the current state of the mirror situation?

[sorryitasedyou]

Okay, making friends is good. [ Look at her not even snarking or snorting at the idea of Fitz making friends because that's a feat she'd really like to see in action. Fitz playing well with others in the sandbox, sharing his chips, not yelling at people when they touch his things... That's a daydream for another laugh.

Especially when the H word gets dropped. ]

Doesn't matter? Definitely matters. [ Of course, the M word trumps the H word because here, he doesn't exactly have a network of support around him. ] What mirror situation?

[hypoxic]

[He's made friends with a gentleman who has no interest in touching his things. That's why it works. Darcy could learn a lot from someone like Klaus.]

I can't -- it's not coming. [He gestures abstractly in the air, as if it can bring back the word that isn't connecting.]

I don't know what the mirrors are doing yet. They're just. Chatty lately. Leaving writing on everything.

[sorryitasedyou]

[ Fitz at a loss for words... Okay. Well, she's got enough to make up for that. ]

Fine. We'll come back to that later. [ And as for mirrors being chatty. ] Besides, they're always chatty. Just not necessarily with you. I think they get bored over there and change up who they torment depending on their moods. Now, what kind of chatty? What are they chatting about? Anything serious?

[ Step One - determine if there's an actual threat that they need to deal with. She'll ask how much Steve knows later because odds are it's not much. ]

[hypoxic]

[No, the word is there, it's just not firing out properly and he's trying not to get stuck on it. One day, they'll get around to having a conversation about trauma and brain damage. If they ever stop fighting long enough.]

I'm not sure how to interpret it. They're interested in my work. Lots of commentary about my moods. I can't get much of a read on what they want with me.

But the upswing corresponds with the arrival of the HYDRA agent. I'm concerned he might already be aligned with them.

[sorryitasedyou]

[ There's so much she's missed and she's honestly not sure how. She used to be so connected to everything until she took a step back because it was too hard to maintain it while also holding onto her sanity as people came and went like new fads. She breathes, brows knotting as she lets that all sink in. ]

That's not surprising, honestly. A lot of the people from our world have HYDRA mirrors. It would make sense that if this dude is HYDRA, he'd find allies on the mirror side. [ Even if there are less people from their world here that might have evil mirrors than the last time she'd been injured on that side and went through a thankfully failed kidnapping attempt. ]

Does Steve know? [ Because even if he might be taking a step back, keeping him in the loop wouldn't be so bad... But because this is Darcy and she can't exactly control everything that impulsively comes out of her mouth-- ] Or is this just gonna get filed away in a Wondershield vault? Also what's the new dude's name so I can avoid him like the plague.

[hypoxic]

[If it helps, he's been piling most of it upon himself. Since the incident with Peter, he's been reticent to share any information with anyone at all. It seems like everything's either a danger or a burden.]

I haven't told the Captain. There's. I'd rather not trouble him. [He flinches at the end of it, as if expecting her to shout.]

His name is Grant Ward. -- What vault are you talking about? [Is this gong to turn out to be one of those times when Darcy has decided to be cross with him over something he hasn't actually done?]

[sorryitasedyou]

[ Haven't told the Captain. Oh boy, that flinch is the only thing saving him FROM her yelling. Is she thought punching him would help, she'd have already done it. ]

Well, if you really feel like he's dangerous, might not be a bad idea to trouble the Captain-- [ She feels weird saying that. Does it sound weird? Because it feels really weird. ] --even to just give him a heads up that there's a HYDRA agent here in the mansion. [ Because something tells her he'll want to know and just to drive that point home with an alternate offer... ] If it'd be easier for you, I can tell him so you don't feel like you're bugging him. I don't mind bugging him, I'm pretty good at it.

[ Darcy ignores the question, tucking the name away in the back of her mind. ]

We'll talk about the vault later. I'm less in the mood for this conversation now that the H word is in it. Don't feel like throwing the S word on top of it.

[hypoxic]

He has reason to be cross with me. There was an incident recently -- he's got enough on his plate without worrying about this issue as well.

Ward will probably be targeting us. Daisy, Jemma, and I. We've got something of a history. He was a mole in our team for nearly a year. Turned on us. Jemma nearly died.

[It wasn't just Jemma, but her life is the important one.]

[sorryitasedyou]

An incident? [ What the hell did he do? She's quick to not even bother getting angry about whatever happened because it might just be easier to ask Steve when they have dinner... And maybe rant a little about Fitz. ] I take that question back, I don't wanna know. Not right now. We can cover that later.

[ History is a dangerous thing around here, especially if it's bad. People trapped in a mansion together when they have history is never good for the group as a whole. A lot of people have a tendency to get hurt, especially people who weren't even a part of the issue to begin with. ] You guys would be easy targets for him. [ Yeah, her thoughts are just gonna be pouring out right now. ] Have you warned other people you're close to that aren't from our world? People that wouldn't know to avoid him like the plague?

[hypoxic]

[He hears the accusation. He already knows how this is going to end. She'll start shouting once more. She'll be upset that he's handled things the wrong way.

And she'd be right. She'd be more right than he can ever begin to vocalize.]

I don't want to cause a panic. It'll cause more trouble than it solves if he starts to think that we're poisoning people against him. He lashes out when he feels cornered.

[sorryitasedyou]

[ Of course she'd be right. Duh. It was just a matter of getting people to listen to her when she was trying to get that point across. Darcy can't bite back the scoff that escapes at his desire to not cause a panic. ]

I get not causing a panic, but a courteous heads up to people about a HYDRA agent being here wouldn't be the worst. But, it's not my decision so if you're just gonna hold onto that tidbit of info. Whatever. Look, we need to talk at some point, but I don't think we're gonna get anywhere right now. [ Not until she could come back at him with solid evidence that he wouldn't be able to ignore or refute. ] I'm not sorry about your locks and I'm not sorry about yelling at you because sometimes it's literally the only way to get through to you... But, I promise, when we actually talk about what I need to talk to you about, I won't yell.

[ And with that, she leaves him to clean up the slight tornado of destruction she'd left in her wake to head down to the coffee shop and breathe. She'll stop if he calls for her, but otherwise /mic drop. ]