| An X-Man and an Avenger Meet at a Museum… |
| Summary: | Doug Ramsey (9101) and Simon Williams (614) spontaneously meet at the Museum of Natural History at Central Park. |
| Date: | 2016-08-01 |
| Related: | None |
| NPCs: | Unnamed patrons of the museum. |
| Scene Runner: | NA |
| Social/Plot: | Social |
| Players: |
 .. .. |
Monday, August 1st, 2016. It is 6am when Douglock arises from a state resembling sleep in his room in the Xavier Estate outside North Salem, New York. As he gets up out of bed he unplugs from the electrical outlet beside it and morphs from his relaxed state of matte black skin with glowing circuitry lines indicating his state of charge (as he is fully charged it is yellow and bright, although not so bright as to be a strain for human eyes) into his default, every day appearance which closely resembles his appearance from his human life albeit with clear indications of his non-human nature.
6:15am. Out of habit Doug has a light breakfast of milk and cereal which he converts into additional energy inside his body after "swallowing" it into a cavity created for that purpose.
6:30am. Doug connects to the Xavier's network and double checks the status of the firewalls before taking a run around the campus perimeter - likely unnecessary but a habit long established and hard to break from his own world.
7:30am. Having decided over the weekend to visit the Natural History museum in New York, Douglock collects some cash and goes to the garage, examining the vehicles.
7:35am. Rather than borrowing one of the estate's many vehicles he compromises with himself and changes his lower body into a motorcycle, molifying his aversion of becoming a technoform by retaining his humanoid form as a rider. As he departs the estate in this form, outside observers would simply see a helmeted man riding a black bike with fluorescent yellow lines traced on it.
9:05am. Arriving at Central Park almost an hour before the museum opens, he returns to his default form after assuring himself he would not be observed and walks around the park until the Museum opens.
10am. The museum opens and Douglock enters. He intentionally overpays his admission price by dropping a Benjamin and begins walking though the halls of history, looking for differences which may allow him to better understand the world he now resides in.
All in all, Simon's morning was similar. Though he doesn't need to sleep, either, he would rouse, pick up a breakfast sandwich at a food cart before his morning flight. And with this being a Monday, most folks would rather handle their commute than enact terrorism or villainy. So far, all was well.
So well, in fact, that when 10am rolled around, Simon thought to check out the Museum of Natural History. It's been some time since he saw the fossils and such. And an Avenger was always a welcome face. He, too, overpaid.
A few tourists would snap photos of the sunglass-wearing hero. If Doug saw into any particular energy spectrum, he'd see Simon positively shining as a beacon of nigh-endless energy. Holy crap!
Always mindful of the need to be vigilant, Douglock had been scanning for unusual signatures and "keeping an eye out" (in the form of micro-optics across his shoulders urRamsey was monitoring for him) for trouble… or even just the unusual.
("Sir, looks like an Avenger is here,") the fork informs his primary when he sees the unmistakable Simon Williams entering the museum behind Douglock.
Doug stops his advance towards the displays and turns to look at Wonder Man with his obvious eyes. He does not wave, because he does not know if Williams knows Doug Ramsey, but he does scan him more actively and cannot help but voice his surprise: ":Wow:"
The strange sound of his voice causes a few tourists close to him to turn and stare before they resume walking, shaking their heads as they move away.
An odd mechanical tone to a young man's voice? That's ear-catching. And Simon, too, could see into various spectrums and noticed that Doug was not much, if at all, human. The Avenger would approach, and offer a smile. "Good morning."
":Good morning, Mr. Williams,:" Doug greets the Avenger as he approaches, assuming that Simon is used to people knowing who he is. He does not offer to shake the other hero's hand, because he is unsure what would happen if they touched, but he sounds respectful as he says, ":I hope this is a personal visit to the museum rather than an official one?:" not that it is really his concern, but trouble is trouble after all.
"Yeah, just a visit, don't worry," Simon said. Though who would worry? If there's trouble, now there's an Avenger here!
"What's your name, young man? I can't help but notice you seem to be a techno-organic life-form. We've had some trouble with them off and on."
Doug nods his head as he speaks. ":Yes, I am aware and have some personal experience with that as well,:" as he is unsure how far knowledge about people from other worlds arriving in this world has spread though the superheroic community he intentionally avoids saying this. However, the decision to withhold full disclosure is made in the blink of a human eye and thus is imperceptible to anyone without certain capabilities. He continues with, ":I believe I may be related to but not responsible for those you are referring to,:" instead.
"I didn't suggest you were," Simon said. "I apologize if I came off that way," he added. "I didn't mean to. I was just curious, is all."
":Oh, its quite alright, sir, just felt like I should let you know.:" Douglock replies to the apology. He then introduces himself to answer Simon's inquiry with a simple, ":My name is Doug Ramsey.:" He seems unsure what else to say. While this is actually due to his uncertainty regarding his place in this world, it could easily be mistaken as insecurity instead.
Inside Douglock's mind, urRamsey isn't helping matters either. ("Not only is he an Avenger, but he's a movie star also! Remember Highway Hero and its sequel Frantic Frank? They were awesome!") the fork is saying in his head. Obviously a fan.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Ramsey," Williams said with a bright, cheerful smile. "This your first time at the museum of natural history? I haven't been here in a while, myself. What exhibits were you thinking of checking out?" May as well make a good impression on the young man, technorganic or no.
":Eventually all of them,:" Douglock says matter-of-factly, ":But today, I wanted to see if I could see anything unexpected in the paleontology and anthropology sections of the museum.:" He doesn't answer the question about first visit because that leads to questions he isn't ready to address.
"There's always something one might end up missing, here," Simon said as he started toward the paleontology section. May as well, right? "So, how's your day coming along?" Small talk from an Avenger? urRamsey must be geeking out.
urRamsey is practically squeeing and gushing questions at Doug since his primary restricted his access to making external speakers for the moment while Douglock walks along with Simon. ("Stop. Just enjoy the moment and let me think,") Doug says to his fork, not wanting to hibernate his assistant… yet.
":Uneventful, other than meeting you,:" he replies. ":It isn't every day that I get to meet an Avenger,:" he adds.
As they approach an articulated Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton he decides to feel out the situation with a question he hopes are innocent enough to ask in public. ":How has the change in the government's stance regarding metahumans affected the Avengers, Mr. Williams?:"
"Right now, with the aftermath of the interdimensional conflict, the Avengers are considered disbanded. Some of us are in retirement. Some of us are from alternate realities. We can't really unite as an organization until we finish cleaning house, respectively," he added. "So. There's that." And Steve still seems to be missing.
("Well, that was an easy confirmation. They are also aware of people in my situation,") Douglock says to urRamsey in his head who simply nods the mental image of his head as he was told to remain quiet.
Douglock allows a laugh to be heard as he reacts to urRamsey's surly teenager routine. Stopping under the T. rex's four foot long jaw he looks upwards at it as he speaks. ":It does seem to be a wide spread issue, doesn't it,:" he observes idly as if unsurprised by the news.
Before he says anything else, Douglock forms a white noise generator on his shoulder closest to Simon and makes the quasi-dome-like projection begin to generate nose which will obscure their conversation to all those not immediately next to them. He still lowers his voice as he says, ":I hadn't heard anything about it, hopefully it won't smack of a coverup if the public finds out on their own.:"
"Who knows? I'm doing my best to keep the public… uh, appeased?" Simon offered. "Public appearances. Obvious heroism. Let them know we're still around." He looked over at Doug, and he could hear the white noise generator. "Going incognito, are we?" he asked. "I guess that makes sense. Don't want people to find out just yet."
Doug smiles at Simon. ":I thought it might be in both of our best interests,:" he says while noting that the Avenger did not acknowledge the implication of his already being aware of the inter-world displacement issue. Remembering how hard it was to facilitate communication within the superhero community after the Skrull Invasion in his own world he asks, ":How have the efforts towards coordination been going? Do you need any help in that?:"
"We all need help in that." A pause, and Simon said, "I'm not from here, myself." He sighed. "But the me from here seems to be missing. So I've gotta do a good job, right? Part of me wants to go home. So much less complicated. But this place needs help. You know?"
":That is my sentiment on our shared circumstances also,:" he says as he decides to stop being subtitle.
"You, too, huh?" Simon asked, and he reached out to pat the technorganic young man on the shoulder in solidarity.
Simon had absolutely no idea what would happen when his ionic physiology touched Doug's chassis, however!
Doug had been intentionally avoiding touching Simon due to the same uncertainty. He might have tried to avoid the touch also, had he superhuman reflexes or had not been so focused on examining the microscopic wear on the T. rex's teeth.
Luckily for them both, Doug is fairly well charged (if he was wearing the standard Technarch appearance his circuitry lines would be yellow… no longer bright as they were when he arose, but with plenty of surplus before dipping into the blues or reds of low energy)…
At the moment of contact there is a visible flash of light and a faint pop as Simon's faint peripheral energy converts from its natural ionic state to electricity which then flows into Douglock. "Flavored" by the ionic energy this sudden influx affects Doug and urRamsey like a college student on his fifth or sixth Mountain Dew laced with Pixie Stick sugar. Caught off guard, this causes a glitch-like flip of which "Doug Ramsey" is in control.
With the change of dominance Douglock's body shifts to look a little younger. urRamsey then speaks and the voice also has a younger feel to it. ":Oh wow, what a rush!:" he says first then, ":Wait, what… what was that?:" Inside their mind, Douglock says, ("Nothing like that has ever happened, hey, get back in here!")
With the flash, Williams could feel just a hint of his energy drained, and he stepped away. "Whoa!" He looked over at the youth, eyes wide behind his sunglasses. "Sorry about that. Are you okay?" He noted the younger-looking Doug. Did his energy just… revitalize him?
":Oh yeah, we're fine Mr. Williams. I hope you are ok?:" When urRamsey says Simon's name there is a tone of awe that Doug didn't have. Then, forgetting to used his 'inside voice' he says, ":No, I have to ask him something,:" to Doug's request to switch back.
He turns to look at Simon as he says, ":I've always wanted to ask how you did that spinning back flip in the fight scene in Frantic Frank when Frank was shot by the mutazoid. Was it just a jump or did you use your powers or what?:" Yes, the fan boy is out and gushing.
It seems the youth has an internal monologue he's actually talking with! Simon gave the boy a puzzled look. "It was a little of both," he said. "I've had my powers for a long time, and while I was always the nerd, the powers really come in handy when I need to do some aerobatics."
Inside Douglock's mind Doug has recovered from the rush much better than the less mature urRamsey but the fork has the steering wheel and Doug doesn't want to apply force to take it back quite yet. ("Alright, you asked and got the answer, step back now, urRamsey,") he says to the mildly rebellious fork.
":No, I don't want to,:" urRamsey says outloud since he isn't used to having to work to speak internally. Instead he says, ":That's what I always thought!" excitedly. He then says, ":By the way, I'm urRamsey, and I'm your biggest fan!" as he reaches out to shake Simon's hand since he forgot what caused his manic behavior in the first place.
Even Simon forgot this, and it was his nature to greet and meet fans. "Nice to meet you, urRamsey," Williams said in a friendly, albeit slightly placating manner. Since there was clearly something odd going on.
As their hands approach Doug acts. As he pushes urRamsey back into their shared mental background he says, ("No, that's quite") ":Enough!:" and jerks his hand away from Simon's even as his body resumes its normal twenty-ish appearance.
"Whoa! So, truth time," Simon said. "What's going on in your CPU?" he asked. "And sorry. I'm just usually so accommodating to fans."
":Brain actually, I'm not a robot… but… well, yeah, I guess you can think of it like a CPU anyway,:" Doug politely corrects Simon before saying, ":To put it simply… its complicated. Do you want the cliff notes version or…:"
"Well, I've got time if you're willing to explain. I'm still not sure how the ionic ray bombardment changed my *whole* physiology," Simon smiled. "So either way you're willing to explain."
":Alright. First though, why don't you tell me what you know about techno-organic beings so I don't cover ground you already know?:" Doug suggests.
"Not enough, so feel free to give me a general rundown. Only that you propagate… somehow, and you can assimilate technology into yourselves and break it down to build yourselves up and absorb the energy." A general working knowledge, really.
Inside Douglock's mind urRamsey is sulking as the 'sugar rush' from Simon's ionic energy hasn't fully worn off, but Doug ignores him. While he considers where to start his explication for Simon he ponders building a new urRamsey fork and then decides to hold off on that as it wasn't the kid's fault.
":Alright, very simplistic and theoretical but not entirely incorrect in practice,:" Doug says. ":First you have to understand that I haven't fully assimilated the local information on this, so its two worlds separated from facts of your home,:" and he pauses before launching into full lecture mode…
"Well, my own home isn't this home. So what I know from there may be different from here, which is likely different for you, too," Williams said. "So take your time. Give me your take."
":I was a mutant and had friends who were mutants as well. A techno-organic alien, part of a race called the Technarchy, crashed near where they lived and they brought me to help them communicate with the alien. He was my source of information about T-O life as well as, by accident, my condition.:" He actually does say the abbreviation in such a way that it is clearly hyphenated.
":Technarchs are basically composed of nano-machines. Some of which are tasked with converting organic matter into techno-organic matter. This can be used to propagate the species - it is effectively how I came to be as I am - but primarily it is used to feed. A strong willed Technarch can drain a similar T-O entity of its energy. In general they have no concern about life forms other than themselves, singularly to be truly honest, other than whether or not they can beat the other. If they are stronger, there is contempt. If they are weaker, there is fear, compliance and concern… about being attacked!:"
"Sounds pretty rough," Williams said. "What's the culture like? Is there any sense of community? Like, what did your… people?… work toward?" Please don't let it be complete assimilation of all organic and technical life in the universe.
Inside Doug's mind, the question brings up an image of Warlock's father, Magus, and since he is still not fully recovered from the energy high, urRamsey screams in fright loud enough and long enough for Doug to actually wince outwardly as he dismisses the image and takes the time to calm urRamsey down - both from the fright and the ionic energy.
":They aren't my people. I'm human. Born in… well, born in a New York at least,:" vague yes, he doesn't feel the need to explain that it is the state not the city, ":I was very mildly infected by the transmode virus and fully converted after the deaths of my human body and my Technarch friend. He was called Warlock. It was as much a title as a name, but it is what we called him.:"
"You okay?" Williams asked in regard to the wince. "Sorry. I didn't mean to imply, I'm just trying to get a frame of reference." He listened to the explanation. It didn't really seem to help. "So… after your two… initial bodies, but separate individuals, died, the residual TO converted the remains? Into… you?" It was an honest question, and there was no judgment from Simon, merely curiosity.
":Well, we were originally separate individuals… but we actually merged into a gestalt a few times before I died,:" talking about his death so casually, yeah, there's a future discussion about possible loss of humanity with urRamsey for sure, ":It was during one of those that some small part of my body was converted but that remained dormant until after Warlock died. I understand his remains were scattered on my grave so… I think that woke me up so to speak.:"
"That's… that's really interesting. I've died a few times, myself. It's a little hard to deal with," he admitted. "Seems like we have plenty in common, you and I."
Douglock, having come to the conclusion that they have a lot in common also, connects to the museum's WiFi while Simon is speaking. A quick internet search turns up the Avengers' public email listing. He shoots off a quick message to it before speaking. ":I agree. I've emailed you my phone number.:" He then thinks to ask, ":You do have access to the gro.sregneva|nam.rednow#gro.sregneva|nam.rednow email address, right?:"
"I do. Oddly enough, same password," Williams said. "I hesitate to think that this world's Simon and I aren't so different. But then, I don't want to think that way. I hear this place's me was… a little touched in the head."
Doug nods. ":It is sometimes a bit disturbing how similar this world's Doug and I are," to illustrate this he forms two holographic projectors and two very similar images form: one is obviously live as a tree limb can be seen waving out the window while the other is static. While the structure of the two rooms are different and the specific furniture designs are different the layout is the same, the desks have the same equipment and the same Star Trek poster is mounted on the walls.
Looking at the holographic projections, Williams gave a nod. "My own mother - er. I guess, not my mother. The one from here… She couldn't really tell the difference beyond being better-behaved." Simon suddenly sounded very sad.
Doug turns off the projections even as passers by begin to stare and he looks saddened for Simon. He doesn't mention that he isn't sure how the other Doug's parents would react to him because he doesn't want to one up his new friend. ":That's good I guess?:" he says instead.
"Good enough. Anyway, we should actually go check out the museum! We have so much to see, so much to learn…"
And the scene fades as the friends walk away from the T. rex to further explore the museum.