6912/Marching To A Different Drummer

Marching To A Different Drummer
Date of Scene:	15 March 2019
Location:	T'Challa's Room - Avengers Mansion
Synopsis:	Jessica checks out T'Challa playing a Talking Drum. Also talk about Sentinels and Reed Richard's ray gun.
Cast of Characters:	Black Panther, Spider-Woman (Drew)
Tinyplot:	Sentinels

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Black Panther has posed:
The sound-proofing in the mansion is exceptionally good by the standards of most buildings. But still not enough to restrict the ears of particular inhabitants from picking up sounds from rooms, particularly if those sounds are loud enough.

That is the case today for anyone with enhanced hearing that pass down the hallway outside T'Challa's room. There is music coming from inside. Particularly vibrant, creative music with a distinctly African flair.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica has been out getting a handful of groceries. A craving for a good Reuben sandwich drove her to the deli for corned beef, swiss cheese, and marble rye. One jar of sauerkraut and bottle of dressing later, she stands in the kitchen, assembling the sandwiches, shimmying and wiggling to the music she can hear faintly from T'Challa's room.

And since there is music in his room, there is a T'Challa in his room. She doesn't know if he has ever tried a sandwich like this, but if not, he's about to. Two sandwiches, grilled to perfection, sit on two plates, completed with sweet potato chips and dill pickle spears. She trots up the stairs, still shimmying, and parks in front of his door, clanking a plate against the door to knock. "ROOM SERVICE!"

Black Panther has posed:
The door opens automatically as Jarvis takes care of the locks. T'Challa is across the room, over on a window seat by the view of the grounds. And... he's playing. A drum. That's the source of the music. It sounded so full and vibrant, but it's all coming from a single drum. With a single oddly-shaped drumstick and his hand for the playing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4oQJZ2TEVI&feature=youtu.be&t=31

Without pausing the music, T'Challa's face lights up. "Jessica, come in," he says, then falls silent again as he gives himself back over to the playing.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica's smile grows slowly bigger and brighter, as she slips inside his apartment and lets the door close behind her. Her body absorbs the sound and moves in ways that create a visual representation of the music. Some is subtle. Some is far more obvious, but the music moves her body in ways that defy logic, gravity - physics. It isn't a trendy dance, nor is it the clubbing frenzy that embodies the Wasp Experience. It is, quite simply, a reflection of T'Challa's music in Jessica's soul. Her movements are merely ripples in the surface of that reflection.

Black Panther has posed:
Watching the young woman's dance adds new elements of delight to T'Challa's eyes. At first he merely plays and watches how the music is interpreted into motion. Then he begins to experiment. Changing the beat, the tone, the mood in subtle ways, seeing what changes they evoke in the movements of Jessica's body. The music inspires motions and the motion inspires the music, fed back in after the filtering of a muse to spawn new arrangements and dancing.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jess grins, letting her spirit interpret every nuance and letting the music move her as it will. "I call it the Dance of the Sandwiches," she calls just above the music, and gestures to the sandwiches, set on a low table, like one of Barker's Beauties. "Hungry?" She incorporates a crooked finger beckon into the dance. "Coooome to the foooood...."

Black Panther has posed:
T'Challa's smile grows at the name given to the song. He rises from his window seat, continuing the music as he moves her way. T'Challas feet move in time to the music as well, though his movements kept more subdued. "It has a name... Wa'cha'a Chu'ala," he tells Jessica as he arrives at the coffee table with her and then finally lets the music die out. "Which translates, roughly, as... 'Dance of the Sandwiches'," he finishes, giving Jessica a warm smile. "I am glad you have come by," he tells her. "And those smell delicious."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica's laugh, like shining bubbles, echoes and quickly fades out in the vaulted room. "Precisely," she agrees to his rough translation. "I have been craving these...and I thought you might like ine. Whether you've ever tried a Reuben sandwich before remains a question. But you've never hated anything yet that was amazing." She grins. "You're good at that...played all your life?"

Black Panther has posed:
"I tried to play all of my life. But only over the last four or five years? Did I put enough into it to learn," he confides in Jessica. He sets the drum aside and then goes over to get a couple of bottles of iced tea which he returns with. "I have not. Reubens, yes? I have heard of them. But never have I had the pleasure," the tells her in the gravelly yet smoky voice of his.

T'Challa takes a seat on the couch, motioning for Jessica to join him. "Has there been anything of note lately?" T'Challa asks her. "I have stayed away from the prisoner so far," he comments.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Ohh you've been missing out...Corned beef and sauerkraut, with swiss on marble rye, grilled to perfection...." Jess accepts a bottle of tea and thanks him, crunching a sweet potato chip.

"Well, it might be that you could provide some insight...or possibly your sister could. He doesn't appear to be human at all, perhaps. He is a sentinel control unit from what we can tell, and likely built with future tech." Jess lifts a triangle-shaped sandwich half and nompfs off the corner, chewing slowly and swaying slightly side to side with her eyes closed.

Black Panther has posed:
"Built with future tech," T'Challa repeats with a troubled expression on his face. He shakes his head and then focuses on the sandwich instead. "Let us give this a try," he intones quietly, picking up a half of the sandwich. He leans carefully over the plate as he takes a bite, large enough to get a thorough taste but nothing that the Hulk would be impressed with.

T'Challa chews thoughtfully, letting Jessica wonder for several seconds before he breaks out into a smile as he swallows. "Delicious," he concludes to her, flashing the smile over to the cook. "You could have a future. Running a deli," he concludes with a raised eyebrow to see what she thinks of that.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"That sounds like an invitation to eat all of the food, to me. I'd be better off just cooking for you." She nods once and takes another bite of her sandwich, tongue darting out at the corner of her mouth to snag a drop of thousand island dressing. "I mean why would I want to make something delicious and then give it to somebody else, when we could be enjoying it?" Seems like sound logic, to JD.

Black Panther has posed:
T'Challa looks over to Jessica, his expression ever the straight man even as he hears that bit of of how her logic is working on the deli issue. One eyebrow raises slightly in a specious way, before T'Challa takes another bite of his sandwich. He chews it thoughtfully before giving his verdict.

"I am convinced. You should just cook for me," he agrees, raising the sandwich as if in a toast. If she raises hers as well, he even does bump it against her own before taking another bite. "Mmmmm..." he murmurs while enjoying the flavor.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Mhmm!" comes Jessica's enthusiastic, if stuffed-mouth, reply. "But I have a gun thing that apparently Dr. Richards created. So far all I knows is that it goes Psssssh if you pull the trigger...." She blinks ever-so innocently. There is no TELLING how she knows the sound it makes.

"Cause I tried it." (Ok, well there's /that/.)

Black Panther has posed:
That causes another curious eye-brow thing. Jessica is doing a good job in bringing those out from T'Challa tonight. The African monarch finishes his current bite, setting the sandwich down and wiping his fingers with a napkin. Because it is one of those subjects that requires clean fingers.

"A gun. Made by Reed Richards. That only goes pssssh," he repeats. "And you know this because you tried it. Did you point it at anything? Not yourself I hope? No looking down the barrel?" he asks, as usual doing a good job of concealing any teasing in his African straight-man delivery.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Nope, straight up in the air," Jessica replies. Then she narrows her eyes, and continues in a loud, conspiratorial whisper. "I attacked the darkness...."

Then, without missing a beat, Jess takes another bite of her sandwich, enjoying it in the most visual of ways.

Black Panther has posed:
The African monarch gives Jessica a head tilt as if to ask if she really shot it straight up. Not calling on his physics degree to explain that things that go up, can come back down again. "So what is the story? Behind this gun of Dr. Richards? He gave it to you? For use against whom?" T'Challa inquires. He returns to his sandwich finally. Taking a bite, though his attention on Jessica as they sit quietly together.

Noticing the quiet, he picks up a remote and starts some music playing. Fleetwood Mac. Tusk. Possibly a drum thing?

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Well, no...not STRAIGHT up. But into the air anyway. I don't really think there was a projectile. It looked more futuristic and, well...laser-taggy," she adds, with a handwobble. "Johnny Storm gave it to me. He brought it here. We were just out in the back yard." She pauses to take another reveling bite of her sandwich and a crunch off her pickle spear. She chews it slowly, nearly managing to get it all swallowed before she explains thoughtfully, "I think it is supposed to be used against them maybe? But I don't know the specifics. Mebbe there are some instructions in there with it."

Mebbe she should have read the instructions before trying it out....

Black Panther has posed:
Black Panther takes another bite of his sandwich as he listens to Jessica. At the end he swallows and takes a small bite of his pickle before wiping his lips and fingers again. "Perhaps there might be. After we finish eating? I would be willing to take a look with you," he offers. By which he probably means he wants to make sure -someone- looks to see what it does. That big red exclamation point before 'Do not fire this gun into the air' for instance. That could be important.

If it says that.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
It probably doesn't say that. Almost definitely. It's probably fine.

Jess nods to T'Challa. "We can do that! Maybe it has different settings. Like strobe party, or stun." She takes another bite, apparently unconcerned with the possibilities that are circling in T'Challa's head.

"So I gave our John Doe a crayon and a pad of paper to write down any memories he had and he got all cattywompus and indignant about the crayon. He asked me, "What is this, 2030?" She gives him a significant look. "So I don't think he's from around here," she adds with her best Old West accent.

Black Panther has posed:
Black Panther gives a smile to Jessica as she agrees to share the instructions. He even keeps the smile from showing that it is a relieved smile. Too much. He takes another bite of his pickle spear as he listens to the part about the year. "That... is interesting," T'Challa says softly. He looks thoughtful. "Do we have any skin samples from him?" he asks. "Thanks to the US nuclear testing we might be able to get an idea if he is, indeed, from the future."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"I'm not even sure he HAS skin...There's a possibility he is totally inorganic. But maybe...." She pauses thoughtfully. "If he does, he isn't gonna be happy about having to share. He likes his skin right where it is, THANKYOUVERYMUCH. But...I'm sure it can be arranged." She wiggles her eyebrows.

Black Panther has posed:
Black Panther looks thoughtful. "There are isotopes that never existed before nuclear tests. That are everywhere, in small quantities. We might be able to measure their percentages in him and see if he is from our time, or from a future when the ratio of them would have shifted as they naturally decay from one state to another," T'Challa tells Jessica.

"I've never tried it though, I'm not exactly sure if we will be able to tell, or if his exposure here will have degraded the difference by now," T'Challa comments. "It has been used in situations to tell if a bottle of wine predates nuclear testing, but I do not know if it has been used in such a case. Though our sensors are better than wine experts have."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Might be accurate...might not," Jess replies thoughtfully. "We don't know what sort of radiation he might've been exposed to in the future. That's an unknown variable..." Jess polishes off the first half of her sandwich and munches two sweet potato chips. "I guess we'd just have to see what kinda results came back, and whether the radiocarbon dating has parameters that they could possibly fit into."

Black Panther has posed:
Black Panther gives a little shake of his head. "Not radiocarbon. That would only tell us how old he is, not but from when. Cesium-137 was created by nuclear testing, and stopped being creating once open-air testing ceased. So every year, there is less of it left, and more of the isotopes it decays into. The ratio between the two changes at a constant rate. If he is from, say, 10 years in the future, then part of his body may reflect a different ratio between those isotopes."

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Ah. Well, then. Bring on the testing. But we'll wanna do it carefully. Dude probably has enough defense mechanisms to take out most of New York City." Jess grins and pops the last of her pickle spear in her mouth.