6969/Flashbacks of the Collective Unconsciousness

Flashbacks of the Collective Unconsciousness
Date of Scene:	20 March 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Just talking in a familiar, not so familiar, place.
Cast of Characters:	Blackout, Valkyrie

---

Blackout has posed:
    He is seated in the back of the diner in his super secret guise of Marc Daniels, scientist. Wearing nothing more than sneakers, blue jeans, and a black long sleeved mock turtleneck to ward away the cool of the city. Next to him is a jacket laying in the booth. He is facing the main entrance of the diner and having a burger. The most out-of-the-ordinary thing about him is ... nothing. He looks pretty normal. The waitress stands next to him (Madge), and they're discussing the weather.

    Marc says, "It's been surprisingly nice these past few days. No rain, no sleet, no weird alien invasions. Been great."

    Madge, "Just wait, this is New York City. At any moment, we'll be surrounded by some weird alien fungus, portals into alternate realities, or three headed little green men that can shape shift." She smiles, walks off after they both laugh.

Valkyrie has posed:
The door to the diner opens and a short, dark-skinned woman enters. Bryn has also gone native, wearing jeans and a heavy metal t-shirt along with biker jacket and boots. She flashes a smile on the way in, heading for the counter. "Oi! Hey Madge."

Madge waves, then leans down to mutter something to Marc. "New girl in town. Took apart some of those mutant-hater bully-boys, and apparently decided to stay. Nice kid."

Blackout has posed:
    Marc will take note of the new arrival; especially when Madge points her out. "Oh? I'll bet that's an interesting story."

    Marc will watch the movements of the Valkyrie and glance around the diner. This late in the morning, most patrons have come and gone. Just a few outliers that are mostly inconsequential.

Valkyrie has posed:
Bryn rests an elbow on the counter while coffee is brought, without needing to actually order. Half-turning to face the rest of the diner, those dark eyes flit from patron to patron. Regular. Regular. Regular. Then she comes to Marc and her gaze lingers. New face. Her head tilts as she sizes him up, offering a small smile. Taking her coffee, she moves to his table. "Mind some company?"

Blackout has posed:
    "Funny that." He says as he watches her approach and slides out of the booth to welcome the proximity as a man should. He continues, "I was just about to try and join you. Seems that you've a story that I'd love to hear - something about kicking mutant untoward ass?"

    He does motion to the seat opposite him inclining for her to join him.

Valkyrie has posed:
Bryn settles opposite him, adding a generous amount of sugar to her coffee. The woman shrugs at the question. "Not much of a story-teller, I'm afraid." she offers. The woman has an accent, but it's difficult to place exactly.

"Some blokes and bully-boys came blastin' through here, shooting up cars. We stopped 'em. Me and some kid who goes by Slipstream. Has a funny little robot."

Blackout has posed:
    "Booster Gold?", Marc will ask when the reference to the funny little robot is made. Slipstream isn't really a familiar name to him. Maybe she's mistaken, or maybe it's someone else with a funny little robot.

    Marc will then take a fry from his plate, place it into his mouth and chew.

Valkyrie has posed:
Bryn head-shakes at that. "Booster-who?" she replies casually. "Said he's one of the Avengers or something. Real name Drake, I think." Another shrug. "Anyway. Nice kid. Bit idealistic, but it'll wear off." She looks at Marc's plate, then, pointing towards the fries. "Those any good? And what's your angle here?"

Blackout has posed:
    He'll turn the plate slightly so she can access the fries better. He still has quite the pile of them. They are krinkle cut and crispy. "They're great. Please, help yourself." Lots of ketchup available too. And he doesn't double dip.

    "Avengers. Those guys are cool." states Marc before he realizes, "Oh damn. Hey, My name is Marc."

Valkyrie has posed:
Bryn does help herself to the fries, scooping one in a generous amount of ketchup. She nods in approval, then waves down Madge. "Bring us another, will ya'?" Nibbling down the fry, she pauses to chew before replying. "I'm Bryn. Avengers are alright, even if they DID let Thor into their little club." She seems to find the last bit amusing, for some reason.

Blackout has posed:
    "Where you from?" Asks Marc after hearing her commentary about Thor and the tone of familiarity in her voice. He takes another fry, dips, consumes. Then drinks from his soda. Marc maintains eye contact with the various fleetings of looking about her face as she speaks. Identifying quirks or tells that are present in most everyone. He also finds her amusement interesting.

Valkyrie has posed:
Bryn shrugs again, gesturing vaguely. "Oh, I've been traveling a lot lately. From up north, though. Scandinavia." The accent is almost British and she looks about as un-Scandinavian as humanly possible. Noting his scrutiny, her amusement grows as she scoops another fry. And she offers, "That's New Asgard, technically speaking."

Blackout has posed:
    "OOoh. Now that totally makes sense." Marc says finding the new conclusion to be more appealing. "That's the great thing about Asgardians. They don't all have to be blonde with blue eyes and British accents. But they are all beautiful. Because the Vikings didn't bring back the ugly ones and I'm sure that applies to Asgard throughout the Nine Realms as well."

Valkyrie has posed:
Bryn's expression loses -just- a little bit of the sparkle at his remark, but the laughs all the same. "I suppose that's one way to look at it." she replies, accepting the compliment as her due. "So I'm guessing that, since Madge is serving you, you're not one of those hater bully-boys. Good thing for you, that."

Blackout has posed:
    "I hate hate-groups. In fact. I think all hate groups should be blasted off the planet. So no. I'm not one of the hater bully-boys. Not even a mutant. But I've got powers. If that's a side question." Marc answers.

Valkyrie has posed:
Bryn tilts her head at that, looking curious as she takes a sip of coffee. "Yeah, I sort of wondered about that. The powers-bit, I mean. Me? I'm just someone who can hold her own in a fight. Mostly."

Blackout has posed:
    His right hand moves to the table, palm down, makes a little black ball of blackness about the diameter of a lacross ball. He comments, "In this part of town, you have to be powered. Or know someone who is. Because the jerkwads that you mentioned before, they're down every street."

Valkyrie has posed:
The ball of blackness definitely gets Bryn's attention. Her hand moves quicker than the eye can follow, into her jacket and then out again. And when it returns, she's holding a sharp, ornate dagger point-down at the blackness. "You wanna be real careful what you do with stuff like that, yeah?"

Blackout has posed:
    "It's just Darkforce. But wow. That dagger. That's pretty amazing looking. Is it Asgardian?" Asks Marc as he leans in to look and slowly withdraw his hand. As he withdraws, the darkforce flows toward his hand and then into him.

Valkyrie has posed:
"Darkforce. That's a new one for me." Bryn offers. Deft fingers flip the weapon around, holding it hilt-first. "Yeah, it's Asgardian. Made back in the early days, so be careful with it." It's beautiful and ornate, but in the end it's just a dagger.

Blackout has posed:
    Marc will take it from her hand, feel the weight and the balance of the dagger. Then the texture, but doesn't touch the blade. He will move his fingers near the blade, to see if he can discern if it has darkforce in it. Otherwise, he'll just inspect it as a 'dagger of amazing quality'. Then he'll comment as he turns it around to offer it back to her holding the transition point between hilt and blade. "Very nice."

Valkyrie has posed:
Bryn watches him out of one eye, taking the opportunity to scam more of the fries. Accepting the weapon by the hilt again, it disappears under her jacket with a quick finger-flip. "Thank you. Don't have much call for even blades around here, though. Hater's aren't really good at more than bullying."

Blackout has posed:
    "There are a few groups, clubs, gangs, villain teams. They're scattered all around the city. Not that I see much action. But I hear that there's always some moronic hate group conflict. Worse than just the silly bullies that want to flex their power."

Valkyrie has posed:
Bryn shrugs again, smiling at Madge as the second plate of fries is brought over. "Don't have much use for bullies." she offers. "Except for practice, of course. So you're not on any of the spandex teams, then? Not that you exactly seem the type."

Blackout has posed:
    "Nope, none of the spandex teams. I'm a researcher. Physics. Heck, you're Asgardian. That means you're one of the good guys....... er, girls. I work for SHIELD." He says like he wears it with a badge of honor. Or somewhat proud of the accomplishment. But then in a lower tone. "Not that they use my abilities... I do physics for them. They are reticent to put me into the field."

Valkyrie has posed:
"Technically I'm one of the Valkyrjur; a valkyrie. So I lurk around battlefields choosing the most valiant of the slain for Valhalla." She shrugs again, grinning. "Not exactly the most popular job, at times. So how is SHIELD different from the Avengers, then?"

Blackout has posed:
    "I think SHIELD is more research, law enforcement, management, and more military then Avengers who are just heroes who fight super villains. Also, SHIELD does a lot of anti HYDRA, ULTIMATIUM, and other villain multinational organizations." answers Marc, thoughtfully trying to sort it out in his brain.

Valkyrie has posed:
Bryn lifts a brow at that. "Research and management?" She snorts softly. "That's how it ALWAYS starts out, anyway." Her expression becomes almost smug at the thought. "Well before you ask, I'm not interested in joining any -teams- myself. But if anyone needs my help, you'll know where to find me."

Blackout has posed:
    In a tone of denial before it even happens, Marc says, "That was the fartherest from my mind. Plus, it's not even my place to invite people to teams. I'm just a physicist. Seems though, veing a Valkyrjur... well that's like its own team. Team of women going out to collect the dead. Yeah. There's no 1upping that sort of team."

    He then offers a segue. "Okay... so Asgard. Was it a different planet or a different dimension? Because I still can't wrap my head around it."

Valkyrie has posed:
Bryn tilts her head a little, swiping two fries at once and crunching them before she answers. "It's a different sort of team, really. Difficult to explain. But we -are- looking for worthy women to join our ranks, if you know any. Took a real beating at Ragnarok..."

She takes another sip of coffee, then considers his question. "Something of both, really. The Valkyrjur could reach Valhalla, which was set IN Asgard, by opening gateways. And people could travel from Asgard to the other realms by the Bifrost, which was sort of a gateway. But when Asgard was destroyed, the survivors left on a space ship and found Earth. Which is what we call Midgard.

Blackout has posed:
    Marc ponders her response. "I really don't know any women...." he answers. "I'm a science nerd. We don't get out much." Then there's a grin and he listens to her additional response and ponders about planet vs dimension. He starts to say something....

    There is a watch underneath his sleeve that beeps a little tune. He slides up his sleeve. It's a fancy watch and he says, "Dang it... " He slides out of the booth and pulls money out of his pocket. "So sorry Bryn. But I have to go. Boss needs me. So great to meet you and thanks for talking to me. Have a great day." And he's already walking. He's obviously on a short leash.