OPEN - I wanna know, can you show me?

[dynamitedarling]

Who: Darling and YOU!
Where: Starkbucks
When: Throughout July
What: Darling wants to hear from you! Yes you! Even you! And he isn't above a bit of light bribery.
Warnings: None at the moment, will edit if I must!


After a few days of settling in, Darling has decided it's time to gather more information about the world he has found himself in. His asking on the network netted very few results, and he can only research so much on his own. Sure, he's already got piles of notes and an apartment wall responsible for the emptying of a sizeable box of thumbtacks, but he needs More!

He understands that his reputation here is nonexistent. He doesn't have the pull he had at the Bureau, or any manner of name recognition at all - he's just a middle aged man in a lab coat and sweater vest in desert heat, doing his best to understand all he can about the situation.

That is why, now, he has set himself up in the corner of Starkbucks with a thick notepad, at least four pens, a welcoming smile, and a sign that reads:

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF, WHERE YOU COME FROM, AND/OR THIS DIMENSION AND I WILL BUY YOU A COFFEE!

Comments

[wayfaring_stranger]

Jace had been clearing tables, cleaning up, making drinks, running register, doing some supervision things that he found boring and too easy, and all while curiously watching the guy in the corner with his sign.

It had amused him and now he just felt like he had to do something.

So he made up a cold brew coffee with sweet cream and set the cup in front of the stranger before dropping into a chair for his break. He put his feet up on the nearby seat and leaned back a bit.

"What would you like to know?"

[dynamitedarling]

The scientist blinks a couple of times in bafflement as the coffee is placed in front of him - but then he laughs softly, amused just as much as he is caught off guard. "I think you have this backwards," Darling chuckles teasingly. "But thank you very much, that's very nice."

Straightening in his seat, he uncaps a pen and turns to a clean page in his notepads.

"Well, I'm new here - and one of my fields of research is figuring out what makes different dimensions tick. So I'm trying to learn about this place, and the places everyone else came from. Maybe how it's affected you, if at all." He sticks a hand out, beaming.

"My name is Doctor Darling, first of all."

[wayfaring_stranger]

"I enjoy the occasional cup of coffee, but it's not my usual drink." So the coffee is for the Doc and Jace glances over the notepad and watches the way the Doc moves to uncap the pen. He smiles knowingly at the new guy because it's a little too obvious.

"You're not a medical doctor then. Astrophysicist?"

The hand extended to him isn't unwelcome, but Jace hesitates to shake it.

"Jace Herondale."

He watches for the reaction the moment he takes the Doc's hand. Firm, but not challenging. His skin is pale, unusually cool to the touch, and the reason he hesitated. Most people aren't comfortable shaking the hand of a vampire.

[dynamitedarling]

"Ah, I see! Well, thank you again."

He chuckles at the question, chest puffing out just a little in pride. "Well, yes! Among other things. I have many specializations in the paranatural, you see."

Without a moment's thought, Darling takes the hand and gives it a shake. His hand lingers, yes - he looks down to the hand, to Jace's face...then nods to himself and gives one more firm shake before letting go, smile surprised but no less friendly.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mister Herondale. I, ah...I won't insult you by feigning ignorance. I am supposing there may be a little something different about you? Am I right?"

Not accusatory. Spoken with the tone of someone who just learned the person he is speaking to is a concert pianist, or a polyglot.

Interested, but unafraid.

[prodigalmess]

Starkbucks isn't the greatest coffee ever, but any port in a storm, right? Nothing about Haven is great, unfortunately. All of them are making do here and trying to recover from being glitched. Malcolm had had a feeling that something awful was going on in the background while all of them were enjoying the carnival. At least they were able to find those transmitters and destroy them.

Malcolm passes the chipper man's table and pauses briefly at it. The guy looks so earnest that he wonders if he's for real sitting there in his lab coat.

"Found out anything interesting?" Malcolm asks, unable to help himself.

[dynamitedarling]

Doctor Darling is ABSOLUTELY for real. It's unclear whether he knows he's a bit corny and he's leaning on it to make him approachable, or he's completely oblivious and being completely earnest about it all.

Whatever the case, he flashes his friendly smile at Malcolm, looking down at his notes. "Well, not as much as I hoped, but information has a way of not telling you everything until you sort it later on."

He sticks out his hand. "Doctor Casper Darling. Specialist in Paranatural Phenomena and Dimensional Research. Newly arrived!"

[prodigalmess]

Malcolm glances at the other man's hand for a moment and then shakes it. It's not like this man is even the strangest person that Malcolm has met here.

"Malcolm Bright," he replies. "Uh, forensic profiler. I've been here for almost two months."

He wonders if Darling will still be this chipper after being here for two months.

[dynamitedarling]

Comparatively, Darling is pretty tame and unassuming. He's noticed this, and really, it's a blessing, isn't it? His handshake is firm and kind.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mister Bright. Forensics! Fascinating field. I've dabbled, but only insofar as I have needed to."

He gestures to the counter, then the seat across from him.

"Might I tempt you for a chat? I have a running tab at the counter, you're welcome to order what you like and I will take up as little of your time as I can."

[prodigalmess]

Malcolm shrugs. "Sure. I'll tell you what I can and you can maybe share if you've found out anything interesting." He's looking for answers just like a lot of people here are. As much as Malcolm likes to be a lone wolf sometimes, he realizes that they're probably going to need to work together if they have any hope of getting out of here.

He orders a basic latte at the counter, then returns to Darling's table with it a few minutes later. "Okay," he says, taking a seat across from him. "What do you want to know?"

[dynamitedarling]

Pleased with this, Darling prepares a clean sheet of notes while Malcolm is gone, and grins brightly when he returns. Businesslike, he gives a nod, fixing his attentive gaze upon the man across from him.

"Well, let's see. What is reality like where you are from? And how long have you been here? Both good places to begin."

[outlierdirector]

After watching countless introduction videos, reading memos, and even hearing him over the Hotline? One would think that Jesse was prepared to meet Darling in person. She's still a little apprehensive. It's a complicated web when it comes to the former-Head of Research of the FBC. Everything that happened with Dylan, Ordinary, the Hiss? She's not sure how to even start unwinding the ball of complicated that it all is.

There might not be a way to start it. It might just be best to go with the flow and see what will happen. Especially when she isn't about to air the dirty laundry in public.

Jesse steps into Starkbucks and takes but a few minutes to see where Darling is sitting. With a sign that reminds her of a science fair. She rolls her eyes slightly, but approaches the table regardless.

'Is he... seriously wearing his research coat still? I guess he's a scientist even when he's off the clock.' Jesse smirks a bit at the positive wave that comes from Polaris at that. 'And you're happy to see him.'

"Hi, Darling." Jesse offers informally as ever. She raises a hand to gesture to the sign on the table. "Find anything out yet?"

[dynamitedarling]

Truthfully, Darling has an equally complicated relationship with the Director. He is aware of her, of course - but this is their first time meeting in person. His heart twinges a little at the sight of her. He's glad, of course; glad that she has made it this far, taken up the mantle, been a success.

But she is a reminder that Trench didn't make it.

In the time when she was on her way, he had ordered her a coffee - and now he slides it towards her, smiling brightly. "Hello, Director! It's a pleasure to meet you in the flesh, finally."

She gets right down to business with him, however, so he shortens the pleasantries and picks up his notepad.

"It's fascinating, Director. People from here are from many, many different planes - not all of them, some are native to Haven, but nonetheless. Some have even been to another plane between theirs and this one. No one seems to know the cause."

[outlierdirector]

Jesse nods, taking the seat across from him and the coffee into her hands. She wonders briefly if he even knows what her favorite way to drink it is. How much does the FBC know about her? Really. She's serious about it.

"Same. I mean, I think I've seen almost every one of your videos. The ones that explain how things in the Oldest House work." She offers him a small but nervous smile.

She leans back in the chair, holding the warm drink in her hands. "Do we have any idea how many different planes we're talking about?" Then, she pauses. "And... Jesse is fine. Just, Jesse."

'I really hate formalities.'

[dynamitedarling]

Yep - it's definitely as close to her favorite coffee order as can be had in a place like this. No detail unmissed. Perhaps it's a little eerie, that, but at least his demeanor in person is kind and genuine.

If a little nervous. He rubs the back of his neck in a sheepish fashion when she mentions the videos, cheeks going a little red. "Ah! Yes. Yes, the videos. That feels like a lifetime ago now, doesn't it? I don't suppose it would be too self-centered to ask how you liked them, Direc- ah- Jesse?"

Part ego, part diffusion of the Elephant in the Room.

[outlierdirector]

That's... a little eerie. Next thing to learn is that the FBC knows how she likes her cheeseburgers.

Her head tilts as she thinks about. "Definitely... informative. But, you needed to know a lot of context in order to follow them? Then again, maybe I saw them out of order. There wasn't really a straight line of where to go and what sectors to visit first."

Order like that doesn't really exist in the Oldest House.

"...You were there when they shut down the Investigations Sector, right?"

[drowningman]

It's a couple days following Alan's exhausting social media experience. There's been time enough to settle in, negotiate a living agreement with the worst roommate ever, and acclimate just enough to not feel like a complete dimensional tourist when leaving the house. Of the people that he talked to, one in particular knew things about him and where he'd gone with just enough context not to doubt him at all and he was curious about who this person was. The enthusiasm he'd had in the messages as well surprised Alan. It was different from the kind of attention he usually received from people.

As Alan enters the Starbucks, he looks around. There's the general flow of people coming and going with their orders, people sitting at the tables here and there, and then there's the one with the noticeable sign that has big letters on it. Only going off of the fact that a person with the username "drdarling" had said he wanted to talk and the fact that here was a man in a sweater vest and lab coat looking for information about different dimensions at this table, he guessed this was probably the same person.

He walks over to the table and stands - he doesn't sit yet, a carry-over of his little internet joke -, greeting Darling with an awkward little wave.

"Hi. Alan Wake - I believe you gave me a standing invitation for coffee," he says, looking over the man behind the table again now that he's standing closer. "Where did you want to start?"

[dynamitedarling]

When Darling spots Alan, he nearly drops his clipboard.

It's really him. He's right there. Someone he had studied from afar, who had been tied up with one of the most infuriatingly elusive AWEs Darling had personally studied. He looks...older, than his last documented appearance at least. There was a photo of something that looked LIKE him, mind, but...no. That was Something Else.

FASCINATING.

At once he realizes that he's staring AND that Alan is making a joke, and he shakes himself with a chuckle. Sticking out a hand to shake, he beams, plainly excited. "It's a pleasure, Mister Wake," he says in a voice that may be upsettingly familiar. "I'm Doctor Casper Darling. Just Darling is fine, if you like. Before you sit, please, go let the counter know to put your coffee on my tab. Whatever you like. I'm so eager to talk to you."

[drowningman]

At first, Alan thinks the staring is a lot - nowadays, anyway, before? He wouldn't have been surprised - but when Darling speaks then it's his turn to stare just a bit too long. The way he puts his hand in the scientist's hand to shake would be considered absent-minded if it wasn't for the fact that actually there was no absence in his mind at all as it raced with confusion. When you hear stories about doppelgangers, it's always about a shared face, but a voice? This was new... Different. He wasn't sure if he should trust this, and therefore Dr. Darling, or not.

"Pleasure's all mine," he says, but there's detectable skepticism in his voice. "I'll be right back."

Alan goes and orders his coffee, his wants short and simple: sixteen ounces of black drip coffee. Before long, he returns to the table and has a seat.

"Being called Darling in a conversation isn't weird for you?" It's a simple curiosity - Alan doesn't like scenarios where acquaintances are overly familiar and he himself doesn't think he could handle it if his name happened to also be a common pet name.

[dynamitedarling]

That stare is a little odd - but this man has been in the dark for such a long time, the Doctor would certainly not begrudge him a little bit of social awkwardness. He takes the skepticism in stride, allowing the writer to go and come back.

...Wait, they sound the same.

The realization hits fully with Alan's return (ha), and he sputters for just a moment before shaking himself out of it to reply. "No, it was always my name first and an endearment later. It doesn't bother me at all. Besides - it's either ghost jokes or pet name jokes." A self-depreciating chuckle, but then he just can't let it slide.

"Sorry, Mister Wake, I just - have you noticed that we...well, we sound sort of..."

[drowningman]

"The same? No, I hadn't." He flashes a very brief sarcastic smile. Honestly if Alan thinks about it, they even resemble each other just enough that a passing stranger would probably think they were brothers. He doesn't know how to feel about it. In any case, he has coffee in exchange for the price of a conversation and he shouldn't let Night Springs-ian weirdness get in the way.

"Darling it is. And no jokes - I've had to deal with my fair share of wiseguy comments about my own last name."

He takes a sip of his coffee, wondering if he should start or let Darling ask a question first. Considering he has to figure out where even TO start, he just enjoys his coffee for a moment - it's not the best coffee he's ever had but it's not the worst either. The roast profile is complex enough with a medium-bodied mouthfeel, tasting of caramel and spice at first before leaving a floral, almost piney aftertaste and a bit of acidity in the back of the tongue. Not his favorite, but alright.

HERE WE GO

[afraidofthedark]

Alice is, of course, aware of the standing offer of coffee Doctor Darling had made her husband; she’d been curled up beside him while he’d furiously texted away. She hadn’t kept complete track, too busy caught up in having him there with her again. (Except for one conversation in particular. THAT one she’d kept careful track of.)

But she’d made note of that.

And later, after she’s fairly certain that Alan has already met with him... she finds her way to Starkbucks. He’s an easy man to find, Doctor Darling, in his lab coat with his sign. So she makes her way over, camera bag over her shoulder.

“Hello, Doctor Darling,” she greats him with a friendly smile, holding out her hand. “I believe you’ve already spoken with my husband and I wanted to meet you myself. I’m Alice Wake.” After all, he knew Alan. And not because of his books. Not just because of his books, at least. She's curious.

[dynamitedarling]

Before she can even say her name, he's beaming - he stands to greet her as she approaches, shaking her hand and letting her finish before speaking up in turn. "Mrs. Wake, the one and only! Yes, I would recognize you anywhere," he fairly chirps.

"And I don't only mean from the department files, either. I'm terribly sorry I couldn't meet with you myself, by the way. There were some circumstances at the time that I had to attend to."

No need to scare her. Easy does it, Casper.

[afraidofthedark]

There’s no hiding the startled surprise on Alice’s face as Dr. Darling stands to greet her; he knows her, too? That’s not something she could have expected. But it gives her her answer, too. The Federal Bureau of Control. That’s how he knows her. Is that how he knows Alan? It must be, given what he says.

That’s a lot. But it’s good. She thinks. Maybe. It’s enough to distract her from the fact that he sounds... very much like Alan. Nor is he the first, but Scratch (and good that she has a name to use for the thing that had been haunting her) is her husband’s doppelganger so that makes sense that he does. It’s... strange. But just a little. He puts her at ease, and maybe it’s his voice reminding her of Alan, but it’s also just him, she thinks.

“I’m surprised I made into any department files,” she tells him with a laugh. “And that’s okay. We’re meeting now. Under equally strange circumstances, I think.” More strange, actually.

[dynamitedarling]

Yep, she's a little nervous. Best tread VERY lightly, then. Last thing he really wants to do is upset her, after all.

"Well, strange circumstances are my life, Mrs. Wake. And I'm sure you have questions, yes?" He gestures to the coffee stand. "I'm happy to answer to the best of my ability - but before that, please, get yourself a coffee on me. Or a tea. May as well be a little cozy about it, yes?"

[afraidofthedark]

“Enough that I’m not sure where to start.” But at least she has an excuse to go and get something to drink. Delay it a little while longer. So she offers him a little smile and goes to get that tea he mentioned.

When she returns she settles herself in the chair across from him... and starts with a question he might not be expecting. “Are you aware you sound almost identical to Alan? And the thing wearing his face, although I don’t know if Mr. Scratch could manage sounding honestly friendly even if he tried.” Mockingly friendly, yes.