1964-12-12 - Time Travel Ala Mode
Summary: Mala brings Hope and Riri together to discuss Hope's problem.
Related: If there are no related logs, put 'None', — please don't leave blank!
Theme Song: None
hope kamala riri 


Kamala is still hungry. Getting mauled by a demon will do that to her. That's why she arrived earlier than she told Riri and Hope - seperatedly, natch - to meet her at the diner. Becuase noone needs to see the girl scarf down the giant burger challenge like it was a Kiddie Meal. She's polishing off the pile of fries and sipping on her soda as the waitress looks at the young woman in disbelief. "..high metabolism.." she offers between slurps of her straw in a near empty glass. "…you have cake, right?"


It's been another week of bothering geniuses for Hope. She finally managed to get a meeting with Reed Richards, only to find he was considerably younger than she anticipated…if just as absent-minded. So that was a loss. But there's always time for food and for friends, so when Kamala invited her out to the diner, she left the lab behind to join her. "Hey," she calls over after the bell on the door rings, moving to slide into the opposite seat. "Long time no see. How've you been?"


Riri quietly strolls into the diner, completely disregarding both the looks the diminutive girl draws and the stated seating convention. no one in particular seems to be especially concerned, however, as she makes a beeline directly for the table she usually sits at with Kamala.Riri freezes in midstep when she sees Hope with the other girl but then Riri slowly picks up her pace and comes to stand just beside the table. Brown eyes dance between each of Riri's new companions. She gnaws on her bottom lip and doesn't say a word.


"Hey, yeah!" Kamala rises up to greet Hope with a hug - she was warned a long time ago that Mala was a hugger, before she gestures to the seat. "Had to get a headstart, I'm starving!" both girls, fortunately - perhaps not so much - know what that means as she waits for Hope to take her seat. "Was about to have some cake and ice cream.. someone else is going to be joining us." The girl gets a momentary blush and pushes some hair over her ear. "I hope you don't mind, but she's someone that might be able to help you with.. your time thing."

When Riri approaches, Kamala's smile is enouraging, and the caramal skinned girl pulls the mocha girl into a hug. "Ri!" she greets warmly, and then gestures to the seat next to her at the booth. "This is Hope Summers. She's one of my first friends and been helping me make sense of things. Hope, this is Riri Williams." she smiles with a hint of pride when she adds in a quiet tone. "Protege of Tony Stark."


Hope is resigned enough to the hugging that she doesn't even protest. In fact, she might even return it a little bit. "Glad you're doing well," she smiles faintly, already looking over when Riri approaches. She's about to say something herself when Kamala makes introductions, a wry smile curving at the last. "Well, in that case, my apologies," she says ruefully, offering over a hand. "He's kind of a dick. Smart guy, but, well. You know. Nice to meet you, Riri."


"He's fine," Riri responds slowly, blinking. She watches Hope for a moment before taking the offeed hand. "…Nice to meet you. I wouldn't say 'protege' exactly…" Riri is fighting the uge to diget now, shifting her gaze between the pair as she comes close. Riri reaches up and draws her fingers throug her afro, somewhat self consciously straightening it and adding to the level of poof involved in the process. She briefly bites dow no nher bottom lip. "What's going on?"


"Well…" Kamala glances down a little. Now with Riri's reaction, she's feeling just a little ashamed. "Hope has a problem. And it's a mechanical one. So.. I wanted her to meet the smartest engineer I know.. so that maybe she can help her." comes the helpful answer. "And.. I don't have many friends, so I wanted to introduce two of them to each other, because I.. you know.. like to share my friends?" Her cake and ice cream arrive, and Kamala starts in on the chocolately goodness, glancing to Hope to fill in the blanks.


"I just came for lunch," Hope assures Riri, shrugging. "The rest of the plan is all her." Despite her wry smile, there's a fondness to the words when she tips her head in Kamala's direction. She doesn't explain immediately, instead reaching over to grab a menu and look it over. Only after another awkward moment does she look up, a smirk tugging at one corner of her lips. "I'm from the future," she explains. "And I need to get back, because there are things I need to do."


"…Friends are good," Riri manages, looking between Hope and Kamala again. She takes a deep breath and then nods once,apparenrtly getting at least some of the awkwardness on her own end. "Well, we've got some work to do. If there's a big project that we need to take care of-" And then Hope identifies the nature of the work. Riri skips a beat. It isn't like her to be visibly taken aback but she is neertheless. She nods once afterard and takes a deep breath. "Okay. That's a new one. You want to go back to the future because there's stuff you need ot do. Like… How far into the future? I'm going to need a screwdriver. Mala, you didn't tell me to bring a screwdriver." One who is unfamiliar might think Riri took this in stride. This would be a mistake. She's never this animated in a social situation with new people. "I did dare myself to do something Tony hadn't done before by the end of the year. Time to put up the money, I guess."


Seeing Riri get animated.. BEST PRESENT EVER. Kamala grins with pride. "No. But I did bring a pen and a notebook." she offers to Riri. "In case you needed to take notes." The young woman is just pleased as punch to see the two talking. "Hope goes to the Institute, like I do. But we met before that." she explains to Riri.


"Well, I can promise you, he hasn't done this," Hope shakes her head as she looks the menu over. "We've been working on it for the last couple months, but we're definitely hitting some difficulties when it comes to…Well, a few parts." She glances up, looking between Kamala and Riri. "I don't go to the Institute, like school. But, I mean, I check in there. In case anyone looks for me there. The when is, uh." She rubs a hand at her brow, sheepish. "Complicated. I need to get about forty years in the future."


"Forty years int othe future?" Riri pauses for a second. "Well, we've got a lot of work to do. I don't even pretend to know how I'd do that. Something to do with manipulating light maybe… Um." The notebook is snatched from Kamala and Riri is already taking notes. She rests an elbow on the table and writes furiously. "I'd say this is a joke but I've already seen what Mala thinks is funny and htis is- too much like something. Real I have no idea how you got here but I'll try to figure something out. I was just working on portable flight earlier, this is a little bit outside my current research… But, I mean. Why not, right? Okay. Tell me about the Institute?" Something to talk about while she writes at least.


"I just started there, but it's interesting.." Mala doesn't want to talk too loudly on it, but the young woman glances down. "…there's another girl there, Illyana. She had some friends come in from out of town." Limbo counts, right? "..they tried to start a fight, and one of them hurt me pretty bad, so I had to go to the Infirmary, and haven't been able to practice for a couple of days, and just.. eating everything. Such a pig."


"Pretty sure it was an emerging mutant power gone haywire," Hope notes to Riri, setting the menu down. "But it's mechanically possible. Eventually. I've been doing it for most of my life. Of course, the machine we used was also broken for most of my life, so. Pretty sure it's not easy." She frowns over at Kamala then, turning more toward the girl. "You what, now?"


Riri, at least, is never loud. She continues to write, flipping through page.s "Illyana, huh. Started a fight and they- hurt you? Huh." The pen continues to dance for a moiment but then she abruptly stops writing. "What happened?" Now Riri is actually paying attention. "Back up. Is that why you w4ere in the infirmary?" She pauses for a second. "I sent you pizzas. Not enough?" She's writing a gain but in small gestures. An equation. Pizzas are a variable listed on the paper. Hope then gets a nod. "Absolutely possible. Probable? Maybe not. 40 years is a big tech gap. 40 years ago jet planes were an insane idea."


"Demons." Kamala says, trying to make it sound like it was no big deal. "I got the pizzas. It was.. bad." she shrugs, but waves her hands at the pair. In the baseline form, you can't even see where she was nearly cut to ribbons. "This is more important! I'm okay, and getting better. Just you know.. hungry."


Hope squints at Kamala for a long moment in silence. "I feel like I mentioned that the school isn't really a safe place anyhow. Like. Disaster magnet. But I'm glad you're okay," she finally says. Even if she wrinkles her nose. "Maybe I should spend more time there. No wonder things got where they did if they're that bad at defending themselves."


"This place sounds kind of terrible, Mala," Riri replies quielty. She's frowning more deeply now. "Demons? Come on. Time travel, I get, but…" she shakes her head slowly, her hair bouncing as if to comment on her disapproal .Finally the girl sighs and goes back to writing. "Don't tell me then," she concludes. "Okay. SO… Future stuff. Have any, um, tech I can look at?" All eyes on Hope now. "So I know where to begin…"


"Later!" Kamala hisses softly and gives Riri's hand a quick squeeze. "This is what I asked you here for, you can both act like my Ammi later." she chides, and then.. she gets a look. A little bit of a far away gaze as she gets an idea. Digging in her backpack, she takes out a notebook and a pen and starts to write.


"Not much," Hope shakes her head to Riri. "I took some guns off the guys who followed me, gave those to Tony. But I removed and destroyed the chips that made them work. I want to get home. I need to get home. But not at the cost of the timeline or people here and now."


"I mean. Me fixing you a time machine is going to impact the timeline unless the first thing I do is hit it with a monkey wrench and never, ever touch the research again or even write it down," Riri replies seirously. "And even if that's how that works-" Riri's hand is squeezed, something she blinks at but doesn't resist,"- but as you pointed out it's such a big deal it would disrupt our timeline,. I don't have what I need to make the tools I need to measure whatever weird particle or something I need to manipulate to get you back there. You have ot have something. Maybe?"


"…well, I don't think she came through naked?" Kamala asks absently, but she's writing her own notes now, a frown touching on her features as she does so. Glancing up at the pair, she considers. "I mean, besides taking like a blood sample from her or something. I dunno. How many people have prodded you so far, Hope? Do they have any of the things from your future?"


"Nathan's traveled with him," Hope notes absently on the topic of the time machine. "But it also fit in his arm, and we only repaired it the once, so it's not like I got a lot of good looks at it. Actually, both of the ones I've had experience with have traveled with the person. Like in Kamala's book. But. Whether or not you choose to be responsible with whatever you figure out is on you."


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