May 21, 2015:
Felicity and Harrison Wells run into each other in the Grand Central Dining Concourse. He offers her a place at STAR Labs.
Grand Central - NYC
Located at Park and 42nd Street, Grand Central Station (properly known as
Grand Central Terminal) is the intersection of 67 separate rail and subway
tracks serviced on 2 levels. There's a Dining Concorse featuring restaurants
and fast food below the Main Concourse.
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions:
Plot:
A Dark Hold
Apocalypse: Only the Strong
Blood versus Family
Bones Of The City
Breaking the Universe
Cyberdata War: First Strike
Dangerous Esterikos Wonderous Mystikos
Dark Gods & Times
De Oppresso Liber
Demon Lord of New York
Diaz de Muertos
Don't Tell Thanos The Babysitter's Dead
Empire of Tears
Escape from Sakaar
From the Ashes
Gateway to the Stars
Genosha: Rebirth
God Of The Dead
Hacker, Sass-Mastah, Engineer, Spy
Himmel und Hölle in Bewegung Setzen
Mood Music: None.
Fade In…
Grand Central is always bustling with people with people boarding or disembarking trains, getting from one place to another, or tourists here to gawk at the famous ceiling. Felicity is here for the food. It's a little late in the day, past when people would normally eat lunch, so the Dining Concourse is not as crowded as during the lunchtime rush.
The blonde woman, dressed in her business clothes, has a tray with a salad and a tall cup of soda. The last boarding call goes out for a train on track 63 just as she is weaving her way through the other hungry people to find a table. A man barrels past her, jostling her elbow and causing the drink to first spill on her and then drop to the ground with a slosh, spilling Sprite and ice cubes all over the floor.
"Hey!" she calls out, surprised and angry before sliding her now slightly soggy salad onto a nearby table and ducking down to start mopping up some of the drink that is everywhere. A hand, barely looking moves upward to try and grab more napkins.
And more napkins magically are shoved into her hand. The man in the wheelchair, despite not having been the one to bump Felicity and create the soggy salad mess, offers her an apologetic smile. "A busy time of day, with too many people not watching with they're going," Wells offers gently as he bends as far as he can without interrupting the chair. It seems he's well adapted to the chair and its constraints.
His lips draw upwards on one side into a kind of crooked smile and he motions with his head. "Let me get you another. On behalf of my gender and quick folks too absorbed to realize where they're going." He wheels slowly back towards the line. "Club soda or lemon lime something?" Dr. Wells is altogether unfamiliar with pop. Not that he's never had it, just not in recent memory.
Felicity blinks. A hand was flopping about trying to find her tray again and then napkins were shoved into it. She glances up and blinks a few times. "Oh. Ohh my goodness. You're Dr. Harrison Wells. I've totally read your biography. And I'm covered in Sprite." This is embarrassing. As she takes a handful of soaked napkins and drops them unceremoniously onto her tray, she blushes a bit.
"No no, you don't have to. I mean, I appreciate it, certainly." As he starts wheeling back in line, she moves with him, completely forgetting her salad in the process. She's not about to let a certified genius roll off after he's offered her a drink. "Um, it was a Sprite. But, I can just take water. It's no big deal. Thank you."
Amusement tugs the edges of Wells' lips again and the scientist slowly shakes his head, "If you want Sprite, you should have Sprite." With a faint chuckle he notes, "You kind of remind me of a young woman I work with." Nearly apologetically, he lifts a hand, "She's lovely. Don't think otherwise. Dr. Snow is very capable in her own right. And a formidable scientist."
Still having not confirmed his identity, the smile finally extends and he offers her a hand in greeting, "And yes, I am Harrison Wells. It's a pleasure to meet you." Pause. "And I hope the biography doesn't colour any expectations." His throat clears. "I suspect my biographer still has a bit of disappointment," because of the unfortunate incident with the particle accelerator, but Wells leaves that much unspoken.
"Oh! Dr. Snow. I've heard Barry talk about her. Caitlin? You work with her?" Felicity follows along like a faithful assistant in her heels. Then, she pauses, nodding her head as she realizes she's asking very silly questions that she already knows the answers to. "Of course you do, you're the head of STAR Labs."
Felicity takes Harrison's hand and shakes with a friendly amount of pressure. She's not attempting to overpower anyone. "I'm Felicity Smoak. It's really a pleasure to meet you. And your biography certainly didn't do you justice. I mean, I wouldn't have thought you'd be nice enough to by a klutzy girl another drink out of the kindness of your heart. Genius are often super focused. Not that they can't be nice, too! I just thought, you know, with the whole particle accelerator incident and the fall out from that you wouldn't want to talk to strangers." Then, immediately realizing that she's brought up the particle accelerator she blushes. "Especially strangers who are incredibly rude, I'm so sorry."
"Yes, Caitlin," Wells acknowledges. "She's fantastic." His nose wrinkles, however, and his head cants to the side to look at Felicity better, "Barry? As in Barry Allen?" Intrigue piques Wells' interest, prompting a wry eyebrow arch and the question that begs to be asked, "And how do you know Mister Allen?"
Felicity's exposition about the biography, particle accelerator, and the tendencies of geniuses prompts a weighted silence from the man, although not quite awkward. His lips twitch multiple times, the falter of a smile followed by kindnes(?) perhaps. His eyes soften and he shakes his head lightly. "Thank you.. I think." His smile eases further and he actually emits a soft chuckle. "I'd have to say that the incident," which he doesn't go into too much detail about, "had its effect. There was a season wasn't really out and about," it's only now that twinges of sadness seep into that generally jovial expression, "but a person can't make a difference in isolation, can they?" He flashes her another smile, this one smaller than the others.
"And it would seem you know quite a bit about me thanks to an overzealous biographer." He glances at the line then back towards Felicity, "What about you? What do you do with your time?"
"Barry, yeah! We met at a convention and have been friends ever since. You know Barry? I mean, I should've guessed, since he's friends with Cisco and Caitlin he must have met you." Felicity chatters on, immediately trusting of a man who would offer to buy her another soda after hers spilled.
She seems a little apprehensive as to his reaction after her callous mention of the particle accelerator, hands folding together in front of her nervously. When he smiles, she relaxes visibly. "It was totally a compliment. I mean, I've only dabbled in science, as it's one of those things that interests me, but I know you've definitely made a difference. Either inside or out of isolation." Always the cheerleader, Felicity. Her own smile is less of the goofy, embarrassed one that he's seen since meeting her. It's warmer, kinder.
As for herself, she shrugs. "I work with computers, mostly. I went to MIT and now I'm working as an IT specialist at Queen Consolidated. It's not the most exciting work to fix corporate computers so they can make sure they get those emails about the latest stock prices, but it's a job. And it didn't hurt that Mr. Queen himself offered it to me."
With another chuckle he notes, "I do know Mister Allen. Fairly well as we've been able to help the police department with some of their work." Pause. "We being STAR Labs." His eyebrows draw together slightly as if puzzled by something, but the question dissipates without ever being uttered.
Instead, he listens to her own background, granting a small nod followed by a quiet thought, "You should meet Cisco sometime." Pause. "And Caitlin. If you already know Barry you certainly have an 'in' to meet either. While both are great scientific minds, Cisco and you would likely get along swimmingly. At least around your shared interest of technology." His head shakes again, "I don't think I've met anyone else so competent with machines of all kinds. He has an aptitude for understanding how things work — something I'm not sure I've seen in anyone else."
He chuckles lightly, "I can't say I've had the honour of meeting Mister Queen, but I'm sure he's an enigmatic as people say he is." His eyebrows lift expectantly, almost waiting for confirmation, but he moves on quickly enough, "And Queens Consolidated is a fantastic company. I imagine the work is challenging and interesting?" With a small cluck of his tongue he considers, "Because we could always use a programmer or two on our team." He shrugs lightly.
"He must have been totally psyched to meet you." Felicity grins, her head tilts a moment, noticing he may want to ask her another question, but then the pause drifts away as they talk about Cisco and Caitlin. "I've met Cisco. He's very sweet. Intense, but sweet." That might be putting it mildly. "He knows way more about machines than I do. I know how to build a computer and a functioning networking system, not so much robots or anything else. Though, I did just reprogram my roomba to be more effective and to identify problem spots on the rug. You would not believe how much dust can collect in the corners. Also, I found a cat toy under my couch the other day and I don't even have a cat. That was worrying, let me tell you."
The mention of Mister Queen is given a laugh and a shrug. "He seems pretty normal, other than offering random blonde girls jobs in the Big Belly Burger. Though, I was there to submit an application, so he may have just seen an opportunity and acted on it. I haven't really interacted with him other than that. You know, he's up here," she gestures her hand putting it up near her forehead. "And I'm, like, way down here," she almost stoops to put her other hand by her knee. At the offer, her eyebrows raise quite significantly, her expression clearly doubtful. "You're…joking, right? You'd want to hire me? You don't even know me other than I can spill Sprite all over myself and that I eat salad." She looks down at her empty hands, finally realizing she left her food somewhere. Quickly, she studies the tables behind them to see it already cleaned away (or possibly taken by someone else). "Which…is now gone somewhere."
"We'll get you a new salad too, Ms. Smoak," Wells offers with a small smile and another shake of his head. "To be honest, you have enthusiasm which is something no one can train. Believe me. We've," the word actually prompts a furrowing of Wells' brow, "tried." And then, resuming his more congenial smile, he notes, "And you said you graduated MIT. To me that generally speaks to ability." His eyes flit towards the cashier that they're slowly inching towards. "So you have ability and attitude. One which is trainable and one that isn't. Don't sell yourself short Ms. Smoak. Perhaps Mister Queen saw other assets, but in a few short minutes you've sold yourself better than I think you ever could've intended." Harrison offers her another kind smile.
He chuckles lightly at the thoughts on Cisco, "Cisco has energy in droves. I think the energizer bunny envies him. And he's unbelievably bright." His throat clears, "And you may want to have that cat looked into."
he pair finally reach the front of the line and Wells orders: "A salad and a sprite for my friend, please."
Felicity blushes at the realization that she's left her salad behind. Though, it did have a coating of Sprite on it and was most likely inedible anyway. "Tried? Like, with lab rats? That's—wait, that's not what you meant. You meant in a motivational sense." She's slowly attempting to get her bearing and talk a bit more professionally, as she's seriously considering this.
"I really appreciate the offer, Dr. Wells. More than, I think, you can imagine. I'd have to think about it a bit. I mean, I know being an IT person at a corporate office isn't nearly as exciting as working at STAR Labs, but it has some good benefits. Maybe I could stop by STAR Labs within the next couple of days." She actually grins at the quip about the cat and then beams when he calls her his friend when they reach the front of the line.
After the order, she turns to him, a warm smile on her face. "Thank you, Dr. Wells. It's been a real pleasure meeting you. You're way cooler than your biography could have ever described."