12673/The Breakup (pt 5)

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The Breakup (pt 5)
Date of Scene: 04 September 2022
Location: 6A - Janet's Condo
Synopsis: Nadia finally gets a chance to talk to Janet about the breakup with Steve.
Cast of Characters: Janet van Dyne, Nadia Pym-van Dyne




Janet van Dyne has posed:
The problem with having good and loyal people is that they will do things that are incovenient and even frustrating, if they believe they're doing it for the right person. So, at her bidding, Janet's people had gotten hold of Nadia's people, and collectively they'd managed to insulate her from the explosion of celebrity gossip-mongers reporting nonstop of the breakup of America's superhuman Power Couple. By the time Nadia had even heard about it, Janet was on vacation in Themyscira with her phone turned off. It was several days until she returned to New York and her close contacts got the alert Janet was back in the world.

Most of them had been told to step off-- but she did reach out to her. Not just texting, not a DM-- she called, even if just to reassure Nadia that she was OK.

Still, once she was home, Janet made sure the kettle was on. Phone call or not, Nadia's the sort who often demands firsthand proof that her family members are indeed OK.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    There was a time when Nadia might have shown up on Themsycira, invited or not. The Red Room didn't exactly teach her to respect boundaries or that breaking and entering is wrong and when someone she cares about is in trouble she has been known to do borderline insane things in the past like activating a warp drive in atmosphere to get there that much faster.

    It can be said though that she has matured a bit within the past two years, learned that sometimes people can need a bit of space, and that not every problem needs her to rush in guns blazing. Though whether 'Captain Step-Dad' will come out of this unscathed is still an open question.

    So it is that Nadia does not simply apparate into the room, she's still working on making that more precise anyway, or land a spaceship on the roof after crossing the city at a speed approaching that of light. Instead it actually takes her some time to arrive, she actually takes the elevator up and uses the front door buzzer like a normal person.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Even compared to the other luxury apartments in the building, the elevator landing is lavishly appointed. It's clearly meant to be a transitional space, connecting Janet's suites with the rooms of her staff and personal care team under her penthouse. The doors to Janet's stairs open immediately for Nadia and when she pops up into Janet's living room, Janet's already waiting for her. She holds the blender the last two seconds it runs, then lifts a fingertip from the 'grind' button.

"Perfect timing, I -just- finished a pitcher of tequila slushies," Janet tells Nadia. She's smiling-- though Nadia would be one of the few to realize that the expression is a brittle, wan one-- and barely skin-deep. She looks like she's at least enjoyed a few days of healthy Grecian sunshine though, and is still a stylish skirt and crop-top combo that might at one point have been a Themysciran tunic (before Janet went at it with her scissors and sewing instruments).

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Nadia may have waited for Janet to get back from Themyscira, and she may have actually used the regular front entrance like a normal person. That, however, is apparently as far as 'progress' of this sort goes. Nadia is not fooled by fake smiles, and even were it a wholely genuine one the result probably would have been the same. That result being an immediate hug that the jaws of life might be required to pry free from as Nadia springs forward and wraps Janet in a tight embrace.

    "How are you doing? Are you okay? Your outfit looks way better than the ones they gave us when the Titans went to Themyscira. Oooh slushies!" There are plenty of things that have changed in the past two years with Nadia, but the high energy and enthusiasm definitely is not one of them. "But seriously are you okay?" The second time she asks almost has an undercurrent of 'Do I need to make someone disappear?' or at least make their life unpleasant for awhile.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Ooof," Janet wheezes-- but hugs Nadia in return, just as good as she gets. "Fine, not at all, and of course it does, I made it," Janet says in order. She leans against Nadia for just a beat-- not much, but at least enough to convey that she is in fact working from a very broad definition of 'fine'.

"It's--" she breaks off from the hug, forcing that Perfectly Pleasant smile into place. "It's not important," she amends. "I'm, uh, dealing with it in ways that are perfectly responsible and healthy," she lies. "You know, breathing, exercise in the park, yoga... stuff." She pours two tall cups full of the slushie mix and hands one to Nadia with a large-diameter straw. From the smell and consistency, it looks like Janet's mixology is long on alcohol and short on much else.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    "Oh, that makes sense." Nadia smiles when Janet tells her she made the garment. "They haven't really updated their fashion in like 5000 years it seems. I bet you could help them a lot." She peers, peeeeeers at Janet though when she feeds her the line about responsible and healthy ways to cope. Nadia is probably not buying it. "I would teach you to fight like Krav Maga or Systema if you think hitting things might help? You know to fight like a Black Widow." Because that was the Red Room's number one coping mechanism, hitting things, usually people. Well and the mind manipulating drugs.

    But then there is a slushy in her hands that just from the scent she can tell is dangerous, even to someone with Widow serum enhanced physiology. "Did you meet anyone nice on Themyscira?" She asks sipping at her straw. "Oh! I know! We could take a trip off world!" What's the point of having one of Earth's only FTL spacecraft or dimensional portals if you can't abuse them to help family?

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"I..." Janet hesitates. "I met a -lot- of very nice people on Themyscira," she says, carefully, not -quite- making eye contact with Nadia. "And while most of them were very willing and able to take my mind off of... things, it didn't really help me actually deal with anything. So, pass on the Russian boxing, but yes, a space adventure sounds like a great idea. Or portals. I don't even care what universe we end up in," she brightens. "Just as long as I can spend the trip stupidly inebriated and making *terrible* life choices while not dealing with real-life."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    Janet is hugged again, Nadia has successfully hugged monarchs, gods, and even a Hell Lord in the past, really there is no escape. "Yeah, Themyscira is full of lots of really cool people, especially their chief science lady." Nadia makes a face as she finds herself blanking on the name. "They have their own branch of science that is so different from mainstream science, and the megalodons are so cool and they have these giant Stygian Death Wasps!" Perhaps only Nadia would be so excited about giant deadly insects. "But maybe not what you are looking for yet. Off world adventure I can do!" She grins.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet smirks at Nadia and just laughs, despite herself. "Oh, honey. Never change," she tells Nadia, and returns the hug again.

"I will definitely make a point of looking her up the next time I'm there. If I'm invited back. Diana invited Peggy there-- oh my god!" Janet puts fingers on Nadia's arm to pause her. "Photos of the baby! Here, let me get my--" she roots around in her tote bag, then dumps it all out on the countertop. Personal sundries and toiletries go flying and she picks her Wasp-branded phone out of the pile, to bring up some pictures of Peggy and Dan and their newborn.

"I guess it was a little touch and go during the delivery, but Peggy brought-- uh, you know her, the Titan, the--" she holds a hand up over her head. "The big ginger. I guess she's a doctor? Anyway, everythinig ended up like it's supposed to," she says, swiping through the photo album.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    "Oooh! Baby! So cute!" Nadia's smile widens as she looks at the pictures. "Caitlin." Nadia handily supplies the name of her teammate as only one person could possibly fit that description. She helps out as a lab manager at GIRL now, too. She's super smart and really good at medical stuff, as good as Bobbi probably! If she was there it is no surprise everything was fine. She's patched up the Titans countless times."

    Babies are cute, it is a universal rule, and Nadia ooohs and ahs as the pictures scroll by. Even if she seems to be in a more committed relationship with Quantum Physics than any actual human, some reactions are just instinctual.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Bobbi owes me a bar crawl," Janet tells Nadia. "She's off doing... something for SHIELD, and I'm assuming it's world-ending, because if it's anything less than, like, a global catastrophe, I'mma slap her."

The pictures run into some vague photos of Themyscira and then Janet re-locks her phone and tosses it negligently on the counter. "So how's Q3 shaping up for GIRL this year?" Janet inquires of Nadia. The drink in her hand is almost empty; Janet refills it and starts slurping down more of the alcoholic slushie mix. "Your budget proposals were pretty modest, all things considered. No one needs five million dollars worth of optical comparators this year?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
    "It usually is." Nadia agrees, memories of Bobbi single handedly downing an AIM war zeppelin flitting through the back of her mind. "Hopefully she'll be back soon." Ever the optimist.

    When the pictures stop, Nadia looks back at Janet again and gives a little shrug. "Well we spent a fair amount of time off world dealing with Ranagar's problems and half of us were helping the Titans keep Wonderland from ceasing to exist, which is real by the way and being preserved by fundamental forces of the universe, one of whom is pretty cool, the other was kind of a dick. Oh and I'm the second coming of Alice." This is all said like it's perfectly normal. "But yeah, we should be doing more new science." She's almost reflective, like she hadn't realized how distracted GIRL had gotten with heroing.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"This is your work-life-balance thing," Janet reminds Nadia. "It can't all be exclusively hero stuff, all the time. You've got a business to run. Your girls are relying on you to direct their research, get funding, /pay/ them from time to time..." One of Janet's brows lifts at Nadia.

"But-- I do get it," she allows. "You've got a bunch of friends who need you and it's hard to say 'no' when there's a crisis. Just... don't overdo it. Okay?" she says, and her lopsided smile suggests she knows that advice has a lower-than-even chance of being followed!