12705/Fresh Faces, New Beginnings

Fresh Faces, New Beginnings
Date of Scene:	11 September 2022
Location:	Morningside Heights
Synopsis:	Annie and Andi meet, a friendship begins, and powers are shared!
Cast of Characters:	Annie Mei, Andi Benton

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Annie Mei has posed:
Annie has been moving her things into her new room at the Young Avengers compound over the past few days. The big things came in first, bed, dresser, etc. Then came the clothes and toiletries. Now it's just whatever straggling items she'd forgotten in the last run. It amounts to two small boxes and a cloth sack that dangles from the crook of one elbow. Heading inside, she's moving up to the second floor to drop off one of the boxes.

With that done, it's time to poke around and find the kitchen so she can store the few groceries she didn't want to throw away. The young woman strolls through the halls in a pair of cutoff shorts, layered tanks of white and green, hightop sneakers, and a jacket tied around her waist. Bright pink hair, shoulder length, has been put up into a ponytail. The scent of chocolate wafts from the sack dangling from her arm!

Andi Benton has posed:
The question of what to move over here is not one Andi's been able to answer yet. She's just got the room in the apartment she still lives in with her father.

Shit, how is she going to explain /this/ to him, when she's already somehow kept the secret of Mania up for so long? All she's done is push off the inevitable, and being associated with a group calling itself the Young Avengers is pretty big.

That's for another time. She was here as Mania - trust still needs to be built up to let them see the side of Andi - staring at the room that would be hers. It's going to need to be decorated somehow. Later. It could come later.

Leaving the room, it's back downstairs, only to pause at a particular scent. Without any real preamble, arms come to rest across the nearest countertop as she says, "We smell chocolate." She's just..there all of a sudden, quietly so. The face is blank, as in literally, except for those solid white eyes, exaggerated and reminiscent of Spider-Man's mask, just..more.

Annie Mei has posed:
Annie's room will have posters and paint on the wall, the slatted blinds have been replaced with floor to ceiling curtains that are currently tied back to let the sun in. She's left the boxes stacked on the bed for now, clothes and things will be put away after she takes care of the food. Then she'll call her folks to let them know she's moved in alright at her new place and show them the room!

For now, however, she jumps at the sudden voice and looks all around, wide-eyed, until she spots Mania. Then her eyes go even wider as she approaches, "Whoa! Are you... uhm, are you a-a mutant? I'm sorry if that's a bad term, I don't know what else to call it. Homo superior? I think that's the scientific term." Annie offers a bright smile, "I'm Annie!"

Then statement permeates her consciousness and she blinks, then laughs, "OH! Yeah, I have a small stash of 'emergency chocolate'. Would you like some? I've got milk and dark chocolate, the dark chocolate has toffee bits in it. I don't know if you have any allergies..."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania's size and shape is on the small side, athletic enough but otherwise..average in most of the details. What stands out is the all-black appearance with the white spider insignia dominating the torso, both front and back. Can't forget the spikes, either. Very punk/goth, looking every bit /like/ a costume to the unaware.

"No. We are a symbiote and bond. Together as one. And we are not allergic to anything chocolate. Yes, we would like some," is said, the eyes and head itself turning and tilting toward where the creature thinks it is. Internally, a brief exchange follows.

<<Andi>> Look at that. You were actually under control when you heard 'chocolate.' I'm proud of you.
<<Mania>> We still want it! But we do not want to scare her off right away.
<<Andi>> Not right away, huh?
<<Mania>> We are trying to make..friends.

Annie Mei has posed:
Annie blinks, then grins, "Oh that is SO COOL! So you are two separate entities bonded together into a single being? That must be both amazing and frustrating!" Setting the box down, she rustles through the bag and pulls out a pair of chocolate bards, holding them out with a smile. "Here, one of each. Let me know which one you like more. I'll try to keep more of that stocked up."

For her part, Annie is also rather average, a bit short, a bit athletic, but the pink hair is probably the most startling thing about her. Those bright green eyes watch Mania curiously as she holds out the chocolate, but it's the curiosity of wanting to know which chocolate is preferred rather than any sort of clinical curiosity.

"I actually prefer the dark chocolate, but sometimes the milk chocolate is just... needed. The extra boost of sweet, you know." She notes the spider insignia, then grins, "OH! Do you know Spider-Man? I don't, I'm still new to this whole, uh, thing. But I'm trying to meet more people!"

Andi Benton has posed:
Aloof. That is one way to describe Mania. There's a cross or balance of a distant, guarded attitude along with an attempt to be a little more forthcoming, though in Annie's case a first meeting wouldn't necessarily give this away with nothing to compare it to.

The answer comes somewhat awkwardly. "..sometimes, yes. It is usually..cool. And, thanks." A hand extends toward the chocolates, fingers tipped with claws that appear extensions of the digits themselves. The length is close to fingernails that have been allowed to grow out a bit.

The big question is how the morsels will be consumed, with no mouth visible. This time, small tendrils shift and rearrange to reveal a human mouth, human teeth, and pale skin down to about the chin. From the area of the nose on up, it remains masked. A few piercings can be seen in the lips as she makes short work of the chocolates, then the mask seals back over again. "All chocolate is good," she reports, the voice a blend of female and something more alien in nature, a duality to it. "Yes, we know the Spider. He has helped us, and we have helped him. You know America, then?"

Annie Mei has posed:
Annie offers a bright smile, bobbing her head in agreement, "You're welcome. I'm a result of an experiment gone wrong, so I can't really judge anyone else's powers or anything." She pauses, then rewinds herself, "Sorry, my powers are the result of an experiment gone wrong. I'm otherwise just normal human, albeit with a genetic abnormality that runs through my paternal genes." She flicks the pink bangs with a finger and grins, "Do you like sports at all? Or I guess.. what sort of music do you like? I have ecclectic tastes."

She lifts the box up again once the chocolate has been accepted, noting the clawtips on the fingers with a smile. "I love the asthetic you've got going. It's very cool." Tucking the box under one arm, she shifts her weight from one foot to the other and chuckles. "Well, sure, all chocolate is good, but there's... some chocolate is definitely better than others. It's personal opinion, though. Everyone feels differently about it."

Annie flashes a grin, then gives a nod, "Oh yeah! She recruited me into the Young Avengers. She, ah, she found me helping a couple that was getting mugged by a group of idiots."

Andi Benton has posed:
There is a shift in the eyes after the chocolate has been consumed. They reshape into something indicative of pleasure, and along with that is a low rumble of some kind from within, near the throat or deeper. This one must really like her chocolate!

Mania considers what's said, head angling faintly in one direction. "Experiments? We do not like experiments. Tests. At least, not ones done by bad people with bad intentions." Must be something there that rings familiar. "And we are not into sports, but we do like different music. We can show you later."

It's the talk of looking 'cool' that leads to the same hand sliding upward to run over spiky yet not rigid 'hair,' shrugging. "We are not picky when it comes to chocolate. And we rescued people together. That is how we met." There are parts of the 'costume' that appear to ripple slightly, and if the demonstration with the area around the mouth is a sign, this could be something more alive than first believed.

Annie Mei has posed:
A grin spreads across her face at the clear enjoyment of the chocolate, leading Annie to dig in and come up with another chocolate bar, holding it out. "Here, you definitely enjoy it more than I do. I'll make sure to keep a stock set aside for you." She glances into the bag, "Unfortunately, I think that's all I've got right now, but I expect to hit up the store again this weekend. I'll bring some more back."

Looking back to Mania, Annie gives a nod, "I couldn't agree more. Mine was an accident. I wasn't supposed to be the experiment, I was recalibrating a machine for an experiment on solar energy. Things went wrong. But nobody should ever be experimented on that hasn't volunteered for it." Brightening at mention of music, she gives a quick nod, "I'd like that! I'm.. hoping I can make some more friends here. People that are more like me."

Annie clears her throat, "I like the dark chocolate, especially with sea salt and toffee bits. I really like the toffee bits." She gives a nod, "That's cool! Well, I'm really glad to meet you." Offering a hand towards Mania, she grins, "I should probably get the yogurt into the fridge, but we can trade music after, if that works?"

Andi Benton has posed:
"Chocolate is..better for us than other things. Safer." Whatever could she mean by that? Mania's arms cross while listening to talk of experiments and unexpected things and then some, one eye narrowing more than the other.

A hip comes to rest against the counter, spiked belt on display although there are no pants for it to keep in place, just a sleek body. "We do not have many friends. This is an experiment for us. See what we did there?" Not the best joke in the world, but it's something.

When the hand is extended toward hers, there is a pause before it's met in return. The feel of that hand is not exactly a glove. It's more like its own skin, if anything. "Yes, the fridge for things that need to be in it. So what went wrong with the solar..thing?"

Annie Mei has posed:
"Safer? That sounds like a story. Only if you want to tell it, though," Annie flashes a quick smile twoards Andi/Mania and gives their hand a shake. Turning, she starts towards the kitchen, tilting her head in invitation for them to follow. There's a small snort and titter over the bad pun as she glances over her shoulder, "Total dad joke. But good effort."

There's a pause at the question about the experiment. Then she gives a nod and murmurs, "Nothing went wrong with the experiment itself. We had to recalibrate the machinery for the next round of testing. I was told to do the recalibration on the interior and the other intern was resetting the command controls on the exterior of the chamber. One of his laces caught on a spinning wheel and he hit the console, triggering the start of the experiment." She glances back now and then as she walks, smiling towards them.

"Normally there's failsafes to prevent the experiment from beginning with anyone in the testing chamber, but shen he fell onto the console it started a cascade of errors that overloaded the failsafes and... well.. I got hit with a /massive/ dose of solar radiation. Should have killed me!" Annie is entirely too cheerful about the whole affair, flashing a bright smile towards Andi/Mania as she opens the door to the kitchen and pauses for a moment to get her bearings.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania moves along to match the pace over toward the kitchen, in those blocky 'shoes' of hers. "That sounds like an experiment gone very wrong. We have read stories about things like that. Good thing it did /not/ kill you. But what did it do?"

Cupboards and drawers are checked, mainly to familiarize herself with the locations of things for later. As for the matter of chocolate, "We will tell you, so you will understand. We need phenethylamine, and until we arrived here we only found it in brains. Then we found it in chocolate. Now you understand why it is safer to have chocolate, and it tastes better as well." Said in such a matter-of-fact way, akin to conversing about the weather. So...Annie can chew on that.

Annie Mei has posed:
"It was an accident. The experiments themselves have been going very well, actually. The team leads went through and fixed the issues so something like that couldn't happen again. And really, it was extraordinary circumstances that made it happen in the first place. The number and sequence of buttons and keystrokes that had to happen, in the order they happened... the odds were astronimical." As to the 'what', she flickers a brief smile. "It's easier to show than tell."

She puts all the cold items intot he fridge, making sure each is clearly marked, listening to Mania and giving a nod, "That's interesting... they'd also be present in a number of drugs. Amphetamines, methamphetamine, MDMA... it can be synthesized. Depending on the quantity you need, it might be easier to synthesize it than to eat massive quantities of chocolate every day." Annie looks back to them and smiles, "Not that you couldn't still eat chocolate. You just wouldn't /need/ it as often. It would help curb the 'need' response."

Andi Benton has posed:
"We will stick with the chocolate," Mania states, if not emphatically then at least definitively. "We do not like the alternatives." This leaves it uncertain whether she speaks from experience or as a matter of principle. A surprise, perhaps, from one who so certainly embraces the goth/punk aesthetic?

Eyes peer around from the side of the fridge, taking note of everything in there that's marked off. While doing so, she adds, "Showing is usually more interesting than just telling. Hopefully it does not bring this place down around us. Some people have very destructive things they can do."

Annie Mei has posed:
"Oh! No.. I mean.. that is..." Annie stammers, then chuckles and shakes her head. "Phenethylamine itself can be synthesized outside of drugs. It could just be... a liquid to be consumed." She pauses, then adds, "Or we could... enhance.. the phenethylamine in the chocolate so that less chocolate would last you longer before the cravings returned. That way you wouldn't have to worry about trying to hunt down brains or chocolate in the middle of a mission, or in an alternate universe or timeline where there may not /be/ chocolate."

She laughs softly and shakes her head, looking back to Andi/Mania with a smile, "I don't have to use the maximum for my powers to show them. But we should use the training room anyways."

Andi Benton has posed:
Shifting away from the fridge, the black and white 'creature' paces around in such a way that could cause it to look predatory in nature. "We will..consider it," is what Mania says in the end, though the eyes take on a doubtful cast. "It is not as bad as you make it sound, as if we cannot focus on anything else." Or is it? Is that Andi's side in denial?

Arms once again cross, and she stops to stand more to one side. "If you say so," she answers as far as the area to use for the demonstration is concerned. Rather than waiting for Annie to lead the way this time, she strides with purpose in that direction.

Annie Mei has posed:
Annie glances towards Andi/Mania and smiles, "Not while you're in a place where you can literally walk a block or less and have access to chocolate whenever you want." Winking, she adds, "Wouldn't hurt to keep some 'emergency reserves' around, just in case." She finishes putting away her food items and turns towards them with a shrug, "Doesn't have to be a go-to, just something you keep for 'just in case'."

Laughing lightly, Annie moves to follow them, "Well, my powers come with an innate level of destructive force. The training room is /meant/ for that purpose. The kitchen isn't. I'd rather not put America in the position of needing to submit an insurance claim /just/ yet."

Andi Benton has posed:
"It would take a lot of planning to have stashes in other places where things are more spread out," Mania concedes, somewhat, distracted by the sights as she heads into the training room. Looks fairly normal, but appearances can deceive. A hand runs through spiky hair and lowers, the eyes wider with curiosity.

Then she prompts, "So what do you have to show us? What kind of destructive force? You are giving a very small taste of it?"

Annie Mei has posed:
"Or you could just keep a small stash on you." Annie flashes a grin towards Andi/Mania and motions to their exo-skin, "If that works the way it appears to work, you could likely hold a stash in a 'pocket' indefinitely, and just consume it as needed." She steps into the training room with a smile, "Well. Since I'm just demonstrating, I don't think we need any programs or the like."

Stepping towards the middle of the room, she offers a quick smile as she holds her hands out, green glowy energy crackling around her hands and forearms as she conjures up half a dozen grape-sized orbs of the same green energy. "Yeah, I don't want to cause any lasting damage, so I'll keep it small." Bringing both hands up, she flings them outward, sending the tiny balls out to blast into the wall, each popping off with a small explosive force. While the smaller balls are headed for the back wall, she's conjured up another one, this one baseball-sazed, tossing it straight up into the air and... 'zapping' into it? That's what it seems like, her body becoming a bolt of green energy that merges with the sphere, rising up, then falling quickly to hit the floor with a larger explosive force, bright green light flaring suddenly and leaving Annie in its place.

Standing up, she gives a small smile and tucks a lock behind one ear, "I can do a little more but it's mostly related to that..."

Andi Benton has posed:
With a glance down, there is a measure of focus and along a hip, a small mass begins to shift and coagulate together into the shape of a pocket or a pouch. "It is possible," Mania answers. As the shape begins to fade back away, it briefly looks similar to a handle before disappearing into the side of the hero, vigilante, whatever she's really seen as.

Then, Mania watches. The all-white eyes squint at the small green orbs, and their path is followed before they evidently blow up with a noise, not overly wild so far. It's the larger one that rises above Annie that next gets the staring, and a half-step backwards is taken the moment she loses form, like a sort of lightning arcing to the orb, coming down with more power to then reform as Annie herself.

Mania's head tilts clearly toward one side, an eye larger than the other. "That is..not something we have seen before." It's an understated response, but an accurate one.

Annie Mei has posed:
Annie lifts a small shrug and offers, "I'm still learning what all I can do with these powers. A lot of it seems to be centered around... a mixture of science and imagination. I can't just conjure up a nuclear warhead of solar radiation... but I can do smaller ones. The... travel thing came about by necessity." She clears her throat, "I found myself dangling from a rooftop with a very long fall below me. It was just.. instinct and desperation."

She lifts a small shrug and runs a hand through her hair, "I can also.. reabsorb them if they aren't needed, which is nice. No unnecessary damage. From what I can tell, I generate the energy on command, but it's a limited supply before I get... tired, and have to recharge."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania paces slowly, walking a circle around Annie by the time she's come to a stop again. It's not an immediate one, but takes a few more seconds with a pause here and there, looking her up and down. Sizing her up, in a sense.

"We have also learned by doing more, sometimes when we have had to. We will show you something. Throw a few of those in that direction. The smaller ones." Gesturing off to the side, Mania waits for it to happen then she goes into action nimbly, a conservation of movement giving her a natural, even graceful sort of motion with an underlying sense of certainty in what she does.

She leaps and her arms angle upward, at which point dual lines of webbing fire off to stick to the ceiling and aid her in swinging toward the energy orbs. Upon releasing, momentum carries her closer as they begin to spread apart from each other, and smaller webs shoot out to strike each one as she flips in midair, coming down to land in a semi-crouch with her legs apart, one hand to the floor, the other out for balance. All she does from this position is glance in the direction of the action.

Annie Mei has posed:
Annie blinks as she's circled, her head turning this way and that to watch them with a curious if confused expression. She gives a small nod and offers a lopsided smile, "Sure, okay! I'm definitely curious about what you can do." Waiting for them to take a few steps back, she conjures up a few more of the grape-sized balls and flings them towards the back wall.

Now it's her turn to watch, delighted, as Mania jumps into action. She's clearly thrilled by the web-slinging and agility displayed. But the webbing has her vaguely concernedas its sent towards the orbs, "Be careful, they-" Annie winces as the orbs start to explode when the webs hit them, "..explode on impact."

Then Mania's landing and she's flashing a grin towards them, "That was great! You've got some seriously cool abilities. I'm a little envious." She flashes a grin and steps forward, holding a hand out towards them, "So.. the webs, are they part of you?"

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania's eyes betray a smug attitude, as if the reaction to her showing off is met with approval. There was a minimal but detectable flinch from the sounds of the explosions, given her being closer to them than the ones Annie first sent out, but nothing too much for her.

Rising again, she rests her hands against her hips as part of striking a proud pose. "Yes, we do, and yes, they are. They do not last long, though. The will dissolve in minutes. They are like Spider-Man's, but we have learned how to make them ourselves."

What can be touched is sticky, as close to real webbing as the symbiote can mimic.

Annie Mei has posed:
Annie gives a nod, looking to the bits and pieces of the webbing left from the explosions and purses up her lips, "Sorry if that hurt at all." She flashes a grin and tucks her hands behind her back, "This has been really fun and I definitely want to exchange music tastes soon, but I should really get the last of my things unpacked. Then I want to check out the climbing wall and hot tub in the rec room." Another grin for the last part.

"But if you're here, too, then we'll probably run into each other soon!" She tilts her head towards the door, "Shall we?" Annie smiles and turns to head off back to her room to finish getting herself settled.