13140/The Johnsons

The Johnsons
Date of Scene:	22 October 2022
Location:	Snack Shack - Rural Delaware
Synopsis:	After an emotional showdown between Daisy and Kora and a surprise revelation that they're sisters, the two sit down to talk in a Snack Shack and try the local cuisine.
Cast of Characters:	Kora Johnson, Daisy Johnson

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Kora Johnson has posed:
Point in Favour - somehow stopped her gift from going crazy and killing a bunch of people.
Point Against - Afterlife.
Point in Favour - somehow my baby sister who you held in your arms once.
Point Against - she's older than me now biologically speaking.

Kora has been staring at Daisy. It's like a spell; she's worried if she takes her eyes off of her Daisy'll suddenly cease to exist. But she's there. Buying food. At least one of them has money and a life. She watches her every movement. There's a lot about her that's familiar but at the same time she's a stranger.

The basics. Sister. Mom is alive apparently. No mention of Dad yet. No explanation of SHIELD or why she'd be working for those monsters at Afterlife. Mom is apparently in charge of Afterlife. Again? she was in charge once before?

When Daisy returns Kora snaps out of her mental wander and resumes staring at her again. She clears her throat, unsure exactly what you're meant to say when you get a weird timey wimey family reunion.

"So....." She says hoping this'll prompt Daisy to say something and let her off the hook.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
If there is one thing that Daisy has learned is that talking about difficult subjects is better done while having some good food. And the snack shack's burgers? The best in a hundred mile radius! Not that Daisy tells Kora that this is pretty much the only Snack Shack in pretty much one hundred miles from where they are. Rural Delaware and all that, a bit away from the world. But then again that was the Playground's whole point. It was also why the Secret Warriors were using it as a base for now.

Daisy stands in line, considering what she can say, what she should say. There are a lot of things to tell her, and ask her yet words are hard to come by. Why? Is she still in shock? Or still with the guilt of what she was ready to do against Kora when she ran?

Eventually she finds herself returning to the table and echoes the, "So....." as if waiting to see if Kora would say something. Then a smile. They are more alike than she thought.

"You are gonna love these.." she promises about the food she ordered and slides down into the booth to sit down in front of Kora. "I am sure you must have a lot of questions. I do too but .., I am just glad you are here right now." That Daisy, always wearing her heart on a sleeve.

Kora Johnson has posed:
Kora wants the food. Oh so badly. But she also feels like she's being watched. Because she is. This isn't just any old ordinary Snack Shack. No one has such a 'successful' looking business out in the middle of no where. This is a SHIELD operation and Kora can smell it. It has all the hallmarks of being a trap. Except she already walked out of the cage so what point is there in a trap now. The food being cooked smells real and wonderful though.

Her eyes settle upon Daisy as she finally speaks. Her eyes widen a touch. Food - she wants to talk about the food that hasn't been delivered yet? "Why the hell would you want to work for Afterlife. They're monsters." Blunt, to the point, it's weird to have that kind of personality trait thrown right back in to your face.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Whether this is a SHIELD op or not there is no confirmation or denial out of Daisy. Yes, she can notice the way Kora's eyes dart here and there to look for any such trap, having learned with the best about reading people. It's pointedly harder to do it with your own flesh and blood of course and she knows she has a huge blindspot where it comes to Jiaying, their mother, but she can see it...

It's a study that's interrupted when Kora just goes all in blunt mode. So much for Daisy trying to take things carefully. It gets that Johnson stubborness to insert itself into her expression. "You are assuming an awful lot. I don't work for Afterlife." she says back. "I am with SHIELD." a beat, "It's a long story, but I came to work with them while looking for our family. Our mother and father. And that eventually led me to finding out about Afterlife." she looks down at her hands a moment, "I spent a long time thinking I was alone in this world."

"Tell me what Afterlife did to you." She asks.

Kora Johnson has posed:
Kora can see Daisy is trying. She's really trying and why is she so calm looking? Kora reminds herself not everyone has her kind of damage and may be Daisy has had a wonderful life. By looking for mother and father? Whatever the hell SHIELD is.

"I'm so sick of these acronym organisations and their secret wars," she mutters about SHIELD and glances over to the kitchen. One of the chefs briefly places his hand on his back where an ICER is hidden and he looks away quickly when Kora catches his eye. She's making them nervous. It's Afterlife all over again.

"Have you ever had someone who you believed implicitly, with your whole being, trusted totally, who you loved completely... only to have them betray that trust and rip your heart out?" A little on the dramatic side but Daisy was no better when she was working with the Rising Tide.

"Afterlife looked after me when my mother and father died - when you were gone. It was just me. They raised me like their own and then when it was time for me to receive my gift, they gave it to me with promises of training and nurturing and this bullshit about the harmony of the universe."

Her expression darkens, "But when they couldn't teach me, when I couldn't control my powers, when people got hurt." A small wince. Hurt is obviously an understatement, "They shoved me away in isolation and forgot about me. Gordon would visit, bring me food, promise me they were trying to figure it out but they never did. They left me to rot in a cell."

Daisy Johnson has posed:
Oh yes, Daisy can see that distrust about SHIELD plain there on Kora's face. Not that she can blame her. She was the exact same years ago when she thought SHIELD was hiding the truth from her. They sort of were, but she also learned to understand that not all is black and white. There are reasons for things to happen. "Yes, I have." this about being betrayed by people she trusted. Memories of Rising Tide. And Miles. "I was also 18. And dumb as shit." yet she realizes Kora is probably talking about Jia.

"Wait.." There's a pause as Daisy considers Kora a moment, "You knew me? You were there?" that's news. She blinks a few times at Kora. "Our mother was captured when I was still a baby, she did not die. I was taken to the states and grew up in an orphanage." she explains. "She was being experimented on till ..., a bit over a year ago. Some of my trusted friends were able to save her." yet still no mention of Father.

As Kora then talks about her experience with Afterlife there's a frown out of Daisy. Not one that distrusts Kora but one that seems to be on her side. Perhaps understanding of it. "Then I will help you figure out what happened in Afterlife. I know Gordon."

A tentative, faint smile. Yes, she knows what it is to have powers one can't control. "I -will- help you gain control of your powers. That I can promise you."

Kora Johnson has posed:
Kora looks a touch amused for a moment. It's possibly the least tense she's looked since Daisy met her. "I was, uhm.. 19? when you were born. I changed your diaper. I cradled you in my arms." It's hard to believe that tiny little baby Daisy was all grown up and sitting across from her. Older than her.

"A year later Jiaying gave me my gift and that same year I lost all of you," she states. But she's listening and the rest of the story is making her face soften and twitch a little bit. Mom and Dad were alive this whole time. Daisy was alive and tossed carelessly in to an orphanage. She could have looked after her! she didn't need to be alone... except she couldn't, she was too dangerous to be around anyone.

"Experimented on? What about dad?" She looks down a moment as Daisy mentions Gordon. "Yeah.. I know Gordon too. Better than you." A memory flashes past of her handing the gun that refused to fire over to Gordon. The one true friend she had left in Afterlife after she killed her bff.

She tsks a little, "Don't make a promise you can't keep. No one can help me. I'm cursed. My gift is not a gift and they were right to lock me away. I'm a menace and every time I lose control people get hurt. That person in the cell with me could have died.." should have died. How Jane survived she's not sure but she assumes she's got an Inhuman gift too.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Ooookkkk, TMI..." Is what Daisy says about Kora having changed her diapers even if there's a wider smile to her lips, "And that means too much information." just in case Kora is still having her war against acronyms. Still, there's a softening of her features when Kora speaks about having cradled her in her arms. Not that she remembers it.

"Just remember I am still the eldest.." Perhaps in an attempt to dismiss some of the tension of this talk.

"Dad ..." There's a pause there, "He didn't take well to losing me, got lost in his own search for answers and his mind..." there's a pause, ".. I can bring you to see him some day but..." she shakes her head a bit, perhaps not ready to breach onto that conversation just yet.

"I was like you when I got my powers." a beat, "Uncontrolled, I was a danger to everyone around me. I thought I'd never be able to get a normal life again which .., I suppose it's true but I was able to find my way. With help of those people I trust with my life now." she smiles faintly. "You have met some of them now. Fitz. Jemma. Jane. They were all part of it." she tells her sister.

When Kora then goes and dismisses her promise is when she reaches forward, "Kora. I don't make promises I can't keep. I told you I am going to help you, and I will. You are not a menace, and I will make sure you learn that." her eyes wider now.

Kora Johnson has posed:
Kora looks a touch amused she got under Daisy's skin by telling her she changed her diapers. And that she felt the need to suggest she was the eldest. "Oldest perhaps," she quips back. Yep, definitely Johnson daughters. "I asked Gordon to tell everyone I was dead when I left. I guess when I went missing Gordon must have thoguht I really was dead." Or that she'd succeeded finally.

Her expression darkens a touch as Daisy tells her that dad didn't take things well. It means he lost them both. He was likely told she was dead by Gordon when he turned up not-dead unlike Jiaying who was still missing.. and then Daisy was gone, lost to the system. She can understand how that'd haunt her dad. Unlike Daisy, she got to grow up with her parents and knew their intense and unique love untarnished by these tragedies.

But Kora seems to take Daisy's words to heart. She believes her when she's told that her powers too were also uncontrollable. A small sigh escapes her lips as she accepts that it must be a Johnson curse to have powers that are too much.

"How many ..." she starts to ask. "...did you kill?" she goes through with saying the words. But as soon as she's said it she realises that Daisy did not have the same level of problems she had and her expression distances. Her lips press together - she regrets saying those words and she leans back in her booth seat.

The SHIELD agent in disguise delivers the food Daisy ordered. Good timing. Kora is starting to withdraw and get angry again. The food smells really good. But she grabs the man's hand and reaches behind him to pull the concealed ICER from his belt. He looks like he's about to piss himself when Kora's eyes begin to glow. Whatever training he had for defending himself has gone out the window and he looks to Daisy for help.

"They don't think the same way as you do and you shouldn't either... sister," she states flatly as the weapon in her hand begins to melt. Her jaw sets stubbornly, a look Daisy's friends must have seen a million times. If it weren't for the food this might escalate. She lets go of him and picks up one of the burgers. Her eyes, however, continue to glow.

Daisy Johnson has posed:
"Oldest. Eldest. Discussing semantics is one step away from pedantics." Daisy retorts back at Kora, clearly no stranger to the quip game! Perhaps it's the Johnson gene or something like that. She even quirks a grow up back at Kora. Yet her expression does sober up as the talk goes back to serious matters.

"Would the number make a difference?" She asks about the number of people killed. It's perhaps something she felt blessed in as she had been contained before she could kill someone. "I did get to hurt people I cared for." she tells her, pressing her lips to a thin line. And it's clear it had been a dark phase in her life.

"Bottom line is we can help you. Forget the acronyms. Shield, Afterlife." She shakes her head, "There's a lot that happened these last years and-" she pauses as the food comes. And then Kora begins doing that show off with her powers. And while Kora's eyes might be glowing that weapon never finishes melting because it starts vibrating in Kora's hand and is disassembled into pieces almost as if by 'magic'. Yet it's clear by Daisy's look of concentration that it was her doing, using whatever vibrational powers she has to do it. For someone who speaks of having had quite the trouble controlling her powers she appears to have refined them very well.

"Threatening them won't help you." she picks up a burger too and takes a bite, eyes still fixed on Kora. "Now aren't these burgers just great?"

Awkward tension is awkward.

Kora Johnson has posed:
Unresolved anger issues. Daisy knows plenty about that. Though it seems a lot of hers have been resolved. Kora's - not so much. She stares at the pieces in her hand and drops them to the ground, letting go of the agent. He backs away and in to the kitchen quickly.

Dusting her hands off her eyes slowly fade back to normal and she stares down at the burger. This is not going the way she thought it would. It's a bit like when she was first trying to learn her gift with mom - endless patience for her, but not so much for others. Not much for dad. Not much for the people interrupting them at Afterlife.

She furrows her brow and stares at Daisy, then picks up the burger and takes a bite. It's a moment of chewing and then the sauce hits and she almost melts in the chair. A finger wiping over her lips as she eats eagerly with a small moan of delight. Mission successful, Kora is apparently as food motivated as Daisy is.