13258/The Grumpywitch

From Heroes Assemble MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The Grumpywitch
Date of Scene: 03 November 2022
Location: Fourth Floor: Lounge and Sitting Room
Synopsis: Gabby Kinney stops by the Candle Booke and Belle's sitting room to find Nettie waking up from her annual ignoring of proprietary and shares Chinese. The two compare notes on past loved ones long gone.
Cast of Characters: Nettie Crowe, Gabby Kinney




Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie, in truth, didn't mind hosting her 'duckies', as she's been taken to calling the members of the Justice League Dark. It's been a bit like having a family.

    She missed that.

    However, there were some days where the past liked to rear its head and poke at the sleeping bear.

    So today, Nettie was in the Sitting Room, with a tall bottle of clear liquid that is definitely not water. She's sitting back on one of the chairs with an old guitar in her lap, humming along to a bit of Celtic folk music

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Family. That was something Gabby seemed to have plenty of, though it wasn't always the sort that stuck around long. Having somewhere to go that was relaxing like the bookstore was rather nice.

After a trip of her own in New York she makes her way here for just that reason. A bit of company, a bit of quiet, a bit of too-smelly-tea which helped to wash away the scents she had been lingering around.

Bundled up for the chill of the night in a jacket with a fuzzy collar and hood she comes in, carrying a paper bag with handles. Just a little something to snack on that wasn't... Total junk for once. The smell of alochol hits her nose earning only a little crinkle as she flashes a grin toward Nettie. "Long day, Nettie?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Mmnngg." Nettie replies, blinking a moment. She pauses, and looks around herself.

    "Mmmg... grrn... what day is it?" she questions pitching her head forward and stretching her arms. The dimunitive witch rolls her shoulder a moment.

    "Did I miss anything?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney places the bag down on one of the tablese that's here with a glance cast over toward Nettie. There's no immediate answer as she instead glances around quickly for Corvax. "Mm. It's Wednesday," she finally provides as her attention turns back to the bag to reach inside. A few items are pulled out to be placed on the table. Some takeout from a no-name Chinese place.

"I've got fried rice, noodles. Uh. Egg rolls? Sorry, it's mostly greasey food. I can run downstairs and get you some tea if you need. Water?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Probably should have water --" she murmurs, and she raises her hand, tracing a symbol in the air with her index and pinkie fingers out. Both the nails are broken and jagged. "Beran me snell eydd!" she mutters, and in front of her a tall, clear pitcher appears. It's full of water. She looks around, and pulls out a tumbler that had water in it, sniffs it, and then dumps the remaining contents into a bin before she pours water into it.

    "Wednesday, mm. Took us a bit to come out of it. My bad."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"It's okay," Gabby assures while she steps back over to put one of the eggrolls near Nettie, if she felt up to it. It was probably the least greasy thing and at least it had cabbage and veggie filling. Something to hopefully be more akin to 'real food' than anything else.

"I took some time too. Had to go visit my sisters' grave. It'd been awhile, and... Well." A small shrug is given, and she turns to flop into one of the nearby chairs.

"I dunno, timing never mattered much to me, but being aware of Halloween and El Dia De Los Muertos and such, it seemed like a good time to visit." A grin is offered over to Nettie as she works on that water. "Want to talk about it?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Always good to visit our departed. Dunno if they're hanging around just the other side of the veil unless you can see through it. I can. Sometimes. Gets messy." Nettie states, and she accepts the eggroll, salutes with it to Gabby, and she listens to her speak. She gives a soft 'hmm' sound, and then tilts her head back.

    "I got married on Halloween, t' m' wife Addie. 'S always a hard day fer me, due to mitigatin' circumstances best not to let your young ears come about, else they burn black and smoke with the weight of my sins, since it was right about the time it started to be problematic an' illegal that two ladies couldn't be bosom companions." she gives a small smile.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney leans forward to snag an eggroll for herself as well before leaning back again to liste. Her legs pull up into the chair to sit cross-legged with that flexiblity one might expect of her youth. "I've walked in on a lot of things. Or heard of things I shouldn't have, I doubt it'd be that bad... but I won't pry either." Another grin is given in apparent understanding that some thing should just not be prodded.

"Sorry for your loss. I don't know what it's like losing someone that you cared about that much... but I do understand losing someone." She pauses long enough to cronch on a bite of the eggroll before asking, "Corvax off drunk somewhere, too?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Probably. Part of the issues with familiars is that they tend to pick up on the effect. He should be about shortly." Nettie replies, and she smiles.

    "Ah, but you do, don't you Miss Kinney? You've lost sisters. Teammates. Part of your heart an' soul surrendered to the aether." she comments quietly, with understanding.

    "Addie was... Addie was a spitfire. She had zero issue callin' someone out on racisim, sexism, bullshite, even me." she gives a slight smirk. "But she had a heart so big that it was tough for her to not bring home strays. Can't tell you how many 'page nurses' we had in our camps thanks to her, running amok and entertaining the charges and recoverers because she found one here or there. But ah, redheads, am I right? Especially six-foot-tall redheads from Rural Ireland with an accent so thick you think they're speaking tongues when they get pissed."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie reflects quietly, and she drinks straight from the water pitcher.

    "Good God she was terrifying."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"She sounds awesome." Another small bite is taken of her egg roll to chomp away on quietly. It's only after this she realizes, watching Nettie drink so heavily of water, that she ought to snag a drink herself. Unwinding from her spot on the chair she returns to the bag to pull out a Coke. It was rare she drank Coke anymore, having found she preferred some other drinks, but it worked well with the greasey food.

Twisting off the cap while turning back she moves to reclaim her seat with as much grace and dignity as she can muster. Which is to say none at all--She's flopping down into the cushy chair without a care in the world for the continued lifespan of the upholstery. "I would have loved to meet her. I mean... I know I couldn't, I'm too young, but. Still. Sounds like she was a great person."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "She was awesome, in every sense of the word. The last time I saw her 'live... she had emptied every rifle within arm's reach and was yelling to the gods of death in Gaelic, stabbing Nazis with the bayonet of another rifle. She covered the remaining students we had so's we could get the children out of a village." she gives a small smile. "As one does, anyway." she comments, and she leans back in her chair, chewing thoughtfully at the eggroll bits in her mouth.

    "This's pretty good, which shop's this from? Down the street a ways?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney turns her attention back to the food she was also eating while listening to Nettie. A little sad smile is worn as she's told how the woman had given her life. "Yeah. Sounds like she was a good one," she has to add only to blink at the question of the eggroll.

"Oh... No, it's from Chinatown. Down a little alley, past one of those Chinese apothecary shops." Here she pauses to smile regarding the array of food she'd gotten. "This was actually the first meal my sisters and I had when we escaped the labs. Zelda pick pocketed some guy, and we got as much as we could. We'd never had Chinese before--Never had anything that wasn't some kind of nutritionally driven crap to ensure we were at our peak performance." She tips her Coke back to take a chug.

"This was a fucking feast and we loved it."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Mmm. Freedom definitely adds a spice to food that cannot be beat." Nettie agrees.

    "When my brother and I first stepped off the boat at the harbor of a tiny fishing village in India, we didn't know the language. I pick up local parlance pretty easily, but it was a challenge to find something that wasn't Germanic or Romantic for me. We were taken in by a priest -- of the local persuasion -- and fed curry. We burned our mouths and eyes and cut our teeth on its heat." Nettie relates, and she gives a smile.

    "Zelda. That's the one who you took your middle name from, correct?"

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"I know, right? I ate so much my first year out. I wanted to just try *everything*," Gabby gushes recalling the experiences with a fond grin. Her attention shifts back down to the drink in hand, the half-eaten eggroll, and she continues to smile. It's a little sadder, but not that painful hurt it hat once been.

"Yeah, Zelda wasn't the first of us, but she was one of the oldest. It's because of her we managed to escape in the first place. The labs considered her 'docile and obedient' because she would do what was asked without question--It was her way of ensuring she could look out for us. And she used that little bit of trust to get us out."

"She died in the underground tunnels," she explains. "When I had the money, I bought a burial plot for her. Something legit. But it still feels like the tunnels are where she is. Maybe because it's the last place she was alive."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Aye, sometimes it feels like they never leave the places they fell." Nettie replies, and she draws her too-bright-to-be-natural eyes up.

    "But speaking fondly of our passed loved ones, that's a special kind of magic, poppet. For a few moments they breathe again, if only in our memories. But that pain we feel, right about here--" she reaches forward, and very mindfully points towards Gabby's chest.

    "That's proof enough that they existed. That they were loved. And that we were loved in return. Plots and cenotaphs and places to memorialize them, aye, nice, but we are as much a part of those we care for as they are of us." she gives a smile as she leans back.

    "So, you do know wherever your travel, wherever your feet carry your heart, they carry your sisters too."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
In spite of herself Gabby feels her eyes watering up just a bit. Not overflowing at least. The heel of her hand is rubbed into her eyes swiping it away before it risks getting that far. "I know. I ... maybe not in those words, but I know. I'm doing all the living I can, experiencing as much as I can, because they can't. Because they gave me the chance to do so. I'd be wasting their sacrifice if I didn't."

Chuckling quietly she reaches out to snag the container of noodles to offer over to Nettie. "Try some, they were her favorite," she offers while regarding the older witch. "And, you know, next year if you need company I'd love to hear some more stories about Addie."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Aye, pet, we do have to do the 'eavy liftin' once our loves pass. But they help when we need them to. As long as we remember them, they're never out of our reach." Nettie states, and though she can't offer physical comfort to Gabby, she gives another muttered command and Gabby gets another bottle of coke. It's from the bar room. It's cold at least. She reaches over, plucking a pair of chopsticks and expertly tries some of the noodles, while holding half an eggroll in the same hand using her ring finger and pinky. There is an old gold ring, a plain band, on her ring finger. She didn't often wear jewelery.

    "Oh. Well. I'm terrible company on Halloween. I spend it on the rooftop and get drunk watchin' the wee ones trick-or-treating. Irish custom, you know. She would have gotten a kick outta it. She probably would have wanted to hand out the most ridiculous candies." Nettie sniffs.

    "... also I every couple years I somehow lose my clothing, so there's /THAT/. So if you have half a mind to join the mad lady up on the roof for brown liquor an' naked cheering of all the wee Captain Americas and Supermans, eh. Not much would stop you, I wager."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
THAT news causes Gabby to pause while considering it very, very carefully. A little half shrug is given in response to the mention of nudity. "Eh, I had nine sisters, nudity isn't really something I get weird about. But, uh... Maybe not in front of kids, Nettie," she points out with a little laugh at the very thought. The new bottle of Coke is twisted open to take a chug to wash down that salty feel at the back of her throat from nearly crying.

"I can bring candy and we can throw it at them, though," she suggests helpfully. "Never got to go trick or treating myself, but I like dressing up. And candy is always good! Even if I can't get drunk myself, I get it if others do."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Bah, I'm five stories up an' not like any of 'em are LOOKIN'." Nettie proclaims, and she gives a snort.

    "Well. It's not as if you don't know someone who could make you into an eight-year-old for the evening, pet, and send you out into the world dressed up as Spider-Man or one of the princesses. Dashing Snow White you'd make. Or a vampire p'haps. Mmm." Nettie gives a grin. "Scarecrows."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Huh. I never thought of that." Gabby glances off into the distance slightly recalling a memory. "I mean I was aged UP once. That's how I got my first boyfriend. He saw what I'd look like at 21," she explains with a wry grin. "I just wanted to be able to go into the bar to hang out with some of the older group for a bit. He had a fake ID. I didn't at the time," she explains. "My friend Illyana aged me up for the evening. Never gone the other way though."

And this makes her think. Hard. "Man, now I'm gonna be thinking of costumes all year. Maybe I could do a couple and rotate them out over the evening..."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Or just go as all of them all at once, and be extra confusing." Nettie definitely is not encouraging such shenanigans. Chicannery. Malarky.

    She drinks more water though.

    "How /is/ it that you've become friends with so many ridiculous people, poppet? I feel like I need to get out more now."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney laughs a bit warmly at the question posed, lifting her Coke in salute to Nettie as she drinks more water. At least she was hydrating after an apparent two day bender. "Well Illyana went to the same school I did. I stayed in that circle for awhile... but sometimes it was just sheer luck, you know?"

"I met Catman when he was trying to get away from some Alchemax guys. That's the same lab that made us, so we just fell into working together easily. I know he's done things... but so had my sisters. I couldn't really judge him for that, I figured. Besides he helped me out. I helped him out. We were friends."

"Juggernaut I just kind of picked the biggest, baddest looking person on the street and walked up to them to get some guys to stop following me. I mean I could have handled them," she points out with a shrug. "But it was broad daylight. I was trying not to attract more attention to myself and beating people up usually does that. I offered to buy him fried chicken as a thank you for walking with me a bit."

The rest? She has to pause, and consider. "I guess, I just try to give people a chance is all. Doesn't work all the time of course, but seems to work out a good bit."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "I see. Back when I traveled--" Nettie brings her feet up. They're clad in bright orange socks with little skeletal goldfish on them, and she tilts her head back. "I used to run into all sorts of fellows. Mostly fellows, not as many ladies were permitted travel. Even Susan B Anthony thought it was a shame that women had babies and were forced to stay at home to take care of their husbands." she sniffed. "Mad woman. Met a fellow by the name of John, talked a fair bit of folklore and language with him for a bit. Nice letter of reccommendation got me into Oxford, where he used ta teach. Lovely children. Lovely wife too, Edith was his muse. I was the bad influence." she gives a smile.

    "Met Joan Jett. I s'pose that's a name you might know. Sang a ditty called 'I love Rock n Roll' but I was really more partial to her cover of Crimson an' Clover." she tilts her head back opening her mouth a moment.

    

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Oh I've heard of her yeah," Gabby agrees with a quick nod, and a grin. "Ah, I would have gone insane if I couldn't travel. It's nice to have somewhere to be settled of course, but I think I have too much energy to be cooped up much." Susan B Anthony. She knew enough history to know the name, but she also only knew ... very little there to be honest.

"Sounds like you were kind of the same with the traveling though."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Well. I stopped aging when I was in my early twenties. It became a little odd when all my friends and cohorts started getting crow's feet and I just continued to have the crow."

    Speaking of, Corvax flies in through an open window, snatches up an eggroll, and shakes himself off before he sets the eggroll down in order to speak.

    "/Nettie/. I thought we agreed that you wouldn't do yourself five bottles?"

    "Was it five?" Nettie asks innocently. "That sounds a bit low."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"I suppose I'll be dealing with that myself if the family genetics hold true," Gabby remarks with a wry grin. "At least I'll have someone with experience to go to on occasion." She gets to her feet, stretching just a bit, as Corvax enters to snag a bit of food himself.

"That would explain a lot. Hi Corvax. I'll let you two have some time now. I should probably go feed the tiger before he takes matters into his own paws."