14015/Jaded Ancestry

Jaded Ancestry
Date of Scene:	01 February 2023
Location:	Pinnacle - Urban Park
Synopsis:	A fortuitous meeting of Natasha, Janet, and Colleen in a New York Park may have started a new friendship group.
Cast of Characters:	Colleen Wing, Janet van Dyne, Natasha Cranston

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Colleen Wing has posed:
It's early morning, the sun is threatening to rise and not even the ducks in the pond are awake yet. Colleen dressed in white sweat pants, a white hoodie with the hoodie up - sneakers, and a white scabbard with sword on her back.

She's skipping stones across the water, getting a few good bounces. That's with her left hand. Her right hand has a flask in it and she's taking swigs of the sake she brought back from Japan.

"This is our spot," says one of the four thugs that have moved up on Colleen. If she heard them coming she didn't react. "So now you owe us. Hand over your wallet."

Colleen flicks her wrist and sends another stone skipping out over the otherwise still water. "Or what?"

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet's out for a morning run. It's the upshot of living less than a block from Central Park; she can get over there in the wee hours ahead of traffic and enjoy the cool morning air. The socialite is dressed much like the other runners out lapping the park, in yellow-and-black tights and a matching sleeveless hoodie that bares a few inches of midriff. Even her thin-soled running shoes match.

"Yeah, or what?" Janet looks almost bemused by the possibilities. Two strides behind her is a young man of about twenty-five, wearing unremarkable grey sweats. He slows to a stop just behind Janet and pushes his shoulder-length blonde hair back from his face, watching the situation unfolding with a quizzical expression.

"No, seriously, I want to know what outcome you're expecting here," Janet tells the crooks. "In what universe do you guys have a win outcome for the strange chick with a sword drinking sake by the pond?"

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    Natasha Cranston has a reputation for being a bit of a lush and a clubber. She doesn't mind -- she certainly works hard enough to keep it -- but it does mean that she wouldn't be caught dead doing actual workouts. So instead it's "Jenny" that keeps her stamina up by jogging in the morning, when everyone knows that Natasha is sleeping off the hangover and won't be in the office until afternoon.

    She'd vaguely acknowledged some of the other joggers on the same trail -- it's not an entirely uncommon time to be out for a run and it is a lovely morning -- but when she sees the group of thugs clustering around Colleen she slows to a halt herself, taking a moment to assess.

    Four thugs about to make terrible life choices; the woman on the bench may not be immediately recognizable to anyone but one would think that the sword would have been enough of a hint.

    On the other hand, there is no excuse for failing to recognize the fashion designer and part time Avenger although why she'd bothered bringing a bodyguard is a mystery. Still, this is as good an opportunity as any...

    "Hey, lady!" she calls out as she walks closer, holding up a smartphone. "Want me to call the cops or just an ambulance?"

Colleen Wing has posed:
Colleen is impressed by Janet without even turning around. "You can smell that from here?" She takes another swig of the aforementioned sake from her hip flask.

The thug takes out a gun at the challenge from Colleen and Janet. One of his buddies draws a pistol and points it at Janet but then he sees who he's pointing it at, drops it, and starts to make a run for it. The other two lift up their shirts showing off their pieces without drawing them.

Colleen hears the click of the gun's hammer and replies to Natasha, "Ambulances I suppose..." She says with a sigh and to her would be attacker she says, "So. You want my stuff, but you're willing to shoot me in the back of the head in front of witnesses with phones? Buddy you haven't thought this throat have you."

"I find it hard to believe you'd shoot me over twenty bucks. If I even have that. Everyone uses tap cards these days - cash is going to be a thing of the past."

She smirks and flicks a stone out across the lake, "Also you kinda missed the clues." She turns around slowly until the gun is pointed at her forehead. "Behind you is an Avenger and I'm a Defender. So I dare you. Pull the trigger. If you think you've got what it takes." His hand is starting to shake already. But clearly Colleen is in a -mood- and not just from the alcohol.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"It's rice wine, the smell is pretty distinctive," Janet informs Colleen. She eyes Natasha once, figures her to not be an immediate threat, then focuses back on Colleen and her interloper. "And you're drinking it out of a flask, which means you're not a yuppy faker flashing an import bottle for status point. And--" she glances at her phone-- "--anyone drinking at *this* hour is a professional drinker, not one of those filthy casuals who starts sipping champagne at lunch."

It's at that moment that Janet's wholly nondescript, very unforgettable bodyguard ghosts up from the gunman's blindspot and punches him in the temple with a left hook. He throws the punch like an expert, full force and well-aimed. How the man snuck over there without getting anyone's attention is a trick in and of itself-- there's stealthy, and then there's being just shy of invisible.

Janet's left hand comes up at the two men standing, and bioplasma crackles on her fingertips. "Thank you, Arthur, such a dear. Now you two might consider running, before I give you both a case of third-degree plasma burns. You'll fit right in at the local burn ward."

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    Inwardly, Natasha finds herself impressed and concerned both. That takes a lot of nerve regardless of circumstances, but at the same time the disregard for her own health is a bit worrying. Still, this is neither the time nor the place, and she'd be unlikely to want to talk about it with a stranger in any event.

    Jenny holds her position with her phone up, obviously recording the entire altercation. "Hashtag suicide-by-hero. Should do some numbers over on DingDong..." she suggests, loud enough for the others to hear.

    Her eyes remain on the scene before her, apparently unaware of Arthur until he clocks the gunman. "Ooh, that's gonna leave a mark..." she adds, almost to herself but still well audible.

Colleen Wing has posed:
The disappointment flashes acrosses Colleen's face for just the briefest of moments. It's possible she wanted to throw down. She opens her left hand and a small collection of stones drops out on to the ground.

"I have professional level feelings about my upcoming flight back to Japan. Does that count?," she asks Janet. The flask is put away though and she starts checking the thugs pockets. Wallet is removed, ID checked, then the wallet tosses on to his unconscious back.

"Hm," is all she says to that. Whatever she was expecting to find she didn't and perhaps that's a good thing. "Besides, I have colleagues who are professional drinkers and they can drink me under the table without breaking a sweat." Jessica Jones.

The other two thugs take the offer of clemency and run off together down the path to catch up with the other guy. Colleen picks up the abandoned guns and disassembles them.

"Hey aren't you the wasp?," she says and motions for Natasha to put her camera on the Avenger instead of her. "Thanks for coming to my rescue."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"The one and only," Janet confirms for Colleen. She watches the two runners take off without much concern, and dismisses the bioplasma flickering at her fingertips once they're out of range.

"Morons," she mutters. Arthur's taken the initiative and is tying the unconscious crook down in some interesting knots using laces and draw strings, with a surprising efficiency given his nondescript nature. "I'll call them in, miss Janet," he bids his employer, and nods reassuringly at Colleen and Natasha.

"If you're who you think I are, then yes, you're in good company," Janet tells Colleen. "It's Wing, right? I've hired Ms. Jones a time or two. She can keep up decently."

Janet focuses on Natasha with a laserlike intensity-- quite the opposite of what one might expect from a bougie socialite. "You, I can't quite put a name to the face," she informs the detective.

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    "Jenny" keeps tracking the fleeing thugs until they're out of sight, then lets out a relieved breath before turning back to Colleen and turning her phone around, letting her see the crack running across the otherwise dark front.

    "... I was planning to go have it repaired after my morning run," she admits with a slightly sheepish smile.

    She flushes just a little under Janet's sudden attention - the girl is clearly not used to being acknowledged by the high and mighty - but she rallies enough to remember manners.

    "Jenny Schatten, ma'am," she replies, holding out her hand until she realizes she's still holding her phone, then pulling it back and offering a wave with her left hand instead. "I'm with the capoeira troupe that practices in the park when the weather's good."

    She turns back to Colleen. "Hey, wait, I've heard of you. You teach at that dojo, right? Chaka-something?"

Colleen Wing has posed:
A nod from Colleen in response to her name, "Call me Colleen." She smiles though, it's nice to be known by someone as famous as Janet. She contemplates for a moment why that is.. perhaps it's because the average person can't comprehend how dangerous the job of Defending is.

Colleen looks a little amused at Jenny's broken phone, "Clever ploy. I think it worked. I don't think they were too eager to be on the news." She lifts a shoulder and slides her flask away in to her clothes. "Chikara Dojo. Burned down, rebuilt, better than ever."

She looks between the two of them, "You're both welcome to come visit any time you'd like - though I'm not always teaching, I am usually around." She looks down at the unconscious man. Whoever he was, he wasn't who Colleen had hoped he'd be. But you can't always catch the fish when you go fishing.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet exchanges a look with Arthur, and tilts her head towards the path. "C'mon, let's move up a ways, I don't want to end up giving statements to the cops for hours. Arthur will handle it," she assures the women-- and without really waiting for assent, walks briskly towards a picnic table around a hedge. She squints at the surface and grimaces, electing to sit on one of the concrete ledges without making contact with the tabletop itself. Her posture couldn't be more correct if she were sitting for a photograph, knee slicing over the other smoothly and her fingers interlaced on top of a thigh. She twists at the hip to face the other two women as they settle down in turn.

"Chikara Dojo," Janet repeats, addressing Colleen. "What style do you teach? I've had a lot of judo and some mixed martial arts stuff," she explains. "But my last tutor turned out to be a total asshole and after we broke up I let my training slide a bit. I could stand to get in there and mix it up a bit, knock some rust off."

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    "Might take you up on that," Jenny replies to Colleen. "Capoeira's fun but it's hard to get a full troupe to come out in the winter."

    She looks a bit askance at Janet's suggestion - clearly not exactly accustomed to the cavalier "laws apply to other people, not us" attitude - but it's hard to object in the face of Janet's absolute confidence that things will go her way. She sits down comfortably enough - those wouldn't be the first dirt stains on her jogging pants, and they certainly won't be the last - and listens as Janet talks.

Colleen Wing has posed:
Colleen takes a seat and breathes in the morning air. She glances casually at her wrist watch but her expression suggests she has plenty of time. "Oh, don't worry. As it was .. Arthur? .. who did the violence, none of us are legally required to stick around and provide witness statements."

She appears to have been in this situation plenty of times. Also, Daredevil is a lawyer and sometimes his random factoids about how the law works rubs off on her. "Though we may get summonsed to appear in court as eye witnesses if their stories don't match. That's pretty rare these days - unless they have a very high paid lawyer who doesn't mind wasting the courts time."

She nods though at the statement about winter. "In Japan, on the coldest days we'd train outside. On the hottest days too. Extreme training, pushing yourself when the environment is its most hardest. A rare opportunity that only comes a handful of times throughout the year."

She reassures though, "But I don't ask my students to do that unless they want to. This is America after all." She then lists off what she teaches to Janet, "Karate, Kempo, Jujutsu, Kenjutsu, and the other instructors do Kung Fu, Judo, sometimes there's a guy who comes in to teach some Aikido. It's worthwhile mixing things up - so long as my students return to their core training."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Bean soup approach," Janet says, and her lips curl up to take any sting out of the dismissive-sounding summary. "I like it. I'm a little too small to be comfortable trying to throw punches, but I can toss guys around like no one's business. Translates well to my weekend gig with the Avengers," she clarifies. "I'll come by some time and see if it's a good fit," she promises Colleen.

That said, she looks back at Jenny and uplifts her chin at her subtly to redirect the conversation. "So. Jenny Schatten. Capoeira in the park. You have a day job, or are you one of those unenviables who is stuck looking for ways to fill the hours?" It's hard to tell if Janet disapproves of idle luxury or not; from her social media one might think that the socialite lives abroad and at the club, but she has the mien of someone who regularly lives and eats at her work desk.

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    Jenny shrugs, unrepentant. "Capoeira's not really about enduring hardships to become a stronger fighter," she replies. "Considering where it got its start, the original practitioners had plenty of hardships to deal with outside of it I guess..."

    She trails off, then shrugs again. "But yeah. It's fun and it keeps me in decent shape, but I guess you could say it lacks focus and discipline compared to more 'serious' martial arts."

    She turns to Janet at the question. "College fund," she replies smoothly, the girasol ring on her left hand glinting in the sun as she reaches up to brush a few stray hairs out of her face. "Not exactly the lap of luxury, but it covers a student apartment and enough to get by. Side gig couriering for a bit of spending money. It's not too bad."

Colleen Wing has posed:
Colleen shrugs her shoulders and smiles, "Serious martial arts. That's for people who are threatened with life and limb. Everything else is just sport. Most martial arts is an exercise in the mind and the body and that gives us a nice feeling once we're done practicing. Sure, some of it can be used for violence - but we live in a world with guns and superpowers. Throwing a punch isn't going to save someones life unless you're the Ironfist."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet lets a chuckle slip her lips. "Even Captain America hits the gym and works the bag," she says, and one would be hard pressed to detect the subtle change in tone in her voice when she drops that notable's name. "It's not like I can go around using my powers at 110% all day, ever day. I don't *like* hitting people with my hands," she admits, "but there's a time and place."

She gets to her feet then, nodding at her assistant as he subtly gives her the wave-off while speaking to a few cops just around the brush. "Looks like he's got the situation under control," Janet says, and carefully brushes the back of her pants off before twisting to look for any stains or detritus clinging to her posterior. "Which means I need to get back to the office. Colleen, Jenny, it was nice to meet you both," she bids them. "I hope your day is less exciting than this morning was."

Natasha Cranston has posed:
    If Jenny noticed the shift, she's not commenting on it. "Nobody sane likes hurting people, but sometimes you just gotta throw down, I guess?" she asks.

    She turns to Colleen. "I need to go and get my phone fixed, but what hours do you teach? I think I'll drop by maybe later today if I can..."

Colleen Wing has posed:
Colleen lists off the various class slots they have and what they teach and when. It's a meager living but it's enough to keep her going. Except when there's big expenses like rebuilding the dojo after the Hand burns it to the ground - but for those times she has Danny.

She rises up and says, "Janet. Jenny. Let's go keep the streets safe." She starts to walk away from them both and then realises just how corny that good bye was. Then she doubly-remembers she has to fly to Japan and face the music. Sigh, and the distraction had been so great.