14653/DaffoDAYUM

DaffoDAYUM
Date of Scene:	11 April 2023
Location:	Black River Forest
Synopsis:	Scott tries growing daffodils, instead of luring in bees gets assassins.
Cast of Characters:	Scott Lang, Jade Nguyen

---

Scott Lang has posed:
     At least he wasn't trying this in his backyard. He was in enough trouble with the HOA as it was most weeks so Scott had taken a bit of a drive up north to a nature reserve. It wasn't crowded, easy enough to find a path off to a clearing where he seemed to be alone as he pulled a few discs from a pocket and ran a thumb over them.

     "Alright just gotta dial it in," he says to himself as he rotates the center of one of the discs and then looks around for a target. Hank had said the tech always worked a bit wonky on plants but he never said it was DANGEROUS. And Scott was convinced a few oversized flowers in front of his house would be a great idea. Just as soon as he knew he wasn't going to turn them into Jack's beanstalk. He takes a step forward and flicks the calibrated disc at a wild daffodil in front of him. He'd turned the power down low, it should only sprout up to maybe 6 feet tall...but instead as the disc hits there's a tremendous 'WHOMP' of surging power and dirt explodes out as the flower-stalk suddenly expands to loom over most of the trees, the now gigantic flower bobbing back and forth precariously.

     On his back spitting out dirt Scott looks up at the eclipsing daffodil and quietly says, "Oh. That's what he meant..."

Jade Nguyen has posed:
The primary goal of her trip was not daffodils. Saplings, preferably just the right age to allow her to transport them in her side-bag, and which will grow at the same rate as each other. She has a wall to grow along that one side of the fence, and would prefer to have fewer eyes on the yard.

Not that she's stupid enough to practice ninja work out in the open, she just dislikes having company. However, having only found one such sapling Jade is hunched down, inspecting the roots for rot, when she hears that...sound?

"Okay, what absolute moron is doing what this time?" Like other nature lovers, she's quite fiercely protective of the forest. So she stands up and STOMPS toward the sound.

A moment or two later she arrives in Scott's clearing, and stops cold. Then she looks up at the flower. "That is not standard for the genum."

Scott Lang has posed:
     Picking himself up off the ground Scott is busily brushing clods of dirt off himself and out of his hair when the young woman comes into the clearing. He mentally curses to himself for not checking around better, this kind of thing never happened to Natasha, or Clint, or Rogers...Tony would've had some fancy scanner. Scott shakes the thought away and tries something he does know, lying.

     "Oh hey, hey yeah! It's crazy! I saw this thing in the woods and I tried to take a picture with my phone, I'm like 90% sure it was Bigfoot and then POOF. Giant flower. Magic for sure. Nothing uh, nothing to worry about though. Barely, barely newsworthy," Scott rambles with frequent starts and stops. Alright he wasn't a GOOD liar either, he just tried to do it a lot and practice didn't seem to make it any easier. Hurriedly stuffing the remaining Pym discs into his pocket he casts another glance up nervously at the flower which is still swaying more than it should, a slightly ominous sort of creaking sounding from its stalk. It would hold though right? Not like massiving disrupting its root system and making it thousands of times heavier would also make it unstable to stand surely?

Jade Nguyen has posed:
This kind of thing totally happens to Clint. He's not exactly the type to worry about getting caught at his stuff. Whatever his stuff might be.

However. HOWEVER. Never try to con a con artist. Jade looks at Scott, her eyebrow twitching just the tiniest bit upward, and tries to keep her face impassive. Do I want to call him out on that? Hrm.

She watches him pack, with all the stealth and acting skills of a house painter, and sighs. "Fine, fine," she says softly. Then louder, she puts her hands on her hips and says, this time to be heard: "It's not magic. This is clearly a subspecies of Canis Lugidae. It's a sunflower variant, someone must've planted it here weeks ago. I read an article that they grow super fast, that's got to be it."

Give him some rope, see what he does with it.

Scott Lang has posed:
     Scott stares at her incredulously for a few seconds before his eyes light up and he smiles as he claps his hands together. "Right! Yes! That was, that must be it! I think, I mean I fell and whacked my head there so, yea, Bigfoot, that would be crazy!" with a forced laugh to go with, rubbing a hand at the back of his head. OK, everything was fine, he'd just shrink it back in a bit when this woman wasn't here, no harm no foul, she thought everything was perfectly normal.

     And then things were less than fine as the flower leaned forward again towards the pair...and kept leaning. There's the sound of more dirt being upheaved as the shallow roots while also larger were simply not capable of holding up something so heavy. Scott looks back and realizing what's happening turns back in alarm.

     "Look out! FLOWER!" he screams with more panic than anyone else has ever said the word, rushing to try and tackle Jade to the side, fully unaware she's likely more prepared than he is.

Jade Nguyen has posed:
Oh Lord. We're doing this, alright.

Jade looks at the plant, then at the guy who's about to tackle her, and plants an expression on her own face of confusion and stupidity. She gets grabbed, and doesn't fight the tackle. Oh no, oh help. Help. I am in danger.

"Ugh," she grunts as she's knocked to the ground, the plant landing where she'd been standing. She looks up at the guy who's now over her, in that romantic kind of way, and tries desperately not to laugh. But unfortunately a bit of a snicker starts to escape. Well, it is kinda funny after all.

Scott Lang has posed:
     Heroic, that was Scott alright as he shields this poor innocent bystander from perilously prodigious perennials. The stalk wasn't wood of course, bouncing a bit more than a tree might while the massive bell of the flower when it hits unleashes a floral smell that fills the woods for a good quarter mile. God helps anyone with allergies around, a spray of yellow pollen staining part of the woods where it strikes.

     "Right, you're welcome. That...sorry probably didn't need to hit you so hard," Scott apologizes sounding like he's more hurt than she was as he rolls off her and catches his breath, only to squint a bit as he notices her snicker. Only to loose a short laugh of his own a moment later.

     "Alright I guess that is the most ridiculous thing to happen to me in a week. You uh, you didn't really think that was a sunflower or Bigfoot magic did you?" he asks aloud, at last surmising the 'gig is up' so to speak.

Jade Nguyen has posed:
Leaning onto her elbow, Jade looks at Scott as he stammers out words. Which totally isn't how he thinks of it, she's certain. But it is enough to make her smile a bit wider. "Do you?" she asks in return, not entirely committed to the farce anyway and thus willing to let it go. "I don't even remember what fake name I made up in latin. Someting about wolves, I think."

She gets up then and dusts herself off. "Let me guess, this is something that you did and you freaked out when I walked in on it. I don't want to know, so you can relax on that point at least." She really doesn't, her life is complicated enough as it is. Adding in some hero-style chicanery would make it hard to get to work.

She then pulls out her canteen and opens it, drinking water. Then she offers it over to Scott!

Scott Lang has posed:
     Scott glances aside at her as she mentions a fake name. Had she given a name? "Afraid I don't know much Latin. Unless you count Pig Latin. In which case you're Olfway. Sounds more like a drunk Viking though," he shares as he pulls himself to a seated position with a grunt and is left rubbing one elbow that hit the ground during his tackle. "I may have been, experimenting. Nothing danger..." Scott having to stop himself as he looks over at the colossal flower that could have crushed them both. "Well, nothing dangerous outside of the reach of a toppling flower," he amends with a long sigh to follow. Left looking up at her as she stands and drinks, he seems surprised when the canteen is offered his way, but with a taste of dirt still on his lips he accepts, tilting his head back to let the water fall into his mouth rather than put his lips on the spout.

     "Thanks, Scott by the way," he finally introduces after he swallows and moves to hand the canteen back.

Jade Nguyen has posed:
Jade takes back her canteen, but she's frowning when she does it. "Olfway?" she asks, trying to turn that around in her mind. And her mouth. Floway? Yafl? How does that even...

She gives her head a little shake, then says, "Well, Scott, I wish you ten or fifteen types of luck. It looks like you need it." Then...she pauses.

She pats at her side-bag, then frowns more. "My sapling!" She looks for it, dropping to her knees by the tree. Sorry, fallen flower stem. Where she pulls out the crushed sapling, and sighs.

Scott Lang has posed:
     "I really wish you had said 'good' luck cause man I have LOTS of luck already, just not that type," Scott shares, only to frown at her sudden shift. He stands at last to move over to her only to take a knee beside her and grimace at the broken sapling. "Oh, that is, umm...look I'll help you find another one. I mean we're in a forest, I'm sure there's plenty about!" he offers encouragingly, a hand reaching out and hesitating before it finally claps her on the back in a 'there there' type of gesture he normally used to try and cheer up his daughter Cassie.

     His other hand meanwhile reaches out and taps the oversized flower stem. "Maybe better, clean this up first though," he admits, delving back into his jeans pocket to pull out another one of the miniature discs. No need to calibrate this time, the 'reset' setting would do before he simply tosses the disc onto the daffodil, the mammoth flower shrinking back to a slightly bent but normal daffodil laying in a rut it had created. Scott picks it up with two fingers and offers it to Olfway...Jade. "Want one of these too by chance?"

Jade Nguyen has posed:
And it takes Jade all of her inner strength to not toss Scott head over heels when he slaps her on the back, like that. She sighs, stiffening, and actually pauses to let her neck bones pop, before saying, "I'll give it a good home. And Scott?"

She reaches out, taking the flower, and looks him over gently. "Small detail. Plant lovers don't just replace a dead plant. They get annoyed at the loss of life, it's not just something you buy another one of. Not if they actually care about the little guys."

She smiles, knowing that she might not have explained it very well, but she actually does value life. Which is weird, given what she does for a living. But hey, we all have our foibles. Ne?

Scott Lang has posed:
     Scott had thought it a bit strange when he patted this young woman and on the second pat after she stiffened it was like patting a slab of marble. She was, fit to say the least. Actually rubbing his palm a bit after he looses a sigh and nods his head. "Hey I get it, I get upset when some of my ants die...not all of them since, well, there are millions and trying to...you know what it's not important but I get it and I'm sorry. Wasn't trying to destroy anything. Didn't even think this was capable of destroying anything. Still, c'mon, help ya look all the same, least I can do. And cause, well I'm not trying that again," Scott confesses as he stands and offers a hand to Jade to help pull her to her feet so the two might traipse off into the woods together without any bread crumbs.

Jade Nguyen has posed:
"Calm down, Scott. Nobody's mad." Jade smiles, then bumps Scott's hip gently as they walk. "I think I can save this one even, I just need to get it into some water." Then she listens, listening to guys rant is kind of part of the job. And, with a smile, she asks, "So you like ants?"

And that will probably lead to so much, so very much talking. For another time.