16157/Sessions with Nettie

Sessions with Nettie
Date of Scene:	23 October 2023
Location:	The Crowe's Nest
Synopsis:	Billy Kaplan 1. Does not like Tea. 2. Bears the burden of leadership and 3. Is kind of weirded out by Nettie's robotic cat
Cast of Characters:	Nettie Crowe, Billy Kaplan

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Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie's private quarters aren't generally seen by the League at large. In spite of the (sometimes embelished, sometimes entirely made-up) stories she shares with her 'duckies', she seems to be a rather private person.

    However, her livingroom is comfortable and, by all accounts, seems more grandmotherly and proper, like a cottage that should have a fuzzy, fat cat on a windowsill or be visited by an actual milk man.

    This is where Nettie brings out her tea tray, with silvery spider webs and crows etched over bone white china. A pile of finger sandwiches and little tea-cakes. Sugar cubes and tea spoons with roses on them are set, and Nettie takes up her knitting.

    A mechanical cat gives a digital purr, and curls up at Nettie's side, as two birds roost in the bookshelves. Obviously, Nettie Crow is expecting company.

Billy Kaplan has posed:
Billy really has no idea how powerful he is. And that's probably a good thing for him and for everyone else. He just assumes that being able to appear wherever he wants to is a perfectly normal thing for a user of magic. And so there he is all of a sudden with nothing but a slight magical charge in the air to announce his coming.

The young mage is wearing faded blue jeans with a tear in the left knee, an untucked white button-up shirt over which is a light-gray hoodie with New York University emblazoned on the chest in purple. On his feet are his ever-present vintage Doc Martens upon which he has painted dozens of little flowers.

He blinks for a moment in confusion. "Where is my..." Then with a small pop his backpack full of school books appears about three feet to his left and thunks loudly to the floor. He sighs as he pushes one hand back through his long brown hair. "I swear I'm gonna get that right one of these days." Then he smiles warmly. "Hey, Nettie!" No matter what kind of day he's having, he always seems to brighten several notches when he runs into Nettie.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Ah, Mr. Kaplan, how do you do?" Nettie gives a smile as she raises her pale eyes from her knitting, and draws the yarn a little bit. "Coming straight from class, then?" she inquires kindly, setting her needles aside and going to pour him a cup of tea.

    "Sugar, poppet? Cream?" she questions, her eyebrows rising up as she gives a mild look to Billy, and then a nod to his bag.

    "Have you tried binding your bag to you so that it shows up, or do you just hold it in travel?" she inquires.

Billy Kaplan has posed:
Billy really hates tea. He's a coffee man. However, it is Nettie's drink of choice and out of pure respect and affection for her, he always takes it when offered. But the only way he can tolerate it is... "Cream and sugar, please," the fledgeling mage responds. He approaches the receive the cup.

"Bi-bind the bag to me?" Billy inquires with a tone that indicates he has no idea what that even means. "I just, you know, like have it slung over my shoulder. It /usually/ comes with me but, I dunno, in the transition sometimes I lose what I'm carrying. Usually it only happens if I think about what I'm carrying. If I don't think about it, then it just always seems to work correctly." He sighs a little. "I think this time just as I teleported I wondered if I had remembered to put my tablet in my backpack. But hey, at least this time it appeared in the same room as me."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie gives a smile. She might know Billy hates tea and takes a little bit of joy in trolling him. She also might not recall that Billy hates tea and serves it because it's something she considers comfortable. And on the plus side, this isn't something like Nestea, this is a good loose leaf tea.

    "Aye, a binding rune. I work them into my familiars for summoning. Not while they're awake, of course.

    The two crows look down from their perches. Corvax, who seems entirely disinterested, gives a nod "Master Kaplan, lad." he greets the mage. The other one seems less inclined to talk, hiding a little bit amongst Nettie's books.

    "That's progress, though. When I was first working up my circles -- not nearly strong enough to get a body through without some working -- I'd often forget important things. Like clothes." Nettie gives a grin.

Billy Kaplan has posed:
The fledgeling mage sits with his cup of tea. He can't help but snort a little laugh at the thought of Nettie teleporting and forgetting her clothes. He takes a sip of the tea. "Mmmmmm," he lies badly. He's not so good at the lying.

Crossing one leg over the other, Billy nestles back into the seat, cradling the tea on his thigh. He smiles up at Corvax. "Hello, there, Corvax," he replies. And if the other crow wants privacy, Billy seems inclined to give that to it.

"A binding rune..." Billy contemplates. "Does that /do/ anything explicitly? Or just make it easier for me to bring the bag along when I want to?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie's eyebrows rise up. "Not to your liking, Billy? I'm not put out if you want something else." Nettie states, pouring her own cup o tea. No sugar. No cream. Just tea. Black. Hot. And she gives a soft snort.

    "Binds things to you so you can summon them with a word. Corvax and Torny are bound such. As is my besom, my crystal ball. My good deck." she states with a smile as she rolls her shoulder. "Used to have a gathering bag with one on it, but I ended up losing that in a rift. Quite painful since it was attached with metal. The energy arced like electricity and I've got a nasty mark from it."

Billy Kaplan has posed:
Billy just...just starts to laugh. His cheeks pink up. "Oh, gosh, Nettie, do I /hate/ tea. It feels so good just to say it out loud. It tastes like potting soil that was steeped in a truck stop toilet." Catharsis is a wonderful thing. And with a pleased smile on his lips, Billy drinks the rest of the tea in his cup. Why finish the tea? Because fuck tea, that's why. The young spellcaster's eyes twinkle with humor and youthful energy.

"I killed about a dozen Kree recently," he just slips into the conversation all matter-of-factly as he sets the empty tea cup aside. It wouldn't take a psychology expert to tell that he's been holding onto the bomb for a while and it bothers him more than he's letting on.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Well, I could have ordered cappuchinos if it bothered you THAT much." Nettie playfully put out by the description of the taste of tea (and a little hurt, because she tries to serve er friends good quality teas!), and she sets her cup down to duck into her kitchen to get something else for Billy to drink. She could be heard rattling about, and then she leans her head back over.

    "Kree, mm?" she questions a moment.

    "What was the situation, dearheart?"

Billy Kaplan has posed:
Billy stands up and stuffs his hands into his front pants pockets. "They appeared in the Young Avengers base. They were there to abduct me." The mage walks over to a shelf and starts to visually examine whatever interesting items may be on display there.

"It might have...might have been my fault that it happened." He nervously paces to another part of the room to examine something or other else. Then his voice drops to a whisper. "I put my friends in danger."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "'It may be' or 'it is'. It sounds like you're not sure of either." Nettie comments quietly from her kitchen. "What was the occasion?" she asks. There's a rattle. a Hiss.

    Nettie's shelves are full of trinkets, bits and bobs that remind her of her past 'lives'. Nettie with a couple of different punk rockers. A little photograph of a poster for a band called Mucous Membrane with some blokes standing in front of it looking quite cross with the world. An older photograph of Nettie standing with a very tall woman -- they're both wearing kimono and hakama and geta, and there's a sign with Japanese on it behind them. And the BOOKS.

    Books hand-scribed with leather covers and bindings that smell like lavender and vanilla and old leather. Mahogany-colored paper. Thin tomes with dates on them. Books with German and Italian and Old French titles. A box of scrolls. A small prayer wheel from the Himalayas.

     A jar of eyeballs.

    They look like eyeballs.

Billy Kaplan has posed:
Of all of Nettie's treasures, it is the books that Billy finds most alluring. He lingers long at those shelves, drinking in the titles and the material of the bindings, but never touching. It isn't fear that stops him from doing so; Billy fears so little in these trying times. It is respect. He stands within the sanctum of the one person whose approval he craves the most, even above that of his parents and kid brothers, all of whom he loves with all his heart.

"There is a member of the Young Avengers," Billy says as he returns to the chair upon which he was sitting. "I'll be vague because his story is his to tell, not mine. But I know things about him. Things that even he doesn't realize I know about him, despite the fact that we've been friends since high school. I saw a vision of a group of rogue Kree that were hunting him. So I altered their intelligence so they thought they were hunting me instead." He shakes his head. "I was an idiot, obviously, I didn't think it through. I put my friend's welfare ahead of my own, and since I am in a leadership position in the Young Avengers then by proxy I put my friend's welfare above theirs, too." Billy crosses one leg over the other. "Now I'm in over my head and blood has been spilled and friends have been put in harm's way. Because I'm so fucking selfish."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Leadership *is* a very difficult role to play -- and a heavy mantle to bare." Nettie replies from the kitchen, and she returns with a tray.

    There's coffee! Fresh, drip coffee, and a couple of chocolate cookies. She sets the tray to the side of her coffee table that Kaplan had been sitting at, and resumes her own seat, taking up her knitting again.

    The Mechanical Cat, Elizabeth, gives a metallic 'miiiaw' and goes to rub against Billy's shins.

    Nettie considers her words a moment.

    "You were faced with a difficult decision, following information from the aether. Did you tell your friend about the vision, and how you changed the path?"

Billy Kaplan has posed:
"Thank you," Billy says sincerely when Nettie brings out coffee. He pours himself a cup -- hot and black -- and inhales the aroma before taking a drink. Now /that/ is a beverage that Billy loves.

When Elizabeth rubs up against his shins, the fledgeling mage looks down with a bit of confusion on his face. He is unsure if one is supposed to pet a mechanical cat. Billy tentatively reaches down and strokes his palm along the mechanical creature's body. "Good...good kitty?" This is new ground for him.

Then Nettie confronts him with the question as to whether or not he has told Teddy about what he did.

"Gods, no," the spellcaster blurts out, eyes slightly wide. "First, it would put him in a position to know that his deepest secret is in someone else's hands. Second, he would probably be really pissed that I put myself into harm's way on his behalf. He's, uh, sort of a paladin type."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "I know the type." Nettie states dryly, with a click of her needles. "They rush in with their big muscles and self-importance and tend to get themselves hurt or worse. They're handy to have for enemies, though." Nettie replies to Billy as she considers. "That's Elizabeth. She's a gift from a former student of mine." Nettie comments gently. "She started to view me as a romantic partner and not... well. A Dangerous Teacher, I suppose." she explains. The Mecha-Cat hops up to sit beside Billy, and emits a vibrating purr.

    "However, it may be good to let him know about your vision, and the way it may have altered his path. And also your teammates. Depending on how receptive they are to being used, unwittingly, as shields for your friend." Nettie purses her lips. "That's an awful decision to have to make on its own."

Billy Kaplan has posed:
The vibrating purr is soothing and the young mage can't help but rest one hand on the clockwork kitty, petting it like it was a real cat. It's all quite alluring and comforting. He sips the delicious coffee, savoring the small details. A well-made cup of coffee has more flavor notes than a glass of wine -- about three times as many.

The other effect of the purring cat is it causes a sense of relaxation to set in for Billy, which drops his emotional defenses. He's more...suggestible in conversation.

"I have to tell the rest of the team what I did," Billy agrees. "They can't think it was just a random attack. They have to know why they were assaulted. And why I /killed/ a dozen sapient creatures in my anger."

He looks up at Nettie when he says that last bit as though he is /hoping/ she will judge him, as if he /needs/ her to disapprove of what he did.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Killed a dozen sapient people in your fear." she corrects. "You were afraid of losing your friend. You altered their thoughts to hunt you instead, putting yourself in danger. PErhaps without thinking out precisely what the fall out would be. Is it just this dozen, or are there more you have affected? Is your friend's secret safe with these dozen eliminated? How many lives are given for the balance of safety?" she questions, and she raises her eyebrows as she looks back to Billy.

    "I have killed to protect those I love. And those who are innocent of wrong-doing. My hands are not clean, an' I don't pretend that they are. Very few heroic types have never killed." she reflects, and she gives a gentle smile.

    "If you choose to be truthful to your team, expect push back. You may need to earn their forgiveness and their trust again. Others may not ever trust you the same. Or you can leave it be as a random alien attack... which I understand is a thing that happens."