18083/Richer and Richards

Richer and Richards
Date of Scene:	27 May 2024
Location:	Mountain Spa
Synopsis:	Susan Richards struggles against the corruptive influence of Malice which has poisoned her for a long time. Emma Frost helps her purge the darkness within. Now.. Now there is the trauma.
Cast of Characters:	Emma Frost, Susan Richards

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Emma Frost has posed:
She had been surprised when Susan had asked to meet her. Even moreso when it came to somewhere out of the way and isolated. Somewhere that wasn't considered personally secure, like Emma's penthouse or even the Baxter Building. So, Emma had gone to set it up, amused in her own sort of way and interested. But also having given her own trump card an alert just in case she needed it if something had gone truly wrong. Just because she was intrigued didn't mean that something bad would happen. After all, she had seen what the darker aspects of the Club could do to scheme.

So, if this was some sort of game by Selene, then she would sit ready just in case she had to call someone down. She was in her spa, along with SUsan, out in the mountains.

Susan Richards has posed:
Susan Richards of the HFC isn't quite the same as this Susan Richards. She is in form and function, but approach and consideration, no. She's not undressed, enjoying the warm waters of the spa. She's not sipping decadently on a glass of wine, wondering what the 'little people' are doing, or rather, not caring what the 'little people' are doing.

She //feels// different, but very much the same.

Instead, she's in a spring outfit, a sweater behind her, blonde hair pulled up into a pony tail, and she's poking about the grapes and cheese on the platter. Even the spring water, with its bubbles, is untouched for the moment.

With the pleasantries, the friendly conversations of 'how are you?' and 'anything new', it's Susan's fault if the conversation falters a little. She's troubled, her mind a mix of, as Freud used to designate it, 'id' and 'ego'. The 'I want' versus the 'I should'. And even then, is it the 'I' that 'wants' or...?

"Emma," finally Susan begins again, "I really need to talk to someone. To you. To a sounding board, and maybe you can help me. I.." and she pauses, sitting back in her seat, her breath pulled in, then out again audibly. "I don't have anyone else to talk to." A momentary hesitation passes, and then she's back, "I don't recognize myself. At all."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma is rather curious behind everything, even as she goes to rest her hands over on her lap. She goes to exchange the normal pleasantries about family, business, and all those sorts of things. And then as Susan goes to slowly trail off, Emma goes to gesture at her to go along. She doesn't try to read the blonde's mind - that would be extremely rude and she has no guarantees of success.

Also, Susan is the wife of the smartest man on the planet and her family is also protected by possibly the most dangerous man on the planet. Any action against them will end in ays that she doesn't want to imagine. So, as she rests her chin on her palm, she listens.

"What do you mean?" She would ask quietly. "And I'll do wahtever I can to help. Just tell me what you feel."

Susan Richards has posed:
"Not right."

Sue launches into that 'how do you feel' quickly, the words coming from her in a rapid response. As if apologetic for the delivery, she shakes her head, and actually does, saying, "Really, I'm sorry. But I don't feel right. Reed came to the Club, and it was strange. Like, an out of body experience." Sue shakes her head and looks to her friend, searching her face, "Like, someone else was there. And he was so.. sweet." Reed Richards, sweet?

A breath escapes with a soft hiss, and leans an elbow on the table, the food platter completely ignored now, at least for the moment. "And for a second, it was like .. boom, clarity." She uses her hands, her fingers in a little *explodey* gesture before she lowers them again. "I don't know what I am, what I'm doing, or where I'm going. I just know that it isn't me. All that.." and her hands are up again, now underscoring her words, "I thought it was, and it seemed so very logical, the path I was on. It made //sense//. But then, to stop and look where it's brought me?"

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would quirk her brow, "So you're saying that when your husband came to the club, you felt different? That you were disassociated over from it?" Emma hasn't spent much time with Reed. The man's reputation lends itself to so many stories and exaggerations that Emma doesn't particularly feel like she has an impression of him.

"You feel different and wrong? Something from the Club and it's surroundings or in general?" She would fold her hands together. "I need you to be very specific here of what you -feel- and what has made you realize it. I need this information and likely your permission to go into your head."

Susan Richards has posed:
Susan nods. "Like," she begins slowly. Of course no one truly knows Reed the way she does. She's been married to the man for what is probably decades; they've fallen into a very comfortable life together. Like a true power couple, they make up for each others' weaknesses with lending their own strengths, creating a tighter bond. And that's not to mention //family//. "... you ever just //feel// good. Waking up one day and saying 'damn, I'm going to step out, laugh with the girls, walk on the boardwalk and get men's attentions because I just //feel// that amazing'?" Perhaps she can hear herself talking, and she shakes her head, a laugh sounding, her hand rising to dispell the next, "It's not a mid-life crisis, I swear." Or maybe it is?

"I just feel like that little devil on my shoulder is a whole lot louder than the angel. And looking back, I don't like the path it led me on, even if it seemed so very logical to begin with."

Specifics, though? Susan falls quiet before, "Becoming the White Queen. How do I reconcile that with everything I have, everything I made? Leaving Reed, only to have him wake up in the morning, and I'm not there? Not being //there// for my children because of.. everything else. I know I want my life, Emma. I need it back, but there is that bit there that is so very strong that is telling me that it's boring, that there is more, and leave everything behind.

"I don't want to. I hate that.. everything about that."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would frown over and tap at her chin and take a breath, "All right. First of all, the Club has ways of doing things to people. It's insidious. They have thier methods. And you're not going to be abandoning your husband or your family of your own will or initiative. You love them and they love you." So first order of business, assuring Susan that yes, something is wrong. Even as Emma schools her face to be completely sincere in appearance.

She's very good at faking things. First, reassure Sue and give up a possible explanation. Relax her. Then make sure that she won't take this as a reason to go to war with the club over things.

"I'm going to need permissiont o go into your mind and look at things. If you are being manipulated.. I will have to go in to confirm it, and to do so very deeply. It will likely be very invasive."

Susan Richards has posed:
Again, Sue nods, her ponytail bobbing gently behind her. She understands all that is laid before her. "I'm not mad at the HFC. I'm not. I'm.." Pausing for the few heartbeats it takes to get her jumbled thoughts into line, she finally continues, "It's like a drug. It //feels// good for the moment. You miss that high, that rush from feeling beautiful, desired, and not having anything to hold you back from what you want." Her words fall silent before she picks them up again, "I'm afraid of it at times. Like now, because it's not me."

Just the mention of a mind-wander and invasion, however, has the woman sitting up, her expression changing, her features hardening as if a decision is made there and then, suddenly, and it doesn't look anything like the person only seconds ago.

"No, then I don't think so. If that's what it means, I'll just keep going." Even her words sound harsher coming from that same woman who only moments before began asking for help. For guidance.

Emma Frost has posed:
This level of disassociation does catch Emma by surprise - but it's hardly something new for her. "And whom then am I speaking to?" She would gesture over at Susan. First things first, establish a level of communication wtih whatever is going on. Or whomever.

There are changes in body language, posture, and tone of voice. She's speaking to someone else - or at least some level of other persona within the woman. First, establish some ground level contact. Then.. Then if she has to, escalate things.

Susan Richards has posed:
Sue rises from her seat, the action sinuously graceful. Her expression remains closed now, unwilling to speak further on the matter. Not until, of course, she begins to be questioned. Then, her features harden just a little more, as if angry at being 'found out'.

Doesn't this work? It had before! They'd gone to a spa together with Janet, they'd spent time in the HFC over chess, and once splitting up, she's taken her pleasure on one of the myriad of floors. An attempt, then, is made,

"Don't you know me, Emma? I'm still Susan. You know. I just don't want you," and she points at her head even as she moves to lean against a wall. "I'm okay. I think this little chat helped."

Talia al Ghul (770) has posed:
Emma would muse, "All right then, Susan." Emma goes to then move to take the pair to the astral plane. Then she morphs everything into reality. Matching the scene, matching the sensory sensations, making everything seem perfect, just over akin to reality. Only the extremely observant would hopefully be able to notice anything amiss. And on the astral, everything was under Emma's control. She was one of the most powerful and skilled telepaths on the planet.. Theoretically.

"Still Susan? And yet you're not clearly. Do you take me for an idiot like much of the planet does your brother?" First tactic. Bait.

See if 'Susan' laughs and agrees or gets defensive.

Susan Richards has posed:
Susan isn't a creature of magic; she can't feel, can't sense magical shifts. Malice, however, puts a hand out as if to steady herself. Perhaps it's not a concious action, but it's there all the same.

"Emma, you //know// me." She's using those moments of subtle hedonism, those times spent in the HFC, even if it was over chess. And the spa where being normal was disparaged.

"And my brother is an idiot." The words are a finality. "I just wish he would just grow up already. Seriously. Even my own kids are more responsible."

Talia al Ghul (770) has posed:
Emma Frost would muse, idly, "And you're saying that your children are more responsible? Family is family, Susan. They're our's. So, please, don't presume me to be an idiot and do tell me why you came to me so desperately and are now so ready to go." Everything seems real - Emma goes to then try and nudge that little bit of Susan's mind that might have percpetion that something is off here to be quiet.

If she can, just going to surreptitiously disconnect it. This is reality, she is in control, everything is normal. She is haughty, she is open, she is powerful.

Susan Richards has posed:
There, softly behind there is a glimmer of 'this isn't right'.. and even moreso 'nonono..'. Sue begins that pace, pushing off the wall and shaking her head, suddenly looking like a caged beast.

"Because I realized just how stupid I sounded," she returns quickly. "Forget it." Now, there's that wine on the table, and even with the soft 'I don't want that..' whispered behind those eyes, Sue deliberately lifts the glass and tilts it towards Emma in a toast.

"Midlife crisis is all. Reed understands that." He doesn't understand. He doesn't understand what happened to //them//, and neither did she. Does she.

Perhaps now it becomes a little more evident?

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would raise her own glass over, even as within the realm she goes to do another few things. First, she shuts off those parts of Susan in the astral that would let her display her powers. Sue won't know it, but within this realm Emma is in complete control of everything. In complete control of reality.

"Except you just said he doesn't. If you're going to lie, at least make it believable. So, Mrs. Richards.. Stop playing the fool unless you actually are one, in which case I'll grant your brother a vastly superior intellect."

Susan Richards has posed:
It's a good move, turning Sue's powers off because they are formidable; particularly in the hands of someone with a great deal of experience in their use. From the smallest bit of power to the largest where her energy fields can lift cars and the like, she is quite skilled. Couple that with her invisibility?

Attacks can come from any direction.

"I didn't say anything of the sort," Sue counters harshly. The wine is upended, and she swallows it quickly in rapid succession until empty. Setting it back onto the table, she swipes a hand, gesturing as if she fully expected the table to fly behind her, and begins to walk towards what she believes is the door. Only, nothing happens. There's no familiar pressure against her hand, no familiar sound of a table being upended or slammed against a wall.

Nothing.

There's that hesitation; a brief moment where any would immediately gain an upper hand. There's the opening.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would sit back and take a drink of her own wine, "Susan, darling, don't lie to me. I'm a telepath, I know everything." A challenge over to see whether the woman would respond in fear or challenge. Emma would transform the goblet of wine over to something of tea in a casual display of power.

"You are nothing to me here. Now, please be honest with me. What are you now since clearly you've decided to act like a blonde. Shall I reduce you to more than the barbie doll you already have made yourself out as of late?" Seeing whether the woman would quake in fear, arrogance, or challenge.

Susan Richards has posed:
Puzzled. That's the main expression, then, that is on her face. Her power, her ability, that cosmic-granted skill isn't working. How? Why not?

Wheeling onto Emma now, her eyes narrow. "You wouldn't. I'm your //friend// Emma. I'm one of the few that doesn't see you as an 'it', some creature that couldn't possibly begin to be even vaguely human." Though to be fair, no one knows she's there, and there's nothing on a trail that would lead anyone here should something happen.

<<'No, no.. I didn't.. no. It's not me..'>> sits there in the background, subsumed by this other.. personality?

Emma Frost has posed:
And that is what Emma gets. It is not her. A connection is made between Emma and Sue's subconscious. Which is likely very repressed here as the parts of Sue that is unfettered emotion, aggression is out. So the woman's ego is in dominance. "Me as an it, darling? Oh, how lovely it is to see something so foolish. Now tell me, what are you."

Not a question. A demand. Emma's irritability rises now where she simply -pushes-.

And into that snippet of Susan's mind a response is forced from. Emma is vicious now.

Time to set the standards. "Darling, this is my world. And you are an ANT."

Susan Richards has posed:
Darkness. Anger. Decadence. What one would call 'the dark side' where anything and everything goes without remorse, without regret. That includes murder, adultery, and whatever else might have sounded good at the time. Like hypnosis, the agreeing to go along has to sound reasonable- logical. And then it only escalates into something that is untenable to any normal human being, but makes an amazing leash with which to control the 'normal' her.

The true Sue.

Malice. It's the best word, the best form, the best description for that which resides there. The Mistress of Hate personified, as it were, and she's shielded within one of the Fantastic Four. Mother of two, wife of one of the most intelligent men on Earth. Malice plays the long game, only something happened to put a chink in that armor, a block out of place in that wall.

That thing? Reed's love for her. He'd left his lab to come find her.

He. Left. His. Lab.

Emma Frost has posed:
The man loves her. As a husband can to a wife. A soulmate to a soulmate. To their other half. They complete one another in a way that no one else can. That no one else can ever touch. Emma goes to play up this love. Takes it out and makes it searing, flashing it in the face of Malice like one might ward off a demon with a symbol of power.

"Now, Malice, is it?" Binding Malice in those psychic sensations of love, anchoring her in a circle, bars of the cage snapping to reality with mental energy.

"Where did you come from and what have you /done/ to her? Each and every bit. Each and every thing."

Susan Richards has posed:
It was that love that Susan felt that had her begin to question everything along the way. She was aware of it all, though couldn't stop. She railed against, each time saying 'this is wrong, don't do it' even as her hands are dirtied with what she (and most of civil society) would see as //wrong//. Wrong for her.

Malice begins pacing again, and finds that she simply can't move anywhere near as far as she had before. Her range area is greatly reduced and she only reacts like a caged tiger. Again, she attempts to use that ability granted to the form and figure of Sue, only to have it fail. Her hand shoots out, and she fully expects to feel the backpressure, but nothing. There's nothing.

For telepaths, when they ask a question, even if they //don't// delve deeply, there is that first answer as they consider the inquiry. With Emma's digging, there is the beginning- the murder of a pedophile in the HFC at the encouragement of Sebastian Shaw. It sounded so logical; after all, recidivism is near 100% when on that Tier. And prison is barely a punishment. Then, to consummating that relationship. Thus, the White Queen was born.

The pleasures; there's a little more digging as the inner Susan sees that which has been done with her hands. With her own powers.. and Emma can see 'the real Sue' recoil in the memories while Malice revels in them.

Emma Frost has posed:
So Sebastian was merely the one nudging things. The actions.. Well, Emma is the last to judge them after all. And everything is done since is Malice. Revelling in the guilt, the freedom, the denial.. Emma goes to purse her lips over then and just watches.

"You are something of nothingness. Patheticness. Taking advantage of the weakness of others." All ti takes is one small crack to open up guilt. Guilt to weakness, then justification. Then buildup. Whatever Malice's origin, she is not simply a manifestation of Sue's trauma. She is something far, far else. Another presona.

"Susan, this is not your fault." Emma goes smoothly and relaxingly. She'll deal with the emotional trauma later as she watches the transformation of the 'White Queen', of Malice.

THen, Emma starts to grow. Grow.. Grow. In the cage, Malice shrinks down in her fist. The size of a woman in the hands of King Kong.

"What other things have you done?" And in Malice's persona, Emma goes to blast on fear. Terror. Awareness of how LITTLE she is.

Susan Richards has posed:
For Sue, the //real// Sue, it'll take a fair bit. At least she's got the support of family, of her true friends. Love. Much love.

As Emma grows, there is absolutely that fear that flows from Malice. Terror. That, and hatred. Anger that comes out, and as she reaches out to physically attack Emma, it becomes almost comedic that she grows, and Sue is tiny. A small creature held in Emma's hand.

And there, within, Susan can hear the softly spoken words, and it's a strange mind; one part is filled with, well.. hatred and Malice while the other holds trust.

What else has she done? "If what I have done gets out, she will be the laughing stock. She will lose all, and there will be nothing left for her. Nothing. No family, no friends.. no money. No power. No prestige.

"Nothing."

<<Reed loves me.. he misses me. He //said// so.>> Susan is finding her own 'voice' even as Malice begins to lose her grip, her hold.

Over love? Redemption?

Emma Frost has posed:
This is love. True love. Soulmates. The likes of which only a rare few in the world are. The rare few in any world are, of the countless quadrillions, quintillions of beings there are in a hundred million places which have life throughout the universe. WIth all the pain and happiness that comes with it.

Thatmakes the bars of the cage tighten more, crushing, even as Emma's fist goes to clench, joined by Sue's as Malice is crushed.

"Remember.. Pain and screams are music to my ears. Now scream for me." And Emma's own sadistic rage bubbles over as what was between her fist and Sue's was crushed to nothingness, psionic atoms scattered throughout reality and unmade.

Susan Richards has posed:
It is love. That which saves her. It threw a lifeline to her, found a place where that armor was at its weakest, and rescued her from her own prison. With the help and recognition of a woman who has a heart of a diamond, not the other way around. Ever.

As the walls begin to fold in around Malice, figuratively as wall a almost literally, there is the screech of anger, of terror and then pain as that which had been her is crushed into nothingness, the particles floating in the air harmlessly as it returns to the aether.

Susan, for her part, also screams as that part of her, that which took up residence is wrested from her with such violence that she falls, stricken. She's breathing, however, and with a little bit of rest, will recover, though a little shakily...

Freed?

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost goes to let out a sigh as she moves to ease Susan back to reality, easing her back to lean on the spa bed and start to telepathically lessen the spasms of her body. "You're safe, darling. She's gone." For now, at least. Emma still isn't sure /what/ Malice was. Corrupted, horrible.. But more than Sue's fears brought to reality. Something else..

Emma's too much of a pragmatist to think that she could destroy such a thing. Remove it, hopefully. Eliminate it.. If only she could be so lucky.

"You need to rest, darling. If you wish you can spend the night here but I think at the side of your family would be better."