2773/Unstopping the Unstoppable Waspette

Unstopping the Unstoppable Waspette
Date of Scene:	04 August 2020
Location:	Pym Residence
Synopsis:	Janet comes by to give Nadia some cheering up, and Nadia decides to dub herself: The Unstoppable Waspette!
Cast of Characters:	Janet van Dyne, Nadia Pym-van Dyne

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Janet van Dyne has posed:
For as vigorous and brilliant as she is, it's easy to forget that Nadia's still a teenager. With all the foibles, stresses, and burdens of adolescence-- combined with a legacy of struggling with mental health disorders.

Janet's not precisely *avoiding* Hank, but it's hard not to form an adversarial front with two adults and one teen in a room. Plus this isn't a 'you need help' intervention. It's a 'I'm bringing help' visit.

So Janet arrives in an Avenger's licensed babydoll tee in navy blue with white lettering, and low-riding jeans paired with wedge sandals. Her jewelry's relatively minimal, palm-sized loops on her ears and matching bracelets with Roman numerals etched into them. When the door opens at her knock, she flashes a smile at Nadia and shifts her purse higher on her shoulder. "Hey kiddo," she says. "I heard you had a rough couple days. Thought maybe you could use a little company," she offers.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia answers the door actually dressed, it is late afternoon but if she doesn't have anywhere to be that can still be a dicey proposition for the sixteen year old. Today she's wearing a pair of black cargo shorts covered in pockets of various shapes and sizes, which knowing a Pym are likely filled with all manner of things. She's also wearing a fitted burgundy T-Shirt with a sparking Tesla Coil on it and a pair of black Chuck Taylors with red ankle socks.

To say this girl has been through the ringer recently is perhaps an understatement, but she seems to be doing okay at the moment.

"Hi Janet!" Nadia greets, before immediately hugging her.

"Do you want a brownie?" Nadia asks, releasing her from the hug. "There are some cooling in the kitchen. I have been experimenting with cooking, the most delicious form of chemistry!"

She steps back out of the doorway so that Janet can enter.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Oof!" Janet's ribs creak but she hugs Nadia back immediately. It's not hard to do; Nadia's just the kind of person who prompts embracing. "Brownies, huh? Makes me feel like I'm back in college."

"Er, forget I said that," Janet says immediately after, and follows Nadia into the house. Her nose wrinkles at the perpetual mess that *is* the Pym method-- made doubly worse with Nadia's contributions to the household decor. "Guess the maid hasn't been in," she mutters under her voice.

"Listen, I heard you had a bit of a crash," Janet tells Nadia. She pulls some notepads and papers off a stool in the kitchen and perches on it. "Two or three high-intensity days in a row will do that to anyone. How're you feeling now?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia leads Janet back towards the kitchen, stepping around the projects in various states of completion that litter the house like a minefield. The kitchen itself is something of a warzone after Nadia's adventures in cooking. Do some of those devices even /belong/ in a kitchen? It's almost like she created the ingredients for these brownies at the molecular level in some ridiculous version of 'from scratch'. But as promised there is indeed a pan of cooling disgustingly rich brownies that Nadia begins cutting into squares with a knife.

When she Janet brings up the state Nadia has been in the past few days she kind of freezes in place for a moment before giving Janet a sunny smile, "Can't stay down forever right? I promised Lorna I would help her restore her people. She's really nice."

She looks down at the brownies for a moment, "I was working really hard on that array project for like a month, I kind of got caught up in it, the challenge of Brainiac's technology, wanting to help those poor people. It all came together and it was so perfect. But then the machine started going out of control, everything started going out of control, the building was shaking and all of the people started coming in through portals trying to steal the technology. I needed to fix the array, but I couldn't get to it to do so, they kept stopping me from fixing it and I got really angry, I guess I went out of control and I hurt those people," she sets down the knife from her brownie cutting. "I hurt them really badly trying to get to the machine." The regret and guilt of it is written all over her face. "Dad says, maybe I inherited the bad parts of his brain too and we're going to get me tested for Bi-Polar disorder."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet accepts the brownie when it's delivered, and casts around for a fork-- or a napkin-- before just resolving that she should attack it head on with her fingertips. All the while attempting to keep her fingernails from getting stained with slightly-melted fudge.

"Oh honey," Janet says sympathetically. "Yeah, I was... a little worried that's what it might have been. I'm not exactly busted up that it was a bunch of bad guys," she concedes, "'cause they had it coming. Sometimes people just need a hurtin' until they get it through their skulls that violence isn't going to get them any traction."

"I'm not exactly a therapist, but I went through this with your dad a few times. If it's something you want to talk about, I mean," she clarifies quickly. "If not, no pressure or anything."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia takes a brownie for herself after giving Janet one. Using one hand to take a bite, she begins stacking the rest on a plate with the other. "It's so strange, it all seems to make sense at the time, so logical, but then I realize what I did and it all feels terrible. When I get like that I feel like a monster, like in the end all I can do is hurt people. I really want to believe that isn't true, that I'm not what they wanted me to be, maybe if I help enough people it won't be true."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Yeah, that's kind of how manic fits go," Janet agrees. "I think one of your dad's shrinks told me once, it's kind of like obsessive-compulsive disorder. Everything seems totally sensible and reasonable in the moment. It's only later that you realize, 'Hey, I haven't slept in 96 hours and I threw a wrench at Tony's head when he interrupted me'."

"But-- and I hate to break it to you-- it doesn't take the Red Room to train someone to hurt people," Janet says. "I've done a lot worse. I've done it in cold blood, too." Her tone is indifferent to those actions. "They may have made you a really effective, really efficient fighter. You might have instincts for fighting back that other people don't. Just realize that 'beating up bad guys' isn't the same territory as hurting your friends. Take this as a learning lesson," she suggests.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia takes a second brownie and pushes the plate towards Janet, nothing like horribly sweet treats when you are down. "Tony probably deserved the wrench." she cracks a bit of a smile, showing cheery Nadia is still in there. For some reason Tony Stark is the only super scientist she refers to that informally, saver perhaps her own father as well.

"Some of them may not walk again.." Nadia starts to say but ultimately decides to let it go. "I just don't want to hurt anyone if it isn't neccessary. I want to help people. Dr. Banner said he believes I can change the world with Science! That's what I want to do! I still haven't had a chance to ask Dad about those things we talked about before, I was going to and then all this happened."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Okay, so-- you don't have to answer, but just consider this:" Janet looks from the brownies up to Nadia. She settles folded elbows on the counter, shoulders rising, and makes eye contact with the girl. "Would you still feel as bad if someone told you it *was* necessary?"

She lets that question hang, then eases back with a shrug. "It's something to talk over with your shrink. Anyway, that's not really why I'm here. I brought you a little something to cheer you up," she says, and digs in her purse. Out comes a little makeup compact. It's set where Nadia can see it.

"If you're going to keep doing this superhero thing, you can't keep running around in something you cobbled together out of your dad's spare parts."

She opens the compact and a mannequin pops up. It's all of two inches tall, clad in red and black. Respirator, facemask, dragonfly wings, and a design that is a nod to the outfits worn by Hank and Janet both in the past.

But so, so much sleeker and more modern.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
After two brownies and talk of hitting Tony in the head with a wrench, Nadia is smiling again. The kid is probably going to be okay. She makes a bit of a face at Janet's question, "I still don't want to hurt them, but if it's necessary I guess it can't be helped." This kid is like the polar opposite of Natasha, she wears her feelings on her sleeve.

She looks at the little compact that Janet pulls out and her expression lights up when it prouces the hologram, "Oooh a hologram, fancy.." she starts to say until her eyes focus on what the hologram actually is, "Oh wow, really? For me, that is so cool! It's all 'fwoosh'" she makes a motion over herself with her hands complete with sound effect to emphasize the sleekness of it, "And my favorite colors! Janet you're the best!"

Nadia jumps off the stool she was sitting on and gives Janet another hug, but she probably saw that coming. "I tinkered a bit and added a few innovations of my own, can we use those too?" She seems excited, genuinely excited, about this.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"I don't know," Janet teases. She hugs Nadia tight and fiddles with the compact. "You're the genius, kid. I'm just the financier." She unfolds the compact and digs out a neatly folded little bundle of red and black. With a touch of her finger, it abruptly expands into a full-sized suit.

"It's your suit now, Nadia," she tells the girl. "You get to make it all yours, however you want. Whatever gear or add-ons you think it needs. That's part of getting into the hero game, honey. You're the only one who can ultimately decide what you need it to do."

A brilliant smile washes over Janet's face. "Have you picked a code-name yet, then?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
And suddenly there it is, that question.

At one point Nadia was dreading that question, because the name she was using was also Janet's. That she had chosen Janet's name was hardly a coincidence when she had been fed all kinds of stories about Ant-Man and The Wasp to try and further her enthusiasm towards reverse engineering their tech for her captors. For many years she had dreamed of being 'Oca' or the Wasp. And yet she had never met Janet and their first encounter left her dreading the possibility of getting punted into the microverse without a respirator.

Much has changed since then and while the question doesn't fill Nadia with dread anymore she has also grown up enough that after thinking about it logically she realizes she can't just take Janet's name. The only problem is that she also hasn't given it much thought otherwise...

"Wasp" she starts to say despite realizing she probably shouldn't.. "ette!" she adds, suddenly remembering what Janet called her, perhaps flippantly, during the mission to rescue Hank from the parallel Earth. "How about Waspette?"

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"I love it!" Janet declares with a clap of her hands. "It's adorable. And I'm totally not biased because it's pulling from the best superhero name ever," she adds. "Waspette. It's cute, and dangerous. Totally you," she bids her. It seems Janet might have forgotten whose idea it was to begin with.

Janet reaches her hands out and gives Nadia's fingers a squeeze. "With an outfit and a codename, that puts you on the books. I'd say something about 'being a real superhero is in your heart' but that's more of a Steve thing. So I'll just tell you I think you're awesome, and you're going to look incredible out there. I never thought I'd want anyone horning in on my brand, but to be honest, I can't think of anyone I'd rather have wearing wings."

"Oh, which reminds me, I've deeded you ten percent of my stock options for the Wasp and Avenger's intellectual property. It only turns around about a million a year, so... whatever that works out to," she says dismissively. "But that means you're invested in the brand, and we've got a mutual interest in keeping our prospects looking positive."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
In a move that will surprise absolutely no one, Nadia wraps Janet in another hug, "I'm glad you like it. I know I said that time I wanted to be you, but you're you, so how can I be you, but when you said then when we were rescuing Dad it just felt right and I was like I don't need to be Wasp, Waspette, yeah that's me!" she babbles happily as she gives Janet another squeeze.

Towards the end though she winds up with a confused look on her face like she is trying to puzzle out exactly what Janet said, "What's a stock option?"

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"I'm not going to be the Wasp forever, honey," Janet tells Nadia. "I mean, there's only one Wasp, and I'm not ready to retire yet. But who knows? I might decide it's time to hang the wings up. The world's still gonna need a Wasp. I can't think of anyone who'd do it better than you."

"Anyway-- enough mushy stuff. You want a lecture about the stock market, I can tell you how investing and dividends work. It means you get a cut of all the Wasp merchandise returns, and some of the overall Avenger's merch stuff. We'll come up with some Waspette stuff that's all yours, too. Get you some seed money for getting a business of your own going."