2836/The Winter of Our Discontent

The Winter of Our Discontent
Date of Scene:	08 August 2020
Location:	Copperpot Diner
Synopsis:	Nessa meets with Pandora to get some expert help on dealing with the ice palace situation.
Cast of Characters:	Nessa Donovan, Pandora Peters

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Nessa Donovan has posed:
There are two places Nessa is most at home: somewhere cold and icy, and diners. One tends to be more hospitable for guests than others, so when she had called to arrange a meeting with the WAND agent, it was a diner and not somewhere that would require a jacket. On the other hand, Nessa's not dressed for the summer. While she's taken off the black leather jacket she's gotten used to wearing, she's wearing a long-sleeved shirt and gloves, which she hasn't taken off despite being inside.

Settled at a booth that she's selected in a far corner for privacy's sake, she's already put in an order for tea (the coffee's awful). While she waits, her gaze rests on the TV showing the news, watching carefully as if she's expecting something to pop up and surprise her.

Pandora Peters has posed:
    The old car Pandora was driving yesterday is the one she continues to drive to this day, though it does lurch into a parking spot and argues about being shut off with a grumble and a sputter and finally a pop from the exhaust. Climbing out of the car but leaving the window half way down because it's too hot out, Pandora shuts the door and marches towards the diner entrance.

    The bells jingle as she enters and looks around, giving a flash of her eyebrows as she spots Nessa once again and moves that way. Before she sits down she flags the waitress and orders, "Just a cup of coffee for me." The agent notes, aware of how people are looking at her unusual attire but not caring as she slips into the booth before Nessa and gives her a small kind of smile. "Nice to meet you for real this time." Pandora says as she adjusts her seat to be more comfortable and then laces her fingers before her on the table.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"Meeting for real is nice," Nessa agrees, leaning back against the aging cushions of the booth. "I'm not sure if you were expecting me to actually call, but I thought I should given that I'm assuming you may have access to more resources or sources of information than I am. I know some people, but..." She shrugs, gloved hands also lacing as she sets them on the table in front of her. "I'm no professional when it comes to stopping anything particularly dangerous. This just ended up in my lap."

She tilts her head to the side. "I'm assuming because you were looking at the icebergs that you're doing some poking around about the whole ice palace with all the spooky ice skeletons lurking around it. I have information about that but I want to make it very clear. /I/ did not cause this. I don't want anyone assuming that because my magic is generally ice in nature that somehow I'm bringing this whole thing about. I've got some theories, though."

Pandora Peters has posed:
    "Poking around is a word for it, yes." Pandora says, as she looks up as her cup of coffee is delivered along with a menu that the agent then politely refuses with a shake of her head and a hand signaling 'no'. Hands seperate she reaches out to the mug and holds the handle, turning it around on the saucer before she looks back towards Nessa, "Theories on the giant ice castle in central park are a dime a dozen, I need facts and leads. Not hunches."

    Pandora lifts her cup to take a smell of it without creamers or sugars added just yet, but she looks purposefully towards Nessa, "But that's going to come in time, I'd like to know more about those ice bergs in the ocean, were those yours?"

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Facts and leads she can offer, but Nessa actually seems surprised for a moment as Pandora shows interest in her own actions. She accepts the implements for tea from the waitress, then sets about putting a tea bag in and pouring the hot water. She's surprisingly good at doing it all while wearing gloves. "The icebergs were mine, yes. It was some practice, all of this whole ice palace stuff made me want to perfect control a bit more, in case it came down to something complicated I could help with. A little practice never hurt."

She stares down at her tea as it steeps. "It's a mix of practicing making a good chunk of ice and shaping it, but I'm working on trying to undo the ice. Take the energy back, in a way. It's not exactly something I've practiced a lot or tried, but I've noticed it's kind of something that's becoming necessary and potentially useful. I'd ask someone who knows this stuff a little better but my number one option for that is, well, indisposed."

Pandora Peters has posed:
    A sniff of the coffee confirms Pandora's initial fear. "This coffee is trash." She says, setting it down and reaching across to the pile of fixings near the window side and grabs a handful of creamers and sugars and starts pouring them into the cup. "Interesting way to practice." She says idly as she goes about prepping her drink. "If you don't mind my asking, who's the person you'd like to be learning from?" Pandora asks, her brown eyes ending on Nessa's face as she finishes her question, and pausing there until she gets an answer.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa grins, gesturing at the cup of coffee. "It's why I went for the tea." She removes the teabag, adding a single packet of sugar before she stirs the liquid. "I have a teacher, but he's missing. It's sort of tied into all of this ice palace stuff, which is why it's tricky. My hunches are less someone in the park pointing at the ice palace and making some guess as to where it came from and more that I have knowledge and information I'm basing things on. Maybe worries is more the right word. I'm worried maybe there's something I may have overlooked."

She frowns, setting the spoon down. "I'm not causing this, but I'm caught up in it, like it or not. I'm no Doctor Strange, though, I don't have all the answers, so I'm certainly not going to refuse anyone's offer of help."

Pandora Peters has posed:
    "Hmm." Pandora muses as she puts her third little cuppie of creamer into the mug and then grabs her spoon and starts to stir the mix together briefly before she takes the spoon and tastes her experiment. "Nope." Her eyes remain on Nessa however. "A warning about the coffee should be posted on the door... I'll make sure they know." She muses as she sets her spoon down, lifts her hand over the coffee and lets it sit there catching the steam for a moment.

    "None of us are Doctor Strange, or Doctor Fate, thus we have to work more as a team, than individuals, while yes, alone we witches and such may be strong, there's always strength in numbers." The agent says and then moves her hand away and the coffee is completely different and black once again. "Tell me, how is your mentor or friend tied into this situation?"

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"The first time I met Sorcerer Vega was when he created the ice palace. He offered to teach me. Eventually, though, after a few weeks of it being there, something seemed to corrupt it. A demon or something like that. I saw him there when the ice skeletons first started showing up, rescued another pupil of his. He defeated his enemies, but I had to take the boy to safety so I didn't see what happened to him. He was just gone. I haven't seen him, nor has anyone else, but something in there taunted us with a bit of an illusion of him."

She takes a sip from her mug, then looks down at it. "I don't like to say it, but every time I get more information about this situation, the more I'm not entirely certain he's told anyone the whole story. I don't know if he caused it or not, although he's never shown any signs to me or anyone else that this is the sort of goal he would have in mind. Still, he's involved."

Pandora Peters has posed:
    "Sorcerer Vega you say?" Pandora repeats after listening to the obvious half truths and edits Nessa is speaking of, it seems she wants to protect this Vega man, but why isn't clear nor is his truest intentions. Pandora sets her hand down onto the mug and then ponders. "Sounds sort of familiar but... hmm.. I'll have to look him up back at the base." The wizard notes as she lifts her own mug to mirror Nessa and take a sip of her magically enhanced coffee.

    "Are you unable to enter any longer due to the tainted nature or are there even any locks preventing you?" Pandora asks, seems like a road trip may be in the near future, but Pandora seems to be content to just sit and ask questions, jotting notes down in her mental note pad, or is she cheating and using magical recording devices?

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"Before he disappeared, I asked him if we could just tear the place down, stop it all from happening," Nessa explains before taking another sip of her tea. "He told me it was too dangerous, that something dark had sort of anchored itself there and if we were to destroy it it might explode. Said it was unstable. I would have tried to get more information but there was fighting and there was a kid in there. Sorcerer Vega wanted me to make sure he got out alright."

She sits back, folding her hands in her lap for a moment. "The ice palace is approachable, though it's dangerous. You have to get past the ice creatures, and then whatever's in there is /below/ the palace. Underground. I believe some of the SHIELD agents who were nearby last time we were there were going to look into some information as to what the structure down there might be like. I've been warning people to stay out only because I'm worried what will happen if someone goes in there and tries to just wreck the whole thing before we have a chance to stabilize whatever that unstable thing in there is. There's... not a lot of information. I'm hoping to locate the rest of Vega's students and see if they know anything. If Sorcerer Vega didn't have anything to do with it, there's a chance someone close to him did."

She pauses for a moment. "... now that I think about it, I think he may have known it was coming."

Pandora Peters has posed:
    "That's why we're not going to just march in and blow stuff up." Pandora says matter-of-factly. "No, we're going to be smart about this and not just take everyone at their word. I have to be a sceptic, it's my nature and my job requires that of me." Pandora says with a frown before taking another sip.

    She takes a long pull of her coffee before lowering the rim of her mug but keeps her mouth hidden. "I'll have to find the files from SHIELD if they've been up to date on posting them." Pandora notes before looking at Nessa once more, "Do you think there's more than one entrance into the place?"

Nessa Donovan has posed:
"You can get in through the back, though the ice skeletons sort of have the place surrounded. I was able to sneak out and past them with the kid without any trouble. You have to get in through a window, though, from the second floor if you go that way, or have someone make you some kind of door. As long as the skeletons didn't break it up, there's an ice slide and a slightly altered window. If I was there, I could shift it into stairs instead, or make a door," Nessa gives a bit of a nod, swallowing some of her tea before she smiles wryly.

"I get the skepticism. That's why I'm not discounting Vega myself. I know he knows more than I got out of him the last time I saw him." She looks over to Pandora. "I have a way to contact him, but I'm not sure it'll work and there's only one attempt at it as far as I can tell. So if you or anyone else comes up with anything we need to try and ask him or get out of him... it needs to be prepared before we try." She pauses again. "... and I know you're going to be skeptical of me, too, and that's fine. I just don't want a proverbial witchhunt in my direction solely on the basis of magic use. I already feel like I get looks."

Pandora Peters has posed:
    "Don't worry Nessa, no witchhunts will be coming from my side of the issue, you have my promise on that." The witch says as she sips her coffee again and sets it back down on the saucer, half empty. "Do you think this Vega is trapped in the castle or is he there of his own volition, or is it even more complicated than that?" Pandora asks as she spins the saucer around idly as she asks her question. "I'd like to send a team very soon if I'm able to get more information from the previous expedition that would be even more helpful." Pandora considers this as she looks up to Nessa, "Anything else you feel is vital?"

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa finishes up her tea, glancing at the bottom of her mug before looking back again. "There were things Sorcerer Vega had mentioned over time. Trapping demons in panes of ice was one of them, and when he talked about whatever it was that had latched on to the ice palace, he said he didn't expect it there or today. The way he said it wasn't that he didn't expect it at all but that he didn't expect it right then. So maybe he's been preparing for this. The ice is spreading, but it's going for places where his students have been hiding out, I think they're some sort of places of power. If he set those out to try and protect things, maybe we just need to figure out how to use them to fight this thing back. And because it's spreading? We need to act quickly. Aside from all of the magic spreading, more of those ice skeletons are going to end up terrorizing the public."

Pandora Peters has posed:
    "You're right, on several accounts for sure. We need to act and soon for the sake of the civilians and for the sake of the earth as a whole possibly." Pandora nods, another day at the office, where the earth could be swallowed whole by a giant space squid. Fun times.

    Lifting her mug to take another long and final draw of her coffee she sets the mug down and stretches her neck. "Anything else you think I should know before I go?" Pandora asks as she produces her billclasp from one of the few pouches on her wallet and counts out what she presumes will be enough to cover both of their drinks and the waitresses time while listening to Nessa.

Nessa Donovan has posed:
Nessa shakes her head. "You've got about all I have to give you. I need to visit the other students and find out what they know before I have any more. I'll be in touch if I find out anything from them. They should be willing to talk to me. You have my number now, if you get any futher leads... I'd like to know. I think it'll work best if we all work together. I'm no fan of leaving innocent lives at stake."

Pandora Peters has posed:
    "Same here Nessa, you seem like one of the good ones." Pandora says as she climbs out of the seat and sets down the couple bills, twenty dollars should about cover it, yeah?

    Pandora looks to Nessa one last time, "I'll be in touch and I expect you to be as well, and I'm hoping to call on you when the time comes, it'll be nice to have someone with some inside knowledge and maybe some leverage if we need it." Pandora says before she turns to the waitress and notes the paymet on the table for the two of them and a nice tip, and with that Pandora heads for the door.