326/A Lesson Learned

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A Lesson Learned
Date of Scene: 06 March 2020
Location: Manhattan
Synopsis: Songbird learns how not to hurt the wolf spider.
Cast of Characters: Melissa Gold, Leon O'Malley




Melissa Gold has posed:
    Even a superhero on a budget needs to train, which necessitates a training ground. Having a gym she goes to for weight training (though her choice of that gym might raise eyebrows in those who know of her criminal past...), it is an abandoned warehouse that Songbird goes to to agility train and practice her acrobatics and aerobatics. In the dead of night, therefore, from outside, strange sympathetic vibrations from the loosening exterior shell combined with strange pink lights from her wings visible through the broken windows makes clear something strange is going on to anybody who can pass by from the top floor height or thereabouts.
    Oh, and then there's the wall-shaking impact as she misses a turn in her impromptu obstacle course and slams with bone-jarring force into the outside wall, actually denting it outward...

Leon O'Malley has posed:
As Melissa recovers from her impact, just outside and well above her can be heard panicked sounds of protest, shortly before one of the top windows in the warehouse explodes, Leon's black suited form ragdolling through, bouncing off a crate, and finally coming to a stop when he impacts the ground with a colossal fleshy smack, ".....Yes, smartass, I know we missed the wall....Ow...My pride..." He says painedly in a not eldritchly infused voice as he lightly writhes on the floor.

Melissa Gold has posed:
    Well, that certainly catches Songbird's attention as a window above her shatters into a million pieces and drops something vaguely human-sized to the floor below. She stops catching her breath on the beam that she used as a breakfall and, wings aglow, swoops down into the warehouse looking for what fell. Finding Leon down below, she settles to the floor a distance away.
    "Hey, you OK there, Glop Goy?" she asks, her voice partially concerned, partially amused. "A million warehouses in the Bronx and you hadda come crashin' through into mine."

Leon O'Malley has posed:
Leon struggles to his feet, staggering a bit as he shakes the dizziness away, small chunks of glass ejecting from the suit at low velocity, "Ha ha ha, very funny. Clearly we are drawn to your goddess-esque features and siren like song." He says in a deadpan sarcastic tone while dusting his arms off.

    Leon then turns and looks up at the obliterated window, "....If anybody asks, we were never here." He says as he looks back to Melissa.

Melissa Gold has posed:
    "Correct on both counts," Songbird says with an impish grin. "Though you don't seem to be much of a music lover the way you curl up into a ball and go spikey every time I sing." Her face turns wry at that. "You really cramp my style when that happens. I have to turn off the things that let me not get punched in the face."
    She shrugs and looks around the place. "I've been watching. Nobody gives a damn about this place. I chased off a crack den, then when they sent their enforcer to deal with me I sent them back with their heads stuck up their asses." Beat. "Not literally." Because that's totally not obvious. "And they haven't bothered with the place since. I've been practicing in here for a month now." She points to the complicated array of beams and supports. "Almost tailor-made for acrobatic urban practice."

Leon O'Malley has posed:
Leon chuckles a bit and crosses his arms at Melissa's complaint at his nerve errupting agony at her screams, "Lemme tell ya, pinky, there's two things that hurt us. You just so happen to hit one on your first try." He walks away from the bits of glass all over the floor, not seeming discomforted by the shards he steps on, and looks around, "....If you say so. I was never much for acrobatics. Always prefered a good solid defensible position, limited entry points, you get the picture."

Melissa Gold has posed:
    "I'm just a showgirl at heart, I guess," Songbird says with a chuckle. "I was a pro shoot-wrestler. Screamin' Mimi was my stage name and, well, people loved the acrobatic take-downs, so I gave 'em what they wanted."
    She looks up and takes to the air again, flying straight for the web of supports and threading her way through them like a housefly on a sugar high. Kneeling on a beam near the top she calls out, "Though I'm pretty sure this is defensible. Limited entry point: down. Right into a faceful of sonic energy."
    She flips her way down, plummets back to the ground and spreads her wings wide to catch herself just before disaster.
    "Sides which, it's loads of fun."
    Pause.
    "Why you keep runnin' into walls?"

Leon O'Malley has posed:
Leon shrugs, "I haven't watched wrestling since WCW started going down the crapper....I know there's a perfect opportunity to say something lewd about high flying takedowns, but I am choosing not to." He says in a voice that almost seems to suggest he feels he deserves a cookie.

    Leon then looks around some more, "Yeah, warehouses a pretty good. Gotta keep to the upper level though, mine off the stairs. And if you've got the time, board up any windows you dont intend to fire out of, or a sniper'll turn your head into a fine red mist." He chuckles wistfully. And then Melissa asks the obvious question, "....C'mere, I'll show you." He says before taking a giant jump up to the second floor walkway, standing there with his arms crossed while waiting for Melissa, "....And no sonics, I wanna be able to not have a seizure!"

Melissa Gold has posed:
    Songbird fires up her wings. Sonic wings. And flies up to the third floor before turning them off and tumbling down to land in front of Leon. "You mean like that?" she asks, coming out of the three-point crouch with a grin, having left a bootprint dent in the flooring. "God I love doing that!"
    She then makes a rueful face. "But you see what I mean about cramping my style. I can't even fly around you, which seriously limits my fighting potential."

Leon O'Malley has posed:
Leon visibly flinches as the wings go on, holding a cringe until they go off, "....Yes, clearly /WE/ are the asshole here..." He says with a grumble. He shakes his head out and takes aim at a beam going across the middle of the warehouse's roof, firing a line of black webbing from the back of his wrist, the line sticking and holding fast. He then gestures for Melissa to take it, "You wanna know why we crash into walls? Here, walk just a few feet in our shoes." He says with a light tug at the web.

Melissa Gold has posed:
    "I'm not sure I follow. How do I walk in your shoes?" She takes the black line, testing it for tensile strength and give, almost reflexively analyzing it as a piece of acrobatic kit. "Now what?"
    She takes the opportunity to inspect the black line for composition, curiously eyeing it.
    "Feels weird."

Leon O'Malley has posed:
Leon says, "That's what she said." And pushes Melissa off the walkway as he lets the line go, leaving her to swing across the warehouse at surprisingly high speed, right towards her friendly local wall, and it's stalwart immobility.

Melissa Gold has posed:
    The reaction is probably not what Leon was expecting. There's a yell, of course, as she starts to fall, but its a yell of enthusiasm. She takes a spread-eagled form as she swings across, legs splayed wide, one arm high, the other low, using the spread to slow her down a bit and to control her attitude. As the Songbird pendulum falls, the line disintegrates in her hand, leading to a loud, "What the F..." which gets cut off as she faceplants into the concrete below.
    "Ow."
    The supine form of the Songbird rolls onto her back and stares back with death in her eyes.
    "That. Wasn't. Funny."

Leon O'Malley has posed:
Leon watches blankly as Melissa Tarzans her way across the room, tilting his head slightly as the line turns to dust in her hand and leaving her high and dry, "Huh...That's never happened before..." He suddenly jerks his head to the side, "What do you mean you know that would happen!? Why didn't tell me!?....Oh dont gimme that crap, why should I have to ask about something so basic and important!?" Leon appears to be arguing with himself, leaving Melissa to recover on her own.

Melissa Gold has posed:
    She sure does move fast. A normal person wouldn't stand a chance between her running speed and the climbing speed and agility she shows as she tumbles her way UP the framework holding the stairs.
    "What the Hell was the big idea?!" she shouts when she gets there, furious. "You're lucky I don't get hurt easily!" Both fists are clenched, but thus far the sonics aren't firing...

Leon O'Malley has posed:
Leon is interrupted from his private conversation by the Song Road Runner Bird's return and outrage, "Huh? Oh, right. I didn't know it would fall apart, that's never happened." He pauses and looks off to the side, "Yes I'm mad, now be quiet, we're talking...No, I'll tell her you said hi later...No, just stop t-stop talking!" He then turns back, miming an awkard cough.

Melissa Gold has posed:
    "If you're going on an insanity plea here," Songbird says threateningly, "let me tell you something: I don't care. If you're nuts and you're dangerous I'll take you down just as badly as if you're normal and dangerous."
    Yeah, she's not cooling off, not in the slightest.
    "Now can the bullshit and start talking. Like begin with why that thing vaped out under me and then who the Hell you're talkin' to right now."
    As a warning the red gems of her sonic rig light up. A mute testament to what the cost could be if she gets much angrier.

Leon O'Malley has posed:
Leon glances off to the side, "...No, just let me handle this. Be cool..." He then turns back, "We're not crazy, it's complicated. Second, like I said, I didn't know that would happen. Apparently, our biomass cant hold up seperated from the main body. When we're touching it it's fine, but once we let go, it falls apart after a few seconds. And thirdly, I can only explain via a pop culture reference that was out of date ten years ago, I'm old, sue me."

Melissa Gold has posed:
    Songbird stares a while. A long while. Then the red gems fade.
    "I don't care how old it is. Just make sense. What's goin' on and what's this biomass crap?"
    She stares at her hands where the line vaporized.
    "Did I just get infected with some kind of plague? Am I gonna be lookin' for brains to chow down on sometime?"

Leon O'Malley has posed:
Leon holds an arm in front of him and pinches part of it with his free hand, stretching it out a good foot before letting it snap back, "...Ow. That's our biomass....And funny you should mention the brains actually..." He holds his hands up defensively, "Lemme finish!" He says with a chuckle, "He actually does crave brains, but I found out pretty quickly that chocolate works just as well...And probably tastes better and is cheaper."

Melissa Gold has posed:
    Wait a second...
    "When you say 'he' ... are you, like, royalty or something that only refers to yourself as 'he' and 'himself' or is there..."
    She stares again at the black goop.
    "Or is there someone else in there?"
    Yeah, that's a step back, interrupted by the railing behind her. Not a frightened one. A prepared one, as if ready to leap or flip over the railing or tumble down the stairs or, well, any approach to getting egress.

Leon O'Malley has posed:
Leon stares blankly at the first choice, "....No. No we are not...." Said in a deadpan. To the second and more accurate guess, he wavers a hand, "...Sort of, it's more like he /IS/ there." Suddenly, Leon takes on a...surprisingly good impression of Sheogorath, "He's me...I'm 'im. We're a bit've each other really." The impression ends there, "And frankly, that's as much as we feel comfortable telling you."

Melissa Gold has posed:
    OK, that sounds fair enough. "OK, so what I'm gathering is that there's more than one of you in there, and that only one of you two knew that line was gonna vape, am I getting that straight?"
    Her face darkens. "So which of you is it that gets the bitchslap for that gag, and how do I get only that one?"
    3... 2... 1...
    Songbird chuckles then, face lightening once more. "Meh, doesn't matter. Didn't get hurt and, ya know, in retrospect it's kinda funny. Still doesn't change the fact that, you know, I like you Glop Goy. You're a real mensch, goin' in and helpin' out those who need it. But holy shit do you cramp my style. What we gonna do about that?"
    Pause.
    "Oh, and if you wanna use my warehouse go for it. Just remember that I practice here too and if you see me here you might wanna be elsewhere while I do my thing."

Leon O'Malley has posed:
Leon nods here and there as Melissa works the issue out, pointing at his arm at the question of bitchslappage. When she cools down, Leon chuckles, "...Ya know, we have names..." He turns his head, "Yes you do, shut up." He then turns back to Melissa, "You can call us 'The Wolf Spider'..." He stagewhispers to her, "He hates it when I call him that..."

    Leon then leans back, hmming for a moment before shrugging, "...I dunno, could scream through a funnel? Ya know, in the big end, out the little one? Mostly, we'd be fine if you just narrowed the blast. As long as we're not getting hit directly first contact, we can power through it. Just watch the aim, friendly fire kills just as easily as the enemy's."

Melissa Gold has posed:
    "OK, flight. If I keep my distance, is that OK aside from an annoyance factor?" Songbird ponders a bit. "How 'bout we do tests right here, nobody else around to watch and take notes, and I'll learn how to work while you're on scene? You just stand in the middle there, and I work out the limits of how close I can fly, how close I can stand while making shields and bludgeons and stuff, and how finely I have to focus the rock and roll scream?"
    She pauses, looking Leon over.
    "Look, I know there's a trust thing with this. I'd be learning a lot of what you can and can't take, but ... you know, to be honest, I already know that if I turn it up to eleven on you, it's really bad news for you and that's all I really need to know if I'm a bad guy, so ... no reason not to let me know where the limits are so we can work together."
    She shrugs. "It's your call though. You're the one gonna get hurt. I can't make that call for ya."

Leon O'Malley has posed:
Leon shrugs, "Sure, why not? We got time and can take the pain." He glances to the side, "Yes we can, dont be a baby." He then steps around Melissa and hops the rail, landing in an easy roll and coming to a rest in the middle of the room, "Alright, let's go. But you owe me a date for this......Ya cant see it, but I'm winking."