4900/Avengers and Ice Cream

Avengers and Ice Cream
Date of Scene:	27 January 2021
Location:	Avengers Mansion - Study
Synopsis:	Warren Worthington sends a gift of his company's new ice cream flavors for the Avengers to sample. Oh poor Scott.
Cast of Characters:	Steve Rogers, Scott Lang, Bruce Banner, Karen Starr, Nadia Pym-van Dyne, Hank Pym

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Steve Rogers has posed:
A member of the mansion's staff catches Steve Rogers in the hallway on his way downstairs. "Sir, there's a delivery I think you might wish to know about," he says. Steve raises an eyebrow slightly, not usually being called on for something like this. "What is it?" he asks. The man goes on to explain, resulting in a soft chuckle from Steve.

A few minutes later, Avengers comms come online, whether in people's rooms, or via their ID cards or other means of communications. "Avengers," Steve says into the microphone. "Assemble in the study if you'd like to enjoy some brand new ice cream flavors. Delivered courtesy of The Angel, Warren Worthington III. There is hot fudge and other toppings as well."

He turns off the comms system and gives a soft grin as he makes his way towards the study, where the staff are wheeling in carts they have loaded up with the tubs of ice cream, as well as about any ice cream topping someone could hope for.

Scott Lang has posed:
It was a good thing this was one of those weeks where Cassie is with her mother. Pure stubborness had kept Scott from simply going and asking for help since he'd managed to break the suit trying to show off working out and gotten himself stuck at about 6 inches high. Plenty of Pym particles available, the problem was merely the damn switch itself which he'd kept working at off and on for the last day or so, doing his best to avoid seeing anyone as he'd scurried around the mansion like some actual rodent infestation, grabbing bits of food before scuttling off to his own room to try and tinker with the high-tech equipment using a bent paperclip and a spraycan of WD-40 among other, less super sciencey options.

Feeling defeated after his 6th attempt accomplishes nothing more than maybe costing him another half inch or so, the electrical engineer lets out a curse before his ID badge lights up. Ice cream? Well, if he HAD to ask for help, may as well do it with dessert. He'd just play it cool and casual he tells himself. So wearing his full Ant-Man uniform he does his damndest to stroll into the study at all of ankle high like nothing at all is the matter, even going so far as to pop off a few finger guns at people. "Hey hey everyone. Nice seeing ya. Been a while. Looking good," he notes, his helmet up, its speakers helping to amplify his otherwise rather squeaky voice at this scale as he spouts off generic and somewhat forced greetings.

Bruce Banner has posed:
Ice cream. There are some things that even the most reclusive of people cannot resist. Though he's been mostly self regulated in a lab or his room of late, Banner steps into the study and looks around. Eyes hollow and seeming tired, they take the room in quickly. Usually mindful about too many people, but ice cream is too much to resist. Currently it isn't too crowded and so he walks in to try and figure out what sort of goodness can be found.

He nods to Steve and offers a polite ,"Cap." Tension seems to mark his face even when he is at ease and tonight is no different. Maybe he will ease up a little after some ice cream. Maybe.

Karen Starr has posed:
    That's all it took, really. Karen was a city away, chugging away at paperwork in a building that has no relation to the Avengers whatsoever. Picking herself up from her desk, locking her office, and relying on the image she's cultivated of the primarily flaky CEO, Karen Starr steps into a dummy elevator shaft and emerges from the rooftop of Starrware Incorporated as none other than Power Girl.

    The flight is almost comically swift: After all, there's ice cream afoot. She blazes through the sky towards New York, and arrives no more than a few moments after Steve put out the all call. Truly an Avengers level threat, this frozen treat. She's landing in the front lawn of the mansion by the time the deliveryman is just getting in his car, in fact.

    She strolls through the front door, all smiles, making her way towards Steve in the study, and makes short work of heading straight for a bowl, an oversized helping of cookies and cream, and a whole lot of hot fudge.

    "Howdy Cap. Came as soon as I heard. I think we can handle it, but it's gonna be tough."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
This is exactly the sort of threat that Nadia lives for, the frozen menace that attempts to slay not with bullets or blades or doom rays but sinister sweetness and chocolate fudge! At the very least it is a welcome respite from extradimensional invasions, aliens, and Soviet spies. Perhaps even miss no really I shall fix the worlds problems, all of them, at the same time, or die trying, has learned the value of taking a rest every so often, or at least of seizing such an opportunity when it presents itself.

Nadia arrives from the sky dressed in her sleek black and red Waspette armor that Janet designed for her. She makes a 'bee'-line straight for the ice cream "Hi everyone!" It is a flyby greeting, cold sweet glory awaits. Once she has pulled her helmet off and resized it to fit in her pocket, she takes up a bowl fills it with several scoops and douses the whole thing in chocolate fudge. One might think she lived most of her life never knowing such delicious treats, because she did.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve walks in, wearing a charcoal colored t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, with boots tucked beneath the denim leggings. He looks around the room, seeing everyone arriving and the carts laden with large three-gallon tubs of all sorts of flavors. The tubs bear the logo of Worthington Industries, who have been giving Ben and Jerry's a run for their money for quite awhile now.

"I have to say, most of the surprises we get around here aren't quite as enjoyable," he says with a matter-of-fact smile. He gives a nod to each person in turn. To Power Girl, he says, "Yes, I admittedly was hesitant at the thought of going back into the ice, but this variety seems like it's probably ok."

An amplified male voice catches Steve's attention and he looks down to find Ant-man. "Scott, I think they gave us enough you can probably use a full-sized bowl," he says with a faint smile.

Karen Starr has posed:
    "He accidentally shrunk himself while lifting weights like a goon." Karen offers, calmly, between spoonfuls of ice cream. By now, of course, it is obvious that she appreciates the fudge, as despite taking more than a single bowl of ice cream... It's practically swimming in the stuff. Scott's shame, of course, she announced to the entire room- because it's just that important.

    To Steve she offers a nod. "Ah yes, your eternal nemesis. Now is the time for revenge. Destroy the ice, Steve. It's tyranny cannot be allowed to continue." Scoop. Chomp. Swallow. She apparently has little care or risk for brain freeze, but she's also not eating at super speed, so there's that.

    "I told you to go to Hank." she states, at Scott, "But noooo you can repair it yourself because you're an electrical engineer and this isn't the first time." Tut-tuts hurt even worse when there's a spoon involved. She nods at Nadia, offering a smile. "Afternoon Nadia. We're helping Steve defeat his greatest enemy. It's time to do your part."

Bruce Banner has posed:
Moving to the ice cream, Banner tries not to get caught up in too many voices. Ice cream does draw crowds after all. He looks down as he realizes Scott is under foot. Back to ice cream, though he does offer a nod to Nadia when she enters. Decisions, decisions. He finally opts for something chocolate over loaded and hot fudge for that. Maybe the Hulk will stay quiet for a while if he's over powered by chocolate goodness.

Scott Lang has posed:
"What? Nooo Cap, I'm fine, I'm fine. It's, uh, training. Yea, you know, just mid-way through long-term endurance shrink training. Don't wanna, undo all those..." Scott lies, badly. To Captain America. Just because he wanted to ask for help didn't mean he wanted EVERYONE to know. And then Power:Girl does what she does best. Destroys everything. Were her weakness glares instead of Kryptonite it was almost certain she'd be little more than a shriveled corpse from the look Scott gives her, his annoyance palpable even despite the helmet, and one can hear the beginnings of a grumbled swear before he suddenly cuts the mic off and storms off to leap up onto one of the carts, the odd sight of him easily if awkwardly lifting a bowl to follow.

"SO ANYWAY, what exactly have they worked on over there at Worthington? Oh hey Nadia, Bruce. How come you guys haven't invented any new ice cream flavors lately? This is the kind of super genius..." Scott pausing as he spies the word 'Lite' in the title of one tub and quietly drags his bowl away from it to another. "Well kind of super genius I can mostly get behind. There that's better," he surmises as he stops in front of another that involves the phrase 'Diabetic Coma (name not approved by Legal.' Another hop and...yes he's standing in the ice cream, wielding a spoon like a shovel as he starts plopping it into his bowl sitting off the side. Still shooting dirty looks at Power:Girl the Great Betrayer now and again.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym makes his entrance fashionably attired in sweats and his lab coat. He knows how fast snacks disappear around this mansion, no magic necessary. He does a double take when he sees Scott. then recovers, does a friendly nod and goes on to the ice cream. He spots Nadia annnnd decides to test the waters with a smile and wave before dealing with Scott.

"Hey sweetie. I heard you were looking for me..." He grabs a bowl of ghost pepper ice cream without really paying attention, looking at all the teammates, hoping his agoraphobia doesn't kick in. Wait.

"Scott... Scott come over here and let me make you normal... sized."

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers looks from Power Girl to Scott Lang as the former dishes out scoops that don't involve ice cream. Though at Scott's expression, Steve seems to decide maybe it's best to not get involved in that one. Especially when Hank comes in and offers assistance. "Hank, glad you got word," he tells the other man.

Steve goes over to get a bowl that most everyone has had a chance to get some ice cream. "Nadia," he says, nodding to the other Pym in the room. He lowers his voice to ask, with a motion towards Scott, "Does that sort of thing happen very often?"

Steve looks up, those true blue eyes spotting Bruce Banner's expression. That hollow and tired look in his eyes is noted and Steve steps over beside him. "Rum butter brickle," he says, reading the name on the top of the tub and pulling it off to take a look. "Count me intrigued," he says towards Bruce with a smile. More gently he asks, "How are you holding up lately, Bruce?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia shovels fudge sauce covered icecream into her mouth with gusto. "I will do my best Power Girl! This enemy's deliciousness shall be its undoing!" She smiles brightly, the sugar rush doing wonders for putting her in an excellent mood.

"Dr. Banner!" Bruce is suddenly attacked with a hug because that's just the way that Nadia is, "How are you? It's been awhile!" Somehow she manages all of this without spilling so much as a drop of the icecream.

When Scott's presence is brought to her attention and then he speaks up, in the truest teenage fashion ever to teenage Nadia rolls her eyes hard enough it seems for a moment they will vanish into her head never to return and then points one of her suit's gauntlets at Scott and fires her size altering beam at him, restoring him to normal size. "Can you be any more incompetant Scott?" She.. does not seem to have much respect for her father's successor.

"Hi, Dad." Nadia waves at Hank with the hand holding the icecream bowl and spoon, "I dropped by your lab yesterday, though instead of you there was a girl there dressed as my Doppleganger who said she was your apprentice?" It's stated pretty matter of factly, he is perhaps benefitting from the fact she has lots of icecream, but her expression is definitely one of 'please explain this'.

She looks over at Captain America and shakes her head, "Not usually Steve, most of us don't regularly break our equipment or sneak into the bedrooms of teenaged girls."

Bruce Banner has posed:
Glancing towards Cap, Banner forces a hint of a smile,"I am holding up Cap. That's the best I have right now." The smile doesn't last long and it is gone again. He starts to say something else and there there is a Nadia and a hug. Surprised for a second, he returns the hug offered after a split second of hesitation.

"Hello Nadia. It's been a long time yes." he agrees with her,"I am doing as well as I can." he assires her or at least tries to. His gaze moves around the room during the hug, a nod to poor Scott who gets verbal smackdowns left and right. At least he doesn't add to it.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Power Girl nods, offering a smirk. Lording Scott's misfortune over him is part of it all- she DID say that she wasn't going to -kill- him or anything /rash/, but she also said he wasn't done paying for the whole singing thing. "They haven't invented any new flavors that you know of because there's always someone who needs to be thrown into space." Idly, she reaches down and taps on Scott's helmet, to further amplify the great annoyance she is causing.

    "Stop scowling. I can hear you cursing in there." Can she? Yes. That's entirely true. After her poking is finished, she plucks her spoon back up and continues chowing down on an almost finished bowl, helping herselves to seconds- this time cookie dough chunks woven through french vanilla- as applicable. This bowl, too, she drowns in fudge. "I would broaden that statement to say that 'basically all of us' do neither of those things. I want to say that none of us do, but, you know." She gestures with a spoon.

    "Don't give him too hard a time though, Nadia. He's trying his best. Which... Is really something, frankly, but it is what it is." Small shrug. "Oh, thanks Hank, now this party can be proportionally five to six hundred percent more Scott Lang. You'll probably have to... Stoop to his level, in a way, to repair the damage. He was trying to squeeze out the effort to lift a couple hundred pounds." Her voice drops to a lower register, almost a whisper but not quite.

    "He had to grow to get in the fourth rep. Collapsed on the fifth."

Scott Lang has posed:
"Hank! Yea you gotta help me this thing. I was almost to the point of trying to melt some butter to help unstick this thing. I've no idea what happened and then one thing led to another..." Did he mention he was still standing atop the tub of ice cream when Nadia shot him with her own size altering ray? Without any warning he suddenly finds himself far taller, and a whole lot less steady. He and the tub both wobble uncertainly for a second in the middle of the room before that particular cart goes over with him on it. A more agile hero would have landed on their feet. Scott is no such agile hero and thumps on his back with a crash, up to his ankles in frozen sugar. He stares at the ceiling, mostly his pride hurt, though there's certainly an ache in the back of his skull too despite the helmet. Still it didn't remotely compare to the hurt Nadia and Power Girl were dishing out at him.

"Hank. Hank you need to do something for me Hank. Forget the suit. Put me out of my misery Hank. You've got a plasma cannon in that coat, I know you do. Make it quick old buddy," Scott deadpans as he lays there arms spread wide a moment longer before he just lets out a long long sigh and reaches up to lower his helmet with a button press. "You're not gonna do it are you?" he morosely asks.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym pats Scott on the shoulder and... gives him a wink. "Stop in we'll do maintenance. Not a problem. We can't all be solar powered."

He turns back to Nadia and moves closer to speak softly, "Shannon came to me when she discovered her power. She was going to become a superhero whether anyone would help her or not. So I'm helping her to keep an eye on her and she's making progress. The costume... I made it on a lark and it is steel micromesh, I let her wear it to follow me around. She kept a double from trying to stab me actually... not that it was happening. She's a good kid. I was going to introduce you two. But this double invasion happened and when do we get to see each other these days."

He looks Nadia in the eyes and says, "I'm sorry. I forgot how you worry sometimes. Can we discuss this further another time and enjoy ourselves for now?" He rests a hand on Nadia's shoulder.

Steve Rogers has posed:
Steve Rogers moves over to where Scott is laying on the floor. He bends over, hands on his knees as he looks straight down at Scott. Steve's voice is like something right out of a school video. "So you're having trouble with your equipment..." he tells Scott.

He reaches down a hand to offer to Scott to help him back to his feet if Scott's back is ready to take standing again. Either way, Steve straightens and begins righting the cart and pulling a tub of ice cream off of Scott's foot.

He looks over to Bruce as he's doing this, eyes showing a bit of concern for the good doctor after the fatigue he's noticed. "Bruce, would you do me a favor and add a little hot fudge to my bowl there? Before that cart gets upended?" he asks, flashing Bruce a grin.

Bruce Banner has posed:
A crash. That's what everybody needs to relax. Not exactly expecting it, Banner winces a little and even recoils just a little. He blinks and manages to shake it off. He finds his way back to the here and now, maybe his own sort of PTSD in that head of his.

Blinking again, his eyes move towards Cap and he nods. Walking over to the ice cream he adds the hot fudge, then adds a little more to his own after that. Soothe the beast with chocolate. It should work,"Hard to find good help I guess." he tells Cap. Humor isn't his thing really, but he gives it a try anyway.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Scott Lang now sufficiently resized and that arm freed up once more, Nadia wraps it instead around Hank giving him a hug, though careful not to cover him with the ice cream and fudge in her other hand. "I'm sorry, I didn't know who she was and she was dressed like the Doppleganger... and I attacked her... yeah... I want to visit more but the problems and threats never seem to end. I still haven't even managed to find where they took Ying, yet."% It is a lot, the push of the manic side of bipolar disorder to solve all the world's ills and perhaps not entirely healthy the way she usually pushes herself.

She releases her father from the hug and shovels more ice cream into her mouth, ice cream and fudge shall solve everything. "Yeah we can talk later, this ice cream is really good."

Karen Starr has posed:
    There's a roll of her eyes as Scott is undone by getting some of what he wished for at the wrong time, in the worst way. She sighs, and sets down her bowl, stepping over to where Scott had fallen like an arguably more heroic than usual turtle. It's hard to stop her- but he can recoil if he likes- from grabbing up the hand that has the growth controls on it- the switch still stuck.

    Calmly, holding him by the wrist, she stares in silence at the man's hand for a few seconds. Scott's the only one with a good enough vantage point to see that her eyes glitter red for a second or two, among taking a somewhat subdued blue hue. Then, with a flick of her thumb, the button goes from being partially depressed to popping back into place.

    "You crushed a circuit or two and mashed the spring. That probably still needs to be replaced, but it'll work."

    With no further ceremony, she drops Scott's arm, which returns him to laying on the ground. Her foot comes forward and swiftly taps on the button on Scott's other hand while the particles are still primed, returning him to his diminutive stature of half a foot. She can't have him thinking she's the merciful one. She takes up her bowl and takes another bite. "Never say I didn't do anything for you."

Scott Lang has posed:
"Yeah. Thanks Hank. Appreciate it. I'll see you at the lab," Scott responds, still studying the ceiling architecture for now until Steve comes over and makes his little quip. This draws another, smaller sigh. "Even Captain America is scoring points off me. Great," he answers, still taking the help as Steve pulls the ice cream tub off his feet with a 'schlorp' sound. Rather than trying to stand up he reaches to grab a pile of napkins to at least TRY and clean his boots a bit. Clearly though maintenance was going to have words for him. Again.

It's midway through this process that he suddenly finds his wrist stuck in a vise and he's hauled bodily to his feet whether he wants to or not. Because Power Girl's idea of helping is 'you're getting helped.' "H-hey what, ERP," the final flick of her thumb still enough to make him wince before he experimentally flexes his fingers a few times making sure that hand was in fact still attached.

"Hey thanks PG. See I knew we..." his grateful response cut short as he is quite literally cut short, the tap of her toe on the button shrinking him once more so she can lord over him properly and all. Oh there was that glare again without the helmet. Scott mouths something up at her without actually making a sound. Those with super vision might lipread it as 'vacuum' though there are other options it could be.

Steve Rogers has posed:
The mansion's staff stand by in the background. One looks over to another with a long-suffering look. The other just looks back and shrugs. "At least he didn't summon a hammer," he whispers.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym figures that's good for now. Phews. He turns to Scott in time to see him shrink again. Oh for...

Superhearing is well and good. It doesn't hear electro psionic waves. Hank hits the insect com. //Scott. It's okay. Do you need a hand up? Is this... the way you two interact normally? Anyway it's okay. Get up, enjoy the ice cream. Enjoy never having built a killer robot. It's okay.//

Bruce Banner has posed:
Banner takes his ice cream and eases his way back from the others, taking a palce in the corner to eat and watch the goings on. He shakes his head as Scott gets normal sized and then shrunk again. At least there wasn't another crash. Settling against the corner, he takes another bite of the chocolate over load in his bowl. Too many people and too much noise. A few deep breaths and slow exahles between bites of ice cream.

Karen Starr has posed:
    "Come on, grow up." Power Girl says, offering a gesture for him to lift himself out of the realm of Ken dolls and back into the realm of normal adults. As it were, she can neither hear words unspoken nor is she able to see or hear specifically electro-psionic waves, but they're not very far out of the many spectrums she can see when she tries.

    "You're going to miss out on the ice cream. What flavor do you want?" she asks, finally turning to look back at Scott while picking up a fresh bowl so that she can get him what he's looking for.

Scott Lang has posed:
Scott responds to Hank in the most accurate way he can. //I'm fine. Yes this is normal. I don't know if it's HEALTHY but it's normal.// Maybe the words of encouragement help a little. Maybe. Scott does expand back to normal proportions again though and gets to his feet, dusting himself off and doing his best to act like the last 5 minutes or so never happened in the first place.

"If this is all a ploy to dump it on my head at this point Power Girl I'm going to join one of the baddies. And someone get Bruce some decaf over there to go with his ice cream. C'mon Bruce lighten up buddy," Scott calls out noticing the wallflower of a scientist now that his own issues are largely resolved. Taking a newly fixed sundae back from Power Girl and trusting she's done with further shenangians for now he flops down heavily in one of the study's armchairs and starts to finally eat.

Hank Pym has posed:
Hank Pym goes over to Bruce, looking concerned. "Are you okay? Do you want to blow this and come outside or to my lab? I mean you don't have to turn green to be in distress. I've had it all, upswings, downswings, panic attacks, outbursts. I've been there. Can I help? Should I shut up?"

Bruce Banner has posed:
"I'm fine." Banner replies to each in turn,"Thank you. Just a lot all at once." He takes another bite of the ice cream and tries to put forth the illusion of relaxing anyway. He shakes his head and adds to Hank,"No we don't want to think about green anything. Don't worry about it. I'm relaxed, as good as it gets."