6829/Backed Into A Corner, and It's Full of Ants, Man

Backed Into A Corner, and It's Full of Ants, Man
Date of Scene:	07 July 2021
Location:	Scott Lang's House, New York
Synopsis:	Putting her life in his hands, Power Girl approached Scott to help her make a video for a dating site. Considering she knows nothing about it, and that he's the one actually putting it together, nothing could possibly go wrong.
Cast of Characters:	Karen Starr, Scott Lang

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Karen Starr has posed:
    There's nothing like a journey into space to visit the destroyed remnants of what is effectively your entire civilization and everything you knew until you were sixteen to strum the emotional heartstrings. Karen has been living as anyone except herself for a long time- and almost all of that time, she's been going it alone. Not for lack of trying on occasion, of course. There are people around whom she gets a little too awkward. She's even dated, for a time. If the internet's to be believed, of course. Who would trust, though, the idea that she was with Harley Quinn for a while?

    Regardless, there is only one success story that Power Girl can call on. It's a shameful thing, of course: The idea that Scott landed anyone on a dating app with /that/ video is absolutely terrifying... But, she's out of options. She can't exactly go around asking people out. Clark probably isn't going to let this go in any fashion, but she can avoid him for as long as it takes for it to be successful... She hopes.

    Regardless, the loneliness has made her desperate enough to ask for help, and the one person that properly owes her a favor... Is behind this door, that she's hesitating at aggressively. It would take super senses to see the amount of times she outright leaves and comes back, Thinking her actions over... And over... And over. Eventually though, she straightens out, and reaches up, rapping one gloved hand on the door of one of the few people she can actually call a friend. She never /would/ of course, not in polite company at least, despite that she's stood up for him before.

    And now, she waits. Each moment is an eternity, and each eternity one filled with regret.

Scott Lang has posed:
"I'll get it!"

"No you won't! Cassie get back here! We're not done your hair!"

True to the shouted words behind the door there's a click and it swings open with enthusiasm, but the one greeting Power Girl isn't Scott Lang but rather his overactive, too-smart-for-six daughter Cassie. Part of her hair is done up in a surprisingly well done little bun on the side of her head, some of it left loose. The other side of her head is a still unkempt mess. The little girl stares up at Power Girl for a long moment in silence before she grins and looks over her shoulder.

"Daddy it's, umm, it's the other Supergirl! The one you made mad before!" finally picking her words out carefully.

Another even longer silence follows before a man's voice can be heard just to the side of the doorframe. "Does she look mad now?"

Again the small girl looks up at Power Girl without any sense of fear or awe about her, her eyes squinting in concentration before she shakes her head. "I don't think so."

With that Scott suddenly reveals himself as he whirls around the doorframe behind his daughter with a grin on his face. He is as ever comfortable in his own home, which is to say one step above an average Wal-Mart shopper with a t-shirt that looks to be splattered with paint and jeans that have holes in the knees. And not the kind one pays extra for. The paint-stains he might have though as a second look reveals some of the paint splattered into the words "Pol-Lacking in Taste."

"Heya PG, what's going on? It's not space again is it? Cause I can't do space again for a while. I'm still straightening out paperwork with the parole board. Wanna come in? I'm almost done with Cassie's new 'do..." he invites, Cassie at the reminder reaching up to give her new side hairbun a squeeze.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Interacting with Cassie is always a little awkward for PG at first. When the girl opens the door, Karen is rolling her eyes at the call from inside- but it's hardly one of anything other than amusement. She can say what she wants about Scott's Heroing Method, but the guy at least takes care of his daughter. Not every father is willing to learn how to do hair.

    Still, since it's Cassie that opens the door, there's a logistical problem, as Power Girl can't see her when looking down. Instead, she kneels a bit. "The /other/ Supergirl? Scott's going to pay for that one." Sure, did Cassie do that on purpose? Probably. Power Girl is probably the only one of the two she's met. Does Karen know that? No, but she suspects it. Does she care? Not in the slightest. Smiling at the girl, Karen eventually straightens up as Scott gets the all clear, folding her arms at his appearance, and looking altogether like she's silently judging in a way that she actually isn't. He's at home and home is for comfort. Plus, the shirt's basically correct.

    "Uh, no, it's not space. Yeah, I'd like to come in, I actually wanted to ask a favor of you." she states, taking a few steps into the house. "She'd make a good Leia. For Halloween. Just an idea." Dancing around the point as gracefully as she looks like she can actually dance, she considers how to word the request.

    "So, a while back, this video of yours went out onto the 'net, on an app. I heard that it got a few bites, so I was wondering if, you know, you could help me- eh- make one of my own?"

Scott Lang has posed:
It's not that he's AFRAID of Power Girl per se, but it's clear as she steps in that Scott is keeping a certain distance, the way one might from a very large domesticated tiger. No matter how safe someone says it is, well...

"Leia? Oh the buns. Yea I mean I'd be all for it but she's kinda set right now on..."

"Pink Prancing Perfect Pony Princess Penelope!" Cassie excitedly crows while throwing her arms in the air.

Scott just sighs and shakes his head. "I've got the themesong memorized, don't ask me more than that. It's the thing this year. Anyway what were..." and the rest of what Power Girl said finally clicks. She has super vision, no doubt she could see the way his pupils widen and hear his heart speed up about 20 beats. Slowly his hands lift, spread as if about to catch something and instead sort of bobbing with each syllable. "You want ME...to help YOU...make a DATING profile?" A beat follows. Was he going to laugh at her? Rub it in her face? His teeth flash in the broadest grin his mouth can handle. Hadn't he been scared of her seconds before? So why was he now all up in her personal space? "OH my god YES! Power Girl, holy, I mean, oh man, this is going to be AWESOME," Scott sounding just super enthused instead. Cassie for her part barely seems to comprehend it but is dancing around as well excited by proxy.

Scott does eventually slow a moment if only to take another breath before asking the million dollar question though, "What the heck do you need help for? I mean, I'm a 30 year old divorced father with a kid and a criminal record and you're...you're..." his hands at work again waving up and down a bit...MAYBE waving a bit more in certain spots than others before he finishes, "Well, superhuman I think is what they usually say."

Karen Starr has posed:
    Being essentially treated like a domesticated tiger is about the right mood for dealing with Power Girl. She isn't about to deny that.

    Nodding along, she turns her attention to Cassie, who thankfully isn't directly in front of her so she can see her at the moment, and offers a shrug. "I... Haven't heard of it. I'll look into it on my own time. If it's the hot new thing, I don't want to get left behind."

    Stepping towards Scott's couch, she sits herself down and puts a leg up on the coffee table, just as he breaks into a childlike dance. Her hand comes up and pinches at the bridge of her nose. "I get a lot of attention from people who just want exactly what you're pointing out. That's not who I'm looking for." she states, putting her face in her hands for an extended few moments.

    "So, yes, when I learned that someone as goofy as you could land a girl with a plucky video and a dating profile, I thought maybe I could find someone that isn't looking for prestige, or a toy to play with. This... Was probably a mistake. But I'm committed." There's a lot of avoiding the phrase of 'last resort' and definitely no mention of being lonely, which is /probably/ a hint not to go there.

    She hopes, against evidence, that Scott's the type to get such a hint, but that hope is small.

Scott Lang has posed:
Scott's enthused but for all his goofiness he's not actually an idiot. At least, most of the time. "Well, alright yea I guess it's sorta like being a rich rockstar. Easy to find groupies, a lot harder to find someone who actually likes you as a person," he concedes. He steps over to the couch beside her and maybe just maybe he picks up on a bit of the fact she's not in a good place right now in coming to him. Hesitating before his hand reaches, pauses again an inch from her before he then at least tries to give a comforting rub to her shoulder.

"C'mon, it isn't that bad. But we gotta start with the basics. You gotta take your clothes off..." The sound that comes out of Scott as he realizes how he phrased that is incredibly close to the death cry of several small vertebrate creatures. "And change into something CASUAL. Behind closed doors. I don't...you know what I mean. It's just, I mean I get this outfit is what you're known for and all but, you don't want people to just see a superhero. Don't you have anything else? Nothing fancy, just, you know...comfortable? I may have some sweat-shirts around that would fit you. Maybe," he conjectures sounding a bit uncertain at the last as he rubs his chin, his other arm resting on the couch arm as he crouches beside her.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen's face is still in her head for a moment, not out of sadness or anything fully negative, but there's a level of genuine exhasperation at the whole situation. "Yeah. Kinda like that." Sure, he doesn't know that she's horrifically wealthy, a thought that might just cause him to /actually die/ that someone like Karen exists, and she's also a billionaire. She doesn't need that at the moment, so it's a fact that she keeps to herself. "Thanks." It's a bit deadpan, but for someone who isn't aggressively physical, it's also as genuine as it gets after some unwanted- but not unwarranted, she understands Scott is trying, and she's not going to react poorly- contact.

    Her hands leave her face just as Scott's foot enters his mouth, and she gives him this deep frown. "On what world, now that you have been to space, would you put those words together, in that order, to form that sentence, and be proud of yourself?" She sighs, for a moment, rocking her head back. "I guess so, but I feel like that kind of defeats the purpose? I mean, wouldn't people prefer if I make the video and the profile wearing this?"

Scott Lang has posed:
     "You caught me off-guard and me no word so good at the best of times," Scott counters, already over it even if she isn't as he stands up and gestures Cassie over with a smile. He starts casually doing the other half of her hair, seeming to barely be paying attention to it as he does. If nothing else he DOES have decent hand-eye coordination between this and the magic. And the thievery.

"Look you came to me for advice, my advice is dress a little more human cause that's 99% of what you're gonna find on a human dating app. And it might make you a bit less..." Scott having to pause as he carefully considers his next word. Frightening? Alien? Stripper-like? "Imposing. Like it or not a lot of people are a bit timid about someone they can see hurling cars and firing lasers at supervillains on TV. Dress down a bit, let em see you're a person and not just some authority figure," Scott for a change sounding like he knows what he's talking about as he gives Cassie's hair one final tug, the other small bun on the other side of her head done. He leans over and gives her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Go play in your room sweetheart, gonna keep working with Power Girl. We'll get something to eat later. Do you want..."

"McDonald's!" out of the little girl's mouth before he finishes and Scott just sighs.

"Yeah. I figured. What is with that place and kids? Go on," he encourages, Cassie scurrying off. Scott meanwhile steps over to a computer in the corner of the room. Not a super computer or even an expensive gaming rig. In fact it looks to be a few years old and as he turns it on it's clear it'll be a minute or two before it's ready while he toys with a webcam set atop the monitor.

"So what kind of person you looking for anyhow? If you say someone taller than you we're gonna have to really narrow the field...or let you borrow some particles I guess," he muses as if seriously considering it.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen lets that frown linger on Scott for a while, but it isn't permanent. "Right. You no word good at all, this situation makes you word good less than normal because you bad at thinking. I'll keep that in mind, Fred Flintstone." she states, pulling herself off of the couch. It was hard to argue with the sentiment of Scott's lack of eloquence, but it was also difficult for her to argue with the statement about being casual and not being intimidating.

    As such, she rushes off- literally- disappearing for a few moments and returning through the door she left open when she disappeared. It'd be absolutely insane to try and understand how far she went- to her office here in New York and back- in a split second.

    When she returns, she's dressed casually. For Power Girl- when she's not off being Karen Starr- that means workout clothes. Half of them were purchased for her by someone else- but they make a point. The other half is yoga pants in deep gray and a pair of basic canvas shoes in blue.

    What is likely entirely terrifying is the top. As a tanktop made for normal women, it's -clearly- a size or two too small for her, and the bright pink of it is stretched laboriously. The lettering is distorted, and so is the large arrow pointing upwards- the shirt itself says 'My Eyes Are Up Here' and it's probably believable testimony, but frankly, most people will have to take the garment at its word.

    "I'm looking for..." she sighs, spending time quietly pacing and genuinely thinking about the question. It actually takes her a moment when she re-enters the living room, to even properly form something approaching a thought about it.

    "I don't know. I don't need another woman who can lift a building or shoulder-check a train, necessarily. I guess it'd help. I think she'd have to be funny, maybe. I guess she'd have to want to /talk./ Not about anything specifically, but I don't just want something physical."

Scott Lang has posed:
The breeze kicked up by her superspeed out and back is enough to put goosebumps on Scott's arms. At least he tells himself that's the reason. It's really a very good thing the arrow is there with instructions. Scott is only human and if his pulse rate wasn't already quickened, well, yoga pants and the top would do it. He takes a very deep breath and does his best to think about icebergs. Cold water. Chilly. It helps. Some, though he averts his eyes back to the computer which helps more, his teeth grinding just a touch.

"Right. Yeah. That's, that's casual. Look umm," Scott places his hand over his mouth a moment and sort of groans into it before pulling it away and blurting, "I've got a zip-up hoodie in the closet, maybe just THINK about putting it on, I mean you can leave it unzipped but it'll cover some of," Scott's hands waving at the two elephants in the room. "I'm NOT trying to be a prude but...well it's gonna be hard to ignore your boobs," he finally gets it out bluntly.

The computer is finally booted and Scott mercifully turns his attention to it. "Funny, talkative, OK so you like someone social. Maybe super powered, I guess that makes some things easier and easier to relate. And she...she?" Scott mulling the word over in his mouth like it was a bit of popcorn kernel stuck in his teeth. Why did he say she? Did Power Girl say she? He looks over his shoulder at her, brow furrowed a moment before he lets out a, "Huh." Then back to the computer, opening up the video software...and ever so casually noting, "So THAT'S why you didn't ask me out. Makes sense now. It's cool though, just gotta make sure we click the right box on the dating site...and uh, don't be surprised if some guys try anyway. I had more than one try to catfish me," he warns.

Karen Starr has posed:
    Thinking cold thoughts is only going to go so far, but honestly, it's not as if there's a form of weaponized anti-Karen that Scott can employ at any given time. Maybe if he had time to prepare? It probably wouldn't work, frankly- this is Power Girl we're talking about.

    Her hands end up placed on her hips, and she rocks her head to the side, listening to Scott for a moment. There's a roll of her eyes, and she comments as she heads for the closet- "What, am I supposed to pretend that they don't exist?" she calls, airing an undercurrent of the truth that this is essentially some chunk representing all she has. It's basically impossible to fit anything to her- with her height, musculature, and, you know, /those./

    When she returns, she's wearing the sweater, though there's kind of a problem. She's attempted to zip it up, and put as much strength into it as she thinks the small aluminum zipper can handle, but sized for a man smaller than her- and not loosely- the sweater doesn't exactly want to zip up all the way. In fact it, frankly, can't manage the task. She could try forcing it, but she might break it.

    "What, are you surprised? No, that's not why I didn't ask you out. Even if we played for the same team you're not my type, but I didn't expect this would be shocking. Do you think it's a bad idea to put all that out there?"

Scott Lang has posed:
     The video software boots up, the monitor showing the two of them with only a slightly disorienting bit of delay as Scott straightens and faces her, looking at her chest with less gaga eyes and more annoyance. "You better not have stretched it. We're just trying to get people to listen to you is all OK? Less distractions the better. They should be a bonus for whatever lucky gal you meet, not the reason you meet," Scott says sincerely, moving himself around behind Karen and then back around, looking her up and down.

"Alright I think the look is set, I'm not gonna sit here and primp you for a couple hours. So, next big thing. Can we get you to relax and smile? Need some music? A beer? I can do some magic if that might help," Scott sounding almost hopeful at this last. He'd been working on this new trick...

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen sighs, pinching at her brow. "Of course I stretched it, it's not meant for-" Then, she holds out her hands, deciding that she just wasn't going to make this particular argument. "Right. Distractions. Less. Fine." she notes, slipping her hands into the pockets of the sweater She turns and starts to pace, showing that she probably should /face/ the camera as the back of the sweater features prominently the phrase "Absolutely Gigantic," which probably wouldn't do well for that distractions thing Scott was talking about.

    "I /am/ relaxed." she counters. Karen is no small amount of constantly uptight, so that makes sense- getting her to relax much further isn't entirely likely. Still, she's not... THAT bad, right now. "And I'm not going to /force/ a smile. Wouldn't that look wrong?" After a moment, she rolls her eyes, listening to Scott's suggestions. "Yeah, just... Go for it. Do a trick." Karen somewhat expects Cassie intervention, but that's perhaps a small hope now.

Scott Lang has posed:
     Scott barely manages to contain his snicker. It's just a cough, clearing his throat he swears when she turns and he recalls why he bought that hoodies in the first place. "Yeah, you're zen alright. No I don't want a forced smile I just, I'm not sure I've ever SEEN you smile. And I mean, the number of people that wanna date a sourpuss is pretty low...alright here this'll cheer you up though!" Scott's blunt observations brought to a merciful end. Or is it a torturous one rather as he rushes to a side cabinet that he opens up. Cards, coins, Rubik's cubes, glasses, metal rings, a top hat, all sorts of 'magic' paraphenelia is stuffed inside. The one he pulls out is a bit different. A small wood platform with three pegs sticking out of it and a length of brass chain. Scott carefully sets the platform down on his coffee table and then loosely wraps the chain around each peg.

     "Alright! Here we go! No matter what the chain will always catch on one of the pegs! All you gotta do is pick which one and you're the winner!" Scott speaking quicker now like a carnival shyster as he demonstrates by pulling the chain which quickly slides off the rightmost and center peg and then stays stuck around the left. He once more wraps the chain around all three and goes, "C'mon now, place your bets, which one is it, which one is the winner!"

Karen Starr has posed:
    Karen narrows her eyes at Scott and for a moment tries to angle herself so that she can see if he's planted some kind of Kick Me sign on the back of the sweater, but she can't see anything- which just makes her more suspicious, but she'll save it for later. Obviously, she doesn't believe Scott. "I smile about a lot of things, it just so happens that most of the things that make me -not- smile happen to be things that you are either chronically responsible for, or enjoy as a pastime!" she demands, just about at the time that he pulls out this.... Chain trinket.

    "I mean... Are you serious?" she asks, "It's the... You can probably pick which one it is. It's even a thing that you want me to place bets on. Like the shell game. It's all sleight of-" she pauses, taking a breath, and doing her best to stop being a killjoy for- well, any amount of time. "The left peg. The one on the left. Just... That's my guess, the one on the left."

Scott Lang has posed:
     "And yet here you are asking ME for help instead of someone else. You know I smile around you. First time we really got to talk at Baskin Robbins, those first few minutes? That was...you lost by the way choose again...kinda awesome. Until you got all mad about the singing. And when you showed...nope closer that time, keep watching the chain...up to help me check on Cassie's school, you know how much a relief it was to hear you land on my car's roof? I felt a thousand times better. Or when you saved me from the space eel, I mean that was a good one at...sorry was the right one that time...but anyway it was good at first the way you closed the blinds. You DO have a sense of humor somewhere under there," Scott commends as he rewraps the chain yet again and gestures for her to point at her next choosing, indeed grinning to himself as he converses and magicks all at the same time.

     "All I'm saying is, thanks for being there for me despite whatever headaches I give ya, and if this is the one thing you ask me for, I'm gonna do the best I can at it. Hey look you got it that time," Scott tugging the chain taut around her chosen peg this time while he waggles his brows. He claps his hands together then and stands up, "Well c'mon champ, lets find you a date for prom," Dadding hard with use of the word champ as he heads back over to the computer.

Karen Starr has posed:
    "Don't remind me," she starts, pointing and guessing less as a true attempt to get anything correct, and more as an attempt to pass the time during the conversation. The problem is that eventually she gets tired of doing that- perhaps it's the number of times he's making her incorrect, or maybe it's something else, but either way, each wrapping of the chain starts taking longer and longer to her. She's watching each movement to catch where his sleight of hand is lying, if it's in the set or the execution. For a moment she even inspects the internals of the trick, looking through the metal and wood for parts hidden within that she can foil. Probably doesn't matter, as if she had to guess, the only time he executes anything is after she's guessed- but by the time she's done, she'll know.

    "I couldn't disappoint the people, you know?" she states, after a time, "I didn't want to sing- I don't feel it's right to. I can mimic- just about- any voice in my register. An extremely complex kind of muscle control that we get taught to help control our strength, so it's like playing sports. It isn't fair. But... People wanted me to sing, so I just thought I'd give it a shot." A brow raises, though, once her final choice is in and correct. Whether it was Scott or her, in the end, doesn't really matter. "Don't call me champ." she states, offering a calm point- "But, thanks. I don't do it for favors, I don't do it for anything other than the fact that it needed to be done. When I heard that someone had sent people to a /school/ of all places... I knew that something /had/ to be done. I wasn't going to let anyone go alone."

Scott Lang has posed:
     "Cool. Well I'd hoped to get more smiling out of you but at least we got some genuine shots of you discussing your feelings, that's a good start for the video," Scott slyly comments as he expands the recording software, several minutes showing they're on file by now as he'd turned it on some time ago without saying anything. "And we've got video of me managing to fool you with a trick a couple times!" he adds even more excitedly as he picks the little camera up and properly points it at Power Girl now. There was little doubt the back of her hoodies was also going to be in the video. It might even be the thumbnail shot.

     "So c'mon Sport, keep it up. You like doing the right thing but what else are you into? Hobbies? Past times? Favorite bands? Foods? What do you bring to the table BESIDES being an ultra-powerful woman from the great beyond?" Scott questions, fiddling with the zoom which amazingly does focus on her face instead of anything else.

Karen Starr has posed:
    "Well, we all have hopes." she states, offering this small, visible smirk for just a few moments as she finds out Scott turned the camera on some time ago. "Wait, it's already on?" Karen scoffs for a moment, placing her face in her hand for a few moments as she considers that fact. Great. "Well, whatever. I suppose I should have expected that."

    "Sport? Really?" she asks, an incredulous expression washing over her face for a moment as she considers his questions. "I like to shop every now and then, when I can. I like food, and I listen to a lot of older bands, I guess- stuff from just over a few decades ago. Nothing amazing, or unique. Frankly, as much as we've done all this to take attention away from it, the things I do- the punching, and the lifting- they're probably the most interesting things about me. That's probably my problem. She sighs.

    "Guess I should start it up proper." Exhaling again, she looks up for a few moments, and then back at the camera that's zoomed in on her frankly, frustratingly perfect face. "Hi. I'm Power Girl, and I spend a lot of my time alone."