Summary:Nadia introduces Nico to the wonderful world of GIRL. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
  |
Sitting just far enough outside New York for the science and retail parks but within walking distance for the train the G.I.R.L building looks fairly unremarkable from the outside. Moderately sized the building has the insect winged logo above double glass doors that lead into a little reception area that's currently empty and has a single sturdy looking double internal door leading out.
When Nico arrives she'll find both the outer and doors already unlocked, although the inner door does shut with a click.
The inside is perhaps unlike any science lab you'd typically imagine. Two floors of open plan space with the logo proudly painted on the far back wall. Each side wall is lined with college dorm style bedrooms. The nearby corners have a break area with couches and a big tv plus a little kitchen that has a stack of freshly ordered smelling pizza boxes.
But it's the middle that looks the most impressive. A huge scifi doorway dominates the middle of the room. While a dozen workbenches are covered in various projects ranging from biotech to robotics. Of Nadia herself there's no sight, but there is a bouncy pop track playing from the dorm room with her name on it.
Nico does everything in the order that makes the most logical sense. That means that, upon looking around the room, she immediately follows her nose and stomch over to the pizza boxes. She opens one and takes two slices from it, stacking them atop one another, and then she turns on a heel in order to survey the lab at large.
"Nice," the Sorceress remarks, adjusting the black dress she's wearing with her free hand and then starting toward the helpfully labeled room, bobbing slightly with the music as she goes. Long black nails scrape on wood before she actually knocks twice sharply to announce herself.
"Hey, Nadia. What on earth are you listening to?" Nico calls in her trademark bored tone. Because that totally isn't her dancing to the music when only God and Cthulhu are watching. "I was going to lie, but this place is… Pretty awesome."
"It is something I found online. Twenty four hours of music to study to," Nadia shouts back in return. "Oh it's open. I'll just be a second I'm putting the finishing touches to this… doohicky. It doesn't have a name yet. Basically though it's a shrink ray but can I /really/ call it that? It's so obvious."
The door will swing open to the sharp knocking. Inside it's probably exactly what Nico was expecting. The walls are covered in bookselves and posters of scientists plus a barrage of bright and cheerful decorations. Pink, glitter and digital frames that seem to be constantly changing photographs.
She's not exactly screaming ready for company though. Perching on a chair with an abacus in her hands and wearing an oversized sweater hangs most of the way to her knees . And on her feet she's got some tasteful bunny slippers on that squeek when she taps her foot. "I could get you the link if you want? It's even more awesome when everyone is around and working, but it's around the time people are preparing to return to college or high school so…"
"That just leaves you here alone?" Nico asks, cocking her head slightly to the left. She glances around the room slowly and gives a faint shudder before sliding easy into the room to move toward where Nadia ahs perched herself. "…AN abacus?" She blinks a couple times and then shrugs slowly, tilting her head slightly as she does. "Anyway. The link? For that? I… mean… I guess." Nico is clearly off-balance, likely unused to the way her sarcasm tends to slide off of Nadia so easily. So instead she fills the void with a huge bite of pizza.
"So," Nicocontinues, her mouth now halfway full. "This is where the magic happens, huh?"
"Well there are security staff on site," Nadia admits, her head tilting to one side. "But I live here. Mostly. So I'm here alone a lot. Sometimes people stay over in the dorms and we have a few unclaimed rooms for new members or guests. Nothing fancy." She puts the abacus down on the desk and flicks her hand through the air to activate the screen. Her fingers tap away on the table and the machine seems to react as if there was a keyboard there. "Sometimes I just like to work on the numbers by hand. It's tactile."
She motions for Nico to come in and find somewhere to sit down. While the room is cluttered it's not dirty. The stacks of books, while excessive, are at least dust free. "I've sent you a message on your phone with the link. Magic? You mean my work? Sort of… most of the stuff out there is a G.I.R.L project. I've also got a private lab nearby but…" She bites her lip and hrms. "I've never really shown it to anyone. It's tricky to access."
"I'm in. When can I see it?" Nico responds immediately, her eyes lighting up at the mention of 'tricky to access'. She shuts the door behind her and then flops down onto Nadia's bed, crossing her legs at the knee as she faces her. "I'd love to see what you're working on when it's just you. And, I mean… Abacus are cool. My parents made me learn to use a suanpan when I was in grade school. They said it would help me focus." She shrugs her slender shoulders nad leans back slightly, propping herself with her hands. "So, no school or anything…? I mean ,me either. I just figured you'd be getting like twenty degrees by now or something." She pauses there. "You don't have twenty degrees already, do you?"
Nadia Van Dyne coughs. "I speak," she counts on her fingers. "Seven languages and if I had the paperwork I'd be qualified to teach a couple of college courses. Four or five at least. For now anyway I'm always picking up new bits of information." She waves a hand dismissively. "I'm not really interested in degrees though. It's just rubber stamping knowledge I already have so…"
She gives Nico an appraising look. "I.. I guess I could show you the Pendant lab. You'll have to wear a volumetric control bracelet at /all/ times. Take it off and you'll have five minutes to get out or you'll die." She digs around in her desk drawer. "Still interested? If so fetch the pizza and I'll just make the adjustments to my spare set of wings. They'll autopilot follow me and in an emergency if you shout 'evacuate' they'll fly you back to safety. Hopefully."
"…Thankks," Nico replies as you're discussing the subject of your spare wings. I kind of want to see the wings, but… Ibrought my own." The girl shrugs at that, then favours Nadia with a wink and turns to head back itn othe adjoining room. "How much of the pizza you want me to bring? …All of it?" Meanwhile, she is finishing off her first two slices. There might be a further attempt to speak but for the next thirty seconds it'll come out as "Mmfshlmpf."
While Nico heads off to get the food Nadia does an instant costume change thanks to the wonders of pym particles. Switching to the black undersuit of her Wasp costume and putting on her wing backpack. "Oh just leave the bottom two for security. Anything we don't finish I'll just have over the next day or so."
By the time Nico has returned there's a chunky looking wristwatch thing in Nadia's hands and a hexagonal metal object that looks like the out of use wing backpack. "I'd feel a lot happier if you had the wing pack with you. It will follow the most efficient route… You'll understand when you see it I suppose."
Unless Nico objects she'll clip the device onto her wrist and then suddenly the room will get very /very/ odd. As everything around seems to become immense in size. "Stay close to me now," she calls out as she flits off towards the now mountain size desk. Over to a jewelry stand with a necklace on and, perhaps not unexpectedly given the name, into a tiny hole in the pendant. "The outside is made from synthetic diamond."
"W-whoa! What is this, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids? Because you're a lot hotter than Rick fucking Moranis!" Yelping, Nico stumbles, unbalanced, as the world suddenly changes tremendously in size in hardly an instant.
As promised, the wings follow the most efficient route, and so as Nadia takes off Nico is hauled from her feet into the air, trying to fall whilst simultaneously flying not quite under her own power toward the jewelry stnad in question.
"You're crazy!" Nico relates as she zips through the air and after Nadia into the hole in the now tremendously sized pendant. "…You know were way smaller than a wasp now, right?"
"I don't generally fly around at this size," Nadia calls back, already coming in for a landing inside the necklace. "It'd take forever to get anywhere. Also.. I don't know who that is but I assume an acter from context?" She shrugs. "We didn't watch a lot of movies back in Russia."
"This is… not even the impressive part. This next bit is," she adds brightly. "Just don't look up or you'll hurt your eyes." As she says this she leads Nico out into what seems like an ornamental garden. The paths are clear crystal and beneath there is some immense clockwork mechanism. The gardens are planted with a variety of exotic plants in an approximation of a Victorian garden and lead right up to a fairytale castle carved out of pure rose quartz. "That's the impressive bit. Everything inside here is my own person lab. I've got some libraries, workshops and all the things you'd expect really. There's a swimming pool too but it's mostly decorative because when I'm this size I sink. You'll float though. The process is only temporary for you and it doesn't quite work the same way."
"Woah. …So much pink." Nico is looking around carefully, shielding her eyes with a hand as she studies her surroundings. She follows after Nadia almost mutely, too distracted with the grandeur of her surroundingsto actually form a coherent quip for Nadia to ignore. "I'll float? …Guess I'm hitting up the pool on weekend," Nico finally anages, though she is almost whispering. "You built all this? I mean-… Wow. GHow long did it take to get all of this in here anyway?" She bends down to reach toward a flower, not quite touching it.
Nadia Van Dyne shrugs at the comment about the pink. "I was younger when I made it," she admits. "Erm in the water yes.. You don't normally float when you try swim? Because I can't dive in to save you and… Did you even bring a swimsuit with you?" She strolls towards the main front door. "I needed somewhere private to work and when you're regular size it's just like assembling a pocket watch. A few lasers to cut things to the right shape and it practically builds itself really. With a little practise you can grow a lot of the crystals to the roughly the right shape to begin with."
"No, I mean. I'm coming back and stealing your pool later. And of course I float, but you said you didn't, and… How do I know how things workat this size? COme on." Nico looks around gin, still walking rather gingerly along the path. She more or less keeps up with Nadia at least. "Like a pocket watch, huh? I guess I didn't really think of it like that. You put lot of thought intoworking this place out. Jeeze. I'd be scred someone would, like, steal it while I'm inside or somehting, though."
"The pool is only the size of a raindrop," Nadia teases. "You'll have trouble fitting without help. Basically the gadget on your wrist is changing the distance between the molecules in your body. And shunting some of your mass into another dimension. I'm changing size more naturally, if you can call it natural at all, and I keep a lot more mass. So if you tried punching me right now it'd feel just like hitting the wall. It's actually a /lot/ more complicated than that, but that's the cheat sheet version…"
She giggles. "I've got a hiding place. Plus if they steal the lab with me inside I can just beat up the thieves." She wanders through the main doors and motions towards a collection of chairs. "Everything is strapped to the walls, floor or ceiling so it doesn't move around too much. Just like on a space station. But the furnature is comfortable and…" She pauses and looks back at Nico. "I should really have asked what you wanted to do first huh?"
Nico looks around again, still clutching the pizza carefully. How she mde it this far after all the panicking is impossile to say. It might just be that death grip. Like she'd fight a bear for her meal. Or a horde of angry gigantic bees. Whatever comes first in this place.
"I know I'd need help. But I mean. I could figure it out" Nico assures Nadia. "Maybe. Those wings are pretty complicated looking." After a moment the woman's eyes snap back to the brown-haired woman in front of her. "I mean. Tiny crystal castle in a hidden self-contained world is pretty non-traditional but it still beats most of the other dates I've been on. Chill. It's cool. We're hanging out, right?"
"It's not something I plan on teaching anyone at this point. There are a lot of bad people who want the information and in the wrong hands it could be.. well… world ending. Still I like to think I am the right hands so nothing to worry about," Nadia rambles on as she leads Nico through the main hall and into a side room. Probably a drawing room given the style of the building. A circle of couches around a fireplace takes up most of the cozy space and it looks out onto some tropical flowers that don't seem entirely natural. "A date.. I… must admit I don't really know anything about how that sort of thing works. I had a very… different upbringing. And probably not at all for the reasons you'd expect." She flops onto a couch and sprawls out in a highly unladylike manner. "I also haven't forgotten you mentioning you could fly you know! I've had a /very/ odd week or two it seems. I met a billionaires son and a woman who could…" She blushes a little. "Induce some sort of attraction. I think it was a type of mind control, mildish, but she seemed like a nice person despite it all."
"It's been one of those weeks, huh? I know a girl who can fly and shoot lasers and stuff, another one has a pet telepathic dinosaur. Oh, and there were these evil wizards the other night… Don't ask." Nico shakes her head then, squinting slightly as she studies a book that has been thoroughly secured.SHe reaches out and grabs it, as if testing the bond. "Huh.
"Anyway," the Japanese woman continues softly as they reach the fireplace. "We've all had a weird upbringing, it seems like. I Get it. You don't need to give me any details, just… You know. It's cool. I'm weird too, right." She flops down onto a couch not too far from Nadia, in a manner not /quite/ as unladylike. "I mean. We can talk about it if you want, but."
The books are just strapped in with velcro style bands. Most in this room seem to be light reading. Cheap paperbacks from charity shops mostly. The sort of thing you'd curl up with while enjoying the view out of the window or possibly even infront of the fire. Not that the necklace is actually cold inside.
"Oh I'm comfortable talking about the general nature. And I'm pretty confident you'll believe me all things considered," Nadia turns her head and winks at Nico. "When I said I grew up in Siberia that was mostly true. It's just it was a bunker underground and I was raised to be a child assassin by evil Russian spies. Not that I have ever killed anyone. They moved me into the.. I guess you would call it the mad science division but I eventually escaped. And that's pretty much it. Oh I guess I stole from them too."
"So if any strange Russians approach you that'll be why. If they do watch out. I'm sure they'd do anything to try get me back." She shifts on the couch, pulling herself up to peer over the arm rest. "Did you just say telepathic dinosaur?" Her eyes practically light up. "I believe I wish to know all of the.. how do you say.. 'deets'."
"If any strange Russians approach me they're looking for you, tell them to look in the faerie tale castle at the end of the block and book it. Seems straightforward so far," Nico replies, nodding slowly as Nadia relates all of this to her. She tilts her head slightly, studying the woman beside her intently for a long moment. A deep breath is taken. Slowly. It's held for long moment and then slowly exhaled.
"That's okay. My parents were evil wizards bent on taking over the world through blood sacrifice.We all have problems." The Goth shrugs her shoulders gently and slowly looks around the room again. "At least you got a castle out of it. Pizza?"
"Oh no don't mention the castle at all," Nadia says quickly. "They /will/ believe you and look for it. I had to work for them before you see. They have a rough idea what I am capable of. If anything you'll want to get the hell away from them. Or at least find somewhere public enough they won't risk a kidnapping."
She lets out a long sigh. "I expected you probably had some kind of family trouble when we first met and you didn't reveal your full name but evil wizards?" Her brow furrows, deep in tought. "I have to admit I'm skeptical about magic. But I suppose I would be foolish to rule it out. Perhaps magic is akin to mutant powers just less well understood!" She giggles. "But I'll save that train of thought for another time…"
Her hand reaches out and pokes at the pizza boxes until she finds a specific one a third of the way down. Which she pulls out and opens. It's got an eclectic mix of pineapple, feta, veggies and spicy chicken on it. "While I wouldn't wish my childhood on anyone else it /did/ give me skills and knowledge I might never have obtained otherwise. And really it's what I do with that knowledge now I'm free that counts. My therapist says I shouldn't blame myself for things I had no control over so.."
"You're right. You shouldn't. I should know, people keep telling me the same thing. Does it ever work for you?" With a rueful smile, Nico shakes her head and then takes a deep breath. She eyes he pizza for a moment, then points at a pizza of pineapple. She finally picks it off and sets it onto another slice berfore eating pizza composed of spicy chicken, feta, and veggies. Chewing Nico adds, "You could say magic is a science lll its own. It has rules to study. They just don't match your rules.. They're no less real… And they're just as rigid." She shrugs slowly. "Maybe Clarke was right and magic is just science we dont't /really/ understand. That would have made my mom Stephen Hawking or something. You know. Evil Stephen Hawking or whatever."
"So if I had to guess.. You mentioned going by superhero names in the past and knowing a bunch of people with powers… Same group of friends?" Nadia wonders, shrugging and gladly stealing the extra pineapple slice. "It mostly works. A lot of the science I do here helps people. That's the bit I remind myself of. And that I got out of the assassin course before the severe brainwashing or actual murder bits. They were proud to have a trainee mortality rate of about seventy percent."
"So long as it conforms to consistant rules I can't see why it /wouldn't/ eventually be a branch of science. Just like how everyone thought the Norse were just pagans until Thor turned up. Just because we don't know how they relate to the regular rules of the universe doesn't mean they don't connect in somewhere. Magic could just be borrowing matter or energy from a parallel world."
Well, it definitely involves borrowing from other dimensions," replies wrily. "It's not as much as it sounds, though." She shrugs at that, shifting her weight slightly as she takes another bite of pizza. "And what are you talking about?" She adds after a moment, tilting her head slightly to the left as she studies the young woman in front of her. "I don't have any friends. But yeah… Same guys." The dark-haired sorceress gives a single, firm nod. Then she fills her mouth completely with pizza.
"You mean we're not friends?" Nadia asks, feigning shock in an overly dramatic manner and putting her hand to her forehead. "You wound me Nico!" She sticks her tongue out. "I've been to another dimension before. If you shrink something down far enough you basically pop into a totally new level of reality. Not sure I'd recommend going there though, I almost couldn't get back out again."
"You'll have to be more specific about what I'm talking about that doesn't make sense though. People find things I say hard to follow for all sorts of reasons. Usually it's when I start with the science talk."
"…Nevermind," Nico replies slowly. "You- make perfect sense." She shakes her head once, and resolves the quandary about the ineffective nature of her snarkiness by denuding another slice of pizza of pineapple. "As far as friends, I don't know /what/ we are," Nico replies. SHe shrugs once. "But whatever it is I guess it's cool." She flashes Nadia a brief smile then, glancing between her and the pizza. "I still can't wrap my head around how you can have all the energy for all this. I can barely get myself up to make my bed."
Nadia Van Dyne considers Nico's response and eventually nods. "Try sleep in when you share a bedroom with between twenty to thirty other trainees," she suggests. "Don't get me wrong I like sleeping in now and again but.. I am not wired for inactivity and my training makes it almost impossible. It helps to get up and do something physically active in the morning. A few miles on the running machines works wonders!"
There's a faint smirk and then solemnly she adds "Beside. In Soviet Russia bed makes you."
"A few /miles/? I think I dropped dead just hearing you /say/ it?" Nico is shaking her head slowly, taking another bite out of her pizza and fidgeting slightly as she nods.
"At least didn't have that. My parents didn't like seeing me sleep in. Had to get up early and study. But that's not a problem now, so…" Nico shrugs and sets the half slice of pizza back down in the box across her left arm. "So, if the beds make you do they also do your homework? Because I could get behind that."
"Well I didn't ever actually go to school," Nadia points out with a shrug. "Well not in any form you'd recognise as such. And we didn't leave. All our work was home work…" She shifts and pulls herself up over the arm rest. "So I am just throwing this out as an idea but if you hypothetically had not finished high school G.I.R.L could probably get your progress moved over and you could finish it here. We have most American high school textbooks on site and just about /everyone/ would be qualified to tutor you. If you needed and wanted it that is."
She leans over and grabs another pizza slice. "Strictly voluntary though. I won't bring it up again if you don't want me to."
"…" Nico is quiet for a moment, the perfect excuse provided in the form of cramming her cheeks with the slice of pizza she'd been setting down despite the fact it's more than she's probably ready to eat. She wathces Nadia for a second, chews, swallows, and then pauses while she seems to consider the offer. "I mean… I'd still miss Prom, but—- a diploma could be nice. I'll think about it."
"We have a dance floor in the lab," Nadia points out solemly. As if it was fitted for this exact reason. (It wasn't but it's a happy side benefit!) "The occasional party helps people network and decrease stress. Anyone who claims scientists don't know how to have fun is wrong!"
I promise I'll make sure I'm not personally involved too. That way you don't have to worry about.. well if we fell out for example.. You wouldn't have any problems with your studies."
There's a nod. Almost to herself. Before hunting for another slice of a different pizza. This time it's onions, sausage and a lot of red chili flakes. "So if you know magic does that make you a wizard? Or is there a more accurate term you prefer?"