10869/The pain train

The pain train
Date of Scene:	25 January 2020
Location:	Queens Subway Station
Synopsis:	Karrin is out walking a dog when she runs into a teenage mad scientist, her friend Buffy and a walking drug lab named Jane.
Cast of Characters:	Karrin Murphy, Painkiller Jane, Wasp (Pym), Buffy Summers

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Karrin Murphy has posed:
The NYCTA is a highly efficient machine underneath the Big Apple, and it runs with clockwork precision. Mostly. Right now it's runnning flawlessly, andat the subway station in Queens, one Karrin Murphy is making her way down to the platform. Dressed for investigating things, Karrin's got leather jacket, jeans, and ankle length boots on. Today she's dived into her employer's closet, she's not dressed like a typical cop in uniform. Instead, she's waiting on a train.

Because that's what subways are for. Though she sets one boot onto the platform, she's got her head on a swivel, and is keeping a lookout for trouble. Ah, the joys of being an NYC cop. She's hoping people just assume her to be a regular passer by, even if she's got her badge around her neck. A dog that looks like Mouse is walking alongside her. She's not entirely sure if, or even how, the dog will fit in a subway train. But she got talked into taking him to Central Park. This is her punishment for losing a bet. Some people suffer magic payback. Others? Like Karrin....walk a giant frigging doggo. Who won't fit in her car or on her bike, either. She's bemused at the situation, even more so when she's got a A dog that looks like Mouse on her feet. Goodbye circulation to ankles in 3...2...1....feet go to sleep. Karrin's not moving from that exact spot. Even when the train gets here. God help anyone with a fuzzy squirrel on their clothing, too.

Painkiller Jane has posed:
Decisions, decisions, decisions. Do we want acetylsalicylic acid, naproxen sodium, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen? Which seems suitable?
The woman walking somewhat carefully down the stairs is pulling out a pill bottle marked as Excedrin Extra Strength. She pops the cap, shakes out two...then four...then six pills into her palm. She looks at them a little skeptically, then tosses them into her mouth, chewing on them and perversely enjoying the acrid tastes of them, her smile displaying the oxymoronic slant of bitter gratitude.

She's dealing with a few things right now. Could be the left hand and forearm covered in bandages, or the gauze pad taped to her exposed midsection over the right kidney.
She swallows and pulls out a water bottle from the pocket of her long coat, unscrewing the cap to wash down anything left in her mouth.

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
Typically Nadia prefers to fly when getting about the city. But every now and again her gear needs updates, repairs or other adjustments that mean she has to resort to other means of transportation. Like today. She's wearing a zipped up leather bomber jacket with an insect wing logo on the back and some designer pants from the van Dyne fashion house. She's also got some stylish pink sneakers that light up when she walks.

The petite teenager glances around curiously, as if everything is a little new and strange to her (mostly because the New York subway is), and every now and again pauses to give someone a friendly smile. Breaking the universal rule of public transport of don't engage with the other passengers.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers frequents the subway on a regular basis, due to an almost weekly commute between Bludhaven, her job at the Blue Lady and school at Gotham U. Fortunately the train system here was pretty efficient so it's not as much a hassle as in some cities. As she heads for the subway, she does notice a dog that is not Mouse and his petite blonde walker, which causes her to smile. "Karrin, Hey!" she calls and waves to her.

Karrin Murphy has posed:
It's all Karrin can do to wave back. Not like she can move at all with this big old canine on her feet. Out comes a bone made of straw. Jackhammers got nuttin' on the tail wagging, though she grins to Buffy, motioning her to come over so they can talk, even though said dog is trying to dig a hole in the platform with the tail. Maybe Karrin should hire him out for tunneling work? Still, she's got no issues with gauze or pills or fancy sneakers. She's gone simple and effective, really. Tail wagging slowing, it's replaced by happy chewing sounds. Which sounds more creepy than anything at least to Murph's ears. See, she's smiling to people too. Hey if one person breaks the rules. Everyone can.

Painkiller Jane has posed:
The woman with the short crimson hair and green eyes glances over to the dog. She doesn't approach it, or the woman whose feet are pinned by it. She could still detect the smell of pennies. Fresh blood has that smell of pennies. Her wounds are closed (well, still closing, but mostly closed) and bloody bandages might freak the poor animal out.

That, or the smell of cordite, anyway.
She looked at the schedule, then realized it for the fiction it was and sighed heavily.

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
"You probably shouldn't give your pet dog toys this close to the tracks," Nadia says earnestly with a hint of a Russian accent. "If the toy rolls off the edge you could be pulled into the path of a train..." There's genuine concern in her tone. "And I'm sure it would have no trouble dragging you! He... Or she? Is practically taller than you."

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers smiles, moving to close the distance between herself and Karrin. "Heh, I thought it was Mouse at first but this one looks a bit different. Mouse's little sister?" she smirks, "We we're wondering where you headed off to last night. Harry was all angsts and Thomas was feeling all guilty...Work emergency?" she sighs, rubbing her eyes, looking a bit exhausted for some reason. When a woman makes a comment about the dog toy, she arches a curious brow at Nadia. "Hmm?" Buffy nods, "She does have a point...That dog looks strong.."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
"Yep so let's move back from the tracks?" Murph offers, "Yeah work emergency, I got a call and had to run. Tell Thomas I'll drop by and stick around" she offers then nods to Nadia. "Thanks" she says with genuine relief. People do care in this city, so...with mnudging and persuading, Karrin moves to the back of th platform, well, well away from the tracks. "Nah, lost a bet so I gotta walk my Sargent's dog" she says looking amused, the big old canine flumping down by Karrin's ankle, wanting the bone back to chew on. "You stay put and chew on it" she says, then looks over Buffy and Nadia waving them over. "So what're you guyus up to?" she asks, including Jane in the wave over. hey. it's a valid question. Followed by 'how the hell do I fit this girl on a train?' and 'will the NYFD cut apart a subway car to get at the doors?'

Painkiller Jane has posed:
The redhead looks over to Karrin. She looks wary, but takes a couple of steps closer. She pauses, then peels back the pad to look under it. Satisfied, then pulls it off. Although the pad has a blor of red on it, the skin underneath is unmarked. She drops the gauze pad in the trash, then touches her forearm. She winces, but begins to slowly unwrap the bandage.

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
"If it would make it easier I could temporarily shrink the dog...." Nadia starts to offer, then Jane starts taking off blood bandages. "Are you okay? I'm not technically a doctor but I have a lot of medical training if you've been hurt and need assistance. It'd at least help you get to a hospital okay." She glances back at Karrin. "I'm not really doing anything... Officer? Just going to buy some parts for my latest little project."

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers nods to Karrin, sighing softly. "I managed to..Calm Tom down.." she flinches slightly as she says that, "Harry not so much. You should talk to him. He needs you.." she blinks at Nadia"s offer, "Err..Say what? You got a shrinking ray gun or something?" she smiles, bemused, even though in this crazy world where anything is possible, Buffy should know better. Then Jane gets her attention as she starts pulling off bloody bandages, "Ummm...You Okay?" she asks, echoing Nadia's question.

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Karrin nods to Buffy then to the others as she sits down. Which gets her on her back, a dog bed. Yes, this is going totally to plan, as she can still talk, thankfully. "Yeah are you okay with those bandages? I mean I'm looking at it from down here but still, I can get a hold of a doctor if you like. Or that girl's got some medical training" she adds with a wave to Nadia, a wave that gets a large paw on her arm. "Okay. Okay. Point made, settle down" Karrin says with a grunt. "I'm really not going home, am I? Hey Buffy, you wanna explain why I'm late home to Harry?" she asks, wondering if they'll help her out or sit down. "Yeah could use that shrink ray right now. I'm short enough" Karrin says with a squeak as said dog decides to use her ribs as a launch pad to lope from Nadia to Jane to Buffy, thenn sprawls out between the four of them, right in the middle.

Sitting up, Karrin relaxes somee. "Oh I didn't say you were up to anything. It was more a general question" she explains to Nadia, then glances to Jane, a little green around the gills from the cop, then to Buffy, "You are probably gonna punch me fo rthis, but I think you and Thomas are cute when you were sat next to each other" she nods, hoping Buffy won't punch her. She doesn't want to arrest her friend for that one

Painkiller Jane has posed:
The woman smiles to the curious women. "Me? Nahhh...I'm fine."
God, she can lie like a champ.
She unwraps the bandage and...nope. No sign of the knife wound, and the Excedrin was doing its job NICELY. She drops the stained bandage in the trash, then displays her unmarked arm. "See? Not a mark on me."
She looks down at the dog pads over to her, then puts her newly-unbandaged hand under the dog's nose for it to sniff. "Hey there.." she says, in a voice that is trying to be soothing and is only slightly quieter than normal. Enh, close enough.

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
"It's not a gun," Nadia assures. "And it makes things bigger or smaller. But pretty much?" She shrugs. "I'm Nadia by the way, Nadia Pym. It's nice to meet you all." She beams a smile, digs a hand into her pocket and slips on a glove-like device. She points at the dog and suddenly it's about half it's previous size. "The effect won't last for long. Ten minutes or so. But that should be enough time to get through the subway doors and find somewhere to sit."

Jane gets a very suspicious look. After all if the blood isn't hers it must have come from somewhere or someone. Alternatively she could have super powers... The petite teenager glances at the bandages curious if there's a way for her to pocket one for study without being spotted.

Buffy Summers has posed:
Buffy Summers yawns a bit more, clearly exhausted as a bit out if it still. "Hmm, sureI can if I see him, but maybe you should tell him yourself? Like I said, he was a nervous wreck...PTSD or something I guess.." she just blushes and laughs nervously at her comment about Thonas. "Me and Thonas?! Hehe....We're just...Friends..." yup, absolutely nothing else there, nope. "Hah, that's pretty cool. Nice to meet you, Nadia! I'm Buffy. But are those shrinking effects permanent?" She still eyes the device warily and shrugs. To Jane she notices the quickly healing wounds with a slight frown, "Wow that's some incredible healing.." but her train is here now and she has to leave, "Sorry, I gotta run, nice meeting you all!"

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Murphy nods to the now smaller dog. "Alright, sure, Buffy. Sure. Be safe" she offers and looks to Jane then Nadia, jealous of the shrink ray. "See. See, I'm curious on that. Where'd you get it, and you sure you don't need a doctor?" she asks Jane carefully. No way somebody heals from that instantly. No way no how. Unless sshe has superpowers, maybe? Anything's possible, as Karrin looks around, watching for a train to slide into the station. "Okay so, from here to the LIRR, then double back towards Staten Island, change there...." Murph muses. it's horribly complex. "Basically gotta get this dog back to her folks in Brooklyn" she offers, as if looking for a simpler route. Which, she really is. Nadia's shrink ray could come in very, very useful, honestly. Thinking laterally, it'd make it easier to help Harry out, and the PD

Painkiller Jane has posed:
Jane JUMPS back as the dog suddenly becomes a much smaller dog. "SHIT!" she blurts out, her eyes wide and shocked. She looks at Nadia, face scrunched up in confusion. She thought the girl was KIDDING.
For a moment, all she can do is eye her suspiciously. Then she realized people are looking at her. Gonna have to give them SOMETHING.

"Name's...Jane," she offers after a moment. "I just need to get home, take a long hot bath." She looks back at the dog, to verify it is still smaller.

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
"It's only long term if I do some additional treatments which are very expensive," Nadia explains, giving Buffy a reassuring smile. "And I built it. It's not really something you could just buy in the store, there would be chaos in the streets! And before anyone asks no I'm sorry but I can't let anyone else have one. You'd need to ask the Avengers if you want that sort of technology and I'm pretty sure they won't be willing to share."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
"Jane, huh?" Karrin says with a shrug, "No you're not seeing things. Well you are seeing things with your eyes, but...you know what I mean, yes the dog's smaler stil..." she says, feeling a headache coming on from trying to both figure this out, and explain it. Though good, the idea shrink rays in the streets won't be a thing reassures her. Then again, she sighs. "You mean like if you want something insanely precious and valuable, right?" she asks. Oh Gods, if Harry went near one, it'd be Liliput. Best keep her wizard away from /that/ thing. No, the area doesn't need Harry re-enacting Gulliver's Travels, only with more giant dog, and fire and wizard action. That's asking for it really. Looking over to Jane again, Karrin studies her for a moment. "Jane, what. You got a last name?" she adds. So she's got Nadia's shrink ray causing her a headachde trying to figure it out, and this mystery of who Jane is. Jane Doe? Hardly. She walks, she talks.

She's like a real life damned doll, she wipes clean off. Heals up real good

Painkiller Jane has posed:
Jane looks at Karrin for a moment. "Yes, I do have a last name." Which does technically answer the question. She looks back at the dog, wondering idly if it would hurt to be shrunk. The dog doesn't seem to mind it, though. "That's...a little eerie, though. My eyes are seeing it but my brain is coming back 'Objection!'"

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
The Red Room spy training comes in rather handy. As everyone is marvelling at the reduced size doggo Nadia casually pockets a bloody bandage, taking great care to pick it up with a sample bag so she doesn't risk cross contamination or ruin her jacket pockets.

"All I'm doing is making some adjustments between the distance in the molecules. It's perfectly safe. At this level of size change nothing is shifting between dimensions or anything overly complex. And I've used the same process on myself without any long term issues! You will suffer more ill effects from the pollution a car produces or from picking up an illness from the unwashed surfaces in the subway cars."

"Robbery would be the least of peoples worries if /everyone/ had one. Used incorrectly you can hypothetically strand someone in a sublayer of reality where time doesn't work quite the same."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Nope, headache goes that way. In comes a full on migraine. "Uh....I didn't sign up for a particle physics class" Karrin says, sounding a little, or a lot, lost. "That whoosh? Yeah that was half of what you said going over my head. Everything after it's safe and the polllution and subway cars" she adds and gives Jane a look as if asking if she's the only one not following, or if anyone else is lost, too? She shakes her head at Nadia and Jane looking like a fifth grader asked to write a doctoral thesis in thirty minutes or less.

At least the doggo's having a good time, with Karrin reaching down to scritch behind ears, and pet and stroke the doggo, mind. That's helping her not totally listen to Nadia's super genius advanced physics and molecular mumbo jumbo that Karrin doesn't understand one iota. There is that. She totally needs to convince somebody to get her a pet. And migraine pills, or, or, something.

Painkiller Jane has posed:
Jane looks over at Karrin, and can see the telltale signs of physical pain. She's practically a Wikipedia section all her own.
"Hey...don't worry. My brain's not equipped to deal with that, either. Want something for that headache?" She begins to take out small pill bottles from her coat pockets, the kind that look like tubes of lipstick with child-proof caps. "I got Aleve, Tylenol...hey, Excedrin's great for migraines..."

She seems to have one of every OTC pain pill made.

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
Nadia Pym shrugs at Karrin. She could totally write a doctoral thesis when she was in 5th grade. "It's not really important," she promises. "Because it's not the sort of technology that will ever become commonly used. And uhm... This is the simplified-for-kids version. You'd need at least a doctorate in theoretical physics to get the regular version. And the advanced... Well you'd need to be me or my Dad. I guess perhaps Reed Richards and Doctor Doom could understand it too."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Oh hey, Karrin's just accidentally found a walking pharmacy. hey. Harry's a walking encyclopedia on demons and nasties. Stands to reason somebody else is a walking wikipedia on something else. "Uh....sure" she says, wondering in the back of her mind if she needs to take this Jane in for questioning. Instead, no, no. She'll take whatever works best for headaches. "Never a dull moment" Karrin grumbles. "My boyfriend's a wizard who does impossible things. I run ross you" she nods to Nadia, "Who does impossible shit with technology. Isn't that just like magic but a different sort?" she wonders. Yay for headaches making her brain go all over the place. "Then there's you, walking pharmacy. Doc Jane, huh?" she jokes, rubbing her temples. "Whatcha got for headaches caused by too much science in too short a time?"

Painkiller Jane has posed:
Jane looked at Nadia, then back at Karrin. She eyes the subway cars that have just arrived, then tossed the travel bottle of Excedrin Extra Strength (still four left) to Karrin. "Keep the bottle. Unlike this conversation, this train's not leaving without me." She waves as she crosses the yellow line and steps into the train car, waving to the confusing woman, the brain-trust kid, and the dog so cheap, it's half-off.

Wasp (Pym) has posed:
Nadia Pym rolls her eyes. "Technology is something anyone can figure out given time. Magic on the other hand... I don't really believe there's anything 'mystical' about it. It's probably just like mutant powers, some understandable bloodline thing we'll figure out eventually." She gives another shrug. "Anyway I probably should be catching my train too. It was nice meeting you all!"

Karrin Murphy has posed:
"Yeah well you don't know my friends" Karrin says pocketing the pills. Awkward questions incoming if anyone grabs her jacket, but she too nods. "Yeah I better get my train and this dog back to Brooklyn and home. THen I gotta get to Kingston Falls, so" she nods heading for the platform and into a subway car.

She's thinking on Nadia's words, too. Oh, if Nadia ever meets a seven foot wizard, she'll change her tune. When technology starts going weird and giving up....sorta disproves Nadia's point a tiny tiny bit