5356/Astral Flux: Spirits

Astral Flux: Spirits
Date of Scene:	12 September 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Jessica explains what happened at the graveyard to Flash.
Cast of Characters:	Flash, Spider-Woman (Drew)
Tinyplot:	Astral Flux

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Flash has posed:
    The place was supposed to be crawling with spirits and demons and various nonsense. If there were spirits, Flash didn't see any. However, he did find a few imp demons. He's spent the last few seconds rounding them up with nets.

    Seconds. Because Flash.

    He makes a larger circle of the cemetery area, skeptical about where the spirits may have gone. That they just vanished? He doesn't buy that.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
The night has drawn on, seemingly, forever. What began as a drive home with pizza has turned into a nightmare from which Jessica is only just now awakening. Her car, disabled and smashed, sits uselessly across the street from the cemetery, where groundskeepers watching Flash narrowly and awaiting a moment when they can enter to examine headstones: some overturned, some split. Some shattered. Not even the dead can rest easy tonight.

Across the street from the turmoil, web-clad in her uniform, Jessica Drew watches Flash round up the remaining imps at blinding speed. She seems small and unnoticeable, as she tries to make sense of the night, and figure out how she's going home. But for now, she watches protectively, and approaches Flash, shaking her head with a smile of relief to see him. "Better late than never, eh?"

Flash has posed:
Flash can be hard to track when he's at top speeds, but he usually slows and interacts with people, such as the groundskeepers and some police, various other recovery. Better to be seen; people stop the panic when obvious heroes come around and make their presence known. When Jessica appears, Flash orients quickly with a smile for her. He finishes talking to the recovery team, hands resting in a proper heroic fashion at his sides, and then meets her part of the way.

    "Spider-Woman! Hi. Were you here for most of this?" Flash asks, with a loose gesture behind him at the disarray.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"I was, yeah," Jessica replies, raking her fingers through her hair and looking around at the general disarray beyond his gesture. "What a mess. And my car got smashed up by some of those little gremlin jerks you just rounded up. They all look alike to me, now..." She shakes out her mask and folds it, sliding it into her belt and looking back to Flash again. "It's good to see /you/ around. I haven't seen you since..." She trails off. It was after the battle with that final giant mushroom. "That was the best milkshake ever."

Flash has posed:
    "I think it likely was just the contrast between the battle and the shake. Made it REALLY awesome." Flash thinks that over, but it's barely even a pause. "Not that that devalues the shake. It still was really good. I agree." He grins, watching her put her mask away. He jerks his head towards the graveyard.

    "So did I miss the Ouija board part, or what? What happened? It looked a lot like the cast of Gremlins was here. Sorry about your car. Insured, right?" Flash asks. It isn't quite all in a burst, but he isn't deliberately minding his speed at the moment, distracted by keeping track on the area around them.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Those gremlins were the pesky ones. But there were...I don't know. Spirits? Some chick that was /not/ all there was summoning them. I'm not entirely convinced they were spirits, though. I mean...the girl was vacant. She was being controlled. We're still dealing with those telepaths, and I don't know what to do about THAT, either. But if they're telepaths, they can create all sorts of illusions, right?" This time it's Jessica's turn to run off at the mouth. Everything comes spilling out at once.

Flash has posed:
    "Okay. So. Let's start at the top?" Flash suggests. "And maybe not so much in the middle of the sidewalk." Flash gently attempts to touch her arm and guide her to one side, to a sheltered, more out of the way area of the cemetery where they aren't in the way of people rushing around. "So there was a vacant girl being controlled, and there were illusions or spirits, or both. And the gremlin guys. Then what happened?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"I'm not even sure!" Jessica replies, as she relaxes a little at Flash's touch and tries to rearrange herself out of the way. She lowers her voice a bit, and closes her eyes, trying to remember. "It was all so fast, and so strange. We were here, and then we weren't. We were all transported. To someplace on a rock...and she couldn't summon there, but she tried. He--She. She called me Jessandra. That's what Paulie called me...It's all a part of the same network..."

Flash has posed:
    Flash tries to follow all of this. He can keep up, but there's some gaps here in what he does and doesn't know. He gives her a puzzled look, that has some concern in it. "Who transported you? The telepath?" Flash questions. He moves to sit down on a long, serene stone wall, trying to help her relaxed by acting relaxed himself. "Paulie? Which network? Telepaths from before?"

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica nods, taking a deep breath and seating herself next to Flash on the wall. "All right...backing up. There was a telepath named Paulie who was helping to control the mushrooms. I...don't think he's even on the playing field anymore. But according to Superman, there is a network of telepaths out there, all related to this whole mushroom thing. Paulie called me Jessandra, because he tried to force me to tell him my name once, and it was all I could come up with." She is twisting a strand of her hair, wrapping it around her finger pensively as she speaks, and staring into...nowhere.

"So tonight, the telepath controlling this girl called me Jessandra. He was playing with me. I don't even really know /where/ we were. There was a woman here, some sort of...I think magicker. She said 'Welcome to me' when we got there, like we were somehow inside her? That makes no sense, it wasn't EVEN sticky enough, and there was a floating rock, like...in a video game. So weird. I don't even begin to understand what all happened tonight."

Flash has posed:
    "...Huh," Flash says, thoughtful, but accepting of the whole of the explanation. There isn't really any judgement or disbelief. "So, by calling you that, the controller was messing with your head, then. If Paulie was the only one that knew. Maybe he's still alive," Flash watches her. "Welcome to me? Sounds like some kind of magical house. I've been inside a few. Some sort of warded place to bring the girl, maybe?"

    Flash adjusts tactics after a few moments. "How are you feeling from it? Need a lift home to your mansion, get some rest, let your brain sort it out?" Flash asks.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
"Maybe," Jessica replies hazily. "I'm hoping I can make more sense of it tomorrow. I don't think I'm going back to the mansion tonight. I need some time to clear my head." She casts a mournful glance over at her car and shrugs. "I have a whole pizza over there in the car. Pepperoni. It's cold, but...hungry? Might be the one part of the night that hasn't been wrecked so far," she says, breathing a laugh.

Flash has posed:
"How many gremlins have chewed on it?" Flash asks, looking at her car and trying not to flinch at the state of it. "Because if it's more than two, that might be too many," Flash asks. "I'll nab it. Relax," Flash says with a brief gesture to her to stay put. And abruptly returns with the pizza, opening it and studying it cautiously. "...Doesn't appear to be nibbled. Or did it originally have more toppings?" Flash teases, trying to draw her into another laugh.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica grins, but shakes her head. "No, it was just pepperoni. I don't think they messed with the pizza, they just wanted to wreck the car. Insurance adjuster's coming to look at it, then they'll have it towed. Maybe I'll get a new car out of the deal, who knows?" She peers at the pizza. "Looks like nothin' touched it, at least." She looks down at her fingers, interlaced in her lap. "I'd like to show ya where I live tonight. So at least you'll know. In case somethin' happens. In case you don't hear from me at some point..."

Flash has posed:
"...Sure, okay," Flash says, after a pause that's considerably long, for the speedster. He can lend shy in some situations. And her suggesting that she may have trouble, and he might need to check on her.... "I'll check in if you disappear for a long time," he assures her, friendly, and honest. And picking off a pepperoni like a proper gremlin himself. Three more suddenly disappear. Playful speedster.

    "Also, I have a contact you can use to get more directly through to the Justice League, if you need help. Maybe I'll arrive before all the spirits disappear." Flash gives her a following grin, though he's more subdued overall.

Spider-Woman (Drew) has posed:
Jessica laughs as the pepperoni slices disappear in rapid succession. "Thanks, I appreciate it." She sighs as she looks around, but the smile remains. Sometimes, she's found, it's better to have someone else around. Particularly someone who can make her laugh. At this point, whether he knows it or not, she's not sure she'd make it without him.