589/Spider In The Corner

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Spider In The Corner
Date of Scene: 24 May 2017
Location: Unknown
Synopsis: Bruce and Emma discuss work with a spider in the corner
Cast of Characters: Emma Frost, Hulk, Insect Queen (OMara)




Emma Frost has posed:
Wednesday's tend to somehow be the day most guest lecturers show up at the Academy, and thanks to her deal with SHIELD, Emma's managed to start bringing in some real ringers for the students. Most wouldn't know Bruce by his original identity, but practically anyone who can read the internet or has seen the news, knows of the Hulk. Well, as per the agreement, it was just Bruce today.

Skip ahead to the end of the lecture and all the kids had started to file out slowly and a few wanting to ask Banner a few questions, eventually he would get a chance to slip away into the teacher's lounge Emma had recommeneded before the lesson began. Sitting in there now, wearing a deep navy blue pant suit with her hair held taught in a quick bun secured with two pencils, Emma sits at an empty table near the window looking out and seeing only the building across the street and down a few floors to the street below.

She has a tablet propped up to the left of her plate, working ditfully, and eating slowly a few pieces of sushi.

Hulk has posed:
    Even on his way into the teacher's lounge Banner gets caught by a couple of students who need clarification on some points from his lecture, and after clearing those up he ducks through the door and closes it firmly behind him. Once inside he unslings a backpack from his shoulder and produces his own thermos and unscrews the portable cup from the top to fill it up before he sits down. Whatever's inside is steaming hot and puts off a pungent smell, but definitely isn't coffee.

    He sips his strong tea while eyeing the school's headmistress who's already there, the only thought on his mind that he needs to control his thoughts in her company. Somebody's done his homework. In spite of the formal professional event, Bruce Banner showed up in baggy pants and oversized T-Shirt. At least his clothes are clean.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Ah, to be a fly on the wall to listen to this conversation!

Well, that's exactly what the Insect Queen is at the moment. Well, sort of. She is just an inch tall, still humanoid (albeit four-armed, winged, and sporting feelers), but still, sitting neatly on a web (which she probably spun herself) off in a corner of the room, watching the scene from a safe distance.

Her telepathy is under control, her thought processes, her feelings of interest and mild curiosity, as disciplined and as bug-like as possible. Oh, and, given her current size, tiny. But half-alien in structure, in case Emma manages to register something so tiny, far away, and not at the center of her current focus.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma lifts an avacado roll up and takes a bite from it, leaving enough for two more bites as she's a small eater and sets the piece back on the plate as she chews it and responds to another email. Somedays you just can't get away from it.

"Bruce, I assume your lecture went well." Emma states with her ice blue eyes locked onto the scientist walking into the clean polished almost sterile looking room. Thought the corner of the cabinets, the wall, and the ceiling could use a bit of dusting, there's a few cobwebs and maybe a few spider webs about the room. The cleaning crew can be a bit lazy at times.

Hulk has posed:
    "You have a brilliant corps of students," Banner answers Emma with a nod of his head. He averts his eyes, his mind focused keenly on that single thought of guarding his thoughts, and sips his tea. He adds, "I do appreciate the work, too, Miss Frost." The mental guard slips a moment, flooding images of oilfield and mining jobs, accidents, battlefield surgical tents in third world countries.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Sushi. Primal instinct clutch the guts of the Insect Queen, but they are not instincts encoded in the alien DNA infection that made her what she is now. Nor they are instincts intrinsic in the insects of Earth she has absorbed the DNA templates from, no.

They are Violet's ancestral struggling artist instincts. Someone who hasn't had a decent sushi in ages. Well, if we don't count Bean Sushi. But trying to trick yourself into thinking your rice and beans is something fancier is not exactly going to work most of the time.

Anyway, these distant, vague remaints of those human instincts start to stir her self, when....

"...no. No. NO. Not now, not now!" The tiny alien's mind, and voice, slip, and she clutches her chest.

A mental maelstorm of hate and cursing, of berating and insulting surges where the insectoid was, and in an instant, her physical form explodes into a full-sized human girl. Naturally, given her closeness to the ceiling, she ends up banging her head against it, and then, due to gravity unforgiving rules, plummeting prone onto the floor.

Her thoughts, at this point, are rather predictable. -- No, get your head out of the gutter! She's going "Ow, my head! Ow, my face!"

Emma Frost has posed:
"They are generally wonderful if a bit rough around the edges, but that's why they are here. That's why we're helping them." Emma says, a gleam in her eye that's not usually there. She really does enjoy helping these kids. It gives her a profound sence of purpose but then she blinks once and reaches her hand out towards Bruce, and lowering her volume and tone to a more husky tenor, "It's okay Bruce. We're going to fix it all from her-"

SUDDENLY!

Emma snaps her head over towards the sudden thoughts in the room, and right after her head turns a full size humanoid figure falls to the floor and Emma's quickly standing on her heels. "Who are you?" She demands, a bolt of psychic energy is sent to the Insect Queen to force the answer into and out of the woman's mouth.

Hulk has posed:
    Banner had been trying to get his own drifting thoughts under control when somebody bamfed into the room, whether through a portal or out of a fly's tiny form makes little difference. He's instantly on his feet facing the new arrival, going from distracted and relaxed to poised for a leaping attack, one fist clenched so hard the knuckles have gone stark white. He shows no signs threatening a Hulkification. He doesn't even spill his tea.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Violet O'Mara, no longer in the powerful form of the Insect Queen, but reduced to her human self, caught between wincing in pain and gasping for air at what must have been a very unpleasant and both physically and psychologically shocking trasnformation, blurts out, "Violet O'Mara, freelance artist, and completely unable to get anything right in life!" It takes a few seconds for her to realize what she just said, and she does a fish-like routine where, having pushed herself up to her knees, she just stares wide-eyed, she opens her mouth, closes it, opens it, and says, "...I mean... uh... I... uh, ok, I'm probably been a bit too harsh on myself." She tries to recover, but her hands have started trembling after she realized what she said. "...I mean, anyone could fall just out of... nowhere, right? It.. doesn't mean I suck /that/ much, does it?"

Emma Frost has posed:
"Violet O'Mara. How is it you find yourself on private property?" Frost demands. The White Queen is staring at the young woman, intensly curious about how such an event occurred while at the same time thinking of ways she could prevent such acts from occurring as well.

Emma hazards a glance over to Bruce, and his white knuckles and assumes her sending a thought towards the man might help, <<Breathe Bruce. --- I trust you with my life and school, but I'd rather not have to clean up after the green guy.>> Not sure that's the best answer, but a bit of a joke could be a positive thing in this situation, right?

Hulk has posed:
    Banner's green eyes move from Violet, the shortest one in the room to Emma, who's actually the tallest one in the room. "I'm good," he answers the psychic projection out loud, probably out of habit. After a moment he realizes he's still coiled to spring and he loosens his fist and stands up, but his frame is still tense. He sips his tea nonchalantly. "See?"

    He looks from Emma to Violet, then glances back at Emma to see if she's still looking at him, then looks back to Violet again and studiously keeps his attention there.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Violet O'Mara is cursing herself mentally, a /lot/, although the details of why are pretty confused. About as confused as she seems to be overall. "I... I... overheard something about Doctor Banner's lecture and- it seemed quite interesting at the time and- I thought I'd sneak in and- and-" She gasps and gulps reflexively every other sentence, and starts shivering harder. "I- I'm as shocked as you are by my being here and- and- I know, I'm sorry and I was stupid at the time, if it was now, I would not do it and wasn't thinking straight and- I'm really sorry!" Oddly enough, the whole spiel, while uttered in complete confusion, sounds oddly... sincere. "Did I dent your ceiling? Your floor? I- I'm not exactly rolling in money, but if you give me some slack, I'll pay for the repairs! Honest!" A short pause. "...ok, I'll need a /lot/ of slack. But I'll do it!" She pulls back a bit, cants her head, glances sideways at the duo, alternately, and asks, "...are you going to- to do anything to me?"

Emma Frost has posed:
Listening to the girl's story Emma turns to face Bruce and gets a slightly devious grin on the corners of her red painted lips that fade before she looks back at the girl. "Oh, we're going to do something to you Violet." Emma says as she steps closer to the girl and extends a hand to help her up off the floor.

Hulk has posed:
    Bruce Banner had been lifting his cup to have a sip of his tea when Violet asked if anything was going to be done to her, fairly confident that she was safe from anything like caning or having the police called on her. He actually has a bit of tea halfway down his throat when Frost turns that look on him and makes a vague threat, and he chokes on it.

    The image in his mind as he sputters tea out of his thrachea is something like a geek-chic ice sculpture with Violet's face, her mouth twisted in a horrified scream and one hand raised in a pleading gesture to stop.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Violet O'Mara instinctively pulls back, and one fist reaches for her chest, but doesn't arrive all the way to it. "...something bad?" She asks. The fist opens, and reaches for Emma's outstretched hand. Then hesitates, retracts it slightly, and offers it again, as if stuck in a sort of loop before answering.

Emma Frost has posed:
"Are you saying I look like the type of person to do something bad to people who trespass onto my property?" Emma asks semi-rhetorically.

Hulk has posed:
    Banner wipes the back of his hand over his lips as he finishes choking fluid out of his throat and lungs and rasps, "I didn't say anything, Miss Frost," which is true. He doesn't deny -thinking- it.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Violet O'Mara says, "Well... getting me in trouble with the law would be bad. For me. And the kind of thing a respectable person could, and should, very well do," answers Violet, with disarming honesty. She doesn't say anything further, but her hand eventually reaches to grab Emma's, hopefully to be pulled to her feet.

Emma Frost has posed:
Helping Violet to her feet and pulling her by the wrist as a suggestion towards the door, Emma asks, "Did you ever go to college?"

She gives a look to Bruce saying she will return to their conversation shortly.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Violet O'Mara follows the suggestion, then says, "...'go' isn't quite the right word. But I- I have an online degree in visual arts?"

Hulk has posed:
    "I should get going, actually," Banner answers Emma's look. "Pick up next time though," he promises, following the ladies out of the teacher's lounge. In the hall he turns the other direction from the one they do, assuming they head for Frost's office while he heads for the exit.