tushanshu | [video]

[Nita is looking perkier than she has since the Malicant mess started. She's also looking moist, since, with the return of her gills, she's been spending most of her time underwater, and only came up now to make a network post. And, last of all, she's looking concerned, because there's something that's been bothering her, and she just can't figure it out.]

I'm not even close to a magical theorist or anything, and there's gotta be someone who knows more about this stuff than I do... I have a question.

How did some of us lose things we always had? Like, I understand, sort of, how Captain America--sorry, Cap, I'm gonna use you as an example--could lose his powers, 'cause he got them from an experiment. I even kind of get how mutant powers like my ankle wings could go away, because they're genetic but they're not really normal. But my gills--and the other Atlanteans' gills--closed up! That's not special! Every member of our species has those!

What's going on with this place that it can take away ordinary things?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Promptly:] I'm doing someone a favor.

[Hush it, Nita, he has better things to do than waste brainspace on certain douchebag Atlanteans. Speaking of Atlanteans though....]

Wait. [Pause. Stare.] Namorita?

[YOU HUSH IT NAMOR IS THE GREATEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD. ...Arguably even greater, since bread doesn't hold up underwater.]

Yeah. Who are you?

[She's ~~perhaps~~definitely more snappish than usual, but it's been a long few weeks.]

[Good thing Scott's being used to pushed around by women then. (But you are not helping his view of Atlanteans though, Nita. Why are all of them arrogant as heck?)]

Scott. We met once. Maybe. [Pause. Is this a timeline thing?] Jennifer was there too.

[LOOK AT ALL OF THIS DELIBERATE VAGUENESS.]

[You don't know her life, Scott!

Nita's frowning at him, more puzzled than annoyed, because buster, you don't look like Cyclops. She's dredging her memory for someone she knows who could conceivably be in the Fantastic Four--and while she's not great with surface dweller ages, she's pretty sure he's too old to be one of the heroes who came on scene during her, ah, prolonged vacation.]

Scott...Lang?

[That's all she's got, and she's far from certain. Ant-Man's just the only other hero named "Scott" she can think of.]

The one and only.

[Which is actually probably a lie, he's never looked through the phone book to check. (But he is the only Scott Lang who also happens to be Ant-Man, he's sure of that.)

He doesn't look too concerned though. Not like most people ever remember he exists anyway.]

Oh.

[Pause.]

I thought you were on the Avengers.

[She's legitimately curious, and it shows. Nita might be having a bad...well, year, to be perfectly honest, but she's fundamentally a nice person.]

I was.

[Still is?? He's fuzzy on that part so he's just going to. Skip over it for now.]

I'm kind of taking a break right now. Reed asked [manipulated] me to do him a favor and the timing worked out right so... [Obligatory 'here I am' shrug!]

[Once the Avengers let you into the clubhouse that first time, they never take you out of the Rolodex.]

Oh, are he and Sue taking another break?

[As far as Nita's concerned, they don't go on vacation enough.]

Family vacation. [Nita could probably get a whole slew of people to agree with her on that point.] It was Reed's idea, actually.

[For Reasons but, well. A vacation's still a vacation, right?]

--Wait, what? Is everything okay?

[Reed doesn't do vacations, Scott.]

[Everyone knows Reed doesn't do vacations and yet everyone went along with it for some stupid reason and now they're all paying for it.

Also please pardon him while his expression takes on a faintly unsure cast.]

What's your definition of 'okay'?

I mean. Sue and Dr. Richards are...still doing all right?

[He didn't get so neglectful she almost left him for Namor again, did he?]

[Oh good, he can totally not-really-lie and answer that question truthfully.]

Oh, they're great. [Insert carefree hand motion.] Doing all sorts of husband-and-wife things and adopting kids by the armful.

That's good...

[...but why did he get weird about it when she asked? Oh, well. She'll corner him later. Nita knows "pushover" vibes when she gets 'em.]

...I knew they had a daughter.

[Nooooooo there were no pushover vibes emanating from him, none whatsoever. Nita, you're confused.]

They have a son too. Franklin. [Except he was pretty sure she knew that already.] And now they have ten more kids that aren't theirs.

Dude, I know that. I used to babysit Franklin.

[Gosh, Scott. She was free Richards childcare long before you were!]

...But that's a lot of extra kids.

[YOU SEEMED CONFUSED, OK. He was just being a good Samaritan. Or something like that.]

Don't look at me. I didn't ask where they picked them up from. [Tiiiny shrug.] It's a Future Foundation thing.

[That rings a bell somewhere off in the distance.]

Future Foundation...Robbie mentioned something about that.

[Can we bring that bell closer....Scott has no idea who Robbie is but he's more than happy to elaborate.]

It's like college for kids. Very smart, rainbow-colored kids who are all very bad at listening to directions.

Robbie said, uh... [Nita thinks, trying to remember. This was a while ago for her.] Dr. Richards told off a bunch of scientists at a conference and announced he was starting the Future Foundation and that some of them are still mad.

[This is a particularly weird game of Telephone.]

I thought it was weird 'cause Dr. Richards has always been really nice.

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