| Alien in the Avengers Den (Movie Night!) |
| Summary: | Simon joins MJ in the den to watch Alien. |
| Date: | 2016-08-27 |
| Related: | n/a |
| NPCs: | None (or the actors on the screen) |
| Scene Runner: | NA |
| Social/Plot: | Social |
| Players: |
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Please Note: Images from the movie Alien appear in this log. It was rated R. Some of the images depict gore. If this bothers you, please do not read the log.
Saturday evening, August 27th, the Avengers' Mansion.
After her date last night and crying herself to sleep then her patrolling this morning during which she stopped a multiple kidnapping attempt, MJ has gone to the Avengers' Mansion. She's hanging out alone in the den watching Alien with the lights off. An extremely large tub of popcorn is sitting in her lap and a twelve pack box of store brand green apple sits beside her on the sofa open and down by one. The open can is in her left hand, tab folded back to hold the straw stuck though it into the can so it doesn't rattle around when she moves the can.
An evening of patrolling. A morning of visiting his mother. Sort of. Alternate-dimension mother. A day of shopping and heroism. Stopped two suicides and one robbery out in New Jersey. Simon didn't sleep. So. He headed into the den, carrying a bag of SunChips. Harvest Cheddar flavored, and a… 7-11 slurpee. Stopping though, as he saw the lights were off but the screen was on.
Any nerd worth their retainer knew that movie. Simon knew that movie.
He also knew well enough to head around carefully, and sat down beside, but not quite up against, MJ. Not too close! All he did was quietly open the bag, and set it between him and her. There was nothing like a good sci-fi horror movie in the evening. In the dark. With good company.
The film was past the thirty minute mark as Simon approached the door. As he approaches where MJ is sitting Kane says, "Wait a minute, there's movement," from the film and as he sits down the egg opens and the facehugger leaps out and attaches itself to Kane's spacesuit and MJ jumps due to the combination of the moment in the film and, from her perspective, Simon's sudden appearance on the couch beside her.
Luckily the bowl was no longer as full as it was half an hour ago otherwise they'd be wearing popcorn now. "Oh my, its you," she says and continues by saying, "Hope you don't mind, but I'm not starting the movie over again," with a grin.
Simon's lips even moved in time with the movie. "It contains life… organic life." But when MJ jumped, he did, too. It really wasn't the movie - Simon's seen this about a hundred times. It was seeing his friend jump that made him jump. He was grinning, but he didn't laugh. "You okay?" he asked. He kept his sunglasses on, however. Two glowing red eyes wouldn't be any less scary in this setting.
"Shh, the movie's on," he said when she talked about restarting the movie. He lifted a hand to steal a little popcorn. Snacks were fair game, and he had the chips for her, now, too.
MJ silently chuckles and nods unconvincingly when Simon asks if she's okay. She doesn't object to his taking popcorn and just sits back, leaning towards his shoulder a bit as the movie continues to play.
Oh, no. Something happened. Sure, the scary movie's on, but even Simon can see that MJ was not in a happy spot. He lifted up an arm, setting it along the couch, the upper portion. Mostly so, if she wanted to use his bicep as a pillow, she could. He wasn't flirting. Right now, he was just… what do they say? Just being there.
MJ takes the offer and lays her head down for a few minutes and then she jerks back up when, in a moment of virtual silence from the film, Dallas kicks over over a metallic object causing Ripley - and MJ with her despite this not being her first time watching this film - to "jump out of her skin". And then MJ screeches in fright with Ripley a minute later when the missing facehugger drops onto the character's shoulder.
As the movie continues, MJ lays back against Simon and a few minutes later she asks, "Did I tell you I'm married where I'm from?" speaking despite the on going movie.
Oh, sure. Watching a person freak out from a scary movie is always fun. But things wouldn't be fun for too long. Hearing that she was married, Simon frowned. "To Parker, I'm guessing? Is…" The hard questions, do they have to be so hard? "Did he come with you? We should try to get you back," Simon said, as his arm slipped around her in a distinctively platonic hug.
"No, he didn't," MJ says softly as she settles into the hug.
The movie continues and after a bit she says, "The the boy who's here in the place of this world's Peter is sixteen but in charge of a corporation. He's sure he can fix things but the first step he's planning terrifies me."
Then comes the movie's signature moment when Kane, seeming to feel better, goes to eat only to have the chestburster do its thing and burst out of his chest. She doesn't jump at this one as much as some of the earlier ones.
"He didn't ask me to not tell anyone but I don't think he wanted it shared but…," she's babbling a bit now, "… but we're Avengers and its our job to know things, right Simon?"
Wow, this got a lot more complicated. As John Hurt clutched at the table, and the little booger busted out of his chest with all the blood and screams and other things.
"I'm sorry," Simon said first, about her Peter not accompanying her. "And there is? A sixteen-year-old kid? Wouldn't the company be left in the hands of the top shareholders until he comes of age, then?" He gave her a slightly tighter hug. "What's he planning?" Best to ask now.
MJ sits up and turns to sit Indian-style on the couch facing Simon before answering.
"He's made a device that would copy our memories, overwrite them with the native version's memories then put our's back in place. He's sure this wouldn't change us. And that everything would be fine… if it works right." She pauses for a moment and then continues after the ship's cat jumps out on screen startling the crew on screen.
MJ, not watching the movie now, doesn't react to that, instead she continues speaking, "He thinks he can just pluck the memories out of the multiverse. The whole thing frightens me. But that's not the main problem right now… at least not here with me…."
"I can already count about sixty different horrible things about that prospect," Simon said. "So what's the main problem?" he asked her, curious and thoughtful. "Does he want to replace your mind with his old MJ's?"
MJ gives Simon a confused look as she is unsure there that question came from and as if she expects him to be following her thoughts which have jumped from one concern (her husband) to another (young Peter) and then back to relationships (and thus related to her husband).
First she answers the question that she views as ridiculous, "No, of course not, he's not from this world either he wants to give us all the native memories on top of our own," and then answers the other question with five words which tell a full story for her but which may be confusing to anyone else: "I think I hurt James."
"James?" Simon asked. "James who?" he wondered. "And… I dunno. I wouldn't put it past a sixteen-year-old kid to do something silly. Especially with the danger of pulling it from the multiverse. Also… who knows what else he'd find?"
"A guy I've met in this world. A teacher," MJ is guarded on this as James' secrets aren't her's to share. "It doesn't matter who he is. He thought that going out on a date meant more than it does." She pauses and sighs, "Odds are you won't understand either. Straight men almost never do."
"Well. There are friend-dates, and date-dates. I asked Wanda on a date-date, but I've been on friend-dates with her, and other people, too. So a guy got the wrong impression," Simon shrugged. "I'd ask you on a date but I wasn't sure when you're acclimated here. And since I know you're married… want to go on a friend-date, sometime?"
MJ nods in acquiescence and then says, "Just not right now. I… I'm about ready to give into the thought that my husband is gone just like the impression of my wedding ring is nearly gone." She holds up her left hand to show the fading remnants of the indication of a wedding ring not worn for nearly three months now.
Simon couldn't find the words. Then… some came to him. "Don't give up," he told her. "Just… don't. Please." As she looked at her hand, he did, too. Then he hugged her, just a little tighter.
MJ smiles wanly, sincerely comforted by his words and actions. "It would just mean that I can move on. I think Peter would want that. For me to actually start living." She pauses and lays her head against her friend's chest. "Its not like we have any proof that there is a way to go home, right?"
"We…" Simon sounded quite sad. "We don't know. I don't know. I wonder if it's worth it to go back. Or if the other realities even exist, anymore." As she leaned on him, she didn't feel a heartbeat. More of… a soft… hum? "If Peter would want that, then you do you, MJ."
The movie, totally ignored for so long, has moved on to the sequence where Ash turns on Ripley.
MJ speaks against Simon's softly humming chest. "I think I will… but for now I'm also sticking with the 'not ready for a serious relationship' stance. I've just accepted being a trans-dimensional widow after all…" she says and then after a few moments pause, she says, "Thank you, Simon."
The chains were hanging. The water was dripping down. Brett took off his hat, after searching for trying to find the thing. Water cascaded over his face as he cooled himself off.
And there it was. Shining teeth and drool and reflective black material. And that second mouth struck out.
Brett screamed.
The cat saw it all.
Simon lowered a hand to take hers. "I'm here, if you need me as a confidant. A friend. A buddy. A date. I don't sleep. I'm a huge nerd."
MJ chuckles and nods. "You're so much like him… you… the you from my world," she says. "I know I said it before, but… thank you."
Wonder Man grinned, and he kept on trying to do the big sell. "I'm clean. Sometimes - don't ask me how - but sometimes I grow a beard. My hair's actually naturally grey, ever since the ionic transformation. I just dye it. And right now, even though the movie's super scary and stuff, I'm glad. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad I'm here. I'm sad about the circumstances. But to think… otherwise, we'd be back at our respective homes. We'd never meet."
"Oh wait, here's the best part," MJ says as Sigourney Weaver is on screen in a simple shirt and panties only to discover that the alien is aboard the shuttle with her. MJ doesn't speak though the entire ending sequence as Ripley dons a space suit and defeats the alien by voiding it into space and after a monologue she finally enters stasis and the credits begin to roll.
"I'm glad we met also, Simon," MJ says as the credits scroll on the screen.