2014-10-03 - Any More Questions?

When Nico suggested Molly go to the museum while Nico works at the diner (rather than the arcade as Molly preferred), Molly had that Nooooooooo! expression. Museums are educational! It's like school, but you have to stand and walk around!

No one said it was an egyptian museum though. Which means cool stuff like mummies and interactive diaramas. Molly is sitting at one screen, watching about how the process of mummification occurs.

"After using special herbs to start the dehydration process, the ancient Egyptians started by removing all moisture from within the body - starting with the brain, which was typically done through the nasal cavity with a hooklike tool."

"EWWWW! GROSS!" comes the voice from the 'audience.'

It's a typical new york day, and Jason's had it with all of the crowds. The subway ride over was completely packed with people all trying to get to their own business, paying no mind to anyone else. He's had to deal with a few would be pickpockets and a wise guy who wanted to try and mug him, but he's finally made it to the museum. It's what he gets for living in not the best part of town, but the rent's cheap. Finally making his way into the actual museum Jason's surprised he doesn't come here more often. It might be a little eclectic, but it's really quite the nice place. He blends in with the crowds wearing his favorite green jacket, with the one missing button, and the zipper that doesn't ever want to stay shut. His attention drifts exhibit to the next, just soaking in the atmosphere and enjoying the relative quite for once in this crazy city.

The interactive display continues. "During the Old and Middle Kingdoms, the brain was left in the head, but starting in the New Kingdom it was removed. The bone that separates the nasal cavity from the brain cavity was broken open by ramming a sharp instrument up the nose. Then, a long hook was used to stir up the brain until it was liquefied. By turning the body face down, the brain would spill out the nostrils. The Egyptians were so rough on the brain because they didn't realize its importance. They thought its purpose was just to produce snot!"

Molly starts cracking up. "SNOT BRAIN! That's hilarious!!!! I mean it's totally gross but .... snot brain!" Hearing molly just burst out actually brings a smile to the old soldiers face. He'd not really been around children all that much in his life time, made a few, but never really stuck around them for too long before being called back to active duty. It's crass, and obnoxious sure, but something about it just brightens his day that little bit. Moving his way closer to the display Jason actually catches sight of the girl, and just shakes his head. This isn't what he came here for, but it's a good stress reliever none the less.

Molly Hayes is wearing her fishie hat today. And when the interactive display ends and one of the museum personnel starts the Q and A portion. "So does anyone have any questions about mummies?" ... Molly quickly puts her hand up. "Ooooh! OOH PICK ME! PICK ME!"

She gets picked of course. Since she's the only one raising her hand.

And since there are only 5 people in the 'audience.'

Molly gets a serious face, and asks, "Okay, so .... if a vampire bites a mummy, does the mummy become a mummy vampire, or is it immune since it doesnt have any blood anymore?"

The museum personnel just looks at Molly blank-faced. "Well considering vampirism is classed as a blood born illness" Jason speaks up over the just 'clamoring' crowd of almost perfectly silent people, in a perfectly serious voice, trying to answer the question that to be honest probably shouldn't have that much thought put into it. He's good for a laugh or two at the least. "He'd have to be a pretty poorly done mummy."

Molly Hayes looks at Jason. "But what if... um... what if the vampire gets his brain removed from the nose, but his heart is still in him. Would he be able to be a vampire mummy like the other way around?"

The museum personnel interjects. "Dearie? This is about real mummies, not movie ones. And there arent any such things as vampires."

Molly looks back. "Yuh huh there are. My friends and I used to have a vampire staying with us, and he was totally real. But he turned out to be evil and bit my friend and she's made of sunlight or something so he died from that."

Another blank face. "oooookay then. Any ... other questions?"

Jason just shoves his hands deep inside of his jacket, looking over towards the poor man who was just trying to give his presentation. He's not going to interject again with more off topic suggestions, or answers to things he hasn't been asked.

Molly asks, "So when mummies come back to life, do they ever get regular jobs or do they just keep hanging out in pyramids and cursing people?" There's a time and a place for silly, and this is just getting a bit absurd. It's not Jason's job, but man does he feel a bit of sorrow for the poor man who has to handle this on a regular basis. He starts to walk a bit away from the small group so he can get a look at some of the other exhibits on display, idly wondering if it's just another kid watching too much fiction, or if she actually knows something about that other world of absurdity. He's had to deal with a small handful of mummies, and Vampires in the past, and it's not the kind of thing any kid should need to deal with.

The speaker starts to talk, "Well those are just fake mov-"

Molly continues to yammer on, "Cause I think that maybe mummies wouldnt be so grouchy all the time if they didnt have to wear those bandages and get their brain snot pulled out of their nose. They could even be superheroes! Hey are there any mummy superheroes?"

"You'd be angry too if you got ripped from the afterlife," Jason idly mentions with a bit of a low chuckle, examining a small earn that has caught his attention. Worst case scenario he encourages her to keep yammering about torturing that poor poor tour guide.

Molly Hayes retorts to Jason. "Well um I'm just saying maybe if he had some nice clothes he would like being in the beforelife instead of the afterlife, cause I don't know if they have nice clothes in the afterlife. Maybe ALL they have in the afterlife are bandages. I mean unless you mean like heaven, cause I had a friend named Gert who died and my other friend told me that in heaven people wear these white toga things, which I guess is probably really comfortable, but I think if she came back she wouldnt be angry at all. Well I mean maybe not NOT angry at all, but she wouldnt be angrier than she normally would be when people say stupid stuff."

Jason leans a bit in trying to read the small excerpt placed bellow the small urn reading a bit more about the organ treatment of the age. "Wouldn't know a single thing about heaven," his voice actually sounding very gravely, as if he'd spent just years screaming and yelling at the top of his lungs, or maybe just gargling with gravel and nails for breakfast each morning. He doesn't really say more on the issue until she's had her chance to finish rattling on turning back around to face her while shoving his hands back inside of his pockets, leaning a bit towards her just to say with a small smirk "You know the whole secret identity thing usually works better when you don't go telling everyone", just in time for one of the guards to move up over toward the man who's leading the tour, and whisper something in his ear.

Molly says,"Well it's not like I toldja my name! PRINCESS POWERFUL!"

The Museum worker says, "Any REAL questions? Please?" Apparently taking Molly's words with a grain of salt.

"And now you just did," Jason says with a bit of a smiling wink, just bemused by the mini superhero in the midst of this museum. "Lucky" he adds with a small smile as if that obscure name would mean anything to her.

Molly Hayes looks at Jason. "Lucky about what?" Jason lets out a low chuckle just shaking his head as he goes back to a stand. "Shouldn't expect kids these days to understand," speaking in a rather joking manner. "Who're you with then?" The hands going deep back inside of his pockets.

Molly Hayes peers at Jason. "Oh I'm here on my own, I'm not with any tour group or anything like that." She then says, "Shouldnt expect kids these days to know about what?" "Well anything about anything" Jason just having to get in that little jab, still trying to decide if he should try and prod for more info. "I mean which group are you with,"

Molly Hayes peers at him again. "Toldja, I'm not with any tour group. My friend Nico told me I should go to the museum because we didn't have enough money for me to waste playing video games at the arcade while she's working."

Jason nods his head, moving over to the next exhibit slowly trying to make his way to the next showroom,"So you're a solo hero then?"

Molly Hayes thinks. "Ohhhh - HERO groups." She crosses her arms and walks away from the display with Jason, to the relief of the museum worker who can get back to normal museum talk. "No, I'm with a bunch of my friends. We're heroes together. But they don't like to use hero names anymore, though I do." She pauses. "I mean we don't have a regular name or anything but um... sometimes people call us the Runaways? I mean we're not the Avengers or anything." "Read about you papers," He should really start charging for charity work, but as Jason just settles in front of a rather interesting looking fragment of what was at one point a statue, he lets out a low almost disappointed sounding "Nothing wrong with a good codename".

Molly Hayes peers at Jason suspiciously. "We havent been in the papers...." Unless he recognizes her as Molly Hayes and thinks she's been kidnapped and is making up this superhero stuff. Crap. She crosses her arms. "You know, I might be a kid but I know enough not to go off with strangers." "Never asked you to," Jason comments with a bit of a chuckle leaning in a bit to try and get a better read of the small plaque. "Just make sure you get out young, too many kids getting killed trying to be hero's" His words are spoken with an odd sort of distance to them, as if he's busy off remembering something that he'd tried his hardest to forget.

Molly Hayes frowns a little. "Um.... yeah. That's sorta dumb. i'm not trying to be a hero. I -am- a hero." She perks up. "Hey... want to hear my theme song?" "Go ahead kid" Jason's eyes lose focus somewhat as he just stairs right through the plaque in front of him, falling back into his own memories. He'd seen a lot of kids in the past who reminded him of the little hero standing beside him, and he'd never be able to forget their faces.

Molly Hayes doesnt need more encouragement to sing her theme song.

"NE-VER FEAAAAAR CAUSE PRINCESS PO-WER-FUL IS HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE"

Editor's note: Singing is not one of Molly's superpowers.

"When Cri-Mi-NAAAAAAAAAAALS ARE NEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR"

Editor's Second Note: Unless it's singing badly maybe?

"They will flee in FEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

Editor's Third Note: You know what? I'm out. I can't take this singing and I'm just narrating this. You readers are on your own. Lucky thing you can't hear the singing when reading. Exselsior!

"Cause prin-cess power-ful is .... HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!" Molly holds out her arms with her finale. The museum worker has given up trying to talk to the other 4 museum patrons about how mummification works and is looking for some water to take with her aspirin.

"Holy Crap who is making that noise oh hi Mol I mean that other noise over there."

An asian girl of about late teens with a goth lolita costume on comes wading through the 'crowd' she was hiding behind rubbing her temples this whole time and shoulders her way into the scene with the willing applause of the other patrons who might assume that she's there to ...well, no idea. Goth lolitas don't usually do stuff. To my knowledge.

Coming up on the pair, Nico looks up at Jason, then immediately down to Molly and says, "Molly, seriously, we've talked about that in public. Not without a proper recording contract or we'll never get a serious offer for sponsors."

Jason nods his head coming a bit back to reality with the sound of applause snapping from his hundred yard stare. "Good song kid," is all he really manages to say having been lost in memory for the duration of that beautiful little number, and now there's a second person. The dark skinned gentleman at the moment looks to be in his early forties, and even still looks like he's worked out almost every day of his life. Yet there's something distant about him, like he's only partially focusing on the conversation at hand. "Friend of hers?"

Molly Hayes frumps a bit. "Fine. I still think we should ALL have theme songs though." She looks at Jason, then at Nico. "Yeah, this is my friend Nico I was saying before." She looks back at Nico again. "Nico, I learned about mummies! They have brain snot, and it comes out their nose, and I think I stumped the woman speaking about whether a vampire can turn a mummy into a vampire mummy."

The asian girl whose name is apparently Nico glances at Jason again, then back at Molly. She says, "Mummies don't have blood anymore, you need blood to get vampired. But if they had it I think they'd end up being old vampires and you're intentionally trying to get on her nerves, weren't you? I wonder that sometimes. Are you evil?"

She /finally/ actually looks at Jason and says, "Keep talking fast, it's the only defense. Hi, Nico Minoru. Stop staring into infinity, it always wins."

"What?" Jason asks rather curiously at the evil comment for some reason, before actually thinking about what to respond with. He's not one for talking fast, or a lot, more of a yelling sort of man, as evidenced by the fact that his voice makes him sound like he's been doing nothing but for the last thirty or so years. "You're one of the Runaways then?"

Molly Hayes mmfs. "They said Egyptians thought the brain was used just for making snot. After that, cmon anything is possible." Then blinks. "Ixnay on the Unawaysray! Besides it's not like... an official name or anything."

Nico's head turns slowly toward Jason. Eyes very definitely narrowed in suspicion, she takes a visible step away from him, reaching out for Molly's left hand with her right. "The only people who know about the Runaways are the Avengers...and the Pride. Which are you?" She thinks a little. Maybe Cloak and Dagger. "Mol, how does he know about us?"

Jason finally pulls his hands back out from the pockets of his bright green jacket, shrugging his shoulders slightly, before actually saying. "If you didn't want me to talk about it..." trailing off from his own sentence.

Molly Hayes looks any which way EXCEPT for Nico, with the fact that she let that name slip out before (mostly as a comparison to how they werent like the Avengers), as she gets her hand taken and Nico gets protective of Molly. Funny, considering the little girl's the invulnerable one.

Molly says, "Well um...."

Nico's eyes flick to Molly. She sighs, very lightly, and shakes her head. "Right. Right. Overreacting then, sorry. We've had too many people try to, y'know, kill us til we died from it. Mol, it's alright, I'm not going to ban you from the internet or something."

Nico doesn't move closer to Jason though, her danger signals are still flashing in her head and her adrenalin is pumping. "Look, I don't know your name mister. Got one or should I call you the Infinity Man by the way you keep staring into space?"

Nico Minoru is very blunt.

Jason lets out a bit of a chuckle, shaking his head from one side to the other "Wouldn't be the first person to call me that, won't be the last," He's not exactly sure what he's looking at, but he should know as well as anyone heroes aren't always what they look like. After a quick moment, he just repeats that one word from earlier, as if now it will mean anything more then the nothing it meant before "Lucky"

Molly Hayes thinks and shrugs. "Maybe he sees ghosts. Like in that movie? Do you see dead people?"

Raising a single eyebrow high enough to make Leonard Nimoy proud, Nico mumbles something to herself. She turns to Molly, then says, "I came to tell you I'm here to pick you up, Mol. But if you want to stay here and chat, we're down the block spending my hard earned tips on Victor's crazy video game fetish, I swear he actually...anyway."

After a moment she gets her head back in the game and adds, "If he's looking to get lucky, just like whack him in the dolly parts and come find us, okay? I got to get someplace with a chair, my feet are killing after that shift. God damn dinner rush anyway." She nods to Jason and starts to head toward the door. "Oh," Nico calls back. "If I'm completely misunderstanding and you're actually Superman in disguise or something, try and get his autograph alright? I am still jealous of that..."

Molly Hayes leans over to Jason. "It's okay, I know you're not Superman. I met him, and probably gonna marry him." She thinks. Then says to Jason after Nico heads out. "She's a little grumpy about her job. I mean I won't whack you in the.... Ok I probably won't wha-...." She thinks. "I'm sorta sure I won't whack you in the -..." She thinks again. "Actually I should probably go home with Nico. Nice meeting you, Infinity Man."

"No problem," Jason lets out another low sighing chuckle, making his way for the doorway of the next section of the museum, 'accidentally' drops three twenties onto the ground as he moves. The bills float their way to the ground rather gracefully but it's odd that he doesn't seem to go back to pick them up. "Just stay safe kid,"

Molly Hayes looks at him after Nico leaves. "Um... you dropped your money by the way?" She points at the $60. Still walking Jason really doesn't seem to have noticed as he rounds the corner leaving the sixty bucks just on the ground for her to take.

Molly Hayes picks up the $60 and runs after him. "Hey..." She grabs the bottom of his shirt. "Mister, you dropped your money." And offers it back to him. "Keep it," Jason says rather calmly moving over towards a small display that catches his interest. "Get yourself something nice with that money," Molly Hayes looks at the money. "Really? Cool. Thanks! Are you sure though? Heroes don't steal and if you need the money and I take it that's sorta like stealing and that goes against like... the whole superhero code thing." Jason pulls out another fifty dollars, and just hands it over to her, pushing her hand back closed around the money, unless stopped. "I know what it's like to be homeless kid, take the money," Telling the truth or not his words are calm and kind as he looks towards her. "I find out you spent it on booze, and I'm hunting down the lot of you though,"

Molly Hayes accepts the other $50. She's a hero but heroes accept money if the person's insisting, right? It would be rude otherwise! "Wow...." she says at having $110. Which is pretty close to a million. "Thanks. But honestly, I'm not homeless. I live in this big robot frog." She pauses. "Okay well, bye!"

If nothing else, that homeless kid has a hell of an imagination.