"So you agree? You think you're really pretty?"

[credit_not_blame]

Who: Stacia and Miguel
What: Stacia bullies a grown-ass man on behalf of a loved one. Like she do.
Where: Miguel's Spider-Cave
When: after this, before Valentine's Day.
Warnings/Notes: to be added as they come up.

Stacia's plan for confronting Miguel is pretty fluid: corner him, be firm, and logically explain to him that he's a fucking dumbass who should know better. Usually when she's doing this kind of thing, it's with another Garou, and she's allowed -- nay, sometimes even encouraged! -- to smack them upside the head and antagonize them into a full-on Frenzy. But she can't do that here. So it'll be a fun and interesting personal challenge on top of it all. Keep a level head, ask extremely pointed questions, deploy a armor-piercing "do you need a hug" as needed.

She's certainly going to be able to do a better job at this than Elle is at the moment.

Usually when Stacia enters Miguel's Spider-Cave, she steps inside and looks around to see if she can't spot Miguel or Catalina. This time, she doesn't break stride, heading straight for Miguel's (extremely nerdy) chalkboard. She's got a good idea how to summon him out of the darkness right quick:

"Hey Miguel, your math is wrong! Don't worry, I'll fix it!"

Comments

[credit_not_blame]

Stacia snaps her fingers and points at him.

" 'In our side of the multiverse', thank you, Miguel," she says. Her point has percolated through his headmeats and come back out of his mouth in his own words. Neener neener. She scrawls it on her chalk board and underlines it for good measure.

"You've noticed, I'm sure, that we're not glitching here, yeah? Why do you think that is?"

[ninjavampire]

“I have a few theories. It’s not like I can call the Moon at any time to confirm them.”

Her reaction puts a record-scratch stop to his lecture. He squints suspiciously at the rascally look on her face.

“Just because we aren’t glitching doesn’t mean we should assume there’s no risks.”

[credit_not_blame]

"We really should be able to leave messages for the Man in the Moon, shouldn't we?" Stacia says thoughtfully. "I'll put it on the list."

She adds a note about finding a way to keep in better touch with Manny to another part of the blackboard.

"I imagine it's something to do with magic; but the hows and whys of that have never been my specialty. I'll leave that to you and the other science nerds." She waves a hand. "And obviously we shouldn't assume that there's no risks. That's when the risks get you. But if we're not running into the risks you'd expect us to with your experience, don't you think there might be some other risks we might not know to look for?"

[ninjavampire]

“Like what?”

He’s not so impressed with vague points. He needs examples.

“There is some trifling with this reality that’s necessary for the mission, but starting to stick our hands in things outside of fighting Kuk and his forces is inviting trouble.”

It may not be Canon Events, but whatever else is holding this reality together.

[credit_not_blame]

"Off the top of my head? Maybe since this reality isn't rejecting us, it's incorporating us," Stacia says. "We're already no longer meat-based creatures, given that 'meat' tends to be things like 'visible and tangible to most people'. Maybe the longer we stay here, the less likely it is that we'll be able to slip back into our old realities without things getting weird."

She shrugs. "I don't know that that's the case here, but I know that back home it's possible to change the level of reality you or a given object exist on; and sometimes you can't change it back. Is that something that happens where you're from?"

[ninjavampire]

"No, not usually. You carry the signature of your original universe no matter where you go. Trying to tamper with it is a good way of turning your molecules into brightly colored mist."

The corners of his mouth stiffen, disliking the implication of what Stacia was saying. No wonder she was being so stubborn about defending Dan's Time Meddling if it was a common practice over in Werewolf Land.

"You never really 'incorporate' into another dimension. You can stabilize yourself with a device." He gestures to his watch. "Temporarily."

"Your guess isn't wrong, but this dimension could also be more flexible, or the process of being turned into myths could be a cloak instead of a permanent change. I don't have the equipment here to give us a fast answer." he adds with some weariness to his voice. He's been doing the best he could with the magitech, but it still lacked.

[credit_not_blame]

"Well, count me as moderately reassured," Stacia says. "I was trying not to worry about it since there's nothing I could do about it anyway; but it's nice to hear that there are alternative explanations. However!"

She points a finger skyward, at him, and then back at her chalk board. She taps the words our side in the phrase our side of the multiverse.

"I am not distracted from my point. Given your use of these words, is there a part of you willing to admit that there is even the slightest possibility that things don't work the same in other parts of the multiverse?"

She leans forward. "I'll tell you a secret: if you're willing to give me that much, I'll get out of your hair for the rest of the day."

He's already agreed to apologize to Dan, that was the urgent part. She's willing to let the rest of it simmer in the back of his head for awhile until he's more willing to discuss it.

[ninjavampire]

He frowns stubbornly.

"First of all, I don't need your permission to boot you out of my lab."

As much as he was entertaining this entire conversation with Stacia, Miguel was still Miguel. There's a certain amount of Pushing Around he can tolerate before he stops listening and goes into territorial scientist mode.

"The real answer is we don't know the rules of this universe for certain, which means we should exercise caution. There's not enough evidence to give yourself free reign to do whatever you like." he says. "Even if it doesn't work identically to the worlds I've studied, that doesn't prove the opposite."

[credit_not_blame]

"No, you don't need my permission," Stacia says agreeably. "But it is easier if I leave on my own, content that we've reached an accord, yes? Given that we're both reasonable people seeking cooperation among this gaggle of misfits and weirdos."

See? "Reasonable". You want to be a reasonable person, don't you Miguel?

She snaps the fingers of both hands, transforming the motion into finger guns. "I'll take "we don't know the rules of this universe"!" she says, and then scrawls it on her chalkboard in big sloppy letters. And then underlines it for good measure. Yes, it's just chalk and he can erase it easily, but it's less easy to erase the memory; and the act of erasing it will be another memory he has to deal with.

She'll get him yet.

[ninjavampire]

Miguel's face is creased with thin lines of irritation as he watches her draw on the chalkboard, the friction squeaking just enough to be offensive to his ears. Yes. It was a very effectively grating part of the conversation, he'll give her that much.

But as much as he was willing to give Stacia a pass for being upset on Dan's behalf, he wasn't about to give up so easily here. One of them (see: himself) had an elaborate powerpoint presentation on their findings and the other had vague conjecture. Those two things are not equal!

"I believe I've explained my reasons enough." he says. "My other point still stands."

No screwing with the timelines!

[credit_not_blame]

Stacia drops the chalk back into its little storage trough and dusts of her hands.

"I'm sure that, as long as you don't hurl abuse at people for not having a doctoral level of education in your extremely specific field, most people will be willing to listen to your advice," she says. Once they've both had time to cool off, she might even come back and let him chew over the effects of pulling two people (her and Elle) out of the same timeline from two different times and having them interact. That might be fun and enriching for him.

But also: he's not the boss of her. She's not even remotely spider-y.

[ninjavampire]

“Let’s hope they do.” He says, chin lifting up in a perfect picture of ominously stern. “If not for their world, for the sake of cooperation.”

He and Dan were lucky, he realizes. Dan had told him about his transgression against the time stream after he’d already done it. That is easier to forgive.

If he had a chance to stop him, with the stakes the way they were, there’s no doubt in his mind he would. As wretched as Miguel would feel afterwards.

[credit_not_blame]

...Ominous. Stacia opens her mouth, but shuts it again and lifts her hands -- not in surrender, but to signal to her brain that she's leaving it be. She's won this round of the argument, she might lose all that she's gained if she keeps pushing.

Leave it. Leave it.

"I'll let you get back to your fidget toys in the shadows," she says. "Just don't leave Dan hanging for two much longer, all right? The sooner we can put this behind us, the better."

[ninjavampire]

That point, at least, gets Miguel to ease up. His mouth presses into a line, considering the now etched-in distrust of Dan's judgment and equally strong fondness for his gentle nature. The former will take time to undo, but the latter...

Stacia isn't wrong to remind him here.

"I'll talk to him when I find him."

He could blame Dan for avoiding like last time (it's not like the lab he haunts is a secret) but Miguel was also taking some space to let his temper cool. He'll have to go look for him.

[credit_not_blame]

"Good," Stacia says, instead of you'd better. She'll save that for if this hasn't been resolved within the next few days. Maybe with an extra comment about -- no, that wouldn't be effective. Probably. She'll have to think about it.

She blows a kiss to Catalina and sashays victoriously toward the door. She pauses before she leaves and looks back at Miguel.

"Let me know if you have any other blow-ups, yeah? I might be able to help you smooth things over."