Janet Van Dyne aka Wasp (tiny_queenbee) wrote in onewaythreads, @ 2019-02-20 11:19:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, aaron keener, janet van dyne |
Who: Vanguard & Jan
What: A new suit
When: Tuesday
Where: Van Dyne’s
Rating: Lowish
Status: Complete
Jan was starting to think that maybe, juuust maybe, Clint had been right about her taking on too many things. Between the shop, thinking about possibly becoming a teacher at the new hero academy, and the party on Sunday, Jan had a full plate. She was thankful for the friends she had that would help her out with some of it, but she felt like a vacation was due. “Yeah, if only there was a beach where you could escape to,” she muttered to herself. That was the only problem with Preya; you couldn’t just jet off to a warm climate when it got cold here.
At least the snow had melted. Maybe that meant the start of spring! Start of spring meant summer was just around the corner...
She heard the doorbell jingle as someone walked in and she called from the back. “I’ll be right out!” She put the lid on her coffee cup and took a sip, stepping out from behind the back curtain.
“Welcome to Van Dyne’s!” She was all smiles as she glanced at the man in front of her. Hello gorgeous. Her smile grew even bigger.
“How can I help you?”
- Aaron had many things to think about, and he added getting a suit onto it. How did him mocking someone’s stupid party turn into getting a suit and going to said party? Which wife told him he needed to enjoy life more? He forgot really. Probably both of the ex-wives solidified that. Something something, work and no play they always said.
So here was Vanguard going into something for play as disgusting as that was.
After meeting with Natasha, he had plenty of time. He didn’t trust the woman for an instance, and he shared the information quite pointedly to see how it was used. He was used to being a fugitive and figurative domestic terrorist as it stood. So this party was going to be the perfect reason to placate the opposite of the information. Public opinion being good, private opinion being the terrible person he knew he was? Seemed to work.
Which lead to the suit. This fucking suit he didn’t want, or have anywhere to store currently.
Back at the lightrail station, Aaron decided to rent a locker. He just kept some of his stuff in it, that he could afford to lose, but then he didn’t have to carry everything. Ditching the cloak and dagger hide your face look, he walked a little more freely through the crowds of people. Losing all his tactical gear, and stashing his sidearm on the small of his back, he approached the tailor that was going to put him in a stunning suit. With a ding of a bell, he was walking into the place. Immediately taking in everything he needed to know, and when Aaron heard the voice, his eyes glanced over to the young lady. Must be his new friend, and she looked exactly as cute and bubbly as she seemed through text messages.
Sly smile spread across his lips. “I need a suit. I was told by someone I know that this would be the best spot.” The man crossed the room to the young lady, and let his hand extend out. “Vanguard.”
Jan’s eyes widened juuust slightly as realization set in. So this was the kid who had messaged her out of the blue. She was beginning to think she needed to put her phone number out to the public more often. “Nice to meet you!” she said, walking over to shake his hand. “At least in person. I feel like I know a lot about you already.” She grinned, giving his hand a slight squeeze. “Janet Van Dyne, but you can call me Jan.” She whipped her hand from their handshake and turned on her heel, grabbing a pencil, notepad, and measuring tape in a fluid motion.
“I’m not gonna lie, I’m kinda surprised you’re here,” she said, walking back around to the front of her desk. “You didn’t seem too interested in hand outs or IOUs.” The pencil tapped a rapid fire beat against her notepad as she sized him up.
“What changed your mind?”
- What did Aaron get himself into. His eyes watched the young lady as she moved about. “I think we should avoid that, before I change my mind.” Aaron looked away from her to examine the shop. He stepped about just to examine a few things, and then proceed to remove his backpack, and hooded sweatshirt. Finding a place to carefully set the items down he returned to the girl at hand that was obviously eager to put measurements on paper.
Vanguard was very informal, when it came to this. She was pleased to meet him, and he was just here. There wasn’t any ceremony in this for him. She was just a girl, who somehow convinced him to come in to this little shop. Which brought his mind over to some facts. She was young, bubbly, and owning a shop like this. Had to take a lot of work.
“Where and how do you want me?” Aaron asked. When she directed him to where she wanted him, he did as he was told. “How is it that a young lady such as yourself owns this shop all on your own already?” Curiously asked, and followed with his flavor. “Two buttons, neck tie, and five button vest. The suit should be dark, not black but a charcoal.” Thinking some, he looked to her. “Ideally enough room under the coat for an underarm holster, and speaking of room, little extra room and flexibility on the inseam.. for you know…” Aaron paused so he could lock eyes with Jan, so he could really set the vibe. “Activities.”
She couldn’t help but scoff at his manners, her tongue pressed against her bottom lip. “You’re talking to me like some creepy kind of father figure, stop it.” She shook her head, making notations of what he wanted. She couldn’t help but feel slightly impressed by his knowledge of fashion. “I thought you didn’t go to parties much,” she said, looking over at him. It took all she had not to giggle when he said activities.
“As for me getting this shop,” she moved to stand behind him, kicking out a step stool for her to stand on. “I brilliantly brought my wallet with me, so I had access to all of my funds.” She moved his arms straight out, so he made a ‘T’. “I opened right before holiday which was both a blessing and a curse. Missed out on a lotta things.” She was still upset over that, but she knew she just had to learn from her mistakes. She wouldn’t let another holiday season pass by with her head completely wrapped in business.
After noting two measurements where the jacket would fall on the wrists, Jan tapped his shoulder to let him know he could lower his arms. “So, you’re newish to Preya?” She walked around to stand in front of him, reaching around to hug him, her cheek pressed against his abs. Score her inner voice screeched, but she pulled back to read the number on her measuring tape, not lingering longer than necessary.
- Aaron silently followed her instructions so she could get her measurements. “I didn’t say I didn’t know about parties, that I just hadn’t gone to many since my ex-wife.” He looked down to Jan. “She was just the one who made me go to parties.” Re-straightening his head he took a moment to think about how to truly respond about not having his wallet, and he just went with the truly safe bet.
“Well, in a normal circumstance, I would have a wallet.” Sighing he was brought back to his mind of being activated. He was in his office on Wallstreet, and left everything immediately. Just like he was instructed. He took out his wallet and threw it in his desk in his office and called it a day. Just allowed himself to become a shadow of his former self. Though it was to protect those around him, if he was killed and looted. Who ever looted him wouldn’t have his personal information and could use that to track him. “When I was activated, I left it behind. Your personal information can’t be used against you if you don’t have it on you, when you’re killed.”
Shifting uncomfortably he continued. “I come from a time where New York and the world has been devastated by a biological weapon, that had easily taken out half the population of New York City. I was part of the team to combat that. Things changed.”
Jan paused in her measurements and looked up at him, her hands resting on her thighs. “You don’t joke around a lot, do you?” It was said with a teasing tone and smile as she resumed her measurements. She had opened her mouth to make a comment about him divorcing his wife for making him go out in public, but he had moved on to the next topic of teasing and she bent her head to measure around the ankles and calf to hide her smile. He seemed to be taking all her remarks seriously and she almost felt bad for teasing him so much.
Almost.
“Alright, alright,” she said, holding her hands up above her head as if she were negotiating a surrender. “I’ll drop the comment about the wallet.” Now that she had a better sense of what was going on in his world, the pieces were starting to fall into place.
The way he spoke reminded her of Natasha and she frowned. Activated. That never seemed like a good thing. He had said he was a bad guy, but was he? If he didn’t have a say in his own decisions?
“So you were the good guy, but something happened?” It sounded like a ‘save the world’ situation, something she was very familiar with. She stood up, making a few notes and looked at him.
“How do you feel about dark blue? I think it would suit you really well, not so bright, and will help make those beautiful eyes pop.” She grinned, stepping back around to sit in front of her desk.
“Please, have a seat! Do you want any water or something? I think we might still have a Yerba in the fridge…”
- There wasn’t much to laugh about anymore in his world, this though, he might find some humor. Well, he did. He took some R&R time to make fun of a blind demon. Well he had said he was a demon, but who know how true that was. So, there was little humor left in the morally broken man.
Aaron looked at her surrender, and shrugged some. He could see why that would be a priceless point to hold on to. If he was bright, young, and bubbly he’d probably of been in her same shoes. Though violence, and treason tend to change a man… commonly for the worse.
Then she had asked the question about being good. Vanguard looked at her almost stunned. Was he actually ever good? Good was also perspective. Take the notion, on each side of the story, there is a villain. Though was he truly good before the outbreak? One could measure being good in their acts, and going into the outbreak with the first wave, as the prodigal child of The Division and first recruit. Aaron scoffed audibly. Any faction that would leave their people behind, and to die was a dying system to start.
“A lot of things happened.” Aaron said as he let her finished doing what she was doing. Aaron moved to a chair and sat down, thinking of her question. “Charcoal.” Aaron countered. “Black.” Vanguard shrugged.
“Water would be fine.”
Jan got up to grab it for him, tossing him a water bottle from her fridge. “Charcoal,” she conceded, but she wondered if she’d still make a blue jacket, just for him to try on and prove that it would look nice. She felt confident that once he saw how nice it looked, he’d have to agree with her and get it.
“A lot of things happen a lot of places,” she said, spinning her chair around to look at her fabric table. She pulled a few swatches and looked over at him. “How do you know a lot of things haven’t happened to me?” She opened her mouth to say ‘Just because I didn’t lose my wallet’, but remembered she was trying to be polite. She promptly closed it and turned back to try and uncover a few more samples.
- Aaron caught the water with one hand. His eyes never really left the younger person in the room. Sure she was female, but a woman could kill you just as quick as a man. “Yes. Charcoal.” Aaron confirmed taking a drink of the water after a brief examining. Habits.
“Yes. You are correct. Things could of happened.” Vanguard thought a moment. “A lot is said about a person, when there is something that weighs on their soul. Old proverb: ’The eyes are the windows to the soul’ has some truth.” Aaron waved Jan over to him, to demonstrate a little. He was a prime example. The things he saw, and done weighed him down. These were facts that he had accepted. The blood that was on his hands at times left him sleepless. Just because he was who was, didn’t mean he wasn’t human and wasn’t affected by the same mental traumas.
He just accepted it better than most.
When Jan was close he leaned and pulled another chair close to him gesturing her to sit down. Psychology and psychological warfare was part of his Division training. “Sit.” When she was he looked her in the eyes. “Tell me what you see.” His browns were tired, and dead to say the least. Little flicker of emotion, but cold stare. Eyes that had seen mountains of dead bodies in mass graves.
“Because, what I see is a young lady who is pumped full of energy. Your eyes are filled with so much life, and hope.” Aaron canted his head some. “You have deep thoughts, and concern for others, but most of all you just want to do good on others.” Vanguard smiled some. “You have eyes, that have not seen the life vacate a person as you choke it out of them.”
She hadn’t expected him to be this serious of guy and she hesitated before walking over to him. She wasn’t sure what he wanted her to see, but she sat down, crossing her legs so she could rest her chin on her hand. She stared at him, then shrugged her shoulders. She was about to look away when he started to talk about what he saw in her. It was nice...incorrect, but nice. She stared back at him, sighing as she looked into his eyes, her own just squinting a bit. “You look exhausted,” she said. “You must be tired of whatever you’re doing. Because you also look hollow.” She blinked, her eyes focusing to take in his whole face. Her smile came back, full force as she jumped out of the chair.
“Good thing you came here then, huh?”
She walked back to her desk, laying each patch out on the table in front of him. She had definitely snuck in a blue one. She’d be damned if she wasn’t right on this.
“Your choices. Some are better than others.” She eyed the blue one as a hint. “But if you really like the black, here’s a couple options.” She pointed to two, almost identical cloths; if he looked closely, one had more of a sheen to it than the other.
“So, if I’m able to get this done by the time of the party, you’ll come?”
Unfortunately, Aaron was this serious of a guy. Second nature at this point. The little experiment played well, they still didn’t kill each other. Naturally, she nailed it on the head. He was hollow. Easy to do terrible things when you’re dead on the inside.
Vanguard got up and followed over to her desk where she had all these different samples. She was obviously very passionate about what she did, and that was something to be appreciated. Aaron looked at the samples, and touched each one. The blue one was nice, but it had a very distinct problem. It was blue. She was right, he’d look damn good in it. The others were identical. There had to be something different about them, but to Aaron they were both just… black. Was one shiny? Nah. He tapped a black one at random. This one.
“Yes, I do look nice and blue, but I prefer monotones, and if the suit is done…” Aaron looked over to Jan and continued. “I will attend.” Do as they do in Rome, right?