General Kennis and Captain Boom

December 13, 2017:

Owen texts Emery to check up on him after missing the Christmas party. Kennis replies with some distressing photos, so Owen shows up to check on the Papsworths. As usual Kennis is an adorably terrifying presence.

Mostly Emery's Apartment

Characters

NPCs: Kennis Papsworth

Mentions: Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Stephen Strange (AKA Dr. Steve), Danielle Moonstar

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

Having begged out of the Christmas part at a rather early hour Owen did not in fact have raging, crazy parties to attend. No, he just wanted an excuse to book it early and do a sweep off the roofs for more demon crows, to keep them off his back, and hopefully out of the hair of anyone at the party. So that means he had quite an early night, especially for him. An early night means that he is actually awake and not hung over before noon, which is quite an accomplishment.

Over a late morning cigarette and cup of coffee on the fire escape, he decides to check in with Emery after having missed him last night. The picture responses from Emery's daughter of her passed out dad, empty rooms and an empty milk jug draw a deep frown on his face. "What the hell…?" He texts back and forth before finally sending "Turn on some cartoons. Be there in a bit princess." Yea, if anyone has a sore spot for kids being left alone, it'd be this guy.

Frantically searching for the card Emery gave him with the password scribbled on the back Owen gets dressed in his usual street clothes and heads on out. A quick stop by the bar and a bodega on the corner and he is back on his motorcycle and on the way. Thankfully the saddle bags can hold a grocery bag of milk, a box of the most ridiculously sugared cereal he could find and a bag of bagels.

Showing up at the address Emery gave him, he pushes the intercom button. "Hey, it's Owen. Uhm… Glass? Slipper?" Wow, he really hopes he understands how this whole passcode thing works otherwise that kid is going to be very weirded out.

*

There's the sound of something being pushed across the hardwood floor. The soft grunts of a tiny somebody climbing onto the something. The pause of her looking through the camera and squinting when she hears the password and then she pushes a button. Whatever security system Emery has installed is pretty damn sophisticated, several deadbolts unlock, there's electronic whirring and what not.

Then the sound of the chair being pushed out of the way before the door swings open and standing there, is small 5 year old girl with a sleep mussed braid down her back, a silver salad colinder worn like a helmet, and a peppermint green little girl's night gown that's straight from the 40s or 50s in design. She's got Emery's dark eyes and her rounded cheeks probably hide his dimples as well but her skin is tanned in the way that people of mixed heritage have and her hair is a tad lighter brown. She is wielding, a rolling pin though just in case, shouldering the baking instrument as she looks up at Owen. "Name, Rank, Cereal Box!" She is in full Battle Faerie Mode, or something. Her accent is lilting and obviously European but hard to pinpoint between Ireland or England, and it is high pitched like a less annoying Chipette.

*

Standing outside the door shifting his weight back and forth Owen feels really odd now. There was a kid, so he just went but now that he's here he's realizing it's a kid he doesn't know and really isn't super close with her father. Oh well, little late for second thoughts about calling Jessica instead.

He is about to speak when the door opens, but the battle gear catches him off guard. He laughs a bit before tucking something black under the arm holding the groceries so that he can snap to and salute. "Captain Boomerang of the breakfast brigade. Reportin' for duty, with uhm.." He has to break the salute to check the bag. "Chocolate coated, sugar bombs." for the little general "And bagels." because bagels make every situation better.

It takes him a second to realize he just called himself Captain Boomerang, having gotten caught up in the joke. He just shakes his head at that weird Freudian slip and makes his way inside to set things down. "Is your dad okay? Does he uhm…?" he tries to find appropriate words to use to discuss this with a kid. He doesn't have many appropriate words to begin with. He decides to table that and asks "Where are your bowls and spoons?" Maybe he can distract her with food and then figure out what's going on with Emery.

*

"Captain Boom Ang." Kennis is satisfied as she steps aside and lets Owen come in. Then she's pushing the door shut and pushing the button that rearms the alarm and locks everything back up. She is distracted however by all the food. Giving a tiny bounce and her eyes get wide, her helmet sliding down and she has to push it back up. That rolling pin is getting heavy so it gets set down and leaned against the island in the kitchen.

"Thanking Crisp. The knights were 'sorting to candybalism." She points over to the pile of teddy bears that have been strategically piled on top of Emery, and in doing so where Emery is passed out on the floor. Owen's seen this type of passed out Emery before, back when they met and fought the Demon Bear and got shot with brain arrows that knocked them out. He looks on first sight like he might be dead, but his body twitches from time to time.

The Little General however then points to the kitchen which is a mess, because she had been trying to make pancakes. There's a dropped carton of eggs, flour all over the place, the empty carton of milk. And it appears that she's given up because she's poured a bunch of Wheaties like cereal (the whole box) into a mixing bowl and poured apple juice into that.

"Da will not wakes up, and Daddy never sleeps. Mebbe he's cursed, dunno yet. He is so heavy with fat." Because she can't even with this situation.

*

Seeing the kitchen, Owen lets out a slow release of air. Boy, that looks like a mess. Oh, right focus, there is a man being set upon by hungry teddy bears. Owen at least sets the food down in the kitchen and leaves one of the black tee shirts by it. He picks up another one and walks over to 'examine' Emery.

He squats down and hands Kennis the shirt, it's a black Luke's bar shirt in size small, nothing on the back. "I brought you this too. And one for your dad." It will probably be a night shirt on her and yes, he is giving a small child a bar tee shirt, but it's still kind of nice. He nods and smiles tightly at her about the part about her dad not waking up. He says "Well, I can uhh.. get him on his bed and then we'll call Dr. Steve." He does not use any of the more adult names that he might use to refer to Dr. Stephen Strange when talking with Emery, though a corner of his mouth does uptick at the thought.

"Look out soldiers." Is said to the bears as he pushes them off. He then attempts to lift Emery up and carry him to nearest bed, hopefully his.

*

Concern radiates off of Kennis but he accepts the bar shirt like its a silk gown from milan, with a soft gasp and she hugs it before blinking. She is watching Owen like a hawk though, gesturing towards one of the two bedrooms. "Nimi is sleeping and not wake up. Now Daddy is sleeping and not wake up." She places a tiny hand on her hip and makes a 'ugh' sound.

She does follow after Owen though, tilting his head to the side. "Captain Merican is not /doctor/. Doctors is bad." She points out, like Owen should know this, tsking softly. "Is…Is Daddy dead?" Because this is an important questions as her eyes get wide and watery and that bottom lip quivers a bit.

*

Owen Mercer says, "No! No uhm. Not that guy. And uhm yer dad is totally not dead." Owen is like 80% sure of that. Plus unless the bear attacked and caused the mess in the kitchen, it'd be unlikely that Emery is missing a soul like Nimi. Dropping Emery on his bed, and taking off his other boot, Owen heaves a sigh before trying to explain again. He squats down to her level, and manages his best friendly smile, it's awkward at best.

"Dr. Steve is a magic doctor. Like uhm…" Oh goodness what would kids understand or call this. "At Hogwarts? But here in New York. Good dude. He uhm… helped your dad the last time he took a bear nap." Sure, a bear nap. That's not threatening right? He adds, "Your dad likes him." He meant for that to sound reassuring but even he grimaces at the thought that it came out like that.

"But for now. Let's let your dad rest, and we can get some breakfast and I'll clean up while you…" He glances around and says "Train your bear armies how to feint an attack and outflank their enemies. Very important tactic.""

*

The Tiniest Papsworth just hmms softly and then gives a tiny nod. "Liiike Merlin?" She asks curiously and then confides in Owen. "Daddy likes…alot of people." BEcause that's not narrowing it down at all for her but she cares not because Daddy is safe in bed and Owen has food. "Okay!" A pause before she runs back for the kitchen, pausing to pick up a rather largeish black teddy bear that's dressed up like Bucky from the vintage Captain America comic books and she straightens him up beside a teddy bear wearing a Captain America helmet but a blue dress. Best not to ask about that as she continues her journey to the kitchen. "Hmm, do we has to call Lady Sir Jessca? We has to find the bad faeries who keep spanking my daddy before its too late."

*

Nodding with a sigh of relief, Owen agrees "Yes. Like Merlin" He thinks. He is not so much a 'Once and Future King' reader as he is a 'Sword in the Stone' watcher so his grasp on Merlin is hazy at best. But she said it like it was a positive thing so, he rolls with it. He smiles and nods his head when she says her dad likes lots of people. "It's true. He's a … good guy." He's assuming there is no innuendo from the child, but like he told Bart he is not really equipped to deal with wholesomeness.

Owen notes the bear with a quirk of his eyebrow but doesn't say anything about him. He does poke around for bowls and utensils before asking "Sugar bombs? Or a bagel kid? Er… uh General." When she asks about calling Jessica. He laughs out loud and agrees heartily "Yes. We must call lady sir Jessica, we need to call her that… all the time." For now he is shooting off text messages, so that he can keep more of his attention on Kennis.

*

"Bagels." Kennis decides as she makes her way to the fridge, opening it up and pulling out a jar of strawberry jam. "Can it be a toasty bagel?" She asks almost shyly before awkwardly holding the jar to her chest and shutting the fridge with a push from her bum and then standing on her tiptoes to put the jar on the counter. "I am goin' to be Queen of the Faeries, so you can call me Kennis now if you want, I has to grow some more first." She blinks a few times. "What else you call her. She's a knight in my court. Like you, Captain Boom."

*

Owen is busying himself with trying to cleanup the majority of the major messes. The broken eggs, the flour on all surfaces. He considers using some speed but decides against it, as he doesn't know if that would freak out Kennis or not. "Toasty bagel it is. Good choice." He manages to get at least some counterspace cleared to make her breakfast in a relatively clean spot. "Well Kennis, it is great to meet you. But if you're a future queen does that make you a princess? Or … a duchess? I'm not so good with titles." He smiles when she asks about Jessica. "Normally we call her Jones. But that was because I didn't know her full title. So, thank you for correcting me. I appreciate it." Owen manages to get breakfast for her plated and goes back to trying to unwreck the kitchen. He keeps his phone on the counter and stares at it as if willing people to reply to his texts. It's not effective.

*

"Princess." Kennis supplies helpfully. "Also, going to be a Soliceter. I tink in Merica they say 'liar'. Which is silly name for it." While the clean up and such is going on she does try to 'help' by opening up the trash bin or closing a cabinet. Up and until her breakfast is plated and then she's taking her plate and climbing up on a stool to sit at the kitchen island. She folds her hands and says a quiet prayer of thanks and then grabs the bagel daintily with her finger tips and takes the biggest bite she can. Cheeks puffed out with bagels and chews and wiggles happily on her stool. She does occasionally cast a concerned glance towards Emery's door before looking back to Owen. "Does Daddy like /you/?"

*

"Princess it is." Owen readily agrees. When she starts talking about solictors and lawyers it take him a little while to catch on because of the combined accent, little kid vocabulary and across the pond naming. He nods and smiles "Yup. That's.. what we call 'em." He shakes his head a bit and looks for some towels to clean up the stickier stuff. He is on his hands and knees scrubbing when she asks about her dad liking him. Thankfully she can't see his face as he has to chuckle and take minute to compose himself. Oooh kid. "Uhm. We fought together. In … the great bear war of 2017." Is that helpful? Goodness knows. "We are on the same side. So yea, we're uhm. Friends." Gosh, that word is probably used for friends too, but whatever. It's not super important to Owen if Kennis thinks they are more than battle bros because Lord knows she probably picks up on a ton of stuff in a household like this.

Realizing that she might be pre-occupied with the bagel for a minute Owen says "I'm just gonna check on yer dad. Make sure he's uhm.." Not bleeding? Not infested with demonic maggots? Not dead? ".. comfortable." And so Owen goes to the bed room, he didn't see any blood earlier, but didn't want to check or appear too concerned in front of the kid. He checks Emery's forehead to see if there is a fever or anything like that. And with a glance over his shoulder to the kitchen to make sure Kennis isn't around he tries to lightly slap Emery's face. "Wake. Up."

*

Tiny feet are kicking happily as Kennis devours her bagel with the relish of a faerie army general. She even removes her helmet to set it to the side so she can really dig in. She does sort've mimic a face that Emery makes all the type with the squint and slight eyebrow lift before she flashes a dimpled smile and nods slowly. "Ooooh, I see." What she sees, god only knows. It will be depicted in her next color sketch no doubt.

Meanwhile in the room where Emery's body lay, he occasionally tenses up or convulses but for the most part he's out of it, trembling from time to type before collapsing back against the bed. His eye are rolled back in his head and the slap seems to initially have no effect, until a hand shoots up to grab whatever part of Owen is closest at the time and just squeeze/hold/cling, even as his body remains limp.

*

Owen only allows his eyes to bulge slightly when Kennis indicates that she understands. Because seriously, who knows what that means. He does his best to not show is lack of poker face on his way to the bedroom.

Owen is leaning on the bed with one arm to slap with the other so his leaning arm is grabbed. He starts to exclaim "WHA-" but catches himself, trying really hard not to draw Kennis's attention away from breakfast. He finishes that sentiment much quieter "-t the hell?" He doesn't try to escape the grasp but he really wishes he hadn't left his phone on the counter in the kitchen because it's gone from texting to now it's phone call time. He looks down at Emery and narrows his eyes in concern and quietly swears just a long stream of "// Shit. shit shit shit shit shit shit shitty shit shit Shit. //" having apparently held all that in while in the presence of the princess of Ireland's faerie warriors.

*

It is a dangerous thing to leave a freshly fed 5 year old in the same room as an unlocked phone in a time of crisis. Kennis has crawled off the stool and retreived Owen's phone curiously poking around until she finds a familiar number. She wanders idly towards Emery's bedroom, peeking in for a moment before clearing her throat as she holds the phone up to her ear. "Lady Sir Jessca…is Kennis. Daddy won't wake up but is 'kay because Captain Boom arrived to set tings right. He's gonna call Weird Merlin mebbe to wake Daddy up but…I is eating bagels. Captain Boom is…in bed with Daddy so it will be kay…" She starts her voice mail message.

*

Getting a grip on himself, Owen slowly extricates himself from the grip that Emery has on him. He says quietly "Easy, man.. easy.." He is in the process of letting out a very long sigh when he hears Kennis talking. Who is she..? He leaves Emery and is at the door just in time to hear her description of what he's up to. Super. That's accurate and yet… oh good.

Making his way out of the bedroom, he smiles and then realizes it's his phone, not Emery's that she is using. "Oh. Hey…" Oh crap. There are some terrible, terrible people in that phone she could be calling. "Who .. uh .. who ya callin' kiddo?" His voice is nearly cracking as he tries to keep a smile plastered to his face. Of course the fear in his eyes makes it look a little less reassuring than he means it to be.

*

Kennis looks up at Owen and holds up a 'one moment' finger as she places the phone to her shoulder. "I is on the phone." Then the phone is back to her ear. "So is 'kay, Lady Sir Jessca. Good bye." Then she blink and peers up at Owen with that phone and raised eyebrows. "Lady Sir Jessca." She holds the phone out to Owen now and hmms softly before announcing. "Going to get dressed." And off the stomps to her room, occasionally bouncing and moving off. Everything will be okay, Captain Boom and Lady Sir Jessca have been contacted. All in a days work.

*

At the 'one moment' gesture Owen just hangs his head in defeat. I mean really, what is he supposed to do, he's being shushed by a child. He manages to put his best fake smile back on while she finishes up. When he realizes it's just Jessica that she is talking to though, he does relax. That's fine. Phew. Thank God she didn't call Harley or … worse. He takes the phone back and says "Good idea your majesty." Though of course with that voicemail she totally stripped him of the pleasure of calling Jessica, Lady Sir Jessica, considering that he is now sleeping with dudes. Comatose, possibly magically wounded dudes no less.

"Yea, that's a good idea short stuff." He redials the phone and leaves a voicemail of his own. "Jess. Actually Owen this time. I'm at Emery's, he's passed out and we can't wake him. Kennis is fine, but I don't think anyone thinks me watching her is a good idea. Least of all me. Help." He manages not to sound completely desperate, but it's still kind of pathetic.

*

It takes some time, it takes quite abit of time but suddenly there's a loud agonizing scream from the bedroom and a resounding THUD as Emery's rolled off the bed and hit the floor, body convulsing in the throws of him waking up before he rolls onto his back, hand on his chest, panting heavily and looking around wildly as he places where he is, what day it is, and etc.

*

Okay, kid or not, this is a time for speed. Thankful that Kennis isn't there to get freaked out (or more likely not), Owen speeds into the bedroom as soon as the THUD is heard. He is in the room and has a knife in hand, because well, it's not guaranteed that Emery is himself and he'd prefer to be armed if that is the case. He closes the door behind him and locks it, before turning to face Emery.

"You got about ten seconds to convince me the lights are on and you're home in your… soul or whatever." He silently pleads for that to be the case because all other options suck and of course there's a kid involved. Trying to reassure him, in case it is actually Emery, Owen adds "Kennis is fine."

*

Propped up on his elbows and looking around wildly, blinking several times as his naturally wavy hair is sticking up all sorts of ways and he has a hint of a five oclock shadow he blinks some more, moving a hand to his head and just staring over at Owen for a moment. "…Maggot Mitts…" Slow Blink. "Why are ye in my house?" A pause as he starts to push himself to his feet. "Shite, Kennis." But he's being reassured that Kennis is alright and he groans, falling back onto his back. "Ye are a bagel loving speedy pain the arse and currently have a hate on for all birds. Also, ye have a weird nose and ye probably smell hot garbage nine nights out of 10…"

*

"You had me at Maggot Mitts." Yes, that is a Jerry Maguire joke and one that Owen is very thankful to be able to be making right now. He speeds again to put away the knife and unlock the door. He then finally heaves a big sigh of relief and acknowledges the truth in Emery's statements. "Yup. That's all fair. And you scared the shit out of your kid… and me." Yea, the kid thing is kind of a low blow. "Look, let me get Kennis, she's worried about ya and then we can catch up… later." He's assuming they will want some family time to recover from this little bit of fun. He opens the door and calls out, "Princess! Yer dad's awake!"

*

There's three seconds before Kennis comes bolting into the room, having been pacing at the door with an 'ew' face. Then she's running and throwing herself on top of Emery and clinging as he wraps his arms around the tiny girl and sits up, rocking her slightly. The Irishman quirks an eyebrow at Owen and closes his eyes as he rocks the little girl who's babbling in a different language (sounds possibly Gaelic) and he just holds her close, exhaling softly as he looks back to Owen. "I…thank ye. Thank ye ever so much." There is a long pause before he offers softly. "The girl? Dani?" He gives a small nod. "She's free of it now. But its still out there. So, dun shoot her if ye see her."

*

Of course locking bedroom doors causes that reaction from Kennis, though Owen doesn't catch it, he wouldn't be surprised. He smiles as the two re-unite and do their whatever language catch-up. He nods and waves off any thanks with a half scowl. He is about to turn and leave them to it when Emery mentions Dani. That stops him, and he turns to says "Shit, that's great! I mean… yea, great." He was doing really well not swearing in front of the kid. He almost made it. "I won't. Where is she? I mean, I assume she's not out of the woods- oh God, that sounded like a terrible bear pun. She's still in danger, right?" He's asking about her, but he can't help but think about the crows and the fact that they went after Luke because of him. It would be nice if the few people he's actually finding himself caring about weren't being attacked because of him.

*

The Irishman doesn't scold or correct Owen about his use of language, he just smirks gently and adjusts his hold on Kennis as she burrows her face against his chest and just falls still. "She's safe for now." He isn't going to say 'I near about crushed her windpipe but she's safe'. That's a story for a bar and booze type of moment. "We are all still in danger but…we'll talk about over drinks?" He clear his throat. Emery looks down to Kennis and then back to Owen. "I didn't mean to pass out mate, she is usually somewhere safe before that happens…so thank ye kindly."

*

Nodding at the brief explanation Owen agrees quickly. "Sure. Come on down to Luke's whenever yer up for it. I'm sure he'll want details too." He grimaces slightly about still being in danger, though to be honest he is not surprised by that answer. As Emery tries to thank him again he screws up his face and waves it off. "Yea, yea." As he starts to make his way out he adds "Bagels in the kitchen. And a gift you missed the other night." It is a Luke's bar tee shirt for him with 'SASSMASTER JEEVES' on the back. With that he heads out for the door.

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