maskormenace | (no subject)

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[ So here's a new kid on the network tonight. Trying to find an angle that lets him hide at least some of his nervousness. Or at least lets him use it to channel his best impression of a Definitely Normal Team, No Superheroics Here Honest. He mostly just looks awkward and nerdy, which is … accurate anyway, so let’s go with that. ]

Hey - um, so I’m Peter. Peter Parker. And I just got here, and -

[ He’s read through what’s left of his files, he’s read through the last couple weeks of posts just to get a feel for things. After that, he has one incredibly important question: ]

Did I seriously just barely miss out on a Death Star being here? For real? That’s not fair. Please tell me it’s coming back at some point.

[ That’s probably an objectively incorrect thing to want, but. Look. That would have made his entire life. He could die happy. For the second time. Well, the second time dying, first time dying happy. Anyway, he turns reluctantly to the list of actual serious questions he made. Not enough time to ask them all (unless he just takes in a breath and rapid fire asks all of them in thirty seconds) so he’ll just pick one for now. ]

So, school. How is that working out for people who still hafta go? And can you like … argue with it at all? Because I’m all for finishing high school, but this is my third time going into sophomore year and I’m starting to feel like that movie with the Ghostbuster being depressed in Pennsylvania.

(( OOC: Spoilers for Far From Home are likely, but I can avoid them if necessary! ))

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[Peter is short. David is actually impressed by how short, but he should remember that the guy is still in high school, somewhere around four years younger than him.

And not the youngest hero he's ever seen. That's the saddest part.

But he does hold his hand out to Peter, bare skin offered. Seems like a good first pass.]

David, and it's a pleasure.

[ Yep. Not that he has much more height in him - he'll always be on the smaller side of average - but absolutely a highschooler.

He glances down at David's hand, then takes it. He's got a hell of a grip. ]

Peter. Same here. I mean, I'm really curious about seeing anyone remotely my age with powers.

[The touch has David's eyes flutter closed briefly. And then he jerks his hand away, eyes still closed as he processes. That's... that's a lot. He takes a moment to lick his lips and try and catch his breath.]

Well, the good news is? You're not alone as a young hero. I'm twenty, though. Not that close in age. Knew a lot of people who were heroes your age. I was, once. So I know the weight of it. But I never had a whole neighborhood to look out for.

[Thing is? David is trying to process and shuffle a lot of things. Including trying to deal with how much stuff he got about Star Wars and Chemistry and other niche things he didn't have bouncing around in his head as much anymore.]

[ There is so much Star Wars in here. Movies, for sure, but also he read most of the EU as a kid by way of the library, including some truly terrible novels. Looking at you, Crystal Star. But chemistry for sure, and robotics, and mediocre flute skills, and whatever's left of his childhood Hebrew school sessions, and - there's enough here that it might actually mask the actual Spider-Man knowledge, depending on how David is perceiving this. ]

Dude, twenty is still closer than anyone else I know. Everyone else is pushing thirty,

[ Also, he's sort of given up on pretending he's not some kind of superhero. Whether he confesses to being Spider-Man ... well, that depends. Speaking of which. ]

Are you okay man?

Edited 2019-08-09 02:30 (UTC)

[Yeah, David REALLY didn't need to know about the Thrawn saga, because he's going to have to read it now. The Hebrew he already had in passing, not practiced, and the robotics he has too. But the chemistry. How much David misses chemistry.]

Just... Less seamless than I'm used to. And not as organized. That's going to be fun.

One of these days, you should tell me about how you maintain appropriate tensile strength for the webbing. I've always been curious, and if my file is to be believed, I'll lose it shortly.

[ Yep, that's it. He's sunk. Well - it was bound to happen, and he's honestly kind of okay with it? In this specific instance, anyway. He just sort of sighs a bit and decides not to try lying about it any more.

Also he's going to be so sad when he realizes the Thrawn books aren't accessible in this world. ]

So you got that, huh? No point in pretending I'm not Spider-Man.

[David might be sad about that too.]

You're a bit young for the Spider-Man from my world. Which makes you your own sort of interesting. I suppose I could give you a crash course on people to be leery of when you go back home.

[ Peter sort of just stops at that, trying to parse that kind of offer. The idea that there's an alternate him - who's older - and has a list of people long enough for someone else to give him a list of warnings? Holy shit. He'll take the info, but also. What the hell. ]

I - I mean - wait, how old is Spider-Man in your world?

Older than me. But he's still young compared to the Avengers in general. And older than the Young Avengers.

[But yeah, Peter definitely has an option here. He could ask David no to ask him, to say nothing. Still going to watch Beck, though.]

There's Young Avengers?

[ He'll get back to asking for those warnings, honest. After he freaks out about more important things. ]

Yeah. Earth-616 is full of a lot of interesting things apparently. Let's see, the Young Avengers are mostly made up of the reborn twin sons of the Scarlet Witch and The Vision, the son of the original Captain Mar-Vell, the better Hawkeye, a dimension hopping Kree warior-slash-diplomat, a woman from a parallel universe who can kick her way through the multiverse. [He's counting people off on his fingers now.]

Formerly there was the son of the first man the Captain America super serum was used on, the daughter of Ant Man, a different version of Vision, and a time traveler.

Oh, and Kid Loki. That one was a doozie.

[Peter, there's a lot of people out there that are young heroes. And that's just the Avengers ones that weren't part of the Avengers Academy.]

[ Hooooly shit. Peter opens his mouth to react, but David keeps going, and then he has like five different things he wants to say at once, and oh god. This is some next level of insanity, isn't it. ]

I - that's - hang on, I need to take notes.

[ He says, tugging a glasses case out of his backpack. EDITH isn't terribly dissimilar from David's specs, really; they're mostly just have blue lenses instead of orange. ]

[What, this isn't even that bad. The guy doesn't even know about mutants. That's where you get confusing. Mutants and gods. But what really gets David to stop is the glasses. He frowns seriously at them.]

That's not a notepad.

[ Gods are easier to parse than mutants, okay. Unless they're Kid Loki. That's - um, he's gonna have to loop back to that one.

Also he blinks at David from behind his glasses. ]

I mean, I like doing it the long way too, but I think with all that info I'm better off with EDITH handling it.

[What about a mutant god? But David? He's left staring in shock. And then grinning.]

Damn, Parker, you're smarter than I thought. A lot. I didn't know you could make computers this small. It took me a lot of time and the knowledge of a few very talented mutants to make my own.

[He'll be less surprised to find out it's Stark's tech. He'll never compare to Stark.]

[ Yep, he's gonna ruin that impression instantly. ]

Um - well, Mr. Stark made her for me. And she's not really an AI as much as she is a souped up version of Alexa. I've got her piggybacking off my phone since there's no databases for her to tap into here.

[ Or, uh. Dystopian orbital defense platforms. ]

No databases to bounce off of? Huh. That explains why mine won't connect to anything unless I set up blue-tooth mode.

[Well, he's definitely a bit less impressed by the glasses. Well, maybe more jealous than anything.]

I've never been able to do as good as Stark. One day, maybe. One day. But yeah, take notes.

[ Oh, that gets him to look closer. Glasses twins, awesome. ]

Probably the exact same problem, yep.

[ But that mention of Stark ... he tries not to show the jolt of pain that goes through him. Even months afterwards, he's nowhere near being able to cope with his mentor's death. Focus, Peter. ]

I'm ready when you are.

[Glasses twins. And David made his own. If you want those tinted, David will help with that. But he sees the jolt, frowning. He stepped on something here. Somehow whatever Peter had ingrained deep enough to truly know, Stark's death hadn't been there.]

So, how about we find a bench and you tell me what could be good to know? I could start with a list of people to avoid? Can I top the list with any and all forms of Mysterio?

[ Blue works for now; Peter mostly cares about having access to EDITH's colorblindness mode, which helps screen out the weirdness caused by his spider senses. It's hard having a smidge of IR and UV wavelengths to your vision; it messes up his colors something fierce.

Anyway. He nods at that, already moving towards the nearest bench. And making a face. ]

Too late on the Mysterio front. He's already ruined my life.

[Yeah, that sounds likely. David winces briefly before sitting down, folding his hands in his lap to keep them away from accidental brushes of skin. Already what he picked up from Parker is fading. Intriguing. And frustrating.]

At least you're still standing. Mysterio is a traditional part of what is referred to back home as the Sinister Six. The numbers fluctuate, of course, but he's a top Spider-Man issue. Always trying to kill him. I had him contact me and pretend to be a good guy. Frankly, I don't trust Beck as far as a third grader can throw him.

Especially after he claimed to have worked with Spider-Man to save my Earth from elementals.

[ Beck is a complicated topic that they should also talk about, but he’s a little distracted by something else. ]

Wait, there’s six super villains out there like Mysterio? And what, they teamed up to try to kill me?

There are a lot of super villains out there, Peter. A ton. At least in my world. And yes, a number team up to go after Spider-Man. Doc Oct, the Green Goblin, Sandman, Vulture, Electro. Spider-Man spent a lot of time protecting parts of New York that the Avengers didn't care about, and sometimes when they weren't around.

He's pretty badass.

[Which means Peter is too. Just... likely to have problems in the future.]

Thing is? Spider-Man? He's got people who have his back. Wherever he goes.

[Is that a polite offer to have Peter's back? Of course it is. David hates seeing teens in the line of fire. He lost too many friends to that when he was around Peter's age. More than that, he's definitely always thought Spider-Man was cool. Don't tell anyone.]

[ He appreciates the implied offer, man; it means a lot to him. Unfortunately the rest of all of that makes him want to curl up in a ball and die a little. He has no idea who most of those supervillains are, but Vulture? Vulture he knows. Which means that the rest of that list must be real, and there's a whole wider world of nastiness out there, and ...

EDITH flicks up a silent caution message on the inside of his glasses. Peter, you appear to be in the early stages of a panic attack. Do you require assistance?

He shakes his head a little to dismiss the warning, trying desperately to calm himself down. Breathe, Peter, this is clearly some kind of alternate universe. Future alternate universe? ]

That's - that's not how it is back home. I'm the only active Avenger on Earth right now. And Mysterio just outed my secret identity before framing me for mass murder.

[EDITH isn't the only one to notice the panic. David reaches out, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder.]

Just take a breath. Slowly take one in and hold it for a moment. Slowing your heartrate can help. You're okay. You're safe right here.

[Still, David doesn't like the idea that Peter's alone back on his earth. Especially with that other news. David frowns. Still... the timing might mean...]

You might not be alone for long, if your world follows the arc of mine.