(no subject)

[made_up_names]

[ 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! ))

Comments

[crypdick]

There were efforts made to ensure that was the outcome.

[ From what he understands, at least. But he wasn't there to observe it, and therefore missed all the drama. ]

The question I am more interested in is why you would want to see it.

[made_up_names]

[ Oh boy. How does he explain this without sounding crazy. ]

Um - well, there's these movies back home?

[crypdick]

[ This is going to be harder than Peter thought, because even after a few months here the Outsider still has not seen a movie. ]

Movies - the recorded plays they have here. Fictional entertainment.

[made_up_names]

... oh my god you've never seen one, have you.

[crypdick]

I doubt I would find them appealing.

[made_up_names]

Spoken like someone who's never actually seen a movie. I'll pick out something awesome if you agree to watch it with me.

[crypdick]

Now that's presumptuous. [ Which isn't a trait he dislikes, necessarily. ] Can you even guess what I would like?

[made_up_names]

Nope. So this is gonna be a marathon.

[crypdick]

Very well.

[ At the very least he won't be ignorant of them anymore. ]

I will watch whatever you choose, if you do something for me.

[made_up_names]

Sure, what is it?

[crypdick]

I'll watch your fiction if you tell me something that is true. Reality makes the stakes so much higher, don't you think?

[ The Outsider has a theory that the Porter brings in people for a reason. Of all the imports he's met, there's always something there. ]

What is the most interesting thing that you have experienced?

[made_up_names]

[ Uhhhhh. That's. Actually a hard question for him? Because the most interesting things he's done have been Spider-Man related, for the most part.

Also he's weirded out by the way this dude is phrasing it. If he lies will this dude be able to tell? Best to stick to something that is true, even if it's not the most true. ]

When I was seven, I got attacked by killer robots at the Stark Expo. And then Iron Man saved my life.

[ There's a small ache in his voice. Talking about Tony Stark in any capacity still hurts. ]

[crypdick]

[ He remembers (a) Tony Stark, briefly. Enough that the story tracks.

But more important than killer robots is that emotion. Emotion is good, emotion is where the real tricky bits come in. ]

Saved by a hero. Yet you don't sound excited by the event.

[made_up_names]

[ He is not quite excited enough, it’s true. He showed more emotion talking about the Death Star just now. ]

Well - I mean, it was a while ago. So maybe Tony Stark making me his intern was more exciting?

[ Warmer. But not quite. ]

[crypdick]

Working for a self-proclaimed genius natural philosopher and inventor with an ego? I would think one would hardly get in a word edgewise.

[made_up_names]

... Wait. You know him?

[crypdick]

A certain pointed-ear girl was under the mistaken impression I was making advances towards her and gave me his contact instead of hers. She meant it as revenge. Clever, really, although I got an enlightening conversation instead.

[made_up_names]

[ He is feeling so many feelings right now. ]

But - that - okay I can see that but - he’s here? Alive?

[crypdick]

Ported out, last I heard.

[ But asking if he was alive - now that pings his attention. ]

Did he go home to die?

[made_up_names]

[ This utterly stricken face says yes. ]

I - maybe -

[crypdick]

[ The Outsider had not smiled during the more flippant aspect of this conversation, and nor does he look sad or sympathetic now. But he knows he has to play this carefully. ]

He meant something to you. You were close?

[made_up_names]

[ There’s a hell of an understatement. He nods, helplessly. Choosing his own words carefully, trying to skirt around the Spider-Man shaped hole in the middle of his story. ]

I interned for him. And maybe that’s not much, but I felt really close to him. He - he died saving the world, and I knew he did it partially because he felt bad about me being one of the ones who got killed the first time around.

[crypdick]

[ He tilts his head. ]

"The first time around"?

[made_up_names]

[ Deep breaths. ]

Thanos killed half the sentient life in the universe.

[crypdick]

[ It's difficult just from that to grasp whether or not it's crude or magnificent; it depends on how it was done, really.

But that doesn't quite answer the question of "first time around", though he can hazard a guess. ]

And the next time around?