maskormenace | (no subject)

(no subject)

[ 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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Sure, what is it?

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?

[ 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. ]

Edited (mcu timelines are suffering) 2019-08-10 13:03 (UTC)

[ 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.

[ 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. ]

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

... Wait. You know him?

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.

[ He is feeling so many feelings right now. ]

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

Ported out, last I heard.

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

Did he go home to die?

[ This utterly stricken face says yes. ]

I - maybe -

[ 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?

Edited 2019-08-10 23:23 (UTC)

[ 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.

[ He tilts his head. ]

"The first time around"?

[ Deep breaths. ]

Thanos killed half the sentient life in the universe.

[ 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?

... Tony Stark and the rest of the Avengers regathered the things that Thanos used to do it in the first place. And they brought everyone back to life, including me. But - Thanos fought them, and Mr. Stark had to use that power to defeat Thanos for good. It killed him.

[ And Peter watched him die. It had all been less than an hour since his own revival - he’d barely had time to shake the dust from his suit. He’s had months to grieve, now, but it never seems to hurt any less. Especially now, when it seems like he missed seeing his mentor again by this much. ]

[ Delicious. He wishes he could have seen it. That's the kind of high stakes with high drama he waits so long to glimpse. ]

Sacrifices are hard to bear, aren't they?

[ If only Peter weren't here. Then the Outsider could have watched a movie about it.

Peter swallows, practically radiating quiet misery. There's a lot under the surface here. Grief - trauma - nascent PTSD. ]

I didn't see it. They told me afterwards.

[ Lies. ]

[ But that would require him actually watching movies. ]

Still. Is that worse, or better?

I - better? Probably?

[ But he wouldn't have left Tony's side even if he could. ]

You have to live with it regardless. But you do get to live, to make choices, to breathe, bleed and grow. You should make the most of it.

[ Deep breaths. Try not to feel all that survivor’s guilt. ]

I - I know. I just wish I could do more.

You can always do more.

Your world and everything you fought for is barred from you, separated by time and space and the wiles of an unknowable machine. Whatever happened there is out of your reach, but thisworld isn't. Will you live in the past, wishing for a world that you cannot return to on your own? Or will you use your past to define your future and make your own way here?

Either way, it's up to you.

[ Peter opens his mouth to respond - and pauses, hesitating. ]

Does it really matter? I'm just some kid.

[ 100% normal, that's Peter Parker. ]