7657/Once more with feeling

Once more with feeling
Date of Scene:	28 May 2019
Location:	West Harlem, Manhattan
Synopsis:	Spiderman and Ghost Spider discuss heroic hardships
Cast of Characters:	Spider-Man, Ghost Spider

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Spider-Man has posed:
It's easy for Spider-Man to be alone when he needs to be. Just a long jump and a few miles of web swinging brings him to one of his favorite perches in the City overlooking the Manhattan School of Music. Now crouched on the edge of a restored brownstone overlookin the practice yard where a group of students are doing just that.

His arms lay across his knees and though he's looking in their direction, he's not actually watching what they're doing. He's here for the music, the solitude, and the twinkling of the nigh sky in the distance. Maybe Angelos Sub-shop might have something to do with his decision, but that's ultimately besides the point right?

A pay by the minute cellphone lays face up on the ledge beside his red booted right foot, keyed into the police band so that he doesn't miss anything... even if this isn't on his usual patrol route.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Well it was easier in the past.

Honestly it is a bit less easy these days since he isn't the only web slinging vigilante in the whole town.

Gwen wasn't out looking for Spider-man when she left on a patrol hoping to get practice punching criminals and not being shot. Still when she came across one of the weblines before it started to break own and degrade she decided to practice a different skill.

Detective Ghost Spider.

It took some math and thought but she slowly followed the weblines until she drops down onto the Manhtattan School of Music's roof, not too far from Spider-man.

Not too close either in case he spazzed out and thwips at her.

"Someone going to attack these kids?"

Spider-Man has posed:
Spider-Man is a hard person to sneak up on. Especially if he's clear headed and focused on his surroundings, it's like trying to get the drop on water. Tonight, however, he is neither of those things... and Gwen doesn't mean him any overt harm so his spidey-senses don't alert him either. Whatever tiny clues she does leave, he doesn't catch, and she's rewarded with a startled jerk of his shoulders and a glance back in her direction.

"Huh." Doesn't even try and deny it, she got him flat footed like a golf swing, "No." He flicks his wrist towards the field in an invitational sort of gesture, "I don't know what it is, but something about mid-ninties alternative music being played by a marching band."

His hand wiggles like a bird set loose to fly off. "How'd you find me?"

Be hard not to note the lack of jokes and general meloncholy in his voice.

Ghost Spider has posed:
She isn't a goblin, so nope no harm at all meant.

"Well I am glad we are just listening to a reasonably okay band.. I mean I am better than that drummer." squints down a moment "And not about to have to save them from the Rhino orsomething..."

At that Gwen settles to sit. "I was out swinging looking for trouble and ran across one of your weblines. I followed them like a trail of very hard to calculate breadcrumbs."

There is a shrug from the Ghost Spider. "So uh... you okay... you sound like a family pet died." pauses "Please tell me a pet didn't die.. I will feel awful."

Spider-Man has posed:
"It's Soundgarden you uncultured swine." Spidey says sidelong to Gwen beside him, turning just enough to see her out the corner of his eyes before looking back to the band playing Spoon Man in the field. "No, no Rhino tonight.. I don't think. You never really know with Rhino. He could just bust in at any moment like a bull in a China Shop... which is just a horrible analogy. Can you imagine how the owner has to feel?"

He shakes his head slowly and lays his arm back across his bent knee so that his hands dangle between them. "China is expensive... So are bulls though. Ehh, I've lost my train of thought."

Full gaze on her now, "Yeah, my ferret. His name was Hairy Plotter."

Ghost Spider has posed:
"Yeah it utterly derailed when you crossed metaphors with bulls and rhinos I think. If I am to be honest with you."

Then you get on about Hairy Plotter. The masked head tilts a little to the side. Then a little to the other side. Then a gloved hand reachs down and picks up a bit of random roof detrius and tosses it right at you.

Not hard for a spider to dodge. "Jerk." she notes "Here I am trying to be a good Spiderfriend and noo."

Spider-Man has posed:
"I see that now." Spidey bobs his head in agreement to her assessment of exactly where his metaphor went wrong. "Got to keep your one liners simple or they get out of control." Added with a smirk behind his mask that moves the fabric around his cheek bones.

Instead of dodging the gravel, Pete brings his hand up to block it from hitting the side of his face and laughs quietly with little rocks of his shoulder, "What? He was a noble soul, Hairy Plotter.. He had a little sorting hat that he scampered around in." Adding fuel to the imaginary fire. "Truly a Grifindor at heart.. but a Hufflepuff in spirit, just like me."

After a second a hand comes up to brush along his brow above his bugged eyes, "I am a jerk. Mostly because I really wish I had that ferret now. You see what I've done to myself? Who even am I?"

Ghost Spider has posed:
"Now you have me picturing a small wizard Ferret... along with his red furred weasel friend.. I think Herminione is probably a studious rabbit..." she trails off and then picks up another bit of gravel and tosses it at your head again.

"Well ferrets are legal if you got one I am sure it would be fine.. though I am picturing a small ferret in a spiderman costume trying to web sling around an apartment now. I mean I know we aren't contagious but it is a very funny mental image." a head shake "I say get the ferret, enablement island it is."

Spider-Man has posed:
"You make jokes, but I would legit watch that show." Spidey says, voice only slightly muffled through the material of his mask and the low pitch he spoke in. "Don't give Universal any ideas or Harry Potter will be owned by Disney next." Again his hand comes up to swat the gravel away, laughing at the friendly onslaught of tiny rocks pelting his palm.

"He would be out of control, little Hairy Plotter... weblines all over my tiny apartment making it a death trap for the exhausted occupant stumbling through the dark trying to find the fridge." Pete shakes his head while sucking expressively upon his teeth. "I don't think I've got enough hours left in the day to take care of a living creature, though."

He's quiet a moment, "You struggle to keep your life together as much as I seem to?"

Ghost Spider has posed:
"I think there is probably a webshow out there somewhere with this premise even if it is only a one off. I mean have you seen the little hamsters in funny outfits eating miniature food videos.. it is ridic adorbs."

That question though, well that gets her to focus and not throw any gravel for a moment there. "Mmm" and then there is a sigh. "Well yeah probably. I mean I have work. School. Friends. My music. Superheroing."

"Let's just say I have no pets."

Spider-Man has posed:
"Someone goes to great lengths to create tiny little hampster sized meals to record tiny little hampsters to eat.." Spidey laughs at the image in his head, "I can barely find the time to clean my apartment and this person has a tiny little kitchen to scramble eggs for a hampster..." A mock shrug of exasperation.

Then silence for a little while. Just listening to the marching band start playing something by the Killers. "Yeah." He murmurs with all the earlier humor gone from his voice. He too scoops up a small handful of gravel to flick single bits off his index finger with the tip of his thumb. "At some point, and I don't know when, people started looking up to me. I didn't even realize that was possible until the other day.. 'An inspiration' they said." More gravel tossed down off the roof.

"Hard pill to swallow when you're two months behind on your rent and anxiously waiting for the power company to disconnect you."

Ghost Spider has posed:
"If you have to hit a band kid.. hit the one really screwing up the drumline... third from the back left..."

"Also yes that is exactly what they do.. I think they make money off it in advertising revenue or something." the hamsters.

"Also .. hmm I guess exposure doesn't pay rent.. which is why I may be stretched very thing but I show up to work still. I don't want to live in an alley and never wash this suit." a shudder. "You should focus on rent and food.. aka work.. and then superheroing..." so much easier said than done.

"Also.. while the Bugle may hate you.. you are Spiderman. You have helped a ton of people in this city and never asked for anything.. I mean if you had maybe you wouldn't be evicted from your apartment.. but still that is super selfless."

Spider-Man has posed:
"Maybe I got into the wrong line of work." Spidey jokes about cooking tiny food for tiny creatures. "Certainly has to be better than getting gored by Rhino, right? Unless people find your tiny little kitchen and start in with the cruel jokes." Thoughtful. He stops flicking the peddles for a second, even if he wasn't putting much more than passing strength behind it. More of a toss than anything.

"Hey! You're screwing up the drumline!" Pete shouts down at the now startled kids who didn't realize there was a Spidey spectator. "Take it from the top." Waving a hand for them, they just stare.

"That's not how I saw that going..." To Gwen, eyes down on the ledge beneath his feet. "I'm not looking for a pep talk or anything." Which doesn't mean he's not appreciative for one. "I know the choices I make and where they rank in my heirarchy of importance.. I also know I should change those importance, but for every person I've saved... there's those ones I didn't. I don't know if you've been at this that long, but believe me that you're not ready for those dreams."

Poor Gwen. Seeing the neurotic hero behind the mask, "We share spider themes." Reading his own thoughts, "You get Spiderman in the raw. Also, I'm in a weird mood and you stumbled up in the middle of it. Try not to hold it against me."

Ghost Spider has posed:
I won't hold it against you." pause "Much." trying to inject a little humor back into it.

"I've been doing this for ..well not too long really. I spent a lot of time working on the costume and figuring out how to weave in high-tensile threading.... also the web shooters really gave me a lot of setbacks. I didn't think of using little fluid cartridges..." she eyes her wrists. "That makes sense in hindsight. I made these to pull moisture from the air.. I man I shouldn't try to use them in the Sahara but they don't run out." yeah she is kind of rambling because well this is kind of awkward.

"Then a lot of practice before I tried to stop a mugger."

"Still.. I know enough to know you can't save everyone or be everywhere.. I mean even the Flash and Superman can't be everywhere and save everyone and they are ridiculously fast."

"I am pretty sure you do everything you can .. and yeah more than you can sometimes if you are actually that broke. Man... you make me want to run a gofundme for you."

Spider-Man has posed:
"Moisture from the air..." Spidey repeats that with a thoughtful sound and cants his head, "Honestly would have never even considered that. That's kind of brilliant, at least until Summer.. do you have some kind of redundency in place? A resevoir or something so that you don't over use them and run out mid-confrontation?" Focusing on something technical does more to bring him out of his funk than anything. Some of the life even returns to his voice for a little bit.

One wrist is held out and a press of some hidden button on his palm fires off the cartridge hidden in his own webshooter. It's caught midair and held out to Gwen, "I created the substance in chesmitry my junior year of high school. Obviously the formula has expand over the years, gotten stronger and more reliant, but the delivery system is universally unchanged." His wrist is held up so she can see the overall system in place on there against his costume.

The conversation has a way of circling back though.. His eyeslower a moment and he shrugs, "It isn't that bad. I have a job, with a fairly good salary if I'm being honest. It's new, yet. We'll see." A brief pause, "For now I think we can forgo the gofundme.. I don't mind Chinese takeout until the first paycheck rolls in." His humor has even returned... sort of.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen carefully peels back her own glove showing a much more advanced rig there, it looks like some of the parts are probably pretty advanced technology from some of the local tech corporations if one has an eye for it. That micro-compressor is Stark. The circuitry looks like Oscorp. That condensor probably somehow used to pull moisture out of the air looks like Alchemax.

"It takes surprisingly little moisture to work actually.. I mean drought super bad but New York touches the ocean and our humidity means I should be fine even in summer...." then she sounds sheepish. "Which is the long way of saying that no I didn't build a backup into it... like I said I never thought of doing web fluid like you are doing. I did get it have a strength of about 120lbs per square millimeter though.. which I am super proud of."

"Well don't screw up the job.. I have no idea how we would manage to withdraw the funds from a GoFundMe.. or oh hey a Patreon.. we could have a tier where you do Kid's Birthday parties... so mess this up and that is the future Spiderman." mock threat, playful tone.

Spider-Man has posed:
Spidey replaces the cartridge in his shooter and slips the sleeve back over the device. His, by comparison, isn't exactly low tech, but it isn't advanced either... and looks almost completely home brewed. "I thought about using pre-existing parts, but when I made it I was so caught up in remaining annonymous that I just did it myself. For good or ill." There are benefits to both, really.

"I've gotten good at replacing it mid-fight. Just work it into the flow, ya know?" He shrugs effortlessly and looks back to the band what has returned to playing, allbeit with more attention to detail now that they know they've got people watching. "I was also good about not letting anyone get pictures of me in my early career.. Nobody needs to see that costume. It was a nightmare. Basically a red hoodie and a divers mask with the scariest bug-eye goggles." Ala Home Coming for reference.

"I also tried the private sector. Professional wrestling... it did not go well. Nor did Spidey's Magic Birthday Show or my one man theater troup." Another expressive shrug. "I always land on my feet, though. Make it work, if only by the skin of my teeth. Sort of another super power of mine? I guess?"

Ghost Spider has posed:
"Dogged persistence is probably a spider trait... I know my dad accuses me of being very stubborn." of course he did that before she got spider powers so well there is that.

"These parts aren't that hard to get these days if you know how to pick them up... but yeah anonymous is important. I sure don't want to bring any danger to my friends and family doing this."

"Divers mask.. eesh... I am so glad you were careful." she wiggles her blue clad toes. "I think my costume looks pretty good.. and your current one looks iconic."

Spider-Man has posed:
"I think it's a New Yorker trait." Spidey says in retort, glancing at Gwen. "My Uncle use to tell me that there were two types of people.. New Yorkers who can face down any challenge, no matter how terrifying or dangerous... and literally everyone else." He laughs at the idea and shakes his head, "He only ever said it when I failed at something, but I think he was right in a lot of ways, too. We're a tenacious folk."

Flicking a finger between the pair of spiders, "Proof of concept."

There's a moments consideration and a fractional nod, "I'm use to these. Seems silly to fix something that's not broken, ya kmow?" Just get better with what he's got. Adapt and grow. The way of the Spider.

"It looks good in photographs." Motioning at his current costume. "The idea was always to be seen. You look more like a surgical strike from the shadows. A lair spider to my colorful peacocking." Double thumbs up for Gwen.

Ghost Spider has posed:
"Well.. I mean it is pink inside the hood and all... and look blue... it isn't all lairy." she does seem very amused. "Thank you though. I'm still sticking with Ghost Spider for the time being.. don't have any other ideas and using Spider and my name.. well that seems like a poor choice for a disguise.. and no one is calling me SpiderChick or Spidergirl. Even if I am younger than Spider Woman."

"So yeah.. surgical strike from the shadows it is." she shifts and then slides up to her feet. "I need to get more practice in..and also stop some muggings hopefully or maybe the Rhino."

Spider-Man has posed:
"You realize I'm calling you Spidergirl from now on, right?" Spidey says jokingly, glancing sideways up at Gwen as she stands and he does so as well. A polite habit, maybe. He certainly doesn't look like he's going anywhere and he's got his phone beside him to tell him if anything happens that might require Spiderish intervention.

"I think I still owe you a training session, eventually." Said off handedly, looking back at the marching band. "Never thought I'd be helping train someone. That's terrifying and kind of exactly what I should have expected." his chest heaves in a quiet laugh, "Be careful with the Rhino, though. He might look slow and stupid, but he's actually stupidly strong and also stupid. Just keep moving and use your surroundings. Your fist wont hurt him nearly as much as he'll hurt himself running into a wreckingball."

A little piece of advice!

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen snap points at Peter. "Well see that is useful information, it is like you are helping train me already." yeah she said it like that just to add onto the terrifying realization from him.

She steps over to the edge of the roof. "Two things though." pause "Seriously you do owe me a training session." pause "And if you call me Spidergirl all the time I will web you to a wall."

With that she leaps off and fires a webline, taking the momentum of her fall to launch herself into the sky on the end of the upswing.

Such a good feeling to be slinging.