8349/Band Camp

Band Camp
Date of Scene:	16 July 2019
Location:	Warehouse in NYC
Synopsis:	Band Practice for the Mary Janes. MJ comes up with a new business idea.
Cast of Characters:	Ghost Spider, Mary Jane Watson

---

Ghost Spider has posed:
Practice.

Late for Practice.

Damnit Gwendolyne Maxine Stacy why did you have to be late for band practice.

Oh right she had to stop a really lame supervillain in a silver suit that called himself Stilt-Man from robbing a science lab. I mean for heavens sake his stupid super suit just was telescoping legs and he thought that it would be a good idea to go into a life of crime.

Not that Gwen can say that to her bandmates when she bursts into the pretty much abandoned warehouse they use for their band practice. "I know.. I know... I'm late..." breathing hard from running the last bit after the costume change, and swinging her bag off her shoulder to get her drumsticks out. She looks more disheveled than usual. Also there is a cut on her cheek.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
"- like it's all one word," MJ stands with her back to Gwen as she arrives, addressing the other gathered members of the band, "Like 'faceitti-GER' and you join in on the chorus - hey, Gwen."

The Redhead holds up an apologetic hand to the rest of the band and turns to speak to Gwen. As she gets close, she holds up her hand in a conspiratorial stage whisper and says: "I was late too. Shoot ran way late. Magic hour my ass - hey! What happened to your face?"

With no regard for personal space, MJ reaches out to take Gwen's chin in her hand and tilt her head so she can get a better look at the damage: "That's nasty. Sit down, I think I've got a first aid kid here somewhere ... "

Ghost Spider has posed:
God. Damnit. Stilt-Man.

Still that had to be an impressive shot with his metal appendage to cut her through her costume, really it is more like the force split her cheek a bit than an actual laceration.

"Uh." is her articulate oh crap now have to lie as MJ takes her chin and gets a better look. "I was hurrying and not paying attention and ran into a street pole like an idiot while checking my phone." she admits and adds a sheepish tone to boot. Damn lying to her friends actually feels like crap.

"Ugn.. I hate when shoots go over time like that.. though I mean the lighting is better though right." she wiggles a drumstick at the keyboardist and lead guitarist "Hey Glory .. Betty" respectively.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
"Well, at least tell me it was a text message worth almost mangling your face over," MJ chides, still eyeing the cut critically, "This could have almost been a scar, y'know. Science and discovery is all well and good, but if you eff up your moneymaker you're not exactly gonna be raking in the modelling jobs. Or, I don't know, maybe you will. They might need pirate models sometimes, right? Maybe you could be a 1930s gangster?"

She dips into her bag, coming away with the first aid kit which she unzips and looks inside, "Okay, first disinfect and then bandaid ... "

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen puffs out her cheeks and then sighs and moves to sit on her drum stool while MJ goes into mama bear mode. She totes gives Betty a look of save me then turns back to MJ before she can come up from her bag with the kit.

Look Gwen is holding still and submitting. "I bet this is going to sting too." pause "Also I will have you know I totally kicked that lightpoles ass." beat pause "Well okay no... and honestly the science day job still pays all the bills because so far modeling and the band don't pay pretty much any for me MJ. I'm not as successful as you at the modeling." which MJ very well knows. I mean Gwen is actually pretty darn good at it but not MJ levels.

Gwen stiffles a yawn then tilts her chin up and holds still for MJ, so tired. Sleep is for the dead.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
"Probably because you headbutt city infrastructure while you're staring at your phone," MJ suggests with a grin, "Oh, you betcha it's gonna sting. Hold still."

She dabs some of the contents of a small bottle onto a piece of gauze, holding it up to Gwen's cheek before dabbing it lightly against the wound. Yep, it stings. Probably not as much as the embarassment of having to fight Stilt-Man in public, but it stings all the same.

"Not to mention like you look like you're working back to back twelve hour shifts," Mary Jane frowns a little, brow furrowing, "What are you doing that's keeping you so busy?"

Ghost Spider has posed:
Right on cue like some sort of demented play about disappointing friends and family Gwen has to lie some more. Guh.

"Aiee..." mock pain hamming it up a bit at the sting, which honestly to her isn't very stingy. Thanks to her healing factor that cut will be gone in the morning even. It is a good distraction though to think up an excellent lie. Think Gwen.

Also the only thing that stung more than fighting Stilt-Man was fighting The Ringer. God her life is strange these days.

"I am working a lot of twelve hour days.. thank god not back to back.. I mean I pulled a sixteen hour yesterday. We have some big projects at Alchemax right now and I had a modeling gig for a catalog shoot last night after I got off work... " well she did actually have the shoot after a normal day of work, and then met her mutantinimal friend Pippi while out on patrol, she is a Golden Retriever mutant with super strength.

Those are all extra details she just can't tell MJ.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
"Then I absolve you of your sin of being late for rehearsal," MJ answers, signing the cross in the air with her hand, "Because it sounds like I'm lucky you're not curled up on the sofa taking a nap."

Mary Jane finishes disinfecting the wound and drops the gauze to one side, producing a bandaid from her bag and unwrapping it. She plasters it across Gwen's cheek with a proud smile, giving her the gangster tough guy look that she probably always wanted, right?

"There, now you just look like you were in a knife fight," the Redhead nods approvingly, "Very stylish."

Ghost Spider has posed:
"Amen." after being absolved of her sin.

"I mean don't count me out yet on sinning.. I may fall over into a sleep coma if my caffeine load tanks at any moment." a smile is flashed to her band mates though as she tilts her head. "Okay.. knife fight.. as long as you didn't put one on me with unicorns on it."

She twirls her drum sticks and spins around to face the drums, giving it a couple of taps and then limbers up with a quick run down, before shaking her arms limbered up a bit. "Okay what are we doing boss?" to MJ.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane glances at the bandaid, as if only just now checking whether or not it has unicorns on it. She squints and shakes her head, tucking a strand of red hair behind her ear: "Nope, no unicorns. It's just those little yellow things from that movie. The ones that talk like 'meep a beep meep'? One of those. You look tough ay-eff."

MJ seems satisfied for now that Gwen is not going to bleed to death and goes to fetch her guitar, peering down at it as she works the pegs to fine tune it.

"So, I've been working on my guitar a bit. I don't think I'm doing too bad, but I wouldn't mind doing some scales."

She winces in advance of the audible groan she can sense coming.

Ghost Spider has posed:
When MJ says she put a cartoon bandaid on her she stops spinning her sticks and looks flat at MJ. "Why do you even have cartoon bandaids in your purse MJ?" mild dismay but not taking it too very seriously.

She falls into listening and yes she joins the other bandmates Glory and Betty with the melodramatic groan. Then a laugh from the young woman. "Okay sure I can see that... I haven't been doing nearly enough practice myself so we should probably hit boot camp."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
"I have them because I'm not about to buy a new pack of bandaids every time they fall out of fashion," MJ retorts, never explaining why exactly she bought them in the first place, "There's still a few left, so you get the little yellow goobers."

She waves a hand at the audible grown, "La la la la! I know, but I need to practice and so does Gwen after the brain damage she might have sustained running into the pole. We need to rebuild any of those lost drum memories!"

That said, she immediately begins to pluck out note after note in scale progressions on her guitar, humming along with them and pausing to fine tune when they don't meet her expectations.

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen taps her drum once and then blinks and looks back over at MJ "Hey!" at the brain damage comment. But well at least her cover about the whole pole incident seems to be holding well enough now.

With a shake of her head Gwen settles back in to watching MJ work the scale and then starts to slowly join in, not drowning her out though.

Just getting limber.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
MJ continues with the scales, occasionally misstepping and muttering something like 'shoot' or 'darn' as she corrects herself. She hums along, trying to match every note with her voice as she goes. Then, out of nowhere, she starts to pluck out Stairway to Heaven because she is a human being that owns a guitar after 1971. As she does, she glances over her shoulder towards Gwen:

"I was thinking of going out this weekend. I feel like a whole bunch of new clubs are just opening up and I didn't even know anything about 'em. Thought it might be nice to have a girl's night out. Wanna come?"

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen starts to tap out her part of stairway to heaven, just keeping the beat for the others on their instruments really.

The invitation to go out that weekend, well Gwen inhales and considers fast. No she has no other plans. Other than the fact that any manner of supervillainy can happen at any point. Because supervillains don't respect girl's nights out. Bastards.

"I think that would be awesome." Gwen says after that calculation, still feeling like a bad neglectful friend and wanting to at least try.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
"Just don't run into any more poles, huh?" MJ teases, continuing to warble her way through Stairway. After a moment she pauses, turning back to Gwen once again with a shocked look on her face.

"Oh my God! I can't believe I actually forgot to tell you this. I was in Midtown trying to get that part? Which I didn't get by the way, which sucked but whatever. I was trying to get that part, and this big muscle guy comes up and starts asking me why I'm upset and how he can help me. Turns out it was Hercules! From TV! Not that Sorbet guy, but, you know, the real one? Well, he says he's the real one. He was throwing cars around like they were pool toys so I'm guessing he's a very convincing fake if so. You ever seen him?"

Ghost Spider has posed:
That abrupt change in direction has Gwen almost stick a drumstick through her snare.

"Wait what?" she asks turning to stare at MJ her sticks in hand.

Glory and Betty also stop "What?" says Glory shocked.

Then Gwen takes charge. "What do you mean he was throwing cars... did you see some sort of altercation with some sort of supervillain?"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
MJ shakes her head, letting the guitar hang by it's strap as she holds her hands out appeasingly to the rest of the band: "No, nothing like that. He was trying to get into a club or something and they told him no shirt no entry, because he was wearing a toga. Which, I don't know, I guess you do if you're Hercules. Anyway, my moped was blocked in by these two cars and I thought hey he looked like a strong guy, maybe he could help me lift it out. But no, he just grabs the cars and shoves them out into the street like they weren't anything."

MJ gives it some thought before glancing down at the stylized mask of a certain web-slinging arachnid emblazoned on her t-shirt, "I don't know, though. He was cool and all but he had this strange way of talking, plus he didn't seem as ... iconic as Spider-Man does. Although I like the other spider-person? The one with the blue shoes? Cute as heck!"

She beams back at the rest of the band, as though following a thread of conversation away from her encounter with an actual demigod was the most logical progression in the world.

Ghost Spider has posed:
To be fair Gwen can also lift cars, but she is pretty darn certain she is in no way as strong as Hercules. He is like Thor or Hulk strong right.

"I am pretty sure Hercules was flirting with you MJ." amusement.

She almost throws her drum stick through another drum head when MJ says that her alter ego is cute as heck.

"The new one with white and pink.. . the blue shoes?" like Gwen isn't even sure what she is hearing for a moment. "You think her costume is cute as heck?" well okay maybe Gwen did something right designing it.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
"Obviously," MJ says with an eyeroll, as though wondering just exactly where Gwen has been, "The white and the pink. I love it."

She pauses a moment to pull out the front of her Spider-Man t-shirt, something she made herself, and sticks out her bottom lip thoughtfully: "I was thinking I might make something using her motif. I've gotten really into designing things with a super-hero theme."

She holds up her pair of Chuck Taylors, red and gold and very obviously Iron Man-themed, "I don't know why, I just think they really say something about the city. It's like having the Statue of Liberty on your hat or something - they're like living, breathing tourist attractions. Except more fun since you can't just get on a ferry and go stand around taking photos of Spider-Woman for two hours. I just hope she's not litigious. Just my luck, a super-hero with a secret identity reveals themselves to the world just to sue me for trademark infringement."

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen grins, practically beaming, though the reason is solely a secret for the moment. Man this would totes eat Peter up.

"Well I don't know how superhero merchandising works so I doubt she would be mad if you made up something using her look." and well not like Gwen has any clue how it works, and also even if she did she wouldn't come down on MJ.

"I bet she isn't going by Spider Woman though... isn't there already one that is like an Avenger or something. Not as good a costume.. way older?"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
MJ furrows her brow and lifts her shoulders in a shrug, "No idea. If I ever see her, I'll ask what she calls herself. Do you think she has a name? I mean, it must be weird to say 'I'm the White Spider!' or something like that. Oh! Do you think she has Twitter? Some of the Avengers have Twitter."

She immediately forgets about practice, pulling her phone out of her pocket and beginning to examine it critically even as she talks, "I think I'll come up with something. Maybe like a hoodie to match her look? That'd be amazing. Get some blue Chucks or something. She probably can't sue me if I just make it for myself, huh?"

Ghost Spider has posed:
Gwen idly taps her drum. "I really am stuck on the tangent now about how superhero merchandising and licensing actually works. I mean they have secret identities so they can't possibly let everyone know about who they are.. so how do they sign contracts and get paid for the deals. Do you think there is an agency like we use for modeling for them?"

She is on a super tangent and then blinks and focuses on MJ. "Uh.. no I think she probably wouldn't care if you weren't making a fortune off her or anything MJ... blue chucks is a pretty good idea."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
"There probably isn't ... " MJ trails off, her eyes slowly widening, "But maybe there should be! Oh my God, Gwen! I think you just came up with a business idea!"

Mary Jane looks quite suddenly wrapped up in the idea, staring thoughtfully into space with her mouth slightly agape, "I mean, I always thought I'd be better than my agent ... maybe I could be ... "

Ghost Spider has posed:
There is an audible groan from Betty and Glory when MJ declares a business idea like that. Glory looks exasperated now at both MJ and Gwen "We have a business idea.. it is the whole being successful rock stars remember.... the practice we are right in the middle of right now."

Gwen looks apologetic over to Glory and then looks to MJ "I would be surprised if we thought of this first.... we should probably do some research..... but I mean how would you get clients?" okay it isn't a bad idea but Gwen has no idea how this would work. "Secret Identities remember."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
"I mean, yeah, of course rock stars obviously," MJ explains, pointing at Gwen encouragingly for the support while beaming at Glory, "But we could use something to pay the bills in the meantime, right? I mean, acting jobs, modeling jobs, music gigs? This sounds like an actual solid source of income if we can convince the secret identity set to get on board."

She strokes her chin, furrowing her brow slightly at Gwen, "I mean, I guess we just try to reach out to them? Some of them have social media. Maybe they wouldn't mind the extra source of cash, since they don't get paid to bust supervillains and stuff?"

Ghost Spider has posed:
Well hell. Okay Gwen was not expecting this turn of events.

"Well it would be probably pretty helpful to some of them. I mean how do they make money when they aren't Tony Stark right?"

she considers "We should probably do some research though.... maybe .. like escrow accounts... or some sort of way they wouldn't have to reveal themselves. Gosh I don't know."

She is supportive of MJ but she also notes "We should probably at least practice Tiger one or twice through too though." not wanting the band to turn on them.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
"I could do that," MJ admits, nodding her head furiously as though these are all minor details and they're already onto a real winner, "Yeah, I'll go borrow some books from the library after practice and see what we, y'know, need to do it. If anything it might be nice to not have to worry so much about spending money."

The note about actually practicing, however, brings her back down to Earth. She nods her head and holds the guitar at the ready, strumming a few chords before launching into the opening bars of the band's latest (and so far, only) original song.

Ghost Spider has posed:
"Sure... I mean I see a lot of Titans and Avengers merch.... is it just because so many of them are public identities I wonder...." she trails off thoughtful. "But right.. practice."

She doesn't derail things again and moves to settle in for the song they have been working so hard on getting right. Her only non-cover.