8361/Along came a Spider... man

Along came a Spider... man
Date of Scene:	17 July 2019
Location:	On the side of a building in dire need of decoration, New York
Synopsis:	Miles is tagging buildings and meets up with Spider-Man... who gives him webshooters because he's an adult.
Cast of Characters:	Kid Arachnid, Spider-Man

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Kid Arachnid has posed:
Summer heat brings summer trouble. It always does. The city gets hotter and tempers get shorter. Conflicts expand. People just plain get crazy in the big city when the temperatures rise. Which means the local crime fighters tend to be... busy. It's exactly that activity Miles finds so inspiring. Not just the 'warm-and-fuzzy' feeling of vigilante justice! No, no. A back pack of rattle cans, a few printed off grainy images of one Spider-Man, enough to start an image of the Wall Crawler dangling from the eaves, upside down and webbing up bits of trash. Literally cleaning the streets.

It's a hot night, hands sweaty. A brightly colored steel can in each gloved hand, Miles Morales crouched on the -side- of a ten story brick apartment building, the rough outline of his thoughts laid bare on stone and mortar. Shorts and a hoodie. Web pattern bandana wrapped about the lower half of his face. RATTLERATTLERATTLE! The telltale hiss of art in the making begins.

Glancing at the taped pictures, he expands on his vision. Stencils. Rough outlines of villains among the trash being webbed. This isn't the first such painting to appear in the city. Most in Brooklyn.

Spider-Man has posed:
It is definitely getting hotter, both literally and figuratively! Which means Spandex costumes ride up in places that are better left un ridden or mentioned, along with a sharp spike in petty crime all across the city. Busy intersections in the early evening of the city that never sleeps means tons of people dotting the sidewalk of Lower Manhattan! It is also the perfect scene for some high flying acrobatics courtesy of one Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman!

The OG Wallcrawler is hot in pursuit of some foot pedestrian who snatched someone's purse a few blocks back, keeping up with him almost as if he's just playing around with the would be criminal who suddenly finds himself very down on his criminal luck! "Come on man, you're embarassing yourself!" Spidey shouts, zipping forward on a front fired webline thanks to a quick jerk of his arm after it's found purchase on the flashing DO NOT WALK sign said criminal, still clutching someone elses pearls, is about to completely ignore!

Spidey lands against the pole directly infront of the fella, "Do. Not. Cross... you know what this means r-" Instead of heading his safety instructions, however, the goon cuts sharply and starts in the other direction, "Really? This is where we're at?"

It only happens by pure coinscidence that it's RIGHT by where Miles is tagging a wall! Well within view of the action from his high perch!

Kid Arachnid has posed:
The city is noise. That said, Lower Manhattan is a lot of things but at this hour? All the way up here? It's noise. It's the smell of exhaust, people and spray paint. Miles feeds off it. The shouts of friends crossing the streets to greet eachother, the roar of anger muffled by distance and stone. The honk of a horn in frustration. The shout of a man telling a would be thief just how it is. Wait, what?

The hiss and rattle ends, Miles Morales pauses still as stone. Dark brown eyes surveying the rooftops, the vast reaches of glass and steel spires beyond. "Nah." He chuckles to himself, shaking his head and returning to his task. Sweeping lines, bright colors and... Miles pauses again, turning on heel. Brick grinds under he heal of his beat up Pumas. The commotion continues and he just can't help himself. Carefully, he creeps and wall-crawls around the corner of the building. Even still, this height messes with him. Senses wobble. Then he sees him. "No way." He says with obvious disbelief. There he is. Right there! Spider-Man!

His grip slackens in the excitement. Sliding downward a good ten feet, Miles yelps in surprise before he -sticks- again. Fumbling in his pocket with a free hand, he tries to hold two cans under arm while getting at his phone. He drops one. Eyes widen almost comically as he watches that spray paint can tumble down, down, down toward the activity below.

Spider-Man has posed:
BIIIING

Spider-Man gets a tingle in the spider force and shoots a pair of lines from his wrists with his legs up where he was coming out of a swing. His body is bent in an impossible angle, no meer mortal outside the Russian Circus, could ever achieve, but he twists around so effortlessly as to make it appear as though he's floating through mid-air with ney a care in the world!

Save, perhaps, preventing a spray can from smacking a bystander in the melon!

He's rocket forward on those pair of lines and twists at the waist until he's near rung in half, wrist out to fire a line at the can as it falls. Then he just uncoils and hurls it at the mugger like a rock from a sling!

PLINK!

"Metal tomatoes you big goon! I'm over here dropping fresh quips and you're not even engaging me!"

The wallcrawler zips forward against the wall, side flips form it over the goon struggling to his feet and kicks the spinning spray can off the sidewalk right into the muggers face with enough force to literally knock his feet into the air. "GOOOOOOAL!"

People passing cheer, a lot of them snap pictures, one even claps Spidey on the back. "Sup." Up nodding. "Someone call the cops, huh?" Scooping the spray can to spin across his palm with a glance up at the side of the building where it fell from.

Kid Arachnid has posed:
It's like seeing a bald eagle in flight. Like having a sandwich named after you. It's kind of like winning a scratchers ticket that you found on the subway. Miles Morales is seeing Spider-Man in action. For realsies. Right there. Beneath the bandana, his jaw hangs open. Paint can forgotten as Spider-Man twists and contorts in mid-air like he's made of water or campaign promises.

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygodthereheisohmygod." Finally getting his phone free, Miles feantically tries to unlock it while keeping an eye on the web head below and the way, waaaay outclassed thief. "He's not gonna believe me! He won't! I wouldn't and I'm me. I trust me and I wouldn't believe me!" Finally unlocking the darned thing, he brings it up to... miss the epic shot. He snaps a picture, flash as obnoxious and obvious as expected. He's not the only one but he is the only one about ten stories off the sidewalk. Miles frowns, a good photo of a blurry Spider-man and an upsidedown stranger. "Okay, just get another-" Looking through the screen, he sees one Spidey with a can of paint. Looking up. So what does he do?

Miles Morales runs. He literally stands straight and -runs- around the side of the building. Back to the safety of his unfinished mural. "Why did I run?!" He asks himself, panting. Clinging to the wall. Suddenly very critical of his vandalism.

Spider-Man has posed:
You know who runs?

People with reasons.

"Ugh... never a dull moment." Spidey brings his hands up, one of them with a spray can, and waves them around at the pedestrian, "No, please, hold your applause. I'm just like you, I put my onesy on one leg at a time." Before he departs, however, he goes to check on the goon. Looping a webline in a twist of his wrist to lasso the mugger up by his ankles from the metal bracket of an overhead sign.

The Wallcrawler pats the upside down cheek lightly, "Thanks for playing, but the island has spoken. Please estinguish your torch." And then he's off, leaping straight up to fire a line carrying down the alley around which Miles took off running.

The spraycan is held to his chest by a little webbing so that he can use both hands to close the distance gained by needing to tidy things up with the mugger.

"Chi chi chi mother mother mother!" He hisses the sound from Friday the 13th while in hot pursuit!

Kid Arachnid has posed:
Reasons are good. Reasons imply thinking and higher brain function. Miles, however, is very suddenly aware that he has no reasons. Just an awkward freak out. Adrenaline. Literally red handed. "Guy, you just ran from Spider-man. You are literally the dumbest-" Eyes go wide as he hears what may quite possibly be the single creepiest thing he's ever heard in his life. Having just seen Friday the 13tb for the first time last weekend likely helps add to the unreasonable reaction to follow.

Grabbing his backpack off the edge of the roof, Miles Morales leaps forward. Catching big air, he flails wildly before landing hard but proper on the roof below, he looks over shoulder before sprinting. "Why are you running, man?! This doesn't look good!"

A smooth hurdle, he clears the gap between buildings. Twenty feet easy. He hits the tarmac running. Phone tumbling out of his hoodie, he turns to make a grab at it before the device can meet a ghastly end. That would get him grounded. "Nononono!"

Spider-Man has posed:
Let it never be said that Spider-Man doesn't appreciate a good rooftop chase. In this particular case, he isn't even playing with his food! Really, Miles is kind of impressive in his acrobatics, even if he lacks practice and refinement. "Huh..." Spidey grunts to himself, dropping the creeper act right about when Morales takes a 20 fter hurdle. "Well now I just want his autograph..." He jokes, following along... well..

Listen, he's been doing this a while, okay? It's second nature to him and more fun than work at this stage in the game.

So the looming blue and red shadow disappears from pursuit, but only because he's looping around the side of the building rather than engaging in across the rooftop foot race against the Hoodie Ninja. It's a good thing too, what with a tumbling phone coming at after a rather definitive THWIP! of webbing hits the inner corner of the wall adjacent to the alley into which he's swinging.

The device is caught as he comes up and juggled from palm to palm upon landing on the gravel, "oop..Oooooop.... OOOOP... nah I'm kidding, I got it."

Dangling out towards Miles between his thumb and index finger knuckle. Also, spraycan on his chest. "You have a bad habit of dropping things, huh? Is it running theme for you or a little performance anxiety?"

Kid Arachnid has posed:
Miles is thinking and simultaneously not thinking at the speed of light. Everything he did wrong plays like highlight clips. He shouldn't have taken that picture. Rude, right? Probably shouldn't have run. That's an oops. Definitely should have went to that study session with Reagan. All this while making a mad sprint across rooftops lethally high above the city streets. What better time?

He's out classed. Out gunned and as Spidey swings wide around the building, Miles is out manuevered. When Miles turns to try and grab that airborn smartphone, he notes two things. One. Spider-man vanished. Two. No, he most certainly did not. Eyes wide, hands up as if trying to hold back time itself, Miles pleads loudly. "Nonono! Don't! I can't affor... ooooh my god, don't do that!." Poised there in a half crouch, arms extended and that bandana having fallen low, a bare faced and wide eyed Miles Morales stares at his dangled phone. Then the eye shields of that iconic mask. Back to his phone. The spray can. Back to the mask. "I, uh... I uh.... woooooo boy. Yeah, can I have that back? First? Then excuses? Heh"

Spider-Man has posed:
As if Peter doesn't know the way of it! Even now, all these years later, he boots himself every time the mistakes pour in... and pour in they do! Like refills at Shenanigans. Honestly, he kind of feels like he should have given the kid a better chase? Weird right? He hefts his shoulders at his own internal musing and takes a step across the side of the building towards where Miles is crouching.

"Only if you promise to post the picture on twitter..." Wiggling the smartphone out towards the younger, still as sticky, wallcrawler. "Are you the one tagging up the high rises in Brooklyn?" He asks with one eye of his mask shrinken, the other remaining quite wide as if he's just raised his eyebrow.

"I never pictured myself as much of an art guy, if I'm being honest, much to my ex's great disdain..." He crouches down upon the balls of his feet, sitting (SIDEWAYS) on the wall, "So... I'm Spider-Man."

Kid Arachnid has posed:
"Wait, wait, wait." Miles says rapidly, waving for a pause or time out. Brows furrow, skeptical as he cocks his head aside and questions the Wall Crawler himself. "Did you say don't post it or post it? It's really, really blurry and thee are better out there, I don't wanna... " Miles makes a grabby hand at the phone. Inching closer and closer. Sneakers scritching and scratching against stone. He's very, very conscious of how easily he could fall to his death suddenly. Then all that goes away. Poof. Eyes wide, a little bit of a dumb smile creeps to his lips.

"Y-You've seen them? I mean, yeah. Unless you don't like them then it's totally this kid named Jeremy that may or may not make fun of my-" Miles shakes his head and gets back on track. Another grab for his phone as he iiiiiiiinches closer. Scriiiiiiiitch. "Miles. Hey, how'd you...?" He asks, gesturing at his eyes. The mystery of moving eye shields. All consuming.

Spider-Man has posed:
"Action shots usually are unless you use a panoramic lense.." Spidey jerks the phone back once from the grabby hands, mostly teasing Miles a little, but lets it go on the second attempt. "You want good photos, you have to use good equipment. I have a Nikon seventy five eighty for all my big showy shots.." He muses, arms laid across his thighs after he's torn the spraycan from his chest and held that out as well.

"Yeah, I saw them. They're good.. you've got talent. Maybe a poor eye for subject matter, but who's splitting hairs right?" Self depricating humor is his go to for awkward sideways conversations. "Oh, the eyes? Neural mesh weave.. I have to make sure it's sitting just right or I get some WEIRD looks from the ladies when my eyes go cookoo.."

Miles. "How long you been hanging out on the side of walls, kiddo?" Professionally skipping the kids real name for now. "Seems like there's just a whole gaggle of us falling out of the woodwork recently.. is there a spider themed costume party I didn't hear about or something?"

Kid Arachnid has posed:
"Really? Huh." Miles stows away the photography insight without a second thought on the matter. Really was solid advice. "They have a photography class. The rental fees are crazy though. Pretty sure the teacher is some kind of villain. Or funding one." Eyebrows furrow as Miles makes a scrunched up face. "You know a lot about cameras."

Praise? From a real, honest to goodness, red and blue superhero. Spider-man said his art is good. Miles, pocketing his phone, absently touches the sides of his own head. Just making sure it's the same size as before. "I don't know, Spider-man said they were good. Might keep the subject matter." Relaxing bit by bit, Miles allows himself to unclench. To geek out just a little. Spray can taken back, he gives it a rattlerattle. "Neural-what-now?" A laugh then, picturing a wonky eyed Spidey and he nods in understanding.

Crouching in a three point stance, Miles keeps the other hand free to gesture as he speaks. Animated young man that he is. "Ehhhhhh, six months? You?" He winces. "Enjoy your meal, you too. Ugh." Pointing the can at him, Miles smirks wryly. "Isn't that what spider-people do?"

Spider-Man has posed:
"I use to pay the bills with Spider-Man pictures." Spidey says with a shoulder hike, not much minding the fact a little google search could potentially out him. A lot of people took Spider-Man pictures back then! "Huh, one of my professors in High school turned out to be the Lizard." Peter murmurs off handedly, shaking his head with palms turned up (sideways) in a upper torso shrug. "Something to that whole teacher are evil thing, I guess."

Neverminding that he is, himself, a teacher now.

That's fun.

"Nine years... almost ten now, actually. Kind of flies by." He nods to Miles, gauging him at about 16 or 17, "Not much older than you.. probably younger actually. You want to talk weird shop, finish off puberty with webs coming out of your fingertips." They don't come out of his fingertips. "It was an exciting time to be alive. How come I've not seen you around? I pride myself on being the go-to guy for all the young up and coming heroes." He just assumes, ya know?

Kid Arachnid has posed:
"What? Is that even legal?" Miles questions with some side eye, a little humor and some unmistakeable disbelief in his voice. Taken aback by the statement that his old teacher was THE LIZARD, Miles gives a slow blink. Trying to accept this all, after considering the situation he's in, has become a challenge.

A little spin of that paint can in his palm and Miles stows it away in a pocket of his shorts. Rocking back on his heels, he rests elbows on knees. Arms dangling before him as he looks down. Down the wall. That both he and Spider-man are on. Wild.

"Nine years? That's crazy. That's half of me." Clearing his throat behind a loose fist, Miles waves that off. Nevermind that! "Is that where the webs come from?" He asks, mostly himself as he turns his hand around to wiggle those digits. Web denying jerks. "Hmm? I'm... I'm not a hero. Really. I got bit. I didn't really know where to start. How to start. If I even should start. So, you know, I did some other stuff. Stupid, I know but I figured if more people seen what I did, how I did..."

Spider-Man has posed:
"I highly doubt it." of the legality of taking pictures of himself for the purpose of dollars, but it's said in a good natured way and with a good natured shrug, "Wasn't a lot of work back then for a semi-pro wrestler named The Man Spider. I'm not saying that it was bad decisions, but I'm also not saying it was my best moment..." He teases, easily, even friendly.

It's in his name.

"Huh..." He grunts again at Miles' explanation for why he's not seen him heroing and why he's not heroing to be seen heroing. "I suppose that's a good thing..." He doesn't necessarily agree. Obviously. In his costume. Staring at a kid who is also sticking to the side of a wall. It's still pretty wild for Peter too.

"At some point you have to make a decision, bud. Poop or pop off the toilet. I dig what you're doing with the art and I'm flattered that I'm on most of them, but there's no reason you can't do both." He leans forward with an elevation of his feet, hand spreading out on the wall in front of him for a second to settle his position after shifting. "One day you're going to have to decide, ya know?"

"Which side of the camera you want to be on. I support you either way." The hand comes up from the wall and reaches for a small, mostly hidden, pouch on his suits waist. Fingers dig in and come out with what looks like a small sim card. "Go buy a prepay smartphone and put this in it. You'll have direct access to the spider-web." It's a work in progress. "You ever change your mind and want to switch perspectives.. I know a guy who knows some other guys (and gals) who would be more than happy to help you."

Kid Arachnid has posed:
"I'm not saying it should be!" Miles quickly points out. A little on the quickdraw side of that defense. Whether on purpose or accidental, Spidey was laying down some tracks that Miles wouldn't be able to help but follow. Spidey pictures for money. Lizard man for a teacher. The time frame. Given time, Miles would start to piece it together.

Wild indeed. He's run so many scenarios in his head. What he would say. What he would do. None of it happens. It's all chaos. It's also -enlightening-. "There was that fire but, you know, anybody could have saved that lady." Miles mutters, quickly attempting to cover up his musings, he clears his throat and moves to close the distance between them and take that little sim card. Holding it with both hands, cupped there in his palm, Miles looks down at it. "The Spider-Web. So cool." Big brown eyes snapping up, Miles blurts out exactly what's on his mind. "I totally want to. I do. I never didn't want... I mean, I didn't not want... " He pauses. Smirks wry and tries again. "I want in. What do I do? Make a mask? Buy a ninja grappling hook? Do I need to tell the Avengers? Or the Justice League? What about school? Oh, man! School! I have homework!"

Spider-Man has posed:
"Simmer down now." Spidey pats the air at the defensive snap guns, "It's all good, I'm just teasing... It's sort of my gig." He says with a smile behind his mask. Back when, he had to figure this all out on his own. Which wasn't always the best option or the safest, but it's put him in a position where others coming up behind him don't have to.

It's worth smiling about.

"Listen." Pete shakes his head slowly, the smile slowly fading, "I'm not going to lie to you, Miles, this is demanding stuff. I've suffered a lot in every aspect of my real life because of it, but that decision's always yours to make. I made my choice and it's almost never myself."

Resting on his heels, he watches Miles' excitement with a refreshed set of eyes. "Remember, I was about your age when I started? You pick and chose your battles. But there's enough of us out there now that you don't have to walk it the same way... one guy, no matter how fast he swings, can't be everywhere." He has ideas about that, but it's not important to this conversation.

"First things first, we'll get you a mask, yeah. Maybe some webshooters... actually." He perks a bit and goes for another small pocket. The pair of bracelets he holds up are collapsable to nearly flat and he holds them out, held together, in one hand. "I got a new pair recently." Tony Stark, but he doesn't name drop. Classy. "You have to promise me you'll swing responsibly and only when one of..." Meaning the other spiders, "Are around."

And Miles asked if taking pictures of himself for money was legal. Is giving a teenager tools to become a vigilante? "And work on making them your own. They work, I used them for years, and right now they'll do.. but you're going to want to figure out your own situation too."

Kid Arachnid has posed:
"Yeah, I just... yeah." Itching nervously at the back of his neck, Miles Morales takes it all in without utterly freaking out. Oh, does he want to. He can feel the antsy energy in his spine. A burn of inactivity in his limbs. The urge to just -talk-. Blurt out what's screaming through his head.

"This is happening. Yup." As much to himself as to the universe at large. Miles, wide eyedwith wonder and excitement, not a hint of fear or trepidation in him. For now. "If I wake up in class right now, I'm probably gonna die." Did he say that out loud? Yes. Yes, he did. "This is surreal. You have no idea." Pocketing the sim card, Miles reaches out with shakey hands. H god, his hands are shaking. He actually grabs one wrist tight to steady it as he accepts the webshooters. "I promise. Hooooooooooly crap, I promise. Wow." With the little bracelets in hand, far lighter than he'd have assumed, Miles looks to Spider-man and upnods kurtly. "From your fingertips, huh?" The twist of a smile threatens to break free. Taking in a deeeeep breath, chest filling with pride and air! He lets it all out. Slow. Steadying. Center your chi, Miles.

"I won't let you down. Sir. Spider-man. Spider-man, Sir. Ahem."

Spider-Man has posed:
Spidey just sits there letting it happen. For a guy who's been around doing this for so long, he stills gets a thrill everytime. Especially in the face of such enthusiasm as bleeds off Miles.. "Well, Miles. I gotta say, it's the second time in three days I've stumbled on someone else with the spider thing and..." He both nods and wiggles a point at him, "You're killin' me with the excitement. You keep that up and I'm mascotting you. I'm talking shirts and maybe a popsickle.."

No, that was a bad idea.

"Alright." Clapping his hands down (to the side really) on his thighs and stands up horizontally. "I gotta get. City never sleeps, blah blah blah, you know how it goes." He glances to the side (down really), "You good getting down from here? Need a lift? Can I call you an Uber or something?" Backing up a step, clearly ready to leap and do the swinging thing.

"And... let's cool it on the sir stuff, huh? I'm only twenty five, I'm not senior citizen yet.." Pause, introspective head tilt, "I'd probably be okay with the discount at Angelos though."