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(It's kind of strange, feeling the warmth of the sun on her skin for so long, without anything to soothe it. As they talk, she moves to the edge, balancing carefully on the very edge while taking a good look below. Structures that she wouldn't see at home, certainly, like air-conditioning boxes and fire escapes, but you know? Alright.)

At least architecturally speaking, then you'd love Zaun. Think someone dug a very tall mountain-sized hole in the ground, divided it by sectors, and then put a bunch of super tall platforms and buildings up to the surface. We got pipes, pillars, hell of a bunch of rusty metal stuff to jump from one place to another, so this "parkour" thing kinda just feels like going from hater rich town, privilege-infused Piltover down home. Wanna know what we do? We dive.

(And she just steps to the side, only to fall on one of the windowsill below. If he goes to look, he'll see that the glow has her moving to the roof of a smaller building. Zero fear, it's fine, it's Tuesday.)

[He's quick to look over the ledge out of concern — it's not like he's ever gotten to really see her in action until today! — and immediately relaxes when he notices the glow in the air... and the fact that she's not falling to her doom. With a smile hidden under a mask, he thwips a web in the direction she's going and ziplines himself toward her.]

Hey! You didn't say we were starting already!

[He doesn't sound particularly mad about this, though...! A little amused more than anything. It's just nice to have a chance to do a little exercise with someone other than Me, Myself, and I.]

And you're cheating already?! Loser.

(And just like him, she's not really mad. The adrenaline from how she was just scooped and swinging is still very much present, just as the thrill of dropping from the building gives her a little taste of much needed nostalgia. As soon as he stops distracting her, she might go back to being irritated, but right now she is having fun.

Genuinely like that? It's rare when Isha is not in the picture. So, she'll jump to grab his wrist so she can hitchhike until the next building is in sight so she can let go.)

Hey! You've got super speed! I'm just trying to keep up.

[He doesn't mind being used as a lift, though. If anything, it's something he's kinda used to. He makes sure to swing himself toward the building low enough that she can land easily on her feet without issue. Once he knows she's got herself planted properly on the rooftop, he releases the web and rolls forward to pop up on his own feet.]

Name-calling though? Really? [He puts a hand to his chest.] This loser's feelings are hurt.

'Loser' does it but 'Stickyboy' doesn't? We need to recalibrate your offense radar.

(She's joking, she knows he isn't hurt, no Peter Parker's feelings were hurt in the production of this grounding exercise. She just keeps going, the pink glow showing mostly when she needs to go from a building to the next, a structure down, a structure up, of when she wants to get him to pick up the pace until...

Until after a good while, she finds a shade on the ground, and just starfishes there. Because she's dead. Good job, Peter, all the maniac energy was well spent. Once she's sure he isn't in her range, she picks up her pistol to shoot twice in the air above her. A blue, electric blast of energy is released into the air, but it dissipates as it reaches nothing to latch on.)

There. Two shots. Happy?

I am a stickyboy!

[Now he's just saying that to be obnoxious!

As they reach the end of their little voyage, Peter lands beside her and crouches down, looking like... well, like he's not even a little out of breath. What he lacks in her speed, he makes up for in endurance! Getting from one end of a city to another is just, like, the usual hourly business. He watches with fixed interest as she fires into the sky, his mask's big white eyes tracking up into the air.

He looks back down to her.]

Depends. Are you feeling a little better?

(To the extent that she is fatigued, the fact that he is JUST FINE LIKE THIS WAS NOTHING is very, very annoying. Extremely, horribly annoying.

Which means she just squints at him, and with ALL HER STRENGTH a punch is landed on his thigh.

And just to be petty, she's also taking his mask.)

Yep. Now I am.

[As soon as the mask is yanked off his head, his hair immediately stands every possible direction it can. He wags a hand towards her stolen goods — ]

Hey! That's so rude!

[ — and then realizes she'd hit him or something.

So he pivots into rubbing his thigh.]

I mean — ow? Ow.

[Did a small, annoyed cat just swat him?]

I never said I wasn't--

(And then he proceeds to give her... A very unconvincing performance of pain.

Listen, she was ready to let go, but now she's not giving that mask so soon as punishment. Where is your showmanship, Peter!!!)

Oh, shut up.

(At least she is strong enough to pull him to the ground, too. Hopefully.)

I like you better as Peter Parker, anyway.

[Listen, he's learned his lesson; he doesn't resist at all when she grounds him, flopping down with an oof! for good measure. It's a nice day, so what better time to enjoy it than next to someone who isn't currently committing a murder?

He has the gall to look a little surprised — even perhaps a little bashful — at the follow-up comment.]

... Yeah? I'm just glad you remember it.

There are no lies between super-villain and super-hero (—there are so many lies between super-villain and super-hero,) so I can tell you I think he's a little too soft, so, that concerns me, you know, for Spider-man sake. And he's a bit of a dork, but he's starting to grow on me. Spider-man, though, seems like he's going to be a permanent rock in my boot, the goody-two-shoes. Trust me, I have experience with these hero types.

(She's going to turn too, so she can look at him, but her eyes are on the mask. For a moment, she considers giving it back, giving him the choice to put it back, but nope.

She wants to talk to Peter, not the goody-two-shoes!!!... But she's half-offended, as her expression shows.)

Of course I remember. I just met you. I'm not that crazy, Peter.

Spider-Man's gotta be a rock in someone's shoe; it's how he gets his exercise in.

[Which is to say, he has... no good defense at being called too soft or dorky. That's usually the side of things he falls in, and sometimes it definitely bites him on the ass. But... it's nice, to be soft. It's definitely nice to be dorky. He's not even sure he can control that last one even a little.

...

Oh. Right.]

Uh... Right. Yeah. Of course. Why wouldn't you? That'd be weird if you didn't.

[Pete...]

Does it gotta be mine, or can he turn a blind eye? Asking for a friend.

(There is no friend. What are friends? Some of us are very busy working and building weapons and raising a drug empire and saying 'fuck you' to Piltover repeatedly to have had built friends, okay.

But maybe don't lie to her, it gets her to sit and give him a weak kick as if she was warning him against it.)

You suck at lying. I hate lying. If you're going to lie to me, the least you can do is make sure I don't ever find out. Spit it out. Why wouldn't I remember you.

[Peter sits up, frowning with that usual look that implies it's horrible conversation to bring to a dinner table. A metaphorical dinner table, anyway. It's not really... something he's talked about to many people. He'd mentioned it to one or two people a long time ago, but they're gone. Fresh slate, no fear of depressing the shit out of someone else.

0 days since Peter Parker said something awful, apparently.

Sighing, he grudgingly offers:]

Back home, there was a magic spell that went super wrong — honestly it's a weird and long story why it even needed to happen in the first place, but... the only way to undo the damage the rebound from that spell caused was that everyone in my universe forgot who Peter Parker was.

...

(He makes her so sad sometimes. Forgetting is not something she's keen on, he hangs on to things like her memory is infused in them, too. Music, objects, things she's made to represent people in her life and their losses.

It is horrifying to imagine a world where she could look at something and not pull a memory from it. Why is everything about him so...

Undeserving?

She could argue that she'd love that, much like his five-year break, but probably... She wouldn't.)

... I'm sorry.

(What else can she say? She even loses all the bravado and growling she has in her with this new piece of information.)

Can you just... Remind them? A do-over.

... Nah, I don't think so. It wouldn't really be fair, anyway.

Like, imagine someone just shows up in your totally pleasant life and tells you that you were friends? That you were boyfriend and girlfriend? That some stranger knew you like that? No, that's...

[He huffs, fidgeting with a few wayward bits of rock at his side.]

It'd just be confusing and scary.

(He's right, and that will be a thought she will have time and time again, but here is the thing. She doesn't care much about right or wrong, she kinda just is.

That means some of the arguments he has are valid, and yet, she is going to throw them right in the trash.

This is one of them. She hates it. Congratulations, Peter! This is a feeling that she will have very often.)

No shit, everything is confusing and scary, Peter. If I were you, I'd do the same, some people would be much better off, including— ugh, the stupid Firelight. If I were them? Her? And if I found out? I'd explode you.

(She's very honest, that we can appreciate... She also knows she hasn't told him about Ekko or anything, but she talks to him like he has been there all along.

It's hard to keep up, sorry, Peter!)

(It was a pretty good day. She put her thin fingers, both flesh and mechanical, to work on some bombs, had some science going... It's been quite a while since she can say she had a great day like that, not without Isha, and God knows even before that.

So, the spirits are good, she's having her first milkshake and french fries, laughing at the fact that the name makes no sense for someone who doesn't have France, when she glimpses at a very, very familiar sight approaching their table.

A...Hahaha.... Silco. He's a little jealous and a little possessive, and to know she's hanging out with the Earth-version of a nosy enforcer in spandex is going to break his poor heart in a million pieces.

The kick she gives Peter under the table is very cautionary. It says 'don't be yourself'. Only to her, though, who knows what he understood. In her brain, she was super clear.)

... Hi, dad! Hahaha, wow, seeing you here, that's new.

[Peter had been sitting across from her at the table, in the middle of a scientific diatribe about the complexities of a non-fatal web bomb and the specifications on which the webbing inside would properly deploy, when someone wanders in from the back of the booths. And then Jinx kicks him in the shin — which, super strength or not, still kinda hurts! Especially when the person likes to have metal at the end of their boots. He lets out a soft ow! and leans his chin into the surface of the table so he can reach his leg to rub it.]

Heyyyuuh! Hello! Mr... Jinx's Dad.

[He holds up a hand, waves weakly. This is the guy who had a knife in his hand in Jinx's memory, and had looked... really shady. Hadn't she mentioned he was involved in the revolt on the train? That checks out, too, especially with his... uh... stature...]

I'm. Peter Parker. I was just explaining — bath bombs.

You ever hear about bath bombs? [He looks between Silco and Jinx, straightening up a little with newfound confidence.] They're super relaxing. And super easy to make with a little basic chemistry.

Edited 2025-04-03 21:35 (UTC)

Jinx.

[ He greets. He is pointedly not here for the... greasy offerings at the little diner. Of course, he doesn't eat much in Etraya as it is, but mostly sticks to the easiest packaged offerings, like the nutrient bars, or what he can scrounge together himself. So no, he wasn't here to eat, which is why Jinx is so surprised, then again, Silco is surprised too, to see her through the window. He'd thought to remind her of the dangers of eating their food when —

Okay, now on the one hand. Silco doesn't really care what Jinx gets up to with people her age. In fact, she's always been alone, and that's suited them just fine. She knew there was... well. A thing? With the Firelights boy? Had been a crush, or something, but that had long been excised. Doubly so when she'd been nearly killed by him.

So he doesn't really think anything of her hanging out with the kid. For the most part. At least like that.

But also, she's around someone her age. Which feels... Wrong. Bad. Is she leaving? Is she drifting away? Vander had already planted that seed of doubt. He'd said it in one of their... altercations. 'She's outgrown you' he'd used it as ammunition, and he'd brushed it off as all it was. An attempt to wound. That seed of doubt though, it receives water and sunlight, able to grow, by seeing something like this. The skin around his good eye twitched, and his thin lips did the same. He's already eerie enough, with that burning, pitch colored eye staring down at the kid.

He sniffed, as if to play off the little internal war. Talking about Bath... Bombs? Being relaxing?

Has he ever gotten into a bath with a bomb? (Has Silco? More likely than you would think.) ]

I don't know how a bomb in the bathwater is supposed to be relaxing. You must be spending too much time with Jinx.

[ he doesn't know this kid, but the way they are both acting guilty is.

Interesting. Bad? ]

... Silco, his name is Silco and-- What? I just met him. Not much time at all. But then again, what is time? Just the direction of events, right? Anyway. What does it even do? Paralysis? That's not relaxing.

(She's gotta open some space to sit down because it's Silco, and God knows when was the last time he has eaten. We wouldn't ever deny him, she is the one person who takes care of him after all, and she pats the space next to her, pointedly, as if it left him no choice but to sit.

But, dear Lord, did it have to be with goody-two-shoes in a onesie. This is kind of why if she ever had to talk about Peter, it'd be Spiderman only. At least, well, he'd get the idea right off the bat, and not put a face to the person behind the spandex. That would work much better. She doesn't want him to be disappointed, feeling replaced, feeling weird, or any other negative emotion when she did point a knife to him not too long ago. Threw one, even! So, while she has a big smile on her face, she also realizes that the message that kick conveyed was never translated from Jinx-ese.

He's definitely going to be himself. Silco's going to hate it.

But, hey, one thing she is noticing is his eye being way more decayed than it usually i. This is what happens when you live in a tunnel, people, you just don't see proper, and she's taking advantage of the fact that he's staring at Peter to make some motions towards him, see if she can activate his peripheral vision.

And also, that definitely is going to make him stop goggling at Peter with it, so she guesses it's a win-win. So, when he doesn't really see it, she's going to be very normal and grab his face by the cheeks and turn his face to take a good look at it.)

Do I really gotta do everything in this house? Did you talk to Aurora?

Well — no, it's. It's nice-smelling stuff that hydrates your skin and makes the water colorful. I used to make them for my aunt, for — birthdays? And stuff. They're just baking soda and citric acid with some perfumes and oils, shaped into a ball, and... They're just fun to watch. Like a witch cauldron, but science. In a bathtub.

[Sorry, he's rambling. And trying not to be stared at so intensely by Silco's funky eye. It looks — uuuh. Infected is a word for it. It's probably not the correct one, uh. He almost, almost says "you should probably get that looked at," and thank god he absolutely does not.

Instead, as Jinx manhandles her father, he sips his milkshake for a moment.]

... Aurora's pretty good at getting you anything you need.

That's how I got — [our cans of paint for my room, he almost says, but wisely pivots:] — my chemistry set, the last time I was in Etraya.

Edited 2025-04-05 19:08 (UTC)

[ One interesting thing that Peter will now learn in real time, is that one of Silco's eyes doesn't have a lid. The other narrows at him suspiciously, leaving him looking like he belongs in some sort of spy thriller, and he's the villain about to announce a dastardly plan that involves pits, and sharks, and probably a laser of some sort.

Jinx makes the gesture to sit and he does, she gestures off to his left side, and he doesn't see it. His eye looks infected, but more than that, Jinx will notice that it's not quite black right now, tingling towards gray.

When he opens his mouth, though, it's not "Aha! I have you right where I want you, Spider-Man" and it's instead: ]

That sounds like a frivolous waste of supplies. [ No. Fun. Ever. ] I'm sure you could propose that to topsiders and they would eat it up.

[ Hm, well. That would be something to see. Put a little trap in them, and... well. Always good to take ideas from even the most innocuous, huh?

Anyway, he finds himself sitting next to his daughter at some point, his face in her hands, and there's a scoff of protest, but he doesn't stop her. Unfortunately, another thing Peter is learning in real time: Silco lets his daughter do whatever she wants. ]

I already got some from Aurora, but I refuse to get the right kind before it's tested and safe. I don't trust the things they "provide" here.

[ ESPECIALLY if he's injecting it into his EYE? ]

(Okay, Silco's kinda right, that sounds like Piltie shit. Imagine wasting water, although now that she is here in Etraya, there are little things she is experiencing that are normal everywhere else, but definitely not to her. That sounds like something fun, actually? Make it blue and pink and everything, and her eyes dart to Peter to tell him she really wants to make them.

Either this whole encounter makes them understand each other's faces and mannerisms for hidden messages, or they're gonna have to come up with code.)

Not here. I don't know if you noticed, Silco, but you can drink water here without growing a third, malfunctioning arm, it's very, very, different from Zaun.

(After close inspection, she's gonna release Silco's face and take full advantage of the fact he's nearly blind to curb the heart attack that she feels when Peter nearly doesn't catch himself. Bro. Dude. Man.)

Parker, a chemistry kit? Do you got a good microscope? Because then, I can check a thing and this one doesn't go blind. Ugh, there's gotta be a place here where I can work, or maybe I should just ask her for the doctor's place lab already. In the meantime, don't be a baby. Just do it before you lose it.

Most stuff you do for fun is kinda frivolous… but fun is also good for your mental health, you know? To make you feel better… even if I never had any money to get fancy gifts, there was always something I could make, anyway.

[He certainly wasn’t Zaun poor, but he knew a thing or two about living on a painfully tight budget; dumpster diving for parts was honestly a fun pastime, as long as nobody caught you doing it.

He looks between the two, unsure if he’s intruding on something more personal. If her dad had some kind of health issue — no, Peter, bite your tongue. Don’t get involved. Jinx is practically waving red flags for a reason.

Ehem.]

I’d totally show you my chemistry set, but it kinda… vanished after I left Etraya the first time? I’ll definitely get it back, though.

…

Um. What stuff did you guys get? From Aurora.

Edited 2025-04-05 21:11 (UTC)

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post-event + silco

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cw: sorry a mention of eye stuff

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