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[… That does explain a lot, actually. Being grounded is just one of those things a kid needs to thrive in life. But he will just leave that be and instead quickly wander after her, because he too would prefer to not be rediscovered as a liar immediately after leaving the diner.]

Hey, you don’t know that I’d be in more than one piece.

[He could kick you butt, you know.]

… We could do that, though. Maybe we should have some kind of… I don’t know. A game night, or movie night. Something he could do that isn’t just… catastrophizing or distrusting everything in life.

Edited 2025-04-15 03:17 (UTC)

Fine. We should test it, one day. Shimmer versus Spider DNA... But, can we have this talk up in the air?

(Her index points up, because listen. You spend a life freefalling down home, you definitely love web-swinging. Also, it's faster, and as soon as they reach somewhere, she can change subjects. Haha.)

Fair warning. Distrusting everything in life and death and the afterlife and in the before the next life is his superpower. And he's stabby.

I can usually tell someone's about to stab me, so it's fine.

[IT IS NOT FINE???

But at her request, huffs an amused breath.]

... Allowed — only if you let the onesie come out.

[Him and his stupid secret identity rules.]

(THE GROWL SHE GIVES. IT'S BAD.)

... Fine! Fine. Deal.

(... Can he, though? Can he really? She's not a knife person, but what she can do is her shitty punches that... May or may not land on him. She's curious, can't judge a girl.)

Edited 2025-04-22 22:56 (UTC)

[Ah yes, the telltale tingle that goes up his spine and drops his stomach.

Despite being mid-turn toward the alleyway, Peter's head immediately snaps to the side, avoiding her fist fully.]

Hey!

Juuuuuuuust keeping you honest. How did you even do that?

(Also, that was cool. God, fighting him must be a nightmare, which sounds ridiculously fun if it weren't, you know, Peter. Why does it have to be Peter!!!

And she was almost going into the alley, before she remembers why exactly is he going there in the first place. Right, yeah, no. She'll wait far from it, thank you so much.)

[As he vanishes into the alley:]

I don't really know how it works...! When I first got bit, I just thought it was anxiety. And maybe it is, you know? some kind of weird, precognitive anxiety. I just know when things are shooting at me or sneaking up on me or about to blow me into little pieces. Usually, anyway.

[Someday he'll get the hang of not having a school bag full of Spider-Man onesies, huh? Today is not that day, as he bumbles around in said bag to start pulling his uniform on. A shoe goes flying on accident over one of the trashcans.]

Whoops!

[When he pops his head out to look at her, Spider-Man says:]

It's never good when the other shoe drops.

[ugh]

(Her back leans against the wall outside the alley, looking forward, but she's not great at sitting and waiting. Her hand reaches for her pistol, some flairs, twists, just so she has something to do while he is there putting that ONESIE. God, the shit she accepts for him. He'd better appreciate it.)

That's not fair. I'm shooty and bomb-y, I just don't sneak up. You'd know I'm there. How is this a fair trade?

(Which, probably correct, knowing how much she doodles around and her little stunt at the train.

The mask always startles her a bit when she first sees it, so she jumps before she squints. It's just Peter, but also!!! UGH.)

Wait. You actually don't wear shoes with it, how do you live? How do you still have functioning feet?

(Because Etraya and New York are not Zaun, Jinx.......)

They are shoes. Kinda... I mean, they're a little thin in the sole I guess...

[Oh. He holds up a finger.]

Actually! A few years back, I got one of those weird spidey tingles when I was running down an alleyway — which I thought was super weird, because I didn't see any actual danger anywhere? Turns out, it was a nail, and I totally ended up stepping on it anyway.

I spent all night worrying if I would heal fast from tetanus.

... Sheesh, you'd need a metal sole on that if you ever wanted to Spider-Zaun. How fast do you heal, anyway? My finger is not even 100% and that's been months now.

(But she finally gets it. His brain and body process his environment faster than he does himself, that's why he can dodge and he can sense things he hasn't made the conscious connection to anyway. Now, what amount of stimuli it can pick up, she's not sure.

Good to know.)

Though I don't think you'd survive in Zaun, or if anything, your 'weirdo spidey tingles' would be the most obnoxious alarm in all of existence.

[He huffs.]

'Weirdo' is a little unnecessary. But yeah, it can be kinda obnoxious.

You really think I wouldn't make it in Zaun? Even if I become a parkour champion?

[He holds out a hand for her to grab, so he can zip them through the air.]

That means you can just move through the levels, and maybe, maybe, get less mugged at, shot at, robbed at, solicited at, or dead at. Fun place. You found me, Silco, now you just gotta meet Sevika, Vander and Viktor, and you get a full picture of the Zaunite dream.

(She works best (worst?) when there's no time to think, or when she has already made a decision. It'd be much better if he just didn't make her think about taking the hand!!! There's just a tiny hesitance she can't explain, her hand pulling away, halfway towards his for a smidge of a second before she holds it.)

[He doesn't hesitate to take her hand, pulling her in and thwipping a web to clutch onto the nearest infrastructure. Just like that, they're air-bound! He has to talk a little louder over the whipping of the wind around them:]

Oh! I met Vander before! He was pretty cool. We talked a little bit about your world...!

Sevika is the one that mean-mugs the camera, right?

The tall lady who looks like she could bench press a few of me?

(As swift and elevated as they are when they're up in the air, it never really scared Jinx. She doesn't scream, there's never any part of her that is skittish about it. Some of it is trust, understanding Peter wouldn't drop her, and the other part is how fun it is to feel the sunshine and breeze on her hair, the sights, and the freedom it provides.

Her arm wraps around his shoulders for extra steadiness, eyes watching down before they— oh, so Vander knows Peter. He doesn't know they're friends, or else he wouldn't be asking her all the time who is it that she's been hanging out with.)

You did? What did he tell you?

(But, as for Sevika.)

Her face is just stuck like that, you kinda get used to it.

[Peter considers the conversation he'd had with Vander, as he lands them on top of the apartments for a moment, then leaping and zipping them over a long length of street before his feet find the sidewalk; sorry, Jinx was in full bridal carry mode for a few seconds there!]

I was in the middle of feeling bad about the train riots, and he told me it was his job to worry about me. Being young, and all. [He's an adult, though, so people really shouldn't worry too much about him! He's totally got this. Speaking of, he says more sheepishly:] He miiight know I'm Spider-Man. He didn't exactly say it outright, but he saw me use my webs while I was in civilian clothes...

(She's always getting maneuvered, but you know, although it brings some flush to her face, this is fine. It's the adrenaline, certainly nothing more. This also always makes her braids a little messy, from all the wind and the moving — small price to pay for the fun of it.

Her fingers start removing the golden locks, sticking them in her pocket as she listens to the tales of Spider-Man and Vander, attempting to undo one of the braids. It's fine, it takes her like, just half an hour to get it back done.)

Classic Vander. He'd definitely not care if you're super durable, or if you got Shimmer or Spider-DNA.

(Oh, he might know it for sure. Oops, Peter. OOPS.)

If you ask him to zip it, he'll zip it. That man holds all the secrets of Zaun, he was a bartender, so what is one more in the forbidden sea of secrecy?

[Spider-Man hums, kicking a wayward can.]

I'm sure he would. He seems like that kinda guy.

Sometimes I just wonder if I should just be open about it... you know what I mean? Is it even gonna matter to keep Spider-Man under wraps here? [He sounds a little subdued about it, for reasons.] We'll all go back to our own worlds, and my identity would still be under wraps in mine... People're gonna figure out eventually.

It just freaks me out a little, is all.

Someone revealing my identity is what set off... a lot for me.

(With one braid loose, she shakes her head to remove the tightness around the waves, before working on the other braid. Her hair is dragging on the floor, but it's fine, this is fine. Instead of worrying about that, she's watching him from the edge of her eyes. If he had asked her a few months ago, she'd tell him way way too harshly what she thinks of having a secret identity. She couldn't really understand, while Piltover hadn't seen her, well, it's not like she's someone particularly quiet about who she is.

Perhaps the daughter part, but that was also a secret poorly kept. Everyone knew.

But now, she knows why he isn't. Understands the burden, and... Well, doesn't judge him for it anymore.)

I know.

(Her hair is finally free, hooray her.)

You're asking me what I think?

Edited 2025-05-11 05:24 (UTC)

[Oh! He knows his role here.

Without thinking much about it, he scoops up the dragging hair into his arms and walks behind her.]

I guess I am, yeah. Is that okay?

Edited 2025-05-14 22:26 (UTC)

(For a second, she's confused when her hair isn't pulled by gravity, but it soon becomes a laugh. It probably weighs nothing to him, but man, it is so much of her weight.

Okay. She can tell him what she thinks as she moves to the fire escape so they can sneak into his room.)

I get why you do it now. I didn't before, but I get it now. You're not... The only fighter here, though. Most people have a gimmick, so I don't think you being out is any more dangerous than me or anyone else being out.

Besides, people like me can sniff you out really quickly, anyway. The Firelights wear masks, and I can still sniff out Ekko from two and a fith miles away.

Edited 2025-05-14 22:52 (UTC)

That's what I've been told before. The idea that we're all 'out'. Or, uh. Most of us.

But it's really hard to be incognito when you're not in a city of 8 million people...

[Peter Parker can blend in a lot easier in a world where his face is just one of hundreds you see in a day. Just some random guy in a crowd. Here? He might as well be living in a little homely town of 200 people. He's almost sure a ton of people have taught on even a little by now, if not have their suspicions.]

It's dumb, isn't it. It's dumb to be worried in a place like this.

... But y'know, if I come out as Spider-Man, that means the onesie guy is your friend.

[He sounds a little amused.]

I found out the day I really met you, remember? You're not great at keeping secrets.

(Covered in paint, from head to toe, with the yells and cries of the bourgeoisie in the background. That? That was a great day, as far as her revolutionary spirit is concerned.)

Pretty dumb, yeah.

(JINX.

... But then, oh God. Oh... No.)

... That's a problem. That's a huge problem, bigger than all the problems Etraya can hold, nope, you should —, hey, no. If Silco finds out, then he's definitely stabbing you.

Edited 2025-05-19 00:07 (UTC)

[As they crawl through his bedroom window, he shrugs off his backpack and it plops to the floor.

And as he goes, he sputters, still trying to keep Jinx's hair from the floor.]

Stab me? That's a little extreme, isn't it?

I've been super nice to him and everything.

(Now that they're safe, amidst the four walls of a familiar space, she turns to remove his mask, since he's a bit, uh, busy with the river of blue hair that he's holding.

She looks extremely concerned, pacing a bit, so if he's going to keep her hair in a place, well, go pacing too, Peter.)

It's not about you, dummy. It's about me, hanging out with... A vigilante Enforcer. Which, I know, I know, I knew, but oh, boy, he's going to be so mad. But then again! It's fine, why do I care, it's fine, right —

(Hold up.)

Hey, but I commit crimes sometimes, too!

[He yanks off his mask, and his hair goes every which direction like its a creature of its own now.]

... Trespassing, mostly.

[So yeah, vigilante enforcer isn't too crazy a comparison.]

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actually why later if now

so rude!!!

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no hallucinations we are safe

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