keepitgoing | etraya Inbox.

[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.]

Peter, that doesn't count! We'd be in a shooting competition if we were in Zaun, and you know it. Also, trespassing is a made-up crime, real criminals bomb the government!

(It very much isn't, but she's very much trying not to think about the freak out she just had, and then she has to fight the urge to mess his hair up even further. Oh, boy, the pacing intensifies.)

Edited (wrong word also jesus christ lmao) 2025-05-21 21:13 (UTC)

[That response is deeply concerning, per usual. He's at least learned to expect it.

As he watches her pace, his expression shifts into something a bit like a deer in the headlights.]

Uh.

Are you — crashing out right now?

Shut up, I'm thinking.

(... Yes, clearly, she's Distressed, as it shows by the fact she hasn't stopped. She might as be tangling him in all her hair.

... The realization of why she cares for it hits her like a ton of bricks, because of course. Course she has to like someone on the opposite moral scale. Of course. Man, Silco's going to kill her.

Her permit to do whatever she wants does not cover crushing on the enemy.

Shit. Yep, she's officially freaking out.)

... Gotta go.

[Oh jeez. It's definitely a crash-out. He spins a few times to keep himself from being webbed like an actual spider in her hair, panicking internally for a quick reaction.]

Wait, wait, Jinx. Hang on a sec, huh?

Is there anything I can do to help? You can't go without at least getting your hair back up; it's gonna get all tangled up, and it'll be hard to brush, and you'll get it stuck on branches...

(She's staring daggers are him, solely because there's truth in what he is saying. People always pull her by the hair in fights, it's long, and now that it's loose, she'll most likely trip on it and fall face first every two steps.

The price of looking this amazingly edgy. Okay, breathe, although the exhale sounds more like an angry growl than anything else once she sits on his chair.)

... No. I got it.

[... He slowly sits down. Cross-legged, on the floor, still in most of his Spider-Man get-up.]

Okay.

[He taps his hands on his knees.]

... Um... Did I do something wrong?

Because I can totally, uh. Not say I'm Spider-Man.

It was just a thought, you know?

And I have a lot of those. But I don't always do anything with them.

So...

[He will keep rambling, and worse in the wake of silence.]

(Okay, now he's spiraling too, great, just great, best job ever, Jinx, totally sound tactics, not like you're royally fucking this up, and then being overly dramatic about it because there are no emotional balancing skills in your skull whatsoever. Good for you!

Brain, shut up. She can't even focus on her hair so she's not even trying to braid it but instead, all her focus goes to stop the thousand strings of negative self-talk that isn't always coming from self until she growls and stomps with all her strength.

Focus. Don't explode.

... Explode?)

Grr, it's not about you. It's about me, hello, remember, the drug-dealing, criminal empire heiress terrorist of every Piltie's nightmare? I like being around you, but if you're out, Silco is going to have three gazillions heart attacks, at that old age? He's not going to make it, all because I decided I really like spending all my time with an Enforcer, which in case it's not clear, is a catastrophically massive issue.

(This is as much as she is able to tell him, bless her heart.)

... Just wait. Later, alright, just. Let me — just fix it.

(What the fuck does that mean, she doesn't know either. She'll just fix it. Somehow.)

[He huffs a breath.]

Yeah, the drug-dealing, criminal villain thing isn't ideal.

[Thank god they haven't found a way to be exactly that here. Yet, anyway.]

But we're all stuck here together, and I'm not gonna be the last good guy you two are gonna end up being around. Or even liking. [He motions with his hands as he sits there, cross-legged on the floor, very out of place in his suit while being surrounded by Jinx's hair as she walks in loops.] Like, sometimes we're really cool to chill out with!

Shut up, you definitely are, and even if you're not, you're probably the one I'll end up liking most, and you're missing my point?

(Weird flex, Jinx, but okay. Definitely not hearing herself, but okay.)

I already said fine, do it, just let me have a minute. I just have to — ugh, I have to sway him a little bit. He's been kind of restless without having an Uprising to plan and rich people to eat — not literally, before you go there, nope, he just has been taken out of his element a tiiiiny bit too much, so he need, you know.

(He probably doesn't know.)

[Well obviously liking someone is normal, that's so super normal, he likes so many people.

But a very unhelpful point:]

Could your dad just... find something else to live for... other than a uprising?

(Thinking about it. Thinking more. A finger raises, as if she had an idea, and it drops almost immediately.)

Nope. It's literally a 50-year work in his head. He's losing his shit, I can tell you that.

... Look, you do what you want, alright? Wanna come out, yeah, fine. Just, uh, let me figure out this Silco thing first.

[A deep, deep sigh of surrender.

Temporary surrender, at least.]

Alright, alright. I'll keep it under wraps. Under the condition you're not gonna go into full-blown pacing sessions over it. [He can't actually keep her from that, but it's the principle of it!] Things'll work out. Okay? And if they don't, we'll cross that bridge when we get kicked across it.

Yeah, right, because things always work out for us.

(She doesn't mean to be bitchy, but also, has he looked at their curses?? But, fine. Fine, fine. Fine. Ugh, fine.)

I'm sorry. I just care about you, okay? Let's just drop it.

Sure they do! Sometimes. Today worked out fine, if you ask me.

[It was only a little stressful.

After a moment, though, he crosses his legs and leans in on his hands.]

Do I have to drop that you said you care about me, too?

[C:]

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