2019-05-04 - The After-Meeting Blues

Summary:

Spider-Man, feeling a little down in the dumps, is elevated by a Valkyrie.

Log Info:

Storyteller: None
Date: Sat May 4 00:00:00 2019
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

Related Logs

None

Theme Song

None

peter-parkerdani-moonstar

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you believe the mixed-up files of Basil E. Frankweiler, two kids camped out in the museum, explored a mystery involving an angel sculptured by Michelangelo, and met an eccentric millionaire.

But right now, Spider-Man isn't feeling very inspired.
He is sitting near the edge of the building looking down at the people walking in and out and feeling a bit bummed. He is starting to REALLY hate magic. If it isn't crazy magicians in top hats and fishnets getting possessed by ghosts or demons, it's a duplicitous "god" turning innocent children into magical footsoldiers that kill themselves rather than be taken. Plus, the rest of the meeting was similarly sobering. Maybe after he finishes his dinner, he'll go webslinging to brighten his mood…

Meanwhile, not to far away, Dani Moonstar is coming out of the Asgardian Embassy. Wearing her typical Valkyrie regalia, she nimbly hops on the waiting Brightwind, the winged horse immediately launching into the air.

However, on the way up, she does notice Spider-Man sitting on the roof of the Met. Brightwind picks up the unspoken thought, and changes course, flying over and landing easily on the roof, not too far from Spidey. Dani then smiles, "I'd say 'Don't Jump!' but somehow I don't think I have to worry about that with you, Spider." She slips off the horse gracefully, looking a bit curiously towards him.

Spider-Man looks up. For a moment, he is silent as he wrestles the entity he calls Stupid Mouth to the floor before it can sound off about how much magic sucks dead green bunnies through a straw. That goal accomplished, he says with a rueful smile, "Hey, there, Dani. Picked up any new recruits lately…?"

Danielle grins, "No, not lately, been a bit of a quiet week." She chuckles a little and makes her way over towards Spidey, looking out over the edge, "Definitely a nice view of the city from here… though I suspect that's not why you picked it." She glances over at Spider-Man, then shrugs, "Mind if I join you? Don't want to interrupt anything."

Spidey chuckles and reaches into his backpack. A new red-and-blue canvas one, with the Spider-Man symbol on the back. He takes out a plastic box, then opens it to reveal a single Red Delicious apple nestled in a bed of sugar cubes. "Something for Kemo Sabe, there." He hands the box to Dani. "I've also got ham and cheese sandwiches, if you're hungry."

Dani grins, "Well… sure, I'll take one, if you won't be having all of them." She pauses, and considers, arching a brow ever so slightly at Spidey, "Sorry, still getting used to etiquette here, I mean… if you're going to need all of them I don't want to take one, but I don't want to offend you by not taking one, so…"

However, at a snort from Brightwind, she does take the apple, because while she might puzzle about Midgard manners, he doesn't care. GIVE HIM THE APPLE ALREADY!

Spidey smiles slightly under the mask. "Thought I was going to be hungry, but my appetite is not as great as I thought. Besides, if they weren't freely given, i wouldn't offer." He takes out a flat box, then opens it to reveal four sandwiches. Apparently, he thought he was going to be VERY hungry. "And it didn't seem right to offer something to you and leave your partner out of it."

Dani chuckles, "Fair. So what's bothering you?" She gives Spidey a wry look, "I might have just came back to this place from Asgard a few months ago, but I know when something's up. If you can't tell me, that's fine, but it's pretty obvious something is eating at you. As opposed to you eating these." Which is when she does grab a sandwich, while Brightwind is very happy eating the apple out of her other hand.

Spidey sighs. "Do Valkyries typically bear witness to deep funks from their friends? I ask purely for information."

Dani hmmms, "Well, it's not in the job description, but hey, I'm a mutant. Angst is practically part of the genome, so fire away." She tilts her head, "Can't hurt to get it off your chest, right?"

Spidey looks up for a moment, then nods. "Okay. But at least let me get it all out before calling me a moodypants." He takes another bite of the lone ham sandwich he has already claimed.

"There's this organization called Nightfall. Children taken by some pissant 'god' who promises them to have any wish they want fulfilled…and then turns them into magical soldiers, trains them in some other dimension. And then, in the last month, unleshing them to shanghai more kids. They have a gang of thugs called the Denim Crows. Footsoldiers. And there's thousands of them. So…one of their ranks escapes, and now they are here in New York, taking kids. And if we try taking prisoners to interrogate, they take some kind of poison pill that works instantly." He looks down. "I don't know anything about magic…"

Dani blinks, then shakes her head, "Monsters. To take children of all things…" She sighs, and looks over at Spidey, "I can see where that's disturbing… sounds like something dark elves do. But even they wouldn't put in suicide pills, that's just." She pauses, then reaches over and hugs Peter, since the Brightwind finished the apple off pretty quickly. "Yeah, that's some messed up stuff there. No wonder you're down."

Spidey rests a hand on the armored arm. "Yeah, well…pack your bags, because it gets worse. I got called into a meeting with some…well, some pretty heavy hitters. Imagine a meeting with mages and superheroes, with Batman-The-World's-Greatest-Detective officiating. Now imagine you don't have to imagine."

Dani grins, "Oh boy. And here you are… not quite that level of experience or cred, and… yeah, that's gonna be something. Trust me, when you've been a Valkyrie for just five years when the next most-recent recruit has been one for a few centuries? You're not the only one that feels it."

She then gives Spidey a smile, "Hey, you know what? All those other people? They were new at the thing too, they had to learn somehow. So yeah, maybe you don't have the experience of Batman or all these other big names, but that doesn't mean you don't belong."

Spidey takes another bite, and Dani can see he's lifted up his mask to eat. Decent teeth, no gaps, no bad breath. Fastidious eater, waits until he swallows before speaking.

"Yeah…then find out that your only contribution is a way to knock out the mages before they kill themselves. The 'consultant,' the one who escaped, freaks out like I'm cut from the same cloth as the ones who…made her what she is, like I'm going to test it on her right then and there. And another person, someone who I thought trusted me, acted like I was crazy or something. It's enough to want to hang up the Brains Hat and just go back to punching muggers."

Dani hrms, "Well, I mean, with magic like that… not sure what else you can do, you know? Though maybe you should just not dwell on it." She gives Spidey a bit of a look, "One thing I found that helps is just focus on something else, then *bam*, a solution comes to you out of the blue as you aren't actively thinking about it. Like a centipede with walking."

Spider-Man nods. "It's worth a try, really. Listen, what do you do when you're not doing…Valkyrie stuff?"

Dani grins, "Well, catching up on what I missed the past five years, mostly. But I definitely enjoy spending time out in nature… which is a little hard to find in the city, though up by Westchester it's a lot easier."

Spider-Man nods. "Well, if you ever get bored…why don't you join me on a patrol sometime? Flying along the skyscrapers, seeing the sights, and bop a few crooks along the way?"

Dani nods, "Well, sure, that sounds like fun. Be nice to smack a few crooks around I suppose." She glances at the sword at her side, and then winks at Spidey, "Don't worry, it can't cut through anything that lives. But it does wallop people pretty good."

Spidey exhales. "Good. We want to catch them, not…well, THAT. You know. But you are very distracting. Uhm, I mean, who's going to pay attention to a guy in longjohns when a swordswoman on a winged horse is coming in?"

Dani chuckles, "I've been called a lot of things… distracting is a new one, though." She arches a brow, just a bit, and looks at Spidey, "I'll try not to distract you too much, though." With that, she does get a little bit of a grin.

Spider-Man's very-visible cheeks flush at that. "Uhm…yeah. Sorry. Anyway, would you like me to keep you in the loop about this Nightfall mess? I'm way behind the curve here and well…you and Brightwind make a pretty good team, I think."

Dani nods, "Sure, I'm glad you let me know about it. If I find out anything on my end, I'll let you know." She grins a bit more as she sees the flushing of cheeks, "What're you sorry about anyway?" At least she sounds cheerful about it, not offended in the least.

Spider-Man looks at her. "Dani, would you think I was out of line if I gave you a personal compliment?"

Dani hmmms, "Well, I guess it would depend on what it was, Spider-Man. What's on your mind?" She tilts her head, looking rather curious now.

Spider-Man took a deep breath. "Dani…you're awesome. In the literal sense of the word. You're smart, resourceful, beautiful, gifted, talented, and for some reason, you want to hang out with a schmuck like me. My brain can't handle it."

Dani blinks, then laughs, "Well, you're pretty awesome too. I mean, you're obviously smart, you manage to do everything you do, though I don't know if I could say you're bea…" She pauses, as something clicks in her head at that point, "Wait. You think I'm beautiful?" Now it's Dani's turn to blush, as she wasn't expecting that. Though she doesn't seem to mind.

Spidey tilts his head. "You mean you don't KNOW?" he asks, a little gobsmacked.

Dani chuckles, "Well, I mean, have you seen the other Valkyries? So maybe it's just bias about the crowd I'm compared to?" She grins, as being a mortal among demigoddesses can be a bit hard on certain standards.

Dani then smiles, "But that's very nice of you to say so, Spidey. Thank you." She gives his arm a light squeeze with her fingers. "And while I can't see your entire face… thine countenance that I see doth pleases me, verily." And she says that in basically the movie version of an Asgardian accent, too.

"How…SHAKESPEAREAN of you." He smiles wryly. "Listen, you talk it over with your partner there, and we can set it up." He pauses. "Ask him if he likes apples cooked and in a pie."

Dani grins, "Sounds good to me. Though I think he'd prefer them uncooked… well, I do enjoy a good apple pie." She stands up then, and offers a hand to Spidey, "Say, Monday night? Barring any unforeseen strangeness, I can definitely meet up with you then."

Spider-Man shook Dani's hand, and them the Spider-Comm system woke up with an alert…and then Jameson's voice comes over the comm.

"Ladies and gentlemen. You know my stance on the masked renegade Spider-Man, how he flaunts the law, how he mocks the people and this bastion of journalism, the Daily Bugle. But now…" A heavy pause. "…I come to you today to reveal that there are MORE SPIDER-PEOPLE out there! Someone in a black costume calling herself Spider-Girl, and another one in a black, white, and PURPLE costume calling herself Spider-WOMAN! And now, there are recent reports from a THIRD one, calling herself simply SILK! WHERE are they COMING from? And WHY are so many showing up now??

Well, I have my suspicions, and they do NOT bode well! All three have shown up only in the past few months, when Spider-Man has become more active. Is he somehow CREATING them to serve as his followers, or even…something even worse than THAT? And is he creating them in some laboratory, or is he kidnapping New Yorkers and offering them power for a price, to somehow cause them to follow him for powers regular New Yorkers don't have?

This cannot STAND, ladies and gentlemen! We have to reach out to them! Silk, Spider-Woman, Spider-Girl, if you are hearing this, reach out to the Bugle, either in person or our website! We can HELP you! There has to be some way we can get you out from under the thumb of this MISCREANT and his burgeoning cult this MISCREANT and his burgeoning cult of personality!

This is J. Jonah Jameson, talking straight to YOU!

Jameson, signing off!

Spider-Man STARED at Dani. "…WHAT."

Dani blinks as she overhears the comm's message, then can't help but snicker, "Oh… geez. Well, Spider-Man, if you make anyone else a Spider-Valkyrie, I'll be very put out." She gives the hand a squeeze, and then steps back to gracefully hop onto Brightwind's back.

"See you soon, Spider-Man." A wink, and then Brightwind takes off, launching into the air and heading towards (presumably) Westchester County.

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