Summary:Peter and Mayday catch up on a rooftop during a patrol, and talk new suits and homesickness. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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It's Saturday night, and the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is sitting on a Midtown ledge, stretching and checking out the police bands. He already got the car-theft guys, the cab-stand robber, the attempted sexual assault…
…and he got donuts. The blueberry ones were his favorite.
He checked Spider-Comm. "Good evening, it's a balmy Saturday evening, the temperature is 74 degrees, and I just closed the book on three of the eight million stories in the naked city. So, New York better put some CLOTHES ON!" He chuckled, then added, "Anyone else out and about tonight?"
"You know it, Spidey. …Don't tell me you had to deal with a streaker too?" Well, that's certainly a familiar voice. "Seriously, how long did it take you to practice your news anchor impression?" A few blocks away, Spider-Girl grins widely behind her mask as she transitions from a swing into a triple backflip before thwipping out another webline
"Hey, like the funnyman said, I gotta face that's MADE for radio. Come on over. I got ice-cold milk, roast beef sandwiches, and chocolate-chip cookies for dessert, and I got enough for two." Spider-Man chuckled, as he headed up to the roof of the building. "Home in on my signal, I'm the goober with the goods near the gazebo. Okay, no gazebo, BUT IN RHYMES…"
"Don't let those jerks get you down, Spidey. THey're just mad that you're way cooler than them. On my way, see you in five." A few minutes later as promised, Spider-Girl drops down onto the rooftop ledge next to her counterpart. "Soooo… What's up besides the food?"
Spidey stands. He has a plastic tray out, with two compartments…one holding two roast beef sandwiches, the other holding a full dozen of Aunt May's cookies. Made from scratch, because OF COURSE they were.
"You eat while I talk." He hands Spider-Girl a small bottle of milk, which was cold to the touch. "First off, I wanted to tell you that the new suit is working about one THOUSAND percent better than the old one."
A message appears on the screen. "4,239 Percent. I did the math. - ALICE."
He pauses, then sighs. "Upstaged by my own suit."
Everything Aunt May makes is amazing, obvously. Spider-Girl takes the tray and sets it down next to her. "Really? Pretty awesome." She peels up her mask enough to expose her mouth, taking a long drink before diving into her sandwich. Crime fighting is hungry work. "On the plus side, now I don't have to snark at you as much if your suit can pick up the slack." Regrettably, May's plastic lenses can't translate the eyebrow waggle like Pete's fancy ones can. But the body language carries. "Glad to hear it, though. It's amazing to see what you've done with newer tech."
Spidey nods. "Yeah, well, it got me thinking about YOUR suit. It's fairly well-pu-together, but…I get the feeling you do a lot of mending like I did. Am I in the ballpark, or way off base?"
"Currently, yeah. It was a bit easier back home. Your wife was basically your manager, and she ran this store that had all the spider themed merch and stuff, and even costumes. Was where I got my replacements after I shrank the first one in the wash, and more got ripped up."
Spidey smiles. "Somehow, I'm not surprised. Anyway, here's the heart of the thing. I want to make you a better suit. More durable, easier to repair, easier to handle rough weather, winter cold, summer heat…that sort of thing. And I know you're fond of those 'shooters, but maybe I can make a backup pair for you?"
Spider-Girl pauses in mid-bite, before slowly swallowing. "…wow. That's… pretty amazing. And I def know the winter cold issue. YOu would not BELIEVE how many patrols I did in a jacket. Spandex breathes in the summer, but in the winter…" She crosses her arms over her chest and shivers dramatically. "…And it never hurts to have a backup." She looks down at her arm again. "I just really like these ones, you know? Had them since the beginning and they never let me down. Plus, I'm pretty sure you could drive over them with a truck."
Spider nods thoughtfully. "Okay. But I figured I'd ask. Not going to make you wear something you don't want." He opens up a file to appear in Spider-Girl's HUD. "It's not as high-tech as mine, but it COULD be, in the future. So it's upgradeable. Was experimenting with graphene, but might have to stick with the new Kevlar weave. Also, it's modular. You can remove and replace parts of the suit that get damaged, instead of having to mend or replace the whole thing."
"Always good to make things easier." The sandwich is gone, and Spider-Girl reaches for a cookie. "Most of the tech stuff is above me, but it looks pretty cool from what I can see here. As long as it doesn't de-module on me while it's in use." She snickers, raising the dessert in toast.
Spidey chuckles. "There's actually a physical interlocking system. Like magnetic locks, if there is no power, they lock in the closed position, so you don't have to worry about it coming apart on you."
"Okay, that's a relief. I've already had one suit come apart at the seams, and it wasn't fun." Another grin from Spider-Girl, another cookie gone. "Soooo…. Anything I can do to help? I mean like… assistant stuff."
Spider-Man looked around. "I'm going to need measurements, first of all. This new suit has to fit well in order to work well. No bunching or undue stress on certain areas. I could use the imaging scanner like I did for mine."
"WOrks for me. …Can you scan over the regular suit, or…" Spider-Girl bites her lip. She doesn't really want to strip down in front of her non-dad. That's way too far. "Not going to need charging every night like yours does, right?"
Spidey shakes his head. "I can have yours fitted with motion sensors to charge yours using the static electricity generated by your own movements. And you'd just need to wear your current suit for the imager.
"WOrks for me. Thanks, Spidey." Grinning, Spider-Girl reaches out for a fistbump.
Spidey fist-bumps Spider-Girl, then says, "Okay. This could take a little time, but I'll keep you in the loop about progress, if you need to come in to test certain aspects of the prototype, etc." He lifts up his mask as he grabs a sandwich. "So…what's been going on with you? I've been in the lab most days, so I seldom see you other than in passing and at meals…and what we deal with isn't suitable for mealtime."
"No worries about time. It's still an upgrade." Leaning back a bit further, Spider-Girl nibbles on the second cookie, taking her time. "Mostly just been out swinging and patrolling. And yeah. This… isn't stuff for Aunt May to stress about. Heard you're doing pretty well with your girlfriend, though!"
Spidey raises an eyebrow. "Well…it's weird. Except for a particular redhead, girls were usually only interested in me for what I could give them. And then there's my current girlfriend, who is very bright and could probably BUY ESU. But she's…grounded. Normal. Even if her family is a little on the weird side. Did you know she has a mute bodyguard?"
"…Huh. Okay, that's like something out of a weird action movie. Rich family, mute bodyguards so they don't talk and concentrate on the job…" Spider-Girl wiggles the fingers on her free hand, grinning widely. "Kinda spooky. But if you're happy, that's what's important. Definitely still more interesting than what I've got going on."
Spidey gives her a sad look. "I've checked, by the way. No progress yet on finding a way to get you back. I'd say it could happen eventually…but I've never lied to you, and i'mnot starting now. We just have to have hope."
"…Yeah. I've been doing some research too." Spider-Girl sighs, slumping again and taking a larger bite of cookie. "Most of the dimensional travel stuff I did before ending up here was because the Fantastic Five were poking holes in things. …GUessing they haven't gotten around to doing that here, yet. or at least not on a wide enough scale."
Spider-Man looks out at the city, chewing thoughtfully before swallowing."Maybe that's a good thing. My physics teacher once said that time was the only thing keeping everything from happening at once. Maybe those barriers are there to keep every reality from manifesting in the same place."
"Well, They certainly didn't seem to have a /ton/ of issues. Well, except that rift in the negative zone thing, but that's decades down the line at least. IF it happens here, which it probably won't. Butterfly effect." …yeah, that's the last of Spider-Girl's share of the cookies. She pulls her mask back down, leaning back off the side of the building.
Spider-Man nods, then brought over his cookies to Spider-Girl. "Here…you can have mine." He hands the small paper plate to Mayday, "We keep trying. All we can do. And until then…you'll always have a home here."
"…You sure? I mean… There's only a limited amount." May jiggles it a bit, power pushed into the plate to keep the cookies stuck so they don't fall off. "Thanks. Seriously." She pulls her mask up again, and takes a bite of another cookie. "It's kind of nice, you know? I spent so much time in that house working with you. Something familiar."
Spidey settles in next to Spider-Girl. "Some things I enjoy most when I give them to others." He smiles thoughtfully. "Besides, I've been enjoying her cookies for years. You need to catch up."
"You did still have the recipe. But the real thing… Still better." Spidey gets a gentle punch in the arm, and Spider-Girl bites into another cookie