1034/The Straw Man Cometh

The Straw Man Cometh
Date of Scene:	07 April 2020
Location:	Brooklyn, NY
Synopsis:	Peter comes across the strangest
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Straw Man

---

Peter Parker has posed:
Life...is not fair.

Spider-Man landed on the roof of the Chase-Meridian bank building, slowing down to look at himself after going for a few rounds with the Sandman.

Yep...the suit is trashed. Barely a few months old and it's already looking like it's gone through every single battle Captain America fought in World War Two. And there were a lot of them. He doesn't know which would take more time, making a new suit or patching up the old one. And the pictures he did take will barely cover the work...

Then the text comes in. He looks at the phone, staring at the words.

<PETER, THE AIR CONDITIONER IS MAKING FUNNY NOISES. I THINK WE NEED TO GET IT FIXED.>

Spider-Man slumped to a sitting position. "I hate my life."

Straw Man has posed:
    "It's always something, isn't it?" The voice is far too familiar, and that of a ghost to be sure. Uncle Ben? "Great Power, Great Responsibility, and great overhead costs." The older man has his button down worker's shirt and a pair of jeans. "Looking a little worse for wear there, aren't ya, Pete?" He strolls casually on the rooftop, unconcerned with the height of the skyscraper."This is why it's important to finish your education, you know."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man pulled off the mask and sighed. "Yes...I know. I'm going to graduate valedictorian, you know that..."

He stopped. Something was wrong. He didn't know what.

"Aunt May...well, you know Aunt May. She's still tougher than a Times Square vending machine." He looked down. "You know how it goes..."

Straw Man has posed:
    "Yes, but college isn't like high school. The stakes raise, it'll take more studying," Ben says. "I know it's hard on you, trying to fill these responsibilities and keep your secrets, AND go to high school. You are a pretty impressive guy, Pete. Not a lot of people could hold up to that pressure. You deserve better." His hand comes up and pats Peter on the shoulder. "I wish I could have left you a good legacy financially. Would have made things a lot easier."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter sighs. "How were you supposed to know I screwed up? That I just...let Carradine get past because I was...looking for Number One. God, I was so stupid. They screwed you over on the pension. The life insurance barely covered the funeral. And now the A/C's acting up again, the one you installed seven years ago. It'll have to be fixed...or replaced..."

Straw Man has posed:
    "You know," Ben says in that ever remembered fatherly tone, "When I said that phrase you remember so well, I had no idea that you had been given superpowers," he says. "I wasn't talking about becoming the Spider-Man. I was talking about your wit, your /mind/." he reached out to tap Peter on the side of the forehead. "That doesn't mean your Spider-Man abilities aren't worth something, but they aren't all of your power. You want to take care of May, and that's good. It's important. Money is tight, it always has been. You have the ability to make that different. As long as it's not just selfishness prevailing, it can be a good thing.
    "Let me ask you something, Pete. If I was to get a genie in a bottle, and he gave me a wish, would it be wrong for me to wish for a million dollars?" He leans forward so that he can see Peter's face better. "Hmm?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter looked up into Ben's face. Except...
<"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride, Peter.">

That sense of wrongness intensified. He looked like Uncle Ben, he SOUNDED like Uncle Ben...

<"Waste time wishing for what you don't have, or spend it doing something you can...">

Sudden fear rose in him.

"...you're not Uncle Ben..." he whispered, the words tinged with a growing horror.

Straw Man has posed:
    "No, but I think you already knew that," Ben answers, seeming unbothered by the potential horror from Peter. "But that doesn't mean I'm your enemy, Peter." He looks out over the city. "There's a big city out there, one that needs you. You seem to be spending a lot of time on what you don't have, instead of getting the things you can to make it better. You wish you had money so that your suit isn't falling apart, so that you can fix an air conditioner, so that you can go on a nice date," he arches his brow. "Some of these things are okay, some aren't. If someone wants a million dollars, that's just a million dollars. It has no value until you put it against something. If you want a million dollars for a hospital to get equipment to save children, then that's not selfish. If you want a million for your own personal jet, that might be. So what are you going to do to get the things you need to help the people you care about?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter slowly got up. "I will not steal from anyone. Not even from criminals. If I use their money, no matter what I use it for, that blood will NEVER come off my hands! I cannot take what isn't MINE! And I don't deserve ANYTHING. Nothing is mine that I haven't earned."
He seems to draw some strength from that, standing more firmly.

"It's never 'just' a million dollars. Everything comes from somewhere. And if I compromise on ONE thing, where does it stop? what becomes permissible? I would rather walk Mrs. Perkins' little rat-dog a hundred thousand times. At least then, I would have earned that money. I will pinch pennies, I will deliver meals, go through a thousand fights to sell enough pictures."

Peter felt drained by the declaration. "What...what ARE you? You're not Uncle Ben, but you had me fooled for awhile..."

Straw Man has posed:
    "There you go! Conviction!" The look of the fake Uncle's face seems to be one of pride. "I never said anything about stealing," he points out, "Curious that it's where your mind drifted to. But no matter, you resisted, and that's something."

    "As to what I am," he shakes his head. "That is a very contained question with a far less contained answer. You know, I think of what we see out here," he broadly gestures to the city. "It's like little sandcastles on the shore. Fleeting and inconsequential. Where as I come from the waves beneath, the real influence. You know, it makes me think of children, it does." He glances back at Peter. "Do you like children? I think of how they see monsters. Until it's explained to them that we don't /see/ monsters, after all we are civilized. Of course, we all know they are there." He becomes a little less humorous as he continues. "Huge ones. As big as you can make or suppress them in your mind. You might consider me as something of a lion tamer, perhaps. I'm here to show you your monsters, to make them do their tricks. I think you have several monsters that need taming, Peter." He looks down the long drop, no care in the world that he is precariously close to falling off the edge. "You /do/ want them tamed, I presume, or would you rather they run amok?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter stares at the Ben-that-is-not-Ben, but he is listening. Ben had told him about how God had given people two ears and one mouth for a reason.

He thought about the man...if it was a man...was saying.

"I...don't know if I can tame them, whoever you are. They're too...huge...to tame. But...if I can't tame them...then I want to HARNESS them. Force them to help me, even if I can't change them."

Straw Man has posed:
    "Harness them? Like you would hook up an ox to a cart?" There is a slightly bemused smile that crosses the other's face. "That sounds very much like tame to me," he observes. "It is the best type of tame at that. Not as a lap dog or a hamster on a wheel, but as something to benefit from. Something to do real work. Something that matters, something that lasts. I do think I can work with that, Peter."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter shook his head. If this wasn't surreal enough. "Do you have a name at all? I know you're not Uncle Ben, but I can't start calling you 'Hey, You' all the time. I call too many people by that name already."

Straw Man has posed:
    "You wouldn't like calling me Uncle Ben?" the man says, "Very well, how about something with some sophistocation. Like Jack." He grins at his own irony. "Just call my name, Jack!" he cups his hand to his mouth, shouting it over the city, not that anyone would hear it at this altitude. "Yes, I think I like Jack," he determines as if he had been in an internal debate. "I'm so very glad to meet you, Peter," he declares. "And worry not, I will only ever encourage you to do that which your heart desires."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter eyes "Jack" strangely, but at least a name is something to hang a hat on. "All right...Jack. As long as my heart wants the right things." He looks out at the city. "I have to accept what I have instead of wanting what someone else has. Besides...I'm still helping people, puke-smelling costume and all."

He sniffs. Yeah, the guy he rescued must have had corned beef recently.

Oh, well...puke and crap still wash off.

"Well...if there's something you're willing to do for me, is there anything I can do for you? I mean, what do *you* want?"

Straw Man has posed:
    "Waves beneath," Jack recounts. "The things I want are satisfied by this very thing. Think of us like neighbors, though. We share the same big blue sky. The same dark alleys. I like to help my neighbors. Perhaps you'll understand me more with time. But don't be too quick to pretend to 'accept' what is. If you did that, you wouldn't wear that costume. The more you better yourself, the more you'll be able to help the people who need you."

Peter Parker has posed:
"...Okay, you win the Cryptic Contest by a landslide. But you're right. I still have a lot to learn." He looked around. Creepy Cryptic Jack was a little unsettling, but he actually feels better than he did ten minutes ago.

"Well, Jack, it's been a very interesting conversation, and not in a Chinese-curse way of interesting, but I should get going. I have to get some history knowledge into my skull for a test at the end of the week." In spite of his wanting to be Indiana Jones when he was younger, History was always his toughest subject.

"I can't say it was nice to meet you. You don't sound 'nice,' to be honest. But I think calling you nice would be an insult to you. But it has been an eye-opener."

Straw Man has posed:
    "Then here is to many eye-opening experiences," Jack says. He reaches ou to pat Peter on the shoulder, walks past him...and then is just gone. Like he was never there.

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter turns around...and he's gone. Of COURSE he's gone.

He shook his head. No doubt about it...his world was getting weirder by the second.