15858/A Concert in the Park

A Concert in the Park
Date of Scene:	13 September 2023
Location:	Central Park
Synopsis:	Eve and Miles finally get to use those Post Malone tickets and bring MJ along for the fun!
Cast of Characters:	Eve Wilkins, Mary Jane Watson, Miles Morales

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Eve Wilkins has posed:
The air in Central Park buzzes with an electric energy, the anticipation of Post Malone's performance rippling through the gathering crowd. The low, powerful thump of the warm-up band's bass guitar resonates through the ground, creating a palpable heartbeat beneath the feet of the gathering masses. Everywhere you look, fans in varying stages of excitement shuffle, dance, and snap photos, their faces bathed in the surreal glow of cellphone screens and stage lights.

A massive perimeter has been set up around the venue, where there are food trucks serving every manner of deliciousness imaginable (not to mention alcohol). The sun is setting towards the horizon, and the big floodlights that surround the are are already coming on to maintain a dusk-esque feel for the concert-goers to gather in.

It wasn't /that/ long ago that Eve and Miles had celebrated their birthdays together (only a year and a day apart), and Eve had gotten Miles some VIP tickets to this very concert -- four of them, in fact, with the promise that he could invite whoever he wanted to to come along. That someone turns out to be Mary Jane Watson -- someone she hadn't met, but then, Eve had told Miles she was excited to get to know more of his friends. So she'd let him make the invitation, and this was the agreed upon meeting spot, just outside of the ticket collections and weapons check so they could give MJ her ticket and stick together.

Eve Wilkins leans against the bronze statue of Alice in Wonderland, a massive and iconic landmark in the park, hard to miss amidst the sea of people. She scans the crowd, her green eyes glinting with anticipation. Tapping her foot in time with the beat of the warm-up band, the sound of her Chuck Taylors on the pavement barely audible over the music, she exhales softly.

"We should've picked a less crowded spot," she comments to Miles with a little quirk of a grin. Even this far from the stage, she still had to raise her voice some to be heard.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson is heading on in, whistling over and looking about for the folks that she's meeting. Of all the times - it can be actually tricky to find someone you know when things aren't exploding or on fire, and people are yelling. Strange the way that life can work out that way when things are actually normal. She's heading towards the Alice in Wonderland statue, circling it a couple of times just to make sure she has the right one to meet up.

Glancing over about the park she does a pirouette and goes to go, "Hello New York." Quipping, and then walking towards Eve and Miles. "Hey there, good to see you both about. The last time I was here for something the Electric Mayhem was present. I've never quite seen so many explosions on a stage and fire before. Some of it might have even been on purpose. I think one of the band members did have a bit of an issue when it came to some of the fans in the crowd. Drummers can be aggressive, but that guy was something else entirely." SHe still wondered if that group was from Bushwick. Well, that was a bit of a rude thing to actually ask so she'd never actually looked it up. The band's website was probably nearly as scary as they were.

"Thanks for having me, you really didn't need to do this. It's nice to have somewhere to go out and do something." Taking a breath.

"Also, uh, if you see a guy with a giant afro carrying a boom box and dresesd like he's from a disco, make sure to cover your ears immediately. I can't stress that enough." Personal experience.

Miles Morales has posed:
"Wooooooo YEAH!"

Miles was bopping to the best of the warmup band. Where Eve was tapping her foot, Miles was moving his entire body and even at times, singing along! Understanding that he could bring one of his friends, he had chosen to bring MJ along on this fun trip to a concert! When she approaches, Miles waved! "Hey MJ! We appreciate you being here with us. Oh yeaaahhh, I remember that, Electric Mayhem is wild." Miles remarks warmly and he looks at Eve.

"When you see one, let me know!" He smiles and extends his arm towards her to take her hand, if she so desires. "My friends here."

"MJ, this is Eve. My girlfriend and scientist extraordinaire. Eve, this is Mary Jane, but we all call her MJ. She's been my friend for years."

Two red heads meeting. They've become too powerful!

Just kidding.

He looks at MJ. ".....Okay, that's *gotta* be a joke. There's a boombox villain?" He scuffs his foot in the ground. "I never get the fun ones...."

Eve Wilkins has posed:
Eve arches an eyebrow, taking in MJ's advice about the disco-dressed man. She pushes off the statue, stepping closer to the two of them and taking Miles's hand, finger's lacing with his loosely. "Well, Miles might not get the 'fun ones', but if there's a way to find the unexpected, I'm sure I can." She extends her free hand toward Mary Jane with a confident, warm smile. "Nice to finally meet you, MJ. Miles has told me a lot about you. All good things, I promise."

With a playful glance at Miles, she continues, "I'll keep an eye out for any boombox-wielding disco dudes, though." She pauses, letting out a chuckle, "Honestly, this city's always full of surprises."

Returning her gaze to Mary Jane, she tilts her head thoughtfully, "Electric Mayhem sounds like a concert experience that'd be hard to forget. Thanks for the heads-up about potential ear damage." Eve's lips curl into a mischievous grin, her green eyes shimmering with a mix of amusement and genuine curiosity. "But if the explosions and fires were part of the act... then I'm a little jealous I missed out."

Eve turns her attention back to the sea of people, absorbing the ambient energy. The warm-up band's rhythm infectiously traveling through the crowd. "Tonight should be fun. No explosions... hopefully. But who knows, it's New York after all." She winks at Mary Jane, her mood light and breezy, clearly looking forward to the night ahead.

"You guys ready to go in?" She reaches into her back pocket and pulls out the tickets, handing one over to MJ.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson would shake her head, "Uh.. He's called Hypno Hustler, he has a boom box that h ypnotizes people and then he robs them. So, just watch out if you go anywhere that plays disco music. I've lost count of the times that someone's using a strobe light for mind control. I mean, once is just random, twice is coincidence, three times means that there's enough gimmick villains to end up being copycats. Sort of like.." She would make a gesture at Alice. "And Gotham." THere were enough different groups of that ilk to have full on gang wars, after all.

Laughing to Eve, "I've seen less explosions during alien invasions. Normally only the 1812 Overture involves cannons. They had some sort of.. Blue alien with a really big nose who was doing interpretive dance but with high explosives and chickens. It was an amazing performance, don't get me wrong! But not one I'd ever want to go and see again. Some things are weird even by the standards of here."

She would grin at Eve. "Got it. So I guess we'll just have to see if things go up and atom." That would probably get her a glare.

Or a groan from Miles that he hadn't thought of using it.

Miles Morales has posed:
Fingers pace together with Eve's own and Miles seems significantly happier to have the physical touch. It's one of two of his love languages! "Well, I see the expected every day. Just uh...literally anything but condiment king. Please." Miles would rather risk hypnosis than get blasted by an unhealthy amount of ketchup and mustard. "So. Many. Surprises." He tells Eve with a smile.

"Heck yeah we are! NYC Here we come!"

Hes PUMPED! Rarely has he been so excited! But then MJ drops that pun and Miles just lets his jaw *drop*. "....oh my God, it was RIGHT THERE!" Miles groans, his free hand smacking himself in the forehead. "Ugh. Good one." he shrugs. "It's okay though, I'm not a huge fan of disco. I had to show up and essentially pretend to be Disco-Spidrr. I...will never speak of it again."

Miles looks ashamed as no doubt a dude in a straight up Elvis costume wearing a Spider suit underneath it doing classic disco moves on the floor is seared into his mind forever.

He shivers.

"Hopefully much less explosions though!"

Aaaand he's back.

Eve Wilkins has posed:
Eve's eyes widen a fraction at Mary Jane's explanation of the Hypno Hustler. "Hypnotic disco? That kind of figures," she quips with a lighthearted shake of her head.

When MJ delivers the "up and atom" pun, Eve laughs, her amusement evident. "You know, I've been waiting for someone to drop that one on me," she says with a mock sigh, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "Glad it was you."

Hearing Miles's cringe-worthy Disco-Spider story, Eve chuckles softly, squeezing his hand affectionately. "Now that's a sight I'd pay good money to see," she teases him. "But don't worry, your secret is safe with me... and the entire city of New York." She winks.

Absorbing the collective excitement around them, Eve finds herself eager to dive into the music and atmosphere. The pulsating rhythm from the warm-up band continues to pull at her, and the sky has shifted into deeper shades, making the stage lights even more prominent.

"But hey, tonight's about Post Malone and the magic of music," she continues, her voice filled with genuine enthusiasm. "Let's make it memorable... preferably without any surprise villainous appearances."

She nods her head towards the security check and ticket scanning, tugging Miles along. It /would/ be a huge line, but they have multiple lines set up to get in, so it's not all THAT long, and once she's up to the scanner, she presents the tickets with a satisfactory *beep* and green light.

"Hold your hand out for a VIP stamp," the ticket lady instructs them on the way through, to which Eve happily presents the back of her hand for a black-light stamp. "You'll need your ticket and the stamp to get into the seating in front of the stage. Back-stage meets to the right of the stage after the show."

And after the security check (Eve wasn't even carrying so much as a purse), they're in! And the huge, entire venue is their playground -- food, drinks, seating, people dancing, the VIP area at the front of the stage (which no one was going to be actually /sitting/ in once Post Malone took the stage). All of it!

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson would sigh over at Miles, "Yeah, it's a risk. I'm just glad that we don't get the worst of it. I mean, the Justice League has to face the -weirdest- things. I sometimes wonder if a lot o the news reports aren't them just messing with us to see if we pay attention or not." She would quip over. "And I always wonder if there are other Lanterns out there that have different colors than green, purely so you can imagine someone cackling with all their hands with different colored rings so they look like they got 'em from cereal box tops." That's a very, very speicfic mental image.

"I know your pain. I can completely sympathize over with you. Just.. There are reports on my end of things of some freaky tub of lard that kidnaps pepole to take them to other dimensions to make them face off in death matches and it gets pretty weird." Since how did all of their discussions end up swapping stories of weird supervillains?

Smiling over at Eve, "Got it. Don't worry. Just do remember, you can't trust an atom. Because they make up everything." That would probably get a glare from both and a groan over. Going to glance over. "These are sweet. Thank you for getting them." THey're definitely in the 'I can dream but could never get' frame of reference for Mary Jane to look at. "You are amazing. Do I want to know how you got these so I can repeat the process myself someday?"

Miles Morales has posed:
"I could've done it!" Miles tells Eve now that he has been brutally defeated in punbat by a superior foe, but he sighs. "Alright, score is MJ - 1, Miles- 0. I'll catch up to you..." He fist shakes at MJ with a cheeky grin plastered on his face like a monkey about to throw a fastball. He turns to Eve properly when she swears to keep his Disco-Spider story a secret. "I love you." he says relievedly.

He turns his eyes towards MJ as he returns Eve's affection with a squeeze of her hand. "I would think there's more Lantern colors, but I don't even know why GL is green. I want to say it's because it's his favorite color, but what do I know?" He lifts his shoulders in a shrug.

"...what if you had numerous rings?" Miles looks off into the distance for a moment. That'd be a dope-ass spider-suit!

"....lard? Ugh." Spider-Man *does* have a Lard villain! Technically. He beat clay face a few days ago and he needed Eve's help to speed clean his suit. It was gross.

"-because they make up DAMMIT!" Miles loses again! 2-0. "You beat me by one second. One. Second."

He turns to Eve as she pulls him towards security, and they find nothing sus on him, but Miles was wearing a jacket so they make sure his pockets are clean.

Standard security shit.

VIP stamped! "This is so exciting!" Miles looks at Eve with genuine excitement and sincerity. "thank you, baby." He pauses.

"Wait...backstage meets?! Does that mean I can meet...?" He looks at Eve like she just gave him the meaning of life.

Eve Wilkins has posed:
Eve grins as she watches the playful exchange between Miles and MJ, her gaze filled with mirth. "Oh.. pun battles," she muses, tapping her chin with a mock-serious look, "Is this like a spider-adjacent thing? Am I supposed to be participating in these, now?"

At Miles's profession of his love, though, she pulls herself up against him and nudges his shoulder, smiling. "I love you, too, you giant nerd."

She nods in agreement with MJ's observation on the news reports and the Justice League. "Oh, I bet they have their hands full with some of the strangest challenges. It's almost like they're facing off with intergalactic circus performers half the time." She chuckles, the idea of superhero work often seeming surreal, even though she's seen a lot.

Even does laugh softly at Miles's comment about cleaning his suit. "Well, my way /is/ faster than you sitting and scrubbing it for hours. There's better ways to spend that time."

As MJ quips about atoms, Eve groans, though the glint of amusement still lingers in her eyes. "Oh.. oh God. They're getting worse. How long does this game usually last?" she asks, barely restraining a laugh as she looks between them.

At Mary Jane's appreciation and inquiry about the tickets, Eve smiles mysteriously, "Let's just say I have a friend in high places who owed me a favor. Sometimes it's good to have connections in unlikely spots. As for replicating the process... well, you might just have to be at the right place at the right time."

When Miles's eyes light up at the mention of the backstage meets, Eve chuckles, her heart swelling with warmth at his sheer excitement. "Yes, that's exactly what it means. I wanted to surprise you with it. Thought it'd be the cherry on top of an already amazing night." She leans in, planting a soft kiss on his cheek. "Just remember, no 'Disco-Spider' moves in front of Post Malone, okay?" She grins teasingly.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane Watson would laugh, "Well, it's kind of the standard. I think it started out over as a survival mechanism, an dit just sort of spiraled from there. It's gotten worse over the years and even more ridiculous. But, with great power comes great hamminess." Says the woman that's using the equivalent of dad jokes.

"And you two really fit well together. I'm just seeing you two for the first time and you make one another so happy. Keep up the good work." She would put her hands behind her back. "And don't tell me, I'll respect your secrecy. I don't want to risk outing the way you get all those lovely things to appease us. I do however warn you that it might be encouragement to the two of us to keep it up. I mean, atoms gotta stick together."

At the mention of 'no disco spider' Mary Jane would pff. "Don't make promises youc a'nt keep. That's just laying the ground for something horrible to happen."

Miles Morales has posed:
"Yep, you chose this when you said yes to a date with me." Miles smirks at Eve for a long moment. "So don't fear the puns, they come fast and furious and always have the same reaction." He bumps her playfully and his reward for a confession of love is one from Eve in return, the judge up to him allows him to kiss her forehead with a warmth he shows no one else.

"But think about it...hanging out with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman? I dunno how much cooler that could get. Well, meeting Captain America would be pretty cool." He laughs aloud at cleaning up Clayface gunk. "Yeeaaahh....ugh, it takes hours and like, three things of hardcore bleach to get out. I should just make backup suits." He remarks.

He looks at MJ. "We will *never* speak of-" He smiles though when she calls he and Eve a good couple. "Thanks MJ, really appreciate that. Eve's pretty much my favorite person on earth. Don't tell Ganke." He nods though, happily. "Atoms always stick together. Unless your Mercury. Mercury rides solo and mellow."

Meanwhile, Eve reveals that Miles will get a chance to meet Post Malone and he looks like he might faint! He opens his mouth to say something but he doesn't, a meaning of mischief and love in his eyes as he turns his head at the last moment to kiss Eve on the lips instead of his cheek. "You. Are. The. BEST!"

Eve Wilkins has posed:
Eve playfully rolls her eyes at MJ's and Miles's continued puns, her laughter light and airy. "Yeah, yeah. I know. I'm getting used to them. Mark's were groan-worthy, too." Mark Grayson aka Invincible. She punctuates her jest with a chuckle, thoroughly enjoying the banter.

Caught by MJ's words about her relationship with Miles, Eve gives her a warm smile. "Thank you, MJ. That means a lot. I guess the universe sometimes has a funny way of bringing the right people together. Puns, disco spiders, and all." Her eyes linger on Miles for a moment with undeniable fondness.

The genuine joy on Miles's face, however, leaves her momentarily speechless, her heart swells with affection. His unexpected kiss takes her by surprise, but she happily reciprocates, pulling back with a laugh. "Well, if that's the reaction I get for concert tickets, I can't wait to see what you'll do if I ever snag us a private serenade." She smirks mischievously, keeping the atmosphere light and playful.

"Do you want to grab a churro or something before we go find our seats?"

Miles Morales has posed:
Miles exists in that kiss for a moment, happy to just be present with Eve as the stand there proudly together. As he pulls away, his eyes are alight with love and adoration. "Babe, if you get us a private serenade..." He leaves that part unspoken but Miles bravely implies that Eve is already in for quite the hefty reward for today. As MJ runs off to grab snacks, Miles gives her a wave and he turns his eyes back to his girlfriend.

"Hell yes. We need all the snacks and drinks. We got VIP status, the whole theater is our oyster." Miles playfully bumps Eve with his hip.

"Thank you, Sam." Miles calls her by her name, having respectfully avoided doing so when MJ was present.