2240/The Royal and the Royal Heel

The Royal and the Royal Heel
Date of Scene:	27 June 2020
Location:	Queens
Synopsis:	Spidey reconnects with Shuri, gulfs are crossed, and friendships are reinforced.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Shuri

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Peter Parker has posed:
Summer is in full swing, and so is Spider-Man.
It's about 10 PM and Spidey is working his way along the homestretch of Patrol Route Seven, which takes him through the north/northeastern area of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and then back around to Queens. It has been a hot, sweaty night, and Peter is not looking forward to figuring out how to clean his costume without Aunt May finding out. It's bad enough he trashed her tablecloth six months ago with the new costume, and this one is literally cut from the same cloth.

He lands on a water tower and checks the feed on the drone. 58 pictures, which will likely be scaled down to 15 usable shots, at about $10 per shot from JJJ, the skinflint...yeah, a moderate amount, and maybe he can put a little into savings. College is no longer a free ride, and the partial scholarship only covers part of it...

Peter Parker, Dickensian protagonist. it is to laugh...or cry.

Shuri has posed:
There's barely a sound. It's something of a whisper as Shuri flies over the area where Spider-Man just landed and then she simply gives her own sorta thwip. He'll probably hear that though it is pretty quiet as it hits the side of the water tower and pulls her in for a perfect landing on the top and the wings simply shrink back into her shoulders even as the liquid cable line detaches from her hip projector. She smirks as she looks at Spider-man and then she shakes her head.

"You've been rather busy, from what I have heard, Spider-Man." She states simply enough, "You don't write or call or anything even when you are facing disaster. Seems rude to me." She teases.

Peter Parker has posed:
He feels a chill at that voice. Not because she is a threat, but becuase of something HE did.

Peter Parker would always be a man ruled by guilt. It's his fault his Uncle was dead, his fault if a criminal hurts or kills someone before he can stop them, his fault through action or inaction.
And it is much worse when facing the person he wronged.

"Yike!" he blurts out, whirling around as Shuri speaks. "Uhm...hi! Uhm, yeah, well I've been..."

Having to scramble and scrape because he messed up my dream job. Worrying every thing Shuri was going to show up and arrest him or just tell him never to get within a mile of her again for making promises he couldn't keep and making stupid mistakes on top of that.

There was also the evil sorcerer, the girlfriend with the Hyborian warrior currently residing in her body, and dealing with amorous cat burglars, big machines trying to kill him...plus the usual bad-guy stuff.

"...I've been a little caught up in stuff, and..." He sighs, his shoulder slumping. "Shuri...I'm sorry..."

Shuri has posed:
A smirk and then she shakes her haed, "Peter." She states simply enough, "You don't need to apologize to me. I'm a princess. I can recover from any harm done." She nods her head and then shrugs, "You, however, have already been punished enough, I think." She states simply before looking back down at the city below and then back to him, "Though, I am curious as to how things happened." She nods her head as she slips down and sits on the edge of the tower before looking back to him, "Seems to me that you have a story to tell."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man sighed heavily, but, truth be told, he feels a little better. At least he could say he looked her in the eyes and faced it. He didn't just dummy up, hope it would be forgotten, run from it.
Because, as they say, God hates a coward.

"Wellll...I have more than one. A warrior woman from over 12,000 years ago helped me stop a couple of Cornell Tech students from being sacrificed to an Elder God so Kulan Gath, an evil sorcerer, could get...something. I dunno. Something worth disemboweling two young women for."

He moves to sit on the water tower as well rather than just hanging off of it.

"It happened at the old Smallpox Hospital on Roosevelt Island. Me, Red Sonja, and a techno-ninja stopped it, but Gath wasn't there. He's somewhere in the city, and we have no idea where."

Shuri has posed:
A nod and she hmms, "Sure, that sounds neat and all but..." She looks to him, "That's not what I meant." She states simply enough. She gestures at him, "Unless that somehow lost you your job and if so, that's weird and I think you wouldn't want to avoid working for Stark anyway if that is the case." SHe nods her head.

Peter Parker has posed:
Oh...yeah. THAT story.

Spider-Man looked down. "I tried to keep a promise to you, but in the process, I tried to do an end run around Mr. Stark and Miss Potts. I broke protocol...more than one protocol. I got someone fired, and now Mr. Stark doesn't even want to look at me. As we say here, I got too big for my britches. I took advantage of Mr. Stark's trust in me. And I paid for it. Good-bye, dream job, good-bye projects, good-bye scholarship..."

<Hello, darkness, my old friend...>

Spidey closed his eyes. "And it's no one's fault but my own."

Shuri has posed:
"Ah." She states simply enough and then considers that, "Well, I am glad that you kept your promise but if it was going to get you fired, you should have come to me." She states simply enough and then nods her head, "Do you not recall? I said it earlier. I am a princess." She smirks and nods her head, "That and a genius inventor and possibly the smartest and most beautiful girl on the planet." She idly shrugs and idly looks at her hand before looking back at him with a smirk.

"In the future, do not do things alone. Come to your friends." She reaches out and gives him a small punch.

Peter Parker has posed:
"...Ow." He looks at Shuri for a long moment. "Well, you are a genius, an inventor, and being one of the smartest people on the planet. Most beautiful, though? Hmmm..." He rubs his chin, then says, "...top THREE, definitely. But I'm extremely biased on the most beautiful girl on the planet."

His voice develops a wistful tone, the tone of someone in love.

Shuri has posed:
A smirk and then she rolls her eyes, "Pfft, you are biased and blind." She nods her head, "I can hardly trust you on such matters as beauty." She then shifts some and then she points at him, "I am serious, though. You do not go into danger without your friends." She nods her head, "It is incredibly stupid. You can have a lot up in your head going on but if you don't use wisdom with it...well, you end up where you are now."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey nods. "Yeah...you're right, of course." He rubs the beck of his neck. "Well, if you want, I can do a proper connection to the Spider-Comm system. I can set you up with Honorary Spider access, which allows communication and read-only access to the private database."

Shuri has posed:
A smirk and then she shifts, "I mean, if you wish to. I was considering just making my own, running an a few algorithms and then adding myself to it." She then shrugs, "But that'd be rude." She winks at him before nodding, "I would be glad to have access and of course, take your com, get the right frequencies and then throw it out after I improve it." She then winks.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man eyes Shuri. "Wow. This is what it must be like for everyone who knows me. This is a real eye-opener."
He shakes his head. After being bullied for being smart for 12 years, getting a little envious that someone is smarter than you seems a little facetious.

"Well, if you have your phone or whatever comm system you use, hold it up and I'll run a handshake protocol. I'm sure you have your own A/R rig, so I'll just handshake for that, too."

Shuri has posed:
A laugh and then she shakes her head a little before she taps her ear and then taps her bead bracelet. She holds it up and offers it to him, "Just go ahead and aim it at these." She nods her head, "They'll pick up whatever single you want to send and will connect." She gestures, "I can then set it to notice whenever something is going on." She nods her head, "Then it'll alert me."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man nods and points at the bracelet. A second later, an alert comes up of a new telecom network called SPIDER-COMM detected, requesting verification to connect to it.

Spider-Man sits up. "Yeah, I'm getting a response on the network."

Shuri has posed:
A smirk as she rolls her eyes, "Of course." She says to him with a grin and then she tilts her head, "Was there any doubt?" She then taps the beads and a hard light screen pops up above the beads. She taps something on it and then adjusts something before she looks it over and nods, "I'll set something up later to alert me whenever something comes up." She nods, "I can't listen to it all day, everyday." She chuckles.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man nods. "There is an online manual in the database that shows how to configure the alerts so you can filter by certain words, alert levels, or just to tell you of any messages directed at you. You can also send messages to any other member." He smirks under the mask. "Just don't abuse the system. I don't want Wonder Woman breathing down my neck about getting IM-spammed."

Shuri has posed:
"Wonder woman is on here?" She blinks at that and then looks down at the screen briefly before grinning over at Spider-Man, "Might have to take advantage of that." She winks before she idly puts the screen away and she nods to him, "But I was serious." She states and points at him, "No more going it alone. Sure, there are some idiots you can take out alone pretty easily but I'm here." She nods again, "If you need me. I mean...unless I'm taking on an idiot but then I might be calling you at that point."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man nods. After the weeks of berating himself, this talk is helping. And her advice is definitely solid.

"If anything comes up that is beyond the usual bank robbery or hostage situation, I'll send a message to everyone on the channel. Whoever is available will get the rundown and a waypoint if one is needed. In the meantime...you might want to try digging into Wakanda's ancient history. Like around 12,000 B.C. I'm trying to collect all the verifiable intel I can, to help understand how Gath thinks. I do know he has a fair number of Quoggoth-spawn serving him...they come from an Elder God named Shuma-Gorath, or 'He Who Lies Sleeping.' Because that is the standard call sign for Cthulhu's butt-buddies."

Shuri has posed:
"I have been looking into things but it isn't as easy as fixing something. Not really my area of expertise but I'll have others look into it as much as I can. Right now, I'm also working on the problem with Mutant Town." She nods her head, "And honestly I'm not sure what should come first but I know what seems like it needs to go first."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey tilts his head. "Which problem in particular? There are a few going on there, but no one talks to me out there."

Shuri has posed:
"I can't go into details. It's a SHIELD thing but...I'm trying to figure out more about the technology that the person who took Mutant Town uses." She nods her head and looks over at him, "Cause it was taken. Not destroyed. Taken." She states simply enough and then she considers, "Honestly, even for me that is an impressive feat."

Peter Parker has posed:
Right. A SHIELD thing. Okay, just get used to the fact there are things going on you will never know about. And maybe he's better off that way. There's enough going on that ruins his sleep.

"Well, I guess I'll have to take your word for it." He pauses. "I hope you're getting a lot of mileage out of the webshooter design."

Shuri has posed:
A frown and she nods, "Sorry, I can't just invite you into their base." She shakes her head, "I mean, I could and likely get away with it but then there'd be all these details about them being upset with me and then I'd have to stay away for a while or hack their systems or..." She waves her hand, "A whole mess."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey holds up both hands. "Not gonna ask. Seriously. I've already bagged my limit of Doing Stuff I Have No Business Doing, I'm not trying to exceed it." He sighs, lowering his hands. "I have my hands full with stuff already. I've ALMOST made enough to afford going to ESU in the fall, and I can continue to cover it as long as I keep hustling, so I have enough on my plate. Right now, I am focusing on Kulan Gath and the Kingpin. Both are bad news in different ways."

Shuri has posed:
A smirk and then she points to him, "You do know I can cover you, right? I can even make up some kind of scholarship or something." She nods her head, "I knwo you like to do things alone but if it comes down to just a few dollars between success and failure, you let me know." She states, "No need to fall down at the finish line."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey chuckles. "If I ever get seriously strapped, I'll consider it. But I have a friend, Harry Osborn. His father's Norman Osborn, the CEO of OsCorp. He's made a similar offer, but I turned him down. He's one of the best friends I have in the world, and part of that is him knowing I'd never take a dime from him. He likes to spoil his friends, but many of his so-called 'friends' bleed him for money constantly. But he knows I don't want anything from him but his company." He chuckles. "I never ask for that kind of help unless I really can't manage it myself. My Uncle...he told me that money causes more trouble between friends than anything else." He chuckles. "I wouldn't turn down a job offer...but I'd rather have an opportunity than a handout."

Shuri has posed:
A shrug and then she considers, "I can see what I can do on that line but..." She chuckles, "Honestly, Peter. I don't think you could..." She makes air quotes, "'Bleed' me for enough money even if you wanted to." She smirks, "Either way, we'll see." She nods her head.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man nods and smiles under the mask. "Thanks for the consideration, Shuri. You certainly ACT like a princess, that's for sure. And any guy who attracted your interest would be the luckiest guy in the world." His smile turns wry. "I'm taken, though, so you'll just have to settle for someone else." He winks (yes, the eye-lens winks).

Shuri has posed:
A smirk as she looks at him and then she shakes her head, "You act like you had a chance." She snickers and then pushes off and even as she does, the wings simply form behind her and catch her in mid-air. She then turns and grins at him, "See you later, Spider-Man." She waves at him, "I'll let you know if we find out about anything from 12,000 BC." She nods her head.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man waves.

Boy, that must be some country she hails from...