2721/Castle Rocks

Castle Rocks
Date of Scene:	01 August 2020
Location:	Brighton Beach
Synopsis:	Peter and MJ go out to White Castle after a very busy few weeks.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson

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Peter Parker has posed:
It's a statement of fact that a LOT of people don't drive in New York. In spite of all the cars, that is still only a fraction of the people. With the subway, the bus system, and now Uber and Lyft, getting around is easier all the time.

Peter Parker sidled out of an alley and thought, with a wry smile, that SOME methods of travel were easier than others.
It had been some time since their last date, and Peter was hoping to make up for lost time with MJ. He wanted to see her...heck, he NEEDED to see her. Part of it was how bouyant she was. Another was because she was dealing with something even New Yorkers don't run across.

The third, of course, was that they were still running the Spider-Man Special, and he just spent all the extra funds he had to help cover his first semester at ESU.
He stopped at the bike rack outside the White Castle, looking around for MJ. He had chosen to be here a half-hour early...which, of course, after two foiled petty crimes, that he ended up only five minutes early.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane's been on a bit of a tear with Shakespeare in the Park performances, though after the latest riot in Queens, she's given them a bit of notice. Plus, fall semester is starting soon at Julliard, and she's still trying to figure out how to balance that with her new job.

And her new job is... definitely sucking up a lot of attention. Still, when she got the text from Peter, she leaped at the chance to see him. Since life was definitely busy for both of them... but then, at least it was nice to be equally busy.

Anyway, she rode her motorcycle over, parking the bike in front of the White Castle as she took off the helmet and shook her hair free, "Hey Tiger, been waiting long?" Her lips curl into a warm smile, looking definitely glad to see him.

Peter Parker has posed:
Ooof. The sight of her as she shook her hair free was like some iconic scene, like Honey Ryder coming out of the surf in Dr. No. For a moment, Peter wore that same pole-axed look he wore when she stunned him to the point his brain had to reboot. The guy could lift ten tons, but she could stun him with a flip of the crimson hair.

Then his brain rebooted and he smiled, approaching her to hug her warmly, as if he had been waiting for the scene to end and some unseen director to yell, "CUT!"
"Hey, MJ...nah, only a few minutes. At least I showed up before you did this time..."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
MJ grins and gives Peter a hug, then also a kiss to boot, mmming a bit as she definitely seems to have missed Peter, a lot. "Well, a classic like White Castle, how can a girl from Queens resist?" She winks at that, then tucks her helmet away in the bike's compartment, slipping her arm into Peter's as she looks at him. "Shall we? I'm /starving/."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter smiled, and he looked immensely relieved. He always was a worrywart, as Aunt May called it.

As he opened the door for MJ, the smells of hot food seemed to pull them both in. Grilling meat and fried potato went together like steak and eggs, peanut butter and chocolate...
...MJ and Peter. The thought was encouraging.
He pointed to the sign that advertised the Spider-Man Special - 12 cheeseburgers, large fries, large drink for $10. "Want to give that a try?"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane grins, "Sure, I know I've been burning the candle at both ends lately." She tilts her head at Peter, "Are we splitting that, or getting one for each?" A soft chuckle, as she's aware of the Spider-Metabolism, and well... Sonja kicked up her own calorie burning too, so she's definitely not a waif model eating maybe fifty calories a day or some nonsense.

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter chuckled. "Up to you. But I am buying this time. You bought last time, as I recall." He looked around. "Maybe Spider-Man ought to show up sometime soon. You know, show them he's not forgotten about the place. Or does that sound a little too much like grandstanding?"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
MJ laughs a bit, "Maybe a /little/ bit, but I think Spidey can do that once in a while. I mean, what's the point if you can't have some fun with it, right?" She grins and tilts her head, "My partner thinks you should relax and enjoy yourself sometimes, hon. I mean, you /can/, but you worry way too much." With that, she places a kiss on his cheek, then says, "Well, I think if I can't finish mine I'll take home the leftovers."

Peter Parker has posed:
"Works for me." He steps up to the counter and waves to Bud. "Two Spider-Man Specials."
"Hot item." Bud chuckles at the light joke. "So, drinks?"
"Cherry coke for me. and no pickles on mine." He looks to MJ. "How about you?"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane smiles, "No pickles for me either, and Coke Zero. Sugar gets right to my head." She winks, aware of the look it is when you order the super-meal with a diet soda, but well... it's a bit weird. Plus, habit from when she had to watch the calories a bit tighter. Plus, Peter might want the leftovers, so no pickles.

Peter Parker has posed:
Bud puts in the order, then says, "It'll be right out." He hands Peter a plastic stand with the number 19 on it. "Pick any table. Thank you for choosing White Castle."
Peter nods, then points at a relatively-secluded booth. Peter seems to pick the quiet spots when he wants to talk and his...extra-curricular pastime might be a topic.

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
MJ picks up on the cue from Peter, nodding and settling into the booth in question, glancing up at Peter, "How has it been going, Peter?" She keeps her voice low, concern bleeding into her voice, "Glad to see you've been okay." Her lips quirk into a bit of a sheepish grin.

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter gives that old sheepish smile. Some things never change.
"The usual. Grime, crime and slime. I seem to spend a problematic amount of time in the sewers lately. Lizard, Vermin..." He sighs. "One's a victim of his own hubris, the other of long-term abuse. I never get the villains with the SIMPLE motives, like world domination." He looks thoughtful. "Probably for the best, though. How about you?"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane sighs, "Been fighting Nazis a lot, speaking of world domination." She rolls her eyes, "We think we know what they're after, but... well, I think Sonja has impressed my superiors, so that's a good thing. Plus there's a couple techie folks where I work that I think you'd get along /great/ with. Jemma is the best. And, she's bribeable with Chinese food." She grins at that, "Actually, I gotta say, I really like working with these people. They're actually pretty cool."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter chuckles. "Yeah. I'm really glad you are out there, making a difference that way. I...worried about that, too, the last time we dated. If the trouble I dealt with was going to end up on your doorstep with a laser rifle and an evil smile." He hmmed. "Well, that was before Red showed up. Can I be selfish and reveal I was kinda glad on some level when I heard about Red? My first thought was, 'Well, maybe it'll be harder for her to get killed because of me.'" He sighs heavily. "...Sorry."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
MJ smiles and places a hand on Peter's, "Hey, I'm just glad that I'm in a position I can share this crazy life with you, Peter. I don't know what I'd do without her in my head, but I'll tell you this, even if she went back to Hyborea tomorrow? You aren't getting rid of me that easily." She hrms.

"Though, I'm definitely going to have to watch my calories a bit closer if she did..."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter chuckles. "You'd make it work. That's one thing I've always known. You make things work."

He looks up as the waitress arrives with the two trays piled high with those little white boxes. She puts the drinks down, smiles to the two of them, and makes herself scarce.

"All right...I figured you ought to know something about my job. I couldn't remember if I told you. But I did what I should have done early with Mr. Stark."
He picks up his cherry Coke and takes a long sip.

"I've been keeping Mr. Kord up to date, but I've been a little leery of asking him for help with creating a better suit. I guess I'm worries someone will see his handiwork on Spidey's suit and start asking questions."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
MJ nods, "Yeah, that tech can be traced pretty easily." She grins, "Don't worry, my employers don't know about you. At least, not from me." She shrugs a bit, "To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if they did know but just didn't worry about it just yet." She gives Peter a warm look, "I've got your back Tiger, you know that." She takes a sip from her Coke Zero, sighing a bit at the artificial sweetener.

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter chuckled. "I never worried, MJ. Truth is, they might know, but I'm too small-fry for SHIELD. When you're dealing with Nazis, street crime tends to take a backseat." He takes one slider and more-or-less inhales it, smiling. "Oh yeah, that's the stuff." He sips his drink, then continues, "No sign of any of Gath's goblins. Or of anything else. I don't like it."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane frowns, "Yeah, it bothers me too. Makes me think they're up to something. What, I don't know. I... well, there's a department in SHIELD that handles more magical things. I was thinking I might talk to some of them about it. Just to see if they might be more familiar." She hmms, "If nothing else, they might know more about this stuff than we do."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter nods. "I heard about a couple of sources. One being Dr. Stephen Strange. He's supposed to be a pretty big deal. Not sure if he'd let me past the front door, though. There's another. He's a little more...sordid. I only have a name, and not even a full one. Someone known as 'Constantine.'"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
MJ mmms, "Let me ask around at SHIELD. I'll see if I can figure something out there. If nothing else, we might have a few suggestions from them. And it wouldn't necessarily hurt to have the backup, especially if Kulan Gath is planning something particularly bad. Which he certainly is."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter nods. "He might have learned from his mistakes the last time. I doubt he had to worry about SUPERHEROES, even working-class ones like me, in ancient Hyboria." He rubs his face, noshing on some fries. "I think he has help. MODERN help, like the kind you give to Red."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane nods, "Well, there was Sonja, Conan, Beliz, and some others... but yeah, not like this. But then again, there weren't really a lot of people for him to work /with/ either." She nibbles at her food, looking a bit preoccupied as it's definitely not a pleasant thought.

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter tilts his head. "What was this Conan guy like? I only found scraps of info. Warrior, gladiator, thief, king. It's hard to put it all together."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
MJ grins, "Yeah, also had an annoying sense of honor. Pretty hot though, not that we ever... er, I mean, Sonja and he, ever... well, he was pretty devoted to his pirate queen. Pity, that." She chuckles a little, giving Peter a wry expression. "But he was all of those things, at one point or another. Life was a little more... fluid, back then."

Peter Parker has posed:
"Fluid. Yeah, I guess you have a point there. Cultures can change in 12,000 years. I only saw one drawing of him, and he looked MASSIVE. Like, 'did they have steroid use in Hyboria?' massive. I guess when you're swinging a sword like that around, muscles are a by-product." Peter paused. "Aunt May is hoping you'll come by sometime. She missed you."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane smiles, "Then I'll come by this weekend. Think she'd be cool if I spend the night?" She waggles her eyebrows at Peter, then adds on, "Well, that was a bit exaggerated, that pic. I mean, that's just ridiculous. But, he was pretty well built. More like your build, really. Well, your build after getting bit." She winks again, tilting her head at Peter thoughtfully.

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter blinked. "Really? Because, y'know, I'm a pretty scrawny guy. Even with....you know..." He looks puzzled. "Maybe I've read too much Robert E. Howard stuff. Ever hear about him?"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
MJ gets a bit of a frown, "I've... read some of his work, once I had Sonja pop in my head. She's... not a fan." She snorts, "Mainly at the notion of women being fair damsels in distress and other bullshit. And don't get her started on the fantasy depictions of HER..."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter nods. "I always thought, Yeah, Wow, male fantasy. But since Red showed up...I've wondered if he saw something. Maybe he was like you. He had someone in his head from way back when, telling him this stuff and he wrote it all down."

He took another sip. "Maybe it started going bad in his later life. Maybe...at the end, he was trying to evict whoever it was in his head."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane nods, "Yeah, no rape victim, no weird chastity vow, none of that baloney, really. Some of the stuff he got right, a lot he made up as far as I can tell." She hmms, and shrugs, looking at her food with a slight frown, thinking about some things.

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter looked down. "Sorry. Sometimes my mouth says go before my brain says no." He reaches to grasp MJ's hand gently. "This is not a topic for a date. Or even for White Castle. I just...I'm sorry."

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
MJ chuckles, "Oh, it's not that... I mean, well, it kinda is, but not really." She gently takes Peter's hand, and grins wryly at him, "Look, Tiger, I get that you want to know about the Hyborean Age and ask about all sorts of things, I really do... but, Sonja's a part of me. Just one part. She's not the whole me." She winks at that, "I like talking about other things too."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter sighs. "Yeah. You're right, of course. I just..." He sighs. "Next date, you choose the topics. I guess I just worry that I'm not...doing my job, I guess. Neurotic, isn't it?"

Mary Jane Watson has posed:
Mary Jane grins, "Neurotic, yes, I think it's part of that Parker charm." She chuckles, "Look, it's all weird and strange and well, yeah, of course you want to ask questions because you're a scientist at heart and you want to know all about it. I get it... but, yeah, sometimes I want to just run Shakespeare lines at you to try and get your heart fluttering too, okay Tiger?"

She pauses, and chuckles, "Though, well, now I definitely want to ask Aunt May if she minds if I spend the night. Somehow I think she's gonna be cool with it." Besides, she probably knows about them already...