4990/Going Gwen-tle Into That Good Night

Going Gwen-tle Into That Good Night
Date of Scene:	02 February 2021
Location:	Brooklyn
Synopsis:	Spidey sees a Ghost, and it's all right.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Gwen Stacy

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Peter Parker has posed:
Another night in the Big Apple.
It's relatively quiet. Apart from the occasional lapse of judgment, Spider-Man hasn't seen much activity. Maybe it's a criminal's holiday or something. Henchman pay for staying home.

So, he sends a message over Spider-Comm, not really expecting an answer.
<Quiet night in NYC. Heading over to King's Landing Scrap Yard to do my daily workout since no CROOKS want to help out with that. I have Krispy Kreme doughnuts and coffee/OJ.>

If nothing else, he could do a little carbo-loading before bed.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
New York. It's not a place she was expecting to come back to anytime soon. Too many fragmented memories - of the past, of another universe. A past that had not occurred here but it didn't mean it wasn't real for her. Perhaps too real. So Metropolis had been the place of choice for a time, being with the Titans, or out at Gotham. Yet things had a way of coming full circle where Gwen was concerned. Home was truly here, not out there in a new city where she could hide from all the guilt she felt so she had returned...

She had been back for a few weeks now, but it's not as if she had told any of her former friends about that. So it might comes as a bit of a surprise when a familiar voice on the comms is heard, "I thought we'd have non-stop activity of criminals after all the spider fail videos I have been watching." she teases over the line, "But how can I resist some doughnuts? I will be right there."

Ghost Spider swings her way across the familiar grounds, up above where she cannot be seen by most of those making their living on firm ground, eventually starting to near the gathering place.

Peter Parker has posed:
...Ooog. Yeah, that was a blast from the past.

Gwen was dead. Gwen was alive, but from another world.
What a donnybrook THAT had been. For the rest of the world, Gwen had fallen, but hadn't died. Something a non-anime magical girl had done switched the flip, and now everyone thinks she was in a coma, not killed, and her father believed Gwen had survived.
He had been too close to it. He had needed to remember that the Gwen with the spider-powers and the costumes wasn't HIS Gwen, and that she had lost HER Peter Parker.

But it had taken awhile. Gwen's foray in the Titans helped. The distance helped him come to grips with it.

Gwen was dead...but it was all right now.

Spidey put the wide doughnut box, the jug of OJ, and the box of coffee on the makeshift table he had made out of a Yugo. Probably the most useful the car had EVER been.

The scrapyard might get out of probate court...in the next decade. Until then, it sat empty, except when heroes unaffiliated with any A-list superteam like the League or the Avengers or the Titans could come and train themselves to use their powers wisely. It had certainly helped HIM...

Gwen Stacy has posed:
It certainly didn't help that the sync had done more than make her a permanent resident of this world, but now she was having memories of the OTHER Gwen popping into her mind from time to time. Which was .., disturbing to say the least. What was real though? Sometimes it was hard to figure that out depending on the day. But she was done with running away...

Earbuds go into her ears while she swings, distracting herself with a song while making her way, up onto a rooftop, a small run .., another jump..

"But I keep cruisin'.., can't stop, won't stop moving~"

She humming along to some Taylor Swift as the scrapyard came into view, not so far now. She throws herself up in the air, wide, graceful as ever and tosses one last web that latches to a building and eases her landing on the ground, on the tips of her turquoise slippers and then making her way over.

"A Yugo huh? Really living the life, aren't you?" not that she can talk much, considering she is still dirt poor! But she could still tease her friend. Or was it the other Gwen's friend?

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey smiles. Different universe, but there's a lot of his Gwen in her. The same fire, the same will, the same humor...

Variables and constants existing across quantum states. Perhaps there's a paper in it.

"Glad to see you, Ghost." Because it's Ghost and Spidey when they're out in the open, even here. "I would have tried to get some award-winning apple pie, but the pastry chef in question threatened me with gross bodily harm if I took any meant for the church bake sale. Maybe next time."
He opened the doughnut box, revealing a variety, including three of the type Gwen had liked, hoping this one did too. If not, she could have any of the others...EXCEPT the blueberry ones. She couldn't have ANY of those.

Well, maybe just ONE. But really, that's it.

"Are you just visiting, or are you back in town for good?"

Gwen Stacy has posed:
"Hey Spidey." The Ghost greets in reply. No names when in costume! That was a big rule. One she had learned well since her times as first Spider Woman and then Ghost Spider when she came to this world. Branding! And no need to confuse the audience with having TWO Spider Woman. And Ghost Spider was picking up traction anyway so ...

"And shame on you if you had taken any of that pie.." A brow arching under her mask, she reaching to take one of the doughnuts and looking it over. The masked face turns to Spiderman a moment and she asks, "Where are the blueberries." deadpan really. But she KNOWS they are around here somewhere. Maybe she will have to track them smell... But well, this would suffice for now.

There is some hesitation before Gwen finally answers, "For good." she says, "Or well, at least until the next catrastophic event that may pull one of us to another universe, mmm?" her tone as if she is trying to downplay and even joke around the whole thing. Not that it seems she is through that .., at all. "But this is the only life I know."

She lifts her mask up partially, revealing the lower end of her face so she can start digging into the doughnut. "How have you been doing, Spidey? Should I be worried about all those videos popping up about you?" the corner of her mouth curling up into a faint smirk.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey bends over the box, lifting the baking paper covering one side of the box, revealing three blueberry doughnuts. He takes two, but leaves one.

Just in case.

"Ah, what can you do? My PR department is a bunch of dogs. I talk to them every time, but they bark at me worse than JJJ. Besides...you realized that your mistakes are the only things you can claim as yours. And if looking like a clown means someone goes home instead of the morgue or the hospital, bring on the clown nose and size-47 shoes."

Another pause. "I've been okay. More ups and down than a 30-minute websling through the city, but what can you do? Found out Wonder Woman disconned from the Spider-Comm group, but that's okay. We don't seem to run in the same circles, anyways. She can save the world and I can save John and Jane Q. Public. Bet Big Jake doesn't give HER free chili dogs." He winks.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
"Mmmm, straight to the hips." Gwen murmurs, which shows her intention on getting to that blueberry donut... Soon enough.. Because right now she was busying herself with the MUNDANE one, arms folded loosely by the waist and she leaning her hip against that table, legs crossed by the ankles. Impeccable balance really!

"Well, kudos to you if it's working. At least it's popular, trending like crazy." Yes, Gwen knows quite a lot about branding and marketing the whole superhero thing. She *was* quite the good friends with Janet on the other universe afterall.

The news about Wonder Woman has her tilting her head to the side, a touch surprised. "She was in the network..? Uh, wasn't aware of that. Opportunities lost .." she sighs, finishing up her doughnut and getting whatever is left off her fingers. Nothing goes to waste!

"You are right in that we operate in different worlds. We are down here with the little guys, she has her own thing with the Amazons and the JLA. Besides, different cities." She says, "And I know how that can be. Go live in another city .., it's almost as if it's a different world, all your friends left behind.." or maybe that's how it felt to her.

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter lifts the mask to nose-level and stuffs a doughnut in his mouth to keep from saying something stupid. Gives him some time to think. C'mon, Pete, say something good!

"Variables and constants, I guess..."
Say something BETTER, you GOOB!
"I mean...I guess I can see that, to some degree. I've never left my own world before to go to another Earth...but I can see that. That...disconnect. But I never doubted that you would do great things with the Titans. I may have been a little jealous...but I certainly wasn't SURPRISED."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
"Spidey, I would be SURPRISED if you had even left New York. You love this city too much, and that's just how it is. Nature is an hard thing to fight against in the end, I know all about it." Gwen replies, opening her arms to the sides, "I am still with the Titans though. Just not /there/. So you might just see me prowling more often here in the big apple again." the ruby lips that are still revealed under that mask twisting amusedly. "All ready to take some of that audience away." she voicing it in a joking manner. On the other universe there was a time in which the attention and branding was all that mattered.. But she had learned.

With great power comes great responsibility. That was clearly a constant to both worlds, and something she followed fully.

She reaches to take the blueberry doughnut from the case. "Next time you are out there on a job let me know, will you? My help can be bought with doughnuts." she twirling the blueberry in her hand before taking a big bite off it.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey blinked. "Uhm...yeah...sure. Of course! And of course you can come here anytime if you want to keep yourself in tip-top condition. And keep Spider-Comm on...something is usually happening. And I can intro you to some of the people I've met. Also, remember that ninja I was taking ninjitsu lessons from? It seems she's returned to New York. The bad news is that she had a REASON to come back, and its something that weirder than advertised, that's for sure. Some guy who calls himself...get this...the SHREDDER."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
"Are you saying I am not in tip-top condition?" Gwen asks, hand resting on her hip and she turning into an indignant posture before just laughing, "No, don't answer that. You'd most likely be right, I need to get back into fighting shape." she reaches up to her mask, slapping it down on her face and wiggling what's left of the doughnut. "I will keep this for the trip. And sure, sign me up for ninjas. How worse can it get..?"

She is about to swing away before she stops herself. And while the rolling eyes aren't visible due to the mask, well.., they can be FELT. "Let me guess.., the name wasn't picked up because it likes to shred paper.." she says, "Bad guys really need to work on their branding..." shaking her head slowly to herself.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man shrugged. "I posted the pictures I got of him in the Spider-Comm database. He's the one that looks like a samurai on steroids and Mutant Growth Hormone. And I think he was resurrected after being dead for centuries, so the idea of 'branding' might be a little alien to him. As well as a lot of other things. But...keep referencing the database, I'll keep it updated." He exhales slowly.

"Welcome back to New York, Ghost. The city can always use someone like you."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
"What? Someone messed up the words and now we got undead roaming the land..?" Gwen replies with another sigh, it clearly being some kind of reference to a movie. Which one though?! "But yea, I will keep up with the db. You will have to show me some of the theory of it sometime. You know I like to tinker with electronics. But for now, take care, Spidey." she not hiding the care in her voice.

But then she shoots a web from her wrist to latch onto an high lamp post, pulling herself up to it to gain height and then going back to the city proper, music again blasting on her earbuds.

"In my mind sayin'..., It's gonna be alright..~"

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man watched her go, smiling sadly.

Life goes on. It's just what it does. And, as Rick Blaine once said, the problems of two people don't amount to a hill of beans in this world.

Just be glad she's back in town...