572/Spider In the Belfry

Spider In the Belfry
Date of Scene:	17 March 2020
Location:	Historic Clocktower Upstairs
Synopsis:	Zee brings Ghost Spider by to meet with Batgirl to talk about other dimensions and Birds of Prey
Cast of Characters:	Zatanna Zatara, Barbara Gordon, Gwen Stacy

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Zatanna Zatara has posed:
After texting back and forth with Barbara, Zatanna glances over to where Gwen is getting ready to pull down her mask. "While I know who you are. And I know who she is. I know how people feel about identities. So I'm going to introduce Ghost Spider to Batgirl. If eventually, you want to tell her who you are, that's your perogative." she says quietly, stepping up to help Gwen pull down the mask, but not before grinning at her. "By the way? Answer is yes."

With that, she steps back, waiting for Gwen to be ready and then she raises her hands in a somatic gesture as she starts to cast, the words coming easily from her as she speaks in reverse.

"Ekat Tsohg Redips dna I ot eht Rewotkcolc."

And with that, she and Gwen are taken from Shadowcrest to the Clocktower, where the pair of them appear in the secured area. "Batgirl?" she calls out as she dusts herself off. And realizes this may be the first time that Gwen may have seen her in the fishnets and full costume that she uses on stage and in the field as she adjusts her top hat. "We're here, and I brought food!" She is indeed carrying takeout.

Because she knows how Barbara can get with meals.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
<'Okay Batgirl it is, bring her in on the magic teleporty pad you setup though. No need for this new girl to know where the base is specifically.'>

First She cinches her cowl and mask into place and wanders over to lean against one of the short room dividers and watch the teleportation pad.

First hits the button and darkens all the windows, then closes the blast shutters. Like all of them. Mostly because it will cover the clockface and all the windows to remove all landmarks.

Then Babs cinches her cowl and mask into place and wanders over to lean against one of the short room dividers and watch the teleportation pad. She crosses her arms and waits not sure honestly what Zatanna will be bringing. Will it be a succubus. Will it be an Avenger. What will the future reveal.

Oh it's a Takeout. "Right here Zatannna."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen pulls the mask down over her face, but the last thing seen before it disappears beneath is a grin at the answer. Palms lay flat against her cheeks, adjusting and rubbing it into place over her brow, cheek, and jaw so the sensors for the eyes sit just so and don't make her look like she's having a seizure. "You left me hanging there for a while." Meta tease. Because they're getting ready. It's a thing, you'll get use to the meta.

Then she steps over, wraps an arm around Zatanna because she assumes that's how magic works, and braces herself for the sudden tingle when the spell is cast. It's not nearly as bad as it had been that first time.

Turning slowly, hood down on her back, the tiny spider girl spins on her heel to get a three sixty view of the safe area of the clocktower. "If the lights come on and all my friends from the Goblin city scream surprise, I'm going to cry..." She says, mostly to Zatanna, but also to whatever that voice is in the dark gloom.

"Sir Didymus, is that you?" Craning neck, bending and twisting, hand covering her masks big white eyes.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"No, it's Sir Cumference." Zatanna says playfully to Gwen as the pair of them arrive in the secured location. It's dark. Apparently Babs is playing in safe move. "Salad, heavy on the greens and veggies and a protein shake." She's a vegan, it's her thing. She won't order a burger unless she has to.

And then there's the quipper behind her. "Batgirl. I want you to meet Ghost Spider. She's dimensionally misplaced. But all the powers of that Spider-Man character you go on about." She may be teasing there. "Or at least what that douche over at the Daily Bugle keeps going on about." she amends.

"Ghost, Batgirl is one of my oldest friends. We were together on a team together. All female." she explains. "I thought maybe you might want to meet her, in case, you know..."

She ends up staying around.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
"Poison Ivy would say you are killing her children or something corny like that." says the voice from the gloom. Then she shakes her head "Was that a Labryinth reference?" pause "Dimensionally replaced... huh..well she seems to have more style than the photos I've seen in the Spider-man file."

"Lights, main room, on." and the lights come on illuminating the interior though the blast shutters stay in place for now. "Welcome to the Aerie Ghost Spider... you're a hero like Spider-man.. not some alt universe genderswap moustached villain?"

Gwen Stacy has posed:
"Zee, babe, please tell me you've seen Labryinth..." Ghost Spider says to Zatanna beside her, frowning beneath her mask, "One, it's the greatest movie ever made, two.. It's proof that Jennifer Connelly does not age. She looks exactly the same age now as then, I swear to god she's a vampire."

Babs gets it.

A hand comes up to shield her eyes when darkness becomes sudden not darkness. Those eyes shrink, the mask duplicating the squinting. "I prefer the term appropriately anatomied, thank you very much." Shifting her hip to the side, then the other side, "and I definitely don't have a moustache.."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Batgirl, she checks." She can't exactly say 'check Gwen Stacy's file in your computer' but she wants to. Little does Zatanna know that Gwen has had past contact with the Batfamily. Moving to set the takeout on the table, Zatanna looks back to Ghost Spider, and shakes her head. "Is Labyrinth a television series?" she asks curiously. "I only just recently put in something to watch that in Shadowcrest." she says sheepishly.

She warned Gwen she didn't get out much. It's part of the reason why she's so awkward when she's not on stage. Folding her arms beneath her bosom, she watches the pair, letting them sniff each other out before deciding if they want to play together.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl groans "Is Labyrinth a television series.. Zee you kill me sometimes. Someone in showbiz should know pop culture... too many ancient grimoires in your childhood." she just shakes her head. Yeah she is teasing one of her oldest friends here.

"Also good. No moustache means like.. at least 20 percent lower chance of evil twin syndrome. Also your alternative reality has Labyrinth.. and vampires so that is good. Not too dissimilar though I'll be sad if Connelly actually is a vampire...."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
"Er-muh-gerd.." Gwen says to Zee, so wounded. Nearly weak in the knees from wounds sustained. She covers her chest, right over the top of her spider symbol, between her breasts, and collapses back against the wall as if physically struck. "We're watching Labryinth.. It'll change your life. If it's my last act in this Universe..." Instantly knowing that was a mistake. That actually /does/ hurt and her usually comical demeanor becomes abysmally serious.

Pushing off the wall with her elbows, masked head bowed slightly, sorting through her thoughts until Batgirl speaks up, "Not actual vampires, no. There aren't even any other super heroes. I mean a couple, I guess, but I've never seen them. Also, Gotham is one of the safest places on earth and Lex Luthor pets puppies." Negociable on how serious she is there.

She takes a breath and blows it out... "I think I met one of your people. One of the bat people, I mean." Side glancing up at Zee, then back to Babs. "He found me when I crash landed on a lightning bolt. Went by Nightwing?" She could use his real name, but who knows how much everyone shares with their friends here.

Gwen is a sharer.

And reaches up to pull off her mask. Blonde hair tumbles free, pink frosted tips rubbing her jaw along a shaved scalp, "I'd say look up Gwen Stacy, but she died in december. It's still my name though. So if we're evil twins..." Finger quotes. "I'm saying it's the zombie."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"It's not like I get invited to the Oscars. Or the Golden Globes. Just to the afterparties." Zatanna retorts with a smirk as she rolls her shoulders in a shrug. "Hey, all those grimoires come in handy." comes the protest. And then Gwen has to get into the act with the big dramatic play she makes.

And Zatanna was ready to laugh. Right until that last line. And it's a slap in the face coupled with being dunked in ice water. She glances aside, hiding a breath. She's not about to cry, you're about to cry!

Then she sucks it up when Dick's brought into the conversation, but for now she's staying quiet on the subject - this is Batgirl's playing field. But she does add. "I trust her enough that I have her living with me."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
"Huh.. so.. well that is entirely strange. No vampires. Luthor not a meglomanicial villain who hates superman and should never.. ever be allowed to be president.. and no heroes." she shakes her cowled head. "I mean we have all those things and Gotham iss anything but safe... it is literally a hellmouth of crime.. like a crime mouth..."

"Don't judge me that sounded better in my head."

She pinches the bridge of her cowl. "Oh you met Nightwing.... he isn't much of a .. sharer with the rest of us. He lurks in Bludhaven and broods and mopes while pretending he isn't a broody sort like Batman but he is... also he is stubborn. Still he knows how to fight osme crime."

Holy crap Spider girl pulled off her mask there. Then the part about Gwen Stacy. "Hey Oracle Look Up Gwen Stacy."

The giant monitor array lights up and starts to display... well damn near every detail of Gwen Stacy of this universes life, prominently featuring her death in December. "huh."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
If she said she didn't care about what Oracle pulls up about Gwen Stacy, it wouldn't be entirely a lie. She does, she cares a great deal, but she cares about something else a lot more. Reaching out a hand to hook her pink against Zatanna's, curling it slightly in a little look't me gesture while Babs is looking up a dead girl and talking about a whiny, broody, Dick.

"Sorry." She murmurs, "I didn't... think.. I'm sorry."

Blonde hair falls forward, head bowed, and blue eyes looking over at costumed Babs. "There's no Superman. Or Batman... or Gotham. Which is odd... there's also no Lex Luthor. I was being funny... but it's hard to fact check me, so now you don't know /where/ I'm coming from." Wiggling her free hand, the other is still hooked, hopefully, at the pink with Zee's.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"There's no me. How depressing is that?" Zatanna asks, a brave cover up as she glances at Gwen when she lifts her gaze and demands attention. She shakes her head. Not right now. Slipping into business mode, the young woman lifts her gaze to the computer - because it is the first time she gets to see what happened to this world's Gwen Stacy.

The pinkie is caught, and it's a tenious grasp. But a grasp, regardless. She's not running away.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
"I'm still trying to get over no Gotham and no Superman.. or Batman.. I mean.. that is really wild." she uncrosses her arm and prowls towards a very well stocked kitchenette. "Drinks anyone?" she asks helpfully. "So what heroes are there then?" her hand lifting to wave at the screens killing them so they aren't displaying all that stuff about the old dead Gwen Stacy.

"Also how did you end up here?"

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen inclines her head to the subtle shake of Zatanna's, but she's not looking at that screen when it's showing Gwen Stacy falling to her death. Shots of her funeral, video footage of her father blaming Spider-Man. She can't, she wont, see that shit. She already has anyways and it doesn't get easier seeing it more often.

So instead she looks at her feetsies. Wiggling her toes in her boots, and holding onto a tenative grip of pinkies. Drained entirely of all comedy. Remember that thing about a quiet Gwen when things get really bad? Behold, the field of bad.

"It's a long story." She answers Babs, "Short version, bullshit science."

What /heroes/ are there.

"Me."

And now?

"Nobody."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl pulls out a few bottles thne puts them back before looking back over there and stares at the fingerhold and then the two ladies. "Well." she nods "No heroes but you.. I suppose that means no villains either really. Wonder what caused you to exist but not any of the rest of..well anything.. " she considers "Man I hate bullshit science."

She holds up a bottle of wine "Wine with salad.. ciders.. beer.. what do you two want?"

Gwen Stacy has posed:
"There are /plenty/ of villains." Gwen assures Batgirl, "Vulture, Doc Oc, Lizard..." More pain... Her eyes widen, then normal out, Jesus. It's like a bash yourself over the head with feelings kind of night. Her finger slides down, maybe when Babs sees it, and moves to replace her mask. Pulling it on over her head, adjusting it on her face with the palms of her hands to sit it just so on her cheeks, and all that jazz.

"Trump. He's the worst. Anti-everything. Real problem, glad you guys don't have him here. Did you know he got Chokeslammed by the Undertaker? Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, he's been chokeslammed by the Undertaker should ever be president... Stone Cold Stunned, President none." Hands out, "I'm just sayin'."

Wine? "God, I could use some of that, but I shouldn't... You should never drink and swing.. Hero police, you know how it goes. First you're enjoying a few glasses of Merlot with your friends, next thing you know you're crashing through a Prius and being thrown into a coffee shop window." That sounds suspiciously like an admission, "Plus I'm eighteen. So I'm assuming that was a test..." Behind her mask?

The Confidence returns in spades. "You won't catch me in your carefully constructed trap with promises of underaged drinking! HAH.." Arms crossed over her breasts, hip jutting out sassily.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"She's good for the Birds, Batgirl." Zatanna speaks up finally. "She's swift on her feet, in her mind, and she's literally..." she gestures to the screen. "A ghost." the young woman explains, pulling away from Gwen. "I think I'll get that drink, though." she offers quietly.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
"... huh.. well I a mean I honestly don't care if you drink in a private dwelling as long as you are under adult supervision.. that is the penal code.. but yes no web slinging.. only teleporting with a very accomplished wizardress... is that how it is said.. magicianess.. sorceress.. what is it Zee?" still teasing.

She pours two glasses though unless Gwen retracts it and if so then three glasses.

"Did Zee tell you the Birds of Prey at all?"

I mean part of Babs is wondering how Ghost's world is doing with all those villains and no hero.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen is wondering the same thing as Babs. How -are- they doing. Hopefully SHIELD stepped up their fuck giving game because they were slacking as far as she was concerned. She's also concerned with something else and starting to feel like an elephant is sitting on her chest. She takes a quick breath and blows it out. Puffing out her chest, stretching her shoulders back, make it stop hurting please.

God stop hurting.
Gwen's not crying, you're crying.

"I'm gonna go." She says suddenly, embarassedly, "I need to get some air.. I'm suddenly feeling really... clostraphobic." Hands out, turning in a circle as if she's dropped her... basically her everything.. somewhere on the floor. "How do I get out of here?"

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
And now Gwen is running away. She should have known. Zatanna pushes up. "It's okay... I can..."

And she saves Gwen the trouble.

"Emoh." And she retreats.