7580/Jedi Counsel

Jedi Counsel
Date of Scene:	28 August 2021
Location:	King's Landing Scrapyard, Brooklyn, NY
Synopsis:	Spider-Man meets with Madison Evens for serious conversation. And cookies.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Madison Evans

---

Peter Parker has posed:
The scrap yard has seldom been so...CLEAN.

When Peter first showed up here, the place had been a lawsuit waiting to happen. A car crusher that had seen better days, a yard littered with broken glass and bits of metal, cars on the verge of just falling over. He had spent a lot of time learning how to control his powers just cleaning the place up.

Right now, he was sweeping the bare ground with a metal rake, working to pick up any new bits of detritus that had blown into the yard or fallen from any of the wrecked cars.

Madison had requested a meeting...one with just her and Spidey. He had turned off the security cameras when he got here, and was now just killing time until the lady arrived.

Madison Evans has posed:
    Climbing up and over the wall was good practice for Madison - she takes a moment to concentrate on her jump, and aaaaalmost makes it up to the top. Not quite, though. Her fingers scramble, barely catching hold, before she pulls herself up and onto the wall itself. Oof. Okay. She needs to work on that some more.
    Jumping back down was far easier, and she lets out a huff of air before trotting over to join Spider-man. "Spidey! Hey!" she calls brightly, amusement pulling at her lips at the sight of the man in his spidey-suit, pulling a rake around. Decidedly not the task for which the outfit had been designed. "I- umm. Thanks for meeting me - oh, hey, I brought some of my mom's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with me. Do you want any?" she offers.

Peter Parker has posed:
Oatmeal raisin? Not his favorite cookie - he'd always preferred Auny May's special chocolate-chip cookies with salted-caramel chips added - but maybe the recipe was different and Madison's mom's were better.
Yes, it was heresy, but he felt he should be fair.
"Well, I'll take one." He reached up to lift the mask, but only lifted it halfway, up to just above the nose. White guy, young-sounding, average face. No mandibles or pincers or anything like that.
He put the rake against the office, then walked over to the bench nearby and sat down. "Have a seat."

Madison Evans has posed:
    Madison makes her way to the bench, swinging her backpack off one shoulder and around to her front, so she could unzip it and pull out the little tupperware filled with cookies. She snaps the lid open, and pulls it off - offering the cookies to Peter before she claims one for herself. Oatmeal chocolate chip happened to be a favorite of hers, and she takes a bite before she speaks.
    "I actually wanted to- umm. I've started training with Owari, yeah? And I wanted to get your opinion of something that, ummm, happened. Because it... threw me a little," she admits. Rather than continuing, she takes an even bigger bite of her cookie, staring down at the ground in front of her.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man takes a bite, chewing thoughtfully. Okay, it's pretty good. It's not Aunt May's cooking, but he should consider himself unfairly biased there...but it's pretty good.

"I'm glad you and Owari are working together, but tell me what happened. I promise it goes nowhere and to nobody else."

Madison Evans has posed:
    Madison nods her head, chewing the bite slowly, and swallowing, while she gathers her thoughts. "Well. She said she wanted to show me a 'street fight.' And she had me turn my back to her, you know? And then took of her helmet mask thing - and put it on me. And it was like one of those VR headsets, yeah? I was in Tokyo. And it was her, and her friend, and three... guys. Thugs. Bad guys. And I- I don't know what I thought I'd see, but-" She starts picking uncomfortably at the flap of fabric that covers the zipper on her backpack. "Well, it went like... slow-mo, yeah? Showed them firing guns, and she dodged out of the way, and pulled her sword and-"
    Madison cuts off, swallowing audibly, before continuing in a quieter voice. "One of the guys died. Like... cut open. I didn't- I mean, all she said was 'street fight,' I didn't think...
    "Am I just being stupid? I mean, what did I think was gonna happen? I asked to lean how to use a //sword//." Her gaze stays trained at the floor throughout, her head turned just far enough away from Peter to make her features difficult to see.

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter nodded after a few moments. "Yeah...I don't know if Owari told you the reason why she is here in the first place. She's here to stop a rival clan, as well as other clans like the Foot Clan. Her mission is...clearly defined. She may defer to my feelings about killing people, but it is one of the reasons she is here. I'm not going to pick nits about whether they deserve death because they are criminals...no good comes of THAT road. But that is who she is. She's been trained for it...even bred for it."

He looked to Madison, his lips thinned and tightened. "I'll talk to her about her...primary goals. She should not have done that. I think she needs to understand where YOU are coming from. Have you talked to her about your wants and needs?"

Madison Evans has posed:
    "I told her I don't want to kill," Madison answers quietly. "And she says I don't got to. I- I didn't really tell her how much seeing that- bothered me," she admits. "I mean, part of me wasn't even sure if I was just- being ridiculous or not, but I talked to one of my friends, and she thought it was just an awful thing for her to do, and that I should find a different teacher, but I thought- I don't know. I thought I should see what you think, too," she admits.
    Thus the reason for her message - obviously.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man sighs. "It was an awful thing for her to do. Even though you are learning a weapon discipline, she needs to focus more on teaching you about the discipline than the weapon. She needs to apologize to you for...exposing you to that. I'll talk to her as soon as I can about it. And after she does apologize...if you don't want her as your teacher, even then...then I won't force or coerce you to be her student in any way. We'll find some other way to teach you what you need to know."

He finished the cookie, is silent for a few seconds. He wished he was better at this sort of thing. Sometimes, it seems he only opens his mouth to change feet.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "I mean, she seems like a good teacher," Madison admits. "And I've still been practicing, and doing the homework she sends me, and everything. I just- I don't know. I wasn't sure what to do, or how to talk to her, or if I should, or... I don't know." She lets out a sigh, and digs out another cookie to nibble on.
    Her mother always advises her //against// eating to cope with your feelings. But damnit, sometimes you need a cookie.
    "You can have another if you like," she adds.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey smiled sadly. "Believe it or not, I've been there. I was fighting a bunch on ninjas when Owari swooped in and killed three of them. We had a LONG talk about the differences between her calling and mine. For what it's worth, I think she should apologize to you...and then you two need to have the Talk about what your calling is and what hers is. I'll help you any way I can, Madison...but stuff like this, the only way to deal with it is to look it in the eye, face it, confront it. Once you start running from your problems...it's almost impossible to stop. In the end, talking to her is what you should do...but I'll help you if you want my help."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "I'm not running from it!" Madison protests. "I'm just... just... figuring out my angle of attack, you know? Or whatever. I just needed to talk to some people with, umm, more experience in this- well. This world, to figure out what I'm supposed to do." She picks off a little piece of her cookie, popping it into her mouth before she adds, "Some help talking to her might be nice, though."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey's smile softens, becomes more natural. Almost an apologetic smile.

"With your permission, I can try to get the three of us together, to speak plainly, without coercion. In a perfect world, all the bad guys fire tasers, and the swords just knock people out. But we can't live in that world. And the choices you make...you just have to gauge how well you choose by how well you can sleep at night. So...do I have your permission to set up the meeting?"

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Yeah," Madison agrees. "Thanks." She looks up and towards him now - showing her eyes brimming with unshed tears, and a small, tight smile on her features. "I do appreciate it. I mean, you must have loads to do - you're probably still in school, and you've got all your own training, and crime fighting to do, and everything... So... so I appreciate it, really."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man puts a light hand on Madison's shoulder.

"When I started this, I didn't know ANYTHING about doing this kind of thing. Working off of instinct and little else. I learned...but slowly, through trial and error. Not a plan I would suggest to anyone. But if I can help someone avoid the mistakes I made...particularly the EXTREMELY BAD ones...and learn how to do this faster with guidance, then I feel it's a duty. Maybe even a calling. At the very least, someone I can help be a hero means that they don't make the wrong choices and become a villain I have to face off with. So my motives are not COMPLETELY altruistic."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Oh, com'on now - I'm not a //Sith//," Madison protests - her smile growing a little more natural and relaxed. "How would //I// end up a villain? And what sort of dastardly plot would I be trying to pull off? I mean - I guess I could rob some jewelry stores looking for lightsaber crystals, but- I don't know. Hardly ground breaking stuff, that."
    She frowns in thought. "I could start growing my own faceless clone army. But to what end?
    "Gosh I'd be a rubbish villain."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey grinned. "You should see some of MY 'frequent fliers.' I ACTUALLY have a recurring criminal called Paste-Pot Pete. He may call himself the Trapster now, but glue as your primary offensive weapon...man."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "....that sounds like the sort of name you'd call the kid in preschool who liked to eat the glue," Madison remarks with wide eyes. "My mom told me one of the kids in her school used to do that. I wonder if his name's 'Pete'?" She shakes her head - then quickly rubs one hand across her eyes.
    She wasn't crying. Honest.
    "I still don't think I'd ever end up a bad guy. But I guess that's the point - I mean. I hear people say that no one sets out to be the bad guy..."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey nods. "Sometimes all it takes is one bad decision. The Rhino used to be a low-level mobster who thought a suit of powered armor would make him a big man...only to find out he can't take it off. There's one who calls himself 'Vermin'...he was an abused child who fell afoul of a mad geneticist, and now he's a human/rat hybrid with a head full of bad wiring. A lot of them out there, wanting power the easy way...and finding out the REAL price tag. You should check out the Spider-Comm database sometime. A lot of these villains are real tragedies...a lot of them need incarceration, but there are others who need HELP in one way or another."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Well. ...that's kind of what the Star Wars stories teach. Isn't it? That if you help these people... they can change their path. Find redemption. And even that... that it's easier to cross lines than you realize, and you don't even know you're doing it when it happens," Madison remarks. "So - well. I guess it's better that we do stuff like this together, yeah? To keep an eye on one another. And make sure we're not making mistakes like that." Madison offers Spider-man a small smile as she remarks, "I promise to kick you right in the shins if I think you're screwing up."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man chuckled. "You'd miss. Spider-Sense and all. But it can't protect me against the spoken truth. So tell me, in plain speech, to my face. Spider-Sense can't stop that."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Hey, if I'm trying to kick you in the shins, you'll know why. It's because I think you're screwing up. If I try to punch you in the teeth, though, you'll know it's because //I'm// screwing up. There's lots of ways to communicate!" Madison suggests brightly.
    "...but yeah, sure, I //could// try just telling you."

Peter Parker has posed:
"It'd be MUCH more effective, trust me on this." Spidey's hand returns to his lap, then he asks, "I think I'd like another one of those cookies now."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Have as many as you like," Madison offers, holding the tupperware out towards him. "I mean - my mom only made them because I said I was going to take them to a game day." Which is obviously with her mother thinks she is right now. "I mean, I helped her make them, though. We do a lot of cooking together."
    She nibbles on her own cookie again before adding, "I don't really think either of us will actually mess up like that, though."

Peter Parker has posed:
"From your mouth to God's ears, Miss Evans. As long as we hold each other accountable, I think we'll do all right."

A pause as he selects another cookie. He should probably hold off on telling her about his lightsaber research until he has a working prototype.

It Is The Way, after all...