Owner	Pose
Peter Parker	Peter knew this place would be empty. It's been a month since the angels left, and now there are no more refugees using this place as a safe haven. A few of them were thoughtful enough to clean the lot of trash before they left. Peter Parker is sitting at a park bench taken from a bulk-trash deposit, a large paper shopping bag next to him on the long seat. He hoped he wouldn't catch a splinter from the wood. He had reached out to Blake a few nights ago, wanting to talk to her about a few things. She knew he was going to talk costumes, of course, but he also alluded to something else...and it had the air of importance about it.
Blake Riviere	With the heroics, the battles of angels and New York rebuilding life had been interesting for Blake Riviere, but to hear from the Spider after all that was...reassuring! Blake's arrival was likely expected in its current fashion, a flutter of soft wings announcing her on the horizon before shadows shifted and the vampiress in her usual black and red tones stepped into view by the bench. "Hello again," she speaks up, announcing herself in her accented tones.
Peter Parker	Peter looked over to her and smiled. Not forced, not the rictus grin of someone hiding their fear. Someone who was genuinely glad to see her. "Hey there, Miss Riviere. Glad you could make it." He looked around, then said, "We've got a fair amount of privacy here tonight. I figured it was a good night to be outside, as chilly as it is..."
Blake Riviere	"Blake, please. You know more about me more than most anyway." Lazily slipping to seat herself down on the bench and smoothing out her skirt the vampiress tilts her head. "It is good to see you Peter, and to see that you seem to have survived the troubles that came to New York. It was...a difficult time."
Peter Parker	"A...difficult time. Yeah, like the TITANIC was a boating accident and the launch of the space shuttle CHALLENGER went a little bit wrong." He sighs heavily. "But things are mostly back to normal, and that means the criminals are poking their heads out of their little hideouts and are getting the criminal machines going again. Which means we're on the clock here. So..." He rubbed his hands together. "I've been working on ideas for a costume for you. I'm sure you don't want to be recognized at the wrong place at the wrong time, so something suitably scary would work for you."
Blake Riviere	"For me?" Blake repeats, a raise of her eyebrow as she turns onto her hip, knees together to keep her skirt in place with a grin. "And yes, I must admit, it is nice not to be spending months hungry." "I have improvised a little these months...but I am curious to you designs. You've certainly proven to be creative."
Peter Parker	Peter grins. "When I was starting out...yeesh. A ski mask, a hoodie, sweatpants, and compression socks because they protected the feet while still helping to stick to stuff. I REALLY looked like I dressed myself. So, I kept improving. I've become something of a whiz with a sewing machine. Not just crafting costumes, but repairing them." He took out a sketchbook. "Now, going with the name, I figured something that was primarily purple, with yellow as a secondary color, would fit. The flowers are purple and yellow." Peter paused. "When you do that whole...swarm thing...can you use it to change clothes?"
Blake Riviere	"Of course," Blake offers, a little shift of her form as the shadows swirl around her and that gothic dress with its short skirt melts and shifts to a more 'normal' pair of black shorts and red shirt, her arms and shoulders bare. "It is part of the power that lets me become mist, an animal, or another person." His talk of his old costume does bring a smile, but the Vampiress nods. "Black and red has been my preference for a while. Perhaps purple will still suit."
Peter Parker	Peter nods, then opens the sketchbook to the first page. The title reads IDEA #1. It looks like a humanoid female in a one-piece purple bodysuit with yellow boots, fingerless gloves, and yellow "eyes" in a purple half-mask that only covers the upper part of her face. Next to it are notes: Nightshade flower logo? Must ask Blake. Pretty sure she doesn't have allergies. Light ArmorWeave so it looks solid enough?
Blake Riviere	It would take a few moments, a glance around the park and then a moment more of studying the drawing before she stands, turning on the spot as the silhouetted 'swarm' swirls and her best approximation of the suit forms on her body. "I cannot create armor or technology, mearly more simple fabrics. Essentially I am remaking what I have on me." Bodysuit and mask on her form she turns to face him properly. "Well, thoughts?"
Peter Parker	Peter blinks as Blake basically turns the concept on paper into something real, or very close to it. "Well...to start with, I think I have just seen my first live-action magical-girl transformation sequence." He grins wryly. "Sorry, my love of anime is showing. Anyway...if it fits well, it looks good. I left the mouth and fingertips exposed in case you need to get...well, POINTY in those places. Uhm...how does it feel to wear?"
Blake Riviere	Blake laughs softly, tilting her head to the side. "Well, you are the one who pitched me ideas of 'love and justice', no?" Was it really suprising given her taste in usual fashion that she understood the reference. "I noticed. Freedom for the fangs and fingers is useful..." she moves, stretching her arms above her head and arching her back lightly. The benefit of creating it herself? It could fit her body perfectly down to each and every curve. "Perfectly comfortable...but I am curious what else you imagined..."
Peter Parker	Peter ohs. "uh, yes. I remember seeing how people used capes, like heavy capes, as a defensive/offensive measure. Batman is a prime example. I think the cape is made of Kevlar or the like, and that he uses it in combat. To protect himself, and to strike at people. A long cape would have its uses, but would you feel comfortable with it?"
Blake Riviere	"Perhaps I should show you what I utilized in our time apart, you might just be able to offer some advice or opinion." A shift, the figure-hugging suit swirls with a faint hint of bare skin here and there before a skirt, underbust corest and deep red hooded cloak around her shoulders complete with a small 'domino' mask on her face. Almost reminicient of a 'red riding hood' with a little gothic inspiration. "It served for what I needed, but perhaps it's not as creative as your ideas. Or modern anyway."
Peter Parker	Peter blinked. "Okay...wow." He looked at his sketchbook, then closed it. "Blake, I want you to be comfortable with what you wear. Don't wear something to make me happy, wear what will make YOU happy. And besides...black and red would work just fine." He smiles wryly. "And it seems I may not be the only one around here who likes anime."
Blake Riviere	"Perhaps variety is the best option?" Blake muses, gesturing to herself as she reaches up, removing the mask from her face. "There are times when a cloak does not work, but the batman seemed to use it for effect so..." She shrugs, looking back to Peter with a chuckle. "What can I say? I am a fan of many aspects of human culture."
Peter Parker	Peter grins. "Hey. Builds character. I kinda like the idea of you embracing the new - or new to you, anyway. Signifies a willingness to adapt." He stands up. "Well, this certainly saves the concept of having to sew a costume...or having to repair a damaged one." His smile is wry, but lasts for a few seconds as something occurs to him. Blake can see it in his face. "Something...else has come up. it's important, though. It's...about this woman I know. She's...got a particular beef against vampires. She hates them. Which is kinda ironic, but I can't tell you why. It's her secret. But...I would like to introduce you to her. So she can see that the stereotype isn't always accurate."
Susan Sullivan	Susan walks along, following the blip on her HUD. It isn't stalking if it's your boyfriend, right? Besides, if he's working, she can just wave and move on. She leans around a building and peeks into a vacant lot where her contacts tell her Peter is. She is pretty sure she can't sneak up on him.     As the breeze shifts, Susan's expression changes from enthusiasm to something very serious. She sees her boyfriend talking, and she smells his spidery qi on the air. Susan reaches out her hand as her expression turns very, very cold. As she waits, a splintering piece of wood breaks itself from one of the decrepit buildings and rushes to slap itself against her palm. She then walks toward the pair with murder in her stone-cold eyes. No vampire was going to take her boyfriend from her.     "Get away from her, Peter," she calls out.
Blake Riviere	Still dressed in one of her interpretations of a costume idea, cloak, skirt and corset all, Blake turns to the sound of the splintered wood with all the liquid grace of some superhuman being (that was thankfully well-fed after months of being somewhat fasted). She'd been staked before, it was awful, and she'd rather not have to endure it again. With the motion added by the cloak adding perhaps a little more excess in her whirling the 'Draculina's eyes flare red, her fangs not yet on display but there was a shift of the more predatory aspect in her features for a moment that hadn't been there a second ago. It was only the fact she was warning Peter by name that stalled any further aggression and sent it melting to an amused quirk of her painted lips. "Would you kindly let her know I am 'friendly' before this goes poorly?"
Peter Parker	Peter stood up so fast he might as well have been siting on a box-spring. "Whoa, whoa, WHOA! Everyone, STAND DOWN! No one's in any danger here. Don't start trouble, won't BE trouble. Just...ramp it down." Peter took a deep breath. "Susan...this is Nightshade, a vampiress who happens to be starting in the capes-and-tights crimefighting biz. 'Shade...I'd like you to meet Susan Sullivan...my girlfriend who happens to be a jiangshi."
Susan Sullivan	Susan snaps her gaze to Peter. "I am not!" she insists, loudly. Her feet leave the ground and her clothes begin to float around her as if gravity wouldn't have them, any longer. She throws down the stake, which sticks into the ground. She looks at Nightshade. "I'm very much alive, you can't have my blood, and if I smell even the hint of festering in Peter's qi, I'm knocking down your door first," she insists. However, she makes gravity take her back (or however that works), and looks back at Peter.     "I'm sorry I snapped at you," she says, calm, but still a little cool. "I'm very much alive, okay? Pulse and everything. Please don't use that word to describe me, anymore."
Blake Riviere	Speak of the devil apparently, though Blake has tact enough not to say as much as she exhales a breath, a little quirk of amusement perhaps tinging the tone but...perhaps a little sympathy to its tail. A nod, the 'cloak', mask and the rest of Blake's attire seems to shift, a shadowy silhouette around where she stood until she was once more in the black and red 'normal' attire that made up the vampiress' usual look. "It is fine, most of my interactions with any 'cousins' of my kind are usually uncomfortable at first, if they do not avoid me outright." Talk of a pulse and a heartbeat does quirk Blake's lips again. She had the same after all, she was even warm to the touch and could walk beneath the sun...but all of that required the blood of another to maintain. "I have never taken from Peter here, even when offered, and I tend to limit myself to only...voluntary donors. If that will set your heart at ease." A pause, Blake lazily folds her hands, a tilt of her head as her hair once more fixed itself in place with the materialization of her usual ribbons. "Susan, yes? I am Blake, if we are to be informal about it."
Peter Parker	Peter looks instantly apologetic. "Oh...Jeez, I'm sorry, Suze. Won't ever use the word again, even in past-tense." Peter looks thoroughly chastened. "Sorry...some days it seems like I only open my mouth to CHANGE FEET." He looked between the two of them, then watched as Blake shifted back to normal clothing. Normal for her, anyway. He could NEVER pull off THAT look. He looked back to Susan. "I met Miss Riviere awhile ago, and we've even done a few crimefighting gigs together. I asked her if she wanted to get serious about helping people this way...and she said yes." He looked to Blake. "Susan and I have only recently started our relationship, but she already knows I'm Spider-Man. So...this is where we are." He smiled a little sheepishly.
Susan Sullivan	Susan was a lot calmer as she responded to Blake. "No, not really," she says. "You'll pardon my reaction, but after what I've been through, I'm not really on the best of terms with the children of the night." She does bow slightly. "I will be at least cordial and insist that it's nice to meet you, regardless," she adds.     She moves to Peter. "I'm sorry for letting that sneak up on you," she says to him, quietly, but not quiet enough to test Blake's super hearing. As she apologizes, she puts her hand on his arm. "I gave up everything to get rid of that man's tainted qi."
Blake Riviere	Blake nods, a little shift of her position to claim a set for herself on the bench, looking between the two. "Very few of us become such things for positive reasons, my own experience in becoming what I am was...horrific, and stayed that way for a very long time until I was finally able to change it. Now? I do not regret what I am or what I have done with it...but immortality brought about in such a way comes with its own baggage." A polite way to sum up time spent as a 'Bride' until the day she was able to destroy and consume the one who made her...or the need for blood that maintained her existance.
Peter Parker	Peter was sensing a theme here, but he opted not to mention it. "I promise not to repeat any stupid thing I say, Susan," he said soberly. *Yeah, we can create ALL NEW stupid things to say!!* *...Shut up, Stupid Mouth.* "Anyhoo..." Peter said instead, "I was going to offer lessons in superheroing. Not all the powers stuff, I figure you know what to do with what you can do. I mean the other stuff, like forensics, a crash course on the law...basically how to find criminals, catch them, and leave enough evidence for a court of law to put them away for what they've done."
Susan Sullivan	Susan is about to express interest, but stops herself. "Miss River...Rivera...Riv--Nightshade," she compromises. "As long as you're on our side and there are other vampires to destroy, I will fight beside you, but my focus is on the destruction of your kind."     To Peter, she says, "Can we do like you said? Step things down a notch? I was trying to find you to ask you out for a slice with me. You know, a proper date."
Blake Riviere	A glance between the pair, Blake does actually chuckle a little at that, a little giggle behind her breath before she steps back and extends her hands. "I appreciate the offer Peter and am certain to take you up on it...but I am not completely unaware of such things. Just because I was born centuries ago does not mean I am stuck there. After all, my last degree is only four years old...and it was the third time I'd earned it. I'm sure you will be able to fill in the blanks but..." Her head tilts, indicating Susan lightly, "you two should make the most of your evening. Having another to spend your nights with is a precious thing after all."
Peter Parker	Peter nods. "Yeah, we don't have to do everything tonight, Blake. If you want to head off, Susan and I could spend some time together. We can start the crimefighting another night." Peter looked to Susan, then to Blake. "I got a few things working. I'll keep you posted."
Susan Sullivan	The stake plucks itself from the ground and returns like a pet to Susan's hand. She looks to Blake. "Thank you," she says. Offering the stake to Peter, she quietly says, "You should start carrying one of these." She smiles. "To defend my honor...and my qi...and my DELICIOUS BLOOD!" she teases, playfully as she pulls him to lead him away to a potential date.