Owner	Pose
Peter Parker	It's been an awkward few days for Peter. Not just getting back into the routine, but slowly taking the routine *back* from Ben Reilly. And there's some mixed feelings there, because for the better part of a year, Ben was Peter Parker again, even in name. No one but Gwen knew about the stand-in. So it's catching up on world events. Local news. Sports teams. Following up with Facebook buddies. In Peter's case, it adds on the very unwelcome task of having to break the news to Cindy personally-- which came along with a whole BUNCH of other baggage, besides. So it's a very discouraged-looking Spider-Man, sans Spider-Suit, who tromps down the basement steps. Brown denim trousers and an unbuttoned grey dress shirt help leave Peter feeling just a bit more human as he beelines for the shop fridge to find something cold to drink.
Mary Jane Watson	It's some time to catchup with Peter. She's not had the chance to catchup with him - not since his life became slipping between two worlds and finding his stepping out on one and someone stepping back into place. She's going to head on downstairs to his side of the home with a knock on the upstairs door to announce herself. "Hey, Tiger! Coming on down! You're decent, right?" She would knock thrice, and then presuming she wasn't called off she would head on down. "I nabbed a few things for you from the Trisk if you wanted them."
Andi Benton	Group meeting! Sort of. Mania swings into the vicinity of the building in Queens before dipping into an alley and coming out as her less intimidating side, namely as Andi. Of course, the goth/punk styles still weird some people out, but whatever. There's nothing to do for that. Though some of the Spider crew worked together to defeat Carnage, there hasn't been a proper talk about things for a while. Seems today's the day that changes. When she gets to the door, a couple minutes behind Mary Jane, she simply opens it one way or another. Not breaking anything, of course, but a little bit of symbiote can make an excellent lock-pick in a pinch. "Helllloooo, anybody home?" she calls out.
Peter Parker	"I'm never decent," Peter calls back automatically. Still, there's a fond smile already forming on his features at that familiar voice. He does glance down quickly to make sure he *is* wearing pants (it happens!) and then looks under his arm at MJ coming down the stairs. "Beer?" he inquires, fishing a second one from the fridge. It's popped with a thumbnail and held out towards the redhead as she passes the kitchenette. Peter starts to move, pauses, then wings the beer in his hand at the door just as Mania walks in. "Hey Andi," he says, completely unsurprised by her arrival. The webhead picks a third bottle out of the fridge and uncaps it with another flick. "I'm not in trouble, right? You two aren't here to conspire at me or something?"
Mary Jane Watson	Mary Jane Watson would glance over at Andi and Mania, "Hey there, how you two holding up?" She would go to head on down the stairs, "Pass, thanks." She would offer. "Did bring you this.." She goes to flip over a large bar of chocolate over at Andi - one that's a solid half a kilogram at the minimum for the paired symbiote and human bonded beneath to catch. "Appreciate it. How you been holding up, Peter?" Seh would go over to move to give him a hug if allowed. "Brought you some donuts." She goes to tug out of a backpack a very, very large box of them. "I know they're not May's but I hope that you find thema cceptable." Like a full office meeting's worth of donuts.
Andi Benton	Andi Benton shakes her head at the offered beer. "Nah, you go ahead." She probably has reasons to avoid alcohol. It could be symbiote-related. "And, uh, fine. Thanks." There's a spot of hesitation over that before she begins to reach for the chocolate only for a tendril to whip out from behind, engulf it, and simply /consume/ it somehow before disappearing again. "Rude. Not even letting me eat it normally? Selfish." She does arch a brow at the size of the box, squinting to see how it fit inside the backpack. Then she says to Peter, "Well, Carnage hasn't escaped again yet, so that's a plus."
Peter Parker	Peter looks down at the beer he's now two-fisting, shrugs, and starts working on one while the other perspires in his palm. MJ's gift does necessitate some juggling though, and he settles on a doughnut in one hand and a beer in the other. "Oh carbs, glorious carbs," Peter sighs happily. The Spider-Fam stays lean for a reason: heroing is hard work! The symbiote's presence makes him shift his feet just a little. A visceral response to the psuedopod swinging around. "Listen, there's something I gotta tell you two," he bids them, and invites them to find a place to get comfortable. "Uh, so... up until about two weeks ago, I wasn't here," he says, looking from one to another. "It was Ben. I was on a gig helping out another dimension with some trouble. Ben moved in and handled all my things, took care of May, all that. But, uh..." he looks down at the beer, then chugs half of it and exhales. "...That was a year ago,' he admits.
Mary Jane Watson	Mary Jane Watson's face goes white as she processes this. Then takes a breath. And goes to head in to give Peter a hug, "Oh, Peter." She can't go to form words quite and moves to give him a tight hug. Tight as she can manage and knwos that he can take. She never noticed. How long had Ben been there? How come she hadn't been able to tell? How come she hadn't picked it up? How much attention had she been paying to her best friend? She gives him a tight hug before releasing. "I'm sorry." Her tone guilty. She should have known. She should have figured it out. She should have been there to help. She should have been able to rally someone that knew what they were doing to help out.
Andi Benton	Andi Benton is not really surprised by anything the symbiote does any more. It's been a few years to really get to know one another. It's what Peter says that causes her to squint his way, frowning while Mary Jane goes in for the more personal moment. She keeps her distance. "That..doesn't make any sense. How is that even possible?" asks the one who is bonded with an alien from another world. "Though I guess it could explain why I didn't see a lot of you..or him for most of that time, and when I did I think it was just in the suit. How the hell did that even happen?" She's finding it all difficult to believe.
Peter Parker	Peter accepts the hug from MJ, leaning into her. It's well-intended and well-accepted. At Andi's question, he holds his beer and doughnut up as if in mea culpa. "Look, we know that there are other dimensions. See: Gwen. We know how to visit *some* of those dimensions. It's how Gwen got here," he clarifies. He puts his back to the wall and walks backwards up it, barefoot, until he's crouched comfortably holding purchase with his toes. "Anyway, what-- ok. So there are, APPARENTLY, dimensions that run at different chronological speeds. The place I was at-- I was only gone for three weeks, subjectively. I had no idea," he explains. "I was wrapping up this one little thing, told Ben to hold down the fort in case of an emergency, and...." he spreads his hands. "Listen, the biggest thing here is: be mad at me if you want, but don't put any of it on Ben," he pleads. "We all know how hard it can be to keep a secret, and live with it to boot."
Mary Jane Watson	Mary Jane Watson would shake her head, "No, I'm not upset with him or with you. We didn't know what was giong on. Ben did what he had to do to help keep May safe and do whatever he could. He stepped up to things. That's all anyone could ask for of him. I'm proud of him. Not that I'm sure I might get to say that to him." She would give Peter a hug and release him. As he would go on about dimensions moving at different speeds.. That gets a cock of her head as she processes it and translates it in her mind, and she groans melodramatically but playfully. "Love you Tiger, but you could just say that time ran really faster there than it did here."
Andi Benton	Andi Benton shifts to spread her hands out, palms up. "I don't even really know him, just you," she tells Peter, giving Mary Jane a brief glance. In the early days when she'd bonded with Mania, both of the two here helped her gain some control over that other side, control when her anger and rage threatened to leave her doing something she may have regretted afterward if she'd gone through with it. That hasn't been forgotten. "Glad you're back, anyway," she adds. He's right about Gwen and other dimensions. There are a lot of strange things that simply just are. Her situation is one of them. "The important thing is..you're fine. You /are/ fine, aren't you? Didn't bring back some kind of disease that's gonna wipe us all out because we can't fight it off, hopefully. That would suck." The Benton sarcasm is in effect.
Peter Parker	"Looks like the Parker luck broke on that one," Peter tells Andi, and flashes a wry grin. "I'm fine. And you're all fine, and it's-- we'll all be fine," he promises. He drains his beer and finishes his doughnut in a few bites, and slides off the wall to wipe his mouth and fingers with a paper towel. "Listen, I know that's a lot to drop on you, so... thank you. Both, for being here," he bids the two women. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go see if fresh spark plugs will fix May's car. If it's not that, then I've got a long night ahead of me," he says with a grim humor.
Mary Jane Watson	Mary Jane Watson would smile, "Yeah, we'll be here for you, Peter. Any way we can. You have my number and you know you can tag me anytime. Be safe, all right?" She gives him a squeeze on the shoulder. "And I owe you a movie night. Figure we can hang out and just chill some. If Ben can make it great. I'm glad to have you back. And I'm glad that Ben was there to help cover for you while you were out. You have good family, Parker. Never forget that." She gives him a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek, before going to head out, leaving the donuts behind.
Andi Benton	"Yeah..fine. I, uh, I guess we..didn't know if we'd get through the Carnage thing, and we finally told dad about all this. He took it a lot better than I expected." Thankfully, Andi leaves out. They can tell from her body language that it was an emotional, unsure thing that could have gone in a different direction. "I made sure he got out of town for a few days just in case." Then she adds after Peter's need to deal with some other business, "Cool. And what she said. I know I'm not the first to just get together and do stuff, but maybe sometime." She leaves it at that, studying Mary Jane quietly for a few more seconds before she leaves. A moment later, Andi follows. Along the way, she texts her father: 'Bringing some pizza home. Hope you didn't fall asleep early again, old man.'