— video.

[webshoots]

name: peter parker (ANONYMOUS)
date: 07/05
format: video

[ at first, there's a shot of sky; then, there's a shot of a wall, and then there's peter sat on the wall — or more accurately, there's a shot of someone sat on the wall in what, in some universe, could be mistaken for a red and blue wrestling suit.

(it's not though, it's just your friendly neighborhood not-as-spidery spider-man.)

that is to say: the explanations (quote-unquote) they've received to date are somewhat lacking, and he's still kind of hoping there's an absolutely anyone he can point a finger at and go 'I KNEW IT' rather than have this remain an apparently fluke accident of the multiversal variety.

there's a quirk of his lips and he holds his hands up, palms facing outwards in vague gesture of: and so. ]

Skipping past the Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore and going straight to the yellow brick road and wizard combo was— ... not exactly life affirming, but it did make me wonder about my sartorial choices.

[ he lets that comment hang for a moment before continuing, attention shifting up to the sky for a count of three and then back in the direction of the watch. ]

I mean, I get it: dimensional travel is [ pause. ] Complex. Temperamental. Annoying. [ that's not entirely the word he means, but it's the word he's using (there could be kids listening). nevertheless: ] I've been there, done this, passed on the t-shirt because it belonged to a guy with a color scheme that makes me look ill and come out the other side. Right side? Home side. There's got to be a better way of putting that—. Wasn't really interested in a repeat. Do you know how many voicemails I'm going to go back to? Accusations of being Bigfoot?

[ he holds his hands up — exasperation, folks — and it's followed by another pause, and another a quirk of his features beneath his mask. it's punctuated by a shrug, and he almost manages to look sheepish. ]

—You know, that felt good to get off my chest. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I’d love to say this is the weirdest thing I’ve done in my life but it’s not, which basically brings me to this question:

Anyone got directions to the lost and found? I think I dropped something exit-right of Earth.

Comments

[horkbajir]

The actress portraying the Wicked Witch nearly died of a pyrotechnics malfunction. [And that's what Toby's heard.]

[There's a lot to absorb here but she's determined to keep her metaphorical footing.]

I don't have experience with that. I know that sometimes, when an extradimensional godlike entity takes a personal interest in a person and a cause many lives are changed for the better as a result, though the person themself will doubtless suffer. Perhaps there is also a worthy cause here.

...Though, no, I am not overly hopeful. My cause is with my people.

[webshoots]

[ beneath the mask, peter's eyebrows knit together in a brief expression of 'what', and there's a moment's pause before: ] That's— unpleasant. [ thanks for sharing? ] Let's remember not to revisit The Wizard of Oz as a conversational topic.

[ please—. he hums a sound in between acknowledgement and agreement at toby's next comment. strange would probably be the better person to speak to about that, but— ] Maybe, the only problem with that is that no-one seems to know why we're here, and no-one's managed to find any commonalities between us all. [ beat; concession: ] Yet.

[ but anyway: ] Your people. [ he repeats, and there's a flicker of interest there. ] Who—? [ although where is the other question on the tip of his tongue, the mention of 'the wizard of oz' means that peter's not going to rule out earth at all. people and beings who didn't want to be found tended to be pretty good at keeping themselves hidden. ] We've got a few people from a few versions of Earth here. [ mostly humans is the unsaid portion of that comment. ]

[horkbajir]

I will not press if you find it uncomfortable, but - why? [She's never going to understand humans if she doesn't ask.]

[When she nods, it's made more obvious by the horns amplifying the motion of her head.] "No one has had a stable and uninteresting life" is perhaps too broad a generality, and in any case, I can't rule that it's true. Certainly the Coven doesn't know why we're here, but there may be larger forces at play.

Hork-Bajir. We are not from Earth originally, though I was born there. In the state of California, actually. And yourself?

[webshoots]

Huh. [ california: not the answer he was expecting, but also ... somehow not entirely shocked. ] New York. And the near-death of strangers tends not to be a fun conversational piece.

If I'm honest? That's what I'm afraid of. [ a breath of a pause. ] Or if not larger forces, then more unpleasant forces. [ he waves a hand almost distractedly. ] It feels like there's a lot of questions about the how and the why, and I get it, I want to know the answers to those questions too, but the who will go a long way towards answering both of those...

—Which brings us back to the: and no-one knows any information that seems relevant issue. Larger forces playing with the little people tend to have proportionate egos and like to be noticed.

[horkbajir]

Perhaps because humans heal slowly, when they survive trauma at all. I will remember that. [She's very grave about it.]

[Toby nods again, this time also giving a soft, thoughtful hiss of agreement which shows the color of her gums. Cyan, if you were wondering.]

Some of them. The one I'm familiar with is... claims it cannot intervene, though it does so when it sees fit. A force which sees you as a very small part of a larger game may not care about notice.

Before I was born, an Ellimist desired a human to lead my parents to freedom. It did not reveal itself until he stopped and stated he would allow himself and my parents to be killed unless it appeared to him and gave him an explanation.

[Beat.]

I'm sorry. Is that overly grim?

[webshoots]

Yeah, that might be one reason for it.

A what, now? [ beat. ] I mean, I'm guessing an Ellimist? is one of the aforementioned larger and-or unpleasanter forces, but— [ what is it? ] What does it do? [ although he doesn't give toby any chance to answer that before continuing with: ] You know what, that story actually raises a few questions. Your people, the— [ a pause and peter stares at the watch almost blankly for a moment before apparently deciding that he's not even going to attempt to pronounce hork-bajir right now. he'll come back to that. ] —they were held in captivity? By humans? In California?

—Spider-Man, by the way, and I can't say that was something I'd tell a child before bedtime, but I've heard worse.

[horkbajir]

[She hesitates, peering into the watch.]

The story is long, and I don't want to tell even a short version unless it's to an actual person before me, but yes. My people were brought to Earth as slaves. The humans and others holding us have also been enslaved. The one chosen to help us is a part of the resistance.

His name is Tobias, and I was named for him - Toby Hamee. Toby.

[Pause. She's trying very hard not to say his name is weird.]

So are you more commonly called spider, or man?

[webshoots]

[ peter ducks his head a little at toby's answer. ] I'm sorry. [ it sounds genuine, and there's a moment of uncomfortable silence before peter answer's toby's question. ]

—Uh. Mostly Spider-Man, hyphenated. Which manifests as, like, the slightest pause between words...

[horkbajir]

[Toby inclines her head. It's a heavy topic and it should make people uncomfortable. She is the first of her people born free in generations, and she can never forget the weight of that.]

So it's not that someone who raised you gave you the name Man, it's something you chose. Correct?

[webshoots]

Yeah, it's mostly to go with the [ peter gestures at the spider on the front of his costume, ] spider theme... Proportional strength of, wallcrawling, webs—.

Spider-abilities, but also human.

[horkbajir]

[Superhero comics exist in her version of Earth, but she knows about exactly none of them. This is new ground to Toby, though she's aware of what secret identities are. That human resistance and all.]

Without transforming into a spider. You have... I assume you have a more American-typical name, but use an alias while masked? It must not matter if you have enemies who know you to be human.

[webshoots]

Not deliberately. [ because there was the time he had six arms, and then the time with the queen (gross, thanks). ] But yeah: got it in one.

—If I'd known I was going to be keeping the name for this long, I probably would've gone for something snappier.

[horkbajir]

You're keeping this up here, aren't you? This alias and persona. Is the other less well suited?

[Toby knows the human Animorphs would pretend to be normal humans here. Of course, if their access to morphing was blocked there would be no point in acting otherwise, even without risk of discovery.]

How long have you kept it?

[webshoots]

[ there's a whole host of reasons as to why the answer to that is yes, not least of which is that it's a distraction from the fact that he, peter parker, will have appeared to have just upped and disappeared from his life in new york, from may when she needs him, from mj when they were just starting to—

—he doesn't want to think about that, which means it's easier to focus on being spider-man, on getting answers and on maybe, hopefully finding a way home.

he looks down at the suit and then back at the watch. ] Instead of starting a conversation about potential deficiencies of my person under the mask, let's just leave it with a solid "maybe". [ he says, as if maybe is a solid anything. ] And long enough to have been able to celebrate a few milestone birthdays with my favourite enemies.

[ avoiding the question? peter parker? never. ]

[horkbajir]

[Evasion. Hork-Bajir do it too, though they tend to use words with fewer syllables. All right.]

Humans communicate a great deal with their faces. Does a mask impede that, or magnify the signals and make them visible from a greater distance?

[webshoots]

[ mumbled, entirely to himself: ] It's a mask, it masks— Impedes. No-one needs to the see the handsome face under the mask, and facial expressions aren't important to what I do.

[horkbajir]

[Patiently, definitely to him:]

Do I look like someone who can wear a mask, or who has a very flexible face?

[She has two blades on her head and not three, but humans not aware of that difference tend to call Hork-Bajir 'it' or 'he'. It's probably the deep voice.]

But you've somehow made the eye-spots adjustable.