InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "You think you're a man..."

mary jane (mrs_amazing) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2009-09-20 21:29:00

Who: Mary Jane Watson-Parker and Lana Lang
When: The night Lana arrives in Colligo
Where: Outside the library
What: Mary Jane has volunteered to take Lana out for coffee and show her the ropes. At least, what ropes she knows.
Rating: PG? I suppose?
Status: Incomplete

Mary Jane left her building as soon as she pulled shoes on, taking a jog to the library. She kept her PDA in her back pocket just in case she got lost. She was going to have to get a purse. And some new clothes. They were going to stretch out of their shape and get stinky soon, she was sure. Soon she'd figure out how to budget her money and get her essentials... then how to get a job. She wondered if there were any talent agencies, if there was a fashion industry... how far did this whole thing go? She had no idea. She figured she'd be working at a 7-11 soon.

"Lana?"

MJ was out of breath and panting a little by the time she got there, feeling a little dizzy from the jog. She felt exhausted lately and had the feeling it had to do with traveling a few billion lightyears or however far she came in this little journey to Colligo, not to mention traveling across dimensions. But here she was, she made it back to the library without a hitch, and she assumed that the lost-looking lady on the sidewalk was Miss Lana Lang.

"Hey! Hey. Hi. I'm Mary Jane, we talked..? "

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stopsavingme
2009-09-21 01:56 am UTC (link)

Lana was sitting down on a bench. She'd smacked her head pretty hard before being taken. It was incredibly awkward here, with nothing but a PDA. To make it worse, Lana was still in her pajamas, a bandage where she'd cracked open her head before.

"Hi. Sorry, I look terrible." Her hair wasn't even done and she was wearing fuzzy slippers. Lana stood, pushing all her hair away from her face.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 01:59 am UTC (link)
	"Oh, whoa. You okay?" MJ offered her hand to help her up. "And safe?" Heh. That was kind of relative. They were here. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 02:02 am UTC (link)
	"What, this? It's just a bump." Lana shook her head, refusing MJ's hand. She didn't need help. Self-consciously, she brushed some dust off of her bathrobe. "Stuff like this happens all the time." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 02:06 am UTC (link)
	MJ laughed softly and tucked her hair behind her ear. "Yeah, if you're Superman's girl, that doesn't surprise me. I know the feeling." She was used to being kidnapped, thrown around, bumped on the head, and any girlfriend of a superhero (which Lana was, as Pete had told her) would understand that kind of stuff. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 02:08 am UTC (link)
	Lana frowned. "Superman...?" What? It didn't occur to her that MJ might be talking about Clark. After all, Clark didn't tell her about his powers, and her certainly didn't call himself Superman. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 02:11 am UTC (link)
	MJ chuckled. "Okay, okay. I know. Look, we ladies are used to hiding secrets. But here? Everyone knows who Clark Kent is... like everyone here knows who Peter Parker is. It's just ... we're all from different universes, it seems." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 02:14 am UTC (link)
	"I'm sorry, what about Clark?" Sorry, MJ. Lana had no idea. "Peter Parker? Like ... what, Spider-Man?" Yeah. Clark was a superhero. Sure, that made perfect sense. Why did Clark always crop up no matter what she tried to do? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

mrs_amazing
2009-09-21 02:18 am UTC (link)

"Spider-Man, yeah." MJ shrugged her shoulders, brushed her hair behind her shoulder. "Yeah. And I spent so much energy to keep his identity secret and then he went and went public with it. This was a while ago. And then it just... snowballed from there. I never thought he had to be so tight-lipped about his secret, but go on TV and admit it? God." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, the point is. Yeah, Clarrr... oh! Oh, shoot, did you not know about Superman?"

It never occurred to her that Lana might not have known. Even when Peter thought he was being sneaky, MJ had known about his identity. For years. She was used to keeping secrets, not to having them kept from her.

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stopsavingme
2009-09-21 02:25 am UTC (link)

"Who is Superman? I think we're on different frequencies." And this woman was Spider-Man's wife. Lana had done some surfing on the network before posting anything; some people here were fictional, apparently. Or, fictional to some other people.

Normally, Lana would be really skeptical about something like that, but after everything she'd been through? Especially with Lex and Zod? She couldn't afford to be too skeptical about anything anymore. It was starting to become a waste of energy.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 02:29 am UTC (link)
	MJ opened her mouth, smiled vaguely, and closed it again. "You know what? I have you confused with someone else. I don't know my comics." It was easy to lie. If Lana didn't know, she didn't have to know. Wasn't important. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 02:33 am UTC (link)
	Clark was Superman, she got that part. She just didn't know who Superman was in the first place. "So wherever you come from, Clark is Superman." See? She caught on fast. "...Who's Lex Luthor?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 02:34 am UTC (link)
	MJ makes a face. "Even I know this. Superman's arch enemy. I mean, he's the baddest of all badguys. The most famous badguy in the comic book world, where I come from. And you know him?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 02:36 am UTC (link)
	Lana looked away, taking a deep breath. Great. But it wasn't real, was it? Of course not. It was fictional. "I know him. I live with him." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 02:38 am UTC (link)
	MJ blinked, raised her eyebrows. "Whooaaa. Hey. You live with him? Do you live with him as, what, like a staff member? A maid? Or are you... intimate? Because I really hate to insult your boyfriend, he could be totally different in real life and he just has a crappy reputation in my world. I don't know how this stuff works." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 02:42 am UTC (link)
	"He's my boyfriend." Why did Lana feel like she needed to make excuses for Lex all the time? Like she had to be embarrassed. She loved him. If other people didn't want to understand why, then ... fine. "He's not a bad person. He's just been hurt, like everybody else. But he's more honest than anyone else I've met." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 02:43 am UTC (link)
	MJ glanced at her carefully. "So he's not a psychopathic megalomaniac? And there are no signs that he might be some time in the future? He's just a misunderstood rich guy?" She used to know people like that. Hell, she used to date people like that. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 02:45 am UTC (link)
	"Maybe not what you know about him---" In a comic book? What the hell. "---but that's how it is where I'm from. His family has a bad reputation but he hasn't given me a reason to hate him. He and Clark were friends for a long time, before Clark's lying became too much." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 02:48 am UTC (link)
	MJ watched Lana closely, a slight smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "He and Clark were friends, huh? And I bet that Lex... has a daddy who's rather wicked and makes him feel like a bad person, and he's trying to get out of Daddy's shadow." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

stopsavingme
2009-09-21 02:58 am UTC (link)

Lana nodded, her arms folded. It was a little awkward; she was going to need some clothes soon. This was the kind of thing that was kind of sexy, all dark red and made of silk (contrasting horribly with those fuzzy slippers), and while it worked with Lex ... it did not work out in public like this.

"He did everything he could to prove himself to us. He's been good to me, he tells me the truth. And he didn't stare at me for four or five years before saying something."

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	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 06:00 am UTC (link)
	"Hey, I know how you feel. I, um. I had an ex-boyfriend? Sounds similar to Lex, here." MJ tucked her hands into her pockets, walking along beside her. "I'm sure in his own comics, which I haven't read because they don't exist where I am, but... I'm sure he's vilified, too. That's what happens." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 09:01 am UTC (link)
	Lana didn't read comics either, so she was honest when she asked, "What happened to him?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 05:16 pm UTC (link)
	"Um." MJ sighed a little. "He died." There, just like that. He died. "It's a lot more complicated than that, but... he tried killing Peter a few times, ended up drinking and abusing a lot of drugs, and died." Lana didn't need all the details. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 05:18 pm UTC (link)
	...Great. "I'm sorry." Lana really didn't need more details than that. At least Lex didn't do drugs. Or try to kill Clark. Clark, who was apparently Superman, whatever the hell that meant. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 05:26 pm UTC (link)
	"Hey, you know, it's... daddy issues and the need to have control and power over your life? It can make you do some wacky stuff. I guess that's what I've learned in all this ... the people who are most likely to snap are the ones who are struggling, the ones who aren't content. Trying to find a place in the world." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 07:13 pm UTC (link)
	Lana nodded, wishing she wasn't in her pajamas. She probably seemed like a nutcase like this. "You can always change things. I'm sorry he didn't realize that." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 07:14 pm UTC (link)
	"He tried," MJ admitted after a moment. "He did try. He died to save Peter." (Reply to this) (Parent)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 07:16 pm UTC (link)
	Lana was quiet for a moment. She didn't want details, if only to keep MJ from having to talk about it again. Eventually, she asked, "What's Peter like?" (Reply to this) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 07:21 pm UTC (link)
	"Pete?" MJ laughed, rubbed the back of her neck. "Uh. He's kind of a loser. I mean, he's a good guy. He is. But he's a nerd. Huge nerd. And he's loud. And mouthy. Sarcastic. He thinks he's funny." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 07:23 pm UTC (link)
	Glowing recommendation right there, wasn't it? Lana had to at least chuckle. "Is he?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 07:26 pm UTC (link)
	"Well, you know." MJ blushed and looked down at her feet. "He's mine." She was beautiful. She was a model, an actress. She could have any man she wanted, and she had a period prior to dating Peter where she did have any man she wanted. But she didn't want them. She wanted Peter. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

stopsavingme
2009-09-21 07:35 pm UTC (link)

Lana watched MJ and felt a pang of envy and homesickness. She remembered being all blushy and giddy about Whitney and Clark, and see where those had ended up. And then there was Jason, who had turned into a nutcase. Yes, she loved Lex. Adored Lex. But the relationship was decidedly less ... fluttery and blushy. Lex just wasn't that kind of person and that was probably a good thing. Every time Lana got too excited and silly about someone, something bad happened. Lex was a bit addled, maybe, but she knew him.

"...How long have you been married?"

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	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 07:38 pm UTC (link)
	"Seven years. That was after turning him down a few times, just... you know." MJ shrugged. "Had to assert my independence and find myself for a while. Go out and see things, do things. But I'm not unhappy with my choices." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 07:40 pm UTC (link)
	"I admire that," Lana admitted. "And at least he kept coming back and asking. That takes guts." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 07:42 pm UTC (link)
	"Yeah... yeah, well. It's been rough." MJ smiled. "Never about me loving him. We fight, but it's usually outside stuff. That or he leaves his underwear lying around or something. I just, um. I'm glad he's here. And I'm glad he's here... with me. So no matter what this Lex guy's deal is? I'm sorry he's not here with you." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 07:46 pm UTC (link)
	"Thank you. I'm used to people not liking him. It comes with the territory." And Lana? She could handle that. That wasn't the problem. "Whatever problems we were having, he was always right down the hall, or I could call him. He was never gone. He's always been there." It was clear it bothered her that he wasn't, all of a sudden. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 07:47 pm UTC (link)
	"It should be comforting to know that... he's the one who's safe at home?" MJ made a face. "Maybe?" Heh. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

stopsavingme
2009-09-21 07:51 pm UTC (link)

"Lex is never safe." Lana actually chuckled a little. "Safer, maybe. Between you and me---" Because MJ was a superhero wife and understood about keeping secrets. "---I'm almost inclined to say he'd be better off here. Without all the aliens and the spaceships. He was possessed not too long ago and I worry that it affected him in a way he doesn't want to talk about."

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mrs_amazing
2009-09-21 07:56 pm UTC (link)

MJ paused in her walking, taking Lana's elbow. "Whoa, whoa. Aliens and spaceships and possession?" Lana's world seemed right up her alley. Superman comics. Go figure. "Well, who knows? He might just end up here, but I can't guarantee he'll end up in the same... time frame ... I mean, I got here, but I was several months ahead of Pete. He has no idea what happened in the last few months because he hasn't lived 'em."

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	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 08:25 pm UTC (link)
	Lana nodded. MJ was taking her seriously? Really? "So he might not even know me. Or remember that we were ever together." Or he could be from their future. Lana wasn't sure she wanted to know the future. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 10:12 pm UTC (link)
	MJ nodded. "Unfortunately. Or maybe it's for the best in some cases. I don't pretend to know how this thing works----here we are, come on." She grabbed Lana's hand and pulled her into the nearby Starbucks. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 10:14 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, coffee. Lana loved the smell of coffee. "So." Change of subject. "How hard is it to get work around here? I'm not living off of a hundred dollars." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 10:15 pm UTC (link)
	"See? Thank you! Finally, someone who actually understands that around here!" MJ threw her hands up. "I don't know the answer to that. I assume it's got to be pretty easy, though ... I'm a model by profession, I have no damn idea if I can get work. I'll probably end up slinging burgers at our intergalactic McDonald's." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	stopsavingme 2009-09-21 10:18 pm UTC (link)
	"You look like a model." Lana believed it! "I used to own a coffee shop. Maybe someone around here wants an extra hand making cappuccinos." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

mrs_amazing
2009-09-21 10:22 pm UTC (link)

MJ was used to being told she looked like a model, but her smile was a little withered. She was thirty-two and past her prime. She was in a transition period where she wasn't yet old enough to sell age-defying makeup for a living but too old to do standard print ads, commercials, and runway work. Quite honestly, apart from a few people who liked her personally, she was almost constantly out of work. She wished she was a better actress. She got plays here and there but most people underestimated her as an actress ... and those who didn't underestimate her overestimated her.

"You used to... well, geesh, you should be working here. I consume cappuccinos, I don't make them. I can't get the machine to work at home, though my sister was nice enough to get me one to feed my habit..."

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stopsavingme
2009-09-21 10:28 pm UTC (link)

"I was terrible at it at first. They were going to take down the building; my parents met there, so I wanted to save it. Lex went in on it with me and turned it from a theater to a coffee shop." Even if she didn't work there anymore, Lana was damn proud of The Talon. She'd managed it while she was still in high school, had lived above it when she was out on her own. It was her baby.

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	mrs_amazing 2009-09-21 10:29 pm UTC (link)
	"Wow, I'm impressed..." MJ smiled faintly. This Lana girl was shaping up to be more than a pretty face. "Come on, we might both be poor, but the drinks are on me. Welcome to Colligo. Or something." (Reply to this) (Parent)