Glinda the Good comes and goes by bubble (iwasherfriend) wrote in pathways_log, @ 2021-10-08 11:43:00 |
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Entry tags: | spider-verse: peter b parker, wicked musical: galinda upland |
Who: Galinda and Peter
What: Checking in and realizing the responsibility that comes with great power
When: August 16th, 2021
Where: Coffee shop
Ratings/Warnings: PG 14 - References to cyber exploitation/revenge porn
Status: Log | Complete
Peter was feeling pretty proud of himself.
He’d clicked on the link when he saw it, but as soon as he realized what he was looking at, he’d quickly closed the link and frowned at his computer. The photos out on the internet, which meant it was probably there for good, but that didn’t mean there was nothing he could do. He did what he could to flag the website and hopefully have it taken down, and then, while he waited for the results for that, he looked up Galinda’s boyfriend, Jonah. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who had uploaded the photos, and while it took a little bit more of a tech savvy approach to find him, Peter managed that after only a couple hours of searching too.
Peter hadn’t had much of a chance to use his Spider-Man costume, but this seemed like to opportune time to give it a test drive. He donned it, and made his way to Jonah’s home. It was quick work to string him up in a giant web, “I UPLOAD REVENGE PORN” written in bold letters,Charlotte’s Web style. He’d included Jonah’s laptop, secured in his computer bag and attached to the webbing, the folder containing the original video open as well as the website it had been uploaded to.
He’d snapped a few photos for the Review-Journal, and had called the police, and he’d applauded himself for a job well-done.
He was less pleased with the paper’s headlines that accompanied the photo (“Publicity Stunt to Draw Attention to Revenge Porn Laws?”), but at least Jonah’s photo was out there for anyone to see now, so he still thought of it as a job well-done. Maybe he wasn’t saving the world, or fighting supervillains like he could remember in that other life of his, but look at him go, making the world a better place one asshole at a time.
And then he’d messaged Galinda to see if she wanted to go out for coffee, or maybe go shopping. Whatever she wanted.
Galinda was doing everything she could to not think about what had happened with Jonah. After Elphie had found her sitting in the dark in her office, the blonde had done what she always did when she got her heart broken. Faked a smile and pretended that she was perfectly fine. The looks. The whispers. They would die down eventually.
She was just also avoiding all social media for the foreseeable future. Just in case. Her parents still didn’t know how to talk to her. The shame she’d seen in their eyes… she just had to jump start that failed five year plan. That was it.
It did say something though that shopping wasn’t on her list of things she really wanted to do. Then again, it was easy to put on a brave face when she had to work. It was something else entirely when she didn’t have anything to focus on. Even so when she had gotten the message from Peter...well, iced coffee sounded like a really good idea. So a break would be good. In theory. She hoped. Whatever. Grabbing her bag, the blonde headed to the coffee shop, head held high as she stepped in, ignoring some of the looks she got.
Peter’d put forth some effort in his appearance before he left his apartment. His hair was combed, his t-shirt was stain-free, and he was wearing the same slacks that Galinda had helped him with; they were the nicest pair he owned. He’d even shaved earlier, though his five o’clock shadow was already making an appearance.
Peter didn’t often show up to things early - or on time, really, if he was honest - but he made a special effort to try to show up at the coffee shop before Galinda, and when he saw her walk in, he shot her a smile. “Hey kid,” he said, leaving the table he’d reserved to meet her at the door. “How you doing?”
Given Galinda wasn’t all too familiar with Peter’s habits, she didn’t realize he had put forth that much effort. Oh, he definitely looked more put together than he had been that first time they met at the department store but for all she knew, that could have been a bad day. Yes, even on her bad days the blonde was always put together but that was a habit that was hard to break.
So instead she just smiled as she was greeted.
“Hi! And I’m good.” Totally good. Really. Not at all forcing it because if she tried to act like things were fine then they would be and not that her entire world was once again turned upside down. And not even because of memories of Oz and Shiz. “You?”
Peter bit back the better than I’ve been in a while answer that immediately popped to mind at Galinda’s question. For one, he hadn’t given a non-sarcastic answer to that question in a long time, and for another, it felt too much like bragging, given the circumstances.
He frowned a little at her answer, tilting his head to the side. “Are you?” he asked after a moment.
“Yep! Why wouldn’t I be?” It wasn’t as if she hadn’t just had her heart broken yet again, her privacy violated in ways she never had imagined and still could’t face her parents and was still pretending that the looks and whispered comments didn’t get to her. Everything was fine. Completely and perfectly Fine.
The power of ignoring what was right in front of her remained strong in Galinda. She got her heart broken, she pretended that it didn’t bother her and she moved on. Theoretically. And never to yet another bad decision. That of course was a ridiculous thought.
“Also I see you avoiding my question in redirecting it to me.” For all of her ignoring of the things she didn’t want to acknowledge because to do so was to admit that yet again her perfectly constructed world had come crashing down, Galinda remained ever as observant and she knew the evade a question game all too well.
Peter frowned, but because he was relatively certain that she was lying about being fine, but also because Galinda wasn’t wrong about him avoiding the question. “Things have been good,” he said after a moment. “Unexpectedly good. Weird,” Randomly developing superpowers when you were pushing forty was definitely on the weird side, “but good.”
They were at the front of the line now, and Peter ordered his coffee and a couple of doughnuts, and looked at Galinda so she could order her own. Talking about anything especially personal while waiting in line seemed like one of those things that was probably not a great idea.
And if things were going well, then there was absolutely no reason for Peter to avoid the question. Just because the public got to see her humiliated again didn’t mean others couldn’t be having a good time. So instead she smiled and nodded, “That’s good to hear!”
And it was and it also came with a genuine smile instead of the forced one of pretending everything was fine as if it would make it fine.
Putting in her own order, the blonde stepped back so they could go wait for their orders. And no, standing in line was definitely not a place to discuss what it was Peter actually wanted to discuss.
Peter paid for the drinks and the food, and once they were placed in front of them, he grabbed his own and led them to a table tucked away in the corner. It wasn’t exactly private, but Peter had long since learned that people didn’t pay much attention to the conversations strangers had in public. He had a sudden flash of teaching some kid - Miles? - how to be Spider-Man in a fast food restaurant.
Not important.
“Soooo,” Peter said, reaching for one of the doughnuts. Did he need to segway into this somehow? He wasn’t going to segway into this somehow. “I was out taking photos yesterday, and I happened to see that douchebag, hopefully-ex-boyfriend of yours. He was caught up in this big spiderweb between a couple of buildings.”
With her own drink and food picked up, Galinda followed Peter to the table and sat down. Oh, it was amazing how easy one could be completely ignored in a public place if you were just doing your own thing. She was also all too familiar with flashes of images and memories popping up and pushing them aside because they didn’t matter.
Was there even a segway into what Peter was about to bring up? Not one Galinda knew. Then again, she wasn’t anticipating what he was about to say either. True, it would make sense. Anyone who knew her could put two and two together on what had happened and would undoubtedly want to check in on her even if there was nothing to check in on.
Really.
So beyond a momentary flicker in her eyes and pause that was brief and nearly invisible, Galinda just took a sip of her iced coffee and gave a small nod.
“A giant spider web, you say...how odd.”
“I sure thought so,” Peter agreed. “My editors seem to think it was some sort of publicity stunt, but I don’t really agree.” For one, Peter had nothing to publicize. “Someone called the police though, and they ended up taking him away. Did you want to read about it? I think I saw the paper up near the till. Or I could bring it up on my phone.” It wasn’t first page news. It wasn’t much more than the photo and a brief blurb about what had happened in the Crime section.
Interesting comment, but Galinda didn’t pay it too much mind at the moment. Mostly because she heard that someone had called the police and Jonah had been taken away and….that meant she would have to actually file charges and testify and have it all dragged through the courts and even then it wasn’t guaranteed that anything would actually be done and why couldn’t this all just be over? Why couldn’t she just forget it happened?
“Oh. I see.”
Wow, her drink was suddenly very interesting.
Peter frowned, not quite sure what to make of her reaction. “This is… good news, right?” He asked after a moment. He’d have thought that after what Jonah had done, Galinda would have been overjoyed to have him arrested. Peter certainly would have been if their positions were reversed.
Arrested was one thing. But charged and all of that? Where she would actually need to file the charges? After all, a computer may have been found and an anonymous claim made, but it was just that. Anonymous. It could be explained away. Jonah was very good at explaining things away.
“Yeah. Of course…”
Not entirely convincing but Galinda didn’t know what she felt about all of it.
“I mean, maybe it will scare him enough once he gets released.” It wasn’t like he could be held without actual charges. If she didn’t bring them up herself and given she really wasn’t wanting to because of everything that would come from a trial? She was barely holding on as it was if she were at all being honest with herself which...okay, Galinda wasn’t known for always being honest with herself when she would rather just ignore the bad and pretend everything was fine.
Was it a 24 hour hold or a 48 hour hold for how long someone could be kept in lock up before police had to release them if no charges were brought? She wasn’t sure. It wasn’t really something Galinda had ever needed to look into before.
It really wasn’t convincing. “Released?” Peter asked, brows furrowing together. “He should go to prison!” he said emphatically, keeping his voice down so that he didn’t attract the attention of anyone else. He frowned, leaning back in his chair, beginning to get the feeling that he might have screwed up. “Don’t you want to press charges against him?”
Absently, Galinda fiddled with her hands as she just shrugged at the question, her gaze focused on the different rings she had on. “I just want to put it all behind me. And there’s no guarantee. It might seem open and closed but these things never are.” All one had to do was look at the news, “Convince even one person I did it to get revenge on him for some frivolious and then it’s just all in the news even more.”
She already had to deal with her parents’ disgust and how they also wanted it just swept under the rug. She was going to have to play clean up now that the initial shock and disappointment were over and she got to deal with how to rehabilitate her image in society.
“I mean. I appreciate the thought, don’t get me wrong just…you didn’t have to,” Because really, who else could it have been? That and Galinda really was a lot more observant than people ever gave her credit for. “And like I said. It could scare him even just having to be arrested in the first place.”
“What? Me? It wasn’t me,” Peter said, unconvincingly. Maybe if it had been something she had wanted, he’d be able to lie more convincingly, but now… well, now it felt a little bit like he’d messed up and was trying to skirt his responsibility.
With great power comes great responsibility.
Peter wasn’t sure if Uncle Ben had given him that advice in this life - if he had, Peter had probably forgotten it, given that Peter had never really had anything resembling ‘great power’ in his life. But either way, he was pretty sure he’d just screwed up the responsibility part.
“But this Spider-Man who might have done it… He didn’t manage to make things worse, did he?”
Galinda was tired, tired of being lied to. But she also didn’t really have the energy to push the matter. So instead, the blonde just gave Peter a look that said she knew what he was trying to do but let it otherwise drop. It wasn’t like she was going to be telling anyone after all.
As for if things had been made worse? Galinda tilted her head in thought. Jonah had never been the violent type so she wasn’t really worried about potential retaliation on that front, and her father’s IT person made sure there was nothing on her computer to track her key strokes or things like that so she’d been able to change all of her passwords - just in case. And it wasn’t like she was going back to the man. She’d changed the locks and everything.
“No. I don’t think he’s made things worse. And he was trying to help and that means a lot.” Even if the last thing she wanted was for this to continue on and would much prefer just moving on and putting it all behind her.
Peter was smart enough to know that there was no point in holding onto the lie. Besides, didn’t most superheroes have someone who knew their secret identity? Sure, most of the time it was a significant other, or a best friend or family or something, instead of a girl he’d gotten stuck to in a department store, but he had gotten stuck to her. It probably didn’t take a genius to figure it out from there.
He took a big bite out of his doughnut.
“I did think it would help,” Peter said after a moment. “I guess I should have checked with you before I did something. I know you probably don’t want my opinion, but I do think this guy should have to pay for what he did to you.”
There was no sense in mentioning that he was working his tech skills to get the initial website taken down. There was no sense in talking about something that might not wind up happening.
Well, at least Peter had stopped with the obvious lie. Because really now. Getting stuck to a person and then spider webs? It wasn’t that hard of a leap to make. So the blonde just nodded some as she took a sip of her drink.
“I know and probably. Yeah.” Even if she really was just doing her best to ignore what had happened. To try and move forward and deal with whatever it was she’d have to do to save face and fix the mess she’d made by being with Jonah. Because she couldn’t get the voice out of her head saying that this was her fault. If she hadn’t trusted him… Anyone else and she’d see just what it was but when it came to herself?
Which just led to Galinda shrugging, because it wasn’t like she could exactly argue if it had been anyone else. It was just everything that it entailed, the energy, the inability to escape it.
“So. Besides spider webs and all, things are going well?” Because Galinda would still try to change the topic and focus on anything else but what had happened. The most healthy way to deal with things. Really and truly.
Peter was an expert at avoidance tactics, and he recognized it was. But it wasn’t like he was exactly the kind of guy who could lecture someone about it. He’d divorced his wife and left New York because he hadn’t been able to deal with… well, anything. If there was an avoiding-things Olympics, he’d win the gold.
“Yeah, actually,” he said after a moment. “I’m in the best shape of my life despite, you know, not doing anything for it. I’ve -” he paused, frowning. “Wait, before I sound absolutely insane, have you been getting weird memories from another life?”
Distractions were all the rage in Las Vegas. Perhaps it was people naturally inclined towards them who ended up with the weird memories. Perhaps they led to it. Galinda didn’t know. Nor did she care that much. There were distractions to have and so she nodded at the question.
“Yep! It’s all very confusifying.” And she put things into bubbles now. Because that was a thing. So it wasn’t like Peter were the only one with things like that. “But I’m definitely familiarized with them. So you’re being all in shape from the weird memories?”
Peter nodded. “I’m pretty sure I’m some kind of superhero in them?” he confessed. “Spider-Man. I mean, I don’t have a lot of memories, and they’re all kind of fuzzy around the edges, but I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t me that was swinging from skyscrapers in New York and rescuing people from giant lizard men or mad scientists with four robotic arms. I mean, I fantasized about that kind of thing all the time - what kind of nerdy teenager doesn’t? - but I never actually, you know, did it.”
“That’s really cool though! Getting to help people who need it and all.” That was what superheroes did, right? It wasn’t like the blonde actually knew much about things like comic books or anything of that nature so it wasn’t like she knew much about superheroes writ large. It sounded that way at least. “But I definitely get that. Then again, I remember a place that definitely doesn’t exist as I remember it so it’s not as fuzzy in that regard even if it feels like the memories of Oz are trying to be more in the front of my mind than my memories of here.”
Peter had never really had much of a chance to help people before. It wasn’t that he avoided helping people - at least, not when he was younger, now that he was older he tried to mind his own business - but he had never actually been able to help people much. He wasn’t especially strong, he’d never had that much confidence, he definitely never had much money. He’d done some volunteering in his twenties and his early thirties, but that was the extent of it.
Except now he could also remember saving people. Saving a lot of people. Saving the world a few times. Now, he thought, he actually had the power to help people here. It was a lot to take in, and he wasn’t really sure how to do anything about it.
“I hope I’ll be able to help, at least,” he said. There was probably a reason most superheroes didn’t start out when they were middle aged. “What are your memories of Oz like? You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to, by the way.”
Galinda tried to help people. Maybe not always in the best of ways, or it didn’t go over well. But she still tried. It was easier now that she wasn’t doing every single activity her parents put her in for the accolades and prestige and to keep her out of their hair. Still, it was also easy to get caught up in the day to day and forget as well.
There was always so much going on.
“Well so long as you try,” Smiling, the blonde took a sip of her drink then shrugged at the question, “It’s very… sometimes its hard to explainorate on. I mean, we have Animals who can talk but apparently are losing their voices and ability to do so. There’s different regions, different societies. Sometimes it feels very similar but then there are the things that are very much not. Sorcery being taught in school, grand viziers and wizards.”
Even if she couldn’t explain it, it was also true that Galinda’s fashion choices had started to veer more towards an Ozian style, more asymmetrical designs and all.
“Some places are completely swankified, like here really. The glitz and glamor, the appearances to be kept up.”
Peter’s lip twitched. The first time, he could have passed it off as Galinda tripping over her tongue, but not when it kept happening. There was also something familiar with what Galinda was saying, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.
“It sounds sort of majestifying,” he said, quite seriously, even if there was a certain glint in his eye. “There’s some magic in the place I remember,” Peter said. At least, he was pretty sure there was. He seemed to remember it, but nothing he could really put his finger on, “but I don’t think we have schools for it or anything.”
Lucky for Peter, Galinda didn’t seem to notice the glint in his eye. She didn’t even pick up that he had said anything that others might see as off given the fact it was perfectly natural to the blonde. So instead she gave a nod, “It is. At least in some places.”
As he spoke of magic in where he remembered even if there wasn’t a school for it, Galinda nod.
“It’s weird but I guess it’s our new normal.”