May Parker (marchaprilmay) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2013-07-22 16:39:00 |
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May was enjoying some fine dining. No, actually, she was eating a Hot Pocket and drinking a cherry Coke. She texted Kaine and not too long after-- the TV went all violently weird. That Mandarin sure was an old cranky white guy. She wasn’t exactly sure where Peter was at the moment and she was frustrated. It was a good time for a Conversation with Kaine. And to go swinging-- and to stop eating that damn Hot Pocket. She grabbed a hoodie and her (Ben’s) webshooters. May considered leaving a note... nah. Instead she opened her bedroom window, yanked the screen towards her, and hopped out. It never mattered how long it was between times out-- (not just OUTSIDE, but actually swinging around) it always felt new. Invigorating! Tingly! It made her giddy! Like those few moments just after the school bell rings and you’re running to the bus. Like when you see a waitress bringing your giant cheeseburger to your table. Like seeing a happy dog walking towards you. (May’s joys were simple, thank you very much). It wasn’t long before she made it to the roof. She was barefoot, in pajama pants, and swinging through the dark sky like it ain’t no thang. She landed with a soft thud, and padded over to the edge of the tower. May pulled the hood up over her messy hair and waited. Kaine might already be there-- she wasn’t paying much attention. The city was beautiful at night. That and her spidey-senses would tell her if some crazy crap was going to go down. Kaine didn’t count as Crazy Crap, despite how many times he warned her. Kaine was already waiting when she arrived. He'd been in the neighborhood, in his costume of course, and when May decided she needed to talk, he relented. The New York City buildings still felt abnormal. There were too many of them, they were too crowded, and they were suffocating. What it all boiled down to was that Kaine missed Houston. He missed the crazy heat, and the way it felt like stepping out into a sweaty armpit when you went outside. He missed the slight twang in most people's accents, and most of all, he missed the way the people thought he was some kind of superhero. It was proof that he was doing the Right Thing, even if he was doing it his way. Here, he felt like he needed to get Peter Parker and Ben Reilly's approval for everything, and instead of doing that, he constantly started fights with them. It had been such a long time since he'd seen Ben, since he'd realized just what Ben meant to him. In time, he'd realized the same about Parker. But in the end, Kaine knew he could never measure up to either of them in any way, and shouting at the world was his defense mechanism. May was another ball of insecurities. She was Peter's daughter, which meant she'd be just as Good as he was, and probably just as judgmental. Kaine wasn't looking for another family member to berate him. He did enough of that on his own. Coincidentally, she'd walked near to the ledge he was perched on. She couldn't see him, of course; the stealth mode on his suit was on. He'd been swinging around, saving people from random muggers and other do-badders, and not wanting attention. The best way was to make sure you weren't seen. As he became visible, he said, "Who's playing keep-away with you, kid?" Her spidey-sense went off just as he became visible, making May jump backwards. Phil told her that her spidey-sense could one day be more powerful than Peter’s. But for now? She was fifteen and not expecting Kaine to be freakin’ invisible! She stood up on her tip toes and gave Kaine a dirty look. “You got built in web-shooters AND you are half-ninja? Not fair.” May returned to the ledge and sat down in one fluid motion. She dangled her legs over the side, stretching them out and wiggling her toes. “Everybody’s keeping me in the dark. I figured you’d be the one to tell me. Also, I think most people refer to it as Monkey in the Middle, Kaine.” She grinned at him, hoping he realized she was just being silly. Silly was often lost on Kaine as far as outwardly showing it. Every once in awhile, Aracely got a laugh out of him, but for the most part, Kaine prefered to wallow in his self-loathing too much to crack a joke that wasn't bleeding with black blood. He also wasn't fond of talking very much, where Peter Parker would never shut up. He had to fight that side of him from time to time. For some reason, Flash Thompson - particularly in the symbiote - hit every one of his Parker buttons. Especially when the damn suit tried to eat him. "What-the-fuck-ever. You got what I meant." Frowning beneath his mask, he plonked down next to her. The rip on his knee exposed a bloody knee, but with some motivation and a thought, he watched as the fabric closed itself up. If there was one thing that Kaine would actually thank Peter Parker for, it would be this suit. "I'll tell you, but I doubt you're gonna like it much. What's on your mind?" “Hey, watch your damn mouth.” Oh my goodness, May said a cuss. She went all bug-eyed at Kaine’s suit. Another cool thing he had. Maybe she’d inherit that-- well, no, wait, bad. Ben died and she got his suit. She didn’t want anyone else dying so she could get new gear. Clearly, she’d have to just borrow it occasionally. Clearly. “Why is Peter not with Mary Jane? What happened to Gwen? Are there such things as chupacabra? Lemme see your wrists.” Shoot, May, you were supposed to sandwich the hard questions between the easy ones. She showed him her own wrists, so he could see she didn’t have built in webshooters-- he probably would think she was crazy, she only mentioned that to him once or twice. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. May reminded him so much of Aracely at this moment, that Kaine felt a slight pang in his chest at missing her. That was stupid. Missing people was stupid. Feelings were stupid. Everything was stupid. Things were just so simple when he was angry and in pain all the time. If he hurt because of the cellular degeneration, then he lashed out in anger. Cause. Reaction. See, simple? He stared down at her wrists, frowning so deeply he almost appeared like a marble statue. "Those were Ben's." Of course he'd know them anywhere. Kaine was nothing if not obsessive. He shrugged, turning his attention from the shooters to her own wrists. He pulled a glove off and held out his hand. "Gwen died in our world in a really fucked up way, and... Pete never made it to his own wedding. MJ got pissed." May’s lips twisted off to the side as she tried to think. Think of a way to word it so it didn’t sound so-- no, forget it. “How did she die?” What is really fucked up? And how can they stop it from happening here? All May knew was that MJ loved Gwen, she just assumed that Peter loved her too. But not in the same way he loved her mom. However, pieces were coming together. That and even if she was fifteen, she wasn’t stupid. Things were obvious. “...yeah, showing up late to his own wedding sounds legit.” Kaine didn't want to think about those memories. Those were the last that he had before he was born. Father feverishly worked constantly on creating the perfect Gwen Stacy clone. He transformed himself from Miles Warren into the Jackal in his grief, and then set out to destroy Spider-man. For years, Kaine allowed himself to be manipulated, to believe that Spider-man was responsible for all of the pain he and Ben experienced. Madness had clouded his mind, and he fell for the Jackal's lies over and over again. "The Goblin." Kaine cleared his throat. "Tossed her off a bridge. We - Peter tried to save her, caught her with a webline, but it - it snapped her neck." May became very quiet. She looked at her toes and the tops of the buildings before she spoke again. “It’s not going to happen here.” She was sure of it. If May herself had to make sure of it, she would. “No Osborn is going to come near Gwen.” The next part felt so wrong to ask, but she had to. “Did Dad-- did-- you guys, Peter, this Peter here, did he love her? Before Mary Jane?” It hurt to think of it. If Gwen didn’t die, May wouldn’t exist somewhere... but that means the world would be minus one wonderful person. A few things hadn't changed since his cure. Uncomfortable conversations were never Kaine's forte. He had the subtlety and softness of a rampaging moose in a crystal shop. His idea of letting someone down easily was to tear the bandage off quickly, to rebreak a leg to set it right. His bedside manner was even worse. "Yes. He did. Kind of hard not to fall for her." This Gwen was different enough that Kaine could differential between them in his head, but there was just enough about her that he could remember crystal clearly, even if they weren't his memories. "Gwen and MJ were best friends." Boy, did that sting. “Yeah, I could see that.” May hadn’t known Gwen that long and already thought of her as one of her most dear friends. She wanted to ask more things, like, hey, does he love her here? Do you, Kaine, love her? But she didn’t want to get snarled at. Instead, she went a different route but surely would end up at the same location, “Why are you so angry?” There was a noise from Kaine that sounded not unlike that of a snarl. He yanked the mask over his mouth and rubbed down his scruff with the palm of his hand. The subject change, the short reply, Kaine was no fool. He knew that he'd made May uncomfortable with his honest reply. Peter was going to kill him. "I was bred this way," came his short reply. "Why are you so short?" May sat up straight and looked terribly offended. “How dare you! You know it’s because it makes me aerodynamic! And cute!” She leaned over and attempted to poke him. “Why don’t you shave? And how come I never heard of you until I got here? Rude.” She was feeling greedy, she wanted ALL THE UNCLES. Kaine pulled his mask off, stuffing it under his leg. Once, he'd left it sitting beside him on one of the spires of the Bank of America Center in Houston, only to have the wind blow it away. Chasing it down had been a nerve-wracking experience. He wasn't looking to relive it. Her poking came with a confused frown. It still baffled him that no one seemed to be afraid of him. Sometimes, it was downright infuriating. He was a monster, damnit. Just because he didn't look like one didn't mean he wasn't. He was bad, he was evil, why weren't they locking him away? "You talk too damn much. Why do you care about my shaving habits anyway?" May blew a raspberry at Kaine and stood up. “You’re just like a big bear. A big shaved bear. Except for on your face.” She hopped down from the edge, back onto the roof. Bleh, she was going to get tar all on her feet. “You need to stop acting like a jackass, okay? You’re our family.” May was very much unafraid of Uncle Monster over there. “I’m going back, thanks for storytime... unless, if you’re hungry, I think we got a frozen pizza in the freezer?” It always threw Kaine for a loop when someone was not unnerved by him. He was so used to people crossing the street, looking worried, tip-toeing around him that when someone didn't, it was a huge fucking deal to him. Never mind what the word family did to him. "Sorry. Someone's gotta act like he's got his head up his ass," Kaine answered, swinging his legs over the ledge and standing up. He smacked his stomach and shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I could eat. What about you?" “I can always eat. C’mon.” May smiled, even though her eyes were squinted, slightly suspicious of him. She smacked her own belly and headed towards the edge again. “I’ll race you back!” |