i_hide The new face in town (Narrative more or less, open if possible)
Her hair looked good, eyes held the inner fire only emerald hues seem to tame so handily. She smiled prettily as she held up the bottle of clear icy cold water. This was what she'd been reduced to? Well work was work who was she to complain as long as it kept her in money for the new apartment she'd found. Quite the upgrade from the dive she'd originally been staying at, now she had some sort of view of The City. The balcony hadn't been necessary but something in her made her lean toward that apartment. Too much time spent with Pete had left it's impression on her. Easy access living, what more could a webslinging wallcrawler want?
MJ had spent the better part of the day wandering around her apartment, rechecking the shooting schedule for the next week. She was getting back into the groove, however slowly. She was a professional and determined to maintain her standards of work even if the rest of her life had yet to catch up in it's recovery. The incident in the graveyard had been a shock to the system. Brave girl that the blond was, she hadn't even had time for the coffee before she'd had to run off to fight more of those shambling dead..undead..whatevers.
She leaned forward on the balcony railing and stared across the street. They'd chosen to put the billboard there, odd coincidence in that. She could look out her window and see a fifteen foot image of herself indulging in a chilled beverage at any hour. The water deal was a good one it paid well, but there was still something disconcerting about seeing yourself on a billboard that was right out your window. Mary-Jane Watson, the one thing that never changed was that mega-watt smile.
From: i_object Date: 05/07/2006 15:12:52
Down on the sidewalk, Matt was making his way towards his office. As always, he was paying close attention to his surroundings. The cane was a habit, but he wasn't listening for its taps. Instead, he was listening to the echos of the traffic bouncing off what seemed to be a new wall. Listening closer, he could make out the echoes around lamps and walkways. A billboard. Smirking to himself, he shook his head. Either the City was moving things around again or else it was new. He made a mental note to watch out for that should he venture across the rooftops on this side of town.
Slowing his stride, he cocked his ear upwards. Across the street, he could hear someone up on a balcony. He paused briefly. Somehow, he recognized the person, but he couldn't put his finger on who it was. Taking a few more steps, he stopped again. Matt still couldn't figure out if he knew the person or not.
From: i_hide Date: 05/07/2006 17:57:33
The second upward glance was what caught her attention. It was common for anyone to look around at other people, it was the human condition. So the first look never struck her as anything in particular. It was the second stop and turn when she noted the cane and dark glasses. The man was blind and yet he knew she was there, three stories above him.
MJ waved and immediately felt very foolish for the action. "Hi down there." Something about him was familiar, nothing she could put her finger on but there was something there.
From: i_object Date: 05/07/2006 18:40:24
Matt turned his face upward, towards the voice. "Hi," he shouted.
He knew that voice, but still couldn't place it. Self-consciously, he realized he must have looked ridiculous to passers-by, standing on the sidewalk, shouting to some woman.
From: i_hide Date: 05/07/2006 19:07:28
Awkward.
How do you just start up a conversation with someone to figure out if you know them without making an ass of yourself? Think girl..
"Umm hey, you don't happen to know what a market is around here do you? I just moved in and..."
The rest fell off into silence in the way you do when things are self explanatory. This gave him a chance to respond and maybe give them a reason to talk. Or not.
From: i_object Date: 05/07/2006 19:36:29
"Uh," Matt reached up and scratched the back of his head briefly. "No, can't say that I do..."
Just moved in? She must have been a new transplant to the City, Matt figured. Was she a past client? No...
"Um, I don't mean for this to be too forward or anything, but have we met before? You sound awfully familiar."
What a thing to ask from the middle of the sidewalk.
From: i_hide Date: 05/07/2006 21:38:37
"I was just thinking the same thing..hang on a second, I'll be right down."
MJ was a blur grabbing her keys and shoes putting on the latter while using the former to lock the door. Two minutes later she hit the sidewalk,and bound up to the redhead. The familiarity now was just eerie, she knew she had met this man.
Lightly her hand reached out to his left hand, the right being occupied by his cane.
"It's weird." She echoed her earlier statement. "I didn't think I'd ever run into anyone I knew here. MJ by the way. MJ Watson."
From: i_object Date: 05/08/2006 08:18:14
For the minute or two that she had disappeared from the balcony, Matt was rapidly going through his mind's file of women who might be here - it hadn't immediately occured to him that it might be MJ.
He felt the light touch on his left hand and quickly switched his cane into that one, keeping it perpendicular to the ground, resting the end on the top of his shoe. He held out his right hand.
"I didn't think I'd ever run into anyone I knew here. MJ by the way. MJ Watson."
Matt's eyebrows went up over the top of his sunglasses. His face broke into a grin. "Matt Murdock. It's good to finally run into you, MJ. I'd heard there was a possibility you were around. Is Pete here?"
From: i_hide Date: 05/08/2006 12:35:50
Matt Murdock! A name she knew and once she knew she could see him, thought it was not the way she recalled him looking. MaryJane was overcome with reliefe to indeed run into someone she knew so well. Her smile beamed until he mentioned Peter.
Her handshake turned limp and her voice dropped lower. "You havn't heard." A moments deep breath before shew continued.
"Pete's dead. He..uhh...he died fighting Morlun and saving my life."
The battle had been brutal, Morlun had taken one of Pete's eyes in the process. Pete bested him, as was always Parker's way, but he had suffered too much trauma. After everything else he'd overcome Peter Parker died as he lived, saving the world.
From: i_object Date: 05/08/2006 14:42:54
The limpness of her hand was his first clue something was wrong, so he steeled himself.
"Are you serious?" Matt asked. Of course she was serious, but he didn't want to believe it right off. "When did this happen?"
From the initial shock, he quickly switched to denial. If this was Mary Jane from after his time, or his immediate future, then there might still be a chance Peter was around here in the City. Matt had heard enough about this City to believe that. If what MJ said had happened a few weeks ago, well...he'd seen Peter Parker. Or, rather, Spider-man. She had to be from a different time than his - like Max.
From: i_hide Date: 05/08/2006 15:03:42
"The day before I wound up here."
How to explain all this. She hardly knew where to begin, Matt would have..or should have been up to date on things. But with what Max told her about time and space functioning differently here she could not afford to take that for granted.
"Well...uhh ok Pete and I moved recently, about the time the Avengers reformed with the new team. It was shortly after that when Pete, when he died."
Maybe Matt was from another time when Pete hadn't joined or maybe he was just unaware of the news just yet. Either way the subject would be sore for them both.
From: i_object Date: 05/08/2006 19:23:27
Matt stood there, on the sidewalk, thinking. Other pedestrians on the sidewalk were in a hurry, however, and shoved past him. He took a small step before they banged into them, but he didn't think they should continue this conversation in the middle of mid-morning traffic.
"MJ, do you mind if we move inside?" he asked, motioning towards the door with the handle of his cane.
From: i_hide Date: 05/09/2006 17:13:54
"Of course."
Hardly the place to discuss such things, MJ pulled the door open and walked inside with Matt. The lobby was spacious and tiled with an old marble floor. It had the look of a vintage building from New York of the 40's, one of the cities quirks of appropriation.
MJ guided them both to a small niche where they could sit, she fell into her chair with a weariness she hadn't realized she had.
"So, where should I begin?"
From: i_object Date: 05/09/2006 17:33:13
Matt claimed the chair across from MJ, folding his cane as he sat. Leaning against the back, he rubbed his forehead with his fingers. The lobby was much quieter than the street, but the marble still had an echo. He could deal with that better than rush hour. He was also still trying to grapple with the thought of Peter Parker dead.
"I honestly don't know," he said quietly. "Had Peter joined the Avengers? I always thought of him as being a bit of a loner, like myself."
If this MJ knew about Peter and the Avengers, then he assumed she knew his identity as Daredevil. Matt had been lucky enough in the New York he was from to not have been exposed...yet. It was only a matter of time, he supposed.
From: i_hide Date: 05/09/2006 19:35:41
Soft chuckle, yeah she had been surprised by the whole thing herself.
"You know Pete...After the house was destroyed and May nearly killed...well Tony Stark offered to take us in. It was the perfect situation for us. Pete and I were getting over a rocky bit, May took to Jarvis well enough. It was what we needed."
It had been, at least what Pete and May had needed, for MJ it was a bittersweet blessing. Having to share Pete with the world was bad enough when they had their own place to call home. Once they moved into the Avengers building he was on call 24-7. Pete would never have had it any other way but still...it had been a strain MJ felt with every time his communicator went off.
From: i_object Date: 05/09/2006 21:09:56
She definitely was from a different time than him, Matt decided. The last time he had seen MJ was at Karen Page's funeral...Karen Page who was ironically alive and well here in the City. A very different Karen...
Matt had a number of questions he wanted to ask her - particularly why Peter had gone after this Morlun alone. Though, he probably knew the answer to that. It was one of his own shortcomings. And where was he when this was going on? A better question than any of these would be who the heck is Morlun? Matt didn't think it would be fair to fire so many questions off at her immediately. Especially if this had happened recently.
"Do you know how it happened?" he asked, the tone of his voice gentle. He was trying to be tactful about asking. She didn't have to answer if she didn't want to. He just felt he had to know. For Peter to have died in battle, it must have been a pretty epic one.
From: i_hide Date: 05/13/2006 22:16:21
"I don't know the medical details, I just know all of a sudden there was Peter and it looked like he was holding his own. Morlun was just too brutal. He.."
MJ had to pause and compose herself, this was the first time she'd had to tell anyone the details. She'd told May of course but there had never been a desire to know what happened. It was enough for May to suffer through the loss of the nephew who had been her whole life after Ben died.
"Morlun just wouldn't stop. He kept beating Peter and tore out one of his eyes. Somehow Pete managed to beat him," Smile of pride there for the hero her husband ad always been. "The injuries were too much even for Peter, he died shortly after Morlun."
From: i_object Date: 05/17/2006 21:33:07
Matt listened intently until MJ finished. When she had, he bent forward, leaning his elbows on his knees. Hooking a finger on his sunglasses, he pulled them off his face. It was an act of sincerity for Matt. It removed a barrier between him and whoever he was talking to.
He remained hunched in that position for a minute before scrubbing his free hand over his face. This situation showed that the possibility of death was always present for those who sought justice. Matt sat back in his chair.
"MJ, I am so sorry. I wish I could have been there to do something. I know Pete would have..." but he had to stop. "Is there anything I can do for you?" He paused to listen to the sounds around him - the morning bustle of the lobby. "I take it you found a place to live."
From: i_hide Date: 05/18/2006 19:47:51
"There was nothing anyone could have done, don't guilt yourself over it."
Roles reversed and now she comforted him on the loss of Parker. A small soft hand lightly touched his.
"Your the same kind of man, you would have done the same thing. I know Pete never had a death wish, but he also never held back. He gave all of himself to the world. Hard to be a wife to only one aspect of a mans life, but Pete was the type of guy that made it all worth it. I grieve, I think I always will in some way, but I know he did what he always did out of love. So all I will allow myself is to be proud of him and not angry about why it happened."
There had been enough anger through the years. They'd separated, fought, cried and felt like they were never going to get it right. In the end she always came back to him, the one man she had truly ever loved.
"I got an apartment here," She was glad for the subject change and chance for less emotional talk. "Doing a few odd advertising gigs. I have a bill board just out where we met." At least she was keeping busy, that was something.
From: i_object Date: 05/18/2006 21:49:07
Matt smiled slightly as he felt her hand on his. He turned his own hand so it would be palm to palm with hers and gave it a small squeeze. She would be alright.
"A billboard? I noticed something up there. Well, that's good, MJ. It's good that you've found something here in this City. I'm just sorry I didn't 'see' your smiling face sooner," he teased. "What's the advertisement for?"
From: i_hide Date: 05/20/2006 08:45:57
The squeeze was returned, it felt good to have some sort of connection to her former life. Everything that came before The City might be lost to her but she could start again. Having a friend would be nice.
"Yes, Funny to see yourself a dozen feet high right out your bedroom window." A grin and head shake at the sometimes surreal nature of life.
"Oh it's that Xenith Hills water company. I think it tastes funny but they pay well so I can stand it."
From: i_object Date: 05/20/2006 19:14:15
"Funny to see yourself a dozen feet high right out your bedroom window."
Matt laughed softly. "Yeah, I'll bet."
Dropping his hand down to his wrist, he flipped open his braille watch. He had to be careful not to be too late to work. Karen would give him an earful, especially with this new case fresh in his inbox.
"MJ, I should get going," Matt said, slipping on his sunglasses again. "I'm glad I ran into you. Thanks, uh, for telling me." Reaching into the inside pocket of his suit jacket, he pulled out a business card and held it out to her. "Here's my card. If you call the office, my secretary can give you my apartment number, if you need it."
Standing up and extending his cane, Matt didn't exactly know what to do. A hug? Shake hands? Awkwardly, he smiled slightly. "I'll see you around...I suppose."
From: i_hide Date: 05/23/2006 19:44:01
"Of course, lots of stuff to do right."
MJ bobbed her head in agreement and accepted his card, already he was well set up in The City in his business.
"It was great to see you, maybe we can get coffee sometime or something."
It sounded vague and insincere and she regretted it as soon as she said it. "I mean it'd be good to talk to someone else who remembers Pete and the Avengers..and my former career."
A light laugh and she leaned in, gentle hand to is shoulder and a swift kiss to his cheek. His company, however brief had been a godsend, she was not entirely alone here after all.