Spiderling and Spider-Man [Closed to Peter]

[st_ayedhidden]

Annie was excited to see Peter. When he disappeared, she had been very scared for him. When he returned, she was happy to know he hadn't died back home. While he was gone, she had taken the liberty of taking the web shooters Peter had made for her and practiced. As she marched through the halls with vibrating excitement, Annie couldn't wait to show Peter what she had learned. Her own practice combined with the various lessons from Loki made her feel very confident.

She stopped in front of his door and knocked. She decided to dress up for the occasion in her usual homemade costume. This time she had her web shooters on her wrists too.

Comments

[st_arkintern]

Peter opens the door with a smile. "Hey! You're already suited up."

[st_ayedhidden]

Annie beamed proudly.

"Of course I am!" She declared. "A superhero's always got to be ready!"

She hovered at the door and then jumped to hug Peter tightly.

[st_arkintern]

Peter hugs her tight for a few long moments before relinquishing his hold on her. "So you're going to have to catch me up on everything that's happened," he says, opening the door further for her to come in. "What'd you do while I was gone?"

[st_ayedhidden]

She missed his hugs and she was so thankful he was around again to give them. When he opened the door, she followed in.

"I've been practicing a lot," She said. "To... take my mind off of what happened. Anyways, I've gotten really good at like, hitting switches from far away with webbing to turn them on and I can jump off higher things and land on my feet now."

[st_arkintern]

"You wanna show what you've learned?" Peter looks up at the chandelier; if there was anything he appreciated about his room in the Madonna Inn, it was the high ceilings. It made practice a little easier in a place where there were no skyscrapers to practice on.

[st_ayedhidden]

She craned her head up to look at the ceiling. Annie grinned. She decided to show Peter something new she had been working on. She wasn't sure it would do much good in the field, but it was cool. She shot two webs out on either side of the ceiling and then grabbed hold of them. She leaned back like it was a slingshot and she was propelled into the air. She landed on the ceiling by her feet and stared down at Peter with a proud expression.

[st_arkintern]

Peter's expression brightens.

"That's amazing!" he says. "You're really getting better at this!" He shoots his webs up at the ceiling and then clears the distance between them to stand beside her.

"You know, I didn't realize how little people look up at the ceiling until I started spending time up here."

[st_ayedhidden]

"I bet they look even smaller if you're on a sky scraper," She said with a smile. "You've been on them, right? What does it feel like to fall from one and then catch yourself and swing on a web?"

Annie thought it sounded exhilarating.

[st_arkintern]

"You ever been on a rollercoaster?" Peter asks. He hadn't been on a real rollercoaster until he went to Europe Other World. "It's like that except you don't have any of the safety restraints and you know you should be scared, but you're not. Not when you get used to it."

[st_ayedhidden]

"I've never been on one yet! I only got tall enough recently and then stuff happened and we didn't really go out in public a lot." She said. "But I bet it's really fun. I was hoping one of the Otherworlds would open up to a big big city so I could practice, but then I also thought it might be safer to practice if you were around in case something happened, you know?"

[st_arkintern]

"Well, now I'm here so we can definitely do that," he says. "We'd probably want to start with smaller buildings first, though. I fell on my face a lot at first. A lot."

[st_ayedhidden]

"Did you ever hurt yourself badly?" She asked, thinking of home.

Annie knew she was more "durable" than an average girl her age, but she still didn't like getting hurt.

[st_arkintern]

"Yeah, lots of times," Peter says. "Before May knew I was Spider-Man, I kinda had to lie about it when it was bad enough for her to see."

[st_ayedhidden]

"Must have been pretty bad." She observed as she looked at him like she was imagining bruises. "I think that's one of the things mom was afraid of sometimes, but like... kids get hurt all the time, right?"

She used that argument a lot.

"Once I'm good with the webs, I'll still need to learn how to fight thought," She added.

[st_arkintern]

"Yeah, but May eventually warmed up to the whole Spider-Man thing." It hadn't been overnight for sure, but she realized it was better she knew what Peter was doing than have him continue to do things in secret. "When you're ready to learn how to fight, let me know. I'll teach you what I know."

[st_ayedhidden]

"You will??" She asked excitedly.

Annie wasn't sure he'd agree to it. She wondered if people here would say she was a kid and didn't need to learn to fight. Annie knew she would have to at some point. It was in her blood. A grin spread wide on her lips.

"Thanks!" She said. "I want to get as good as you. I want to keep people safe."

[st_arkintern]

"You'll definitely get as good as me," Peter says reassuringly. "And you'll definitely keep them safe, too. The most important part of keeping people safe is keeping yourself safe. If you're not safe, you're not gonna be able to help anyone else."

[st_ayedhidden]

She took in his advice seriously and nodded with a serious expression. Annie did not want to be a liability to anyone. She already knew some people wrote her off for being a kid. She knew she'd have to prove herself tenfold.

"What's the next thing you think I should learn?" She asked.

[st_arkintern]

Peter hmms at that.

"I think," he says slowly after a long moment, "that maybe it might be good for us to work on our spider-senses."

Spider-senses. Peter definitely liked that better than Peter tingle.

[st_ayedhidden]

Her interest piqued suddenly.

"You mean the thing we get when there's danger?" She asked.

[st_arkintern]

"Yeah," Peter says. "I thought maybe you could help me, too. It hadn't really been acting right lately."

[st_ayedhidden]

She frowned deeply.

"It hasn't been acting right?" She asked. "Did something happen?"

[st_arkintern]

Peter dampens his lips. "Nothing really happened... I think it's just not working as good as it used to. Kinda like when you get super out of practice with something." Not that Peter had been out of practice.