spider-bite

“Of course! This way, ma’am.” Stephanie said, smiling, even tough she was being cautious, or as cautious as she could, not letting the woman know she was also going to the same direction because she lived there. “So, you’re sure you don’t want to call anyone? You know, for everything to be settled once we get there?” 

Ma’am? Jessica stopped short for a moment, feeling vaguely appalled. “Ma’am?” she questioned. “How old do I look?” Shaking it off slightly to focus on the younger woman’s question, Jess resumed her steps because, horrified at her adulthood or not, she was still soaking wet and needed to amend that as soon as possible. “Honestly, I was just going to see if anyone was around who’d let me use their shower or at the very least a towel,” she explained brusquely. “I just need to be less,” she gestured towards herself, grimacing, “wet. I’ve got an apartment, and an office, and, fuck, even friends, but I sort of need to be dry to get anywhere.”

“I have not. If that is an offer, Namor accepts.” He accepted all offers of doughnuts and other fried pastries. It was his only reason for this visit to the surface. He expected to be given a reason to stay, but he would not involve himself or Atlantis in this conflict unless properly swayed. 

Diana had seen the woman at the bar, alone, reaching for a drink like it was the nectar of the gods. It was merely in her nature to offer companionship to a woman, whether in desire of one or not. She would take her chances. “I would love one.” Diana replied, knowing full well that the fellow dark haired beauty had paid her no attention. Though the mortal liquor that was common amongst american humans did little for Diana, the social aspect was not lost on her. “Are you not enjoying the party?” 

Noting it wasn’t a bartender—thank fuck—and was a woman interested in a drink, Jess set herself about pouring a second, holding it out to the other woman. Jessica’s job involved sizing people up, so she considered her companion as she did so. She wasn’t drunk, but that could mean anything from refinement to a constitution like Jessica’s, making it difficult to be affected by alcohol——though if it was the latter, Jess highly doubted that it was for the same specific reason as Jess. “Here you go,” she said, before shrugging at the question. Jessica was... surly, was the nice way to put it. Most of her friends didn’t really expect her to enjoy things. It was usually just a bonus when she didn’t spend her entire time rolling her eyes or making snarky comments. “It’s basically an excuse for rich, drunk people to parade themselves and feel great about throwing money at a cause,” she said, rolling her eyes at a particular loudmouth in her periphery. “And it’s great for whatever the cause is, really, but it’s not really a scene I have a lot of patience for.” Jess was more of a punching person than a party one, really.

Gwen didn’t know what it was like to have people around her who were on her team. She had been a solo act back home, and she was a solo act here. For someone like her, someone so extroverted that she needed the human contact to feel good and safe, it was a terrible condition to try and be a superhero in. She needed help, needed reassurance, and there she was, with no one in her corner and the police after her for something that she hadn’t done. It got so achingly lonely for so long that she forgot what that ache felt like. She forgot that she wanted to have someone, anyone help her with being Spider-Woman, someone to just tell her that she was right for once. It got hard, being alone, but at least she got used to it. She figured out how to make her way on her own. She didn’t like it, but she could do it, and for her, when everything was falling apart at home, that was good enough. 

When she finally did start to find people who were on her side, they were all from different universes. Yeah, she had people in her corner now, but it wasn’t like they were always going to be there. She valued these friendships highly, but she wished that they weren’t limited to whatever short time they spent dimension-hopping. Jess was one of the people who she cared about, a lot, but Gwen hadn’t been able to find her in this universe. And after things fell out with Miles, Jess was the only person here who knew her as her. Gwen had pretty much given up on trying to find her, figuring that if Gwen couldn’t find her by now, it meant that Jess didn’t want to be found. It was infuriating, sure, but Gwen knew that she should just step back and try and figure out how to make a place for herself in this universe. It wasn’t going to be easy, but she had to start sometime. 

Hearing the familiar voice behind her made her almost jump out of her skin. She turned around quickly, looking at Jess for a moment before a wide smile spread across her features. “Jess?” She took a few steps closer and wrapped her arms around the other woman tightly, not caring that they were in the middle of the sidewalk or that they hadn’t seen each other in a long time. She had been desperately searching for someone who knew her, not this jilted version of her that was mostly a facade to try and get her through a few days in a different universe without letting everything fall apart, and here Jess was, the whole time. “Where have you been? I’ve been looking for you.”

It really was her. Jessica Drew was naturally suspicious in ways that she would never be able to shake—they were too deeply ingrained in her upbringing and personality—but even as her instincts were on stunned alert, the rest of her was just washed over with a deep and unfamiliar delight. Jessica had more personal space issues than most of the Avengers——sort of to be expected, given how she’d discovered her venom blasts——but even that natural sense of discomfort was subdued by the unexpected sense of relief she had when Gwen was physically connected to her.

Wrapping her arms around Gwen in return, albeit more slowly——this really was not one of Jessica’s strengths, physical displays of affection... or displays of affection in general, really——Jess just settled herself into the embrace. Of course, part of her mind and senses were still scouting out the world around them, but that was a leftover instinct that she would never manage to silence even if she wanted to, not because she thought there was any actual need for it.

“I went dark for a bit,” Jess explained, leaning back only slightly to look at Gwen as she said it, soaking in her friend’s face. “I’m a PI again, now that...” her voice trailed off slightly, before rolling her eyes and squaring her shoulders, “well, now that the Program’s in place.” She glanced at Gwen to check for a flicker of recognition, to ascertain that Gwen knew of this aspect of this world. Speaking of, how long had Gwen been around? “I had to break in somewhere to get some info, and I needed a while to work through it anyway, so I just... kept myself off the grid for a while,” she continued, shrugging. “I’d have made myself available immediately if I’d known you were around, though! How long—” Jess started saying, before cutting herself off. “D’you want to continue this conversation, like, anywhere else? There’s a diner about a block away that’s not terrible and people give you respect, and also, I have an apartment.” Whether the state of it was appropriate for visitors, Jess couldn’t remember——she didn’t spend a lot of time there——but it definitely existed.

Pamela didn’t realize at first the woman was talking to her.  They had been sitting silently side by side for the good portion of 10 minutes at that point, and suddenly out of no where there was chatter.  She glanced over as she spoke, slightly confused how suddenly she was making small talk as if they’d just happened into each other, and she nodded slightly more out of social obligation than anything.

“You must be new,” was all she could think to say, because most people learned long before that she was more a business person than a friend, and didn’t bother to try and engage in conversation. Rather than ignore her comment, Pam added,” You can avoid the cost by simply bringing your own.”

Jess clocked the slight confusion in the redhead’s expression, which — yeah, okay, that was understandable. It had come out of nowhere, after all—but you didn’t learn to be a covert agent for several intelligence agencies and a card-carrying member of the Avengers without being fully prepared to ignore uncomfortableness when necessary. Whether staking out a scientist moonlighting as a drug dealer really classified as ‘necessary’, well, she’d think about that later.

“That obvious I’m not used to this beat?” Jess asked wryly, skirting around confirming or denying that she worked in the vicinity. This lunch location was almost exclusively populated by STAR Labs staff, so explicitly stating that she was not working there would probably raise more questions than anything else, but it would be ideal to not have to confirm or deny anything if possible. She could still feel the guy’s eyes at the back of her neck, roving throughout the room, and so stayed fixed on her conversation. “I’m not a great cook,” Jess said, shrugging. “Breakfast food is my forte. Lunch food... not so much.” She tilted her head questioningly—it was less likely to feel interrogatory and more likely to replicate genuine acquaintanceship if anyone was looking, as well as generally being a more sociable mode for communication. “D’you bring your own?”

He did appreciate being recognized. Namor turned his back on the unconscious man to see who he was speaking to. He could not return that recognition. If he’d crossed paths with this woman, he didn’t remember it. 

“Then I will accept your thanks for completing your mission.” Seeing the donut reminded him of why he had decided to visit the surface in the first place. There were few things it offered that Atlantis could not provide. Delicious, hot pastries was one of those things. 

“Oh, hi.“ Stephanie grinned to the stranger, as she was just heading home right now “The dorms are in that direction” she said, pointing to the left “I can take you there, it’ll for sure have someone to explain it better to you, if the know you’re here.”

“Hi,” Jess said, biting out a smile. It was seriously not the blonde’s fault that Jess was soaked, so she tried to rein in her general irritation at the turn of events. “That’d be great, thanks,” she added, genuinely relieved. Hopefully someone would take pity on her and let her dry off. That, or she’d just have to commandeer something. She could be impactful when pushed—she hadn’t been an Avenger for nothing, after all. “Lead the way.”

“I think it’s the only reason anybody comes to these things if I’m to be honest.” Alyce wasn’t exactly sure who the girl was, even though she was hosting this event, she hadn’t sent out the invitations. After a series of bad rep the asylum really needed money, and luckily one of the donors who lacked morals had decided to hold this event in her honour. Still she wasn’t exactly the best people person, spending most of her days surrounded by the criminally insane did that to you, so she often just hovered around the alcohol, only faking pleasantries when she thought she would benefit from it. “I’m not going to complain.” She replied, smirking at the girl. “I’m Alyce Sinner by the way.” She offered although she had a feeling that a lot of people were well aware of who she was.

        “Preach,” Jess muttered. There was another obvious answer—shady dealings—but it wasn’t exactly a fun addition to the list. Plus, she supposed, actual charity, but generally the people she ran into in her line of work were more for the shady than the generous. “Anyone complaining about free alcohol is wrong,” Jess said seriously, holding out a drink, before adding, thoughtfully, “or maybe Amish.” She filed the name away in her head——she knew some things about the woman, most notably her profession and some hints at a background, but having never investigated her herself or crossed paths before, she didn’t have a wide knowledge base on her. She was sure that would change, though. Jess tended to take a cursory glance into anyone who came on her radar that struck her instincts as worth noting. Remembering the days when she could have introduced herself as Agent Drew with a almost wistful smile, Jess simply said, “Jessica Drew.”

“Believe me, I knew.” Natasha responded, tipping her head back and for a very rare moment in her life feeling relaxed and comfortable enough to close her eyes and drop her guard a hint. “Hence me showing up at your place and bringing you along. Who knew throwing the national guard and several dozen former heroes and angry mutants in the same city would make things so tense?” Her tone was extraordinarily dry, exactly the opposite of the lovely moisturizing mask covering her face.

        Jess hummed contentedly. “Oh, yes,” Jess said, matching Natasha’s dry tone. “Who would have thought?” It was almost as soothing as the spa treatment, utilising such dry humour. Part of it was cultural heritage—or at least, Jess would use it as an argument in her defence if necessary—but part of it was just living in this world so long. Natasha and Jess each had darker backgrounds, and to pull out from that and to survive in a world or heroes—and now, heroes pretending not to be heroes—required a certain ability to be surly, snarky or unimpressed whenever the situation got too mad. “I’m sort of surprised it took this long, actually,” she mused.

The best part of being a successful celebrity was the charity gala’s, or at least, a damn good part of it anyway. He just loved smoozing with the higher side of society and making good connections. Plus, there was just the air of glamour to the whole thing. So he strutted about peacock style and was having a damn good time, probably helped by the occasional glass of wine. Normal pubs wouldn’t serve him, being too young, but places like this were much more willing. So when he was offered another drink by a good looking woman he grinned and inclined his head, “Ahh, thank you kindly Mademoiselle, I’d love one.”

He looked young, but in a place like this, that didn’t mean much. Hell, it wasn’t exactly as if her birthdate lined up with her physical age—or even years experienced, for that matter, given the whole incubation situation that swallowed up decades. More striking than his apparent youth, though, was his face——good looking, sure, but more notable was its familiarity. She was certain she’d never fought him, though, so she put that to the back of the mind, figuring that working it out wasn’t of immediate priority. She supposed technically people were meant to check for IDs, but, well, it wasn’t exactly as if she worked there. The onus for that was on the people giving invites, really. Anyway, even if she’d lived in America for ages, she was British, and the drinking age in America had always struck her as ridiculous.

Pouring a glass, she held it out to him. “Enjoy,” she said drily, lifting her own and taking a sip. There wasn’t a chance of her getting drunk—it took a lot, given her body’s situation with toxins, and she wasn’t planning on drinking enough for that, no matter how free the alcohol was—but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to appreciate the sort of free alcohol that rich people gave out.

Noh: [image sent]

Noh: Thoughts?

Jess: are you asking me as a friend or as a fellow insect-person?

The best part about Jess’ new suit was that it wasn’t really a suit. Sure, there were enough motifs that any villain she ended up fighting under the radar would be able to place that it was Spider-Woman, but it was also lowkey enough that she could wear it in public and legitimately make the argument that she wasn’t superheroing, if she so chose. It was actually quite convenient, though she missed the mask sometimes. Still, being able to look... well, civilian-like was useful, particularly now, when she was soaked to the skin and had emerged right outside the college. Which was ages away from both her apartment and even the office. So. Great.

“Excuse me,” she said to the closest person, trying her best for winsome whilst having very little faith in that as a descriptor for herself, “do you live in the dorms? Or just know somewhere I could,” she gestured to herself, tone going dry, “dry off?”