maskormenacelogs | Takes time, you pick a place to go, and just keep truckin' on.

[What a difference a few visits makes. The first time Normie came to Peter's, he barely wanted to leave the doorway, but now he's sitting at the couch, talking easily about some of the more mundane parts of his work at OsCorp. He briefly takes a sip of water before continuing.]

..And I think I'm becoming the Shawmont Hotel's favorite customer with all the late nights I've been pulling.

[Not that OsCorp is particularly far from the Porter. It would probably take him an extra 10-20 minutes go home as it would to book a night at the Shawmont.]

It can't take that much extra time to get home compared to checking yourself in. Especially if you take an Uber or something.

[ Not that Peter would take an Uber even now that he's financially above-water. Webs are faster anyway -- but even though superheroing has totally skewered Peter's awareness of civilian traveling time, he's not entirely off base. ]

You really need to eat the last brownie, or I'm going to be a terrible host and snarf it for myself.

[ He nudges at Normie's forearm with the plate. ]

Not really, but it's... easier.

[That pause was a little noticeable.]

What if we split it?

[He's saying that to be nice. He could definitely eat that whole thing by himself.]

[ He fixes Normie with his best Aunt May look. ] Take it. [ Yeah, she's usually nicer than that.

Peter sips his coffee, frowning over the rim of his mug before he sets it down. ]

I know this whole thing [ illustrative handswooshing -- meaning Norman Sr., probably ] has put you under a lot of strain. How're you holding up? You know anything you need me for, I'm there, and I don't just mean for punching. Although I have a mean right hook if I say so myself.

[Normie can't help himself... he laughs.] Okay, okay! You win. I'll take it. See, I'm putting it in my mouth.

[And he does, biting off a corner of it so he can draw out having to answer that latter part.] Thanks, Peter, but honestly... this is nothing I'm not already used to. The Osborn legacy had been tainted back when I could barely talk, and even though my mom and Franklin tried to keep me from that, people have always been watching me, waiting for me to snap and be the next Goblin. I used to think that was a good thing. [He sighs and looks down at the brownie.] Or maybe I never did, but I just thought I should...

Anyway, the "Legacy of Evil" as Phil's uncle so eloquently put it years ago has followed me my entire life. Once I was able to conquer that legacy, I was determined to change it. I made the Goblin a force for good, and I was getting ready to do the same for the Osborn Corporation. Now I'm here, and I get to do it all over again... only I get to help take down my grandfather in the process.

[He sighs again. Everything about his grandfather is complicated.]

I hate him for everything he's done, but my brain still wants to remember him as the friendly man who took me to work with him and gave me toys. Like, I know now it was all an act, but I was 6.

[Normie freezes after he says that last part. Crap, he hadn't meant to say that out loud.]

[ Peter would dramatically set down his coffee mug, except... he did that already. Damn you, past self.

Instead he leans down a little, catching his nephew's gaze with his own. ]

Normie... you're not seriously trying to tell me you feel guilty for still... what, caring about your own grandfather?

You can understand everything a person is and still love them; there's nothing wrong with that. A lot of people would say that's exactly what love is.

[ The corollary of this is that you can't truly be loved if you won't let anyone in. But Peter's saving up that thought for the next time he's got the urge to lie awake in bed staring at the ceiling all night. ]

[Normie looks away and scratches slightly at his shoulder blade, by where his tattoo hidden beneath the symbiote says "kill."]

We're talking about my grandfather here. He tried to ruin your life, he nearly ruined mine, and he succeeded in ruining my father's. He's cloned you god knows how many times, apparently cloned May.

He threatened my mother, Peter. When I was young and he came back. Tried to force her out of the company and get custody of me. I don't know what would have happened if Franklin wasn't there for her.

[Normie's heard bits of the story as he grew up and started showing signs of idolizing the man. He's not sure exactly what happened, but he knows enough.

He finally looks back up at Peter, torn between anger and tears.]

He's not worthy of my love. He's not worthy of anyone's love.

[Well, if you had told him even a month ago that he'd be moving in with an alternate version of his best friend's dad (who was also his dad's best friend), he'd have laughed at you. But here he is, carrying a desk through Peter's front door, beginning to move in. Just goes to show you never know what will happen in life.

Since arriving on this world, Normie hasn't been afraid to flaunt his spider strength that he gets thanks to the symbiote. After all, all of the imPorts got something, and should anyone ask, Normie tells people that "super strength" was the gift he was given. It isn't a total lie. So for this reason, Normie's carrying his desk into Peter's--his? their?--house the same way someone might carry around a box of kitchen utensils.]

The second door to the left you said was mine, right?

[Perhaps he shouldn't be flaunting his abilities around Peter--after all, they did technically come from him in the first place--but super strength's one of the most common powers you can get, right?]

Been eating your Wheaties, Normie?

[ Peter is amused, but not particularly suspicious. The Porter, after all. Plus body modification is an Osborn mainstay, and Peter hasn't been nosy enough to pry on that front just yet.

Mostly he's just happy not to be rattling around an otherwise empty three bedroom apartment. And having his new roomie be a family member he wants to get to know better... well, for that he can stave off the nagging expectation that Normie will port out a month from now. Optimism as an expression of willpower, that's the Parker way. ]

Edited 2015-12-11 01:23 (UTC)

[Normie chuckles.]

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

[Excuse you, Normie's been quite good at keeping the hell away from that stuff. His mental health is fragile enough without adding the goblin formula to the mix. Besides, he might be immune to it anyway, since Elan forced him to take a bath in it a few months before he got there and nothing happened. Either that or her batch sucked.]

Also, is that a yes?

Stop me if I'm being nosy, but is this from the Porter, or something you had before?

[ He is curious, but tries to give off the vibe that he won't push. Which he won't. ]

You are correct, that is a yes. Should be cleaned up in there but if you find something of Flash's that I forgot, just give me a yell.

[ Flash has been gone for, what, almost a year now? Hard to believe he's left that room empty so long. ]

I haven't taken the Goblin formula, if that's what you're implying. Even when I was crazy I knew better to mess with that stuff.

[After all, the only person he knows of that took it and walked away unscathed is Phil. He wasn't about to take that chance, ESPECIALLY given his family history.]

I can't believe I missed Flash. Man, there's someone I hadn't seen in years. May had, though. He was her basketball coach. Heard lots of stories about his daughter, too.

[He still feels bad for Felicity, even if he's glad she did finally stop.]

Edited (Christ, I can read, I swear) 2015-12-12 03:00 (UTC)

I'm... profoundly relieved to hear it.

[ Really, does he need to say anything more? They both know the human toll that formula's taken, and not just on the Osborns themselves. ]

Coaching, huh? Good for him... mine works for the VA now, I think. I'm not really clear on the details, but it keeps him busy.

[ Lies lies lies lies lies. Still, what could he say? That Flash is a government-certified superhero, bonded to the Venom symbiote of all things? Even if it wouldn't be breaking confidences, it's pretty unbelievable even by their standards.

Peter pops out into the hallway to grab a box or three of Normie's things and carry them in. ]

But wait, hold the phone. Flash has a daughter? [ He laughs. ] You've gotta tell me about this. What's her name? What's she like? Who'd he delude into shacking up with him?

I wanted to avenge my family, not wind up like them. And now that I'm not that crazy? I want even less to do with it.

[He wonders if he should mention he technically did take a dip against his will in something that may or may not have been the goblin formula thanks to Elan, but it's been months since that day, and nothing's changed. No, no reason to worry him. It wasn't actually the goblin formula. It didn't work.]

The VA, huh? I could see that. He served in the army, right? Man, that was before I was born.

[Now that he's placed the desk haphazardly in his room, he takes one of the boxes from Peter and puts it on top.]

Two kids, actually, Eugene and Felicity. Those are really all questions from May, since that's who I've heard these stories from. She goes to Midtown with her, but she's a Freshman. I think his son goes there too, but she's never mentioned him so I'm not certain. Going back to Felicity, though, from what May's told me, she's got a lot of her mother in her, with her dad's stubborn streak.

Her mom's Felicia Hardy. She and Flash were married for years. Eugene's actually around May's age.

Edited 2015-12-16 01:29 (UTC)

After you were born, too. He signed up for another tour a few years ago. It, uh, didn't go as well. [ Which is to say that he was inspired to sign up again by Spider-Man's example, then paid worse for it than Spidey ever has, ans Peter's not going to forget no matter how many times Flash tells him -- either him -- that he shouldn't feel guilty about it. ] But he's back safe, and that's what matters.

[ Eager to dodge the obvious question, Peter hooks the desk chair next to the door with his ankle, deposits the last box on the seat, and slides it over next to the desk. ]

I can't believe he saddled another generation of Thompsons with a Eugene, though! He hates that name. Or that Felicia and Flash stuck it out long enough to have a couple of kids. They weren't together very long in my universe.

I don't think that was the case in my universe. Funny how things are so different in some ways yet completely the same in others...

[Goes to get another box.]

The younger Eugene goes by Gene, which admittedly is a much less awful name. And did Felicia and... oh whatshername... Crap, I can't remember it. Her partner get together sooner in your universe?

...Or is this another "completely different" thing?

[ Peter blows out a breath. ]

Whew. Uh, I can't help you there. I've met a few of Felicia's boyfriends, but emphasis on the boy. We usually live pretty separate lives, though, so I couldn't tell you whether that's deliberate or coincidence or, like you said... "completely different."

[ Strange that something like that could be completely different, but even with all his vaunted imPort experience he's hardly a multiverse expert. ]

Edited 2016-01-03 22:35 (UTC)

Yeah, well... That's kind of what ended Flash and Felicia's marriage. Hm... the more I think about it, when they came over to get legal advice from Franklin was the last time I really saw them.

You all kind of drifted apart as you got older and had kids.

[As he goes to pick up a box, he knocks over Peter's lamp with his butt. He quite nimbly puts the box down, spins, and grabs the lamp before it falls.]

That was almost bad.

Takes time, you pick a place to go, and just keep truckin' on.

Part One

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Part Two

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject