we are the jack-o-lanterns in july

[glowsferatu]

WHO: Kanaya Maryam Hobgoblin and you!
WHERE: Around De Chima and Heropa
WHEN: Aug 5-9
WHAT: There's a new Goblin in town. More details here!
WARNINGS: Violence, references to brainwashing, will update as needed

ᴀ. ᴅᴇ ᴄʜɪᴍᴀ, ᴀᴜɢ 5

[ trial run. sure, she'd worn the costume before, but putting it on today still felt inaugural. this is her first time truly being hobgoblin in its entirety. now she just needs to make sure everything works.

she uses her portals to mask her comings and goings, making sure whatever door she enters is nowhere near her destination,so when she leaves norman's lab, she steps out on a rooftop on the other side of town. she can feel the wind blowing at her hood, and there's something almost beautiful about being this high up. this must be part of what inspires rose to do it. but it's only the first step to freedom. she steps out on the ledge.

twenty stories up. something flutters in her stomach, but she knows it isn't rational. she's simply spent more of her life susceptible to heights than immune to them. backing away a few feet, she takes a deep breath before getting a running start and plunging her way into the city.

she doesn't make it to the next roof, but she wasn't aiming for it, instead ending the arc of her jump to hit the opposite wall. too much inertia to land, she kicks off across the gap, flexing her fingers to extend the claws in her gloves and slow her descent. it takes a couple more before the downward pull is light enough that she can break into a run along the wall, then crosses to another building before making her way back up.

she'll need practice, she has to be sure to move in a way that doesn't look like her, maybe use her hands more. she can't depend on the portals at all, not out in the open like this. but she has all night. the city is her playground. ]

ʙ. ʜᴇʀᴏᴘᴀ, ᴀᴜɢ 6-9

[ the tests are over. she's ready for the real thing, and she has her orders to fulfill. heropa doesn't have nearly as many rooftops, at least not tall ones, so she sticks more to alleys and backways, though she does climb on a few houses to avoid dogs kept in the yard. she has to find spider-man, but it somehow isn't proving as simple as she'd hoped. she knows what his thread looks like, but simply can't find it. not in heropa, at least. she'll have to look the old fashioned way.

she's not exactly inconspicuous, despite her slinking and stalking about the town. for being a town called "heropa" there are only so many people running around in costumes, and there are few places to really hide. the ghastlier parts of her costume are covered, but none of that changes that it by no means looks friendly, and while she's not going out of her way to cause trouble, she has her directives. "deal with anyone who gets in your way."

the job will be done, she won't disappoint her conductor. spider-man learns fear. anyone else? they will understand the cost of meddling, taught by one who has paid it numerous times. she pays it now, even if she doesn't realize it. ]

ᴄʟᴏsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ sᴘɪᴅᴇʀ-ᴍᴀɴ, ᴀᴜɢ 11

[ it's been days of combing heropa with no luck. for any encounters she has had, none of them ended in her being any closer to finding spider-man than when she started. the word had apparently not spread that a goblin is out looking for him, or perhaps the job is already done and he's too intimidated to engage. she wouldn't like that, she'd hate for her conductor's nemesis to be a coward. the task must be completed to her own satisfaction, and that means something more hands-on. she'll have to be more assertive in getting his attention.

it's late in the afternoon and commuters are heading home after a long day of work in orlando when hobgoblin walks out onto the overpass. she doesn't get very far before the first car swerves out of the way and right into the railing, the driver leaning out of the window to spout obscenities as she darts past and into the next lane. of course, that just puts her in the way of another car, so she shoots up into the air and lands hard on the hood, slamming the engine down into the axle. it careens to a skidding stop, the occupants screaming as she leaps on top of the one behind it, throwing it off course as it tries to unsuccessfully brake in time not to plow into the car ahead of it. hobgoblin hops down before impact, bashing her shoulder into the side of the next car, toppling it over and sending it toward the concrete divider.

she hops up on the railing and dives down to a car on the interstate, spreading her blockade further. it's weirdly liberating, creating her own chaos when she's so accustomed to cleaning it up, buttoning everything down and restraining, repressing every impulse. in the mask, getting out of herself, cutting loose from all of her self-inflicted bonds is thrilling. she can do this. even if spider-man doesn't come, she can be satisfied enough with this. ]

ᴄʟᴏsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ɢʀᴇᴇɴ ɢᴏʙʟɪɴ, ᴊᴜʟ 18

[ the suit isn't done yet, it still needs some fine-tuning and she hasn't finished weaponizing the gloves or mask, but some things just can't wait. one of the things she was most looking forward to out of this is the chance to keep an eye on rose during those times she hasn't been able to. norman told her to watch the green goblin, and she'll take that opportunity as soon as she can. it will be good to pick up some pointers on how this all works before heading into proper practice.

rose is easy to find. if there's one thread kanaya will ever know, it's hers, and she could pick it out of any multitude, though heropa's hardly dense enough that she has to worry about that. she slinks and stalks from a distance, but her gaze wavers little from the other goblin. she watches the way she moves, what manner of things catch her attention, how she navigates her glider. (and she wonders if norman hadn't shortchanged her by putting her on foot.) it's a side of her girlfriend she's yet to see, perhaps an outlet of her older, more dangerous impulses. kanaya would feel conflicted about that. on one hand, it's better for rose that she's calmed down over the years, grown up. but, on the other, that was one of the things that had initially attracted kanaya. in limited quantities, it could be… but she's getting distracted.

she has to keep perspective here, keep her thoughts on the task. rose doesn't know it's her under this mask, and she can't either. keeping it secret from rose is very important, though she still has trouble connecting reasons for why the information would make her so upset. for that reason, it's probably best she keep her distance for now, but she will need to engage eventually. she does have the message to pass along. she just has to work herself up to it. ]

ᴄ. ᴋᴀɴᴀʏᴀ, ᴅᴇᴠɪʟ's ɴᴇsᴛ, ᴀɴʏᴛɪᴍᴇ ɪɴ ᴀᴜɢᴜsᴛ

[ since the tavern reopened at the start of the month, business has been heavy, which greed has minding his other dealings in the back. that means it's up to kanaya to tend the bar. she's taken pretty well to it over the last few months, though her experience before was limited. she learns quickly, and isn't going to skimp on anything difficult when it comes to her work. about the only real issue is about what you might expect a young woman running a dive bar with poorly mannered patrons would encounter, but she grins and bears it. she has a particularly sharp grin, after all. no employee of the nest is to be trifled with, really. they're all monsters here.

but most of the patrons know to behave, and her nights go without too much trouble. she likes her job, when it comes down to it, and it pays well. so she mixes the drinks as they come, service with a smile, and every now and then even offers a bit of conversation, or just a patient ear. ]

ᴅ. ᴋᴀɴᴀʏᴀ, ᴡɪʟᴅᴄᴀʀᴅ, sᴘᴇᴄɪғʏ ʟᴏᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴀᴛᴇ

[ kanaya likes to be out as often as the sun's up, usually in heropa or maurtia falls. she can be found shopping, studying at the library, reading in cafes, sometimes sunbathing out on the beach or on her roof. she's also available at her office in heropa residence #001 by appointment for a sewing job. so feel free to come up with something of your own, or if there's something specific you'd like to plot then by all means i'd be happy to discuss it! just drop a note on the ooc post or send me a pm. ]

Comments

A

[khajidont]

[Jaime just happens to be in the same area, but unlike the Hobgoblin, he is most definitely on the move. Instead, he's set up camp on one of De Chima's taller buildings, chowing down on a prepackaged sandwich with a half full can of pop beside him, weighing down his napkins so they don't fly away in the admittedly sparse amounts of wind they've got going on.

Hey, even superheroes have got to eat! Normally he just stares out across the distance as he eats, or fools around on the internet, but as it turns out, today he's got something far, far more interesting to look at. It doesn't even cross his mind that this particular masked figure has anything nefarious in mind; there are plenty of weird looking capes around, and he figures that Hobgoblin's just one of them.

He waves at her as she makes her way back up to the building he's sitting on and swallows loudly before saying,] Hey, nicely done.

[glowsferatu]

[ when hobgoblin reaches the top, her original plan is to land on the edge with some kind of flip, maybe even a doubleflip. everyone would agree on how decidedly impressive the hypothetical maneuver will be, except that no one is supposed to actually see it. hearing blue beetle call out to her throws off her groove entirely, so she just decides to climb the rest of the way instead, balancing on the edge of the roof and looming.

her first day and already she's encountered a superhero, or at least she has to assume he's probably a hero because he's being friendly. villains probably aren't supposed to be friendly, they're menacing and probably a bit rude. lucky for her, she has the mask to keep up an intense stare when she's half-panicking underneath it.

this could be an opportunity. she could try testing her prowess against this guy with his bug suit and goofy grin. or, she could be humiliated on her first go and hobgoblin would end before it's even begun.

so, after a second or two of just staring at him menacingly, she turns around and sprints right back down the building, leaping across to the next one and trying to put as much distance between them as she can. because that definitely isn't at all suspicious. ]

[khajidont]

[Well. That's an unexpected reaction. The menacing stare doesn't quite register to him as menacing, from one lunatic in a mask to another, but he figures he really ought to check it out anyway. A couple seconds after she leaps off the building again, he unleashes his wings from the bugsuit and flies after her, sandwich still in his hand.

He'll go back to clean up his drink later, he resolves. He may be curious about whoever this lady is, but that's really no excuse for littering. Someone's going to have to clean that up later! Either way, catching up to her isn't exactly a laborious task; he has the benefit of having wings to do all the work for him. His appearance is announced by one of the strands of shredded lettuce falling out of his sandwich right smack dab in front of her.] Oops, [he mutters before saying, a bit more loudly,] So I'm flattered and all, but I don't think I look that intimidating. Is it the glowing eyes? Sometimes that throws people off.

[glowsferatu]

[ he's chasing her. of course he's chasing her, what did she expect? she didn't even return his hello, which is pretty rude. and, as she established earlier, rudeness is generally the sphere of villains. if she's ruder, he will probably be less likely to go away, but there's a chance she'll get lucky and just disrupt him. not unlike the piece of lettuce falling past her toward the pavement, if he's falling that direction, he'll be more preoccupied with halting his descent to keep up with her.

she takes a sharp turn upward to gain some height. the wings look thin, she isnt sure if they're some kind of plastic, cloth, or an odd membrane. the latter two will be better, this might have a chance of working.

once she's gotten about ten feet above him, she jumps off the wall, swiping her claws through his wings and hoping they'll shred. she doesn't stay long enough to see, of course, she can't waste any of the potential lead time by looking back. ]

[khajidont]

[Jaime hadn't been expecting things to escalate quite so quickly. He had been thinking that he'd get a scornful none of your business, maybe the makings of a premature supervillain speech, maybe not, but no, she went straight for the slashing. He can practically feel the impact of her claws through his wings down in his bones, and worse yet, as he plummets downwards, he drops his sandwich.] Jetpack, [he chants, limbs flailing.] Jetpack, jetpack, jetpack.

[A foot away from the sidewalk, the Scarab obliges, and his tattered wings are moved off to the side to make room for his jetpack to shoot him up in the opposite direction. It's a heck of a lot faster, but it doesn't have nearly as much finesse as the wings, which is a shame when it comes to street level stuff like this. As he lands on top of a rooftop again, he complains,] That was my dinner!

Yes.

That sandwich cost me eight dollars.

Yes.

That was an expensive sandwich!

Kill her.

[It's joking. He thinks.] Ha ha.

[Jokes aside, now he really wants to know what she wants. He gets a little more height and squints down at the streets and buildings, searching for her. He'd be in a pickle if she had been dressed in a nice, sensible black, but her costume is louder than his is, for goodness' sake; it can't be too hard to spot the running orange lady doing parkour all over the place.]

B

[darkspider]

[Kaine's return to Heropa had been a reluctant one. His previous boss had called him back, insisting that he had to discuss the various cases that he half-assed before he went on to his new career as a bodyguard. While the woman who called him, Francine, was pleasant enough, he knows that there was a degree of judgment in her voice when she considered his new career. She had believed that Kaine's experiences could help others, but he doubted that there were many individuals in the world who had his problems.

How could they help anyone?

After leaving the office, he had switched into his costume readily enough, and he decided to enjoy the thick, humid air one last time.

In that way, Heropa and Houston were similar. While Nonah wasn't without its humid temperatures, Houston and Heropa had a similar feel to them. The air was thick and warm, and it always made him regret wearing this costume. As such, he enjoyed it, allowing himself to swing between the low buildings without too many cares.

Webswinging is, at least, one of his favorite things, and he's not exactly looking out for anything—or anyone—as he does it.]

[glowsferatu]

[ kanaya appreciates the heat of heropa. much as she didn't care for numerous other aspects of it, it's nice that it's at least relatively less cold than new york. even so, she doubts there's any place under this young sun she'll feel completely comfortable, and certainly none to make her regret the layers of her own costume.

but she's gotten used to being cold, it's been a long time since she's felt her native sun, and few things she's seen since even come close. feeling cold isn't going to distract her from a spider swinging overhead, not when her every sense is attuned to spotting that very thing. she isn't in any position for an intercept, but if he's swinging, he has to have some high spot to tether his webs to. that will be her way up. she sneaks along the ground, dodging between whatever cover is available: cars, trashbins, buildings.

eventually, when he comes to the end of one web, she runs up the anchor as quickly as she can. as soon as she hits the peak, she leaps into the air right at him, the claws extending from her gloves. ]

[darkspider]

[Fucking spider sense.

Or rather: fucking lack of spider sense.

The "fucking" aspect of his thoughts is mimicked in his voice, as he lets out an audible grunt, one that mingles with the word quite obviously.

He tries to recover with this goblin attached to him, but he spins wildly into a building, slamming into it and sliding downward. At the same time, the rest of his animal-like instincts kick in, and he tries to kick her off. Peter had warned him about the goblins, but his first encounter had been nothing but annoying (and French fry filled).

This one, on the other hand, is already starting off on the wrong foot.

Great.]

[glowsferatu]

[ there is one thing that becomes very clear to kanaya once she is actually on the man's back that she probably should have notice before, this is not spider-man. the motif is there, the style and cut of the costume is even identical, it's just in a different pattern and color scheme. is he franchising? not that she's in any position to judge, turnabout is fair play.

the same rules apply then. intimidate, do not kill. maybe this red one will lead to his own master.

hanging off his back is no position to get anything done, so she tightens her grip on his shoulders, digging the claws in. then, swinging her legs around, she slams them into the building's facade, hoping the momentum will give her a little extra pull as she tries prying him off and throwing him in the opposite direction. he'll have to be broken in first if she expects to get anything out of him. ]

C.

[humanistic]

[Getting totally pissed isn't always the wisest of decisions, not when so much of the balance of Mitchell's addiction hangs on his self-control. Getting totally pissed implies a definite lack of self-control, but, man, sometimes drinking is good for taking the edge off. It's an old-fashioned comfort for a man over a hundred years old. He's allowed, right?

Wrong. Probably. Cutting himself some slack has never ended well.

Anyways: Mitchell finds himself at the Devil's Nest on a Thursday night, which is, even his state, kind of pathetic. Still more pathetic that he's come alone, but the friends that he's made here, they aren't the type to drink with. And while he's not actually totally pissed, he's pissed enough that, when he sees the sign for the Devil's Nest, he laughs to himself, and he finds that he's just amused enough to go inside.

It's pretty much what he expected. Maybe less emphasis on humanity's dramatic love for all things Satanic, but still: pretty disreputable. Probably not the place for a vampire on a strict diet to be hanging around, but whatever, right?

At the bar, he leans his elbows on the bartop, staring at the mass of bottles beyond.]

The Devil's Nest. [He mutters it to himself, idly swiping his thumb through a ring of condensation left behind by a glass.] Whose idea was that?

[And as he glances down the bar to try and get the attention of the barkeep, he sees her: Kanaya. Behind the bar. Oh, it bloody figures, of course, the only other vampire that he's acutely aware of, and she's working at the Devil's Nest. Mitchell laughs, and pushes the heel of his hand against his left eye, like he's holding back a headache.]

Well. What's a girl like you doin' in a place like this.

[glowsferatu]

[ she's drying off a glass with a rag in what she decides is probably the most stereotypical way imaginable for her profession when she notices him. it's not surprising he comes alone, most people do. the devil's nest isn't exactly the sort of place to bring anyone to, unless maybe you're paying them. she's pretty sure they have rooms for that in the back.

she sets her glass down under the bar and folds her rag before resting her hands on the counter and flashing him a grin. ]

It isn't so ill-fitting, neither me nor it are particularly nice. And where else would you expect a devil to roost? [ though the analogy would be more appropriate if she were wearing her proper form tonight. horns and that. ]

What can I get for you?

[humanistic]

[Where would he expect a devil to roost? Easy answer. He just has to think of all the devils that he knows--both those self-proclaimed and maligned--and he's got his answer:]

Oh, I don't know. Somewhere less shitty?

[Whatever wit that remark might carry is a little lost in the way that he mostly mutters it to himself, but, still: funny.

Anyways, they're now on the topic of drinks, and Mitchell blearily surveys the selection.]

What are you drinking? Do I want t' know?

[glowsferatu]

Oh, I don't drink. Not alcohol, at least. And certainly not while I'm working.

[ a year sober, with few momentary exceptions. the end of the world was a freebie as far as she cares. plus, they'll already be in enough trouble if she's even caught serving it at her age.

she turns around to pull off a couple bottles from the back wall, setting them on the counter in front of him. ]

Most popular tonight is the bourbon, but you're probably more of a scotch person, I'm guessing.

[nitidus]

[She's noticed her stalker; a vivid shadow behind her or at the corner of her eye, lurking just out of sight. It's a strange thing, being followed. She hasn't been aware of the Hobgoblin for along, maybe the last forty minutes. But it's a strange thing. She's to the red and blue of Spider-Man's suit, not the orange and yellow so reminiscent of her Seer robes.

She's taken down zero thugs today. It's been a dry spell and something of a boring run, if she's honest. At the very least, being followed allows for excitement.

She lands her glider on the pavement, at the corner between a busy fast food place and a dead bar. She waits, tucked into the shadow of the buildings and wonders if she stays still long enough, will she be left alone? If Spider-Man's persistence is anything to go by, the answer is no. She waits maybe just under five minutes, her back to the wall and her eyes glancing to the sides, when she hears the noise. It's a faint sort of murmur at first and there's a swarm of cursing.

She hesitates, frozen in place for a second and desperate to see if her stalker will approach. But the noise makes a constant thing and she can't ignore it. She kicks the glider back into gear and takes to the skies; it's a better vantage point, far easier to locate than the ground. She spots the gang after searching with frantic eyes.

There's ten of them, maybe, pushing each other around. For a second she wonders if it's two rivals, but it mostly seems like in-fighting. There's no time wasting; Rose heads down, the glider whirring as she goes. She swoops in, lands a few feet away, the cartoonish quality of her mask gaining the attention of the gang almost immediately. The good thing is, she supposes, is that it speeds things along. She coughs, kicks off the glider and re-positions it onto her back. ]

All this noise, one might get the idea that you aren't playing nice with one another.

[It's the wrong thing to say and Rose anticipates that. She's no good at one liners behind this mask. She thinks she's no good at one liners unless it's to sass Dave or John, and they're both gone now. They're angry, that much is obvious; it's more apparent when they turn on her, instead of each other. 'What's it to you' and 'You one of the ImPorts are spit in her direction and Rose sighs. She opens her mouth to insist that they cool off, but as per her luck, it's the moment they choose to engage.

It's a hard life for a teenage goblin. ]

[glowsferatu]

[ the sitting, waiting, is not easy. during the lull, kanaya sneask up to the edge of the roof just above, and no fewer than five times fails to drop down over it to talk to rose. she feels stupid, almost nervous, in a way that she hasn't been around rose since before they started dating. too afraid that the costume won't be enough, nothing a seer can't look right through.

she lets out a sigh of relief when she thinks she's taking off again, until she realizes where she's headed instead. the old self-destructive tendencies? it would seem they're still quite active, and she doesn't like the odds. if rose does this regularly, kanaya can't help wondering what sort of bruises she must be hiding, how she hadn't noticed it before. she'll have to ask later. (she won't, she'll forget to. the nanites will see to that.) what matters now is that these men have it in mind to hurt rose. she can't allow that to happen.

she moves very quickly, quickly enough it can be disorienting. it feels like just a ten-second-long stream of chaos ending with hobgoblin standing between the green goblin and the six remaining assailants, their cohorts splayed on the ground before they knew what happened. but all it really is, is her leaping from the roof with her foot in the chest of the first before slamming the second into the wall, then picking up a third and throwing him into the fourth. nothing terribly complicated to that, she isn't an actual blur.

she hunches down with her fists at her side, the sound coming from her mouth nothing like her characteristic hiss. it's a guttural growl, almost animalistic, but it conveys its message. if they intend to hurt one goblin, the other promises to hurt them. ]

[nitidus]

[She's barely gotten a plan formed together in her mind when her would be opponents are a staggering mess, gathering their wits about. Rose gapes behind the mask. It's for two reasons: she hadn't been expecting her stalker to get in such close quarters; she hadn't been expecting another Goblin mask, on top of that. There are too many implications for think about, very suddenly. Rose mind starts to reel, but the timing is entirely wrong. One thug staggers forwards and Rose, very almost completely startled by Hobgoblin's mask, has little time to duck a flying punch. It grazes her arm, but it's enough to snap her out of the reverie. Questions can wait.

She drops to the ground and kicks his feet from underneath him. He goes to the ground and Rose is quick to dart forwards, going down with her elbow to his face. She glances at Hobgoblin and then turns her attention solely on the others. They look startled; uncertain, but no less angry.

Rose can use that. She spares Hobgoblin another glance and then, with grim determination she straightens herself up. ]

I hadn't been expecting back-up. I don't suppose you'd mind hanging around to take out the garbage?

[glowsferatu]

[ hobgoblin grunts in rose's direction. she turns to face the angry men, moving towards the goblins now. if they could see through her muffler, there'd be a hint of a smile.

the first hits high from the left while the second goes low on the right. she catches both, the low by his fist and the high by his wrist. with a quick kick to the shin, the one on the right goes down, and she jabs her elbow in his back. he won't stay down long, but she moves her attention to the left. with a step, she twists the arm behind him as far as it will go, until she hears a satisfying pop. he'll be too busy screaming to give them any more trouble. with another step, back towards the man to her right, she drives a heel into the small of his back.

she may be unarmed, but for these types she doesn't need weapons. three left, she turns to look at them, head cocked to the side. the voice she uses when speaking to them is modified, one rose won't recognize. it's flat, deep, and even her accent sounds different with it. ]

You should run.

[shutterbugged]

[There's a moped in Peter Parker's garage. It's Yaj Walia make, a sporty blue with red accents, and since Spider-Man received it as a gift after the Nonah quake it's spent most of the intervening months underneath a tarp, hidden by a judiciously placed stack of boxes. It's difficult to get it to and from the residence without his clued-out housemates noticing. He tells himself he really ought to break the tattoo-coded lock and give it away to someone who'd actually use it, but he's just never gotten around to it. This afternoon, Peter's procrastination has become prescience.

He's working at home when he hears the report over the police scanner: some guy "dressed like an orange and blue elf" smashing up cars on the overpass. Recognition isn't conscious; he's suited up and revving out of the garage before he thinks the name. Hobgoblin. It's too much of a coincidence to be anything else. Norman's been planning something for months, and of course, of course if he succeeded in convincing or coercing one acolyte, he could do it with another. Spider-Man's been complacent not to think of the possibility. More than that, he's been a fool.

The moped is deceptively fast for its horsepower and slips easily between the lanes of snarled traffic. Some of the trapped occupants wave at him, cheers muffled behind safety glass. But his focus is up ahead, on the horned figure in the garish colors and the distinctive sickly-yellow "skin." Not the old Hobgoblin, not Roderick Kingsley imPorted under his nose. Someone new.

He slews the bike sideways as he brakes and leaps off, uncaring as it clatters to the tarmac behind him. He's already landed in a half-crouch, shoulders bowed and arms spread -- a spider's fighting stance.]

I'll give Norman this much credit: he's got good brand management. So, Hobby -- can I call you Hobby? You are Hobgoblin, right? -- what'd he do to get you to sign up for his Real Beauty campaign?

[glowsferatu]

[ the cars have stopped approaching by the time spider-man arrives, and the ones she's crashed have since been abandoned. she encouraged it, chasing the drivers off until they kept going of their own initiative. police and emergency vehicles have tried getting through but learned quickly what kept the other cars back.

when spider-man arrives, hobgoblin is perched on the hood of an abandoned police car, seemingly waiting for something. everyone else bides her time as she does, considering their own options for effectively dealing with the situation. she seems to perk up a little as he makes his entrance, rising to her feet and fighting the urge to clap sarcastically.

instead, she hops down and walks around the side of the car, opening the passenger door while keeping her eye on him. no one had warned her about the quips, norman really should have warned her. she told him she wouldn't need to say a word to him, and she intends to see that through, but the quips are not going to make it easy.

she plants a foot on the running board and gives a good tug, ripping the door from its hinges. then, hunching her shoulders, she marches right in his direction before lobbing the door his way like an oversized frisbee.

her intentions should be made fairly clear. ]

[shutterbugged]

Giving me the silent treatment, are you?

[Spider-Man side-steps the projectile and grabs it, letting the momentum carry him around so he can toss it back at his opponent discus-style.]

And here I was thinking we could get to know each other better!

[He's not counting on a hit, but a distraction from the web-nets he sends flying after.]

[glowsferatu]

[ she doesn't try catching it, she just moves out of the way instead. it doesn't matter to her if it hits someone behind her instead. but she wasn't anticipating the followup, having never seen spider-man in action, and ends up with web all over her upper arms and head. she's not sure if this is supposed to be a joke, but it's stronger than she expected as she strains against it.

she needs to regroup to get it off, but her legs are still free. so, she turns and dives behind the cop car, extending her claws to rip at the web until she can tear it off. but it buys him about fifteen seconds. ]

D, sometime after Elsa gets back (so after the 13th)

[handwringing]

[Elsa's careful to meet Kanaya somewhere other than residence 001. She doesn't really want Anna to know she's going out with other people. It feels sneaky, and mean, but she has her reasons.

So she's waiting to meet up with Kanaya outside a small mall with some funky and thrifty boutiques she saw the other day, sipping on an iced coffee. Iced coffee, she thinks, is an excellent idea for a place as hot as Florida. She can still get her fix every day and not die of heatstroke.

When she sees Kanaya, she gives a little wave.]

Hello!

[glowsferatu]

[ even a small mall can be a tricky place to spot someone, especially someone who's still getting the hang of mobile phones, so kanaya followed the thread. they're always easier to pick out when she knows the person one leads to already, when she's gotten a chance to familiarize herself. she actually has her head hanging slightly, seemingly watching the ground five feet ahead of her when elsa calls out.

the hunt can be much easier when the target spots you first. she looks up and gives her a wave as she closes the distance. ]

Sorry it took me a bit. Have you taken a look around yet?

[handwringing]

Just some window shopping. There's some interesting shops here.

[She finishes the last of her coffee and tosses the cup in a bin nearby.]

How have you been, Kanaya?

[glowsferatu]

Oh, you know, fairly standard!

[ it's less of a lie than saying she's fine, but some of her latest problems, like finding out her girlfriend isn't the only person norman osborn put into a goblin suit, aren't the kind of things she can talk openly about. not that she even realizes that person is her. ]

But that'll be fine, maybe you'll have somewhere you'd like to start. How are things with you?