Peter Parker | Spider-Man (
made_up_names) wrote in
daybreakacademy2019-01-26 09:08 pm
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hollow plots and zombens
WHO: Peter Parker, Zomben, and all sorts of unlucky people
WHAT: Hollow!Uncle Ben (aka Zomben) has started to show up on campus. There will be an open comment (for generally being chased) as well as specific prompts for pre-plotted encounters.
WHEN: Very late on January 27th, forward dated to later in the week as well.
WHERE: Campus in general, also the gazebo in Soleil.
( Prompts are below so I can set up a general timeline-ish-thing!
katoptron or Rho#9327 if you want me to set up something specific. Or just zoom yourself to the open comment and we'll just have some fun there.
I will match format, so if you prefer prose, prose away! )
WHAT: Hollow!Uncle Ben (aka Zomben) has started to show up on campus. There will be an open comment (for generally being chased) as well as specific prompts for pre-plotted encounters.
WHEN: Very late on January 27th, forward dated to later in the week as well.
WHERE: Campus in general, also the gazebo in Soleil.
( Prompts are below so I can set up a general timeline-ish-thing!
I will match format, so if you prefer prose, prose away! )
no subject
Amazing it might be, he doesn't waste a second from there. Peter's tugged forward again and he runs as straight a path as he can for the town, praying the thing loses them in the trees or something. At least long enough.
The extended part of his plan forms about after they can get away from the creature, though he wouldn't say it's due in any part to his fear clearing up. He looks around them just to be sure it's nowhere near and it won't hear them.
"There's a place in town, old antique shop, regular stuff, enchanted stuff, all kinds of cursed things. One of those things is a really, really powerful blight repellent. I usually try to steer clear of it but I think we can lose this guy if we make it to the back alley next to it." He glances back, meeting Peter's eyes apologetically before he warns, "It's going to hurt."
But it might hurt that thing more.
no subject
Anyway, they've got more important things to think about. Peter takes a split second to attach one more web to the monster, this time connecting it to the ground. It won't keep the thing bound for long, but it should buy them enough time to make something of a clean getaway. He - he needs a moment to think. How to handle this, how to get his uncle back without killing the monster. Or just letting it loose to rampage through Soleil. God, this is not what he'd planned on doing tonight...
As soon as Héctor mentions the antique shop, he winces. "I think I know which one you're talking about," he says. "They've got this reinforced dumpster, right?" Not that breaking a lock is particularly hard for Peter, but a) that's too close to stealing for his tastes, b) it's unnecessary property damage, and c) that place makes his head fucking hurt. Yeah. So. He knows what Héctor means, but he doesn't like this plan. He's pretty sure that anything that makes Peter feel kind of gross is going to be twenty times worse for Héctor. But what else can he do? He certainly doesn't have a better plan okay.
"Let's - let's try it," he says, nodding after a moment. "I can get us there faster." He offers a hand to Héctor. Ready to go for a swing?
no subject
He nods quickly, confirming Peter's suspicion with a grimace. He can tell Peter's not a fan-- who would be?-- but it's the best he's got.
Peter's offered hand has him looking up and down in confusion at first as he tries to connect the dots of what, exactly, Peter means here. It clicks and there's a solid oh no in his absent throat, in the expression on his face, but he breathes deep, takes Peter's hand, and braces. God, his bones are too loose these days for these kinds of things! His eyes close and he pours every ounce of focus he has into holding together. At least he'll be even lighter for Peter than he'd been before.
no subject
After a moment spent bracing himself too, he flicks out a web with his other hand. It sails towards the nearest building, gripping there - and then that's it, they're off, no turning back now. It's awkward trying to do this while holding another person, but Héctor is light, at least, and Peter is very strong. He shifts from having his hand on Héctor's arm to sort of putting the arm around him instead? Weird to do when Héctor is literally just a skeleton, but he's trying to get as much of Héctor to get to their destination safely as he can.
Behind them, the monster strains against the webs. First the one snaps, and then the other. The webs on its eyes are still blinding it, but it's moving now, roving around with its remaining eyes, trying to find its prey. Peter can't spare even a moment to focus on it, given the swinging and his passenger. All he can do is go as fast as he can and hope it doesn't catch them. Any distractions are gonna be on Héctor.
no subject
But he hears the creature shift behind them and he can just see past Peter enough. It's getting up. Oh God, they're still a block away, they need more time and they don't have it.
"Oh God," He says aloud, voice half a sob. He pulls a sharp breath, swallowing what fear he can. Then moves. "Peter, I'm going to climb up and hang off your shoulder! Hang on to my-- my spine! Oh God..." He does as he's explained, moving up until he's got his rib cage even to Peter's head. He reaches for his arm and pops it off, pulling it back against his suspenders. Steady. Steady. Breathe steady, Héctor, think about the boy, think about Coco.
With a cry, he lets his arm fly. It goes out stretched, until it land upon the monster. And from what he can control of it, he brings it to claw at those remaining eyes.
"Don't stop, Peter! Don't stop, no matter what!" He shouts, and he turns his gaze back to the monster, holding his breath as he forces his arm to hang on-- until it's torn off. He takes a breath, teeth held together tight as the creature grips the bones of his arm in it's own claws. He doesn't hear it as it happens, from this far away. But he feels it.
His arm cracks sharply in two. Héctor screams. His body goes to hang over Peter's shoulder and back and he whimpers through his teeth as the monster throws his broken arm aside in anger. There's a very distant and bleary relief as he realizes he'll still be able to find it later. The monster's blinded. He won't be able to find it.
He hopes they're close.
no subject
"I'm not stopping!" he yells back, but there's already hurt and guilt in his voice. Good job, Peter, now his skeleton uncle lost an arm because his real uncle decided to try and murder him. 0/5 stars, scathing review on Yelp for the whole experience. But - he's not going to waste this, dammit. While the monster screams and writhes in blind pain, Peter swings them through the city at a blinding pace. The last block passes them by, and finally - finally there's the antique shop that Héctor was talking about. Only Héctor's delicate bones keep Peter from throwing himself bodily at the pavement; as it is he lands rather hard on his knees, still holding Héctor with the other arm so he doesn't have to take the force of the impact.
And there he pauses for a moment. "Where?" he gasps. "Inside?" Or the dumpster? Both are probably locked, but that's not an issue when Peter can just force it open.
He's also already staring at Héctor's missing arm with a ferocious amount of guilt, but. Hide first, feelings later.
no subject
His head spins with pain and he's already feeling weak, but he tries to raise his head and then the rest of him when Peter lands upon the ground. His teeth are held together in a tight grimace, but he manages to speak.
"Agai- against the wall. Right- right behind the..." He points to the dumpster with the arm he still has. "They- they keep it just... just on the other side of that wall."
He tries to move himself that way, his power already sparking and flickering with how near they are to whatever that stupid amulet is that's about to save them. He suspects Peter's going to be able to move him faster.
no subject
So - still holding onto Héctor, he bursts the padlock on the dumpster and throws it open. Luckily for them it seems to be mostly clean; Peter shoves the rest of it out onto the ground, sorry about your mess. Then he shoves it back up against the wall, right up to the spot where the amulet is. Good enough. Going to have to work.
"C'mon," he says climbing into the dumpster with Héctor. "Almost there. Stay with me..." He carefully puts the skeleton down against one of the few remaining bags of garbage; it seems reasonably soft and not gross. And then he turns back to the lip of the dumpster, carefully grabbing the edges of the lid and crimping it down. There. Now nothing can get in here for a hot second.
no subject
He can't help but laugh a little at Peter's gentle pleading. "I'm not going anywhere," He assures. "Already dead." He's dropped down onto garbage and he winces a little and exhales heavy.
Though it goes pitch black as the lid shuts, that doesn't long. The shimmers and flickers off his trembling bones illuminate the inside. He watches the lid, listening close and careful for the sounds of the monster, and his head goes over a prayer he can hardly remember.
The amulet in that shop is already making him ache through his bones, building like a fever, but he says nothing. He simply... waits.
It's in a long enough silence that his eyes finally drop to meet Peter's. Everything hits then and he finds himself unable to really speak.
That was Ben.
That was Peter's dead uncle, torn apart like that, saying those cruel and terrible things.
That was him turning into a monster.
And Peter saw it all.
"...I'm sorry. I'm so... so sorry."
no subject
So - so for the moment, they're safe. Peter doesn't have to focus on not dying and can instead focus on ... on ...
He slumps against the side of the dumpster, just folding in on himself for a moment. He wants to tell himself that that was some kind of illusion, some weird monster just borrowing Ben's face? But the details. The marks, everything he'd said ... He can't meet Héctor's gaze in return. He has to lower his face down into his hands, where he sort of claws at his own face for a second. Breathe. He has to just breathe for a second here.
"It was him," he says miserably. "It was really him. He - he knew how he died."
The marks, the accusation. God. He presses his hands in closer, the first breaths of a sob rattling in him.
"I never told anyone the whole story. He knew all of it."
no subject
He pushes himself so slow, sliding his trembling and aching bones across that steel floor. He stops by Peter's side and reaches an arm over him.
"Come here, Chamaco. I got you," He says. He grips Peter's shoulder tight, then lifts that same hand to push back the boy's hair before settling down over his shoulder again.
"You don't have to tell me what happened. If it's too hard for you, you don't have to." He's seen enough, heard enough, to have an idea anyway. Dislike for lycans, the scars he saw, Peter's thought that it's his own fault. He doesn't need to see how it connects in Ben's death. He can see how it connects in Peter like fractures in glass.
"I don't know how this happened, and I won't tell you that wasn't your uncle. But Peter, your uncle loved you. You know that. You told me that. Whatever happened to him, this isn't him-- not what he thinks, not what he really feels. This world, it's amazing but it's dangerous and it is so easy to lose yourself in so many ways. You have to know this isn't what he would've wanted. Don't you dare let yourself believe a word that's been said."
no subject
"I know," he manages after a moment. He's gulping down the words, somehow forcing them around the lump in his throat. "I know he loved me. But - I hurt him at the end, Héctor. I saw the lycan kill him. If I'd come back even five minutes earlier ... "
Then Ben wouldn't be out looking for him, or Peter could have saved him directly, or - or, or, there's so many possibilities that don't end in his uncle's murder. Any of them would have worked. "He's right," he finishes miserably, putting his head down to his knees. "I don't belong here. Maybe I should have let him do whatever he came here to do." He'd deserve it at this point, surely.
no subject
"Don't," He says. The word is a little choked in his own throat. He shakes his head more and the moves, getting to his knees to face the boy.
"Peter, look at me. Look at me." His hand reaches out, trying to lift Peter's head, to cup the side of his face with a skeletal hand. He looks pained, but not because of his arm or the amulet.
"We make mistakes. Sometimes we're too late. And I know how hard that is to accept. I can understand if sometimes you feel like... there's something broken that no one else can see like you can." Something deeper than just being a general mess on a daily basis. Something hurting and maybe a little rotten.
"But he's wrong. And so are you. Your uncle wouldn't want this in his right mind. Your Tía loves you. You've got your friends here and where you came from, who think the world of you, who wouldn't know what to do without you. You mean so much, too much to say things like that. You went through something terrible and that can be so heavy, that burden, that guilt. We know. But no matter what happens to any of us, if we're truly ourselves, then I promise. We would want you here. We love you, mijo."
no subject
Mijo. He knows what that word means. Uncertain that he's earned it yet, but it makes his eyes fill with tears anyway. Here come the water works again. This is the second time he's cried on Héctor, and he's kind of sorry about that? But this dumb school and their ridiculous shenanigans have forged something here. He'd be an idiot to deny that bond now.
"I'm sorry," he says, leaning into Héctor's hand after a moment. Head bowed a little. "I wouldn't - I don't want Aunt May or anyone else to worry." He's serious about that too. Ben hadn't tripped over some nascent urge inside his head, other than his ever present guilt. Normally Peter's a fairly stable kid. But having your uncle essentially threaten to kill you will stir up all kinds of ugliness. "He wouldn't have wanted me to worry any of you either."
So that couldn't have been Ben. Not Ben in his right mind, anyway. Peter is still certain that that's still his uncle under there, deep down. But he's willing to believe that something's wrong. Something he could help with; some way he could save him.
no subject
"No, he wouldn't," He does agree by the end. His smile slips a little. "We'll figure this out, okay? I've spent this long trying to work my own...unlife. I'm sure we can find something for him too."
He doesn't know that. He's been trying to find a solution to his own troubles a long time and he's not even dangerous. In fact, he knows, a lot of the time there is no turning back. Death held on tight. It didn't like when people walked scott-free. But at the very least, they can try.
He moves, shuffling back to Peter's side and putting his arm around the boy again. He stares up at the dumpster lid, still flickering sporadically, shuddering and trembling every moment or so, but he's otherwise quiet and still.
Until he says, "We probably shouldn't wait here past sunrise. I don't want you stuck in here with my corpse." And he'd really like to keep his arm, if he can. Not to mention he's sure Peter's head is doing him no kindness right now as far pain goes.
no subject
And in the meantime he has someone else in front of him that he can help right now. Starting by not, y'know, making him turn back into a person while still missing an arm. His spider senses have died down, so he can only hope that means the monster has crawled back into whatever hole it came out of. For now.
"Okay," he says, swiping at his face. At least he gets his tears under control a little more quickly this time "I - I can do that, yeah. There has to be a way." He'd take Ben being a skeleton like Héctor, honestly. That doesn't seem so bad, minus the whole missing arm thing. "Where's your arm? Can you still feel it?"
He's gonna go ahead and start uncrimping the dumpster, though, because his head is just splitting right now. Stupid blight amulet. The sooner they get away from that, the better.
no subject
He laughs softly, ruefully. His head tilts back as he winces. "Oh, yeah," He says. "I feel it." It's out there, radiating worse than the rest of him is right now.
"I think I saw the bushes it go thrown to. I should be able to find it. I just don't really want to tug it right now." Dios, he hopes it will attach alright. "...You wouldn't happen to have any tape would you?"
no subject
But - right, he has a job to do. That helps him focus, which is important right now. He carefully lifts the top of the dumpster, standing up in it. And offering a hand down to Héctor. If he has a headache, then poor Héctor could probably use a hand.
Uh. Literally.
"Oh. Yeah, I do, actually. It's right here in my --" Backpack, he wants to say, but as soon as he reaches for the familiar straps, he realizes that said backpack is currently back at the gazebo. And probably crushed by the Hollow, along with the homework he brought with him. Well. Shit. Can he tell his teachers that a monster ate his homework? Would that actually work here?
no subject
"It's alright, I won't need it yet. But I'm going to need a bit of help... with maybe a few things." He's got one usable hand, a guitar, and a walking stick and...
He pauses, lifting his jacket to peer at the inside pocket. "What do you know? The tests are still here." He laughs helplessly then reaches up for Peter's hand, slowly rising to his feet.
"Thank you," He says. "We'll grab my arm, whatever's left of our things, head back. Sound good?"
no subject
"Yeah, sounds great," he says. He's still kind of traumatized here - and this week is going to suck so bad - but this is a start. "Hopefully it just gave up for now."
He'll go hunting for his uncle later. After he helps Héctor track down his arm. He sort of side-eyes Héctor for a moment - does he need to be carried? Because he could do that.
no subject
He thinks he'll get by without being carried this time, especially the further he gets from this amulet, but maybe a little help standing would be good. For now he focuses on trying to lift his leg up over the dumpster's side and spring himself up to straddle it before turning and sliding out with a wince. He breathes a sigh of relief that he doesn't come apart and therefore doesn't have to pull himself together.
"Hopefully," He agrees. He glances from Peter to the ground and back again. "We'll have to tell someone about this," He points out as gently as he can. "We don't have to say it was your Tío, or any of the other parts, but this could be trouble. A lot of it." For Peter and for who knows how many others. He knows this is beyond his ability. He just hopes Peter's not going to take it all onto himself.
no subject
He winces, though, at Héctor saying they ought to tell someone. That's. Completely correct honestly, and yet. He's not sure anyone else would understand, especially if they don't mention it's Peter's uncle. Wouldn't they just go after the monster instead? "Are you sure?" he asks, uncertain. "You said it yourself before. People don't react well to the undead."
That's why he's keeping Héc's secret, after all.
no subject
"I know," He sighs. "But this is really dangerous. You could've been killed. Others could still be." This is a really messy, ugly situation. There's no risk free way to do any of this. "
"I would rather find a way to help you both but... your uncle and I are dead. We've had our chance. When it's between you and everyone else versus beings like us? The living come first." That's just fact. Children before adults. Living before dead.
"Maybe we can find someone who'll understand. The faculty, for one? A few of them know about me."
no subject
He swallows a bit, nodding. "You were going to get help from someone, right?" he asks. "Did that go well?"
If that person helped Héctor, then they'd have to be trustworthy on this subject too. Right?
no subject
They won't know unless they try. This is lives at stake. The Doctor will understand.
"Señor Ekkehardt. I actually did go to him. He started a mending spell, gave me that cane..." And then he broke himself and probably the cane too. "He knows I'm dead. Promised secrecy and everything. I think he understands how important this stuff is." He just doesn't know how that applies when the undead is actively dangerous.
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