august 2019. welcome to the void.

[modblob]

Who: Everyone in Anchor.
What: Second Introductory Mingle
When: The Month of August 2019
Where: Around and outside the city.
Warnings: Please add any warnings in the subject lines.

Redshift: Welcome to the v͖͕̺̲̘̱̜͎o̴̦̣̠̦̘̹͞i̯̖d̛̪̬͈̱̦̝͍̕.

Click here to read what characters will experience when arriving in Anchor.

a. bright spots in the darkness.

The redout and accompanying power outage has been going on for over a week now - even though someone must have managed to get the generators up and running so things are a little less dismal, that doesn't mean that everything is fun and games. The generators are enough to power the essentials, like lighting, the MedBay, resident sat phones, sanitation facilities...basically just the things that make life livable instead of kicking the whole city back to the dark ages.

Sometime during the second week, though, around the end of July, residents might start to notice bright spots in the darkness, mostly around the Agricultural levels. Little bobbing blobs of bright blue or vibrant green or glowing red that move soundlessly through the night, poignantly noticeable because everything else is so dark. At first, and from a distance, they might look like your typical swamp gas fake ghost, little glowing smudges in the darkness. Could be promising...but it could be dangerous too.

If residents are brave enough to head up to the Agricultural levels in the darkness and investigate the source of the light, a mildly harrowing mission, they will find that the source of the glowing is...animals. Barely differing from the usual animals one might see in a daylight in the Agricultural levels, these animals prove to simply be nocturnal versions of the usual animals that might survive in the wild and who have made their homes in the faux forest and grasslands. And when everything else is dark, these creatures roam the night, letting off a curious and almost radioactive glow.

There are, however, a slightly wider variety of these animals, who are descendants of animals exposed heavily to radiation that mutated but did not kill them. While there are the usual deer and wild horses, foxes and monkeys, rodents and insects, there are also domestic creatures that seem to have thrived in their glow-in-the-dark forms where non-glowing ones were picked off by predators. Anyone investigating may find glowing kittens and puppies, domestic mice and rats, snakes that are open to being touched, and even a few more exotic domesticated pets like ferrets, hedgehogs, turtles and foxes. While these creatures are still wild, they are the descendants of domestic stock, and with a little effort and coddling, they might turn out to be passable pets, once they're scanned in the MedBay and found to not give off dangerous radiation.

It's not all puppies and kittens, though. Some of these seemingly predatorless glow-in-the-dark creatures are mutated, just like their regular counterparts, but to a more extensive degree. Keep a close eye out while you're trying to tame that adorable glowing purple kitten, because you might find yourself as the prey to a huge mutated lizard or spider, or maybe an oversized glowing wild warthog.

Nighttime exploring, after all, is for the brave at heart...and comes with pros and cons!

b. nightmare swarm.

As if the mutated glow-in-the-dark creatures in the Agricultural levels aren't bad enough, there's something new in Anchor to cause problems. A couple of weeks after the generator room was opened, strange apparitions start showing up in various places around the city. At first they're nebulous clouds that gather in places where there's strong evidence of past violence - in the upper levels of the city where there's serious fire damage, near the security station, hovering outside the armory or wherever there are burns and gouges into the stone walls of the city. But as the month wears on, the clouds start to take shape, and some of those shapes might be very familiar.

Starting at around August 8th, whenever a resident passes by one of these ominous clouds, it will start to coalesce into a solid form, the particles coming together into a concrete shape - the shape of fear. Whether the particles coalesce into the shape of a monster or villain from a character's homeworld or previous game setting, the nebulous representation of their worst fear, a person or thing from their past that evokes a terrible memory of trauma, or even just a generic horrific monster that would particularly frighten that particular person, it's something that is guaranteed to terrify. Essentially, they will turn into the worst thing that your character can imagine.

And these representations of fear? They're not ghosts, they're not digital afterimages, they're not apparitions or holos. They're real, or at least they feel real, they can do real damage, and they're almost impossible to kill. The best way to survive an encounter with the nightmare swarm? Run fast. Because they're generally confined to areas where the echoes of old violence linger, and the quicker you leave those areas the better. Get into whatever light you can, get somewhere safe, and the fear creature will dissipate back into a nebulous cloud, lying in wait for the next victim.

c. power up.

On August 2nd, the dust storm causing the redout and power outage will subside, and a stiff wind will take its place, washing away about two thirds of the red sand piled up on the dome. This fortuitous change in weather will make it possible to start work on getting the power back up. Residents will be able to exit the city through the usual channels so they can work on clearing the dust out of the various installations outside the city that transform wind and radiation and sunlight into power that keeps the city up and running. After they're cleared off, residents can start to get the power up by making repairs to the dust-damaged computer systems. Thankfully, once the power installations outside the city have been cleared off, an automated computer subroutine will boot up on some of the computer panels in the common areas of the residential quarters, with a user-friendly guide to repairing sand damage to the power system.

Mind you, the user guide assumes that residents have a lot of tools, supplies, and assistant bots that the current population doesn't really have on hand, so user-friendly or not, it's tougher than the system seems to think it is.

Thankfully, there is another option. Anyone with a particularly tech-savvy mind who's encountered the nightmare clouds might have picked up on it already, but the clouds are actually swarms of nanites. Released from the room that held the generators, these nanites were originally intended to conduct repairs on the city (there was a reason that room and those generators were so pristine!) that have been corrupted and are malfunctioning due to the ambient radiation in the city that has only increased since their creation. Anyone with even a basic knowledge of computers (and a very strong spine) could collect a sample of the clouds in one of the containment units from the labs or the R&D area, where the semi-functioning computer can be used to work out what's wrong with the nanites...and fix them.

If characters are able to work this out and deploy repairs to the various swarms around the city, those nanites might be super helpful for fixing some of the malfunctioning tech around the city. Food for thought!

d. the wreckage in the wasteland.

Once the emergency situation with the power is sorted out, residents might become a little curious about what caused all the trouble in the first place. The dust storm was, after all, initiated by a loud crash landing outside the city. With the dust storm abated and the windows in the Observation Area cleared off, residents will be able to see the wreckage of a spacecraft crashed into the ground, several miles out from the city. Far enough away to make it impossible to see any identifying marks, but close enough to be a tantalizing mystery for anyone so inclined.

Adventurous souls will be able to suit up and trek their way out to the site of the crash in the battery Jeeps to see what's going on, risking the rough ever-changing terrain and the possibility of a red shift, to see what might be salvageable from the crashed ship, or just in pursuit of knowledge. Once those characters approach, they will find the hulk of a badly-damaged spacecraft, about as big as a medium-sized cruise ship. The hull is badly burned, with tears in the metal, and it will be obvious to anyone who's got any experience with space travel (or even anyone who's watched enough sci-fi movies) to see that the ship didn't do well on its slow fall through the atmosphere. The metal is melted and punctured, anything that might have extended away from the hull has been burned off and lies in tatters, and the sand around the crash site is littered with metal and plastic debris.

But the one thing that's still possible to tell from the wreckage? It probably came from Anchor.

The ship is pieced together from salvaged materials, the tech will be familiar to anyone who's been in the colony for more than a couple days, and there's even a few corpses of very familiar bots lying in the sand. Approaching a large tear in the side of the hull will reveal a way inside the husk of a ship, giving access to the ship's small crew quarters section. If explorers choose to proceed inside, they'll be able to dig through what few personal items remain and find personal tablet computers and sat phones with their hard drives corrupted but possibly salvageable with the right skillset and the right technology repaired back in Anchor. They will also be able to find a way down further into the ship, though it's dark and clouded with sand and...well, quite menacing.

Because it isn't just the darkness and the danger of the red shift coming while you're trapped down there, or the danger of the ship's hull cracking with the weight of the sand piled up on its shell from the dust storm...but looking into the darkness, there's a flickering bluish glow. Digital and glitchy, it flickers from wall to wall, with the faintest impression of a human form. A face. A hand. The movement of hair or clothing. And then there's the echoing sounds - soft laughter, snippets of childrens' rhymes, unintelligible whispers or mumbles.

Well. Enter at your own risk.

ooc: exploration info.

As you can probably tell, this final prompt is kind of a doozy! While the first level of the ship is available for anyone to explore with the information provided in the prompt, going further into the ship will require mod guidance, via an NPC.

Any questions can be asked in the mod questions thread below, and if your characters have progressed to the point of wanting to explore deeper in the ship, please hit up the NPC request thread with a link to where the NPC should tag in.

Have fun guys!

Navigation.

Comments

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben doesn't mind that little interval when Peter is clearly deciding whether or not to go along with his plan. He's not Luther, after all. Coming up with strategies and getting pissy when other people don't follow them isn't really his thing. Still, he feels a little surge of relief and happiness when Peter agrees to go along, though maybe that is just from the pat on the shoulder. God it really doesn't take much, does it, after fourteen years of being a ghost... ]

Will do.

[ But nothing does, in fact, go wrong. Ben moves close enough to the cloud to see it, but keeps a healthy distance, sticking out of the shadows by instinct more than anything else. He is just pacing there, hands in his pockets, when Peter returns, much quicker than Ben would have thought possible. Maybe R&D is closer than he'd thought. Or maybe - well, spiders are fast aren't they? ]

Got what you need?

[ Then, a moment later: ]

Do you think there is a way to collect a sample from a distance? Or are you gonna have to... get up in it?

[itsnotaonesie]

[If a pat on the shoulder makes Ben that happy, he's gonna shit his pants when someone hugs him. Happily. The happiest pants shitting. This got weird.

Peter only returns with one containment unit in tow. The weight wasn't an issue for him, but juggling more than one metal container that's almost as big as he is would have made swinging back here pretty awkward. He'd webbed the thing to his back so he could like, use his hands, and once he's back with Ben he pries himself free of the webbing and starts checking the container over. He maybe should have done that when he was still in R&D but shut up he got excited ok.]

Yeah, I think this oughta do it. And yeaaaah, I'm gonna have to get all up in that mess again. It's fine though, this time I know what to expect.

...Or I could just close my eyes, that might work too.

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben isn't sure what exactly Peter is verifying about that big container, and despite his usual avid curiosity about technology he hasn't seen before, right now he's too preoccupied to ask about it. That cloud is still shifting, like malevolent mist. Ben almost thinks he hears a buzz coming from it, a whine so high-pitched that it's only barely audible. But that might just be his imagination.

He folds his arms across his chest. Just because Peter knows what's coming won't necessarily make it all better, Ben thinks. With something as traumatic as being disintegrated into ash slowly must have been... ]

Yeah, as if I would let you go in there again alone.

[ He is not asking. Ben can be stubborn and he's not willing to negotiate on this. ]

You just - keep your eyes on this containment thingy and be ready to flip whatever switches you gotta flip, and I'll lure it close. What's the range on this, does it have to actually get a piece inside or can it capture stuff from a foot or two away?

[ Ben glances up at the cloudy substance, steeling himself to see those people disintegrating once more. It even crosses his mind that some of his own loved ones might enter the roster - but never that something else entirely might manifest... ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[PETER'S TOTALLY GOT THIS or at least that's what he's telling himself. He'd most likely be able to force himself to see it through because he's a stubborn ass that way, but he's undeniably still frazzled from the whole experience. As much as he wants to protest, to insist that Ben hangs back so he doesn't get hurt or something, the smart thing to do is to let Ben help. Reluctantly, Peter huffs out an uneasy sigh and nods.]

O-okay. I got the containment thingy, I'm on containment thingy duty. We're gonna have to like, physically put that in here, so the closer we can get it, the better.

[He turns his attention back to the container, popping it open and just double checking for like, Ghostbusters-style ghost sucking apparatuses, but nope. This sucker's just got a door. He turns back to Ben to tell him as much, but is instead distracted by the cloud starting to shift all weird again. Rather than sating anything intelligent, he points all alarmed-like.]

Oh! Ooooh something's happening!

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben gives a single nod of understanding. He'll have to grab one of those dissolving people, before they've become dust, and haul them past the threshold of the device He doubts it is going to be pretty, but he thinks he can manage it. And hopefully, Peter won't have to look. Won't have to be exposed to all this again, any more than is absolutely necessary.

Except that when they both get to the cloud, Peter can't seem to take his eyes off it, and neither can Ben. It swirls, begins to resolve into a human-shaped figure. There is only one person, this time. A person whose outline Ben does not immediately recognize; he hadn't shown up in any mirrors or reflective surfaces as a ghost, and he hasn't spent a whole lot of time looking at himself since he arrived here. So he can't tell at first that it is him - same height, same build, same posture, same clothes even. All the details are there, even though the figure itself is dark, vague, indefinite. Ben keeps waiting for it to take on the form of someone Peter loves, or someone he loves, and start to scream as it crumbles.

Instead it turns, takes a step (menacing? pleading?) towards them. ]

What the-

[ Then the figure is clenching its fists, arms out slightly, bending back just a little in a posture that makes Ben's stomach turn with fear in the second before he gets it. Because that's the way he looks when he is opening the portal. When he is bracing to attack - ]

Fuck!

[ That's all the warning (from Ben anyway) that Peter is going to get before giant tentacles come shooting out of the figure's stomach, unfurling in the air, thick and horrible, even if they are only shadowed outlines. Ben can't breathe. Can't move. He knows how much danger they are in, but his body has frozen in shock at what he is seeing. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[It doesn't take long for Peter to process that whatever is happening this time isn't something out of his head. Which is kind of okay, at least for him. Maybe if Peter wasn't so rattled from earlier, his spider-sense would have been more on top of warning him that shit was about to pop off, though. He doesn't feel what's coming, but his reflexes are good enough that he's able to avoid getting whacked or grabbed by any creepy tentacles. By leaping up onto the ceiling. Because spiders.

He's a lot more concerned about Ben and the way he's literally just standing there. Before he even things about trying to wrangle this hentai nightmare into the containment unit, he needs to get to Ben and snap him out of this.]

Ben! [Peter hops off the ceiling and makes his way back over to Ben, dodging tentacles on his way. Once he reaches Ben, Peter grabs him by the shoulder and tries to pull him away, but doesn't make it too far before one of those tentacles wraps itself around his ankle. He rolls his eyes in a "sure, this might as well happen too" sort of way before he's hoisted into the air. This isn't ideal.]

Ben, gonna need you to snap out of it!

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben has seen a lot of footage of himself using his powers. His father was a big fan of recording parts of their training and going over the footage to point out flaws, mistakes, etcetera. But that had been so many years ago. And it is different, seeing it on a tiny little fuzzy screen, and standing right here and seeing it happen. Experiencing that wrongness up-close. No wonder people lost their shit, when they saw this. No wonder people called him a horror.

He feels cold all over his brain is just - empty. No plans, no logical connection back to the cloud. Just thick, icy, paralyzing fear. Peter's voice barely breaks through, like he's shouting from a huge distance. Ben is numb and floating, even as he sees Peter leave the ceiling and make his way over, so fast and agile, but he doesn't know how deadly this enemy is...

It isn't until one of those tentacles actually grabs Peter that enough adrenaline surges into Ben to dislodge him from his shock. In a few more seconds, if no one intervenes, it's going to be game over for Peter. Peter, who is nice. Peter, who is kind of starting to be his friend, maybe, he hopes. Ben's brain is still a mess, but the concepts of danger and friend about to die are simple and impactful enough that he doesn't need to think.

Ben does snap out of it. He snaps out of it, and yells, long and awful, like his insides are being torn out. Which is, essentially, what it feels like, as he opens the portal in his stomach and unleashes his powers on this other version of himself. He doesn't try to grab Peter and haul him to safety, himself. Rescuing isn't something the creatures are interested in. Instead, Ben merely focuses their malice on the other tentacles, with the hopes that distracting them will free Peter and keep him safe. Safer.

Except he's never had a fight like this. Against, well. Himself. Tentacle grapples with tentacle, twisting at each other, trying to find leverage to tear, and it is - really, just the most intensely gross thing to witness. Later, when he's not screaming his lungs out in agony and doing everything he can not to accidentally murder Peter himself, Ben is going to be way nauseated by all this. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[As soon as Peter's leg is free, he hauls himself to safety. It's all good. Said hauling consists mostly of dodging even more tentacles and sticking himself to the wall for a minute to come up with some sort of game plan. Right now, Peter's way more concerned about how much it sounds like this is hurting Ben than how freaky or intensely gross this whole display is. Freaky he can handle though, so studying this wiggly throw down isn't really doing much to creep him out.

He has no idea how strong this thing is compared to Ben. So far they seem to be pretty evenly matched, but who knows how long that's going to last? Fake Ben obviously isn't human, might not even be organic, so trying to wear it out isn't a viable strategy. Trying to approach from the ground is probably also a bad idea. There's not much wiggle room with all those tentacles flopping around, so Peter's better off sticking to the walls and ceiling and getting around with his webs. He can work with this.

After mapping out a route to fakey-fake Ben, Peter slings some webs at the containment unit and yanks it over to himself, and he's off. Bouncing to the ceiling, webbing over to the far wall, using the tentacles themselves as leverage to swing himself over to the ceiling just above the freaky not!Ben, dope spider stunts. He pops the latch on the containment unit's door and lets himself drop from the ceiling right on top of not!Ben, and that's it, that's the whole plan. Not too complicated.

Except it is complicated, because Peter isn't quite able to get the door closed before another tentacle breaks away from the tentacle slap fight it's having with Ben in order to take care of this fun new problem. Unfortunately, Peter's being a stubborn ass about wrangling this thing into the containment unit, so rather than trying to dodge the tentacle, he decides to try to out muscle it BECAUSE THAT'S SMART. SO, with one foot smooshing down on the containment unit and the other sticky'd firmly to the floor, Peter now has a tentacle wrapped around his waist trying to dislodge him. Just ignore that popping sound, it was probably just a rib. It's FINE, he has more.

Its getting kind of weird over here, but hey! They've almost trapped the bad guy thing?]

wiggly throw down... incredible...

[benhargreeves]

[ Even through the pain and his own intense concentration, when Ben sees a tentacle wrap all the way around Peter's middle, he feels like his heart stops. ]

No!

[ The sound is torn out of him, involuntary and terrified and awful. If he doesn't act quickly, Peter is going to die, and it will be bloody, and it will be all Ben's fault. Five of the grappling tentacles let go, redirecting to shoot out and attack the tentacle that has gotten hold of Peter. Their combined force twisting around its base is enough to sever it, with a truly horrible and rather squelchy sound. In the process, two of those tentacles get torn and mangled rather badly. But none of the attacks, Peter may notice, are going for the real Ben himself.

Hopefully he acted quickly enough to spare Peter too many internal injuries, and gave him long enough to force that containment unit closed with at least some chunk of their attacker inside it. Ben isn't looking too steady on his feet, other there. Part of that is exertion from the fight, part of it terror over Peter, part shock at this whole situation. He used to have more stamina than this. Then again, he'd never fought himself. Or this awful reflection of himself.

And this other version of him isn't just hollow. It is, awfully, it appears, enjoying itself. Ben hears his own laugh coming from it, thinks he catches a shifting expression of delight on that strange dark face. That's the cherry on top of all the other awfulness. This glimpse of a version of himself that likes it. That doesn't control the creatures, but lets them control him. That shares their bloodlust. Ben chokes on a sob, knees starting to shake visibly from emotion and exhaustion, but hanging on a little longer. ]

sometimes i just say things

[itsnotaonesie]

[There are hentai movies that start this way is the first thought to pop into Peter's mind once additional tentacles start shooting in his general direction. His second thought is OH GOD NO I DON'T WANNA BE IN A HENTAI. Thankfully the new tentacles are here to free him from the first one, so he has nothing to worry about. Aside from the broken ribs, that is.

He glances over at Ben, just for a second, but it's long enough to tell that they need to wrap this shit up quick. Ben's not looking super great, he probably won't be able to hold out much longer. No pressure!

Except there's a ton of pressure, but it's fine.

He'd already had a pretty good sized chunk of fake Ben caught up in the containment unit a minute ago, and though it was able to shove the container partly off itself with one of it's tentacles, Peter was now free and also pissed off. Peter shoots some webbing at the back of it's head, yanking it backwards and throwing it off balance, and then he just leaps at the damn thing with the containment unit and straight up tackles it to the ground. Naturally the tentacles are not happy with this and do a little more angry wigglin', but Peter's countering with some angry webbin' so now there's just fucking tentacles webbed to the floor and the walls. Closing the containment unit with all these tentacles waggling in the way is another ridiculous friggen mess, but after practically cocooning the whole thing in webs and tearing some of those tentacles off with his bare goddamn hands, he finally manages to get the door closed.

MISSION COMPLETE.]

[benhargreeves]

[ As soon as the door to the containment unit is closed, and stays closed, Ben shuts the portal in his stomach, the injured and non-injured tentacles alike writhing their way back through his body and into their own dimension. Then, finally, there are zero tentacles in the corridor, and no evil mist, and it is silent except for the sounds of their harsh breathing.

Ben makes it two steps towards Peter, asking in a voice that's raw from screaming: ]

Oh my god, Peter, are you okay-?

[ Then Ben staggers, takes a big lurching step towards the wall. He's just going to lean his shoulder against it for a minute... or sit down on the floor. Sitting down sounds great actually. It's floor time, baby. His nerves are still on fire, the tingling remembrance of pain spreading all through him, but centralized around his stomach. He sets a hand over it, fingers splayed, but his eyes stay on Peter. ]

Are you hurt?

[ Ben doesn't just sound concerned. He sounds a little bit like he's trying not to cry and only mostly succeeding. Because none of it is fair. He hadn't wanted Peter to see his powers, and even less get hurt by them. Now both things have happened, and sure, they won the fight, but what's the cost? The actual figure might be gone, but Ben can't stop hearing the way it had laughed when it grabbed Peter. His own laugh, but so delighted at the prospect of dismemberment.

Shaky and fervent, he says: ]

I'm sorry.

[ No matter which way you look at it, that near scrape of theirs, however hurt Peter is, it's all 100% his fault. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[Meanwhile, Peter's decided that this whole thing was 100% his fault. He should have been the one to face down the spooky cloud, the thing it had tried to scare him with hadn't actually been dangerous. Physically, anyway. Dealing with a few more nightmares would have been better than making Ben go through all this.

Too late now. Peter gathers up some of the webs he's sealed the containment unit up with and drags it over, doing his absolute best to hide whatever pain he's in on his way over.]

I'm fine, I'm not hurt.

[He said. Y'know, like a liar. It's fine, though. Peter's broken ribs should be healed in a day or two.

Peter drops the webs and kneels down next to Ben, giving his shoulder a squeeze while he looks him over. He didn't seem injured, despite all the wacky bullshit that just happened, but it was obvious that Ben wasn't doing super great just. In general. He's getting some serious "my deepest fear is myseeeeeelf" vibes from this whole thing.]

You didn't do anything wrong. Okay? That wasn't you. It was just somethin' trying to get a rise out of you like it did to me earlier.

[benhargreeves]

You're lying.

[ Peter could be the best actor in the world and Ben wouldn't be buying what he's selling. He hangs his head, hands coming up to grab fistfuls of his hair as he insists: ]

I know what it looks like when I'm - when a guy's about to get ripped in half, okay, so no way are you fine.

[ He remembers the accelerated healing but that doesn't mean Peter hadn't been injured. It doesn't make that close call any less of a close call. A few more seconds, and would he have been too late? Would Peter be dead now? That thought freezes Ben from the inside, and he can't stop the images rushing in his head, of what it would have looked like, if that had happened. He doesn't need to use much of his imagination at all.

Ben can tell that Peter's trying to calm him down, the way he'd comforted Peter earlier. But how different the situations are. Peter's just a kid who had gotten killed in this awful, horrific event. Ben is someone who knows deep down that all the people who called him a monster all those years were right after all. Not comparable. He doesn't deserve comforting. Not when all this is on him. He could have done better. Should have. ]

You could've died. Again.

[itsnotaonesie]

Maybe I could have. But I didn't, because you saved me. Twice. You were on top of it, man. Like, I might have a broken rib? But that's it. I walk stuff like this off at least once a week.

[Yeah okay fine, Peter's hurt. And a terrible liar. And honestly this crouching position he's taken is just making it hurt more, so he's going to gently lower his butt to the floor next to Ben so he can catch his breath for a minute. HE'S FINE.

Ben isn't fine, though, and Peter isn't entirely sure what he can say that can help with that aside from reassuring Ben that he's okay. That this wasn't his fault, and if it hadn't been for him, Peter very well might have been killed. He did great as far as Peter's concerned, especially considering the fact that Ben had been pretty damn distracted by the whole being horrified thing.]

Now, look. I was here because I chose to be here. I knew this had the potential to turn ugly, and it did, and I chose to stay here. I put myself in life threatening situations all the time, this is like, a Tuesday for me. I got a little banged up, yes, but when I say I'm fine, I mean it. I'm fine.

Your whole... situation, there. Do you control those?

[benhargreeves]

[ If Peter is lying about walking stuff like this off all the time, he shouldn't, and it's a bad sign that he dismisses someone hurting him this easily. And if he is telling the truth, that is also super duper a bad sign. Really there's no scenario in which Peter's okayness with this isn't alarming to Ben.

But Peter's continued insistence that he'd chosen to be there, that he isn't too badly hurt or scared, wears down the sharpest edges of Ben's panic and guilt. He loosens his grip on his hair, eventually sits up, hands falling to his lap as he rests his head back against the wall. His breathing is still shaky and quick, but he doesn't sound as much like he's about to burst into tears, so that's something. ]

You should probably still stop by the Medbay.

[ Fussing over people not taking care of themselves is just what Ben does. It's ingrained into him, at this point.

Then Peter starts to ask questions about his powers, the way Ben knew he would, and he doesn't blame him, but that doesn't make it any easier. Shutting his eyes, he gives a shrug and a vague little gesture with his hands that suggests the answer is between yes and no. ]

Sort of. As much as I can. Mostly it's - pointing them in the right direction. Trying to limit the - trying to make sure only the right people get...

[ Another shaky sigh and Ben runs his hands over his face, as if he could scrub all this away. As expected, the disgust is coming, now. It must be exponentially worse for Peter. How can he even look at him right now? Swallowing, Ben says: ]

I'm sorry you- had to see. That. Them.

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter doesn't want to go to the Medbay. He hates the Medbay. Just something about it being completely automated creeps him out. He doesn't usually do anything about broken ribs anyway, but if it makes Ben feel better, he'll suck it up and just go to the Medbay. Fiiiiiiine.]

I will, promise.

[Well. Maybe. Okay there's a 50/50 chance that Peter might just not go if he ends up being by himself. HE'S HAD WORSE.

Besides, he's way more interested in hearing about Ben's weird power. There's no disgust, though. Just concern. It's not like Ben asked for this ability, and it's obviously something that bothers him. The whole freaky nightmare double thing was evidence enough of that. Having a power that you can't fully control must be terrifying, that much Peter can kind of understand. Having to be careful about your superhuman strength is nothing like having to be careful of the murder demons living in your stomach, though.

He placed a hand on Ben's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Don't worry bud, he's not creeped out by your gross power.]

It's okay. I mean it.

[Another reassuring shoulder squeeze,]

It's not like you wanted to whip out your private bits and waggle them around in front of me, after all.

[Which is maybe not at all an appropriate joke to make, but this is Peter Parker and he can't help trying to deal with stressful situations with humor okay. Plus if he was disgusted or bothered he wouldn't be making bad jokes in the first place, so.]

[benhargreeves]

[ In the state of mind he's in, Ben doesn't understand at all how Peter can bear to be close to him, much less touch his shoulder and reassure him. It's sort of unprecedented, honestly. Someone who wasn't his family not running in terror when they saw his powers. He doesn't know how to process it. ]

People usually...

[ He trails off, but the implication is pretty clear; in the past, it hasn't been okay, and he doesn't know if it's this place or Peter being different himself. Ben's having a hard time making himself believe it.

So when Peter makes that off-color joke, it startles a laugh out of Ben. There's still the sound at the back of it that's almost a sob, at least, at first. Then he's groaning and rubbing his hands over his face, adding a muffled: ]

God, yuck.

[ And he laughs more, because he can't even blame Peter for making that joke. And it works, too. Punctures right through the bubble of Ben's self-loathing and anxiety and fear. Ben looks over at Peter again, and that haunted look is gone from his face, finally. ]

You really had to take it there, Peter?

[ He sucks in a breath, shaky still but only as a lingering aftereffect. He seems to be past the worst of it, an impression only strengthened when he adds: ]

I mean it's not like I haven't heard every tentacle joke in the book.

[itsnotaonesie]

[There's definitely a second there where Peter's worried that maybe now is not the time to be a little jokey-joke bullshitter, but it turns out that's exactly what this situation needed. He's gonna call this one a win. Since Ben seems to be taking this awful joke well, not to mention looking way better, Peter lets himself have a chuckle too.]

Sorry, sorry! I saw an opening and I went for it. Sounds like I'm gonna have to get a little more creative, though.

[He's totally kidding, he's not planning on making any more tentacle jokes. Of course, he hadn't been planning on making this one either, so we'll see.]

That really looked like it took a lot out of you, though. Like, that looked like it hurt, but does it leave any uh, I guess damage behind?

[Ben's not exactly bleeding all over the place, so Peter can't really tell.]

[benhargreeves]

I grew up a superhero celebrity, remember? And my sister Allison was basically obsessed with keeping tabs on all our media coverage, and making sure we knew about it - even the stuff making fun of us. So, yeah. You're gonna have to dig a little deeper.

[ The fact that all that had gone on when Ben was a young teenager is maybe not actually all that funny when you stop to think about it for too long, but that's true of most things in his life, and he has to find humor somewhere after all. Certain of those comments and jokes had mattered a lot more to him at one point, but then he'd died and that tended to put things in perspective. ]

No damage - nothing short-term anyway. Long term it's definitely not good for my blood pressure, um... being in that much pain. But nothing to worry about for today.

[ And just to show how fine he is, Ben gets to his feet again, and only winces a very little. It's just lingering, now. The feeling of having used his powers. The bitter aftertaste of all that fear and the numb ache in his throat from screaming. ]

Do you think you'll be able to analyze... whatever that thing is, without letting it escape?

[ He gives a little nod to the containment unit. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

I'd say "challenge accepted", but I'm tired. So. Maybe some other time.

[He's not going to actually put any effort into thinking up good tentacle jokes, there's too much other weird bullshit to think about. Like Ben's blood pressure. He seems okay for now though, so Peter's not going to push the subject.]

I won't need to actually open it. There's scanners built in, all I have to do is hook that thing up to a computer and we're good to go.

[Now that the adrenaline's worn off though, Peter himself isn't really all that good to go. Turns out broken ribs fuckin' hurt. He tries a couple times to push himself up, but nah man. Nah. Too much ow.]

Uh. Can I get a hand up, man? Then we can take that mess down to my lab.

[benhargreeves]

[ It's a hard thing to watch, Peter trying to brace himself and stand up, unable to do it because of the pain. Ben's small smile doesn't disappear when he sees it, but it does turn sad around the edges. He bends down to help haul Peter up, supporting as much of his weight as he can but trying to be as gentle as possible. No matter how gracious Peter is about it, that pain is still on Ben. His responsibility.

Still, he doesn't think another apology will make either of them feel any better about it, so he proposes instead: ]

The containment unit is secure, though, so you don't exactly need to start analyzing it right away...

[ It's just putting off the inevitable and he knows it, but Ben continues: ]

There's gotta be some way to catch a movie in this place, right? Or we could- well I don't know, but you said next time we should bond over some less depressing shit, and I don't know about you, but I think, maybe... a break might be good.

[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter's had worse, this is fiiiine. Once he's on his feet he actually is doing much better, and he gives Ben a friendly and hopefully reassuring clap on the shoulder.]

A break does sound pretty great, and I bet whoever was here before had some kind of entertainment laying around. Aside from like, the library and the intimacy lounge. ...I'm gonna stop there before I make this weird.

[He pauses, kneeling down carefully and grabbing the containment unit by some of the webs he'd cocooned the damn thing in, and then slings it up onto a shoulder. Y'know, as if it didn't weigh a couple hundred pounds.]

Gonna have to take a rain check, though. The sooner we can figure out what this stuff is, the sooner we can find a way to keep this [He makes a general sweeping gesture with his free arm,] from happening to anyone else.

[benhargreeves]

[ Ben wrinkles his nose at the phrase intimacy lounge. Personally he's not sure he'd really classify that as entertainment but he gets what Peter means. And he gets it, too. That the way Peter is handling this situation is going headlong into it, wanting to solve it and understand it as soon as possible. Ben knows it's almost certainly objectively the best thing to do. There could be further danger to others.

But right now, he's feeling so shaky and wretched from the encounter - physically, but moreso emotionally - that all he wants to do is hide from it. Escape in some way into some imaginary world so he can get out of his own brain just for a few minutes and forget that he'd nearly watched another version of himself rip Peter Parker in two. That had always been the way he coped growing up, and the same impulse is there.

So, rather than offer to go with Peter, to help in some way despite his lack of knowledge of technology, Ben rubs the back of his neck, and the silence during which he does not offer help is almost palpable. After that strained pause, he asks: ]

Will you- let me know as soon as you figure anything out?

[ He's being cowardly and he knows it, but all Ben wants now is to retreat and hide himself away, wallow a little in his self-loathing without anyone there to see. ]

[itsnotaonesie]

[There is absolutely no judgement on Peter's end. Obviously all that shit that had just happened was bugging Ben, and Peter didn't want to push him to do anything else if he wasn't feeling up to it. He wasn't really feeling super up to it himself after what he'd seen earlier, but he's gotten pretty good at smashing his feelings down and pretending that everything is fine for the sake of the greater good. As much as he'd rather be chilling and watching a movie or back in his room smushing his face into Poison's cats, he was going to go get his ass to work. Because if he doesn't, and something bad happens to someone else, it would be his fault.

It wouldn't actually be his fault, but this is his mindset. That's super healthy, right?

SO, with a gentle smile, he gives Ben's shoulder one more squeeze before he starts to head off with his weird web cocoon.]

Absolutely, man. I'll let you know. I'm putting you on movie duty, though! If you find anything at all, we are so watching it.

[He's half kidding, but maybe giving Ben a task for when he's done wallowing in self-loathing will be good for him? Who knows.]