LL cont’

[markofkaine]

[Bad ideas. That’s what Rafael was famous for. Sometimes those bad ideas would pan out into groundbreaking technologies. Other times it would blow up spectacularly in his face - and by extension, all faces adjacent. Not that it ever stopped him from coming up with more.

This one, though. A bridge too far.

Aracha - if that really could be called his name anymore - sat, hunched over, cycling a trinket between his fingers as though in a trance. It felt like the slow, tactile motion was the only thing still keeping him grounded to reality (again, questionable). His mind was… far, far away, in a place that might not even exist anymore, lost. But more than that, alone, in a vast, empty field of deaf, silent rage. And that cold silence seeped into every crack in his brain, filling the folds of his thoughts, the hollow space in his bones, the pockets in his lungs.

He wasn’t real. He wasn’t real. None of this was real. He knew that now.

At some point, his fiance was going to walk through the door and find him sitting at the foot of their his bed. And one way or another, this lie would be shattered.]

Comments

[otherspiderman]

Yeah.

[ There's no hesitation; he'd save him if it cost him his life. Anyone would deserve saving, if this happened to them.

He swallows, then reaches out a hand to the guy. The guy who looks like Peter, but isn't. The guy who kind of looks like his... sort-of ex, but sort-of isn't. ]

I'm... Miguel. [ The hesitation, where he's not sure what his name is anymore. ] Let's get up to the surface. Figure out where we are.

[markofkaine]

[When not-Peter sorta-not-Aracha takes his hand, he pulls out in close, right up against his body - like he's scared that if he holds it too carelessly, it'll be pulled away from him. And then his only lifeline would be gone... he'll be lost.]

Okay... Miguel.

[There is SO much trust in his eyes.]

[otherspiderman]

[ This guy. This guy needs him. It's going to be hard to walk like this, but he squeezes ?Aracha's? hand and turns to look around...

Please let there be a manhole cover somewhere... with a ladder... please... actually maybe he should ask his name. ]

Do you have a name?

[markofkaine]

[In this, the clone hesitates. Shame colours his face, and he bows his head, unable to meet Miguel's eyes. He wasn't fit to be called Peter. That name was revoked from him.]

My father... [He struggles to say that, too] said I was 'Kaine.'

[There are no ladders. The sewer pipe only goes deeper, opening up into a massive underground cavern(?)]

[otherspiderman]

[ Caverns are never good but guess we're going this way now.

"Father"... was that the guy? The asshole? For some unknown reason, Miguel wants to kill him! ]

That's a cool name.

[markofkaine]

[It's impressively haunting, dripping and damp from whatever runoffs flow from the city to this dark, forgotten cave. The mouths of pipes leading in every direction draw holes in jagged rock, made unwelcoming by stalagtites jutting down from the ceiling like knives.

Kaine is quiet, unable to acknowledge the compliment for what it is.]

It's a curse.

[otherspiderman]

[ It's so nice to have the power of seeing in the dark. So that he can see all of these horribly creepy looking things.

Sighing, he's going to start picking his way around the edge, looking for a doorway. A light source. A ladder. Anything. ]

You can pick a different one if you want.

[ Aracha is a nice name. ]

[markofkaine]

[Maybe you'll have luck going down one of these big random pipes

Kaine frowns, like this is a thought that never occurred to him before. Kaine is who he is. Who he's doomed to be. And he can just-- change it?]

...Like what?

[otherspiderman]

[ Oh shock he didn't expect him to turn it around on him.

Busying himself peering into a pipe... is it attached to someone's toilet though... surely it's too big for that.

Anyway he has to suggest a cool name... ]

Uh... Bob?

[ that wasn't it... ]

[markofkaine]

...

Bob?

[Even as a baby, the clone sounds incredulous.]

[otherspiderman]

It's better than Mike.

[ the bar is so low. ]

[markofkaine]

Is it?...

[An honest question. They're both kinda... 🤷‍♂️]

[otherspiderman]

Without question. So stop questioning it.

[ children... ]

You have time to think about it anyway.

[markofkaine]

[This answer doesn't satisfy him. How could it, when he had no idea what he wanted to be? The prospect of a blank slate was too much for a newborn to contemplate.

He just wanted to be whatever would keep Miguel close, so he could keep being protected.

With a tug on his hand, he peers at him with anxious brown eyes. Desperate to please.]

What do you want to call me...?

[otherspiderman]

Aracha.

[ It comes out of him completely unbidden, an indulgence he can only bear in a dream.. In the morning, he might be horrified to remember. Right now... this is the answer. ]

[markofkaine]

Okay.

[A little too quickly, a little too obedient. Not very much like Aracha's bullheaded obstinance at all. This Aracha was pliable and quick to please.

Underneath his words could clearly be felt: just don't leave me.]

[otherspiderman]

[ He is never going to be able to unpack this. ]

Tell me if you can see any light, okay? We're getting out of here.

[ Together. ]

[markofkaine]

[It's a little fucked!]

Together?

[There's hope in his voice, the likes of which he'd never felt before. Not once in his life.

In response, he looks around for an exit too. But unfortunately uh he doesn't have night vision. So it doesn't do much to help.]

[otherspiderman]

Yeah. Together.

[ There's a pipe here that seems large enough for two people, and looks dry... which means they might not drown in pee water if someone up above flushes. But it also might mean the exit... doesn't exist.

He hums thoughtfully for a second, then turns back to "Aracha".

He can tell the guy doesn't want to let go of him, so... ]

I have an idea, but you're going to have to climb onto my back so I can use both hands.

[markofkaine]

[Climbing, he knows how to do that. Though it is with great reluctance, Aracha lets go and climbs onto Miguel's back - not the conventional way of course. He's just crouching on him with his molecular adhesion stickyhands and stickyfeets.]

Like this?

[otherspiderman]

...





Sure. Just watch your head like that.

[ Time to start climbing into the tunnel... his hands make scritch-scratch noises against the metal, don't worry about it. ]

[markofkaine]

Mmn.

[Amazing that your tiny little claws can hold both their weight. At least Kaine hadn't gone through his growth spurt yet, he's still mostly Peter-sized. He ducks as small as a cowering sad clone can manage.

...hey is that a tiny crack of light?]

[otherspiderman]

[ Please let it be a tiny crack of light. ]

We're almost there.

[ PLEASE LET US ALMOST BE THERE. ]

[markofkaine]

[WHOA THE TINY CRACK OF LIGHT IS BECOMING A MEDIUM SIZED CRACK OF LIGHT. WHICH IS THEN BECOMING A LARGE ONE. Funny how that works

As Miguel pulls them both through, clawing through the crevice, what greets them is... softness. The threadcount of luxury bedsheets, and the dimness of an unlit bedroom. And each other's face, with furrowed brows, as though suffering from a bad dream. And in the case of one of them, a hangover.]

[otherspiderman]

[ Holy shock it's good enough that it worked!

Once in the state of "very groggily waking up" Miguel is mumbling something horrible. Something dire. ]

Together...

[ And clapping an arm over the warm body near him before sticking his face right into his shoulder. Maybe he'll go back to sleep. He can avoid reality that way. ]