Event | Landfall | Bresilyk | Aihsohlow

[ironwood]

Characters: Any and all!
Date: December 3 - 11, 2013
Location: Aihsohlow, Bresilyk (landfall)
Situation: Tu Vishan makes landfall at the winterbound republic of Bresilyk!
Warnings/Rating: Please include warnings in comment subject lines

OOC Post | Approved Items | Special Gifts
Aihsohlow | Phorezton | Markutte | Countryside

The starting point of landfall and the smallest port of importance in all the republic. All visitors will have a fish mark stamped on their tin visa if they are granted access here. The homes here are sturdy and built to withstand the harsh sea winds, though the dome has rendered their sturdiness largely irrelevant as the years pass. Fish represent the primary theme of food, with preserved and smoked renditions a commodity often sent for trade to others towns. Local authorities will ask for the tin card visa of each visitor upon first sight, verifying the information with some scrutiny before handing it back and allowing them to continue onwards. There are some auctions held here, with the items obtained often showing signs of recovery from the ocean floor by diving parties in search of fish to net.

Customs | Settlement | Auctions | Harvest Haul | Other

Comments

[unobtainableredemption]

[God damn it all, Peter, can't you take something seriously for once in your goddamn life?!]

Clearly not, as you're dead at sixteen!

[Kaine regrets saying it immediately. He had been so annoyed at Peter for pushing his buttons that he just had to push back. Why couldn't Peter have just taken this whole thing seriously? No, that isn't fair to Peter. No matter how he reacted, he didn't deserve that comeback.

He pales as he takes several steps backward, as if he's afraid Peter's going to strike him for saying it, until the wall of the alley keeps him from going back any farther.]

I'm sorry, I... I... [What the hell was wrong with him?!]

[nerdylilspidey]

[That makes a frown form across Peter's face, his eyes quickly darting toward the ground.] I am, but I died doing what I had to do.

[That doesn't mean that it sucked any less. Nor does it change the fact that he would very much like to still be alive. But still...] I'm not afraid. Maybe you think I should be, which I get, believe me. But I'm not.

[He goes quiet for a second, his grip on Ben's costume tightening slightly. Peter's been avoiding thinking about this for so long that it's beyond weird to start now. But it all comes bubbling up in a rush, as fresh in his memory as it was the day he showed up on the turtle. Even when he'd been fighting Osborn and the rest of those guys, he hadn't really been afraid, not for himself. He'd been more afraid for his friends, his family, the innocent people standing on the sidelines just watching.]

Maybe I am being idiotic and naive, and maybe that's exactly what got me killed. But y'know what, I don't care. You're my friend, Kaine. And whether you like it or not, I'm standing by you.

[unobtainableredemption]

[Though Kaine had been desperately looking everywhere but at the child in front of him, by the end of Peter's little speech, he finds himself staring right at him. That's the Peter he had come to expect... the one he was expecting to find back in New York. The annoyingly optimistic one that, like Ben, was determined to find the good in him. He had been so hurt by his Peter's betrayal that he had been almost subconsciously taking out on this one.]

All right, all right, you win. I get it. I'm stuck with you.

I'm beginning to remember why I sacrificed myself for your stupid ass now. [He says it casually, as if a slip of the tongue. Peter wants to know more about him, doesn't he? He supposes one story won't kill him.]

[nerdylilspidey]

[It's probably a small victory, but to Peter it feels huge and it makes his frown give way for a small smile.

Which then slips slightly as Kaine utters those last words. There's a story there. There's totally a story there, and this seems like the one moment where Peter will actually get Kaine to share.]

Whoa... "Sacrificed yourself"? Why was there sacrificing?

[unobtainableredemption]

[Bites the inside of his lip. He's beginning to regret his decision. Sharing isn't exactly something his comfortable doing. But it's too late to take it all back now.]

Because the Kravinoff's wanted you--other you--dead. That family of psychos blamed you for Kraven's death and thought that somehow sacrificing you would bring him back. His crazy kids stalked me for weeks; I knew what they were capable of. I knew if I didn't step in, they'd succeed.

[nerdylilspidey]

[It's a pretty terrible story, really, and Peter knows it. It just makes it more clear to him that Kraven was a total nutjob, and he'd done the right thing in sending him into the slammer in the first place. But it's also kind of nice to be reassured that some things stayed pretty close to the same across universes.

It's also nice to know that Kaine is actually sharing a story of his life with him. So despite the fact that what Kaine's describing is a pretty crappy situation, Peter's still pleased that they're even having story time.

At least, until he realizes how the story actually ends.]

And that- That's where there's sacrificing. For- Well, for Other Me. [He pauses for a second, thinking.] What... happened? What'd you do? Or what'd they do...?

[unobtainableredemption]

Other you was sick. Apparently they'd worn him out like they did me. It was easy enough to knock him out... I took his costume and made sure they couldn't find the real thing. Then I just pretended to be Parker.

[He may be determined to tell Peter about this story, but that doesn't mean he's going to share exactly how it ends. That he was shot twice, impaled and stabbed before...] They sacrificed me in Parker's place. They never checked under the mask.

That was the second time I died.

[nerdylilspidey]

[ The second time. Those words hit him like a blow to the gut. That's right; Kaine's died 4 separate times. And at least one of those times happened... because of Peter.

He draws in a deep breath and then lets it go slowly, in almost a sigh. It seems things like this just happen a lot around him.]

Sorry. That you, y'know, got all mixed up in something like that.

[And then there's the other question that's been on his mind.] ... How'd you... recover from...?

[unobtainableredemption]

[He notices the change in Peter's posture almost immediately. It seems Parker guilt ran across universes.

He shakes his head.]

After I tried to warn Parker when they finally caught up to me, I could have run. They... weren't interested in a clone. [He should have run. That was how he survived all of those years, by being smart enough to not emulate the idiot he was cloned from.

...Where did that guy go?

And then he remembers Ana's words as she plunged her knife into his chest; nowhere vital, but enough to actually take him down. He could hear them as clear as if she were whispering them into his ear all over again. "You get life. Don't look so sad. When all this is over... you'll finally be someone. You'll be the only spider left... even if you are an ugly one." He knew then that he wasn't capable of saving them all. But Peter was. After hunting them for weeks, Kaine had picked up on their plan, and knew that after sacrificing "the Spyder," as Ana seemed to call him, they'd let their guard down, and Peter would finally have a shot. Granted, he was hoping Peter would come to the rescue before they stabbed him at the altar... but he knew when he picked up that razor, back in Peter's apartment, that the odds of that happening were slim to none. He knew what he was getting into.]

I made that choice, Parker. Don't take it away from me.

[And then Peter asks about his resurrection. That involved too many parts of his life Kaine just didn't want to talk about, so it was time for story time to be over.] I don't know. I just remember pulling myself out of my grave.

[nerdylilspidey]

[That has Peter shutting his mouth again. He understands that kind of decision making more than he can even actually explain. He did it himself, after all. So in response he simply... nods.]

In that case... Thanks. On both of our behalfs. [It seems like something that should be said, in case it hasn't been already.

And he won't pry any further about that last part. Climbing out of your own grave can't possibly be one of those memories that are fun to relive. He'll just have to wait to find out what makes it possible for a person to die four times and keep coming back.]

[unobtainableredemption]

As far as I'm concerned, we're even. [Because even though kicking him into the vat of Anti-Venom had been a total accident on Peter's part, it still finally cured him of his degeneration (...and Tarantula-ness).]

Happy now? [Hey, if you ever find that out, let him know, will you?Because he's still not sure. Because he'll never find out that it's a side-effect of living in the 616 Universe.]