riverview | Video; UN: p.parker

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Video; UN: p.parker

[The feed opens with Peter on his bed.

Not hungover, thank you.

But he looks a little rumpled, in that healthy way, a way that says he's actually gonna sleep early today.]

Ummm. So... This is weird. I, okay — here it goes.

Number one... Hey, hi, I'm — I'm 16-year-old Peter Parker. Not the puny one in the Iron Man mask anymore. But thanks a lot if you helped me out, back there; it means a lot. I was a little bit of a handful and all, but you guys were awesome babysitters? That's kind of embarrassing, but you know, that's just how a Parker rolls.

[Peter breathes out a sigh after a moment's hesitation, leaning back from the feed and tapping a pen on a notebook on his knee that is probably too full of science mumbo-jumbo and math notes — among other things. Liiiike bullet points on what to say for this message. He feels like he's got butterflies in his stomach, honestly. Which is stupid. But he's never been great at having an audience; you wouldn't catch him in drama with all those actor-types.

Okay, Pete. Just go down your list, you got this.]

Mr. Stark — Tony Stark, that is... and Sam Wilson, they've gone home. Captain America, too. A lot of people have: people from my world, some from worlds like it — and friends I got to make from wildly different places have left, too. And I just... wanna say, this place has been so good to me, you know? Sure, some really messed up stuff happened here and there, but. But it's been a place where I could think. And make new friends. And be way more open than I was back home.

I just know what I have to do now. It's been eating at me for a while, so... Decisions made. And all that.

I'm gonna take the next portal they can give me, and I'll be going home as soon as I get the word. [Some people know what that means. A lot of people don't, and he doesn't plan to tell them the grim reality behind it] There's a ton I have to do back home, responsibilities I gotta tend to and things I gotta be a part of, for better or worse. And it's not right for me to put it off. Like... how you avoid studying for the SATs until the night before? Yeah, it's super irresponsible.

... I don't know when it'll be exactly. I guess nobody does. Or else we wouldn't get pulled here or pushed away.

But yeah.

[He swallows.]

Anyway. I'd like to do as much as I can on my dumb to-do list thing, for this really weird and long vacation I've been on. I wanna hang out with all my friends who're still here and really just... have a lot of fun? Until I go back to my usual life. I hate goodbyes, so I'm not gonna think about saying them right now, but I just wanted everyone to know you've been so awesome, and I've learned so much, and I've had a blast.

... Mostly. Not including being hungover.

[He smiles a little more, warm and confident in his words.]

And, um, for certain people, I've got something else to tell them?

But I'll let you know in a more private feed.

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... Alright. I — I know. I know I need to say bye. I definitely will.

[His eyes water, and he swallows thickly.]

I am sorry, though. For making things harder. You know I love you guys, right?

We know. Richard will be angry and bitey, but he knows too. He's just... not good with the loss of people he cared about. He's had to deal with it a lot.

And I think you remind him of Charlie.

[Who he... lost for twenty years because of some demon bullshit, so yeah.]

... That's, um. That's his daughter, right?

[He heard a little about her, from Strand. On the tram. But not... too much.

He wonders if he should be asking.]

Yeah, she is. Something happened when she was a teenager, and they lost almost twenty years of time.

[Peter, do not do that math okay. Yeah, Alex is younger than his daughter but it's totally not a big deal.]

They're okay now though, but...

[But those years were still lost.]

... Twenty years?

[No, sorry, he's definitely gonna do the math there.

Wow.]

Yeah. Twenty years.

[Alex sighs softly.]

I know. It's complicated.

[But she's not going to make excuses for who she loves for any reason. If she doesn't explain why she loves him when he's being a giant asshole, she's definitely not going to address the fact that he is, in fact, old enough to be her father.]

They reconciled recently but, it's a long time and he missed a lot.

... I'll bet.

[But look — he's not gonna ask about the obvious in turns of you and him, okay.

He will totally spear the topic of father and daughter, though.]

What happened, that they couldn't sooner?

[Alex just sighs softly, and there's weight in it.]

I did promise to tell you the whole story one day, didn't I?

Yooou might have said a thing or two like that, maybe.

[So obviously, you should tell him a little, to curb his appetite for knowledge.

And being nosy.]

[Well, considering how nosy Alex is, she can never fault anyone for that.]

Come over, I'd rather tell you in person, honestly.

Sounds good; you at the usual?

[God, how often does he go there now? Too often. Which is perfect, in his opinion.]

Yep! I'll put the kettle on for hot chocolate. We're probably going to need it.

[It's okay, Peter. When they go home (to possibly die in Geneva and end the world) they're gonna give him the house.]

... You're starting to know me a little too well, Miss Alex.

[And yes, he's still in the habit of adding 'miss' to her name.

Will it ever stop? Probably not.]

[Alex has stopped trying to get him to stop. She doesn't like it, but she's still trying to get him to stop.

But she laughs and lets him into the kitchen when he shows up.]

[Richard was sitting at the kitchen table holding a cup of tea, frowning.]

I hear Alex is telling you about my past.

[And Alex is just going to frown at him.]

Our past, actually.

[He winces behind his mug of hot chocolate, glancing between the two.]

... I don't wanna cause any trouble in your relationship.

[That was a joke, and he's trying not to smile with it, promise.]

It's fine. I wouldn't have told you about Charlie if it wasn't.

[He takes another drink of his tea, gesturing out to a more comfortable area. It was going to be a long explanation, and probably with visuals.]

It's also not as dramatic as Alex makes it out to be.

[It was easy to pass it off as something simple. After all, besides the strange things that happened from time to time, the previously believed clairvoyance and thoughts of seeing demons, his life had been relatively normal for most of his life. It was what was going on behind the scenes and without his notice that was strange.]

[Alex is just going to raise her brow at him, because of course he would say it. So, she's going to grab her coffee and yes, follow him into the living room because honestly why not? If nothing else it'll be an interesting change of scenery from where she normally has intense conversations.

Once everyone's seated, Alex just starts, because honestly, it's thirty shows not counting viewer stuff and sleep notes and everything else, and it's also three years.

So, she starts simply:]

So, you know that Richard is a paranormal investigator, and I'm a podcast reporter. Back home I started doing a show on interesting people with interesting jobs and the first one we picked out was a paranormal investigator. So, I started with some interviews and people who are big names on television and everything and everyone kept bringing up one person and what an ass he was.

[Guess, Peter, guess.]

So I called him eleven times. And then called his publicist, and basically everyone else I could think of before he called me back. Then during our interview I found out about his Black Tapes, which are the cases that he can't solve to his satisfaction. [And there's a quick smile as she adds:] Yet. [Because Alex knows Richard would interrupt her if she didn't.

In the end, the show turned out to be us reinvestigating his black tapes together, while I investigated him, and his life.

[He absolutely glances innocently at Richard, when she says 'an ass he was'.

Sorry, Mr. Strand. He looks apologetic, though!]

... Black Tapes, you said? What kinda' cases?

[If Richard was affected by being called an ass, it didn't show in his demeanor. Instead, it was the question of The Black Tapes that caused him to move. It was easier to show Peter than to explain; it wasn't as if he'd remember any of this when he left- or probably when he came back either.

So instead of explaining, he simply stood, moved several books that were placed higher than the rest and pulled out a familiar case for him to watch. It was the same case that Alex had originally seen.]

Black tapes; Alex gave them that name. They're not the same as what I showed you when you were younger.

The ones that he showed me all seemed to have a similar theme and connections. Even if he denied for a long time.

[He was the one who had picked them out after all, not her. He had all of them and he showed her the ones that would end up being connected and important. So, she's just going to say quickly:]

Most of them had some sort of demonic theme. [A beat:] Richard will say alleged demonic theme, because demons 'aren't real.' [Yeah, you can hear the quotes around those words, because Alex believes, and Richard says he doesn't.

She doesn't think that he doesn't anymore.]

And they had a good reason. There was this Cult involved with basically all of it. They're called 'The Order of the Ceneophes' and they've been obsessed with Richard's family for his entire life. They have ended up causing a lot of terrible things to happen, including the circumstances that drove Richard and Charlie apart and cost him those twenty years with her.

O-oh... I'm —

[Peter studies the offered case quietly, hesitant to get too ahead of himself.

This all does around crazy... but after everything from back home? Everything from here?

Anything's possible.]

... I'm sorry about that. About your daughter. What'd... they do? And why were they all about your family?

[Richard puts the tape on the coffee table. There's no reason to hide them really, not with Stan gone, and returns to his seat, settling in to listen to Alex's confusing explanation with a small smirk. It really was - interesting.]

Demons aern't real, and it's best to start at the beginning.

[He sets his cup down again, offering a pointed look to Alex that converts how ... frustrating, her explanation had been.]

My father was an antiquities dealer who specialized in items with historical ties to the occult and mythology. Apparently, he also worked with the man who happens to be the leader of the cult that Alex mentioned. This man seems to think I'm, important, somehow. I'm not.

As for what they did that caused the rift between Charlie and I,

[He couldn't help the frown that started to grow on his face as he leaned forward onto his knees with his mug in hand, eyes locked on the dark brown contents that steamed inside.

He should have put bourbon in the cup instead of tea.]

Thomas Warren, the leader of that cult, kidnapped my wife and left the world to think I'd killed her and hidden the body. Charlie never forgave me for not being able to find her.

There was that demon on the video from my bedroom...

[Yeah, Alex is going to remind him of that, because he can deny it all he wants to, but it was still there. Skye did all the tech stuff that proved it.

But there was other things that was important; and she wished that she had thought of bourbon too. Because honestly if this didn't devolve into a fight when they were done, Alex was definitely breaking out that bottle. Both of them probably were.]

His wife was an agent for a shadow organization that was tasked with watching Richard, and getting close to him. She eventually fell for him, which was why they kidnapped her. However, after she escaped she remained out of contact with both of them until the show brought out the fact that she was still alive and in hiding. [Alex's voice is a sigh and she's just gonna get up and grab the scotch and two glasses, coming back and handing Richard the bottle.]

This was easier in thirty episodes somehow.

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