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Extracurricular Activities [Spider-Man -- Sigr & Virginia]

The bell interrupted any further conversation and Peter interrupted whatever it was that Ned was about to say, so she didn't have to verbalize an overall opinion about musicals. She was following them further into the building when Peter offered his house for people to hang out, and she looked a little surprised. That would actually be good for her, she could poke around. If she called him out on it and was wrong, it would give Spider-Man the chance to start investigating why she'd thought he was someone else. Being alone with Peter didn't occur to her as something to be concerned about, or even to bother thinking about beyond how easy it would be to poke around. The normal concerns of a teenager were still slightly foreign to her, and she had already dismissed the idea that he might try something untoward based on the fact that he was.... him. And based on the fact that if he did, she'd stab him in the hand or something. "That'd be awesome!" She chirped back in a way that she never would if she hadn't been playing 'friendly but slightly off-kilter new kid', giving him a thumbs up and then disappearing down the hall towards her classroom.

Michelle wouldn't have wanted to go to Peter's apartment even if she'd been around to hear the offer, she wasn't the sort who did a whole lot of after school hanging out. Savannah had chosen friends well in that regard, at least.

Through classes the curly haired vigilante was a little bit distracted, giving the teacher and other students only exactly as much attention as she needed in order to not seem rude or like she didn't appreciate her education. She couldn't really be blamed though, Savannah was part of things that were much more important than a high school education. School didn't actually matter that much, she just needed to be able to get into college if she wanted to. Money was required to do what she did and she recognized that, it was one of the only reasons she was here. That and it was hard to get things done as a seventeen year old because she couldn't legally do anything. It would take time to disappear properly if she ever wanted to, and that needed to be prepared for. Mostly she thought about Spider-Man, compared observations of him against observations made of Peter. She couldn't fall victim to a confirmation bias now that the idea was in her head, if things didn't match up she needed to give them more weight than the things that did. Further observation was required, she'd have to poke the situation a little, see what happened. Heroes were an easy conversation piece, so there was that at least.

"Did you guys hear about the building fire?" She asked when she met them again at lunch, setting her tray down on the table carefully, "Didn't have heroes were I used to live. I mean, emergency services I guess," they went into burning buildings and saved people and were as much of a mixed bag as she considered the costumed heroes to be, but that wasn't something to get into now, "but they're not like that." Ned shot Peter a look that Savannah caught and filed away. It was definitely a positive one, but she'd never had a friend at an age where that sort of supportive 'go get it' look would ever have been required so the full meaning of it sort of went over her head. She recognized it as positive though, and that was a piece of evidence. Unless the two other teens were head of the Spider-Man Fan Club or something.

(I don't think we have the class schedule type confirmed for Midtown, so I was thinking A/B block scheduling (take a certain amount of classes mon/wed, different classes tues/thur, all classes but they're shorter on Friday) so that Vanna and Peter can have a class together after lunch. Otherwise we could use a standard schedule and make it harder for them to communicate about stuff during class hours))
 
Savannah's "That'd be awesome!" rung in Peter's ears all morning, echoing on his skull, pushing away heroic duties and classroom topics. She thought that hanging with him would be awesome. Awesome. If it wasn't for Ned's presence in that after school plan, he'd be low key panicking as that would mean Savannah and him alone at home. He was no Tony Stark, so the idea was embarrassing and awkward. Not that it wouldn't be amusing, as Peter found the new girl both interesting and pretty, but things were moving suddenly so fast and his schedule was so packed that it was somewhat dizzying. It was going to be hard to juggle all of his duties and keep up, although Aunt May being now on the loop eased things quite a bit.

Lunch was a most welcome oasis of calm, at least until Savannah arrived bringing not only herself, but a troublesome topic. Michelle didn't seem to be paying much attention to them, but then again, Michelle always seemed to be minding her own stuff yet she caught on everything it happened. "Oh yeah, I stumbled upon it somewhere, maybe Twitter" Peter answered, slightly later than normal without noticing Ned's look as his own attention was on Michelle. "Is it true that Spider-Man was there?" he asked, wanting to play it safe.

"He was, I think he saved an old man or something" Ned commented, pulling some Instagram profile that had video of him helping the man out. "Haven't you seen it?" he asked, trying to be deceitful.

"Nah" Peter leaned to look at Ned's phone. "My Instagram feed is mostly full of food and pets" he said, pulling up his phone. "Look at this cute thing" he added, showing a pretty cute example.

"Awww" Ned melted at the sight of the cute dog. "So no heroes where you used to live?" he asked Savannah. "No New York City then, sometimes they seem like they are everywhere" he shrugged, returning to his food.

"You didn't tell where you come from, right?" Peter wondered. "I hope that you didn't, or that would meant we forgot and that would be awkward" he said. "Anyways, I hope you like it here, heroes or not" he sincerely wished.



I'm decades away from my high school years and an ocean away from the USA and its school system, but the explanation you gave sounds reasonable and interesting. I'm not a stickler to keep noted details like those, so we can be flexible with it, after all we (and movies, series...) tend to handle time generously when they need to, so we can do the same.
 
Well it was cute. Savannah could appreciate that, at least. It was a deflection though, or it might be. It wasn't what she wanted to talk about though, and it seemed like it might be a distraction. She couldn't be sure, maybe he just didn't care that much about heroes. She glanced at it and then over at Ned when he spoke because he was asking her a question about herself. One that she had an answer to, thankfully. And then there was Peter, apparently concerned about having been rude to her.

"No, I didn't say. I lived in California.” Years ago. "So there was a little bit of Iron Man... stuff," he lived in Malibu after all, "but not in my town." She hadn't been there in a while, but trying to figure out how to explain the house in Detroit that they'd abandoned in the night or the time spent in New York until her dad got spooked and they left. No real way to explain sleeping on the floor in their one room motel in Chicago for months or the hours upon hours spent in a car that smelled like cigarettes and cheap alcohol. But California was nice and sunny and something where normal people lived. "Now it all feels so close." But New York City was huge. Problematically large, actually. She was going to need to find a way to get around faster because she wouldn't be able to cover enough ground.

Couldn't ask Spider-Man for help, the idea of that annoyed her immediately even in thought. Hanging off of him would be-- ugh. She glanced at Peter a little bit thoughtfully for a moment, and then shoved it all out of her head. Maybe she could get a motorcycle. No idea where she'd store it though, that was another problem. Maybe Spider-Man could hook her up with something from Stark because he owed her that much at least, but that would mean having something the man could track her with.

"It's.... I dunno. I've been thinking about it, I guess? Like, I'm not sure what to make of the whole thing because I don't think I'm the kind of person who could look at the state of the world and decide that I could make a difference and then just... do it like that. Anyway, lemme see that puppy again. It looked like a stuffed animal!" She held out a hand pleadingly and made a 'gimme gimme' motion with it. "I didn't get a good look earlier."
"I want to see, too." Michelle looked up from her book, expression entirely uninterested. It was hard to tell how invested she actually was but she had stopped reading so clearly she had some sort of investment in either the dog or the conversation. It bothered Savannah a little bit though she didn't express it - she had been hoping Peter would be friendly and uncaring enough to actually let his phone into her hands and she could take a second to check his email real quick and see if he was new enough at this that he might either set his Spider-Man email up to go straight to his phone or have it forwarded to his main email. But now she didn't have that, she'd have to try and get at it later.

Maybe she'd put her number in his phone that was a cute flirty thing girls did, right?


((my thoughts continue: Peter has Spideysense in IW so if we use it here the reason it never goes off about Vanna is because even as rough around the edges and willing and capable of violence as she is, she's never an actual danger to Peter.
And honestly I don't remember where the climax of IM1 took place but he got the arc reactor stolen out of his chest by Stane in California so... that's probably where the big fight that Vanna's mom died in happened.))
 
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"Oh, that's nice, never been there!" Ned chimed in, as if California was just a place downtown you could hop by, even if his interest was genuine. "It's a big change, I hope you end up liking it here" he nodded, happy that Savannah was sharing.

"If I'm not mistaken the next phase of the Decathlon is some weeks from now and in Los Angeles" Peter commented, looking at Michelle for confirmation and receiving the laziest of nods. "I know that's not the same as returning home" he added, wherever she lived before sure wasn't LA if she called it a town. "But it could be a nice change, plus we get to go to the beach" he said, going for the easy attraction, even if he wasn't much of an outdoors guy.

"Even if it's a mostly new thing, once the city returns to normalcy after an alien invasion, I guess that you roll with it" Ned offered on the hero issue. "That was so scary that everything else it's just kind of... normal?" he shrugged, returning to his food.

"Yeah, it's weird to voice it like that but..." Peter mostly agreed. "It's also a bit unnerving. The lives of many people changed after that and even if young I guess it leaves a mark?" he shrugged, not wanting to take things into a somber ground, but there was bound to be people really traumatized by the event, specially if they lost someone. Luckily for him, Peter didn't had to thing of a topic change, as Savannah herself provided not only one, but two.

"Look at this one too, the happiest, 13 out of 10" Peter commented, lending his phone to Savannah, somewhat surprised by Michelle's interest. "I didn't know that cute puppers were your weak point" he said, more surprised than wanting to poke some fun at Michelle. All his silly Spider-Man videos were in a hidden folder protected by password, so they weren't available at first sight even if they peeked around. The mail was accessible, but it did also require a password, since Ned insisted on it like the computer nerd he was. "Superhero or not, all of us want to make a difference somehow, right?" he asked while the girls looked at the adorable dogs. "So I think we can make a difference in our own way" he finished, sounding a bit corny, even if completely honest.



Yeah, the Spider sense can be slowly introduced along the way slowly, as Peter gets more and more capable, but not with Vanna, at least in those situations. The mansion is indeed in Malibu and the Stark Industries HQ in Los Angeles, so that works perfectly. I also teased some other Decathlon competition that allow us to change the scenery to a summery place with beaches whenever we please, at least for a while.
 
These people were too genuine. Well she still didn’t have a read on Michelle but even if Peter was who she thought he wasn’t... handling things like she was. Ned for sure was just a good dude, she thought. Whatever that was worth, it wasn’t earning him popularity or positive attention from the student body as a whole. It was unfair, but entirely within how she’d been taught that the world worked. But she smiled in a friendly way at his positivity and apparent care over how she, a relative stranger, was handling the transition. ”It’s a whole lot busier and there’s less trees than I’m used to, but everything is better than I expected.”

Savannah perked up a little at Peter’s words. "Oh I- I like the beach." She was going to say how long it had been since she'd been at the beach but that wasn't the right information to reveal, so the curly haired teen redirected her words into something less suspicious. It was a truth, or at least it had used to be. She wasn't sure how she felt about it now, it had been a long time and felt like it was of much less importance. She had a very different focus in life now, and beaches hadn't factored in for years until the moment Peter mentioned it. "I miss it. Not the same in New York." It was only after she said it that she realized it was true. She hadn't visited New York's beaches yet because it hadn't mattered to her, but it wouldn't be the same.

He handed over his phone without question, which she wanted to interpret as some kind of sign but she would have done that too so it meant nothing. Being phone possessive to some degree was normal, but also drew attention. Maybe. Maybe she was overthinking every possible interaction because she was still struggling with the idea that this guy might be Spider-Man. He and Ned were warming her up to the idea of friendship but she couldn't friends with a hero. Couldn't be friends with a dude she still thought there was a chance she might have to fight. That would ruin relationships, and she just wasn't sure she could be friends with someone she might have to stab.

"Pupper isn’t a word," Michelle said emotionlessly, though she was looking at the puppy, "and your rating system is impossible." Was that humor? It was hard to tell, but it seemed like it probably was. Savannah glanced from Michelle to the picture and then to Peter and offered him an apologetic 'sorry, but she's right' look. Michelle got bored before Savannah did so she took the second while the teen was looking back down at her book to give checking his email a shot. The password input popped up and she cancelled out of it and immediately hit the address book app. She added in the number of her actual phone and her name, and then realized that was all the information she had to share and saved it.

It was a solid gesture of... some kind of interest, in her mind friendship but she wasn't going to say anything about how it should be interpreted because that would be weird. She handed back the phone, the contacts app still open so that he would know what she'd been fiddling with. "Here. I was going to add my new home phone number but..." she shrugged to say that she didn't actually remember it yet or couldn't be bothered to remember it properly. It was a good excuse for the fact it had taken her a second or two longer than it otherwise would have to put things in, since nobody liked a phone snoop. "My cellphone is pretty much all I've got, I'll... Instagram eventually, probably?" Maybe it if it would provide useful, but Michelle didn't seem interested in it as a platform or in puppies as a whole and neither Peter or Ned were treating this like it was a suspicious thing so she could probably look at puppies and not get Instagram or Snapchat or whatever.

((There's a lot of room for someone like Tony to try and play the 'she's dangerous' card and Peter can be like "not to me" because this is true.
Beaches mean swimsuits and swimsuits mean awkward teenage hormones I am 100% on board.))

A9A9A9
 
"They are good dogs, Michelle" Ned couldn't help himself even if he was eating to pitch in with an old meme, but the situation just called for it after his friend Peter was being unreasonably enamored with the cute dogs. Peter himself found the situation funny, as not only Ned had his back in an amusing way, but Michelle's deadpan tone was quite entertaining and got bolstered by Savannah's look.

"Maybe we can go to the beach during the Decathlon then" Peter's mind was still lingering back there, wanting to offer Savannah not only a reason to be on the team with them, but also a chance to return to something she may miss like the beach and share it with them. "And my rating system is flawless when the dogs are too cute" he promptly added, his smile making clear that it was just good natured silliness.

After a healthy amount of pup ogling, Savannah returned Peter his phone with a phrase he didn't understand at first until he handled it and saw her name and phone. "Oh-" Peter stopped for a moment, feeling awkwardly embarrassed by a cute girl being that forward with him, but then he got over his silly notions. Savannah was just sharing her contact information with her friends, nothing else, he was just reading too much into it and being silly. "Perfect, let me send you a text so you have my number as well" he said once recovered of his own momentary shock, firing a 'cute dogs are the best' message to her.

"Maybe not Twitter, that place is a madhouse" Ned pointed up, warning Savannah of the dangers of social networks in his own strange way. Facebook he didn't even consider mentioning, as she sure already had one. Everybody had one, right? Looking at the phone development between Peter and Savannah, Ned had an idea that he reserved for himself.

"Instagram is fine, mostly selfies, animals and food" Peter shrugged, giving it no importance, thinking that the home schooled girl could as well explore on her own a bit. "Ugh, we don't have much before lunch time is over, but it's not too long until we can hang out after school" Peter commented, looking at Savannah and Ned since Michelle was busy, receiving an amused look from Ned.

(Oh yeah, Peter will defend her in front of others even if he has his own concerns. And yes, teenage awkwardness is always a plus, that's why Ned is scheming something...)
 
The Decathlon again. He wanted her there, and she didn't quite understand why he was invested in her and the Decathlon thing, but it wasn't... the worst thing. She didn't want to miss days of 'work', but she could. If she still hadn't proved to herself whether Peter was Spider-Man or not the Decathlon would help. Specifically being away from New York would help, since she could see if Spider-Man still showed up in New York while they were gone.

He texted her and she dug her main phone out of her pocket and took a few seconds to get his information into her contacts, letting his name join the.... four others. Adopted (though not legally, but she figured they'd eventually be interested in that gesture) 'parents', the social worker who oversaw her placement, a detective, and now Peter. "Thanks. But I like cats better, hopefully this doesn't destroy our friendship." Did she care about housepets? Maybe kinda. A cat would be easier for her, with the life she wanted to lead, but no pets were really possible. Maybe if she had a long term significant other to handle it. If she was in that situation it could be okay. Having a pet might help them get over her faster when she inevitably lost so bad she couldn't get back up again.

Social media was where Michelle apparently regained some amount of interest in the conversation. "Twitter is great. I watch the fall of humanity in real time."
"Oh, that sounds... uh, cool?" She might not have known Michelle all that well yet, but that sure did sound in line with what she was coming to expect from the other curly haired high school student. "I'm not sure how much 'constantly connected to the world' I can handle." She did need to be informed, but Twitter wasn't going to help in the ways she needed. She'd find what she needed and make it work eventually.

The enthusiasm made Savannah feel... something. She couldn't quite put her finger on what. It had just been her and her dad for so long, and she wasn't really used to the idea of someone wanting to... spend time around her except the new adults in her life and that was because it was their job to care about her. He didn't have to. He was just doing it, and if he wanted something from her, Savannah couldn't tell yet what it was. "I don't really know what teenagers do for fun when they hang out."
"Watch things they enjoyed as children in an attempt to reclaim some of the comfort of a more simplistic worldview that came from a period of their live where there were less responsible, the world had less nuance, and there were less responsibilities.." Michelle didn't even look up from her book this time, and seemed to pointedly miss the exasperated look that Savannah shot her. "Try to put themselves back into that state where life was easier and the future was a thing to deal with at another time instead of an ever approaching threat. Do homework. And premarital sex." Savannah, who had lifted her fork to her mouth to take a bite of her lunch, let out a snort and lowered her eating utensil again. "I could probably use the homework help." She'd just cruise on over the rest of the comment, that way Michelle wouldn't get whatever reaction she wanted from her.

((oops I forgot it was going to auto post my draft.
I might end up changing text colors slightly since formatting threads is so different now but I haven't decided yet.))
 
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Cats were cute too, that went without saying so Peter limited himself to nod and smile, his face getting a bit weirder when Michelle talked about Twitter and gave a too accurate even if pessimistic vision of it. Michelle was really getting into the whole... friends thing, speaking more and more each day, even if everything she said was still one hundred percent Michelle. Savannah didn't seem all that interested in a lot of social networking, something that was quite reasonable for anyone, perhaps even more for her if home schooled had isolated her from the daily noise.

Curiosity about the hanging out technicalities made Peter want to share his mostly nerdy view on it, far from what other people did in such situations, but Michelle got ahead and offered a bleak view on it that made him wonder once again what her afterschool plans were. Peter was going to protest, but Michelle's end of her spiel in allusion to teenage sexual encounters made him blush and totally stopped anything that Peter would have thought of saying. Amusingly enough, even if Ned had also shown surprise along with the embarrassment, it was Savannah the one that didn't play into Michelle's words and just commented needing some homework help.

"Homework we can do" Peter managed to add after that moment. Ned was still recovering himself, looking at Michelle in that odd way he did when she seemed to be able to see through them, but soon calmed down.

"And it's not just about watching stuff. We do play video games and board games as well" Ned tried to defend himself against Michelle's words, even if it seemed that he was just digging deeper into his nerd grave.

It was true that their combined hobby of heroics had been also taking a toll from their free time, but that of course couldn't be made public. "Yeah, we'll find something fun to do after homework" Peter commented. He wondered what kind of people Michelle got together with after school, if any. She didn't seem the type to get a beer and smoke like some kind of archetypic delinquent teen, but he was completely lost trying to read her. "We can meet after class just outside, or get out together if we have joint classes, I forgot" he said before digging into the remains of his lunch.

(It doesn't seem to admit custom hexadecimal codes for text colors, so things are bound to change a little bit. I'd wait until things settle before making changes, if any)
 
"Oh good, I'm running into things that never got covered at home." Most of it. She picked up stuff fast and was good at making connections pretty fast, but she definitely didn't have all the required background knowledge. Google did, and she was going to be doing a lot of research to fill herself in on the things she was missing. She had learned about certain history, physics, biology, and many skills that would never be useful in a classroom, but now she needed to get it all hooked into this system she hadn't experienced since age eight. English literature was a weak spot. She knew about a lot of books that her mother had loved but hadn't really been in a place to read Grapes of Wrath or To Kill a Mockingbird before the Incident, and afterwards... it wasn't relevant. She had to catch up now, and sitting and reading was something that she wasn't good at. Books were fine, there was magic in there that she vaguely remembered and knew that her mother had loved, but it was hard to sit still and turn her brain off. She could stake out a building for days if needed but half an hour of a book felt like it was taking away from the things she needed to be doing.

Michelle gave Ned a brief look that told him all he was doing was proving her point but Savannah’s face expressed some interest. "Both those are good. I mean I don't really have much experience with video games," and it had been year since she'd regularly played board games (or really any established games but chess, cards, and pool) but that seemed like something not to reveal because it was weird, "but I'm curious because you guys seem enthusiastic about it." Ned more than Peter, but Peter seemed… softer. They both came off as absolutely squishy people emotionally, but Ned’s excitement seemed to take lead over Peter’s when it came to nerd stuff. Whether Peter was less into it or just less expressive about it she couldn’t tell yet. Maybe he was playing it cooler so that nobody would think he was overacting and suspect him of what she suspected, but that again would imply a level of deceit she still hadn’t decided if he was capable of yet.

As enigmatic as she seemed, Michelle’s after school hours were pretty normal. At least she would say so, somewhere in the void of time between leaving school and seeing her friends again she did all the normal things – eat, sleep, homework, watch TV, things like that – but she also found time for art, politics, and the books she enjoyed reading. It was a lot of alone time even if she was on internet forums.

"I've only got class with Michelle," she said like it was a disappointment. It wasn't. She couldn't have better observed him well during class and chatting with people would have been a distraction. Could have filled her in with things she didn't get, but the teachers knew where she was in her education. She wouldn't find out the things she wanted to know about Peter while they sat in class and looked at textbooks that should have been replaced ten years ago, so there wasn't any real difference to her whether she shared classes with him, Ned, or Michelle. Well, Michelle made art more interesting, it was a subject she wasn't invested in and didn't have much interest or talent in. "After class it is. Uh, out by the front steps?" It was an easy place to get to, and in the direction they had to go anyway. "Or by the gym so nobody gets caught in the stampede of escaping students."

((decided it would be better to just give them classes together next term when they're closer as opposed to a class schedule with different lessons on different days, but I can switch it if you'd like!))
 
"There are so many kinds of video games and board games that I like to think there is at least one for everyone" Peter commented, as both mediums were pretty versatile, wondering what kind of games, digital or otherwise, Savannah might enjoy. He did like the variety, although as of late with so many things to do he lacked time to dedicate to his hobbies, unless you counted being Spider-Man as one.

"We truly live in the golden age of boardgames" Ned sentenced, enthusiastic once more. He was kind of right, at least from Peter's perspective, since more and more people opened to designer games that took care to be at their best instead of just resorting to monopoly or scrabble. "They aren't just for nerds anymore" he added, although he was a particularly nerdy guy in a school for nerds, so the claim had trouble sustaining itself.

"Just no trivia games, we get enough questions with the Decathlon" Peter shook his head, somewhat bummed when Savannah said they didn't have a class together. It was stupid, as it wasn't like they would be able to talk during class, but still it bothered him a bit even if he didn't know why. "There are a lot of clubs after school, so the stampede isn't that bad" Peter shrugged.

"Jumanji!" Ned contributed, unable to resist after his brain linked the stampede with the board games.

After a moment where not even Peter knew what to say, he continued. "So... the front steps should be fine, we can gather there before moving" he confirmed, receiving a strange look from Ned, like if he was up to something. Finishing the lunch and cleaning up around him, Peter was ready for class, now excited for them to end so he could be with his friends. Spider-Man things could wait until the evening, bad guys and strange vigilante girls did seem to like the night after all.

Despite the eagerness for them to end, the classes weren't that bad, as Peter had genuine interest on what was going on them, but he couldn't help but get occasionally distracted. If it wasn't about the arson case with its nuances and the vigilante girl, it was about Savannah and their gathering for homework and fun. They didn't have much homework that day, or at least he didn't, but if the home schooled girl needed some help to know where to point her smarts, he could help her. Peter waited on the front steps, and seeing Savannah appear he waved so she could see him, at the same time wondering where Ned was since they didn't share the last class. Like it was magic, Peter's phone buzzed with a message from Ned.

"I'm going to investigate the arson thing. That way you can be with Savannah alone while I do guy in the chair stuff!" Ned's message said, making Peter feel awkward immediately. So that was what Ned was up to, not only he planned to help with the case at that time, but he also did so to leave Peter alone with her. Was it that transparent that he liked her that Ned could read him like that? Just the idea was embarrassing, so as Savannah approached Peter couldn't help but look blushed while he thought of an explanation. "Ned... is busy. With stuff. So it will be the two of us" was all that Peter managed, embarrassing him further but ready to guide Savannah to his home.
 
Of course they were into board games. “Were boardgames ever supposed to be for nerds only? Before I think nerd I think old people and families.” That’s who they were for, right? Peter’s words about the number of clubs just reinforced that she should probably join something. But it would hinder her ability to just run off whenever she wanted which was bad, so.... a club and an excuse for why sometimes she couldn’t be there. Everyone here was probably college prepping, so she needed to as well, even though that would be so much more work.

She didn't ask what Jumanji was, but her blank expression was probably enough to show that she didn't know what Ned meant by that. Peter changed the subject before any sort of answer was given to her. That was fine, it didn’t really matter. “Okay. That’s one of the things I’m completely confident I won’t forget the location of, so that’s good.” She knew where everything was now at least in terms of landmark rooms like the lab, art room, and gym, but the lie slipped out without thought even though there wasn't anything weird about having a decent understanding of her school already.

Class was fine. She made note of some things to share with her guardians, used her phone when the teacher wasn’t looking, and made sure she understood what exactly she needed to know. She wasn’t engaged really, but she wasn’t openly dismissive of anything. It would always be the same amount of attention versus feigned interest unless it was something deemed useful.

It wasn’t too hard to find Peter after school and she wandered over to him when he waved as she came down the steps, eyes scanning the area for Ned. Her wondering was answered a second later when the taller teen got a text and announced its contents. "Huh." Savannah didn't look particularly bothered, but she did note the pink on his cheeks and felt a.... something. Not unpleasant in any way, but the closest she could compare it to was a foreign sense of self consciousness. She wasn't self conscious about anything, she had no reason to be, but for some reason in the moment, there was that feeling bubbling up, with a weird warmth. Gross. "Well he's lost his chance to tell me what Jumanji is and now I'm purposely never going to find out." During class she'd written a response email to Spider-Man on her phone with a meet-up place and then used the 'send later' option to make sure he got it while she would be around and very obviously not on her phone, just so he didn't see her using her phone and then suddenly he got a message. It would be in about an hour from when school got out, so they'd be back at his place by then she figured. Without Ned it would be even easier to keep an eye on how he responded. "When two little kids get together it's a play-date, what's it called now that everyone's at the age where there's date-dates? Just 'hanging out'?" Probably. “Do you live nearby? Or do we take the subway?” She purposely made herself sound interested even though the trains actually held no innate appeal whatsoever. “I’ve been getting driven pretty much everywhere, I want to explore.” She had done it already in the night, but an escorted daytime trip was better for excusing knowledge. Plus Peter was... well, she supposed he was fun. Nice to be around.

Also probably Spider-Man.

“I was introduced to New York pizza, at least. Apparently it’s very important.” It had been the second dinner she’d had - the first had been home cooked because her guardians thought that was something she’d need after everything. And while they were correct that it had been a long time since she’d had food that needed more cooking than a microwave she hadn’t felt any kind of... soul healing or whatever they might have hoped for. It had been nice, though.

((ok so instead of getting my finals done in a timely manner I procrastinated and thought of a bunch of stuff we'll never explore for Vanna after Infinity War (post IW Vanna has her own music now oops) but also I had this idea for a twist to start helping Vanna distance herself from the stuff her dad taught her - what if she finds out later that the plan was always to get them to a place where they could try and kill either just Tony or heroes in general? It might be a bit much but the 'oh shit my dad wanted me to be a villain' thing would be interesting to explore, since she so firmly believed so much of the narrative he gave her.
if you don't think it's excessive.))
 
Peter's awkward feeling was mostly faded off by Savannah's Jumanji remark, as it got a chuckle out of him. "Well, I could tell you what he meant since I'm accustomed to how his mind works, but it's just some little silly thing" he admitted, finding himself more comfortable with the idea. What if they were alone? Like that meant something had to happen, no way. "You may stumble with the remake, but then Ned's joke makes even less sense..." Peter added, shaking his head. They started to walk out of the school campus as they spoke, distracted in the odd yet interesting conversations Peter liked and Savannah seemed to fit in, but soon her question made his blush return briefly. "Yeah, hanging out sounds about right. It sounds casual, like people just stumbled into each other instead of agreeing to meet. It kinda lacks the weight that a word like d-date has" Peter tried to explain calmly and as a matter of fact, although a small nervous stuttering in the key part betrayed him and made Peter want to kick himself.

"No need for the subway this time, once we move through a few blocks you'll start to see apartment buildings, that's where I live with my aunt May" Peter pointed in a direction, moving from the more sparsely populated area around the school to one more densely filled in the horizon. "I like to walk there even if it takes like half an hour, after being sitting the whole day it's nice to stretch my legs and see the city, even if it's the same route..." Peter shrugged. "I like coming across the neighbors" he smiled honestly, caring about the people from where he lived even if he didn't really know them. "Unless you are really interested in the subway, the station is close by and would live us closer to my home, I'm fine either way" he commented, picking up on the apparent interest of her voice, giving her the choice.

How Savannah looked at everything including him made Peter a little bit uneasy, even if it was in a good way. The home schooled girl seemed interested in a variety of things, looking at everything with those big eyes of hers. Everything seemed new and blessed with something that made it worthy of scrutiny, and when the target of her eyes was Peter himself he couldn't help but fidget a bit. "Important it is" Peter admitted, "but there is so many good places..." he sighed. "I know a particularly cool Thai restaurant and also a place with some crazy sand-" Peter started to talk, remembering that Delmar's deli was no more, looking down. "Well, the place with the sandwiches closed" he said, trying to sound detached but still coming across as saddened by the idea, as he felt guilty about it.

"But yeah, there are many cool places to grab a bite, they make some amazing churros not far by" Peter continued, trying to look more positive and not being a downer even before they reached his home.

- - -

OOC: Ah, procrastination is just too entertaining. Her father was a planner, or at least that's the feel I got, so it's not crazy to think he had ulterior motives and plans down the road. Even if he just planned to kill Tony Stark, he would know that such a thing would send the rest of heroes after him, so he had to be ready for everything. I don't think it's excessive if done correctly, and I trust you with it, even if it's still soon for that.
 
"No," she said firmly, "he made a reference I don't understand and if he wants me to understand it he has to be the one to explain it or not skip out on the chances where the two of you could team up and make me.... watch it? Play it? Whichever." Peter had just mentioned a remake so that meant it was a movie or maybe a game. She adjusted her backpack more comfortably when they started walking, keeping pace with Peter's slightly longer stride without concern. Ah. He was blushing again, must have been because she'd used the word 'date', what a sensitive guy. "We need a better word. You're telling me there's not some cool teen lingo?" Her tone was serious but her expression was playful, more making fun of the oddities of language and her own isolated past than actually seriously inquiring about how teens developed new words and phrases.

Coming across neighbors? It seemed unlikely that he was into that because he was taking notes on everyone and learning as much as possible about everyone to use it to his advantage, which meant he was in it just for socialization sake and... bleh. Yuck, why? “I’m cool with walking.” It would take more time but time wasn't an issue for her and walking wouldn't take too much of her energy. "I'm not really used to spending all day at a desk." There was a whole lot less required sitting in her old life. And no homework. Well, no homework like they gave out at school. School wasn't supposed to involve knives, guns, or getting punched in the face.

She knew about the sandwich shop. It had come up in her research about Spider-Man. Savannah might have said these things happen but it wouldn't have made sense and she didn't think it was the sort of sentiment that would have comforted him in any way. Even if he wasn't Spider-Man it probably wouldn't be a thing that helped - that bad things could happen to good people because the world was chaotic and it didn't matter how good or bad someone was because the evils of the world didn't care didn't seem like something that Peter would enjoy. But he'd mentioned that his aunt wouldn't be home and said nothing about his parents, so maybe he already knew that.

"I don't..." she hesitated and then admitted "I don't think I've ever had a churro." It was true, but it was something she was only admitting to try and give Peter something to focus on so he'd stop sounding sad. "I know what they are though," she added in case he was going to start explaining the food to her. She sort of wanted one, but if she'd suggested something like that while walking with her dad she definitely wouldn't have gotten it so by habit Savannah didn't actually ask if they could go get one. It wasn't that her father hadn't allowed her to have things she wanted or enjoy things, it was just that she didn't usually get things she asked for, at least not exactly when she asked for them. There was probably a reason for it but she hadn't figured it out. Probably something to do with disappointment or patience but he'd never told her and she'd never solved that behavior puzzle.

((It wouldn't kick in for a while, probably until after Vanna inevitably meets Tony and starts to realize that he's not the worst thing in the universe. Maybe after she's either been (reluctantly) offered or received a proper hero suit, to help ease the emotional tear that comes with the shift in loyalties.
well it's not like she's ever loyal to Tony in any way but she'll be very loyal to Peter and HE'S pretty solidly on Team Stark so it's kinda the same thing to her.

I like your new avatar and the signature you had for a bit and then changed back while I was being a slow-ass partner!))
 
"Maybe there is some cool teen lingo, but I'm not a cool teen so I wouldn't know" Peter joked, no longer worried about not being part of the in crowd. Even calling them the in crowd was probably a dorky thing to do. With all that happened during homecoming and having Savannah and even Michelle around with Ned, he didn't need to be part of anything else that didn't want him in. Walking with her around the city was nice, friendly and way less awkward than Peter feared once he got Ned's message. The city was alive around them, all those sometimes rude citizens Peter swore to protect enjoying their daily lives. It wasn't thanks to him, Peter wasn't that mad to think so, but he loved being a part of it as much as the police, firefighters, doctors... Everyone did their best, so he wanted to do the same too.

"You never had a churro? We can sort it out right now" Peter suggested, more of an invitation really, as he took a small detour towards a cart that was always around that corner. "Buenas tardes señor Arturo!" Peter greeted the rotund man in charge, his accent leaving a bit to be desired, but still managing a bit of Spanish. "Una tarde preciosa verdad?" he tried to be amicable. "No es la tarde la que hace brillar tus ojos, Peter" the man answered with a short laughter, making him blush. "The best churros in New York City!" he said to Savannah, wanting to change topics and wishing that Savannah wouldn't understand Spanish or he would be even more embarrassed by the jolly Arturo. "I personally want one with sugar, the classic, but the cinnamon ones are very nice too" he commented, paying for him and whatever Savannah wanted.

Slowly diminishing sugary treat in hand, Peter resumed the walk, enjoying it so much that he didn't want to arrive home yet, but no longer embarrassed about being alone with Savannah. Peter felt fine with her, the walk and talk doing wonders for his awkwardness and even allowing him to reign in his usual nervous speech pattern. He was indeed a friendly neighbor, but at least he wouldn't endlessly chatter unless he was costumed. "It turns out that we are already here, it's not that far, is it?" he said, welcoming her to the building's lobby first, then his house once they were out of the elevator. It was tidy and comfy, in that lived in sense, and it showed that it wasn't merely an apartment, but a home.

(Peter is so nice that eventually everyone can't help but be on Team Peter. The casting was so well done, people can't help but love that goof. And yeah, I didn't get that signature to work as I wanted to color wise, so I ended with a different one already I do love. Oh, and never worry about any kind of supposed "posting schedule" please)
 
Would it be rude to agree with him that he wasn't cool? He had to know that, but it seemed like something that wouldn't be all that appropriate to say as a friend. So she just smiled slightly, shrugged, and went with "I don't actually know what makes teens cool so you could have lied and said you were." She had considered getting in with the 'in' crowd but was more out-of-school social time than she was willing to put in for slight additional defense against suspicion that was popularity.

They were detouring, which was definitely the intended outcome. Peter was officially distracted from whatever he'd felt bad about, and she was going to get to eat a churro. One bonus of her night activities was that she could eat pretty much whatever she wanted and whenever she wanted it. When they approached the stand she hung back, standing a little behind Peter's shoulder so that she could watch things without needing to be engaged by either him or the man selling food unless she wanted to talk.

Savannah was capable of understanding a decent amount of both Spanish and Russian. Some key phrases in Mandarin as well, but all of it had been focused pretty solidly on the understanding side of things. As long as she knew what people were saying it didn’t matter if she could conjugate verbs correctly, and if she was interrogating someone they’d get the main point of her questions even if she used the wrong tense. She didn’t learn languages to appreciate their beauty or the history that came with them, they were a tool like everything else. So even as her gaze darted between Peter and the vendor with an expression of mild perplexation, she was adding the small exchange to her ever growing pile of information. She just wasn’t sure what to do with it because... why? If this was all what it seemed like she just needed to know why. What made people drawn to each other was something she didn't fully understand. She could manipulate it to some degree, but she didn't get it.

"I want whatever you get." There'd be a chance to pay him back later, she didn't really like owing people even if it was just a little bit of money. She took the treat and inspected it cautiously before taking a tiny nibble. "Oh. Yep, I like this." Better than she expected it to be, honestly. She let him lead the conversation while they walked, and just kept up her side, occasionally interjecting with things that she found interesting.

The apartment was small, but that wasn't something that Savannah really judged. She'd spent a lot of time sleeping in motels after all, this was incredibly roomy compared to that. The home feel was one she was still adjusting to, and being in someone else's home was somehow more accepting and warm than the home of her adopted family. There were no expectations here. "It's... nice here." And now what? She didn't exactly know what people did when they hung out, he probably didn't want to exchange combat tips or talk about knives. "What do you usually do when you have friends over?" She could adapt to whatever and end up at the very least make herself seem like she was having a good time if it ended up being terribly boring or annoying. "I had a bunch of friends in elementary school, but I spent a whole lot of time hanging out with my parent's friends and their kids after that." Saying she didn't have any friends at all would have been weird and suspicious. "I'm guessing hopscotch and dress up are out of style now."

((Peter is the ultimate Good Boy. Precious cinnamon roll.))
 
It seemed that Savannah didn't catch up on Arturo's words, at least as far Peter knew, so the churro incident went by pleasantly as she appreciated the simplicity and taste of the sugary treat. Welcoming Savannah home was bit unnerving but soon saw that he had nothing to worry about, they would be just fine and as the time passed Peter missed less and less having Ned around to help with the uncomfortable silences, as he was starting to learn to just enjoy them. "Play games, video or board ones, watch something..." Peter tried to answer with a smile, finding the hopscotch and dress up joke funny. He could indeed dress up, wondering what Savannah would think of that, but he had to keep his identity safe. Safe-er, as lately it had been a bit of a mess.

"Maybe even build something with Lego" Peter shrugged. "And homework of course, we can always do that" he added. "My room is over there" he pointed, thinking nothing of it, as that was where he always was with his friends. Well, with Ned, it wasn't like he had other friends before that. "Something to drink? Juice? Water?" he wondered, rummaging through the fridge to be a decent host, accustomed to Ned doing his own ransacking if he wanted anything, as they had knew each other long enough to feel at home in each other's houses.

"Just think about what you want to do, what you feel curious about, dunno" he said before Savannah was headed to his room, moving around the kitchen for some glasses and maybe even a platter of ginger cookies. They already had a churro, but that didn't mean they couldn't grab another bite of something. Then, and only then, Peter was suddenly mindful of his costume's hiding place on the ceiling, but there was no way that Savannah could not only suspect about that but also peek through a boy's room, right? No, as curious as the girl was, Peter was sure she would behave, but despite it all, he hastened his cookie search and drink preparation a little bit.

(so naive... oh, feel free to make his phone beep with the delayed message Savannah sent anytime you see fit)
 
“I have fond memories of legos. Kits or just loose pieces?” Putting together a kit could be fun - structure was good. Trying to be creative with loose pieces might be hard at this point unless she was trying to recreate something specific, and working out blueprints with legos while sitting on Probably-Spider-Man's floor didn't seem like a great idea. Working out blueprints with legos while sitting on Not-Really-Friend Peter Parker's floor wouldn't have been a great idea either, though. She could make the Eiffel Tower or some shit. "It's mostly math." And history she deemed irrelevent, and catching up on all the required readings she'd never had to bother with for English. Basically all the information that would be useless in daily life, actually. She was just a really good faker who put together information quickly and could work well off the ideas of others. "Figured I should take advantage of being around someone I assume is one of the smartest kids in school." Compliments made people more comfortable. Or uncomfortable, but then their guard went down because they were dealing with that.

She was taking stock of everything around her, but Savannah wasn’t so unsubtle as to open drawers or doors without permission but she was gathering information about his home life to use to continue to flesh out the image she was building of him. The clock on the mantle was ticking down, and it was bringing back annoyances that the message had only had options to be sent on half hour and hour marks. Still, perhaps he wouldn’t make observation of time. The clock was two minutes fast, she observed, because it had already counted that far ahead when she heard a noise coming from Peter’s direction and glanced over at him, moving to put herself somewhere that she could look at him while seemingly more interested in the book on the coffee table. It was engineering concepts that she couldn’t even begin to understand, but she flipped through it with the dedication of someone who refused to believe that there could be a book filled entirely with concepts that were impossible for her to grasp. She wasn’t faking it, though. This was all too complex for her - was it Peter’s or did a family member do something with this? Engineers got paid a lot of money so it was somebody’s hobby or chosen course of study unless they chose to live below their means or were in a lot of debt. Was he more intelligent than she had given him credit for? If so, that meant her position was in jeopardy around him. He had the necessary smarts to figure out who she was, but maybe not the required level of paranoid.

Well she'd call it logically cautious, she just knew what word other people would use.

"Can I get a glass of water?" It was a little delayed, but he'd offered earlier. She'd given him a few moments to read the email if he was going to, and more importantly give some kind of reaction that she could look for. Now it was time to pull him out of that, and see if he'd act different. Savannah was now convinced enough of his identity, but that didn't mean intel gathering would stop because she wasn't a fool. This was what she had to give her a leg up on the heroes with their freaky powers and enhancements or whatever. "And then... I don't know. I feel like I should have had something to bring, that's what house guests do, right?" Or was that just for staying over? She had no idea, she didn't go to other people's houses. She'd broken into a couple, but this felt so new.
 
"Oh, we love the Star Wars kits of course, but sometimes we make stuff out of loose pieces" Peter commented, enthusiasm clearly making his voice sound a bit higher as Savannah showed interest. "Once we made a contraption that started making breakfast when the alarm clock was stopped... it didn't go well" Peter shrugged, valuing more the trying than any measure of success. "It took a while to clean the mess though, there was milk everywhere" he admitted with a laugh. Peter's attitude soon shifted slightly after a nervous chuckle, not knowing how to deal with Savannah's compliment about him being one of the smartest kids at school. It wasn't even false modesty, there were quite the brains there and being Spider-Man took a lot of time from him, but it was still nice to being well considered, even if the taking advantage part was a joke.

Peter's mind raced for a witty comeback, almost about to make a goof by saying that then he was with one of the prettiest girls at school, but before he could make a fool of himself, his phone beeped. Noticing with a side glance that it was a mail on his other account, Peter stopped around his kitchen rummaging to take a glance at the message. It was from the mysterious vigilante, setting up a time and place to meet that very night, so Peter soon wrote a short answer saying that he would be there, suddenly nervous about a team up that wasn't almost accidental. Savannah's voice asking for water got him by surprise, making Peter almost drop the phone startled, fumbling with it before sending the answer and pocketing it. Ned didn't reach him yet with new info, but there was still time before Spider-Man had to meet, so there was no rush about it.

"Water! Yes!" Peter said from the kitchen, getting drinks ready before meeting Savannah in his room. It was definitely awkward, like he had opened his whole life, or at least a civilian chunk of it bare to her. She could see his books, his movies, his games... Peter wasn't what he enjoyed or his hobbies nor his studies, not just that, but his room was pretty telling even if his nerd self was hardly a secret. "Don't worry about formalities, we are friends" Peter said when Savannah worried about manners. "If it bothers you next time you get me a churro, but honestly, don't worry" he added with a smile, handling her the glass of water. "Do you like engineering?" Peter commented, since she was hovering close to his books and perhaps she had an interest. "I do like building things that solve problems, but it takes a lot of time, and money" he sighed, knowing fully well that it didn't take just genius to do certain things, but also Tony Stark amounts of money.

"Math then?" Peter asked for confirmation, if Savannah needed help with Math he was going to help. "Unless you have something else in mind" Peter finished. If it was an excuse to compliment him and she wanted to do anything else he was fine by it, and she seemed a tad distracted, although that was normal in a new situation.
 
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