Eight days before... on the morning after...

Eight days earlier...
(Day 2 P.G.R.)

Cindy was sketching in a notebook. "Gotta catch'm all gotta catch'm all. Gotta catch'm all gotta catch'm all. Pokemon! Zubat, Primeape, Meowth, Onix! Geodude, Rapidash, Magneton, Snorlax! Gengar, Tangela--"

"What... are you singing?" Mary Jane asked as she walked up to the outside table. It was black wire metal, as were the chairs. It was a bright sunny morning, which Mary Jane coped with via large sunglasses, a big floppy hat, and zero cope.

Cindy grinned, leaning towards Mary Jane and launching back into song. "I'll search across the land, look far and wide! Release from my hand the power that's insiiiiide!"

"The power inside your hands? That's literally web fluid. Don't... release web fluid at brunch," Mary Jane said, sitting down.

"She's been on this all morning," Gwen said. "It's a cartoon. And a video game. And a card game. She's gone into some detail." Gwen looked a little groggy too. She was also wearing one of the outfits she'd bought the day before -- the beginning of the return of Gwen chic, in Mary Jane's view. Blue casual skirt just at the knee. Black scoopneck t-shirt. Orange windbreaker. Hairband the same blue as the skirt.

"Yeah, I know what Pokemon are." She paused. "Wait. You're... there were Pokemon back in the day. How do you not--"

"I wasn't a huge cartoon fan, okay? Or whatever." Gwen nodded to a waiting mug already on the table. "Hazelnut coffee."

"Oh thank God."

"Why are you complaining?" Cindy asked, continuing to sketch. "You hogged all the Parker last night."

"And did it until very late, thank you very much." Mary Jane sipped the coffee, then peered at the sketches. "What is 'Inanna?'"

"Our new institute!" Cindy said. "The Inanna institute! Of... something something walking dead minus Kirkman."

"Are you calling me a zombie?" Gwen asked. "Because that sounds kind of zombieish."

"Why Inanna?"

"Because Inanna's one of the oldest goddesses in... like... mythology. First civilization stuff, Mesopotamia. She was the queen of heaven and was all about beauty and desire and war and justice, but she also descended to the underworld, got her skin shredded, then walked back out. Later her cult kind of evolved into Ishtar, and in at least some of the stories she went down as Inanna but returned as Ishtar, who was also all sex and desire and fertility but was also the primary war goddess and butt-kicker. Which... y'ask me? Sounds like the first superhero origin story. And it's all about coming back from the dead."

Mary Jane blinked. "Oh. That... works." She cocked her head. "How do you know that?"

"There was a complete Encyclopedia Brittanica and a bunch of other reference books including myth stuff in the bunker. I read them all. Dozens of times."

"Dozens?" Gwen asked.

"Yup!" She grinned to Gwen. Locked in a bunker to hide from Morlun. No contact with the outside world. At all. Just me, my training, a pile of books, and VHS tapes. Including the first couple seasons of Pokemon. On VHS 'cause Sims literally just taped everything off T.V. instead of buying DVDs. Most of it kid's TV. I dunno why he had it originally, but he must have thought it'd appeal to me, because... I was a kid? A fifteen year old kid who kind of wanted splatter flicks and shit but whatever. It served me well at the Fact Channel during my time there -- I had so much random bullshit I could spout all the time." She looked at Mary Jane. "Stop changing the subject. You hogged all the Parker."

"She's been on that all morning too," Gwen said. "At length."

"I'm finally in a position where I can just... do what my silk sense has been demanding since the day we met! And--"

"You boned Peter the day you met."

"Yes! Exactly! It doesn't stop demanding!" She takes a deep breath. "At first we thought it was because we both got bit by the same spider. Then there was some question about Totems. Now? I decided I don't care what it is. I just want. To. Get. My. Bone. On." She paused. "With Peter."

"That was implicit," Gwen said. "Okay. On the definite list? My dad. Mattie Franklin. Flash Thompson. Am I missing anyone we definitely know is getting the wish-o-rama treatment?"

"I'm not sure," Mary Jane said. "I keep thinking of people and then revising. We know we don't want to overdo, but..." She shook her head. "What about people like Rick Jones? I mean, he's not someone I think any of us are close to, but he was a national martyr..."

"That way lies madness. Or much longer lists. I mean, what about actual dead Avengers? Or X-Men?" Gwen rubbed her eyes, and then her neck. "And Peter's couch is not nearly comfortable enough."

"That's why I hung in a web-hammock," Cindy said, still sketching.

"...why did you hang in a web hammock as opposed to... I dunno... going home?" Mary Jane asked, drinking deep of the coffee.

"You didn't go home," Cindy noted.

"I was busy hogging the Parker, remember? And having stunningly good sex. Hey -- where did Ollie sleep?"

There was a pause. Mary Jane looked at Gwen and Cindy, then watched them look at each other before shrugging in near unison.

"Does she even sleep?" Gwen asked.

"She was doing homework in the easy chair for a while," Cindy said.

"Homework?" Mary Jane blinked. "'Olivia Vayne' didn't actually exist as an identity before yesterday. How did she have homework?" She paused. "Wait. Peter mentioned this. Her wishes are apparently comprehensive."

"Comprehensive?" Cindy asked.

"I... get that," Gwen said. "Remember... when she 'acclimated' me during my time shift, I didn't get a summary of events I missed. I got a ringside seat for tons of things, relevant or not."

"Huh." Cindy kept sketching. "So, MJ? Is Spider-Harem Team Valor or Team Mystic? I mean, I'm assuming Valor because we're all valorous and shit, but we're all tied together by Petey and his colors are red and blue, and I suppose you could look at Spider Sense or Silk Sense as Mystic. Honestly, you could make a case that they're Instinct but come on. We're not going yellow..."

Gwen blinked twice. "What is she--"

"Pokemon Go," Mary Jane said. "It's a mobile game. Even if you were never into Pokemon it can be fun, though it's kind of last year at this point. And I dunno, Cindy. I'm red -- whatever one that is."

"Perfect! I was already blue, so that'll be the basics! I'll friend you. We'll have trainer battles and capture gyms on the run--" She blinked, then folded her sketchbook and set it on the table, standing up. "Here..." she grabbed out a twenty and dropped it in front of Mary Jane. "Should cover mine -- get it to go." She was wearing a kind of bulky jumpsuit, which she proceeded to unzip in several places, before stepping away from the table and languidly lifting her arm up.

"...what are you doing?" Gwen asked.

"My ride's here. Oh!" She flicked her other hand, putting a webline between the cuff of her jumpsuit and the table leg. "Don't want to forget--"

A webline flew out of the sky, hitting Cindy's hand perfectly and yanking her skyward. The jumpsuit was apparently designed to be breakaway, because it popped open even as Cindy arched and swung and threw a line of her own -- her Silk uniform on underneath. In the distance, Spider-Man could be seen swinging away.

"...she is so weird," Gwen said. "How'd... how'd she..."

"Her... 'Silk Sense?' Like Peter's Spider Sense but more... gooey? Anyway. It's a lot more subtle, refined, and honestly powerful than Peter's. It's not quite to Julia's level, post Arachne upgrade, but it gets the job done. She uses it a lot more broadly than Peter uses his, too -- she's huge on situational awareness. She's not quite as durable and nowhere near as strong as Peter, but she's a lot faster and more agile, which amazes me."

"And she's a showoff." Gwen chuckled. "I guess I knew all that... I mean, I saw her training and stuff in the timejump, but--"

"Gwen? I know we keep asking... but how much did you see in the timejump?"

Gwen didn't answer right away.

"Gwennie?"

"Too much," she said, shaking her head. "I was thinking about it last night. I was doing way too much thinking last night. I mean... the night before I was with Peter and it was... well, yeah. Last night I was on that stupid couch and... just... I think it was the first time it was me and my thoughts since Peter wishfucked me back to life. And... MJ?"

"Yeah?"

"I know you had a decade to get used to it and Peter had a decade to let his guilt fester over it? But to me? I was thrown off that bridge two days ago. And from there I fell into a world of... changes. And along the way... I saw just... stupid amounts of stuff and it's like I'm retaining it better than you think I would. I don't know why Ollie did that but she did. You have no idea how many secret identities are rattling around my head, now. Wanna know who Daredevil was banging on a rooftop six years ago? Or just how hard Hank Pym hit Janet Van Dyne across the face? 'Cause I know. In fact... I'm going to... I'm going to ask Peter to use a wish... seduce it into me if he needs to... but... make it so I can't be **** to reveal secrets or have them searched telepathically. Otherwise..." she shivers. "If Norman g-got..." She took a deep breath. "If Osborn got these..."

"Yeah. Yeah, good plan." Mary Jane took a long pull off her coffee. "I told Peter he should be our origin story, too. Fuck powers into us. So that we don't have to be professional damsels in distress any time the Vulture gets pissed."

"Oh." Gwen paused. "Isn't one 'Spider-Gwen' enough for the multiverse?"

"No one says they have to be spider-powers. I admit, I kind of want spider powers because I got to have them briefly in the Spider Island thing and they kind of rock, but..."

Gwen nodded. "I'll think it over." She looked at Mary Jane. "Inanna."

"Yeah. I really do like that."

"Me too. Am I right that... you're really getting into this on its own merits, not just as a cover for the Spider-Harem and Ollie's wishes?"

"Yeah."

"Me too. So let's stop trying to brainstorm dead people, and start brainstorming what this institute should actually do."

Mary Jane smiled a bit. "Proactive. I like that, too." She grinned. "And into it or not, you really should download Pokemon Go. It's kinda passé, but it encourages you to explore the city -- find new places. It'll give you a reason to see how things have changed in the city proper."

"I like that idea. A lot." Gwen paused. "Download it into... what? I don't have a laptop."

"Your phone."

"...okay, one I don't have a phone. Two... is this... like a Blackberry or iPhone thing, because I didn't really get into those."

Mary Jane paused for a long moment. "Right. Later today, you're getting a phone. I'll put you onto my plan."

"Oh. Great. Maybe someday I'll have someone to call on it."

"Oh Gwen. We don't call people on phones any more." Mary Jane smirked, slightly.

Gwen closed her eyes and shook her head, slightly. "It's true. The future really is a dystopia."