video; anonymous location

[unobtainableredemption]

[Kaine was sitting at one of the numerous cafes in the Earth sector, wearing his Scarlet Spider costume and feeling like an idiot in doing so. Unfortunately, he couldn't make this as Kaine, not when he couldn't remember the kid's real name to save his life.

At least this time he knew how to work the damn console.]

If you know who I am, check in. I might have something that belongs to you.

[Could that have been less cryptic? Probably. Hopefully it works.]

Comments

[daughteroftheoriginal]

[The idea of Kaine having a romantic life manages to short circuit her brain more than the idea of Kaine with a kid.]

...Really?

[She's still trying to process 'girlfriend'. Kaine, are you sure?]

[unobtainableredemption]

No. They're all random strangers I gathered to take a photo with on the off chance I ever got stranded on a giant turtle with a niece I never knew just to prove to her I somehow have friends.

[He tried really hard to make that not happen, so he's sure.]

[daughteroftheoriginal]

[Wow did he just say what she thinks he said? She's pretty sure he did. There's no way you can't claim you're not family now, Kai- wait, if he thinks of her that way here and hasn't even known her for very long, does that mean the Kaine from her universe think of her that way too? Let's not get ahead of yourself, Mayday!]

Right, right, I wasn't questioning the fact that you might have friends! I mean, even the you I know at home has some. [Kind of. Probably. He has a government backed task force of reforming supervillains? Uh. Normie Osborn can count, right?]

You just didn't strike me as the sort of who'd end up adopting? I'm guessing adoption anyways.

[If only she knew.]

[unobtainableredemption]

...She was in danger. If I didn't do something, she would have been deported, and that would put her in even more danger.

[daughteroftheoriginal]

So you took her in?

That's awfully sweet of you, Kaine.

[And there she's toeing the line. She can save calling him 'Uncle Kaine' at some other point. Not going to do it when they're discussing something that's got to be near and dear to him!]

[unobtainableredemption]

She deserved a second chance. That's all...

[daughteroftheoriginal]

Everyone does.

[Yep, she totally means that that includes you too, Kaine.]

[unobtainableredemption]

Not everyone.

[Taps Aracely on the picture.] But she does.

[daughteroftheoriginal]

Everyone who's willing to give it a try deserves a second chance, and you can't tell who'll actually try or not. [Everyone deserves the chance to redeem themselves, and she's intent on giving people the opportunity to at least have it there.]

What's she like?

[unobtainableredemption]

Sometimes their try isn't good enough.

[And that's all he's going to say on the matter.]

Aracely's... a pain in the ass. She never stops talking... She'd give Parker and Reilly a run for their money. She's a bit like you in the fact she's annoyingly optimistic. ["But unlike you she seems completely okay with how I do things as the Scarlet Spider."]

She's obsessed with Bar-B-Que. [Which is why he eats and brings home the Keeliai equivalent so much.] And anything else she happens to see on TV.

[daughteroftheoriginal]

[Except it sounds like he'd try to be good enough for her.]

'Annoyingly optimistic', huh? Thanks. [She's going to accept that as a compliment.]

She definitely sounds interesting.

[And she can't be that annoying, despite whatever Kaine says, right? She can't see him putting up with crazy teenager shenanigans for too long, after all.]

[unobtainableredemption]

Aracely's one of a kind. [And he really misses her, though he's been trying to ignore that feeling.]

[daughteroftheoriginal]

I bet.

[Especially if she's got Kaine of all people wrapped around her finger. Because that's what it sounds like.

It's also sent a pang of homesickness through her, which she tries to stuff under with a subject change.]

Did Peter see my family photo?

[It's not the best subject change ever, but it should steer things in a different direction, at least!]

[unobtainableredemption]

[Tears his gaze away from the picture May had given him to look at her.

Does she know about Peter? With a question like that, he had to assume not. He makes a mental note to keep it that way.]

No, I was by myself when I spotted it.

[daughteroftheoriginal]

Probably a good idea. He'd probably freak.

[Yeah, good luck with that, Kaine. Parker luck practically dictates that if emotional turmoil can happen, it will happen.]

Thanks again for getting it for me, Kaine. It means a lot. It really, really does.

[And before anything can kick in to even suggest that it's a bad idea (which she already knows it probably is!) she goes in for a quick hug and then pulls back right after.]

[unobtainableredemption]

That's an understatement. If there's one thing Peter Parker's good at, it's--

[Kaine never finishes that sentence, because May hugs him. He stiffens at the motion, but at least attempts to pat her back awkwardly before she pulls away.]

[daughteroftheoriginal]

[Honestly she's half-surprised he didn't throw her off the building or something for that.]

It's freaking out. Constant for him everywhere, I guess.

[She should at least finish his sentence for him.]

[unobtainableredemption]

[Excuse you, you've seen the picture of his friends. They all scream "hugger."] I was going to say overreacting, but that works too.

[daughteroftheoriginal]

That too.

[Like the times her dad actually tried to attack the Kaine in her world. While now she knows more of the reason why it still seems like a massive overreaction when her dad's supposed to be retired from the superhero gig because of his leg.]

[unobtainableredemption]

Glad to know that some things never change.

[daughteroftheoriginal]

Yeah, same here. It'd be a lot harder to keep track of things if everything was.

[unobtainableredemption]

You manage to keep track of me just fine, even though I don't look like a--what did you call me?--hobo.

[daughteroftheoriginal]

You don't need to look like a hobo to still be you. Even without the crazy hair and with actually decent taste in clothes, you're still one of a kind.

[Did the fact that Kaine's a clone of her dad escape her thoughts for a moment? Yes it did.]

[unobtainableredemption]

[He actually laughs at that. It's a bitter laugh, but a laugh all the same.]

[daughteroftheoriginal]

[The laugh automatically keys her in into what she just said and she facepalms.]

..Oh my God, I didn't mean it like that.