revivalproject | The Sky is Falling! Or at least that's what it feels like

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The Sky is Falling! Or at least that's what it feels like

WHO: Peter Parker and Maybe you?
WHERE: Around. He can't really sit still right now.
WHAT: Peter is not doing well.
WHEN: Three Days Until Eruption
WARNINGS: PANIC, ANXTIETY and an overwhelming sense of doom.

{ Pacing the Halls | the Hotel }

Peter Parker is usually filled with nervous energy. It's why he fidgets and sometimes stutters but today. Today is so much worse. He's not just nervous he's feeling a strong sense of panic like the sky is about to cave in. Logically, he knows that can't happen but he's not exaggerating (this time, anyway) to say that it feels like the world is ending.

He's tried curling under his covers and blocking out all sound and light but it didn't really stop the need he's feeling to get. out. The problem is that he can't. It's making his head spin and his stomach churn and he throws the blankets off to pace through the hall as a slightly panicked speed-or heavily panicked.

May if he get up higher it will help alleviate the need to just run?

{ A need to clear your head | the streets of Temba. }

Peter had hoped that maybe if he went out for fresh air it would somehow help. He should have known better because it the sense of impending doom feels so much worse now that he's outside and exposed to the elements and possibly collapsing sky.

He foolishly thought that perhaps a walk would calm him down but that made it even worse as he hits full on sensory overload.

He needs to get back indoors Now. It's too bright. Everything is too loud, his clothes feel itchy against his skin and oh yeah - the world is ending.

He sucks in a breath of air and coughs on it as the air quality is not really very fresh.

{ Maybe drugs will make it stop | The Hospital | For Tae }

Peter had said sometime ago that he would help the doctor with sedatives. He also promised to come see her if he thought he needed it.

Well, he needs it.

His head hurts, he feels vaguely nauseous from all the panic or the headache, he's not sure. His teeth are chattering and he's jittery like he's had way too much caffeine. He's not sure what Tae can do for him but a sedative sounds nice about now. It's incredibly hard to sleep when his danger sense is telling him there's danger all day and night.

So, he finds himself at the hospital and trying to hide what a wreck he actually as he wills the shaking and teeth chattering to stop.

"Re-remember wh-when you s-said you wa-wanted t-t-to test out s-s-some s-s-sedatives?" He stutters out.

{ Nothing Helps | For Tony and Omega if she's around }

Peter is downright miserable at this point. He can't stop shaking, he can't sleep and he's pretty sure some world ending disaster is about to go down. Based on the clues of a randomly appearing, smoking mountain he's pretty sure he knows what it is but he doesn't really want to think about that.

In a last ditch effort to try and feel some semblance of safety, he goes to find Tony. He doesn't really think it'll help but at the moment he's a little desperate and he can deal with the fact his first thought for safety was Tony later.

Actually, it was to leave town and climb up as high as he can but Tony's a close second. He tries to taken in a calming breath like he's doing a breathing exercise and pulls out the communicator to shoot Tony a quick text.

can i stay with you for a while?

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It takes a little longer than Tony's usual lightning quick response, but eventually the text is returned with no obvious hesitation in the language, inviting Peter to find him at the tower by the lake. It was hard to miss; there was a wire connecting it to the clocktower. Outside, another line had been pitched, strung up to the doorframe and weighed down heavily with a dripping stuffed toy. Someone must have been here, that was practically an invitation.

Tony was a few floors up, calling out at any sound but clearly too busy to make a proper welcome. He was overseeing an important construction on a breezy level of the tower, it's window open to that sturdy wire, and managing what looked like a tenuous balance on a bed of mattresses. Other furniture was piled haphazardly, with fabric draped from every surface, all seeming to focus into a valley at the centre where a mothcat was rolling comfortably. Tony was glaring at it, hands on his hips, admonishing, "You're not as cute as you think, if you drool on anything else I'll send you back to the library, I'm not washing anything else."

Peter doesn't have time to hyper-analyze how long it takes Tony to respond back or try to read tone through the text. He can't stay still and it's exhausting. So, when he finally gets a response back he doesn't waste time and just goes.

There's a small sliver of relief when he's able to climb up rather than stay on the ground level. It's not nearly enough to quell the sense of impending doom but small victories and all that.

He feels his teeth chattering noisily and tries to keep his jaw firmly locked in place. he makes it up to where it looks like a blanket fort is being built and can't help a surge of anxiety. How Can they all be so calm and casual when something is so very, very wrong. He's coursing with nervous energy- unable to keep his hands still and visibly trembling.

"H-Hey um... I uh... I know you told me to uh try and relax, but uh... I-I just don't th-think I uh.. I don't think can right now."

Based on the text alone, Tony knew something had to be very wrong. Seeing it still took him by surprise, leaving him staring at Peter for a beat as he came in, taking in the posture, the shaking, and the colour of him like it could have been some kind of prank. Spidey was always fine. It was hard to know what was really going on under the suit.

"God, okay," Tony was suddenly moving, vaulting over the mess he had made and the mothcat forgotten, quickly closer and hands out like he thought Peter might keel over but not entirely sure what to do with them. He was trying to hold Peter's focus then, watching his pupils for warning signs, all the while muttering, "You can't come in here like that, you're going to scare the kid, try bringing it down to a five, at least, this is ridiculous." He seemed much less prepared for the more earnest question that hesitated on the tip of his tongue, his eyebrows knit anxiously while he worked up, "Have you been like this the whole time?"

Well he hadn't meant to startle Tony and the sudden movement has Peter taking a hurried step back because right now he's on high alert can he can't turn it off. At the question he offers a shake of the head.

"N-no... It's.. it's gotten progressively-" He sucks in a breath to try and keep the panic to a minimum. "T-today it just-um..." Peter tries of a way to explain it without sounding like he's completely lost it but the longer it takes him to come up with the words the worse he shakes and the faster he taps his fingers together.

"It feels like-I really feel like I need to run or-or to get away but I can't. No matter where I go I just can't-" He tries to suck in a breath again. "I'm-I'm pretty sure something really, really bad is gonna happen."

Peter retreated, and Tony's questioning hands raised in surrender, then out like he was soothing a panicked intern. Gentler movements, then, try not to spook him. "Okay, first, you're going to stop breathing like that, because I'm going to start breathing like that, and I already have heart problems, I can't be having another heart attack right now," he instructed, rolling his shoulders back and sucking in a slow breath demonstratively as he turned his hands up once again, this time an impatient petition for Peter's own distractingly restless hands. When Peter agreed to any part of that, Tony said, "Bad like a volcano." Now Occam's razor was cutting in an unavoidably smokey, ashy direction.

Peter tries to take a shaky breath in but it feel like he's vibrating from the inside out. He swallows and nods at Tony's requesting to stop breathing like he's having a massive panic attack. Even if that's exactly what this feels like.

He swallows again and shakily reaches out to hold Tony's hands, hit grip might be a little too tight at first but he forces himself to loosen it as the goal is calm down, not break Tony's hands.

"Y-yeah.." He nod. "I-I know it's coming b-but I-um. I don't know when and-and there's not really any-anywhere um-anywhere to go."

It took some effort not to wince, surprised by the strength when Peter looked so fractured. Tony gave an encouraging nod as the grip eased, letting him carefully reverse the hold so he could press his thumbs into the jumping tendons in Peter's palms and release some of the pressure. "It's alright, no one has to go anywhere, we can solve this problem right here. You're going to have to be steady to do that, though, huh? I'm not getting you a paper bag, we're going to handle this with dignity, but I'm not above calling the doctor. Even if you get it together in the next ten seconds, we should get her over here, get her to give you a full work up, that would be fun. Won't calm you down, but some passions are more productive, and I find I'm usually pretty calm, you know, after. My only other suggestion is the bar, I think I'm doing okay, work with me here."

Peter takes in another breath and starts nod at Tony's suggestion that they can solve the problem. He doesn't quite know if he agrees. There's not much to do if the Volcano goes off but it's nice to think they can do something.

Then he pauses and makes a weird face the suggestion to get the doctor. He's not very fond of that idea, he's not a big fan of doctors in general but also what is he suggesting?

"N-no, I'm..." Well, he's definitely not okay so he's not even going to try to pretend he is. "What do we do? If it does go off? I mean, I know it's going to-I think soon but I don't know exactly when."

"We have dealt with much scarier things than one volcano," Tony pointed out, mostly to buy himself some time to figure out the next step because he wasn't entirely sure, either. Those much scarier things were managed with a lot more resources and manpower at their disposal; right now, they were down to two Avengers and a lot of people who would rather throw Tony into the volcano. One of those Avengers didn't look convinced. Take on the equation in the proper order: "I'm calling someone who can help. Have you met Cal? He's a redhead, you'll love him. He's got a similar thing, empathic thing. He's got ways to manage it, can help you through it, you can compare notes." Tony wasn't waiting for any assent, already sending a text to Cal, asking him if his anxiety was worse, and if he could drop by.

"Have we?" Peter wants to doubt that because he's pretty sure the scariest thing he's fought is that weird Beardger thing or the Vulture. He's also just not so sure it's possible to fight a volcano. They need to be evacuating but there isn't anywhere to evacuate too.

"Y-yeah, I've met him. We uh we teamed up once-and I don't-don't want him to feel what I'm feeling if-if he's like an empath. I-I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. Which, I uh don't actually have one um unless you count Flash but he's um really j-just a bully not r-really an enemy." He clicks his teeth together and takes in a breath.

"Sorry, um the more uh nervous I am, the more I uh talk and right now it uh-just-it's not good. Not good at all. Pl-Plus I haven't really slept that great since last month? So that's not ideal."

While it was generally a bad habit, in this case it was functionally necessary to talk over Peter while he kept on stumbling through new words that his tongue couldn't handle so Tony could explain, "He's probably already feeling it, that's my point, you're not giving it to him, are you giving it to him? Are you two just making a feedback loop?" That might have been something they needed to explore, but not right now; they had managed to work together before without exploding each other's heads, and the big, smoking volcano was definitely more of an anxiety trigger. Especially if Peter apparently had some volcano-phobia that made it more frightening than Galactus. Tony flapped his hands to dismiss the thought, or tried to, shaking Peter's arms instead with a deep breath of his own to reset and offer, "What can we do to get you to sleep?"

Could they be giving each other a feedback loop? Probably not. Peter's sider-sense is a precognitive warning of danger and it's not really based off empathy. He doesn't think. Maybe if someone else is in danger? Can he sense when someone else is in danger? He doesn't think that's how it works but he can test it sometime there it not a volcano ready to flood everything with lava.

"I can't." Peter shakes his head. "N-not when I can't-" He might be able to sleep if he gets high up enough or far enough away from the volcano. "It-it feels like-like I need to get away b-but there's no where to go."

"We could turn you upside-down until you pass out," Tony suggested, because, really, it was a mechanical problem they were solving, the sleep mechanism, and his mouth did twist apologetically for considering torture techniques that probably weren't very effective on Spidey anyway. Tony had seen him hang upside-down through an entire episode of CSI. Peter did not have to point this out for Tony to start shaking his head, never mind, and try instead, "How about this, we put you to work. I've got a very important job going on here anyway, and it could use an expert consultant. This animal is turning out to be a very counterproductive hire." He nodded toward the mothcat, still rolling indulgently in the middle of the mass of blankets that tangled and sloped down toward it from where they hung off of the scattered furniture. "You work this out, and I'll go check out the volcano, let you know what it looks like out there."

Peter just makes a weird face at the suggestion because he's pretty sure Tony knows he spends more time then is probably advised upside down. Sometimes, it helps but not today.

"You... want me to help build a blanket fort?" He can do that. He thinks, he might just randomly be a little shaky and jump at small noises but he's pretty sure he can handle a blanket fort.

"You can if you want. I-I don't know that you're gonna see anything. I mean, I think there are probably ways to measure how much pressure's building up, right? That's something we should check?"

"Sure, I can do that," Tony promised, not yet confident in how exactly he would accomplish this measurement but very good at pretending otherwise. "Pressure, check. Anything else you want me to look out for? Souvenirs? You know what, you think of anything, you know where to reach me." He had already moved to take Peter's shoulder and gently guide him toward his distraction-task, which Tony hoped he would be taking seriously because otherwise Tony would be giving him another reason to be sensing danger. "When the kid comes back, just, be careful with her, okay? She just lost somebody. You both could help each other out here."

"I-I don't know." Peter admits. "I mean.. I know some stuff about volcanoes but with all due respect Tony, I don't really run into a lot of volcanoes in Queens." He knows there are volcanoes in the US but nowhere near NYC.

At the mention of someone having lost someone though, his expression softens. He knows better than most how much loss can really hurt. Especially if you're a kid. "Yeah..." He nods.

"I'll do what I can."

The boy comes in and Tae, busy in her own work, barely even looks up at first. But the second Peter starts to stutter... That has her actually getting to her feet to look at the youth.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm-" His initial response is to assure her he's fine but he wouldn't be here if he was. He just hates admitting that he's anything less than fine. Instead he swallows and shakes his head.

"I uh.. I have this uh-it's um-it's basic-basically like a danger sense." He explains. "And-and it won't stop."

Danger sense? Well, that had to be unpleasant.

"And this is a point where I'd almost want to ask if anyone had some of the more... 'natural' forms of sedative," she says with a sigh. The kid could probably benefit from the mellow of getting high like that. But for now she's going to have to go into her supplies.

"Do you have any other medical conditions I should be aware of? Ones that could affect dosages? Oh, I'll need your weight to calculate that."

It's not usually so bad. It tells him he's about to get hit by a car or shot or something and he can get out of the way and it calms down. This though, this he can't escape there's nothing to get out of the way of.

He frowns a little at the idea of 'natural' forms of sedation but mostly because he's not so sure he knows what she means by that. Whatever, it's probably not important.

"Um.. I mean I have a enhanced metabolism. I used have asthma really bad but I think the radioactive spider-bite fixed it?"

Enhanced metabolism she's run into here before. But...

"Radioactive spider-bite?"

No, you're going to have to explain that one.

"That doesn't make sense."

"Well, I think so." Peter explains, though now isn't really the time to get into the how and why he has spider powers. Although, maybe he should? It might help later if something happens?

He sucks in a breath, fidgeting nervously by tapping his fingertips together. "Okay.." he breathes. "Just.. I-I got bit by a spider while I was on a fieldtrip. Um-I passed out-actually, I threw up first then I passed out and-and woke up in the ER and then like four days later I could stick to stuff and had super strength."

That's... A lot to process. She takes a deep breath. She doesn't know what to do with it at all.

"Alright then. Let's just... Get a stronger dose of the sedatives."

Daniel, being a kid, doesn't really expect to be told what's going on. See, that's the thing about being young, everyone thinks that you can't handle shit. And they frame it like that is the problem when they can't handle shit themselves. So he knows that the answer might be complete bullshit, but he figures he could ask anyway when he sees Peter being so anxious.

"You okay man? What's going on?"

Peter's pacing the halls at an alarming rate, his hands fidgeting and mind racing as he tries to work out a plan because while the Spider-Sense can't tell him exactly what's wrong it sure can tell him something is wrong and he's guessing it's that suddenly appearing Volcano. That seems pretty doomsday-like to him.

"What?" Peter jolts and then looks to see someone's talking to him. Not just anyone-a kid. Oh man, he did not want to upset a kid right now. "U-uh yeah.. um.. I just... a little anxious. Probably nothing to worry about."

"Anxious about what? Things from home?"

Like he would answer that. He squints, flashing an unamused expression.

"Look, I just wanna know if there is something we should all be worried about."

Peter sucks in a deep breath through his nose and lets it out through his mouth in what is meant to be a very calming way. Unfortunately, he is not feeling any more calm than he was five minutes ago.

"What? No. Well-" Peter pauses to think about it. "Yes. Always. But no." He changes the answer again. "This isn't-I don't know." He finally admits. "I'm pretty sure it's the magically appearing volcano that wasn't there two months ago but there's no way to know for sure. So there's no sense in getting everybody else all panicked."

Daniel curls his nose.

"I see. Well, it's big fucking volcano. If it erupts the ground is gonna shake, right? Like, we would know early enough."

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The Sky is Falling! Or at least that's what it feels like

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Sedatives Are Useful

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I

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