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[doctopoda]

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AUDIO

[discrepantly]

Otto, Harry is here. [ if he sounds a little shaky and panicked, kindly ignore it. ] Not-- Not my Harry, but another version of him. I-- His version of me-- [ he trails off, then sucks in a breath. ] And Harry's sick.

[doctopoda]

He's sick? [Sure, he can ignore it - this is more important. Otto knows it must be something serious, if Norman's calling in a panic, but -] Sick how?

audio;

[nepotis]

[ It takes Harry a few days, after storming away from the conversation with the man calling himself Norman Osborn in the lobby of the hotel. A few days holing up in his room, ordering room service and hiding from the rest of the world as he watches the tremor in his right hand get worse and worse.

He'd wanted to help him, this other Norman. And he didn't seem like he was lying about it. But it's hard for Harry to imagine opening himself up to any version of his father.

So, he doesn't reach out to Norman. He reaches out to the man Norman had told him to talk to. The man who he already knows knew another version of himself.

He thinks about doing this over text, but his hand is shaking too much to type anything right, and autocorrect can only do so much. ]

Dr. Octavius? It's Harry. Can... Can I ask you something?

[doctopoda]

Harry! I'm glad to hear from you.

[And Otto truly is! He's wanted to speak to the boy again for a couple of days, ever since Norman told him that he was ill and needed help. He'd just been trying to find him in person; call him old-fashioned, but he does prefer face-to-face conversations, especially for things which might become...fraught.]

Yes, of course. What is it?

action

[discrepantly]

[ guess who's knockin' on your door just after midnight, otto? it's quiet, though, since norman figures there's an off-chance ya might actually be sleeping. (fat chance.) ]

[doctopoda]

[Sleep? Never met 'er!

Otto's not even pretending, at this point. He's just sitting up in bed and mindlessly looking at things on his phone. Here in the privacy of his own room, at least, he doesn't hesitate to just reach over with an actuator to peer through the peephole - though really, who else would be coming to see him?]

Come on in.

[He unlocks the door with that actuator, and fishes for a shirt with another. In the past, he wouldn't have been bothered by being shirtless around Norman, but...well, the scarring's new and it is ugly.]

Sometime after Kaiju event

[portolan]

How about that dinner?

[doctopoda]

Oh, that sounds nice!
What are you thinking? I'll eat anything, I'm not picky.

action;

[tinglesense]

[ It's easy enough to find Otto at home one afternoon. Peter is careful to make sure that other Peter isn't home for this particular discussion, since he has no idea how it's going to go and it would be awkward to defend this kind of choice to his other self. Maybe. Probably? He'll talk to younger Pete about it later.

For now, he has a pot of coffee made and calls out to Otto when he comes into the dining room. ]

Hey, um. I wanna bounce something off you if you have a few minutes.

[doctopoda]

Oh?

[Otto wasn't up to anything particularly important. Even if he were, he'd make the time. And - oh, the boy's even made coffee. Makes it seem like this might be a heavier conversation, so...yep, he'll take a cup.]

Yes, of course. What is it?

text; un: osborntobeking

[nepotis]

I guess you've probably heard that they're issuing one-way tickets back to our home universes.

I'm going to go.

So I guess this is goodbye.

[doctopoda]

[Ah.

This isn't terribly unexpected. Otto's already had a few other conversations to this effect. Still - it's a little sad, isn't it?]

Of course. I'm sorry to see to you go, but I imagine most people will be.

Are you going to be alright there?

text!

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

HEY GUESS WHAT I'M BACK!!

also! did not fail my midterms because they hadn't happened yet, which is a bonus!

[doctopoda]

Doreen! Wonderful to hear from you again!
Good news about the midterms.
Have you taken them now?

UN: Venom

[frenchkissed]

HELLO, DOCTOR.
IT IS TIME AGAIN FOR THE SEASON OF GIVING.
WHEREIN YOU MUST GIVE AND GIVE UNTIL YOU CAN GIVE NO MORE.

( venom, please stop being ominous. )

YOU MUST GIVE TO HUVRYE!

GIVE HIM YOUR HEART!
YOUR SOUL!!

....SO LONG AS IT IS WORTH UNDER $50.

[An Unsigned Christmas Gift]

[atypical_echo]

[The gift is delivered via a Guild Courier. Inside is one of the knockoff action figures of Otto, repainted to look like him and with an extra tentacle glued to it so there are a full four. It's not in its packaging, because it is instead with a professionally done calendar of photos of the figure in little 'action scenes' with it saving other action figures, or having other adventures.

There is no card or explanation.]

[doctopoda]

[LOL WHAT

Otto definitely laughs over this, but the total lack of origin is sort of odd. He'd have thought it was from David, but he already got gifts from David...? Nonetheless, in the house it goes! This seems like an absurd level of effort if someone were just trying to sneak a bug in here or something - and he's more worried about things like that happening to Peter than himself anyway - so it's probably fine!]

[Christmas Gifts]

[helpdesk_hero]

[Left outside of his door in shiny metallic paper. There is a collection of joke gifts, being matching bow ties for Otto and all of the actuators. Because David's classy like that.

The second gift is clearly more intentionally serious. There is a pair of what looks like black sunglasses with dark green lenses. The note with them explains their AR interface and how to link them to systems like his guild issued phone. Nothing like a HUD, right?]

Secret Santa! Dec. 25th!

[frenchkissed]

( sitting on otto's step is an oddly shaped, haphazardly wrapped oblong package. it's got some weight to it, and when otto comes to unwrap it he'll find a set of nice-looking golf clubs with the note:

Might be a weird gift, but you remind me of my old man in a lot of ways. The good parts of him. What few good parts of him there were. And my dad loved golfing. So... golf clubs.

If you don't like them, it's cool. We got the receipt around here somewhere.

But golf is surprisingly fun with the right people. Give it a try, man. You might be surprised.

[doctopoda]

[Otto is a regular guy from New York! He has literally never golfed once in his entire life!

But this note is touching, if slightly concerning in the way that an awful lot of people around here concern him. It makes him feel too bad to text Eddie asking for a gift receipt. So, maybe he'll just attempt golf one of these days? Or maybe he'll hit someone with a golf club. He doesn't typically need an improvised weapon, considering his whole deal, but you never know!]

Thank you for the clubs, Eddie. I appreciate it.

12/25

[nerdylilspidey]

[Peter will be leaving this card somewhere easy for Otto to find.]

Merry Christmas, Otto!
I still feel like I don't thank you enough for basically taking me in, so... Thanks for everything. You're the best :)
- Peter (the younger one, haha)

[doctopoda]

[That is so sweet???]

Peter, you hardly need to thank me more for taking you in! I wasn't going to leave you on the street - and you deserve for things to be easier, here.

[He's learned that all the Spider-Men seem to have it sort of rought. Plus...Peter deserves better from some Otto Octavius or another. But he doesn't mention that part; no need to drag any of that ugly history into it.]

text - after de-age

[portolan]

I have it on good authority you were incredibly kind to a very scared boy doing his best to pretend he was fine.

Thank you.

[doctopoda]

Oh, thank god, are you all finally getting back to normal?

[That is wonderful to hear! Otto's been a bit stressed this entire time; by now, the kids are at least all sorted out and safe, but anything affecting peoples' state of mind, in any way, is bound to bother him.]

Don't sweat it. I'm sure you'd have done the same for me.

[text] (Post De-Aging Event)

[helpdesk_hero]

I'm sorry for how the kid was.

[doctopoda]

Is that any way to talk about your past self?

Don't worry about it. Kid had a good head on his shoulders.

[Frankly, Otto always thought David's initial reaction to meeting him (you're not that bad! he was a superhero for a little bit!) was far stranger!]

TEXT

[nerdylilspidey]

Hey Doc, if a humanoid turtle contacts you out of the blue, don't be alarmed. His name's Donnie, and he's just looking for info on how this place works with all the multiverse shenanigans, and being able to visit home and stuff. I know you were compiling info on that kind of stuff yourself at some point, so I thought you could at least give him a nice starting point.

Sorry if that's not cool. You can totally just send him to someone else if you don't wanna deal with it.

[doctopoda]

It's not a problem at all! Happy to help.

[.....]

He's a humanoid turtle?

[Text]

[purplexing]

So I have it on... one person's authority that you're The Guy to talk to about multiverse issues, this Confluence nonsense, and the whole going home deal.

[There's maybe a minute or two before he figures maybe add something in.]

The name's Donnie, btw. Not sure if Spider-guy mentioned me, but maybe I should have led in with that.

[doctopoda]

No worries, he did.

Now, I wouldn't call myself an expert. This is a field of study that didn't even exist in my world.
But I did put together a basic compilation of this universe's current scientific literature on the subject after I arrived. That's what I shared with him.

I'm happy to answer any questions, and I can also send that along if you'd like.

[it's all sort of dense if you don't have a scientific background, though, and he really knows nothing about you other than the turtle thing]

[portolan]

Well this just keeps getting odder, doesn't it? How are you holding up over there?

[doctopoda]

Oh, you know. Still stuck in the house. Getting ready for my new boss to transfer me to the Instagram mines.

How are you?

[Text]

[purplexing]

Hey Dr. Octavius

So much for fun work trip excursions huh?

Should've probably checked in earlier. How're things on your end? I know the general situation and political climate in relation to Starfallen has been...less than favorable lately.