Don't worry about it. I don’t know what I'd do, if...something like that happened.
[He already knows there's even worse versions of him out there. What happened to Rosie, in those worlds? It doesn’t bear thinking about - better to focus on what needs doing here. Which is, per usual, bearing bad news.]
Norman... [A sigh, while he removes his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose on the other end of the line.] I'm sorry. I hate to bring this up now. But I don't want you to be surprised. I've run into several people today who recognized me as a...serious problem from their universe. There's a fourth Spider-man around, pretty sure he wanted to throw me off the roof...
[Suffice it to say, Otto has not been having a particularly great twenty-four hours! That's why he wanted to warn Norman ahead of time. At least one of them shouldn't be blindsided.]
I doubt any of them will approach you like that. They knew me by the actuators. But...you should know.
[ norman's marriage wasn't particularly good. he married because it was part of the dream he thought he wanted-- a successful business, a wife and children, fame and fortune. emily had given him harry, though, and if nothing else, he'll always be grateful to her for that. but otto-- otto and rosie had been perfect together. they'd had a marriage that rivaled some fairy tales, and he can't imagine what losing her must have been like. if some other version of her arrived here the way another version of harry has.. the pain would be greater than many people would be able to handle.
he doesn't know what to say to that. would it be a good thing even with the pain involved?
he's saved from trying to formulate a response as otto speaks up again. another peter parker? here? he's not sure what it says that they're all arriving in this place now. perhaps the spell had gone wrong somehow. ]
No, thank you for telling me. I'm only sorry that it's so difficult for you to blend in. [ they're both trying to repair some of the damage they've done, and yes, peter has every right to be wary, but it does mean that otto doesn't truly have an opportunity to form a first impression unrelated to his villainous persona. ] You weren't injured, were you?
No, nothing like that. I think he was more afraid of me than anything else.
[Of course it hadn't felt good, to watch a version of the boy flee from him. But Otto knows it must have been well-deserved. All of it. When he'd first arrived here, in a world completely unlike any he knew, he'd thought perhaps he might have a chance to actually get out from under the shadow of what he'd done. That second chance the young Peter fought so hard to buy for all of them.
But, no. Maybe he didn't deserve to just have that slate wiped clean.]
It doesn't matter. [He sounds very tired.] I wasn't exactly going to blend in anyway.
no subject
[He already knows there's even worse versions of him out there. What happened to Rosie, in those worlds? It doesn’t bear thinking about - better to focus on what needs doing here. Which is, per usual, bearing bad news.]
Norman... [A sigh, while he removes his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose on the other end of the line.] I'm sorry. I hate to bring this up now. But I don't want you to be surprised. I've run into several people today who recognized me as a...serious problem from their universe. There's a fourth Spider-man around, pretty sure he wanted to throw me off the roof...
[Suffice it to say, Otto has not been having a particularly great twenty-four hours! That's why he wanted to warn Norman ahead of time. At least one of them shouldn't be blindsided.]
I doubt any of them will approach you like that. They knew me by the actuators. But...you should know.
no subject
he doesn't know what to say to that. would it be a good thing even with the pain involved?
he's saved from trying to formulate a response as otto speaks up again. another peter parker? here? he's not sure what it says that they're all arriving in this place now. perhaps the spell had gone wrong somehow. ]
No, thank you for telling me. I'm only sorry that it's so difficult for you to blend in. [ they're both trying to repair some of the damage they've done, and yes, peter has every right to be wary, but it does mean that otto doesn't truly have an opportunity to form a first impression unrelated to his villainous persona. ] You weren't injured, were you?
no subject
[Of course it hadn't felt good, to watch a version of the boy flee from him. But Otto knows it must have been well-deserved. All of it. When he'd first arrived here, in a world completely unlike any he knew, he'd thought perhaps he might have a chance to actually get out from under the shadow of what he'd done. That second chance the young Peter fought so hard to buy for all of them.
But, no. Maybe he didn't deserve to just have that slate wiped clean.]
It doesn't matter. [He sounds very tired.] I wasn't exactly going to blend in anyway.