2195/The Burden of Responsibility

The Burden of Responsibility
Date of Scene:	23 June 2020
Location:	Queen of Heaven - Derelict Church
Synopsis:	The Cat and the Spider meet up, share philosophies and contact info.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Felicia Hardy

---

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man found the old church soothing, even with the burned-out structure a ghost of its former self. The White Castle in Brooklyn still serves the special - ten cheeseburger sliders, large fries, large soda.

It's also a good place to think...to ponder...to reflect.
He never expected to have to deal with things like monsters, goblins, trolls, evil sorcerers...human sacrifices...

He suddenly wondered if it was even possible to step away from this. He couldn't in the end...but it was very enticing to pack it in, close the eyes, stick the costume in the closet and...forget.

God, what did he sign up for...?

Felicia Hardy has posed:
Soft as a whisper, quiet as a cat, someone lands on the roof very close by. Dangerously close by. But there's no Spidey Sense, or at least not much of one, and this is confirmed when Black Cat just says, "Hey, Mr. Spider." She's crouching with hands between her feet, but she slowly moves to just sit next to him, normally. "Or...maybe just Spidey. You feel more like a Spidey."

She leans forward a little, into his field of vision more, looking over with warm--maybe even affectionate?--eyes.

Cue the Aerith theme.

"...Are you okay?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man blinks, nearly dropping the cardboard sleeve with the slider in it. He pauses, looking at the Black Cat, then looks back to his food.

"...Spidey works. I feel more like a Spidey tonight." He brings the slider up to his mouth, and she can see the mask is just over his nose, allowing him to eat in a method other than osmosis.

"So...no police to confound? Taking the night off?"

Felicia Hardy has posed:
"Maybe."

She kicks her legs a couple times over the edge of the church roof. "Maybe I came to tend a secret flower garden and you're trespassing." She looks over with a tilt and crane of her head, showing off her black choker with a silver ring. "Or maybe I saw a lonely spider eating hamburgers by himself and thought he could use a hug."

Black Cat swings her legs up, spins around to face him, and sits with her arms around her knees. "I could have been Deathstroke the Terminator, you know. You didn't even try to defend yourself." She frowns just a bit, betraying a hint of worry.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey smiles sadly. "I would have known if you were. I have a little radar in my head about that sort of thing."

He finishes off the slider, then sips some soda. "I appreciate your concern. I'm just...dealing with something right now. Something that's about a 9.9995 on the Scary Scale, and I am not sure what I can do about it."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
Tilting her head, Black Cat thinks on that. "Well..." She frowns and considers him. "You know..."

She sighs. There's a thousand really good arguments she could throw out there. But they are really good arguments for *her*. "You don't...have to do it all yourself."

She's still facing him, knees up, and she's still frowning. "I mean, you're eating sliders. From *White Castle*. You don't get paid. You don't have support, from what I can tell." She nods at his chest, "Nice suit, but something tells me you don't have access to a fabrication lab *or* a Suit Specialist."

She hunkers down a bit, planting her chin on her knees. Her cleavage strenuously disapproves of this movement, and it offers a spectacular view, but she's clearly sulking a bit in sympathy. "Maybe leave this super big scary to the specialists this time?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey chuckles. "Leave it to the experts? Cat, I'm working WITH the expert on this..."

He takes another sip, then sets the cup down.

"If I tell you, that means you could get mixed up in it. You can tell me not to tell you...you can choose to stay out of it. That's up to you." He takes another breath. "And it's more choice than I ever had in this. I couldn't look away."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
Black Cat gives him a long, neutral stare before suddenly shifting around again. She's on her knees. "But you can look away now." Her clear blue eyes stare at him from behind her black mask. "If it's big, evil, and scary, let someone like Thor or Superman handle it. You're a friendly crime-stopping webslinger, right?"

She tilts forward onto hands and knees, looking up at him with a very catlike expression of worry. "So...stop some crime. Sling some webs." She frowns more, "You don't have to throw yourself at every threat that comes your way."

Peter Parker has posed:
He almost tells her. He almost tells her about Uncle Ben. About Leah. About all the others. But he can't. Not yet.
But there is something he can tell her about...

"...Have you...heard about the old story about the guy on the beach, throwing starfish into the ocean?"

Felicia Hardy has posed:
The cat slinks forward and sits right next to him. "Nope." She leans her shoulder against his, looking over at him, "But a guy throwing starfish into the ocean probably isn't planning on tackling something big, horrible, and awful with wrist-mounted web-shooters."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey smiles wryly.

"One man goes walking on the beach in the morning. He sees thousands of starfish, washed up on the sand. And he knows that, in a few hours, when the sun gets high enough, it's going to cook them all where they are."

"Then he sees another man on the beach, and this other guy, he's picking up these starfish and throwing them out to sea, where they'll be safe. And the first guy calls out to him, "You're never going to save them all, buddy! So it's not going to matter!"

"And the second guy, he picks up another starfish, looks at it, then throws it out into the ocean. He points to where it landed, and said, '...mattered to THAT one.'"

He sits back, looking up at the stars. "There are two young women who go to Cornell Tech who were going to get served up as human sacrifices a week ago. Today, they headed home to their families until the fall." He looked to the Black Cat.

"...mattered to them."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
Felicia Hardy suddenly tilts her head. "So it *is* magical."

Apparently she was fishing for that. She narrows her eyes at him. "...I don't suppose you have an email address, do you?" She purrs at him, grinning suddenly. "...Or a phone number?" She keeps her eyes on him for a moment longer, indicating that, yes, she's serious. "I need to ask you a few questions, but I don't know what those questions are yet."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man looks at her, then looks around. "Do you have a phone handy? I can send you my contact info."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
Felicia Hardy sweeps her hand along her forearm, revealing a small StarkPhone OS interface of all things. She taps, brings up her contacts, makes a new entry for Spidey<3 and holds out her arm for him.

At an angle intentionally making it awkward for him to enter anything without getting close to her.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man points at the phone, and the new contact suddenly populates with information. "There. Dial that number, and you can reach me. It's tied into the Spider-Comm system."

Yeah, it has Spider in the name, but what ELSE was he going to call it?

Felicia Hardy has posed:
Black Cat stares at her phone in mild horror. "...So much for StarkPhone OS." She sounds actually slightly horrified at how easy that was. "You didn't even hack into it!" Closing the phone interface with a sweep of her hand back down, and cradling her arm protectively, she watches him very warily for a moment.

But then she blinks, tilts her head, and smirks a little. "I guess you could have just downloaded my entire contacts list, huh?" She smiles more, friendly and warm. "...Glad we're friends."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man chuckles. "Using the basic tech that smartphones use to share data with the app. Don't worry, I only SENT information."

He takes a deep breath, then says, "Well...this has the makings of an interesting friendship."

Felicia Hardy has posed:
The Black Cat flashes him a wink, "Maybe very interesting."