3985/Spider-Silk

Spider-Silk
Date of Scene:	31 October 2020
Location:	Brooklyn
Synopsis:	Silk and Spidey touch base on the new players in town...and other things, too.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Cindy Moon

---

Peter Parker has posed:
He does have his habits.
When setting up a place to meet, it's the old familiar places, ones that mean something. When he was younger, Uncle Ben would take him here all the time. After the Spider-Bite, he helped save the daughter of the owner from a bunch of thugs.
He always loved the food here.
After enough visits, the owner cleared off a patch of rooftop for Spidey to eat without customers doing things like ask for an autograph (or throw soda on him).

With all the recent developments he has discovered, he felt the others should know. So, after arriving at the White Castle roof, he sent a comm-wide message.

<New information. Come to the White Castle in Brooklyn for food and a Spidey-meeting. Meet on the roof. Hope to see you there.>

Cindy Moon has posed:
Cindy's been chomping at the bit of late. It's been too quiet, too boring. Just...something's been itching. And an opportunity to catch up with Spider-Man...Yeah. She swings in, in full costume, and flips through the air as she releases her web, landing lightly on the opposite side of the roof. "Hey there!" She crouches in her landing. "You bring food?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man looks to her and...yeah, there it is...that PULL.
In some ways, it doesn't awaken the Irish Catholic Guilt. It had been three days since Mary Jane had come to him, telling him of her wonderful opportunity...and that she wished he could come with her, but understood why he couldn't. So he didn't feel that little...frisson of shame.

But she was also a competent young woman who needed to be treated with respect. Which was why he slipped a pill under his tongue. It was a mild sedative, with the added bonus of deadening his sense of smell, so he hoped it would keep him from acting like a lovestruck GOOBER around her.

"Hello, Silk. Yes, I ordered the regular sliders...I wasn't sure if you had a preference or how hungry you were, so I ordered enough for three. What would you like to drink?"

Cindy Moon has posed:
Cindy doesn't know that, of course. If she did, she might be playing this a little different. SHE, on the other hand, doesn't have the benefit of a sedative. Or a full face mask. She pulls down her red half-mask, and looks over at Peter. "Are there three coming? Or...is it just us?"

She tries not to let any possible eagerness at that possibility color her voice. She's almost successful. "Um. Whatever you brought is fine." Her eyes are watching him, not the food. She shifts her position just a bit.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man looks around. "No others have responded. so yeah, just us." He walked over to a hatch, then opened it and looked down. "Uhm, two cherry Cokes with that order, please, Vicky? Thanks."
He closed the hatch, then looked back to Silk. "The order should come up soon." He walked over to the cleared patch of roof, freshly-swept and bare except for two brick platforms meant to buttress an air vent and a heat-exchanger, respectively. "Settle in, Silk. Big things are happening."

Cindy Moon has posed:
Silk grins as she looks at Spider-Man. "Wow. You just...they know you're up here and everything, huh?" She watches, and then moves over towards the open spot on the ceiling. "That smells delicious."

The food smells good too.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man chuckles. "A year ago, Vicky, the daughter of the owner, ran afoul of some of the Billionaire Boyz. Escorted her home. Her family was grateful. They give me a discount. And they have a deal they call the Spider-Man Special. Ten regular sliders, large fries, large drink. Ten bucks." He looks to Silk. "Free chili dogs, discounted food. Not the key to the city, but you can't eat a key when you've just run through all of Manhattan, can you?"

Cindy Moon has posed:
Cindy looks amused at the deal. "So, do you eat an entire Spider-Man Special all by yourself?" She'll move to get the food that's set aside for her. "Sorry. Sorry. Big things. Yes. I'm focusing. This is me focusing." She looks over, taking the food and then retreating...err, taking up her position to listen.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man nods. "Right...okay." He takes a deep breath before lifting the mask to above his nose, then took a bite of the slider.

It tasted like a down pillow, but in a way that was comforting.

"Okay. There are some major players that have appeared in New York. I'll run them down by order of discovery...

"The first one is the KINGPIN. Don't know the real name, not yet. But he is moving in a BIG way. I watched a big deal go down, stopped it in its tracks...and then the principals were escorted off by cops who acted as if they deferred to them. So he either has access to police material to mimic cops...or he has cops on the payroll. I'm not sure which is scarier."

Cindy Moon has posed:
Silk frowns. "Either one is bad. But if the guy's literally going by the name "Kingpin", I'm gonna go out on a limb and say he's got cops on the payroll. It's not like this would be the first time New York's had a problem with crooked cops."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey sighs. "Yeah...but dod gammit, I was hoping." He sighs.

"Okay. Next. Another criminal mastermind. Someone calling himself the Owl. He's shaping up to be as wise and as watchful as his namesake, so keep an ear out for this guy. There's also some criminal organization called Parliament. But...I get the feeling they are not friends. Either he used to be with them and got kicked out...or they've been enemies for some time. I am trying to get confirmation on that."

Cindy Moon has posed:
    Silk considers. "Owl sounds like someone's trying to go more in the mastermind vein. With the whole "wise, seeing owl". The Tootsie-Roll thing." She nods again, though, accepting it.

"This guy just have normal goons, as opposed to cops on his payroll?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey nods, then smiles as a young woman comes up through the creaky hatch with a tray holding two large cherry Cokes. After he hands a $20 to her, he takes the drinks and gives one to Cindy before sitting down again.

"Looks like it. But no idea how well-trained they are. I get the feeling we're up against some very smart cookies, and they ain't gonna crumble easily." He sips his Coke and smiles. He can actually taste some of it.

Cindy Moon has posed:
Silk yelps, and reaches down, yanking the red face mask up over her face, as the girl comes up. She snatches the Coke, looking a little embarassed. "Could have WARNED me!!" Her face is almost but not quite as red as her mask itself. "Right. Cookies." She looks over. "Thanks."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man looked to her...and then his exposed cheeks flushed.
Yes, he could have. He should have. But the pill was wearing off faster and he had been so intent on getting this imparted to her and...

His cheeks burned with embarrassment. "I'm...sorry, Silk. I usually listen for the creak of the hatch. I should have warned you. I'm sorry."

He said he was sorry twice. Well, that fit, he felt twice as sorry.

Cindy Moon has posed:
Silk nods. "It's late. It's kind of dark. She probably didn't see anything." She says it as much to convince herself as anything else.

"So. Kingpin. Owl. Umm...anything else?" She's still red, and it's still showing on her face. She tries to take a bite of her slider. Through the face mask.

Yeah. A little flustered.

Peter Parker has posed:
"And Parliament. I'll have everything I have in the Spider-Comm database, so check it frequently, and add your own notes if you come across anything. Remember...no fact is more important than any other fact."

He looks down and sees he's already eaten four sliders, and he was doing most of the talking.

Take a breath...

"So, Silk...that's all the official stuff out of the way. I was wondering how you've been doing."

Cindy Moon has posed:
"I'll give it a check. I mean, you told me. But I'll check it. Read it. And if I find anything else out, I'll add it." She tugs the mask down, baring her face again to take a bite of her slider WITHOUT the cloth in the way. "So far, been busy focusing on the whole "making money, paying rent" kind of thing. How about you? I mean, in the not-Spider-Man-y kind of way?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man looks thoughtful, pursing his lips. "Well...I started college. Fall classes are going well, although in many ways it's like High School - The Sequel." He sips his cherry Coke, then says, "I...had to say goodbye to my girlfriend. She had a good shot at a great opportunity, and...and I couldn't stand in the way of that." He rubs the lower part of his face. "She needed me to let her go, so she could be the person she was meant to be. And I cared too much for her to make her stay."

Cindy Moon has posed:
Silk freezes in place. "I...what? Wait, what?" As if she's not sure that her brain just processed that correctly. SHE hasn't had the benefit of a sedative this whole time. "You /broke up/ and you only just now mentioned it?! Talk about burying the lede."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey had the good grace to look sheepish. "I...well, I didn't want you to think that I called you here just to...sheesh, I can't even say it. I wanted to share some important information, and...well I thought that opening with saying I'm single again would have been like some...some kind of emotional blackmail." He rubs the back of his neck. "I...well, it felt like a cruddy thing to do, to consider opening like that. Like some sham of a pickup line. Am I...am I making any sense, or am I confusing you? I think I'm confusing myself."

Cindy Moon has posed:
"You're...making some sense." Silk admits. "But not a lot of sense. I mean, I've been sitting here all night trying not to let this...thing distract me from everything else. And mostly failing."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man nods. "And I've been trying to...deal with it as well." He hurriedly downs another slider. "But that's...biology. And you seem far too...COMPLETE of a young woman to interact with you solely for biology. I'd like to know the person, first. After that...we can see if the biology either makes things better or makes things worse."

Cindy Moon has posed:
"Yeah. But...I mean, look. I'm not Miss Super Chemistry or anything here. But...there's a biological component to attraction, right? I'm not saying we have to be slaves to biology or anything. But is it something that we just...completely ignore?" She stands up, leaving the meal behind. "Maybe...we should try the getting-to-know-the-person part? I mean..."

She leaves it unsaid, but it's the elephant in the room. /Now that Mary Jane isn't around./

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man stands as Silk does. It's automatic, you stand when the person you are talking to stands.
He takes another deep breath. "I'd...like that, Silk. At the very least, I think we need to stop avoiding each other. I'm willing to try if you are. Each of us showing the other who they are as a person."

Cindy Moon has posed:
Silk takes a few steps closer. Not all the way over, but enough that she crosses about half the distance. "So...what's our first step on this? I mean...coffee? Movie? We can't just be social...like this." She gestures to her costume, and to his. "Unless we're going out to some kind of cosplay contest."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man nods. "Yeah, I don't think Comic-Con is for a few months yet. Maybe someplace that we can both feel comfortable? There's this place, Belvedere Castle in Central Park. My uncle...he used to take me there when I was a kid. We can meet there...out of uniform...?"

Cindy Moon has posed:
"Sounds good." She agrees. Maybe a bit too quickly, but she does agree. "Thanks...for the food. And everything." She seems to still be a bit flustered. "Hit me up, on the comms...with a time and place?" The few steps she had taken, she steps back to reestablish the distance.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man nods. "I'll send a private message, we can see what works." He nods to her. "You're welcome, Silk. Listen...take care of yourself, okay? It's getting more dangerous all the time."

Cindy Moon has posed:
    Silk gives a nod. "You too." Stupid! He's /Spider-Man/. You don't need to tell him to be careful. He's a pro! She gives another nod, then realizes how stupid that must look. "Talktoyousoonbye!" She manages, before leaping off the roof, and thwiping out a line to catch onto a nearby building, swinging off into the night.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man watched her go.

*...getting more dangerous all the time.*

Yeah. In more ways than one.