9504/While Aunt May's Away...

While Aunt May's Away...
Date of Scene:	07 January 2022
Location:	Basement - 20 Ingram Street - Queens
Synopsis:	Cindy and Peter eat well before braving the wilds of Manhattan during dangerous times.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Cindy Moon

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Peter Parker has posed:
The word from Spider-Comm was short and to the point.

<Any Spiders wanting to meet beyond Manhattan can come to 20 Ingram Street. The back yard has cover, and the door is under the heavy bag on the deck in the back yard. (If you can't lift the panel, knock twice.) Come as you are. The lady of the house left for Florida yesterday. Topics include the Disaster Movie currently going on.>

A pause, then another message. <Have snacks.>

Cindy Moon has posed:
<You had me at snacks,> Cindy replies. Probably too quickly. She must not have much going on. Then again, it's hard to when the end of the world is dropping in your backyard. <Be there in, like, twenty.>

Precisely twenty five minutes later, the door hatch opens, letting in a cold January draft, before it closes. An instant later, Cindy descends. She's dressed for the weather in a brown, knee length winter coat, fluffy looking bright red hat (with earflaps!) and matching mittens, leggings and comfy looking Ugg-style boots.

"Hi Peter!" She chirps as she comes into view. "I'm here for snacks. ... And to talk about the End of Days thing going on out there."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter has a few books laid out on the table, and the computer has no less than 15 tabs open. The table at Harry's Hovel has the good stuff: buffalo wings, lemon pepper wings, celery, ranch dressing, chips, salsa, queso dip, and hummus seasoned with red pepper. A cooler filled with ice and sodas, from juice to Mexican Cokes, sits near the entrance to the Hovel.

"Hey there, Cindy..." He smiles slightly. He's kinda glad to see her. She hasn't been around, doing a lot of Her Own Thing, and she's entitled to that. But she showed up, which is pretty cool.

"Load up, get your drink on, and eat hearty." He looked around. "How have you been doing?"

Cindy Moon has posed:
The life of an intern is a difficult one. So much coffee to fetch. So much ... menial work to do. That, plus Solo Spider Stuff means she doesn't have a lot of time right now for hanging out. Life is hard, and given what's going on over in Manhattan right now, it's a lot harder.

She takes off her hat, mittens and coat, revealing a nearly knee-length sweater-dress in a deep green. When the offer is made, she does, in fact, bee-line for the spread, making herself a plate of assorted goodies. She restrains herself from being obscene. Snagging a beverage (Mexican Coke, of course), she finds a place to light.

"I've been alright. Until they evacuated Manhattan. Considering I live there, the past few days have been ... stressful. Work put me up at a hotel, so I at least have a place to sleep, but it's not -mine-, you know?"

She assaults some hummus with a celery stick and crunches it, chewing thoughtfully and swallowing before asking, "How's things in Peter-land? ... That sounds weird. Pete-ville?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter sighs. "Well...let's see. My boss for my work-study job, Mr. Kord...he set up Aunt May at the Marriott Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She accepted, as long as I stayed to keep an eye on the old homestead. She thinks this will be averted, somehow, and that she'll return and then life will get back to...well, whatever passes as normal." He takes a Coke and some of the lemon-pepper wings. "If this gets resolved, somehow...I think I'm finally going to tell Aunt May the truth. The WHOLE truth, and nothing but the truth..."

He smiles crookedly. "I was kinda hoping to see my girlfriend again, but I haven't seen her since before Christmas. I'm getting a little worried...she works in Metropolis, but I hear they're getting a lot of refugees from the Big Apple. Gotham, too."

Cindy Moon has posed:
"I'm glad your aunt isn't around for this," Cindy replies quietly. "I..I don't think it'll just stick to Manhattan, no matter what gets thrown at it. It could spread, and Queens isn't that far away. She's a lot safer down there."

Unless they fail utterly and the world gets ended. They'll all be dead by that point and ... Wow, morbid much, Cindy? She takes a sip of Coke and almost spits it out. "You're gonna tell her about being Spider-Man!?" Her eyes are wide in shock. "She's gonna kill you."

She frowns slightly. Thoughtfully. "She's ... In the Lifestyle too, right?" The emphasis is pretty strong on that word. "She's probably just busy, I'm sure it's fine."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter nods. "I've known for some time that it's not right to keep her in the dark. To lie to her, repeatedly. And there comes a point in time where you realize you've taken the choice away from her. That she has a right to the truth. To be able to make her own choices about it, even though I made mine already. This thing about some of the rumors, about Captial-A Angels being involved..."

He looks to his hands. "...maybe I need to unburden my soul. Repent, and sin no more." He looked to Cindy. "Did I ever tell you I go to church with Aunt May every Sunday?"

Cindy Moon has posed:
Cindy takes a moment to let Peter's words run through her. She understands, but the facts of the matter twist her heart a little. She, after all, doesn't have anyone to tell. Handy in the pragmatic sense, but she can't help but be a little jealous.

"That is not something I knew, Pete. I hope it goes well. ... I hope it's able to go well. This whole mess going on, whatever it is, could kill us all."

That thought just makes her morose again, so she sets to stripping the meat from a buffalo wing to distract herself.

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter nods. "I am not going to push religion on you. Lord knows...heh...people get enough of that. But something Uncle Ben told me...'with great power must come great responsibility'...there's a verse in the bible that says the same thing: 'To whom much is given, much will be required of them.' That's me...and that's you, Cindy. And we just have to keep using our gifts to help people. But I will tell you one thing..."

He noshes on a lemon-pepper wing, then continues, "I think there's hope. The world may have to face this sort of thing at some point, but I don't think this is going to cause it. What we need to do is figure out what we can do about it."

Cindy Moon has posed:
"I appreciate the not being pushy, thing. We never worried about religion in my house. Maybe it's an ethnic thing," she says with a shrug. "But doing your best for the benefit of others was always important."

She leans back a little in her seat. How is her plate empty? When did she clear it?! "I think that's a universal truth. If you can help others, you're obligated to, unless it would cause more harm." She sighs. "And that's the question, isn't it? When does helping cause harm?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter sighed. "We aren't usually asked to make those judgment calls. As Inspector Harry Callahan put it, 'When a naked man is chasing a lady through an alley with a butcher knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross.' It's why we capture them alive. It's our job to stop them, while preserving the evidence a court of law can use to arrest, convict, and punish as the law sees fit."

Cindy Moon has posed:
Peter's quote makes Cindy tilt her head. "That's ... Evocative. I understand the point, though. Still, I worry about it a lot. Whether or not me getting involved in something is going to make things worse rather than better." It's her biggest source of anxiety outside of, you know, her day job.

She shakes her head, sighing. "I shouldn't think like that, though. I have these powers for a reason, and it's to do good."

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter puts his plate down and faces Cindy. "Do the good you can. The rest will just have to take care of itself. But the price of not acting is too high."

He looks back to the drawing table. "I've been trying to extrapolate any information I can on what I've been referring to as 'The Event.' What have you been hearing about it lately...?"

Cindy Moon has posed:
"Depends," she says conspiratorially. "Official channels are calling it an asteroid. I've seen a lot of stuff online about it being literal angels. That's really about it. I don't really have any contacts in SHIELD or anything, so I don't really know any more than that."

She leans forward, squinting one eye and opening the other very wide. "What do -you- know, Mister Parker?!"

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter looked in the direction of Manhattan. "...I think that if the world is going to end, that it won't happen like this. I prefer to have hope that this will be averted." He looked back to Cindy. "And I think we should be alert to see if there is anything we can do to help. Even if it's not our role to stop it ourselves, we have to be strong, be brave, and be alert to help wherever we can."

He takes another sip. "Tonight, I'm going into Manhattan to help whereever I can. Because if something does happen...I'd rather die doing what I'm here to do."

Cindy Moon has posed:
Cindy is quiet. She's a good listener. She also agrees with Peter completely, which she expresses with a nod. "You've got me sold. I'll go with you. Teamwork makes the dream work, after all. If we're lucky, we won't run into anything. If not, I'll make sure you get out."

Oh no, here we go. Right into the sacrifice plays. Dammit, Cindy!

Peter Parker has posed:
Peter smiles. "And I'll watch your back, too." He walks over to the couch. "C'mon...I figure it'll be an hour before things get really hairy out there. Eat up, drink your fill. We're going to be burning a lot of calories." He smirked. "You might want to take a doggie bag. Or is that a Spidey bag? Either way, bring something for the trip."