[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/3MMIxGF.png[/img][/center] [indent][indent][sub][i]Fall 2020[/i] - [I]New York City, New York[/I][/sub][sup][right][color=ed145b][b]Silk #1.1[/b][/color][/right][/sup][/indent][/indent][sub][hr][/sub] -- [color=00aeef]"You'll need to see your tutor about your literature class, Cindy."[/color] Cindy sighed loudly at her mother's comment, though she didn't bother lifting her head from her desk. [color=f26522]"Your mother's right. That B+ is unacceptable considering your education."[/color] Her father added, his tone now laced with that frustrating sternness, but it was the scolding snaps that came after that made Cindy grit her teeth. She hated that, but she didn't bother protesting, knowing exactly what her father wanted. She composed herself and lifted her head to look at her parents projected on their video call. She still felt bitter about her parents taking her brother, leaving her here. Sure Hal-Mae was probably the only family member Cindy could actually stand at the moment, but there was still a feeling of abandonment here. No amount of promotions or prestigious schools should have been an excuse. Nah, [i]fuck[/i] how her parents rationalized it because this was abandonment. [color=f26522]"You're going to see the tutor, right?"[/color] Her father often followed up his strict, authoritarian demands with a condescending question that made it seem like she was her brother. [color=ed145b]"Yes. I know. I will."[/color] Cindy snapped, she felt like she had enough of this weekly called. It was always about school that they wanted to talk about. Never topics such as: [i]What did you do this weekend?[/i], [i]Why don't you make any friends?[/i], or classics like [i]How are you feeling?[/i] Maybe, just once, can she get that question? She was done with this today. [color=ed145b]"Okay. I have to go study. Bye."[/color] Cindy closed the call on her laptop before her parents had a chance to respond, and then she dropped her head onto her desk. Was this all she really had to look forward to anymore? School? Misery clawed at her in the back of her mind, like it was trying to pull her in and consume her whole. She didn't have tears for it anymore, just an emptiness now. Cindy hissed in a frustrated breath, but darted up to her feet and across the room to throw on her oversized hoodie. She was going out to do about the only thing she felt made her special. She just had to convince her grandmother to let her out, first. --- Cindy took a steep breath of the outside air and let the sounds of Chinatown fill her ears. She took a glance behind her at her building, the blue lighted sign [i]Nowon Restaurant[/i] was beginning to lose that homely feeling. It was her grandfather's place before he passed. Hal-Mae sold it on the conditions she be allowed to keep her apartment and all that. This place use to be home growing up here but now, it was beginning to feel like the other buildings. Her grandmother was always such a gentle person, and that's why she was so great compared to her parents. There was a part of her that felt bad for lying about going out to meet a friend or get dinner, but she wasn't very good to talk to. She'd just always take her parents' side, no matter the complaint. In a way, Cindy felt like this was a way to get even if she could just be excused to go out, right? With her hood drawn up, she made her way through the peddlers and people making her way east towards the waterfront of East River. On the way, she picked up a skewer of pork and scarfed it down quickly. That way she wasn't [i]exactly[/i] lying to Hal-Mae about going out. She pressed on, her destination taking her well out of Chinatown. She'd eventually make it to where she wanted to go. A vacant waterfront warehouse. It took a bit of patience to get in without anyone noticing, considering she had to conspicuously hop a fence, but after that it was easy. She just had to get to the roof on a two story building. Easy. Cindy moved around to the side of the building and glanced up the vertical wall face before her. There was no ladder, exterior placements to climb off, it was just a smooth vertical wall. Cindy approached, reaching up to smack the wall with her right hand letting it stick firmly as she pulled her entire body up. Her left then reached out and gripped above her right, and so on. She scaled up to the roof using her wall-climbing ability without any issue. She turned and sat on the edge of the building, looking out across the river towards Brooklyn. It was here that she always thought of Spider-Man just before entering her little practice ground for her spider powers. Why did she have them? She speculated maybe he gave them to her somehow, or maybe they were related! Her long-lost brother that her parents destroyed any evidence of existing so Cindy wouldn't follow. She wanted a chance to ask him one day, maybe to help him, too. One day, if she ever worked up the courage to just throw her old life away. If she could. She doubted that she was hero material, believing someone like Spider-Man was a flawless person. Probably had great parents, too. Well if he wasn't related to her. Time to get to work. She had a whole warehouse to herself to fling webs, climb walls, and leap around. It was nice to cut loose. Her parents would have killed her if they ever find out, but she was doing it the right way. Nobody had to know, after all. Well, maybe Spider-Man but who knows what he was doing right now.