SILK.

"I know your biscuits are different but it just looks weird, mate." Hobie looked at the substance again. American Gravy didn't seem to look right. "Why's it grey?" a beat "it's like a bird's gone and shat on your plate." was that insulting? "No offense." he added.

Cindy was mid-chew when she just had to pause to look back up at the other man sitting across from her. "Uh... 'scuse me?" She paused to glance down at her food again before furrowing her brows. "Well what does gravy look like where you're from?"

From underneath her mask, Cindy's mouth upticked to a smile mixed with confusion and amusement as she tilted her head at the red-suited man before her. "Look man, I don't want any trouble. I think I've had enough of it to last me a lifetime these past few weeks. Besides, your whole thing is messing with Spider-Man, isn't it? Not Silk."

"Oh, no! I think dogs are great! What's his name?" Cindy paused, barely resisting the urge to just reach out and touch him. "Can I pet him? Or is he working?"

"Well, do you want any recommendations anyways? I might be able to help, unless this reality's New York is drastically different. You may as well enjoy your time here if it's gonna be forced anyways."

"Look, my first rule of multiversal travel is that you don't know anything. Just eat some pizza and don't lose your mind. We'll figure it out."

"Pizza is great and all, but I don't think I can stomach it right now. All of this is so nerve wracking."

"You can ask as many questions as you'd like, but I can't promise answers. I can, however, offer tea. Let's start small."

"I'm not even sure where to begin with the questions, so tea sounds good. Tea sounds great." Reaching up to rake her hand through her hair, Cindy let out a soft sigh. "This is really bad, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna stop you there. We can't exactly sue the multiverse. Unless you can point me in the direction of an actual person or entity, we're shit outta luck right now."

"Last I heard, Doctor Strange from your universe might be behind all of this. Not to throw anyone under the bus."

"Actually, I wouldn't recommend getting any closer. Goose is..." Carol glanced towards the Flerken. "Not actually a cat. There's enough going on without bringing tentacles into the mix."

"... like, real tentacles? He sure looks like a cat to me."

"Can we start over? Please? It's been a weird day. Well, week. Things are just weird right now overall."

"Sure, I'm Silk. And you must be the mini Hawkeye from Earth-199999."

"I feel like everyone's talking about you know what, but I'm really pulling a blank here."

For the first time since she'd found herself in whatever reality they'd wound up in, Cindy lowered her mask at the sight of Gwen and let out a soft sigh of relief. "And to think I thought we'd seen it all. How've you been holding up?"

"We should all be far more concerned that proven methods of multiversal travel are not working right now. I haven't been able to open up a portal since I arrived— that's never happened before."

Cindy was fully suited up, and even if this guy seemed to be another spider, she still didn't lower her mask. If anything, after seeing him the other night at the meeting, she almost wished she had a full mask on her suit. He was a little intimidating, and she didn't want him to see that in her eyes. "And what kind of multiversal travel do you use, exactly? I didn't even know that was a thing."

"Maybe this is really messed up to say but— this reality seems better than the one I came from. It's so similar but it just- it feels lighter. I dunno, does that make any sense?" Peter immediately felt guilty saying that out loud, especially when there was still a possibility that they were all here because of something he did.

It was kind of adorable, seeing a little Peter. Cindy hadn't exactly talked to her Peter in awhile, but she didn't remember him sounding this worn down. It made her wonder what kind of stuff this kid had to deal with back on his own reality. "Yeah, that makes sense. I hope this isn't weird, but you don't need the mask around me if you wanna take it off."

"I used to think I was unoriginal for being a clone and now I just feel unoriginal being spider-man."

Cindy adjusted her mask with a raise of her brow at the costumed man in front of her, shrugging softly. "You don't have to lean into the similarities if you don't want to. Maybe you're a clone, but you're still your own person."

BAE SUZY FOR ELLE KOREA ↳ january 2024 issue