10746/You Scream, We Scream

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You Scream, We Scream
Date of Scene: 12 April 2022
Location: Harbor Road and Post Road
Synopsis: A bond is struck between Crush and Mania (and Andi) over ice cream.
Cast of Characters: Andi Benton, Xiomara Rojas




Andi Benton has posed:
A Happy Harbor evening, a cool one at that. Breezy, enough of a chill that some people put on an extra layer of clothing, move along at a bit of a faster pace.

Not so in Andi's case, or rather, Mania's. With the bond, the symbiote 'out,' things like a cold snap don't bother her all that much. She is on her way toward Sweet Dreams, which puts her in the vicinity of Happy Harbor High School. Some of the buildings are lower, making them less convenient to web-swing past, but traversing rooftops isn't much of a problem.

There is a pause as the inky black figure stares toward the campus. Not so long ago, she was briefly a student there. That was just before everything changed.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
It was likely that Crush was supposed to be in her dorm room. It was a school night, and although she was nineteen, she lived in the dorms and lived by the rules that that brought... sort of. It was easy enough to open her window and climb out, though getting through the window was often a little bit of a challenge. Big teenager, smallish window.

Free of the confines of the dorm, she headed out through the deeper shadows toward the street and from there... Sweet Dreams. The Czarnian didn't have to eat, it wasn't a requirement, but that didn't stop her from /loving/ ice cream.

So it was tonight, as Mania stared toward the campus that she witnessed the six foot six, pale skinned and red eyed half-Czarnian making her way toward the ice cream place. Crush was dressed in pretty average clothing, not her usual ring fighting gear. A pair of red BDUs, tucked into black leather Doc Martin boots that laced up to her knees. A white tank top covered her chest and over that a plain leather jacket. The only thing odd about her attire was the long, thick black leather chain with a hook at one end wrapped around her waist.

Andi Benton has posed:
Solid white, exaggerated eyes squint at the sighting of one Crush sneaking off from the dorms. Andi never stayed in them. There was always the apartment with her father. As more of a loner, it suited her not having to share a room with anybody else, or be stuck dealing with awkward socialization when she didn't want it.

Besides, a six and a half foot tall teenager built practically like a tank? That makes it hard to skulk about. Things being the way they are, attention immediately sticks on the girl exiting the campus.

<<Mania>> Who is that? Do you know her, Andi?
<<Andi>> Just someone I remember from school. We didn't talk much, but she had good style.

Mania starts up following Crush, hopping quietly from one rooftop to the next. The ice cream place isn't far away, and the symbiote is more than aware of this.

<<Mania>> We are getting all of the chocolate?
<<Andi>> We have to leave some for others.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Crush has just one thing in mind tonight and that's ice cream. She's already deciding what she wants on top as she crosses the street to head down the block to the building. Being the size she is, with the disposition she has, she rarely bothers to look around at others who might be around. The last few times that she did ended up in street fights due to some comment offered about the way she looks, it was a point she was still working on... how not to be a mean bitch to people who couldn't keep their mouths shut. The rule of not hitting anyone at school to be allowed to live there was the only way there was a roof over her head, so she was keeping her head down and attempting to not start anything.

Andi Benton has posed:
There is really just one question: how to get the attention of the other one. Crush never met Mania, but there were surely some questions about Andi no-showing the end of the last school year when she was a student. It was no real secret that there was nothing special about her. Something happened, and all faculty would share was that she was safe.

It ends up being the direct approach. Mania gains some momentum with a webline that sticks to a street light, swinging on ahead to drop down into an alley before she steps around the side of it to lean casually against the wall along the sidewalk. "That chain is pretty punk," she remarks, the voice a mixture of female and alien, making her sound a little like she's speaking in stereo. No visible nose or mouth, however. Lots of spiky bits, and 'hair' that is rather exaggerated. Chunky footwear of a sort add a few inches in height to a figure that is barely over five feet tall, normally. Arms are crossed, claws visible at the tip of each digit.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Apparently ice cream would have to wait.

For a singular moment Crush considered just ignoring the person, but then she actually looked up and... holy shit. Most people would spend their lives hoping (or dreading) to meet an alien, or super hero, or whatever it was that Mania actually was. Social media rarely offered full information, just a video here or there, a comment about 'how cool is that?' as the being swung by in a blurred video from building to building, yet here she was. Clearly a she now that she wasn't a blurry video.

Realizing who it was brought the half-Czarnian to a stop, one brow lifting up high on her forehead. The comment was simple enough, not an insult, actually some what kind. Obelus rarely cared one way or the other about comments, but Crush did... and that one was actually alright.

"She likes to be out in the open," she comments, eyes looking Mania over. Nope, couldn't be some sort of fake costume... this was the real deal. "Adds a flare to the attire most just don't get."

Andi Benton has posed:
Everyone's got social media these days, it seems. Even spider-based vigilantes, and we're not talking just Spider-Man himself. As it happens, a lot of the comments left by Mania do come from the Spider-Fail stuff, and not many of them are flattering to the web-slinging wall-crawler.

So, yes. Mania has a presence online as well, even if postings are not /that/ common. The symbiote doesn't really understand the point, and Andi trying to explain it hasn't done much to change that.

The eyes take to squinting. "She?" comes the question, one that might not be unexpected. If anyone could understand the significance behind it..well, just try her. "We saw you coming from the school. You are after ice cream, too?" The head tilts in open curiosity.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Crush absently runs her hand along the chain at her waist, a nervous habit she has when attempting to be social. She'd learned a lot of things from her adoptive parents, numerous things on the streets, and her education at Happy Harbor was filling in a lot of holes. Social skills however, those were lacking. She'd never learned the social niceties, but she had been trying.

"Yeah, she," she pops back before crossing her thick arms across her broad chest. "Looks like a chain, but she's a lot more then that..." she pauses there for a moment, canting her head as she studies Mania.

"I was headed to Sweet Dreams for ice cream," she then says, changing the subject back to what she was actually after. "You headed for ice cream as well?"

Andi Benton has posed:
Holding her position, Mania at least attempts to look bored with life, above it all. Eyes glance back toward the chain, slight movement in that direction being a giveaway, but the size and shape remains about the same. "Some people call stuff of theirs 'she,' so." Shoulders roll in a shrug. All the same, it causes questions to linger, ones that remain held in for now.

If Mania is on the diminutive side, Crush makes up for it in the opposite direction with room to spare. The mostly dark figure would have to get a bit higher to see eye-to-eye with her. "Oh, yes. We were going to have the chocolate, but you..might draw less attention than us." Yet there is nobody else with her. Odd?

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Crush isn't ready to offer up anything more about Obelus right now. Most who knew her story, how she arrived to earth, who raised her, etc. already knew about the chain and what it meant to the teen, but those people were trusted. Crush didn't know much about Mania, if anything really, so there was absolutely no trust, not yet.

The reference to 'we' does raise Crushes brow again, but she doesn't start looking around just yet, mostly because she was chuckling darkly over the idea of her large, pale white, clearly alienness drawing less attention. "Really? You think /I'd/ draw less attention?" She snorts with a laugh. "I mean you might stand out a little, given the lack of the mouth and all, but really you aren't all that much different in looks than some costumed hero."

Andi Benton has posed:
Everyone has secrets to keep. That's what makes them secrets. Not explaining everything is natural, especially with..some people.

Mania guides away from the wall, her arms unfolding. The spidery insignia at chest and back is more clearly visible now, whereas before there were merely hints of it. "We have been there before, but not like this. Have you been there before?" This is a pointed question she must expect a particular answer to, and the lack of facial giveaways can be made up for the more expressive eyes, one lifting in expectation, the other squinting further.

Added, "We are Mania. Maybe you have seen us around, busting bad guys?"

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Now it's more obvious that Mania would and will stand out like fireworks in the night sky, Crush ahs softly and nods. She should have remembered that tell-tale emblem, but honestly some things just slip the mind and that was one of them.

"Sure, I've been to Sweet Dreams a few times," she answers with a slight shrug. "Usually in the day time though, so who knows how this night time server will react." At that, a smirking grin plays over her lips for a moment, like the idea of the server reacting in any way other than serving ice cream amuses the large teen.

"I've seen your social media," she then says, clearing her throat to get the grin off her face. "Seen a few videos, watched you in half blur kicking some ass... nice to meet you face to face Mania," she extends her large hand toward the being. "I'm Crush."

Andi Benton has posed:
"Then you should go inside, unless you do not think we would send anyone fleeing," Mania states, and they end up closer to each other by the time the hand is offered. "Sometimes they run, screaming. We find it amusing, especially when they leave their food behind. Since we do not want it to go to waste..." There is another shrug.

"We do use social media..sometimes. And yes, we remember you from the school." Which may be odd, as there was never any sign of 'Mania' there at all. The hand is met, and the half-Czarnian might note it feels different than the material of a costume ought to. Feels more like actual skin, or something else that's organic in nature. "Because you crush things?"

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Another shrug is offered in response to the last question about crushing things, but Crush finds herself keeping hold of Mania's hand a little longer than a simple shake. She had been expecting a glove texture, not skin, so she was reasoning out why it was skin while still holding Mania's hand.

"It's the name I choose for myself," she finally says when she realizes that she's still holding Mania's hand, and then lets go. "Have no other name that matters... and yeah, I can go in first if you want," she grins. "Or we can go in together. If they run, they run, free ice cream, right?"

The mention of remembering her at school isn't missed, but it is tucked away in her mind. No reason to go blurting out questions at this exact moment, and there were a few over that comment. For now she would just remember it being said, then approach it another time, if another time presented itself.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania's head angles down toward Crush's hand, like it's feeling out the textures of whatever hers is. It's still a hand, but it has those natural-looking claws..or perhaps unnatural..and the feel is just a bit different. The thumb is felt to press back slightly before the hands release.

"We would not say no to free ice cream," she states. "And that's a badass name. Crush. Like you crush your enemies." With the same hand, a gesture is made toward the shop. "You can go in, or we both can. We could look more normal, but..." There is a pause to this.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Crush waves off the comment about looking more normal with a calm, "Fuck that, be you." then opens the door and strides into the ice cream parlor.

The first of note for the large teen is the choices of ice cream, and the number of ways a person can have them. The second thing of note is the couple in the corner, staring, with melting ice cream dripping off their spoons. And finally, the last thing of note, the young lady behind the counter doesn't seem to be phased by the half-Czarnian. The bright, cheerful and welcoming smile remains on her face as she offers up a perky, "Welcome to Sweet Dreams."

Andi Benton has posed:
"Fine." With a shrug, Mania heads over and inside, a couple steps behind Crush. If the half-Czarnian got some stares from the pair off in the corner, Mania gets an equal amount if not more. The eyes, the relative lack of a face behind that 'mask,' the whole deal with the spider symbol...yep. That's a sight.

Some of the ice cream slips off a spoon and splats on the floor, at which point Mania turns in their direction and states dryly, "In the mouth. It goes in the mouth, not on the floor. You are wasting perfectly good chocolate. Do not do it again."

Then, the lady at the counter, trying to pull off a Stepford Wives vibe or something, turns attention toward the one with Crush and gasps. "It's..Mania, right? Yeah! You helped rescue my kitty from the tree last week, remember? Even though he, um, peed all over me, has been hiding under the bed since then, and he scratched me up? See, look. Almost healed!" She holds up her arms, showing a few band-aids and such.

Mania rubs the back of her neck. "Uh, yeah. You're welcome, again. We guess your cat does not like us much. Soooo, we are here for the chocolate."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Crush can't help but smirk a little at Mania's comment to the waste of ice cream, and yet there is a nagging in the back of her head that screamed the odd woman... thing, would actually do something if more ice cream was wasted. That same part wanted to see what would happen, but she's supposed to be being nice...er.

"Rocky Road and Chocolate Bliss, in a waffle cone," she says as she looks back to the Stepford Server. Only then realizing that they were talking about a cat.

"You uh... rescued a cat?" she asks, rubbing at the back of her neck and trying to pretend she actually cared.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania turns attention back to the two in the corner, and they hastily go back to scarfing down their ice cream, while at the same time packing up with similar speed. "Hmph," is what is heard from the strange creature.

"Mint chocolate, chocolate chip cookie dough, plain chocolate chip, plain chocolate, chocolate sprinkles, extra fudge..and a large waffle cone. Make it two just like that," Mania adds, ticking off the choices one claw at a time.

Without breaking stride, she nods to Crush. "Yes, we did. And we did not eat it, either. We like kitties. They are very cute."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Crushes left eye twitches slightly, very slightly, over the announcement that 'kitties are very cute'. She hadn't expected the black alien... person to like cats, then again she hadn't really thought much about it until that moment. Perhaps she was projecting her own 'no fucks given' about cats, dogs, birds, etc. on the alien person.

"Well..." she says slowly, tilting her head a little. "Given it was her pet," she jerks a thumb toward the server. "probably good you didn't eat it. Would of made the whole 'rescue' thing a moot point if you did... and woulda ended up on Instagram."

Andi Benton has posed:
The counter girl's smile wavers at the thought of her cat being eaten. Maybe it's a good thing indeed that Mania finds cats to be a good thing. As if sensing this discomfort budding in the poor girl, she reaches out with one of those strangely-textured hands to touch the young woman on the arm. "Do not worry. Your cat is a fierce fighter. You should be proud. Now, our ice cream, please. We have the money." It is produced in the other hand, as if from nowhere...or somewhere unclear.

The couple at the table are busy sneaking out, and without looking their way, Mania calls over, "You did not waste any more! Very good!"

White eyes appear to beam at Crush. "Yes, it would have. Did you want to eat here, or somewhere else?"

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Watching the couple attempting to sneak out, while another was preparing to come in and arrived just in time for Mania's announcement, Crush snorts a small laugh. Ice cream and a show.

"Let's go some place else," she answers after a moment, then looks back to Mania. "Give the poor lady here some peace as well as that couple there, rethinking ice cream tonight."

Even as she was talking, she pulled a ten dollar bill from her pocket and laid it on the counter. No way was she letting a stranger by her ice cream, even if that stranger was the really fucking creepy and cool Mania.

Andi Benton has posed:
"Keep the change," Mania tells the lady, taking up the treats in one hand, which easily shifts to hold them in a way that isn't quite natural for a typical hand. The fingers curl around them just so.

She strides toward the exit and peers at the next couple that hesitates with the idea of going inside. "Go ahead. We have what we came for." Again, the eyes beam.

Once outside, she nudges at Crush with the opposite elbow, nodding in the direction of a nearby rooftop. "Up there? Up there." She sends a line of webbing out to stick to a light post, swinging her way along to land softly up top. Nary a sprinkle nor drop of chocolate sauce is lost.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Crush pauses a moment to look at the couple. "You're good," is all she offers before continuing out of the ice cream shop and onto the sidewalk. Mania was a hoot, that much was obvious.

Glancing up at the chosen location, one brow lifts but she's already working out the logistics as Mania announces that to be the place. She watches the alien spit out webs and swing her way to the roof, then a grins plays across her face. It has been a long while since she got to do this, but she already knew she was skilled enough to pull it off.

Build tension in the body and legs, lower slightly then spring and she launched herself into the air in a super leap that brought her down on the rooftop Mania has chosen, the cone in her hand still perfectly fine.

"Good choice," she offers with a grin, then licks the ice cream.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania squints at Crush as she lands, enough of a thump to it that shows she weighs more than she appears. Perhaps very dense bone structure? "Nobody should bother us here," she states with a shrug, shifting one cone to her free hand as the fingers of the other one turn normal again. If one didn't know any better, it looked like they became some kind of tendrils to wrap around both cones.

That little detail might be forgotten by the next one: a line forming at the location of her mouth, splitting the spot in two as a multitude of long, sharp teeth are revealed along with a slick tongue that is snakelike in appearance.

There is a grin. "Watch this." The first cone is tossed up, Mania hovering under it as if trying to track the path of something small like an M&M. Then, she chomps down around it and swallows. "Mmm. One bite."

Up next, she lifts that same hand to her head and stumbles back a couple steps before she steadies herself half against an HVAC unit, half against Crush's side. "Brain..freeze...ohhh." There is a shiver, but also a blissful expression that can be seen.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Despite her size and weight, Crushes landing is still graceful and careful. She made sure to find a secure spot to land, so no damage to the building's roof would occur. It wasn't her first rodeo, and she had in fact gone through a few roofs in her time.

A single moment to show that Crush actually /did/ care about people. As Mania experiences brain freeze and stumbles, the large teen steps right over to keep her standing, wrapping one arm around her, no thought behind it, it just happened. There was a nice person in there after all, she just kept it locked up apparently.

"Press your tongue to the roof of your mouth," she advises, trying not to laugh at the alien person with brain freeze... she didn't even know that was possible. "Neat trick, but uh... the point of ice cream is to savor it."

She finally starts chuckling a little as she adds, "Maybe savor the next one?"

Andi Benton has posed:
"We..are," Mania says a little unsteadily, but the arm in place does do a good job of keeping everything steady. The eyes show even more of her current state, one larger and more slanted than the other before it all evens out again after a few more seconds. "Oooh. There. Better. That was a nice jump you did."

At the suggestion of taking more time to savor the second cone, she comments, "And we plan to. The first one was for us."

Here, things happen. The face starts to peel away, becoming less defined and more like tendrils drawing back until they tuck away down around the neck. Left behind? Purple hair. Multiple piercings. The head and face of a former student at Happy Harbor. "The second one is for me," Andi Benton says, licking it in a much more conventional way while watching Xiomara closely.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Admittedly, Crush had seen a lot of strange things in her life. That however, just shot right up to the list to /the/ strangest, but also at the same time, the most amazing. Mania was a living entity separate from this young lady with purple hair, and yet they shared the same space, same body. Crush might not look like a smart cookie, but she was in fact borderline genius and working out that Mania and purple hair were symbiotic took her all of thirty seconds.

This all was accompanied by the fact that the larger teen still had her arm around purple hair, even as she stood there and licked her ice cream. That's about the time that recognition started to set in and Crushes eyes widen slightly.

"I know you," she blurts out, only 40 seconds from Mania revealing Andi's face, and that is also when she realizes she is still holding onto the women and let's go. "Uh... Andi, right? You went to Happy Harbor... holy... wow, okay that is... too many words, I get Maddie's problem now." Andi probably had no idea who Maddie was, but Crush was trying to form a complete sentence.

"So Mania is a symbiote? Is that why you stopped going to school?" She finally asks, her real level of intelligence showing through.

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton was not exactly shying away from the arm around her, and if Crush is looking closely, the area around the neck sort of absorbs the excess part of Mania that drew back, so now it looks more like a bodysuit without a hood or mask, still holding the same appearance and texture otherwise. Andi's features and proportions are the way they ought to be, so there's no one-bite consumption of this cone. "We..ah, Mania /loves/ chocolate. I mean, so do I, but there's this thing about it."

She studies Xio after this, looking up at the young woman who is roughly a foot and a half taller than she is, waiting, waiting, waiting...and there it is. "Yeah, that's me. And who's Maddie?"

A pierced brow arches higher afterward. "You know what symbiotes are? We..met and, yeah, bonded, but we were in no frame of mind to go back to school and deal with all that shit. I talked to the principal, so the teachers knew. I just finished up my tests and stuff so I could get my diploma. I had to make up an excuse for dad, because he.."

She grimaces between licks. "He got caught up in some things he still doesn't understand, and I haven't been able to tell him everything yet. I think if I do, it'll just put him in danger because he's going to ask too many questions about things he doesn't need to know too much about." She looks and sounds frustrated about this. "He's taken care of me for years by himself, and there's a part of me that doesn't want to hide this from him, but..fuck, you know? I didn't mean to just start going in on all of this. You probably don't even care."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Since there's no real shying away, Crush keeps her arm around Andi, though not as tight as it was. Less holding her up and more arm just there.

"Maddie is part of the glee squad, least that's what I call her and Irie," she snorts. "Couple of kids from the school, really perky and happy types. Irie's a speedster, fastest girl in the world she says. Maddie's a Jedi, no... I didn't ask."

She takes another lick of her ice cream, before just plopping down on her butt on the roof, figuring Andi will join her if she wants.

"I understand the concept behind a symbiotic relationship," she then says, cracking her neck a little and stretching her long legs out. "Made the most sense for what I saw just now, the way Mania withdrew into you. Don't fully understand all the little things, but the general over all state I get. One can't survive without the other."

She looks up at Andi and offers a hint of a smile. "Gotta be tough, having your world turned upside down like that." She wasn't going to go into how her world had been turned upside down, inside out, and shattered not that long ago, it was the past and she'd taken care of it.

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton glances toward Xio before she eases herself down to sit as well. With the symbiote 'suit,' or skin, she has a sleek appearance to her. Plus, the call to the spidery side. "Oh. Sounds like people I wouldn't have hung out with," she comments, though during her brief time at the school, she wasn't known to hang out with anybody. One of the loners. "I'm not surprised, though. Some of the people there, let's be serious. It's not that easy to hide the fact they're different." She gestures to Xio as if to prove the point.

"But I didn't go digging around for answers. I didn't care that much. I just wanted to finish up school and move on to other shit. Anyway." Yes, she squinted at Xio over the 'Jedi' thing, shrugging between licks and bites of the ice cream and cone.

She explains, "I remembered you, though. You looked pretty badass. And that's..kind of what it is. They need the bond to have purpose, but they have a mind of their own, too. Mania..really likes cats. Heh. But a lot of animals get freaked out by all this. And, me? By now, I can't think of not having this. It makes shit a lot more interesting."

Just a nod about the world turning upside down and all that, and she admits, "It's hard, sometimes. But we're never alone, you know? Always someone to talk to."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
The ice cream in Crushes hand is slowly disappearing, getting down to the waffle cone which leads to a crunch.

"I'm hard to forget," she states, not being cocky about it at the moment, just simple facts. "I've been in an out of the school, because I got troubles not punching things. On my last chance, and really I don't hang out with them, they just sort of... are there. Met em while hanging out on the football field, too nice and chipper though, and even trying to be mean didn't work."

Shifting her eyes she looks up at the sky as if expecting something to be there. "Good thing you got people to talk to," she finally says after a short silence. "Hear that's important for some people to have that. MacIntyre is trying, thinks the school's a good thing for me, but I don't really fit in there, or anywhere for that matter."

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton reaches out for a rock someone had thrown up on the roof at some point. It's about five feet away, so the arm, hand, and fingers simply elongate in order to do it. Then, she flings it off into the distance, across a few other buildings before the sound of glass breaking can be heard, followed by an angry shout. "Oops?" she says to Xio, but she neither looks nor sounds very apologetic.

"Yeah, you look like you could play, uh, whatever big people play in football or basketball. I don't really follow sports. People would be idiots to fuck with you, though," Andi explains, a snort following the 'being mean' part. "Why am I not surprised they didn't get the hint?"

Clearing her throat, she begins to point out, "I didn't mean--" Only, the symbiote bubbles to the surface in the form of creating a slightly disembodied, mini caricature of Mania's face, complete with the spiky 'hair,' the eyes, and a cartoonishly toothy mouth. "Andi meant we talk. About things. Like how you are very interesting for understanding what we are. And that was good chocolate." It then disappears back into the shoulder area, leaving Andi to offer a half-smile. "So..that happened. And, yeah. We don't really fit in either. But we go out and deal with bad guys, so that's something."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Crushes eyes follow the rock until she is unable to see it, but she can hear it strike glass and a brow raises. There were times that she considered vandalism, and times when a fight ended up with accidental property damage, but to watch Mania just break a window, for now reason, it brought a smirk to her face.

"Window piss you off?" she questions with a soft snort.

"Can't be on the football team," she shrugs, changing subjects off the vandalism. "Humans can't handle me, and there aren't any teams with metahumans and the like to play against. Doesn't matter though, sports suck."

Finishing off her ice cream, she stretches her back a little then looks back to Andi. "So you two talk to each other, which means essentially you're never alone... that can be both good and bad," she sighs a little, trying to imagine what that would be like. "What I don't get... why deal with bad guys? What lead you to that over something else?"

Andi Benton has posed:
"Wasn't aiming at it," Andi says, shaking her head. Just blind luck. Or maybe, a little extra aim by Mania? Sometimes she can't even be sure. The guy down there is still shouting at what he's going to do when he finds the so-and-so that broke his window, until someone else tells him to please be quiet, but in a very New Yorker kind of way, which leads to the two of them discussing the virtues of each other's mothers in bed.

Andi just rolls her eyes, then agrees. "Hell yeah, sports suck." A high-five is offered.

Around the same time, she chomps down on the last bit of waffle cone, licking her lips in the end. "It's more good than bad, but you're right. And..Spider-Man helped save us, and our sire. I mean, dad. Mania has some weird ways of talking about things. So we decided to help keep others safe. Anyway, speaking of dad, he's gonna be wondering where I am. Maybe you should come by our place sometime when he's at work. I don't think he'd be ready to meet you yet. He's pretty, you know, basic."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
It wasn't intentional, it was more a case of not thinking, which is what often happened when Crush was distracted. She returns that high five with /way/ too much strength, which knocks Andi's hand back hard enough to possibily knock the teen over. Crush saw the hand and reacted, no thought... perhaps she should considering thinking in the future?

"Shit," she exclaims. "Sorry, sorry... gotta remember can't do that!"

While mentally screaming at herself for maybe hurting Andi, she adds, "Always forget to pull my strength, s'why I avoid touching people most often... uh, your apartment? Maybe..."

She liked Andi, she liked Mania, but going to someone's personal space was just asking for trouble. She broke furniture without meaning to, rammed her head into things, and of course knocked over cute teenagers with a high-five.

Andi Benton has posed:
There is an 'Oof!' and a stumble backward, but it's almost as if Andi or Mania was prepared for something like that. At least, in the sense of reacting quickly enough that she gets her balance under her and the symbiote helps compensate.

Andi squints, then shakes her head in amusement. "It's fine. It takes more than that to hurt us now." At that point, the rest of Mania crawls back up, over, and around Andi's head, leaving the more anonymous appearance once more. "We can tell you are tough. And do not worry. We can always find a safer place if you want to talk again soon." She leaves it in Crush's hands to decide, but the invitation is there.

Maybe it would be good to make a new friend, someone who is actually a completely separate entity. "We will give you our number. We use different phones to help keep this more secret."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Crush fishes into her jacket pocket to get out her phone, so Mania or Andi can put their numbers in it.

"Just not sure about being in your personal space, I mean with your father and all, even if he's not there. I could likely break something without meaning to, happens all the time," she says with a sigh. Humans and the things they owned were so fragile. "I'm glad I didn't hurt you though."

She seems to fidget a little, like she's torn between things in her own mind. "I won't go spreading your secret around, not my place, and no one to really tell about it anyway... but I'll call you on a weekend, maybe... try visiting."

Andi Benton has posed:
"We will tell our..father to lose some weight, or do a better job repairing things," Mania says, and with that number exchanged, she adds, "We will also put this in our other phone later. Yes, some secrets are important to keep, but we decided you could be trusted."

With that, and a nod to the possible visit upcoming, she waggles those clawed fingers again, then gets a wicked look to the eyes. Another rock is picked up and sent off in a similar direction as the first, only this time it breaks a window of the other person shouting. Once that is done, she swings off into the night, courtesy of those weblines, before a third person gets into the act of shouting.