13451/Reconnecting with 'Family'

Reconnecting with 'Family'
Date of Scene:	27 November 2022
Location:	Chelsea
Synopsis:	Venom reaches out to Mania and they meet at the site of their first encounter. A rather contentious conversation follows, showing lingering differences.
Cast of Characters:	Andi Benton, Eddie Brock

---

Andi Benton has posed:
A couple days after the incident in the park, and Andi was still running the whole thing over in her mind. It was very fortunate that she'd taken to carrying some chocolate on her at all times. Naloxone is a common injection for addicts going through the effects of a drug overdose, and while it's not exactly the same thing to feed chocolate to a symbiote and host experiencing what happened the other day, the end result is not that far off: bringing someone back from the brink of something far worse.

Mania itself was not especially chatty about the whole thing, but both symbiote and bond knew what they dealt with could have gone much worse. The involvement of the Avengers was another factor. They helped protect civilians, but the direct approach to dealing with Venom hadn't gone that well. It ended..all right. No more deaths, at least not in the park. Beyond that? She didn't hear of anything.

At home in her bedroom at night, Andi was scrolling through things on her phone when a message popped up on the other phone. Yes, she had one for herself, and one she used for Mania-related things. It was important to keep a separation in place, and she'd even learned to schedule certain things to auto-post on one account or the other to further blur the lines in case anybody was on to her secret identity.

Scooping up the 'Maniaphone,' she thumbed over to the message. It was a cryptic one, from an account she'd never seen before, mentioning something about the place overlooking where they first met for some fine dining. "God, I wish he'd stop calling himself my uncle," she muttered once figuring the note out. Yes, she remembered. Empire Diner. South Midtown Manhattan. More specifically, a rooftop adjacent to a nearby alley.

At the location not long afterward, Mania waited. She was the first one there, or so it seemed. Arms crossed, expression hidden behind the featureless 'mask,' eyes narrowed. She struck the image of a costumed lover of goth and punk, with the spikes and all that. A foot tap-tap-tapped as she rested her backside against a metal box for the HVAC unit the building had.

Eddie Brock has posed:
?   <<Eddie>> "This is dumb, Venom. Can't we just talk to them normally?"

   <<Venom>> "Shut up Eddie. I want see if we can scare them!"

As their guest(s) stood waiting in the rooftop, something stirred behind them. It was as if the roof beneath their feet began to rise up, in the shape of a large humanoid. A shadow loomed over Mania from behind, and perhaps her senses had already detected it as soon as it began to rise.

Slowly, the figure's colours began to shift, darkening into an familiar inky black substance as two white eyes opened in the head, followed by a large toothy maw shaped into a rictus grin. "We were wondering when you'd show up." Venom said, looking down at his fellow symbiote.

Andi Benton has posed:
Sure enough, it was who they thought it was. But before that, a warning was given.

<<Mania>> Behind us, Andi. He is trying to scare us.
<<Andi>> Hm? Oh, yeah. I can see the shadow growing. Guess he's in a good mood.

Perhaps to be kind, Mania turns around in time to see the eyes and that shaped mouth, and she feigns some sort of fear response by taking a couple steps backward, hands going up as if to protect. "Eek. We are /so/ scared right now." The answer is anything but frightened, loaded with so much sarcasm as to be dripping with it.

Eyes sweep the location. They're high enough up that nobody from street level should be able to see them where they are. Arms cross once more, the look of disaffected, defiant youth. "You want to tell us what happened the other day? You are lucky we were in the area."

Eddie Brock has posed:
Briefly, Venom's smile grew wider, before falling briefly into a snarl as she spoke. With an indignant grunt, he stood straighter and raised his chin, crossing his arms.

   <<Eddie>> "I told you it wouldn't work"

   <<Venom>> "I said shut up!"

   <<Eddie>> "Can we talk normally now?"

"Fine." The symbiote spat out, before turning once more to face his smaller counterpart. When made the question, both Eddie's and Venom's shoulders fell, although for different reasons. He stepped back slightly before speaking.

"We bit off a little more than we intended while hunting." Venom growled, regarding her carefully. "Some manling had a few sonic blasts under his sleeves, so we... I, tore off his arms." Venom continued, making sure to outline the distinction.

"But as you can see, we are perfectly fine now!" The large creature exclaimed, raising it's arms as if to show off it's bulging muscles.

   <<Eddie>> "Venom..."

   <<Venom>> "We don't need her, Eddie. We can fix this ourselves!"

Andi Benton has posed:
A year or so back, Andi would have been more intimidated by Venom's displays, his..posturing. That's not to say she isn't now, or that he isn't dangerous - she knows better than anyone else just how dangerous symbiotes can be - but there has been some growth in the time apart.

Mania watches all of this, the exaggerated smile, the snarl, the grunt, his own stance of defiance, and finally an explanation leading into confidence.

"Why is your control so different than ours?" is the question that comes out first. "We..work together. Usually. We listen to each other. It feels like you are always fighting with yourself." Trying to psychoanalyze a symbiote/human bond is not exactly the sensible thing to do, but the question is worth asking.

She adds, "We..have also managed not to handle people that way, or eat them. That is why we have so much chocolate." Just in finishing saying that word, it sounds like a craving is starting up. "Sonic blasts..ugh." There is a faint ripple over her body, as if a show of understanding and sympathy.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Slowly, Venom regarded the woman before itself and her symbiote separatedly, his trademark grin growing slightly before leaning against the HVAC unit in the rooftop, which strained under his weight with a metallic groan.

   <<Venom>> "She's right Eddie. We shouldn't fight so often."

   <<Eddie>> "You know exactly why we fight."

With a sigh, followed by a deep, primal chuckle, Venom crossed his arms. "Our 'control' is not like yours, because there is no control at all. Neither Eddie nor I have the upper hand over each other." The symbiote spoke, almost reminiscing. "We are equals, and we are too distinct from each other."

"Eddie doesn't enjoy killing. I relish it. It's only natural that we occasionally come to blows about." Venom shrugged, before cupping his chin in an enourmous hand and leaning forwards. "As for you... We can't say. Perhaps your personalities aren't so distinct from each other... Or maybe you're not equals." He finished, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Andi Benton has posed:
Those solid white eyes shift toward the metal casing Venom is putting a strain on. Mania wouldn't have even caused it to bend without intending to do so.

His explanation is..enlightening in one sense, yet also not that tough a concept to understand. She'd be lying if she said she didn't have any idea what he was talking about. "We get along. We have limits, things we will not do," she claims. "Like killing. Once you do it, it is easier and easier to do again."

<<Mania>> And there is nothing wrong with that, Andi. Some people deserve it.
<<Andi>> You know what I think about that.
<<Mania>> And you know what we think about that.
<<Andi>> It starts...

"Look, we know there is this..thing about dominance and all that. We do not always agree on everything, but we work together. We are balanced." Are they, really? Easy to say, but when other influences creep in, such as Venom and Eddie giving their perspective...it can fluctuate. Already at least once before, Venom has tried to encourage Mania to be more assertive.

In response to some of this, the spiky portions along Mania's forearms and shins flex slightly, as if agitation is in the body language. "We need each other," the duo states.

Eddie Brock has posed:
"Dominance, yes." Venom muttered, flexing his hands before shaking his head. "Killing comes easily to us. It was one of the first things we had to do after bonding. I'm honestly surprised you've managed to hold out this long, though. We know our kind's instincts are not so easily suppressed." He turned to her with a grin.

"Ours is an strange relationship. We are very different, and sometimes don't even like each other. I still don't get why Eddie is so insistent on 'collateral damage'. Still, we each want something from the other, so we... Tolerate ourselves." He spoke thoughtfully, carefully considering his words for both his host and their company.

"Little concessions, from both of us. Eddie doesn't like eating people, but he allows it so long as I restrain myself. And I don't really care who we eat, so long as we do."

"We are one, after all. We each influence each other." The hulking man-beast said, licking his large canines with a serpentine tongue.

"We suspect killing would come easily to you too, if you let yourself. You might even lose control, given how far you've gone to restrain yourself."

Andi Benton has posed:
"We have not had to kill, but there have been times we wanted to," Mania admits. Venom's visage is a more menacing one than hers, normally. He has no qualms about showing off that mouth, those teeth, that tongue. Mania's default is styled more on Spider-Man's mask. "We know killing people creates other problems we are trying to avoid."

Left unsaid, for now, is the fact Venom's own willingness and eagerness to go to that level makes it more difficult for others like them.

Mania adds, "And we do like each other. We do not want to be apart. You know you could just eat chocolate, or animal..brains, so why do you..?" A hand gestures. They all know what is being asked. Killing and eating people instead.

Mania takes to pacing a few steps side to side, finding being in motion to be more acceptable than standing still. "Why would we want to lose control? There are a lot of things we could do that would be easy. You had two of the Avengers about to take you down if we did not show up. Then what? Where would Venom and Eddie have been?" She pokes at him, suggesting he might have lost without her there to help.

Eddie Brock has posed:
"We would have won that fight!" Venom spoke out, no longer leaning on the HVAC but now standing to his full height. "We would have killed them, eaten them, and been all the better for it!" He hissed, tongue slithering mid air as he hunched down to better look Mania in the eyes.

"You think that you are better than us, but that is not true. You have restrained yourself, pent up so much, that the moment your claws rend flesh and you taste blood for the first time you will snap!" He spat harshly, shoulders rising aggresively. "Your control will break, and you won't be able to stop until you've gorged yourself in the flesh of anyone who crosses your way!" He finished with a deep, guttural growl from the depths of his throat. "Where will -you- be, when that happens?"

   <<Eddie>> "Venom that is enough."

   <<Venom>> "I'M NOT DO-."

   <<Eddie>> "I SAID ENOUGH!"

    <<Venom>> "FINE! HAVE IT YOUR WAY!"

Taking a step back, the symbiote's body began to melt away, revealing the rather disheveled form of Eddie Brock within it. He turned his back to Mania and leaned over the bent piece of metal that he'd been leaning into earlier, breathing deeply as he tried to catch his breath after Venom's tirade. He'd be lying to himself if he didn't say many of his own feelings didn't color his symbiote's argument.

Running a hand through his head, he said: "Look, I... Don't enjoy killing. I never wanted..." He stopped to collect his breath. "I never wanted to have blood in my hands, but I cannot just stop." The man exhaled. His voice was tired.

"Maybe yours is different, but Venom is almost like an animal. He isn't satisfied by just chocolate and shopped meat. He needs to hunt, and if I don't let him, then..." Well. He was sure they both vividly remembered what happened in the park. "I'm trying my best with the cards I've got. If you think you can resist the lure of killing, good for you."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania draws herself up to her full height as Venom looms over her, which isn't all that much compared to his towering frame. They are not just a contrast in how they act, but how they look once you get beyond the basic similarities. "And if you did, if you ate them, what would you do when all of the Avengers and everyone else comes after you? Do you really think you would beat them all on your own? Seriously? You would be captured, experimented on, probably separated from Eddie, and that would be it! There is a difference between being confident and being stupid!"

A moment later, she adds, "And your breath stinks."

She spins away to stalk around the rooftop again, a cover for ensuring they are still alone, unbothered. "We are more controlled because we have to be. We know what what it could be like because have seen it in you." Venom has also seen how it can be with her, with Mania, who tries to slip back in with a little more to think about.

<<Mania>> He is not wrong. You have never known what it is like to truly feed.
<<Andi>> Don't listen to him. He's just trying to make us more like him.
<<Mania>> And are we not trying to make him more like us?
<<Andi>> ..yeah, but it's safer for everyone that way.
<<Mania>> Is it? Does anyone challenge him?

Andi is silent as Venom changes, flowing back inside Eddie to leave the troubled man behind. She watches him at the metal box, and he can't see the frown in her. She matches him a moment later, Mania crawling back away to leave the young woman behind, dressed in her particular style. Andi's expression is now visible, amid her multiple piercings.

"She whispers things to me too, but I keep pushing back. Maybe she could do more, but..it's kind of a push and pull. I think we trust each other, but we test each other a lot too. I have to be stronger, though. If I give in..look, you know what it's like. I didn't see what happened before, but I was right there in the park. That was all Venom. I can't let that happen."

Eddie Brock has posed:
"I've tried. It's not that simple." Eddie sighs, before turning to face her. "I'm not saying we don't get along. We do, most of the time- but there's a fundamental difference in our ways of thinking, and Venom doesn't hesitate to give it his all when he wants us to feed."

"I've tried to fight, and when we do whoever ends up winning tends to just do what he wants. Maybe I would be able to reign him in most of the time, but those times I don't, it'd just be Venom on his own again." He leveled her with a gaze, belatedly remembering that she's supposed to be much younger than him. He'd almost forgotten about that.

A cool breeze washed over the rooftop, the coldness settling in Eddies bones. "At least this way, I can direct him towards the people who deserve it. I'm not like you, and he's not like yours. He would gladly tear a hole in this very roof and murder whoever's underneath us.

"I can't always control him, and he can't always control me, so we have to compromise."

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton takes in a long breath, then lets it out. She doesn't look like the sort to be going around with a symbiote. Does she? Does Eddie? Is there even a type? She doesn't exactly look haunted or on edge, at least.

"Maybe it's true that it's harder once it's already happened. Then it becomes easier to do again," she considers, rubbing the back of her neck. There is a little disembodied head that pokes up from behind a shoulder, an almost cartoonish vision of Mania's head giving a grin at the world around it as it watches.

The woman adds, "Mania doesn't push as much, I guess. We've met a couple others and they've had more tragic things happen. Mom left after I was born, but dad's still around. We try to keep him safe too, but I still haven't figured out how to tell him about all this. It's not an easy secret to keep."

The things he explains about directing Venom where it needs to be sounds troubling, and it shows in her face. The symbiote's eyes can be very emotive, but it doesn't quite replace the whole thing. "So you really don't have an alternative to..killing bad guys?" she asks.

Mania continues to watch.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Eddie smiled slightly at her question, before shaking his head. "I can't lie and say I have no alternative, but I don't think it's a better one." He raised a hand in front of him, and from the wrist another, larger hand formed out of Venom's inky black skin. "I also... Don't want to. The people we hunt are those who deserve it, and if I can make a difference, even if it's in this way..." He trailed, closing his fist as his hand and Venom's merged into one.

Soon enough, the symbiote spread from his arm to his whole body, and Venom stood before them again.

"I would say it's worth it." Eddie's voice said with a huge, toothy smile. Whether it was Venom's or Eddie's, couldn't be known.

"You may be content hiding from your demons, girl." The symbiote spoke, turning his gaze from her to the black face hovering beside her. "But if you don't confront them, eventually they will consume you." He finished, his smile growing wider.

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton keeps her arms crossed, a similar posture to when she was standing there as Mania. "Yeah, you think you're dealing out justice, right?" she asks, and while there isn't exactly disapproval in her voice, there is doubt that lingers.

"Sometimes, they deserve it," says Mania's head, the voice more distinct now from Andi's own. It is ignored by her, and although Venom reforms over and around Eddie, Andi stays the same for the time being. "Resisting it is worth it to me. I'm not hiding from any demons. I told you we get along. Maybe that makes us different. You already gave in to that side. We tried to help before but you didn't even want to hear it. Has anything even changed?"

Both Andi and Mania stare at the bigger form before them. "We don't want to be enemies, but we can't help someone who doesn't want any help." Andi's words. Mania continues to stare, though its expression hints at a curiosity.

Eddie Brock has posed:
"Who said we needed your help?" Venom rumbled, before throaty laughter bellowed out of his mouth. "We're not dealing justice." He settled down, looking down at her with narrowed eyes. "We are no heroes. That's what you want to be. If you oppose us, that is your choice." He continued.

"We don't have to be enemies." He continued. "But we won't change our ways for your sake. If you think we need to be stopped, you are welcome to try." The symbiote finished. "Perhaps we'll see whether your teamwork truly extends into combat." Venom rumbled with a threatening tone, the tendrils across his body acting up in excitement.

"But that will have to wait." He stepped back, tendrils settling down. "We will lay low for now. We drew too much attention to ourselves, and as fun as it sounds, we don't want to have the Avengers come down on our heads."

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton retorts, "Everyone needs a little help sometimes." Whether she remembers if Spider-Man came up between them before or not, or whatever reaction that stirred up, he is not mentioned in front of Venom. As Mania's head dips back out of sight, tendrils flow out and reshape into the 'costumed' vigilante, though her head is left uncovered for the moment.

"We try to protect others. Maybe you do too. Sort of." She hears his stubbornness, a shrug following. "We didn't say we were looking for a fight, but if you're trying to intimidate us..." Now the rest covers Andi's head and face, all Mania left behind. "We are not stupid, but we are not going to be walked on."

A mild sniff follows at the end. "Good. It is about time you listened to some reason." There's some needling, some poking and prodding, but not too far. "Better to let the attention settle down. And you should still try to find different things to eat that are not just..people."

<<Andi>> I can't freaking believe I have to tell someone not to eat people. That's so gross.
<<Mania>> But it is in our nature. Venom is right. If you tried some new things, you might like them.
<<Andi>> That's for stuff like pizza toppings, not people!
<<Mania>> Now that is a good idea. We should suggest it to him.
<<Andi>> NO.

Eddie Brock has posed:
"We do enjoy the occasional animal, and chocolate is always a plus." He said, picking at his teeth with a clawed finger. "But in any case, we are glad to see you have a spine, at least. It would not do to have you spreading bad publicity about your dear uncle Venom." The symbiote in question drawled, mostly to prod at her temper.

"If you ever want something from uncle dearest, just give us a call." The towering man-beast exclaimed, before swinging an arm in her direction and tossing a crumpled piece of paper produced from his arm.

"One last thing, too. Would you happen to know the whereabouts of spider-man?" He growled, turning his back to her. "We have a score to settle with him."

Andi Benton has posed:
"We are saying, chocolate-covered bacon. You will ask yourself why you never had it before," Mania encourages, and while the eyes have shown doubt and guardedness before, they turn more joyful at the memory of that food. That look is short-lived. "Yes, we have a spine, but you are not our uncle." Poking attempt: successful.

She paces, getting closer to the rooftop's edge, then as the piece of paper is spit up in a way only one of them could make happen, she squints over a shoulder toward him and extends a hand. The fingers elongate before what was her index finger pauses before the paper and stabs through it, drawing it back over to her.

Then, she flatly lies. "We do not know where he is." In truth, they haven't spoken for a few weeks. Suddenly, it might be a good time to make a connection.

"Be careful. Be smart." A line of webbing is sent out, and she swings off into the night without another word.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Their eyes narrowed dangerously when she denied them the location of their carry. Frustation bled into an angered groan, and as their counterpart left they found themselves alone. The inky blackness drained from Eddie's skin as Venom retreated into him, and he sat down at the edge of the rooftop in contemplation.

   <<Venom>> "Why didn't you tell her, Eddie? I thought you said you wanted her help."

Eddie grimaced as his symbiote acted up, but a glance at the retreating form of Mania solidified his determination.

   <<Eddie>> "No. You were right."

The man thought at his symbiote, and he could feel it stirr, pleased. He turned his head back towards the street, and making sure no one would see him, jumped down to it before making headway.

"We can solve this on our own."