15248/Prowlers in the Dark

Prowlers in the Dark
Date of Scene:	28 June 2023
Location:	Central Park
Synopsis:	Venom's hunt is interrupted by Gabby Kinney, who almost becomes a snack.
Cast of Characters:	Eddie Brock, Gabby Kinney

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Eddie Brock has posed:
Central Park has always been dangerous at night, although they try to pretend it isn't anymore. Don't want to frighten the tourists away, although you'd think the multiple alien invasions and related mass destruction would do that a lot better than a few muggers. Muggers that dwell off the beaten path, lurking, waiting for the vulnerable, for a victim.

Not knowing that, lurking in that same darkness, there are far more dangeorus things than they.

Venom is curled in a tree, twenty feet in the air, perched atop a thick limb, clawed hands gripping the textured bark. In Eddie Brock's head, there are two voices: his and HIS.

I AM HUNGRY
No shit. Maybe we should just go home and order a pizza.
CAN I EAT THE PIZZA BOY?

No.
THEN NO.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney was having trouble sleeping lately. Normally this wasn't an issue, but this time of hear brought back memories that were difficult to deal with. Usually she managed to find ways to keep herself busy when the anniversary of her sisters' deaths came around... Usually. Not tonight.

Unable to vent her emotions any other way she opted to go for a late night jog through central park. A HORRIBLE decision usually, but she was trawling for trouble in her own way.

Each fall of her foot brings about a little scrunch or crunch of leaves, twigs, or gravel beneath her feet as she purposefully aims for the louder areas of the trail she races down easily garbed in leggings, running shoes, and a tanktop. Really she looked like a prime target. Easy pickings. What woman would be out jogging at night with light-up sneakers of all things?

Sure enough not far behind her was at least one mugger, or drug addict, trailing along waiting for the perfect time to strike. Her ears pick it up making her aware of the positioning which is why her steps slow a bit, shaking her shoulders back as if she were tiring.

She wasn't. It does bring forth the sound of a switch blade snapping open from the bushes behind her with it, though, not too far off from where Venom and Eddie were hiding to begin with.

Eddie Brock has posed:
The scent of the symbiote might catch in Gabby's nose, too, invisible as Venom was within the deep shadows of the unbeaten path, still and dark as night itself nestled up above. The creature smells wrong, not unpleasant, just unlike anything else, a biology not of this Earth, an essence that seems eerily alive even in particulate form.

MORSEL.
No. The muggers instead.
BUT
They're bigger anyway. More meat.
...WE NEVER EAT GIRLS.
I'm not touching that one with a ten foot pole.

As Gabby and the muggers pass underneath, Venom unleashes some of his 'webs' and starts to lower himself down upside down, until he's right behind the mugger in the rear.

"Hey you. PSSSST!"

The mugger turns and just starts screaming uncontrollably.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney pauses to bend forward hands on her knees as if catching her breath. An act. All an act as she focuses her senses to listen to the approach of the muggers she'd lured to this particular spot of the park where police weren't. It wasn't something she did often, trawling for muggers, so she feels a bit guilty.

The guilt is soon chased away as her drawn breath catches a whiff of something that was unfamiliar. Unnatural? Or... Just so very different she couldn't place it. It causes her to stand up abruptly head tilted upward to scent the air again a split second before the screams of the second mugger ring out.

Whirling around her hair snaps in the air behind her with green eyes opening wide to take in all the nuances of the dim light. Brought almost face to face with the first mugger she reacts with a quick gut-punch before just... running past him, further into the foilage, to find out WHAT was going on.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Venom's tongue lashes out, stretching five feet outwards and wrapping around the throat of the mugger, cutting off his scream. Then he's yanked, like a fish on a hook, and dragged to his doom as his face is yanked into the waiting mouth of the monster.

CHOMP.

Venom's maw opens wide, impossibly so, jagged needle teeth uneven and razor sharp until he swallows the muggers whole head and snaps down, severing his neck at the stump and leaving a blood-spurting corpse flopping on the ground as Venom swallows his head whole.

"MMMMMMMMMM. CRUNCHY."

The screaming is starting to spread and Venom can't help but laugh at the sweet sound as its serpentine tongue swipes the gore from their savage fangs.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Hup! Oh fuck." Gabby comes to a skidding halt beside a tree. She'd broken through the cover of darkness and foilage just in time to see the mugger get tongued up into Venom's mouth and the ensuing crunch.

A hand plants on her hip while the other stretches out to brace against the trunk of the tree as she ducks her head forward with a few quick, shallow breaths, fighting the urge to puke. Thankfully that doesn't happen.

A glance is risked from beneath the fall of her hair peering up again as she mutters to herself, "Thought I'd seen everything New York had to offer by now but... Holy shit you're ugly."

Eddie Brock has posed:
Eddie Brock drops down to the ground, crouching low, almost on all fours. Then they slowly rise up and up, six and a half feet tall now, with tendrils of darkness flickering all over its body, the whitened apertures the beast calls eyes narrowing a bit at the insult.

"RUDE. WE THINK YOU'RE CUTE. BUT TOO SMALL TO EAT. WE FINISHED OUR APPETIZER. BUT NOW WE HAVE..."

Venom points a clawed finger at the other muggers, who have only not fled yet because their legs are paralyzed or they're too busy pissing themselves in fear.

"SIDE DISH. SALAD. ENTREE. AND, OF COURSE, DESSERT."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Oh, you're sentient. Sorry then. Is 'terrifying' better?"

Gabby lets the hand bracing on the tree fall away as she straightens to her full height of a completely unintimidating five foot three. The hand tucks behind her back to give a little shooing wave that she HOPES some of the smarter muggers might recognize as 'RUN YOU IDIOTS.'

Maybe not though.

Her head tilts toward him as she regards the dark alien figure with a deep breath to identify... Nope still nothing familiar. She smiles broadly in a way that causes the old faded scars on her face to crinkle a bit. "That much? I mean you're a big guy, but where are you putting it all?"

Eddie Brock has posed:
"NOTHING BUT MUSCLE. WE'RE ON A PROTEIN BINGE. GETTING SWOLE."

The monster lifts up its arms and flexes on either side, then does the tongue-lolling out Hulk Hogan flex, pressing his fists together. "WHATCHA GONNA DO WHEN VENOM RUNS WILD ON YOU?!?"

The muggers have started to come ot their senses and, at Gabby's signal, they turn and start to run as Venom bends his knees and tenses to leap after them, unless they're somehow interrupted or prevented from doing so.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney bites on her lower lip at the word swole. It was one she'd used herself in the past so hearing it from a creature like this? It makes it hard not to outright laugh. It's short lived when Venom crouches to pounce though.

Twisting to the side she kicks a foot out against the trunk of the tree to help her leap after Venom. Arms extended she reaches to grab one of his ankles with both hands in an effort to hold him back.

Much as someone as small as her could. "Woah big boy! Let's talk about this!"

Eddie Brock has posed:
Venom's leap carries it easily into the air. Clearly, this is a strong monster already, as it leaps in pursuit. Gabby grabs a hold of him by the ankle in mid-air, very dextrous, very athletic, impressive by any standard. Unfortunately, her body weight isn't really enough to impede the momentum of a large symbiote-creature on the hunt.

Ribbons of black lash out and wrap around Gabby's wrist, like living oil, but adhesive, gripping at her and dragging her up his body as Venom lands just behind them and shifts to all fours, loping after them like an animal. The tentacles maneuver Gabby onto its back and soon, Gabby is plastered and almost tied down to Venom's back, almost riding them, if not for the fact that she was more on her belly than straddling him and he's soon nipping at the heels of one and she'll hear a savage snacp as Venom lashes out and snaps, biting one's leg off at the knee and causing him to unleash a bloodcurdling scream of horror as he stumples to the ground, blood pumping fromt eh severed leg like a geyster. Gabby seems to be forgotten as Venom mounts his victim, rolling him over.

"SALAD."

Venom buries his face right into the man's chest and starts to chew, ripping him open and shattering his ribs as he chomps down until he gets to the heart. The tendrils release and leave Gabby free, if still on top of a roiling muscle monster eating a man alive in front of her.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
No. She was too light to stop such a pounce, of course. She KNEW this. It was bound to fail but it was the grip that was important. So long as she could go along she could get up higher where she could latch on for an attack, or choke hold or whatever might give her an edge. Getting in close and personal was how she fought, typically.

But...

"Sticky. WHY ARE YOU STICKY!?" The very feel of those dark tendrils send a shiver of mild revulsion through her that quickly passes as it gets worse in so many other ways. Caught up tight against his back unable to move reminded her all to much of other things. Worse things. Old things.

She gets to see the terrified eyes of the mugger over Venom's shoulder just before he chomps. Tucking her head down she actually buries her face against his back with eyes squeezed tight trying to drown out the sounds and SMELL of fresh blood and organs spewing forth their contents.

Then the grip is gone leaving her to roll away from Venom instinctively. Landing on all fours herself she scoots further away with one hand lifting to cover her mouth.

"Stop, just... Stop it!" Large, strong, sticky tendril things that probably wouldn't let her cut easily. Her mind whirls trying to think of a way to either stop this creature, or...

"If you let them go I'll let you eat my arm okay!?"

Eddie Brock has posed:
Eddie Brock thrashes its head around and flings the mugger over its shoulder with its jaws, as strong as the rest of them, panting for a moment with blood dripping off their fangs. Slowly, the tentacles lift and set Gabby down and Venom stays crouched, arms resting across their knees as they turn to face the young woman with a cocked head. Good news for the muggers as they keep running like...well, like what just happened happened. They may not stop running for a long time and they all hope that thing can't find them. They may never come to the park again.

"...WHAT WAS THAT?" Venom asks, voice still eerie and raw but also undeniably puzzled.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
EXCELLENT QUESTION. Even Gabby has to blink a time or two as what she said catches up to her with a wince. Moreso when the body of the definitely dead mugger is tossed away. She sits crouched a moment sucking in several deep breaths to try and slow her racing heart unsure if she should be scared or angry or both.

Gabby blinks back at Venom when he does stop to question her. "Well." She begins, swallowing against a suddenly dry mouth. "... If it's a matter of eating. Maybe not my arm, actually," she starts to prattle with the manner of one used to just rambling on. It's lifted to regard the back of her hand. "Rather not lose... but a leg, maybe? Or... no that's kind of creepy too, bit too close to... Other things. NOT my head. I like it attached."

Still rambling she looks back to Venom questioning, "I mean if it's a matter of you needing to hunt and eat that's one thing, but if you're just killing for the sake of killing that's not really something I can condone, and even this is really sketchy as it is..." Did she even stop to breathe yet?

Eddie Brock has posed:
EDDIE!
Yeah?
THIS GIRL IS NUTS.

Venom's face seems to quiver for a moment and then it splits, peeling to either side and slowly exposing the very human face of Eddie Brock, fangs and jaws receding even as the rest of him remains their monstrous mingled self.

"We need to eat, but it's not -that- urgent. I don't know what's going on with you, but you seem to have a serious death wish, kiddo. You should be running for your life, not offering up limbs for us to devour."

SHUT UP EDDIE YOU'LL RUIN IT.
You can't eat her. Not even part of her.
WHY?!?
Cause I said so.
WHO MADE YOU THE BOSS?!? I WANT TO TASTE HER MEAT.

Eddie's face starts to look uncomfortable, gritting his teeth, "Seriously. Run. Now."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney shifts her weight back to the heels of her feet when Venom leans closer only for the face to split apart revealing an entirely different face within. One far easier to read the expressions of. "I don't--" she begins only to trail off. Really she didn't need to explain about her lack of a death wish. Maybe he was partially right after making such an insane offer.

Getting to her feet she does start to walk backwards with a sideways tilt of her head as she strains to hear the sounds of those muggers. Where ever they were, they were far away enough now that she couldn't hear them over the background sounds of the city not so far off.

"Okay. They're gone so..." She flashes a grin as if perhaps that was her intention the whole time: Buying time. "If it's not a real issue, then, offer's off." She should turn to run. She starts to, but pauses to glance over her shoulder a moment. "... Healing factor and regeneration, and I can't feel pain," she blurts out with a quick shrug. "Just so you know I'm not completely insane."

It's all she offers before taking off at a far faster run than her earlier 'jogging' might have lead one to believe she could do.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Venom swallows up Eddie's head again and starts to try to give chase, only to stop and shake his head, gripping his skull as Eddie drags them to a stop after just a couple of steps.

Let her go, Venom!
WHY?! SHE SAID IT WON'T HURT.
And we already know she's nuts, so she's probably just on a lot of really good drugs.
...WHAT KIND OF DRUGS?

Once Eddie thinks Gabby's gotten enough distance from them, he fires off a 'webline' and drags them back up into the trees to start heading back for his apartment.

I think we got enough to eat anyway. Let's go home. I need to finish writing that story.
CAN I PLAY ZELDA?
...fine. But make your own save, I'm not letting you screw up my progress like you did on Diablo.
THAT WASN'T MY FAULT!