15434/After the Carnage

After the Carnage
Date of Scene:	22 July 2023
Location:	East Side
Synopsis:	After fighting Carnage, Venom tracks down Mania for a complicated talk.
Cast of Characters:	Eddie Brock, Andi Benton

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Eddie Brock has posed:
In the wake of their recent battle with Carnage, Venom were left battered and shellshocked and, of course, very, very angry. They hated Carnage. They hated Cletus Kasady. They hated that they had anything to do with that thing. That wretched awful thing.

But Carnage wasn't the only symbiote they crossed paths with. They'd known Mania before, a little bit, but not well. Venom started to think they might need help to destroy Carnage. Not Spider-Man. They didn't like Spider-Man. Eddie didn't like Spider-Man, even more than Venom.

So, as the various combatants have retreated, Venom goes in the wake of Mania, just shadowing at first but eventually trying to catch up, scrambling over the tops of buildings and finally swinging up to land in an alley above her as they're off the beaten path, not too far from the Daily Bugle building.

Venom hisses, "WE NEED TO TALK."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania was not having a good day. It was one of the longest yet, given the lengthy night that led into the early morning fight with Carnage prior to him escaping to cause more chaos. Wounded, Andi could only find a place to rest up for a few hours, if that, then another crossing of paths followed.

This time, Venom was involved. The two fought savagely with Carnage, but it still wasn't enough even with others in the Spider 'Family' involved. This time, more wounded pride than anything else had her webbing her way off to catch her proverbial breath and try to figure out a new plan of attack. Carnage was just so powerful...and she caught a few more marks from the battle that were secondary right now.

/He/ was following her, however. A little whisper in the back of her head alerted her to it, with Mania aware of everything around them. Symbiote sight: much more versatile than human eyes alone. Content to ignore him at first, it changed when he moved forward to close the gap, and when Venom addressed her, she hissed back with a mouth full of her own sharp teeth and slimy tongue.

"What do we have to talk about? You /made/ that?" she accuses, claw-tipped fingers curling into tight fists as her stance turns standoffish, spikes in the usual places flexing and bristling.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Eddie Brock drops down from above and lands in a light crouch. The broken bones in Eddie's body have mostly started to reset, but there's still a lightning spike of pain up his spine from the impact and he shivers for a moment, the symbiote around him almost fluttering, rippling like a pebble dropped into a pond before he reabsorbs it, returning momentarily to the form of Eddie Brock. He's wearing a white t-shirt and jeans and he slumps against the wall of the alley. Maybe he isn't feeling much better yet.

"Not on purpose," he says, his voice a little ragged. "Symbiotes reproduce asexually, usually under stress. When we were briefly...imprisoned, it just happened. The newborn symbiote just happened to find the nearest available host - Cletus Kasady," he shivers. "He'd already killed hundreds before. I never would've...we don't pretend to be good. We aren't good. But we're not him. We're monsters, but we're not...crazy."

Andi Benton has posed:
The link between symbiote and host is one that can greatly vary depending on different factors. How strong is the will of the host? The emotional states? How powerful an influence is the symbiote itself? Is it content to let the host lead the dance, or take over more frequently? There are reasons behind that as well.

Mania's balance has, to date, been pretty healthy. Venom's? The jury is out on that one. Carnage, however, is the worst possible result: a murderer combined with a symbiote only too happy to feed off of that, to enhance those desires and make it even easier to kill quickly and messily.

The all-white eye patches of Mania's face narrow on Venom as his form fluctuates before disappearing within to leave Eddie behind. Although Mania and Andi are already a good foot shorter than Eddie, even moreso when he's bulked up as Venom, she shows no hesitation in advancing on him to jab a finger at his chest. Maybe she catches a wound. Maybe it's intentional.

"Yeah. We know how it works. But to still make /that/..and for it to bond with /him/.." She punctuates it with a little more pressure from that finger, then withdrawing it. "We see where he gets his appetite from," she adds, her more open expressions with the visible mouth easier to read, and this one is of disapproval.

Crossing her arms over the spidery shape dominating her torso, she scowls. "You never wanted our help before, but now that Carnage is kicking our asses, all of a sudden you need it?" It's difficult to hide the wounded way that feels. When Mania was learning how to harness everything there is to being what they are, past encounters with Venom proved to be less than beneficial. Not adversarial, but it'd been made clear to her that he wanted her to embrace more of his ways, his methods, when she sought to maintain a better balance. Very much a difference of opinions.

Eddie Brock has posed:
When he's poked, there's a momentary snarl, Venom wanting to lash out, but Eddie keeps him in check. Probably helps that they're hurt, Venom's energy is partially being expended in reknitting Eddie's broken body.

"Wasn't about want. Just need. Didn't need help. It's not personal, Venom and I are just...we should be on our own. Friends will just make everything messy, we'll just ruin things like we always do. We're fuck-ups, I thought that was clear."

SPEAK FOR YOURSELF.
I am. But you're a fuck-up, too. You know it.
YEAH. BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL HER. SHE SHOULD BE AFRAID OF US.
I'm tired of making everyone afraid.
WHY?

Eddie shakes off the internal argument. Andi, of all people, can probably tell that's what's going on, some inner conflict.

"I'm not proud of anything I've done. I'm not saying I've done a good job. We are ashamed of Carnage. He is our greatest failure and that's a long list. So yes - help us stop him. We'll let anyone help. But we thought you, at least, might...understand."

Andi Benton has posed:
There are bloody spots dotting Mania's body as well, which are also mending. She doesn't drop the appearance, not yet. The reaction to the poking is read clearly. "Oh, please," she scoffs, as the eyes take a defined shape of 'rolling' upward. "We like to be alone too, but even we know that is bullshit. We understand everyone needs friends sometimes, that trying to do it all on your own does not always work."

It isn't as if she's saying anything here that Eddie isn't already getting at. Isn't that the point of him having followed her? "We just wish it was not because of Carnage." There it is.

As for fear, there's probably some of that built in. Venom is bigger, tougher, stronger, but Mania may well be quicker, more nimble, more acrobatic. In that, she's taken naturally after some of Spider-Man's qualities. Their body types are more similar, after all. But being openly afraid of Venom? Not really. Can't show it, at least.

"We understand he has to be stopped. The longer he stays free to do this, the worse it is for us especially." She gestures between them to indicate a shared 'us,' not just the 'us' through the bond. "But you can do better if you try. If you want to. If you stop feeling sorry for yourself all the time."

The visage of the symbiote form peels back, revealing Andi's face with its multitude of piercings, her purple hair. The rest remains worn like a suit. "Mania made me better," she says, her expression steeled to show strength over uncertainty. Isn't that what Venom should be doing for Eddie?

Eddie Brock has posed:
Eddie pushes back up to standing, using the wall to support him for a moment. It scrapes, but he's already in pain and sometimes he needs the pain for clarity. Probably because he's got a still-healing concussion. Eddie grits his teeth.

"Don't pretend you know me. You think because we both have symbiotes we're the same, but we're not. Just like we're not the same as Carnage. Venom did help me, has made me better. I'd be dead if not for..." he says. "I was nothing. I had nothing. I'd ruined my life and I had no one to blame for it but me."

"Friends are just people who are using you to help them feel better," he says. He flexes his hands, looking away from Andi's face when she displays it. "Venom thinks your skills compliment us. That between us, we can overpower Carnage. But Spider-Man and his friends, they just want him in prison. We want him dead."

"What do you want?"

Andi Benton has posed:
<<Mania>> He is beyond help. It pains us to say this.
<<Andi>> Bad shit's happened to him. It can be..hard to get over that.
<<Mania>> He is weak. Venom makes him strong, but he is weak inside.
<<Andi>> Why do you think I'm trying to get him to see that and change?

Much like she could tell when there was an internal conversation taking place on his side, Eddie could make out those signs in Andi if he cares to. The eyes shift elsewhere, there's a longer silence than normal in the space of the outward discussion.

Andi frowns, a hint of concern actually showing. "You really believe that? About friends? That they're all selfish and don't care about you? Wow. I'm usually sarcastic as hell, but..shit. I kind of feel sorry for you now." Maybe not the best choice of words, but it's the truth.

"And I don't think we're the same. I always hoped we could find some ways to learn from each other and help each other, but you have no problems with killing and I try to avoid it. Once you've done it, you can't just erase that, even if you think someone deserved it. Mania thinks it's justified sometimes." This is where a lot of the disagreement between Venom/Eddie and Mania/Andi has been rooted in.

She hisses, not a symbiote hiss, but more a frustrated one through clenched jaw. "But you're not nothing. Neither am I. We have a..I don't know if it's a gift, but it's a chance to protect others. And I haven't even told my dad about this yet, even after what, two years? Three? I don't know how to tell him, but I want to keep him safe from all of this. I'm afraid of what I'd do if something ever happened to him because mom left a long time ago and.." She catches herself, stops her rambling. Was that a mistake to share?

Mania is allowed to envelop her face and head again, which in a sense serves as an outer armor of protection for herself. "We want him stopped. We do not know how far we can go to do that, yet."

Eddie Brock has posed:
Eddie Brock hisses and there is more of Venom in his voice now, that harsh rasp of inhuman rage, "WE DON'T NEED YOUR SORROW."

Eddie shakes his head as he turns away, like he can't look at her. Someone trying to help him, being kind to him, to him it's like acid on his skin. He doesn't deserve kindness. He doesn't deserve mercy. He and his monster and his hatred, that's all he needs.

"You should get away from them. Especially now. You don't want Carnage to find them. He'll hurt them just to give you pain. And I don't know what I believe, about friends, about...anything. I used to think I was doing the right thing, trying to expose the bad people in the world, make it better. But I wanted things, too. I wanted to be famous, I wanted to be loved, I wanted to be respected. And then I made one mistake and it all went away. All my friends, the woman I loved, my colleagues, they dumped me, every single fucking one. They're lucky I didn't hunt them down and eat their fucking heads," he says.

The darkness swirls then, and Venom re-envelopes Eddie, swallowing the distressed human and then turning its head, the inches he's gained in height making the monstrous thing loom.

"WE DID NOT COME HERE FOR THIS. YOU ARE UPSETTING EDDIE."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania stands her ground, though doubt creeps in as he warns her about the danger her father is in. Her mouth seals back over, hiding more of her expressions behind the faceless mask that limits her more to the shape of her eyes and her body language. A hand rubs self-consciously against an elbow.

His retort about not needing her sorrow goes unchallenged. There's something going on inside his head, whether it's another conversation with Venom or just Eddie alone. "Then we will just have to stop Carnage first, right?" she answers, a little more of that /something/ in her voice, that blend of Andi and Mania as one.

She listens as it becomes his turn to share something with her, intentional or not, and yes, there is sympathy in there. Even understanding at what he says about wanting to eat them all. "We have wanted to hurt others too," comes an admission. It's hard to tell how much of that is Andi's desires compared to Mania's.

Then she steps up closer again at Venom telling her what this is doing to Eddie. "Then maybe Eddie should let us in and give us a chance to help. Pushing everyone away because of the past is not going to help Eddie. We are not going to be able to solve everything, but we want to try to help with something. We want you to be able to trust someone, to trust us. And we admit we need to work together against Carnage. We do not care if he lives or dies, and if that means helping you do what you need to with him, we will."

It doesn't put Mania/Andi on the hook for dealing a potential killing blow, but it leaves open the question whether they can or not. Venom/Eddie might not care as long as Carnage/Cletus is dealt with. It's not like she can hide it from him, but she reaches out toward a hand, intending to grip the back of it briefly.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Perhaps surprisingly, Venom does not push away that hand or try to lash out in some way. Normally, they might have shrugged off such attempts to offer comfort, to offer friendship. Maybe, because they are hurting, they are more open than they might usually be.

"MAYBE. CARNAGE FIRST."

They finally turn back, those massive jaws already leaking long strings of drool. Venom just can't help himself. "HUNGRY. HEALING TAKES A LOT. WE MUST FEAST." Typically, that would mean finding someone worth eating alive and enjoying the misery and screaming. But Eddie does want a friend, it seems, enough so that he tempers that instinct for now. There's a momentary consideration and then the symbiote withdraws again, Eddie and Venom clearly in the midst of a lot of turmoil, the swirling darkness swallowed into his skin again.

"Gino's Pizza? We can get the double monster. It's all the meats double-deckered on two stacked thin crusts."

Andi Benton has posed:
The contact is brief, anyway. Just a sort of 'I'm here for you' gesture. Probably best not to let something like that linger long with Venom.

Whatever the case, the purpose of it seems to work. Venom/Eddie settles, and Mania/Andi steps back. "We..are hungry, too," she admits. The fighting, the healing, it's taken some of her energy out as well. "And /not/ for..uh, right." He mentions pizza, not..other people. Andi may never find that something she can stomach. But with Mania, there's always that what-if to wonder about.

Speaking of, Mania fades away the same as Venom, leaving behind Andi in her typical goth/punk style. "Probably safer for everyone if we go like this, yeah," she says, self-aware. "And we have to get some chocolate, too."

Monster pizza for a pair of monsters. It fits.