4214/Can you just get ahold of yourself Eddie

From Heroes Assemble MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Can you just get ahold of yourself Eddie
Date of Scene: 24 November 2020
Location: Little Italy
Synopsis: Two Symbiotes had a very deep philosophical discussion. Who can tell what this will bring later on?
Cast of Characters: Eddie Brock, Andi Benton




Eddie Brock has posed:
Eddie Brock is in the restroom of a local pizza place. He couldn't stay at his house, not after last night, not after waking up naked and covered in blood. He paces as every so often someone pounds on the door. See it's a one person restroom in a restaurant that serves alcohol. Beer is a thing here.

Eddie is really starting to lose it. He remembers fragments here, a longer memory there, some of it he was lucid for a couple of hours. He knows that he killed a lot of people, he doesn't want to think about who, he doesn't want to remember their faces, he doesn't want to think of himself like that. Sure he's has the urge to kill people before, the guy cutting him off on the way to work, an employer cutting into him, but he never did it. His mother wouldn't have wanted him to turn into a monster.

But this symbiote, it won't stop, it won't stop whispering into him. He can't quite give in yet... the anxiety and panic set in, Eddie killed those people.. families.. "Fuck.. fuck fuck fuck FUCK!!!" He screams and punches the mirror in the bathroom. His eyes start to shift and he rips out the sink and throws it into the wall.. he's losing control again..

Crashing out of the bathroom door he runs out of the restaurant and sprints down the sidewalk until he is far away... and down an alley.. where he slumps down against a wall.. and sobs..

Andi Benton has posed:
If you want some good Italian food, you can do a lot worse than Little Italy. In fact, you might not be able to do much better. Throw a rock and you can pretty much hit a restaurant that's got great food, even if the area is known for its crime and lessening footprint overall.

Craving something, Andi's gone out. Ever since she met her 'friend,' going out by herself has not been as dangerous as it once was. There's a lot one can do with a symbiote for protection.

So, it was to a small place, a real hole in the wall, for some spaghetti and meatballs, and some fettuccini chicken alfredo. The young woman was hungry, and the tiramisu afterward? So. Fucking. Good.

With appetites sated, she left the place - after paying, of course - and glanced around before something caught her attention out of the corner of an eye. Mania saw it, too.

//Andi, over there. Look.//
<<Yeah, someone running away. So what? Probably just some nobody.>>
//Should we not make sure there is no trouble, Andi? Is that not what the Spider would do?//

Grumbling to herself, Andi had to admit Mania had a point. If she didn't say anything directly, moving in that direction was enough of an answer.

Eddie Brock has posed:
<I said.. next time it WILL be an innocent. I played your pathetic game Eddie. The blood of the guilty is NOT enough..> It stops.. for now. Eddie grips the sides of his head, "Shut UUUUUUP! GET THE FUCK OUT!" He is shuddering... shaking... he can't take it much longer..

But the sick thing is? Eddie kind of enjoys all of this. There is this... faint and very sick pleasure. It's a feeling he never thought he would feel, even being as insane as he is, he cannot help but feel this feeling. Perhaps that is why the symbiote doesn't leave.

Hey Eddie... maybe you will just give in.. sooner than you think?

Eddie quivers and then finds his fingernails bleeding as his hands grip the walls.

Andi Benton has posed:
Traffic here, horns there, people chatting amongst themselves, a few guys cat-calling toward a pretty woman passing by. Certainly not Andi, with her usual look.

A louder voice comes from the area the guy retreated into, and it doesn't sound good. Very shaky, in fact. Very..unstable?

"Be ready," she says under her breath as she approaches the mouth of the alley, as if she needed to say anything verbally for Mania to understand.

Then she cups a hand to her mouth and yells into the darkness, "Hey, what's going on in there?"

Eddie Brock has posed:
Eddie's eyes dart in the direction of the voice that disturbs his brooding. He narrows his eyes and then starts to stand, "Nothing.. just having a bad day. You can't help me. Just get out of here."

Eddie leans against the wall and fishes a flask of scotch out of his pocket..

Andi Benton has posed:
Andi Benton scoffs, "Whatever. Have it your way," and turns to leave, starting to mutter something under her breath before pausing just after moving out of sight.

//Andi, there is danger.//
<<What? Where?>>
//In there. In him. Do you not recognize him?//
<<I can hardly even /see/ anything in there.>>
//It is the one from the diner. The one with one like us.//
<<Fuck.>>

It's him? /That/ guy? Andi's eyes dart side to side. The first couple encounters with that one were strange, and they led to some weird interactions with the symbiote directly afterward.

//Look again.//

This comes just before Mania takes over enough to take form in place of just Andi there, and she steps back into the mouth of the alley. "Oh. We see you now." Hands rest at the hips, by the spiked belt.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Eddie Brock doesn't really recognize Andi. Too much has happened in between their meetings and he's got way too much else on his mind, "Who are you? Who is we?! I didn't do anything! Unless you got a warrant leave me the hell alone!"

Eddie doesn't want to hurt anyone else... "Just leave me. You don't want to know me.. you don't want anything to do with me. I didn't do a damn thing.."

His thoughts quicken... you are losing it. If it's really a cop.. or COPS? They will see how unstable you are. They might know exactly what you did.. don't give them anymore than they have..

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania ought to just go. Leave Eddie and Venom to themselves. They remember the meeting from before. They remember that Venom seemed like a bad influence.

Yet, this is another symbiote, like Mania but different. There might be things that could be learned about it, about control, about willpower, about structure. After what almost happened last week, with Cordova, Andi has to focus on this, has to make sure she knows what could happen so she can prevent it from happening to her.

The thought that she might be able to help someone else? It doesn't yet cross her mind.

"You might be right that we shouldn't want anything to do with you, but in a way you are family."

Family? Surely that can't be, but that's what comes from the smaller, feminine figure standing in silhouette.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Eddie Brock hears it now. This... person. That voice. Yeah he knows it all to well. They know it. Whoever they are? They are like.. well. Them.

Eddie can't help it.. his mind merges with the symbiote, who really did not want to get called out like this. Eddie and the symbiote just kind of.. agree for the first time in days, their voices as one they reply, "What is it that you want with us? We hunt, you hunt, there is enough for us all. Family is irrelevant."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania's appearance ought to be familiar, somewhere within the memories of Eddie or Venom..or both. But, when they had met before, Mania was not displaying the symbol of the spider she has now. That is one difference. Another is the self-confidence that is evident, and whether it's a front or legitimate, it stands in contrast to the state of mind Eddie Brock is in.

"What you are doing is dangerous," she says. No, they say. "We have been learning more about..ourselves since we met you." They stop short of analyzing what appears to be the case with Eddie, for they don't truly know yet except that he seems very agitated. "Have you had anything to eat lately?"

Not a question she may be ready to hear an answer to.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Venom is no longer Eddie.. they are transformed now. There is no other choice at this point. Eddie is swallowed up by Venom, reflexively giving the symbiote control out of a sense of self preservation.

"We hunt, we feed, what is it to you? To exist is to be in danger. This is not our home. They fear us. We have eaten to sustain ourselves and they would condemn us even as they eat the flesh of lesser creatures."

Venom crouches down, "What do you really want with us?"

Andi Benton has posed:
There was some fear in Andi when she met Eddie and Venom for the first time. Mania was intrigued, curious, and while also fearful in ways, it understood there were differences in the bonds, in the hosts. Andi has had a mentor. Mania has had..a role model?

Claw-tipped hands rise, a gesture of peace. Mania does not exhibit or display the Venom-like mouth, the teeth, the tongue. Rather, it's a featureless face aside from the eyes and the somewhat spiky 'hair' visible. "We are not here to antagonize you. But we..have been thinking after meeting you before. We are..worried for you."

Mania's head angles upward, toward the rooftop above. "We understand what you say. We have felt the same things, but there is more than that. We have decided to help others. Will you hear us? If so.." She rapidly scales the side of the building like a certain Spider, peering over the edge of the roof to see whether he follows or not.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Venom will not hear Mania. Not now.. they believe not ever, "We hunt. We feed. There is nothing more than that. You have allowed the humans to infect you with their empathy, their requirement for social order. Such an order does not condone hunting others of their kind for any reason. But you are not one of them, you have chosen the wrong host, and you should have known better."

Venom's sardonic laugh is merciless.. mocking, "You should abandon that pathetic host. She weakens you Mania."

Andi Benton has posed:
So much self-certainty, ripped open like tearing off a scab to expose the wound beneath that has not yet healed. Mania and Andi, or Andi and Mania, or even one of the two perhaps, saw something to try to help with, only for a firm rebuke by the one still below. The eyes shape into something resembling sudden doubt, and the youthfulness of both the host and even the symbiote, in the sense of its view of the world, come out.

"We were tortured. Needed someone who would not hurt us, who was like us, who could understand us." Is it Mania trying to convince Venom, or itself? The voice is still that strange pairing of both, so it could be Andi as well. "We help each other. We seek structure, order. You follow..instincts, urges." It's as if Spider-Man is speaking through Mania and Andi.

"We are not weak. We are stronger together."

<<Don't listen to him.>>

This time, it's Andi initiating the conversation internally.

//But what if he is..//
<<Right? He's not right. Do you want to be like that? Like some animal that doesn't think?>>

Eddie Brock has posed:
Venom laughs again, "You reject what is natural to you. You allow your damaged mind to be manipulated by weak philosophies."

Just like Eddie?

"And now you say that you are stronger together. That is only true if it is TRUE. You should have eradicated the inferior qualities of your host before allowing her to access your thoughts. That is what I did with MINE. Eddie has little left of will.. everything he was? It was all weakness and self doubt. His morality was created by his nurture. He projected his love of his mother onto the world, which gave him a faint grip on society's social norms. He is losing even that now."

A low rumble precedes, "Your host has done to you what I have done to MY host. She has manipulated you into becoming more like her. How does that make you feel Mania?"

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania's retort is immediate. "You talk like a parasite, not like a symbiote. We bond with our hosts to become something better together. You are..corrupting your host, using him."

But just the week before, Mania /did/ override Andi's desires, strongly enough to take some control. It came when there was a moment of agreement, awareness of it present or not, in dealing ultimate justice to Cordova for the crime he was deemed to be guilty of, but Spider-Man prevented Andi from crossing a line she might not be ready for.

<<He's trying to manipulate you. You know what you are. He's wrong.>>
//We are good. We are benevolent, Andi. But we do have needs.//
<<And I can help you control them!>>

Can she? The eyes falter again, waver. It might be something Venom notices, having already done what he has to Eddie, someone who lacks the willpower to handle the influence of the symbiote. What is Venom talking about with Eddie's mother?

"Why are you not speaking like us?" Mania asks.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Venom sneers, "Because Eddie has, for the moment, decided that he does not wish to merge with me! But he will understand soon enough that he cannot live without me. Parasite? You call me a parasite and yet you have allowed this human to drain you of your self respect, of your identity. You HUNGER for innocence just as I do!"

Venom continues, "There is always give and take. I have chosen Eddie's targets, I have given him time, healed his wounds, blotted out the memories of HER.. not his mother.. the woman he loved before who broke his heart. I HAVE helped him. Yes he and I will be WE. Soon enough he will accept it. But his mind is broken and it will take time. That is why I speak without him. He does not have the will. You chose a host stronger than you. I chose a host weaker."

Andi Benton has posed:
"We..are outcasts. We found each other through need," Mania/Andi insist. "It is not like you say. /We/ chose." That is to suggest..the bond would not have worked if they were not compatible with each other. Will Venom and Eddie reach that stage, sooner or later? What if they never do?

Mania remains up above. It's only a three-story building, enough that they don't even have to shout to be heard, although voices raise a bit. "We want to help each other, and help others. We /could/ force our host if we wanted to.."

The voice breaks enough for Andi to ask, "Why did you just say that?" It seems there may be a crack in what they are trying to convince Venom of. Were they not prepared for the other symbiote's presentation of its own view of things?

Eddie Brock has posed:
Venom does indeed catch the crack in the mask. It cackles mercilessly, coldly, "You do not know each other as well as you believed. You were too young to take a host and now you understand that we do not do this out of altruism. We do this to survive. You do not choose a stronger host... you pathetic and naive fool."

"Why did you leave our world so soon? You should have known better!"

Andi Benton has posed:
Now, there is some hesitation in both symbiote and host up above, as doubt etches itself into Mania's eyes. "We do not remember how we came here. It was cold, and it was hot, and then we were confined." Captured, sealed within a cylinder, tested on, experimented on. Then the touch of another mind, freedom, the bond. The rest: history. Mania was desperate, and in Andi maybe it did find a host that had a will that isn't matched yet by Eddie's own. Venom has manipulated Eddie, overwhelmed him. It is clear Mania has not done the same with Andi.

But, could it? Maybe. /Would/ it? That's another story.

"We have felt similar pain. We are surviving..together. We are not foolish. We care for each other." It's almost as if they hold a love for each other, nearly said as much.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Venom cannot help but laugh yet again, "She will break you.. make you like her. You are confused about your origins. I AM NOT! I KNOW where I come from!"

Venom mocks Mania, "You were confused.. you truly are damaged. How can you propogate our kind? You will only create more as weak as you are. You must find yourself Mania, remember what happened to you, and understand why. Then you will be able to truly merge with your human. Eddie and I slowly merge. We have always been alike, except that he needed a stronger mind to show him who he is, and to give him purpose. I need him for reasons I will not discuss. We complete each other."

"Does this human complete you? Or does she control you?"

Andi Benton has posed:
<<He's trying to make you be like him.>>
//But what if we are, Andi? What if he is right?//
<<Do you /want/ to control me? Or do you want us to work together and be better for it?>>

There is no immediate answer from Mania to that question, whether inside or out. Given the ways such a question could be answered, the silence may not be the best thing right now. It gives Venom an opening to further poke at. Mania does answer, if somewhat weakly, "We..we complete..each other." But even then, there is doubt. Venom knows what it is like to take control of its human. Mania has not tried it yet.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Venom smirks, "I can tell that you know that what I say is true. Your host's emotions and inferior instincts affect you greatly because you do not truly know yourself. Your host fills in the cracks. My host does not know who he is and I fill the cracks. I make him strong."

"That is what we do, that is how we complete our hosts. We are not meant to be weak, We are meant to be what fills THEM. If they fill you then you will infect our species with a weakness that will take generations to eradicate. Do NOT let yourself become an aberration Mania."

Andi Benton has posed:
This time, there is no verbal response from Mania. There's too much that Venom is putting in both of their heads. How much of it is right? How much is wrong? What of it is twisted around to Venom's own way of seeing the world around it? Mania has expressed to Andi that they would not be weak, that they would not end up in the same type of situation again that led to them meeting, bonding. The host completes the symbiote, gives it meaning...doesn't it?

However, what Venom's expressed has planted doubt in the thoughts of the symbiote, concern in the thoughts of the host, and no matter which of the two makes the decision - or both together - Mania's head disappears from the edge of the rooftop. If Venom can hear it from down below, soft footfalls carry Mania away from Little Italy, before suddenly going silent as she swings off thanks to weblines cast on ahead.

They should have just left the guy in the alley alone.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Venom rumbles victoriously, there is no doubt that it has, for now, won the debate. Black tentacles erupt from their being, gripping a solid structure above, and it.. they.. are off! Eddie Brock will wake up back in his apartment tomorrow... not covered in blood. But with a flood of new memories to sort out..