4408/Snicker-Snacking

Snicker-Snacking
Date of Scene:	15 December 2020
Location:	Harbor Road and North Street
Synopsis:	Cats, Spiders, and sticky fingers.
Cast of Characters:	Peter Parker, Andi Benton, Terry O'Neil

---

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man had realized some time ago that they needed to work on teamwork. And Andi working with Mania did not count.
For most of the day, Spider-Man and Mania had been webslinging around the city, dealing with occasional crimes and Spidey analyzing Mania's methods. She has a level of animal cunning that outstrips her experience, but there's still stuff to work on. So, every now and then, if the crime is not imminent, Spidey has been conversing with Mania about options to deal with certain situations.

And he's only had to caution her not to eat the guy once, even though he had back-handed a woman for telling him to go away.

Right now, they were watching a known pickpocket approaching the crowd. This was a good situation to work with - they had to catch him in the act or immediately after it.

<Okay, Mania. The guy with the knit grey cap. Watch him carefully.>

Andi Benton has posed:
Part of the time had been spent in New York City, but some of it also led to Happy Harbor. NYC is not the only place with crime, though with more people tightly packed together, the opportunities go up.

That means opportunities for committing crimes, and opportunities for dealing with them.

It's true: Mania is still relatively low in experience when it comes to things to look for, methods, and strategies, but they could have picked a worse one to learn from than Spider-Man. At least, today. Nothing had happened that would lead to him or her appearing on that Spider-Fail website, fortunately. On a few occasions, he had to remind her not to beat someone up too badly, but it didn't mean she didn't take advantage of an opening to frighten someone or maybe wrench an arm up behind a little tighter before applying some webbing.

Now, after they've taken up a spot to see the crowd near Big Belly Burger, there is the target he has in mind. She says over their communications system, <We see him, but we want something to eat. Soon.>

Terry O'Neil has posed:
It had been a long day for Terry, and it promised to be an even longer night, as he was still behind on catching up on his output for the planet, and time and Lois waited for no man. Still he now had a place to crash where he could work on his content- Colette's extra pad - and now all that was left was the matter of dinner.

He didn't really feel like cooking, so he made his way to Big Belly- because it was somehow fitting and cliche to work on articles over unhealthy junk food... or take-out Chinese.

He sits out on one of the outdoor tables, finishing up his carb bomb deluxe. He is clad in clothes that are appropriate for the weather- leather jacket, boots, jeans- but he has been careless, in that his wallet is easily visible from the right angle, barely peeking out of his wallet. He must have stuffed it into his side pocket after paying and forgot how noticeable it looks. What's more, he is distracted and texting on his phone while sipping his chocolate milk-shake, seemingly unaware of anyone approaching the crowd of people that he's sitting next to.

<<No worries, I'll have the copy on the dome tonight>> he sends a text to Lois. And then quickly starts checking to see if any of the Titans had any updates regarding the data they gathered on Toyman's Dome, just in case.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man doesn't point, but he keeps talking quietly.
<Yeah, target sighted and closing. Check the guy with his back to us and Jackie-Boy. These guys always go for the distracted ones. And...jeez, even *I* can see the wallet from HERE. Watch how Jackie-Boy's hands move. Watch how fast he works. That is what we have to watch for.>

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania's eyes can't visibly roll, under the current look, but she turns toward him and they narrow. She touches the side of her head and shuts off the comm unit, speaking in that dual way they sound like. "We are right next to you, and this is the last thing we feel like doing tonight. And we are not police. If you know this is what they do, why don't we just stop them now and teach them a lesson?"

She is growing impatient. Or the symbiote is. Or, both. Never let a symbiote fight crime on an empty stomach.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
In the grand scheme of things, any pickpocket wishing to grab Terry's worldly goods right now will find themselves greatly disappointed. All in all, he has very little left on his bank account after all is said and done, and he won't be getting payments from the Planet until at least next week. But who knows? The thief might be grateful for the extra latte.

Terry, however, is -not- grateful. As his wallet is liberated, another object also tumbles out and falls to the ground with a *clank*- his metallic portable mirror. He glances down, puzzled, and picks the mirror up, only to stuff it back into his jacket pocket next to his-

"My wallet!"

Terry quickly turns around, and frowns as he spots someone moving away suspiciously. "Stop, thief!" He calls out, and grabs his hand mirror.

The patrons at Big Belly Burger are treated to the lightshow that accompanies Terry's transformation into Vorpal. Unfortunately, as the superhero starts running in the direction of the pickpocket, he remembers all too late that he is still injured- with a sprained ankle, and some minor bullet wounds from the toy army he fought the other night... but it's really the ankle that's the problem.

"--ooof!" he falls to the ground after wincing and leaping off his injured foot, and gets up as quickly as he can, "I need to make friends with people with healing powers-" he grumbles, glancing around to see the whereabouts of the pickpocket.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man nods as Jackie-Boy puls the wallet, but them something else pops out. A mirror? Why in the...?

Then the yell...then the light show.
<WHAT THE...?!>
The pickpocket doesn't look back after he is called out. He saw flashes of light and didn't want to be stupid by looking around and losing his forward momentum AND find himself tagged by a smartphone's camera.

<Crud, he's bolting! Mania, get in front of him and web him up!> A pause. <...six fudge brownies if you can get him before he ditches the wallet!>

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania begins to lean forward in anticipation, only to catch herself against the edge of the building after flipping over it. Now she's clinging, and doing so while allowing her to look down at the burger place and the scene that starts to take place. "What the hell is that?" comes the question, squinting at the visual and physical change in the one who got his wallet stolen. And then..the feline thing..falls down? "That wasn't very graceful," as a follow-up.

Then, Mania is essentially unleashed, encouraged to go after the thief with the promise of a treat. "A dozen," she answers, leaping off the wall as she casts out a web to wrap around a light pole, letting her gain momentum in swinging toward 'Jackie-Boy.' She calls out, "Behind you! What's that?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal grumbles, as he's sure he heard a smartphone taking a picture of his oh-so-graceful fall. "I meant to do that!" he calls out, "to smell the track."

The eff? He's not a greyhound. He's mortified at the thought that there may be a picture of him, face-down with his derriere in the air. Vorpal-fails.com might not be too far away. Instead of running, however, he chooses to go by Rabbit Hole- a leap in distance here and there, zooming towards the thief while making sure to favor his good ankle.

And then there's a voice coming from behind. Wait, what's that?

He turns around, and his eyes suddenly widen as he sees a creature that is... "Holy eff-" and he loses his footing by sheer surprise. Normally he wouldn't be this clumsy, but the ankle really does throw his whole sense off. Down he goes again, this time on his side, fresh off the Rabbit Holy.

"Ow! Damnit, not again!" he quickly rolls away and gets onto his knees, to see if the hellish-looking creature is going to attempt to eat the pickpocket, or something along those lines, because it certainly /looked/ menacing enough. The pickpocket, on his end, is having a reaction similar to Vorpal's, except that he doesn't fall, but lets out a scream and tries to run twice as fast, hand still clutching the wallet.

Peter Parker has posed:
Yeah...he panicked.
For a moment, he debated going after Jackie-Boy...but then he realized he had to show Mania that he could count on her. So, he stopped to check on the hurt...

...furry?
In his defense, the guy LOOKED like one of those cosplayers, but the ears twitched as he got closer, so...that's real.

He had the odd feeling he knew this guy.
Spider-Man landed near Vorpal, then crouched near him. "Hey there...easy on that foot...paw...whatever. Mania's got it."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania's got it, all right. A pickpocket is no match for Spider-Man, normally no match for Vorpal, and is certainly no match for a symbiote and its host.

Just what Mania /is/ to someone who hasn't seen her before? That could be something out of a nightmare, a horror story, and so far all that's been seen of her is the distinct lack of features beyond the eyes, the spider insignia, and the black, seemingly organic body.

Then, she swings ahead to unceremoniously tackle Jackie, much faster than him, coming at him with momentum and the advantage. "Ohh, we're lucky you're here to break our fall. We could have sprained something! Did you think you'd get away? You must be used to that. Too bad for you that we were around this time. We know about you." Where the mouth should be? Hardly anything moves.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal gets to a sitting position just in time to be intercepted by- "Spider-Man!" he sounds genuinely surprised... but then again, should he be? He glances at the nightmarish creature and spots the spider emblem. Something about her seems familiar, amid the strangeness. And terror.

"Mania? ... okay. Somehow, that's fitting..."

The flailing pickpocket is very well under control (poor guy), so he doesn't get up right away but leaves weight off his ankle. "It's me, Spidey. Terry O'Neil?" he reaches over and re-adjusts the ace bandage around his ankle. He glances around to check and see if anyone is taking their picture, but any social media rubbernecking right now seems to be focused on Mania and her take-down. Good. "... I seem to be a little.. on the slow side right now, with the injury and all." He grins apologetically. And then he remembers- "That jerk got my wallet!"

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man blinks. So...this is what he looks like? He just morphs into this?

He's starting to feel a little envious. Supergirl can change in an eyeblink, Eagle, Mania, Vorpal...
...And he, like a schmuck, has to worry about his clothes.
"You stay here. Better take that shoe off, might need that bandaged to help immobilize it."
Spider-Man walked over to Jackie-Boy, who was now smelling of fear...and urine. They usually go together when Mania is in the mix. Spidey eyes Jackie, then says, "So...arms and legs still so I can web you up...or, you stay there, and Mania there stays where SHE is."
And suddenly Jackie-Boy does a spontaneous Vitruvian Man impression, and Spider-Man webs his extremities down.
"Not bad, Mania...not bad at all. Want to grab that guy's wallet and return it to him?"

Andi Benton has posed:
One of the nice things about the symbiote is the ability to tone down certain senses when something unwanted is near. It doesn't always work. There isn't always enough time to react if, for example, a loud noise or a bright flash comes up, but particular...aromas? Not that hard to cope with. "Gross," is all Mania says as she, or it..hops off of Jackie, but not before extending a hand - literally - to fish out the wallet.

And by that, we mean the arm stretching out like Mr. Fantastic, then drawing back once the clawed fingers have closed around Vorpal's property. Those white, angular 'eyes' narrow upon the guy, her body language showing her disgust. Not that it's needed, but she fires off a blob of webbing that hits Jackie's mouth and nose, expanding to hold his head down while leaving his eyes visible. He can breathe through it, at least.

Heedless of the eyes on her, she strolls back toward Vorpal, all spiky and dark and..gothy/punkish. "You mean the cat that wasn't a cat before? Didn't we see something in the news...?" she questions, her head with its spiky hair angling toward one side before she opens the wallet to have a look at whatever's within. So nosy! "Don't forget the brownies."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal isn't in his hero outfit, since that got destroyed in space. He's wearing just your regular grey hoodie, and his modified shoes- converse hi-tops with the front sliced off to provide room for his claws.

The crazy thing is that these aren't a homebrew modification, but an actual line of shoes that went out a couple of years ago when Converse apparently lost its damned mind and thought these would sell like hot cakes. Vorpal was able to find a few online for sale and thought those would be /perfect/ for his cat shape. As it turns out, a few other metas ad mutants with unorthodox feet also took a liking to them, causing a resurgence in what was once a rather ridiculed product.

He undoes the laces and removes the shoe, gently massaging his ankle. "That's Vorpal," he says to Mania as she strolls in his direction. "Terry also works, too. Yeah... I was on the news for a hot moment r so. I made my identity public. And then the Toyman dropped a dome on Suicide Slum." and that had been the end of his spotlight on the news cycle. But that wasn't so bad, it meant that he could now write about the dome. And include his footage and personal experience of it.

Then Vorpal's memory, which is quite good (it has to be, doing what he does) brings up a clip of Colette from a few nights ago: 'One day ordinary teen going through life, the next bonded with a strange and powerful alien entity... Spider-Man helped out, I think she became his number one fan or something.'

He snaps his fingers, which doesn't produce the satisfying 'snap' that it does with skin, but rather a mute 'fwump' due to fur-covered fingers, and he points at Mania.

"You wouldn't happen to be the girl who merged with an alien something-or-other and ended up crashing for a bit in Colette's flat. Would you?"

Peter Parker has posed:
Spidey walks back, pulling the medical kit out of his backpack. "I'll put a compression bandage on your foot, it should help."

He goes to work wrapping Vorpal's ankle. The bandage is tight, but it's supposed to be, to provide support.
The crashing-at-someone's-flat bit wasn't something he knew, but he figured Andi would have told him if it was important. Also, "flat" was veddy veddy British.
"Give it a minute or two, then try putting some weight on it," Spidey cautioned.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania briefly examines what's in the wallet, left to shake her head afterward before folding it up and tossing it toward the cat. With Spider-Man there, he is getting a fair amount of attention. That doesn't mean she's getting none, especially given her admittedly creepier look. And, not everyone's opinion of the red and blue Wallcrawler is sterling.

She grows quiet at the explanations given over who the feline is, but the eyes begin to narrow as he identifies her with only a specific, though key, detail. "Why are you asking?" she wonders, suspicion clear in her reaction.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry moves his toes exeperimentally, and then leaves his foot to rest for a minute as prescribed. "Thanks, Spidey. You're gold." Patiently counting down the minute, and then he slowly starts to get up, gingerly putting weight on the ankle. A slight wince, but the support has improved. "Thanks, that works much better. I should've gotten a new one applied... then again, I wasn't expecting to get robbed, at least not until I've recovered..."

Sensing the suspicion coming from Mania, he holds up his hands in an 'easy' gesture. " 'cause Colette's my friend. I'm staying at that flat now. Well... if you are her. So it looks like we've got buddies in common."

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man stashes the kit, then nods. "Proper introductions...Vorpal, my friend Mania. Mania, Vorpal, space traveler, ace reporter." He chuckles. "I advise you staying off that foot for a few days." He paused. "I have to say, I didn't do any deep-dive on you, so this is an unexpected look. Vorpal...like in that poem about the Jabberwock?" He chuckles. "I only notice because people complain about my jabber OR my walk."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania crosses her arms in such a way that the spiky protrusions along the forearms are in no danger of causing self-injury...if such a thing could even happen with a symbiote. "We..stayed there at one time, yes."

//Andi, how does he know about us?//
<<I don't know. We've been in the news. And he said something about Colette.>>
//We are curious. We want to pet his ears and see if he purrs like the other cats around.//
<<What? No! We don't even know him!>>

A hand comes up to rub over Mania's (lack of) face, but the reason why goes unsaid right now. Instead, she just mutters, "You should take better care of your things next time." She is letting Spider-Man do most of the chatting now, given the internal conversation, but she is watching the feline much more closely in comparison.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal laughs. "You got it, Spidey. Actually, I am /the/ Cheshire Cat- no joke, the very self-same one from the book." He lifts his hoodie to show the stripe pattern underneath, "I normally have a slick costume on, but mine got destroyed in outer space. Like I told you. But with that weave detail from you, I'll get something spiffy made- there's this guy Wally West knows who makes all of his outfits." Dropping his hoodie, he arches an eyebrow at Mania. "Guilty as charged. I guess I've spent too much time out in outer space where there weren't any pickpockets. Only sophistic philosophers, perpetual warriors and loopy artists." He pauses. "The pickpockets are better. In any case, shall we vamoose to a quieter spot, since the crowds are getting a little thick? We can hop over to my place for refreshments as a thank-you for saving my, like, five dollars, or do you need to spider your way back to crime-fighting?"

Any thoughts he might have had to crime-fight are put on hold by his terrible performance. He is faintly aware that Raven could heal him just like that.


He is, obviously, /not/ going to ask her.

Andi Benton has posed:
//Andi.//

Nothing.

//Andi.//

Still nothing.

//ANDI!//
<<What??>>
//We want to pet the furry thing.//
<<I already said-->>
//We are going to pet the furry thing.//

And in that moment, Mania approaches Vorpal, while he's still talking about philosophers, or warriors, or artists, or going somewhere else, and she boldly reaches out to rub over his ears with not one hand, but both.

"Purr for us, kitty," is said, but this is more the symbiote's voice speaking. He might feel a hint of hesitation in the touch, and Andi's voice following. "I told you we don't know him!"

For Spider-Man, he's seen Mania when she was at her potentially deadliest and most threatening, nearly taking over all control from Andi. This is...similar, yet different, but might be concerning in spite of the more amusing nature behind it.

Peter Parker has posed:
Spider-Man blinks, then pulls Mania gently away from Vorpal. "Mania, this is a person, not a pet. They might have issues with this sort of thing, Vorpal, RUN."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"You want me to /what?/" Vorpal blinks. Mania moves on him like Elmyra on steroids and the Cheshire cat gulps. It was always the ladies that wanted to pet him- why never the boys? When Spider-man warns him about Mania, and repeating that 'he is not a pet', the Elmyra vibes go through the roof.

"AlrightspideyitwasreallygoodtoseeyouletscatchupagainokayalsonicetomeetyouManiabutIjustrealizedmygrandmaisonfireandIgottagoBYE!"

And with that, a Rabbit Hole opens up under the Cheshire's feet and he -fwip- falls through it, vanishing away and the hole closes up behind him.

And over in Colette's flat...

The Cheshire cat lands on the floor rather gracefully.

On -both- feet.

There is one moment of absolute silence...

And then there is a shouted profanity that penetrates the walls as he drops onto his butt and holds his injured ankle.

Andi Benton has posed:
The blackened fingers slip away from Vorpal's ears as Spider-Man interjects, likely saving Vorpal from public embarrassment the likes of which Andi herself is already feeling inside.

The eyes turn on Spider-Man with a saddened expression. "We did not get to hear him purr," the symbiote says, while Andi just tries to gather her wits about her inside and wrest back that control.

"Brownies, Mania. Remember the brownies," she says, more her voice this time.

<<That was not okay! We don't do things like that!>>
//His ears felt nice. We do not regret a thing.//

Aloud, the voice becomes more that blend of the two again as the symbiote and host thwips a webline out to take her in the direction of..wherever they're going for the treats. "Yes, brownies. You promised, Spider. But we might get a kitten soon."