Tuesday March 27th: We all have something that Cripples us
No one had really asked May if her family was coming or not, not because no one was curious, but because May had the habit of not being around when such things were discussed. She seemed to constantly discreetly disappear if she so much as sensed the oncoming discussion. Having never spoken of her family, May wouldn't be surprised if her team mates wondered if she actually had any. Well that would be complicated to explain, and lying would probably be the only way, and.... it wasn't easy lying to these people. They were trying so hard to welcome her into the group, even if she was being distant most of the time.
Though after the group discussion about Scott's departure most of the focus had been on that, during the weekend people shared their time with each other and then with their families. Michael and Ben ended up leaving the school totally, and with three of the team gone and some others entertaining family it made the dorm room feel rather empty... which made things easier for May. It hurt when students brought their families to the dorm rooms, showing them where their children were living and sleeping, Riley had his family over occasionally, or they'd come to see him.. May just ended up spending most of her time out of the dorm.
Riley had left that morning for his surgery, and May felt uncertain is she was expected to go there and wish him well, as that's what team mates did, right? In the end she didn't go, she just hid. The silence and emptiness in the dorm may have been better then getting bombarded repeatedly with the fact that everyone had a family or a place to go but her... Part knew that wasn't really true, but things were complicated with her, and it felt like no one in the world would ever understand, sometimes it felt like even she would never understand.
Finding comfort in one of her favourite inner school junctions, one where a few passages joined to meet, one went up to the next floor, one passage lead her towards the dorms and then continued on to the rest of the school. Like a secret freeway she had used shamelessly her entire time here. It was good to have a place to move that was away from the bustle of activity that May couldn't stand. Lately it was getting easier to cope, but... there had been a time where she'd sat in one of the guest rooms for weeks, with only Hank's occasional company as he came to treat her as a patient. The placement on the team had helped her, it gave her a place, and it seemed that that was something the teen had sorely needed... just to find a place to belong, to focus her energies and thoughts on. And May appreciated the gesture of trust given to her, for this placement had helped her, even if she still had miles to go.
A scattering of maticulously crafted gadgets lay about the area, large enough that she could stand if she wanted to, a good few meters in either direction, like a small room where she could come and just hide from everything, no matter how long no one could find her... if they wanted to for whatever reason they could contact her via the communicator she was given, but even then, it rarely happened.. Only when Lexi grew worried that May had been gone for so long and she'd check up just to make sure the team mate was ok.
Images in her mind kept the mutant distracted and distant, and for those who saw May often that wasn't really unusual. It wasn't difficult to see the red head often caused an uneasiness in others. Sometimes that was a good thing, sometimes it wasn't. The team members she was palced with didn't seem to let that stop them from getting close to her, at least trying to. even Riley, who with all his ups and downs and moodswings of late, she had suffered a snapping at whichw as unexpected but he did later apologize and that seemed to be quite awkward for him. Ben reminded her of Falicity at times, both smart and stubborn in their attempts to connect with the rebellious Miss Parker. Though... it seemed like the girl Falicity tried to connect with and the girl Ben was trying to were just too different people.. and perhaps that was more true then May wanted to admit.
Feeling home sick again are we? the hiss of words that spoke into Mays mind were left unanswered, at least not with any intention. However having something joined to you to the point thoughts were shoared, it made keeping secrets hard. and as May reminded herself how she had nothing back home worth missing, the alien symbiont seemed to toy her with the memories of those who still lived.. like Facility. But May could make new friends and new enemies whever she goes. At least here she had nothing to remind her that her family was gone. Really gone... as in murdered and stolen and people either cheered the death of Spiderman as a stain finally removed or mourned the loss of a hero.
Here that hadn't happened, Spiderman was still mentioned in the papers, still often misrepresented as well. But that meant something right? And things didn't seem so bad here, some times May felt useless because of it. So much for keeping up the great spider legacy, what good was she if there was nothing worth fighting, or if she couldn't even say she was the daughter of Peter Parker. How can you keep a tradition going if everyone else around you didn't feel you had a right to carry on such a precious thing as a family legacy?
We liked it better when we had things to kick and punch. Venom continued, though here in this world it was decided they would call themselves Sin... some how in her dazed and confused state she told McCoy however, and due to her powers it seemed to stick. May gave a light sob at the memory of the mangled forms that had once been her family. Venom could be such a brute, careless, selfish and totally ignorant. Sure like most families they had their problems, their ups and downs, but they were bound by a responsibility that had been as much the seed that pulled them apart as it had been what kept them together. We think too much when we sit, we get a headache from it. The male voice continued on, getting a growl from May as her hands moved to cover her ears. All she wanted was a moment of peace to herself, a private thought, a silent moment, a quiet mind.
Just as the symbiont went on to continue pressuring MAy to do anything else other then lay there, she rolled into a position onto her hands and knees. She was sick of him! His whining an pushingm his anger and coilence, she didn't want any of this, she had enough of her own issues to deal with, May didn't need his crap inflicted upon her too!
Though as the daughter of the infamous wall-crawler moved with swift efficiancy through the insides of the school walls, towards her dorm rroom, it turned out her exit was blocked by one of the dorms other ingabitants. She was surprised he was there, Michael and Ben must have returned recently. Of all the teams she could have been on she happened to be placed with one whose male members actually made use of the cleaning facilities. The scuffle of her movements in the vent system above would have been easily over looked, but the small and sharp intake of breath may gave been enough to give her away. Through the mesh panel Michaels form could be seen, he was hardly as paranoid as some of the others could be, so holding her breath she waited in hopes he'd leave. Though holding her breath didn't seem easy considering she had just been crying and she was a little breathless from it. Cautiously the teen pulled her face away, sitting back just in case he bothered to look up... she wasn't sure she wanted others to know of her hide away.. a shaky breath was taken in as she waited.
Re: Tuesday March 27th: We all have something that Cripples
One thing about having a limited amount of clothes to your name, it meant that you had to become pretty well acquainted with the washing facilities the Institute provided for its students! Well either that or go around looking and smelling like a tramp! Which, in a school full of mutants with heightened senses was something Michael was sure really wouldn’t be appreciated. Not that he had any intention of adding sloppiness to his list of eccentricities. It was just that he was tired. Happily so he had to admit. The weekend had been fun and Ben’s parents had spoiled him rotten, fussing over him at meal times to make sure he ate enough, trying to get him to accept odd bits and bobs that they claimed Ben no longer had any need for or had outgrown.
Michael smiled wryly. While he had managed politely to refuse most of their well intentioned offers he had accepted a rather worn belt from them. After all, he told himself, when there was the very real possibility of losing your trousers sometimes pride had to take a back seat. Besides all their kindness had been infused with tact, as they had steered that all to fine line between thoughtfulness and charity. Nor had they insisted when he had smiled and assured them he had all he needed, letting him keep his dignity even if they knew he lied.
It had felt good to be with a family again, even if he was only a visitor. Still he had been made welcome and he had to admit that the easy interaction between Ben and his parents had reminded him that the everyday world still existed out there. and that he could be a part of it. Even if now he knew what evil lurked in its shadows and what wonders shone in its hidden places.
Michael hitched the rucksack off his shoulders and started emptying the dirty clothes from it one handedly one crutch still firmly occupied with the task of keeping him upright while the other rested against the washing machine. Part of him was still amazed they had got away with it, this seemingly natural trip. There were so many things that could have gone wrong. After all his status in the US wasn’t exactly regular and despite assurances that the false documents he had been supplied with would stand up to any scrutiny his heart had still been in his mouth as he had used them. Especially since he hadn’t been doing the best of jobs when it came to being discrete.
Michael shook his head ruefully as he remembered the metal detectors and their inevitable reaction to the pins in his legs. Even though he had been prepared for it the loud insistent beeping had made him jump… figuratively at least and the search that followed while kindly done had been awkward and embarrassing. Hand held detectors had cheerfully announced the tale of damage to the waiting world finding each and every piece of steel that shored him up, revealing their presence in both legs as Michael had waited, eyes closed for them, simply to get it over with.
Oh well. It had been a small price to pay for a nice weekend and it hadn’t been so bad on the way back, when he had at least known what to expect. And now here, he was safe and sound, back at the Institute, instead of some deportation cell as he had feared, sporting a new belt and an even newer haircut that Ben’s mum had somehow managed to talk him into. It was all good. Or at least it would be once he got this washing sorted out and could take himself off to bed!
If the machine had been turned on he wouldn’t have heard the noise, the strange noise that came from the roof. Michael glanced up in surprise not really sure what he had heard but certain all the same that he had heard something. There was an air vent. Funny, the Scottish boy thought, how you didn’t seem to notice them unless something called your attention to them that was and yet they were everywhere. Was there really something up there? If there was it was probably a rat or suchlike. After all for all its high tech facilities the Institute was an old building. Then again……in a school full of mutants there were other possibilities.
If he had been fit he would have pulled over a chair and climbed up to have a look. Just in case! Not that he was thinking of security risks or invasion but rather of student pranks and the undeniable attraction to the young male of the species of girls dorm rooms. Though , he thought with a chuckle heaven help anyone who tried to spy on May. They’d be picking up the pieces with a spoon after she’d finished with them.
It was nothing Michael told himself pragmatically but deep down he knew it was too late. His curiosity had been piqued and once that happened he might as well resign himself to the fact that he was doomed. So he did what any self respecting astral mutant would have done. Sitting himself down on one of the laundry rooms rather uncomfortable chairs he went to take a look for himself.
It didn’t take more than a few seconds for Hood to be out and up in the vent though when he got there he wished he hadn’t. Because now, if there was a peeping Tom around it was him, looking on invisibly as May struggled with her emotions. She had been crying. May! May who didn’t do things like that. Or so it had seemed.
Oh crap what should he do now? Should he pretend he hadn’t seen her. After all she would never know that he had. But then again… what if she was hurt or needed someone to talk to? Even if he was pretty sure she would never admit it. Damn it all why hadn’t he just minded his own business.
But then again…… she was his team mate and that did make this his business. Sort of! In a way! Didn’t it.? In any case she was unhappy and that wasn’t something he could just overlook. *Maybe I could ask one of her friends to call round* he thought desperately. Except…. he had never seen May with anyone apart from the other team members. Was it just that he hadn’t been there long enough to notice her friends or did she not have any? He didn’t know. And in any case in the end it made no difference here and now. He couldn’t delegate this. And he shouldn’t need to.
After all there was someone there for her. A friend! Him. Even if maybe he wouldn’t have been her first choice! He still counted didn’t he? And the first thing a friend would do would be let her know he was here. In body as well as in spirit. Michael let Hood coalesce into being beside her, his eyes full of concern Oh Hey May he said softly once the archers body was fully formed. Sorry I heard a noise and…... I didn’t know it was you……. and I certainly didn’t mean to butt in but….look….. are you ok?
Re: Tuesday March 27th: We all have something that Cripples
There was a tingle, the silence had come but… before May could bring herself to see if Michael had left or not, the tingle drew her focus. It rippled lightly down the back of her neck, not numbingly so that she freaked out, but enough that the wall-crawler found herself straining to steady her breathing. Hazel eyes opened nervously, though didn’t bother looking around, if someone was crawling there towards her she’d not have much trouble seeing them coming. Tearful eyes remained downcast, slender fingers lightly stroking across her cheek to try and wipe aside a few of the tears that trailed down her now moist skin. With a slight air of confusion, May let her eyes wonder about the ground where she sat, checking to make sure there wasn’t some sort of crack perhaps that may be giving away that her spider-sense was attempting to warn her about.
Perhaps it was worse then falling through the vent shaft, Michael’s voice startled her, but was easily able to be recognised as her head snapped about to look over at him, regardless May could still feel Venom’s tendrils creeping slowly across her back, spreading and encompassing her flesh. The clothes she wore were only an illusion created by Venom’s shapeshifting abilities, the insecurity over being seen in such a state only helping drive the desire to hide herself away from Michael’s gaze and his statement of her distress.
Don’t we have a sssmart one here. Hissed the unwelcomed voice inside her mind, the symbiont thrived of anger, jealous, fury, if it was negative and strong then Venom was drawn to it as a moth to the fire. And May was a girl who held a lot of fury and grief in her heart. The young woman who was from one of the many possible futures that awaited this world, shifted her position slowly, moving so her body balanced on hands and knees. Crouching effortless in the space, without any sign of cramps or discomfort despite the hours of being confined to small spaces, May took another moment to assure her breathing wasn’t effected by the emotional torrent that was flowing inside of her. There were also the students that found being alone with May was perhaps just too unnerving for them to feel they could ever be comfortable about it, but that never bothered the web-slinger. It meant people wouldn’t swamp her, they wouldn’t try to poke and pry into what wasn’t their business!
"Oh no, Michael." There was a slight quiver in her voice as May began to speak, merely from her abnormal breathing which occurred due to her disturbed state, her tone slightly cold and unforgiving of his intrusion. "You haven’t see how upset we can become." There were odd occasions where May did refer to herself as an individual, however it seemed she had the greater habit of referring to herself as a collective instead of a singular person, something most generally excepted as a peculiarity that made May strangely unique. So far, no one had seemed to ever question the reasons as to why May said ‘us’ instead of ‘I’, and May herself didn’t usually notice when she did so, otherwise perhaps would have made a greater attempt of not making things more complicated for her to blend in. "For your sake it’d be best for you if you aren’t around should there come a time where such a state were to occur." There was a very serious ‘or else’ rather obviously woven into those words, however tear stained eyes examined the others features as she inched ever slightly towards him. There was an irritated hiss of air that was breathed out agitatedly between her teeth as she continued.
"Or do you like being the little deer in front of everyone’s headlights?" The tone was more levelled, more softer and yet still annoyed and with an undercurrent of anger. "A little deer standing meters from the edge of a cliff, hoping to stop any who seem to be driving towards their peril, running blindly from what lies behind without seeing what lies in front of them." Venom’s tendrils visibly wrapped down May’s arms and wove around the base of her neck, her legs completely covered and now all that remained visibly untouched was her head. A deep red suit now clung to her athletic form, appearing almost as an intense black in the gloom of the vent, with the illuminate red veins that gave off an eerie pale glow scratched all over, with a more visible large red spider emblem over her front. "Go ahead Michael," Urged the mutant who had once been part of a reality hoping team after she had been sucked from her own reality, trying hard to find her way back… even if she later now realized there was nothing to go back to, and since has virtually given up any attempts of finding her way back to where she belongs. "This is where you try and swoon us with your charms and wistful words of understanding, act the hero and fend off the ravenous dogs of past miseries that snap and growl upon the wheels of the vehicle I drive… that’s what you like to do, is it not?" It wasn’t usual for May to be so angered, though she did often have an air about her that made many feel as if they trod on broken eggshells by being near her, she was always more accommodating around her team mates however. She was more often curt with her team, never really getting into arguments and not bothering to reply if it seemed someone was in a foul mood and randomly snapping at people, as Riley had been during their discussions about Scott before he left.
Re: Tuesday March 27th: We all have something that Cripples
It was cramped in the air duct, lack of space forcing Hood into a crouch that Michael would be unable to have made, the great bow on his back only fitting in because of its unique nature, accommodating itself more to his will than to its actual surroundings. Hood came as a package, all or nothing, and the weapons were part of it. Not that Michael had thought for a moment he might need them here and now. Then he had looked into May's eyes and thought again.
To say that she wasn’t pleased to see him was the understatement of the century. Not that she exploded in anger though it would have been better if she had. As it was her mood seemed to curdle the very air between them, coalescing about her form like an oil slick contaminating a pool turning her red, then black as the strange tendrils of her power flowed over her.
If Hood had had breath to hold he would have held it then as his team mate crawled slowly towards him. He had no spider sense to alert him to danger but then again he didn’t need it. Not here. Not now. Not with May like this. "Oh no, Michael." she told him softly, still advancing along the narrow tunnel "You haven’t see how upset we can become." For once her choice of pronoun passed him by, he who was so usually attentive to words and meaning for once blindsided by pure tone, by the subtle menace in her voice. "For your sake it’d be best for you if you aren’t around should there come a time where such a state were to occur. Or do you like being the little deer in front of everyone’s headlights?"
It caught him unawares and struck deep, his eyes betraying his confusion and hurt at the unexpected cruelty. Of all the images she could have picked it was the one designed to get past his defences, bringing back memories of pain and helplessness as she surely had known it would. And she wasn’t content to leave tt there "A little deer” she went on ‘standing meters from the edge of a cliff, hoping to stop any who seem to be driving towards their peril, running blindly from what lies behind without seeing what lies in front of them."
There was pain on her side too behind the words. On some level he could see that. She was wounding him because she herself was hurting but that didn’t make it any easier to bear. Not with the smell of blood and burnt rubber hanging round him like a shroud of memory and the sound of metal twisting against bone in his ears. And even as he struggled for some means to force himself to see past his own nightmares and understand hers she mocked him for doing just that.
"Go ahead Michael," May said scathingly, the glowing spider on the costume she now wore casting weird red shadows over them both like bloodstains from reopened wounds. "This is where you try and swoon us with your charms and wistful words of understanding, act the hero and fend off the ravenous dogs of past miseries that snap and growl upon the wheels of the vehicle I drive… He didn’t know what she was talking about. Was this how she saw him? It didn’t make any sense. When had he tried to charm anyone? The whole idea was ridiculous. And as for playing the hero…………. She had carried him around like so much dead weight. There was nothing heroic about any of that.
Words though. Yes he was guilty of words. Now and always. He talked……. too much. He got involved when he didn’t have to.Oh yes she was dead on rights with that one. Otherwise why the hell would he be here stuck in a confined space with a girl who looked like she might just tear him to ribbons physically as she had just done verbally. He didn’t need this. He didn’t need to have his fears dragged up and used as a weapon against him. Especially since it was all too easy to do! Now there was anger of his own rising as May asked him “that’s what you like to do, is it not?" Anger as cold as hers and just as bitter.
“ No actually its not” he answered looking her in the eye, not caring if she saw the emotions in his“ I’ve been road kill once before. I’m not about to repeat the experience. And just so you know ‘a piss off you supercilious little bastard’ would have been enough to get rid of me. You didn’t need to pull out all the stops!”
Re: Tuesday March 27th: We all have something that Cripples "No actually its not" The words were spat at her, and the raw emotion that erupted from the other was enough to send shivers of content down the symbiont’s senses, oh how it thrived off hate and anger. Hood’s face was stern, bitter, almost hateful as he continued on. "I’ve been road kill once before. I’m not about to repeat the experience. And just so you know ‘a piss off you supercilious little bastard’ would have been enough to get rid of me. You didn’t need to pull out all the stops!" It had been the first time May had seen Michael angry, it had been the first time May even had proof that the guy had a temper of any sort. While Venom revelled in the heat of the moment, May inwardly quivered as she realized what she had said and the implications that they held for Michael. He was always so gentle and proud, and despite his scars he always had the inner strength to still try and hold his chin up high… had May just allowed something so cruel and cold that dwelled inside of her rip that pride and inner strength of will that helped keep Michael strong?
"Wait!" She couldn’t just let him go like that, but what could she say? How could she explain? Saying sorry was so empty if a reason couldn’t be given, and how could she tell him about her symbiont… it would lead to too many complications, it might even scare him, there was no telling how he’d react! But any reaction other then this kind had to be better. "It’s a disease." Just hook his attention long enough that he won’t fade off and storm away with this anger in his heart, Michael didn’t deserve that, he didn’t need any negativity, he didn’t need this little sanctuary that Green Rescue seemed to be for not only him but the others to be torn apart by this encounter. The words that came were now softer, calmer, an air of desperation flowing through them as she tried to explain.
"It gets so hard to control, I try, I stay away from you all so this doesn’t happen, I know that’s not the answer, McCoy gave me things once… to help me, he said it would help me, I knew they wouldn’t," Yes, it was true, venom was a disease, a disease of the mind! A disease of the heart, the soul itself… it warped the host, it amplified all their weaknesses, it made them stronger and more confident and more ruthless. The red head closed her eyes, shutting them tight as her face lowered, all she wanted to do was rip every last shred of symbiont that covered her body from her, but the idea of doing so was… almost unbearable. After all, May couldn’t just hide from Venom, even if she could escape the alien creature, he’d just find someone else to join with, and May couldn’t let that happen, she couldn’t sacrifice someone else to the callous nature of this insidious being. Of course.. she could kill him, but she’d not manage that on her own, she was so sure she’d never manage to be strong enough to destroy the thing that entombed her body, soul and mind to a vicious cloud of intense caustic emotions. "It’s just a disease…. When my family died I let it take me over, I let it have control, I thought it would help take away the pain if I just stopped fighting…" How weak did she sound now? This isn’t what she wanted… this isn’t how she wanted people to see her either, but there was no one she’d allow Michael to think her so easily able to say such things to him without any cause behind them! However, there seemed to a cooler tone of voice as the misplaced reality hopper added almost curiously and rather gratuitous in her manner.
"…Do you fear us Michael, do you hate us?" It was only then that May once again opened her eyes, the hazel gaze lifting to look back at Michael’s astral form’s face, a twisted little curve seeming to tug in the corner of her lips as she did, almost giving the impression as if she wanted him to admit to the fear and the anger that had been seen. How much Venom missed that, seeing the fear in the faces of his prey as he chased them down. Her face contorted almost instantly however, almost tearful once again, eyes shut quickly, face hidden away, she just wanted to go home, she just wanted to go back to how it all used to be before her parents died.
Re: Tuesday March 27th: We all have something that Cripples
There was a first time for everything! Not, Michael suddenly realised ,necessarily a good thing! This was certainly the first time he had been anxious to leave Hood behind and get back to his body, despite all its attending problems. At least there he was used to its pains. They were constant after all, even if undesired.Where as here……….
He had been more or less prepared for May’s anger at his intrusion, though he had hoped perhaps stupidly that it wouldn’t come to that. What had caught him unawares however was the surgical precision with which she had struck a nerve, albeit one that had, perhaps, been too close to the surface.
Not that it mattered. It had been a weakness and she had seized upon it with something approaching glee! And that hurt no matter how you looked at it.
Had she been a stranger it wouldn’t have mattered so much he supposed But she wasn’t. May was a team mate. Someone he was called upon to live with each and every day. No, in the end she was more than that! She was probably the one person who had and, realistically could, enable him to function on Green Rescue Squad without being a total burden to the others!
And so this rejection cut deeper. Deep enough for him already to have faded back into his ghost like state, ready to depart when she called "Wait!"
He didn’t want too. He didn’t even think that he had to. It was stupid. Like turning the other cheek! Nice on paper but in real life all too often just another occasion to get smacked around! And yet there was something in her voice that made him hesitate, hovering on the brink of reintegration, leaving himself open to that last blow if she chose to deliver it.
"It’s a disease." Damn! That brought him back, solidifying once more into his alter ego even if logically he didn’t think it was a good thing. But then logic had little to do with what he heard and felt. Had he possessed a spider sense like Mays it would no doubt have been telling him to get out now while he still could. But then again, given the circumstances, it was unlikely that he would have listened to it.
Because even now he wasn’t stupid! And the threat that emanated from May was all too real. But so too was her need.It was perhaps foolish to believe anything she said, but then again Michael was inclined to believe what people told him. Especially if what they were saying seemed difficult to express! And this, he had to admit, sounded as if May was tearing out her heart and offering it on a plate to him. Which bought one last moments risk, in his book at least!
And so he lingered, there, where he shouldn’t have! Exposed and vulnerable to any attack she might have launched! And instead he received a confession, one that he was well placed not only to hear but to understand. .
“It gets so hard to control,” He was hooked now. As hooked as he was by his own addiction, drawn easily into her particular hell by the similarities it bore to his own. I try, I stay away from you all so this doesn’t happen,May went on, echoing his own dilemma
“I know that’s not the answer, McCoy gave me things once… to help me,he said it would help me, I knew they wouldn’t,"
Michael draw a breath that Hood didn’t need, not understanding what May was telling him on a purely physical front, unable to fully comprehend the division between what he considered to be his team mates mutant powers and the verbal cruelty she had unleashed upon him but, given his own drug dependence, willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Damn it all, if you came on him when he was in withdrawal then Michael was sure that he too could lash out indiscriminately. Indeed knew that Hank and Talia had seen him at his worst when he had been trying to help Paige. It was there and had to be dealt with. A side of him that he didn’t like! Forced upon him by physical limitations.
Not quite a disease. That was both his strength and his downfall. For if it had been his mutant genes would have vanquished it… if indeed they still had the power to do so.No the monkey on his back had another name and he could get rid of it when he chose to. Though the price that came with severence was at the moment higher than he could pay. But May…. She laboured under the thrall of this illness for which she had no cure and that must have been still harder to deal with.
"It’s just a disease….” Just a disease! When had illness ever been just a disease?It was always an enemy to be fought one way or another and in that particular battle Michael had done more than his fair share of fighting. No matter what they had injected into him during his captivity, no matter how much it had hurt, Michael had always held on to one thing. That no matter how corrupted his kidnappers might have been his power could ultimately have been beneficial to humanity. A hope that had only been dashed by his auction at Harmony Market!
There he had been forced to face the fact that he would be used in the worst of ways and for no purpose other than the amusement of those who had purchased him. It was a future he had been willing to die rather than accept. And one that the X men’s intervention had saved him from!
He had taken his unexpected posting to Green Strike to be a sign that he had been given a chance to use his powers to help people like himself, those who were without hope. Now, listening to May, as he had listened to Paige’s unwitting call, he realised that perhaps it wasn’t just Hood who was meant to intervene. That in the end the real power lay with him if he had the courage to use it. And it sounded as if May needed just such an intervention.For surely she had suffered enough.
“When my family died” she went on , already winning his sympathy, I let it take me over, I let it have control, I thought it would help take away the pain if I just stopped fighting…
Michael had nothing to say in the face of such loss. After all he had done the same thing though his pain had been purely physical. Something which drugs could soften, did soften, every day. He clung to them even as he hated them. Could he condemn May for having done as much when those she loved had been taken from her?
He hadnt known she was alone in the world. But then again he hadnt known much about her one way or the other. Even when they were all together she gave nothing away, told no stories of her past or where she came from, showed little even of her own emotions. Maybe this was why. Maybe she kept silent not because she was anti social but because the past hurt to much to talk about. And that changed everything.
Parents weekend! Oh god ! That must have been hell! Ben had helped him through it , knowing his friend might have suffered from the constant reminder that he was cut off from his own familly. And yet they were still alive. May had been obliged to watch everyone else meeting and greeting their loved ones when all the time she knew that she could never be able to do the same again. That they were gone past all hope of recovery. And she had endured it alone.
It would have sent him looking for a quiet place to grieve. It would also have made him less than civil to anyone who inadvertantly pocked their nose in while he was doing it. So though May's reaction had been heightened apparently by this malady she suffered from, it had been justified. In the end she might even have had less to apologise for than he did.
Not that it was an apology she was looking for. "…Do you fear us Michael, do you hate us?" Despite the disturbing wording it was May, not some mysterious stranger who asked the question and it was May who looked out at him from behind the mask, like a fly entrapped in her own web , even if he failed to understand much more than that the words she had flung his way like so many missiles, each one designed to strike home, hadn’t perhaps been fully her own.
Nor was her question easy to answer. And yet she waited for him to do so. As if it mattered. As if she wanted nothing more than his rejection… for him to turn his back and walk away…… for a denial of her forced out of him by the fear she inspired and which once given could never be taken back.
Staying there, face to face with the barely sheathed menace he had seen all to clearly just seconds before wasnt easy. But somehow leaving was harder still.Michael knew that this was a crucial moment in any relationship he might have with May.And, despite the pain this unexpected meeting had cost them both , it was a moment from which he couldn’t back away.
And so he answered her… them?…. he didn’t know which aspect of her personality he was addressing any more for sure and ultimately it didnt matter. For in the end the answer would have been the same……..
First there was an unnecessary sigh…. One that indicated this answer wasn’t easy to give, and then….”Do you remember the first time you saw me” Michael asked, even if it was Hood’s mouth that framed the words. “Not the first time you saw Hood” he précised. “but there on the island. When all I had said before about me being crippled became a reality!”
That had been a defining moment in his life , one in which he either became part of a team or was cast out into uselessness. And May, ill or not hadn’t hesitated. None of them had. So how could he hesitate now?
Hood, now fully reconstructed, wrapped his arms round his knees , settling himself into a seating position, unprotected in the confined space between himself and whatever it was that May had become. “You accepted me “ he told her “You looked at what the car had taken from me and you said that it didn’t matter.That I was still myself. Do you think that here and now I would do anything else?”
“Ok I admit..” you touched a sore spot. Michael said honestly “And yes …… I got mad but………….” God, this thing in front of him was scary as hell, but if it was the morphine that May used to control her pain than what right did he have to judge?”No I don’t hate you….. and only you can really know if I should fear you. As far as Im concerned you're May, just like Im Michael. With all the advantages and disadvantages that entails.
"Though....... maybe I can help with this particular problem."he said, not realising that by doing so he had confirmed Sins scathing assessment of him. Seeing what this particular disease had done to his teammate he was still willing to step into its path. Even if that involved the risk of being smashed by its progress.
"Hood isn’t the only thing I can do.. Michael explained quietly. If this disease you have is something thats in your system I can perhaps provide antibodies that would cure it. Dr McCoy didn’t have that option on hand when you saw him last time but he does now.I'd be willing to give it a shot if you like?
Re: Tuesday March 27th: We all have something that Cripples "Do you remember the first time you saw me" By the tree? She remembered, Venom had wanted to so badly urge her on to almost threaten them to stay out of their way and leave them alone. All the rest of the team was interested on doing however was introducing themselves, a nice show of how happy-go-lucky the rest of them were, sickening in Venom’s opinion. "Not the first time you saw Hood" The comment caused her to frown slightly, the expression unseen under the impassive mask that now covered her face. "but there on the island. When all I had said before about me being crippled became a reality!" It had been going from ‘surely it can’t be all as bad as that’ to an undeniable acceptance of the bitter truth of his severe handicap. But even May could see how valuable his mutation was, an extra bit of weight for her to lug about was hardly the worst thing when it provided a chance for them to have the advantage… Of course, she knew there were situations where carrying Michael around just wasn’t practical, but for that point of time, during that simple task, it hadn’t been much of a hindrance at all.
"You accepted me" No! Not accepted… she tolerated! Endured what she had little ability to change! She didn’t care about anything, she didn’t have an opinion on anything, she took what she was faced with and dealt with it as best as possible, it’s what she’s always done! …At least… no… it’s what she’s had to do, it’s all she’s been able to do since she become host to the insidious creature now calling what she had become ‘Sin’. "You looked at what the car had taken from me and you said that it didn’t matter.That I was still myself. Do you think that here and now I would do anything else?" Why not? Was it not in human nature to take freely and give scarcely? "Ok I admit.. you touched a sore spot." How delightful it had felt, to feel the radiating surge of anger and hostility, how satisfying, fulfilling, an addition and a drug that symbionts thrived off so desperately. "And yes …… I got mad but…………." Mad! Yes, and he was so vulnerable, so easy to ensnare, to toy with, to enrage! The thought was almost intoxicating for the alien symbiont, if right now it had to choose between which host to take, he’d have taken Michael without hesitation over May! The emotional surge! The raw emotions held at bay by sheer will… oh imagine the destruction, the chaos, the upheaval that such intensity could cause if it was harnessed! Unlike May, who restricted and contained him, like a cage! How intolerable it had become, now something new and volatile, so tempting, so enthrallingly enticing!
"No I don’t hate you….. and only you can really know if I should fear you. As far as Im concerned you're May, just like Im Michael. With all the advantages and disadvantages that entails." Only May? Such an appealing thought to the host, and yet the symbiont riled at the thought of being overlooked! As Venom he was known, as Venom he was free! Yes, at introductions May had even opted for a hopefully wise move of stating she had a split personality, something that was vital if an explanation ever had to be made towards her behaviour. But had it helped? Or maybe she hadn’t! Maybe she thought about it but neglected to mention? Oh god this was getting so confusing. May was torn amongst the thrashing of emotions, urges, wants, thoughts, all shoving, tugging, pulling, ripping her apart in all but in the physical sense. "Though....... maybe I can help with this particular problem." Yes… Venom felt almost soothed by the offer, though his own thoughts malicious and self fulfilling, leaving May feeling lost in the alien skin that now surrounded her as she struggled to listen, to remain in control and not fade away into the background as she had done so many, many months ago. "Hood isn’t the only thing I can do.." A hand reached to rest its fingers against the temple of May’s forehead for a moment, a breath struggled out, one that could be associated easily from her distress, her hand lowered again and her masked features seemed once more focused on Michael’s astral form as he talked. "If this disease you have is something thats in your system I can perhaps provide antibodies that would cure it. Dr McCoy didn’t have that option on hand when you saw him last time but he does now.I'd be willing to give it a shot if you like?" No no no… the symbiont almost riled in contempt at the shift in the emotional state of the other, almost disgusted by it, the disinterest in such drivel and the displeasure and disappointment enough to cause knots in May’s stomach.
" Your powers cannot destroy us! And why would we want to give this up!" The hiss came almost indignantly, her seemingly placid state breaking down as tendrils whipped out virtually unnoticed in the gloom, gripping Hood’s ankles and pulling the astral projection’s legs towards her, ending up with them on either side of her knelling form as strong hands grabbed at the front of Hood’s chest and pushed him back to pin the male’s form down. She was strong! With her aid Green Rescue had taken down the formidable X-woman known as Rogue, the one woman army, with brutal efficiency! "They will come for us and we will be ready, they will not be given the chance to decide who lives and who dies, who can be stored away and who is to be exterminated like rats! This time we will be ready for it, we will know what it is they plan, we will destroy the maker’s, just as they destroyed us!" As May continued to speak, a desperation in her tearful voice easily distinguishable, the grip she held loosened and the mask that covered her face peeled away. The face however was obscured, cast down against Hood’s chest as fingers released their hold in a meek attempt to additionally cover her own face, red locks falling about wildly once the symbiont had peeled away to her shoulders.
"Then she can go away with her friends too, and she can cook meals for her family, she can fall in love and whine about not having enough time to save the world as well as do all her homework… And if she ever tells dad how much she hates him for being a selfish arrogant stuck up know it all jerk who thinks he’s always right," There was a sobbing breath as she spilled out the words "she’ll always have the chance to say she’s sorry!" There was so much more she wanted to say, so much more that she just wanted to scream and shout about that she never got the chance to, a show of raw emotion that sent sensational tingles through the symbiont, but nothing more could come out, nothing more then sobs. It was true that May could not change what had happened to her, she could not take away all her own pain… but maybe she could change what was to happen to the young May Parker of this time… in a sense… that was saving herself, technically… that was actually was changing what she considered the past! She could stop it all from happening… was that such a wrong thing to want? She knew how wrong it was to interfere… but wasn’t it more wrong to just stand by and not do anything? Little did May know that her future was in fact just one of the many countless possibilities that could occur, and she had little awareness to how different things could end up being.
Re: Tuesday March 27th: We all have something that Cripples
The situation changed in a heartbeat, the dangerous pendulum of May’s emotions swinging once more from contrition to menace before Michael had any chance to react, let alone understand. " Your powers cannot destroy us! And why would we want to give this up!" she hissed at him, once again transformed from the, albeit rather anti social team mate he had shared breakfasts with, to the decidedly cruel entity he had glimpsed scant moments ago.
He should have got out while he could, Michael realised, appalled by the metamorphosis. This was more than some disease. This was a serious personality disorder, a sickness in its own right certainly, but not one his mutant blood could find a cure for. And if he hadn’t been at first tired and then angry maybe he would have seen that before things got out of hand. As they so obviously had. Now though he was confronted with the blatent fact of May’s duality, the two sides of her personality apparently fighting with each other and himself caught haplessly in the crossfire.
As always there was a literary reference that sprang to mind, though it was far from being reassuring. Golem and Smeagul! If, that was, Golem had happened to be a horribly strong, cuttingly intelligent being intent on inflicting harm! Which, fortunately for Sam at least hadn’t seemed to be the case in the book!s Now though Michael was all too aware that he was facing just such an adversary, and he didn’t think for one moment that he was playing the role of Frodo in this particular little scenario.
He had to think of something to say, imagine some way of reaching the girl rather than the monster he saw before him but before his brain even had time to get into gear he felt something hauling at his ankles. Oh god! The tendrils that had once held his physical form safely on her back were now dragging him towards her and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Though he did try!
*Fade, fade* he told his astral form franticly as he drew ever closer to the writhing form that May had become. But somehow Hood stubbornly refused to depart, even when May, or what was left of her, pinned him helplessly to the ground in a position he knew all to well. She was so strong! Easily as strong as the straps that had constrained him back at the lab. Or the ones he had dreamed had held him down while demons had stroked and tortured him.
He wasn’t going to think about that! He couldn’t afford to, but still the images filled his mind despite all his efforts. Because, if whatever dark side May had unleashed upon them both chose to do the same, then there was little he could do to stop it. And that’s scared him beyond all belief.
Yet in some horribly convoluted way it was perhaps the lesser of two evils. If he ran, if he managed somehow to disengage and reintegrate the body lying so patiently beneath him then he would be truly helpless if she.. it…. this being that had been May, chose to follow. Futile as it might seem, Hood at least had the ability to fight back…..if she would only give him an opening… whereas Michael….. If she had pulled the ankle tugging trick on him he would have already have been reduced to a screaming heap, unable to think let alone talk. And words.. the very words that May’s dark side had scorned, might very well be his only way out.
For now though he listened to hers…. understanding nothing, unless it was the underlying need to strike back at those who either actually had, or who she at least believed, had hurt her in the past. Was it paranoia, this rant against some mysterious ‘they’ ? Michael found himself wishing that it was. For May’s sake. And for the sake of those who had perhaps lived through the same experience. For now he knew that such things were possible. That people like him could be bought and sold! That they could be made and unmade at someone else’s whim!
It wasn’t right. It never had been, whether the people concerned had been victims of the slave trade or all those sent off to concentration camps for daring to be different. Connor had spoken of such things, hinting that the events in Harmony Market hadn’t been an isolated incident but rather one in a long line of atrocities perpetuated against him and others of his kind. And if May and her family had somehow been caught up in something like that? Wouldn’t that have been enough and more to produce this fracture in her psyche?
Michael though that it might! Not that this glimpse into her hell gave him any clue as to how he might extricate himself from his. That insight came from May herself. Because it was clear that her alter ego wouldn’t have been concerned with such things. Vengeance yes! That he or she would have lapped up with a passion. But this need for everyday comforts? This desire for a normal life, Surely that came from May!
All these seemingly obvious rights! Friends!. Home cooking! Love, whether it was successful or not! The ability to tell your father that whatever path you may have chosen you were still his child! Those had to come from a heart that could hear his call! May’s heart, no matter how lost it was within the belly of this particular beast!
She had released him now, holding him in place more by her own need than by any strength she might still wield. And that scared Michael as much as anything that had gone before. Because this was, he realised, something he couldn’t fight. This was the impulse that May, or her dark half at least, had detected in him. Something that forced him to stand when he knew he should have retreated. As he could have retreated in that moment when May’s suffering, if not her personality came to the fore.
These tears though……. they were surely hers and hers alone. And although he longed to take the opportunity and run.. at least as much as his body would allow him too… Michael stayed, scared half to death by the knowledge of what affronted him, but none the less unwilling to leave a comrade behind on the field of battle. And this surely was nothing less, even if the conflict took place, as far as he was concerned, within May’s own mind.
And so he hauled himself back to something like lucidity, even as his survival instincts screamed at him to go and go now before May lost herself once more to these primeval drives he was trying so desperately to suppress. *This is May* he told himself, trying to make that thought count for something, drawing on all the too few positive times they had spent together. Times that perhaps had counted for nothing as far as she was concerned but which had none the less touched Michael deeply.
She didn’t make me feel like a burden when she carried me around. She never made me feel as if I didn’t have my place on the team. She never did anything other than speak her mind simply because I was crippled!
Maybe it didn’t seem like a lot. But it was enough. Enough at least to make him try……. “Hey May!” he said gently, though Michael’s heart raced where Hood’s couldn’t. Knowing that any damage inflicted on his astral form would have dire consequences on his actual body. And that that would probably be tragic for both concerned.
”Those things you were talking about are things you can still have. Not all of them I know. he admitted freely”Some times we just don’t get back those moments we need. When maybe we should have said something and didn’t. But ……. Those we love probably already knew what we meant to say anyway. That’s the way these things work. And as for the rest! All those things could still be out there waiting for you.If you’ll just give them a chance”
Re: Tuesday March 27th: We all have something that Cripples "Hey May!" Why did she give them her real name? Why not something else, anything else, use Felicity’s name maybe? Yes, Felicity… something… she could have thought it up, she should have thought it up, why did she have to say May Parker? What would the difference have been? Maybe she could have more easily somehow played things differently, maybe she could have approached the Parker’s… or maybe she could have just totally avoided her past relations entirely and pretended to be someone entirely different so that should she ever happen across her father or any other then one who may identify her or grow suspicious. After all, if she prances around as a Spider clad individual, it’d raise brows and cause questions, if she dressed as something else… anything else… well then she’d just be one of the many freaks out on the street at night.
"Those things you were talking about are things you can still have. Not all of them I know." Not all of them? Which ones then? What did he think she was able to go falling in love with some cute guy? Even if she did could he honestly say it’d work out, look at how he was reacting to her, and Michael had spent weeks living with her! In fact she’d spent weeks with all of them and none had made any effort to invite her out anywhere… even if she made no effort to go to them, they all seemed to have the effort to organize things with each other. Was she jealous? Who knew… she didn’t know for sure, it wasn’t like she felt upset at them really, she just felt like she was missing something, even though she didn’t really want anything at the moment. At least nothing she felt she was ready for… or maybe she’ll never feel as if she’s ready for anything.
"Some times we just don’t get back those moments we need. When maybe we should have said something and didn’t. But ……. Those we love probably already knew what we meant to say anyway. That’s the way these things work. And as for the rest! All those things could still be out there waiting for you.If you’ll just give them a chance" How different her situation was though, how strangely unusual, so many more probabilities then what others faced, yes she could not change the past… but the future!! And what happens when the past she can’t run from is turned into a future soon approaching, months, years, it didn’t matter, she’d reach that point, the point where her life had changed forever… And then she could change it… she could alter things unlike others faced with the linear time most mortals are cursed to live. Oh she just wanted to scream and shout and tell him everything just so he could understand!! But no more… no more of that…
The brown leather under her fingertips felt real to the touch, though there was no warmth like a living body should give off, no sense of life, no breath that raised the chest and had it fall again, no pounding of the heart snuggled inside the chest. What a fascinating entity Hood was, so real yet so fake, a perfect puppet for one who had little else to rely on otherwise. Amazing how strangely distracted one could be at any moment in time, for whatever reason, as long as there was something that tugged at a personal cord, and for May, the science of the secrets Hood held were things that had for a while now left her rather curious.
That was it… that’s what she had to do, desperation had allowed the symbiont to take advantage of May’s fraught emotions, all she needed to do was take control once again, like all the other times, what better way then feeding May’s own desires? The host pulled away from where she lay slumped, her breathing already steadying, no attempt made to clear her face of the tears that had spilled unwelcomingly. Her head tilting slightly, eyes examining, distant in her own thoughts as she focused not on what her emotions were telling her but on what her inquisitive mind was asking.
"Poor little Michael," There wasn’t any sort of malicious tone to her coice, more a calm assurance, despite her choices of words. "Caught in a moment without control," Her hands petted his chest lightly, "We didn’t know you had returned," Came the apology, a hand finally reaching for her cheek though May’s face turned away as the fingers brushed against her moist skin. "Long weekend…. I’m sorry." Hands pressed against the walls of the confined space, the girls back arching and her legs pushing her body upwards, pressing herself against the roof of the vent and permitting herself to stick to the surface as she wiggled into place.
"Riley left for Medlab this morning… we thought we were alone." It would have been nice if she were, then again, perhaps it was best she wasn’t, "Must remember to cancel the exotic party us girls had planned," The other two young woman were thus far ignored by May, Tessa looked uncomfortable around May, not as much as Scott had done but still enough for the web-slinger to keep her distance for sake of minimising awkwardness. And Lexi… well May just didn’t know the girl at all, she was a leader but at the same time May found her distant, few words had past between the two. At least Ben had approached her, and she’d at least shared words with Riley, even if he was snappish for most of them, he did apologise awkwardly at one point for how he had behaved. Michael also had contact with her, even if he had suffered for it, thus far none of the others had done as much, save for Lexi giving off orders but that just wasn’t the same. There was a pause, Michael’s emotions were as clear to see as anything, even if the sweat did not bead his forehead or his heart did not race… May’s serious returned as she whispered softly to her team-mate. "My father lost his leg when I was a few years younger… he never let that stop him either," But there was a difference between them wasn’t there? Her dad was still able to be classed as a reckless idiot… in her mind anyway. "Then again, he had no astral form… yet still swang from one-," The sentence stopped, of all stupidity she had done this night carrying on that sentence would certainly have topped it all… perhaps not in Michael’s opinion however.
Re: Tuesday March 27th: We all have something that Cripples
Words were something Michael could still wield and he had done so, even if he hadn’t used them as weapons but rather as a means to encourage his team mate to step back from the brink of this abyss she seemed to be standing at, with himself an all too ready victim waiting to be carried over the edge with her. Had they worked? Had they somehow reached her deep within this web of darkness she had wrought around herself? To be honest he wasn’t sure.
Ok, maybe her interest did seem to be less directed against squashing him like a bug but even so… this new attention she turned upon him was still very far from being reassuring. Maybe under very different circumstances this could have been every seventeen year old boy’s idea of a dream come true, being straddled by a hot redhead who was even now playing her fingers up and down his leather clad chest. But somehow Michael wasn’t feeling the passion.
Instead he felt like a butterfly pinned unwittingly alive to some collectors trophy board or, and , that was a memory he shied away from, but which inevitably wormed its way into his mind whenever it could , like a guinea pig strapped down to a table while those in charge wondered whether or not to violate him with drugs and disease and sometimes even the threat of something more.
Hood went still as May’s fingers stroked over the leather jerkin he wore, praying they wouldn’t stray to his flesh. Knowing that others had in the past! Guards ,.. bored with their duties and not beyond terrifying their helpless charge a little more. Lust or something very like it, held in check only by the knowledge that they could take him whenever they wanted to. And that he knew it as well as they did.
It hadn’t come to that in the end, though he had lived daily with the fear that it might. How ironic then that it had been after his escape that he had truly felt the most exposed. And that hadn’t been real at all. It had been a dream, nothing more, brought on no doubt by withdrawal and its attending hell. But oh god… Fingers had trailed across his body. Demon fingers, leaving blood and pain and shame behind!
This wasn’t the same. He couldn’t let it be. He had to make this touch May’s , as much for himself as for her. Because then he could survive it and go on. Whereas if he let the demons, hers and his alike, become real then he was lost and maybe May was too. And so he tried to breathe steadily, he who didn’t breathe at all, Michael’s instincts inhabiting a shell that needed none of the things his body did but which was in the end animated by his spirit alone. And by the memories of what he had endured!
"Poor little Michael," Oh god, that had been said before by humans and by demons alike, real or imaginary. And it was usually followed by some flagrant display of his helplessness. Even as he waited for that inevitably to happen May changed her track, granting him an unlooked for respite which he didn’t believe for a second was going to last. "Caught in a moment without control," She touched him again, tapping lightly against his chest , each contact sending electric shocks through his being, not that she seemed to notice.
We didn’t know you had returned," May said lifting her hands finally away from his body and back towards her own stricken face. Michael wasn’t reassured though. He knew now all to well that this ‘we’ she spoke of was in many ways all to truly two different creatures and , crippled or not that he was walking a tightrope between them, even as she did. "Long weekend…. I’m sorry."
Now, finally, she did leave him, still sprawled on the floor, prone , while she ascended the walls of the vent as if they were her kingdom. "Riley left for Medlab this morning… she told him, confusing Michael even further since he hadn’t been aware of his team-mates plans for surgery before he had left the Institute. ”we thought we were alone."
Ok this use of the plural was anything but royal, and it was seriously starting to freak him out. "Must remember to cancel the exotic party us girls had planned," Strangely enough no pictures of his female team mates in pyjamas and wielding feather pillows crossed Michael’s mind when May said this, though under normal circumstances they probably would have.
Instead all he heard was the isolation in her voice, giving him an insight into her life at the Institute that explained a lot ,but which in the end didn’t do much to boost his own immediate chances of survival. Not that, whichever way you looked at it , the girls were the only ones who may have seemed to have let her down. He himself had after all gone off blithely with Ben and never looked behind.
But then again…! May had always seemed so self assured! He for one had certainly never suspected that all this crap lay behind her slightly impatient façade. So why should he be surprised that none of the rest of the team had either? "My father lost his leg when I was a few years younger…” May told him suddenly “he never let that stop him either,"
Was that some weird sort of approval she was giving him? Michael was far from being certain, but then again, right at that moment in time he was certain of absolutely nothing. Except of course that he would rather be somewhere else, anywhere else other than where he was, even if that would in some way be abandoning May once again to a solitude she shared only by her darker side and which was all the more disturbing for that.
If he had really thought that his presence there might have helped, maybe he would have reasoned differently, but up until now all he seemed to have achieved was to bring out the worse in her. In a very literal manner! And somehow, as he lay there, not daring to move in case he somehow angered her again, that didn’t seem to have been all that helpful.
She did sound a little more like her old self however as she told him softly "Then again, he had no astral form… yet still swang from one-,"The sentence ended abruptly but whether that was because May had changed her mind about what she was saying or had just ‘changed her mind’ flipping back into her sinister alter ego he couldn’t tell. Though he knew which one he was praying it was.
Oh god, oh god…. He understood nothing of what she had said and yet he couldn’t just smile and nod and let this silence continue, could he? But then again if he said something and it wasn’t what she wanted or needed to hear then he could find himself staring back into those eyes that had hardly seemed human let alone May’s, and that wasn’t something he wanted to do again. Ever!
Still, predators were more apt to attack if they smelt fear weren’t they? And athough Hood had no scent to catch, Michael knew all to well that his own anxiety was all to obvious.
“He sounds…..” he said hesitantly, easing himself up into a sitting position, acutely aware that in this confined space there was no place he could be truly out of her reach…. . .”…… like an interesting guy, your father ” Michael concluded, and then waited to see if he had just taken one more step back to normality or sealed his fate once and for all.
Re: Tuesday March 27th: We all have something that Cripples "He sounds….." The other started, and May let her eyes peer across at Michael, whose voice sounded less then utmost confident. "…… like an interesting guy, your father" In many ways Peter Parker really was… he was the kinda guy you loved and hated, you loved him for all the good things he did and hated him for all the time he put into doing these good things. Yes what he did was great and dangerous, but he just didn’t know how to switch off sometimes, or ever. Constantly running as Spiderman and rarely running as father of three, it left the family with a lot of trouble… and then when May donned her costume their heads had butted often on the matter of a lifestyle as a superhero.
"Not always the word we’d use to describe him," She admitted with a slight disdain, though much of that was seeping from Venom’s own hate towards the crime fighter who had interrupted the symbionts plans for so long. "This our place Michael," came the added comment as if it were a fluid continuation onto what was already being said. "This is where we come to hide away… this is our little world within your world… and we like our little world to have as few tourists as possible." If it would be clear she was asking Michael to keep her vent a secret or not that would depend on Michael and his ability to take that hint. But she spoke in a casual enough voice that it made the sentence sound as little of a threat as possible… though if he did go around telling people she’d be most definitely displeased.
"Do you like our little home away from home? It suits us just right don’t you think?" A deep breath was drawn in, her voice a strange sort of calm, difficult to identify the emotion behind, "A passageway between the inside and the outside, a jump from the world you know to the world I know and then there’s a world beyond where though we venture we don’t belong… do we ever really belong?" There was a slight pause, the sound of air lightly heard as again it was drawn into her lungs. "Poor little May who lost her way… do you regret never hearing her little tale of woe that day by the tree? Would have been nice to have shared our story but you all ran away… more important things to do… more important things then listening to our little story, though gave us a chance to bond… don’t you agree?" Venom just had to gloat, referring to their first team meeting where May had been the only member not to introduce herself, yes it would have meant had Michael and the other of the team been fully aware of May’s.. condition… not that she’d have been entirely honest but it could have stopped this moment from coming about. And if that had happened then what would Venom have had as a form of entertainment… even if just for this one precious moment. How he missed the savoury taste of anxiety and fear in the air, the very taste of sweat he could imagine on his lips… Hood lacked the physical delights Venom missed, but the emotions were there enough… that made up for it at least. "I think I’m going to eat something and go to bed… do you want anything while I’m in the fridge?" Finished the red head off smoothly enough, her curious tone void of the previous air that had saturated her words. Maybe sh’d not go to bed… maybe she’ll sneak out and smack around any sort of thugs she happens across… that might help her with her frustrations.
Re: Tuesday March 27th: We all have something that Cripples
"Not always the word we’d use to describe him," Michael waited for the blow that Hood never felt, for May’s quicksilver mind seemed to have slid onto the next subject and left him miraculously unscathed This our place Michael," she told him."
Now it would come, a subtle pain in the side.. a sudden weakness, blood Hood didn’t possess nevertheless flowing out, carrying his consciousness with it. If he was lucky that was. Because it was clear he was where she, they, had never wanted him to be. Her words made that more than apparent. "This is where we come to hide away…” the entity that had once been his team-mate went on “this is our little world within your world… and we like our little world to have as few tourists as possible."
How ironic was that. He who could hardly walk had somehow managed all the same to trespass. And by the sounds of things he could well pay for that error with his life, the seeming calm of May's voice only making things worse, given what she was saying. "Do you like our little home away from home?” May asked him It suits us just right don’t you think?"
What did she want him to say? Yes, you belong alone in the dark ? If that was what it took to get out alive then he supposed he would . But it didn’t feel right. He owed her more than that. Even if right now he was having a hard time scraping together the courage to tell her so. And thankfully his hesitation let her give him more insight into her vision of things
“A passageway between the inside and the outside”So that was how she saw this place.It was less scary than what he had imagined though a great deal more touching. And therefore in the long run harder to deal with. , “a jump from the world you know to the world I know and then there’s a world beyond where though we venture we don’t belong… do we ever really belong?"
That was a question Michael had asked himself many, many times in the past. Though strangely enough not since he had come to the institute! This was where he belonged. He didn’t know how he knew it, he just did. Even if that belonging came at a price!
May though didn’t seem to have found herself here. Indeed her next words confirmed that all to well. "Poor little May who lost her way…” The echoes of nursery rhymes sent all too real goosebumps up Hoods non existent spine Do you regret never hearing her little tale of woe that day by the tree?
For a moment Michael didn’t know what she was talking about, then suddenly it became all to clear. That first team meeting! He had been so excited and yet so scared. So eager to fit in! It had never occurred to him that the others might feel the same way. Especially not May. She had seemed the very epitome of confidence and self reliance.And they hadn’t let her have the chance to dispel that illusion.
It was true . They had never given her time to do what he had done. Explain her weaknesses and her strengths and hope the others would accept them. Would have been nice to have shared our story but you all ran away… more important things to do… more important things then listening to our little story, though gave us a chance to bond… don’t you agree?"
Yes. How could he not agree? He had after all seized on the oportunity eagerly enough. Even if it hadn’t been easy revealing his weaknesses in front of everyone! At least though he had had the chance. He hadn’t had to keep them concealed as May had. Though it was true that in his case that wasn’t really an option! His handicap was all too visual whereas hers…he for one hadn’t seen it till just now. But then again he hadn’t exactly been looking for it.
Yes but if she had had the same chance that he had had that day in the garden then he might have been. Why had they cut her off. He couldn’t remember. Lack of time? It seemed like a poor excuse Oh god had he rambled on for too long? He did tend to talk too much. But he thought that on that occasion he had tried to be concise. And yet somehow May had got left by the wayside. As she had perhaps been left too many times since.
Parents weekend for example. Had he ever stopped to ask her how she was dealing with it? Not that he could remember. He had been all too tied up in his own angst and the whole affair with Scott’s parents Had he given one thought to how May might have been feeling. He didn’t think so. "I think I’m going to eat something and go to bed… do you want anything while I’m in the fridge?"
What?? How could she have gone from high drama to the banal in one easy sentence? He certainly couldn’t. His mind was still full of questions and feelings and the need above all to repair some of the damage that had been done to May’s fractured psyche, though he had no idea how to set about it. Or whether he would get out unscathed if he so much as tried!
At least her last surprising sentence had made that possibility more likely. If they were both some where other than here, somewhere normal then surely things could only be easier? “Food sounds good” he told her trying to make his voice sound as unconcerned as her own even if deep down he still felt as if he was walking a minefield. “Why don’t I switch back and join you in the kitchen. Then maybe you could tell me that story And I promise” May he told her sincerely “that this time I will listen.”
Re: Tuesday March 27th: We all have something that Cripples
“Food sounds good” Came Michael’s reply, nervous, yet eager in some ways, he might be trying to hide it from his tone, but Sin could feel it, the depths of the emotions attempted to be hidden away stroking at the symbiont’s senses. “Why don’t I switch back and join you in the kitchen. Then maybe you could tell me that story And I promise” Came the promise, the ‘take my hand an I’ll help you’ routine, once again, there was Michael, standing before those headlights, and when given the choice to stand there, and try to warn them to turn from the oncoming cliff, or dive out of the way and save himself, Michael was waiting, bracing himself for the collision that might come. “that this time I will listen.” It seemed… worthwhile in some ways, and so May offered the slighted of faint smiles, a partial nod of her head as if to dismiss him and send the astral form on its way. After which, it all seemed surreal, what exactly would she say? I’m from the future, Followed by, Well, one of the futures, after my family was murdered, I joined a group of rebels, the leader could open portals to other earths in order to try and find solutions to help our own reality, Not exactly what was discussed over a sandwich… if it were something she could ever discuss.
Dropping into the laundry, the red head moved silently into the kitchen, knowing Michael was not one to emerge instantly, he would need a minute or two at least, enough for her to think over things. The kitchen was empty, and left overs from earlier were removed from the fridge, a can of soda as well, placed quickly on the bench, the sandwiches Riley had made for himself and the girls before he left had been his way of not thinking about what was to come. May, to be honest, was intending to eat something fresher, that hadn’t been in the fridge, but right now, the dorms was not the place the spider powered teen wanted to be. What are you afraid of little Mayday? The soft voice inside her mind hissed, torn between delight and curiosity. They will reject you? They’ll fear you? There was a chuckle, or an echo of one, the symbiont knew exactly what May was confused, scared or worried about, but Sin found it easier to toy around the subject. There was no telling what would happen if she announced she was from the future, the things people might try and get from her, the knowledge, the information, not to mention what it could mean to those around her. Or would they think her crazy? After the previous encounter in the duct May was sure Michael wouldn’t think it so hard to believe she were unstable. A webbing was shot up to the ceiling, and the end of which, May attached the can of soda, if he’d want to eat or not without her, she didn’t know, the point was to show she thought over what he said, she appreciated it, but to be honest, May wasn’t ready.
Movement from Michael’s room, it was the signal she needed to hear which screamed her time was running out, and with that, the young woman turned, moved for the front door nearby, and closed it behind her as she left. The laundry would have been more ideal, yet the risk of him seeing her then would be too great, and right now, May wasn’t up for having to see into the boys eyes again, she’d shaken him as much as earlier upset the Scot, and for that, she was sorry.
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