World Tree MUSH

Today was a hot day. Muggy even by San Fransisco standards, and since it is a coastal city those standards often get fiarly muggy. 

<Eddie... how is it your kind are able to live on this acursed rock?> Venom grumped as Eddie walked along, making what felt like habitual, rounds to check on differing places. He told Anne it was to try hunting for a new home, and if one happened to pop up he could afford he would cheerfully look into it. However for the ost part it was to try givingVenom a bit of a walk, and to see if anything was going on they needed to involve with. "Yea I hear you this summer's shaping up to be pretty rough, but hey that's what you get when ther'es thirty or so years of people going 'hey if you keep doing that bad thigns will happen to the climate' and all the government has to say is 'drill baby drill.'" Eddie rolled his eyes. Then paused. Was that kid trying to flag him down? Wait was that kid wearing one of those old sloped caps? THe suspenders? Shorts? What century was this kid from? Curiosity got the better of him and Eddie made his way to where the kid had parked himself, "Hey you lost buddy? Wander through a hole and wind up in weirdsville USA?"

"Nah," THe kid smiled, "You're Eddie right?" When Eddie nodded the kid pulled a note from his shorts, "Dad wanted me to find you. Show you the proper way down."

"w-wait," Eddie glanced around, trying to figure out if they were being listened to.

<The woman on the cellphone is standing closer than I would like, but it looks like noone is paying us special attention.>

"Nothing's wrong, like... call gondor for aid send in the cavalry?" THe kid looked confused but shook his head, whichcaused Eddie to relaxe. "Alright kid lead on."

LATER.

Eddie stood in front of a nondescript door that he had assumed was to a pumping station, or a weather monitoring station or... well it was one of those fancyish looking stone things he'd just assumed was part of the place. "Down here huh?" The kid nodded.

When the door shut it was locked. Eddie saw a man at the base of the first flight of stares in a security uniform step to one side for Eddie and his guide.

More stairs, lots of stairs. "Couldn't you guys have put an elevator here? Eeesh." Eddie grumbled mostly to himself.

<Big baby. Just suck it up, walking is good for your heart.>

Then he saw the city he and Raven had crashed into. There was a built up barricade of masonry and a guard station at the base of the stairs, but it seemed to empty out into a place out of the begining of the last century. Little thigns were diffrent such as the street lights being electrical, and there being bikes and four wheeled petel-carts instead of horses but... Eddie just stared for a minute.

THen the spell ended and he looked at his guide. "So where to short stack?"

He followd the kid deeper into this place. It had stores, businesses, housing... His head shook at how this place could have gone hidden for so long as he was lead through cobblestoen streets by his young guide.

It's not exactly ghosts, but the Poltergust GOES have a plunger attachment. It's mostly for stunning enemies, since the thing is fired out of the nozzle of the Poltergust with damn near force enough to break through CONCRETE. But hey, if it can do that, imagine what it could do to a clog!

And that's why Luigi's down here, anyway -- to deal with a clog. At least, that's what that corporate guy said. There was noise in the pipes, it's probably a clog. But San Francisco's sewer system was pretty old, and some of the pipes were pretty big. So if it was enough of a clog to make noise in the pipes, it was probably a pretty big clog. Definitely will need all of his strength, Luigi figured. So not only the Poltergust, but he's got a large set of tools with him, tucked into every pocket his overalls have, and a couple of bags hanging on the backpack of the Poltergust.

So one can imagine Luigi's surprise when, upon falling down one of the larger pipes (and falling on his head, because of course), he found not the massive clog or fatberg he'd been expecting, but a WHOLE CITY! Yeah, that's... not something he's going to be able to just dislodge and wash down the drain...

So for now he wanders in, from one of the old water pipes -- thankfully not a sewage pipe, otherwise everybody in the city would be able to smell him a mile away -- looking around the place, his head scrunched down into his shoulders a little, nervous.

    "For the last time, Sundance, we're -not- lost!"

    Sure, Cayde can't say for sure how long they've been walking, and he's not going to ask his Ghost because she will undoubtedly quote him the exact time and he's not in the mood for it. He adheres to the philosophy that one isn't truly lost if they don't really have a set destination in mind. Sundance isn't inclined to push her point too much anyway. The two have been together for centuries and by now this is just part of the norm.

    "Strange..." she instead states, pausing at his shoulder, the distance between herself and the Exo spreading by a few paces before Cayde realizes his floating partner's stopped. 

    "What'd you find?" he asks, knowing that the Ghost isn't one to mince words. Also she had that sort of look to her that only Guardians would really get to identify after being stuck with their little Light for so long.

    "We're far beneath the city surface, but I'm detecting multiple lifeforms on this level."

    Cayde tilts his head, straightening as he sets his hands at his hips, glancing from Sundance to the darkened tunnel ahead. "Maybe they've got hidden pest problems? You know how the Hive like to congregate in the dark. And the Fallen. And on occasion the Vex."

    "I'm not registering any readings most associated with them. Still..." Sundance moves to catch up with her Guardian, glowing 'eye' fixing on him.

    The Hunter Vanguard nods. "Never hurts to be on your guard." He turns and resumes forging ahead. "C'mon. Let's see where this thing leads."

"Hey Sal!" A girl called from her perch overlooking the pipes Luigi fell out of. She wore a grey smock decorated only by a nametag ('Jenny') and a tool belt. "We've got another plumber!" Jenny hopped down from her scaffolding perch, her short croppe hair splaying out then bouncing as she landed on thisck soled work boots near Luigi, "Lemme guess, guy in a suit said there were noises in the pipes right?"

She offered Luigi an open hand. "Name's Jenny. Welcome to the Underground." She sounded friendly enough. Then she looked over Luigi's backpack, toolbelt, and other stuffed pockets before nodding approvingly. "So yea short version, the guy that hired you is going to want ot try getting you to lead a few of his men down to 'inspect' the work you'd done so they can figure out where this place is because..." She shrugged, "I dunno but whenever we go top side it always ends ugly so I wouldn't bank on them wantign to sit down for beer and hotdogs."

Meanwhile a quartet of people in green jumpsuits paused, "Wiat you hear that?" One voice would ask.
"Aw nuts not those diggers again..." Another one would add in.

Then the quartet would come intoview, one shining a flashligh t at Cayde. None of them had weapons, per se, but they had toolbelts and what looked like pickand shovel. A third voice spoke up, "Oi, you there don't look local. Got lost and found yoru way to the underground it looks like." THere was a jovial tone to hisvoice even if they all kept their distance. "Name's Sam." Sam pointed to his fellows, "Pete, Walt, andDouge. So" Sam stepped closer. "Looking for a way out, or just wandering?" Nevermind Cayde's decidedly strange appearance. Nevermind the fact the Guardian was very obviously somerefugee fro m a spacefaring wherever. These people didn't seem to care.

All this as Eddie got a guided tour. A teenage girl excitedly going on and on about the places to go get a good sandwich, or where the best shops were. He popped a chocolate in his mouth and just drank it all in. Compared to the surface here as quiet. Oh it had noise aplenty, but bikes, scooters, and the like had nothing on cars for noise. Then he noticed the lack of phones out in evry third ear and chuckled to himself. Of course reception here would be nonexistant.

Then he saw a payphone. A genuine honest to god Payphone. "Do.... do those actually work?"

Luigi jumps at the sudden call from the girl, with a loud, "WAH!" He jumps really high, too. Way more than a typical human being is capable of. It's about three times his height. Once he's not being scared clean out of his wits, though, he looks at 'Jenny' in surprise. "Uh... yeah, that was the story," he notes. He's got a trace of an accent, but his words are understandable.

He listens to the story from Jenny, and tilts his head. "But why?" he asks. "You guys aren't hurting anything down here, are you?" A gentle guy, he doesn't really get why someone would oust someone else out of their home for no reason. Even if that home is... well. Down HERE.

    The moment Cayde picks up voices, he brings a hand up to pull Sundance in, and obligingly the little Ghost vanishes from sight in a brief sparkle of light. The Exo shifts his hand to shadow his eyes as a flashlight is beamed at him from the figures that have emerged, brow plates twitching downwards as optics squint against the glare.

    "Hey, d'ya mind?" he scowls, but he remains cautious as he watches the four once the light's out of his eyes. At least they seem friendly enough. He can't help but feel a little weirded out by their reaction to him. Refreshing as it is, he's used to at least -some- sort of reaction.

    "Er, yeah. Little'a both, actually. Wandering, looking for a way out- kind of all boils down to the same thing, right?" he says, shrugging as he starts to approach them. "So, maybe you fellas can help a guy out."

Jenny shrugged, "Twenty years ago it was so they could use this place as a dumping ground. Ten? They thought we had gold down here. Five? Supposedly we were hiding criminals down here. Now?" She shrugged. "Lot of homeless have been disappearign topside maybe they're after us too, hard to say." She reached over to pat Luigi's arm reassuringly, "Not everyone up there's bad. Just the ones that run things. I'll show you the way out when you're done having a lookaround. Might have work before you go if you're interested."

Another person in grey coveralls walked up to Luigi and smiled. The man had an impressie moustache. Not Mario level, but the man clearly kept well groomed, "So they send you down and you come loaded for bear." He grinned wide. A heavyset man, but judging by the way he gripped one of Luigi's hands? He had plenty of strength to spare. "Last guy they sent down was like.. .a weekago thereabouts. Young guy, didn't come as loaded up as you, just a head lamp, hardhat, and wader boots. Left about an hour later said those guys weren't getting any more business off him."

Sam grinned at Cayde's easy manner, "Hey least this tin suit's wanting to talk insteada trying to chop us to bits." He offered Cayde a hand, "Still not as weard as the big guy with all the teeth they're giving the dime tour through town, but he seems niceenough." THere was a headshake and a sort of chuckle. "Funny, all the weirdoes they keep saying are like... the big bad boogymen from beyond are nicer than the guys we got here at home." Sam gestured to the other end of the tunnel where lights came from then paused, "You... kinda remind me of something off those cartoons from japan."

Luigi pouts a little. "Just greed, then," he decides, since it doesn't seem those guys up topside can decide what kind of bad they want to paint the guys down here. It's just whatever bad-du-jour, from the sounds of it. Then again, that IS just one side. On the other hand topside guy was seriously unhonest about what -- or rather who -- was down here. Though he might not have known anything personally; he might just have been another cog in the machine.

Yeah, Luigi's thinking way too hard about that.

The other guy with the mustache approaching draws him out of that reverie though. He listens, and then raises a hand to rub at the back of his neck. "W-well... I'm used to dealing with the really SEVERE stuff," he notes. "Like, the 'call an exorcist' stuff." Completely true, but he doesn't want to scare the poor guy -- let him think Luigi meant it figuratively.

    "Heeey, this tin suit's still got feelings!" the Exo retorts, but his metal features give the impression of a smirk as he sticks a gloved hand out to shake Sam's. "Name's Cayde. So you all live down here? And what's this about teethy people and people wanting to chop you up?"

    Gesturing loosely for the jumpsuit-wearing quartet to lead on or whatever they opted to do, he prompts them to resume conversation. May as well get as much information about where he is while he can.

    "Hah! Cartoons. I'm way better than a cartoon. Handsomer too," he declares, stroking his chin. "Anyway, you four look like men on a mission. As far as green suits and tools go, anyway. Hope I wasn't interrupting anything imporant."

"Hey it is what it is. THis place technically shouldn't even exist," Luigi's new friend gestured to the city in the middle of this gigantic underground cave that was beneath an even bigger city. "About a centuryish or so ago big quake, bang. Sinks a lot of stuff underground, seals it up. Then people like my granda'ds grandad move up topside, start poking around to see what they can find. And hey down here apparently is a stable pocket in spite of all the infill they did. Turns out a lot of folk liked geting away from the noise so decided to build, and fix, and..." He gestured, "VIola. Home sweet home." He shrugged at the thinner plumber, "Could always use an extra set of hands if you're gonna be around for a few days. Pay's decent. Lucielle makes great eatloaf."

"what? Nooonononono," Sam backpeddled, or at least tried to. "The big guy with teeth saved us from a bunch of diggers from topside wanted to make things annoying." Sam continued walking with cayde, rough ground giving way to cobblestone. Undressed cave giving way to city streats, albeit streets continually lit beneath a stone sky above. "Big digging machines. Not sure what the excuse is this month. Maybe they still think there's treasure here." He snorted dismissivly, "Buddy you have any idea how much it costs to build, even if a lot of what you're working with is salvage?"

Up ahead Cayde might spot an intersection that expanded out to be a sort of public square, which at the moment had a few dozen people gathered around a raised section of street where a.... creature was. This creature was threeish meters tall, all black save for weight veins and it's large white eyes... and then when it smiled there were teeth as big as a man's forearm. Yet no screams of terror, no pannicked masses.

....and then a man in black robes anda white collar comes storming the crowd waving a large crusifix while speaking in a diffrent language.

One of the spectators would step between the black creature and the priest as the creature sat down the barbells it was juggling between a pair of hands and four or five tendrils. 

Luigi would most definitely hear when the elderly man screamed 'GET BACK DEMON! BY THE POWER OF CHRIST AND GOD ALMIGHTY YOU HOLD NO POWER HERE!"

Venom only sighed at the theatrics and if anything looked mildly annoyed. "Would it help our case if we pointed out we're actually an alien and human in symbiotic partnership?"

<Probably not,> Eddie's voice in Venom's head had a touch of sad humor to it. <Padre there's made his mind up. Also he totally botched it if he was trying to pull latin.... Oi....>

Luigi listens to the story as the mustachio'd guy in coveralls who ISN'T either himself or his brother explains what the place is doing here, how it got here, and all that. He'd already been thinking of offering to help with things down here, since underground stuff tends to need maintenance more often than stuff on the surface, when the guy mentioned just that.

Of course, he also mentions food! Which, yeah. That's definitely a thing. "Oh, sure thing!" he agrees. Always a good way to get his attention!

Of course another way to get his attention is to SCREAM REALLY LOUD about demons and stuff! Luigi looks in the direction of the scream and hunkers down. "Demons? D-down here?" he wonders. But, well... someone DOES need help. Maybe there's something he can do to get them away? Looking at the guy who he'd been talking to, "H-hey, I think someone needs help, so..." The guy he'd been talking to is probably going to run, either TOWARDS it or AWAY from it either way. But it's towards it that Luigi runs, probably foolishly.

He'll arrive on scene and skip to a stop, and if anything looks scary or demony, it's going to get a plunger pointed at it. By a guy in blue coveralls and a green shirt and hat. A guy who is actually shaking in his oversized brown shoes!

    "Huh. You don't say?" Cayde doesn't look quite convinced, but he waits for the explanation, supposing that given the circumstances, anything goes. He also takes note of the changes as they make their way out of the tunnel, a quite 'wow' slipping from him as they step onto cobbled streets and buildings. 

    "Eh, I figure building's always expensive, but personally I know it's tough work building up from salvage." The last city that humanity had built back home, he'd seen it when they were still finishing up the massive wall that would provide refuge from the dangers that lurked beyond. This though...

    "So you folks down here are just looking to be left in peace..." He nods in understanding. And then slows to a halt as he sees the square ahead, and the large creature there. "...there's something wrong with this picture," he murmurs to himself, feeling Sundance's agreement as they look on. "Is that the 'big guy with teeth'?" he asks, bringing up fingers for little air bunny-quotes. And then there's the loud one who comes barging in on what appears to be a show. Or maybe this is part of the show. Who knows! 

    Okay, so Sundance really doubts it's a show, and her Guardian's inclined to agree with her. "This'll be fine, right?" he asks Sam as he folds his arms, seeming content to watch what happens. Spying quick movement from the other side of the crowd, he turns his head, bright optics blinking. "Wait, is that guy...armed with a plunger?"

    Important details!

Luigi's guide just facepalmed. "Sorry... Reverend Rakeshaw's..." THen the Guy in Green was already on the run, causing him to just shrug and turn back to his apprentice, "Well this should be interesting."

"Yea he showed up and took down two of the big digger bots they sent down," THe guy conveniently left out Raven's contributions to the whole thing, such is the way of rumor and hearsay. "Everything I've heard that black thing's bonded to a news guy named Eddie Brock so... like... He's cool I guess."

Then the Reverend start screaming, which gets a facepalm from Sam, "Great... Look pay the guy no mind but like your'e a big guy maybe you can keep Padre there from annoying the big guy?"

Meanwhile Venom's waggling a pair of tendrils just above the elderly referend snarling in irritation. "Why do you accuse us of .... this?" Why do you make loud noises while we are being helpful?"

"We do not need YOUR help hellspawn!" The Referend thumped one of the tendrils with his crusifix, which caused it to flinch away. "This place has endured since the time of my father's father. We don't need or WANT you here."

Venom growled, "Things have changed. also Eddie is telling me you botched the invocation you were speaking earlier, however he hasn't been to service in a very long time. So maybe it is something new..." 

Then plunger vacuum thing aimed at it's face, causing Venom to sigh theatrically. "Seriously, if we wanted to hurt anyone here we would have, and it is unlikely you could have stopped us."

The tendrils retracted as it looked towards Luigi and sniffed, "Someone new to this place. Don't tell me you're like the deer lady or goth girl and are magic... right?"

It's actually a vacuum cleaner with a back-mounted cannister! With a plunger loaded into the hose. Which the little guy is holding onto, and aiming at Venom.

...Then again the details just make it the whole thing weirder and more unlikely, so maybe that's not much help...

Luigi is actually scared because THOSE ARE BIG TEETH and ALL THOSE TENDRILS and WOW THAT THING IS THE SIZE OF A HOUSE. These are all very bad things, and usually spell disaster for Luigi. So yeah... maybe it's understandable that he's shaking.

Then again, the thing is actually SPEAKING, and making some good points. And then also his guide is explaining that the big black scary thing isn't really a threat. So he looks between Venom and the yelling priest, lowering the plunger.

And then he looks to Cayde, with a very distinct expression of 'what even the hell is going on?'. Cayde doesn't look like the rest of the people here, so maybe he knows more.

    Cayde's a bit tickled by the fact that he's not the one charging in first with guns blazing. So it -does- pay to listen to the locals! Of course, neither does he look terribly concerned at the proceedings. He doesn't seem to think that the plumber will cause too much of a problem. He does sigh as the priest tries assaulting the large black creature.

    "Ho boy. Yeah, I'll see what I can do," he asides to Sam, rolling his shoulders as he strides forth.

    "Hey, hey! Break it up! I'm mostly talking to you, Padre." Looks like the name's stuck. As the Exo strolls closer, he gives Luigi something of a smile as the guy lowers his...weapon? Catching the look, he offers a shrug. Totally reassuring, right? He pats the plumber's shoulder as he walks past him, glancing from him to Venom and the reverend. 

Venom just. slow blinked. Those widee white eyes lidlessly staring at the proceedings before it shrinks, quite literally, until only Eddie brock remains. The man, still tallish but not freakishly sow, extends a hand to Luigi. "Yea hey see? Not a threat."

He then looked to Cayde and just.... mouthed. 'What...?

<Yes I have questions. MANY questions.>

The good reverend melted back into the crowd once it was apparent the crowd wasn't on his side leaving Eddie to look from Plumber to Guardian, "So looks like the portal thing does mroe than fantayland magic, good to know. Hi, I'm Eddie Brock. Big guy's Venom."

Well, Luigi's shaking less thanks to the shoulder-pat from Cayde, even if he still doesn't know what's going on. Cayde calms down the fired-up priest, and Luigi cautiously starts to approach. And then the big scary black thing that is not a demon shrinks, into a person, who then introduces himself. "Uh... h-hi," he offers, still a little nervous.

And hey, if introductions are going around, Luigi has one of his own. "I'm-a Luigi," he offers, quite a bit less nervous than before, now that there's a person there instead of something that he might expect to have to jump on the head of between three to five times...

    The Exo scowls again, this time because of the look from Eddie, and with hands at either side of him Cayde gives something like a 'what, you got a problem?' sort of gesture. Because really, guy that turns from a big hulking black glop into a man questioning -his- appearance?

    "Yeeaaah...." he says slowly as Eddie proceeds with introductions, somewhat distracted as he scans the crowds for the priest, but at least the guy's not causing trouble any more. With Luigi giving his name, the Guardian takes his cue with a two-fingered salute. "Cayde. Glad we got this settled." Or something. 

    He searches for Sam in the crowd to give the guy a thumbs-up. Got this.

Sam gave a cheerful wave before trotting back to the tunnels.

Eddie chuckled, "Yea very long story. the locals give you the what's going on with this place?"

He patted his pockets and hrmed softly, "Think ther'es a burge r place near here if you wanna talk over food." He then glanced to Cayde and gave a helpless shrug, "Not... sure what you need buddy but they seem largely willing to try accomidating." Largely, they do draw the line at eating people. Which is one of many reasons Eddie likesthe fact venom seems less 'i want to eat people' after chocolate. "say buddy..." He looked to Cayde questioningly, "What's the medical like where your from? Vee's been a good sport about everything but I get the feeling I'm not giving the big guy all the everything he could need and the last anyone that resembled a doctor came through was all handwave and nature magic. Need to find one of those places where you can just tap a few buttons and get like... full body scan." Beat. "Preferibly without loud annoying noises."

"Pleased-a to meet you!" Luigi offers cheerfully as Cayde gives his name. As for talking over food? "I think I've got a little bit of money," he offers. "It might be less useful for the currency and more for what it's made of, but..." Since GOLD COINS.

The mention of looking Venom over gets a tilt of his head. "Oohhh, I see. You want to actually see the data, instead of just..." He wiggles his fingers. "Poof, you're well. Right?"

    Cayde wiggles his hand from side to side. "Eh, kinda. Problems with people from upstairs digging or something?" He brightens at the suggestion of grabbing a bite to eat. "Ooh, burgers? Well, it's not ramen but nothing wrong with a good hamburger. You treatin'?" ...how do they even get meat down here? Import? Substitute? Mmmmaybe better not to think about it.

    "Eh, don't think it'll matter too much if I tell you or not. I've been trying to find a way back home for months now. But it varies. We do have more technical facilities though."

    He glances at Luigi, humming thoughtfully. "What're you trying to find out, specifically?" he asks as he turns his head towards Eddie.

Eddie nodded at Luigi, "Yea. Fixing any problems is great, but we both kinda need to know what upkeep takes beyond shovel foodat the problem." He waved to the crowd before about foru tendrils picked the objects Venom had been juggling back where they came from before shrinking back into his body.

"Yea, kinda?" Eddie turned his attention to Cayde. "I mean I'm just visiting Normally they seem to not liek visitors. Don't want the place to turn into some kind of hideaway for drug pushers or..." He waved a hand dismissivly. "Fairly long story but boils down to companies up top see this place either having resources, or as something they can exploit free and clear since legally doesn't exist." Then he started pacing, "Like I get there's some old stuff down here worth a bit of money, but with the expensive digger suits and the kind of hush campaign they're running it's not cheap and wouldn't be covered by a crate of gold or anything else down here." At least he was pretty sure there wasn't oil down here anyway. "So I'm clueless, Venom's annoyed these people are getting hassled since y'know... nice quiet place full of folk mostly minding their own business. Kinda boomed up with the recession about a decade back, but a lot of the people here are just down on their luck and have people here vouch for them so there's a place to stay until they can figure something out, even if that something is 'stay here and helpwith the community."

<Eddie,> Venom prompted. <He asked us something.>

"oooh right!" Eddie huffed. "Specifically what I'm trying to figure out is the sort of nutrients my friend here takes and like... how easy to get a hold of they are since running around eating squirrels sucks."

<It does not! They're tastey and most people consider them vermin. Win Win.>
Eddie coughed, "Venom likes it, but Yeeaa... I'm just trying to make sure our cohabitation goes smoothly."

At Cayde's explanation, Luigi does feel the need to note, "Someone up top did send me down to fix a clog. Though someone down here told me that it was really likely that they just wanted me to lead them down here so they could... I don't know, really. Something bad, no doubt."

He watches Eddie pace as he tells the story about the place. And he adds, "Someone told me that they can't decide what the people down here have done wrong. So all I can really figure out is it's a question of 'this place doesn't belong to us, we have to fix that because everything is ours'."

He really doesn't know anything about how to fix Eddie's problem, so he doesn't offer anything here. He's not sure Professor Gadd would be able to figure anything out... and he's not sure he'd want the Professor to try!

    The Guardian tries not to stare as tendrils sprout out from Eddie and then vanish again. Yeah, that's just a bit weird. "So, typical situation of one throwing their weight around," he says as Luigi seems to sum it up best. "Worst kind. I don't suppose advertising that there's an entire population down here just trying to make a living will help smooth matters out much, will it?"

    His attention drifts back towards Eddie again, a chuckle slipping from him. "Ah, I see. And I guess squirrels aren't exactly the most nutritious. But what I'm really getting here is that you and this uh...Venom guy are new to this partnership thing you've got going here."

"it really is baffling so I'm with luigi here," Eddie gestured to Luigi. "Also in keeping with what i've seen of a lotof these companies. That is a thing we do not own and nobody else has claimed. So we call dibs.'" His eyes rolled at the sentemen. "I was actually having fun til reverend killjoy showed up. I mean I get it, I'm catholic. He's a hardliner protestent and Venom's all teethy and scary. But... wow, I alwyas took it as help those around you and-" His headshook. "Can't win 'em all."

"Got it in one." Eddie chuckled at Cayde's summation. "Yea Venom kinda likes the whole partner thing. Most of his... it's..." He sounded grumpy as he grumbled about pronouns. "Their people tend to just grab a warm body, run it til it drops, then find another. Most people don't know that. THey just know the people that scooped Venom and a few others up were doing experiments on homeless people." A beat, "And I've already looked into trying to get Venom refugee status. Thsi hinges on my government seeing him as a person, and since the life foundation would argue any signs of intelegence are just the," he made air quotes with his fingers, and seemingly without noticing Venom mirrored ge gesture with a pair of tendrels coming out of Eddie's shoulders, "'Substance' demosntrates intelegence by piggybacking off the person it interfaces with." There's a dismissive snort as the tendrils again disappear. "So you can't find your way home? How... often is that? Like, if I go out through one of these holes am I suddenly not going t ofind my way back? Because the week after I got dumped through one wasn't fun."

Luigi nods to Cayde's observation. "That's what it looks like," he confirms. But of course he has to also note, "Though... I don't really know what their side of it is, so it might be something else entirely." Maybe they have a point, even if they're making it in a bad way!

The words about the priest get a look in the vague direction that the priest disappeared in. All this religion stuff confuses him, honestly, since there isn't anything like that where he's from. So... well, he's got no words there. Besides, he almost shot Venom with a plunger!

Eddie talks about Venom's status as a person or not, and that gets a frown. "That's horrible, to not even be thought of as a person," he remarks. "If you're connected with him -- it, you should know better than anyone else. Besides, if he -- it! Sorry. If it makes different decisions than the rest of its species, then, well... doesn't that prove it's not just an animal? Or a... 'substance'?"

    "Pretty sure it's been that way ever since people looked at someone else's stuff and went 'hey I want that more than they do.' And it seems like whoever knows about it up-top isn't too keen on sharing the knowledge since, you know, that'd just cut down on whatever 'resources' there are to be claimed."

    Cayde isn't sure what to suggest by way of diplomacy, but then that's not really his specialty. 

    As Eddie explains the being known as Venom, Cayde folds his arms again, head tilting. "Ah, so...parasitic." Fuuuun. "That's...thoughtful of him though. It." Whatever. "Luigi's right though. It's definitely sentient. But depending on your world and how people are, I can see how difficult it might be to convince higher-ups."

    As talk circles back around to the whole being unable to find home, Cayde sighs. "Not sure. Guess it's hit or miss where the tree opens up easy access and where you just accidentally find yourself suddenly not in familiar territory anymore."

Eddie shrugged, "Annoying but no sense crying over it." He and Venom had much the same argument for awhile after the descision, and frnakly it was more a matter of practicality by the way it was explained. They had lawsand precident to deal with Life Foundation doing medical experiment. Adding 'alien life' into the equation gives the potential for arguign they consented since they were given what they wanted. "So yea not a perfect situation but life's never perfect, and we make do." He pulled a foil wrapped chocolate out of his pocket. "Venom likes chocolates, like.. a LOT. So I always try keeping a few on hand. Like, I'm having my ex's new fiancee run down an idea we had on why. If we're right? That solves the food problem."

Didn't solve thefact Venom seemed to need Eddie to keep the adrenaline pumping, which meant Eddie sudenly had a very not stable life.

THen the word was used. Parasite. Eddie twitched, "Uh... buddy could you like... rephrase." He twitched, black veisn crawling up his skin. "He... REALLY doesn't like being called a Parasite."

Fore refrence a dozen tendrils formed around Eddie's body arching and lashing towards Cayde. A muscle on Eddie's neck twitched. "Seriously, Vee chill. Deep breaths big guy."

<PARASITE?!> Venoms' voice roared in Eddie's head.

Eddie took a breath as his body twitched about almost as if it were puppeted on strings.

Luigi makes an 'eek' sound as Venom seems to... well, lose his shit, frankly! He starts to back up. "H-hey, wait a sec!" he tries. "I d-don't think he meant you in particular. Just... th-the others!" He's started to raise that vacuum cleaner again, just in case anything happens...

    "Chocolate seems a better option over squirrels," is what Cayde has to say to that. But apparently he's pulled a no-no, and Sundance murmurs a warning in his head, just as Eddie begins to twitch.

    "Oh. Um, sorry, didn't mean to offend- but it was just kind of-- WHOA!"

    The Exo jerks back with a yelp, not nearly far enough given how close they'd all been together. Cayde goes flying right off his feet, crashing backwards onto the ground. 

    "Ow..! Okay, okay, I get it! Ixnay on the arasitepay!"

Eddie twitched, his limbs contorting as he tried to reign Venom in. "See? It's cool man... just. Deep breaths. Like the videos. Deep breath." He sounded, to put blunt, terrified. Given he was being twistedaround in ways that would quite readily support the referend's accusations of demonic posession? It's a wonder he wasn't screaming in pain.

Then as suddenly as it started, the tendrils were gone, the black receeded from Eddie's skin. He popped a chocolate in his mouth and sighed. "Yea, Anne's suggested we go into couples therapy." He tried to sound like he was jking, to play the incident off. Instead he just sounded tired. "Still trying to figure out how to divide time up since Vee needsto keep quiet while I'm working, but I can't just hand the wheel over while i'm sleeping. End up tired and crankly and wondering why I'm sore all over the next morning." A helpless shrug, "Sorry..." He looked around to Luigi andsighed. "Yea we gotta work on that. It's like that kid in that movie that got set off whenever anyone called him chicken."

Weirdly enough, though Luigi is plainly afraid... when Cayde falls over, Luigi wastes no time in putting himself between Venom and Cayde. "Y-yeah, l-li-listen to Eddie..." he coaxes the symbiote. "N-no-nobody meant anything bad..."

It's not until Venom retracts that Luigi relaxes. He sighs in relief, as things seem to be going back to normal. "Really though..." he offers. "We're sorry... nobody meant to offend you." He sounds honest. And it's not only because he's afraid Venom will flip out either. He honestly sounds upset that Venom was upset.

    Grumbling, Cayde slowly pulls himself to his feet again. Yeah, he supposes he might've deserved that one. Dusting himself off, he sets a hand on Luigi's shoulder as he steps back up by the two once more. For as nervous as the poor guy sounds, he's got guts, the Exo will give him that.

    He's still a little tense as he eyes Eddie, determined not to be caught flat-footed again if Venom decided to lash out, but it seems that things are under control. "Can't really say I've got any suggestions on how to deal with that sort of situation, but I'd say it's a step in the right direction that you're both willing to try working it out."

"Buddy," Eddie reached over to pat Luigi'sshoulder, "You're a very brave man." Eddie wasn't in any way being arcastic. anyone seeing Venom in full on RAGE only being barely controlled and stepping in the way is either a fool who doesn't understand, or brave and understands. Considering how scared Luigi sounded, Eddie and Venom both decided it was the later.

He looked to Cayde and smiled, "Yea that's another reason we're both wanting to travel. Get out, see what's out there and all that." 

A few people around them slowly approached and rather than looking fearful, looked worried. One kid even glowered at Cayde mumbling, "He's not a parasite."

Eddie ruffled the kid's hair, "Don't hassle the guy, he didn't know. He's a guest here."

He then started walking when a teenage girl showed u, "Council wants a word with you." She gave Luigi and Cayde a cheerful wave. "We'll give you two directions out whenever you want to leave kay? Your'e guests, enjoy yoruselves."