Unhappy Birthday (Open)

[theresa]

She had been hoping she would forget today but it wasn't to be. As soon as Theresa woke up, she knew what day it was. The card that had been slipped under her door didn't help matters any. Not that she hadn't been happy that at least one person knew (there was no way to have hidden that from him anyway), it was still a reminder that she was alone on the one day that should have been important to her. Her eighteenth birthday.

The card that Professor Xavier had given to her had held a gift card to use on anything she wanted if she ever ventured into the city. It was tempting but she'd kept away from New York as much as possible in the year she'd been there. Not only had it reminded her of San Francisco and the last place she'd seen Tom, she just didn't want to chance getting into trouble. It had been driven into her that if she screwed up even once, not even would Xavier be able to save her.

Now it didn't matter. Her juvenile record was now wiped clean and she could start over new, just like anyone else. Sort of. If she was caught breaking the law this time, she could be shipped back to Ireland with no hope of ever coming back. It was yet another reason she was really trying to stay out of trouble.

With a sigh, she dressed in her usual jeans and a purple t-shirt that said, “Make me scream, I dare you.” Her red hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she made her way into the kitchen.

An hour later, she had baked two dozen cupcakes and had left all but one sitting in the cupcake tins on top of the stove. The one one she did take, she had decorated with chocolate frosting and added sprinkles of various colors to the top. Finishing off the cupcake was a lone candle that was lit for a brief moment before she blew it out and muttered quietly to herself, “Happy birthday, Terry.”

Taking out the candle, she took a huge bite out of the cupcake.

[venomx]

Today was one of those rare days that the workers at Weapon X actually had any leave time and did what they wanted to do. Venom took the chance and went into the city and started to swing around the buildings catching a few sights. However the day wasn’t always as peaceful as someone might think, there was injustice everywhere if you looked correctly. Venom was simply here to just swing from his webbing and relax as much as he could. Being emotionless helped it when he didn’t have to worry about something however the suit wouldn’t shut up. Hey lets go fight something, or lets bother someone Revan, come one I know you want to. Venom simply ignored the suit while he was swinging around the city, though it was kind of hard seeing as it spoke directly into his head. “No I just want to swing and forget about everything for a while” He responded. The symbiote however wasn’t taking the hint and kept on trying to convince him to do something. Well how about this the girl that you met a while ago, it’s her birthday today, let go eat her cake.

Now normally Venom wouldn’t care but from what he seen from her memories all she had was that father figure in her life. And it didn’t seem she had anyone to really be there for her, though it would seem kind of odd that an emotionless alien/human hybrid coming to visit for your birthday might seem a bit weird. But he guessed he might as well pay her a visit and see how she was doing, maybe his founding were wrong and she was having the time of her life. He was swinging to the mansion when he finally made it there and landed on the grass. Of course not wanting to be seen he stood in the shadows of the trees that where there. He slowly made his way to the mansion and smelt cupcakes being made somewhere towards the kitchen. Venom of course thought that was for her party and felt that he was wrong and she wasn’t going to be alone for her birthday. Slowly approaching it he noticed that Theresa was all alone and took a cup cake that was decorated up saying under her breath happy birthday.

Venom shot up a web on top of the roof and hung upside down outside of the window where he could see Terry biting into her cupcake. He tapped on the window with his pointed out fingers and looked at her still hanging upside down. “Hey Theresa happy birthday” he told her, though she most likely would have wondered how he knew that. He hoped that if she even asked that she would by that she had a file on her and it told him her birthday and he just wanted to say it to her.

[theresa]

Her mouth was full of cake and her eyes had just landed on the fact that she had a spot of frosting at the tip of her nose when she heard the noise at the window. She reached up with her sleeve and wiped off the frosting before turning her head and seeing a sight she honestly hadn't expected to ever see again. There, hanging upside down with his entire body covered in a black suit, was Venom.

Terry heard the birthday wish through the window easily and she paused as she was standing and looked at him in puzzlement, her head tilted slightly to the side. How had he known? It wasn't common knowledge, she hadn't gone around announcing what today was and last year's birthday had been spent moving from San Francisco to New York and had been completely missed.

Regaining her composure, she quickly moved over to the window and lifted it up, pulling out the screen in the process in case he wanted to come in. She doubted that he got cold but winter had settled in with a vengeance and the air was certainly chilly to her. Moving back out of the way, she asked, “But how did ye know? Did ye come all tha way here just ta tell me that?”

She was actually quite relieved to see that he was okay. There had been no way of knowing just when he was going to pull off this little attack against Weapon X but she thought she would have heard rumors or something if a lone person had gone in with guns blazing. At least, she'd hoped she would have. If he'd been upright, she probably would have flung her arms around him and hugged him, she was just so happy he was fine. As it was, she really had no clue how to hug someone who was hanging upside down.

[dreamweaver]

Elaine had of course been visiting her parents throughout the night. She had missed them, and felt bad for what she forced him to do and drove them to their comas. She didn’t do that often, but it was still a pleasure to see them…even if it was in their dreams. She woke up and the first thing she did was take her top and set it on the table next to her spinning it. When it started to wobble, she knew she was awake and in the real world…alone. She sighed and got up throwing on some of her clothes, before heading toward the kitchen. Her nose picked up the smell of cupcakes and her mouth watered.

When she got to the kitchen, she was surprised to see that she wasn’t the only one up. Another student was there as well as a muscular man in a black suit hanging upside-down. She shrugged as if it didn’t bother her any and walked over to the plate of cupcakes. She plucked one off the side and turned to look at the other mutant wanting to hug the upside-down man, awkwardly. She took a bite of the pastry and let it melt in her mouth before swallowing. It was indeed good, and she smiled at the other two. It was like she didn’t have a problem with the two of them and nodded her head. ”Mornin’…’ She mumbled around another mouthful of cake.

Elaine then rummaged around in the cabinets and found a glass, before going over to the refrigerator and taking out the milk. She poured herself a glass, and replaced the drink back inside the fridge. She then picked up the glass, turned to look at the other girl and the man. She leaned back on the counter behind her and sipped her milk. She had no idea who the girl was, as she kept mostly to herself, afraid of messing with peoples dreams and having them turn out like her parents.

[venomx]

Venom saw that in Theresa’s expression she was puzzled on how he knew it was her birthday today and he came all the way here to tell her that. He didn’t know if it was a good idea he just happened to be on leave and thought she would like the extra birthday wish. He looked to Theresa as she opened the window for him and let in the cold draft from the winter winds outside. The cold didn’t bother him as much thanks to the suit; it kept him pretty warm and away from the elements. It seemed however that she wasn’t expecting someone to tell her happy birthday. Or she was more worried about his safety then anything, but he wasn’t planning on doing his vendetta against Weapon X yet. At least not yet in till he got a little more support.

Then before long she asked him what he expected when a slender blond girl came walking into the kitchen grabbing a cupcake. Through his mask he looked to the girl as she told them both morning, he guessed she thought him to be of the school. He then watched the girl go and get a glass and poured in some milk for the pastry she was eating. After that she leaned on a counter looking towards him and Theresa. Venom didn’t know the girl so he just assumed that was one of her habits or something, but he then turned back to Theresa. He looked to her as he slowly made himself up right as he got onto the windowsill and like spider-man would.

“When you touched my suit the symbiote pulled into your memories and saw your life and placed it all into my head”. Venom didn’t know how she would react to this information, but he hoped it wouldn’t be too hard. But from what he got from looking at Theresa she seemed to have been plenty worried about his safety. He didn’t know why however and didn’t question it.

[theresa]

Terry was still waiting for Venom to enter the mansion so that she could shut the window when she heard someone else come into the room. She turned and saw the blond haired girl come in and take one of the cupcakes. Instinctively, she bit her lip and wished she had a chance to put away the frosting and candle mess before anyone else saw it. She was aware of who Elaine was, there was barely a person that walked through that door that she didn't know about but that was about all Terry knew. As far as she could tell, she'd never heard Elaine talk or heard talk about her.

“Good morning, Elaine,” she replied to the girl. “How are ye today?”

Then Terry turned back to Venom as he righted himself on the windowsill. It was still too damn cold out to have the window open so she reached out and grabbed his arm, trying to pull him in. “Ye may be unaffected by tha cold but I'm merely a wee little mutant who can't insulate herself,” she teased him with a smile.

She was just so relieved that he was okay. Granted, she had no way of knowing that he wasn't planning on doing his little suicidal Weapon X run just yet so her imagination had created all sorts of bloody ends for the man. And he'd come all that way to wish her a happy birthday. Why? It was all a bit puzzling.

When she asked how he knew, her mouth frowned at the answer and she blushed slightly. “Everything?” she asked, almost afraid of his answer. Then he would have seen all the sins of her past, the sins she'd tried so hard to bury and forget about. The ones she'd been half tempting to beg a telepath to erase. No matter how much she loved Tom, she still didn't like what he'd done to her as a girl.

She was, well, mortified. She didn't talk about it to anyone because she was ashamed of everything and her entire life had been laid open within Venom's mind. Then again, he came back to see her, right? Her mind was confused as to how to even take this meeting, let alone knowing that she had no secrets from him at all now.

[dreamweaver]

Elaine stood there leaning against the counter for a long while, just thinking about her comatose parents in the hospital hundreds of miles away. She had regretted that experiment ever since she had come home from school and found them bleeding on the kitchen floor of her home. She swallowed back the tears and fear of that memory and quickly downed her milk, and refilled her glass. She then took out her ever present top, and spun it on the countertop. She watched it until it began to wobble and she released a sigh, before grabbing it and shoving it back into her pocket.

“Good morning, Elaine,” she replied to the girl. “How are ye today?”

The other girl had spoke to her, and she bit her bottom lip as if she was thinking of what to tell her without giving her too much information on the past she wants to keep hidden from these nice people. She was sure that if they found out that she had made her parents attempt to kill themselves… She shook her head of the thought and swallowed. ”I’m fine…” She attempted to reply in her usual closed off tone as she tried to remember the girl’s name. ”…Terry. Nothing that a good breakfast and a rigorous workout won’t fix.” She added as she remembered the name.

“When you touched my suit the symbiote pulled into your memories and saw your life and placed it all into my head”

Elaine looked up at the man in the black suit, as he spoke through the mask. Her eyes got wide with fear, as she understood what he had told Terry. With just one touch, he could know a person’s whole life. She began to breath heavily as panic set in and she began to slowly back away. She saw the mess of Terry’s baking on the counter top, but didn’t think much of it. She didn’t want that man to touch her and find out that she was a horrible and ungrateful daughter to her parents. She felt the room spin, and she grabbed the counter near her to keep her upright. She practically didn’t care if they saw her, but she felt like she had to leave. However, her body wouldn’t let her.

[venomx]

As Venom got on to the windowsill he got pulled into the kitchen by Theresa who was joking about him the cold. He knew it was a joke and he did want to laugh, but of course nothing came out, he couldn’t laugh and Theresa knew that. Hopefully she remembered that he couldn’t express emotions well anymore and won’t take it personal. As he got down on to the kitchen floor he looked to the new girl in the kitchen besides Theresa. He caught her name from when Theresa said it; it was Elaine as he thought back to it. Venom watched as both Theresa and Elaine returned greetings and asked if they were alright this morning. He of course felt like he didn’t belong here seeing as he wasn’t part of the school along with he wasn’t a mutant. But apart from that he still was with the Weapon X program though he was going to destroy them he still was a part of them.
Then after he told Theresa how he attained her birthday, she grew a frown and sort of a pale looking face at him. He knew she must have not liked the fact that her secrets where known, but also the invasion of privacy. Venom then turned his attention to Elaine who seemed to get nervous and fumbled around the counter tops. It must have been what he told Theresa, about him able to just touch a person and gain there memories. It didn’t affect him, and he didn’t want to know her life, though she must have had a pretty bad past if she was freaking out like this.
Venom then had a slight transformation, his mouth showed for a few seconds, his eyes becoming a more whitish demonic look. But only for a few seconds, his symbiote suit returned back to normal along with his mask. Venom was fighting hard to keep ‘him’ back, and he knew this was going to happen all day. He hadn’t let ‘him’ out in a while, and he was bugging him to let him out just for a little while, but of course Venom couldn’t trust it.

[theresa]

She smiled at Elaine as the other girl told her she was fine. Terry wasn't a telepath and didn't have any sort of empathic gift so she had absolutely no idea that Elaine was far from fine. She pretty much took it all at face value and then promptly forgot about it when Venom told her that he'd seen all her memories. The horror that filled her mind upon that revelation was enough for her to forget most anything.

Other then the fact that he knew all about her yet something had made him come back and wish her a happy birthday. For a man who claimed to have no emotions whatsoever, other then rage, that was very odd. He could have been angry that it was her birthday but that didn't make any sense at all. So why did he come back?

Before she could ask him fully, she heard a sound behind her and turned, just in time to see Elaine grasp the counter top and hold on to it for dear life. The girl had gone pale and she looked to be in some sort of shock. Because her back was turned, Terry missed the Venom face that appeared out of his suit.

Turning back to him, she reached up then hesitated for a long second, her hand halfway to his arm. Realizing that it wasn't like she had anything left to hide from him, she allowed her hand to rest on his arm softly and said, “Please don't leave. I'll be right back.”

Her blue eyes implored him to stay so they could talk more before she turned and walked quickly over to Elaine. Approaching the blond girl, she asked, “Elaine? Are ye okay? Do ye need to go see one of the doctors?” She had absolutely no idea what was wrong with the girl and just hoped that whatever was causing the fit would go away soon.

[dreamweaver]

Elaine didn’t notice anything outside of her panic attack. She missed the face the man made on his mask, and the touch that Terry gave him. She didn’t even see the other girl place her hand on his arm and hear her ask him to stay. She even missed the look she gave him, and the only thing she saw was her fear playing in her mind’s eye. She was frightened of what the other students would do and treat her if they knew that she was the reason her parents are hanging onto their dear lives while in a coma. Only two people here at the school know the truth, and she wants to keep it between herself, Xavier, and Jean.

“Elaine? Are ye okay? Do ye need to go see one of the doctors?”

She closed her eyes in an effort to beat back the fear and panic that gripped her back to the dark recess of her mind. She had to get a hold of herself, and she needed to get out of there a soon as possible. She didn’t need them to know what she had done. She took in some deep controlling breaths and then opened her eyes. She was calmer than she was moment ago, but it still showed that she was not fine. ”I’m fine. Just got a little dizzy. I think I need to lie down for a bit…” She answered, lying through her teeth. She hoped that her lying skills has improved greatly since she went on the run from the government. She then stood up and turned to face the door, her intent was to walk out of the room and head back to room…

[venomx]

Venom felt Theresa’s hand on his arm and plead with him not to go, he wasn’t planning to but it might have been a good idea. Because then he started to get a headache, he then leaned up against the sink and held his head lightly. It wasn’t your normal headache, it was a flash back, and the symbiote was trying every trick in the book to allow him to get out. And it was working, Venom started to get angry, losing control over his emotions and consequently losing control over the symbiote. Before Venom could reach the sonic disruptor on his belt, the symbiote slipped out and took control for a bit. The demonic mouth appeared while his eyes changed to a more demonic white. His mouth drooled of the green acid like spite, melting the kitchen cabinets that he leaned over. The teeth in his mouth gleamed of the green spite as he got a bit more muscular then he originally was.

Venoms turned to the two girls as Theresa asked Elaine if she need to go to the doctor and Elaine saying she just needed to lie down. His permanent wicked smile showed to them as his long sharp tongue moved around on the outside of his mouth. “Going away so soon Elaine, we were just going to wish Theresa a Happy Birthday”. Venom wasn’t bothered if they looked at him weird, that wasn’t the main under the suit, and it was the suit itself. And finally it was out for a while and it wanted to have a bit of fun before it gone back away. He walked over to where the cupcakes were and picked one up wrapping it with his long tongue. The cupcake seemed to start melting, as he pulled it in and closed his mouth his sharp teeth shredding the cupcake. After he was done munching on the cupcake he turned back to Theresa and the girl if she hadn’t already left already.

“So what are we going to do for your Birthday Theresa, I’m itching to see what fun plans you had to day” he said.

[theresa]

Completely unaware as to what was happening behind her back, Terry watched Elaine as the girl looked about ready to keel over. She really didn't look well at all and Theresa just hoped that she didn't throw up right there or something. Had she screwed something up with the recipe? She'd followed the directions on the box precisely and the cupcake had tasted fine to her. Or maybe Elaine was allergic to something in the cake and that was what she was having a reaction over?

With wide blue eyes, she watched as the girl straightened up a bit and then insisted that she just needed to lay down and everything was fine. Terry knew that was a lie simply by looking at her face but as someone who didn't appreciate strangers probing into her own business, she simply nodded and said, “Okay. I...I really hope ye feel better soon.”

There wasn't much else she really could do other then insist that Elaine go to the Infirmary and if she didn't want to, then Terry wasn't going to force the issue.

It was at that moment that she heard a weird hissing sound and she turned to see that the face she'd only caught a glimpse of a few days ago had completely taken over Venom's and looked creepier then she remembered. She opened her mouth to scream, a perfectly natural reaction when one was faced with something that frightened them but years worth of training, first by Tom and then by the X-Men kicked in and she covered her mouth with her hand and swallowed down the scream.

She knew that the man who'd she'd spoken to on the roof the other day was still in there and she had no idea if her scream would even hurt him, even if she didn't do it on purpose. Instead, she instinctively got between Venom and Elaine, ready to do something, anything, should he attack them. She honestly had no idea what Elaine's mutation was but Terry's was most definitely offensive and she would use it if she had to.

Then, to her complete and utter surprise, he began to talk to them like they were old friends or something. Granted, he likely knew all about her since it was the suit that read her memories but this was just way too weird. He picked up a cupcake and “ate” it although she wasn't entirely sure he could actually taste it. If he started grabbing his stomach and leaning on the now deformed counter as well, she was never going to cook another thing in her life again.

“I...” she began, trying to act as normally as she could with a symbiote suit grinning at her like she was next on the menu. “I didn't have any actual plans. I didn't mean for anyone ta even know about it.”

[dreamweaver]

Elaine began to make her way to the door, but before she reached it she heard something behind her that sounded like acid eating something away. She closed her eyes to steel herself for whatever she would see when she opened them and turn to face whatever was going on behind her. She took a few calming breaths, and slowly turned around. What she saw, was something she didn’t expect. The man’s mask had taken on a more demonic look, complete with rows of sharp teeth and large white eyes.

“Going away so soon Elaine, we were just going to wish Theresa a Happy Birthday”

Her reaction was to take out her top, and spin it in the nearest surface. As she watched it spin, she hoped it wouldn’t wobble. But she was disappointed as she watched the top start to wobble. If it had stayed spinning, she knew she was dreaming and she could have waken up. However she was awake, and this was really happening and she didn’t know what to do. “Happy birthday, Terry.” She whispered to the other girl, not knowing if anyone heard her. The man didn’t seem like the type to let her walk, and watched as he ;ate’ a cupcake. He the asked Terry what her plans were for the day.

Then when Terry got between her and the man, the action was not lost on Elaine. She knew the girl can scream, and it would be better than what she could do at that moment. She couldn’t do much of anything unless they were asleep, but she didn’t know if she could make someone sleep so that she could enter their dreams…

[venomx]

Venoms tongue whipped around in his mouth as looked between the two girls that where in front of him at the moment. His acid like spit fell to the floor and started to make slight holes, he was still kind of hungry as he grabbed another cupcake. He then wrapped it again with his tongue and pulled it in as he ate it quickly making his tongue like around his teeth. Venoms thoughts wondered about with in his hosts head as he thought what the girls thought of him. Did they find him nightmarish or did they find him a bit freaky? From Theresa’s expression however he got that he freaked her out and the new girls’ expression said the same thing. Though he watched as she played with a top which didn’t make any real sense to him, he just decided to ignore it.

Then before he could speak again she seemed to move in front of the other girl trying to protect her in a way. Then before long she seemed to calm down a bit and answered his question, though it wasn’t what he was expecting. Venom hoped she had a day planned or something seeing as he knew he had little time before the host took control again. He started to walk forward towards Theresa and looked at her closely with his wicked smile. “That’s no good it’s your birthday, we should do something fun and interesting isn’t that right Elaine”.

Symbiote suit wasn’t planning on hurting them though freaking them out was sort of up his ally of what he thought was fun. His tongue while still in her face retracted into his mouth while he closed it shut, though he didn’t have any lips. All there could be seen was his teeth and green spite drooling out of the side of his mouth with his gums showing.

[theresa]

Terry barely noticed the top that had been spun on the counter, instead her focus was on the alien (he'd said alien the other day, right?) in front of her. She did hear Elaine's forced birthday wish with her sensitive hearing but didn't reply. She'd thank the girl later. After moving in front of the blond, she wrapped her arms behind her casually but gave a waving motion to Elaine, indicating for the girl to go, to leave and if need be, to get help. Not that she really expected Elaine to get anything out of the gesture other then to leave.

Venom moved closer to her and she could feel his breath on her and really, really hoped that none of the acid falling from his mouth touched her. She didn't have any magical healing powers and that would likely leave permanent damage to her skin. Not really something that she wanted to deal with.

“Elaine isn't feeling well and really should go lay down, Venom,” she told the alien, trying to reason with him. It was as good a reason for the girl to get out of there as any. “Maybe later she can help me celebrate my birthday.” If she even had a later. She had no idea if this creature was going to try to harm her or not. She sort of trusted the man whose body it inhabited but she definitely didn't trust the big toothy mouthed alien.

His tongue moving back into his mouth didn't really help with the creepiness factor of his face one bit. Instead, he looked like a demented Cheshire Cat, grinning like that with his acidic spit still hitting the floor.

She was thinking as quickly as she could and thought that maybe distracting him would be the best bet. Perhaps that would allow the host to reclaim control over the alien and she could begin to make sense of what was going on. As it was, she had no idea how to explain the mess that was suddenly the kitchen.

“No one has sang “Happy Birthday” to me yet today,” she started, holding her ground and hoping that Elaine would do the smart thing and just leave. “Can ye sing? I've been told that I have a phenomenal voice. Want to hear?”

Without waiting for his approval or to even find out if he could sing or not, she began to sing a rendition of “Happy Birthday” that would have made even Celine Dion cry. She used her powers to enhance her voice, a natural side effect of her particular powers was that she had absolutely perfect pitch and sang like very few in the world ever could. She could even hit the high notes that it took years of dedicated practice for even the most talented of opera singers to hit.

What she was doing was trying to distract him and to see if her sonic powers had any effect at all on the creature without going for a full force scream that would not only rattle Elaine's ears but bring half the mansion running.