A village gift (Text post AND log) OTA

[clouded_heart]

WHO: Foggy Nelson
WHERE: South Village Inn
WHEN: Jan 10th ish
OPEN TO: OTA
WARNINGS: None at present

---

Text post
UN: haventthe

Hey people, Foggy here. I got a couple of those boxes that seem to happen to people and while it's addressed to me, I get the feeling that it's meant for the collective. I've got a bunch of woodworking tools here, including chisels, files, a saw and a hand drill with drill bits.

I'm taking this a hint that they approved of my amateur forays into carpentry and want that to continue, but I want to make sure everyone knows they're welcome to use them. For now, I'm keeping everything at the South Inn, but maybe we can set up one of the houses, or the mill as a workshop at some point.

Even had an idea for making paper from the sawdust and shavings. That's probably going to need experimentation though.

South Village Inn

True to his word, Foggy has set up in the large front room. He's moved a table to a far corner and he's set out the tools, checking them over to see if they're all fine. He does know all these tools, he did high school wood working, but it's been a while.

A long while.

But the main reason for sitting here is so that it's apparent he is here, and the tools are here, and they can work something out for making useful things and teaching people to make useful things.

Comments

[clouded_heart]

"Yeah, sit down might be nice." He takes off his coat as he comes in further, hanging it over the chair he sat in by the fire. "So, we both agree we wouldn't normally do that, and that we don't regret it." He looks over at Anne, tilting his head slightly. "I'm not going to put any expectations, which I hope you knew anyway."

[can_fight_ugly]

She settles in her own chair by the fire and nudges her knitting out of the way; right now focusing on Foggy.

"Expectations? No, this was a matter of circumstance. You're safe." Both being adults and all that. "If it had to happen with anyone, though, I'm glad it was you."

Mostly because they could discuss it like adults. Oh good, she'd hate to think how different this conversation would have gone with Eddie.

[clouded_heart]

Foggy laughs at the 'you're safe' comment. "I wasn't worried for my incredibly tarnished honour, Counsellor Weying, but thanks for the reassurance."

He gives her a small smile. "Well, I did promise to try and help you stay away from falling into a relationship with your human dumpster fire again... Speaking of. I met Eddie's... friend. I think it threatened to eat my spleen."

[can_fight_ugly]

"Oh, yeah. Welcome to Venom. I'm sorry I couldn't say anything about him earlier; he needed to come out in his own time."

But then she really thinks about his words, "Wait, he threatened you? He's not supposed to do that here." She'd have to talk to him. "Did you say anything about Eddie? He can be ... protective. "

[clouded_heart]

"No, I totally understand. A secret like that... it's not yours to tell or share. I have no idea what Venom is, aside from a nightmare given form, but he was pretty polite over all."

He's thought back over it a few ties, not sure what was real and what was just drunk.

"He decided we should date. And then tried to bully me into it. I think I told him off about not being allowed to make decisions for you or me and he agreed? But said that I shouldn't hurt you or he'd eat my spleen. So it was a shovel talk threat."

[can_fight_ugly]

Anne groans as she buries her head in her hands, mortified, "No, no no no, Foggy, I am so sorry." Venom, you're getting a talk later.

"It's -- he's a symbiote. Technically a space alien, but without a host he's more just like goth silly putty. He tends to take on some of the qualities of his host, so ..."

Foggy was probably getting some Eddie bleed-over there.

"I'll talk him." She almost can't believe it. Almost. "He tried to bully you into dating me?"

[clouded_heart]

"It's fine," Foggy promises. "Once I told him off, he seemed to understand that you can't bully people into dating each other just because you want them to be happy. Consent and agency seems to be something he grasps surprisingly well, so long as you're explicit about it?"

He shrugs a little. "He had a bow tie. And looked like something out of the nightmares of schizophrenics. I was just too drunk to listen to my fear response. It's not your job to police him, he's his own dumpster fire."

[can_fight_ugly]

"I shouldn't have to but if he's going around bothering my friends? That's not okay. Hell, it wouldn't be okay if he were just Eddie."

It hadn't been okay when he'd showed up at her townhouse randomly, before Venom even happened. She sighs and leans back in her seat, rubbing at her temples. "San Francisco had been too small for us, I shouldn't be surprised a tiny village like this isn't any different."

[clouded_heart]

"We were talking about you. Maybe? Please understand that I was incredibly drunk. I think I decided to make you a baseball bat for self defence?" He knows he gave Venom champagne. "He asked me for food suggestions?"

He snorts his amusement. "Anne, this is the height of hypocrisy, but maybe you and Eddie and Venom need to have a talk about how much you can allow them in your life. Draw some clear boundaries. Venom seems to need things spelt out very clearly, which, alien life form, fair enough."

[can_fight_ugly]

"Please tell me this was before the, ah, tryst." They're going to talk, she's a common factor, she understands this. She's not exactly eager for Eddie to find out she's been with anyone because he doesn't take that sort of news very well.

He's got a key why does he have a key
How else is he going to get in, Eddie.

She sighs and rests her head in her hand, closing her eyes for a moment. She just suddenly felt very tired. "I thought I had. Conversations have been tempered, space has been requested. Dealing with the two of them, together, for an extended time like this?" She looks at Foggy, "before I arrived here I had thought that Venom was dead. I wasn't prepared for this."

Which means in every step it's a learning experience. "We'll figure it out, eventually."

[clouded_heart]

"Oh, yeah. It was before anything between us. I told, I passed out on that bed and woke up in the Inn, no idea what happened. Maybe Alistair carried me home? He kept threatening to."

He shuffles his chair closer to hers and wraps an arm around her shoulders. "No one's prepared for this. Place like this changes a lot of things. Not least of all the being in each other's pockets all the time. I'm finding it hard and I've lived in Matt's pockets for ten years. You need to have a chat, but if you want a mediator, or support, I'm here, okay? I can be there if you want, or be there for after if you need."

[can_fight_ugly]

"Whoever it was, I owe them."

Anne hesitates a moment and then leans into him. "I've already had one mediated discussion with Venom, I don't want this to become a theme." But Foggy had a point; Venom wasn't of this world and therefore his thought-processes were going to be a little different.

Except, she'd experienced it firsthand.

She slightly stiffens for a moment, and then shifts back in her seat. "There's ... one more details you should know."

[clouded_heart]

"You owe them? I definitely owe them." He rubs her arm in a comforting manner. "He's alien. Wholly. And if his point fo reference for 'human' is 'Eddie', then he's going to have even more difficulties assimilating the information and putting it into practice."

He isn't trying to slag Eddie off, he has no doubt he's a lovely guy, but he is a human trash fire of decisions and interactions.

Foggy moves his arm away at her stiffening. "Oh?"

[can_fight_ugly]

"You're my friend, Foggy, I worried about you. I was a few too many sheets to the wind to do anything but I'm glad you got home safe."

Anne makes a sharp nod for a moment before pausing as she formulates her words. Foggy was her confidant, and if he's trying to help her figure out how to handle Venom, might as well know more of the story. There wasn't the complication of intimacy that had kept her from telling Dan.

"I ... briefly carried Venom, to get him back to Eddie. I may not have the full experience but I've got a taste for what it was like."

[clouded_heart]

"Oh. Oh wow."

That's not disgust. A bit of surprise, but ultimately, he can't even begin the imagine what it was like. "That sounds pretty amazing. Mind blowing. Wow. Venom, was living in you, briefly."

[can_fight_ugly]

"It's ... really rather hard to describe, but it's less like he was just in me and more like ... we become something else entirely, together. Whatever this place actually is, it's done a job of ensuring that doesn't fully happen the way it's supposed to."

Supposed to? Is this supposed to happen? She frowns a little at her own wording, some leftover flavor from her own time with Venom. "While he's bonded with someone, Venom has full access to memories, and, he's curious, and - he makes things ... sharper."

A pause, "Because of my time with Venom, I remember my first date with Eddie clearer than my most recent date with Dan."

[clouded_heart]

Foggy can sort of imagine, mostly due to prolific sci-fi and fantasy consumption as a young teen. The idea that something that needs a host makes something new when joined with a host. "It is a symbiotic lifeform. You are Anne. Together, you were... something else. That's... really poetic. And cool. And terrifying."

He looks up at her. "Your relationship with Eddie feels fresher, newer, no, more recent, because of that time?"

[can_fight_ugly]

Anne pulls in a breath and sighs. "Yeah, pretty much. When I was carrying Venom, he was pretty focused on Eddie and that ... bled over."

Which makes getting over your Ex and moving on that much harder, but Anne's always up for the challenge and she knew - she knew - it was the healthier choice.

"But with Venom? It was pretty cool. It's ... powerful." There it is, an undeniable quirk of her lips at that memory. "Not a lot of people I can actually confess this too."

[clouded_heart]

"It sounds pretty amazing," Foggy admits quietly. "But I can see how it makes things more difficult with Eddie, having it all relieved and brought up so fresh."

It's not an ex, but he understands an unhealthy relationship that you can't seem to let go of and in this regard, he fears he's far more like Eddie than Anne.

He shakes it off. This isn't about his own worries.

"Like winning a court case powerful?"

[can_fight_ugly]

Foggy, you deserve so much better. She would absolutely listen if he wanted to talk about it.

Anne nods and looks over at him. "Yes. Like the biggest, trickiest case you have."

[clouded_heart]

Foggy decides he is going to tell her one thing.

"My most recent field of specialty was super powered individuals and vigilantes. After the Punisher trial and because of my work with Daredevil to take down Fisk, I was taken on to deal specifically with vigilantes and then with people with extraordinary abilities. So... I think I can sort of imagine the elation, if not the power."

[can_fight_ugly]

He'd said earlier that he'd represented Luke Cage, but finding out it wasn't just a one-off and that he's dedicated specifically for this subset of judicial intricacies is impressive. Her expression shows it.

"You know, Foggy, I think we have a definitive answer who's the better lawyer. I cannot even begin to imagine making a career out of representing powered individuals."

She's good, she knows she's good, but yes she was in corporate law partially for the money; she wanted to be comfortable. Foggy, as she is finding out, wants to be good, and she has a growing admiration and respect for that mentality.

[clouded_heart]

"The company specialise in defence, but as I say, I worked the Punisher trial basically alone and then I repped Luke Cage, did some work with Jessica Jones, from the Kilgrave mess? The mind controlling guy? And I was-"

He was preparing Daredevil's defence. For the inevitable trial.

"They offered me the resources for defending Daredevil. If he was ever caught and brought to trial. He dropped off the radar after the Midland Circle catastrophe, so I guess that was never going to eventuate. And none of this makes me a better lawyer, just a specialised one."

[can_fight_ugly]

"Oh god Kilgrave, I do not envy you that one." She settles back in her seat, and after a moment a little smokey grey and white kitten hops into her lap and nudges his head into her hand for scritches, which she obliges.

"Well, I'm not about to pull numbers out and compare, but if this village ever needs representation, I think between the two of us they won't have anything to worry about." She smiles. See what she did there? It was intentional just mentioning the two of them.

[clouded_heart]

"I met her well after it, didn't have to get involved in any of that. Thankfully. Though I did really admire the work Jeri Hogarth did on it. Marci was involved in that one, in the back ground." Not in court, but she was part of building the defence case.

He watches the kitten for a moment, a faint smile on his face. "Well, I know you were with the Life Foundation for a while. Did you always want to go into corporate law?"