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Sighing heavily, and wondering if she was perhaps a little insane, Jaz shoved her hands into the pockets of her hoodie and effortlessly wove her way along the busy sidewalk. Ever since learning of the bounty on her head, she'd been nervous about going out in the daytime, preferring to stick to the shadows and moonlight. Why she'd agreed to meet Eddie at high noon, she didn't know. Granted, the chance to have a conversation with someone who wasn't a teenager probably had put some influence into her decision.

She loved the girls as if they were her own pups, but teenagers were teenagers, and sometimes, her wolf wanted nothing more than to scruff them and get them to 'shut up just for one minute please.' Patience, in other words, was sometimes in short supply.

But, Jaz took the safety of her Pack seriously. And as long as she had a price on her head, the girl's lives were in jeopardy. With wolves, any threat to the Pack, especially to the pups, was quickly hunted down and eliminated. Either forest or concrete jungle, the answer was the same. Track it, hunt it down, and make certain that said danger could never again threaten the lives of the Pack.

Except now, I've gone and added Venom to the mix, she mused as she sidestepped around a hot dog cart. She was still trying to figure out why her wolf had shifted him from 'potential threat' to 'potential kindred spirit'. Not that she didn't trust her instincts; but all the stories she'd read about him tended to paint him in an uncomplimentary light. It was yet another issue that she had to muddle through. Human knowledge versus wolf instincts that were older than time. What a mess.

Another sigh left her as she spotted the huge building that housed the library, her gaze darting across the various people milling around the stairs before she spotted Eddie. She had to admit, he wasn't bad looking. Reddish blond hair neatly cut short, blue eyes, strong chin and cheekbones, and a powerhouse's body, sharply dressed in blue jeans, a white tee and a black blazer. Where Jaz was built for speed and agility, he was brute force. Granted, she knew from experience that he was faster than he looked, especially when he was Venom.

Shaking her head to dislodge the still too-fresh memory of him pursuing her through the city, Jasmine jogged across an intersection, mustering up a small smile when Eddie spotted her and waved to get her attention.

"You're late," he greeted her, smiling to let her know he was only teasing as he held a paper coffee mug out to her. "Coffee?"

"I had to double back a few times to make sure I wasn't being followed," she explained, quirking a brow as she accepted the drink from him - taking a discreet sniff, just in case - and sipped at it curiously, smiling at the rich flavor. "Mm. Thanks."

"Figured we should bring a peace offering, just in case," he said, leaning against one of the railings that framed the stairs as he gave her a quick once-over. "You look tired."

She rose her right shoulder in a shrug. "I've been keeping watch while the Pack sleeps. I got a few hours in this morning, though." A smirk tugged at her lips as she took another drink of blessed caffeine. "And this is my fourth cup of coffee."

Worry made him straighten out of his casual stance. "Stray, that's... Did you eat at least?"

"Jasmine."

Eddie frowned, the symbiote sharing his confusion. "Pardon?"

"It's my name," she explained, finding herself avoiding his gaze and wondering if he knew it was a sign of her anxiety and uncertainty. "'Stray' is... well, it's never been a name. It came in useful for the fights, though."

"Jasmine, hm? Pretty name for a wolf."

Jaz quirked a brow at him, surprised by his flirting. "One of my Pack gave it to me. I... didn't really have a name before I got to San Francisco."

Aware that he seemed to be treading on a sensitive topic, Eddie didn't push any further, and instead gestured to a nearby canteen. "Are you hungry? We have plenty of time. The Library's open until nine."

Her wolf perked at the mention of food, and Jasmine did her best to hide her interest in the tempting smells that instantly moved to the forefront of her attention. It was second nature for her to use snark to try to mask the predatory instincts that rose in her. "Planning on wining and dining me before you pick my brain for information?"

"Coffee and a couple of hot dogs are hardly what we consider 'wining and dining'," he chuckled as he ushered her down the stairs. "Though we may take you up on that on a later date."

And damned if her wolf didn't prick her metaphorical ears up at that. "Like a 'date', date?"

He paused, and eyed her, feeling the Other impercievably shift across his shoulders as it shared his nervousness. He wasn't stupid. He was attracted to her, as was the symbiote - otherwise 'Venom' wouldn't have given her a second look. But, Eddie was very aware of how lousy his track record was when it came to relationships...

But Stray - no, Jasmine - certainly wasn't like any other woman he'd ever met. And she's not afraid of us. Even when we're Venom, we haven't sensed any fear in her, not after we apologized for chasing her across half the city. And really, for her to even think about forgiving him after that little fiasco, was amazing. If not downright miraculous.

The symbiote gave him a mental nudge, jerking his attention back to the present and to the woman that was frowning at him in mixed curiosity and concern. He'd frozen like a deer in the headlights, torn between wanting to say 'yes', and the memories of all the tragedy that inevitably followed any relationship he tried to form.

Something must have shown on his face, or maybe Jasmine could smell his uncertainty and confusion. He could only watch as the curiosity on her face faded and was replaced by calm understanding. That alone threw him for a whole new loop. Who is this woman?

"One day at a time, then?" Jasmine offered, ignoring her wolf's baffled mental whine as she carefully shifted her weight in an attempt to give off a calm, understanding, vibe. If he'd been a wolf, she'd have bunted her shoulder against his and nudged his muzzle with hers in an attempt to reassure and ease the sudden wave of nervous fear that had gripped him. She didn't understand the shift of emotions she scented from him, though. Her teasing must have accidentally treaded on some sensitive territory.

"Sorry," Eddie muttered, avoiding her gaze. "It isn't that we... I don't want to. It's just... old ghosts."

A tired smirk tugged at the corners of her mouth as she finished her coffee. "Pesky little bastards, aren't they?"

He echoed her dry mirth. "You have no idea," he sighed, frowning at the steps under his feet before he gave himself a little shake and rose his gaze to meet hers. "The offer of lunch is still open."

She'd be a very dead wolf before she turned down the offer of food. "Sure. And then you can explain this 'we' thing you have going on. That's been driving me nuts for days."

Eddie chuckled. "Deal."

"So, let me get this straight. You're permanently bonded to a sentient alien 'symbiote', which not only masquerades as your clothes, but it also allows the two of you to morph into..." Jaz paused, sent a glance at the throng of people milling nearby, and altered her sentence. "Into him? And I thought dealing with my wolf was complicated."

"It took some getting used to," Eddie agreed before taking another bite of his hot dog - firmly ignoring his Other's low opinion of the junk food. "We made plenty of mistakes when we were... young. Newly bonded."

She mulled that over for a bit as she finished her second hot dog, licking mustard off her fingers afterwards. "I have enough of a hard time with my wolf instincts nattering on in the back of my mind. Two sentient beings sharing one form... that's patience."

"It isn't as troublesome as you'd think," he told her, taking heart in the genuine curiosity in her eyes. Curiosity, not revulsion, or fear. "The symbiote, it isn't something invasive. It sought to belong, to live in balance with another. When we're as you see now, I'm more in control. In the 'other' form, the symbiote is at the forefront."

"Huh. And all that talk in the papers is..."

He grimaced. "True enough, if a little exaggerated. We do have a vendetta with Spider-Man for... personal reasons. As we said, we made plenty of mistakes when we were newly bonded. Our rage blinded us. We came to San Francisco to make a fresh start."

"Lethal Protector. Yeah, I read about that. Not that I don't approve." Jaz smirked at his look of surprise and casually tossed her used napkin into a nearby garbage can. "Wolf, remember? I do happen to understand the lure of wanting to permanently remove any threat to the lives of those I've decided to protect."

Her easy acceptance and understanding threw him for another loop. "You keep surprising us," Eddie admitted as he took a drink from his soda. "Most people are afraid of us. Of what we are and what we do."

"I'm not most people," she reminded him, quirking a brow when he held his soda out to her offeringly. "I'm not human. Never was, never will be. And, no, thank you. The bubbles make my nose itch."

He chuckled at how she wrinkled her nose, sensing that telling her now cute the expression was would be detrimental to his health. Instead, he gulped down the rest of his drink, tossed the cup into the garbage, then gestured to the Library. "Alright then. Shall we?"

"Are we even allowed access to the maps of the underground tunnels?" she asked as they ascended the stairs, ducking past him when Eddie held the door open for her. "Wouldn't it be better to come back, uh, later?"

"Most blueprints of the City's infrastructure, both above ground and below, are available to the public, if you know where to look."

Jaz smiled at the Librarian at the front counter as they passed, before turning her attention back to Eddie. "And you know where to look." It wasn't a question.

"Yes. We, um... I, was a journalist, before I bonded with the symbiote. I majored in it at University. Had a job at a newspaper in New York before..." He frowned, and shook his head, unwilling to delve into the dark places of his past. "Well, just before."

Even a dead wolf would have been able to sense the turmoil that was rising in him. "Fair enough," Jasmine murmured, deciding to steer the conversation onto safer territory as she gestured for him to precede her. "You think the records go back far enough to cover even the older tunnels? Because the newer subways have turned most of the older ones into a bloody mess. There's even some caved-in parts that are so old they've lost all scents of the surrounding tunnels."

"They're probably remnants of the earthquake," he told her, glancing back at her when she loosed an odd hum of curiosity. "The big earthquake? Of nineteen-oh-six?"

She blinked, then shrugged. "Okay."

"You didn't know?"

"History wasn't on the list of things I thought I needed to know when I adopted a human Pack," Jasmine admitted, idly picking at her cast as she avoided his gaze. "I stuck to memorizing first aid, medicines, herbal remedies, nutrition, that sort of stuff."

Shock rippled through him and the symbiote. "You... taught yourself? All of that?"

Jaz shrugged, talons digging deeper into the edge of her cast. "Didn't have much of a choice. No one else was going to teach me."

"How long did it take you?"

"Took me a few weeks to memorize everything."

He paused in mid-step and turned to look at her. "A few weeks?"

She tilted her head to the side. "Is that bad?"

"Bad?" Suddenly, he realized how she was standing, the shadows in her eyes, saw her nervously picking at her cast. She really didn't realize how smart she was. "On the contrary, Jasmine. It takes most people years of studying to understand just one of those topics, never mind memorize them."

"...Oh."

Eddie watched as her brows drew together, watched as she digested what he'd just told her. God, had she thought she was stupid? She's so smart. Smart and funny and beautiful. Yeah. We're in trouble.

"Come on," he smiled, coaxing her forward. "The City Records archive is just around the corner."

Quirking a brow at the conflicting scents she could read off of him - a confusing mix of attraction, fear and admiration - Jasmine pushed her curiosity aside and followed him through another batch of stacks and to the far side of the Library. Nestled amongst bookcases of law books and a small scale model of the city's Golden Gate Bridge under a glass case, was a huge wall of oddly shaped drawers.

It was to these that Eddie went to, pulling one large drawer open after another, until he made a satisfied noise and lifted a big, flat, book. The smell of dust, age and various types of ink floated over to her as he carefully set his prize down onto a nearby table and started to flip through the huge pages. She caught glimpses of various maps and blueprints, cross-sections of underground subway stations and proposed tunnels.

"They smell old." Her almost uncontrollable curiosity drew her closer, eyes easily spotting the creases and small tears in the paper. "Are they safe to touch?"

"They look older than they are because of the wear and tear that comes with public access. These are replicas. Copies." Eddie told her while he continued to look for the correct page. "The City and the Library Archives knew that while they had to make these available to the public, that the older maps were far too valuable to risk being destroyed by a careless researcher. So, they had replicas made, and distributed to City Hall and the Library, while keeping the originals safely locked away. Ah. Here we go."

"Wow," Jaz murmured as she dropped down onto a chair, staring at the map that Eddie was studying. "It looks so much more complicated on paper."

"Most blueprints do," he chuckled, smoothing a hand across the page. A tiny thought passed between himself and the Other had the symbiote reforming a pocket on the inside of his 'blazer', allowing him to retrieve the notepad and pen he'd brought along.

She glanced from him to the complex-looking map, then back again. "Wouldn't it be easier if I just brought you down here and showed you were the various fight locations are?"

"No. You're far more familiar with the tunnels than we are. Even with the marks we scratched into the walls after scouting some of them, it was difficult for us to find our way. We'll remember this," he tapped the map. "Far better than anything else."

He got an uncertain look in reply. "If you say so."

Another chuckle left him at her doubtful tone. "Trust us, Jasmine. We can't continue to impose on you to guide us through the tunnels. This way, we can scout them at our leisure."

Her wolf gave an agreeing mental rumble. "Alright, alright. But this... this is new to me. I don't know-"

"We'll walk you through it." When she folded her arms across her chest and eyed the map as if it was something that was liable to jump up and try to kill her, Eddie shook his head and moved around the table to claim the chair next to her. "You're a quick study, Jasmine. And we've done this before. It'll work."

She frowned at him, then huffed in resignation. "Okay. What do you want to know?"

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tbc