#spider posting

User credit: myspooders on insta

i was absolutly awestruck by photos of these tiny, iridescent, sparkly little cave spiders while peaking under the bugguide.net logs and stones

most of the species described under this family, such as: leptoneta microphthalma & leptoneta infuscata have as little as two to six observations recorded on inaturalist.org

their family grouping is recorded to be native to the geographical range known as the ‘Holoarctic’

leptoneta microphthalma, one of the two observations on inaturalist

calileptoneta helferi, one of the six observations on inaturalist

according to the Phylogenomics and biogeography of leptonetid spiders (Araneae : Leptonetidae) on bioone.org: this family contains 355 species under 21 genera. with most being very small, around 2-5mm. and, quote: “all leptonetines share a unique eye arrangement where the posterior median eyes are displaced from the main eye group.”

notably, leptonetids are rarely seen and a large portion of their life history details are still unknown.

i would really encourage reading through the aforementioned article, it has a great number of interesting things to say about this lovely little spider family!

sources under the cut:

For the Core Lies ask meme where we break down the central lie that a character believes guiding their motivations.

I adore that you asked for the symbiote specifically. We love the symbiote and adore when a writer remembers to write it as such.

The Venom symbiote is a living allegory for relationships, usually toxic ones. It is in love with Peter and when it was rejected it formed a bond with Eddie Brock where they each drew out the worst impulses in the other.

Then you have the period of time where Eddie and Venom were no longer bonded (and there was editorial muddying of the water over what could even be true of a character whose entire core is tied into knowing Peter's identity in the BND era) and it bonded with a number of alternate hosts.

If I were going full Media Essay Mode I'd pull out some TPBs and start scanning for how the symbiote handled each host, particularly Mac Gargon, but I'll be brief and say that it was feeding on rage at that time.

It'd spent a lot of time in the Lethal Protector role and found alternate food sources to brains. It made it clear that no matter how closely bonded it got with Eddie it still wanted Peter.

To this day it loves Peter Parker.

But Peter is not its only love.

It loves the child they share with Eddie, Dylan Brock... and it loves Flash Thompson.

A lot of the time Eddie and Venom have spent together has been a toxic and codependent relationship with a core of self-loathing that keeps them locked together but never feeling anything other than a bitter and jaded love which is poison.

Flash Thompson allowed the symbiote to grow and be better. It experienced a healthy relationship for the first time and is having difficulty with everything now. It is currently bonded to Mary Jane, a person that it outright abused back in its worst days. The pair have discussed it.

MJ hates Eddie and is livid that the symbiote wants to return to him so bad.

The relationship between MJ and Venom at present is interesting because they are forced into it by circumstance and neither wants to be there. As of typing they have only JUST accepted that they need to be closer than roommates for this thing to work. But she's been doing a lot of therapy for the symbiote as they discuss their past as ex-lovers of Peter Parker. Especially as they are both victim to Peter's inability to handle close relationships and his tendency to push people away to an absurd degree.

The divide is entirely on Eddie.

Venom loves Eddie. Even after experiencing a better relationship with Flash. Even after witnessing through MJ how toxic the two of them were at their most bitter and angry.

Venom and Eddie have an unbreakable bond and a child together.

(This essay is going to skip Venom's spawn for now because I'm not sure I can really do Venom and Carnage's relationship any kindness)

Venom is a symbiote. It is relationships. It cannot exist alone. "I need a partner" is not really a lie when it will die alone.

No, Venom's lie is tied in its allegory for abusive/toxic relationships that it is named for. It's lie is locked in to the status quo resetting nature of comics.

Venom symbiote was wildly in love with Peter in a way that it has never been with any of its hosts. "I can have that back"

It was in a healthy and measured relationship with Flash and got to heal a lot of the damage it had formed during its darker days after leaving Eddie. "I can have that back."

It managed to rejoin with Eddie and actually communicated a lot of the things it learned during its time with Flash. It helped Eddie be a better father to Dylan. "We can change"

But in its heart of hearts, Eddie is just the stable fall back. Venom craves either the wild euphoria of Peter or the healthy comfort of Flash.

It no longer eats brains. It is no longer consumed by bitterness and rage. It is getting better.

But it hungers for a deep connection and will always go back to Eddie.

I'm not saying Eddie and Venom are a bad couple. I love them. I want them together. As much as I enjoy Ewing's writing of MJ in the current run, we all know it ends with Eddie kicking Carnage out and letting Venom back home.

They will always come back together. Like a pair of toxic lovers who just can't stay apart. Constantly trying to fix it and make it work this time.

I think Eddie and Venom can be good for one another. I think Dylan needs them both. I don't want this answer to be that they are better apart and that Venom deserves better, though I do believe that. (someone dropped Eddie in my ask box so we'll get to him later).

I just think that the way it is with Peter, the way it is with Flash, even the way it currently is with Brock. It is constantly looking back into the past with rose tinted glasses and longing for what was rather than what is.

My read is that Venom's core lie is "It used to be better and it can be that again."

Which, honestly, if Venom is a character defined by relationships and the toxic cycle of going back to someone who isn't good for you because of comic book status quo?

What better allegory for that cycling status quo than the core lie of comic books in general "it used to be better and it can be that again"

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For other core lie asks: