There were some dirty rags, luckily Gwen wasn't overly vain. Just as she was trying to make a makeshift mask, her eyes fell to the still separated head and body of the symbiote. Putting away the rags for a moment, Gwen moved to put the costume into the bag. With her gloves partially shredded she could feel the.. fabric? texture? skin? She went with skin, but knew it was a cheap word. It was heavenly, like silk crossed with baby skin, but with a generous touch of latex (As a costumed vigilante, Gwen knew exactly how all kinds of tight fabrics felt).

 

Shaking off the reverence easily, it was just very nice stuff after all, the nearly costume-less Spider-Woman started putting the symbiote away in the bag. The hair was still trying to pull the head back to the rest, faster now that more of it was connected. Curious, Gwen tried to pull the hair off the main costume. It wasn't exactly easy, a regular human would probably not manage to pull the hair strands from the main body, but for her it was hardly an effort. 

 

She quickly pulled the head part closer and looked it over. It was light and clearly hollow, having no host to cling to. The face was a different shade of red, the color of thick blood, not like the other brighter, nearly colorful, red inkblots across the symbiote. That color went on to the jawline where it switched to a bright yellow everywhere except for the middle of the forehead. It was bright red there. The mouth had needle like fangs behind thin lips and the outline of a thin tongue behind these teeth. The eye patches were closer to her mask than to Venom's. They had no jagged edges, but they did curve downward to a point. A bit like those of Carnage, now that she thought about it. 

 

Gwen turned the head and noticed that the neck was completely open. She could stretch it open even further. She couldn't see anything inside, but wasn't surprised. The mask didn't seem particularly thin or anything, so it was unlikely the light of the late afternoon would shine through. And still the symbiote didn't do much except twitching and softly waving around its hair. 

 

Putting her hand inside the mask, Gwen expected to feel slime or something, but found only the same brilliant texture as the outside. Even the oversized hair flowed through her fingers like sweet honey. Damn, that thing was good at making her curious. And it probably wasn't even doing anything, either!

 

A look to the filthy rags she had tied together made her crinkle her nose. Gwen knew she shouldn't even entertain the idea, but she had a perfect mask in her hands. Why not just use it? The symbiote seemed to be nearly completely passive. Instead of sitting around second guessing herself, Gwen decided to just give it a try. 

 

Gwen brushed the hair away, letting it flow toward the ground. Without further ado, she lowered her head, pulled the edges of the mask apart and jammed it over her face. It slipped on so easily. There was not the slightest bit of resistance until she was fully inside. It was grand, every bit as pleasant as touching it, only all around her. Gwen couldn't see and let go of the edges to try to match up the hopefully see-through patches with her eyes.

 

The second the neck of mask slapped against hers, Gwen could feel the mask tighten. Without warning some sort of liquid flooded her mouth while something else pushed into her eyes and ears. She threw head back, feeling like she was drowning as something pushed into her mind and prodded her throat. There was no stopping and Gwen didn't know how long she could take it.

 

Then it was over.

 

It had felt like she had been assaulted for minutes, but couldn't have been longer than a heartbeat. The long mane of tendril-like hair hadn't even settled on Gwen's back after she threw her head back. Her sight was also back. In fact, it was better than ever and so was her hearing. Before the blonde couldn't hear traffic near her or the three cats keeping their distance from her. Now it was plain to see and distinct in its sound. There was also no urge to blink anymore.

 

And that didn't even describe her great the mask on her head felt. Carefully she nudged her cheek with her hands. The mask didn't just transmit touch, it enhanced it as well! It was nice to touch and even better to be touched! And yet, it wasn't distracting Gwen somehow. Like the symbiote made sure that she was focused.

 

She looked around and found a more or less intact mirror. Crouching down she checked her looks. The dark red face of the symbiote was now given form by her own, but this barely changed it. It went down to her neck and disappeared in the collar of her torn costume. The more she looked the more it seemed that it was her face that was accommodating the mask and not the other way round. There was no nose or ears and she couldn't actually feel her own. The face also looked like that of an adult and not an older teen. It made her jaw drop, only to reveal that she now had the symbiote's mouth, too!

 

She prodded her needle teeth with her too-thin-to-be-human tongue. They were incredibly pointy and felt sharp without hurting her. Her jaw opened up much wider, too. And now she noticed that even breathing with the mask felt better, great even!

 

Despite herself she could only whisper: "Awesome."

 

Instantly she noticed that her voice sounded different.

 

"What's this all about?" She asked out loud, both because she was thinking it and because she wanted to test her new voice. It sounded more mature, sultry and quite frankly seductive.

 

At this point she looked her new 'hair' over and realized that she felt it! With a bit of concentration she could even move it! Not fast or anything, it was kind of confusing for one. But she also realized that with the hair she was even less inconspicuous than before. Without thinking she frowned and bit her lower lip, with the mirror showing her symbiote-covered face doing just that. Despite herself, she liked how it looked. 

 

Gwen thought for a bit and then remembered that a symbiote should be able to shift its shape. She furrowed her weird patched eyes and concentrated. And lo and behold, the hair shrank away until she had a bald face. With another thought the mask changed colors to match her original costume, though she kept the - in her opinion cool looking and feeling - mouth. Gwen had no intention of slinging through the night with her maw open, so it shouldn't be a problem if her mask looked the slightest bit off.

 

Happy for the moment, the newly remasked Spider-Woman got up. She turned to the bag, a slight pang of curiosity gluing her eyes to bits of the costume she could still see. Gwen wondered how it would feel to put on the entire thing, but dismissed it. This wasn't the time and the place. Not to mention that there was no real reason to risk total exposure to the symbiote.

 

She closed the bag, grabbed it and got on her way home. The journey was fairly uninteresting, even though she got caught on camera at least half a dozen times. Made her really glad that she put on the mask. The pure enjoyment she got from tasting and feeling the air on her symbiote-skin was a great bonus.

 

Once she circled a few blocks to be sure nobody had their eyes on her, she made for her apartment at the top of one of the many skyscrapers. Once there, she threw the bag on her bed and peeled off the mask. It didn't resist in the least, though she kind of missed it once it was off. She put it down next to the bag and within a few moments it returned to its original color and shape, hair-mane included.