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 Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2023 8:25 am
Quote: Eight-legged Issues ( 8 ) - Small webs have begun to appear all over Destiny City at an alarming pace. The thin strands of webbing are surprisingly resilient and can be difficult to break, but that’s to be expected when you’ve got the charm of Destiny City’s unnatural wildlife. At least you’re not dealing with the car sized spiders of a few years ago. While the webs appear with great frequency all over the city, it can be difficult to see the spiders themselves. They are about an inch long at their largest, but even if they were smaller, it wouldn’t matter. They are almost completely invisible. When on their webs, they look like morning dew. When on you? Same thing. Thankfully, these spiders seem to want to keep to themselves, but it’s hard to do that when you can’t see them. If agitated, the spiders will bite. They have a unique. Being bitten can cause nausea, dizziness, fatigue and hallucinations. These symptoms can begin immediately after being bitten or can manifest up to a few hours after the toxins are introduced to the bloodstream. These symptoms may only last for a few hours—or up to a few days. No medicine seems to help this ailment, so you’re stuck weathering this one out on your own.
"What is it that you fear, Sin?" Wezen said, picking up Sinistra's habit of shortening names. Or at least changing them, as she did not fail to miss that 'Wezzy' was the same amount of syllables as 'Wezen', and did not evoke a particularly threatening aura when spoken. She was told that was the point: that it was cute.
She was also told 'Sin' was not cute, but she liked the sound of it, anyway.
Sinistra shook her head, keeping her arms wrapped around herself and her ankles together, not wanting to risk stepping on or brushing against any of the copious spiderwebs around them. This area seemed particularly alluring to whatever spiders were responsible for it, as many of the bushes and even the trees looked coated. She was not sure if she felt better or worse not seeing any actual spiders yet, though.
The very idea that they were being stealthy was a literal waking nightmare.
"Let's just continue our patrol and go home. There's no Chaos here, right? Don't you want to find Chaos?" SInistra tried to plead to Wezen's interests, knowing full well exactly how strongly the alien felt about Chaos on this, or any other, planet.
"I wish to eradicate Chaos," Wezen confirmed, not drawing away from the spiderweb coated bush, "but i also wish to see this bush. This is at hand, right now. It is sensible, then, to continue here. You may leave, if you wish." Wezen did not turn around, and Sinistra strained to keep her composure. She opened her mouth to argue, but a sound nearby drew her attention.
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2023 9:27 am
Naeria was no stranger to spiders, or spiderwebs. She saw them often enough when she went out to gather samples from the forest, and she found them fascinating, if not something that she had the time to focus research on, herself. If the were able to get a bigger research group on Earth, she would love to see the kind of research papers that someone could write on the different insects. She could spend hours curled up reading those. It had come to mind because she kept seeing more spiderwebs around, even in town, where they were usually quite scarce. It had even drawn the attention of some of the humans, it seemed like. She could see two of them standing by a bush. She watched them for a while, hiding as best as she could behind the corner of a brick building, with only one golden eye peeking over at them. They were senshi. She could tell by her ComTech, and by their clothes, and the way that they were talking about eradicating Chaos, but that didn't always mean that they would be nice. Usually, she would have walked away, but the bush that they were standing by was the best sample of those spiderwebs that was in the entire area. Her curiosity won out. She swallowed, and stepped forwards, drawing herself up to her full height of six and a half feet. "Do you-" her words cut off, and she paused, then tried again, clearly nervous. "Do you know which species this is?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2023 9:56 am
Wezen turned at the voice, not looking surprised. She did have to adjust her gaze, always expecting those that spoke to her to be shorter than her, like Sinistra, but instead finding herself having to look up just a little. She was curious about that, though it did not reflect in her expression beyond a very slight up tilt of her eyebrow.
"You are taller than me," she pointed out. It was just a couple of inches between them, but it was still more than she had ever seen before. Somehow, she found she rather liked it, as if it were in some way comforting to know that there were others like her out there. Not the alien thing, which she had not grasped yet, but the height alone.
Realizing there was a question hanging in the air, she shook her head and looked back at the spiderwebs. She held out her hand to the strands, and Sinistra let out a suprised yelp.
"Oh, no, Wezzy, don't touch them! Is there a spider? Oh no!" Sinistra moaned, shaking her head but not finding herself brave enough to move closer. She watched the stranger, having only limited knowledge of her kind, blushing furiously at how very small she now felt. Were all beings from space living skyscrapers?!
"We-we don't know what kind of a spider that is," Sinistra added, trying to be polite. "I'm sorry. That's Wezen, and I'm Sinistra. She's not used to talking to people. She's not from- WEZEN PUT THAT BACK."
Wezen regarded Sinistra curiously, a strange looking, almost transparent spider on her finger. It did not seem to like the noise or the movement, though.
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2023 12:01 pm
Naeria nodded, the directness actually more comforting than anything. It was so confusing when humans did not say what they meant. "Yes," she said. She was only slightly taller than average among her own people, but here, things were different. Since they were doing introductions, she thought it would be best to add, "I am Naeria." The smaller senshi seemed concerned about the tiny spider that the other girl had picked up, but Naeria herself was far less worried about that than she was about the two of them in general. Wildlife here had never hurt her. Only humans had. These two did not seem immediately violent, though, and so Naeria bent down to examine the small creature. "Unless it is a very small youma, it should not be dangerous," she said, the words coming much easier once they were past the social conventions and talking about something more interesting. "There are only two venomous species of spiders recorded in this area and this does not match their descriptions." A moment passed, and she looked between the two girls, although she forgot to smile. "And I am not from here, either. I am not from Earth." Although that might have been obvious from her lavender skin and pointed ears.
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2023 1:20 pm
Wezen, though lacking a lot of knowledge about life in general, felt she knew enough about creatures here to agree with Naeria's assessment of the little spider. It was too small to be of any use to the Negaverse, surely, and she got no sense of malevolence from it. That feeling was unique to greater beings, of course, but she was not in a position to make assumptions about anything.
Facts were always safer, anyway. This was a small spider, and their new friend said it was not venomous. That was more than enough for her to continue her investigating.
SInistra was thoroughly unconvinced, but was the odd man out at this point. She could only watch anxiously, too afraid to get any closer just in case there were more of those little things hiding nearby. If they were that hard to see, there was really no telling how many of them they were surrounded by in that moment. A soft whine escaped her at the thought, and she hugged herself tighter.
"I... I thought you might not be from around here," Sinistra tried, politely.
"You look alien. Moreso than I do. I am from Wezen. Prison of the Dead. I feel your attire is familiar to me." She had been meeting so many people, aliens included, lately that it was a little more difficult to keep it all straight. Maybe Sinistra was right, about taking notes. The little spider, agitated and wanting to return to its bush, bit Wezen's finger in an effort to be freed.
She looked at it curiously, but otherwise did not seem to mind.
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2023 3:45 pm
Naeria looked at the small spider more closely. "Although it is possible that this is not a local species," she said, and then brought up her ComTech to scan the creature. Its basic biological makeup did not appear much different than that of similar creatures that she had found, although it would take more than a quick scan to get the full details. Its visuals did not match with any that she had previously scanned, however. Sinistra was the local, and so she turned to her, and noting her nervous expression backed up somewhat. "Perhaps we should. Um." She seemed to remember that she was talking with strangers, and her words trailed off again. "Proceed with caution." Quieter, she added, "I am Velencyan. There is a group of us, in this city."
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2023 4:18 pm
Wezen looked at the now nervous alien, and the human who shared a more exaggerated version of the same expression. Her constant practice of and exposure to human sensibilities did tell her that she should probably be careful here, as not to worry them, but her actual personality, which was also a learning process, forbade any kind of tact.
"Then perhaps I should not have let it bite me," she said, nodding her head. She moved to put the spider back in the webs, which it was all too happy for. It did not looked any worse for wear, though it was so small and blended so well that Wezen quickly lost it in all the white.
There really was no telling just how many of those little things were in that bush, she noted, though without the fear Sinistra reflected.
"It what?! Are you okay? Is it burning?" That seemed to be enough to get Sinistra to leave her safety bubble, as she moved two steps toward Wezen and reached for her hand. The alien allowed her to inspect the very tiny injury, looking at Naeria again.
"Oh, yes, I've met some of your kind before. I believe I pledged to help your cause when and if I can, and I intend to make good on that promise."
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Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2023 4:59 pm
It was too late for being careful now. Naeria pressed her lips together, hoping that the spider was harmless, as it was statistically likely to be, and that her lack of immediate caution hadn't caused harm to someone who she was with, as it had a few times in the past. "If it starts to feel strange, we can, um, get you to a doctor," she said. She would have offered the Vanguard's medic, but she didn't know how he would feel about coming out into a strange place in the city to treat a human. He was more wary than some of the others. Naeria, on the other hand, found that even now, her curiosity was winning out. Not about the spiders. She left those to sit over on their web, and determined to ask for some other opinions on them later, but she turned to Wezen with her bright-eyed enthusiasm only dampened slightly by the turn of events. "What is your world like?" she asked. "I heard there were some others," she paused for a moment, trying to think of a word that was more accurate than aliens, "Not of Earth here, but I don't know more than that."
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Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2023 4:08 pm
Wezen did not look worried but, of course, she never looked any kind of way. She had mastered the art of being completely unreadable, and knew now more than ever how important it was sometimes, especially around her anxious and easily upset roommate, necessary not to betray any emotions that could be misread.
Sinistra, however, worried anyway.
"Yes!" She yelped, piggybacking off Naeria's words and nodding her head quickly. She had a hold of Wezen's hand, but nothing seemed to be happening besides some mild irritation from the bite. It looked fairly harmless, but Sinistra was not ready to accept that immediately. "Any kind of change. Anything you haven't felt before, or don't think is right."
Wezen was mostly ignoring her, watching her new friend.
"Wezen was a planet of death and suffering. I learned late in life there that it was a prison, where those meant to die were sent to serve the rest of their lives there. It ate whoever or whatever they might have been: it was a planet of death. We were tools, and replaced when we stopped, and served a greater purpose. Then chaos consumed it, and I woke up." For a very, very brief moment, she looked almost sad, but the expression was gone before it ever got comfortable.
"I do not miss it. But I will not let Chaos do what it has done to so many other worlds to this one. And if I can help restore other worlds, ones that have already fallen and we can find a way to chase the chaos off, then I will do so."
Sinistra watched in wonder, listening to the new passion Wezen spoke with.
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Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 3:29 pm
It was a shame, thought Naeria, who of course did not say anything, that a planet of death, where people were sent to spend the end of their lives, also had to be a place of suffering. It was like that here, too. She remembered the way the others had screamed as the died. She thought a lot about life cycles, since she studied decomposition. She thought it should be different. "I am sorry," she said, because she could not think of other words to say. She did not know if she was sorry that the world had been like that, or if she was sorry that it was gone. "My people's homeworld is dead, too. We are, um." She hesitated, less out of shyness than because she didn't know where to start with explaining, "Trying to find a way to restore it." She looked at the small spiders, at the other girl. "Earth is messy. It is a p;ace of suffering, but it is a place of other things, too. There is life here." She still did not smile, but her golden eyes seemed slightly warmer. "I like it."
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Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2023 3:47 pm
Wezen looked at Naeria curiously, wondering what she was apologizing for. She was not offended by anything the other had said (which was the leading reason why Sinistra made Wezen apologize), and she did not think anything she herself had said warranted it. Wezen, the planet, would not be missed, and she was not sad it died. She had no intention of attempting to bring it back to life, but if she could at least help others with their worlds, she would try.
And of course, she would dedicate herself to protecting this one, as it was in the process of being infected by Chaos. They could still save it, and spare it the fate so many other planets had suffered. Worthier planets. Planets that had not deserved the fate they were dealt.
She perked up as the other spoke similar thoughts, though better than how Wezen might have articulated them.
"Yes, I like it as well," she agreed, without emotion. It was a fact. "And if there is a way I can aid in restoring your planet with you, you have my aid. I have offered this before, and will continue to offer it. And to Earth, as well." She looked over at Sinistra, who was nodding along and looking teary eyed and proud. She held up her hand in a quick wave, but tried not to interrupt. "Earth is fascinating and I will not let Chaos take it."
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Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2023 10:51 am
"I appreciate that," said Naeria, who had heard once or twice before when a senshi offered to help support the restoration of Velenia, or space in general. A single senshi, or even two, pledging to a cause like that, was not going to be enough to sway Commodore Lyndin's heart away from his alliance with the Negaverse, but if enough of them came together, it might be enough to change his opinion. It might even be enough to save their people. It was possible that some of the others were correct and that this approach was not helpful, but Naeria would make a record of it all the same. She would also make a note of these spiders, which humans also did not recognize. "And thank you for speaking to me," she said. They had been kind enough to her that it was not difficult to say that. "I am going to go take some notes of this now, but," she remembered some of the Earth traditions, and said, "It was nice to meet you."
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Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2023 11:22 am
stari_maga Copy that! And I'm always available for more rp if you want/need anything!
Somehow. It might have actually been impossible, and Sinistra was just being an overly worried friend, as per usual, but she wanted to get them both home all the same. She smiled warmly at Naeria, nodding her head and offering her a wave as she left her to her notes. Hopefully she would be careful around those things, and no one else would get bitten.
She was still very concerned about that, and would definitely be examining it under the scrutiny of her first aid kit magnifying mirrors once they were home.
"Have a good evening," she added, before tugging Wezen away and walking with her carefully. Wezen was quiet and thoughtful on the way home, but generally seemed exactly like her normal self. It was hard to know, at the best of times, what she was thinking or feeling, but Sinistra was dedicated to keeping a close eye on her.
Unfortunately, it would just not be close enough.
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