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 Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 2:49 pm
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.
There was something weird about all of this. The seasons were changing, so Belmont expected a change in the smaller creatures he saw around–less mosquitoes, less honeybees. Spiders were in season, sure, but these were weird.
He’d been passing through a park, enjoying the crisp weather and the crunch of leaves when something caught his eye. Either someone had decorated the forest for fun or there were a lot of spiders in the area. One full tree had tiny little webs strung almost entirely over it, to the point where it looked like the tree itself was trapped in the web.
At first, he hadn’t seen any spiders at all, but then–he hadn’t even been out looking for bugs. There was another energy signature in the area and he was feeling social enough that he’d decided to head in that direction.
The distraction wasn’t unwelcome because it was interesting, but now he was certain he kept seeing movement out of the corner of his eye. He just couldn’t see anything. He could focus on one web and see another one bending as if something was crawling on it but by the time he focused on that one, another web was moving.
And still, no spiders. And no bugs struggling in the webs, either.
…And an energy signature that was nearby, but he hadn’t seen them, either.
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2023 5:48 pm
Connie had been minding her own business. She had been walking through the park, enjoying the nice weather, inspecting the really cool spider webs that appeared out of nowhere, watching the spiders cautiously, because she really didn’t want to get bitten by one.
But then. One of the little creatures had the audacity to drop down onto her arm.
She screamed.
There was another person nearby -- another knight? -- so naturally she made a beeline towards them, all the while trying to make sure the spider was off of her.
“Help help, it attacked me!” she cried. She knew she was being a bit dramatic, but she was pretty freaked out! She was just admiring their webs but noooo, she couldn’t even do that!
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2023 5:56 pm
Belmont knew that scream.
He spun quickly, half expecting some giant, angry cicadas but–
He didn’t see anything but Connie.
Immediately, he opened his arms as if he intended to save her from whatever was attacking her.
If he could figure out what it was.
“Connie,” he greeted, but there was little time for joy when she seemed distressed. “What is it, what’s attacking you?”
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Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2023 1:23 pm
“A spider!!” she cried. “Get it off. Why is it always bugs??” she wailed in her distress. Thank goodness she knew that Belmont was certified bug killer because he’d already helped her before!
Oh, except maybe there wasn’t actually a spider on her. Right?
She didn’t see anything, but she felt something. She saw the webs, she felt something on her arm but…?
Where did it go?
“Oh… oh I’m sorry,” she whimpered, still looking over herself while still staying as close as possible as Belmont would let her to make sure nothing else would attack. “I thought… I mean, I felt something, but…”
He was going to think she was crazy, she knew it.
“But!! I saw them!” she gasped, turning to look up at the webs around them again. She saw movement at least! Right? Now she wasn’t sure. Belmont looked as though he hadn’t seen what she saw, too…
Maybe she really was losing her mind.
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Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2023 7:06 pm
What? Why was it always bugs?
He couldn’t see them on her but it didn’t mean he doubted her. This was Destiny City, stranger things had happened.
“Just stay still for a minute, I’ll get it,” he promised. He’d hurried to her side and was circling around her, trying to find anything that looked out of place or like it was moving. “We should carry bug spray with us, just in case. They must like you because you’re so sweet. What did they look like?”
His hands were posed and ready to swat at anything crawling on her but even when he stopped walking and tried to analyze anywhere they could be hiding, nothing seemed to be jumping out at him.
He’d have rather she just had some leaves or sticks stuck to her but he had the distinct feeling that neither of them were lucky enough for a false alarm.
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Posted: Sat Dec 02, 2023 5:34 pm
He -- he thought she was sweet? Oh, Belmont was so nice and charming. How could she not like him? Well, yes, of course she liked him. They were friends! And he always seemed to be around when she was in need of help. Especially with bugs. Whether or not they actually exist, apparently.
“Oh, I, um…” she tried not to panic as she followed his inspection. She couldn’t see anything but… She could have sworn there was something in the webs. Maybe it was just her imagination? Her association with webs and spiders?
“I’m sorry, I don’t know,” she let out a single sob in her embarrassment. She thought she felt something crawling on her, but…
She hung her head in shame.
“I thought I saw a spider. I thought I felt it, but if there’s nothing then maybe I imagined it,” she admitted, glancing over her outfit once more. Maybe if there had been a spider, it already jumped off and she was wasting Belmont’s time for nothing.
“Thank you for helping me, though. Bug spray is… probably a good idea. Do you think it’ll work on magical bugs?”
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Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2023 10:56 am
“Connie,” Belmont laughed, easy going but amused. “Don’t feel bad about it, it was a bug. They’re small, they move fast, and it’s hard to see at this time of night. It might have fallen off on its own and run off already.”
He’d hope for that, it was better than the alternative.
…What happened if she powered down and back up again, would it fall onto the ground or be ejected into space? ...It was worth a shot.
“Maybe we can find someone to help us get some magical bug spray for magical bugs?” He hadn’t given up looking for a spider, just to be sure, but he also couldn’t see anything. He believed that she’d had a bug on her! …He just hoped that it was gone and not doing some sort of magic to blend in.
“You didn’t get bitten or anything, it was just crawling on you? ...It might have moved on. I'm not entirely sure, you've got a lot of fabric. I'll tell you what--do you want to power down and I'll do one more check now, and then we can go somewhere a little better lit and I'll check again. Let me take you to dinner or something, we can catch up.”
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2024 6:47 pm
Oh… oh that sounded like a much better idea than just trying to figure out where the bug had gotten lost in the many layers of fabric of her outfit.
She nodded her head enthusiastically a few times, although she still sported a rather large, distressed frown. Belmont was so sweet and thoughtful and always looking out for her. It was nice having a friend, even if they only ran into each other when there were bugs around, it seemed.
“Okay, that sounds good. Thank you,” she sniffled. But really, she was absolutely looking forward to catching up with Belmont. Maybe they could figure out when to hang out that didn’t involve bugs.
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