thearena | Along came a spider; OPEN

Entry tags:

Along came a spider; OPEN

Who| Disciple, Vriska, OPEN
What| Disciple meets the Spider troll and later gets attacked by a spider. Coincidence? Yes.
Where| Fountain in Park; Main Street
When| Backdated Pre-Hellrena
Warnings/Notes| Possible violence? Arena warning.

A. For Vriska

It's quiet here, in the park. Quiet and mostly deserted. The buzz of insects is somewhere nearby but she thinks she can rest. The fountain is crumbling, like everything, but enough remains to sit on for a moment. She can even close her eyes, think about something beyond the next step for a moment. She's tired and a little hungry, so when her bag slips off her shoulder onto the crumbling cement beside her, she lets it lay.

Time seems to slip past her as she starts to half doze. She was never much good at noon, especially not after days of wandering aimlessly.

B. OPEN

The buildings appear suddenly through the fog as she steps carefully over a crack. Some time, maybe a few days ago or maybe several, a crack has split open wide under her feet and it was only her quick reflexes that kept her from dropping to her death. She knew it was before she had found Signless and Karkat, but not exactly when. Time isn't exactly easy to keep track of in this place, with fog so dense it seems to make the world perptually grey. It didn't really matter. Lesson learned.

Before her, shapes move in the twilight and she watches one of those strange bugs drift near the front of a house, buzz up--then quickly away. She frowned, watching it disappear into the fog. Not going to catch that one, she thought, and walked on. She'd have to catch one at some point. She didn't have the time or safety to put up a trap for some beast.

With her mind was so preoccupied with the hunger swirling in her stomach, she didn't hear the shift and scatter of rooftiles until a pale leg was already in front of her face and a sharp claw hooked in her shirt.

"Shit."

A quick kick only brought those claws closer, grabbing at the clothing and digging into skin. No, breath, think. The next kick is at the horrible mouth, worse than any horror she had seen--and briefly she wonders if this what the Empresses's lusus looks like, terrible and frightening--but she has no time to think about stupid things. The spider, if you can call it that, had dropped her and every second counted.

"Shit shit shit, never going to prioritize food over people again." Stupid quadrants and descendants sending her back out into this madness. Find them and keep them close next time.

A sound behind her might be a person or it might be another creature come to share the feast and honestly at this point, she's sure things can't get worse.

"If you're coming to kill me, can you wait just a minute? I'm--" And she has to duck another claw, all the while trying to find that wrench she stupidly left in the bag, "I'm busy!"

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"You look it," Ian said. He'd heard something and come looking for an opportunity to kill or someone who needed help. He'd discovered the latter and he quickly had the lead pipe in his head, which he used to hit one of the spider's legs.

It screeched and retracted the leg, but otherwise didn't seem keen on letting go of its prey.

Oh thank goodness. Fighting in front and behind would have been difficult, if not impossible. While the spider is busy with this newcomer, she finally digs out the wrench and takes a whack at another one of those legs trying to get a grip.

"Moons above, how many of these stupid legs does it have?" Scooting backwards seems to be the best option, until she can get her feet under her, "Can you distract it for a second?"

Oh a good whack that time, she can hear the leg crack on that one.

"Eight," he said, although this was the arena and it was a giant spider. He wouldn't be at all surprised if it had more or fewer.

"I'll do my best," he said, as he whacked at a leg and then went for another. He narrowly dodged a claw that was trying to hold onto him. "They can run pretty fast," he said, a little breathless, "we need to kill it." Enough injuries would do the job, but he was hoping she had something better than tools to hit it with.

The spider was at least like all animals, most easily drawn to the thing currently the threat and she can slide past the range of those clawed legs for now. Finally up and on her feet, she pulls out the chain and wraps it around her chest.

"Give me--just a second."

And, like a gymnast or perhaps just an idiot, she grabs two legs and hoists herself up on over. The body of this monster is not any easier to ride on than she expected and something orange and round pops under her already slimy foot as she scrambles for purchase.

"Oh ew."

The spider doesn't seem very happy about this either.

Ian stared at her in astonishment. "You're going to ride a giant spider?" The spider didn't exactly seem cooperative, but at least it was now more worried about its passenger than having its leg hit. Ian had temporarily stopped that, in case it dislodged her. He didn't think she looked terribly secure up there.

"No, that would be silly." She manages, before a sharp turn, intended to send her flying off, instead sends her skidding toward that terrible mouth of sorts. Her claws dig in with a terrifying crunch that has her wondering if she broke something and just can't feel it. Step by step, she climbs back up and wriggles her nose at the cracks in the exoskeleton she managed to leave.

"I'm going to ruin all the food in you at this rate." She mutters, as if the spider can hear.

"Okay this is going to piss it off. Watch out." She pulls her chain off, waiting for the right time. In a brief space between two spastic movements, she wraps it around two legs in a loose loop, takes the ends in opposite hands and pulls.

This crack is more pronounced and even if she has to unwrap the chain to get it back, those legs have to be useless at this point.

Edited (not the right icon at all) 2014-06-10 03:32 (UTC)

That certainly did piss it off. It still had enough good legs that it could scramble about, trying to throw off its passenger. Ian had to jump back to avoid being hit, and then decided to hit one of the legs himself.

That seemed to help and the spider listed to one side. Ian poked at it, trying to get it to fall over. He had a feeling that it wouldn't be able to get it up once it was on his back. Or was that just turtles?

Her hands land in gooeyness, orange up to her elbows, but the edges around those eyes are barely thick enough to cling to. Hanging sideways off a spider with about fifteen seconds worth of grip left in her fingertips was not how she planned this.

"Why can't you be a good little legged beast and die!" And now is not the time to worry about her foot hurting. She ignores the slow burning sensation in one limb and tries to scramble back up. It's harder now that it's even on equal footing.

"Try one more leg?" At least then she would have the ground to push off of.

Ian did, hitting out at the next nearest leg. He didn't hit it hard enough to break anything, but it was hard enough to hurt the spider and it lifted the leg, away from the thing that was hurting it.

Which then made it unbalanced and it started toppling over. The leg had hit flailed about, trying to find the ground again. Ian dodged it, to hit it again, although he managed to hit him in the legs and he fell backwards.

No, this was not how this had unfolded in her head at all and for all her attempts to stay on this creature, it really lacked the fur or scales she was used to clinging to. Her fingers slip and she lands hard, the breath knocked out of her for a moment.

"One side down." She manages and scrambles back upright, "I knew I avoided those eight legged beasts for a reason. Are you alright?"

It's a silly question, she thinks, because she's not sure what she'll do if he isn't. The creature is not exactly down for the count.

"Fine," he said, getting up. The leg hitting him had hurt, but not broken anything.

The spider was thrashing around, so Ian kept back to avoid getting hit again. They'd clearly annoyed it and he wondered if they ran away whether it would hunt them down. Except that it was vulnerable and if they killed it there would be one less spider to worry about.

"Do you have a knife?" he asked. "If we stab it in the right places that would probably kill it."

She crept back out of range as she watched as damaged legs curled up under it as it thrashes. They had to have hurt at least half by this point, but legs were only half the problem if it still could grab them or spear them. She tried to remember what she knew of these creatures from home. Did they have weak spots?

"Think pan might be under the eyes--if we can get in. No knife, just this." She hefts the wrench and tilts her head to watch it, "It's big enough that it'd have to lose a lot of blood to dry out and die. If we do it that way, we'll be here forever."

"I don't want to be here forever and I only have this pipe." Between them they were sorted for hitting things and no use for stabbing things. Which was the opposite of what they needed at the moment.

"Unless I set light to it. That tends to work on most things." He started digging in his bag for his firelighters. It did seem like their options were that or nothing.

She wrinkles her nose--at least that will cook the spider and she can save some of it. Still it's a slow kill and she prefers quick if she can help it. She taps her wrench against her leg, sighing.

"Well I suppose it's not like it doesn't deserve a slow death and we don't have many options. Alright, let's try that. It should work. If we had extra clothes, we could light that and throw it on top of it."

"If we had extra clothes they'd be much more use on us than on that." This cold just seeped into you after a while, even though they had warm clothes on to start with.

"I'll kill it as quickly as I can - we don't want to hang around here too long." He got a piece of wood lit and threw it at the spider. It screamed as it burned, but it didn't set it on fire. It must not have the right kind of skin or something.

Ian sighed. "We're going to have to bludgeon it to death." Avoiding the remaining legs and hoping to hit it where it counted.

"Lovely."

She sighs. Hoping for an easy way out of this was simply too much. She looks over the beast with a critical eye and points him towards the side with the least number of functioning legs.

"You take that side and I'll try to get the pan. I'll have to dig probably but I've had worse."

"I'll try and distract it." He approached the spider cautiously. Spider biology wasn't something he knew much about. Now he wished he had studied it, so he'd know where was best to hit. He started on some of the flailing legs - at least with those out of the way it would be easier to get closer.

While he has the attention, she slinks behind it and then crawls up before it can notice the other half of this hunting party. It can't exactly throw her off, given it's obvious limitations, but it certainly isn't making Ian's life any easier.

"Okay--Pan." She stares down at the strange orange orbs and strips off her jacket, tosses it out of reach. The last thing she needs is a jacket covered in guts.

Given she doesn't know what she's looking for, she just starts smashing and prying at the hard exterior, pulling off chunks and slamming the wrench in. This is a horrible way to hunt, a horrible way to die. She doesn't have a choice.

It did seem a little like overkill, smashing something that was no longer any threat, but this was the arena, where anything could kill them, given half a chance.

Ian continued hitting the legs, avoiding the flailing ones and ignoring the spider's screams. What with the double attack, it didn't seem to know who to go after first. Until Ian made the mistake of pausing to wipe his brow and it sent a leg towards its remaining attacker.

"Oh, no, you don't." Ian quickly ran after it and brought his lead pipe down on the leg before it could hit her.

It's really hard to tell all the bits apart in here. When she finds something a little different in texture she smashes it to bits. This has not quite worked so far but it's all she has to go on.

"Ah--Thanks!" She flashes a grin, face weary and a bit splattered with spider guts, and finds something longer, a bit different.

"Keep it off just a second more..." She leans down, takes the wrench in both hands and smashes it over and over. The legs twitch a bit, but it seem to be dying at least.

There weren't many legs left by that point, but having seen that it wasn't going to do them any more damage, Ian stood back and watched it die. "We probably shouldn't hang about here in case it has friends," he said, breathing heavily and letting his lead pipe droop.

She slides off the side when it finally stops moving, catching herself in a crouch. Getting her breath back takes a moment but she's still riding on the exhilarating high of adrenaline. A near death experience for sure, but one she survived. One he survived. Everyone walked away from this and she lets herself enjoy that. Collecting her bag and jacket take mere moments before she turns back to him, hand held out. It's still a bit grimy and covered in slime so she won't be put out if he doesn't take it.

"Thanks, couldn't have managed it without you. I'm the Disciple--sorry I couldn't get your name earlier. Rampaging beasts puts a damper on most introductions."

Although Ian's hand wasn't slimy, it wasn't particularly clean either. And he was hardly not going to shake the hand of someone he'd just killed a spider with. "Ian," he said, chuckling as he shook her hand. "The arena doesn't always make for the best introductions."

She grins, "Not particularly. Even harder when you're fighting them. Can't exactly stop to ask names."

She shrugs her jacket on and adjust the bag on her back, making sure the strap didn't bite into the same place as last time. When it's all settled, she nods over her shoulder at the spider.

"Do you want any or should I just grab a hunk of leg for myself. I'd stick around but I'm trying to find a few people and you could miss someone and be within shouting distance."

Ian wasn't at all sure he wanted any of it. He wasn't quite desperate enough yet to try eating spider. "You take a leg," he said, picking his own bag up. "I don't want to be here when something smells its blood. I'll see you around." He left her to the spider and melted into the mist.

She shakes her head, to each their own. Insects were delicious after all and even this spider must be decent. Especially if she can get it cooked.

"Your loss. Good luck."

She turns back to the many legged corpse, pries a leg off, and wanders off in the opposite direction.

The past few days have been complete and utter hoofbeast manure. All of her grand plans have turned sour. Her 'Steal all the Loot' plan gave her a missing left eye, which she artfully covered with a sweet ass eye patch, and that 'easy meal' from Spineless and Karkat left her belly empty. She still could have taken a meal to go but dammit, she was making a point. Her and her stupid ass pride.

The pit in her stomach growled as if to remind her of her current situation. Her brow furrowed as she rubbed a hand over her gut to silence it. Food. She needed food. Before she would allow herself to rest, Vriska needed to eat.

Forcing herself to press on she happened by luck to stumble upon a quiet park. It looked like this place didn't much much to offer, much like the rest of this shitty stupid arena, but her one good eye caught sight of a pair of familiar shaped horns peeking out around some crumbling cement rubble. Nepeta? Oh thank motherfucking god! Maybe she had food.

Vriska's pace quickened, trotting up to the broken down fountain, "Hey! Nepet-"

Her voice cuts short as she rounded the corner seeing the other troll more clearly. That was defiantly not Nep. Another fucking mystery troll? Fuuuuuuuuck.

The footfalls are almost overshadowed by that constant soft buzz, but she can't doze through a shout, a call for a name. Her head snaps around, hand reaching for the bag she let fall before she pauses. A troll. And not one she knew. Young and they know Nepeta so it probably wasn't a troll from Beforus. No, must be Alternian at least. An ally, maybe? Who knows with these ones.

"I'm afraid I'm not Nepeta. Descendant, Ancestor. That sort of thing." She raises an eyebrow, "And you are?"

Vriska comes to a stop just shy of the other, her one good eye taking her all in. Well, what do you know. Another ancestor and this was Nep's. Vriska grinned inwardly. Man, she wanted to rub this in Karkat's nose so much right now. She shifted her weight cocking out a hip as she crossed her arms.

"I'm Vriska." She flashed her fangs. "So you're Nepeta's Ancestor, huh? Me and her are friends from back home. Best friends. Sorry I thought you were her. I was hoping to find her to maybe be in cahoots for a while."

"One of Karkat and Terezi's friends as well?" She tested the waters, unsure of this stranger. Nepeta had never mentioned her, but there had been little mention of anyone really, besides her absent moirail. She made a terse promise to herself to work on that. Nepeta and Terezi would be full of interesting information about their time, if only the Disciple had been smart enough to ask for it.

"Nepeta only really spoke of her moirail honestly, given he's not been here, but I'm sure she's around here somewhere." She glances upwards, "I haven't seen her in the sky but I haven't been able to pay much attention really."

She hadn't given her name in return and was curious to see how much this stranger pushed.

Oh boy, there was a tricky question. If she knew Terezi then more likely than not her dear darling sis has smeared her name with what ever grievances she had towards her. Honestly, she was all out of fucks to give to what Terezi's beef was with her. But....... Just to be on the safe side of things, Vriska kept smiling like everything was normal and skirted around the question.

"Yeah, I know them too. In fact, a few nights ago I was just sitting around a fire with Karkat and his new friend. Shared a few bugs." Which wasn't entirely a lie, though she left out the part where they got into a fight over Spineless and that the bugs shared was not with her.

"You must be talking about Equius. He was a neighbor of mine. He fixed my arm when I lost it. Well........" She looked to her left flexing her wrist. "I don't have that problem anymore."

When the other troll turned her attention to the sky Vriska's eye flickered down to inspect the bag slung over her shoulder. Heh. Looks like there's loot inside. Soooooooon.

After a moment of silence she spoke up again, taking a step forward. "So you got a name? Or should I just call you Nepeta 2.0?"

There had been talks of Vriska before, when Terezi had moved into her room during that...'family and friends' thing that had happened. Whatever that had meant. Her hands curled at her side, for a handful of fur that was not there and for a weapon she didn't have at hand. All she really knew was that Terezi didn't trust her. Not with her things and not with What Karkat had to say on this troll was unknown.

"Equius, that was it." She paused, running her nails along her legs, filing them slightly against the fabric. It wouldn't help, it wasn't rough enough, but it soothed her as she thought. Once she had given out her hatchname, afraid of the wrath the title might bring down upon her. Afraid of the stigma that came attached. Now it seemed more prudent to go the other way around.

"The Disciple. That's my title at least."

“The Disciple?........” Vriska repeated to herself as her one good eye looked her over again. She looked a little guarded still, unsure of her. Which to be honest, yeah, thats safe bet with her. But she really wanted that bag and its loot that it might contain inside. So she tried to play it off, like nothing was wrong, relaxed as if they were best buds. Maybe she’ll drop her guard just a bit……..

After a pregnant pause she gave her a small grin as she leans up against the crumbling fountain, arms crossing. “Well it’s nice to meet you. We trolls have to look out for one another, right"

She laughs at that. Trolls have to look out for one another? She likes to believe that, that's her whole ideal, but she's not so silly as to believe the rest of troll kind actually means it or believes it.

"Clearly you haven't met the Initiate. He is--or was--a firm believer in quadrants first and everyone else can die. I tend to believe the best of people but I know the best is often more theoretical."

There was a pause as she blinked at the other troll. Whoa wait. There was yet another one of them here? Shit, this place really was the land of the cast away trolls. Maybe it'll just be her luck to run into ALL her friends. Just great. That would be perfect.

"The Initiate?" She cocked a brow at her, "Wait, are they here? I don't think I've ran into them if he is."

"Tall, sort of wavy horns. Indigo blood? I'm fairly sure you can't miss him." She pauses, raising her eyebrow back, "He's in the Arena at least. I get the feeling there were more adults here at once point but it's just The Initiate, Signless, the Psiionic and I right now."

She thinks on it for a moment, "Oh--there was a seadweller when I arrive but he disappeared. I never got his name. And a brownblood that I never really got a chance to speak to."

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Along came a spider; OPEN

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And Sat Down Beside Her

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