Random Plots and Places 11: Still more random than you!

[Recaiden]

"Trapping things and eating them is no more important to us than slowly stalking animals is to humans. What is important to us is patience. We also value self-sufficiency to a greater degree than you lot. One must be able to rely on their craft and cunning, or at least their speed and strength, to get along."

Nothing gives any indication of movement, but Sarina might feel as though something just brushed a star on her butt.

[Deathkeeper]

Spider Parlor

Sarina nods.
"I think I understand. You value self-sufficiency more than the capacity for working together. You have to be able to work on your own before the group comes into play." she says, though she squirms a bit at the unseen touch.
She's paying attention, but a small corner of her brain that still holds Isaac's Curiosity wonders what having six arms is like. Marissa hated it and got one pair removed. Isaac had four arms and was later an octopus briefly when that curse was running rampant, but that doesn't seem like the same thing. Nor does her brief experience with having two arms and eight legs seem like quite the same thing.

[Recaiden]

"Yes. Although you do find us here working together, don't you?"
The queen raises an eyebrow.
"You should speak to Roth; she would have a unique perspective on spider-ness. Most people have always been one, but she is almost like you."
"But it's important here how we come together to do more than we could alone. Without giving up the foundation."

[Deathkeeper]

Spider Parlor

Sarina nods again to the Queen.
"Oh, I get that, I just meant it was a priority. Wait, Roth wasn't- yeah, I'll talk to her. Is she at home right now?" she asks of the Queen, partly because she needs to know, and also because she isn't sure if the Queen is giving her advice or dismissing her.

[Recaiden]

The queen shakes her head and waves with her left middle hand.

"She is out ballooning at the time that you arrived."
"What do you know and understand, outside these borders?"

[Deathkeeper]

Spider Parlor

Sarina thinks about that, and shrugs a little. She can just be put back in the Forest an hour later when Roth gets back, right?
"I understand art. I understand sorcery. I understand some people, bullies and victims. I understand how to use two legs, four legs, and I have limited knowledge of how to use wings. I also passed Algebra with a high grade." she says, trying to come up with a list of things she's learned over her whole life.

[Recaiden]

She can but it's harder. Shouldn't be a default.
"So if you understood our community, that would be the first."
"..."
"Algebra? That's the highest math you're familiar with?"
The queen steeples a pair of hands.

[Deathkeeper]

Spider Parlor

Sarina shrugs bashfully.
"Algebra was the last time I got an A in a math class. My grades in pre-calculus were mediocre." she admits.

[Recaiden]

Did Sarina just sign herself up for spider math class? I think so!
"No wonder you had trouble with the magic at first. There are classes for these things; you should consider attending."
"Are there more questions I can answer?"

[Deathkeeper]

Spider Parlor

"Well, I do get schooled at the Fort with some formal classes. I'll see about being a little tougher on myself.
Questions? Uh, do you want me to come back after I've spoken to Roth? I'll see if I can find my neighbor and discuss things with her, but if you want to help me understand what they tell me I would always appreciate your help, Ma'am." she says. She really doesn't know to call her Your Highness or anything. The Queen has always been somewhat casual around Sarina.

[Recaiden]

"The skills needed to do mathematics and the skills needed to be spider overlap a great deal."
The queen shakes her head minutely.
"Come back if you think you do not have enough understanding."

[Deathkeeper]

Spider Parlor

Sarina nods.
"Thank you, Ma'am." she says, and goes to find Roth.

[Recaiden]

Nevertheless, the queen has adjusted the exit time a few minutes forward. Sarina should arrive at Roth's just in time, so long as she doesn't get lost. The lights are still coming on in Roth's house, one by one, while the rest of the log-block seems pretty well lit.
The door swings open. A puff of smoke trails out the corner of the door.
"Hello Sarina."

[Deathkeeper]

Giant Log

Sarina gives an awkward wave hello, a little embarrassed.
"Hey Roth. I'm uh, I'm trying to be a better spider, basically, and the Queen told me that I should go to you for your perspective." she explains.

[Recaiden]

"Of course she did." Roth drawls, clearly annoyed with the queen. Her silly hat even deflates a bit.
"Are you sure you shouldn't focus on being a better faun? You don't really seem like a spider to me." She rummages in a pile of books before retrieving a monocle to peer at Sarina with. Where are the extra legs hidden?

[Deathkeeper]

Giant Log

"Well I was made a spider princess. That means I have to understand the folks I was made princess of, right? Is something wrong, Roth? You're not upset about this, are you?" she asks, confused. Does Roth not like being a spider?

[Recaiden]

"She knows I don't like people asking about this. I will have my revenge someday."
Roth brightens up considerably.
"But in the meantime, come in, find a place to sit!"
"The most important thing about being a spider is to be ruthless. Determined to succeed at any cost."
She shuts the door behind Sarina, waits a moment, and then settles in atop a heap of disorganized textiles.

[Deathkeeper]

Giant Log

"She did something bad to you? I'm so sorry." she smiles a bit.
"No offense Roth, but you seem way too nice to call ruthless. But I think I know what you mean..." she did get a very...pragmatic feeling from a lot of the spiders.

[Recaiden]

Roth's house, as usual, is an absolute mess.

"Well, either I'm not a very good spider, or you've never been in my way. You're really very agreeable, don't you think?"

[Deathkeeper]

Giant Log

Sarina flushes a bit, embarrassed. "Am I? I think it might be a bad thing to the Queen. She always seems disapproving of me." she admits, thinking back on things as she sits down on a nearby pile of silk packages.

[Recaiden]

"Just listen to yourself."
Roth waves a leg dismissively.
"She's always like that."
"Now, spiders are interesting because of how the young ones spin wisps of silk to catch air currents and fly. That's why they caught my eye, anyway. Eventually. But that's getting ahead of myself, isn't it? Not that anyone can really be anywhere but right with themselves. Anyway, being a spider came first. I was made like this after a test from my deity. At first I thought I must have failed, to turn into this horrible crawling thing. Grown spiders don't fly at all. But in time I reconsidered. A rain of blessings doesn't make one grow. Only strife does that. Spiders live dangerous lives. They always have to wonder, when interacting with their own kind, whether they're more useful alive, or as food."

[Deathkeeper]

Giant Log

Judging from Sarina's face, she isn't getting this narrative.
"So...you were a spider first, but the young ones caught your eye, and then you got your hands? I'm sorry, you just said you don't like talking about this. Still...I don't really like the idea of cannibalism..."

[Recaiden]

"Ooh, I have an informative tapestry for just such occasions!"
Roth digs through a heap and comes up with a colossal scroll of silken fabric which she unfurls. It hangs, waving slowly in the air, by a bit of magical levitation. The edges have fancy floral-geometric patterns, and in the middle main part, a story.

A group of winged people live on a mountaintop, separated by the clouds from the world below, although sometimes trouble ascends the mountain slopes. One is exceptional, and eventually rises above all the rest, but still, is discontent. She travels deep into the mountain, confronting mutants and monsters and the dangers of the underground, and uncovers an altar under an eight-pointed star. The figures eyes change from green to purple, and she's seen giving to assembled winged people. There is a war with the world below, and scenes of battle, mostly victory but sometimes defeat, occupy much of the middle of the story. The leader is once again under the eight-pointed star; her wings are sliced away, and in the next panel she has eight spidery legs. The people on the mountaintop descend into chaos and infighting, and the spider descends deeper into the mountain, emerging far-away. On the lowlands surface, she shields her eyes from the sun and sees wild spiderlings taking flight in their silken balloons.

"Every society has to deal with cannibalism in some way. It isn't efficient, you know."

[Deathkeeper]

Giant Log

Sarina frowns, looking up at the spider.
"Oh, Roth..." she says, looking like she would very much give the drider a hug but not sure if it's socially acceptable.

[Recaiden]

"Indeed."
The tapestry rolls itself up and Roth stows it next to other story-fabrics in a rack on the wall.
Then she comes over to Sarina to give her a hug.

[Deathkeeper]

Giant Log

Sarina nods after they break the hug.
"Okay, well...do you think there's anything else I should know? I was also going to go visit one of the nymphs down the road. They're our allies so I should probably know about them, too." she muses.

[Recaiden]

"Never stop thinking."
Roth folds her hands together, eyes barely open.
"They're not like us. Even if they look like you. We each to the other represent something strange and alien."

[Deathkeeper]

Giant Log

Sarina nods. The nymphs definitely seem...out there.
"For sure. I just think that I ought to understand what I can. Neither of us are going anywhere, you know? Thanks for all of your help, Roth."

[Recaiden]

"Good luck, Sarina. Keep up with the weaving."
The drider waves goodbye and sees her out. The trip to her treehouse should be pretty uneventful; maybe Sarina even knows the way by now.

[Deathkeeper]

Giant Log

Sarina does! She's been using the treehouse as a place to crash and store the things she uses for work. And a mini-fridge, although getting a little generator in there was a nightmare. She has been considering getting a nice solar panel one day.

She goes up to the hemlock tree, wondering in its nymph is home today. She doesn't think she's ever given Sarina her name.