As the fox settled down in the nest of moss, a shadow twitched in the darkness. If one were to look up, they might notice a few strands of light caught on some sort of thread. Huddled deep into a crevice above the lanterns that lit the sweet smelling tunnel, lurked a dark thing. If one looked closely, the tips of three legs stretched out from the shadows, resting on edges of the woven web. Beady eyes watch the fox bellow, but because the web has not been disturbed, the thing simply waits.

From up above, the silent watcher was starting to grow uneasy. The tiny fox's movements have started to agitate the creature, so it begins to crawl down. From the shadows, a massive spider descends on to the web, with eight beady red eyes and an entire abdomen made out of sparkling ruby. Horrifyingly, the arachnid appears to be at least three feet in length.

The thing hisses loudly at Todd, though it knows well enough to stay up in the safety of its web.

"Speech" @Xerxes @Lesser Gembounds

Todd felt like he'd almost reached the silvery threads (but luckily for him, he hadn't) by the time something had decided to make itself known. Todd's brown eyes widened, and widened a lot, as he beheld the sudden newcomer. Eight legs, eight eyes, a body of ruby. But he wasn't afraid, simply stared wide-eyed and curious.

The fox sharply raised his bejeweled paw as a gesture of greeting, without quite noticing the other stranger who'd emerged onto the scene.

"Hullo!" Todd said to the spider. "My name is Todd. I have a gem too! What're you called?" How was he to know that there'd be no reply? And then, Todd heard a voice. Todd turned towards the source, and his eyes widened with excitement. It seemed everyone was coming to greet him today!

He raised his paw up again, this time to the approaching lion, and waved his tail.

"Hullo!"

The fox was doing quite the job of stirring up the cave spider. Its fangs rub up and down, beady eyes staring with disdain as it hisses another warning. Ignored, the creature almost attacks, when another arrives on the scene.

As though frightened, the spider retreats to the top of the web once more. It appears to squish into a crack in the ceiling, falling silent. If one looks close enough, however, they will see those eyes still staring down at the young gembounds. Waiting, and always, always watching.

"Speech" @Xerxes

Despite the arachnid's hissing protests, Todd just kept on looking at it, waving his tail a little, smiling. He was excited by the sound, felt like it was trying to talk to him in its own special way and he wanted to understand what it was saying to him, because maybe it wanted to play! It certainly seemed that way to Todd.

"Uh, oh?" Todd heard the warning of the new arrival here, and for a moment a look of uncertainty crossed his chubby, fuzzy face. "Why not?" he asked. "I think it wants to play with me." He wasn't scared, and quickly turned back to the spider. As he did so though, he was greeted by the sight of it returning back to its hole something that made the fox slump slightly in disappointment that didn't last long. He had another new friend to go see!

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than he was bounding over to investigate the black lion with glistening horns. Skidding to a halt quite uncomfortably close, he raised his sparkling paw in the air in greeting and grinned, baring sharp baby teeth. "Hullo!" he burst out, forgetting the spider. "I'm Todd. Who're you?"