Beneath the evening shade of a nearby rock formation, a newborn Hydra aficionado was shaking off his shell.

Pieces of red-ribboned rhodochrosite lay in a pile beside him. Only one meat-like gem remained attached to the buffalo hatchling, even as he shook himself off and clambered to his hooves. It was oddly... arm-shaped? And a little heavy. Snorting, the calf lowered his head to nose at the thing. It didn't fall off, to his great disappointment.

Oh, well. Nothing to be done about it. It wasn't like rocks were rare here anyways. Maybe this was just a normal part of life. Frowning, the buffalo hatchling looked around. There had to be something besides rock and more rock, right?

A creature close by--disturbed by the quiet vibrations of cracking stone--had ventured tentatively from its dark crack in the wall.

The bristled body glinted with hues of aqua, of cobalt and the blues of sky and sea that would never be seen in the depths of these caves. It was perhaps a foot long, and then unfolded, beyond that size, long and hairy legs.

Empty eyes regarded the new calf. Was this predator, or prey-? Ahh, but for a Spire Spider, anything could be prey. The abdomen tilted up, and the Spider began its slow approach: a tilt here, a light shiver there, catching the light and sending it coruscating down the hypnotically blue hairs of its body.

Would it enthrall this creature, or was this the type too wary for its trick?

_________

Captain must roll successfully Barely+ to avoid the Spire Spider's hypnosis. A failure to escape its effects will result in further danger.

@Captain

A quick sweep of his surroundings revealed... a blue creature? Captain frowned at it. It was moving kind of oddly, and made him feel weird... He shook his head violently, jerking his eyes away from the creature. "SHIVER ME TIMBERS!!!" he bellowed. "GET YER UGLY MUG OUT OF HERE!" This place in the shade was his. He didn't want to share it with some weirdo he probably couldn't even eat!

He tossed his head, showing off the little nubs growing above his ears. "YA HEAR ME, YA SCURVY DOG? I BE TELLIN' YA ONE TIME ONLY!"

Now, it should probably be noted that spiders--even Spire Spiders--have no inherent knowledge of pirate-speak. This one was no different.

The tone, however, it felt as vibrations through every fiber of its body: demanding, dominant, confident. This was not prey. This was--maybe dangerous?

Many eyes regarded the calf--it wasn't that big, compared to some prey--but decided, in the end, that it wasn't worth the risk. The Spire Spider retreated with rapid foot-taps back into its little crevice.

_________

Captain is safe, for several hours or until the end of this thread--whichever comes first.

@Captain

Captain watched the spider retreat out of the corner of his vision. Good! It knew its place! But rather than total relief at the lack of immediate threat, Captain became ANGRIER. The spider had a nice crevice to hide in! That wasn't fair! HE wanted his own crevice too!

He stomped his foot with jealousy, but his frustration quickly evaporated as the chrysalis shards beside him shook and broke apart. Captain stared in awe. "AVAST! DID I BE DOIN' THAT?" If he couldn't have a crevice, superpowers would be a nice consolation prize!

Maybe he could make his own crevice, with his earth-shattering superpowers!

"AYE AYE, CAP'N!" Captain crowed at his own idea, then stomped his foot again, trying to replicate what he did. Unfortunately, he did not look very carefully at the ground before doing so. Which, you know, was kind of forgivable considering that he was a literal baby who'd just discovered magic.

Captain wasn't really thinking about normal and acceptable mistakes to make, though, as his hoof came crashing down on a chunk of rhodochrosite like a toddler stepping on a Lego. "ARRRRRRRGH!" he cried, stumbling. "AH, YA SCURVY DOG OF A ROCK PIECE! I'LL GET YA ONE DAY!" He kicked at the offending rock with his uninjured hoof, before sullenly limping off to go find himself something to eat. Plants were better than rocks anyway.

exit