Ah, this was a nice spot.

Todd's big brown eyes scanned the area with nothing short of excitement in his eyes. Like always, he'd been exploring, bouncing around as he chased glittering lights and whatever small creatures or insects just so happened to saunter into his field of vision. But of course, he was too eager to ever catch anything, and the closest he'd gotten was to pin a cave mouse beneath his paws and hold it there, unsure of what to do with it.

Then it bit him, and Todd could only watch as the tiny creature fled, lucky to exist another day.

As his explorations had continued, he'd come upon a tunnel leading away from Polaris, a narrow tunnel but one that coaxed him onwards with a pleasant scent. And that was where he was now, pleasantly seated on a patch of moss as his nose twitched away, trying to pinpoint the source of the sweet, sugary scent that filled the air. He was curious, he wanted to see what it was and what it tasted like.

Perhaps it was the moss?

A small bite mark remained in a patch on the far wall, where he'd bit into it, only to spit it out. Plants didn't taste good, apparently. Especially not moss. But that scent was still there, tantalizing. Without properly thinking it over, Todd lay down on his soft bed of moss and stretched out his neck to experimentally lick moisture from the damp cave walls.

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.

Sitting with black fur fluffed out, the young silver fox was looking around and his large ears were twitching. Comfy as this moss was, the walls weren't quite as tasty as he'd hoped. Now, perhaps there was a little bit of sweetness there and that was nice, but it wasn't as satisfying as he'd hoped, really. His wet nose twitching, Todd stretched out his paws and rolled onto his back. The world was upside down now!

His head felt funny. The tiny fox snickered and waved his little paws in the air, marvelling at how different it felt from walking. He was the right way up now... how come he couldn't walk on that side of the cave? The confused little fox innocently stretched his paws towards the ceiling and wriggled his body. The white tuft on the end of his tail lashed as his concentration deepened. Didn't look like he was getting anywhere though; and as his concentration reached its peak, the little fox noticed the light bouncing on many silvery threads stretched across the tunnel ceiling.

Forgetting about his previous efforts, the little fox rolled onto his feet, craning up his neck to see the strange threads. He didn't notice those three dark legs, didn't understand what they were or the dangers. The little fox crouched down and then jumped, stretching out his paws as he tried to reach those curious threads. Fortunately for the cub though, he wasn't powerful enough to leap high enough and fell short by a long shot with every curious jump.

@Lesser Gembounds

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.

@Todd

Xerxes couldnt help but explore. He had to; canis was great and all but he needed to explore everything! It didnt take long for the teen to flee through tunnel i to polaris and then into this new tunnel, tunnel n. Of course he didnt know the names of everything yet, so he was just blindly wandering. He left Cure behind with promise to return today, maybe tomorrow. He didnt know how long hed be gone, but he promised not for long. They had games to play, you know! Xerxes eyed the growing green mosses in the light of the room before he even noticed the grey fox and giant spider looming above. He walked a few more steps before actually seeing the other gembound, oblivious to the arachnid. hey! he called out to the fox then, noticing him looking upwards and his gaze followed, landing on the giant spider. His body compressed into itself out of fear for a moment before he looked back to the fox. what is that?! speech table code © rasta 2015

@todd @lesser gembounds

"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!"

Why was he talking to that thing? Xerxes stared wide eyed at it, slightly frightened. It was large and scary, dangling out of reach from the ceiling and staring down at everything that walked past. Xerxes did not like this thing, but apparently the fox wasnt scared of it, even without knowing it. He stared at the duo, certain the arachnid was going to gobble him up when he wasnt looking. When the fox turned to him though, it didnt happen. He was actually kind of surprised, but certainly it'd happen soon, right? i dont think its very friendly... he warned, in case the fox was oblivious to the danger. speech table code © rasta 2015

@todd @lesser gembounds

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.

@Todd @Xerxes

"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?"

Xerxes watched as the spider retreated up to the top of its web, refusing to take his eyes off of it and where it hid. Maybe he could warn the child if it fell down to attack, but he knew he'd miss it if he looked away. Xerxes... and I think it wants to eat you. He swallowed hard, not allowing himself to look back at the silver fox cub. Why don't you come over here? If it wants to play, it'll tell us. Until then, let's assume it's not friendly. Hopefully the smaller gembound would listen to him because Xerxes really didn't want to watch this cub get snatched by the giant cave spider and disappear into the darkness above. speech table code © rasta 2015

@todd @lesser gembounds