"Raising a Rock" (For All of Us Raising Rocks)

[therealorion]

Stubbing a toe hurt. It hurt in an almost unfair way, far more pain in comparison to far more serious injuries. It lurked there at the end of her foot, pulsing occasionally with an annoying amount of sensation. Had she been patrolling the goblin woods, she would not have cared as much. But she was up to her neck in spiders wandering their hunting paths through the wood or seeing to their webs. She did not have time to fixate on her wayward digit!

She grumbled as she picked a careful and precarious path through the the underbrush, moving as silently as a ghost past hair thin almost invisible strands that festooned this place. She would pause on occasion to press tightly to a tree trunk as one of the creatures passed. Eight eyes she could see the leaves reflected in shone like gems set into a crown, hair covered delicate legs picked their path precisely, and their rounded bodies bobbed between. She had to admire them and whispered to Horizon as one magnificent white one paused to groom itself.

"A spider is a very good predator. You see, they aren't looking for me with their eyes, they are feeling for me. If I brush one of these strings, they will feel it on the hairs on their legs and body. See." She outstretched a slender finger to just lightly twang a length of spider silk and as she did, moved smoothly behind the tree. The white spider stopped cleaning it's two rows of eyes and turned toward her direction. Pedipalps moved eagerly near it's fangs and it slowly picked a path to investigate the string as she slipped southward to the next tree. Finding nothing, it continued to groom.
"always assume they can see you. Always assume they know you are here. So you will move thinking they actively are hunting you, which they might be. Never think you are hidden because then you grow complacent. Then you make a mistake, Horizon. She continued onward, hugging cliffsides and trees, going flat on her belly in shrubs. All the while cursing her stupid toe. The pain faded in time and she could climb a tree to examine a tightly woven sack of eggs.
"You can feel them moving inside sometimes, like a steady thrum under your hands. They will consume one another when they hatch. So while they are good predators, we shall never be ruled by wicked spider overlords. It is why the drow just cannot achieve that much. A society built around backstabbing will never do as well as one built around cooperation. These spiders are so fixated on their bellies, they will never be a serious threat." She said absently and slid down the bark to land with a soft thump in the dead leaves.

"ah but why do I keep coming here? What really draws me to this place time and time again? Ah Horizon, I say it is to watch them or to scout or to …keep an eye on the goblins but really? It is because I can. So curse me for my foolish pride but maybe a little pride is not so bad, okay? Just keep it to yourself." She gave a great wide grin and set her hands on her hips, looking over the chasm at the field of creatures that could slay her in a wayward blow.