[SE] and again for good luck

FOX

It's a clear, breezy evening as Fox makes his way back towards the Inner Quarter, the fur of a wildcat slung over his shoulder. Not a monster, not technically, but just as dangerous when prowling around someone's farm, and when he doesn't know where his next job is coming from, he'll take what he can get. Besides, he might be able to make something with the pelt - or sell it, if nothing else.

He's drawn from his thoughts as he steps onto the bridge - this one is just plain stone, rather than one of the skeletal constructs - and finds his way barred by sheets of spider silk. Not strings or webbing - veritable sheets of the stuff, making it all but impossible to move forward. Not that Fox realises this at first - he doesn't know it's cloud spider silk, and so he tries to brush it away with the back of his hand.

Only to find himself walking right into - and bouncing off - the silk, tripping and landing on his ass on the stone. "Smooth," he drawls to himself. "Real smooth."

astra inclinant, sed non obligant

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

KIADA

Kiada has seen the spider silk from a mile away, it felt like, and given that she’d dealt with the spiders further into the Grounds, she knows that this webbing is stronger than the usual stuff. But she certainly doesn’t offer up any comments to the man with the fur slung over his shoulder, instead playing it off as if she’s coming the same way (mostly because she thinks he might be a bit more prepared to get rid of the webs, with connecting the dots of the wildcat fur he carries). But, it seems he hasn’t thought much of it as she approaches, drawing her leather jacket around her a bit tighter, dark hair pulled back as her bright blue gaze meets him from where he’s landed on the ground.

She leans over him and flashes him a fanged smile, her dark horns casting a shadow alongside her face with the glimmer of ruby veins throughout. “Yeah, it looked pretty smooth.” She teases him lightly, before she reaches down to pull the knife from her boot, moving to cut the silk from nearer to his legs where it had tripped him. “Seen this before?” She asks, wondering if he just thought nothing of it, or whether he hasn’t seen the influx of awfully strong spider webs around the area.

i was young and stupid then, always playing for the win
don't know where we got this bad, i just wish i had you back

FOX

Apparently it's not enough for him to have walked face first into some extra-strength spiderwebs - someone has to have seen it, too. As she appears in his field of vision, haloed by sunset and with a smile as fanged as his own, Fox is too busy feeling like a fool to realise he's encountered another Ancient (if the horns are anything to go by). His own are on display quite unintentionally given the angle, and he huffs out an embarrassed chuckle.

"Well as long as somebody else agrees," he mutters, getting himself back on his feet and brushing the dust from his clothes, watching with keen eyes as she uses a knife to cut the silk, before following suit with his own. "No, I haven't," he confesses, moving to start slicing a path through the webbing. "But by the amount of it, I feel like I should have seen it before. Have you?"

astra inclinant, sed non obligant

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

KIADA

His muttering sparks a chimed laugh from the Ancient, casting only a sidelong glance toward him as he starts to mimic what she’s doing with the webs. She cuts through a few of them and tosses them off to the side, tilting her horned head back to him at his confession, if only to shoot him a playful smile. “Oh yes. It’s practically everywhere.” She whines, making a dramatic show of it as she holds the knife closer to her chest and neck as if exasperated – but all it does is give a good view of the scarred X in the side of her neck.

“Stupidly strong too, so I’ve found the best way is to just cut through them. The spiders are relatively small at least, though, so it’s not like some giant spider’s going to come and try to eat us.” She shrugs a shoulder and shoots him another playful grin, before returning to her task to slice through the webbing, tossing it over the side of the bridge as best she can.

i was young and stupid then, always playing for the win
don't know where we got this bad, i just wish i had you back

FOX

"Ah," Fox says, continuing to be the smoothest guy ever, clearing his throat a bit and stripping away some of the silk to toss it into the waters below. "I've been in the Outer Islands for a while - they must not have gotten that far yet." But at least he can get some practice hacking a path through, if the Inner Quarter is going to be bombarded by the stuff.

"A giant spider would be par for the course at this point," he continues with a small smile in her direction. Honestly, Fox isn't one to stare, but it's a little difficult not to notice the scar on her neck - even so, he does his best not to linger on it too much. "I'm Fox," he says instead. "Sorry to ask, but are you an Ancient? There aren't too many in the Grounds, that's all." Little does he know that this might very well be changing.

astra inclinant, sed non obligant

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

KIADA

“Mm, yeah, they seem to prefer to congregate in the more populated spots.” She offers the information easily, rolling a shoulder in a small shrug as they continue to hack a path through the webbing, getting rid of it using the sides of the bridge. His comment and small smile spark another chimed laugh from her, agreement in full swing. “It would, wouldn’t it?” She asks with a playfully lopsided smile.

At least, until he introduces himself and she gives him her full attention. “I’m Kiada, and yes I’m an Ancient. Just… Passing through at the moment, really.” She looks back to the path they’re trying to get through. “I spent a lot of time in the Grounds and I tend to not want to linger that often. What about you?” She asks, having noticed the small now hidden horns and the way he seems to walk around like he knows the place.

i was young and stupid then, always playing for the win
don't know where we got this bad, i just wish i had you back

FOX

"Because what horde of spiders doesn't want to be where the people are?" Fox drawls, rolling his eyes, though he hasn't seen any spiders in the silk just yet, so he'll continue to be thankful not to be living through that particular waking nightmare. "Have they been attacking people or anything? Or just..." He gestures to all of the silk they're forced to cut through.

Giving a gentle nod of greeting, Fox focuses for a few moments on his part of the bridge while she explains, the Ancient tilting his head across at her. "I can't say I blame you," he says, slanting a smile her way. "Place is a ghost town, mostly. I was born and grew up here, for my sins. Made a lot of mistakes, now I'm just keeping busy I guess. Just because the barrier's down, doesn't mean there are less monsters."

astra inclinant, sed non obligant

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

KIADA

Fox’s drawl brings another chimed laugh from the harpy, one that fades as she focuses on cutting through more of the webbing as his question reaches her and she looks over to see him gesturing to the webbing. “No, they seem to prefer to just float around and make little mazes.” Which was equally as annoying, but she’ll not deny having thoroughly enjoyed squishing them to death with the board she’d used at the VlamVloed on the entrance.

She pauses, though, to look back over at him to listen to his answer – her own softer smile meeting his slanted one. “Maybe we crossed paths at some point? Though, I was Attuned back then and a bit more in my head.” She doesn't really recognize him, but she also can't remember everyone she'd seen in the Grounds - especially given her untimely death. Kiada does try to think about what the Grounds was like when she arrived – having just dropped in with a shift under her belt – how different she was back then. That version of Kiada had nearly won the Greatwood Guardianship when they’d opened it to everyone else to fight for. And idly, she wonders if things for her would have been different if she had.

Regardless, he mentions being born and raised here for his sins and it’s a note she tucks away to think on later, not knowing him well enough to ask. “I found that the barrier being down just meant more and more bullshit managed to find its way here.” She admits, turning to him to offer him a smaller smile of understanding.

i was young and stupid then, always playing for the win
don't know where we got this bad, i just wish i had you back

FOX

"Delightful," he remarks dryly, unsure whether he'd prefer to have spiders in his hair accidentally or with hostile intent. Ideally he'd prefer to have them nowhere near him at all, but here they bloody well are. Continuing to part through sheets of silk and ensuring there's nothing left to trip other travellers, he presses forward.

Fox quite likes the sound of her laugh - his job and his nature make it a sound not often heard in general - but Kiada's is especially pleasant. "Hm? Maybe we did. I think I was even more of a loner back then than I am now, though." A difficult thing to achieve, but in a battle exclusively against himself, Fox wins either way.

Raising his eyebrows as she speaks about the barrier being down, he puts two and two together in that this means she must have been there when it was up. "Are you an Outlander, then?" he asks curiously - it's not a word he's tasted for years, now, but he remembers them well enough.

astra inclinant, sed non obligant

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

KIADA

Luckily for her, while there are other things that frighten her enough to not want them close to her, spiders are one that she’s certain she can handle well enough. So she doesn’t care one way or another if they try to get into her hair, though it makes it easier for her if they don’t have ill intent. Floating little dumb air headed spiders were manageable in her books.

“Might explain why I don’t recognize you, then.” She teases him with a crooked smile – because she’s certain that if she had seen him before in passing that she’d remember him. Regardless, he asks a question that she hasn’t heard in a long while, and she tosses the last little bit of webbing in front of her over the edge of the bridge before wiping her blade clean on the edge of her jacket sleeve. “I am. I arrived in Deepfrost 308.” She offers the information easily – though not without realizing that she’s spent a grand total of nearly eight fucking years here with little to show for it aside from deaths and rebirths.

It's a thought that has her withdrawing slightly, pasting on a fake smile. “And while I didn’t grow up here like you did, I feel like I’ve dealt with my fair share of LongNight traumas to ward me away from here for a while. But now and then I like to pop in and see how things are.” An attempt to lighten the mood as realization sinks into her – not wanting to get into a mood when she has handsome company.

i was young and stupid then, always playing for the win
don't know where we got this bad, i just wish i had you back

FOX

"I'm not all too memorable either way," Fox assures her with a fanged smirk, though as far as self-deprecating wit goes, he thinks that one might have just sounded a little sad. And so, turning back to the last of the webbing, he slices through it with relative ease and swipes it away from his face to push it over the edge and into the water. "Hopefully fish don't get tangled in it," he says belatedly, especially since it's far too late to change it.

"308? Damn. You're as Natural as I am by now," he murmurs. Like all Naturals, of course he's burning with questions - where were you from originally? what was it like? do you still miss it? how did you find Caido when you first arrived? - but Fox knows better. So instead he focuses on what Kiada does want to say, and it's with a rather sombre nod of agreement that he steps out onto the other side of the Bone Bridge.

"The LongNights are quiet now, but... people still stay indoors, you know?" he murmurs, before forcing a bit of cheer back into his voice, just as she has. "Well, things have changed a bit at least, since the end of the war. More bridges, for example."

astra inclinant, sed non obligant

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

KIADA

It does sound a little sad, but if there’s someone that appreciates self-deprecating humor, it’s the woman right beside him. And she can’t stop herself from humming a soft little laugh as he turns back toward the webbing. “Doubtful.” She chides lightly. “You made quite the first impression on me.” She teases lightly, cutting another few strings of webbing as she hums in agreement to the fish comment – having not thought about it. Perhaps they’ll just need to tell the Grounders that they can head down there and get a decent haul if they do end up getting stuck in it.

As for how long she’s been here, she wouldn’t mind explaining her previous worlds to him – though admittedly over a drink. “Admittedly, I missed a few years in between. I died helping get Tanau free.” She says it so casually, one would have to think they either misheard her, or its so far past everything else she’s dealt with that it felt like nothing.

She listens perhaps a bit too intently when he mentions LongNights now, nodding her head as she cuts a few more strings of webbing, and allows for that chime of laughter to leave her again as he speaks on more bridges. “So many more.” She says with a sigh that sounds exasperated, like she’s too tired to keep track of them all anymore.

i was young and stupid then, always playing for the win
don't know where we got this bad, i just wish i had you back

FOX

"That," Fox says with a quick smile, "is not the compliment you might think it is." Falling on his ass in front of a pretty woman is not his idea of a lasting impression, thank you very much. Having cut the majority of the webbing away, by now the hunter can see the other side of the bridge, and he breathes a sigh of relief. A more charming man might have followed this up with but hopefully I've made up for it now; alas, Kiada will find only further politeness with Fox.

Well, mostly. He absolutely thinks he's misheard her, pausing at the end of the bridge to glance over his shoulder at her with a furrowed brow. "I'm sorry, I swear you just said you died. And you've met Tanau, too?" He's heard of the seasonal deities, certainly, but speaking to Kiada is making him feel as though his world is actually rather small.

As for the bridges, he gazes back across the expanse they've cleared and nods. "A lot easier to get lost," he admits. "Were you heading to the Inner Quarter as well?"

astra inclinant, sed non obligant

Code blatently stolen from queen of codes, Sky!

KIADA

Regardless if Fox wants to continue his politeness, Kiada can’t help but to poke and prod and tease – allowing that quiet whine to leave her when she retorts with a “well now I won’t forget you, at least!” Before her lips twist into a more playfully fanged smile, aiming it directly at him as her iceberg eyes take him in fully, knowing that comment will likely dig it in further that it wasn’t taken as a compliment, digging herself a hole she isn’t sure how to get out of yet. Hopefully she can make up for it in some way.

And yes, with the casual death drop, Kiada lets a chimed laugh leave her yet again, pushing more of the webbing aside as it tries to tug at her dark hair as she pushes through. “Yeah. He was sick and we went to save him. I, uh, tried to get a little too close and fell into the lava.” It’s with her own awkward smile this time that she relays the information. “I heard he felt terrible about it at least.” And she’d take any attention she could from that insanely attractive deity. “Then the Voice brought me back as Ascended.” A casual shrug – indifferent on it even if her tone seems to indicate it hadn’t been her best choice to make.

The end of the bridge is in sight now, though, and Kiada pushes through some of the webbing in the hopes that they’ve loosened the hold enough, only to slip and tangle herself awkwardly in it, spun and half suspended as she faces him, and drops her knife with a clatter, a little squeak of surprise leaving her as she tries to push her way out of it only to get more tangled up. “Fucker.” She says with an exasperated laugh, waiting to respond to his question until after he hopefully helps her get untangled.

i was young and stupid then, always playing for the win
don't know where we got this bad, i just wish i had you back