The Grand Elusa (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
greatwhitespider) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
nightlogs2023-11-12 05:45 pm
greatwhitespider) wrote in nightlogs2023-11-12 05:45 pm
Entry tags:
[open]
Who: The Grand Elusa and OPEN
What: spider goddess finishes molting and pokes around in her winged human form
Where: the Pole
When: Ambiguously in November, let's handwave
Warnings/Notes: arachnophobia?
eclosion
There's been an enormous, faintly luminous sort of webbed-across lump in the high upper corner of the ceiling of Miguel's lab since before he'd actually claimed it as a lab. It's about as big as a modest car and would dominate a smaller space but it's been pretty easily overlooked. Until today, when it pulses and slits open. A huge glowing spider starts to emerge, abdomen-first, legs stretching out back into the hammock, dragging the spiky chitin of her previous moult inside-out behind her until she's fully pulled free. Her spiderlight at this size is as bright as the full moon, casting sharp shadows. As the Grand Elusa extricates her legs she braces them against the walls to keep from falling. If there was dust in the higher reaches of the lab it's flying, stirred by the thudding impacts and her breath. Anything suspended from the ceiling or walls sways. A spider this large really has a way of unsettling a space.
She immediately starts to eat her old, damaged exoskeleton and the web pocket it had been tucked inside of, her inner teeth making a faint, continuous destructive noise that seems vaguely industrial. Her body, if you were close enough to see it through the shaggy white 'fur', is wrinkled, shriveled, but she doesn't want anyone that close. If you could touch it it would be soft, and she really doesn't want that. It'll be another hour or two before she goes anywhere, waiting for her new exoskeleton to harden, large black eyes alert and unreadable.
The Grand Elusa had finished regenerating quite a while ago, but the ravening hunger that usually drives her to emerge has been so muted, comparatively, that she just hasn't. She's a god of balanced love and hunger and doesn't really know how to handle one of her axis shifting.
imago
In Fincayra, the Grand Elusa commands great terror. When she's not of a mind to provoke that, she can be smaller, so there may be a tiny white spider about in the Pole, probably on a ceiling or high wall, or spinning a web in the optimistic hope of encountering insects.
Or, she can take human shape. ...Sort of human shape. She's pale with a drawn look, wearing what appears to be a wealth of white silk scarves, and it's hard to place her age other than 'clearly over fifty'. She's also got pointed ears, a feature of Fincayran humans, and large, feathery-looking wings, which Fincayran humans used to have and lost quite a few generations ago. The primary feathers of her wings are distinct and prominent and have a definite spider leg aspect to them, very evident when her wings are folded. Also that's frankly too many black, gleaming eyes. Does she... actually know with total confidence what humans look like?
She's awkward in this shape in a way that suggests either an elder's stiffness or just inexperience with bipedalism, shuffling from place to place and sometimes extending a wing to brace against the ground like three splayed arthropod legs so she can keep her balance. You can find her in the common areas, looking at just about anything - including you - and scowling with concentration. The Grand Elusa has never entirely learned how facial expressions work.
What: spider goddess finishes molting and pokes around in her winged human form
Where: the Pole
When: Ambiguously in November, let's handwave
Warnings/Notes: arachnophobia?
eclosion
There's been an enormous, faintly luminous sort of webbed-across lump in the high upper corner of the ceiling of Miguel's lab since before he'd actually claimed it as a lab. It's about as big as a modest car and would dominate a smaller space but it's been pretty easily overlooked. Until today, when it pulses and slits open. A huge glowing spider starts to emerge, abdomen-first, legs stretching out back into the hammock, dragging the spiky chitin of her previous moult inside-out behind her until she's fully pulled free. Her spiderlight at this size is as bright as the full moon, casting sharp shadows. As the Grand Elusa extricates her legs she braces them against the walls to keep from falling. If there was dust in the higher reaches of the lab it's flying, stirred by the thudding impacts and her breath. Anything suspended from the ceiling or walls sways. A spider this large really has a way of unsettling a space.
She immediately starts to eat her old, damaged exoskeleton and the web pocket it had been tucked inside of, her inner teeth making a faint, continuous destructive noise that seems vaguely industrial. Her body, if you were close enough to see it through the shaggy white 'fur', is wrinkled, shriveled, but she doesn't want anyone that close. If you could touch it it would be soft, and she really doesn't want that. It'll be another hour or two before she goes anywhere, waiting for her new exoskeleton to harden, large black eyes alert and unreadable.
The Grand Elusa had finished regenerating quite a while ago, but the ravening hunger that usually drives her to emerge has been so muted, comparatively, that she just hasn't. She's a god of balanced love and hunger and doesn't really know how to handle one of her axis shifting.
imago
In Fincayra, the Grand Elusa commands great terror. When she's not of a mind to provoke that, she can be smaller, so there may be a tiny white spider about in the Pole, probably on a ceiling or high wall, or spinning a web in the optimistic hope of encountering insects.
Or, she can take human shape. ...Sort of human shape. She's pale with a drawn look, wearing what appears to be a wealth of white silk scarves, and it's hard to place her age other than 'clearly over fifty'. She's also got pointed ears, a feature of Fincayran humans, and large, feathery-looking wings, which Fincayran humans used to have and lost quite a few generations ago. The primary feathers of her wings are distinct and prominent and have a definite spider leg aspect to them, very evident when her wings are folded. Also that's frankly too many black, gleaming eyes. Does she... actually know with total confidence what humans look like?
She's awkward in this shape in a way that suggests either an elder's stiffness or just inexperience with bipedalism, shuffling from place to place and sometimes extending a wing to brace against the ground like three splayed arthropod legs so she can keep her balance. You can find her in the common areas, looking at just about anything - including you - and scowling with concentration. The Grand Elusa has never entirely learned how facial expressions work.
a HUGE spider in the attic
The Grand Elusa's corner had remained largely untouched - covered up by scaffolding and solid wooden ceiling that he had yet to break open while the space encroached upwards to a dizzying height. Arachnids and high spaces, and what have you. The little spiderbot, Catalina, had captured some odd photos of a mass in the corner on her adventures around the lab, which had clued him in on having to do some clean-up. ]
O-kay, anyone up there? Heads up, I'm about to get rid of the floor.
[ Nothing. He pauses when he spots a few bright, backlit threads of silk peeking out of the cracks of wood. All right then. Using the talons in his feet to cling to the wall, he scores a clean line with his arm blades, and the scent of burnt wood floats upwards.
He then adjusts his position, using his legs to snap the piece off in a large pallet of wood - except, that wasn't right. Why was the wood sticking together? And then the answer comes when it falls and clatters onto some scaffolding, and the huge mass of half-eaten silk hammock starts to sink out of the new hole and get all over the damn place. ]
Mierda!
[ The Grand Elusa's light wasn't daylight, but the sudden change in brightness still hurt enough for him to squint away and take a moment to adjust. ]
no subject
Then something gives way. She and her hammock lurch and the silk starts to sag away from her, though she braces herself to stay in place. Air hits her setae, bearing heat and enticing scents and the movement of animals. Prey! She might not be ravenous but she can always eat, and besides she doesn't like anything too close to her at this soft-carapaced and vulnerable stage.
-no, no, she can't just eat everything in sight. The Grand Elusa extends a pair of long legs, each hair shining as a star, the grasping claws on the ends new and sharp and clean, and waves them in a warn-off gesture.]
no subject
It's just me. Finally wake up from your nap?
[ He sounds a little dry and annoyed. His mask materialized over his face to protect his eyes. And he's decided to brace himself for evasive maneuvers to avoid having to deal with the fangs again. ]
You're gonna help clean up the silk later, right?
[ it does not really have the intonation of a question. ]
no subject
And, yes, supremely not like chatting, even if she can tell the red palm flash is a don't-eat-me social signal. She flashes fresh, intact fangs, each curved and about as long as Miguel's arm.]
HHHHhhhhhhhhhSSSSSSSSH. Kh! Kh!
[is that more threat display or is it clearing the lung slits in her abdomen so she can shift them to incorporate the vocal apparatus she's worked out? yes. Her voice is labored and a bit indistinct to start, and makes every surface she's touching tremble.]
Go farther away if you insist on chatter. You are too close!
no subject
Fine, fine.
[ he light-webs himself further to the opposite end, but at a similar height. Miguel is holding onto one of the many easy overhangs he'd built in for comfy ceiling clinging. He waves an arm again like he were signalling an aircraft for landing. ]
How's this? This better?!
[ Miguel will be able to see and hear her just fine - he may just have to project his voice a little. ]
no subject
She does not respond immediately because it seems pretty self evident that it's better? Mortal beings are always filling the air with extraneous sound when a brief gesture or a vibration in the web would suffice. But Miguel seems intent on this and hasn't, unfortunately, gone away.]
You have filled this space with your structures, Miguel O'Hara of Nueva York. Why?
[I don't feel like doing conlang, let's say whatever word she's using for 'structures' has a connotation of like what a termite colony would make. Industry and complexity but at a level of remove from the speaker.]
no subject
Because it was the only room available that had the space!
[ the only room that was relatively quiet, not too cold, easy to access... the same reasons The Grand Elusa picked it as a lair, probably. Well, now it looks like they're going to have to share the space together. He watches her start to...let's say clean up the mess, and he makes a thumb gesture at the exit, far down below. ]
Are you thirsty? I usually bring some coffee in here, but...
[ he's read the paper about coffee and spiderwebs. he can bring the grand elusa water. ]
no subject
If she could still Leap properly... While she's here, though, she is restricted to line of sight.]
I am thirsty. I do not drink coffee. What is your intention?
no subject
[ Pensive chin rub... ]
Maybe make I'll make a quick cup of coffee, for me.
no subject
You do not need to appease me. I will endeavor not to eat you.
[...Or is she being courted? Poking around her when she's soft is quite suggestive now that she considers it. Does she want to be courted? ...Does she want to be courted by this? Hm. He's colorful, but she understands that that's a form of adornment and not how he actually is, and he's so human-shaped, and the endless talking is annoying.
But Miguel is tolerable, all told, so she doesn't outright rebuff him and say she is not available.]
It doesn't matter. I can seek more later, on my own.
no subject
There's this thing humans do when they live together. It's like... little favors. Cooking a bit of extra lunch, or whatever.
[ not realizing that romance is even an option here, he continues onward. ]
I'm making the trip anyway. So it's not that much of a hassle.
no subject
...It is not humans alone. But I am not of such kind. I don't pack-bond or feel as you do. It doesn't harm me to be by myself, even for great spans of time.
You may bring me water, but I don't think that I can give you what you seek.
no subject
Fine. That's fine. Let's try to get some of the mess cleaned up in the meantime.
[ He gestures to the silk spilled all over his equipment as he makes his way down to the floor where the exit was. And prepares to saunter on out. ]
I'll be back in a few minutes.
no subject
When he comes back she's gotten all the way down and has changed. Her abdomen is the same as before and resting on the floor, a mostly white dome taller than Miguel is and wrinkled under the gleaming setae. She's reshaped her cephalothorax and legs into a large humanoid form sitting rather awkwardly against that dome. Two legs jointed like human legs, six bundled and split into a pair of folded wings, her pedipalps jointed like human arms. A distinct head with a stern, nearly human face, bearing pointed ears and many dark eyes. The setae is thick enough in places to give a vague impression of wearing furs. Underneath is all chitin and joints, no real attempt to simulate human skin.
A dark, toothy pattern goes from the corners of her mouth down, covering her chin and throat and narrowing from there. The 'fur' covers it if it extends to her chest. All in all it's a look, that's for sure.
Also she has found the spiderbot and picked the poor thing up to regard like it's a hamburger that belongs to someone else, while trying to get it to walk across her long, spiky hands. The Grand Elusa hasn't bothered hooking up the 'mouth' of this shape to her respiratory system, so when the air against her setae heralds Miguel's return she still speaks through the openings in her abdomen.]
You have reproduced. Or... created, perhaps.
no subject
When he jumps, it is only a combination of the powers and his long tenure doing Spiderman stuff that lets him catch the tub on his outstretched fingers in cartoonish fashion, scooping up all the remaining drops with an agile sway of the hand. What the fuck!
Catalina, helpfully, is there to catalogue the near-disaster with a little blink of the camera light. Once the shock wears off, he takes a few steps closer. ]
What is that? Are you trying to shapeshift into some kind of centaur?
[ he's grumpy now, and goes for the less generous interpretation. ]
And there's still a lot of silk hanging from the ceiling, by the way.
[ The tub of water is placed on the ground in front of her to sip at her leisure ]
no subject
I am a goddess. If I wanted to be a centaur, I would be. This is as close to human, as Fincayrans count humans, as I care to be at the moment.
[She scratches her abdomen, which jiggles slightly. It doesn't look like she could stand up like this, that thing is huge.
...and she's just going to splay her limbs out and angle her whole 'human' torso down to basically put her whole face into the water and drink in a way that would be completely undignified if she understood dignity. With her upper body lowered like this, in a more spiderly position, it's a lot more clear that she's still a monstrously huge spider, just one that had shifted her proportions around.
still gonna talk though bc her lung openings aren't anywhere near her mouth.]
So impatient. What are you hoping to catch in your web?
no subject
[ Not that she was really asking. But the spider-form is less alarming than 'humanoid-shaped body horror'. There's a moment of awkward silence as the torso flops over the water tub, almost immediately losing its creepy effect. These are the strange things of the multiverse, he supposes. ]
Catalina was made in the lab. I'd like to think the other option would involve something more... bipedal in shape.
[ He gestures to his very human body, allowing the light bit of fantasizing. His genome hovered at somewhere around 50% human on a good day - it was unlikely that he'd ever 'make' anything that didn't need to spend a significant amount of time in a lab, one way or another. ]
Anyway, I'll need a clean workspace to continue the testing.
no subject
[The tone's so dry! that could be a joke. Regardless the sound of her drinking is rather delicate considering, a churn of water being drawn through filtering hairs at rhythmic intervals. A limb or two grips the tub's edge.]
It could change. It could metamorphose. Bipedalism takes great practice.
[don't humans start not bipedal? yeah that seems about right.
she is picking up what he's putting down but also doesn't care enough to say something about it.]
no subject
Yeah, well, I hope I've made my point clear about spider silk counting as a contaminant for my work. So it needs to be picked up ASAP.
[ He says this as he pulls a few gossamer-thin threads off his shoulder. ]
I'll open up the beef jerky after you're done taking care of it.
[ A little food bribery, he's decided. He has a hunch that food can be a good motivator. For now, though, the snack-net will be staying with him. ]