Scene #9665: Abnormality Tales: Spiderbud

Owner	Pose
Angela	Angela has been thinking a lot about being an arcanist, lately. Namely, she can't be an arcanist she's pretty sure particularly because she barely has blood to begin with, but it ''has'' been nice feeling like that community sees her as a part of itself anyway even if she has mostly gotten that from Schneider who has admitted that she herself wouldn't be seen as one for ... well Angela isn't really sure why she wouldn't be, but she's feeling silly enough for trying to properly define what an 'arcanist' is at this point so instead of worrying about the full details, she's decided to explore 'What exactly about me makes people think I'm an arcanist?' and try new things, things she didn't really plan on. Like climbing. Is that helping? She doesn't know. But she's trying it out, driven by the underlying question of 'Is there a community for me after all?' but more importantly the questions of 'Who am I, actually, when I peel away the trauma? What makes me, me? What are things I might like that I never did because I was afraid I'd look foolish? What are things that I never did because I didn't have the chance to do them? What sensations did I skip out on because I never knew to look for them?' Anyway, that's what's been going down in Angela Town and what prompted her calling Veronica over for a visit and after that, she was further pushed to make a call to White, telling her that she felt ready to visit Spiderbud's story with her and that unlike the other times, she felt it best if they just kept it to the two of them, both creatures who had been left to grow in dark pits. She didn't also mention the whole complicated history with their creators part, though. Angela is in her office, having brought the Spiderbud book up there. She is presently tending to Harriet, having spent hours brushing her and pampering her and also feeding her a bit of fruit before guiding her to a little spider bed she had built out for her. She wants her to be nice and happy and rested while she and White are gone. Angela is wearing her Librarian uniform rather than her Final Boss uniform, so it's not a new outfit for White. White can just portal in directly or enter however she wishes but whenever White does appear, Angela smiles easily like she's finally worked out the muscles enough that it doesn't take concerted effort anymore. "I ... did not have a real opportunity to thank you before," Angela tells White. "About what you said to that Aberration. I honestly feel a little uneasy even admitting that I have doubts, like I'll trip at the end if I do so and lose everything." She sighs, though the smile doesn't fade. "I'm grateful--Maybe it is a bit silly but..." She frowns a little, suddenly, like she can't quite work out the words properly and is getting a touch frustrated but ultimately she shakes her head. "That is not really all that related. I felt we could handle this book ourselves. I haven't forgotten what you said about leaving this one buried. So--perhaps we can find a place it can live in peace?"
White	White is always more prompt when she's the only person being waited on, and today is no exception; Angela calls, they set a time, and White's there. Teleporting squarely into Angela's vicinity is trivial with Harriet on the scene, who need only sponge up the affection and lazily watch Angela's preparations otherwise! When she pops in in her usual near-silent manner, she's even carrying a little picnic basket she bought from a crafts shop, and when she sets it on Angela's desk it's clearly full of... Fun-size candy bars, and little novelty flavor gummy bears, and caramels and so on and so forth. Just a whole heap of tiny sweet treats of all sorts of flavors. That's not why she's here though, that's just something she's been meaning to bring over, and this was a convenient time. White doesn't even address it after setting it down! Instead, she spends a moment double-checking her clothes, and another supernaturally weaving together her dress and the usually detached silk sleeves she wears, to cover a bit more skin in anticipation of working with... Spiders... There's a joke to be had about being self-conscious about showing skin around her own species, but really she's quite sure there's very little in common between her and the so-called Spiderbud anyway. And wasn't this one a mother already? That's a bit too much for White. ... Anyway! Angela's gratitude prompts a slightly surprised double-blink, though maybe it's more of a one-and-a-half-blink, given her eyes started shut like usual. "... I'm glad... I was wondering... If I was being... Too presumptuous. I just..." She has to pause especially long, not having prepared words for her exact feeling in that moment. "... Wanted you... To feel like... It's okay, if your dream changes... A little bit. So you don't... End up pressured... Into anything that makes you unhappy." She nods a little like 'that's that' and steps a bit closer looking down for a moment and having to deliberately remind herself to unfold her own hands before she can give Angela's a small squeeze. While White is honestly not thrilled to step into another Named Spider's territory when grandma Ariel isn't around to mediate, she logically knows there's not too much to be afraid of, beyond general discomfort. "It should... Be fine. I hope... Miss Spiderbud likes the things... That I like. Maybe if we... Are very gentle... There isn't anything to worry about." She, of course, can only be so optimistic because she's already gone down a mental checklist and she's pretty sure she isn't in physical danger. Laetitia turning her into spiders is one thing, since that sounds like a very confusing state to be reconstituted from and she's only been lots of little spiders once or twice, and it was never a good idea! But if Spiderbud is just the normal kind of defensive with a horde of little babies, the worst it could get is that they start crawling under her clothes or something; she's immune to poison, at least. "Let's hope... For the best."
Angela	The candy White has brought along might last Angela until the end of the Ruina plot but it's actually the basket itself that Angela first remarks on. "Oh this is cute. I've seen baskets like this online or on television programs but I don't think I've ever seen one quite like this in reality before. Did you want us to bring this along? Perhaps we can prove we are friendly by sharing a little and make a nice outing of it." Angela may be assuming White is beter suited for this sort of 'mission' than she herself thinks so but Angela hasn't made a big plan of it. The big thing to be careful of is to not step on bugs and Angela is confident in her balance and caution to not stomp on a bug for a little while. She seems to have made this presumption though because she shifts the picnic basket to one hand while taking White's in the other ... then awkwardly setting down the picnic basket to open up the book and then collect the picnic basket once more. "I didn't feel you were presumptuous. Even if I had no doubts at all, all you said was she shouldn't badger me about it." She looks like she's about to say something else but then adds, "...Yes. Let's get inside. I'll speak more, there." She closes her eyes and after that sinking feeling again... How long has it been since either of them were in a dark dank cave with no natural light? It's actually difficult for Angela to see just about anything right now, though she gives White's hand an experimental squeeze to confirm that she's still present. Distantly, she can hear the sound of dripping water but she is hesitant to walk when she can't see what's under her feet. White of course has no problem at all seeing in the dark. She sees they're in a pretty vast cavern with no visible exits but plenty of visible alternate paths and cavernous routes, thuogh the formation seems broadly natural so there's no ramps or smoothed out paths, exactly. There's a lot of webbing covering the floor and walls, though no spiders just yet. No Spider Bud just yet either. It's probably in one of the other passageways, but judging from the breadth of those webs, it either had a lot of time or is real big. Maybe both. "Are you able to see well with your eyes here?" Angela asks, as if for confirmation.
White	"If you'd like to share. I don't know... If an Abnormality spider... Will eat candy. But we can see." White says, nodding along in confidence that there is surely no harm in bringing a gift. Then, she looks slightly away. It might be a stretch to assume, but she's mildly embarrassed as she realizes, "... Maybe it was wrong... To assume they would eat... Monster corpses." Her original thought was to offer the swarm meat, but if their tastes are more particular... That kind of almost throws shade on how un-picky White was as a spider. But, she can get over that quickly enough. With Angela's hand in hers, White is especially careful about her footing upon passing into the book-world. The slight glint of her magic eyes provides a useful, if somewhat spooky, idea of where she is and where she's looking for Angela. Fortunately she can confirm, "I can see... Fine." After a moment of thought, White mouths at even lower volume, "Fire would be bad..." before getting her phone out and navigating to the flashlight app, setting it to low and handing it over to Angela. "So you won't... Trip. Try... Not to point it at them... Though. They might not like it." If Angela slides the basket handle over her arm, she should have a hand free for a phone at least. From there, White gently guides Angela along; going purely off of her own feelings and reasoning, she's fairly sure it would be bad to damage the webs, at least the fresh ones. She's also fairly sure it would send the wrong message to get stuck in any of them. But, maybe a very gentle pluck here and there at a taut feeler-strand of webbing with her fingertip would serve as a sort of door-knocking gesture? With her Thread Manipulation, she can unstick either of them if they do get caught while maneuvering through, and if they damage any of the webbing it's relatively simple to patch it with White's own. She has no idea if this sense of courtesy holds any merit here, but it can't hurt to at least try to respect a fellow arachnid's home and extensive crafts-work! And, with nothing else alive in White and Angela's vicinity just yet, it should be obvious when she starts to see movement in the darkness, whether underfoot or further ahead.
Angela	Don't!! Worry!!! Spider Bud is also not picky. Though there doesn't seem to be monster corpses present, there are plenty of dessicated corpses of humans that spiders are crawling in and out of! Fun! Fortunately, they're all the tiny kind so they aren't particularly threatening outside of the potentiality of stomping on them, but they are still a fair distance away. And the bodies are largely hanging off of the ceiling so there's not bound to be many spiders skittering along the floor, right? But it only takes one. Angela only has so many hands but she takes Flamel's page and summons a gently glowing hand to hold the phone so she can manage it with her mind rather than having to juggle White's hand, a picnic basket, and also a cellphone. This has the side effect of materializing sunglasses on Angela's face but she slides them up because those are a decidedly unhelpful costume swap that comes along with the page's use. She's running low on Flamel but if she really needs it again, she'll just take more pages from him. If there's anyone in the world she's okay with being a bit rude to, it is specifically Flamel. He would probably not even mind, making it doubly pointless to worry about how polite she's being to the guy. Besides, this is a mission she's taking, in part, to show she's taken White's words to heart. It's the most important mission she's conducted in a long time. "I'll try to keep it as indirect as possible, though if need be I'd rather annoy them than squish them." She COULD have slid it over her arm, but she decided to use psychic powers instead. Go figure. As they move closer to the webbing, Angela starts talking about something seemingly unrelated. "To be honest, I was hesitant about whether I should try to escape Lobotomy Corp up until the last moment. Lilian's advice played a big part in why I went ahead tried, and Petra's hope and--" She hesitates, cutting herself off before adding 'Cinder's sacrifice'. "But on that last day I could hear Carmen's voice tell me that I should follow my heart's desire and indulge my own dreams. I couldn't even imagine stopping myself after that. When it all fell apart, I almost--What they call 'Distorting' now, I believe that almost happened to me. I felt 'Ahh, it didn't matter that I tried. It was hopeless all along.' ... But it wasn't hopeless. Before I couldn't see the progress, but now I can. Sometimes I think I am not so disimilar from Ayin, that I--too--can't really let go of Carmen, just in my own way. But I don't entirely trust her either. But if all she says is that I should follow my heart, then ... that's a bit like not trusting myself. Especially since my neural pathways are an emulation of hers." They don't realy FEEL the same though. Angela hesitates on putting down her foot, almost squishing a spider at the last second while she was distracted but stopping herself just in time. "But she endured all those timelines, her body even more trapped than mine, and she still manages to be so ... herself." So she is aware she's not actually that much like Carmen, at least in some key ways! As White plucks the web, it quivers gently, then considerably less gently as high high up along the cavernous ceiling, numerous glowing red eyes open up and stare downward. It doesn't attack just yet, but it's watching. Warily. "Ah, she's here." Angela murmurs. She is fairly consistent with gendering the Abnormalities.
White	Annoying is better than squishing, that's true. White seems to be acting on that philosophy herself when spiders stray too close to her boots, walking by sliding her feet more than actually lifting and stepping forward. That way, the eight-legged pedestrians can be gently pushed aside or allowed to crawl over her boot. Angela's venting, unrelated as it might seem, is still being absorbed. White isn't constantly looking at Angela- she has obstructions to look out for- but she does eventually work her way around to a response. "... Two people... Have told me, 'Live life to the fullest'. Oka-sensei... And D. It's a good phrase. But they each... Meant something different. Because Oka-sensei... Was talking to a spider. Who she didn't think... Could even understand her. And D... Was talking to her favorite toy." White spends a few moments more gently adjusting a bit of obstructive webbing, and carefully untangling a bit of it from Angela's hair without tearing it from the wall. "Sometimes... People will say things like that... Because they think they know... Exactly what you'll do. And they're counting on it. It's easy... to give up on the little things you want... If you let other people... Push you forward too fast. It's not like I... Can ignore D, either. I think I know how you feel. It's weird... For someone to do so much... That kind of helps you... But still make you suffer." An unusual sigh seeps out of White. "Being a 'copy' of someone... Is awful. And kind of embarrassing. Especially if you... Owe them something you didn't ask for. Still. We're different from them." Their circumstances really are quite similar... Though maybe White is a bit more of a brat about her pseudo-mother-figure than Angela is. But, Spiderbud is here and watching them now. The 'knocking' seemed effective, and White briefly finds it a little funny for two glowing-eyed spiders to be making eye contact in the darkness like this. She momentarily thinks about whether she could wiggle to make light-streaks like she was waving glow-sticks, but stows the idea in favor of... Waving at the ceiling-bound creature slowly! She does briefly glance over at the basket, wordlessly indicating it in case Angela wants to make a peace offering, and... Well, she hadn't figured out what to say during the walk, so the best White has at first seems to be a very soft "Hello," followed by an immediately embarrassing, "We come... In peace."
Angela	Angela must have been thinking about this for a while. She can't really shake the memory of her one visit to White's former classmates either. They, too, assumed White hadn't changed, subtly pressuring her and probably Sophia too, come to think of it, to live like they were when they were in some whole other world. She remembers not despising Oka quite as much. Sure, she was still acting like she was White's teacher but from her understanding, it's not really unusual for teachers to see themselves as your teachers for life. Maybe that's why. Silence isn't the same as weakness, Roland had said. She's been trusting him a little too much lately, but if he can say something like that on behalf of White, then she probably should be ready to speak up on behalf of him some day. It's only fair. It's just ... The more she thinks about it, she doesn't really feel she knows him too well. He acts like he's just a normal run of the mill guy, but that can't be true, can it? He's the first local of The City outside of Lobcorp that felt like he actually listened to what she had to say. And actually, to be totally real, he's serious competition from within LobCorp, especially now. So many fled as soon as they could. Not that she blamed them. "Ah--" She remarks, noticing White detangling her hair. "I'm being quite clumsy today. Not a good sign." Well in truth, it's almost like the webs are reaching further out, the spiders are moving a little too close, like they are TRYING to get smushed. Do they have suicidal urges? Probably not but in such a simplistic story it's easy to forget that it is one. And this is the story of people wandering into a dark cave, accidentally crushing a life, and paying dearly for the price of it. It makes Angela think of those Distortions that lash out like the Pianist. And it is so hard to be a brat about someone it feels like everybody but Petra--and maybe, now, White--seems to love and trust almost completely. ''It's easy... to give up on the little things you want...'' Angela is struck by this mostly because she had always been certain she was ready to give up on all those little things just for the simplest and most needful goal of hers. She hadn't even ... really considered trying to hold onto those little things too. She doesn't quite GASP about it, but her breath hitches ever so slightly and... "Yeah...I'm sorry you've been through that." But it brings her hope that White, despite all that, managed to be such an incredible--and even weirdly caring!--person herself. despite all that. Could she, Angela thinks of herself, spare a shit to give and still win? It's a frightening idea to consider. She's so afraid of falling flat on her face for being too greedy. "We're different." She agrees. "You've really thought this through." She manages to smile again. And she makes a decision. But not a decision she's going to act upon with a giant spider hanging above. ''We come... In peace.'' Angela tries doing the peace sign but uses the middle and ring instead of middle and index to make it. Whispers come from above, difficult to decipher at first as coccoons are lowered down from the ceiling as their webbing shifts to drop them into view. The whispering isn't coming from Spider Bud. It's coming from the cocoons. The bodies inside the cocoons whimper and cry. And they say in unison. "My children are hungry... have you come to offer yourselves?" They whimper in a strange chorus. "Her mimicry is a little better inside the book." Angela remarks.
White	"It's normal." White plainly reassures while unsticking Angela's hair. "It's just how webs work." Tangling up the least-felt extremities of the body, capturing creatures with many legs and buzzing wings; it's really no wonder that it's so easy to get your hair caught in a web. It's hard enough to see a web in daylight sometimes, and there's the handicap of darkness and unfamiliar space here, too. "Just go slow." White may or may not be thinking about whether this is a weird time to be spending her 'first time grooming Angela's hair' box on her bingo card; seeing Lilian and Tamamo take care of Sonetto's hair for her after that first Storm made the gesture feel more significant somehow. But, what's done is done. "It's hard... Not to think about it. When you spend long enough with nothing else to do. After having the... Ruler titles taken away, and... Snapping back, to 'normal'... I wasn't familiar with myself. So I had to start... Choosing things to be." Later, though, Spiderbud's reaction is... Not outside of expectation, really! At least she's speaking upfront. Maybe 'knocking' helped! White chooses to think so, anyway. "My children are hungry... have you come to offer yourselves?" "No." is the obvious first thing to say, but White follows it with, "But we brought... Snacks. Candy, or... Some of the meat... From my hunts." She carefully designates a space on the ground in which to teleport the tiny spiders, as a group, away amongst their siblings without dropping them from any particular height, and immediately fills that space with two large pieces of meat best described as "dragon tail fillets". Granted, only taken from a quite minor subspecies of fire dragon... More comparable to a giant seahorse, really.
Angela	Angela is soothed, somewhat, by being told that it's normal to get caught in webs but there is this distinct sense that she was expecting to somehow be better than all the bugs and other wayward explorers and dodge all the webbing and be super cool and dodge all the bugs and show totally awesome respect for the wondrous majesty of the killer giant spider monster, but she kept her hair long and that means she's more suspectible to webs rather than less. It's not her fault! Lilian said she looked better with long hair and it was a formative opinion connected to her entry to the multiverse! She takes a breath to steady herself, feeling a little strange for being someone who takes breaths these days, and she tries to slow down. Angela has already made her plan for what she intends to do after they're done here and she's hyperfocusing on that so she isn't really thinking about hair-grooming. She honestly is sometimes tempted to just let it do whatever and not bother at all, half the time it styles itself when she equips an EGO anyway, but she's already committed! She admires White's decision to essentially rebuild her sense of self. "In a sense that is what all those Meltdowns were about for the Sephirah. Coming to grips with what they lost, and deciding who to be once they had a new life. Perhaps the reason they were necessary was because of that transitional shift of people who have lost sight of themselves to people who better understood themselves. That is why Ayin would not allow me to be gentle. I had to force them to confront themselves when they were very disinclined to do so. The 'Project' wouldn't work otherwise, but ... was it really necessary to do so in such a cruel manner? I'll never know for sure, I suppose. They were my friends, once, but once you torture people for so long--and even in their latest memories of you--even if they grow to understand but only after you've foiled their dreams so you could have a chance of your own--those old friendships are as distant as the hundreds of thousands of years ago it felt like it had begun." Angela thinks of herself now, though. What kind of person does she see future Angela as. She remembers Woz's prophecy, and right now that feels like the only truth before her. Does she dare ask him, this one time, if the story changed? And in the first time Angela has acknowledged the fact she was glimpse to the future, Angela admits to White. "Woz looked into my future once. He said that he saw myself in a grand Library, confronted by my fellow Sephirah. I probably killed them. He said I spent 'much' of my time in the Library after, possibly ''all'' my time. I was so angry." She sighs. "Even though I 'won' in that future, it made me so angry I almost cut ties completely with him right then and there--and his partner. I suppose much like Sougo himself, I am ... ill at ease at becoming this future self. What is the point of all that if I hardly ever leave? But also ... what was the damn point of helping them through all their problems if I just have to ''kill'' them anyway because they grew up." It's tough to talk about and she admits, "Thank you for saying I don't have to choose that."
Angela	It's a Spider Bud, so what? The Spider Bud doesn't really know the term 'candy' exactly, but it understands meat. There's a moment of tension as the Spider Bud's spiky limbs stab downward towards White when she teleports tiny spiders away--but then it seems to recognize they were merely ... moved and it peels back. Angela lets out another breath, her hand pulling away from the book she draws her EGO out from. "An offering of meat...? For the children... How generous..." The corpses sob. Spider Bud seems concerned with feeding her children first. The tiny spiders swarm the dragon tail fillet in an instant. "...We wished to offer you a new home, if you wish it. Right now this book is your world, but if you wish to move--we may be able to help you." Angela says. "Move...? Where?"
White	White, in all her similarities with Angela, still hasn't experienced the kind of social miseries that Angela is familiar with after years of her experiences in Lobcorp with the Sephirah. White isn't a very lucky person, but in this particular area, she's more fortunate; her closest allies and confidants from home all either owe her something significant, or recieved help from her at their darkest moments. White isn't even personally aware of what her actions meant to each of them, but it's still... Different. There's a gulf in understanding that she can't quite fill, even when she tries to imagine Angela's worries for herself. The best comparison she does have... Is admittedly the one she feels the most genuine worry over, herself. It's an approximation, but it's not nothing. "... The Demon Lord and I were like that... For a while. Mother-" She has to pause to remind herself to be more specific. "... The Queen Taratect that birthed me when I reincarnated... Was her daughter after all. And I killed her. I had my reasons... And I can't regret it. But it still hurt the Demon Lord. Then, when we fought, I hurt her even more. She did blow me into pieces though." Understandably they're not fond memories at all. "... We were both... Very lucky. But we survived... Long enough. We had time to change... Our minds." Hearing about the prophecy, White takes a small breath. 'Telling the future' is a concept that's alien and unnerving to her, given she places so much importance on her agency and ability to change things. "I see. You... Really hate the idea, then. Being the only one to 'win'." White can't clearly praise or detract such a feeling. She hasn't made up her mind, herself, on whether her own efforts to be more empathetic are even the right choice for her or anyone else. But, she still carries certain simple principles to this day. "... It's important to be... A little greedy. It's... Motivating. To do everything you can... And get as much as you can, of what you want. Maybe... Not everyone will stay forever. But 'as long as you can' is a good goal." Like an afterthought that White is trying to rush past, she murmurs, "... The Demon Lord told me... To practice getting along. Because she didn't... Want me to be alone. I only started trying... Because it was a favor to her. But... I think it's going okay. When I'm not surprised into... Beating up my friends." So, she hopes, Angela should be able to do the same. If she wants to. Once again addressing Spider Bud, White had begun to shift her foot in response to the aggressive movement of spiked limbs, but the misunderstanding resolves itself before she has to do anything intense. She'd squeezed Angela's hand a little too hard, about to pull her along through whatever movement she had in mind, but now she can ease off again. "Mmhm. My world... Has a labyrinth. There's a lot of space... And if you're strong enough... Large prey, too. I used to live there... When I was a spider. My..." She pauses like she's picking her way especially carefully around a bizarre word, "Kin, live there too."
Angela	Angela remembers that times weren't always great between White and Ariel. And she's ... terribly glad that it changed for her. Can people who are in a position to blow up each other decide, what the hey, let's actually team up? Even sort of become a family in their own right? It's ... very much not The Way of the City as she knows it. And, sure, there is still much about The City she doesn't know, but it is a rare thing for people to fight one another and then become close allies. It's far more common for Fixers to stab each other in the back. Usually not coworkers, but people higher up on the totem pole shoveling all the shit down. She understands a little bit better, now, why Shajo and Fox always seemed so furious and less at LobCorp and more the world. No wonder he left once he had a chance to. "I'm glad she did before it was too late." She thinks of Benjamin, briefly. He took too long. And maybe she did too. "It isn't always easy to build--or rebuild--the bonds you should have." ''You... Really hate the idea, then. Being the only one to 'win'.'' "Maybe I am becoming greedier. Reaching only for what everyone should have--It has pulled me closer to my goals, I can't deny that. But I feel more distant from the ones who helped get me there than ever before. Maybe I don't have to be satisfied as a--" She looks up to the Spider Bud, finding--finally--a sense of connection to them as she cuts herself up and stares into those distant but enormous eyes in the dark. "You would... invite us into ''your'' lair With ''your'' Kin?'' Spider Bud seems confused, now, rather than tense and hostile except in the sense that one will get tense and hostile when an alien idea presents itself. "We would be ... competition. Wouldn't you just devour my children in a strange land for us while you know the terrain and its prey? Here, in this cave, easy prey comes to us. We need not leave. This 'story' will sustain us forever." Yes. Angela feels that connection, now, when before she felt nothing with this Abnormality, even as her appreciation for spiders grew. "You can be master of your domain here, alone, forever." Angela admits. "You and your children would never suffer. But they'll also never grow. You will never grow. Satiation but Isolation. If this is your desire ... Then we will not move you. I understand unease at this offer. When White moved your children, you almost thought you lost them. ... But they were fine. If you want to see them grow up, if you wish to live, this is the best place you can go to. But ... I understand the trepidation that comes with the unknown, even when it is within reach. As siblings held by the same prison, I want to offer this to you." The eyes focus on Angela, then on White. "To see them grow up..." The corpses weep. "We are not of your brood but you'll accept us there? ... I accept your offer."
White	"I'm glad, too." White says, softly but earnestly, as the time for that part of the conversation runs out for the moment. They can always resume later. As long as Angela feels bolstered and hopeful... Well, that's a sign that maybe White is doing something right. It's not something she's done on purpose for very many people, but some have said she can be quite good at giving advice... It's progress, right? Spider Bud's reticence isn't all that strange to White, either. "I don't have a... Big reason. It just feels... Like a shame... Not to offer." She would've been prepared to accept a refusal, and it actually comes as a slight surprise that Spider Bud seems to acquiesce of her own accord, after Angela's likewise persuasive explanation. Angela had been getting help with the other Abnormalities before, so White thought she was uncomfortable or lacking confidence in parlaying with them, but... "... My Mother was much... Less kind to her children... Than you seem to be. There are..." Another moment of hesitation, slightly longer than her usual. "Children there, in the labyrinth. They grew up strong... With their siblings... And no-one else. Maybe you can help... Each other. So your kids grow up strong, too. And maybe you can help... The rest of the world love spiders, too. Someday." Maybe it's a bit 'pie in the sky', and that last bit was thrown in haphazardly at the end, because she didn't exactly plan out a whole speech or anything, but... If any world was right for spiders who think and speak and wish, wouldn't it be hers? Maybe they won't get along in the end, but maybe they will. Turning to Angela, White asks, "Do you think... We can take them all... Straight there? Or does the 'story' need to be finished first, to free them..? I can have the baby-tachi-" White tangibly winces as that personal nickname sneaks out before she can think better of it. "... My kin, organize to help them find... A good nesting spot. Either in the first... or third stratum." It seems like, as time endlessly marches on, White comes closer and closer to having to eventually admit she's sort of an absentee mother. It doesn't count, she swears, but maybe it kind of technically sort of maybe does? Maybe she can get away without explaining a little longer...
Angela	Angela might be feeling more bolstered and hopeful than White realizes. Spider Bud is not an absentee mother. If anything, it might be an overprotective mother. In the world of spiders, it's a little weird to be concerned for one spider out of a thousands, right? Angela knows, of course, that the beastly Abnormalities aren't just spiders or wolves, they are also human. They all count as human by The City, by her world, by her coworkers and their creators. They're monsters, yes, and they are stories, but they are stories birthed by a human and so they, too, are human. They couldn't tell a truly alien story if they tried because a true alien would be beyond their experience and understanding. And even if Carmen could, she was enthralled by humanity. A more loving enthrallment than the Head seems to carry, something Carmen felt she had but the world would deny her. Humanity. And in truth, Angela still isn't sure that something like that is hers, even beyond the matters of blood and bile. Something absent in her mind and soul, maybe not torn wholly away from her understanding but spirited away far enough that she feels neither human nor alien nor beast. Perhaps if she had been born in that world, she could have been an arcanist and suffered alongside them in a world too far, but she would have suffered with them. The hell would have been shared and she wouldn't have had to be its warden. A simple life, ultimately taken away by the Storm oblivious to its nature, but it wouldn't have been so lonely. ...But even as this in-between entity that is neither alien or human, Angela doesn't feel utter isolation anymore. Not even now, as she feels those she loved are moving away from her or perhaps she is the one propelling herself apart from them. Deep down, under her conscious thought, she knows that she still can't accept that she cared about Cinder and let her stay dead so she wouldn't have to repeat those Meltdowns even once more. She could justify it, say that it wouldn't have been the Cinder that she knew, that Petra knew. But it still feels like she murdered her and burned the corpse so even Kukuru couldn't reach her. The idea of a world that loves spiders is insane to Spider Bud, a beast that sees the world as prey and predator and knows all too well that it's the smallest of spiders that are killed as afterthoughts, as moments of instinctual repulsed panic. Slaughtered in an instant, and then forgotten almost as quickly. Maybe a little story to tell and then forgotten. Angela too thinks it's unlikely, even if she might like to think otherwise. Humans don't even love humans, the normal doesn't even love normal. That, too, is a truth of The City. She can't hide the quiet clenching of her fist in the dark from White or Spider Bud. Their vision is too sharp. But Angela was not like Laetitia, was she? She wasn't born into this world loving spiders or having any feelings for them at all. And, of course, White is as much a Spider these days, at least, as an Abnormality is. She is also, in the end, both alien and human. Maybe there's a lot more people who are both these things out there than she thought. Even humans, after all, can find themselves being both these things without any futurist technology or mystical nonsense or unusual bodies. How many people has she seen as both these things out in the Multiverse? Too many to think she is a being of utter solitude anymore. She learned to love the spiders in the world. In the end, all she had to do was try and it was remarkably easy.
Angela	"And even if that is beyond the world..." Angela murmurs. "There will still be the outcasts so it isn't so bad." A strangely hopeful thing for Angela to say, but hey--she is feeling bolstered and hopeful today. She might as well enjoy it while it lasts. White asks an important question. Teleport them directly or finish the book. Normally, Angela would think it not just best to finish the book first, but also a mandatory element of the process. But her sense of narrative is telling her something different this time, that the appropriate way to wrap this all up is for White to take them directly over. But despite White using the word 'we', there is no way for Angela to join her on this sojourn. And the longer they've been in this book, a greedy little need has been rising up in the back of Angela's throat, one that is imperiled by moving them directly universes away. "It feels like it could be done. Maybe because we are in the Library proper and the Light is heavy here and so the barrier between the River and the world is thin. But ... I could not go with you, of course. I'd have to stay here--ahh but that would've been the case anyway. It's just--" Baby-tachi. And then the ammendment to kin. Angela can't stop herself, she snrks a little and the uncertainty fades away. She looks up at the eyes in the sky. She takes a breath, and then lets it out slowly. "...No, I suppose I am being a bit foolish. But before you go." She checks under her feet and around, very cautiously. Makes sure there is no room for an accidental disaster to suddenly fuck everything up, and then sets down the basket, pulls her hand free from White's and instead places both of hers on White's shoulders, then pushes them back and wrapsw them around her back before leaning in to kiss White on the lips. "I love you White." She presses her forehead against White. With practice, it'll be easier. So she just has to keep at it. She tries to think of some poignant thing to add on top of that but ultimately she settles on. "That's all I wished to say. Have a safe trip." It's even more ridiculous to wish White a safe trip since she's basically a nigh-unstoppable deity in Angela's eyes, but she wanted to say that anyway.
White	About 'the outcasts', White nods. That is how it was for her, too. Most would assume the worst of her, but some would see her actions in a sympathetic light, or come to understand her motivations, or simply found themselves benefitted by trusting her to do what she would. There were people who simply valued all life, too, like Oka-sensei. There would always be a place for a peaceful spider, somewhere. White is slightly surprised to hear that the story needn't be finished, but takes it in stride. She's distracted just a brief moment, passing a message along through her special agent 'network' to the hundreds of Horo Neia in the Elroe Labyrinth, to start preparing them for an arrival. It wasn't much warning to be given about new roommates, but a combination of familiarity with White's relatively uncompromising way of ordering them around and the vast unoccupied spaces in the labyrinth would easily soften that particular blow. Before she can further her planning any more, she gets just as far as pointing to her phone like she's going to show Angela something before she notices the unusual shifting. In pure unknowing caution, she leans to either side while Angela adjusts her footing to ensure- like Angela is- that there won't be any accidents with any baby spiders. Her eyes follow the basket down, and Angela's hand away from her own. Her eyes slightly narrow in concern, then widen again in understanding. Oh. So it was time for that after all. The place is a bit odd, but- As Angela reaches around her shoulders and back, White reaches around Angela's waist and lower back in turn, with the kind of light-fingered delicacy she could only ever display for something she hadn't ever practiced. She realizes with less than half of her minds that you're supposed to close your eyes during a kiss, and she gets about three-quarters of the way there, but her right eye is still awkwardly halfway open by the time their lips touch, looking up one more time before effortfully lidding shut. The kiss is probably too short for her to really make any adjustments or mirror Angela one way or another, so she only gets quite as far as leaning a little into it by the time it's over. Her eyes open again almost as soon as their mouths separate, leaving her soft-glowing pupils fixed on Angela's own eyes from very close together, as their foreheads touch. She seems stunned in the next moment, trying to figure out if she did anything wrong, paying particularly too much attention to how her own face must look right now, and forgetting to untwine her hands from around Angela's back when the moment is past. Maybe she doesn't blush as much as a normal person might, but there's a slight pink tinge that's almost never present in her cheeks, now. Angela might mistake it with the light of White's own eyes, though, given the darkness. "I... Love you too..." is said back slowly, and by the time White's mouth is shut she's self-consciously looking down after staring at Angela's eyes for, perhaps, slightly too long. She seems to wonder if she should say more, but hearing that Angela only had that much for now makes her nod instead. She'll... Take the time to think, for next time she needs to be more eloquent. It's kind of merciful, really. "... It'll be easy. Nothing to worry about. Thank you."