The Ultimate Predator! [Summons Quest]

[/i]. Sounds like a perfect description of me, I thought sourly. I never would have figured out that irritating little contraption by myself - never ever. I supposed that was why none of the spiders seemed to give a shit about anything I said or did - maybe I was just an extension of her, in their eyes. If that was the case, why wasn't I dead?

I exhaled, managing to avoid casting a glance at Isabella, who walked at my side through this wet, irritating forest - that might've been a little awkward. I balled my gloved hands into fists. All I could do, I resolved, was be a bit more astute in future. These ancient spider-things were a crafty lot, and unfortunately they seemed to expect that quality in others as well. It made me wonder what other little 'tests' they'd give us along the way - assuming there were others, and that they were watching. It had better not involve putting Isabella in harm's way - a trickster or no, I doubt Baelor could operate with all eight of his limbs crammed down his throat.

I'd meant what I said.

As if on cue, Isabella bumped lightly into my side, and it made me smile. Whatever other shit might have been happening, I still had her. Even when the trees thickened, darkness fell and the rain began to pour, my all-enduring coat soaked right through, I could remind myself of that, and it did make me happier.

Baelor halted us after a good fucking while, nothing particularly noteworthy really having occurred along the way. Morphing back into his true spider form, he had quickly created a shelter for himself, while we were left out in the cold and the wet and the dark. I said nothing, as that was apparently counter-productive, merely stared indignantly at his spidery burrow and spread my arms wide. "Dick." I muttered. I had no clue how to build any sort of shelter out in the wilderness; that had never really been a problem I'd had to overcome, before. Fortunately, seemingly as always, Isabella had an idea.

...Fifteen meters was a big fucking slab, but before I could reply she had already hardened the earth at her feet, the area somewhat visible by its separation from the moist earth around it - it was rock now. Solid fucking rock. I mumbled something incoherent before moving to the edge of the slab and crouching down just beside where Isabella had formed it, and dug my fingers into the ground, managing to find the other side of the huge rock. I grunted heavily, putting all my not-so-feminine physical strength into the effort, but I could only manage to heft it a few inches off of the ground. I dropped it with irritation - shit was always too fucking difficult for me! - before I mulled again over what Isabella had said, not looking at her until I had produced some form of result, god damn it. Three and a half meters I knew I could lift easily.

An idea formed in my mind - a rare occasion, and one that earned a singular clap of celebration as it occurred to me, a slightly metallic clang ringing out from my gauntlets. "How about..." I would say in preparation, strolling out to where I judged the rough center of the rock slab was. I raised my right arm up high, before - "... this!" - swinging down hard in a ridiculously potent guillotine punch - where my knuckles thudded into the rock, out snaked four long fissures that effectively divided the rock into four nearly-equal parts.

I gave a little laugh of success - I might not be smart in any high mental art, but at least I knew how to well apply my physical body to the world around me. Also, even I knew that fifteen divided by four was... roughly three and a half. A bit more. I turned back to Isabella from my island of solid - but now split - rock. "So... what am I doing with these?" I queried, my joy lingering, actually not entirely sure what the design of this shelter was meant to be.[/ul][/justify]

"Setting them long ways in the ground, and then I will make a top and we can put that on next." She pointed again at the ground before stopping and thinking hard for a moment. She then looked at the spot where baelor was and smiled to herself, a wide, deceptive grin that was very unnatural to her features.

"Yes, yes set those up long ways if you will please Kaoru..." She trailed off in her haste, quickly approaching within 10 meters of Baelors pit and kicked the dirt he had burrowed loose for his pit, onto her trap door before repeating her handseals. Slamming her palm into the soil, the ground began to harden rapidly, crackling almost in its intensity and the soil over the trap door began to harder to a degree. Certainly he could simply burrow out at a different location right?

She nodded to herself as she turned back to Kaoru to survey the scene, waiting for the reaction she was testing for. "All done Kaoru?" The night had grown dark quick, and with such little sunlight, they were forced to move and build quickly, communication would be key at this time of night, but when they had shelter, Isabella would have her eyes absolutely keen to everything within 100 meters.

[OOC: Again, not much to add, continue on as you like]

The ground hardened just as Isabella desired, the silk covered trap door locked fast to the ground-that-was-now-rock around it. Whether or not Baelor seemed to mind this treatment Isabella wouldn't know however. He made no noise. No chittering voice, or even the creak of huge arachnid legs could be heard. There was silence in the earth. Either Baelor had decided to sleep, or at least the semi-relaxed spider equivalent, or he didn't mind the roof of his shelter being made even better at keeping the rain out.

Either way, it seemed nothing was going to happen until morning...

[/i]. Digging holes in the rain. What next? Holy shit, I... well, I didn't have anything to say, really. I supposed that if I was needed then it was alright... Surely Isabella could have used further earth manipulation to do the task herself, though?

Maybe not, or maybe I was just being patronized; or maybe, as a third possibility, she was simply too exhausted to. She looked and sounded dead on her feet, and any smidgeon of irritation and suspicion given to the mundane task vanished as I realized this. "Are you o-" I began to say, but bit back the pointless words. Of course she wasn't, she had suffered more stress than I had today, was being put to the test of an apparently much more personal level, leading my half-useless ass across the country and battling with a broken rib and probably the after-effects of whatever sedative the spiders had injected her with - oh man, that thought irked me, even if it was in her best interest. "No, of course not. Shut up, Kaoru." I finished in a mumble.

So I had to dig out this thing. This thing that was in front of me. A flat slate of rock, supposedly with supports underneath it. I couldn't really imagine what Isabella had devised now, but I trust that it worked. I took a glance around, and decided that I'd make use of those rock bits I'd already split; I took one from its own rooted spot in the ground and got to work.

'Twas an awkward task, indeed, and not one that was very glamorous or impressive, scraping, heaving and hefting - but it got done, and soon enough the thing beneath the ground was revealed, fully accessible. I tossed the muddied slab away from me and slumped, a little exhausted, breathing a little heavily, but I was otherwise okay. Probably still better off than her. I glanced behind me, a little sheepishly; I was rather muddied myself, which was kinda embarrassing... for some reason. "I'm a mess..." I laughed, wondering privately why I gave a shit. I never had before... not really. I guess I just didn't feel up to the standard of present company. I mean, Isabella probably wasn't looking her most prim or proper as of this exact moment, but she was still... beautiful, as always.

"Anyway, um..." My thoughts could not be allowed to take me completely over. "I don't... can we rest now? You look tired." That might not have been the most flattering statement, but I didn't know how else to put it. I was a little drained as well, but that wasn't nearly as worth mentioning.[/ul][/justify]

Down but not out, Isabella woke to the thick humid air of the jungle, the heat only magnified by the dense water vapor that hung in the air. Unfortunately the towering shadows of the maidens of the forest didn't make for a much better wake up call. "What the hell..." She mumbled as the behemoth of a woman shouted her demands at them. Her head swam and her thoughts were scrambled, the only thing she could think about, was going home at this point.

"We are on a mission from Takigakure, this is my partner Kaoru." she gestured in the kunoichi's direction, though not daring to take her eyes off of the woman. she was unsure if Kaoru was awake, but she planned to negotiate some sort of abstinence or treaty if possible. "During our mission we grew sidetracked, our map lost and the paths here are overgrown." She lied a bit, refusing the name of the Aranae family in this conversation to prevent further issues. "We are looking for one who calls himself The Piper, he is indebted to the nation of Taki no Kuni and we wish to simply find and reason with the man...or woman...or...thing..."

The taught stretching of the bow strings set her on edge, ready to sound blast the woman with her Melody Arm and use her as bargaining material if need be. "Who even are you anymore, Isabella?" She thought aloud, using another human as a shield was low even for her, she believed in equality and the like for everyone, but the survival of Kaoru and herself depended on it, and no matter what she was not going to fail her only friend left in this world.

"Surely we can come to a reasonable agreement." She stared up into the wild trackers eyes, her own hard and determined, fierce even with her self proclaimed resolve...no one was going to stop her from achieving her intended goal. 'My friend here is innocent, simply following me out of worry and concern, she has no play in any of this I assure you, if anything I will head with you to where ever you need but I do ask you let her be, or at least assure me no harm will come of her." She could feel the sickness in her throat, the way it made her chest rasp when she breathed.

"Spiders huh?" The series of events that followed up tot he simplistic conversation was mind numbing. She hadn't fully grasped the situation at hand, only that their captors had now turned out to be allies to women and even stranger so, neutral allies to the spiders. That didn't change a damn thing though, neutral neighbors still harbored negative attitudes towards one another, and she thought it best to continue feigned ignorance to the presence of the massive spiders.

"I have never heard of such bizarre creatures existing in Taki nor any other forest within the ninja countries. Perhaps you could provide some further insight to them for me and my friend?" She hated to be so secretive, but not too long ago these same women had been aiming deadly bows at that with no sign of indifference or remorse, so she had more than a sound reasoning to remain distant intellectually about the subject.

"As a matter of fact, me and Kaoru have only recent heard talk about some Piper who had been wrecking havoc in Taki and surrounding forested regions, we are here to deal with him specifically." She nodded nonchalantly, casting a defensive stare at Kaoru for a moment before resuming facing forward. "How long have you all lived here though? This is no pleasant environment, with all the predators and poisonous fauna." She was rather impressed but would not let momentary curiosity derail her from her mission.

[OOC: We'll be exiting this thread and moving to the Amazon village official threads when appropriate, and returning to this thread once you leave the village.]

The Amazonian moved with a purposeful stride through the vast forest, stopping only every so often to check some plant, peer up at the sky through the branches for a long moment, or giving a bird call to the surroundings to be replied by one of the scouts. Obviously she was using the signs of the forests in order to guide them closer and closer to the Amazonian village, but she never replied to any questions as to what she was doing, and she often changed directions, purposefully avoiding animal paths or especially overgrown vegetation. Soon they were far from their original position, and the duo would be completely lost. Apparently the Amazons didn't like people knowing where their village was, whether or not they were women...

"The Pied Piper, eh? Yes we've had some trouble with a masked man who called himself such recently. Mostly harassing our scouts and patrols, and many of the slaves have been getting... restless lately. Pfah!" The Amazon gave a loud grunt of disgust, her face distorting into an ugly mask of hate and annoyance, "If we didn't need men for breeding I'd kill them all on principle. Disgusting, useless brutes! The only good a man is as a slave or sex toy, sisters. Remember that.

"They aren't like us women, sisters. We who can join with the land as equals, to work with it and trade with it without harming it. Men always need to dominate, to subjugate. Well, in the City of the Amazons it is women who dominate, men who are subjugated." The Amazonian turned back to the women and grinned, "We're almost there, sisters, and then we can get your ribs healed. Don't bother denying it, I can see someone hiding a broken ribcage. Also, one of those talking spiders you've never met told me you had suffered being slammed into a tree by their foot.

"I think you pass the test they set though. You were quite good in your deception. Not too grandiose a lie, plenty of truth mixed in. I've no stomach for it, but Spiders live through deception, so I think you'll do good as one of their... messengers." The Amazonian turned back to her path, heading towards her village, acting as if she hadn't just dropped a bombshell by calling out Isabella's deception.