#[this lair is mine - estelle - spider queen]

[funnel-webbed-au]

To Sydney: Your venom is caustic? Does it ever cause some pain in your teeth or wherever you shoot it from?

The arachnid grasps his throat as he attempts to speak his reply, just lucid enough to be able to form the words. What instead escapes his throat is a voice so strained that it doesn't feel natural.

It's forced.

"...stress... always... hurts..." It's all he can manage before he coughs up his own shining, tainted ichor, blighted by the same venom that altered his mind so harshly. His hisses of pain and caustic venom draw the attention of Estelle, who comes to his side before the comm speaker repeats the question at her prompting.

She sighs, her expression becoming solemn as she gathers herself. How to put it... ah. She clears her throat, gathering herself. No. She couldn't afford to break just yet, no matter how much seeing her eldest minion in such pain frightened her. He'd recover; there was nothing she could do for his aching throat, not yet, at least.

"His venom drips from his fangs. It doesn't burn his mouth, but it can erode his vocal chords. This is why he's so messy with his venom. His regeneration can keep up with the damage anywhere else, but this case is the exception, and he needs time to heal." She crosses her arms as she hands Sydney a cup of honeyed tea, which grants some sweet relief from the caustic substance dripping from his fangs.

[funnel-webbed-au]

Mutiny

Tag List: @skellebonez

2. A.M.

Syntax closed his laptop with a soft sigh, then narrowed his eyes. There would be Hell for the unforgivable, horrible things that Estelle had done, to him, and to all of them. She'd lied to Esmeralda, she'd lied to her now henchmen. It was only fair that he lie to her about what his true intentions were, about what he meant to do now that he had decided to stay for now.

He was going to tear her apart, steal everything that mattered to her, just like she'd stolen his humanity. He couldn't go home with the first member of his family he'd met in a decade. No one would recognize him but his cousin, who was stuck here with him, stuck here because of him.

If only he hadn't been so naive. Maybe he could have prevented this. Now, though, there wasn't any use quietly tearing himself apart over it. Syntax wrapped up the injuries on his forearms, throwing the blade away as he did so. No. There was no use in letting this grief fester, he had to do something with this wrath.

So, the spider prowled through the cursed passageways of the cavern he begrudgingly called home, passing by a number of different chambers as he moved. Every footstep was filled with purpose, filled with wrath and anger and hate.

She wasn't getting away with this.

He wouldn't let her.

The smaller spider crossed the threshold into Estelle's room, his intentions fully masked. He couldn't let her know, not yet at least. When she took notice of him, he nodded at her, forcing a smile that she couldn't tell was a lie.

She'd taught him too well how to lie.

It wasn't long before his claws were at her throat, his eyes drilling into hers.

"You took everything from me, from us. You stole our humanity. If you think I'll let you live after this, you're sorely mistaken." His voice was deathly quiet, for rage never makes a sound. He was going to make her pay for everything she'd done. She'd stolen things from him he could never take back, and as the venom dripped down his claws, Estelle knew he was going to kill her. The fear rendered her paralyzed. His claws were so close to her throat, so sharp, so well refined...

It was only fitting that it would be used against her now, for after all, she'd ruined his chances of finding a home in the Megapolis. If he was going to die here, despondent and alone, he was going to take her with him, with the very same weapons that were once used in her service.

Alas, the footsteps of his beloved adopted mother forced him to leave Estelle alone. As Esmeralda entered the room, she was too late to see what Syntax was trying to do. His claws were clean now, as were his fangs, and both of them knew damn well that Esmeralda would never believe her partner. Syntax, no Pierre, maintained too good of a facade of complacency for anyone to suspect him just yet.

While the jade scorpion went to comfort the obsidian spider, Syntax simply huffed, then sighed, as he always did when he was upset about something... or seemed so. His cruel, venomous green eyes made his former master shiver, because now she knew.

Her minions no longer served her.

She wasn't safe from them anymore.

[funnel-webbed-au]

The Parents™️

To say he was nervous would be an understatement. He had realised some time ago that his daughter's future happiness rested on his shoulders, and he couldn't quite come to terms with it enough to reduce his anxiety. Yang Jian, Erlang Shen, the Arbiter of Justice, was worrying about meeting someone new. How silly. Never had he once been more nervous in all his years, and he had seen the battlefield several times.

The reason why this particular person made him so nervous? Well, she was none other than Zhīzhū Jīng, the Spider Queen. Not many people were taller than him, but she definitely had at least a few inches on him and he was quite intimidated by it. He didn't know her personally, but he knew full well that she could take him down within moments if they didnt get along.

Even still, he couldn't let that fear stop him, not when the spider was the honorary mother of the one his daughter adored. He had to make an effort. For her. Not even his extreme slight fear would convince him to back out of it, not when he was so stubborn and brave. Where had the young Deity he'd once been gone, hm? That idiot's foolishness would have served him well in that moment.

He checked his clothes, makeup and hair one more time before he exited his chambers, making sure that there was not a thread out of place. He wanted to make a good first impression, and he'd been raised to believe that a person's clothes often tainted everyone else's view of them. Whether that was true or not was another question, but anything that was believed in could have been the truth, so he didn't mull over it for too long.

Lian seemed incredibly excited to see him looking so prepared, and the way her face lit up brought some hope to his own expression for a brief moment before he schooled it into a pleasant smile that would hopefully win over the spider he was about to meet for the first time. He could vaguely hear the Princess talking, but her words became muddled when they mixed with his own sea of thoughts.

He inhaled one last deep breath through his nose before he set one hand on the door and used what little strength he had to push it open. The sight he was met with was certainly not the one he had been expecting, but he refused to let it show on his face so the smile stayed. Not just one massive spider, but a second one who looked to be somewhat human and a giant Water Demon.

Hoo boy, they were intimidating.

Still, he smiled and shook each of their hands when given the opportunity and greeted them in the most cleanly spoken Mandarin any of them had heard in years. He was setting the standards incredibly high (he hoped) and wanted to see if they would meet them and become his extended family. He... sort of wanted them to. As much as he had opposed the idea of his only daughter marrying a Demon at first, she had not given up and somehow managed to convince him. She was stubborn like that.

After Zhīzhū had gotten over the initial shock of her Mandarin name being pronounced nigh on perfectly, the conversation went almost incredibly smoothly, with many shared interests being discovered between the two parents and a close bond being formed almost instantly. It was honestly surprising how quickly they got along, especially for the engaged couple that were watching.

This... this was beauty, right there, in Jian's living room. He adored her protective personality, and she enjoyed his passion for his family. What better combination could either of them have asked for? They both knew that they would most likely work fantastically in a team together, and they were going to work hard to make that goal reachable. For the sake of their kids.

It was amazing what a parent would do.

[funnel-webbed-au]

Queenie knew something was wrong when one of her spiders was still in his lair long after dinner had been called. She could have sworn she caught a glimpse of him, but they were gone just fast. Against her better judgement, the Spider Queen chose to venture into the web-drenched, cavernous chamber that her eldest spider had made their nest in. As she entered, the webs around her glistened with a strange coating that she recognized all too well.

The ceiling of the cave dripped with horrible, sickly green liquid, a deterrent for most who would enter... but not all. Estelle winced as she raised an arm over her face. The caustic substance that dripped onto her burned through the chitin on her forearm, which drew hisses from the ancient Demon. His venom was something, alright. After all, it's where the name she'd given him came from.

Every drop of the greenish-yellow fluid carried with it the potential to erode almost every metal she put in front of it. For now, though, she knew only that these episodes were here to stay. Whatever memories plagued him in the night brought out the worst in him when he should have been most comfortable in the darkness of his lair.

Estelle called out for her minion, praying he would reply to his new name just as readily as his old one. "Sydney!" The Spider Queen paled as she was met with a territorial hiss, then glanced around wildly. She had to know where he had perched himself, where he was likely going to strike from.

A flash came from the stalactites, and she had her answer as she caught a brief glimpse of the webs that had been expertly laden between the formations. He truly lived up to the spider she'd named him after.

She jumped back, narrowly saving herself from an unrestrained claw strike that would have shattered the armor on her abdomen like a hammer taken to glass. The wild look in the funnel web spider's eyes chilled her already tainted blood all the way to her core. Estelle bore her fangs, then put up a silk barrier in front of her as quickly as she could, just in time to capture her minion in it as he lunged a second time. One would mistake him for a jumping spider with how sudden and violent his attacks could be.

While Sydney writhed in the silk, jaws dripping with caustic venom, his master coughed up blood. The longer she stayed here, the more danger she'd be in. She always had to tread lightly in her strongest minion's lair, for a number of reasons.

The moment her hands rested on his marred cheeks, the black haired spider paused. It was such a tender touch... something he'd craved throughout his entire life. He'd missed this care, missed this tenderness. His arms fell limply to his sides underneath his superior's pacifying caresses, and the instinct that had outlined his behaviors disappeared... for now.

"That's right. Queenie's here, I ain't gonna hurt you." Estelle ran one of her hands through his hair. The mixed blood being before her shivered as a soft hiss escaped him, but he didn't move, which pulled a sigh of relief from the larger spider. He wouldn't hurt her this time... she hoped.

Sydney and Estelle are now open for asks.