Edderkopp - Drider!Loki

Eight

I stumbled down from the rock, my legs nearly giving out, if it hadn't been for the rock itself being there for me to fall back against then I was sure I'd have ended up on the dirt floor.

We had set off from Loki's first thing in the morning, giving ourselves an early night and early rise in order to make the most of the time that we would get, using the hours in between to talk over a plan of action.

Not that there was much to plan at this point beyond; Let's find the naga.

"I thought you said he wasn't far," I panted, feeling a tightness in my chest that usually only reared its head when I'd been running.

"And he isn't," Loki replied casually, scuttling over the rock with ease, "your small human legs are just making it longer."

I glared up at him before slowly easing myself down to sit on the ground, shifting my bag around in the process.

Setting it between my legs, I hastily unclasped it and started to rifle through for my canteen of water.

Luckily, I'd managed to scrounge plenty for this journey before leaving the village to return to Loki with the story, so now my pack was filled with long dated food and water, as well as pouches of tea and soup to be warmed when I settled for the night.

Hopefully, it would be enough to tide me over until we near another village, depending on where this journey would take us.

Tilting my head towards the sky, I closed my eyes let out a long sigh.

Night was falling upon us faster than I had hoped, a day had already been wasted and it felt like we had gotten nowhere fast.

"We should probably set up for the night," I said, opening my eyes again and lifting my head to look towards Loki.

His attention as focused towards the sky, a small frown furrowing his brow.

"I think it's going to rain tonight."

"Again?" I sighed, rubbing my forehead.

"Yes," he looked down at him then flickered his eyes between the trees, "I may be able to put up a web before it hits, just some insulation from the rain to keep us dry and warm."

"That would be appreciated, I can light my fire and heat up some food."

I started digging through my bag again then stopped, looking up at him.

"You can eat human food, right?"

"To an extent, though it's usually better if it's soft or liquid."

"Right, makes sense," I nodded, pulling out a large canteen, "luckily, I have soup."

He gave a brief nod and I stood up, turning on the spot.

"So, where would you deem the best place to set up our little love shack?"

Loki looked down at me with squinted eyes, shaking his head a little at the confusion.

"Pardon?"

I rolled my eyes and put my hands on my hips, smiling widely.

"Sorry, I'll dumb it down a little, where good place to make web?"

It was his turn to roll his eyes, his mandibles clicking in irritation.

"I merely wondered about your wording, not what it meant," he shook his head.

"Okay, don't get your mandibles in a twist."

"And another thing, they are not 'mandibles', they are called chelicerae."

"Oh," I said, my eyebrows raising along with the pitch of my voice, "duly noted."

Loki nodded then scuttled past me, heading towards a set of four trees that created a wonky semi-circle with a thick canopy of leaves hanging above.

"I feel that here would be best," he called over his shoulder, inspecting the branches, "the trees have overlapping branches which keep the leaves together nicely, so it shouldn't take me too long to get at least the start of shelter up before the rain starts."

"All right," I started to make my way over, climbing over a few smaller rocks which gave our intended sleeping area a small platform, "you work your magic and I'll focus on clearing the ground so there's space for us."

After scouting the area a little more, we gave each other a look and then started on our individual tasks.

Luckily, the ground was mostly clear and didn't take a long of adjusting, only a couple of rocks and fallen branches needed to be moved to make the room that I needed to settle down.

Once I made a fire pit with some of the smaller bits of rock and twig, I used a light bit of magic to get a blaze going to keep us both warm.

Every so often as I worked, I would glance up to watch Loki working his own magic, weaving in a way only a master could, the webbed canopy coming together in next to no time.

By the time I had poured some of the soup and had it heating in a pan over the fire, light droplets of rain started to fall and Loki had created the thickest webbing he could.

"It'll do for now, but it's not my best work," he sighed as he eased himself beside me.

"As long as it keeps us mostly dry, that's what matters."

We fell out of conversation, watching the soup as it started to bubble as the sounds of the forest surrounded us.

I felt more secure with Loki than I had while trekking through by myself, not only because he was quite large and terrifying upon first meeting but also because he offered a knowledgeable insight into the forest's nooks and crannies that could prove useful during our outing.

Leaning forward, I set my wooden spoon into the pan and gave the soup a good stir.

"You never did tell me why you're travelling."

I paused for a moment before sitting back, adjusting my cloak around my shoulders as a chilled breezed crept in from my right side, the rain getting harder as darkness descended.

"I guess I just wanted something different," I shrugged, "typical, fantasy 'I want' bull, you know?"

"Not really" he shook his head, "but I think I get it, was it that bad where you came from?"

"Honestly? No, it was just so mundane and monotonous," I shook my head, leaning back on my hands. "Day in and day out it was the same routine, everyone did the same thing and nothing ever changed, it was peaceful but so dull."

"So you left? Just like that?"

"Pretty much," I shrugged, "I got a taste of the forest and what was beyond our village and wanted more."

"That's all?"

I stared into the fire, nodding slowly as thoughts of my first day beyond the village limits stirred up, leading to the one memory that always came up on a loop whenever I allowed myself to linger too long.

"Yeah," I nodded, sitting up to stir the soup again by means if distraction, "that's all."