Spider Queen (Completed)

Angel No

1 and Daddy used to go camping once a month, they left Friday afternoon and returned Sunday midnight. That meant it was poker night on Friday evening.

Jill was just over the first trimester in her pregnancy. Mother was hosting the game tonight. It was mother, Jill, Ruby and May and two of mother's best friends.

They played poker, it was also the only time Ruby saw mother smiling and relaxed, mother would also slowly sip white wine all night. "I am still wondering where 1 goes when they go camping" Jill asked while dealing out the cards.

Mother picked up her cards and moved them around in her hand and said "They're probably just a bunch of men farting and drinking and doing macho things".

"I actually don't want to know" Ruby said looking at her matchstick pile "what they do is their business".

"Maybe they hunt wild boar naked" May giggled.

"I doubt" mother said, "Okay – your bets please ladies" and mother sipped another more white wine.

They played until 2 in the morning; mother had the biggest heap of matches at midnight. After midnight May won all the rounds and eventually cleared the table. Jill dropped off Ruby and May at Silkwood and waved them goodbye as she hovered away.

They sat in the small kitchen, Ruby was having mushrooms and milk and May fed LD50 a piece of something yellow.

"What are you feeding LD50" Ruby asked.

"My leftover wild shroom" May said.

Ruby knew May was doing wild shrooms, May wouldn't even tell her the name of the dealer either, apparently it was so illegal the dealer would get 1000 years hard labor if caught. Every other narcotic was legal and regulated, only wild shrooms were illegal. So Ruby didn't ask again who the dealer was, she didn't want to be responsible for sending someone to prison for 1000 years.

When May got a new batch of shrooms she would feed a piece of the shrooms to LD50 to check if the shrooms were Toxic. "But that will kill your hamster if it's toxic and then you are going to cry" Ruby said the first time she saw LD50 take a piece of wild shroom. "Then at least I won't die and make you cry" May had said then gave her a peck on the cheek.

Ld50 munched on the leftover shroom then went back to his wheel. He just ran a bit faster than normal and drank water more often when he had eaten shrooms, he didn't do anything fantastic like sort and pack his seeds alphabetically so Ruby guessed it was okay.

"Why do you take the stuff anyway" Ruby asked.

"As hard as it is to believe Ruby, it relaxes my mind; I am a Mentat after all". "If your body is sore you take weed, if your heart is hurting you take happy pills and when my mind is tired I take wild shrooms".

The answer had satisfied Ruby; they both undressed and cuddled up in bed.

Ruby and May hit the tent market Saturday afternoon after 2. They had their sk8boards strapped to their backs and walked through the market. There was a tent that sold mini statues; by mini it meant they were thumb sized and smaller. Ruby was bent over the table looking at the mini statues on the table; Ruby was very deep in thought. Ruby felt a hand groping her butt, she stood up too fast and knocked the table over sending all the statues flying, she swung around and made ready to slap someone. It was May, May was grinning from ear to ear. "I couldn't resist" May said.

"I'm gonna make you pay for that" Ruby said now going red in the face.

May slid up to her, grabbed Ruby's butt and pulled Ruby in closer. May drew her face closer to Ruby and whispered "You can make me pay tonight when we're both hot and naked". May gave her the best kiss they had ever shared in public. "I will be at the tent with all those old books" May said as she walked away.

Ruby helped with picking up the small statues and bent over the table again to look at the statues after making sure her skirt wasn't showing too much. After about ten minutes she found one she liked, it was a miniature of a white hamster with glasses sitting in comfy chair reading a book.

While the woman was wrapping up the tiny present she asked Ruby how long Ruby had been with May. "A few months now" Ruby answered. "You love her" the woman asked. "With all my heart" Ruby answered. "Think you are going to get bonded" the woman asked as she handed over the newly wrapped present. "As soon as May asks" Ruby said.

In the tent with all the old books Ruby walked up to May. May had a palm sized book in her hand, when May saw Ruby she held up the book and showed it to Ruby. "This one is a forgery" May said, there is no way its more than 10 years old, antique is supposed to be more than 1000 years old". May held the page up to the light and showed Ruby how the ink hadn't drawn into the fibers of the paper properly.

Then may picked up another book, it was 1 foot wide and 1 and a half feet tall, maybe three inches thick. "This one is real" May said. May showed Ruby the small pieces of dust that collected near the binding, the smoother texture of the pages, the slightly yellow corners of the pages where it had been paged over and lastly the smell of the old paper, it smelt more like wood than paper. "But it's boring" May said holding up "Chromosomal disorders of elder tree". A spark of Calistherm caught Ruby's eye.

Ruby picked up the book, May was already on her way to another shelf. When Ruby was a young girl 1 and Daddy spoke to her one day. They had warned her never to speak about Calistherm and Essvee to anyone. It was the sacred secret of those blessed with the ability to see the Calistherm or Essvee. It was never to be even mentioned in private either, not even to a loved one. 1 and Daddy had picked up on her Calistherm ability and had to take action and warn her, it was the best kept secret ever.

Ruby closed her eyes to everything except Calistherm and Essvee. The book was a masterpiece. The writing was in Calistherm and the illustrations were in Essvee. The book was called "Balloons of the crystal". The book showed how to harvest the gasses of different balloons, how to use the gas and how to use the remaining materials. The Essvee colors ranged from red to violet. A master had written this book, just the ability to change the Essvee into another color was monumental magic. Ruby switched her eyes back to full spectrum, the brilliant Essvee colors disappeared and the boring technical words were talking on the page. Ruby immediately bought the book; she got it cheaper than a bar of candy. For the rest of the afternoon May and Ruby browsed the books.

That evening they went on a double date with Argon and Amore. It wasn't really a formal kind of date, more like "We're finished dancing, we're tired, we're hungry and we want to chill because we don't want to go home yet" kind of date. They had all been dancing until after 1, then they went to the casual restaurant at the back of Max's club. The chairs and tables were very far apart on the uneven ground, you pressed a Mekka-Magic button on the table and a mini magical firework would explode silently in the air above the table. The waiters were just as fast here as they were inside except outside they wore sneakers with funky colors.

Argon spoke about the baby; there were already hundreds of women who were volunteering to be babysitters. Babies were actually a rarity so he supposed 1 and Jill were very lucky to be having a child. He laughed and said he was way too old to have a brother or sister and guessed he would change his mind as soon as the baby was born.

Amore was a wonderful person, Ruby thought Amore was too good for Argon but they were good together. Amore loved nursing and helping people, Amore hadn't decided yet if she wanted to be a doctor yet and thought she would probably stay in nursing. Ruby couldn't speak too much about her magic training, it actually made people nervous for some or other reason. May was not too talkative though, May got that way when she had worked too hard, she had to rest her mind too.

Argon also talked a bit of work with Ruby about Silkwood. Silkwood would end up being the most luxurious home in the clan; she would even be able to use the fourth floor as an exclusive hotel that catered for only the wealthiest clients if she wanted to. Ruby turned her head and looked at May and told Argon "It's my home and I will only share it with her".

May had drifted off to sleep. They went home. Amore helped carry May to the bedroom and left after that. May put the small present on May's bedside table and snuggled in behind May, they were definitely staying at home for the whole Sunday.