Voras side story

Voras pushed the bound Madu again as the Gorgon started to complain yet again about the motion.

"Stooooop it. I'm gonna be sick."

"If only you had thought about that before you opened your mouth." Voras tutted before returning to her nest-making.

She had gotten better at speaking while outside of it, though that was largely because she could have hidden behind Tarakona if things went bad, but right now she felt her small social battery was running low and she needed some nest time. Thankfully, Madu didn't trigger her hesitation because of their past, or she would have run to her room straight away. Instead she had thought making a nest outside so she could keep an eye on everything was a better idea.

"I mean you have to be a bit more specific than that, Vorvor. I've said a lot of different things." Madu sassed while still wriggling in her bonds.

Voras had done a good job in securing the Gorgon upside-down, and it would take some outside help for her to actually escape. Something Voras was not going to give her.

Without replying to the obvious jab, Voras moved around the tree, securing silken webbing all around until there was more white than green visible.

"Vooooooooraaaaaassssss," Madu whined. "Come on. Talk to meeeeeee."

A few of Voras's proximity strands were triggered, but the new arrival didn't warrant the Arachne needing to stop. This was another of those people that didn't trigger her shyness.

"You could do with gagging her more," Dríade said, landing at the base of the tree.

Voras piped her head out of an opening. "I tried, but I'm pretty sure she would enjoy it too much. Though I don't actually think there's anything she doesn't like."

Dríade took the long way around the still swinging Gorgon before folding her wings so she could get through the opening that was made for her. Voras followed this by fishing the still bound Madu up until all three of them were safely tucked away in her newly made nest.

"This takes me back." Madu mused as she was finally released from her silk bonds. "Just the three of us hiding in your nest, Voras."

"You two were hiding. I was just resting before the next hunt." Dríade corrected with an exaggerated sigh before collapsing against one of the walls.

"I would have thought you would be with your Grove now that we're back," Voras murmured towards the Dryad. "Or trying to get Abelha to make her nest in your tree."

Dríade closed her eyes like she was trying to sleep even though she didn't need it. "The Dryads are fine. They don't need me micromanaging them, and realistically, until their trees are producing fruits, there isn't much for them to do other than planting crops. Clovek gave us a lot, but if we just planted them without cultivating the soil, the yield would be abysmal. And it's not like his farm is in great condition right now. He had some trees starting to grow behind his old house, but we took them into my room. Safer there."

She was, of course, referring to the scorch marks from Tarakona's mother that still lingered. They were quite hard to remove without the Dryad's being able to create bodies designed for the task, so it was slow going. Another thing Dríade was just waiting for, and it was pissing her off. She was not built for patience but was being forced to learn it if she wanted to be a good Grove mother. And a good Livestock, but she was fighting herself even more on that front. She didn't want to admit that she was enjoying Clovek's company, as well as the added benefits of serving under him.

"As for Abelha?" Dríade continued. "She fell in love with her room the moment she saw it. I doubt I'd be able to compete with the size alone unless I had my own tree close to a World tree stage. Part of me hopes Clovek won't be able to satisfy her conditions until then, but I've seen him work. He'll probably find a loophole for his training in the next week if that. I would almost bet that girl is going to be laying eggs before Zeldi gives birth."

"Was it that good?" Voras asked, having not seen it herself.

"I mean it was just a bunch of wood and stuff to me, but I'm sure you guys say the same about mine," Dríade replied, shrugging her shoulders without opening her eyes. "What about you guys? What is the mighty Voras up to now that she has completed the task she thought she never would?"

"She is living happily," Voras said in third person. "More than happy, actually."

Madu was pulling silk out of places it had gotten wedged into while she was upside down as she spoke. "Even with the whole sharing Clovek? It's not in your nature, so how are you finding that? If you don't mind me asking?"

Dríade opened her eyes as the subject interested her.

"I accepted it a long time ago," Voras answered, pulling out strands of silk that represented the measurements of Zeldi's mothers and father. She hung them up so that they were easy to reach for when she needed them, but that would have to wait. The last few days had put a strain on her spinneret, and she knew she would have to hold back for a day or two to recover. Hopefully Clovek would understand, though she doubted that would be a problem. He would probably offer to help knowing him and that warmed her more than she expected it to.

"That's it? Just, I accepted it so it's fine?" Dríade hissed. "No demand for anything more?"

Voras stopped her adjusting of the measurements and looked back at the Dryad. "What could I possibly demand from Clovek that he wouldn't give me if I just asked?" The Arachnid blinked each of her eyes individually as if it would help prove her point. "Truly Dríade. Do you not believe yourself that he is everything we have ever wanted?"

Dríade slunk back defensively. "Well, he could be better."

""How?"" Both Voras and Madu said in sync.

Dríade tried even harder to sink into the walls. "I don't know. He could...." She didn't have the words, and they all knew it.

"He could what?" Voras punctuated, trying to push through Dríade's thick skull. She was amused with herself that the situation had flipped.

Before it was Dríade telling her that she needed to get over her shyness and go spend time with them, but now it was her telling the Dryad to get over herself.

"He couldn't be better." Dríade snapped back. "Is that what you want me to say, Voras?"

"No." The Arachne said, stepping forward and breaking a thread that wrapped around Dríade's waist and pulled her forward. "I don't want you to say it, Dríade. I want you to mean it. I want you to believe it."

"I do." Dríade resisted. "I know he's good. Why do you think I agreed to stay? Do you really think I, of all people, would actually stay if I thought there was a better option out there? By all the Gods Voras, I even told him I'd suck his dick because of all the things he's done for me! And not only that, but I also said I'd line my entire Grove up every morning if he told me to. What more do you want me to say?"

Voras released her with a sigh. "And here I was thinking I was the difficult one."

"You both are." Madu jumped in. "Why can't the both of you just be more like me?"

The Dryad and Arachnid shared a look. One that held an agreement that they shouldn't and wouldn't be like her.

"Je vous vois bien en train de comploter tous les deux." (I can totally see you two plotting.) Madu hissed to herself with a sigh. "You two are both problematic, you know that? I mean Dríade is a bitch; we all know that, but you weren't exactly perfect, you know Voras."

Dríade, catching on, added. "Ah yes. Remind me how you two met again?"

Voras just shrugged. "He has forgiven me for that, and I am striving to be better. I admit it's not a quick thing, but I'm doing better."

The girls all fell into a silence at that. Each of them went over the actions that had led them here.

Eventually Dríade spoke. "How long has it been? Since we were all together?"

"Forty-seven cycles," Madu replied almost instantly. "At least that's how long I've spent alone on my plateau before you guys came for me."

"That sounds about right." Voras nodded along. Time was a little trickier for her as the Underdark didn't have a good way of watching the sun rise and fall.

"And we're still missing a few of us." Dríade slunk back into the silk wall. "You told him about Madu. What's stopping you from telling him about the others? I'm pretty sure he would accept them with open arms, even if it is just to offer them a place to live."

Dríade had aimed the question at Voras, but Madu jumped it. "You could tell him yourself."

"No, she can't." Voras tittered. "When we decided that we couldn't create the big Deed with just Livestock, Dríade was one of the first to leave after you, Madu. She doesn't know where anyone is, even if she wanted to tell him."

"And you do still? It wasn't like we had a lot of Deeds to share around, you know." Madu countered.

"I know where a few of them are, and the others I know where I left them... There's a chance we could follow one of their trails, but to answer your question, Dríade. Clovek is struggling. He may not look like it, but he doesn't have a proper way of feeding us all." Voras said, looking out a gap towards the silver automatic butcher. "By my estimation, he needs another five of those things and a way for us to access them so we don't need to rely on him for all of our food. It's why we haven't solved his Kobold problem yet, even though Madu could have already. It's just too valuable as a source of food."

"And you don't want to give him another mouth to feed." Dríade finished with a breath of air that pushed her hair out of her face.

"It's not like either of us are familiar with any vegetarians." Madu hummed. "It wasn't like that Drow bitch wanted anyone she couldn't sell off parts from. So relying on your tree and Grove wouldn't really work if we did. If that's all there was, we'd easily have another six here at least."

Dríade nodded in understanding. "That's why you give so much of your silk to him."

Before anyone could properly respond, there was a rather large crash followed by a groan that was part roar. It shook the whole tree, throwing all three of them around.

[Voras! Madu! I need help.]