Fandom Final Fantasy: The Age of Ophiuchus [Closed]

[Arcanist]

“Mmhm,” Jagger hummed, though, found the disdain seeping into it hard to disguise. He must not have had great chances to steal, or Kikiti knew the jig when it came to Didymus’ sticky fingers, and outright banned it.

She damned the girl for making her part with more of her coin. Sure, Jagger was a greedy woman who probably didn’t need all of the money, but boy, did she enjoy the coin, especially when she earned it. Earned it from cracking skulls, yes, but earned it nonetheless.

Damn Diddy and damn Kikiti.

“I better not,” Jagger mumbled under her breath as Kikiti turned to follow after Didymus. He was really going all out. This better have been the most fucking fantastic meal. Then again, she had stolen some food from Juno before that Didymus had made for her. It was always top-notch.

Made her wish at one point she could have cooked Juno a nice slap-up meal.

Twelve knew she always deserved it. Unlike a lot of other things in life.

As the three headed towards the market, Jagger’s eyes kept moving to the small Lalafell-Human. She still had so many questions to ask her. So many crude questions, but she knew she couldn’t come out with them. She was curious as to her life in Ucantis, who she was, all of that, and it might prove to be some interesting information to have for future use.

“So, Kikiti,” Jagger started, “tell me about yourself.”

Kikiti looked back and up towards Jagger, blinking, almost like a hare in the sight of its hunters. Jagger gave her a reassuring smile, a push as if to say, ‘Go on.’

“Well…I’m sixteen. I’m part human, part Lalafell as you know…” Kikiti started rhyming off the facts off the top of her head. “I, uh, know a little bit of White Magic…”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s cool and all, but don’t you have anything juicer about your life to share?” Jagger asked. ‘Like your marking. Or any strange god-like creatures floating around you. Hell, do you even have a boyfriend?’ She was desperate for a little bit of information. And she liked to think she was very good at getting it out of someone.

“Well…” Kikiti mumbled, unsure of what she could actually say about herself. Somehow, blabbing her whole life story, especially when they were supposed to keep a low profile, seemed wrong here. Even if this was Didymus’ sister.`

 

[Lucyfer]

Didymus might be easy to get distracted by the foods, but he wasn’t oblivious to what Jagger was trying to ask Kikiti. He’d put on his best, innocent smile when she made that comment about the meal, before moving towards the woman he’d bought salt from earlier, “I need some dill, and some of the zest if you have, honey, too – or directions to find honey,” he was saying.

“I can point you towards it, let me gather up what you need here first,” she began to find the dill, and the zest, and as she did so, Didymus tuned back into the conversation to interject, “Jagger just wants to know if you’re seeing anyone,” he gave a roll of his eyes, “She’s obsessed with romance dramas.”

That fit well under the idea of ‘juicier’.

It would also cover Jagger’s ass when she started talking to Reva, no doubt. “Real, or otherwise,” he added, before the woman called his attention back over with the supplies.

“That’ll just be…50 gil,” the dill wasn’t expensive, but the lemnge zest was – it wasn’t common in that area at all, and keeping it dried to use was another story entirely. Didymus just looked to Jagger for it, and when she did pay, the lady would be quick to point them on to their next stop in order to get the honey that Didymus wanted, and no doubt allow a moment for Kikiti to consider how she might want to answer about her romantic life.

Didymus was pretty sure she didn’t have one.

She hadn’t seemed worried about leaving anyone behind, at any rate. Still, he supposed she might have various crushes, or might dream of such things, and end up blabbing on for a while. ‘Hope she does.’ If only so Jagger suffered a little.

Then again…she might get into that.

 

[Arcanist]

Both women looked to Didymus. The smaller one let out an, “Ohh!” in understanding. The taller one shot Didymus a piercing glare. ‘Romance dramas? Really?’ Ooh, she’d have to get him back for that one. She had a dozen embarrassing childhood stories brewing inside her head.

That would have to wait though as Jagger was forced to cough up some of her gil. 50 gil…for lemnge zest. I mean, that was nothing to her elsewhere, but here, paying for it for someone else, just seemed like she was melting her gil in a pot and casting it out into the ocean. She begrudgingly handed it over, pouting at Didymus.

“No boyfriends. Or girlfriends,” Kikiti added. “I’m not judging. I just don’t know for sure what I want yet. Did you know who you liked at my age?” Kikiti blabbered, once having opened her mouth, being unable to close it.

Jagger had to hold back a snort at the difficulty Kikiti had in answering an easy question. Of course, she didn’t. No one knew exactly who or what they liked at that age. That came sometime later. Her smile dropped a little. You really didn’t know what you loved so much until you fucked it up and lost it. She noticed Kikiti frowning at Jagger, about to ask if something was wrong, and Jagger just shook her head.

“Nah, not really. You got time yet, kid.” Jagger told her, forcing another smile.

The three eventually moved down towards a stall, not too far away from the one they stood at, only, to find the vendor was…closing his stall. It was still too early in the day for it to be closing time.

Jagger wasn’t having any of it and stepped up to the vendor. “Hey. Somebody pointed us in your direction for honey?”

“Sorry, lass. I’m closing up shop,” he sighed, rubbing his head.

Jagger narrowed her eyes. “What are you talking about? It’s the middle of the day!”

“Yeah, I know, I know. But I gots to find my cat. Ol’ Tuna has been missing for days now, not a sign of her. My wife's torn up about her going missing. I figured I’d used the last of the honey I got to track her down. It’s her favourite treat.”

Kikiti frowned. “That’s horrible. I’m sorry to hear she’s gone missing.”

Jagger just stood, dumbfounded. ‘What cat likes honey? Who closes their shop to look for a damned cat?! Why is the cat’s name Tuna??’

“Yeah,” the vendor sighed, “I am too. I’m hoping she’ll turn up soon. Otherwise, I don’t think I’ll have the heart to open up the stall again. Breaks my heart seeing my love so upset over her being missing…can’t bring myself to even do my job.”

Kikiti frowned again and turned to Didymus. “Surely we could help this man look for his cat…?”

 

[Lucyfer]

The subject turning on Jagger wasn’t much of a surprise, though in her silence, Didymus understood what she was thinking about. Who, she was thinking about. He missed Juno, too. Not as much as Jagger, of course, but Juno hadn’t been terrible. Not like so many others in their line of work.

He didn’t say anything, of course, just tucked away his ill-gotten spices, and wandered on with them towards the stall that was shutting down over a…missing cat. Tuna. Didymus pursed his lips together as the man explained it all, and Kikiti seemed to think they could find it. ‘Twelve save us.’ This man had to be well-off, though, if he could just shut down indefinitely over a cat.

“I mean, it’s worth a shot, I guess,” he wanted the honey, “What’s Tuna look like?”

“You’d really help?” Despite Didymus asking for more information, the man seemed bewildered, but when Didymus nodded, he lit up a bit, “Oh, thank you – thank you. She’s a wee thing despite bein’ an adult, 4 years old now, silver coat, narry a stripe on’er, smooth as silk, with blue eyes.”

Didymus nodded. Sounded at least like a cat that would stand out, if nothing else. Most cats seemed to be striped. “Does she have a place she usually likes to go to, or things she likes?”

“We don’t let her outside much without supervision, you see,” he said, “she’ll play in the street near our house, or watch the stall with me. Not sure where she’d run to on her own.”

Well that didn’t help. “Okay. We’ll try. Give us an hour or so, we’ll get her back to you.”

 

[Arcanist]

Wait, wait, rewind, back it up. They were going to help this man to find his missing cat? What bullshittery was this? Jagger was many things. Someone who partook in charity cases’ problems, was not one of them. She was about to open her mouth to proclaim how this wasn’t a great idea, until the merchant had started describing the cat.

Goddamnit. They were really in it now, weren’t they?

Kikiti took in the information readily, nodding with each piece of information that was given to her. She smiled, even if they only had a little bit of information to go on. “Yeah, we’ll try to find her. Try not to worry too much!”

The three would set off to find the missing Tuna – again, weird name for a cat, but who were they to judge?

“Maybe she’s gone off into an alleyway?” Kikiti suggested as they walked along. She looked to Jagger, asking, “You didn’t see any in the one you were in?”

“If I did, I wouldn’t have seen the colour all that well...” Jagger mumbled, folding her arms as they walked along. So stupid. All this searching for a cat, and for what?

 

[Lucyfer]

Didymus gave Jagger a pointedly annoyed look as she gave her response, “Maybe he’ll give us a deal on the honey,” really he should give them free honey since he was going to use it on the cat, anyways, but that was a discussion for later, when they had his precious Tuna secure. Either way, it seemed Jagger hadn’t seen any cats in the alleys.

Didymus knew plenty of cats that congregated in alleys, but it could have also gone closer to the fish, or food, right? He considered suggesting splitting up, but immediately veto’ed the idea. “We should check some alleys, but let’s ask some of the fishmongers in town. Maybe they’re familiar with Tuna and can be on the lookout for her, too.”

At any rate, he’d turn them more towards the marketplace rather than towards the alleys, to see if they could find a cat begging for scraps somewhere along the way while asking about it and alerting people to the fact she’d gone missing.

The spice-woman seemed to know of her – not surprising since she’d pointed them towards the honey merchant. “Oh that poor dear! You probably won’t find her around here – never liked much in the way of fish, from what I could tell, and all the noise and water,” she tutted, “not a place she’d be, but I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for her, just in case!”

Well that wasn’t promising.

A cat named Tuna that didn’t even like fish?

 

[Arcanist]

“Tch. I’d like to think he’d part with something more than just honey…” Jagger mumbled. She came to grab the prince and his friends, and now she was playing errand girl for some man who lost his cat. That food that Didymus would whip up better have been the best freaking thing she tasted in a long time.

Of course, the two women followed after Didymus’ lead to the marketplace once again, hoping to find some sort of lead on the cat. It seemed like a good assumption to have. Cats were notorious for nibbling on fish now and then.

Apparently, Tuna, not so aptly named, did not.

Jagger sighed, rubbing her forehead. Had she the choice, she would have given up now and forgotten all about stupid Tuna. Really, what were they getting out of this?

Kikiti frowned, starting to realise just how momentous the task really was. She turned to the other two and said, “We’d have to start looking through anywhere quiet here in the city…but it’s so vast, that it could take awhile until that ever happens!”

“Hey, did you find out what was under those floorboards at the old warehouse?”

Kikiti’s head turned towards the bellowing that came from one of the dock workers, who approached another man loading cargo. He shrugged.

“I dunno. Sounded like meowing or something. Every time I went to check it stopped though. Think I’m losing it.”

Jagger could already see the ideas working in the young girl’s mind. “Hey, don’t—” She was about to suggest not going forward with the idea she was thinking of, but Kikiti was already waddling her way over towards the dock workers. She groaned.

“Excuse me!” Kikiti waved up at them with a smile, approaching. “What was that you were saying about meowing?”

 

[Lucyfer]

Didymus nearly wanted to ask if it might be a good idea to get Reva’s help. She could hear better than any of them, and she was a good tracker, she might be able to find the missing cat. Then, of course, there seemed to be a sign from the heavens themselves, as a few dock workers began to talk about a sound they were hearing under some floorboards.

Didymus gave Jagger a shit-eating grin before he followed after Kikiti. It was their best lead…but mostly there was something amusing about Jagger being fed up with all of this already. She’d had her fun teasing him, now she had to suffer in this grand escapade in the city to find a missing cat!

Maybe it would end up an amusing story.

‘At least we’ll have lots of things to tell Cleon and Reva.’

The dockworkers looked down at Kikiti, and one of them did crouch down. Didymus resisted the strong urge to palm his face, and just moved closer to Kikiti and set a hand on her shoulder to remind her not to completely blow it…and agree the act was getting annoying, bordering on offensive. He could only imagine how it was to deal with this as often as she must have.

It was a little hard to reach her shoulder, though.

“It’s over in warehouse 13, at the end of the row ‘ere. Been abandoned since the old Mire Compass company went under. Say it’s haunted. Not a place for kids.”

“Well, we have a cat to find, and we don’t need any ghost getting to it first,” Didymus said in retort, not a kid, and wanting to be noticed over Kikiti. The man cocked his head up, and then got back to his feet.

“Technically you’d be trespassin’…but security’s not very tight over there.”

 

[Arcanist]

Jagger made a mocking face at Didymus, who gave her the widest, shit-eating grin she had seen from him in a long time. This cat could get fucked.

Wait, that sounded bad. But then again, she said worse about humans. She followed along, begrudgingly.

Kikiti had to force herself to keep that smile on her face as the dockworker crouched down in front of her. This hadn't been unusual as Didymus thought, but it certainly didn't get any less irritating. Of course, she wasn't going to blow it. She couldn't since attracting attention to them was the last thing any of them needed. Didymus' hand on her shoulder reminded her of that, but if only she could release her unbridled rage...

Perhaps Didymus would let her smack the food during the food preparations? Or something?

Either way, they got the information they needed about the cat. Apparently over in some old, but haunted, warehouse. Though, she wondered what made it so haunted. Angry ghosts? Loved ones that couldn't pass over?

"Ghosts?" Jagger scoffed, folding her arms.

"Ain't no joke, miss," the other dockworker sounded with a serious tone. "Huge accident there years back. Involved some loose boxes and some unfortunate workers. Quick, but..." He paused, looking at Kikiti, and looked away. He didn't see her pout at once again being mistaken for a child.

That was unfortunate. Very, obviously, by the way the dockworker had described it. Still, if it meant they might find this cat faster...

"Thanks for that," Jagger said with a smile. "We just want to...find this cat."

"Well," the first dockworker sighed, "it's your decision." Obviously, he wanted to add something about not blaming them if something happened but kept his lips fully shut.

Kikiti nodded and smiled, turning to the other two. "Well, shall we get going?"

 

[Lucyfer]

“Yup,” Didymus agreed with Jagger, not all that concerned with ghosts. He’d heard of ghosts being in places, and he heard they were a bit of a bitch to deal with. He might have wanted to go grab Reva, given he usually heard ghosts had something of a weakness to magic, but he opted against that.

It was probably nothing.

Ghosts haunted places that mattered, like ruins, not stupid warehouses.

“Thanks for the information,” he added, before he took the lead towards the warehouse. It wasn’t difficult to find, really – he was used to port towns, and he just followed the dock around until they reached the end. It was still a working area, dock workers moving about, stalls open, though there were notably fewer boats in the area. The warehouse was visible through the alleys and over the tops of some of the businesses, obviously worn down.

“Moooow!”

There was a long, yowling cry that did seem to come from that direction. A few people looked up, looked towards the warehouse, and then went back to whatever they were doing. Didymus rolled his eyes. ‘Cowards.’ Then again, he wouldn’t go investigate random sounds, either. “This better be Tuna,” he muttered under his breath as he took the turn towards the warehouse, noted the lock wasn’t even latched, and just opened the gate.

There were a few boxes stacked outside the warehouse that were clearly newer, perhaps how people did know a bit about what was going on, and the door was left open by whoever had been in there last. No doubt the one who went to explore the sound earlier. “C’mon.” Didymus marched right in.

“Tuna? He-e-ey Tuna?” Didymus called, clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth once he was in.

Silence.

“Must be scared….”

 

[Arcanist]

It didn’t take long for them to find this apparent haunted warehouse. Jagger wasn’t all that phased by it. She wasn’t afraid of the supernatural. She had more fear in what was tangible, real – though, even at that, it wasn’t something she would admit. It was probably just a bunch of animals hiding out in there, or the warehouse quite audibly rotting and falling to pieces.

Hell, maybe the ghastly moans were something else entirely. Jagger couldn’t help but smirk to herself.

Then, of course, came to long, feline-like yowling from the direction of the warehouse. Barely anyone paid much mind to it, and Jagger couldn’t blame them, in all honesty. At least now, they had some sort of lead to follow up on.

Kikiti, of course, eagerly followed after Didymus. She, too, didn’t want to have this time wasted by not being able to find Tuna. She didn’t have any pets of her own, as much as she wanted to, but she could imagine the worry that poor man and his wife had over it being missing.

Kikiti had paused outside the warehouse, looking around it and noting how recently it must have been accessed. She wondered who would still be using this old warehouse…

“Let’s go,” Jagger called to Kikiti as she walked past into the warehouse, hearing the patter of the Lalafell hybrid’s feet following.

Of course, as they entered, Didymus had been calling for Tuna, only to get no response.
“I’d be scared of you too,” Jagger teased, a smirk growing on one side of her mouth as she wandered further in. “Damn, this place has seen better days…”

Kikiti to walked further in, though, had been prodding at the floorboards with her foot. “I wonder if Tuna is hiding under any of these…” She mused. Perhaps, if they could find some sort of entry, but there were none that she could see. She sighed, putting her hands on her waist.
“Cats do love tight spaces…” Jagger mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck. She didn’t know that for sure, but from the few she had encountered, it seemed to be the case.

Kikiti nodded, still prodding at the floorboard. Though, just as she did so, something dripped down in front of her. She paused, looking at the wooden floorboard in front of her being coated in something thick, almost of a saliva like substance.

Kikiti glanced up, slowly, to find something wider, a little taller, about two foot, she could imagine, with eight dangly legs. It clapped its ugly mouth pincers as the two stared at one another.

And from the small snack stuttered, “U-uh…g-guys…?”

 

[Lucyfer]

Didymus stuck his tongue out at Jagger in a childish fashion as she indicated her own fear of him. Which, he knew, was complete and utter bollocks. Jagger had probably never been scared of him a day in her life. Despite his skills, he knew he didn’t come off as being scary to most. He always looked too, well, rundown for any of that nonsense. At least, he thought so, anyways. He walked on, still calling out, “Tuna!” now and then as the others prodded the floorboards.

If he could find a loose one while walking, or a hole, something, they’d probably be able to get to Tuna. Mostly, he was hoping she’d start meowing again so they could at least pinpoint the area of the warehouse she was in. “C’mon cat….” He muttered, before he heard Kikiti’s voice.

It sounded higher-pitched.

And scared.

He turned, and saw that a rather large spider had come down from the ceiling. Didymus froze, and then slowly, slowly, looked upwards beyond that.

More spiders.

A lot of spiders. Okay like…7 more spiders but that was still a lot considering their size.

“Uh…Jagger…we got…we got a problem.”

Okay, poison bomb was probably not going to help them here. Sleep bomb would put all of them to sleep in the enclosed space, too. “Um. Kikiti. Just…don’t look up, and back out slowly towards the door.” If they could get out, he could throw a sleep bomb in, or a confusion one, and they could wait it out. Maybe.

He was still grabbing his daggers in case that wasn’t going to be the case, and would absolutely throw one at the spider if he needed to get its attention away from Kikiti.

 

[Arcanist]

“Eh?” Jagger glanced around at Didymus, whose voice had become much more hushed. “What are you…?” She began to ask, though, didn’t finish it, as she followed Didymus’ gaze, looking further up, and she paused.

Ah, shit.

Spiders. Big-ass, ugly-ass, generally ass, spiders. One looked at Kikiti, a small and hearty snack, and no doubt her and Didymus could have been shared between it and its not-so-little friends. God, they were horrible things.

Not so horrible when they were chopped up though. Jagger reached slowly to the axe she had been carrying on her back, taking her time with pulling it out of its sheath. The last thing they needed were all seven descending upon them at once. Maybe one of Didymus’ bombs would do the trick and sort these things out.

She wondered if they ate up Tuna. They could forget the honey if that was the case. But now they had a Twelves-damned bug problem on their hand.

Kikiti looked between Didymus and Jagger, before she finally looked back to Didymus and nodded. She took a deep breath in, forcing herself to look ahead at Jagger, who looked far less frightened, though, she certainly wasn’t quick to get moving. The Lalafell started to slowly back away, just trying to focus on the ground as she moved back.

Jagger was expecting at least one of them to trip, or to make some sort of noise, that would get these damn creatures on the move. If they could make it out of this damned warehouse, that would be great, but surely it couldn’t have been as easy as that?

She guessed that was why she was getting the axe out. In case it wasn’t.

 

[Lucyfer]

Didymus didn’t move himself, watching Kikiti start backing up. He eyed the spider as she did so, looking for signs it might get curious, confused, or hostile, any sign of which could be deadly to them. ‘Please, let it be this easy, please.’ Didymus hoped it could be, but of course, that wouldn’t be the case. The spider did curious as Kikiti moved away, and plopped down onto the wooden flooring where it had been hovering.

“Easy,” Didymus cautioned, not wanting Kikiti to scream or start to scramble.

Well, at least he hoped she wouldn’t need to.

The spider only settled in its place for a couple of moments, before it went scrambling after Kikiti. “Okay nevermind,” he hurled a dagger at the fiend and caught it on its head, between a few eyes. The spider reared backwards, a couple of its legs seeming to peck at is own head to try and latch onto the dagger with its sticky hairs. It didn’t scream, but its actions, and no doubt the new scent of blood, drew the attention of the other spiders up above.

Didymus bolted for the door to at least have a choke point for the spiders. He didn’t think he needed to tell Jagger, or Kikiti, to make a run for it either. Who was really going to stay in the same place when spiders started descending from the ceiling? Especially this many spiders! This was just insane. No wonder this place was condemned.

‘Better be one special cat.’

 

[Arcanist]

Kikiti had to restrain a squeak when the spider landed on the ground, watching it blink with those beady, bulging eyes. She had already started praying to the Twelve in her head for some divine intervention. Somehow, she doubted a bolt of lightning or their saviours would come running into the fray. All she could do was hum a nervous reply back to Didymus, hoping that the spider would just change its mind.

It didn't. Naturally, Kikiti couldn't help but let out a shriek and booked it towards the door. No way was she going to stick around to be some spider's meal. To think she could be gobbled up by something that was only slightly bigger than her!

Jagger, too, wasn't waiting around to be attacked by one of these things either. Didymus' dagger struck home in the first spider's head, and though it was distracted enough in trying to dislodge the dagger in its head, Jagger wasn't getting a straight run at the door.

One of the spiders was their way down to the ground in front of Jagger. Most people would have frozen and become entirely passive in challenging their fate but Jagger was not like most people. As it was still coming down, she took her axe and swung at it, the force of her strike enough to send it battering sideways out of her way.

"Fuck you, and fuck your friends!" She shouted to the spider before continuing her bolt towards the door. "Who the fuck keeps big-ass spiders in a goddamn warehouse?!"

 

[Lucyfer]

Didymus bolted for the door after Jagger, grateful she helped clear the path. He reached into his pack for a bomb, and tossed back the first one he grabbed that had color to it – really hoping it hadn’t been a poison one. Thankfully for him, it wasn’t.

It also wasn’t sleep.

Confusion spread in a cloud of yellow mist in the warehouse, and while some spiders continued their rush for the door, others paused in that confusion, while a couple went to attack their fellows, causing more chaos in the room they’d left. Nonetheless, Didymus would call that a win as he slowed to a halt outside, and took out his remaining dagger.

After all, they now had a chokepoint, and spiders fighting amongst each other.

He shot a quick look to Jagger, as if to ask ‘ready’, before his attention turned to the first spider to come barreling out of the open door, staggering about in a bit of a daze as it gathered its bearings now that it was outside. “The confusion won’t hold long,” Didymus noted, “but we might be able to take some of them down before it clears up.”

He hoped, anyways, but he wouldn’t be the first to rush it. He only had one dagger on him now, and he wasn’t keen to throw his only defense at this spider.

 

[Arcanist]

Kikiti refused to look back. If she looked back, she'd no doubt get gobbled and chewed up. Though, she did see Didymus throw something - one of those bomb things again he seemed to eager to carry around him - which hit the spiders with a resounding crash. Yellow mist spread across the spiders, and honestly, Kikiti didn't stick around to see much else, following Didymus quickly out the door.

Jagger was the last to join Didymus and Kikiti outside, having been swiping her axe at some of the spiders that still tried to pursue them. It bought the others at least enough time to get out and get their wits about them. She eventually stumbled out backwards, axe still in hand. She caught Didymus throwing her a 'ready check' kind of look and she nodded, her hands tightening around her weapon.

All this for a cat and some honey. The mind boggles.

"You just leave that to me," Jagger told him and she meant it. So, when the spider did come bursting through the door, trying to adjust to the sudden light and changes outside the warehouse, she was the first to charge at it. She raised her axe, letting it come down to embed itself in the spider's back. The creature screeched, trying to wriggle out of the axe's grip. It didn't have to do that much more wriggling as she ripped the weapon out of its back. Somehow, it still stood, but it wouldn't take much to knock it down again.

Jagger, however, had another one to keep an eye on, as another spider came rushing out, though, hadn't taken the time to acquaint itself to the new, bright environment. Though, rather than going for her, it went for Didymus instead. She whirled on her feet but trying to catch up to the damn thing seemed near impossible.

A puff of green smoke poofed seemingly out of nowhere, and what had once been a giant spider determined to eat Didymus' face off, now hopped along the ground, ribbiting, its chest expanding like a bubble with each frantic croak.

"Phew!" Kikiti breathed a sigh, lowering her staff a little. "That was too close..."

 

[Lucyfer]

Didymus had prepared himself to dodge the spider, bracing, when suddenly there was a poof of smoke he was only slightly familiar with by now, and then the spider was a frog, “I love that trick,” though he didn’t waste his time admiring it before he plunged his blade through the frog, all but severing it in half. He was quick to finish the job of that one and toss it aside, before he lunged at the fiend that was intent on Jagger after all she’d done.

He was able to cut a leg off, which caused it to stumble and try to reel against him, but Didymus had already hopped back and far out of reach by then, and was assessing the inside of the warehouse where spiders were fighting amongst themselves, or figuring out where their real foes were.

The one he’d thrown his dagger into earlier was at least dead, so he bolted inside to get it back.

Not the brightest idea, admittedly.

As soon as he got his hands on it, he was pounced on by one very angry spider and topped over onto the mess of legs and body of the dead one, popping its abdomen with his fall. The guts were not pleasant, and he pulled his blades up to slice at the belly of the beast above him – only for a shrieking fiend to jump at the spider’s face and start scratching away – and dash far away right afterwards. It was a blur of silver.

The poor thing had been disturbed from its hiding place and was just as confused as the spiders, thanks to the bomb.

Didymus wasn’t going to look a gift in the eye.

He dove his daggers up into the spider’s belly, and was soon dealing with more guts.

Better than poison, though.

 

[Arcanist]

Kikiti couldn't help but smirk a little at her achievement, especially when Didymus had briefly praised it. She liked to think it was one of her best pieces of work. Though, she grimaced at Didymus' severing of the frog, which for some reason, she felt sorry for. Even if one of them tried to eat her minutes before.

"Good of you to jump in!" Jagger teased Didymus. Ever so serious, even during a fight. Once Didymus had got in, severed its leg, and made his way back out again, Jagger got in with another overhead swing, the axe coming down as swiftly as an executioner's blade. The axe met the spider's head, an innate amount of what seemed to be discoloured spider blood spewing, along with whatever else was inside it.

"Eugh…" Kikiti grimaced, shaking her head. "Gross…"

Jagger, pushing down on the dead with her foot and bringing out her axe, looked to Kikiti confused. "Aren't you a White Mage?"

"It's still gross!"

There came a shriek from the inside, and when the other two looked around, Didymus was missing.

"Diddy, you dumbass!" Jagger swore, only to do the same idiot thing as he did, and head inside the warehouse. Three of the spiders were still duking it out amongst themselves, while Diddy had just finished off one he was pinned down by. Then, another flash of silver further down the warehouse.

"There you are!" She grinned triumphantly, and looked back to Kikiti. "Go grab the cat! I'll keep these bad boys distracted!" She said, bearing her axe again and swinging at the unconfused spider, cutting several of its legs off in the process.

"Better keep them distracted…" Kikiti muttered unhappily before she braced herself and entered. Trying to get past the chaos, she managed to get close enough to the cat, who in its confused state, hissed at her. "H-heh...nice Tuna...it's okay, Tun--AGHH!" She turned, shrieking as Tuna bounded after her towards the warehouse entrance.

 

[Lucyfer]

Didymus was absolutely disgusted by the blood and guts on him. Still, he pushed the spider off of him, and rolled away, getting up onto his knees and seeing Jagger dealing with another of the spiders. Three of them were still fighting each other. Two were dead inside, and two were dead outside.

Rather than go bother the fighting spiders, he opted to go help Jagger, throwing the dagger he’d just retrieved as it stumbled back up to something of a standing position after its legs had been severed by her axe. It fell right back down as the blade found its place between its many eyes, and he came forward to quickly retrieve the blade.

He’d leave finishing it up to Jagger, as Kikiti was running out of there with the cat chasing her. “You kidding me…,” he glanced at the three spiders still fighting each other, “I don’t think we need to stay to finish this,” he said, before he’d move to leave the warehouse, too. “Kikiti! Stop!”

He could at least pry the cat off of Kikiti if it jumped her. And then hand it to Jagger so he could take a long walk off a short pier and wash off the spider blood, somewhat. He really hoped they got some free honey out of this venture. He felt disgusting.

The food was gonna be delicious, at least.

 

[Arcanist]

The spider rose up on what few remaining legs it had after Jagger had done a clean sweep on them, though, was promptly brought back down by Diddy's dagger, landing straight between its eyes. She did pause at one point, hearing the screeching of a cat and the shrieking of Kikiti, and a brief glance behind her showed the young Lalafell...being chased by that feral cat.

"Rather you than me, kid," Jagger thought with a grimace. She'd hate to have that thing on her. As if fighting demon spiders weren't any worse than a feral cat. Which speaking of...

Jagger turned back to the one that Didymus had stabbed between the eyes, and promptly brought her axe down upon the spider, splitting it in half. The other spiders were still fighting amongst themselves, and Jagger had thought along the same lines as Didymus on fighting them. If they were so well distracted, and they found Tuna, there truly was no need to hang around. She backed off, slowly, before turning to the other chaos.

"Stop?! Are you nuts?!" Kikiti shouted back to Didymus, though, with the warehouse door being closed, she knew her chances of escaping quickly were pretty slim. She turned around, seeing the cat approaching at full speed. She pulled out her staff, holding it out to the cat. The cat seemed to pause in her pursuit, though, she stood in front of Kikiti, hissing at her.

"I'm warning you! Not another step closer!" Kikiti shouted to it. Now, if ever, was a good chance for someone to grab this possessed cat.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘How else are we gonna grab the cat, Kikiti?’ Besides, Kikiti could definitely heal a bit of cat scratching, right? Either way, she did stop, and used her staff like a shield. A weird idea, but it seemed to work, and as the cat was hissing, Didymus crept up behind Tuna, and grabbed it quickly on either side.

A mistake. He should have grabbed at the excess skin at the neck.

Tuna began to yowl and struggle, and though Didymus tried to keep it away from him, it got wiggly and managed to scratch up his arms pretty well in its fight for freedom. “Augh! Tuna! Tuna! We’re friends! Ow!” Everything was going to get infected because of spider guts! He squished Tuna to his chest and listened to its low, rumbling growl, as it was now also covered in spider guts.

It didn’t start struggling again, but it was not a happy cat.

“Okay so. I’m gonna go jump off a pier now, one of you two needs to hold the cat.” He was not going to wander around the city in spider guts. “I’m pretty sure we don’t need the cat getting into the water.” He was pretty sure that would only make everything worse for all of them, really. His hand went up to the cat’s neck at that comment, better prepared to grip it there even as he started to walk from the warehouse area to get away from the spiders.

Other people could deal with them.

It was their fault they let giant spiders grow up in a warehouse anyways!

 

[Arcanist]

"Oh, Didymus! Just...hang on!" Kikiti shouted, though, there wasn't much she was doing from her side. She struggled with whether to let Didymus deal with it himself or if she should go over and help him, wondering if that would just make it better or worse.

Didymus managed to do just fine on his own though. He managed to trap it in her arms, and she gave something of a relieved sigh. All that work, just for a crazy, confused cat.

She hoped the food was gonna be great. She'd pray the food was great tonight if she had to.

Jagger approached the other two, having watched the entire situation play out. She had been laughing, as quietly as she could at Didymus fighting with a cat. Of course, it was stable now, unhappy, but stable. She bent down in front of the cat, and in a mocking childish voice, said, "N'awww, little kitty angry with Diddy? Is she?? Ahuh??" All the while, Tuna's growl rumbled deeper.

Jagger figured it was enough to satisfy her for the moment, and stood up straight again. Seeing Kikiti's hesitance at possibly having to hold the cat, she sighed and looked to Didymus. "I'll hold her when we get near a pier." She didn't mind cat scratches. She had suffered much worse. She pulled down at her gloves, glad she had them to at least deal with the cat.

The two followed Didymus away from the warehouse area, making sure that door was well and truly closed behind them so that the spiders wouldn't scutter back out after them. Of course, several of the dockworkers and other citizens had spared a strange glance towards the three of them. Most looked away after Jagger eyed them with a glare.

Approaching near the pier's edge, Jagger stopped alongside Didymus. "Alright, just let me grab her," she said, reaching out to the cat. The cat, of course, having been riled a little by Jagger beforehand, seemed to protest with wrigging during the handover, hissing and so forth, though, Jagger got a good grip on Tuna and her neck. Hell, she even let her bite at her glove to get that anger of hers out. Again, she had suffered worse, and the gloves were thick enough for the cat's teeth not to cause any major damage.

She couldn't help but think they were kindred spirits, her and Tuna. Two girls with a lot of anger issues.

 

[Lucyfer]

Didymus nodded once Jagger had the cat in hand, and he set his bag down, a bag miraculously spared by much of the spider guts. He honestly didn’t know how it always came out all right, and was half-convinced he’d stolen a magical bag all those years ago. It never seemed to get wet, and thus ruin his bombs, and now it didn’t get spider guts on it. Of course, the thought was soon forgotten, as it always was, by his current need.

Which was to get the spider guts off. Reva could clean things later. He was pretty sure they still had some soap left. He hoped, anyways. He would also need a proper bath after this, not just a dip in salted water. ‘My hair….’ Oh well. He jumped off the end of the pier and went under quickly, knowing if he hesitated or dipped a toe in, he wouldn’t do it.

It was so cold.

He came back up quickly, shivering, but he made sure to try and brush off whatever guts were still lingering to his clothes, hair, and body, before he’d swim back towards the wooden pier and pull himself up and over the edge. He shivered a bit more as he stepped onto the pier and walked back to his bag, noting how Tuna was biting on Jagger’s glove, but seemed fairly content to keep gnawing at it. Diddy slung his bag back over his shoulder. “I don’t suppose you can keep holding onto it, can you? It’s, uh…not gonna like me anymore.”

He was soaking wet now, which he had no good authority cats did not like. Unless it decided to start licking him for the moisture, which he wouldn’t like because of their sandpapery tongue. It would be a nightmare.

 

[Arcanist]

Jagger kept holding onto the cat, wondering if it would calm down any time soon. Heh, wouldn't it have been hilarious if she handed back a rabid, confused cat to that man at the stall...then again, that probably would ruin all chances of them getting that honey that Didymus was so eager to get his hands on. Damn Diddy spoiling all her fun as per usual...

Kikiti yelped and jumped back as Didymus plummeted into the water and it splashed back onto the pier. It wasn't long until he bounced back up, pulling guts and all manner of other spider-like fluids from his hair and his body. She saw the way he shivered, and she couldn't help but be glad it wasn't her plunging into that water.

...she wondered how dirty pier water actually was. She refrained from saying anything on that though.

Jagger looked to Didymus as he got himself back onto the pier and approached his bag. She shrugged at the question, then commented, "Fine by me. Seems calm enough...if biting the glove counts."

"We can get her back to her owner then," Kikiti smiled, and looked to Didymus, "and you can finally get your honey!" It didn't take long for Kikiti to turn and to lead the way back to the man's stall. Jagger followed along, who assumed that Didymus would follow too. They could only hope that the man was still waiting at his stall for them to come back with his beloved Tuna...

And lo and behold, he was. Kikiti happily walked along, excited for the man's reaction. Of course, as soon as the man saw Kikiti, he looked up to find the others, and his eyes lit up at the sight of the silver cat, still gnawing on Jagger's finger. He couldn't help but run over, hands clasped together. "Oh, you found her! I was so worried sick about you, Tuna!"

"Uh," Jagger did recoil back, still holding the cat tightly. "You might want to be careful...cat's gone a little wild. Hence why she's trying to take a lump out of my finger." She explained.

"Oh, poor pet," the man tutted before he turned back to his stall, walking around and reaching for something stocked behind it. "I have just the thing!" He emerged with some honey that was already being used and a honey dipper. He swirled some of the nectar onto the dipper before squatting down to the ground, gesturing Jagger to do the same. "Here, Tuna. Come get."

Jagger squatted down, and funny enough, the cat ceased her chewing. Her ears flickered at the sound of her owner's voice and her eyes widened at the sight of some sweet home. The cat wriggled out of Jagger's grip before sauntering over to the honeypot, sitting and waiting for her lick of honey. Once the man got a small amount of honey on the dipper, he held it out to Tuna, who reached forward and caught some of the drips on her tongue.

A cat. Named Tuna. Who liked honey. Who would have thought?