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| - Whitefur stretches out a little and then peers at Phoenix. "Are you going next?" he asks curiously. Phoenix stretches as well, "Mm. It is my turn, isn't it?" She's sitting at one of the tables, chair turned to face the fire. In her lap is a bowl of popcorn, and on the table is a basket of ripe tomatoes and a big bowl of fruit. Another table has shreds of tomatoes on it, while there's red footprints leading outside. Whitefur is curled up in a corner, and Jacob is in front of the fire. Jacob gives a nod, and leans back, he just told his story. Raeft enters the tavern slowly, glancing around before meandering to an unoccupied table. His wings are curled inward defensively, tail wrapped tight around the demon's waist. His eyes turn to Phoenix, the tomatoes, and the scene in general. "Ah, so it's -that- kind of story night..." Kicking back in a chair, the demon looks about expectantly. Whitefur laughs a bit as he uncurls and heads to a table to order...well, what else would he order? Tea. "It was a bit earlier, yeah," Ix replies. She offers him the open bottle of whiskey she's holding that was, by accident, not mentioned earlier. "So, my story's about the cave spiders from my old dimension." Whitefur blinks as he settles in with his mug of tea, listening. Jacob ohs? Sitting down and listening. Phoenix sets the whiskey bottle down on the table. "Now, these spiders were local t' a penal colony of miners, an' were mostly found down in the deeper mine shafts. Normally, the miners probably wouldn't've given a damn about the spiders, if they hadn't been about the same size as most humans, an' possessed of a tendency t' view the miners as snacks. Unfortunately for the miners, the wardens didn't really give a damn about the spiders, since it was only ever the prisoners who went down that deep." Jacob listens, giving respect to the new story teller. Whitefur listens too, his nose wrinkling a bit. Spiders. "Things had gone on the usual way for years - the miners would go down, dig stuff up, an' every so often, several would go missing. Sometimes they showed up again, at the bottom of a mine shaft, with nothin' left but shrivelled husks; other times, they were just gone. Since it wasn't possible to escape from the colony an' the wardens didn't care if prisoners died, nothin' happened for a long while," Ix continues. "'Till one group of prisoners broke open a tunnel at the bottom of one of the mine shafts." Whitefur takes a sip of tea as he listens. "It turned out that the spiders had been usin' that area t' store their egg sacs," Ix says. She snags her bottle of whiskey and sips at it before continuing, "They'd set a couple of guards, but they didn't really expect anyone t' come across the spot. However they were, as one might guess...rather irate at havin' their nursery busted open." Another sip. "No one up above knew about what had happened, 'till it was too late; the spiders ate the miners who'd broken in, an' then for a couple of days? They did nothin'. Just sat there an' waited." Whitefur takes another sip of tea. He's listening. Jacob chuffs softly, and nods Phoenix sips at her whiskey some more before continuing, "After a couple of days, though, the egg sacs they'd been watching over hatched. An' that's all the guard spiders had been waitin' for. Once night fell, they led the newborn spiders up through the mines, letting the hungry newborns feed on anyone they came across as they ascended." Jacob just listens for now. Whitefur makes a loud 'hrrmph' noise at this, but doesn't interrupt. Phoenix sticks her tongue out at Whitefur, "Hey, when I'm done, you can tell your own story any way you like. 'Till then, the people in mine are gettin' eaten by spiders." She clears her throat, "Anyways, where was I? Ah, yeah. They led the newborns up t' the surface, an' then attacked the camp. There were a few who got away, of course - there's always guards on duty, or someone up dealin' with paperwork. Mostly, though...everyone who'd been awake had been down in the mines. An' those who managed t' escape the spiders descending on the camp generally didn't navigate their way out of the area well enough t' count as survivors." Whitefur flicks an ear flat, the other one remaining straight up. "I'm not harummphing at your storytelling, I'm harummphing at the spiders," he explains. "Please continue." Phoenix shrugs at Whitefur, but continues, "Once there was no one left, the spiders retreated back t' the mines. It's said that the government in charge of the colony's sent a few scouts out t' see what happened t' everyone there - funny thing is...no one's ever returned. The spiders are still there, after all. Waiting for anyone foolish enough t' try and enter the mines again. There's still more newborns, after all...and they're always hungry." Whitefur switches ears - the left flattening and the right perking up now. "...eww." He applauds anyway. "Well done, madam." Jacob ahhs, and says "Not too bad, not bad at all." Phoenix bows, sort of. It's a touch difficult to do so when one is winged and sitting in a chair, after all. She smiles quietly and then asks Whitefur, "Don't suppose you have any stories you'd like t' share?"
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