Didn’t I tell you what would happen if caught you around here again? Why do you tempt dangers?

 
Timeline/World: Newfound Worlds – Erisia – Peculiar
Characters: Aiken Areleous
Race: Human
Age: 23
Current residence: Peculiar, Erisia
Final Word Count: 770 words
 

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I don’t know if I can consider myself one of the lucky ones. Managing to head into Peculiar was partially difficult but not because of anything that had been happening in the dome itself, no. It all had to do with the classes we’d been giving underground. Trying to shift the teaching onto someone else is something we’ve tried to do for months. We’d found a few who had been with us for years and who stayed around to help a lot who could have been perfect, but when we approached them about it, they said that they didn’t feel comfortable teaching.

Fair. A bit unusual considering how much they enjoyed helping everyone else, especially when we were splitting up into smaller groups and we would set someone with deeper knowledge with those groups, so they’d have someone to turn to. Still, little by little, those little groups we made bigger, shifting people around until the potential replacements were comfortable with the bigger and bigger groups. We never forced them, if they helped, they did and even just one person more to their group didn’t seem to bother them, so that was good, really.

A few weeks before it was time to leave, they were pretty much teaching the whole class with just a few words from us at the beginning. We watched from the sidelines and, little by little over those few weeks, we stopped going. Now, we still were underground, it was where we had to go to make it to Peculiar, but we had to wear hoodies, we had to cover our faces and just, try to wander around unseen.

In a way, I know I’ve had it a lot easier than some of the others and I can’t complain.

The one thing that nearly ruined it all happened without warning, as these things tend to.

We were bringing in a few extra bags of things, clothes for a few of us, dried foods, some flour, nuts, stuff that would keep for a long time yet. It gets hot underground most of the time, the air doesn’t circulate half as well as it could in certain areas and wearing hoods over our heads doesn’t help with that heat. We still had to take the transport down, it’s the only way into the underground itself and we’d picked the last cabin where no one else really was.

As of the past year or so, people have taken the security of what happens underground more seriously and some people who were fairly trustworthy had set up a rota of sorts, they kept track of who, in a general sense, went up or down. If you’d broken some of the laws that ruled the underground, you were essentially banned and kept from stepping onto the transport. That did mean showing our faces somewhat.

It was as we settled into the cabin, the door locked because there were a good few of us and we had enough on hand that there was no more room, that we heard a commotion outside. I’m not sure what all happened exactly, but the short version of it seems that whoever had just tried to sneak onto the transport had been banned from heading down, they searched the whole transport, we nearly got spotted by people we didn’t want to and just, it was stressful.

All I really recall from that day other than the stress of the situation was one of the guys who kept track of the people coming in and out of the transport getting on the case of the other one who hadn’t supposed to be around. Something about how he had been warned he couldn’t be there and how it was stupid to tempt dangers and whatever else. I tried to tune them out, we had so much more to worry about, in the end.

Loving out there, beneath this gorgeously clear sky with the sun just so warm on our faces, it’s been a big change. Taking care of the land, making sure the plants are growing as they should, there are so many things to keep all of us busy but I’m loving every moment of it. When we make it to bed, at night, it’s after a day’s hard work and it makes it all worth it. I’m just glad now that everyone has made it and that’s what matters, in the long run. We made it, everyone is safe and we’re doing well.

What else can we ask for? This is a brand new start for all of us and it has been worth it all.

I think I’m starting to catch onto whatever you’re trying to do and all I can say is… don’t.

 
Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Atheria 3rd Generation
Characters: Yuuki Akiyama
Race: Human
Age: 37, physically about 26
Current residence: Atheria City, Eresiel
Final Word Count: 790 words
 

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Today was turning into a staring contest. I wasn’t about to look away from the beast and it seemed to not be moving when I had my eyes on it. I really was just waiting on Niko to get back from visiting his parents. That thing about out of sight, out of mind? I’ve never believed that to be the case with situations like these.

I suppose I should start at the beginning, though the beginning is really only just an hour ago.

I was cleaning up the living room when out of nowhere a ginormous—to me, it is, I’m sure it’s possibly not that big to others—spider starts making its slow and unhurried way along the wall. I stared at it. I cursed under my breath, and I don’t know if it’s because it sensed this or something else altogether, but it stilled its motions when I spotted it.

Considering how dark it is to the forest-like tones of the living room, had I not seen it walking, I probably would have missed it. There is a sort of shimmer—a sheen, maybe?—to it, a metallic sort of blue. It would have been pretty if it had not been a spider. A ginormous spider, I think I’ve mentioned? Yeah.

Anyway.

I’m the type who usually doesn’t mind spiders if they’re minding their own business, that being if they’re outside. If there are small ones—the jumping ones I’ve noticed are sort of maybe cute—in the corners, I know that they’re chomping on bugs and unless they’re right in my face, I leave them be. There’s no point freaking out if there’s no interaction. I don’t like them, but I know that they’re useful so yeah. I’m not about to squish a spider just so squish a spider.

At this point, I feel as though if I look away, it’ll start moving again and I feel like I need to reiterate that the whole out of sight, out of mind does not apply to ginormous spiders in the house. Especially spiders that I might not manage to see on the walls unless I catch them at a certain angle because of their colour.

I see it shift one of its legs and I exhale sharply and, you know what, it resettles that leg. I’m in the process of telling myself that I’m on to whatever it is that monster is trying to do and that’s just not gonna happen. I’m not looking away.

It feels weird that, as scared as I am and unable to really move until Niko gets home, I’m curious about the whole thing. It sort of has the shape I think tarantulas have. At one point, a good few years ago, I had this strange fascination with spiders, and I did a bit of research through the archives. Maybe I was trying to overcome my fear of them. I know that with everything that happened out there, it’s highly possible that there are mixed breeds, that these spiders are an unknown or that they might not behave the way they used to.

Mostly because I faintly recall reading that tarantulas don’t like not being on the ground. They can climb walls due to the sticky web that they have on their feet or something similar to that, but they prefer being on the ground. So, I really just don’t know what this terrifying wall-hugger is—better a wall-hugger than a face-hugger, thanks—and I’m not moving from this spot until Niko gets back. He’d already been gone a while when I started my cleaning, and he should be back at any moment.

My eyes are dry, it feels like. I know I’ve blinked but that’s the extent of the looking away I’m willing to do because the moment I lose track of it, I’m going to panic, I’m going to run outside in nothing but the tunic on my back and my very comfortable underwear and I’m going to get eaten alive by bugs because wouldn’t you know it, bugs seem to love me for some reason. I remember being teased for having sweet blood or something, it always made me shake my head.

Again, it lifts one leg, as though testing the waters and I mutter a soft, “don’t you dare,” under my breath. It moves one step ahead because it does, indeed, dare, and I curse while moving so very slowly to make sure that I can stare it dead-on. I’m not looking away, you can’t make me. It’s going to be something to keep my eyes on it when Niko comes back but I’ll figure something out. Distract myself with these thoughts while still keeping my eyes on that beast.