2026.03.15 The Itsy Bitsy Spider...

The Itsy Bitsy Spider
Sark presses Jessica about something that's been confounding him
IC Date	03.15.26
Players	Sark, Archimedes, Jessica
Location	Wind in the Willow Institute - Sanctum
Spheres	Mage, Fera, Bygone

Sark makes his way through the front door, giving Jessica a wiggle of his fingertips, and then slows down once he gets to the training room door and notices its just Archimedes dismissing his last class. Perhaps he expected others to be here? He arches a brow and glances at Jessica, "Is...sparring not tonight? I think I did not mark my calendar correctly."

Jessica looks up from her inward attention at Sark, "Ah, ya must not have seen the email. We had to reschedule on account o' some cancellations, so it's probably just gonna be me, you, and Archi fer a bit."

Archimedes spots Sark coming in the door from the Main Training area, smiles, and bids farewell to a clump of students hanging around. He heads towards the front door and then nods his head, "Afraid so. Even our senior students are calling it a night." With an apologetic frown, he adds, "I'm sorry for rescheduling."

Sark hmmms softly as he listens to both and nods, "Probably not a problem then. At least I know I didnt get it wrong, that would be embarrassing." He takes a moment to eye the lingering students and looks like a thought occurrs to him. Finding a corner of Jessica's desk that does not have clutter on it, he hops up onto it to sit on the edge, and eyes her for a moment, "If you arent immediately trying to get out of here, I would love to talk your ear off about some details about things...which I bet Archimedes would be interested in as well."

Jessica looks up to him with contemplation, a number of thoughts seem to rapidly go through her head, but she ultimately concedes with a smile, "I'll hear 'em at least."

Archimedes peers towards Sark and raises an eyebrow. He then hmms and nods his head, "Okay." He then takes a look around and then asks, "Would you two like to go somewhere quieter?"

Sark eyes the lingering students for a moment and nods at Archimedes, "Yeeees, maybe somewhere a little more isolated would be good. I dont want to get anyone into trouble or give your students the impression you are hanging around with crazy people, you know?" He pauses to beam brightly at both of them.

Jessica stands up and picks up her sun hat to bring with her. "If ya still wanna spar, well... I wouldn' mind blowin' off some steam, but I ain't too sure I can keep up with ya, Sark."

Archimedes nods his head, then gestures for them to follow him. He walks back towards the Main Training Hall, around the floor mat, and to the back of the room where an elevator door is typically hidden from casual view by a large plant. He leans forward and enters a long keycode into the pad next to the door, which evokes the sound of movement behind the door. He then turns, looking between Sark and Jessica, speaking quietly, "This is my sacred space, held inviolate. Please respect its sanctity and its secrecy." Timed perfectly, there is a ding behind him, and the door slides open.

Sark rumbles softly and slips off of the desk when Archimedes agrees to relocate to his own space. He shakes his head a little negative at Jessica, "I wouldnt turn all of that on unless you asked me to. At the time, Archimedes specifically asked me to go all out, so I did. I sure as hell wouldnt do that in front of people I dont know, anyway. People would start talking." He waits to step into the door last behind the others, and lowers his voice a bit when doors start closing, "I just had some questions about the other, well, forms you can command. The last one of you that was here, I havent seen in MONTHS and the curiosity is killing me..."

Jessica says, "Oh, ya wanna talk about that? Well... I s'pose I can oblige." She walks in last after the other two, "Surprisin' to see all this, though I admit I did wonder why there was so much negative space from lookin' at it from the outside." She pauses past the threshold, takes a deep breath as if looking for something in the spiritual nature."

Archimedes furrows his eyebrows, looking forward towards the door as it closes and the elevator begins to rise. As it does so, he states again, "I had to know." He doesn't explain further, but instead reiterates, "Again, please respect the secrecy of this place." When the doors open, Archimedes steps out of the elevator and takes a few steps in, "This is where I do my greatest works." He then points towards his workshop, "My workshop." He then points towards his library, "My library." He then finally points at his mandala, "My sand mandala." He then nods to Jessica, "Yes. I'm looking to fix that perception at some point."

Sark holds up both hands at Archimedes' request and shakes his head, "I promise I wont touch anything. The node you defend is yours to defend and use as you see fit. To be honest, I think you've already seen my connection, so I have no desire to usurp someone else's. From what I understand about Jessica's family, she might not have access to one, so she might be willing to make you a cooperation deal for such if she is in need." With that said, he trails off, "But that's between you two and I should stay out of that. Archimedes, are you as advanced in the study of Life to be able to change forms yet?"

Jessica says, "It's been a question. Been afraid I'll have to make a deal with spirits on the other side if it gets ta be a problem."

Archimedes nods to Sark, "I know. I've never had anyone up here. It's the one thing in the universe that would hurt to let go of. I guess I'm not a very good Buddhist in that regard..." He falls silent for a moment, then looks to Jessica, "When I first learned your nature, I will admit that I researched heavily how to create the type of blood that powers people like you or vampires. It's an expensive process, but you're also a valued part of this institute. If you have a need, ask, and I will do what I can." He then looks back towards Sark and tilts his head, "Yes, I can. To an extent."

Jessica hesitates on hearing this, taking a moment to process what she never considered, "I ain't too sure what you mean, but I'm willin' ta hear it out."

Sark rumbles softly and nods at Archimedes' answer, "Then this question might be of interest to you as well." He bounces a little and gives Jessica a curious look, "So. If I remember right, you can be a big spider, a little spider, and a huge PILE of little spiders. My question is about the pile of little spiders. I can take the form of a big scary spider...but I cant spit into two, much less a pile of a thousand of them. How do you manage control like that? Are the rest drones or do you have some sort of out of body mental state where you can still feel and see through each of them?"

Archimedes reiterates without explaining much further, "If you need something, and the situation is dire, let me know." With a look towards Sark, it's quite possible that he doesn't know how to further explain this. Still, he considers, tilting his head to the side, "I never thought about that. I can turn into one, but I never thought of the possibility of turning into many."

Jessica blinks, looking at Sark, "Oh, ya know 'bout that? That's a hard one ta explain..." She takes a moment to compose her thoughts, "I ain't even too sure 'bout how much ya know about my own spiders ta start."

Sark smiles a little and nods at both of them, "Well, Ive only known two since I woke up here, other than you, and they were both different, so Im going to ASSUME you arent the same kind of spider they were either. I think the first one I met turned into orb weavers? The one I havent seen in a couple of months, I couldnt tell you. I dont know MUCH cause, well, I mean to be honest, I never got a chance to just sit down and TALK like this. And...I dont wanna sound overly nosy, but IM happy to answer any questions you might have about me, to trade, of sorts."

Archimedes raises an eyebrow, then shakes his head, "People tell dragons everything, huh." He then hmms, then nods his head to Jessica, "I think you can know a little about me as well."

Jessica takes a deep breath, "Ahright." She lets it out. "Let me show ya a bit o' what I can do." There is a twitch in her body, one almost unnatural. Almost like a magic trick she puts out the palm of her hand and there suddenly sits a smooth, jet black spider, no bigger than a grape. "I'm a black widow. Ananasi can technically do whatever they want if they find the spider in question, but this is what I started as an' I'm inclined ta stay. Southern black widow if ya know the specifics, the original one. Black with a red hourglass jus' like media likes ta paint 'em." The spider in her palm has stayed perfectly still throughout this. "As ya suspected, this is a drone. She don't 'ave her own thoughts but for what I 'ave. Crawlerlin' form is a lot like that. But I can see through her eyes... Trouble is her eyes ain't much. Light, dark, shadows passin' o'er her." She shakes her head, "That's all I see, but when I got a hundred o' them... a picture starts ta form."

<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======--->
Archimedes rolls Willpower vs 6 for 4 successes.
1 2 2 +6 +7 +9 +9 10
<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->

Sark grins at Archimedes and winks, "We cheat a little - I can reach out and touch the collective consciousness if I REALLY need to know something I dont know, right now - I mean, I can also live a couple of thousand years. Thats a lot of conversations to build on. But really, we're supposed to be wise old dragons. Gotta get there SOMEHOW, right?"

He falls quiet when Jessica sits up and displays the single spider, causing him to lean in cloooose to putn the thing and her hand about 3 inches from his face. He makes a soft cooing noise and murmurs, "Faaaaascinating. So when you do this....crawlerling form...you are nothing BUT these little ones. So are you mentally...centered in one of them and you see what the rest see?"

Archimedes takes a step back from Jessica as the spider suddenly appears in her hands, a visceral reaction of gasping breath and gritting of teeth. The monk takes a deep breath, quickly ordering his mind and countenance into a neutral expression. He takes a step forward again, leaning and nodding his head, "Crawlerling. Fascinating. Yeah, what he said." He actually seems to genuinely mean it as well. He looks towards Sark, tight lipped, nodding his head, "I wonder if I can tap into that same collective consciousness without ticking off a host of dragons..."

Jessica stands still, the spider doing the same, "Depends. I s'pose I can tell ya that it ain't just one, but it ain't all of 'em. I can lose some spiders an' not lose any o' me, but there are some..." She pauses, noticing Archimedes reaction, "Yer afraid o' spiders. Well... don't be too afraid o' these. Each black widow is practically blind. All their huntin' is from knowin' what's in their web. Believe me, I know."

Sark just remains fascinated while he listens, not immediately noticing Archimedes' reaction. He does glance back up at Jessica's face, "That was what I was going to ask about next. If you're a host of spiders and someone takes a flamethrower to them and wipes a lot of them out, does it hurt you? Or are you fine as long as at least ONE of the little things survives?"

Only then does her comment sink in and he glances back at Archimedes in surprise and murmurs, "Oh! Oh man, Im sorry, I didnt know. I should have said something..." He pauses a moment, then chuckles, "As for the consciousness...I wouldnt advise it. I SUSPECT you would need some part of me to even pull it off, but they would CERTAINLY feel it as an intrusion and you dont really want every single dragon still alive anywhere in the universe suddenly aware you are mentally trespassing."

The edge of Archimedes' lip twitches as she explains the nature of the spider in her hand, commenting wryly, "If it was a reasonable fear, it wouldn't be a phobia now, would it?" He then shakes his head, "Not too worry, Sark. It's one of the few... things... I have left. That, the need for glasses, and a crushing caffeine addiction. I'm working on them on my quest to be the best me I can be." He then hmms and nods, "Fair enough."

Jessica shudders, "Yeah, it hurts. I lose enough o' these and I won't even be able ta go back ta homid form, let alone the other two..." The spider crawls over her hand, the hand which she waves back and forth for it, "It can get e'en worse than that, an' I hate to admit it, but... if it do come up maybe it's better ya know. It ain't good if one of the main spiders die. May as well be brain damage."

Sark frowns a little at that last part and nods, "Is there...something one of us could be prepared to do if you get in a bad state like that? I dont like making a new friend and then something horrible happening, and of the two of us, I suspect I might be the one more comfortable with offering aid in that situation." He's SERIOUSLY distracted with watching the little spider running around her hand, while lowering his voice, "Ive tried for years to split my consciousness like that, and I cant do it. I had always wondered what the secret was, I just assumed I was too young to know it yet."

Archimedes takes a moment to peer towards Sark, shaking his head, "My comfort has nothing to do with helping someone." He looks back towards Jessica for a moment, then hmm, "I imagine that you are able to do this because you were born to do this. You have all the neural capacity you need to control so many, just like one of your kind controller all three of their heads, Sark." He then considers, "Though, were I to try something like this, I would clone my mind into each form and then reconcile the memories later, though that might be quite difficult even for me, or perhaps a psychic link?" He then shakes his head, setting aside the thought for a moment.

Jessica takes a deep breath and lets out it, replying in her usual drawl, "Not exactly." She lets the spider pause on the back of her palm, "Queen Ananasa is who taught me this, and it weren't from birth. I were raised a proper southern Baptist, but I'll admit I didn' grow up one. The metamorphosis comes later in life, and it ain't jus' some violent moment. Inevitable, I'd say. A sudden moment where needs become bigger than ya know."

Sark holds up a finger at Archimedes and looks amused, "I dont know how the hell Cypha does it either, though she's a good one for me to talk to as well, I suppose. She might be able to describe it in a way I'd better understand." He listens to Jessica and nods slowly, "Sounds a little like a werewolf or a magic user. You didnt start out that way, then one day Something Massively Shifts and your world is different. And it usually isnt entirely up to your choice in most cases. Ive...been like this since the moment I opened my eyes, and Ive never known any other different way of being, just how to make myself LOOK like lots of other things, to hide."

Archimedes blinks and tilts his head, "Oh, really? Huh. I see." He then shakes his head, "All I did was read a lot, come face to face with a dragon, not Sark, and have an out-of-body experience where I found that what really frames the universe and reality was me." He blinks once, then adds, "Then I read some more." He shakes his head and comments wanly to Sark, "I suppose there is a similarity in experience, now that I think about it."

Jessica huffs just a moment, "Ya might know me as a mystic, at least that's what Queen Ananasa says I should be."

Sark hmms and nods slowly, "Maybe so?" at Archimedes, "Still makes it fascinating how all of this tends to channel through humans at some point, while actual inhumans become rarer and rarer on this plane. It has some sort of comedic justice to it that humans disbelieve all monsters and then slowly become some of them, themselves, you know?" He smiles for a bit like that actually IS a pretty good joke.

To Jessica, he shakes his head, "OH nonono, mystics are important. They can tend to get warnings and discern things the rest of us cannot find out. You are certainly important."

Archimedes peers to Jessica, then shakes his head, "No, mystic be thee decrees, mystic thee shalt be. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a mystic. I myself travel the three-fold path of the scholar, monk, and the mystic. There's a whole name about it and everything." He then looks towards Sark and shrugs, "I had never drawn the parallel, but I suppose you're right."

Jessica says, "Ain't too sure what I can say. Truth be told I'm more worried fer my regular species than my fellow Ananasi.""

Sark grins at Archimedes begrudging agreement and nods, "I love you guys." He takes in a deep breath and lets it out, "Okay, Ive been a REALLY nosy lizard. The least I can do is offer the same...do either of YOU have questions I can answer? Of course, if you wanna think about that and ask me LATER, Im fine with that too. You could come out to the island and I can host you with tea and snacks and you can meet my horses. Xialong can go kill s'more rats for me too."

Archimedes knits his eyebrows together for a moment, then nods to Sark, "Yeah. I have a question for you to tap into the Consciousness. It's something that even I in my great wisdom still ponder and I fear I will not reach Nirvana until I know..." He takes a deep breath and then solemnly asks, "Sark, why do hot dogs come in packs of ten and hot dug buns come in packs of eight?" He takes a step step back with a small impression of a smirk before he turns to look to Jessica, "And do you have any questions for me?"

Jessica sighs and puts her hands behind her head, "I'll tell ya this, there are laws fer any shifter, and for me they're pretty simple, and one is keep yer mouth shut. I ain't too sure there's anythin' I need to keep my mouth shut on, but it's there."

Sark abruply barks out a laugh at Archimedes' question, breaking into a fit of the giggles for a few seconds. He takes on a serene look to his face and waves his hands around dramatically, "You have named one of the many mysteries of human production that wyrms of my stature may never completely comprehend..." before a few more giggles escape him.

To Jessica's comment, he does not his head, "the different groups of supernaturals I have met have similar laws. Wraiths, Fae, Wolves...Mages, not so much but they dont like talking about shit because those that hunt them might overhear. In my case, I just need to keep away from mundanes. If they get an inkling that I exist again, we will be back to pitchforks and torches, just now in THIS day, it will be tanks and nuclear weapons and my poor island wont stand a chance."

Archimedes smirks, and then shakes his head, feigning a sigh, "I suppose I will just need to continue to meditate on the subject until I am enlightened." He looks back to Jessica and nods his head, "Yes, I don't want you to get in trouble with your Queen, nor do I want you to think that your position here at the Institute is somehow contingent on what you know. I only want to know what I need to know to protect you as one of our own here at the Institute." He then looks back to Sark and nods somberly, "Belief is a troublingly powerful thing."

Jessica smiles and the spider she holds dissolves into her hand, "I had a feelin'."

Sark nods and takes another deep breath, "Well, I tell you both what. It's getting late, but Archimedes knows where my island is now, you are both welcome to come by this week when you have time...can relax away from all of this and meet my babies and Jessica, in your case, you can use it as an emergency retreat should something go horribly wrong here on the mainland for you. Fair enough?"