Private Finished Get acquainted with your 8-legged saviour

Evie sat at the table with a very unappealing looking plate of food sat in front of her. She squinted at the dish, frowning, poking at it a couple of times with her fork.

"You uh...you sure this is safe to eat?"

She had been invited out by Aranea for lunch, Evie wasn’t particularly eager about it, but she also had no real plans for the holidays, and she was never about to turn down food someone else was paying for. The restaurant was a small place in the city owned by a couple of fae. The building itself had a very natural feel, with a lot of wooden furniture and decorative plants adorning their surroundings. The food in front of her, however, looked like a vaguely slimy mushroom covered with some brightly coloured spice that Evie had no idea how to identify.

“Because like, this kinda looks like they dug it out of a swamp or something.”

Evie’s thoughts on the scout in front of her were mixed. On the one hand, Aranea had brought her to the island, which felt like a better option than spending her time in juvie and jail. On the other hand, Aranea had brought her to the island. Which, for someone who’d spent her whole life unaware of the magic world, was a stressful experience to get used to. At least Aranea herself was chill, even if the whole spider thing took some getting used to.

@Kait

“The waiter was all insistent about it.” She grumbled, finally jabbing the fork into the mushroom, pulling a chunk of it and taking a bite. It was…kinda sweet, actually. But it also had this weird texture that just felt icky in her mouth. She cringed a little, but she was hungry, so she powered through it.

A lot to get used to felt like an understatement to Evie. The culture shock of this entirely new world had rocked her when she first arrived. She’d been doing her best to avoid thinking about it, avoid acknowledging the ball of anxiety in the back of her head while she just focused on the more cool, fun aspects of her new home, but it felt like every day there was something she couldn’t understand, something at least a little frightening.

But she wasn’t exactly too eager to share that. Aranea might know more about Evie than almost everyone on the island, but they didn't exactly feel close, she didn't want to spill her guts about it right then and there.

“Eh.” She shrugged, non-committedly. “I’ve been managing, even if schools been a real drag. I dunno how people manage to get through all of it. It’s so boooring.”

Her mouth curled into a smirk, her eyes shooting her a mischievous look for a moment.”

“Buuuuut I’ve been keeping myself occupied.” She said, thinking on all the trouble she’d been getting into. “At the very least, there’s plenty to do here.”

She started idly picking at her food again, averting her gaze, the smirk disappearing just as soon as it appeared.

“What’s it matter to you anyway? It was just your job to get me here, right? It shouldn’t make much difference to you whether I like it or not.”

“Show off.” She giggled, smirking and rolling her eyes as she took the menu from her, pushing the plate of mushroom thing away from her towards Aranea. Truthfully, she was grateful for not having to stomach the full thing. Maybe it was an acquired taste, maybe it just tasted better to spider people, she didn’t really care enough to find out. She searched through the menu and found a sandwich that sounded more edible, signalled one of the waiters and asked for it.

“Eh, you don’t need to act all concerned. I can manage just fine by myself.” She said, slouching back in her seat after the waiter left. There had been a lot of people in her life that had more reason to care about her than Aranea did, and that didn’t stop them from disappearing the moment she needed them. Why should she expect anything else from her?

“Besides, it’s not like it makes much difference whether I like it or not. I don’t really have a lotta options on where I stay, y’know?”

Evie just shrugged at her statement, she didn't want to drop the self imposed apathy she was keeping up, but she also didn't feel like pushing back that much today. She accepted the offered food, taking a bite, this time without having to cringe.

"Nope," She said through the mouthful of mushroom, chewing as she talked. "Wuzzat supposed to mean?"

"...Huh. That, um, must have been rough." She said, dumbly, obviously not quite sure how to respond to something like that. That's not what Evie expected to hear, even if it did kinda make sense for her.

"Ehhh, I don't think that'll really happen to me. All this shits still pretty new and freaky, but I've had my own weird powers for most of my life. It kinda made it all a little easier to swallow?"

She picked up the menu from the table, than let it drop. Rather than drop back down, it dropped to the side, slowly falling back towards the table Aranea had grabbed it from.

"So like, its not like this is all unbelievable to me, but..."

Ugh, she groaned internally. She really didn't want to get into any of this, with anyone, even someone chill like Aranea. Though she could deny it all she wanted, it didn't change the fact there were plenty of concerns. She eventually looked back at her, not quite meeting her eyes.

"So, uh, I nearly got mauled by someone in my first week here." She admitted, in the most casual way she could manage.