Lovecraftian Love

“Intruder. Termination required. Defend forest. Defend Swarm.” Coriander thought to herself, moving at a rather rapid pace through the forest, her humanoid body several feet off the ground carried by 2 sets of segmented armored legs. She had gotten a signal from one of her insects that an intruder had been spotted. Her heavily armored legs smashed against the forest floor with a thud, which should have become clearly audible to the outsider by now. The two extra appendages in the front lifted off the ground, crossing over each other as they smashed through a tree, the insectoid girl stopping in front of the man.

“Intrusion. Leave immediately. Remaining brings eradication. Heed warning.” She said rather threateningly, the extra limbs braced against the ground in a battle stance. This was more then she would normally give people, but her run in with a certain adolescent human had somewhat softened her. “Compassion weakness. Must eliminate. Remove flaws. Achieve perfection.” She thought, shaking her head slightly. Her bond with that girl had created an opening. A point to be manipulated. She had managed to take a step backward, away from her goal rather than towards it. Her eyes remained trained on the individual despite her racing thoughts, prepared to make a move if the man attacked.

Coriander retreated a few steps when he complimented her, “Intimidation unsuccessful. Unforeseen results.” She thought to herself, unsure how to proceed with the situation. On the one hand, he had remained, so she should follow through and finish him. On the other hand, she watched as the man's body twisted and contorted into something more grotesque… or it would have looked that way to an ordinary human. While not an insect, he was definitely more similar to her then the ordinary intruders, his appearance feeling more… homey. “Perhaps useful. Continue observation. Indulge for now.” She concluded, lowering herself to the ground, her rather miniscule height now glaringly obvious.


“Coriander.” the insectoid girl introduced herself in a straightforward manner, watching the now large individual with her segmented, unblinking eyes. She had purposefully lowered herself in order to expose a weak spot, as to test the man’s intentions. If he did attack, he would be met with a strong blow from each of her additional limbs. “Objective unclear. Inquiring purpose.” Coriander asked, still not understanding the man's intentions.

“Intruder scouting. Find pleasurable. Meaningless.” She thought dismissively. He had entered for a frivolous purpose, as it seemed many of the intruders did.


Coriander’s antennae twitched when she heard him start talking about the beetle. She perked up, her previously on guard stance changing, shifting to one similar to a small child talking about their favorite toy. “Indeed cute, friend not so.” She started off correcting the eldritch before her. “Swarm drone. Tool. Harvest sequences. Return samples. Fuel evolution.” The insect girl continued, nodding thoughtfully as she watched the beetle work.


While she could easily control it directly, relying on a central intelligence was dangerous. A certain level of independence was required to be effective on a large scale. Looking over Altizica, stopping for a moment to think. for a moment to think. He would certainly provide usable strands for swarm development, many enhancements could be created with his genetics serving as a base. However… “Individual non-hostile. Provides opportunity. Take chance. Otherwise, foolish.” She reasoned, a veinlike pulse of green extending up the extra appendages, forcing them to shrivel up and retreat into her body once more.


“Accompany Intruder. Understand honor.” She started, crossing her arms as she hopped up, landing on the bulky figures shoulder and crossing her legs.

“Indeed. Coriander is swarm. Without Coriander, Swarm is nothing, less then beast. Give purpose.” She said, glad that the man knew where she stood. She was the head, no doubts about it.

“Aggression brings attention. Attention brings ruin.” The insect girl continued, shuddering slightly and releasing an almost cicada like noise as she did so. It was many, many years ago when it had happened, but it was still the only thing that had ever made the eldritch female feel fear.

“Forest hive. Outside bad. Dangerous. Too Dangerous. Must evolve further. Protect swarm.” She said quietly, remembering the short experience she had outside. They had attacked her for simply living how nature intended. “Unnatural. Disregard rules of survival.” She thought to herself, staring over at Altizica. “Currently, non-hostile. Potentially ally. Friend.” She mused, thinking back to that scared little girl she had met not long ago. That was the only “Friend” she had.

“Incorrect. Kill or be killed, yes. Rightfully so. Outsider colony, wrong. Cycle broken. Hunting, stopped. Swarm overwhelmed.” Coriander said in her bizarre speech pattern. “Here, swarm rule. Feeding, unhindered. Swarm thrive. Forest superior.” She continued, nodding in approval. The wanderers that ventured into the woods were fuel enough for the swarm. Development would be rapid with the number of outsiders in this “city”. The risk outweigh the benefits however, at least at the moment.


“Appearance irrelevant. Efficiency priority. Visual beauty pointless. Inner beauty valuable. Resides in sequences.” She responded, her words fairly easy to take the wrong way. The complexity that resides in the biological code held in all things, intricate, but also simple. Working together to give life. That was beautiful.