Snow in the Forbidden Forest

Deep within the Forbidden Forest, a small girl sat in a clearing, or as much as there was beneath the dark canopy that covered the area, not that it bothered her. She rather preferred it this way. This was her home after all. Around the clearing, one would notice an abundance of webbing, as well as several, luminescent green ponds.

”Now now Mr. Squirrel, this is all for your sake. You’ll come out of this looking cuter than ever I promise.” She said gently, reassuring the squirming animal on he lap. A wretched squeal rang out, though devolving into a hiss, ”See? Isn’t that so much better? Now you don't even need to worry about burying nuts for the winter, meat is much more nutritious after all.” She finished, giggling, letting the newly created creature free, although it had veered far away from an ordinary squirrel, with compound eyes, 2 extra insectoid limbs, and a smattering of exoskeleton plating its back. With a quick glance around the being scampered, or scuttled up a nearby tree.

”Now, I wonder what's next?” Coriander said playfully tapping her cheek with a sharp finger. Her thoughts were interrupted by a buzzing sound as a small fly flew up to her face. ”What’s that? There’s a girl? In this forest? Oh how fun!” She smiled, although there was a somewhat sinister feel to it, not that she planned on hurting them. After all, it was ever so rare someone came into these woods by themselves, it would be a shame if she didn’t play with this new toy.

”I suppose I’m off then, Bye-bye!” she said gingerly to the bug, who quickly flew off. She could always use her wings, but there were so many things to look out for then, with so many branches in the way when you got higher up. Without a second thought, two sharp fingers punctured her own leg, going almost halfway through, the same liquid that was contained in the ponds dripping from the appendage into the wound. With a loud crunching sound, four spider legs sprouted from her back, lifting her off the ground, a small giggle exiting her lips.

With that, Coriander took off, the long legs deftly maneuvering across the terrain bending around or breaking any branchest that may be in the way. After a short while, she could detect the girl with her antenna. She seemed to be sitting still, a bad plan in this neck of the woods. Approaching the girl, one of the long legs snapped a branch alerting the girl of her presence. ”Oh well, I suppose there’s no helping it anymore” She thought shrugging.

”You’re not from around here. Are you?” Her voice rang out, her form, still supported by the spider legs, appearing through the trees. A vaguely greenish yellow liquid dripped from the puncture wound in her leg she had made earlier, not that it bothered her. Her compound eyes were trained upon the girl inquisitively waiting for an answer.

”Yes, I do live here~!” Coriander’s said happily, her smile widening, though she seemed to refuse to show her teeth, ”It’s absolutely lovely isn’t it? Not a person in sight. Right now, it's only you.” She said, pointing at the girl with her sharp finger which had previously been hidden beneath her long sleeve.

”Since I first hatched in these woods, it's just been me. Me and my little friends.” She said, a large centipede coiling up her leg and around one of her arms, her other hand petting it as if it were a cute little puppy. ”Do the people not like you either? Is that why you ran?” She asked, her unblinking gaze staring straight at the other girl calculatingly.

”Not that it matters to me what they think of you. I’ll be the one to judge whether your worthwhile or another meal on the table.” Coriander stated, wiping a bit of drool that had leaked out of her mouth. ”Don’t worry though,” The insectoid girl continued, reaching he finger out further, ”I’m not going to hurt you, at least not yet.” She finished, gently touching the tip of the girls nose with her finger.

Pain shot through her nervous system, although it lacked the emotional response linked with human pain. Pain was warning to flee from life threatening danger to insects, as such ‘hurt’ was a word that held little meaning to the girl.

Her hand retreated nonetheless, the bug girl looking over her finger for physical damage, but to no avail. This one was interesting indeed.

”I get the feeling you wouldn’t be too much fun to have for dinner.” Coriander mused, seemingly making a joke, although it could be hard to tell.

”For someone who doesn’t like most people, you seem to not like non-people either. People like me.” Coriander stated almost threateningly, taking the centipede in her hand and taking its head off with a crunch as the exoskeleton shattered, the bizarre innards of the bug girl’s mouth visible for a second if the other girl had looked hard enough.

”I don’t like people either, except not alive people. I like you though. You’re interesting.” She said, taking another bite of the bug, ”Coriander is my name.” she stated, deciding she was finished with her snack and tossing the half eaten body over her shoulder. ”I am a queen. Insect queen. All bugs bow to me, big or small.” she said, a small swarm of flies coming out from her sleeve, only just hatched from eggs that coriander had created in her hands, the swarm beginning to feed on Coriander’s half eaten snack.

”You are safe here. With me. Maybe safer then you are anywhere else. Even with other people. I protect. Keep interesting toys safe. Let go. Not eat. If wanted to eat, would’ve started already.” She said cheerfully, her words meant to be reassuring, although they might not be taken that way, ”Seem strong. Hurt me without causing damage to flesh. Interesting. Interesting.” Coriander said, excitedly, wanting to get to know her new “Friend’s” abilities more in depth.

”Minna. Good name. Like it.” The insect girl nodded with approval, crossing her arms as she did so. The spider legs on her back retreated into her body as she pricked her finger inside her sleeves, lowering Coriander to the ground. If it hadn’t already been clear that her humanoid form was not very tall, it should have been now. The comment about what the insectoid being planned to do with her puzzled her slightly, causing her to tilt her head.

”Minna friend now. Not hurt. Not eat. Protect from forest beasts. Unless…” She stopped straightening her neck and staring at Minna’s face, ”Minna is not friend. And Minna tells the bad people where I am. That wouldn’t be nice. Then I must erase problem. Erase Minna.” Coriander said, the point she was making almost clear to a fault. ”But Minna wouldn’t do that. Right?” She said rather menacingly, although she didn’t wait for an answer, not that it mattered. There was only one answer after all.

”Minna come with Cor. See nest. See home. Have good talk. Good talk with Cor. Then Minna go home.” The insect girl said, explaining her plans to the girl, reaching into her sleeve and pulling out a cream colored ovular object, an egg, the size of an ostriches. She threw the egg a fair distance away, the already large object growing and expanding to ridiculous sizes, pushing trees out of the way as it did so, once it was the size of a small car it stopped, a small crack forming in the membrane. A large horn punctured the shell, a gigantic Rhinoceros beetle picking Coriander up with its horn and tossing her onto its back, earning a soft pat for its work.

”Come ride with me. Beetle won’t attack. Nothing to fear.” She said happily, although quickly remembering Minna’s power. ”You make beetle hurt bad. Use power on beetle bad. She said, not quite understanding the constant nature of Minna’s ability.

Coriander nodded at the new problem that had presented itself, putting her finger to her chin. On the one hand, there wasn’t too much of an issue if the large beetle died off. It would be a waste for certain, but nothing too important. Still, it would be bad if it died while it was running. She’d be fine, but her new human friend might not be as lucky. An idea hit the insect girl however. Minna said it only happened when they touched her skin right? That squishy stuff other animals have. Coriander leapt off the beetle to check.

Approaching the other girl, Coriander gently poked the girls chest with her finger. No pain. Good. Her hands made several deft movements, thin strings coming off of them an wrapping around the other girls hands. Not quite gloves, they were more similar to mittens, still giving a decent amount of mobility while not being too difficult to make or keep together. Nodding to herself, Coriander grabbed the now wrapped hands, pulling the other girl to her feet, wrapping up the girls legs, or at least where there were holes in the girls pants. This should work.

”All fixed now, right? Not squeeze hands, right? Then all set! She said, pulling the other girl up on top of the massive insect. ”Hang on. Forest is not a flat place. Bumpy ride.” She said, sitting down in front of the other girl, not quite taking into account the other girls inability to stick to the smooth surface of the beetles shell. With a nod, the beast took off, deftly moving at a speed one would not expect from something of its size, carefully maneuvering as to cause minimal disturbance to the surrounding trees when possible. If one paid close attention, one would notice marks on the trees, as well as various paths of tilted trees created through Coriander’s fairly common use of this mode of transportation, as well as the rapid increase in bug life and webs as they neared her home.

Shortly after, they had arrived. It was close to the clearing where she had played with the squirrel, with the main item of interest being a pool, similar to those earlier, although drastically larger in size, about 10 meters across. The vegetation around the rim of it seemed off, appearing to move about, even with the distinct lack of wind.

”Its right over here~!” The insect queen hopped off, pointing towards a rather large tree. Unlike the plants earlier, something was definitely off about this tree. Glowing veins filled with the liquid contained in the pool adorned the dark brown, almost blue-ish, bark. The branches clearly moved on their own, creaking as they did so. As she approached, a hollow in the tree seemed to sprout an eyelike fruit, which peered at the “girl”.

”Look Will. I made a friend~!. She’s cute right?” Coriander said happily, gesturing towards Minna standing behind her. The tree seemed to groan and creak in agreeance, roots moving out of the way to reveal a small burrow beneath it. Inside one would find a small cavern, covered in many webs and lit by several glowing grubs hanging from the ceiling.

”Welcome! This is my home. It’s not like human homes, but its nice.” She commented, throwing her arms towards it as if to show it off.