precept 36: eggshells are brittle. this one speaks for itself.

Y/N had taken all the geo it had collected and stuck it to a silk strand, creating a scarf out of it. Tiso thought that was more impressive than the orb web it had been trying to make up until now.

“It’s shiny… but also a bit noisy.” Y/N shook it. It jingled. “I don't think I like it.” Tiso picked up the sauce covered spoon from his stew.

SHINY

“Yes, I said that. Do you like shiny things? Maybe I should use some to decorate. It wouldn't jingle as long as I don't disturb it… oh, but this is for the arena!” Y/N wrapped the scarf around its neck. “The bugs there… do they want to die…?”

Tap.

“I didn't think so. Do you think that I could… just debilitate them? Or would that be worse?”

WORSE

“I see.” Y/N sighed. “This isn't easy…”

WHY DO IT?

“Oh. I can tell you want to, I guess.” It smiled faintly. “And… I kind of want to see what it’s like. To be you…”

ME?

“Yeah…” Y/N’s smile widened. Tiso could see its fangs. “You… I want to know more about you… and the best way to do that is to do what you did, right?”

I DIED

“Yes, but that means you can't die again.” That wasn't the point Tiso was trying to make. Y/N was being reckless pursuing a dream like his. Tiso was raised to be a soldier. Y/N was not raised at all. Y/N stood up. “I think I could pass the first trial…”

DANGEROUS

“Not if you’re with me! You passed, right? So you can help me!” Y/N giggled, putting on its eggshell mask and picking up Tiso’s shield. It also grabbed its basket before crawling out of the den. Tiso grumbled as he drifted after it. Y/N was usually so meek and wimpy that he never thought he’d see it try something so stupid, much less fail to talk it out of doing it. The spider too scared to show its face in a bug-ruled town out of fear of upsetting them was ready to fight for its life in an arena it heard of less than 48 hours ago. He wasn't even sure that the arena would accept its geo because it was in a scarf. Part of him hoped that they wouldn't. Sure, it would be easy for Y/N to simply take said scarf apart and enter anyway, but maybe it would change its mind while deweaving. Unfortunately, the payment was accepted. There would be no hesitation, no turning away at the last minute. Y/N dipped its claws in blood from its basket limbs and drew a small heart on the board, then strode into the arena with Tiso’s dead friend and a foolish dream.

The crowd cheered when Y/N emerged, just as they had when Tiso first arrived. It was not out of excitement for the spider, it was simply joy at having a new victim to watch maim or get maimed. Y/N’s gaze was fixed on the Lord Fool’s corpse on the throne far above. The spectators couldn't tell due to its mask, but Tiso could because of the thorn holes in the back of the leathery shell. What was it thinking? It stopped looking when it heard the cages rise. It held Tiso’s shield in a defensive position and pulled its cleaver out of its basket. The Fool that stepped out bore a shield as well, though it was not nearly as lovely as Tiso’s. The two circled each other cautiously. When the Fool moved to strike, Y/N blocked the sword with Tiso’s shield and buried its cleaver into the Fool’s shoulder. The Fool wrenched itself away, causing the wound to be much larger than it would’ve been otherwise. Yellow green blood sprayed from the wound and was splattered all over the side of the Fool’s helmet. Before it could lift its shield again, Y/N closed the gap and buried the cleaver into the Fool’s sword-bearing wrist. It screamed in pain and made the mistake of dropping its shield to grab the wound, which was rewarded with a shield bash to knock it to the ground. Y/N quickly leapt on the corpse and brought the cleaver down several times, butchering the Fool while it begged for mercy. Tiso grimaced slightly. Maybe Y/N would be fine after all.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please stop screaming, I’m sorry!!!” Tiso could just barely hear Y/N over the bug’s cries of pain and the audience cheering. Y/N sounded on the verge of tears. This brutality wasn't from a cruel streak on Y/N’s part, it was simply the only way it knew to do damage to another bug. Tiso heard the sound of more cages rising. He grabbed Y/N’s shield arm and jerked it just in time to block a new challenger’s blade. Y/N simultaneously lifted the arm of its previous victim to block the sword of the Fool that came up behind it. Having four arms had its benefits. Y/N was now holding a shield, a cleaver, a basket, and an arm with a sword halfway through it. Both Fools hesitated when they saw Y/N, either surprised or frightened. Y/N twisted the arm it held to disarm the fool, then kicked the Fool away from itself while simultaneously bashing the other Fool with the shield into the wall. While the bashed Fool was winded, Y/N threw the shield into the other. It sliced into the Fool’s chest under its helm, and it collapsed without so much as a whimper. The remaining Fool regained its footing and its courage, charging at Y/N with deadly intent. Without a shield, Y/N’s only defense was the severed arm. The speed at which it whipped the limb around sent the first sword flying into the wall. The Fool got spattered with a little blood. This didn't phase it, of course. It came here to bathe in blood. The new sword hit a different spot on the arm, almost cutting all the way through. Instead, however, it got stuck. Y/N let go of the arm when the Fool pulled its sword back, forcing the Fool to fling the arm aside. Y/N’s cleaver tinked against the Fool’s shield. The Fool tried to take a swing at Y/N. Tiso shouldered the Fool sharply, causing it to miss and stumble. Y/N ducked under the Fool’s shield and slammed its body into its opponent’s chest, sending them both crashing to the ground. The Fool quickly let go of both its sword and shield to grapple Y/N, desperately trying to keep the cleaver out of its chitin. Y/N overpowered it, though. It didn't stay with the body to butcher it this time, simply chopping off one arm and immediately skittering away to grab the shield while the Fool bled to death and wailed in pain. Tiso lightly tapped Y/N’s mask four times, just to let it know he was there. “Tiso…” Before Y/N could say anything else, the cages rose again and unleashed two rolling insects. Y/N hopped up onto the wall, watching the two little bugs crash into each other. “They want me to fight… children?”

Tap tap tap. You had no issues brutalizing child hoppers. Have you never seen the large ones?

“Oh dear.” Y/N watched them for a bit longer. “I can see that they're infected… do they breed infection on purpose? I haven't seen those creatures in red before.”

Tap tap.

Y/N sighed. Eventually it hopped back down into the battlefield. As it did, it drove the edge of Tiso’s shield into one of the young and armored Baldurs, cutting it cleanly in half where two armor plates had separated. Y/N handled the second one just as easily. It continued fighting through the trial, unphased by platforms or spikes or wall movements or new opponents. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Tiso could hear Y/N apologizing to every bug it killed. Even the Vengefly King got an apology. Tiso had expected Y/N to need help with that one, especially when the Vengefly King grabbed it in his pincers, but Y/N had apparently done that on purpose so it could bash his skull open with the cleaver. Its previously white mask was now a dirty yellow-green with tiny dots of orange. Tiso had never seen this much blood and pus even while he had been the one fighting through the trials. That was partially because he used the crossbow a lot more. Y/N seemed to forget it existed in favor of hack-and-slashing its way through every opponent it met. It was nearing the end of the trial, to Tiso’s surprise. The ceiling rose from a low position for the final wave, but not to full height. Cages emerged from the ground as before. Released were massive flying insects with glowing eyes and covered in large orange pustules. Y/N hesitated for a moment in horror as pus leaked out of the gruzzer’s body and hit the ground, steaming like a fried egg. The crowd noticed its hesitation and laughed. Y/N hopped backwards as one of the insects bumbled into the floor where it had been standing previously. Tiso nudged Y/N’s shield arm. He had meant for it to shoot, but instead Y/N flung it into the bug in front of it. The gruzzer went belly up and started writhing in agony. Y/N had sprung forward to try and reclaim the shield, but Tiso slammed his body into it before it could and knocked it backwards. Before Y/N could regain its bearings and ask Tiso what the heck he was doing, the slain bug exploded into a spray of pus and chitin shards. The shield was sent flying into the other gruzzer with enough force to decapitate it and lodge the shield into the ceiling. Y/N had to quickly scurry out of the way to avoid getting flattened by the back half of the corpse. Tiso forgot just how fast spiders could move when they used all their limbs. It was already on its feet before the corpse even hit the ground. Because the bug had been mangled, pus oozed out of the wounds instead of building enough pressure for the bug to explode. Three more similar bugs were released, which Tiso watched Y/N dispatch after it retrieved the shield from the ceiling. It learned quickly. It still didn't remember that the shield had a crossbow integrated into it, though. Tiso sighed a little at that. That was the coolest part of the shield, and it was going unutilized. It had taken Tiso forever to engineer that. Two more gruzzers were unleashed, but instead of being swollen with pus they were swollen with child. Their eyes were still luminous and glossy, indicating that they were infected, but they moved with much more purpose. They charged at Y/N occasionally, other times they just flung their bodies around. Like the pus-filled gruzzers, the mothers burst after being killed from the pressure in their bodies. Instead of hot bodily fluids, they leaked noxious vapors as they inflated until their bodies burst, sending chitin and dead larvae across the arena. Y/N was covered in filth. It wiped blood and pus and bits of flesh off its mask, off its arms, off its cleaver and off Tiso’s shield. It used its cloak as a cleaning cloth, but that was so covered in gore that it didn't seem to clean so much as smear. It was disgusting. It was horrifying. It was beautiful. That was the end of the trial as far as Tiso could remember. He expected cheering and geo, but instead he heard the metallic trembling of another cage as the ceiling rose to its normal height. The cage was massive. The entire arena quaked as whatever fiend was within stirred awake. Tiso balked. He hadn’t been offered the chance to fight whatever this thing was! The arena shook again. Was Y/N so brutal that the audience believed it deserved an extra challenge? Tiso squinted past the bars into the cage, trying to see what great beast Y/N would have to face. He couldn't see its outline. How big was it? Was it the thing that had flattened Tiso? It couldn't be. That thing was too big for a cage.

The arena rumbled a third time. Tiso waited with bated breath. He stood on guard, ready to swoop to Y/N’s rescue. Y/N was just as tense as Tiso was, holding his shield in front of itself and its cleaver at the ready. The bars withdrew with a foreboding clang.

The most pathetic bug Tiso had ever seen in its life toppled out of the cage with a grunt.

…What the hell?

The audience roared with laughter at the feeble little wormlet as he regained his bearings and gave a battle cry. It was enough to make Tiso laugh too. What was this!? This was an insult of an opponent! Y/N didn't let its guard down, though. It was kinder than Tiso was. It believed there was a chance this miserable insect half its height wielding a cheap shell sword might have some hidden strength or prowess.

“It is I, Zote the Mighty! Prepare yourself, evil creatures!” Tiso’s laugh evolved into a full-chest cackle as the larva-man charged at Y/N waving his pitiful excuse of a nail at it. The “nail” clinked repeatedly against Tiso’s shield like a barrage of small pebbles. Y/N gently pushed the bug. He fell over backwards onto the ground. He struggled to stand upright again, then did a backflip into the wall with a hollow thud. Every time he hit the ground with his little “oomph!” the crowd howled. Tiso would’ve been wiping tears from his eyes if he were still alive. This was a farce! He could hear the bug counting every swing of his nail. Tiso had front-row tickets to the best circus in the world. Y/N was more confused than anything. It lowered Tiso's shield, letting the tiny thing knock his nail against its chest as though he were a child play-fighting it. It looked at the audience in confusion, then back at its opponent. The next time “Zote the Mighty” did a flop away, Y/N crouched.

“Hey–” He charged at it before it could finish speaking. Y/N put its hand on his chest, holding him at arm’s length. His nail couldn't even reach Y/N from there. “Let’s not do this. What are you doing here, little one?” Zote stopped flailing his nail, and Y/N lowered its hand. Before it could speak again, Zote stepped forward and swiped at Y/N’s face.

“Fear the might of Life-Ender!!” To Tiso’s surprise, the dull blade cut through Y/N's mask. It was a jagged, ugly cut, but it went from midway up the mask all the way to the hole that Y/N put its head through. Y/N was stunned. It didn't seem to know how to react. “Foe number three hundred and seventy two!” Before Zote could move again, Y/N dropped the shield and cleaver and seized him by the shoulders.

Y/N, you idiot, why did you drop your—!?

Y/N sunk its fangs into Zote’s neck. He started shrieking in agony, writhing and squirming and hitting the top of Y/N’s head with “Life-Ender.” His movements slowly became more sluggish as his body locked up, but the screaming didn't stop. Even as Y/N let go of his neck and instead ripped open his thorax, he hollered and wailed and caterwauled. It was horrible. The moment that it finally stopped was even worse. The crowd had stopped laughing as it watched Y/N eat the little twerp alive. Tiso had been told that spiders used their venom to liquefy a bug’s organs and then drank them like a soup. Y/N, however, did no such thing. Perhaps it had gotten so used to eating meat chunks while cooking that it was predisposed to rip and tear. When Y/N finally dropped the hollowed-out shell of Zote the Mighty and stood up, the crowd cheered. It wiped its mouth with its claws delicately and licked blood off of them while the audience threw geo and the back of a charm. It scooped up the prizes and dumped them in its basket, then picked up its weapons and left while the crowd was still cheering. It left little footprints of blood behind. It put its mask in the basket as it left the arena. Tiso could see tears in its eyes. Its attempted kindness got something valuable to it destroyed again.

Tiso felt a twang of pity.

When it got home, Y/N moved its large pot off the firepit and replaced it with a smaller one. It tossed its cloak and some water in and slowly stirreding it as it boiled. Periodically it removed the cloak and scraped it with a rock to squeeze out water, blood, and pus. Then it would toss it back into the water and repeat. It had intended to mend its mask again, but after seeing that it was stained with gore it simply tossed the shell into the corner. It was in a dour mood. Tiso wasn't sure how to cheer it up. He found himself missing its humming. He had hummed by himself for a bit, but it hadn't helped and he felt stupid so he stopped. Instead he stood next to Y/N, staring into the pot and watching the filth leach into the water and get squeezed out of the cloth. The cloak was slightly yellower than before, but the color was uniform enough to look intentional by the time Y/N finished cleaning it. Y/N dumped the dirty water outside, then hung its wrung out cloak to dry from the ceiling. It laid on the floor on its stomach with a sigh, right across from and facing Tiso’s corpse.

“You led a hard life.”

I ENJOYED IT

“Did you?”

I DIDN’T EAT ANYONE THOUGH

Y/N giggled a bit at that. Tiso was glad that the joke landed instead of just seeming meanspirited.

“I don't think I like raw meat. But I was hungry and upset. I couldn't really stop myself.”

HE LOOKED LIKE A PRUNE. DRY MEAT HAS BAD FLAVOR

It giggled a little more.

“Yeah, he wasn't very meaty, you’re right. Tough meat is common in older bugs… but I don't usually have to deal with that because I boil everything. I used to use a variety of cooking methods, but I could never tell if the texture of a bug was suited for it, and making stew lasts the longest…” It sighed. “It must be uncomfortable, haunting my den and watching me eat bugs like you. I’m sorry.”

I DON’T CARE ANYMORE

“In that case, I’m sorry for when you did care.” Y/N sat up on its knees. “Thank you for haunting me, Tiso.” Tiso scoffed to himself.

WHY?

“I… well, it feels less lonely with you around.” Y/N’s shoulders drooped. “I was all by myself… I sometimes pretended I was two different spiders just so I’d have someone to talk to…”

LAME

“Hey! Mean!” The way it smiled implied that it wasn't actually hurt by this comment. “You’re a lot funnier than I am. I was just kind of… sad.”

Tap tap tap.

“You’re right. I guess I’m still sad. But I think I’m less sad. So thank you.”

Tap tap tap.

Y/N eventually retrieved its cloak. When it was dry it looked much better.

DID YOU WEAVE THAT?

“No. It was given to me by the Deepnest spiders when I first met them… I grew out of it, though. Now it only covers my upper arms and my chest.” Y/N sighed. “I don't know what I’m going to do. My mask is ruined… I can't go out like this…”

WHY NOT?

“What if someone sees me? They’ll get really scared. I don't want to scare anyone.” Tiso thought for a bit. He reached behind Y/N and flipped up the hood. When Y/N was a small spider it would've been way too big, which was probably why it didn't wear it. At its adult size, though, it was a perfect fit. Its face was shrouded in shadow, but a bit of light reflected off its main set of eyes. Y/N paused in surprise, then giggled. “Oh! Just like you…”

Tap tap tap.

“I… really do get to see what it’s like to be you after all, huh?”

Tap.

“Hm?”

YOURSELF

“Myself?” Y/N gently grabbed the edges of its hood with two of its four claws. “I… I guess that's true. I don't act the same way you do.”

You’re a better bug than I am.

It was a thought Tiso was too embarrassed to write down. Instead he just tapped three times.