Edderkopp - Drider!Loki

Nine

The morning came with a cold wind and spattering of rain, our fire having died out hours earlier and our protection seeping small bits of water over us.

My flimsy cloak did little to protect me against the bitter wind and I could tell, as I pushed myself up on cold and numb arms, that it was going to be a miserable day to travel.

Luckily, my cloak had remained safe from the leaking that came through the web and would provide enough protection for the time being while I tried to come up with some magic that would keep us both dry.

It had been something I'd been trying to work on for a while but still hadn't succeeded, in fact most of them seemed to make it worse and I'd given up after the seventh attempt.

Branches creaked from behind me and I turned in time to watch Loki creepily unfurl himself from the darkness the overcast sky and canopy of leaves created.

Although by this point I had grown accustomed to seeing him and had, for the most part, gotten over my minor fear of his stature, this sight sent strange tingles down my spine.

Watching his long legs emerge from the darkness, followed by his pale torso as he stretched out the kinks from sleeping, was terrifyingly mesmerising.

I couldn't tear my eyes away.

Slowly, he moved further towards the little campsite we'd set up the previous night, rubbing his eyes and yawning widely.

"Good morning," he said, his voice hoarse.

"And to you," I nodded in reply, my eyes travelling up to his mussed bed hair. "Did you sleep well?"

"As well as you when far from home."

I let out a soft laugh, "I suppose I'm used to it by now, the rain was rather soothing."

"Yes, it can be a natural way to lull yourself to sleep."

I smiled at him then crouched down to begin packing away our scarce number of things.

"Does the rain not disturb the web?"

"Last nights didn't, it wasn't hard enough, but it can break the web if it gets too heavy, luckily we have a tendency to break and rebuild webs anyway so it's not too much of a hassle."

"Oh, well as long as it didn't keep you up by constantly needing to be mended."

"Not at all," he chuckled, lowering himself closer to the ground, "I put up a few layers, so we were well protected should the top layer break."

"Wonderful," I smiled wider, looking up at him, "should we eat before heading off or are you good to go?"

He pulled his lips to one side, his chelicerae clicking together as he tilted his head.

"I could go for a bite."

I let out a small laugh, which earned me a raised eyebrow and a confused look.

"What? Spider's are more known for liquifying their food, correct? Sure you still bite but..." I trailed off with a long sigh, "never mind."

Loki's wrinkled his nose and shook his head.

"I am not a pure spider you know, I can eat normally, it just has to be small bites at a time."

"Great, also another note," I said, shaking my head, "no need to get huffy, I'm still learning about your kind."

He let out a scoffed laugh, looking away from me.

"Perhaps this was your destiny for travel, learning about my kind and writing about it."