Lust Or Love

Chapter 2: Conditions

A week. That's how long it took for them to sort everything out for Arackniss to potentially be gone for good. After that, finding the time to meet up with Angel was easy, but nailing down Valentino's schedule wasn't. Each time he and his brother would have time, he was informed by Angel that Val wasn't alone and was, in fact, with Vox. As if the moth was never alone! After another two weeks, his brother called him with the information he'd been waiting for. Valentino was scheduled to do a shoot on location just outside of Pentagram City, and he'd be alone because Vox and Velvet had other business to attend to.

So, after almost a month of waiting, the two piled into the car and drove the four hours out to the set. Sliding out of the drivers seat, Arackniss looked around the place and immediately questioned what exactly was being filmed here. The place was a large cabin beside the grungiest lake he'd ever seen. The green and brown waters lapped at the shore slowly, but every movement had a rainbow sheen to the surface. As though a build up of oil and toxic waste was all this lake was made of. While the hazardous liquid was seemingly the center point of it all, the rest of it caught his attention just as much. The property was overgrown with weeds almost as tall as he was, and vines clung to the cabin, attempting to tear the logs that covered the outside asunder. Off to the side of the dirt road to reach the cabin was a paddock corralling a handful of Hell Horses, all of which were obediently trotting around the space.

"So... what exactly is he filming out here again?" Arackniss asked as he followed behind Angel. His brother didn't seem bothered by anything around them, almost as if he'd been here before.

"They're filming a few things. A porno is the big one, but they also need to do promo footage, some photos for billboards, and a few other little things for the porno in question." Arackniss nodded slowly as Angel listed off all of the basics. He could honestly say that the idea surprised him. Clearly there was more to all of this than he'd originally thought. As they rounded the cabin, they came upon a large barn surrounded by large stage lights, cameras, mics, and various other filming paraphernalia. In an area beside the barn were several trailers with differing labels on them. One said "Hair and Makeup", another said "Wardrobe", and the others had peoples names and stage names printed on them. As they moved, Arackniss found himself constantly looking up at Angel to see if there was a reaction to everything that they were passing, but there wasn't. The realization that this was the other spider's life was somewhat of a wakeup call. All of the lights, the glam, the people were an everyday occurrence for his brother and that alone was terrifying. It meant that the man had been forced to grow accustomed to both the life of a Mafioso, and the life of a high end Porn Star.

They stopped in front of the biggest trailer in the caravan and Angel stared at the door. Arackniss looked the thing over and couldn't help but be both impressed and horrified. A bright cherry red, it had gold accents everywhere from the door handle to the trim around the heavily red tinted windows. In various spots along the exterior, there were large pink hearts, outlined in the same gold as everywhere else. On the front of the door was a golden plaque that very clearly read "Valentino" in scrawling cursive lettering. On top of all of this, the trailer itself was massive, easily big enough to comfortably fit their father at his full height. Meaning that he, of course, only came up to it's wheel's height. "I know that Val's supposed to be tall but... how tall is he, again?" Angel looked down at him and blinked, as though the question were a nonsensical one before chuckling.

"Well, let's just put it this way. Val makes Pops look short." There was the slightest strain in the arachnids voice and the statement was coupled with a grimace and a shrug. Arackniss tried to change the vision he had of the moth in his head. He'd only ever seen him on television, and that had never given him the best judgment of how he would be up close. He had known he was tall, just not the extent of it. Following his brother's example, Arackniss held his head high and straightened his back as Angel knocked loudly on the trailer door. Time passed by slowly and they simply stood outside waiting.