The Castle [02] (Remba, but don't let it stop you)

[Gareeku]

As hard as he found it inside, Gareeku did not release his grip one bit, continuing to stare into Aisha's eyes as she protested.
"I'm not doing anything of the sort until you tell me what is wrong." the wolf replied, his voice calm, yet one knew there was a definite air of determination and seriousness about it. To an onlooker, one most likely would have thought that the wolf was being completely unreasonable and was overreacting. Gareeku, however, knew that something was wrong. Something was indeed afoot, and the wolf had every intention of finding out just exactly what it was.

Along with the anger that Gareeku could see in the pantheress' eyes, he also see a slight bit of panic within as well. from this, he knew he was right; something was indeed wrong. It wa then, however, that Gareeku saw it. Something had been crawling on Aisha's arm, this he knew from what he saw out of the corner of his eye. Something under the fabric of Aisha's sleeve had been moving. His eyes moving down to look at the sleeve and then back up at Aisha's eyes once more, Gareeku listened as the panteress tried to assure him that she was fine.

"...I don't believe you..."

Acting quickly, Gareeku kept the grip on the arm firm as his hand gripped the sleeve of Aisha's top, and wit ha sharp yank of his arm, ripped off the sleeve from the pantheress' arm, exposing the black fur underneath. That was when he saw it. A spider on Aisha's arm.

[Stygian]

The chill that Mel spread had precisely the intended effect, shaking both her attacker and thankfully also the severely burned and dying spider on her back. As Cogidubnus reeled back, crying out a bit from the pain in his hands, two more shapes scuttled out of his clothes and darted away, leaping down with high-pitched sounds and scurrying out of sight under tables and furniture. Instinctually they knew that things had gotten out of hand, and so they did what was the only safe thing to do and fled.
   The spider on Cog's back though, did not. It was too far into his mind and had too much use of a host to abandon it. This would prove to be its downfall though, for while its control was growing more and more forceful, the thing trying to invade and control his mind more and more, the resistance it encountered was not only growing stronger, but also stranger and stranger. Feelings and input that it did not know how to manage were circling through the wolf's nervous system; their nervous system, for the time being. And slowly, the wolf was winning over.
   Then, it hit both Cogidubnus and the spider as a shock. For once, both the wolf and his feral self passed out completely, taking the strange little creature on his back with them, as his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he fell unconscious on the floor.

   The commotion in the library had not been completely unfortunate to the spiders though. While Mel and Cog had been distracted, the previously so enraged Bambi had been grabbed and held back and muffled. It had not taken long for a spider to take her too. While her face was flushed and she still looked upset, the feline actually felt more confused, as she unconsciously straightened and ordered the neck of her shirt...

- -

   The sight of the spider on the panthress' fur was shocking to say the least. The thing, while still somewhat visible in its shape and contours, seemed to be mimicking the color and texture of her melanistic fur, and was doing one heck of a job at it too. When revealed though, the thing crawled up on its hind legs and made some sort of hissing sound, protruding out from her arm. It didn't have any eyes, but it seemed to know precisely where Gareeku was.
   Again, confusion and now also anger hit Aisha. Why was the wolf doing this? Couldn't he see that it was neccessary? It wasn't like they would hurt him! If that was the way he was going to be...
   With those thoughts circling through her head, Aisha snarled at the wolf, and found herself gripping at and tumbling against him, while the spider on her arm pounced and headed for the wolf's neck as fast as it could in all the movement.

[Sunblink]

With her momentary collapse just a distant memory aside, having dissolved in the soothing calmness and the balmy, fog-clouded atmosphere, Keaton jubilantly completed her bath and, having finished rubbing off the vestiges of blood that stained her fur, climbed out of the tub and seized a towel from an ancient rack nearby. Wrapping the towel around herself, the yellow-furred jackal quickly dried herself off and, draping the rag over her shoulder, kicked her discarded clothing into a corner and garbed herself in appropriately black apparel via metamorphosis.

It took her just a moment to dry herself off and then tie her hair up using an abandoned strip of cloth, then drain the tub of bloodstained water and leave the washroom. Without a care in the world, Keaton walked in the direction where she assumed the rest of the group had congregated.

Up ahead, she noticed two familiar figures: the sable pantheress and her white wolf companion, apparently grappling with one another. Raising her eyebrow, Keaton watched them, unsure whether to intervene or declare it as a private matter she had no business in interrupting. However, any indecision vanished once Aisha assaulted Gareeku, the jackal unaware of the speck that leapt off of her neck and onto Gareeku. Panicked, Keaton moved to interfere...

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Bambi wasn't effected by the cold if she didn't have her flaming hands spell, and she steps back from Mel as she increase her ice effect to the surrounding air..

She tried to turn to Gina, when she was pulled from behind... And she was held as she felt the spider crawl up to her neck... With her flaming hands she trys to burn the one who held her and in her stuggle manage to grab her own at neck but miss the invader and burned her own neck.  And the pain caused her to lose her mental battle to the spider.  The new Bambi tried to cover her burned neck with her collar, but it fails. 

Bambi's Fae-feline self is left to watch her own body move on its own and waits for an open to attrack.  She can see the "mind threads" from her mind to someone or some mind beyond the library into the rest of the castle.   but can she see where in the castle?

PBH

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel jerked herself away as soon as Cog let go, at the same time feeling whatever was on her neck slide away. As she whirled to face her attacker to see where the next attack was coming she saw that he curiously wasn't moving. By the looks passing over his face he was fighting something besides her. The thing, the whatever that had crawled onto her neck, it might have siblings.

Just as this thought occurred the wolf collapsed. Mel paused a moment, to see if it he would get back up, but he seemed truly unconscious. She cautiously approached, keeping up her frigid defenses as she did.  The thing that attacked her had gone for the neck so she moved Cog's collar aside. Just as she suspected, there was something there. It was pretty well disguised to blend into his fur but it seemed to be a spider. It didn't take many guesses to figure out where that had come from.  Her body still burning cold she touched the intruder. It was only a moment's work to make it so brittle she could shatter it off. Then she backed away and waited.

[Cogidubnus]

 As soon as Mel snapped the spider off Cog's neck, he gave a violent twitch, his eyes flying open and a snarl passing his lips. He seemed to almost fly to his feet, his body already twisting, when he jerked to a stop and seemed to again struggle with himself, his eyes closing and the snarls growing softer. Standing that way for a moment, he suddenly stopped shivering, and opened his eyes once again. The feral look had passed from them, and it was Cog standing in front of Mel.
He had perfect memory of what had occurred, and Mel's cold-smoking hands and the feeling of ice on his neck gave him a clue as to who had freed him. He looked at her sadly, making a shallow bow. This one was genuine.
"I...apologize." he said, having nothing greater he could say. "I think the spider-woman may have been more dangerous than even Sebastian knew. We have to warn him. And the others." he said, his voice carefully controlled. His clipped tone was a great contrast to his usual eloquent speech, and betrayed his true feeling. He did not scream, but instead felt the slow burn of anger that he had so often felt, the dull calling of revenge. The little spider would pay for this, if she was responsible. Oh, yes, she will scream before the end... he thought, turning a glance at Bam. She seemed alright, but it was hard to know. The ferret woman...he didn't even know if she had a mind to take over. He absently grabbed at his neck, and pulled out the nub of a pincer Mel had left in there. Flipping his collar up and tuning his senses as finely as he could, he made his way to the library door, waiting at the entrance for Mel.
"We need to stay together. There are more." he said flatly, remembering the other ones that had crawled up his leg. "It might be smart to keep yourself as chilled as you can. I don't think they can work under those conditions."
He grinned. "Who knew? The healer is our best weapon." he said, keeping his eyes open for more spiders. He could hear Bam breathing - hopefully, he would be able to hear the scuttling sound of spider's feet.

[Gareeku]

All of a sudden, Gareeku found Aisha pounce on to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he also saw the spider that had been on the patheress' arm jump at him. Reacting instinctively, the wolf swatted the arachnid to the ground, before crushing it with his fist. Then, with a growl, Gareeku pushed Aisha off of him before flipping back onto his feet.

Not taking his eyes off of the pantheress, Gareeku saw out of the corner of his eye that Keaton had entered the scene.
"Keaton, something is wrong with Aisha." the wolf explained, not knowing that Keato nhad also been taken too...

[Boog]

Jeremiah found what he'd been looking for in the kitchens; a large knife, easily concieled in his oversized coat. He was sick of going around unarmed in a psychotic damn house! Cog was acting funny, lying through his teeth, and there was a deadly spider-chick on the loose. Right.
...
The frog found himself a nice corner to lean in, one hand in his coat. Like hell he was going out there!

[Stygian]

Of course, there are many sound tactics to employ to increase one's chance of survival or success or whatever it is that one just happens to pursue in a certain struggle or endeavour. In the face of danger, for example, one can try and gather as much information on it as possible and try and counteract it, or try and escape its attention, or just run and hope that the danger in question can't catch up with you. Needless to say, holing up with a big knife in close proximity to it and hoping for the best is mostly not a sound strategy. Neither was it this time.
   The spiders that scuttled away from cog had been scared away, and while not really that intelligent without a host's brainpower to depend on they were nevertheless very cunning and adaptive by nature. Thus, they understood the need to avoid the dragoness and find places to hide and hosts to help them quite quickly. They were very good at the latter two as well, being naturally attuned to cramped and dark places, and able to sense any larger and more suitable host creature through heat-perceiving pits and antennae capable of sensing electrical pulses from far off. The frog didn't register very much on the former, but it picked up his scent and the tingling of his nerves quite easily.
   And so, as he even had the courtesy to back up in a corner and allow it to easily and silently skitter down the wall to his neck, the frog soon found himself knocked out for a little while, before he woke up, feeling much more calm and collected, and more... purposeful.

[Boog]

Oog, what hit me? Jeremiah got up and rubbed his eyes. He felt so sleepy, and he had a knife in his coat. Why did he have a knife in his coat? He could have hurt himself when he fell! Shaking his head, he took it out and dropped it on the table. Honestly, he should probably seek some help. He knew his psyche wasn't in the best of shape, but this was just a new level of mentally @$%^ed up. Why was he all by himself? This place was dangerous! He went off down the hallway toward the library. Where all eyes would probably be on Cog, and he could... Do something... Man, he was out of it.


Meanwhile, somewhere in Jeremiah's subcontious, various personae were panicking, celebrating, and throwing tantrums respectively.
New management! BREAK THINGS!
I can take nothing! Noo!
RInnNnnNnNNnNg!
BREAKBREAKBREAKBREAK-
                                   Trapped!
We are focused at last!
                                                                                             Yes!
                                                                 No!
                                                                                                                                 RinNNNNnnNNnNNnNnNNNnNnNG!
                                                                                                        Unforgivable...
Bal was having his territory moved in on. Plic was only a matter of days away from figuring it out for herself, there was whatever the newcomer did, and finally there was even this little crawling THING. All of them were able to or soon would be able to exert his degree of control. This could NOT be forgiven. It was HIS! This interloper must be removed, immediatly!
Bal was very goal oriented. It worked rather well with the hubris, short temper, power, and homicidal tendancies.

OOC: Right, panic and cowardice don't work well in horror flicks. I should try to remember that.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

the Fae Bambi is a secret glade in the corner of her mind, watches the little spider that hijacked her body... As it trys to make Bambi seem normal to the rest of the adventurers.

The flow of information should be two ways, thought Bam... Bambi sends little probing butterflies around the spider and finds that it is like a computer virus that takes processing power and memory from her for it's own use, but mainly it is a remote control reciever from another more advance mind.  A thread of a mental com-link is connected to her mind and the spider and then another link from the spider to her real ememy.   

In the little brain of the spider itself, Bambi keeping herself hidden in the flow of data, and trys to see what information the little node of psion spider has on it's path to the "master brain"
Does it have the path to escape to "Mother"? 
Can Bambi bypass the spider and attrack the mind links directly?
 Better yet, Can she send pulses for energy down the mind-links and hit the "master"? 
What firewall/defense was there in the "psion-spider"?

Bambi studys the psion-spider for a way to maybe send her own virus down the links hidden as a "Spider" thought... to strike from within the spiderlady's network.   

PBH

[Sunblink]

Keaton moved fluidly, her wings emerging from her back once more in a swift, almost gelatinous gesture, shaping themselves into long, grasping tentacles. Instead of sporting the jackal heads that her clan possessed, Keaton modified the tendrils so that way the tips were crowned with large, groping claws reminiscent of the ones atop her wings.

"I noticed that!" Keaton growled, whipping one of her wing-tentacles around in hopes of holding Aisha down. "Give me five minutes and I'll have her pinned down in no time. Do you have any idea what's gotten into her?"

Then again, Keaton reminded herself, now wasn't the time for conversation.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Boog]

"Everything alright? I heard some loud noises..." Jeremiah said, peering around the doors. Mel looked exhausted, and Cog was picking himself up off of the floor. "Yeesh. What happened to you?" Bambi looked as though she was fine but she's got those burns right there and he was imagining things. She was fine. Bambi? Capable young woman, couldn't possibly be in trouble. "Need a hand?" A hand. Contact with someone else, preferably close to the neck or somewhere else with easy access to the nervous system. Why stupid question. Don't ask stupid questions and make yourself useful.

[Stygian]

There was a slight tingle, and a rush of thoughts slipping into the back of her mind. Not very balanced ones, sometimes even uninterpretable and jumbled as much as some of the others could be crystal-clear and concise. But it all went together to form a picture that Sal could understand quite well.
   So, the adventurers thought to put up resistance? And one even had the audacity to try and enter and hurt what was hers? They didn't know what they were up against.
   Carefully, the spider took the neccesary precautions and then distanced herself from her 'little ones', cutting of the chance for retaliation, however improbable it was. Even as she kept moving and working, she could easily control the mindspiders and the link to and between them. They were her creation, after all.

- -

   The indications that something had changed came rushing to the spiders, and through them to their respective hosts. They had been cut off, but they had orders. And they knew what to do. Contain, claim, and use...

   Jeremiah got the message. He was being perhaps a bit too forward. He had few spiders to support him. Maybe he should lay low for just a bit...

   Keaton understood. She had to keep Aisha back, and distract the wolf, so he could be brought into the fold as well. That would not be a problem. She had a spider on her and two were moving toward the stairway...

   Aisha got the picture. She would struggle and then be subdued. If it had to be done, she could even show the spider on her back, just so that Keaton could get her shot in...

   Bambi suddenly felt sort of a shock, being forcefully pushed back into her own head. The link between the spiders and their 'mother' had been closed off, save for the hint that she would want to communicate with them again. The spider on her back did not have any orders now except but to force her back into her head and make her stay there, while behaving normally...

- -

Upstairs, a final spider, the last one to receive its orders, found itself somewhat confused. It did not have any specific directions. So, it simply resumed watching the sleeping thing beneath it.
   It was not so sure about that one. It did not really seem so dangerous, or active either. It had some activity and warmth, and it did not smell bad. But there was just something that felt wrong about it.
   The spider wondered and thought about its conflicting orders. For one, it knew there was something odd about this thing, but mother had said that it should contain and claim... And it was becoming both curious and afraid that this one might make trouble. So it made a decision.
   Slowly, the little eight-legged thing lowered itself and approached the creature, determined to investigate...

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Just as Jeremiah offered his hand to the wolf Mel's hand wrapped around his wrist, a frosted cold hand.  "Have you seen the others?" she inquired rather urgently. "We have a serious spider problem. A new spider problem." She pointed to the mangled remains of the one that had attacked her, still twitching on the carpet. "If they get you they commandeer your brain and body. Cog found out the hard way." Then she rather abruptly let go of his wrist. "Sorry. That probably hurt. We discovered they are vulnerable to cold. I'm keeping the area chilly to ward them off." She looked at him as if just realizing he wasn't a mammal. "How is that going to affect you?"

[Boog]

Jeremiah hissed through his teeth when Mel grabbed his wrist. Damn right it hurt!
"Just don't let me fall asleep and keep your distance," the frog replied, rubbing his wrist and chuckling nervously. Looking at the mangled spider made him mad for some reason. Really mad. "So long as you don't touch me while you're doing it and don't let me fall asleep, I'll be fine," the cold made him uncomfortable, but it was at its worst somewhere around the small of its back. Something there was really complaining. "How far out from you does it go? I'll just stick to the edge of the effect or something." Bal was complaining about something, but it was distant... Unnecesary. Like white noise on the radio, fuzzy and indistinct. Thank the gods for small favors.
"I haven't seen the others, sorry. Anybody else definatly affected?"

[Aisha deCabre]

Before the rational part of Aisha's head could have come to the aid of the situation, her anger had already overwhelmed it...something happening not entirely of her own device, but through that of the thing commanding her...which she instantly knew upon viewing the spider hiding itself on her arm, after her sleeve was ripped off.  There was a surge of revulsion, the urge to pick the thing away and toss it to the side...

And instantly the idea was mentally tossed out of the way, into a dark and impassible corner, mind again focusing on the task at hand...and on the wolf in front of her, who proved resilent to her efforts to pass the spider...but not for long.  As she lunged, her eyes carried a familiar sense of purpose, but by now he knew that her mannerisms were all wrong.  She would fight for control...

Then along came Keaton, to which the panthress had felt relief, somehow.  She knew...and yet didn't know...that Keaton was with her.  Among the taken.  The wolf would be subdued yet...this observation brought back the confusion she felt before.  Who needs help...?  Gareeku?  Me?

In the throes of the battle, the wind had been knocked out of the panthress as she was tossed to the side.  And before she could get up, Keaton had pinned her.  Her hand reached down to her belt for a weapon...and was stopped within inches of grabbing the handle of her blade.  Despite her ferocious strength, the fact that she didn't at all give up, soon enough there came a new feeling.  Again, from herself, and yet not.

This is hopeless.  I cannot fight the both of them.  Exhausted...

Aisha's body fell limp, though her muscles still bunched.  She was on her stomach on the floor...mostly intentionally, for through the fabric covering her back, barely bunched in the folds of her shirt, they might have seen exactly what had gotten into her.  Growling in frustration, her eyes shot from the wolf, to the jackal, and back again.

Gareeku's concerned, then he will see what is wrong.  And what is right.

[Sunblink]

Grunting as she succeeded in roping Aisha to the ground with her wing-tentacles, Keaton watched as the ebony pantheress slumped hopelessly in the grip of her claws after a momentary struggle, even an effort to reach for her weapon before she appeared to realize that resistance was futile. Breathing a sigh of relief, Keaton wiped away a bead of sweat that had gathered on her forehead and turned around to face Gar, patting him on the back.

"Got her. I got her. Doing alright there, Gar?" she asked, still keeping a keen eye focused on Aisha in case she attempted once more to break free and assault the wolf. "What the fuck's up with her? Has she gone nuts or something...?"

Unknown to the wolf, as Keaton's hand rested on Gareeku's back, a tiny, rigidly-shaped figure walked gracefully down her arm, needle-like legs of chitin maneuvering it along the length of her muscular limb similar to how a skilled acrobat would waltz along a trapeze. It was quick and precise in its movements; efficiently leaping off of the joint of her wrist simultaneous to the moment Keaton withdrew, not wanting to garner any suspicion from the lupine.

There were no ostensible alterations in her expression, not even the slightest twitch of her facial muscles or movement in her eyes as they remained locked on Aisha under the pretense of keeping guard, though somehow she seemed to assure the pantheress that things were going exactly as planned.

That they would all become like them.

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Cogidubnus]

Cog waited at the door for impatiently before the door clicked and opened behind him. His eyes went wide, and he turned and nearly punched Jeremiah in the face as he entered. He stopped just short and blanched at the frog, and then whirled around again, narrowing his eyes. Satisfied the spiders were not behind him, he again turned toward the frog, and edged his way close to Mel.
He realized this might be a greater problem than he thought. From his own experience, he knew that the spiders were more than capable of using their hosts knowledge, and if they so chose, acting exactly as the host would have under normal conditions – and they were insidious, undetectable by simply talking or looking at somebody. One sounded as one normally did, all the while unaware of the parasite, or incapable of fighting it, able to give no warning, or any sign.
He wasn't infected. Mel wasn't infected. Bam probably wasn't infected. That's where the list ended. Everyone else could or might be.
He addressed the frog's comment. "So far, we have no idea who is infected. But we know who isn't. Me, and Mel." He said, nodding at the ice dragon. "She got the bug off me, and I saw the bug on her die. And I know there were more of them. So."
He carefully reached inside his jacket for the protective charm he wore, but flinched when he found his pockets empty. Still in the other jacket... he thought. His sword was gone too, come to think of it. He'd...well, the spider had left it all back with his other clothing. Accursed parasite...
He continued to speak to the frog. "So then. If you could be so kind, good friend, proving your sanity to us might be helpful." He kept one hand behind his back, ready to throw a wave of force at a jumping spider or a crazed Jeremiah. "Let's see your neck, good sir."

[Boog]

"Prove my sanity?" The frog laughed aloud at this one, "Cog, how sane am I to begin with?" He'd already backed away from Mel and Cog somewhat. That chill was a real pain. "Fine, fine, it's a valid concern..." He tilted his head slightly, pushed the edge of his hood slightly further away from his neck. Not enough to see any detail unless you were to get closer, "But I'm not coming any closer to Frosty there. My wrist's gonna be aching me for hours as is."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel acquiesced to Jeremiah's request to back off but at the same time prepared a massive blast of cold. If anything looked odd to her everyone in the room was catching a chill. She nodded to Cog that she was ready. "I can heal your wrist, after you're proven hitchhiker free.

[Stygian]

Things were not going well. The spider on Jeremiah's back knew that these people were too suspicious now, and that even though it could imitate the gleam and color of the frog's skin nearly perfectly, it would be spotted. It and its siblings had already lost two of their number already, and being so few that meant that they had to conserve their forces. How was it to...?
   The spider made a crucial decision, and then probed Jeremiah's mind a bit with its own, imparting some thoughts and sensations it hoped would help. It was smarter than he was, so long as it had his mindpower to rely upon, and it had a huge information and access advantage over him too. Besides, it did not like giving up a host, which it supposed helped in a way too.
   The feelings the frog were then exposed to were insecurity and fear of these other people he had just met, and who up until them had only made him go through a whole lot of trouble and showed him only disdain. Then came the presence and mind of the spider, slightly accentuated, and tinged with belonging, calm and purpose. He felt a thought formulating in his head; that he could be rid of his voices and find some peace if only he would work together with the spiders; that they would not hurt him or demand things of him, just be with him and nothing more. Then, he felt the presence withdrawing, and his mind and vision starting to dim...

   Unexpectedly, the frog shuddered, and then his eyes rolled back up into his head as he slowly fell forward. Without warning, a spider leapt up and out of the neck of his shirt and up on one of the bookcases, faster than Cog could strike it without a sword. Then, it scuttled away and darted, born on terribly fast legs and strands of silk, out of sight.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

"Bambi was dazy and confused just after she was push in out of the mind spider, and then she blocks her fae-self behind a mental wall from the mind spider... she has one thing from her encounter with the mind of Sal...

PBH knows now the command codes of the "Mother". 

Could she now mimic the spiderlady mental voice and command "her" mind spider?  Now that the spider has cut off her link to all the mind spider?

MMM let us try this once  "Act natural, read a book" thinks Bambi as she mimics the spiderlady mental voice.. after practicing a few trys inside her mind shield until her mental voice as matches as the Mother's voice.   

then Bambi send the thought out

"Act natural, read a book"

PBH watches If the mind spider direct her body to take up a book and sit reading a book.

PBH

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog threw his fist forward when the spider jumped from Jeremiah's neck, but to no avail. A wave of force blasted into the wall above Jeremiah's head, and the spider simply sailed through the air and landed neatly on one of the bookcases behind him. By the time Cog had whirled around, only a few random tatters of silk were floating in the air, the spider long gone.
He cursed, turning around again after he heard the dull thud of Jeremiah hitting the floor. Upon reflection, it might have been a good idea to catch him. He looked out cold, but if his own experience with the spider had told him anything, he would probably wake up soon. Good, he thought. They may not have been able to kill the spider, but that was one more they could be sure was not infected.
This would be slow going, however, if they had to force each and every spider out of everyone. Depending on how many spiders there were, he supposed, but he had already counted enough for everyone. He turned to Mel.
"About how cold can you make it, good lady? For example, could you lower the ambient temperature of the entire castle, perhaps?" he asked, keeping an eye out for the three spiders now scuttling somewhere around the library. "Enough to inhibit the spider's, anyway."
As he waited for Mel's response, he kept his ears perked for the sound of mouthparts, or the telltale clatter of wood and chitin.

[Gareeku]

For a moment, relief was apparent within Gareeku as he heard Keaton's words. "Well that's good. To be honest i have no ide-"

Something was wrong.

Whirling around, the wolf backed away from the jackal succubus, eyeing her suspiciously. Gareeku was now very wary of her also. From an outside observer, at that point the wolf must have looked like the person actingly most strangely. What was wrong?

...Keaton had patted him on the back.

This probably would have seemed most strange for someone to suddenly distance themselves from being patted on the back. However, Gareeku had observing the mannerisms of the various people currently staying in the house. So why had he backed away like that? Why had he become so suspicious of Keaton all of a sudden?

...Because patting people on the back was something Keaton didn't do.

Gareeku had noticed during the time spent in the house that Keaton was more of the distant type, and this included not doing things like patting people on the back. Keaton had acted quite out of character, and Gareeku knew that this meant something was up.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Jeremiah was lucky that Mel was not quite so jumpy as to blast him with the cold when he fell, but that meant the spider was lucky as well. She went to one knee to check the back of Jeremiah's neck for more hitchhikers when Cog asked her about temperature. "A room, even the size of this one, I can make colder than the spiders can tolerate. Given time I could get it below what even the hosts can tolerate. The whole castle I wouldn't be able to do much to. Basically the smaller and emptier the room the colder I can get it in less time."  She stood and backed away from Jeremiah before he could awaken. "He is going to be the biggest problem. I don't think his fatal temperature is much different from the spider's."

[Cogidubnus]

Cog nodded sourly at the dragon's words. "That would indeed be a problem, yes. Out of the question, then." he said, squatting next to Jeremiah. He put his arms under the unconscious frog's own, and with a grunt tried to lift the rather heavy spellcaster. It took him a few moments, but he finally managed to straighten all the way up, Jeremiah simply hanging off him like dead weight.
"We can't...leave him here." he said, dragging the frog towards the door. "Or get him somewhere safe. Out of sight for a moment..." he trailed off, his face still twisted into a sour expression. "I don't care if we have to drag him through the entire castle. This stops now." Cog said, grunting again and managing to get Jeremiah over his shoulder. Taking a deep breath, Cog opened the door to the library and began heading for Stygian's room. "Let's tell our esteemed host of our situation." Cog called back to Mel.
It was somewhat difficult to keep from going completely insane from paranoia as he walked through the halls. But Cog had seen far worse situations than this, and the spiders' main advantage was gone. He walked through the halls calmly, ascending the stairs to Sebastian's room without pausing once. His ears were sharp, and he couldn't hear any spider behind, ahead, or above him. If he kept moving, he would be alright.
The room with his sword was past Sebastian's own, so he stopped at the bat's room first, not bothering to knock before opening the door. The sight that greeted him made him curse.
There was the bat, lying on his side without as shirt, as he was often wont to do. At the nape of his neck was another mindspider, cream-colored, tan camouflage not hiding it from the wolf's sharp eyes. He dropped Jeremiah unceremoniously and prepared to smash the spider on the Bat's back, getting ready to throw a wave of force at the thing.

[Aisha deCabre]

The look that Aisha returned in response to Keaton's guarding eyes was an aggravated glare.  In the part of the mind that she deemed still belonging to herself, the panthress never did like the idea of being subdued in a fight without being finished off.  Adding to the fact that she was being seen as having gone crazy...

Yet still she held an air of calm, dissipating the anger and slowly bringing her boiling point down to a level of rest.  This is what's supposed to happen.  Her mind was still warring.  She knew what was happening...what would probably happen to Gareeku and what had already been done to Keaton...the prospect was wrong and yet right.  Revolting and yet acceptable.  And in she was still subconsciously leaning towards right and acceptable...though not as heavily.

As she saw Gareeku reel away from Keaton's attempt to place another spider upon its victim, she released an exasperated sigh.  One would have thought it was from staying on the floor for very long.

"I'm fine, you can let me up," Aisha said with a suddenly calm and assuring voice, but was being careful to avoid locking her gaze with the wolf's.  The emotion behind her eyes had given her away before.

[Sunblink]

Shortly after Keaton had removed her hand from Gareeku's back, she noticed that the lupine had grown noticably suspicious of her. This wasn't good... not good at all. It wouldn't do.

Lip quirking into a scowl, Keaton raised her pierced eyebrow again (which apparently seemed to be her most flexible one, as she constantly used it in ocular expressions of sarcasm) and asked snidely, "What's with you?" she would've set her hands on her hips if she weren't busy still keeping Aisha on the ground, although she decided that perhaps the pretense wasn't necessary. Aisha certainly had no intentions of putting up a fight.

Although the pantheress was no doubt agitated with Keaton's efforts at restraint, she didn't let these fouler emotions leak into her voice. While Keaton was perfectly ready to release Aisha, she didn't want to garner any more dubiosity from Gareeku. Pretending to be uncertain, Keaton turned her gaze attentively to Gareeku, hiding all lurking emotions that would've given her away.

Ah, it was good to be a Succubus sometimes.

"What do you think?" Keaton asked, trying to turn Gareeku's attention away from her attempt at depositing a spider on him, "Should I let 'er go?"

~Keaton the Black Jackal

[Stygian]

The bat seemed to be resting soundly, meaning that he'd probably already been taken by the spider. And Cogidubnus, already tense, probably jumped when he twitched a little and then stirred before the wolf could release his force wave. However, as Sebastian sat up, his hand immediately went to his neck. His dark-clawed fingers quickly found what they were searching for, and then, without ceremony, he grabbed and ripped the spider off his back, crushing it slightly in his hand. The small, dark wound and scratches from the thing's claws that resulted healed up as quickly as the clawing on his face had done, and were gone before he moved over and turned against Cogidubnus, throwing the spider to the floor, his black-tattooed right arm somewhat stained with its greenish blood.
   "Allright... What the flying fuck is that thing?!" he growled, looking down at the still bleeding arthropod and reaching for his shirt with his clean hand. His fangs, their tips usually just peeking out underneath the sides of his lips, were fully bared in an angry snarl. "I expect it's a present from Sal, no?" he then muttered, looking up at Cog with eyes turned to gleaming points by the darkness, but not really waiting for an answer. He quickly got his shirt on, and began walking toward the wolf.

- -

   To Bambi, it almost seemed that her attempt to trick the spider had succeeded for a few seconds, because she felt as she moved over to one of the bookcases, slightly out of view from Mel, and started looking over the rows. But then, suddenly, came a short jab of pain that would normally have made her squeal, feeling like a switch over one's bottom or perhaps knuckles, only for the mind. The spider on her had been confused for but a moment, and while the thoughts circling through her head really weren't in any sort of language or text or images, but rather a jumble of feelings and sensations of all kinds, she quite clearly got what the spider was telling her.
   Bad! You cannot fool me! Mother is mother, feels like mother, tells like mother. You are not mother. You are me, because I am you! I have you, and I am you! the little creature imparted to her. Worst of all, Bambi felt that as its treatment of her mind became more forceful, she more and more felt as if it was actually her thinking the things to herself, her mind dizzying and clouding.
   It had been a good plan, but the spider lady seemed to have made these things too good, or she had encountered this problem before.