Chapter 32: Deployment and spiders 2 (Jason and Rhea)

Sorry about the late (for time of day) post. Kinda got to watching the new edgerunners yesterday and got delayed, sorry about that.

(Pov Jason)

Jason whimpered as two pinpricks pinched into his neck. The minor pain was quickly overcome by warmth that spread from his neck into his body. The feeling of the couch under him quickly started to feel less like the leather it was and more like lying on a cloud.

Why does still… His train of thought slowed, as if it were moving through molasses. Other thoughts joined in, popping into his head before scattering on the wind as they competed with each other. None of them won. 

Jason could feel his pants shrink and Jasmine pressing herself into him, also seemingly entirely aware of his response and very much so enjoying it.

Jasmine moaned into his neck, like someone enjoying a perfect steak. He knew she had avoided feeding on him for a very long while, and he knew he was her favorite meal. It was part of the reason they were getting married, after all. It wasn't like she had fed on him at all, since he ended up in a coma before now. She wasn't intending to take too much… Wait, how much? 

A delicious shiver ran down his neck as Jasmine licked his neck over the wound to get any leftovers before she sat up, straddling his hips. Their gazes locked, his fiancée giving him an indulgent smile. 

“Sweetie, as I said, don't worry about it, ok? Let me worry about that. It's my duty and pleasure to take care of you.” She rocked her hips for emphasis, which made him certain he needed to buy larger pants. 

“I, eh… But Jasmine… We.”  Jason said breathily. Sentences were hard, especially when it felt like you were trying to drag all your thoughts through quicksand. Not that he was especially worried about anything at the moment, but that was just the lingering effects of whatever happened when Jasmine fed on him. 

Jasmine sighed heavily as she leaned back down, kissing him on the forehead before whispering in his ear. “I told you to let me worry about it, so just do that ok. I am a big girl; I can take care of us both.” She kissed him on the neck twice before the pinching sensation returned. A low moan escaped Jason's throat before he could stop it.

The warmth from her first snack had yet to fade, but seemed to settle deeper now that it had been reinforced. It melted away every ache in his muscles, every knot, of which there were many. The coma, rehabilitation, and crutches had not been kind to Jason's muscles. 

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Jasmine stopped sucking at his neck, sighed heavily, then kissed it. A different kind of warmth bloomed over the bite marks, one he had gotten all too familiar with.

“They're early.” She said as she stood up, carefully placed a blanket over Jason, and walked over to the door.

The sound of the door opening echoed through the room, still somewhat muffled by the blanket of warmth Jasmine's feeding had thrown over his thoughts.

“Hey, come in.” Jasmine said cheerfully to whoever it was. From where he lay on the couch, he couldn't see them. She had mentioned someone was coming over, and that they would be staying while Jasmine went to some meeting.

He essentially would have a babysitter. 

He didn't mind too much. He was well aware that he wasn't in great shape. He was still a fall risk, and while he could get back up on his own… He wasn't entirely sure he could do so quickly if it was a bad one. He also didn't mind the company.

Jasmine walked back in from the hallway, laughing at some joke he hadn't caught on to. She moved quickly, carrying the ottoman towards one side of the living room table, like it weighed nothing. Jason's gaze caught sight of a horizontal piece of fabric in the corner down the hallway, though he didn't manage to see the wearer before Jasmine blocked his view. 

“Jasmine, you ehmm, seem to have spilled a little.” The voice was feminine and a little deeper than Jasmine's. Jasmine's head turned from the hallway towards his neck as if she had seen someone point at something.

“Ohh shit, sorry darling, let me get that.” She walked over quickly, bending down over him, her tongue moving slowly up his neck. 

“Don't act too shocked about her appearance, ok? She isn't dangerous.” Jasmine whispered quickly before she got back up. 

It took only a few seconds for the new arrival to fully reveal herself. 

“It's lovely to finally meet you, Mr. Smallers.” The woman said as she bowed deeply.

Jason swallowed as he looked at the tallest woman he had ever met. She was at least 6'4 if you discounted her hat. And what a hat. The woman wore a wide-brimmed pointed witch hat that was covered in intricate patterns of strange symbols, with small metal sticks in the belt wound around it. The hat sat atop a head with long brown hair. She had defined cheekbones and an angular jawline that led into a pointed chin. A gentle, careful smile graced her full lips.

A dark corset, with silver-like inlays in a spiderweb and spider pattern, held up her considerable chest, which was further framed by a belt harness. Jason had to glance away to not stare at where her white blouse was open, revealing a peek at the cleavage of the woman's admittedly shocking bust.

That was about where normal stopped. The woman was holding her hands in front of her stomach. But they were nothing like any hands he had ever seen. They were covered in what looked to be an exoskeleton, ending in clawed fingers. Similarly, her skirt barely covered her legs- well, the first pair of them, anyway, – that were crossed. Her legs seemed covered in the same exoskeleton, and her… thighs? were as thick as a normal human's, a particularly well-trained one at that. However, they didn't end in feet. Instead ending in points that didn't quite reach the ground.

Had it only been that, Jason might not have needed to consciously stop himself from gawking. However, somewhere around her hips or slightly below them, he guessed, as he couldn't really see it, started what looked like the purplish thorax and abdomen of a massive spider with three more pairs of legs jutting out. These three pairs were doing the actual walking. 

All in all, she looked like a queen sitting upon a massive spider as her mobile throne. She kinda reminded him of Rachnera Arachnera, not that he had ever seen Monmusume, but the memes Samuel sent him made some familiarity unavoidable.

Goth spider mommy. Jason lightly shook his head, trying to shake the thought from his mind.

He took a steadying breath, letting the oddness settle before he spoke. Luckily, he had never been that afraid of spiders, and while she looked odd, she wasn't scary. Though he could certainly understand why some might be scared of her, she was far from a regular human. 

He waved at her, his arm still meeting some warm resistance as it rose. Though the soothing warmth was fading quickly, the muscle pains from the exertion of simply being were returning slowly.

“Hey. Nice to meet you.” He glanced over at Jasmine, his eyebrows lightly furrowed. “I am sorry I didn't catch your name. Do we know each other?” 

The spider woman glanced over at Jasmine with a raised eyebrow. “We do. Well, not in person. I am Rhea Martinsen.”

Jason blinked. Rhea, Sophia's master, the girl he had agreed to get to know at least a little. Because his fiancée wanted him to also include her in their relationship. 

He looked over at Jasmine, finding her eyes quickly, tension written all over her face. He knew why; she was waiting to see how he handled it. She had her own plans around this, and he could understand why she might be helping her friend. Other than them simply wanting to share. He couldn't imagine it was easy for Rhea to get out. 

“That Rhea?” He asked.

Jasmine nodded. “That Rhea.”

He turned back to the spider woman who had now walked over and sat down on the ottoman at Jasmine's direction, seemingly. Though squatting might have been a better word for how she sat on it.

A small smile spread across his face. While he hadn't talked to her much, they had texted, and she seemed nice. “Well, it's lovely to finally meet you, Rhea. I was looking forward to it.”

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(Pov Rhea Martinsen)

Rhea set the glass down on the coffee table in front of Jason. She had visited Jasmine here enough over the last few weeks that she felt no shame in taking a glass of something. She also had permission to do it; there were rules and rituals for such things. Of course, decency had demanded she ask if she could get Jason anything while she was up. Both as a general rule, because he was… well, a he, and because he was injured. 

She sat back down on the rather comfortable ottoman, taking a sip of her glass of Fanta. Conversation had flown amicably since she arrived, luckily not dwindling off after Jasmine left. They had talked about everything, from how his sister was doing to the basics about themselves. Talking to Jason was nice, if slightly worrying. It was far more fun to do it in person than just by text. Though she wasn't entirely sure if she worried because it was rare for her to speak with the fairer sex in general or if it was because it was Jasmine's fiancée.

Luckily, he hadn't been intimidated by her size or the claws. If he was, then he was hiding it exceptionally well. That possibility still left some tension in her shoulders.

“So what's it like, having an exoskeleton and all?” Jason asked, keeping his eyes somewhat focused on his drink, glancing over at her hands briefly. Like he was trying not to be rude by staring. “If it's ok that I ask, I mean. If it's not, then I am sorry; don't answer if you don't feel comfortable with that.”

Rhea chuckled. It was a common enough question for people who first met an arachne, a dragonkin, a lamia, or any of the many homunculi with scales, fur, or an exoskeleton. It was to be expected. Not that she minded it in the first place. 

“Do you wanna touch it?” She asked, giving him a small smirk.

He looked at her, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, as he spoke carefully. “Can I?”

“Of course you can.” She said, lifting her hand to hold it out for him. Some of the tension in her shoulders relaxed further. 

His fingers warmed the back of her hand as they ran over it. It felt nice, really nice. The pressure increased as he tested the chitinous substance. She wasn't entirely sure whether he was simply weak or being careful in case it hurt. While Jasmine had said he seemed to take the muscle loss well, not seeming particularly distraught over his lost strength, she chose not to comment on it. You never knew when someone was just putting up an act.

“Does it make handling things hard?” 

“Not really.” She said, slowly turning over her hand. Revealing the lighter purple soft tissue on the inside of her hand. “Touch the center of my hand, and you can feel the difference.” 

Jason's finger pressed down softly on her palm. The same warmth, if not somewhat warmer, now lingered where his fingers had touched her palm. The soft-on-soft contact made her hand twitch slightly as he pressed down on the soft tissue in her palm. 

“This is so weird.” Jason winced. “Sorry.” 

Rhea shook her head as she laughed. “Don't worry about it. I think not having an exoskeleton is pretty weird too. Of course I don't say it out loud.”

He looked up at her, a tinge of pink coloring his cheeks as he clearly suppressed a smile. “I said I was sorry.”

Jasmine was right; he was pretty when he blushed. She winked at him, causing the pinkish hue to deepen somewhat. 

“To answer your previous question properly. Mostly handling stuff is fine, but I do need to be more careful with something like my adderstone.”

“What's an adder stone? Like those holed stones you find in rivers?”

“They are, but theurgists make something with them. We typically just call those things adder stones, though. But I can do you one better than telling you what it does. I can show you. Want to see?”  She couldn't keep the excitement out of her voice. While she would never teach the uninitiated how to do magic, she loved showing off what magic could do. To help demonstrate that there were things in the world far beyond what most people could see and imagine.

“Really?”

“Yeah, of course.” she said as she fished the small rock out of one of her many pockets. “Just be careful with it.” She held the rune-etched rock up to her eye and looked around the room until she found what she was looking for.

She carefully handed it to the boy. “Hold it up to your eye and look over there.” she said, pointing at the leftmost corner of the TV. 

Jason carefully did as he was told, and gasped as he saw it. “What is that?” He said, his voice filled with curiosity as he leaned forward. 

Rhea couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. People were always surprised like that the first time they saw a tomte. It never got old watching someone see the neighbors for the first time.