At first, Mia wasn’t sure what to think. The wind wound around her face, and she relished it. But now that she was out…what direction to go?

She could see that she’d come out from the base of what looked to be the start of a rather large mountain range- having come out on an elevated area, which she was a bit grateful for since it meant that she could see for quite a distance. Ahead of her looked to be wide open plains, but she also noticed that a bit off to the right, well in the distance, was what seemed to be the start of forest.

Almost immediately she started carefully making her way down the mountain base. Her first instinct was the plains, honestly- forests could have dangerous animals in there, not to mention the possibility of her getting lost. But, unfortunately, there was something else she quickly realized that steered her towards the trees.

Food. If she was going to survive for very long, she’d have to find some way to eat. She’d never hunted before, though- she was sure of that! But that didn’t matter- hopefully some berries or the sort would make themselves known…presuming they were edible. She couldn’t skin animals or anything, but…well, maybe fish? ‘Yeah, that’s a good idea,’ she thought to herself. ‘River. Let’s look for a river. Forests have rivers all the time, right?’ It’d certainly help her to refill her pot when she used all the water in there…ah, that reminded her. ‘Need to find some way to carry this easier,’ she mused. ‘Like some rope or string or-’

She stopped as the realization washed over her.

She was a spider-thing.

Spiders spin webs.

She…could, right? Even just mulling the question made her feel like the answer was ‘yes’ pretty confidently. But how?

Did she even want to figure it out? Part of her felt…oddly calm about the fact.

The other part of her was shouting rather intensely about how gross it was. That would -ew- come out of HER. Her…backside? It kinda felt…well, she wasn’t sure how to describe it, but it felt more ‘back’ than other parts, so sure. Either way, grooooss gross gross.

And yet. Part of her was wondering…

‘Nope. No, no no, let’s just move on for now, Mia,’ she chastised herself. ‘You’ll find some vines or something.’ It was then that she looked into the darkness of the forest, and then up at the moon. ‘...but you’ll do that in the morning.’ She’d be a fool to do this at night, after all. However, she was still wide awake- sleep wouldn’t come easy. She’d need to burn off some energy somehow…

And quickly, it hit her just how.

----------------------------------------

Three hours later, Mia had not ‘found some vines or something’. She’d largely stuck to the edge of the forest, going…well, she wasn’t sure in what direction, but she’d turned right upon leaving the caves, so whatever that direction was; making sure she wasn’t too deep in the forest, but also wasn’t entirely exposed to anything that might be walking the plains.

Fortunately, it seemed like there wasn’t much out here- at least on the edges. She’d spotted some strange, small, fluffy beast only a bit larger than her hand, and yet reminded her of a cylinder. It’d had large ears and a long, bushy tail, and it’d scampered away upon seeing her. Something to remember in case she got hungry. But aside from that, no water sources, and no other obvious food. She’d trundled back home with that in mind- the impromptu scouting session had done its job, and she was tired. Furthermore, she at least knew that around this section of land was traversable and safe enough.

It was for that reason that the morning (at least, she hoped it was morning) saw her take much the same path- the daylight did a LOT to show the actual beauty of the place- and what had first appeared to her as simply rocks and shrubs were, in the light, much more colorful and vibrant. Blues, yellows, and reds dotted the landscape, making the cliffside an honestly rather appealing sight. Still, she had little interest in just sitting there all day admiring the scenery, so off she went.

The walk, honestly, was both relaxing, and good for her practice. It was finally becoming second-nature to her, and she’d even gotten into an intentional jog here and there. Whatever was happening, she was picking it up fast.

Something she could take either way, though, was the solitude. Oh, sure, she heard chirps and bugs. There was life here- but it was simple. Muted. “Y’know what’d really be nice? Some company that wasn’t some strange voice in my head,” she muttered to herself. A small rabbit in front of her fled, and she paid it no mind. Animals had been doing that all morning. She WAS feeling a bit peckish, but hunting…well, that was still something she was dreading, to be honest. She’d rather not have to kill an animal, but…well, she’d figure out something. ‘I DID think berries beforehand, so…maybe I should start going in a bit deeper to-’

That’s when she heard something- a scream. Human, no less. Female, it sounded like. And it came from inside the forest.

Part of her wavered- obviously she wanted to see what was the problem. She wasn’t heartless. But another part of her very much thought that such an issue was none of her business- and more importantly, she had no way of fighting whatever it was that might’ve made that scream. No weapon, and she HIGHLY doubted that, despite being larger than she recalled she was, she was any level of competent at combat. The only ‘good’ news from the situation was that she might be closer to civilization than she thought.

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Gritting her teeth in sympathy and regret, Mia continued on her way, making very sure to stick to the treeline.

There weren’t any more screams, fortunately. Whomever that was, if they’d died, she hoped it was painless.

She wasn’t sure how much longer later it was, but the sun was pretty high up- she estimated somewhere around midday. And though she hadn’t done anything more than walking, she felt exhausted. Not to mention, that peckish feeling she’d had earlier had begun to grow into something more. After carefully taking a swig from her water jar to take the edge off, she sighed, and finally decided to head into the forest.

“I REALLY hope nothing in there tries to eat me,” she muttered to herself as she ventured in.

The foliage wasn’t so heavy as to prevent her walking, fortunately, but she DID have to be careful of where she stepped and how. It was almost like making her way through a maze, due to her size. She was far, FAR taller, wider, and longer than she used to be- and that meant that she constantly had to duck, step in another direction, and rebalance herself from uneven terrain.

If it weren’t for the sheer length of the strides she took, she was sure she’d have been moving much much slower than before. She was already tired of it, frankly, and she hadn’t been dealing with it but for less than a day.

At least she FELT less alone, but she wasn’t sure yet if that was a good thing or not; she saw small reptiles, those furry beasts, and more besides. Some she couldn’t name, some she could. Although, that reminded her. “I need to get something to eat…and then figure out how to eat it.”

Almost immediately, she felt her stomach twinge a bit. “Great. Well, that’s a warning if ever I heard one.” Resigning herself to perhaps a hasty fire (if she could even recall how to make one) and some berries or the sort, she headed deeper in.

It was about now that she noticed something particular about herself- namely her hide. Or whatever the spider parts of her were supposed to be called. They were solid, and though she felt a great deal, she did notice that a number of scratches… didn’t. Or rather, she found herself brushing up against various twigs and leaves, and while they’d irritate her human half, her spider parts seemed to more or less only feel a bit of sensation. Well, that’s one aspect she had to admit was nice. But only that.

Several minutes later, she found herself starting to get a bit concerned. She couldn’t see any fruits here, and nothing else save for perhaps some small animals struck her as edible. She was still hopeful she wouldn’t really have to KILL anything, but as time wore on, even that choice seemed to be taken away from her- likely due to the smell of blood nearby.

‘...wait.’ She paused, mentally and physically. ‘Smell of blood? Wu-how?’ She wasn’t sure SHOULD have recognized it was blood, but for whatever reason, she’d immediately smelled SOMETHING in the air, and her mind was quick to register it as blood. She was positive of it. But that led to questions. Dangerous questions. Where was the source? And was whatever caused it still nearby?

Both questions were…unpleasant in nature, but with her stomach getting more ornery by the hour, and the fact that to her quiet alarm, the blood didn’t exactly smell BAD to her, she found herself almost unconsciously creeping in the direction of the smell.

Before she could even begin to properly question herself about the situation, she’d stumbled upon the scene.

Oh, there was blood, for certain. A great deal of it, splattered across the ground and trees, and filled the area with a pungent odor that she found both repulsive and fascinating in equal measure. But that wasn’t her main focus. Oh no.

The main thing that’d gotten her attention was the corpse. She wasn’t sure what animal it used to be- as far as she could tell, it was some kind of feline creature, but the blood around it was too thick, covering much of its body, and it was in one too many pieces to identify beyond that, and the fact that it was clearly a predator, judging from the head’s fangs, still open in an attempt at making a meal of some…thing?

No. As she looked upon it, her wonder at her lack of absolute disgust fading quickly, she noticed that whatever had injured it, it was cut too cleanly. This was unlikely to be from another beast…

This was done with a weapon. Something crafted with intention. ‘But if this was a weapon…people! Someone’s out here! Maybe someone who can help!’

At first, Mia was thrilled. Finally, someone she could talk to! Maybe get some answers! She’d be…

‘...be what?’ she asked herself, as the exhilaration died down. She had no clue whether this individual was hostile, friendly, or what. She might be walking to her own death if she just tried to seek this person out! But…then what to do?

Her stomach neatly answered that question for her; the rumble it gave out extended even to her lower body as she felt it shudder. Very weird, but, well…it wasn’t her that killed it. Now that just meant she had to find some way to carry it. As she gently stepped forwards, her mind was racing. How would she even eat this thing? The blood would be disgusting, but maybe she could find a way to-

Something happened, before she realized it. The shorter bits underneath her- she wasn’t sure what they were called, but they seemed like they were arms now with how they reached out- and next thing she’d realized, some part of her had sunken itself into the beast’s remnants. Half panicking, half curious, she could barely understand what was going on, as she felt SOMETHING leave her- some sort of liquid.

‘Poison,’ she realized only seconds later. ‘I think, at least. That’s how spiders eat.’ How she knew this, she wasn’t sure, but it was coming to her, flashes in her mind and knowledge unbidden. ‘They dissolve their food, and then…’

She wasn’t interested in actually seeing the slurry that was no doubt the beast before, but when she felt herself WANT to suck it in, she could barely control her upper body’s reaction of disgust. And yet it happened- a feeling of fluid, of drinking something…and of surprisingly warm taste and a feeling of fullness. Like she’d eaten the best roast ever.

In a matter of moments, it was over. Although, it wasn’t quite enough. And that thought frightened her just as anything else. ‘I have to do that again!?’ was her overriding thought, and not one she could find herself to admit to.

She ended up doing it at least once more. The other half of the beast was still there, after all.

The minutes after her feeding found her as crouched as she could, rubbing her eyes clear after she’d sat down to cry and mourn, and accepting a truth that was far more obvious than she’d been willing to admit.

‘I…I’m not a human anymore. I can't even ACT like a human anymore. I don’t know what I am…I-I feel like a monster.’

She looked up at the canopy, its greenery providing a falsely reassuring visual. “How am I supposed to live like this?” she croaked up at it.

The forest, uncaring, didn’t answer back.