Based on Salihombox's AU and their cannons for Vriska, John, Mindfang, and The Summoner. I don't own any of these.
I definitely don't own Homestuck.
Start!
Your name is John, you are a young man fresh out in the world in your first year of college; and your first time away from home. It's pretty cool since the school you go to is close to the beach and all that but your dad, while being all supportive and sending you money along with way too much baked goods is pretty insistent that you earn some cash on your own.
"You are a man now John," you can recall him saying in his fatherly tone of voice, "and as a man it is important you learn how to support yourself. You need to get a job to help cover some of your expenses while being away from home."
Which is how you came to work part time at the Sburb Aquarium. But enough about John for right now...
Wandering the halls of the Aquarium.
The beauty of the ocean captured in glass walls on display for all to pay witness to, beautiful arrays of tropical fish and friendly marine life in a world where the light is filtered through water and glass; truly an almost ethereal like place, a cathedral on the seaside devoted to the mysteries and wonders of the watery world. As is any good aquarium.
This aquarium in particular however host several special residences, some that are not even available for the public to visit.
Going down one of such halls, into a section of the aquarium not usually available to the public. Here there are many fascinating creatures, you turn and walk down another hall, it's darker here, the light now shining through several fresh water tanks rather than salt; for sure our lakes and rivers hold just as many wonders as our oceans. The lights are dimmer here for more ominous purposes, or most likely the janitor refuses to come to this wing and therefore the light bulbs have not been changed, but ominous purposes sound so much better so lets go with that. At the end of the dark hall was a large circular room, the greenish lighting turning to a more bluish color. This room houses a large tank that seems almost isolated compared to the vast expanses of water that make up the rest of the aquarium. False tree roots stretch down into the tank's sandy floor along with bits of plant life and the few small fish that had not yet been eaten hiding in terror, careful to avoid the odd air bubbles scattered throughout the tank. On the outside of the tank written in bright red paint was the word D4NG3ROUS.
At the top of the tank was a enormous Diving Bell Spider.
Now the average Diving Bell Spider is not all that terribly big, at least not the size of the average teenager like this one was. The name given to her was Vriska, or as several of the aquatic and even some of the human members of the aquarium liked to call her "Spider B-" well actually you know what, let's keep this G Rated.
As a Diving Bell Spider Vriska needed to breath air even though she lived under water, hence all the air bubbles in her tank. It was not unusual for her to be at the surface of her tank replenishing her air supply. It was however, unusual for her to be at the surface of the tank trying to pry the tank's lid open.
Realizing the spider, quite much like several other aquatic residents of the aquarium, could easily attempt escape the security guard placed in charge of keeping an eye on the dangerous creature had a metal grate placed over the tank, the grate wasn't heavy but it could be locked into place thus keeping the tank secure.
Except no one had locked the grate after feeding time the night before.
If one was to watch from the observation platform above the tank they would see one spindly leg that looked an awful lot more like an arm lifting a small door-like section of the grate followed by another arm-like appendage wrapping around the tank edge and hoisting the rest of the body it was attached to out of the water. As the grate was made to fold back on hinges that is precisely what happened with a terrific crash causing the escapee to slide back into the water and hide in her air bubble nest that was nestled between tree roots at the tank bottom. From one end of the dark hallway a flash light flicked on and scanned over the tank. Quietly the water spider Vriska sat in her air bubble staring down at a pair of red tinted glasses reflecting in the the small light. After a moment the flashlight and its owner left and quietly Vriska swam back to the surface.
If we were to read the spider's mind we would probably hear shouts of victory and maniacal laughter as she pulled herself out and over the tank's edge falling to the ground with an unceremonious flop. Four spindly legs stood shakily up and Vriska the Diving Bell Spider raised all four or her fists in victory while emitting and odd noise that only a spider could give but was still unmistakably triumphant laughter as she took in the first moments of her daring escape, however it was just as she took her very first step something happened.
That something was the fact that having never been out of water, though able to breathe air, Vriska was entirely unused to dry land's take on gravity. With this Vriska collapsed to the ground, the weight of the world literally bearing down on her.
You are now John again.
It is your first Saturday working here at the aquarium, your job as a chipper young part time employee is to act as the aquarium mascot which is a large green sea turtle. Though the mascot already has a name you feel the need to call it Casey as it reminds you of the salamander Casey that lives in the reptile section.
Your morning began easy enough but now it is lunch time and you are tired of dealing with so many young kids with their short tempers and sticky fingers on such a hot day. So at the first chance you get you exit the outdoor boardwalk that surrounds many of the animal housing such as the seal and walrus tanks and make your way inside using the special backstage hallways shown to you on your first day of work, happily shedding the turtle costume and walking barefoot in simple shirt and shorts. You are on your way to the employee break room to rest and eat the sandwich you brought only...
Well great it looks like you're lost.
You are now with the gravitationally challenged Diving Bell Spider.
Who is to a fault stubborn, despite the fact it feels as if an elephant is sitting on her back Vriska decided to continue with her grand escape by dragging herself along the floor, and she has made quite a bit of progress.
She was currently going down one of the more quieter hallways choosing to avoid as much attention as possible. In one take floated a very grumpy looking Erifish, the little guy always looked grumpy but right now he was practically giving the spider a death glare. Vriska slowly lifted her head looking at the little fish with all eight of her own eyes before sticking her tongue out with a grin and continuing to drag herself along.
She makes it just around the corner of another hallway before an Employees Only door opened to her left and there stood a very surprised employee.
You are now the very surprised employee.
Actually your name is John and you have been lost trying to find the break room while you drag your turtle costume along. You had just opened a door that lead back into the aquarium when you were surprised to find a girl in some kind of spider costume collapsed on the ground. She looked up at you rather surprised before giving a bit of a sheepish smile and continuing to drag herself down the hallway. She made it perhaps just a few more feet before giving up due to exhaustion and just laying there and making some odd clicking noise that may or may have not been frustrated grumbling/ whining.
John snap out of it and help her.
This you tell yourself with a shake of your head and run over to the poor girl. Coming closer to her you can see a lot more of the details of her costume, It's actually really impressive. The whole thing was a mix of blue and black color, she has two sets of legs and two sets of arms making a total of eight which was nice and spider like. Two of the legs looked more connected to- well actually you can't quite remember what the back of a spider is called but to that part, so those must have been the costume legs right? She was wearing a dark leotard that had the Scorpio symbol on it and her skin was painted an odd grey, you guess to make her more spider-like. Actually the only thing that didn't match the spider costume were the set of horns that poked out of her long black hair.
"Uhhh, hey are you alright?" John asks not honestly sure to do, what was with the spider outfit? Was she some kind of mascot to or just some weird kind of Cosplay?
The Spider Girl slowly looked up at John. She had bright yellow eyes hidden behind a pair of glasses, under her bangs John could see several yellow spots that must have been the rest of her eight eyes.
"Say, costume is actually really pretty."
At this the Spider Girl blushes (blue? Is that maybe because of the paint?) and grins revealing a set of fangs that complete her outfit.
"Are you ok? Do you need any help?"
Now the Spider Girl pauses.
You are now the Spider Girl.
Well you name is Vriska but you much prefer Spider Girl to the other name they sometimes call you. You were surprised to run into an employee but this was obviously the new guy and was not used to some of the more... interesting creatures that lived at the aquarium, which may actually work to your advantage. You were bored, that was why you escaped in the first place but now you most certainly were not. You were however quite thirsty, it had not occurred to you till now what would happen if you were out of the water for too long, your plan had been to scare as many patrons as possible, that would certainly teach them to not avoid her tank.
But now it looked like that plan was scratched, but that didn't mean you still couldn't have a little fun.
You nodded your head yes to the helpful employee.
"Ok let's get you to first aid, uhh my name's John what's yours?"
Now while capable to an extent of some human vocabulary Vriska had never actually talked while out of the water, besides that she didn't believe this employee named John had earned the right to hear her lovely voice just yet. Slowly (as due to gravity everything still felt very heavy) she raised one finger and drew in the air-
"V?" John asked, you nodded nodded yes and continued.
"R."
"I."
"S."
"K."
"A."
"Vriska, is that your name?"
You nodded yes, quite happy he had caught on so fast, he may have been stupid enough to not realize an actual spider when he saw one but at least he was catching on quickly.
You are now the helpful employee whose name is actually John.
You carefully pull the Spider Girl you now know is named Vriska onto your back piggy back style. Surprisingly the entire costume is covered in some soft velvet-like material.
You're not sure wich direction to go so you just start walking forwards. You make it down to the end of the hallway before Vriska taps your shoulder and points to another Employees Only door this time on your right. You manage to get the door open and immediately see a sign pointing out the direction of first aid which is up a set of stairs going back in the direction you just came from. Well great it looks like you were going the wrong way the whole time. But on the other hand this had to mean the Vriska did work here, how else would she know where to go? You found it odd that she didn't speak but had already decided it was because she either couldn't or was simply dedicated to her character so you don't want to bring it up.
"So you work here too?" You asked instead, "are you another mascot or something? I've only been working here not even a week haha can't you tell? No actually I'm only here part time so I've technically worked here for over a week but I haven't been here everyday so not a week you know what I mean. I actually go to the college that's a bit more in town, I'm in my first semester there and about a week or so ago I realized there was nothing to eat in my little dorm room but bread and a stick of butter. I'm on a meal plan but the food at the school is really terrible so my dad is all like "You are a man now John and as a man it is important you learn how to support yourself. You need to get a job to help cover some of your expenses while being away from home." So here I am and hey- hey are you alright?"
You notice now that Vriska whom had, had one set of arms wrapped around your neck and another around your waist (how was she doing that anyway, which set of arms was real and which was part of the costume?) had been relaxing her grip more and more to the point that you thought she might slip of your back. You turn your head to see her resting her own head on you shoulder her face covered by a curtain of hair.
You are now Vriska
And you are exhausted from having dragged yourself around the aquarium under the monstrous weight of gravity. John had been nice enough to carry you and while he was a bit smelly from having been sweating in that ridiculous turtle costume you were grateful he didn't try and make you walk. Also other than her annual vet examinations and that one time she pretended to try to drown one of the trainers this was the first time anyone had actually touched her. Which was kinda nice and with gravity now feeling a little less like an elephant and more like just a very heavy weighted blanket Vriska had begun to nod off to the sound of John's friendly chattering.
"Hey are you alright?"
Your head shot up and you found a worried John looking over his shoulder at you. Blushing again you quickly nodded yes.
"Did you fall asleep?"
You found yourself blushing even harder as John laughs and keep on walking.
You are now merely observing the scene.
Just like any other reader of any other story. You watch as the spider Vriska instructs John to keep walking straight rather than (as you the reader would probably guess) turn left to go to the actual first aid station upon reaching a fork in the hallway. John carries his new friend right until they reach the edge of a platform overlooking a large empty tank where one section of a metal grate has been flipped back.
"Huh I guess we made a wrong turn," John wonders out loud, "say who is suppose to live here, the tank is empty."
At that moment, as if on some command, John falls asleep. As he collapses to the ground his charge dives into the tank, taking her rescuer along with her.
You are now somewhere else
About two hallways over actually. Your name is Terezi and you are one of the security guards here at the aquarium, you take your responsibilities very seriously. Some visitors however fail to take you seriously being that you are also blind, but your other senses are keen so not even a litterbug escapes your notice. As it was you were currently scolding such an offender. Your well tuned ears suddenly catch the sound of a loud splash from a certain direction. The direction of her.
You waste no time heading of to investigate giving one final warning to the offender.
One of the many responsibilities you hold here at the aquarium is keeping an eye on some of the more... Interesting creatures that called the aquarium home especially her tank. She was trouble, in fact she terrified so many of the employees hardly anyone went to visit her tank anymore and then there was that one time with the trainer... Ugh fear still gripped the staff.
You dash down the dark hallway and approach the tank, you can still smell the cherry scent of the bright red paint of the warning you had placed yourself.
All seemed quiet in her tank, the Diving Bell Spider. You walked along the side of the tank scanning the inside for any disturbance when you heard it, muffled by water and glass but you still hear it.
Some one shouting for help.
You are now somewhere else again.
Your name is Karkat and you are a janitor here at the aquarium. Most days between the animals and people acting equal parts annoying you're not sure why you continue to work here. Then there were days like this when you actually like your job.
It had been a rough week, on Monday you had to show the new guy around and you just knew he would get lost even after you showed him how to read the maps placed on the walls. On Tuesday one of the dugong's (you suspected Equius) had tore through the pipes again effectively draining Eridanfish's tank outside and into the walrus enclosure, you had to rescue the grumpy little fish before the walrus Gamzee could try to eat him. On Thursday you accidentally dropped the F bomb (about ten times) in front of a class on a school field trip making the director Kanaya put a ban on using curse words on aquarium premises. This made several employees and even some of the animals quite upset with you.
But now it was Saturday and a nice quiet one. The biggest mess you had to clean up was a dropped ice cream cone, the staff had not been irritating, none of the animals had attempted anything crazy today, everything was quiet.
"Code Red! I repeat Code Red! All available staff to the spider tank immediately!"
You stop dead in your tracks. That was Terezi over the radio, what was code red again...
Wait.
Oh no.
No, no, no, no.
Oh snap.
You drop what you were doing and take off running towards Vriska's tank nearly running into one of the resident veterinarians Sollux who was headed in the same direction. The two of you dash down the hallway ignoring the forgotten turtle costume laying on the ground as well as a very upset Erifish and skid to a stop in front of her tank.
"Oh are you fffff- kidding me!" You shout, nervous as Kanaya is already there.
In the spider tank was the spider, along with the new guy John.
You are now observing the scene outside the tank.
How he had fallen into the tank they had no idea but Vriska had pulled him into one of the larger air bubbles, clutching tight with apparently no intention of letting go.
Even through the tank's glass keeps you from hearing very well you can all see the amused spider, along with John's panicked cries for help.
"Do not worry!" Kanaya shouted to John, "we will get you out of there just... No sudden movements!"
John paused in his panic and stared at the director in confusion. "What?"
The didn't need to hear her to know that the spider was roaring with laughter.
"Great he can't hear us," Karkat groaned.
"One second," Terezi said as she yanked Sollux's clipboard from him and pulled out her favorite red crayon from her pocket. She scribbled out her message and slammed it to the tank wall.
You are now inside the tank
John didn't quite know what was going on at first. He remembered coming up to the edge of the tank when he thought he heard someone tell him to go to sleep, only it was in his head? He woke up after someone dumped a bucket of water on him, wait hang on. No he was actually under water, he must have fallen into the tank! He tried to swim to the surface but felt a hand grab his ankle and yank him down. He tried to swim away but a strong pair of arms wrapped around him pinning his own arms to his sides. Turning his head he was surprised to see Vriska pulling him down; she reached out with one of her free hands and actually grabbed a small air bubble and smash it against his face. The little bit of air was just enough to sustain him while Vriska carefully maneuvered both herself and John into a gigantic air bubble. The air was damp but breathable and the first thing John did was scream for help, the second thing he did was attempt to escape the air bubble only to have Vriska wrap all four of her arms around him.
When he saw Terezi come he had shouted as loud as he could. He saw her saying something on the radio and within minutes others had arrived. Kanaya shouted something to him but was so muffled through all the glass and water he couldn't hear any of it.
"What?"
At this Vriska started roaring in a weird spider-like laughter.
Terezi was scribbling something on a clipboard which she held against the tank.
UOY 3UCS3R LL1W 3W
"...What?"
Vriska had to let go with one set of arms as so to hold her own sides in a fit of laughter.
At this John wasted no time attempting to escape only for Vriska to grab him again with all four arms and one of her legs.
"Stop or you will break the air bubble!" Came an angry hiss
Outside the tank.
The trainers Tarvos and Arida had arrived. Unfortunately they were the only ones available as one of the dugongs had yet again escaped into the piping and had to be found before he broke into another tank.
It should have been a simple task. The two trainers would go into the tank and while one distracted the spider the other would get John to safety. Except the last time Tarvos had gone into the spider tank she had tried to rip off his own air tank nearly drowning him.
"I-I'm sorry I just can't do it," the terrified trainer stuttered backing away from the tank.
"You have to I can't go in by myself," Aridia insisted as she dragged him back into the room.
"Be quiet both of you," came the lisping voice of Sollux.
He studied the scene going on in the tank; it seemed that though she clearly had no intention of releasing her prey, Vriska had yet to actually harm John. Could he be considered prey?
As a Diving Bell Spider Vriska preferred her food to be delivered live which was one of the reasons why no one liked to be the one to deliver her dinner, he was often stuck with the duty himself. But as the resident vet this had given him an opportunity to study the dangerous creature. Though the air bubbles were actually constructed using underwater webs, the spider was so big there was actually quite a bit of room for movement and what's more she always kept them very well maintained though it also appeared that she never touched the older webs made by the tank's previous resident.
What freaked Sollux out was how she hunted.
Instead of darting out and bringing prey to the web, often prey would simply come to her; swimming right into the air bubble like they were out of their little fish minds. Or maybe she was in there's.
It made him think back to notes made about the tank's previous tenant, No Vriska could kill John no problem at this point.
And yet, she hadn't.
"Tarvos, get your ancestor on the line."
Inside the tank
John was pulled farther back into the air bubble and found himself caught in a wall of something sticky. He looked up and realized he was actually in gigantic underwater spiderweb; around him thousands of small air bubbles had formed together to make one gigantic one, the strands of spider silk held an odd silvery sheen in the bluish light.
"Whoa," was all he could say; speechless upon the realization of his surroundings.
"Why thank you. You have no idea how much work goes into building these things."
John tried to look over his shoulder but the few strands he was caught on did not allow much movement. He could just see her in the corner of his eye.
Outside of the tank Vriska was helpless and rather sad looking being unused to gravity and trying to walk on four clumsy legs. But here underwater she was in her element. She sat back, nestled between tree roots on just the edge of the web; a ring small air bubbles circled around her like a necklace giving her a steady supply of air.
"You- you can talk?"
"Surprise."
"Oh," John paused; the reality of the situation slowly sinking in. "So... So are you like some giant water spider then?"
Vriska rolled her eyes, "I'm a Diving Bell Spider. Come on John you've been working here a week and you don't know where anything is and you don't know the different residents?" She shook her head with a smile, "if you we my employee I would probably fire you by now."
"Well I haven't been here a full week."
"Tisk, tisk there are no excuses."
"Oh sorry... So um I kinda gotta ask, your not going to eat me or anything are you?"
"John."
She said his name in such a serious tone it caught him off guard; she stood up and, with a surprising amount of grace, swam around the outside of the bubble until she was in front of him.
"John I have invited you into my home and the first thing you do is question if I plan on eating you? That's incredibly rude, and here I thought you were capable of good manners."
"Well in my defense I think you more of kidnapped me then invited me. Also I'm trapped in a giant spider web which to be honest is equal parts cool and gross at the same time."
"Well I only put you in the web because you were freaking out and about to destroy the bubble."
"Well... Next time just give a guy a warning that's all."
At this she smiled, all eight eyes lighting up, "you have a deal."
Outside the tank
Sollux watched as the spider circled the bubble John was trapped in, it appeared that they were talking. TALKING.
They knew there was a chance she was capable of speech and Tarvos was certain she taunted him the last time he was in her tank. But to be having what appeared to be a full conversation with John…
Like Tarvos for many members of the Aquarium staff working here was more of a family thing. Sollux's own ancestor had been apart of the founding group that started the place acting as its first veterinarian. More people started joining including Tarvos' ancestor who was one of the first aquarium became successful in its environmentalist work often taking in animals who had been injured by human means. But then...
Strange creatures started appearing. They were very much like normal members of their species but also in possession of more humanoid characteristics. Several of them also had grown odd horns prompting the staff to call them Mertrolls. Many of them could be passed off as normal animals that could be placed in the regular tanks of the aquarium, others not so much.
Vriska had actually come in with another spider, one that only Tarvos' ancestor seemed to be able to handle, except he and many of the other older members of the aquarium staff had set off to investigate the possible origins of the Mertrolls including tracking down the whereabouts of some that they had released.
Tarvos came carrying a laptop with a web camera attached, on the screen was Summoner standing on a boat in what looked to be some tropical forest.
"Hey everyone how's it going," he said with a wave.
"Hi!" Tarvos shouted looking over the webcam, everyone shouted their greetings as Sollux pulled the laptop from Tarvos and held it up to the tank.
"We have a problem."
The Summoner went visibly pale for a second while looking at the tank.
"How long has he been in there?"
"No idea, we're guessing maybe fifteen minutes."
The Summoner nodded his head, "she won't kill him. Would have already done that if it was her intention. No the other one was like that to. Always had to have some control, hated being ignored, she was ruthless with prey food and even some of the staff but in instances like this she would not have been intending on making a kill.
"So what do we do?"
Summoner scratched his chin in thought, "Vriska was never nearly as dangerous as her even if they share many similarities. Also looks like she is talking to him and that's pretty new. The other one could but rarely did with any of the staff."
"She talked to you sometimes."
"Ah yeah, well..." The Summoner blushed and looked away from the camera, "she was... Fond of me, I found her actually not too far from our location now."
"You're tracking down the Marquise?!"
Summoner shrugged his shoulders, "yeah it's kinda ironic right?"
Inside the tank
Now that he realized that he wasn't going to be spider food John had actually settled down and started enjoying the awesomeness of being inside an aquarium tank. There were little air bubbles everywhere, strung along strands of spider silk which gave the whole place a silvery look.
"This is actually really beautiful, you made all of this yourself?"
Vriska blushed with pride, "most of it."
It occurred to John that the tank was huge, and I mean huge, standing in the hallway you would not be able to even see half of the tank; did Vriska really need all this space? Looking in one far corner he could see what looked like temple ruins, which was kinda cool so why wasn't that decor closer to the front of the tank? It was covered by an air bubble that was easily five times the size of the one John was in and it looked almost abandoned. Like Vriska took the time to maintain it but never actually used the bubble herself.
"Hey Vriska, did another spider use to live here?"
She grew very quiet and with as much grace as when she swam, Vriska pulled herself into the bubble so that she was standing next to John.
"Yes... It long time ago. I was just an itsy bitsy spider back then," she answered with a smile.
"Oh so was this like your Spidermom?"
"Ah no. I didn't call her mom."
"But she was still like a parent right?"
"Yes."
"You must really miss her."
At this Vriska look slightly outraged, "I don't need anybody, I'm fine!"
"Well," John pondered out loud, "if I lived in this gigantic tank all by myself, and it looked like I didn't receive that many visitors, I would be pretty lonely."
"They are all terrified of me, as they should be! All people do is press their ugly faces against the glass and stare, then when you try to 8e all awesome and cool they run away crying. No one can appreciate my fearsomeness."
"But you're actually pretty cool. I mean you are absolutely terrifying but in a cool way."
John found himself wrapped in a four-armed hug so strong it ripped him right of the spider web.
"John you are so sweet! You are welcome to come visit any time!"
"Gee thanks," John mumbled through the spidery embrace; it was a bit hard to breathe. Actually even when Vriska finally let go it was still a bit hard to breathe, something that Vriska noticed as well; "it seems all of your screaming used up more oxygen than you can go without."
"What? Oh crud I'm so sorry."
"John-"
"I mean I was really freaked out-"
"John-"
"I can hold my breath-"
"John!"
"Yes?"
"John go to sleep."
"Wha-"
And just like that John was asleep.
Outside the tank.
They all watched in fascination as, without warning, John fell asleep. With the utmost care the spider used two of her arms to extract him from the air bubble while simultaneously wrapping a smaller bubble around his head with her other set of arms. She then gently pushed him to the surface of the tank before retreating back down and out of sight into another air pocket.
"Well," said the Summoner who was still watching from the webcam, "I guess that's, that."
They found John floating on the surface of the tank, snoring.
You flash forwards two weeks into the future.
Things are back at whatever level things are considered normal here at the aquarium. Well with the addition of a few changes.
Rumor had spread that the Diving Bell Spider had held an employee prisoner in her tank, so naturally everyone wanted to come see her. To say the Vriska enjoyed the attention would be a gross understatement.
John still works as the aquarium mascot and now knows his way around the aquarium pretty well, many of the animals were actually really helpful in teaching him where everything was. Except the one they called Eridanfish who didn't really seem too keen on making new friends.
"Hey Dave," John called out to a small penguin wearing sunglasses as it waddled by.
"Werk," responded Dave as he went on to- to do whatever it was penguins did all day, probably something cool but ironically penguin-like.
John walked on to the employee break room and dumped the turtle costume, changing into a shirt with the aquarium logo on it. In addition to his mascot duties John had also been made into an honorary animal trainer of sorts being in charge of one animal in particular.
After closing when it was dinner time John and Sollux walked to the platform overlooking the spider tank and lifted the door on the grate. John was actually there to feed her while Sollux merely to observe her behavior.
"Do you do this with all the animals," John asked.
Sollux pushed up the rim of his two-colored glasses, "only the weird ones."
John was now one of the few people Vriska seemed to tolerate, and they were all more than happy to pass on the task of delivering her dinner to him. Also, he just liked visiting her.
Vriska had not said a single word to any of them since the tank incident, either because she couldn't or wouldn't , but John can talk enough for both of them.
"So this morning I got to meet Feferi, I didn't know you all had an actual mermaid here! She's really nice its a shame she has to be hidden away from everyone."
This bit of conversation Vriska seemed rather bored with, it was the next part that she perked up to.
"Kanaya said today you had a record number of visitors, did you really scare a guy so bad that he peed his pants?"
At this Vriska began to reenact how she had charged at the tank wall with a still alive fish in her mouth. From above it was kinda funny but to the visitor whom she was charging at it was apparently not.
Somewhere in a tropical forest river.
The Summoner finished reading the latest email from Tarvos, it looked like Vriska was making real progress thanks to this John guy. Vriska had come to the aquarium as an egg, smuggled in by the Marquise he guessed. Of the two he considered Marquise to be far more dangerous and for some reason only responded to him; though any interaction with her was still a huge risk. They had returned her to the river she was found in with a small tracker in order to monitor her movements but with news of a river monster attacking boats they decided to go check on his old eight legged friend.
A normal Diving Bell Spider, in addition to being nice and small, also only lived maybe a year or two. Not only was the Marquise even bigger than Vriska but she had also been alive for possibly decades. What was more the river they were currently in was more of a brackish water, a mixture of fresh and salt water, but a normal Diving Bell Spider only lived in lakes and freshwater rivers; also the other day they had spotted a spider similar in size to Vriska if not slightly larger but the creature had evaded them.
The Sea Trolls it seemed were to be proving more and more interesting as time went on.
Now they were in the area of the tracking signal, a part of the river that was frightenly quiet; the Marquise had always seemed to have a strange influence over the aquatic creatures around her, earning her the nickname Mindfang and apparently a reputation in this part of the river.
It had grown dark and Summoner was quietly scanning the water with a flashlight, behind him there was a dark chuckle.
"This is the part where the sea monster attacks the ship."
Summoner turned to see Handmaid standing behind him, though usually just an animal trainer back at the aquarium, her fierce and persistent nature made her a valuable asset to the expedition. What was more, as she was never afraid of a fight, if worse was to come to worse she was probably the only one who could get in a fight with Mindfang and win.
"Ha, ha don't joke like that," Summoner laughed putting his arm behind his head. "Don't you know it's when one person says stuff like that is usually when the- AHH!"
The boat suddenly tilted at an alarming angle sending both of them flying.
Summoner smashed into the railing and something surprisingly soft like velvet. He looked up to see one long spindly leg hooked over the side of the railing another one slowly reaching out to grab the boat. He could hear Handmaid shouting orders to the crew as they rushed to somehow stabilize the boat before they capsized.
"Everyone stand on the other side!" Shouted Handmaid, her glare burning in the now lit deck lights of the boat. The crew rushed to the opposite side of the boat tilting it in their direction and hopefully making it more difficult for the giant spider to climb on board.
Indeed her grip on the railing slipped and the was a large splash as something hit the water. Summoner clicked his flashlight back on and looked over the boat railing.
There, just below the surface of the water was the Marquise. Looking directly up at him with all four of her arms folded as if she were scolding him, yet at the same time she had a very amused smile on her face.
Summoner looked back at the crew, "hey everyone, you'll never guess who stopped by to say hello!"
End.
This was my first Homestuck Fanfic thank you so much for reading, comments are appreciated.