[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/YBCBSNa.png[/img][/center]

Six long, spindly legs worked clumsily in tandem with two more humanlike ones, pattering quietly over the underside of the metallic edifice. The girl's crimson eyes flashed in the shadows as she hung suspended from a vast array of almost imperceptibly fine webs, her hair fluttering in the breeze as she stared down into the river below.

It really was incredible. She'd only been sleeping for a few hundred years, but the world outside had changed so much in that time. The humans who once had been hard-pressed to even swim properly had now created something like this [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/typemoon/images/1/11/Fuyuki_bridge_river.png/revision/latest?cb=20130621082120]enormous bridge[/url] from which she hung, spanning from one bank of the wide current to the other. The tiny village she'd known in her time had become a gigantic, towering forest of buildings, and there were so many new things she hadn't the slightest inkling of. It made her so curious, she'd just had to find out more, despite her misgivings.

That was definitely the reason why she hadn't stayed close to her familiar lake. It definitely had nothing to do with how disgusted the mere sight of the place made her, or how it made her think about the way she'd been tricked. That definitely had nothing to do with it at all. No, all of this was a brilliant plan to gather information, and this bridge at the center of town was the perfect place to do just that. Its giant structure of supports would hide her from view from anyone passing below, it was damp and dark in just the right way, and there were so many different intersecting beams that weaving a truly comfortable web was child's play for her. Of course, she'd done her best to conceal the shimmering strands from view, but since most traffic passed over the bridge rather than under or around it, she doubted anyone would have been in the right place to look up and see it anyway.

And, on top of all that, there were plenty of her comrades in the area. A large tribe of water spiders had quickly yielded to her influence, and were presently spreading up and down the river in search of information. So far, though, their reports had been so confusing that she really didn't understand them very well, beyond the fact that the humans had apparently made some really crazy stuff... And that they apparently didn't believe in Youkai anymore, which was strange, because so many of the people she'd met had been looking for them anyway. Apparently there were already a Kitsune and an Oni in the area - a fact which made her a little bit uncomfortable, since she'd never really dealt with any of her fellow Youkai before. There were also rumors of a lady spider, too, though. That one sounded interesting!

...But of course, she could only sit around doing nothing for so long. Oriko - no, Nephila - was very curious, very bored, and most importantly, very hungry. A report from one of her spiders told her that apparently, all the Humans were freaking out about a bolt of lightning that had struck somewhere, and since she didn't have anything better to do, she figured she'd go see what all the fuss was about. So, dropping gingerly from her web and to the ground a few stories below, she dusted herself off, folded all of her legs up underneath her skirt, and, humming a tune to herself, set off on a course that would take her to where the spiders had said that the lightning bolt had struck.

...At least, probably. She wasn't very good with directions.

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[center][h1][b][u]Toriyama Itona[/u][/b][/h1][/center]
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[center][i]"'Will you walk into my parlour?' said the Spider to the Fly."[/i][/center]

Seventeen year old Toriyama Itona had been hearing that in his dreams a lot lately, for whatever reason. It was bad enough that a children's poem about an arachnid kept popping into his dreams, but repeatedly? He wanted to sit down and have a lengthy chat with whoever or whatever was in charge of his subconscious. As he left the grounds of his school he thought about all the rumors that had been swirling around. Aliens, ghosts, youkai. The only thing missing were the UMAs and and human sacrifices.

Then there was the lightning strike out of the clear blue sky. Absolutely bizarre, and there was physical evidence to prove it. Something like that wasn't outside the realm of possibility, Itona knew. It just required the right circumstances in the atmosphere, and blah-blah-blah...

[i]Try not to overthink it[/i], he reminded himself. The young man donned a pair of headphones and turned his music on. He'd grown up with crazy rumors in Minazawa his entire life, and he'd absolutely loved them as a child. Until that one event, that is. Toriyama shook his head, as if the action would dislodge the memories. His mind went back to some of the rumors. [i]Wouldn't it be nice if there was a beautiful fox-woman was around that old temple?[/i] His lips twitched into a small smile at the thought. [i]If that was the case, I'd be willing to join that "Society in Search of the Supernatural" club.[/i]

[i]But, knowing my luck, it'd be one of those that lures cherry boys and herbivore men in and kills them.[/i]

And then there was that rumor of a jorōgumo...

Itona shuddered. [i]Nope, nope, nope. Not even going there![/i]