#bc gisu is a spider

[razzle-zazzle]

Whumptober Day 24: i've got a head full of chemicals, mouth full of ridicule

Goodbye note

3471 Words; Acrobat & the Spider

TW for the arachnophobic peeps bc gisu is a spider

AO3 ver

Gisu pushed open the door to the ballroom.

Or, well, it used to be a ballroom, but with the webbing and ropes and trapeze filling it, it wasn’t much a ballroom now. Maybe a bigtop? Indoor circus tent, now that was an idea!

Dion was lying down in the middle of the floor, his arms out to his sides as he stared up at the ceiling. It was weird, to see him so still—as long as Gisu had known him (which was both shorter and longer than she expected, huh) he had always been moving in one way or another, always full of anxious energy.

Well, what little she could pick up of his thoughts—damn curse, cutting her powers in half—was still anxious, at least. But it was more than his baseline.

Gisu walked over, coming to a stop a few feet away from Dion. His eyes flicked over to her, briefly, before returning to the ceiling.

“You okay?” She asked, sitting down. Well, more like letting her abdomen rest against the floor, all four legs splayed out around her, but it was the closest one could get to sitting when they were a giant spider monster, so it still counted.

Dion’s eyes closed, and he exhaled slowly.

The silence stretched on. Gisu pulled some spare thread from her spinnerets, twisting it between all four of her hands. Even so, her brain kept buzzing, latching onto Dion’s anxiety and bouncing it around in her head.

“They shouldn’t be waiting on me.” Dion said, finally, still staring at the ceiling. “They shouldn’t—I’m twenty-two. They don’t need to wait on me.”

Gisu said nothing. What could she say? She was the one who had asked Dion to stay here.

“And it’s not like I don’t get it.” Dion continued, “They’re worried. They have every right to be. But—” He swallowed, exhaling sharply as his jaw tightened and his brow furrowed, “I’m fine. I’m fine, and they’re—” He turned his head to look at Gisu, long brown curls pooling on the floor around him. “They’re losing money trying to find me.”

Gisu’s hands stilled as guilt washed over her. She’d done this. She’d asked Dion to stay here, with her, and now he and his family (his family, who he cared about so much it hurt) were suffering for it. This was her fault.

She should say something, anything to relieve the stress permeating the room. The room that they had been laughing and flinging themselves across only a day ago, chasing each other around and around without ever touching the floor.

Dion sat up, his legs folded in front of him. He wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his forehead on his knees, the buzzing anxiety of his thoughts hitting a crescendo. The bracelet that Gisu had made for him glinted in the light, and Gisu struggled to swallow a fresh gulp of guilt.

The silence stretched on. Gisu raised a hand to her mouth, gingerly tracing the edge of a chelicerae. Her fur had tickled him, when they kissed.

(But he had persisted anyway.)

Her chest had fluttered, when they’d kissed. She had felt on top of the world, she had felt wanted and pretty—

It was far from fluttering now.

“I miss them.” Dion admitted, his voice cracking. “I miss them all so much.”

“I’m sorry.” Gisu wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. She’d done this. She’d asked him to stay. She’d separated Dion from his family. This was her fault.

“If there was just some way I could talk to them…” Dion stared off into space, his arms wrapped around himself as he slowly rocked in place. His head was a mess of static to what little psychic senses Gisu still had.

Gisu turned her head away. She couldn’t look at Dion right now.

(She had never wanted to stop looking at him, never wanted to let him go.)

“None of us can leave the mansion.” Gisu said. “Sam can only control animals within the walls.” They had thought to use her minions as a way to talk to the outside world, when the curse had first been cast. They’d quickly learned that there was no talking to the outside world.

Dion muttered something. Gisu only caught the words Lizzie and gossip and treats, but now Dion was staring off into space contemplatively.

None of them could leave the mansion. It was a fact of their curse that couldn’t be changed. There was no way for them to contact the outside world—chances were it had long moved on without them, moved on while they were all stuck.

“Maybe…” Dion stood, snapping Gisu from her spiral. He was snapping his hand like he was trying to jog his memory, long legs powering him in a quick pace around the room. “That might work.” He muttered.

Gisu tilted her head. “What might work?” God, she could watch him for hours like this, full of energy. He already made for great background noise when she was working, rambling and muttering and moving—but when he had an idea? When his eyes lit up and he started walking on his hands trying to think through a problem? It was fascinating.

Dion didn’t respond, too lost in whatever he was thinking as he made his way out towards the door. Gisu managed to catch the image of a letter in his mind—and then he was gone.

Gisu huffed, annoyance briefly overriding her guilt. He could let her help! Maybe he had gotten it in his head that he had to handle it all on his own—Gisu was no stranger to that kind of thinking, loathe as she was to admit it.

Gisu frowned, and looked back up at the ceiling. Maybe Dion was right to want to do this—whatever it was—himself, she thought, as she looked at the webbing and rope strung up across the room, at the giant improvised trapeze. It had started as Dion’s project, when Gisu had handed the room over to him to do with as he wished—and then she had gotten her grubby hands all over it and added webs all over. And it had been fun, running around up there, her spider paws gripping the ceiling while Dion flipped from perch to perch like a budgie on crack—

But was this what Dion had envisioned, when he’d started building his makeshift trapeze? Or had he wanted something closer to the home that he missed? Were her additions even wanted at all?

(He had kissed her like he wanted it, like he wanted her—

She wanted him. She wanted him to want her. And not just to break the curse.)

Gisu had asked him to stay—with the (false, but he still fell for it) threat of keeping his younger brother instead—and he had stayed, but it wasn’t fair. Not to Dion. Not to anyone.

Gisu clenched her hands into fists. “I did this.” It was just like her, really—always screwing up in one way or another. Whatever Dion was planning to do with his letter, it was only because Gisu had asked him to stay.

“What would you even do?” She asked the door. What was Dion even planning? There wasn’t really a way to get the letter out of the forest. None of them could leave the mansion.

Gisu paused. None of them could leave the mansion—

None of them except Dion. Dion, who had agreed to stay on Gisu’s request, but who wasn’t beholden to the curse. Dion, who loved his family so much it almost hurt to hear him talk about them. Dion, who Gisu wanted so badly just because he made her feel wanted—

Gisu stood. She had messed up, but that was just part of being an engineer.

It was time she did something to fix the mess she’d caused.

+=+=+=+=+

Am I really going to do this?

Gisu wrung her hands—all four of them. All of her fur was standing on end, all of her senses screaming danger at her. Yet still, here she was, one of her hind legs twitching in anticipation.

Still, she had to do this. It was for the best.

Steeling her nerves, Gisu pushed open the study door. There were quite a few studies in the mansion, truth be told, but there was only one that was really used regularly. And she could faintly feel Dion’s mental print in there, so it wasn’t even a guess—she knew he was in there.

And there he was, hunched over balancing on his toes in a chair, writing something on a piece of paper—the letter Gisu had seen in his thoughts?

Dion looked up at her entrance. He blinked, looking like a deer in headlights for half a moment before his face split into a wide grin. “Hey, Паучок.”

Gisu almost snorted at the nickname—almost. She couldn’t let herself get distracted; she had a job to do. She maneuvered into the room with some difficulty—truly, this mansion was not quite built for giant spider monsters—and stood there, trying to gather the words.

Dion turned back to the desk.

Right. It was now or never. If Gisu didn’t do this now, she’d never find the courage. “You need to leave.” Gisu started. It was for the best, really—Dion deserved better than some run-down mansion and a monster who only messed everything up.

Dion looked at her, his brow furrowed. “Why?” And oh, there went Gisu’s resolve—

No! She could still do this! It was for the best, even if it hurt!

“You can’t stay here.” Gisu continued, wringing her inferior hands nervously. “You shouldn’t stay here.” Dion wasn’t the kind of guy who could just leave his family behind, he deserved to see them again and put all of this behind him—

“What are you talking about?” Dion had come to stand in front of her, his hand cupping Gisu’s face just behind her chelicerae. “Is there some kind of danger?”

Gisu pulled away and shook her head. “Please, Dion.” She urged. “You need to leave. You need to go home.” Because this wasn’t his home, this was just a building she’d trapped him in, and he deserved so much better than some monster who only wanted him around to break her curse.

“What’s gotten into you?” Dion’s thoughts were quickly becoming static stress against Gisu’s head. She wished she could see all of his thoughts, could understand how he felt about this—no, that was invasive. Just another way that Gisu messed everything up.

“I’ve had some realizations, that’s all.” Gisu explained. “It’s not fair for you to be stuck here.” Not with her.

Dion frowned. “Gisu, I promised to stay here—”

Gisu grasped his hands in her superiors, her inferior hands still wringing. “But your family—”

Dion’s face fell. He looked away. “It’ll work out. They’re strong.” He murmured. A moment later, he looked back at her, resolve in his eyes. “I’m going to let them know I’m okay, or they’ll give up and move on.”

“But you miss them,” Gisu stressed, “You’re homesick, Dion, don’t try to deny it.” Dion needed to get out of here. It was for the best.

“Of course I’m homesick!” Dion leaned in closer, “But it’s okay, okay? I’m an Aquato. I can make this mansion home.” His eyes closed, and he ran his thumbs over Gisu’s hands.

Gisu pulled her hands away. “No you can’t.” She muttered.

“And why not?” Dion put his hands on his hips, “Why can’t I stay here?” He crossed his arms. “Well?”

“You need to leave.” Gisu repeated. It was for the best. “You should be home, with your family.” She stressed. “Please.”

“What part of ‘I’m okay here’ are you not getting?” Dion grit out. “Gisu, I’m not trapped here. Not with you.”

The words hit Gisu like a hammer. She flinched back, all of her resolve leaving her—

No. No, Dion needed to leave. It was for the best.

“No, you don’t get it!” Gisu grabbed Dion’s shoulders in her superior hands. “You’re not supposed to be here, Dion, you’re not supposed to be trapped in his hellhole with me.” She stared him down, all but begging him to just give up, “You could have left at any point. You should have left at any point.” He shouldn’t be here, stuck in this decaying mansion with her. It was for the best for him to leave. It was for the best.

Dion grasped her inferior hands in his. “But your curse—”

“Enough about the curse!” Gisu shouted. Like it would ever break, anyway. “You couldn’t break it even if you tried.” Wait, no, that wasn’t what she meant to say—

Dion’s eyes widened. “Then what was the point of me staying here?” He asked, his voice starting to rise in pitch. “What, are you not actually cursed and you’ve just been lying this whole time?”

“Maybe I have!” Gisu tore her hands away from his, throwing all four of them into the air. “It doesn’t matter!” Yes, good, she needed him to get angry, needed him to leave before she broke something she couldn’t fix. She loomed over him, straightening her forelegs to get as much height as she could—they were about eye-level, now.

“It doesn’t matter.” She shoved out at him with her superior arms. “Leave.”

Dion stumbled back several steps. “Gisu?” He sounded so small.

“You heard me.” Gisu growled. “Get out.” It was for the best. It was for the best to let Dion go.

“What is wrong with you?!” Dion shouted. “First you’re all over me and now you’re telling me to leave?” At once, his anger fell, worry filling his features. “Mio cara, what’s going on?”

“DON’T CALL ME THAT!” Gisu’s anger hit a fever pitch. She shoved, knocking Dion bodily to the floor and following him down. “You idiot.” She growled, her voice threatening to crack. Her eyes stung. She planted her superior hands to the sides of Dion’s head. “You shouldn’t BE HERE!” It was for the best.

Dion stared up at her with wide eyes. His chest heaved.

Gisu leaned in closer, all of her thoughts falling away. “I could crush your head.” She growled, “Right between my mandibles.” She grabbed his jaw with one of her inferior hands, holding it harshly. “I could bite you and you’d die from the venom in my fangs.” She tightened her grip, drawing a small gasp from Dion. “I could kill you. You shouldn’t be here.” She let go of Dion’s jaw. His head fell back to the floor, and his eyes slipped shut as he wheezed a shuddered exhale.

“Hurts, doesn’t it?” Gisu asked, her anger pounding in her skull. “Of course it does—I’m a monster.” She grinned, anger baring her teeth. “So leave.”

Dion stared up at her, his eyes wide.

“Run away.” Gisu snarled, still looming over Dion. “Run away to your real family and let them make it all better for you.” She leaned in closer—

The room spun as Dion’s fist slammed into her face, forcing her up and backwards. Dion scrambled out from under Gisu as she held her head in her hands, stars dancing across her vision.

She looked up at him. Dion had a hand held over his mouth, absolute horror in his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he started, “I didn’t mean—”

Gisu growled. “Get out.”

Dion wasted no more time arguing with her.

His footsteps faded out down the hallway, on and on until Gisu couldn’t hear them, couldn’t feel the vibrations in her legs.

She exhaled shakily, and stood.

The room was so quiet, now.

Still, Gisu reminded herself as she made her way to the door, it was for the best.

Even if it didn’t feel like it.

+=+=+=+=+

Gisu grunted, driving her screwdriver into the head of the screw. Taking things apart and putting them back together was supposed to be therapeutic. And it was, but—

Gisu growled, burying those thoughts. It was her fault, anyway—she was the one who went and got attached to something she could never have.

“Uh, hey, Gisu?” The radio next to her workstation crackled to life, Morris’ voice coming in steady. “Why did Dion just climb over the wall?”

Gisu regarded the radio for a moment, before returning to the broken clock in her hands. “He left.” She said.

The radio was silent for a moment.

“Wh—why?” Morris asked. “I thought he was all over you?”

“He got homesick.” Gisu explained, “So he left.” It was for the best, anyway. Dion deserved so much better than a monster.

“Okay, no way.” The radio crackled. “I know what it sounds like when you’re hiding something.” Morris accused, “So spill.”

“I made him leave, is that what you wanted?” Gisu threw one of her superior hands out as she spoke. “He was better off back with his family, anyway!”

There was silence for a moment. Then—

“Gisu.” Morris’ voice was edged with incredulity. “What the fuck.”

Gisu grumbled. “It’s over.” She muttered. “He’s gone.”

“No, genuinely,” Morris continued, like Gisu hadn’t spoken at all, “What is wrong with you?”

Gisu froze. “What are you talking about?” She’d fixed the problem. It was for the best.

“I’m talking about the fact that you chased away the one good chance of breaking the curse because what, you were too afraid to confront your own feelings?” Morris’ voice crackled with static, like nails against the chalkboard of Gisu’s ears. “Oh, sure,” He went on, “You’ll read all your romance novels, write all your silly self-insert fanfiction, but the moment you find yourself caring about something that isn’t mechanical you get too scared to do anything but shove it all away.”

Gisu snarled. “Shut up! You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Dion’s family was important to him, it wasn’t fair to keep him here—

“Ha!” Morris snorted. “Please! You barely even care about the rest of us!” He accused, the dials on the radio darting back and forth. “I bet the only reason you care about me is because you can just pretend I’m another one of your stupid machines!”

Gisu gasped. “I care!”

“Really?” Even without a body, Morris’ agitation came through loud and clear. “Because I’m pretty sure chasing away the one solid chance for me to get my body back is the opposite of caring!” The radio made a slamming noise, then a string of honks and whistles—Morris was getting really worked up, now.

“We’re all cursed!” Gisu slammed her inferior hands on the table. She crossed her superior arms, giving up on the broken clock laid out before her. “Stop making this about yourself!”

Morris’ voice was incredulous. “I’m the one making this about myself? Have you looked in a mirror?” He huffed, “Of course you haven’t.” He muttered. “Because then maybe Lizzie could knock some sense into you.”

“I’m not the one who needs sense knocked into them.” Gisu shot back. “I keep this mansion running, you know!” She started counting on her fingers. “I keep the lights powered, I keep the heaters from falling apart—I’m the one who makes sure all these radios actually work!” Yeah, Adam and Sam handled the firewood and keeping the mirrors clean, but still. Without Gisu, there’d be nobody to power and fix the radios.

“That doesn’t mean you get to chase away the one chance we had of getting uncursed, Gis!” Morris yelled back. “You don’t get to make that decision for us!”

“Oh, like there won’t be other chances.” Gisu snarled through gritted teeth. “You don’t need to be so impatient.”

Morris sighed. “I want my body back, Gisu.” His voice was heavy with grief. “I want to be able to see colors again, and not just my own noise reflected back at me.” The radio clattered. “But you don’t get that, do you? You still have your body.” He laughed hollowly. “Your curse is that you’re ugly.” Morris remarked, “And the guy you liked didn’t even care about that.” The radio went silent, then, leaving Morris’ remark to hang in the air like smoke.

Gisu yelled, sweeping the radio off of its stand. It fell to the floor with a clatter, but remained silent.

Gisu stared at it, her chest heaving. Her throat got tight, all four of her eyes started to sting—

Fuck. As much as she wanted to deny it, Morris was right. She’d messed up. She’d messed everything up.

Gisu let herself fall to the floor, arms curling around herself. “Fuck.” She sobbed.

She’d fucked up. But it was too late, now—Dion had already crossed the outer walls. There was nothing Gisu could do to fix the mess she made.

She laughed darkly. “At least I can’t fuck it up worse.” Doing so would be hard—even for her.

That fact wasn’t a comfort.

[razzle-zazzle]

Bro bro bro, beauty and the beast Au for Gisu and Dion

Gisu sees this pathetic wet cat of a man on her doorstep and thinks "yeah. that's the guy. that's the guy who'll break my curse." and she's right but also Gisu. Gisu are we looking at the same guy. Gisu—

[razzle-zazzle]

What do you think Gisu's home life is like? Do you think she lives with parents? Has siblings? Rich? Middle class or anything else? Popular in the school she went to? (Also plz feel free to explain how Gisu is different in each of your Au's.)

Gisu has both the vibes of a younger sibling and an only child—so my take is that she has an older sister who is much older than her; like, say, 8-10 years older.

I think Gisu and the other junior agents still reside in dorms in the Motherlobe, but they probably do get breaks during which they can go home and visit their parents. I'd peg Gisu as somewhere middle class, though that's a more tentative headcanon.

As for how Gisu does in school...

I'm going to project a bit here, because Gisu strikes me as the kind of girl who's more than capable of getting good grades, but always has trouble with actually doing the work, especially if it doesn't interest her. Teachers always had the "she's very brilliant, but..." spiel to say about her on conference nights. Her best subjects were science and math.

And popularity? This is a weird one, because on the one hand, she comes off as someone who was reasonably well-liked by her peers. But she also has those "was considered weird by her peers" vibes. So my headcanon is that she had trouble making friends until middle school.

I'm going to put the rest of this ask under a cut because it's getting long.

Starting with the most obvious difference, Acrobat and the Spider Gisu is, well, a spider due to her curse. She's also 21, and more cynical than other iterations (relatively. She's still an idealist, even if the curse has worn her down a bit).

I haven't written out this part of the story in Pooter Pile, but RA3 runs off after the incident. Gisu's immediate reaction? "Alright, time for a field trip." And then she drags Dion off to go find him.

Rapids Gisu is very worried over the fact that Raz disappeared after she asked him to do the psychoseismometers. That his helmet was found in a river and his goggles on a bank upstream is a small comfort. Also all the drama going on between the Aquatos and the Psychonauts is very loud and stressful and she is. not having a good time.

Gisu is very impressed with River Runs Deep Frazie's trick of turning other people invisible! She and Frazie end up developing a cute little friendship.

Buried Beneath Gisu's a year older, and accompanies Raz in going into Arc's mind to unearth Dion. She's definitely incredibly resourceful, and being able to keep her balance on her levboard is key in that particular boss battle.

Gisu plays a pretty big role in Undead Acrobat! She's smacking Forces Beyond Mortal Understanding with the scientific method, lamenting the entire time that she's an engineer, this is not her area of expertise, why is she the one doing this, etc. She gets a nice little arc where she has to balance her own scientific curiosity with reason and ethics; just because she has a proven case of necromancy doesn't mean she should let that be public knowledge. The Deluginists were not the only dangerous group attempting to trifle with such arts.

Psynautica Gisu is the most ambitious Gisu! Also I'm changing it so that she doesn't dislike Dion for being Alterra's lapdog; she dislikes him at first meeting because she feels that the whole issue is overrated, and more importantly, he's incredibly quiet and distant towards Raz when picking him up from the summer camp, despite it being the first time they see each other in years.

[razzle-zazzle]

do you have a basic timeline of events/plot points for the batb au?

It's sort of barebones in places but here's what I have so far:

Raz runs away, and Dion chases after his trail. Raz gets lost after sending Sugarcube off, and stumbles upon the mansion in the morning. Assuming it's abandoned, he climbs over the wall to poke around and explore.

The Aquatos find out what happened midway through the morning. Augustus and Frazie set out to find Raz & Dion around midday.

Dion arrives at the mansion after noon, and ends up climbing over the gate when Raz doesn't respond to his calls. He finds out that a) the mansion is not abandoned, and b) there is a spider monster who doesn't want to let Raz go "because he trespassed."

Dion manages to convince Gisu to let Raz go in exchange for having Dion stay. Raz is sent off with Sugarcube and enough supplies to make it back to camp.

Augustus and Frazie run into Raz in the late evening, and find out what went down at the mansion. They continue searching, but can't find the mansion by the time night falls. They return to the rest of the family.

Adam brings Dion to an unused room to settle in for the night, and Dion meets Morris through the small radio on the nightstand. He doesn't sleep well.

Gisu disappears into her lab to consume all of the romance media available to her. She is going to break this curse and she is going to do it right. She does not reemerge until late next morning.

Dion decides he's going to channel every inch of pettiness he has and then some, starting with taking the radio and setting it outside the room.

Dion pokes around the mansion a bit, trying to stave off boredom. He walks into a room, the fire crackles to life as Norma comes in to take a look at the new guy. Dion will later vehemently deny screaming like a banshee and throwing the nearest object (a vase) at the fire (he missed and hit the mantle).

The Aquatos go into the town to try and find out more about the mansion in the woods, as well as to see if they can't hire a local guide. They do not find the help they're looking for, and make plans to go into the forest to search on their own.

The Dinner Debacle™ happens. Dion meets Lizzie during this, and finds out that the giant tree in the courtyard is Sam.

The next morning comes, and the weather is ass. The Aquatos are unable to go search in these conditions.

The exact chain of events following this isn't as clear yet, but the general gist involves further shenanigans in the mansion as Gisu and Dion slowly start to become something approaching friends. Key scenes include Dion being invited into her lab and actually going in, Gisu giving Dion an empty room to make into whatever he sees fit and him making a basic trapeze to practice on, etc etc.

The Aquatos' plight catches the attention of the villain, who goes up to them to ask them in further detail what happened. Raz tells him about Gisu, which gives the villain an idea...

Dion and Gisu continue to get closer as time passes. Shenanigans abound. Gisu starts to lose sight of the goal of romancing Dion in favor of just,,, being his friend.

The villain uses their natural charisma to gather up a group of people sympathetic to the Aquatos' plight. But Lucrecia recognizes an angry mob in its infancy and the Aquatos end up refusing the villain's help.

Dion finds out that his family has been staying in the area looking for him, and feels bad about holding them back from moving onto the next town to perform. But he doesn't want to leave Gisu and the others behind—not while there's still a chance he can help them break their curse (and he'd still like an explanation as to how, exactly, they expect him to do that.)

Gisu makes the choice for him, and chases him off, playing up the "monster" part as much as she can. Dion runs off. The other interns yell at Gisu for this, but it's too late to try and bring Dion back—he's already past the outer wall, and Sam's control over the animals doesn't extend further than that.

Dion makes it to the town, only to run into the villain and the building mob. He's immediately detained under the accusation of being "bewitched by the monstress," with the villain using the bracelet that Gisu gifted him as proof.

The villains leads the mob to go storm the mansion, leaving Dion behind at the stake. The Aquatos show up just in time to put out the fire and untie him, and he tells them about what happened at the mansion.

The interns find out about the oncoming mob and prepare to defend the mansion, using every extent of their abilities. Gisu disappears into her lab to finish an invention that could help.

And then I'm still working out the ending so I'm cutting things off here.

[razzle-zazzle]

If you have any more Beauty and the Beast Au lore, HC's or otherwise please share. 🤲

Gisu switching between pulling out all of the romance tropes she knows and disappearing into her lab for hours on end. She demands Dion join her for dinner the second night, but when she goes to her lab to work off the anger from the argument she ends up forgetting that eating is a Thing. Again. So Dion begrudgingly comes down to dinner only for Gisu to Not Be There.

Sam's army of squirrels cook that night! Gisu and the animals were the only ones in the mansion who actually need to eat though, so the meal they cook is,,, not to Dion's tastes. He ends up cooking for himself,,, but he's used to helping cook for his family and makes more than he needs. Lizzie and Adam cajole him into bringing some to Gisu. She snaps at Dion for entering the lab and chases him off, but he leaves the food behind.

Morris: Oh, yeah, real classy Gis. Demanding the guy comes down only to stand him up. You're a real cassanova.

Gisu, who genuinely forgot:

She does eventually eat the food though!

(Dion bringing her food when she misses dinner slowly becomes a habit. It takes a solid week before he attempts it again, and Gisu doesn't miss dinner every night, but it slowly becomes a routine they both become used to, for Dion to come into Gisu's lab with food and cajole her into taking a break to eat with him.)

[razzle-zazzle]

Anything you can share about your Acrobat and the Spider Au?

The fact that Raz gets lost immediately after leaving Sugarcube. The fact that Dion also gets hopelessly lost—and the moment he runs into Sugarcube, no less! The fact that, upon finding the mansion, Dion knows that Raz wouldn't have been able to exist exploring and poking around—and he's right. And then the way he walks around the mansion, calling out for Raz, ignoring the icky feeling that the birds on the walls are watching him. The fact that he just straight up hoists Sugarcube onto his shoulders and climbs over the gate when Raz doesn't respond to his calls.

A lot of the fun of this AU lies in Gisu and Dion's interactions and developing friendship that slides into romance, but there's also a lot of funny little charm in the setup, too.

[razzle-zazzle]

Wait so is Gisu and Co psychic in the Acrobat and the spider Au?

Yeah! Sort of. The curse is a little mean in that it affects them, but for the most part, Morris keeps his TK, Lizzie & Norma keep their cryo- and pyrokinesis, Sam keeps her zooleopathy (and maybe the tree can do a little bit of psi-blasting?), Adam still has his yoyo (though he's no longer able to levitate), and Gisu kept most of her abilities but lost her electrokinesis.

[razzle-zazzle]

For your BatB Au after the main plot is finished does Dion stay at the mansion with Gisu? Or go back to performing in the circus with his family?

Well, the breaking of the curse means the interns can actually leave the mansion, and there isn't much reason for them to stay given that it's the place they were cursed. They might come back one day to fix it up, but otherwise the majority of the group goes off to see the wider world now that they're able.

The Aquatos stick around for a while, but they have to get moving eventually. This leaves Dion and Gisu with a few choices—they could both stay at the mansion, Dion could go while Gisu stays, or they could both go with the Aquatos.

Since the other interns are sticking with the Aquatos until they get their bearings (except for Sam, who rejoins Compton & Dogen in the town), it makes sense for Gisu to come with too. She can't take her entire lab with her, but she can at least bring her tools. She wants to rebuild the parts of the mansion that got destroyed when it was ransacked, but she and everyone else agree that they need a break from the place first.

tl;dr The interns decide to take a break from the mansion after spending years trapped there, but agree to come back to it later for a reunion.

[razzle-zazzle]

Whumptober Day 31: i thought that i was getting better

Emptiness + Setbacks

4662 Words; Acrobat & the Spider, the Dinner Debacle

TW for arachnophobes bc Gisu is a spider

AO3 ver

Dion hadn’t seen Gisu anywhere.

He kept expecting her to jump out of every shadow, but it was like she had left the mansion entirely. Or, well, it was more likely that she was in a part of the mansion that Dion hadn’t seen—possibly the western wing, given the density of webs in that direction. And Dion had no intentions of going where the webs were thickest, so it seemed entirely possible that he and Gisu could end up never seeing each other at all.

Which was just fine by him. The longer he could put off getting eaten or whatever other horrors awaited him, the better.

Dion shoved those thoughts down. He really didn’t want to think about that. He forced his focus back onto the room he’d entered, picking an empty vase up off of the shelf. It was squat, white ceramic rimmed with blue flower petals—Dion had seen at least ten others like it throughout the various rooms of the mansion already.

He was poking around mostly for lack of anything better to do. He had already seen the kitchen and grabbed himself a breakfast of mashed acorns—which was. Hm. Dion really hoped that that wasn’t the only food on offer, he’d never survive—and now he was poking around the rooms in the second floor. Most of them weren’t all that different from each other, and a lot of them were so coated in dust that Dion could barely get into them without sneezing.

This room was mostly dust-free, though. Like so many others, it had a hearth dominating one of the walls—what kind of mansion needed so many hearths? Maybe the winters were really bad in this forest—Dion had noticed no shortage of firewood by every hearth.

Dion moved to set the vase back down—

The fireplace burst into flames with a whoomph.

Dion screamed. The vase in his hand shattered against the mantle, completely missing the fire he was aiming for. He scrambled back, smacking into the wall and freezing in place.

The fire danced like normal, for a moment, then—

“Wow.” A woman emerged from the flames—no, she was made of fire. Two black points in her face focused on the shattered remains of the vase before flicking back up to look at Dion, like two twinkling coals. “So do you usually scream like a banshee, or is that just the nerves?” Her voice had a crackly sound to it, like wood cracking in heat—and it was just as dry, too.

Dion folded his arms around himself. “You startled me.” He huffed. Really, when random fires exploded into existence, what else was Dion supposed to do? Not freak out? Unlikely.

The fire put her face in her hands with a tired groan—at least, that’s what Dion assumed the movements were. She was a bit indistinct, so it was hard to tell. “Oh, this is going to go so bad, I can just tell.” She groused, lifting her head to look at Dion again. “Of all people, it had to be someone like you?”

“Wh—hey!” Dion bristled.

The fire woman sighed. “Whatever. My name’s Norma. And yours is…?”

“It’s Dion.” Dion responded. “And it’s not like I asked to be here.”

“You literally promised to stay here.” Norma pointed out. “I was there. I saw it.”

“When—” Oh, wait. There had been a fire going in the room that Gisu and Raz were in, wasn’t there? Dion rubbed at his temples. What next? Was he going to find out that all of the furniture was alive, too? Was his wardrobe going to start criticizing his outfit?

“I’m going to assume by your silence that you’ve either figured it out, or you’re dumber than you sound.” Norma drawled. At Dion’s sputtered response, she shrugged, the flames shaping her body starting to shrink.

“Try not to die.” She suggested, before the fire winked out.

Dion stared at the empty hearth. The wood had been burned down, but he could still see one half-there log towards the back. The room was silent, now, in the absence of the crackling fire.

It took a long while before he began exploring again.

+=+=+=+=+

Dion slept about as well on the second night as he did the first.

Which was to say: not much at all.

For some reason, the window in his room was perfectly angled so that the morning sunlight was blasted directly into Dion’s eyes, forcing him awake whether he was ready or not.

The radio was back on his nightstand, but he hadn’t heard Morris since. Given that he had seen other radios scattered throughout the mansion, Dion figured that Morris was busy bugging someone else instead.

With a groan, Dion rolled out of bed, walking over to the wardrobe. He hadn’t wanted to wear any clothes but his own, at first—but that was a one-way ticket to stinking worse than garbage, which Dion would not stand if he could help it. He’d already found and used one of the various bathrooms spread out around the mansion—the entire time expecting some kind of living water to come out of the faucet to harass him, but thankfully his bath had gone entirely bother-free—so now he just had to find a good bin and washboard to wash his own clothes with.

Once he was dressed, Dion grabbed a brush off the vanity—where it had come from, he wasn’t sure, but it was surprisingly free of fur, so he wasn’t going to complain. A few moments later, his hair was tied back.

It was about as good as he could get, probably. He had yet to find any hair grease, so curls it was. Not that he looked bad when his hair curled—it would take a lot to make him look bad, Dion felt.

Satisfied, Dion stepped out into the hall. He started to make his way downstairs to the kitchen—he didn’t think there’d be any milk, but with some water he could probably make half-decent pancakes with the mashed acorns that were on offer. It’d be nice to cook again, even if it was just making pancakes.

With that thought in mind, Dion continued into the kitchen.

+=+=+=+=+

The mansion had a library.

The mansion had an actual library, with more than enough books to occupy Dion for days, maybe even months—

Dion perused the shelves, frowning. What was with this organization? How did anybody find the book they were looking for?

Dion was halfway into working himself up to pull all the books off the shelves to try and reorganize them when someone coughed behind him. He jumped, startled, and whirled around to find himself face to face with Gisu, all four of her hands clasped in front of her.

“Oh.” Dion said. He wanted to turn back to the shelf all casually, but for some reason, he was rooted in place. “You.”

Gisu grinned. “Me!” She chirped.

“Sooooo…” Dion really hoped this wasn’t the part where he got eaten. He was too pretty to be eaten! “What do you want?”

“Well.” Gisu squirmed in place. “So, uh.” Gisu ran a hand through her hair, her claws catching on a tangle. After a few moments of struggling to pry her hand free, she turned her attention back to Dion. “You should uh. Join me for dinner tonight.” She offered.

“Absolutely not.” Dion growled. He wasn’t getting eaten that easily!

Gisu faltered, like she somehow expected him to agree. “Well—you—” She fumbled, “I’m not trying to eat you!” She threw her upper pair of arms in the air, her lower set crossed in front of her. “I’m trying to seduce you!”

Dion’s face burned. “Well, it’s not going to work!” He crossed his arms with a huff, forcing his gaze onto the wall and away from the giant spider in his doorway. “I’m not letting you use me as an egg sac!” And didn’t spiders eat each other after mating, anyway? Dion was pretty sure that was true. So either way, he was probably going to get eaten.

Gisu choked, her upper half doubling over as she coughed. “What?” It almost sounded like she was trying not to laugh—Dion bristled.

“You heard me!” His face burned even worse, now, for some reason—probably anger. Yeah, that was right. Anger—and no other emotions, not at all—was what was making his face burn.

Gisu wheezed. “That doesn’t make sense!” She managed, the moment she was breathing regularly again. She straightened up, and skittered over. Dion pressed his back against the shelf behind him, his eyes darting around wildly in their efforts to not look at the spider monstress standing less than a foot away.

Gisu tilted her head up to look Dion directly in the eyes—and how was that fair, that she was shorter than Dion and still somehow terrifying?—and spoke. “Well, you’re coming to join me for dinner anyway.” She declared. “Since you agreed to stay and liven up the place.”

“I agreed to stay,” Dion argued, “Not to talk to you!” His heart threatened to beat its way out of his chest, shaking his ribcage like a monkey might shake the bars of their cage.

“Yeah, well,” Gisu poked him in the chest with a claw, “It’s not enough just to stay here.” She insisted, continuing to poke him in the chest. “So you. Me. Dinner. Tonight.”

“No way!” Dion shouted. Nuh-uh. Absolutely not!

Gisu huffed, her face scrunching in frustration. “Well, I’m going to be there whether you like it or not!” She declared, “So either you eat with me or you don’t eat at all!” With that, she whirled around, her abdomen smacking into Dion. She left in a hurry, the door not quite slamming shut behind her.

Dion rubbed at where she’d accidentally bumped him frantically. He couldn’t feel any fur, though, so hopefully he hadn’t just been poisoned. Spiders didn’t have stingers, he was pretty sure.

…maybe he should try to find a book on spiders before sorting anything in here.

+=+=+=+=+

“So are you going to starve or not?”

Dion glared at the radio—it felt like there was one in every room. “Shut up.” He muttered.

Morris did not shut up, instead continuing. “Because there’s really no point in you agreeing to stay here if you end up starving yourself.” The radio crackled.

Dion kept his attention on the book in his hands.

He was sitting in the library, still, on a chaise lounge near one of the windows. If he looked outside it, he saw a small courtyard—when the mansion already had an overgrown front yard, too. The courtyard was smaller, and just as overgrown—

Dion looked away from the window. He was focused on the book. The book in his hands. The book about spiders. That book.

“Of course, if you do die, then we’ll just have to feed your corpse to Sam’s horde.” Morris continued. “After we put your clothes back in the wardrobe.”

Dion growled, but said nothing. He was focused on the book. Not Morris, not at all.

“It’d be a real shame, though,” Morris continued, oblivious to the fact that Dion wasn’t paying any attention at all, “It’s only your second day, dude.” The radio made a whomp-whomp-whommp sound, and Morris continued. “Poor Dion, may he be remembered well. He starved to death trying to prove a point like an idiot—”

“Fine!” Dion groaned, setting the book he’d grabbed aside. He stood, glaring at the radio. “If I die, I’m blaming you.”

Morris chuckled. “Sure, whatever you say.”

+=+=+=+=+

Dion entered the dining room slowly, unsure of what he would find. The banquet table in the center of it had been covered in a clean tablecloth, with a lit candelabra in the center. Everything else looked the same as it had in the morning—Dion had eaten in the kitchen the first day. The shelves decorated with various gears and bits of metal were still to the side of the door, the giant mirror was still above the mantle, and the wallpaper still had old stains that Dion didn’t want to think about.

The only thing missing was… Gisu. Dion looked up at the ceiling—even with the shadows cast by the candles spread out across the room and the roaring hearth in the wall, he didn’t think Gisu was up there.

At least, he hoped not.

Carefully, slowly, Dion walked over to the table, and just as cautiously, pulled out a chair.

There was nothing on the seat that he could see—but what if there was an invisible thread, and the moment he sat down it snagged and suddenly he was tied up and being dragged up to the ceiling?

“Oh, for pete’s sake!” The fire yelled, Norma manifesting in it. “Just sit down!”

Chastened, Dion did as he was ordered. No invisible threads snagged when he sat, and no traps went off. After another moment of waiting, Dion let himself relax into the seat—but only a little.

As he waited for something to happen, presumably Gisu arriving—animals started to filter into the room, gathering at the edges. Birds, mice, squirrels—Dion even saw a rabbit and a fox sitting side-by-side under one of the shelves, beady eyes turned onto him and him alone.

Dion shifted uncomfortably. This was more eyes than he was comfortable with—and Gisu still hadn’t shown up!

A little bit later, the door across from Dion—the one that separated the dining room from the kitchen, which was decidedly distinct from the door that Dion had entered through—opened. A goose came waddling out, a metal cloche balanced on its back. Dion watched as it approached the table, and came to a stop.

It honked impatiently. A moment later, Adam came through, coming to a stop just inside the room. “I’m coming, I’m coming.” He grumbled, holding a yoyo. “You couldn’t use a bigger animal for this…” They muttered, flicking the yoyo out. The string wrapped around the goose, lifting it up onto the table.

The goose waddled across, using a wing to slide the cloche down onto the table once it reached Dion. It then reached back into its feathers as it waddled over to Adam, pulling out a slip of paper and handing it to them.

Adam stared at the paper in his hand. “I’m not reading this verbatim.” He told the goose, which pecked at him ineffectually. Adam looked back up, opening their mouth— 

Adam stopped short. “Where’s Gisu?”

Dion shrugged. “Why would I know?” It wasn’t his business what she was doing, and it wasn’t like he could do anything to delay her, anyway. Aquato or not, he was still human.

The radio on one of the decorative shelves by the door blared to life. “Maybe she’s still getting ready.” Morris suggested.

“Pretty sure it wouldn’t take this long.” A new voice spoke. Dion looked up at the mirror to see a new woman had appeared in it, her face glittering with frost. She was strangely indistinct, blurred at the edges like a bad photograph.

A fox pawed at Adam’s leg, standing up on its hindpaws so Adam could reach the piece of paper in its mouth without bending down.

“‘She’s probably in her lab.’” They read out.

The woman in the mirror and Norma both groaned simultaneously, their heads thrown back in exasperation.

“Of course she is.” Morris grumbled. “One second.” The small display on the radio went dark.

A moment later, the radio crackled back to life. “Yeah, she’s in there.” Morris reported. “And no, she’s not getting ready.”

Adam rested a hand against the bridge of his nose. “Of course.” They mumbled. “Of course she forgot. And after we went to all this effort…”

Dion, already done with this conversation, opened the cloche, setting the cover to the side. He grimaced. Was it moving?

The others continued arguing as Dion stood up, shoving the bowl of barely-prepared vegetables and still-alive bugs and other unidentifiable ingredients aside. He pushed his chair in and paced across the dining room as Morris and the mirror lady started trying to convince Adam to just “bust the door down!” while Norma shouted to not do that, guys, that is a terrible idea. All of the animals were running around, now, and Dion nearly tripped over the goose as he made his way to the kitchen door.

“Fuck it.” Dion threw the kitchen door open, and stomped inside. “I’ll cook for myself.” The “again” went unsaid. There was a lot of food in the pantry, most of it probably not good—there! Dion spotted an unopened box of fusilli. Pasta on its own would be filling, but there were tomatoes on the counter, and those mushrooms were probably edible. He’d need some onions for something that tasted really good, though—and there were some in a small basket in the pantry, somehow not rotted at all. Dion wondered if this whole mansion was frozen in time, and that was why all the food still seemed to be good? The milk carton in the fridge certainly hadn’t been bad, when he’d used it to make pancakes this morning.

Dion went for the spice rack, grabbing what he’d need. That done, he laid his ingredients out on the counter, and grabbed a pot. He filled it with water, and set it on the stove. Dion didn’t even need to touch the dials on the stove—a fire flickered to life under the burner the moment the pot was set down. Convenient.

“What are you doing?” A hanging pan shimmered as the mirror lady came into view on the metallic surface. “Are you cooking?”

Dion grabbed a knife, examining it before nodding, He set the first tomato on the cutting board. “Yes?” He started slicing, the movements easy from years of practice. “I’m not eating that.” That being the bowl of barely-edible whatever that he had been presented with.

Heavy footsteps followed Dion into the room. “Hey, don’t be mean to Sam,” Adam chided, picking up a rabbit and holding it towards Dion. “She does her best.” Something about their tone suggested that they were just as off put by her “best” as Dion, yet still trying to be polite about it.

Dion looked at the rabbit. “So Sam’s… a rabbit?” That might explain the quality of the meals he had been offered. He finished chopping the tomatoes, put them in the pan, and moved onto the onions.

“Sam’s the tree.” Adam explained. “But she can control all of the animals within the mansion walls.” A squirrel clambered onto his shoulder, and he gently scritched its little head with a stone finger. “So she’s really… all of them.”

Dion nodded, trying to but not really processing what Adam was saying. The water had begun to boil, so he opened the box of fusilli and poured it into the pot. He added a pinch of salt, and started to clean up the cutting board.

“And then you’re…” He looked at the hanging pan, which had frost growing at the edges.

“Lizzie.” The reflection offered.

“Okay.” Dion took that in. Adam, Gisu, Morris, Norma, Sam, Lizzie. Was that everyone? He hadn’t seen anything that could be a seventh person—though the jury was still out on living water.

“I’m a reflection.” Lizzie continued. “Obviously. I can appear on anything reflective.” She disappeared from the hanging pan and appeared on the side of the pot, only to frown. “Too hot.” She complained, zipping back to the hanging pan.

Dion took the pot off the stove—the fusilli was definitely done. The fire flickered away to nothing moments after the pot was gone from the burner, like it hadn’t been there at all.

As he poured the pot’s contents into the strainer, Dion looked at the fire going in the furnace. “Thanks.” He said.

Norma scoffed. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just don’t expect me to help you cook every time.”

Dion rolled his eyes, shaking the strainer. The pan was still on the stove, the scent of the soon-to-be-done sauce mouthwatering. Oh, it was so good to cook again. A wave of homesickness crested in his chest—his Nona and Mother had taught him how to cook, and even if he enjoyed cooking alone it still reminded him so fiercely of his family. Dion fought the feeling down with a wooden spoon, focusing on the motions of the tasks before him.

Eventually, Dion had a finished product that he was pretty satisfied with—and oh, that sauce really did look so good. He’d always had a talent for knowing how much spice to add, his Nona had once said. And as Dion took the first mouthwatering bite, he could only find himself agreeing.

Damn, he was good at this.

“Um,” Lizzie peered at the meal Dion had laid out. “Are you going to eat all of that?”

Dion blinked. What did she—oh.

DIon’s face fell as he realized—he’d been cooking with the proportions he was used to, which were meant to feed his whole family. He hadn’t quite made enough for eight people, but there was definitely way more than he needed, here.

“I guess not.” He said, staring down at the plate before him.

“Oh,” Adam started, “Why don’t you bring some to Gisu? She’s the only other person here who needs to eat.”

The goose from earlier honked aggressively.

“The only other person who can eat human food.” Adam amended.

“Why me?” Dion asked. “Couldn’t Sam handle that?”

“No, it has to be you.” Lizzie countered. “It’ll only spill all over the walls if Sam does it.”

Dion contemplated the plate before him. “I guess…” He really didn’t want to. But what else could he do? “But I’m eating my fill first.” He still wasn’t going to eat with Gisu if he didn’t have to.

In the furnace, Norma sighed. “I’ll reheat her portion when you’re done.”

+=+=+=+=+

Dion crept along the hallways, glancing nervously at the webs lining the ceiling. The lamps were starting to get unlit, here—though the flashlight Adam had given him stayed lit, allowing Dion to see.

Not that seeing helped his nerves.

The webs only grew thicker as he continued, the whole hall starting to look like a webbed-up tunnel. Dion trod as carefully as he could, trying not to step on potentially-sticky thread.

He shuddered. He really didn’t want to be in the west wing. How had Adam and Lizzie talked him into this, again?

The basket hanging from his arm wasn’t heavy, but the further Dion went, the heavier it felt. Was he really doing this? Carrying a basket of reheated pasta into the one part of the mansion he had sworn to avoid at all costs?

Apparently. Dion came to a stop in front of a massive double door. A massive metal double door—the whole wall looked like metal—at least, the bits he could see through the webbing looked metal.

Dion stared at the door for a long moment. Was he really about to do this?

Dion shook his head. No! He was an Aquato, not a coward! He could do this!

Carefully, with the basket hooked over his arm and the flashlight in his hand, Dion used his free hand to grab the door handle. It moved without resistance, and Dion pulled the door open.

“Um, hi?” Dion tried, peering into the room. It was better lit than the hallways would have led him to believe, a bright white light searing down onto the metal Gisu was hunched over. She had a welding mask on her face, the torch sizzling as sparks flew everywhere. The light of a—was that a forge?—backlit Gisu, adding color to the otherwise cold room.

“I made more food than I meant to,” he continued, leaning against the door as if he might fuse with it if he tried hard enough. “So I was wondering if—”

He cut off with a squeak as the welding torch cut off. Gisu flipped up the mask, all four of her eyes focused on Dion. Her eyes narrowed. Dion wanted to melt into the floor.

“What are you doing here?” Gisu demanded.

Any courage that Dion still had deflated. “Um.” He lifted his arm, trying to show off the basket—

“GET OUT!” Something bounced off the door frame. Something metal.

Dion screamed, tumbling backwards. The basket and flashlight fell to the floor, forgotten—Dion was already out of the room, flipping backwards faster than he had ever flipped in his life. He didn’t stop, either, flipping end over end until the webs around him thinned down to barely there and there were lit lamps to see by.

Dion collapsed to the floor, his chest heaving, his heart going at a million miles a second. He stared up at the ceiling, all of his organs trying to mutiny and leave his body. Oh god. Oh god.

That’d—he’d—he’d just barely survived. He’d just barely survived. Oh god.

Dion covered his face with his hands. His still shaking hands.

He had promised to stay here, and he wasn’t about to break his word—

But god, he could not handle this kind of stress.

+=+=+=+=+

“So,” The forge crackled as Norma appeared in the flames, “How are we doing where is Dion.”

Gisu looked over at the radio. “Why would Dion be here? In my lab?” Not even Sam and Adam were really allowed in—and there were ways to keep Morris, Norma, and Lizzie out, as well.

Dion had shown up earlier, but he’d been quick to leave when Gisu asked. She turned back to her project—

“To deliver food?” Norma offered dryly. “That he cooked? After you missed your dinner date?”

Gisu blinked. “What food?”

Norma stared for a long moment, then raised a fiery hand. “The basket by the door?”

Gisu turned to the door. Huh. Yeah, that was a basket, next to a flashlight that wasn’t on. “Oh.”

Then the rest of what Norma had been saying finally registered, and Gisu turned back to the fire. “Wait, whaddya mean I forgot?” She had had everything planned out! A romantic candlelit dinner, like in all of her favorite rom-coms—

“You forgot.” Norma confirmed. “Your… prospective boytoy got stood up.”

Gisu buried her face in her superior hands, uncaring that she was getting grease on her chelicerae. “Fuck.”

Norma snorted. “Here, bring the basket over here.” She offered. “I’ll reheat your food for you—you still need to eat.”

“Okay, mom.” Gisu grumbled, without any real bite. She skittered over to the basket, opening it to reveal a plate of pasta. “He made this?” She knew that Dion had been scrounging around making his own meals, but this was different. This looked like it would have been absolutely delicious fresh. Gisu didn’t know Dion had it in him—what she had seen of him so far (which was admittedly not much) mostly involved him being weirdly tense and snarky around her.

As Norma took the plate, doing her best to reheat the food without burning it, Gisu frowned.

Dion had made that. For her, apparently.

And she had stood him up.

The scent of the now-heated plate caught Gisu’s attention, and she took the plate from Norma. The first bite hit her mouth—

Oh. Oh. Oh, this was delicious. Gisu hadn’t realized how hungry she was—she had really lot track of time. But as she ate, her mind circled back to its previous train of thought.

She had stood Dion up.

She had stood Dion up, and worse, when he came to bring her food, she had chased him away.

Gisu set the empty plate down on a nearby table. She’d take care of it later. She moved to grab the wrench again—

She didn’t really want to work on any projects, right now. Her stomach was full, sure, but—

Gisu crawled up the wall to her nest. She had had a long day, anyway—she’d feel better in the morning.

She’d do better, too. Her ability to break the curse depended on it.

With that resolution in mind, Gisu curled up in her webbing, and fell asleep.

[razzle-zazzle]

Whumptober Day 28: we might not make it to the morning, so go on and tell me now

Sacrifice + "You'll have to go through me."

4040 Words; Acrobat & the Spider

TW for the arachnophobic peeps, bc Gisu is a spider

AO3 ver

Raz still wasn’t sure how he’d gotten so lost.

He held out his map, looking out over the treetops for any recognizable landmarks. But it was nothing but more trees as far as the eye could see, the morning sun setting the sky aflame.

Raz groaned, dropping down to the next branch. He made his way down the tree, flipping from branch to branch before flinging himself to the ground. He softened the landing with a burst of levitation.

“Maybe I got the place wrong?” He was pretty sure this was the right area, though. Maybe he’d left camp in the wrong direction? It’d make sense, disheartening as it was.

Raz continued musing as he went, rolling along on a levball to move a little faster. It wasn’t too late in the morning yet, so he wasn’t ready to call it quits and head back home. Surely, if he kept going, he’d find something he could use to reorient himself.

It was dark still, under the forest canopy, the morning sun not yet high enough to fully pierce the gloom. But Raz had the light of his levball, and there wasn’t much that could really threaten him in these woods—bears were native, here, but Raz had dealt with telekinetic bears before, which were way worse. A regular bear was nothing to him.

At least, that’s what Raz kept telling himself.

Still, between his psi-blast and his levitation, Raz was fairly confident he could get himself out of whatever danger arose. Assuming any danger arose.

Raz continued along, passing through trees, trees, and more trees. The sun had risen high enough for dappled sunlight to start piercing the gloom in small shafts—his parents had probably noticed he was gone by now. Well, he had left a note this time, so it’d probably be fine. And besides, what he was after would make whatever grounding he got so worth it.

Raz hopped over a fallen log—

Oh.

That was different.

A wrought-iron gate stood before him, overgrown with vines and flowers. It was set in an old-looking wall with iron fencing along the top that was equally overgrown. A few birds were perched along the wall, all of them seeming to stare at Raz—probably just his tired mind playing tricks on itself.

But more importantly, Raz could see through the gate to the old mansion within the wall. The old mansion that might be a safer place to sleep than in a tree. The old mansion that looked open and ready to be explored.

Raz pushed his goggles down over his eyes. With a burst of levitation, he jumped, making it up atop the stone wall. Another hop, and he flipped over the old iron, coming to a levitation-softened landing down on the other side.

The whole yard was overgrown, with one massive tree in the center. Raz made his way past the various old decorations—a cracked birdbath with a puddle in it, some overgrown benches, a broken statue—and towards the building proper, anticipation rising the longer he went. This wasn’t on his map at all! Who knew what secrets it held?

Maybe even… psychic secrets!

Raz hopped onto the front step. He pushed at the door—it didn’t budge. Right. He readied a psi-blast—

“Wait, no, I probably shouldn’t break anything.” Raz decided. He was only here to explore and look around, after all. It’d be rude to break the door down, even if there was nobody inside to need it.

Raz backed off the front step, casting his eyes around—there! Second floor, an open window. Clambering up the side of the house was easy, and before he knew it, Raz was pushing at the window, trying it to open it further. It slid up after a bit of resistance, and Raz tumbled inside. He got up, and looked around—the room he was in was full of dust, sheets covering the furniture. He lifted the edge of one, revealing a wooden table on spindly legs.

“Cool.” Raz decided. He reached into his bag and pulled out his notebook, scrambling to write down all of his observations. This was so cool!

Raz walked through the doorway and out into the wall. The floor creaked under his boots—creepy. Which only made it cooler!

Raz poked his head into the next room—more sheet-covered furniture. Same for the next room, though Raz noticed a mirror in the corner that wasn’t covered.

Raz went over to the mirror. He could see himself clearly, no dust—

Ah.

“This mansion might not be as abandoned as I thought.” Raz realized. He should probably leave—

Something skittered across the floor in the hall. Raz rushed to the door, but the hall was already empty.

No, not empty—Raz heard heavy footsteps down the hall, and the sound of scraping stone. Even worse, the noise was coming from the direction that Raz had come from, blocking his exit. A figure came around the corner—

Raz darted down the hall as fast as his legs could carry him. The figure shouted, but Raz had already rounded the corner. Shit, shit, he needed somewhere to hide!

Heavy footsteps rang out behind him. No time! Raz ducked into the nearest room, going straight for the sheet-covered shape that looked most like a table. He ducked under it, glad to find that he’d guessed correctly. It wasn’t the best fit—curse his lanky teenage limbs—but Raz made it work, curling as small as he could.

“Sam, if this is a prank—” The heavy footsteps slowed to a stop out in the hall. The voice was undercut with the same scraping sounds that followed the footsteps, like whoever was talking was doing it though a mouth full of stone.

Raz waited. After a while, the figure receded, heavy footsteps continuing on.

Raz waited a little longer before emerging from his sheet. The room was just as empty as it had been before, the hearth at the back end of it cold and empty.

“Time to get out of here.” Raz muttered, walking out into the hall. He made to turn back the way he came, and started walking, this time listening out for that scraping stone sound.

Movement darted in the corner of his vision. Raz whirled around, but saw nothing of note. Just more hallway.

Okay, yeah, time to get out of the not-so-abandoned mansion. Raz picked up the pace.

Or he would have, if he could remember which way he came from. It had all been a blur when he’d ran down the hall at full speed, and now he couldn’t remember if he had turned left or right. He knew he had turned, so the right way probably wasn’t straight ahead.

Raz picked a direction, and started moving. The floorboards creaked under every other step, making Raz jump the first few times. The further he went, the more sure he became that he wasn’t going the right way—he didn’t remember this many cobwebs along the ceiling. It shimmered, even in the low light of the poorly-lit hallway, and it was only getting thicker the further Raz went.

Something squeaked.

Were the shadows moving?

Raz picked up the pace, making the first turn he saw. Even if he didn’t make it back to the original room, surely there would be another room with an open window, right? But Raz couldn’t see any door along the hall he had gone down—the only path was forwards.

Raz turned a corner, and froze in place.

Four segmented legs. A big furry abdomen. Four arms and four glittering eyes and two sharp-fanged chelicerae—

Raz stumbled back. The spider monstress blinked, staring at him. Her reflection—though it looked a lot more human, and differently colored at that—blinked as well, though it was out of sync.

“Well.” She said, “And what do we have here?”

Raz shot a psi-blast on pure instinct, flipping around as fast as he could. He darted down the hall—

And tripped over something small. Small and warm.

The fox he’d tripped over yelped, and Raz scrambled back before it could bite him. He backed up, moving to stand—

His back hit the warm fur of a deer. It stared at him balefully, making no move to get out of Raz’ way. Raz readied himself to leap up over it—

Four arms wrapped around him. “Got you!”

+=+=+=+=+

Dion muttered under his breath once he cleared the canopy, but he could only see more trees no matter which direction he looked. The sun was high above him in the sky, and exhaustion clung to every inch of him.

“So much for getting Raz back before our parents notice.” Dion grumbled, climbing back down. Sugarcube watched him descend, snorting when Dion’s boots made it to the ground. The dappled sunlight was just enough to see by down on the forest floor,

“We’ll just have to keep looking.” Dion said, grabbing Sugarcube’s reins. Even if there was no way for Frazie to keep covering for him, he’d still keep going. He’d gone this far, might as well go all the way and find his brother instead of returning empty-handed.

“What’s he even doing?” Dion grumbled. Oh, sure, Dion had done plenty of stupid shit at sixteen, too, but running away into the night? With a note saying “be back later”? Dion didn’t understand what Raz was even thinking. “He could at least leave a better note.”

Then again, it wasn’t exactly the first time Raz had run away. But they were all trying, dammit, and things were so much better than when Raz was ten and scared—

Dion shoved those thoughts away. With how casual the note was, Raz probably wasn’t trying to make a point, this time. Chances were he’d gotten an idea in his head and didn’t once think about the heart attack he was going to give to Mom and Dad by just disappearing overnight.

He continued along, trekking through the forest and calling out for his brother at regular intervals. The lack of sleep was starting to get to him—at least he’d remembered to grab some food and water before he left. Dion kept going through the trees, kept climbing over small bluffs and boulders and climbing up into the trees every so often to see if he could spot whatever Raz was trying to get to. The day stretched on.

Dion was really regretting not just telling his parents and going back to sleep, now. The whole point of going off after Raz was to find him and bring him back before their parents found out! Now Raz would definitely be in trouble, and all Dion had to show for it was aching limbs and way too many new bug bites.

“RAZ!”

No response. Of course. Dion hopped over a small ridge, Sugarcube hopping up behind him. He checked to see if she made it up alright, then turned to continue on—

Um.

That was new.

A small cliff face stretched out before him, covered in ivy and moss. Wait—cliff faces didn’t have wrought-iron fences atop them. And they weren’t usually made of bricks.

Okay, so there was just a random old wall in the middle of the woods… a surprisingly intact wall, Dion realized, walking alongside it. Wait.

Dion backed up, clambering up into the nearest tree. He didn’t need to go all the way up—he could see over the wall, now, to the old mansion on the other side. He jumped back down to the ground and looked at Sugarcube. “Think this is it?”

Sugarcube stared up at him. Right. Too bad Frazie wasn’t here—she could actually understand Sugarcube, in a way that Dion would never be able to.

Dion shrugged. There was no way Raz could see an abandoned building and not poke around. Especially something as unique as a mansion in the middle of the woods. Dion walked alongside the wall.

“RAAZ!”

No response. Dion continued to walk all along the wall.

“RAAAZ!”

No response. Dion continued, and found himself facing a wrought-iron gate. He cupped his hands around his mouth one more time—

“RAZ!”

…nothing.

Dion groaned, grabbing Sugarcube and hefting her onto his shoulders. There were a few birds perched atop the fence, all of them watching Dion as he climbed up over it. He clambered down the other side easily, setting Sugarcube down in the overgrown grass.

“Wait here.” Dion told Sugarcube, setting down her reins. She snorted, scraping at the ground with her hoof, then went right to chewing the grass after sniffing at it. That was probably a yes, then.

He turned to the mansion, wondering how best to approach this. There was an open window on the second floor—open wide enough for a lanky sixteen year-old to crawl through it.

“You better be in there.” Dion muttered, making his way over to the building proper. He tried the door, first, pushing at it with his shoulder—it didn’t budge. He backed up, ready to go for the window—

The door swung open. “You could at least knock.”

Dion fell backwards with a shout. He flailed about for a moment trying to stand, and the statue, an actual statue? holding the door open watched quietly.

“So.” The statue began, its—their?—voice undercut with a sound like stone scraping across stone. “What brings you to our humble abode?” They asked dryly.

Dion swallowed. Just pretend it’s a really good paint job, he told himself. “I’m looking for my brother.” He said. “He’s sixteen, and he’s about this tall—” He gestured roughly Raz’ height, “—and even if he’s not here I wouldn’t mind some directions out of the forest.” He rambled out, spitting the words before his brain could catch up and bog him down with doubt.

The statue considered, tilting their head with a stone-scraping sound. They stepped back. “Come in.” They said, “He’s this way.”

Right. Okay. Dion could do this. Creepy un-abandoned mansion? No problem. He stepped over the threshold, into the front hall. A grand staircase dominated the room before him, though his stone guide turned to the left. Dion hurried to follow—for a statue, they sure were fast.

“Name’s Adam.” They said, moving their hand up towards their hat, only to drop it down a moment later. “Yours?”

“Dion.” Dion responded. “Dion Aquato.”

“Dion, huh?” Adam mused. “Not bad.”

Despite himself, Dion managed a small “Thanks.” Looking more closely, Adam didn’t look too bad—they even looked kind of close to Dion in age, though being a statue probably made him ageless. Still, there was an undeniable charm to Adam’s slight smile, to the hat and the coat he was wearing. His skirt didn’t sway as he walked, but Dion still stared, mesmerized.

If Adam noticed Dion’s soft jealousy, they didn’t comment on it. Dion was thankful for that.

Adam came to a stop at a large door, pushing it open. “Hey, Gisu,” He said, “We’ve got another guest.”

Dion looked into the room—he froze.

A giant… spider… thing stared back at him, all four eyes glittering. She grinned, revealing that her furry chelicerae bracketed a mouth full of sharp teeth. The firelight of the room’s hearth lit her from behind, casting her face in shadow.

Dion moved to turn around, but Adam grabbed his arm and pushed him in. The door slammed shut behind Dion.

“Dion?”

Dion’s attention snapped onto his brother. “Pooter.” Raz was tied to a chair with sticky spider silk, squirming in place but still in one piece. And it was Dion’s job to make sure he stayed in one piece.

The monstress snorted. “Pooter?” She lifted a hand to her mouth as though she was trying to hold in a laugh.

Raz grumbled. “It’s not that funny.” He muttered.

Dion turned his attention back to the giant spider, his back pressed against the door. “I’m sorry if he caused any trouble.” He said, trying to ignore the rising fear in his throat, “But we’ll get out of your… fur now.”

The monstress shook her head. “You're not leaving." She said. "I don't even know your name!"

Dion wanted to melt into the wood. “Well,” he stalled, “What’s your name?”

“Gisu.” The spidress answered. “Now tell me yours.” Her gaze pinned him in place, and she moved closer.

Dion squirmed. He stared at Gisu, pressing back against the door. “Dion.” He said, after a long moment of squirming under her gaze.

Gisu smiled again. Dion tried not to think about how sharp her teeth were. “It’s nice to meet you!” She clasped her lower pair of hands together. “I think you and I and—” she snorted, “Pooter will get on well!” She turned towards the fire—

“Um, no?” Dion tried. “We can’t stay here—our family’s probably already missing us.” He glared at Raz with that statement, trying to convey just how much trouble the little shit was going to be in. He scooted sideways so he was just a little closer to Raz, his back still pressed against the wall.

“They’ll just have to miss you, then.” Gisu decided. She looked back over her shoulder at Dion, the firelight catching on her face and hair and fur. “It gets awfully lonely out here, you know.” She lamented.

“Then move somewhere less lonely.” Dion suggested, scooting along the wall.

“Can’t.” Gisu responded. “The curse won’t let us leave.”

“The curse?” Raz probed, sounding interested.

Dion scooted a little closer to his brother.

“Yeah,” Gisu confirmed. “The curse. None of us can go outside the wall.” It was hardly an explanation, but Raz’ eyes were already aglow with excited curiosity.

“And since it gets so lonely,” Gisu continued, scuttling over in between Raz and Dion, “I don’t think either of you should leave.”

“What!” Dion yelped. He turned his full attention to the spider monstress standing between him and his brother. “Please.” He urged. “He’s only sixteen. Let him go.” It hadn’t been only when Dion was sixteen—

No. Not the time. Raz would always be that green-eyed baby that screamed and flailed when Dion first tried to hold him, in Dion’s eyes. Even at sixteen.

“But why should I?” Gisu asked, skittering over to Dion. “What could you possibly offer me?”

“I’ll stay.” The words spilled out before Dion even realized he was speaking. “As long as…” He swallowed. “As long as you want me to.” What am I SAYING?

“Wh—no!” Raz protested. “If Dion stays, I stay too!”

“Raz.” Dion growled out. He looked back at Gisu. “I won’t try to leave or anything, I promise—just let Raz go.” After a moment’s thought, he added, “please.”

Gisu turned all the way around. “You promise?” She asked, ignoring Raz’ growing protests.

Dion stared her directly in the eyes. His jaw tightened. “Yes.” He confirmed. “I promise.”

Gisu smiled. “Okay.” She skittered over to where Raz was, slicing through the webs with a claw. “I’ll get Sam to load up that little horse of yours with supplies.” She explained, yanking Raz out of the chair. He pulled his arm away, grumbling. “Your brother should have enough to make it out of the forest safely.”

Dion nodded. “Okay.”

“Uh-uh!” Raz shouted, pacing over to Dion. “I’m not going anywhere!”

Dion put his hands on Raz’ shoulders. “You’re getting back on Sugarcube and you are leaving.” He ordered. Raz opened his mouth, but Dion closed him off. “I’m not arguing with you on this, Raz. Mom and Dad are going to be worried enough as it is.”

Raz glared. “Jerk.” He muttered.

“Yeah, well, this jerk is trying to get you home alive.” Dion grumbled. His face softened. “I’ll be okay, alright? Just get home safe for me. Can you do that?”

“I’m not a child.” Raz groused. He sighed. “Fine. But don’t you dare die, you hear me?”

“Who do you take me for?” Dion joked. He cupped Raz’ face in his hand, taking in every last detail while he still could. “Be good.” He added.

“Cute.” Gisu interjected, grabbing Raz’ arm. “Alright, buddy, come along, let’s get you out of here.” She skittered out through the now open door, pulling Raz along behind her. Dion watched them go. The fire was warm against his back. He found himself feeling cold all the same.

“Hey.” And then Adam was there, and Dion jumped, startled. Adam watched him climb down the shelf. Dion landed on the floor, brushing himself off as though that might clear away the embarrassment.

“Here, let’s find a room for you to stay in.” Adam offered. Dion nodded wordlessly, following the statue back towards the grand staircase in the front hall. They walked up the steps, down a hall, and then came to a stop outside another room. “In here.” Adam said, pushing the door open.

Dion stepped into the… bedroom, he guessed. The bed looked unused, but not too old. There was a radio and a lamp on the nightstand, a dresser and a vanity across from the bed.

“Follow the rabbits if you want to find the kitchen.” Adam said. “And there’s a bathroom down the hall. Mind the squirrels.” And with that, he left, the door closing behind him.

Dion looked back at his room—or would cell be more appropriate? No, no, don’t think like that. Dion promised to stay here, so he wasn’t a prisoner.

Dion walked over to the bed, letting himself flop forwards onto it. The mattress took his weight with good grace, only creaking slightly as he shuffled forwards so that he was all the way on. A moment later, his shoes thumped against the floor as he kicked them off.

The comforter smelled like dust. Dion rolled over, looking up at the canopy.

“What did I get myself into?” He wondered. How long would it be, before Gisu decided to eat him? Did he have months? Weeks? Days?

“Okay, testing, testing, 1, 2, 3.”

Dion yelped, falling out the bed and flailing as he got up. He looked around the room wildly for the source of the voice, but nothing jumped out at him.

“That’s right,” the voice said, “Keep turning so I can get a good look.” There was an odd quality to it, like fuzzy static—

Dion turned to the radio. “Who—”

“Hm, tall, lanky—kind of twinkish.” The voice judged.

Dion’s face flushed. “Twinkish?” He had plenty of muscle! Lean muscle, but being an acrobat still required a lot of strength!

“Ooo, yeah, I think you might be her type.” The voice decided. A melodic set of dings went off, and Dion got the impression that the voice was nodding.

“Who are you?” Dion demanded. God, he was tired. How long had it been since he had slept last? Too long.

The radio cackled. “Morris Martinez, at your service.” It said. “You won’t find a more handsome disembodied voice anywhere in the mansion!” There was a smugness to the voice that grated on Dion's nerves.

“Okay.” Dion grabbed the radio, lifting it up off the nightstand.

“Wait—” Morris began, “Hey! What’s the big idea?”

“I’m too tired to deal with this.” Dion groused, shoving the door open. “And I’d really like some peace and quiet!” He set the radio down on the floor, ignoring the sounds it was making. The door slammed shut—Dion could still hear the radio, faintly, but it was much easier to ignore, now. He returned to the bed, falling back onto the mattress with a grown.

Dion stared at the canopy. At least Raz would be okay. Maybe. He couldn’t discount the possibility that Raz would find some trouble to get into on the way home—

But at least he would end up home.

And that was what mattered most. Dion had set out intending to find his brother and bring him home, and he’d done exactly that. Mission accomplished.

Just… not in the way Dion expected. But that was fine! Dion would make the same choice every time, if he had to. It was his job as an older brother.

The radio had finally gone quiet outside Dion’s room. The sunlight coming in through the window was beginning to fade.

Dion reached over to the lamp and flicked it off. If nothing else, at least he could finally get some sleep.

(He knew that sleep would be a long time coming.)

[razzle-zazzle]

Apologies guys I am not going to be normal about this—

Bro bro bro, beauty and the beast Au for Gisu and Dion

Gisu sees this pathetic wet cat of a man on her doorstep and thinks "yeah. that's the guy. that's the guy who'll break my curse." and she's right but also Gisu. Gisu are we looking at the same guy. Gisu—