Yarn Quest

People are still at the lake. Noisy people with flashing lights. Noisy cries. Two people hold each other tight. Beds that move for wet boys with closed eyes. Red wet boys. Still red. Yellow lines around your spot. Noise and flashing lights. You will sit far away but close enough to see. 

You sit in the reeds. Your egg whispers. You hold it under the water and watch it sing. Watch it sing and see the green eyes of the water. Different colors, different shadows, the water man now sits next to you. Green skin, fish skin, plant skin. He smiles with sharp teeth.

“There are bodies.” He says. His words, his tongue, bubbles in muddy water. “Bodies in the Home. Not-fish who not-swim. Not-fish sometimes swim here, but you brought not-fish to not-swim here. You brought food.” He licks his lips. Long tongue. Snake-tongue. “But not-fish come, take back the food. We like this less. They know you brought it. They hunt you little one. They hunt you and when they catch you, maybe they do the same. They bring you to Home while you not-swim. They offer you as new food. I will like that very much. You will taste good to me and my brothers. I will probably start with your eyes.” Water man just talking, talking like other days. Then he talks to the reeds, and birds fly up into the air. Birds make noise and show where you are hiding.

 ”Run, little one, or not-fish will catch you and I will have new food.”

It’s good that they are gone… You do not know how to communicate using the little stones. You cannot learn it even when you watch carefully. (Spider frowns at the egg) Why would you want to speak using little stones!?! “I DON’T CARE WHAT THEY SAY! 
I DON’T NEED TO TALK TO THEM! I ONLY SPEAK TO YOU.” you whisper loudly.
…

Spider heads towards the lake.  She needs to cool off.

The two do nothing. Sit and make noise and move stones. More stones moved. The two stand up. You follow while they walk. Noisy feet, not quiet like you. Branches fly under you. You climb, leap, move. Eventually man and boy are not under trees. You stop at the edge and watch the two walk away. He will be safe. You have seen the man before. Maybe you will wait for the noisy people to leave the lake, go bathing and take your egg. Your egg likes the lake, the voices sound happy when it is underwater. The boy is safe, and you have fed. Maybe the noisy people are gone?

The egg speaks…

“EAT THE BOY”  

No. You just want to watch him, not hurt him. You already caught a squirrel to eat anyway.

” Hide behind leaf.”

Yes little child. We are hiding behind many leaves right now! 

That boy did nothing but watch you. If he had wanted you dead or if he wanted the water for himself he could have called other humans (someone did that once… the people were loud and tried to catch you). Or he could have fought. Perhaps he was watching for danger, ready to alert you if something was coming. Now he is vulnerable, and you will watch him because he watched you. You will give him protection for a little while.

Spider eavesdrops.

The musician quickly grabbed his instrument case and ran after he looked up into the tree and saw your wild eyes staring back at him. Sad. Sad, scared man who runs away with your music. No longer entertained, you pull one of your warm coverings tighter about your body and begin climbing higher up your tree. Soon enough you spot a squirrel and you briefly enjoy the thrill of the chase as you bound from upper to lower branches, from big to little trees. You eventually grab a hold of it and sharply twist its neck with a satisfying crack. Looking below you, you realize you know this area. There are rocks, marked with dark and light shapes, lined up under the trees. People come here and sit on little trees across from one another, and move things across the dark and light shapes. Some would bring cloth that had its own dark and light shapes. Some are happy, others angry, but they are not very interesting people. They just sit there and move their little stones, not very interesting at all. Right now there is only a boy and an old man sitting alone at a rock. That boy comes here often. Once he saw you trying to bathe in the lake. You won’t go near the lake today, there are lots of noisy people there.

Check your inventory:  In your bag you have the egg and a dead squirrel

Your name is Spider. You live in a tree in Hyde park. Sometimes people see you and get mad but you can climb away. Stupid humans. They do not want you to eat, or bathe or anything! It is frustrating. Sometimes you want to leave your home but there are so many birds to eat here in the park. They don’t like that either … humans must care for birds a lot. You are happy when you see them care for children. Some day you will have children. You already have this egg (It is round and blue and I can hear many voices inside! You will have so many children!) that you take with you everywhere. At night you sleep in a big nest made of human clothes you have found. You also wear lots of human clothes, mostly the ones called sweaters. You even made a bag out of one that helps you hold things. Sometimes people play music in the park for a long long time… there is one below your tree playing something right now. Do people like music? They must not because they run away. Then why do they have music in their ears if they do not like it? You do not like it. It is scaring all the prey.