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[oohforeshadowing]

Let me get back to you, darling.

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[oohforeshadowing]

"Oh, I'm not worried about that. You're my very righteous warden and you'll protect me, darling."

Trouble resumes their saunter towards the treeline, walking in heels like they're barefoot, tail swaying.

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"I mean- I will, but I think-"

Oh shoot, three of the things whir up behind them, in hot pursuit. Miles yelps and starts running after DT.

[oohforeshadowing]

Trouble glances back, watches their movements for a moment, then sighs.

"We can't get seriously hurt in here, according to you. And these things aren't intelligent. So I don't know -"

They double back, and the drones split up, forming a rough kind of pincer movement. Then they swoop in for the attack, Trouble ducks down, and they collide violently.

"...why you're worried."

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"We can't die, but we can lose the game."

Says Miles, hitching his backpack up and putting his thumbs under the straps, jogging to catch up. Trouble has slightly longer legs than him.

[oohforeshadowing]

"And?"

Trouble straightens their skirt slightly, then folds their arms, not moving further from the twitching drone wreckage nearby.

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"Games are fun, why not try to win?"

There's a small creek up ahead, and he jumps it cheerfully, looking back over his shoulder at them.

"Keep in practice."

[oohforeshadowing]

"Winning implies a prize, darling," Trouble points out, crossing the same stream.

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"We could- eat some icecream?"

Proposes Miles, who isn't sure there is icecream on board, but is prepared to search for some.

"Oh- what do you eat at home? You must be getting thrown into a lot of human cuisine."

[oohforeshadowing]

They tilt their head.

"What do you eat? Flies? No, you're bigger than that. Small mammals and birds, wrapped in silk and paralysed?"

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"I don't know what they've been telling you about Brooklyn but it's not that wild."

More sounds behind him, and he picks up into a scrambling run.

[oohforeshadowing]

"I don't know what Brooklyn is," Trouble says, picking up into a brisk walk. "I was thinking more about spiders. Obviously."

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"Oh right."

Says Miles, jumping over the next stream, bouncing closer in his jog.

"So does the stuff in the dining hall look like what you get at home?"

[oohforeshadowing]

"Most of it. I assume we have some similar animals and plants, or - at least they taste the same."

They say it carelessly, approaching the trees and glancing up at the sound of birdsong.

[oh_no_matopoeia]

It's a whirling discuss, hurled hard and fast at their head from a small craft thaat swoops in low and takes a potshot at Miles.

The enclosure isn't playing any more, apparently.

[oohforeshadowing]

Trouble responds to this, but only on their own behalf, getting clear of the thing's trajectory. Maybe if they're very lucky, it'll knock Miles out cold and spare them the rest of this nonsense exercise.

[oh_no_matopoeia]

No dice. He's bouncing around after them, tossing out a couple of more strands of web to try to foul the spinning blades keeping thing up.

[oohforeshadowing]

"I remember being a child and finding this sort of thing fun," Trouble laments. A discus spins their way and they hop over it, tail whipping out to catch it on the flat side and send it hurtling off-course.

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"It's fun for adults too."

Says Miles, with utmost authority, snapping a web at it and using its' momentum to smack it into another one.

[oohforeshadowing]

"If that's what you've been told, I have something to tell you about adults and honesty that you might find upsetting, darling."

They crouch down near a fallen drone and prod it lightly.

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"I know lots of cool adults."

Defends Miles, now a tiny bit breathless, jogging up behind them and wincing at the clacking, clicking legs sticking out of the thing.

"Yikes."

[oohforeshadowing]

"Indeed. Do you know a lot of robots back in Brooklyn?"

It sounds like they consider it a reasonable question.

[oh_no_matopoeia]

"A little bit. I once had a huge fight with a lady in a robotic suit that had a whole bunch of extra arms."

That's about the closest he comes;

"And on my team was a girl who was operating a huge robotic spider, but I never really got to see how it functioned."

[oohforeshadowing]

"Your team," Trouble echoes, looking up from the drone now. "Your team of...spider people?"

[oh_no_matopoeia]

Miles shrugs, in pretty much direct confirmation of that.

"It's a whole thing. It's nice not to be alone out there."

[oohforeshadowing]

"And yet you chose to be alone out here," Trouble notes, straightening up now, advancing on Miles as their tail rolls left and right. "Why is that?"