Tara continued to observe the fight at her feet. She'd never quite witnessed anything like it, but she was more into plants than insect life, so maybe this was more common than she thought. It was kind of entertaining, like watching gladiatorial combat from the nosebleed section of the Coliseum. She wondered about the insect that currently faced off against the wolf spider. The spider was obvious enough in its shape and size from above, but the little critter looked odd, with possible faint purple body streaks. Perhaps a pattern to attract mates?
The truth, that Tara didn't comprehend due to its absurdity, was that the thing she was staring down at looked like what looking down on a person many, many stories below looked like. Sure the black armor helped hide some human characteristics, but if she paused and opened her mind for just a moment to fantasy, she would have noted that it looked just like looking down from her best friend's apartment's glass bottomed balcony. The round head protruding above a pair of shoulders, two legs and arms swinging as it jumped back and forth, clearly to confuse the predator. But the neurons that connected these possibilities were not connecting in her brain, due to the sheer absurdity. Also, she'd never watched a human parry anything, let alone from a few hundred feet up.
Before these thoughts could even hope to go further, the wolf spider rushed the odd insect. It missed, and it appeared the tiny thing had injured it, as it curled in its legs upon turning back to face its opponent. She gasped, boy that had been close! She was really starting to get into the spectacle before her. Satisfied that the wolf spider would take another moment, she focused on the underdog, now several inches away from her left boot, rising to its legs, parrying the spider now closer to her right boot. What a strange creature! It moved in such odd ways, and she still wasn't sure how many appendages it had yet. Maybe it had lost a couple, in battles similar to this. Its definite rarity might mean it was an endangered species. She focused intently, gathering details, then pulled the magnifying glass away, and placed it on her crouched thigh. Shifting her right foot back a bit, the crouching becoming uncomfortable, she took out the small all weather note pad from her rear right pocket, along with a pen. She noted some of her observations, now only her unassisted eye on the insect. It seemed her shift had caused a temporary disruption. She frowned, but continued to take notes. After a few more notes, she recalled that her phone was still in the tent, along with a separate camera. Knowing that the battle would likely be over soon, but loathe to interfere in the natural order of the wilderness, she decided that she should take some photos quick, so that in the likely event that the little critter was gobbled up by the spider, she'd have something to reference when searching the local insect database. She rose, slowly to avoid startling either creature too much, and stepped back, turning away from the fight with a final glance and a quick step, she'd need to be quick. She opened the flap of the tent, and reached into her bag, meanwhile...
______________________________
So much for recognizing your form. Your "audience" was invested in you, but not enough to recognize you for what you were. Not that you could blame her, it was impossible even 5 months ago for you to imagine you might stumble across such a struggle, and you were almost done with the ray! That meant her life saving intervention was unlikely. Despite her complete dominance, she was merely a witness to your life and death struggle. Her great eye watched you, but no recognition, and thus no life saving sympathy came with it. Just curiosity and entertainment, the indifference kind of angered you actually.
You returned your attention to Trevorina as her legs flared and she charged. No dodging, no confusing her this time, and she had you lined up. At best she'd bowl you over and you'd get a small wound in, then with you prone and knocked silly, she be upon you, her easily foot long fangs deep into, piercing right through your armor. All this flashes, when a suddenly the air around you shifts notably and is followed by the familiar THUMP of the woman's nearby movements. Even that shift, so close to you, had created a significant air vacuum, and Trevorina's natural fear of such titans overtook her, causing her to pause and shift towards the massive being, prepared to scurry like the insect she had been her entire life. While the movement is undoubtedly disorienting to you as well, you have less of the life long engrained fear. After all, this was the largest, or at least top 3 depending on how one measured height vs weight, creatures you'd ever been in the vicinity of since you shrank. It buys you precious seconds, as your human mind comprehends the the woman's relatively minor motions. Your glance up confirms the absences of the immense green eye behind the magnifying glass, replaced with a large square object and long thin cylindrical object in her hands, most likely a pen and note pad based on the person sized rings at the top.
You focus again on Trevorina. Your staff outstretched, braced for combat as she seems to recognize several seconds after you that the giant creature has no intent on killing either of you. Although who's to say what goes through an insect's brain. Those eyes though, seem to say everything as they lock back on you. Yeah no creature would go through this much effort, take this much risk, for a snack. The air shifts again, this time more massively, yet simultaneously further away, as the woman rises to her full terrain dominating height. You are again reminded of your insignificance as the current dominant creature in this area casually departs your arena, her thousands of tons of flesh in just her left leg swinging far too close to comfort over your battlefield, whipping you with the displaced air and faint smell of leather. A great shudder in the earth, and one last glance from the unreachable heights of her green eyes, down at you and your opponent, seemingly marking the spot. She'll be back...What do you do in the meantime?
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