Along Came a Spider (JP)

Underground Mutant Community - Wyoming

Finlay slept in a considerable amount this morning, finally stirring at 8:34 am, his body having refused to adhere to his usual 4 am wake time on the farm. The first thing that he noticed was his feet, something he didn’t particularly hone in on as the first thing on the agenda. To his relief, his left foot was no longer a dainty size 5 female foot with a high arch and his right foot was no longer a size 14 black foot with practically no arch. They were both back to normal, a word that had pretty much lost all its meaning.

He was greeted by a nurse that helped him to the restroom and then retrieved a tray of breakfast. The food was simple but home grown and delicious. While he ate, he conversed back and forth with the nurse in regards to questions about how he was feeling mentally, physically and emotionally. His qualitative feedback was important to the staff because hooking him up to monitors provided unreliable and inconsistent data.

Eventually the nurse had to move on to attend to other duties, leaving Finlay alone again in the underground hospital room. He could hear the hustle and bustle outside his room and had to imagine what was going on and what it was like.

A large tarantula with purple legs climbed up along the black tights that Ellennah Heinrich wore as she walked down the hall, doing her best to hide the permanent limp she had. She stopped by one of the nurse stations and made a few gestures with her hands as the tarantula, Shimmer, climbed up along her back and nestled upon her left shoulder. Raising a front leg in a wave to the nurse there, the Goliath Bird Eater Tarantula settled into a comfortable position so it wouldn't fall.

“Oh, yes, he's doing well, El,” The nurse replied, doing gestures of her own as she spoke.

Sign language, the only way that Ellennah spoke to others. Though, she preferred the nickname they'd all given her over the years, El.

Oceanic blue eyes glanced down the hall as she twirled a chocolate brown curl around her finger nervously. She never liked it when new people arrived, but she forced herself to tolerate it, to adapt.

“Our new doctor, that Khunara woman, is very good. She even helped him out of what seemed to be a coma.” The nurse continued, pulling El's attention away from the hallway. The brunette blinked a few times and nodded in understanding before gesturing her request for summary notes. “Oh, of course! Let me grab those!”

As the nurse walked away, El slowly stepped toward the room and peeked in to see the new member of the place that Lydia had brought in. She always wanted to see them, but never truly speak to them. Socializing was not her strongest quality, considering she was a mute. With the nurses it was easy, though. They understood that sign language was the easiest way to communicate with the autistic woman.

Others weren't always so understanding. Cynthia, Lydia and Johnathan had been more than accommodating since they understood her situation. They knew the details and circumstances that brought her to be the way she was. They even knew why she had her limp – a burn she'd endured when the Rupture occurred.

It hadn't been a pretty day for her back then, but she got by.

El, despite her mental disorders and disabilities, was a survivor. She was able to become useful and with her power of communication with spiders, she was always well informed.

That's why she'd known about Finlay, the new boy she was now curiously looking at from the doorway.