C Only in Legend (Closed with FolkMaster)

[Poppy]

It was a little disconcerting to be talking to a creature that ate humans. Despite the whole web deal, Benji still felt as if he'd be eaten sooner or later. Maybe an escape plan wasn't even needed though. Maybe he'd get eaten before anything was to unfold. Or maybe, if he were lucky and got dealt the good hand in all this mess, he might even be allowed to go home. Asking for a route to the way back to the main town would be another story altogether.

Benji groaned in protest. He wanted to be let up, to go sit by one of those unusual glowing fungi and sleep. He'd yet to rest after his day of traveling. It had to be night by now. Or maybe it was still light outside. He didn't know.

"Hey, wait-" Benji's brows furrowed and he seemed to struggle to close his legs as Anansi tugged at his pants. The web held him in place though, and all he could do was avert his gaze elsewhere. He let out a breathy sigh at the intimate touches, his breath hitching as fingers moved around. "Look, c-can you just tell me how long I'll be here o-or..?" Benji frowned.

[FolkMaster]

"So eager to leave when you barely just got here," Anansi chuckled. "How long? How long? How long?" he hummed, still letting his fingers probe slowly and delicately. "The time it takes for the moon to complete one lunar cycle. I believe you call it a month? You will be here for four months, little incubator. I suggest you get... comfortable." Anansi drew his hand back and smiled at the wet shimmer upon his fingers. He moved forward until he stood almost directly over the human. Both hands caressed Benji's face and hair in a vain attempt to distract him from the velvety stinger emerging from the underside of his arachnid abdomen. "If you change your mind at any time about being eaten, you just say the word."

Without another moment of hesitation, Anansi thrust the pliant stinger deep between Benji's folds. He hissed, mandibles sliding out a little and clicking together, and then he started rocking himself back and forth. It had been a few centuries since he last had himself a live host for his eggs. He enjoyed eating humans and animals more than he enjoyed breeding with them, but Benji was so insistent. Reaching deep enough, the little stinger quivered and yawned open before dropping soft little spider eggs into the web womb he wove. This went on for quite some time. A few hours and countless eggs later, Anansi finally shivered one last time and retreated from Benji's body. He fixed the pants, cut free the binding webs, and settled himself down at the mouth of the den where he effectively blocked the only escape route.

[Poppy]

"Four months?" Benji bit the inside of his cheek, hard, nearly drawing blood. He couldn't be stuck here for four months. What was he supposed to do? Incubator, incubator - Benji couldn't incubate anything, he didn't know what this guy was thinking. He was wholly human, and this spider was wholly... something else. His parents would worry about him, so would his friends. He couldn't think about how they'd freak out over his missing, but he had to remind himself instead that in four months time he'd be out of here. Missing people came up way later than four months. He'd be okay; to survive was all he needed to do.

"I'll keep that in mi-" Benji was cut off in the middle of his retort when Anansi penetrated him, and he naturally clenched up, his muscles tightening around the stinger embedded deep inside him. He let out a sharp yell, taken by surprise at the sudden jerking of Anansi's movements. Benji thought this would be over fast but it took just as long as the web weaving; when it was eventually all over, and he was released from his binds, Benji haphazardly sat up, keeping his gaze fixed on anything and everything else but the deity now settled at the only entrance and exit to the room they were in.

He didn't move much from his spot, his legs tired from walking all day and his lower half generally sore. He settled for struggling to get comfortable where he was, his eyes flitting closed not too soon after he'd laid down. It would be a long four months, and he still had no idea what to expect.

[FolkMaster]

"The hornets were easiest to trick," Anansi said with a chuckle. "I poured water over their nest shouting 'It is raining! It is raining! Your nest will wash away! Quickly, get into this gourd and I'll take you to safety!' and they did!" He laughed boisterously. "I took the gourd to Nyame, who was very impressed with me, and he rewarded me with all the stories, just like he promised. To this day, I guard all the stories from all over the world."

After a month, Benji's phone was definitely dead. Anansi rarely let him leave the den. If he had to leave for a hunt, he would take Benji with him, but only to lead the human through the dark tunnels, bind him to a wall for safekeeping near the trapdoor, and then freed the human once he returned. Just a few hours ago, in fact, he came back with an adolescent capybara. Benji made a stink about not being able to eat raw dead animals the first couple times Anansi tried feeding him, so now he had to take the time pulling off fur or feathers, strip the skin to expose the meat, and cook it over a small fire they lit in a hole he dug. It was quite the nuisance. Regardless, Anansi couldn't let Benji go hungry. His belly swelled up with eggs, making him look nine months pregnant now.

"There are so many stories to collect," the deity continued. "Doing it on my own is impossible these days. An incubator like you will be of great help. I'll be able to send my young out into the world where they will collect stories and bring them back to me."

[Poppy]

Benji wasn't friends with Anansi, far from it, but he tolerated the deity enough only if to push through the longevity of his stay here. The guy seemed to love to talk a lot, and Benji wasn't much of a talker himself, so when Anansi started up a conversation, Benji had to keep himself from just asking him to allow some peace and quiet. Most of this still felt surreal, but he knew that he wasn't dreaming and this was indeed reality. He'd come close to the outside before, but not until Anansi instructed and forced him to stay underground, web holding him in place until he returned. He was beginning to get really homesick. He was never coming back to South America again, at least not in any of the regions where the Amazon extended. He wished he could just go back to Rio or something; the jungle wasn't for him, and neither was this trip.

"Do you just remember the stories then..? Written records?" Benji asked casually, struggling to keep his eyes open as all he wanted to do most days now was sleep. He didn't think about how he still had another three months to go, he didn't think about how he was carrying Anansi's eggs, and he didn't think about how there was no way he could get any bigger than he already was. His shirt had stopped fitting him long ago, although he still managed his pants. They weren't comfortable and they dug into the tender skin of his swollen abdomen harshly, but they were enough to cover him up from the waist down, just about.

"Yeah, well... you all can go collect stories together then." He almost laughed - family fun. It was interesting to get to learn about Anansi, but Benji still held bitterness towards him for what he was putting him through. Still he couldn't complain too much because he'd yet to become a meal. Benji shifted his position a little from where he sat. Nothing was comfortable anymore. His back hurt like hell but neither slouching nor sitting straight helped. This was a mess.

[FolkMaster]

Anansi tapped the side of his head. "All up here. Naturally, as the god of stories, I have an infinite memory of each and every story ever told." He always spoke fondly of stories. Anansi insisted their was great wisdom to be gained from tales great and small. He seemed to enjoy children's stories the best. They were often the most creative in their simplicity and taught the most worthwhile lessons. "I'll remember your stories forever, too," he said with a disarmingly genuine smile. Although Benji didn't like talking, Anansi dragged one or two yarns out of him about his travels and the folklore he learned along the way. He was particularly fond of the Rainbow Serpent and Bunyip stories from Benji's native Australia.

"Do you hurt again?" he asked, noticing the way the human couldn't sit still for very long. Benji did a lot of growing over the last four weeks, so it was no surprise he was in constant discomfort. "I could relieve your pain, you know," Anansi insisted. "If you're willing to tolerate my touch. I'm not a total monster. Since you're doing me the favor of incubating my eggs, the least I can do it make you comfortable. Besides, if you're happy, they'll be happy."

[Poppy]

"That's funny because I can barely remember what I did yesterday." An infinite amount of memory. Honestly Benji was a little surprised that Anansi didn't go insane. How did he keep track of so much? How could he remember every story ever told? Even the minute ones such as the small tales Anansi had somehow gotten out of Benji.

Benji looked up towards Anansi, a weary expression coming over his features. He wasn't fond of Anansi touching him, but he'd never had the strength in him the last few weeks to fight back. Not like he had in the beginning. He was starting to wish that he might've made more of an impression. He always hurt now, although luckily he could still walk. Benji had the idea that by month four he wouldn't want or be able to use his legs too much. "Okay," he agreed hesitantly. Anansi wouldn't hurt him, not with the eggs, so he didn't have to worry about that. Benji had never been one for physical contact to begin with unless it included him hugging his parents goodbye or something, but the aches and pains were starting to get to him and he knew he wouldn't be able to stay quiet about it forever.

[FolkMaster]

Anansi appeared overly pleased when the human accepted his offer. He was definitely an odd fellow, this spider god. He boasted about his eating humans, and then in the same breath expressed a fondness for them because they were so intriguing. He showed himself a ruthless killer when sometimes he turned from a hunt covered in blood and grinning from ear to ear with a mangled corpse in hand, but then he would turn around with nearly childlike innocence and wonder in the way he carried on conversations. Maybe Benji was right and Anansi had gone insane long ago. Maybe the countless imaginations of man, evil and pure alike, proved too much for him to handle and drove him into madness.

Or maybe it was just the erratic whims of an ancient god.

Anansi moved closer to Benji, first letting his hands trail across plump hips. His fingers grazed the line where both pants and boxers pinched against swollen skin. He insisted a few times already that Benji discard the garments, but the young man adamantly refused to give up the privacy they allotted him. Soon enough, his hands started working on the tense muscles in Benji's back. Anansi was careful of his claws and only used the pads of his fingers to create pressure wherever he found a nasty knot. "Still prefer this over becoming a tasty morsel?"

[Poppy]

Benji et his eyes fall half lidded, a contented hum resounding softly as Anansi went on to relieve the pressure that had been long since building in his back. It surely must've been impossible for this to get any worse than it already was. Benji had no clue how his body could accommodate more growth of the eggs, how much more his skin was willing to stretch until it became unbearably painful. His size wasn't what worried him - the fact that he was only a month in was what worried him.

"I prefer being alive over being a tasty morsel," Benji scoffed. Carrying spider eggs was still a creepy thought, but it was just up there on the same level as being eaten was. The only difference between this and being eaten was that he was alive for this. Benji sucked in a breath at the sudden feeling of the eggs tumbling about inside him. Or were they moving from the spider spawn themselves? Either way it made him wince, and Benji pushed a hand against either side of his gravid middle. "I-is this as big as they get?"

[FolkMaster]

"You're funny, my little pale Benji," Anansi said through a puff of laughter. He learned the human's name one day after hours and hours of pestering him for it. He leaned closer, chin resting on Benji's shoulder while his hands slid along until finding their own perch on the fecund swell. "They're still little. Like this," he said and showed a space between his fingers like the size of a peanut shell. "Even at full size, they're small. It's their numbers that are large. I'm sure I laid a few dozen into you. Perhaps..." Anansi spread his hands apart until showing something akin to a quadruplet or quintuplet-sized belly, "like this when you're all done? More or less like this, I think."

[Poppy]

Benji ran a hand over his face as he listened to Anansi. Everything he said was making sense but Benji didn't want to believe it. He wasn't a large figure. Bemji aas just about average sized, a bit smaller than the usual man. He could already feel the strain of this pregnancy, not only on his back but on his hips and legs and chest - at this point it felt like everything was being messed with one way or another, so when Anansi drew his hands apart wider to indicate how Benji was far from being done yet, it rattled his mind. "I'll pop before I get that big," Benji replied sourly, sparing a quick glance down at himself. He'd already changed so much. From the way strained stretch marks painted the underside of his swell to the one innie belly button that was now flush and plump, Bwnji felt at his highest point just at a month in. "W-What if I can't carry them all to term..?" he frowned.

[FolkMaster]

"Tut tut, Benji, you won't pop," Anansi cooed with an amused tone. "That would be silly. What point would there be for me to lay more eggs in you than your body can withstand? I have done this before, so I know what I'm doing. That boy survived and so will you." He set his hands to pale skin again and resumed the massage with a firm, yet surprisingly tender touch. "As for all of them coming out alive, I admit they might not all make it. That's nature, though. The odds simply aren't in every single one of their favor. Dead eggs or not, you'll give birth to them, and I'll take care of the rest." Not to speak of the web he wove inside Benji's body that would remain in there unless he was brave enough to explain things to a doctor. Anansi hummed quietly while his hands kneaded Benji's aching hips. Slowly, grey fingers crept along until lightly tracing the lines marking his underbelly. "Maybe I can get you something for this..."

[Poppy]

"What boy?" Benji asked then, brows knitting together as he posed the question. He almost wanted to take it back the moment it spilled over his lips. So another boy had survived this, he wasn't the first, but what Benji was more concerned and curious about was what happened to him afterwards. Was he eaten? Did he make a promise and Anansi change his mind? Benji was literally going to give birth to a bunch of eggs that would hatch - either as plain spiders which made his skin crawl to think about, or half spider and half human like Anansi seemed to be, although that wasn't anymore reassuring really. Still, playing incubator as the deity liked to call it was a big deal, and he hoped that Anansi would hold up his end of the bargain. It was unbelievable to think that he'd yet to see daylight in over a month. Maybe he'd ask if Anansi could let him out further along; not that he thought he'd want to walk around, especially if he was to get as big as Anansi had pointed out, but it would be progress. Or something.

He made a face at the comment about dead eggs. Well, he couldn't complain too much. It was better to be giving birth to eggs than to actual live spiders themselves. Thank God for biology. "For what?" Benji looked down, biting his lip as he noticed the stretch marks he'd been trying to not acknowledge for awhile now. "Oh... yeah." That'd be a good idea. He didn't want to be stuck with stretch marks from a time that shouldn't have even happened. "I'd like to not have these for the rest of my life."

[FolkMaster]

"Oh, it was a long time ago," Anansi sighed. "Probably close to 500 years ago by now. Some Spanish soldiers were trying to find the fabled city of El Dorado deep in the jungle. Large groups like that don't come through very often anymore. I ate a lot of them," he said and added with a laugh, "I actually got fat!" Anansi pressed his knuckles into Benji's spine and followed the line of vertebrae up to his neck, then back down, then up again... "He was a lot like you, offering to do anything if it meant I wouldn't gobble him up. He was a scrawny little thing. I didn't take him for one of the soldiers, but probably someone's hand. You know, carrying the maps and fetching water for the troop. That sort. His belly got big, just like yours, with the same lines on his skin. I thought it was amusing how much they reminded me of little rivers cutting across a map."

Another nostalgic sigh. "He gave birth and then, keeping my word, I set him free. I gave serious consideration to eating him or even keeping him around so he could incubate my next brood, but then I had the most delightful thought." The spider's hands moved across Benji's stomach again. "As you might imagine, your size and shape won't merely vanish overnight. You're hardly made of rubber." His fingers teased across the plump little belly button. "So I let him go with the amusing notion that he'd have to explain himself to his own people."

[Poppy]

Benji waved a hand casually. "500 years ago? So has no one offered since, then? Except me, I guess." Even though this whole thing was real and happening and he could see it all with his own eyes, there were days when Benji still believed that he'd wake up from this 'dream', that he'd be in a comfortable bed and look down to see his plain flat abdomen. Sadly, that had yet to happen. "They're stretch marks," Benji noted awkwardly, frowning as he eyed the dark patterns meshing with his natural skin tone. They almost reminded him of tiger stripes, but those were way cooler.

As Anansi went on, Benji was just the slightest bit relieved that he'd actually let the boy go. It assured him somewhat. His face tinged red at Anansi's roaming hands and he moved his own to half shield the front of his swell - not that he could cover all of it anymore. "Oh," Benji said simply. He wasn't worried about having to explain this to his family or anyone else. He knew he could come up with some ridiculous reason that wasn't as outrageous as carrying a spider deity's eggs.

Benji took in a breath and moved forward, heaving himself with effort to his feet. He couldn't stay sitting down for long, but he couldn't stand long either. It was a lose lose situation. "Now I'm actually going to have to do some exercise after this then," he commented offhandedly in reply to his body bouncing back to how it's been before.

[FolkMaster]

A smile curled across Anansi's lips as he watched the human squirm away from him. He knew his touches stimulated Benji. It was simple animal nature to provide and seek out pleasure. Humans were animals, after all, so they were no exception to this rule. Anansi allowed Benji to stand, though, and did not pursue him. There would be plenty of time for touching later. "If exercise is what you seek, then it's better starting sooner than later. I'll take you on a walk," he offered, sounding like a master taking their excited dog out for a bathroom break. "The tunnels are safe and cool, making them perfect for someone in your delicate condition." Anansi was obviously teasing him. "And while we're out, I'll head up above to get something for those stretch marks of yours, as I promised."

[Poppy]

"My condition isn't delicate," Benji nearly snapped, rubbing at his temples in frustration at Anansi's words. It wasn't as if he had a map with him to draw out all the different passages of the tunnel systems underground, but Benji always tried to make a mental note of which tunnels led where - ultimately, which tunnels lead to the outside because he would need it. He wasn't sure whether to believe what the deity had said about how he'd released the man from all those years ago after he'd served his time. Anansi seemed to speak the truth, but there was just something about him that made Benji think that there was something more to this, and he should at least keep his eyes open in the meantime. There was no harm in playing it safe, especially when playing it safe could mean the difference between his getting out of here alive or ending up as a spider buffet.

"I can take myself for a walk, thanks." Benji rolled his eyes. "Maybe we should go now before I change my mind and want to sit here all day." And then maybe change his mind again because he was good at being a pest. "Do you know what to get?" Benji paused, frowning as he held the underside of his swollen belly as he walked. "For the stretch marks, I mean."

((Sorry this is late!! I've been really busy the past few days, I should be back up to par in the next few days though.))

[FolkMaster]

"Don't worry your pretty little head, Benji," replied Anansi as he rose up onto his long, spindly legs. "I know the cure for what ails you. Leave it to me and your skin will be good as new in no time." He led Benji out into the maze of tunnels, never daring let the human wander on his own since that would mean the perfect opportunity for escape. Anasi wasn't a fool. He knew Benji was clever and most likely trying to plot the tunnels to the various trapdoors. In order to make the mental map more complicated and unreliable, he doubled back sometimes and deliberately took wrong turns. Most of the time, Benji seemed too uncomfortable to attempt making the effort to escape, but when the spider beast went to sleep, he couldn't be too careful.

Time crawled by. As the third month rolled around, Benji looked more and more like he was pregnant with triplets. Anansi adored the slight shag of the human's hair since he'd been unable to cut it all this time. Luckily, Anansi was good on his word about the stretch mark remedy. Often he went above ground where he gathered together cocoa beans, sugarcane and aloe vera, which most likely came from farms somewhere. Morbidly enough, he ground them all together into a thick paste using a human skull as a bowl and a tibia as the grinding stick.

With Benji lying on his back, Anansi scooped a large glob of the stuff into his hand and then started massaging it into the human's taut flesh. "You can hardly see the markings anymore," he commented with a fanged grin.

[Poppy]

By the time the third month had made its way around, Benji was starting to feel anxious. He was anxious to get out of here, anxious as to how he was supposed to explain his disappearance to more than just his family, anxious about how many eggs he was even supposed to give birth to, and just... anxious in general. It probably didn't do him much good with his condition, but he didn't really care. He wasn't going to be the one looking after the eggs, so once they were out it would be Anansi's responsibility to look after them. Honestly, whether they made it or not didn't concern Benji. He had no emotional attachment to them and it would actually worry him if that had been the case. He was ready to leave and go back home to Australia for awhile; and he thought the spiders there were the worst, once upon a time.

The process of slathering the gel over his ever growing abdomen was routine by this point, and while Benji didn't like to be touched, this had gone on for so long now it didn't bother him. What did bother him was the profound weight he was carrying in his front, and Benji struggled with effort to instead push himself up into a sitting position compared to when he'd been on his back. It felt like his lungs were slowly being crushed. "I hope they go away altogether," he mumbled, tracing a finger along the sore skin of his belly. He was much bigger than he'd been during month one, and it surprised him still because he hadn't thought he could carry so full. It was hard to walk, and even move, and he'd long since passed the point where he could no longer see his feet when walking.

"They need to stop growing," he continued, closing his eyes briefly as he let out a sigh. "I can't... Can't get any bigger."

[FolkMaster]

"Stretch marks are hard things to heal completely," Anansi hummed. Most likely, Benji would have faded reminders of his time as an incubator for the rest of his life, but that was no concern to the spider deity. Rather, he marveled at the size and shape of his little pale captive. The eggs thrived in Benji. Not panicking every single day or simply falling into madness was a big plus. The young Spaniard who went through this before had a fresh mental or emotional breakdown every couple weeks, and it was torture on the eggs. Six black eyes trained on Benji's belly; how big it was, the smooth skin, the pink shimmer at the peak. Adoration was probably a good word for it. Anansi scooped out more soothing gel and both his hands started rubbing the heavy swell.

Benji's comment made him chuckle. "You'll get as big as you need to get. My eggs will mature nicely in you, little incubator. Just remember, you only have another month to go." Anansi's thumb stroked slowly back and forth across Benji's plump bellybutton. "Besides, I like to think I've done my best to make sure you remained comfortable all this time."