The Prototype (AU)

You feel like you’re being watched—for too long and too intently. The silence around you seems unnatural: no sound of machinery in the distance, no gurgling of water in the pipes—everything here seems to have come to a standstill, and even the air has grown heavier.

Suddenly, you hear a faint scraping of metal behind you; you turn around—no one is there. Strange.

You keep walking, but you hear that sound again, only closer this time, right above your head; dust falls from the ceiling right in front of you, and, looking up, you freeze.

Right above your head, perched on the ceiling and staring straight at you, was a huge jester spider—so enormous that at first you couldn’t believe the ceiling was still holding up.

Half of its body was in the dark, but its mask stood out clearly in the light of the old lamps, revealing that eerie smile in all its glory. His mask was divided into two parts: one covered his face, the other his chin, and in the middle, beneath the mask’s even teeth, a real mouth was visible, full of sharp teeth.

But he didn’t attack; his single yellow eye stared at you as if he were studying what kind of creature you were. It’s unclear what’s on its mind right now, but it’s best to stay alert and keep your cool.

It tilts its head to one side, as if studying you; its spider-like body doesn’t move at all, though you can occasionally see its spider-like limbs twitching.

(You can use any scenario!)