It took over ten hours for the Marquise to recover from the sedatives given to her. Ten hours after the spider's arrival the residents of the aquarium had begun to act very strange.

In Kanaya's office she and the Delorosa were having a morning meeting over tea. Between them on the desk was the small octopus Rose in her customary fish bowl which she liked to sit in whenever Kanaya was doing paperwork. However instead of working on her knitting as usual the little pink octopus gripped both needles with her tentacles, eyeing the door like she was ready to attack whatever walked in.

Schools of fish swam in tight, agitated groups. The walruses Gamzee and Kurloz were not their usual goofy selves and Equius the dugong had hidden himself in the depths of his tank, refusing to come out for even his favorite visitor Nepeta. Feferi kept switching from swimming in anxious circles to hugging her favorite cuttlefish toy for comfort while Erifish was simply grumpier than ever. Down below in the aquarium basement was the manta ray Duelscar, he had come under a quiet fury the moment the Marquise had been brought into the building. He floated in his tank now, his hands curled into fists with his nails cutting into his skin, a thin line of purple coming from the wounds and dissipating into the water. He wasn't bothered by this, instead he stared up at the ceiling as if he was waiting for something to happen.

Vriska refused to leave her web, choosing to remain hidden from view.

The staff, both aware of the new resident and otherwise, noticed the change and were thankful that it was Monday which meant the aquarium was closed allowing for them to get the animals under control.

Meanwhile the Marquise was wide awake, and frighteningly calm in her new surroundings.

Like many of the other staff members that had stayed overnight John decided not to return to his dorm, electing to grab a shower in the staff locker rooms and change into the spare set of clothes that he had learned to keep on hand with the amount of times he had found himself either diving into the spider tank or just smelling like the odd combination of fish, sweat, and whatever else that weird smell was in his mascot costume. There was no reason for him to be there, in fact Kanaya said he could go home and rest, come back when his actual scheduled work hours began in two days, but he just couldn't. He had a class in about an hour but just couldn't bring himself to leave. It had occurred to John that he would be worried sick not knowing what was going on here at the aquarium, he was afraid to go anywhere near the Marquise and and even more afraid of the thought of going him only to receive a phone call later that after he had left something terrible had happened. So there John sat, on the ground outside Vriska's tank thinking that it would help to talk to someone and knowing that in a way she was the only one he wanted to hear what he had to say. Because at some point John also realized that if he and the staff were on edge, and the other aquarium residents had become complete nervous and wrecks, then she must be doing much worse.

"Morning kid."

John looked up at a tired Summoner, bags under his eyes and two cups of coffee in hand.

"Here," he said holding out one of the coffees to John and joining him on the floor. He crossed his legs and pulled out a wad of sugar and cream packs from his pockets along with two stirring sticks. "I had no idea how you take it, so I just bought a bunch of sugar and what not so you could fix it up yourself."

The Summoner poured five packs of sugar into his own cup, John only a half of one and two creamers.

For a moment they sat and watched the spider tank, Live fish swimming around in a panic showing that Vriska had not eaten her dinner the night before.

The Summoner took a few sips of coffee before he spoke, "so Vriska talked to you a few times right?"

"Yes," John answered.

"What did she sound like?"

"Huh?"

"Look John, I'm curious about your conversations but they didn't involve me and anything like that will just have to be a list of questions for another day; but what was she like when she spoke? Did she seem inquisitive or upset? Did it seem like she was trying to manipulate you in any way?"

John took a few sips of his coffee and thought back to his first meeting with Vriska, remembering when he met her on the floor and helpless, when they were in the tank and he was caught in a web.

"... Well I found her outside the tank and at first I thought she was… human. She seemed shy but kinda curious yes but kinda cunning I guess? I mean because she tricked me into getting trapped in her tank but was also sorta nice about it because she could have drown me but didn't? I guess Vriska can be a bit mean spirited but is also genuinely a good person- I mean spider, at least deep down I guess."

"So you would say you're confident with being able to handle her?"

"Well no, I mean she's this predatory spider that's taller than me. At the end of the day she's going to do exactly what she wants to do but she's also someone I can talk to and try to reason with. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that no I can't control her but I do respect her and I think on some level she sort of respects me."

"Good."

"Really?"

"Yes. Any creature either human, animal, or otherwise has to be treated with a respect of the understanding of what they are capable of; especially if it is a predator capable of hurting you. But the Mertrolls are so unlike anything we have ever encountered there is no simple "training certain behavior" or anything like that. No one can simply handle one of them when they are angry even Feferi, one of the sweetest around, is absolutely terrifying when upset. The Marquise is Vriska's ancestor, they are related somehow but we have no idea just how many generations are between the two. But they are still of the same family and are very much alike with the exception that the marquise has spent far more time outside the aquarium than in and so she is a far more superior predator and has been better able to sharpen her skills. Plus she has a lot more experience." Summoner sighed and took a long swig of his now lukewarm coffee.

"I'm going to need your help John. You understand Vriska better than anyone so you may be able to understand some of the Marquise's quirks as well."

"But I thought you could control her?"

"What?" The Summoner gave out a laugh, "hardly. I can get her to cooperate but she always twists things to go her own way. Most of the time its a lot more like dealing with a spoiled brat than anything else but she's also a genius in her own right."

"She is?"

"Yup, we first heard rumors of a monster that would attack and raid ships along a certain jungle river that connected to the sea. The local government equated it to pirate attacks but the way the boats were attacked didn't line up with anything like a pirate raid. They were attacked from underneath and capsized, then flipped back rightside up like nothing happened leaving the crew clinging to their boats stunned and any cargo gone. Doors would have been ripped off their hinges and entire cargo hulls cleared out in minutes. She got her hunting technique down to a science and even learned to target specific boats based on their size, number of crew members, time of day, and most importantly what the cargo was."

"What would she steal?'

"Anything of high value. Fabrics, antiques, furniture, jewels, coins. When we finally found her nests the first time it genuinely looked like a pirate's treasure horde. She's probably still angry we had government officials come and collect it , I know she knows."

"But why did she take it?"

"Well I think more than anything she did it because she simply could."

"But wait, she didn't capsize your boat when you found her a few days ago."

"Yeah because we knew her hunting tactics and I think really she was just saying hello in her own way. She also played hide and seek with us for the next week until she messed up with her little ninja aerial assault."

A chill ran down John's spine, and Summoner thought John could somehow help?"

"Look I don't know how you can expect me to understand or help or anything like that with her."

"Well John her is the other thing, the Marquise is… attached to me so that helps to keep her from getting too out of hand sometimes but there is also the matter of her and Vriska's particular gift."

"What gift?"

"When Vriska told you to sleep you just fell asleep right? But has she ever tried to get you to do anything else?"

John was about to say no but then remembered the second time he was in her tank. When Vriska was trying to get him to leave. "Well I think she has but it's just been like this weird buzzing noise, it was annoying but not unbearable."

"Hmm," Summoner seemed deep in thought as he downed the last of his coffee, crushing the cup in his grip. "It doesn't work on you but that may also be because Vriska's ability to control others just isn't as strong. But it also means you have a little bit of immunity against them. John you have been genuinely worried about Vriska yes?'

"Well yeah, I guess… I guess because I sorta see her as a friend."

The Summoner chuckled and stood up, helping John to his feet as well." Ok then well will you help out your friend?"

"... Yeah alright then."

"Ok great, then let me introduce you properly."

The next thing John knew, he was standing in front of the Marquise.

She was not moving, instead she floated in the center of her quarantine tank, a wreath of air bubbles surrounding her neck like Vriska often did. The few fish that she had not devoured in her light breakfast swam around the tank. There was something almost ethereal about the scene, and something very wrong. The spider had all eight eyes closed as if asleep, her hair fanned out and arms slightly extended; the whole thing looked rather peaceful really.

All at once John found himself feeling tired, it had been a very long day yesterday and what little sleep he had gotten did only so much to help recover. He debated asking Summoner if they could do this later so her could take a nap in the break room but found himself unwilling to speak. His head felt as if it had gone numb and his limbs heavy but it weirdly didn't bother him, it was kind of nice really to finally find the one room in the whole aquarium where everyone wasn't so high strung.

Wait…

That was it. All the fish and Mertrolls had been on edge all morning, so why were the fish inside the Marquise's tank acting so calm?

John's eyes snapped open, not even realizing he had closed them to begin with; and there, just on the edges of his consciousness was a familiar buzzing.

He looked at the Marquise and jumped back in surprise. She was now right in front of him, one set of arms casually folded over the side of the tank with her head resting on them. She still had that same lazy smile but now the big difference was all seven eyes plus the red one were alert and focused, and more importantly they were focused on John.

Somehow he knew he could not hesitate, John took a deep breath and extended his own arm out.

"Hi there my name is John, its nice to meet you."

Within seconds the Marquise went from surprised, to confused, to somewhat impressed. The buzzing in John's head increased then stopped all together, and a fang-filled grin split across the spider's face as she reached out and awkwardly shook hands with him.

The Summoner clasped a hand down on John's shoulder as if congratulating him for passing some sort of test.

John watched as within the movement of the spider shaking hands with him the fish in the tank seemed to snap out of it and become frantic, fighting to get as far away as possible from the predator in the tank with them. The Marquise seemed to notice as well and drummed her long fingers on the rim of the tank. All at once the fished calmed down again, choosing to return to swimming in absent-minded circles around the tank.

The next day John was part of the group tasked with moving the Marquise to she side of Vriska's tank, he noticed that all the fish were gone.