An aged ergatoid male by the name of Condy clambered through the tunnels, the lone male huffing and puffing from exhaustion that came from both the arduous climb to get to his Queen's chambers AND fighting off rival males. Sure, being an Ergatoid Male rather than an Alate Drone had its perks, but sometimes he wished he had wings like his more delicate brethren. Still, his leanly armored and muscled body managed to emerge from a small tunnel adjacent to the Queen's throne, Condy tossing aside a blood-spattered sword as it clattered to the ground.

"Our daughters are holding out admirably, your majesty...though I cannot say that your Alate brood is doing so well." he clicked, mandibles buzzing as the pale exoskeleton flexed and scuttled over to her side; His mind wandered to having to wrestle off a one of his daughters that was antagonizing the winged male brood-the latter just curled up in the corner like whimpering larvae despite being fully grown and nearly twice the Minor Worker's size!

"As much as I'd detest the competition for your hand, I don't see why we don't have more Warrior Males born than those pitiful dispersers..."

The Queen, meanwhile, looked to be rather stagnant, at least for herself. Even at her gravid size Sprita was at least pacing some, though such came with an audible amount of bodily movement, her naturally 'grand' figure anything but easily towed. Sprita had just been sipping on a broken bit of flower petal filled with a sugary substance. Her body was a translucent mass of wobbling, supple flesh spider webbed with chitin for a rather pretty marble formation.. To say she loomed over people as they entered the amber lighting of her throne room was a bit of an understatement, given she was the primary focus of the entire room.

 "Ohh? Well, I suppose that's the 'good and bad' news, then... Though, hm, I honestly am unsure, it seems regardless of the balance I dictate, there's always an under-represented class..." Sprita remarked.


Condy hmphed a bit and made his way over to her side, the veteran male sitting down and beginning to undo some of his excess gear scavenged from other bugs (ie their shells having been stripped from their being to make additional armor and weaponry).

"Perhaps I am being too harsh-they are not meant for fighting...and it is not like I am as young as I used to be myself." Condy groaned as his upper right arm gave an audible 'pop!' from him stretching it out,briefly running one of his 'hands' over his head as he felt over his antennae-he jolted briefly, carefully trying to feel around a bit before he realized he had half of his torn off in a recent fight with another Ergatoid Male that tried to oust him. He chuffed and massaged his compound eyes as best he could, muttering something about how he was "Getting too old for this shit..."


Despite her bulk, Sprita managed to at least set a weighty arm onto Condy, seemingly due to her status, sporting quite a few, though a deal of them were engulfed in her more sizable main 'pair.  "Well... You do seem rather hurt; would you want me to send for some help?" Sprita dodging more evident questions of whether Condy was too old, or not, perhaps due to it panging onto herself quite a deal, given they had been close for some time. She mostly just wanted to scoop Condy up, and keep him still for a bit, though she seemed aware that doing so would probably just make the parts of him that were 'sore' only that much more-so... Besides, it'd look far less professional, even if Sprita's proper 'private quarters' were a ways away from the living quarters and routes of the rest of the nest.

Turning his gaze up to look at Sprita, Condy gave a slight chuckle as he stood back up in spite of her and began to limp about the room a bit in search of a tourniquet for some of his more serious injuries. "No, no...I'm fine, just need something to pack the worst of the wounds is all..." the aged male replied, waving her off with one arm as two of his other arms were beginning to wrap leaves and fibrous debris around cuts and gouges in his exoskeleton.

"Heh, I'll say this much, the little brats are getting MUCH better...or I'm getting softer..." Condy mused, shrugging it off as he decided that really wasn't a question he wanted to answer anyways "I take it everything has been well with you, my Queen? Any way I can assist you?"

Sprita thought to herself that she, if anything, probably was the individual most often 'getting softer'. "Well... Firstly, I'd say keeping yourself here for a while would be appreciated. I don't want you getting roughed up further, unless that's something you feel you must do. Still, I suppose I've been fine; the day's been 'slow', though, it seems much less so on your end." Sprita remarked, a 'slow' day just consisted of the usual egg making and meals to supplement it.

Condy listened while cleaning his antennae at the moment, spitting out something he found lodged in it-a sliver of metal that one of his brood had lodged in there, lovely. Such is life he supposed-at least there wouldn't be another Ergatoid Male like himself hatching and growing up for a few more days. That would give him time to rest if nothing else-and maybe spend some time with his beloved. He stood back up from his seat and make his way over to her, a slight limp to his step that he tried to hide as he embraced her-or, as much of her as he possibly could given their comparative size. He pressed into her massive midsection, simply allowing his tired and aching body to sink a bit in the warm softness as he sighed. "By the GODS I've missed you Sprita..."

Her Highness Sprita as she had before, almost 'purred' a bit. It was more of a slight jiggle, though Sprita's demeanor stayed similar to before, save for a more relieved expression, a large appendage eventually hugging Condy some, as she commented "The feeling is mutual, I assure you~" at least, sounding less worried