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The fields are crisp and green, even in the stifling heat of the day. Approaching noon, the clamor of the local townsfolk was growing in intensity. Even from her perch in the forest, the spidertaur could hear them. It's her big day - the day she leaves - and it's come so fast... too fast. But not fast enough.
Black of body, she'd blend in with the shadow of her hang within the upper branches of the tree-line. The dark grey silk was carefully and expertly woven to stay and sustain much more than her body, which was more like two of the average beastfolk. Her torso stretches out, a pale white along the shadow-grey silk and a blanche in the darkness. Even her silver stripe was visible, metallic and shining between the shafts of purple along her abdomen. Her legs were stretched as well, comfortably sprawled along her web. It'd be the last time in a while she'd get to do this. It's doubtful that cityfolk would let some strange spideress borrow their alleyways for a lounge. It'll be days of sleepless travel before she even got that far.
The journey ahead is a long one. From the local cartography, though a bit outdated, it's a series of long winding roads with small stops in between until the denser populace was reached. She memorized those maps like her life depended on it. It likely did.
The sounds of calls reached her. Her eyes open slowly and a deep, heaving breath rolls through her before she slowly pries herself from the web. She normally made sure her webs were cleaned up if they weren't going to be used, but this one she'd leave. She left some lower webs for people to access, and some carefully spun web-netting to unwravel. Her bags were packed, her supplies filled with as much as she could carry, including currency, and all that was left to do was... go.
At the highest speed she could muster, she bolted down from the trees and across the fields. Ahead, the gathering was in all colors, shapes, and sizes- as many as a couple hundred people could be! They greeted her before she could even make out their words. It was big news for one of their own leaving and they always did such celebratory gathrings and send offs for the few that left home. It boosts morale and gives a great lasting bond and memory for the hard times ahead.
Spineria laughed on reaching the edge of the people and being enveloped in arms, legs, tails, wings, including a small swarm of little ones she had been apprenticing and playing with up to that point. Some sad crying faces, too, and she milked hugs from those individuals as much for herself as for them. They had already had food, wine, and music the day before. Before long the crowd started to disperse.
At home, the spideress grabbed her packs, adrenaline in her veins and the rush of the adventure filling her head. It was a lot but she was strong and could carry more than her weight. Her caretakers were there at home. The last goodbyes were quiet, with meaningful looks and unspoken words exchanged. She smiled and gave them a last embrace. They wish her well and out she went. Once out of sight of the village, she'd build up to a steady gallop with all of her legs, and keep going until nightfall.
The first night was cold, without fire and without friend or foe. Ferals wandered, but none that would ever think to prey on her. Small wild dogs were the largest thing. It was open, but the area was safe. She'd roll up in some strong web and sleep hugging her things. Obscure dreams of the future and home jumbled around in her head until before dawn, where she would start again.
It was two quiet days of thought before Spineria met up with some of the traveling merchants. The fields were vast and the trees sparse, with occassional boulder that some past generations had hauled as landmarks for travel.
A tawny and dark pair of taurs came into vision.
"Ahoy, there!" one called, waving to her. They were familiar with her, and she them.
"Good afternoon, Tierdal!" she called back out in her bold voice, waving gauntlet-like hands.
They approached each other and continued in the direction towards the great cities in the distance, not even a speck on the horizon yet.
"Finally on your trek, little hatchling?" The old ferretaur says with a crooked grin. He was in his forties. When Spineria first saw him, he was about her age or less, actually.
"Finally," she nods, clasping her black fingers together with a clack. Her purple orbs were so round in excitement and her packs jostling from the reminder of what's ahead, the pair of merchants laughed. She grinned, agreeing with their amusement. "Oh, hey. Where's Felgrad?"
The other merchant scoffed and spat on the ground in annoyance. "Bah!" he said, with a coarse and rasping voice. This male was much older. "The paranoid fool ran ahead probably around midnight last night, claiming he had to scout ahead. Something about his old bones telling him there was trouble on the wind. As if that e'er panned out!" The elder merchant rolls his eyes.
Tierdal shakes his head at the old man, who was easily in his seventies and much more the cynic than himself. "He'll be back. He always is. It's a shame we're down his scouting abilities aside from that though."
"Yeah," started the other, "and his ability to go get water for us and deal with the fecal trowels! Ehehhehe-" he fell into coughing and hacking from laughter.
Tierdal, without looking, whaps the old man on the back a few times and continues. "He has a good eye for trouble and opportunity, alike. I've told you this before."
Spineria, taking the cynicism with a grain of salt, and having heard of the antics before, listens patiently to Tierdal. "I remember. I'll be glad to see it in action soon..."
They continued such little banter and idle chatter at a steady pace. It's safer in numbers the closer they get to the cities, but it'd be a while at the pace of the elderly. Spineria didn't mind, as eager as she was to get started. It gave her time to weave any built up of web she needed to, and enjoy the sights along the way.
Three days passed. They caught up with Felgrad. Villages and towns had been passed, paused at, visited, explored briefly, then they kept on. Eventually a city grew on the horizon, far in the vast distance. But to start, she'd be outside of it, getting a feel of the neighboring areas outside. It was already getting harsher in temperament, more hurried, less laid back. Felgrad, Tierdal, and old Koldar slowly let her see for herself what the culture was like. It'd be shocking, later on, they knew to themselves. The woman, Spineria, wouldn't yet.
For the day, they stop at the inn and exchange stories with the other lower-middle class, travelers, and adventurers. Spineria finds herself showing off a few hair weaving skills for fun and laughing with some friendly boozers as well as the children who were all kinds of interested in her strange, dark silk. They all wanted a chance to have their hair done and she'd indulge their little hearts 'til content.
Black of body, she'd blend in with the shadow of her hang within the upper branches of the tree-line. The dark grey silk was carefully and expertly woven to stay and sustain much more than her body, which was more like two of the average beastfolk. Her torso stretches out, a pale white along the shadow-grey silk and a blanche in the darkness. Even her silver stripe was visible, metallic and shining between the shafts of purple along her abdomen. Her legs were stretched as well, comfortably sprawled along her web. It'd be the last time in a while she'd get to do this. It's doubtful that cityfolk would let some strange spideress borrow their alleyways for a lounge. It'll be days of sleepless travel before she even got that far.
The journey ahead is a long one. From the local cartography, though a bit outdated, it's a series of long winding roads with small stops in between until the denser populace was reached. She memorized those maps like her life depended on it. It likely did.
The sounds of calls reached her. Her eyes open slowly and a deep, heaving breath rolls through her before she slowly pries herself from the web. She normally made sure her webs were cleaned up if they weren't going to be used, but this one she'd leave. She left some lower webs for people to access, and some carefully spun web-netting to unwravel. Her bags were packed, her supplies filled with as much as she could carry, including currency, and all that was left to do was... go.
At the highest speed she could muster, she bolted down from the trees and across the fields. Ahead, the gathering was in all colors, shapes, and sizes- as many as a couple hundred people could be! They greeted her before she could even make out their words. It was big news for one of their own leaving and they always did such celebratory gathrings and send offs for the few that left home. It boosts morale and gives a great lasting bond and memory for the hard times ahead.
Spineria laughed on reaching the edge of the people and being enveloped in arms, legs, tails, wings, including a small swarm of little ones she had been apprenticing and playing with up to that point. Some sad crying faces, too, and she milked hugs from those individuals as much for herself as for them. They had already had food, wine, and music the day before. Before long the crowd started to disperse.
At home, the spideress grabbed her packs, adrenaline in her veins and the rush of the adventure filling her head. It was a lot but she was strong and could carry more than her weight. Her caretakers were there at home. The last goodbyes were quiet, with meaningful looks and unspoken words exchanged. She smiled and gave them a last embrace. They wish her well and out she went. Once out of sight of the village, she'd build up to a steady gallop with all of her legs, and keep going until nightfall.
The first night was cold, without fire and without friend or foe. Ferals wandered, but none that would ever think to prey on her. Small wild dogs were the largest thing. It was open, but the area was safe. She'd roll up in some strong web and sleep hugging her things. Obscure dreams of the future and home jumbled around in her head until before dawn, where she would start again.
It was two quiet days of thought before Spineria met up with some of the traveling merchants. The fields were vast and the trees sparse, with occassional boulder that some past generations had hauled as landmarks for travel.
A tawny and dark pair of taurs came into vision.
"Ahoy, there!" one called, waving to her. They were familiar with her, and she them.
"Good afternoon, Tierdal!" she called back out in her bold voice, waving gauntlet-like hands.
They approached each other and continued in the direction towards the great cities in the distance, not even a speck on the horizon yet.
"Finally on your trek, little hatchling?" The old ferretaur says with a crooked grin. He was in his forties. When Spineria first saw him, he was about her age or less, actually.
"Finally," she nods, clasping her black fingers together with a clack. Her purple orbs were so round in excitement and her packs jostling from the reminder of what's ahead, the pair of merchants laughed. She grinned, agreeing with their amusement. "Oh, hey. Where's Felgrad?"
The other merchant scoffed and spat on the ground in annoyance. "Bah!" he said, with a coarse and rasping voice. This male was much older. "The paranoid fool ran ahead probably around midnight last night, claiming he had to scout ahead. Something about his old bones telling him there was trouble on the wind. As if that e'er panned out!" The elder merchant rolls his eyes.
Tierdal shakes his head at the old man, who was easily in his seventies and much more the cynic than himself. "He'll be back. He always is. It's a shame we're down his scouting abilities aside from that though."
"Yeah," started the other, "and his ability to go get water for us and deal with the fecal trowels! Ehehhehe-" he fell into coughing and hacking from laughter.
Tierdal, without looking, whaps the old man on the back a few times and continues. "He has a good eye for trouble and opportunity, alike. I've told you this before."
Spineria, taking the cynicism with a grain of salt, and having heard of the antics before, listens patiently to Tierdal. "I remember. I'll be glad to see it in action soon..."
They continued such little banter and idle chatter at a steady pace. It's safer in numbers the closer they get to the cities, but it'd be a while at the pace of the elderly. Spineria didn't mind, as eager as she was to get started. It gave her time to weave any built up of web she needed to, and enjoy the sights along the way.
Three days passed. They caught up with Felgrad. Villages and towns had been passed, paused at, visited, explored briefly, then they kept on. Eventually a city grew on the horizon, far in the vast distance. But to start, she'd be outside of it, getting a feel of the neighboring areas outside. It was already getting harsher in temperament, more hurried, less laid back. Felgrad, Tierdal, and old Koldar slowly let her see for herself what the culture was like. It'd be shocking, later on, they knew to themselves. The woman, Spineria, wouldn't yet.
For the day, they stop at the inn and exchange stories with the other lower-middle class, travelers, and adventurers. Spineria finds herself showing off a few hair weaving skills for fun and laughing with some friendly boozers as well as the children who were all kinds of interested in her strange, dark silk. They all wanted a chance to have their hair done and she'd indulge their little hearts 'til content.
The past week had seen Arron transformed; the furious and frustrated fellow, the stranger in a strange land, had taken a backseat to one more theatrically amicable - a wheeler, a dealer, a socialite, and one who appeared to care for his own (in this case, two-leggers), often returning to check up on an odd elf at the infirmary.
And not a bad fellow, for a human.
Nothing had seemingly changed. To all appearances, he'd simply been out and about more - laid low, twisted by Dunamai, and animated with a newfound purpose and determination, since - especially when it came to negotiations over property. Arron was even starting to get used to the citizens, the grab-bag of mixed and matched pieces of human and animal that didn't always have to make sense.
It was few who would earn a strange confession from him - what had driven him onward was simply a funny mood.
He'd found himself wandering off among stalls he normally wouldn't have visited, looking over blankets and clothing far too small for any of his company, pliant toys for tiny teeth...maybe a couple of those, for the future.
And it was this mood that saw Arron entertaining a rambunctious sphinx cub for an afternoon for an extra pocketful of inn money. Underpaid, feh. But negotiations didn't pay for board, after all - and establishing underground connections took time he didn't yet have.
So, babysitting it was. Today, he'd tried teaching the cub basic German, which only resulted in her gleefully shrieking "NEIN" at everything he'd suggested - and then giggling uproariously at his reaction, as if it was entirely brilliant and fresh, every time! But one thing that blessedly wasn't NEIN'd was the proposition to go out for a walk, with the promise that she could pick one (very small) thing before they could go back home.
They'd barely made it out of the lobby, however, when the cub spotted Spineria, and with a gleeful shriek, she bounded off to the woman, bouncing around her with the slightly strained and impossibly boundless energy of someone so insistently past her nap-time.
"ME, TOO?! ME, TOO!"
Arron didn't let her go that far ahead; he perched on a nearby stool, eyes roving appraisingly over the strange woman's stranger silk, stare eventually coming to rest on her own.
He'd slipped into his Latin first, tentatively; accent thick, but tone warm nonetheless.
"How much do you offer, friend?"
And not a bad fellow, for a human.
Nothing had seemingly changed. To all appearances, he'd simply been out and about more - laid low, twisted by Dunamai, and animated with a newfound purpose and determination, since - especially when it came to negotiations over property. Arron was even starting to get used to the citizens, the grab-bag of mixed and matched pieces of human and animal that didn't always have to make sense.
It was few who would earn a strange confession from him - what had driven him onward was simply a funny mood.
He'd found himself wandering off among stalls he normally wouldn't have visited, looking over blankets and clothing far too small for any of his company, pliant toys for tiny teeth...maybe a couple of those, for the future.
And it was this mood that saw Arron entertaining a rambunctious sphinx cub for an afternoon for an extra pocketful of inn money. Underpaid, feh. But negotiations didn't pay for board, after all - and establishing underground connections took time he didn't yet have.
So, babysitting it was. Today, he'd tried teaching the cub basic German, which only resulted in her gleefully shrieking "NEIN" at everything he'd suggested - and then giggling uproariously at his reaction, as if it was entirely brilliant and fresh, every time! But one thing that blessedly wasn't NEIN'd was the proposition to go out for a walk, with the promise that she could pick one (very small) thing before they could go back home.
They'd barely made it out of the lobby, however, when the cub spotted Spineria, and with a gleeful shriek, she bounded off to the woman, bouncing around her with the slightly strained and impossibly boundless energy of someone so insistently past her nap-time.
"ME, TOO?! ME, TOO!"
Arron didn't let her go that far ahead; he perched on a nearby stool, eyes roving appraisingly over the strange woman's stranger silk, stare eventually coming to rest on her own.
He'd slipped into his Latin first, tentatively; accent thick, but tone warm nonetheless.
"How much do you offer, friend?"
Spineria clapped gleefully in delight at the oncoming cub. The little ones were always cute and full of incredible energy.
"Yes, yes," she laughed, "You too!" And so she went to work, not even pausing at the question plied to her in the obvious accent. Her hands spun out her overstores of dark silk and she giggled while trying to keep the squirming sphinx cub still with a couple of legs.
A strange grin in form of something vaguely resembling a human's from the almost human face, but not nearly so much to ever be mistaken, was directed at the chestnut topped skin-creature. Her pupil-less seeming purple globes focused both on him and the child. Useful vision to have! The corners of her mouth are tilted in obvious smile- perhaps some malleable nature to the chitin there!- and she even seems to have some form of eyelids on the two main eyes where all creatures have theirs.
"I have plenty of extra silk I can dole out for a bit of fun. The young ones seem to be getting quite a kick out of it!" She rolls out in her bold voice. Her hands do the finer work, holding and twisting the smaller loops, pressing the small thread to itself and hair, but her legs plied line and coil of silk and did just as much work as her fingers. All this mess of spider leg and claw-digits to create little fancy patterns across what's either a short tufted noggin or a spool of workable hair. Either way, she'd find some way to create a decent and fun hair-do to look at that perhaps even the parents might appreciate. The spider string itself is slightly glossy in the right light, but still rather dark grey and matte overall. Sometimes she'd leave a little bit of extra string in a thin braid, as a sort of decoration for the kids to play with and fly around as they flee in joy!
Once finished, she wiggles her pointy black claws at the human with a mischievous look. "And now the father?" Little tiny spiderfangs in her mouth wiggle as she giggles, and the 'feelers' on either side of her mouth twitch teasingly. The spideress even goes so far as to push the stool she had been mock supporting herself on with a back leg towards him, a wooden screeeeeech! emphasizing the gesture as it slid against the inn's floor.
"Yes, yes," she laughed, "You too!" And so she went to work, not even pausing at the question plied to her in the obvious accent. Her hands spun out her overstores of dark silk and she giggled while trying to keep the squirming sphinx cub still with a couple of legs.
A strange grin in form of something vaguely resembling a human's from the almost human face, but not nearly so much to ever be mistaken, was directed at the chestnut topped skin-creature. Her pupil-less seeming purple globes focused both on him and the child. Useful vision to have! The corners of her mouth are tilted in obvious smile- perhaps some malleable nature to the chitin there!- and she even seems to have some form of eyelids on the two main eyes where all creatures have theirs.
"I have plenty of extra silk I can dole out for a bit of fun. The young ones seem to be getting quite a kick out of it!" She rolls out in her bold voice. Her hands do the finer work, holding and twisting the smaller loops, pressing the small thread to itself and hair, but her legs plied line and coil of silk and did just as much work as her fingers. All this mess of spider leg and claw-digits to create little fancy patterns across what's either a short tufted noggin or a spool of workable hair. Either way, she'd find some way to create a decent and fun hair-do to look at that perhaps even the parents might appreciate. The spider string itself is slightly glossy in the right light, but still rather dark grey and matte overall. Sometimes she'd leave a little bit of extra string in a thin braid, as a sort of decoration for the kids to play with and fly around as they flee in joy!
Once finished, she wiggles her pointy black claws at the human with a mischievous look. "And now the father?" Little tiny spiderfangs in her mouth wiggle as she giggles, and the 'feelers' on either side of her mouth twitch teasingly. The spideress even goes so far as to push the stool she had been mock supporting herself on with a back leg towards him, a wooden screeeeeech! emphasizing the gesture as it slid against the inn's floor.
The cub vibrated with excitement, allowing every little touch and twirl of her hair into into something truly magnificent - and bounced away the second Spin finished, screeching in joy.
"LOOK AT ME, OSTRICH-MAN, LOOK AT ME. I'M A QUEEN! She's got all this soft rope stuff!"
"But of course you are!" Attention then turned to the woman. "Heh! 'Father!' Well, not...exactly, to my knowledge. I feel like I would have remembered such things!"
He moved gracefully from his perch to rest, backwards, on the spider-proffered one, folding his arms over the back of the thing and resting his chin upon it.
"A babysitter, merely. A man in position to negotiate a fair payment, with parents rather adverse to indentured servitude. Heh. So, is this your 'small thing,' then, Eleni?"
"Not a thiiiiiiing, this is hair, I already got hair," the cub Eleni had corrected, rolling her eyes exasperatedly, as if it were incredibly obvious and he was being incredibly silly. "Want that thing, still!"
She trotted restlessly around his chair, wobbled her hairdo proudly, and playfully prodded at his leg with an overlarge juvenile paw.
"You get your hair nice, too, ostrich-man! You got too much of it."
"Oh, you do not think it's good just the way it is?" Arron primped his own mane in mock-vanity. Phrases about stepping into a spider's lair only briefly breezed through his mind, but were quickly eclipsed by the sheer newness of the experience. And so, he plunged headlong into her offer!
"See, friend spider, Eleni has decided I am a bit too drab!" (The cub nodded vigorously in the background). "It is only right and proper I do this, then!" He grinned, mischievously. "How about it...think you can tame this mess?"
"LOOK AT ME, OSTRICH-MAN, LOOK AT ME. I'M A QUEEN! She's got all this soft rope stuff!"
"But of course you are!" Attention then turned to the woman. "Heh! 'Father!' Well, not...exactly, to my knowledge. I feel like I would have remembered such things!"
He moved gracefully from his perch to rest, backwards, on the spider-proffered one, folding his arms over the back of the thing and resting his chin upon it.
"A babysitter, merely. A man in position to negotiate a fair payment, with parents rather adverse to indentured servitude. Heh. So, is this your 'small thing,' then, Eleni?"
"Not a thiiiiiiing, this is hair, I already got hair," the cub Eleni had corrected, rolling her eyes exasperatedly, as if it were incredibly obvious and he was being incredibly silly. "Want that thing, still!"
She trotted restlessly around his chair, wobbled her hairdo proudly, and playfully prodded at his leg with an overlarge juvenile paw.
"You get your hair nice, too, ostrich-man! You got too much of it."
"Oh, you do not think it's good just the way it is?" Arron primped his own mane in mock-vanity. Phrases about stepping into a spider's lair only briefly breezed through his mind, but were quickly eclipsed by the sheer newness of the experience. And so, he plunged headlong into her offer!
"See, friend spider, Eleni has decided I am a bit too drab!" (The cub nodded vigorously in the background). "It is only right and proper I do this, then!" He grinned, mischievously. "How about it...think you can tame this mess?"
A hand went to her mouth in soft laughter at the antics between the two. Spineria gives the humanoid a gentle nod with a chuckle.
"My mistake... Well then, is that a challenge...?" She squints one lidded eye at him and then smirks- which is interesting on a seemingly fully chitinous creature! Her thin, gauntlet-like black digits wiggle in preparation at him, rising above his head.
"Let me see..."
Her fingers teasingly tickle at the outermost reaches of the fluffy bushel of head hair, looking it over. Four legs slowly come into his peripheral vision and then curl in dauntingly. He might get a good look at the tips of her legs, with a few little nubs splaying out like strange hands grasping at him at the ends as they approach.
Then suddenly everything happens much quicker! He might feel gentle tugs and pulls, yet no pain! The spinner works her magic. Just as she can tie a mighty fine knot, she can easiy pluck and undo any in his wild mane and discard anything caught within it. Hopefully he's not keeping any secrets! Anything obviously not debris would be placed in his lap, of course, without comment or pause. Matte-gloss legs tipped violet zip in and out of view, almost a blur!
It'd be perhaps a few minutes before she cleared his head of mangle and tangle and worked in into gentle finesse. She works at tying the strong natural string to keep his new 'do in place as well as lightly decorate it in humble but pretty patterns. Leg and hand ply and press and tug gently throughout the process, ever mindful of the humanoid's comfort.
Before he knew it, he'd have some bit of art on his noggin that worked with his hair and looked great because of it rather in spite of it! How considerate, this spideress.
If his fingers dare to touch, he'd find the hair easily moved yet kept in place by web silk that had a subtle stickiness to the touch, if he even noticed any at all!
A hand reached around a blurry metallic plate she had been using as a makeshift mirror. "I'm afraid I haven't acquired a proper looking glass just yet. This will have to do." And so she releases her 'captive'.
"My mistake... Well then, is that a challenge...?" She squints one lidded eye at him and then smirks- which is interesting on a seemingly fully chitinous creature! Her thin, gauntlet-like black digits wiggle in preparation at him, rising above his head.
"Let me see..."
Her fingers teasingly tickle at the outermost reaches of the fluffy bushel of head hair, looking it over. Four legs slowly come into his peripheral vision and then curl in dauntingly. He might get a good look at the tips of her legs, with a few little nubs splaying out like strange hands grasping at him at the ends as they approach.
Then suddenly everything happens much quicker! He might feel gentle tugs and pulls, yet no pain! The spinner works her magic. Just as she can tie a mighty fine knot, she can easiy pluck and undo any in his wild mane and discard anything caught within it. Hopefully he's not keeping any secrets! Anything obviously not debris would be placed in his lap, of course, without comment or pause. Matte-gloss legs tipped violet zip in and out of view, almost a blur!
It'd be perhaps a few minutes before she cleared his head of mangle and tangle and worked in into gentle finesse. She works at tying the strong natural string to keep his new 'do in place as well as lightly decorate it in humble but pretty patterns. Leg and hand ply and press and tug gently throughout the process, ever mindful of the humanoid's comfort.
Before he knew it, he'd have some bit of art on his noggin that worked with his hair and looked great because of it rather in spite of it! How considerate, this spideress.
If his fingers dare to touch, he'd find the hair easily moved yet kept in place by web silk that had a subtle stickiness to the touch, if he even noticed any at all!
A hand reached around a blurry metallic plate she had been using as a makeshift mirror. "I'm afraid I haven't acquired a proper looking glass just yet. This will have to do." And so she releases her 'captive'.
The utter weirdness of what followed was either entirely lost on Arron, or he was rather persistently ignoring it. Or enjoying it! Perhaps such a thing wasn't such a spectacle in this new city.
He'd let the cub try it first, after all - there was already trust there - trust that, even though Spineria had no way of knowing, the man did not so freely give when it came to children in his care.
Speaking of...
"GIVE HIM A BOW!"
Eleni padded back and forth, watching the woman work on her babysitter with intent and golden eyes, pupils dilated to round and interested little saucers - only occasionally stopping to oh-so-carefully paw at her hair to make sure it was all still in place. She flashed Arron a mischievous and pointy little grin, crouching down and wiggling her rear as if she were about to pounce.
"You're in her WEB! You're stuck and she's gonna wrap it ALL up. You got enough hair for it, ostrich-man!" A little smirk played across her face - she had more to tease him with, but it didn't look like he was taking the bait.
Rather, Arron looked for all the world like a content canine; with every touch to his hair, every play through his strands with her own silken ones, his eyes would close languidly and he would lean into the movement.
Totally not worth the jibes.
So Eleni sat up, head held high and proudly boasting her 'do, and addressed the nice woman, instead.
"I watch the little ones in my room that are kind of like you, and they do that. They're not cool like you, though. They don't know about hair. And they're mean."
And when she'd finished with Arron, it was a moment before he'd worked up the will to move, again. He couldn't help but touch it, couldn't help but grin as he surveyed his reflection in the dingy surface of the plate.
"This is art, surely, friend spider!"
Then cocked his head, quizzically.
"You should charge. Heh. I could find you a proper mirror. Is there a place, perhaps, where I could meet you again? For Eleni-!" he'd blurted, almost hurriedly - as if it were all simply for the cub. "Heh. Cubs, you know, they will wrestle and pounce new looks away as quickly as they gain them!"
He'd let the cub try it first, after all - there was already trust there - trust that, even though Spineria had no way of knowing, the man did not so freely give when it came to children in his care.
Speaking of...
"GIVE HIM A BOW!"
Eleni padded back and forth, watching the woman work on her babysitter with intent and golden eyes, pupils dilated to round and interested little saucers - only occasionally stopping to oh-so-carefully paw at her hair to make sure it was all still in place. She flashed Arron a mischievous and pointy little grin, crouching down and wiggling her rear as if she were about to pounce.
"You're in her WEB! You're stuck and she's gonna wrap it ALL up. You got enough hair for it, ostrich-man!" A little smirk played across her face - she had more to tease him with, but it didn't look like he was taking the bait.
Rather, Arron looked for all the world like a content canine; with every touch to his hair, every play through his strands with her own silken ones, his eyes would close languidly and he would lean into the movement.
Totally not worth the jibes.
So Eleni sat up, head held high and proudly boasting her 'do, and addressed the nice woman, instead.
"I watch the little ones in my room that are kind of like you, and they do that. They're not cool like you, though. They don't know about hair. And they're mean."
And when she'd finished with Arron, it was a moment before he'd worked up the will to move, again. He couldn't help but touch it, couldn't help but grin as he surveyed his reflection in the dingy surface of the plate.
"This is art, surely, friend spider!"
Then cocked his head, quizzically.
"You should charge. Heh. I could find you a proper mirror. Is there a place, perhaps, where I could meet you again? For Eleni-!" he'd blurted, almost hurriedly - as if it were all simply for the cub. "Heh. Cubs, you know, they will wrestle and pounce new looks away as quickly as they gain them!"
