This was a dilemma, it had never occurred to Iris that she was naked, nor did she find it odd to have been so since she was born, but it suddenly being called to her attention caused a sense of shame and embarrassment to well up inside her. She covered herself the best she could with her arms, her face flushed red in embarrassment.

  “This is… um, I’m not naked! I just didn’t have any clothes!” she said in a panic.

  The young girl looked at her warily before slowly standing up and back peddling away from her “Uuuh, yeah, sure lady…”

  “No! really! Nobody has ever given me any clothes! I’m not a weirdo!” She started to step closer to her but this only caused the young Arachne to put up her guard and step away quicker. This was a fine mess, could do anything to ease her mind… getting clothed would be a good start.

  Iris eyed the child’s dress, putting aside how her gaze made the child tense up, it was a simple dress, pure white, simple, and homemade…maybe… “Hey, Arachne… could you maybe-“

  “I’M NOT AN ARACHNE!”

  Iris jumped, not expecting the sudden outburst from the child, who had taken a completely different stance then just moments ago “Uh, what? But you…”

  “NO! Arachnes are monsters, horrible monsters that kidnap other girls and force them too…I’m not a monster!” The girl shouted, stamping one of her many legs on the ground angerly.

  “Ah…sure…” Iris had not a single clue what this girl was talking about, even the foot she was stamping, while covered in white fur, obviously belonged to that of a spider.

  “N-no.” Noticing her gaze, the girl shrunk back, hiding her lower half beneath the dress “I’m different… I’m not like them…I’m not like moth…” She blinked as something just dawned on her “Mother!”

  Iris looked at the girl in confusion as the girl looked past her, her eyes widening and then darting passed her to what little remained of the other Arachne. Iris watched as the girl kneeled down besides it, inspecting the carapace “Oh, yeah…sorry about that, I didn’t mean t-“

  “You did this?”

  “…” Iris looked away, feeling guilty “Yes… I ran into her…” There was a notable silence after that, the girl just sat there, rubbing the carapace “I uhm, tried to br-“

  “Thank you.”

  “Huh?”

  Iris looked back towards her, who was now sitting in front of the remains with a solemn expression “Thank me? For what? Wasn’t she your mother?!”

  She nodded “Yeah, but she was a monster. I’m different.”

  Iris was confused, she felt like the kid should be more concerned over her dead parent… Lacking parents herself, unless you count Will, she did have a lack of understanding the complex nature of parenthood but… It just felt off.

  The dress below the kid shuffled, she repositioned herself and out below the bottom of her dress the two appendages at the front of her spider body poked out. The girl then took ahold of a small strand of thread “You needed clothes, right?”

  “…yes?”

  The girl nodded, then with her fingers started fiddling with the thread “I’m not too good at this, but I think I can manage a dress.”

  Iris slowly got closer to the girl, watching as her rapid finger motions had started to show results, and the beginnings of an outfit were starting to form as her two pedipalps fed her more thread “…” She wordlessly sat down and watched the girl “So…you’re not an Arachne.”

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  “No.”

  “But you have that spider lower half.”

  “Yes.”

  “….the same as your… mother?”

  “…Yes”

  “Doesn’t that make you an Arachne?”

  “No, different.”

  “…” Iris stared at the girl, using the atlas again confirmed that she was indeed an Arachne which only confused her more. “Different how?”

  The girl paused, looking up from her work “My mother was a monster, she attacked anyone that came to our home, kidnapped the women and did horrible things to them, I don’t want to be like her, and now that she is dead I don’t have to.” She huffed “And I was always different from her, she didn’t have fur, never spoke the common language like the captured women, and she couldn’t do things like this.” She gestured to the in-progress dress. “I’m different. Even my other mother said so.”

  “Hmm…” Iris stared at her ‘So she is, but she thinks she isn’t because she’s different? Sure? I don’t get it…” she thought, before giving up on the matter “So, your other mother? You have two mothers and she’s the one that told you, you are different?”

  The girl tensed up “Yeah she… did… She told me to leave the nest so… I did… Then other mother came to get me back and… well… you know the rest…”

  “Huh, neat.” Iris laid back “So, you like this first mother, now that the other is gone are you going back?”

  “…No.” The girl continued her work “She told me… S-she told me I should go and e..explore… so I was going to… do that…”

  Iris raised an eyebrow, looking over to the girl who was now shaking as she worked “oh, I don’t know how things usually are but… you look a little young to be traveling alone.”

  “I… I’m not…no…im not alone…” The girl had now dropped her work, covering her eyes she started sniffing, softly crying into her hands.

  “Ah!” Iris got up, not sure what completely was going on but she felt compelled to hug the small child, so she went over and brought her into a close hug “Shh, its ok.”

  “I’m not…. I… not…no…” The girl continued to cry, her words becoming muffled behind her crying.

  Iris was unsure what to do, first time she had seen anyone cry, let alone upset, all she did was pat the girl on the head while keeping her in a close hug. She kept repeating she wasn’t alone, but one look towards the remains of her one mother who she considered a monster and… didn’t care that she died and was even relieved…That’s it. “Your right, you are not alone!”

  “E-eh?” The girl stopped crying, glancing up towards her. “W-what do you mean?”

  “You’re coming with me!” Iris said triumphantly.

  “Eh? What?”

  “Yeah! We will do what your mother said and explore! Travel the world together! I was doing that anyways so having company would be great, wouldn’t you agree?” She said, smiling down at the girl.

  “I…uh…” The girl was silent for a moment, then she glanced over to the remains of her mother, then back to Iris, giving a snort she laughed “S-sure.”

  Iris nodded “Then it’s decided! I’m Iris, your new traveling partner.”

  “Lily.” The young Arachne child said with a slight smile “Now, get off me, your still naked.”

  “Right! Sorry.” Iris let go of her, stepping back. Smiling when she saw Lily go back to knitting. She then sat down beside her, silently watching the young girl work.

  ===

  The following is another conversation between 3 people.

  S: “WHAT DO YOU MEAN MOM IS ON THE EAST SIDE?!?!”

  T: “What? Loud, calm down.”

  P: “Yeah, what are you doing calling us all of a sudden, I’m still preparing for when mom eventually shows up.”

  S: “Well, GOOD NEWS, she’s not your problem anymore! She’s on MY side!”

  P:”Eh? But leviathan said…”

  S: “I don’t know either! Some absolute obscene amount of magic power just popped out of the ground in my territory!”

  P: “You sure that is mom?”

  S: “Really, who else could have that much magic power…”

  T: “Ah, so that’s what that was…”

  S: “What? You know something? Spill it.”

  T: “Underground, something cut through under central that came from the west and headed towards the east.”

  S: “…”

  P: “…Well, good luck with that sis, can I have your stuff when your wiped from existence?”

  S: “Oh har har, seriously I am freaking out!”

  T: “Can’t be hard to track, what is she doing?”

  P: “Yeah, just use some scouts and keep an eye out, make sure nothing pisses her off.”

  S: “I can’t.”

  P: “What do you mean you can’t? you said you could sense her power, just go there and-“

  S: “She suppressed it.”

  P: “…Suppressed what?”

  S: “Her magic.”

  P: “…”

  T: “absurd.”

  P: “…If she could do that this whole time what was the… argh…”

  S: “How do you think I feel?! The magic aura the size of an entire mountain just appeared then vanished! It was like the sun just fucking went POOF in the middle of the day!”

  T: “absurd”

  P: “Yeah well, uh, good luck with that.”

  T: “Condolences”

  S: “Wait no! you gotta send help! Please! I don’t know where she is at! Please! I’m not as tough as leviathan! One punch and I’m a goner! Please!”

  S: “…”

  S: “guys?”

  S: “….”

  And like that, the call ended, with the sounds of faint whimpering vanishing into the unhearing void.