Web of Blessings: Chapter 3
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Summary: Sier is surprised to find an enormous arachne, Vanelope, hiding out in his greenhouse. She intends to raise her clutch of spiderlings inside over the cold winter, but they have to elude detection first.
Chapter 3
Sier was in an increasingly vulnerable position. He was unable to move, his hands bound to the nearest tree with a sticky, durable webbing. Worst still, his mouth was sealed shut; he was no longer in a position where he could call for help.
All he could do was stare with wide-eyes as the spider-like woman descended down the tree, her clawed legs gripping the bark with practiced ease. Her long black hair dangled in messy strands at a curious angle, her torso parallel to the ground as her legs skittered down the tree. It appeared that she was approaching Sier; he winced, praying for mercy. He couldn't bear to watch...
...
...
...Nothing happened. Sier's forehead wrinkled in confusion. He expected a venomous bite, a spray of toxic barbs, or a clawed strike at his still-beating heart.
He peeked through one eye. The spider woman had turned its back—or, rather, her abdomen—in his direction, seemingly paying him little mind. She was hunched over the egg sac, her legs sprawled along all sides as she leaned towards the webbing.
"Shhh... don't stir, children. Mommy's here to protect you." She whispered gently to the sake. Sier was taken aback, and took this moment to study her anatomy more.
The woman must've been at least seven feet and almost as wide. From behind, she could make out her roughly-furred abdomen; Sier understood that this was a fine layer of irritating bristles, potentially deadly at this woman's size and scale. Along the sides of her abdomen, Sier recognized the lines that comprised of her book lung—the respiratory system of typical spiders, scaled up to a monstrous level.
Sier quietly wondered of the implications; she must've had a separate set of lungs in her torso. Perhaps the extra set compensated for her incredible size. Even hunched over as she was, this woman was well over twice his size. Sier brushed aside those thoughts and continued to study her.
She seemed to have chitinous armor along her entire body, creeping up to just below her lower back, where the peach-coloured pigment of human flesh transitioned too. Her shoulder disappeared under her flowing black hair.
"The itsy bitsy spiiiider went up the water spout; down came the raaaain and washed the spider out..."
To Sier's incredible surprise, the spider woman began singing to the eggs. She called them her children, of course, but what really caught Sier off guard was her voice. It was so quiet, understated, and beautiful in its melody. She had a wondrous voice.
"And then the sun came out, and dried up all the rain, and the itsy bity spiiiider went up the spout again..."
She raised a clawed hand, brushing the side of the webbing with a careful touch. The sac stirred slightly against her touch, but went still before too long. She sighed a beleaguered sigh, her feet planting into the ground.
"Are you quite done throwing out your voice now?" The woman sardonically asked Sier, turning her head slightly. "You don't intend on causing trouble for my children, do you?"
She cocked her head in Sier's direction. Sier studied her profile, immediately drawn in by her eyes. She had two blue eyes, not dissimilar to that of a human; but just above her eyes, and to the corners, were two more, smaller eyes, each with the same coloured irises. She had a tired look about her, judging by the subtle bags under all of her her eyes, but it didn't detract from her natural beauty, her soft blue eyes, and her voluptuous chest, her cleavage cradled by a simple, hand-made green shirt; a simple knot rested between the space dividing her size-D breasts.
Sier stared for a beat—perhaps too long of a beat—before he shook his head furiously.
"Alright. Now stay quiet, and keep still while I just..."
She raised a clawed hand to the webbing up to his cheeks and, with a single prick, sliced a line through. With a few twists of her wrist, she bundled up the webbing and wrested it from Sier's face. He gasped, and then winced in pain.
"Ow..." Sier croaked, trying to stay deathly silent, even as he felt some stray hair follicles wrest from his mouth and chin like a wax body hair treatment.
"Sorry if I was too rough on you. I make a point of avoiding violence, but I can't let someone lay a finger on my adorable little children." The spider woman explained.
"You... you're not gonna kill me?" Sier blinked.
"I don't know why I would want to. I know how your kind operates. If one of your own is hurt, the blaring of lights and sirens heralds the arrival of countless more. A veritable swarm..." Her eyes narrowed; she massaged her forehead. "No, I would rather keep to myself. And my children are... sensitive to stress."
"Your... children." Sier eyeballed the egg sac. There were so many eggs within the webbing's walls. There was no way he could count them all.
His eyes rose to the spider woman, who looked over the sac with a worrying look on her face. It was evident that she cared deeply about her children.
"Tch. Mother always told me not to get entangled with humans, but I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures..." The spider woman sighed, raising a clawed hand to brush back her hair; a layer of chitinous armour travelled up her arms like ballroom gowns.
"While I have you there, I need something of you." The woman lowered herself to Sier's eye level.
"...From me?" Sier blinked.
"I've been observing your movements for a week. I've seen you wandering this... this safe haven. You're here every night on patrol, watching for predators, tending to the environment. This is... your territory. Our tradition is to respect boundaries between our kind, and particularly between humans, but I... I find myself in a difficult position."
Sier's eyebrows crinkled. This woman was going on like he owned the place. That it was his territory. He was actually on patrol to get rid of the cobwebs on someone else's instructions, but Vanellope's tone was desperate.
She glanced to her eggs—her children—once again with a sombre tone.
"My children, they need a home. To hatch, to grow, to enjoy life. And this, this oasis in the chill of night, it's... perfect. It's so warm, walled off from a hostile world. Winter is coming, and if we were caught by the first snowfall, it would be..."
She shuddered at the thought. She turned back to Sier.
"Please. Grant my children sanctuary." The woman pleaded softly. "I will cause you no trouble. I only wish to give my children the best chance at life..."
Sier was taken aback by the woman's earnesty. This wasn't about her own livelihood. She was doing this for her kids. He was immediately taken in by the raw emotion she exhibited.
"...I... I'll do what I can to ensure you and your kids are safe here." Sier smiled reassuringly. "...Although, I'm still a little... tied up here."
"...eh?" The woman blinked, before glancing over to confirm that, yes, Sier was still tied up with the webbing. She grimaced, shaking her head.
"Agh, unbelievable, I... I completely forgot. This is... I-I shouldn't be asking for favours after... let me deal with this.
She hurried to deal with the remaining webbing binding Sier's wrists to the tree. He rubbed his wrists, looking up to the spider lady.
"Thanks... uh..." Sier looked up to the woman.
"Vanellope. Just Vanellope is fine." She replied.
"Sier Fleurs." He nodded in turn. "...That's a very pretty name."
"You think so? Hm." Vanellope thought about it, before smiling slightly. "I picked it myself, you know."
"...Really?" Sier blinked.
"When you have hundreds of brothers and sisters, how could a parent come up with names for everyone? Our tradition is to find our own identity on life's journey..." Vanellope nodded.
"I... I see. " Sier didn't think about how their societies were so fundamentally different. Heck, from the waist down, it was easy for Sier to trick himself into thinking Vanellope was just another girl. But of course, his eyes were continually drawn towards her arachnid body.
"I... I've never seen someone like you." Sier looked over Vanellope in awe. She casually glanced over his shoulder.
"Of course not. We arachne keep to ourselves, in isolation. Only the most sadistic or foolhardy would willingly engage with humans." The spider woman explained. "It's better for all parties; I hear we have a reputation of being 'scary'."
"Th, that's not true! You look stunning!"
"...Uh?"
The woman did not expect this enthusiastic response from the young man, looking over with a sense of befuddlement. The awkward silence that followed compelled Sier to push forward.
"Your exoskeleton, it's such a striking shade of ebony, it almost sparkles! Spiders are always a terribly misunderstood sort of creature, but your stature brings out their more profound traits! The slim legs, the eyes, it's all so... stunning!"
Sier had difficulty stopping himself when he got going; he always had a predilection for insects, and this woman was perhaps the most marvelous of all. Sier stopped to catch his breath as the woman stared, thoroughly gobsmacked.
"And to top it all off, you... have a beautiful singing voice." Sier admitted without thinking.
This invited a curious look from the spider, who studied Sier like he was an enigma, wrapped up in a riddle. A wry smirk perked the corner of her mouth.
"Ohoho... quite the flatterer, aren't you?" The spider woman covered her mouth, trying to stifle her laughter.
"I just gotta warn you, the thing is the... cobwebs. They're huge." Sier glanced around. "And, well... people pass through during the day. We can't just leave this egg sac out like this."
"Hmm... I see the problem. One second." Vanellope skittered forward to the web, reaching forward with her claws. She wrapped the excess webbing around the sack and, with an effortless, careful swing, she affixed the web firmly to her backside.
"Now I can watch my babies full time. Or perhaps find a... more discreet place to hide them. You own this territory, perhaps you can point a place out to me."
"..." Sier paused. She definitely saw him as the owner of this place. But now didn't seem like the time or place to correct that misconception. He smiled and nodded, a little forced.
"S-Sure! I can give you a grand tour of the place. It's really something else..." Sier gestured to a nearby trail.
"...A tour. Yes... I should be getting... intimately familiar with our new home." She extended her claw to carefully caress her affixed egg sac.
Sier could hardly imagine him showing a half-spider, half-human bombshell of a woman around the greenhouse when he walked in through the doors this evening. But they seemed to have reached an understanding; things could only improve from here!
That's what he told himself.
