Volume 10 - Extending Family, Chapter 72 - Mara's Web

Tsuen paced back and forth through the kitchen, her slippered hooves clopping softly on the hardwood floor. The room was dimly lit by the first hints of sunrise coming over the mountain. She had her magenta hair pulled back into a short ponytail and she was wearing yellow fleece pajamas, custom-fit for her four legs. The outfit was very comfy and cozy, and she had the day off work, but her mind was not at ease.

The 30th of October. The day after tomorrow… That's so soon! She gazed out the window for a moment, but she was too lost in thought to appreciate the beautiful frost-dusted pine trees that covered the hillside around the house. I wanted to do something special for her, but I was so busy at work that I wasn't able to plan anything…

Tsuen turned around to continue pacing but she froze when she saw Mara shuffling down the hallway toward her. Mara was wearing an oversized black t-shirt and a random assortment of mismatched socks on all her legs. Her shoulder length light pink hair was messy, like she'd just woken up. Judging by the tag on the front of her shirt, she had it on inside out and backwards.

Just as Tsuen was thinking, Okay? That's sloppy, even for Mara, the little pink arachne locked eyes with her and called out.

"Tsuen! Just who I wanted to talk to!" Mara had on a nervous grin and she looked unusually alert for so early in the morning.

Hearing Mara's cute, youthful voice made Tsuen smile, but she couldn't help but wonder what had Mara so disheveled. "Oh, why's that, Mara?" she responded.

"Um, how should I tell Yuisu about guests coming to visit, uh, tomorrow?" Mara asked sheepishly. "I know she doesn't like unannounced guests, but I only just found out myself, so I think she'll be annoyed no matter what I do."

Tsuen grimaced. She's right about Yuisu being annoyed. One day is barely any notice at all. I mean, I can't even plan a small birthday party in two days. Rather than dwell on things that couldn't be helped, Tsuen soldiered on and asked, "Guests? Who's visiting?"

"My mom," Mara replied with a grim tone, looking down at the floor.

"Oh, that shouldn't be a problem. I'm sure Yuisu will—"

Mara cut her off and added, "And a few of my sisters."

Tsuen stared blankly for a moment, recalling how Mara had said she was one of twelve sisters, then slowly asked, "How many is 'a few'?"

"I think just the four youngest, the ones that are too young to stay home without her."

"Uh… huh…" Tsuen swallowed hard and said, "Uh, we should tell Yuisu immediately, so she can plan how to fit five more guests."

"Yeeeah… Can you come with me to talk to her? I could use the support," Mara asked as she timidly shuffled her sock-covered feet.

"Of course, Mara. I'd love to."

"Your mother's visiting for the weekend?" Yuisu echoed back at Mara from where she was seated across the kitchen table. Yuisu was wearing her green and tan Atlas Convenience Store uniform, since she had been about to leave for work.

"Yep, and—"

"Four of your sisters…" Yuisu finished for her.

"Yep. Ages five, nine, and the twins are thirteen." Mara's hands and palps fidgeted in unison and she looked up at Tsuen for emotional support.

"And they're all arriving early tomorrow morning…" Yuisu mumbled to herself. The gears in her head were turning at full speed as she worked through the logistics suddenly accommodating five arachne into an already full house.

Tsuen smiled back at Mara reassuringly, but she was startled when Yuisu jumped up from the table, her chair scraping loudly on the hardwood floor.

"Alright. We've got a lot to do, and not much time. It'll be cutting it close, but I can stick around for another fifteen minutes before I have to get to work. You two can finish anything we don't get to." Her voice was full of urgency and authority, and both Mara and Tsuen nodded in understanding.

Yuisu immediately started giving out instructions, "Tsuen, clear out the old exercise room that we've been using for storage, at least all the smaller stuff. Move it to your closet or something. There should be a couple air-mattresses buried in that room too, so get those out and fill 'em up."

She turned to Mara, who immediately sat up straighter under Yuisu's powerful gaze. "Mara, make a list of any dietary needs and text it to me so I can pick up more food on my way home from work. After you're done with that, make sure the guest room is clean."

Yuisu strode purposefully toward the back door and called back, "I'll go let Quess and Iormu know they're going to have neighbors in the cabin, and get a start on cleaning the cabin's guest room."

Mara and Tsuen sat in stunned silence for a moment, surprised by Yuisu's change of personality, then they both jumped up and scrambled off to do their assigned tasks.

"G'morning, Yuisu, Mara," Agent Will said through a stifled yawn as he approached the front porch. He was wearing his typical black suit and sunglasses, but his normally slicked-back hair was a mess, sticking up in every direction. It had been gelled back but something mussed it up into its current state.

The cause became apparent as a tiny spider-girl clambered up his back and perched on his shoulders and head. From her vantage point, the two-foot-tall arachne surveyed the area like a forward scout with her six black eyes. She had bright blue limbs and vivid red hair pulled up into four little pigtails.

As soon as the girl saw Mara standing on the porch, still brushing the sleep from her eyes, she leapt from Agent Will's head. "Mara!" she shouted as she launched right at her older sister.

Mara managed to quickly recognize the incoming ball of flailing legs and reach out to catch her. She pulled her into a hug, then set her down safely on the porch. Mara crouched down to look her littlest sister in the eyes and said, "Missulena! You've gotten so big. Pretty soon, you'll be too big to climb on people." Other than color, the little arachne looked almost exactly like a miniature Mara.

Before Yuisu had time to react to Missulena's sudden appearance, four more multi-colored arachne emerged from Agent Will's car, each carrying an overstuffed backpack filled with travel belongings. They were all wearing touristy souvenir t-shirts featuring landmarks from Australia, China, and of course Japan.

Mara introduced them to Yuisu one by one as the family of small-breed arachne approached the house. "The littlest is Missulena."

Upon hearing her name, Missulena proudly proclaimed, "I'm five years old now, so don't unnerstamate me!"

"And that one's Murina," Mara said as she pointed at an orange-bodied young girl with pure white hair in a long ponytail. "She's nine, and she loves manga and anime." Mara leaned close to Yuisu and whispered, "You'll want to secure all your pervy manga really well so she doesn't stumble across it…"

Then Mara pointed one arm and a front leg further past Murina and said, "The twins are Latty and Haddy. I'm guessing Haddy is the one that dyed her hair black."

A girl with bright red bob-cut hair and glossy-black legs and abdomen shuffled past Yuisu and Mara and remarked, "Yup, that's Haddy. She thinks it makes her look dark and cool."

Her twin sister, identical except for her black hair, sprinted to catch up, then said, "I just was tired of people confusing us, okay? Gosh!"

Finally, carrying two backpacks and a suitcase, a slightly larger woman approached the stairs. She had pale yellow legs and lime-green hair pulled back into a ponytail, and she had softer, fuller features than her daughters. There were faint wrinkles at the corners of her six black eyes, but overall, she looked very young for having raised twelve children.

"Hi! I'm Eria. It's nice to finally meet you, Yuisu." She smiled and offered a yellow carapace-covered hand, which Yuisu crouched slightly to shake. "Mara's said only good things about you. Thank you for taking care of her, and for having us on such short notice."

"You're welcome," Yuisu said, smiling back. Mara wasn't kidding about looking old for her age. She looks just like her mom, and her sisters all look even younger than I was expecting. "Can I take those bags for you?" Yuisu offered.

"Nah, I got it," she said, then continued toward the door, saying, "When I found out we'd be on the Japan leg of our trip on the 30th, I just had to make a detour to visit my little girl on her birthday."

Mara pouted and said, "I'll be twenty-one tomorrow, Mom. I'm not a little girl anymore."

Eria chuckled and said, "You'll always be my little girl, Mara."

"Ugh, let's just get inside. I'll show you your rooms. Mom, Murina, and Missulena are in the cabin, and I figured the twins would want to be in separate rooms."

As Mara guided her family inside, Yuisu stayed behind to chat with Agent Will. "Thanks for driving them over from the train station."

He nodded sleepily. Apparently he wasn't a morning person. "Ya, no problem. Have fun, and good luck, Yuisu. They're more than a handful."

"I'll be alright," Yuisu said, then asked, "But are you alright?"

He shrugged. "Just exhausted from repelling Eria's advances. Once she saw how Missulena took to me, she kept insisting I was husband material. Apparently the arachne of Maratus mate with lots of different men, but only marry and settle down with their final mate."

He waved goodbye and turned back towards his car, muttering, "And she really wants daughter number thirteen…"

Mara gave her family a full tour of the house, which was pretty empty: Yuisu had to work again, as did Tsuen and Haru. Chione was asleep in her room, and Mimi wanted little to do with the hyperactive spider-girls and retreated to her own room. It seemed she'd never really gotten over Mara's curiosity-driven crowbar attack…

After the tour, Mara set up a game console in the living room to occupy Haddy, Latty, and Murina, then went to check on her mother and Missulena in the cabin. She arrived to find them both in the kitchenette. Eria was chatting cheerfully with Iormu and Quess while Missulena was skittering around on the floor, playing with Pwess.

Pwess had grown a lot in the last month, and was the same size as Missulena, and not far behind in maturity.

"Can you do this?" Missulena asked as she leapt, executed a half-flip, and stuck upside down on the bottom of the table, clinging with her grippy spider-feet.

"Ummm, maybe?" Pwess said in her echoey voice, her yellow tendril trembling over her purple 'hair'. She coiled her slimy purple tail into a spring, eyed the table above, then sprung upward.

SPLAT! Pwess collided with the table harder than she meant to. She flattened out against the table, temporarily losing her jormungand-esque shape.

At the sudden noise, Iormu ducked down and lifted the tablecloth to look under the table, her horns almost catching on the edge of the table. "Are you okay, Pwess?" she said, worried.

The blob on the underside of the table reformed into a little lamia shape and Pwess smiled back at her mom. "Pwess is okay, mommy! Look!" she cheered as she slid around on the bottom of the table, secured by sticky slime and suction.

"That's great, princess! Just be careful, okay?" Iormu said.

While Missulena and Pwess played tag on the bottom of the large table, Iormu returned to the conversation happening above.

"That's so great that you two are able to have children!" Eria proclaimed to Quess and Iormu. "When we realized that Mara was gay, I worried I'd never have grandchildren, but it seems there's a chance after all!"

"Mom… You already have a grandchild. Unless Meer's daughter suddenly doesn't count anymore," Mara said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, I know I have all your other sisters' children to look forward to, but that doesn't mean I can't hope for children for you too. Motherhood is just too wonderful to miss out on, Mara."

Quess and Iormu silently smiled and nodded. They agreed, but didn't want to risk complicating Mara's situation with her mother any further.

Eria put an arm on Mara's back and continued, "So, have you found a wonderful slime girl yet, Mara? I guess a human would be acceptable too."

Quess opened her mouth to mention Tsuen, but Mara raised a sharp-tipped leg to her lips and glared at her. It seemed Mara wasn't ready to reveal her relationship with Tsuen for some reason.

"That's enough about me, Mom," Mara said, changing the subject. "How about you? How's your world tour going? Found a twelfth man yet?"

"It's getting so hard to find a mate these days, with all the countries implementing those Interspecies Protection Acts…"

"I'm sure carting around four daughters isn't helping your sex appeal, Mom," Mara muttered.

"I'm looking for a good, responsible man this time, not the meek, manipulable young men I normally pursue. The girls actually help with that. Take Agent Will for example, he'd be a wonderful husband and father, if he would just stop playing hard to get…"

That night, the hot spring was taken over by the arachne family. Mara tried to opt out, but Eria insisted that she should spend some time with her mom and sisters.

As Mara and her mother chatted and relaxed in the deeper, hotter part of the pool, the four youngest splashed around in the shallows. Missulena had been afraid of the hot water at first, but once Latty had encouraged her and helped her in, she really seemed to like it. She was too little to swim around, but she was happy to splash around at the edge.

"So, Mara… how's life in Japan?" Eria asked with a little smile.

"It's been great. I've learned a lot about people, in ways I couldn't have over the internet. I made some good friends too."

"Girlfriends?" Eria asked with a grin. As a mother, it was reasonable for Eria to be curious about Mara's love-life, but since Mara was the only one of her daughters that was interested in women, Eria was a little more inquisitive than normal.

Mara wasn't amused. "Friends that happen to be girls. Like Actia. She's a moth-girl, and she's into games too. She's a total astronomy geek, though."

Eria's six eyes opened wide and she lifted a yellow-carapaced hand to her mouth. "A moth! We eat bugs, Mara, not befriend them. At least you aren't dating her…"

"Mom, she's a person, not a 'bug'." Mara lowered her voice and added, "Don't be racist."

"It's not being racist, it's the way things are, Mara. Arachne are predators, and before humans industrialized the world, where do you think we got our food? We ate bugs and animals, and other extra-species races too."

Despite the touchy subject, Mara and Eria were both keeping pretty calm. The relaxing water and the fact that there were children nearby helped them stay civil.

"That's the way things were, Mom. It's not like that anymore. It isn't legal to eat a centaur, so I might as well be friends with her instead," Mara said, slipping in the centaur mention to gauge her mother's reaction.

"If you say so. I'll stick to human men for mates and arachne women for friends, thank you very much." After a second, Eria squinted at Mara and said, "Centaur, huh? Got a centaur friend too? You better watch out around her, or she'll stamp you to death, especially if she panics. I've heard they spook easily, just like horses."

"She would never!" Mara shouted, then clasped her hands over her mouth.

Across the pool, Murina glanced over in concern, her long white ponytail flicking across her bare shoulder. With her striking hair and fair features, Murina was shaping up to be the prettiest of all her sisters. Assuming the Interspecies Protection Act didn't get more strict in the next nine years, she'd have no trouble at all finding her first mate when she set out into the world as an adult.

Before Murina could say anything, a splash of hot water hit the side of her face. It came from Missulena, who tried to flee, but was grabbed up and tickled by Murina.

Eria put a hand on Mara's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to insult your friends. Just remember that the human world is not very friendly to arachne, and other liminal races can be even worse."

"I'll be careful, Mom…" Mara said, then climbed out of the hot spring. Her naked body steamed in the cold October air until she wrapped herself in a towel. "I've got a guild raid to get to. We can chat more tomorrow."

Eria was used to Mara's strange video game terminology, even if she didn't understand all of it. "Alright, Mara. Goodnight!" she called cheerfully. Eria didn't even notice at first that Mara was standing under the massive, sparkling night sky without even a hint of fear. Mara got over her agoraphobia?! That's wonderful! she thought, smiling as Mara skittered away down the path toward the house.