>>6087675>>6087712>>6088113>>6088763>>6089548You've got a couple of ideas, but it doesn't make any sense to ask for something you can't pay for, does it? Her work is valuable, so it only makes sense that she charges a high expense for the mastercraft in question.
"Prudent," comes the reply, and for a second, the weaver thinks to herself, looking over your frame even more closely. After a moment, she leans back, and wave after wave of illusion slips away from the fairy, revealing a more and more inhuman form with each distortion sliding away. It's absolutely clear to you why she's a master in her art, as well as why your nerves were sensitive to her presence. The effect of a oversized spider capable of articulating fingers the same way as a human does is enough to nearly make you bolt. Beatrice's presence on your shoulder restrains you.
Education 5/10 | She doesn't seem to be any species of famously poisonous spider.
"You would call me a lace-weaver," Habetrot says with a calm expression, not moving much. Despite her enormous size several orders of magnitude larger than her natural counterparts, the spinner maintains a calm, soothing presence that's motherly, not hostile. "Don't worry, young man. Even if I were a man-eater, and I am not, I'm not so foolish as to draw down the ire of the Summoning Management Group." Oh, right... While you're a bit of a small fry individually, SMG has a lot of clout, and sometimes demons can be convinced to back down by the threat of calling in support to deal with unreasonable customers.
It's a common trick for a spider to play nice in front of its prey, but she seems sincere, threading thin silk through her fingers as if they were a loom and spinning a thin piece of cloth even as she speaks to you. "My specialty is in clothing, of course. Good clothing, clothing that's comfortable and beautiful. I hold no illusions about my own beauty or capability to court- Being a spinster is so often a duty for the unwed that it's a synonym between the two in places." Finishing up the patch of silk she was spinning, she sets it aside. "I say that so as to answer your question: I desire to participate in viewing the most beautiful thing of all- the happiness of others."
How are you supposed to collect something as immaterial as that? "Hm..." Habetrot muses with an insectoid chatter of her pedipalps. "Something like... Love letters, or devoted poems." She seems like she could get a lot of mileage out of romance novels, but when you wonder if that's an optional currency, she takes on a defensive tone. "If it's a fictional character, I have no interest in it. It would be like eating fast food for you: I can get that anywhere, and I don't enjoy it. This kind of affection and noble connection is what sustains myself and my craft. Happily ever afters and genuine smiles are what I seek- I don't 'devour' the happiness, merely share and support them. Joy is multiplied when shared."
(1/2)
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