/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>45244191 (2/4)
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Yamame and Ran exchanged a few words that I didn't listen to, much more focused on Ms. Yamame legs—she's a funnel weaver, but what infraorder? Family? It makes me wonder the same about me; all I know is that I’m a 'monster cat'… which is so mean! But it doesn't matter right now! Hmm… a tarantula? Nah, most aren't even tunnel weavers! So maybe— "Uh, Chen?" Ms. Yamame's voice calls me and I snap, noticing Ran's nowhere to be seen… And I've been silent all the time, staring a hole through her hind legs.

… Maybe I'll need to dig a tunnel to hide in.

"S-Sorry, Ms. Yamame! I didn't mean to stare so much!" I scramble, squirming in place, suddenly feeling uncomfortably warm—a warmth that grows when Ms. Yamame's answer is a simple soft giggle… I think my whole face is red.

"It's okay—Ran told me you're very fond of my species." She guided me inside the atelier, and though I was confused at her for not using her hind legs for locomotion, the interior left me speechless—all manner of knitting and crochet spread neatly for viewing, beautiful pieces of weird and exotic colors, of patterns unlike all I've ever seen before, wooden coziness accentuated by a well-lit fireplace behind the counter, an enormous portrait an extensive family hanging over the fire—also, the spider thematics made my face hurt of smiling; so otherworldly beautiful…

… If only I could live here…

—Oh, Ms. Yamame had made a question! "Uh, yes! Yes! M-Mr. Anon—someone I love dearly—likes them and showed me their world; I got hooked, and now we do all sorts of things with them!" I explain with a wave of excitement rushing through me, but I contain it. "Sorry if I come across as weird—this hobby helped me and Mr. Anon bond a lot…"

"Don't think of it like that, dear, it's adorable—hm…" she stopped, critical, then nimbly moved her legs on a loose collection of threads. I watched, entranced, the cohesively beautiful movements, her nervous smile of just now morphing into one more… Comfortable? Yes, something like that; her eyes on me. "Ran also said you love knitting—you did that scarf?"

I clutched said scarf, that who got destroyed when I met Ms. Kogasa, then repaired by Mr. Anon—so sturdy~ "Nuh-uh, this was Mr. Anon—he taught me how to knit!" Not resisting anymore, I float by Ms. Yamame, getting a better view of how easily she composed the threads into a symphony of understanding, giving life and form to it so naturally it takes my breath away. "Where did you learn how to knit? I want to be this good someday…" My ears perk up when her reaction is a small giggle.

"You flatter me, but I must say—I'm not even the best out of my family, let alone my species~" she says, glancing at the massive picture overhanging the fireplace.

I gasp. What? How?! Giggling even more—a sweet melody—, Ms. Yamame finished her creation—a nice pillowcase. I slid my fingers on it: felt like Yukari's gaps: so smooth it doesn’t even feel like it’s there…

"Earth spiders are born with a natural sense of how to weave, some much better than others. And that's okay—being the very best hardly is worth it; some just love what they do," she follows to the counter as I nod to myself, a clear passion for her craft seen in the number of times she stops to correct a tread out of place or excess not noticed before. "Do you have anything you've knitted on you?"

Hm? "Well… Mr. Anon and I like to knit things for each other, so nope—why?"

"Nothing, just curious about something Ran told me." She stops behind the counter as I sit on top of it, taking out from my zansae my busted hat and Flan's golden silk. Ms. Yamame's eyes smile when she spots the yarn. "My world… If I'd to produce such prime silk, I'd be charging by the millimeter~" I smiled fondly, happy that even a master had complimented Flan's silk. "Now, hm… Let's see what I'm working with today." She picks up the cleaned hat and yarn, eyeing the first with such sudden intensity it makes me hold my breath.

It doesn't last as she fishes a sheet of paper, pens, and… three colored—yellow, brown, and black—skeins. I stare, confused; she just smiles, and unlike her sweet and motherly ones, this one exudes challenge. "What? Don't you have your needles on you?"

… With a smile of my own, I pull my pair of knitting needles from my left sleeve. She looks proud; and that fills my heart. "A seamstress without their needles—"

"—might as well be naked. This Mr. Anon has taught you well… But how well, hm?" And she looks away, starting to sketch on the sheet.

Thirsting to prove myself, I take the skeins and, without much thought, start to knit, emptying my head just like I was taught. Though it's hard to so in sheer the presence of a master, the calm atmosphere, the cozy fire, the browns, and golds, even Ms. Yamame's very soothing presence… Before I've even noticed, I was already halfway done on… something—wandering eyes falling on that big picture, curiously looking for Ms. Yamame—

Oh. That man looks like Mr. Anon.

… Huh.