Ahuhuhu~

She lay there for a good moment, really hamming it up. Then she rose her head with a smile. “Hey! Button’s can be dangerous! Even if they are small, tiny things.”

“You’re not going anywhere, missy! Missus Missy! You are needed in many ways, but there specifically for now.”

“I know this all too well! They also make fine hilts for makeshift needle swords.” She has, on more than one occasion, used this fact to her advantage when ‘sparing’ with some of her larger spiders and tarantulas.

“Nami, I think you will find that only one of us has the ability to keep someone where she wants them, and it is not you.”

The praise was met with plenty of happy hums as she made short work of the cookie and Muffet returned to the web. Unfortunately for her, she had already shifted her attention back to the canvas and hadn’t seen the cookie bullet coming. 

“Magnifique!” She started, then it bopped right into her head. “-Gweh!”

It didn’t hurt, no, but after a moment of stunned surprise she fell back into her chair with a dramatic flourish.

“I’m dead.”

Muffet found the pay-off more than worth it, immediately bursting out into a lot of laughs and giggles, so much so that she was briefly worried she might break the finer strands of web from them shaking so much.

“Oh no! My poor wife, gone forever.... taken out by a cookie the size of a button... whatever will I do now?”

She’d seen it a thousand times and she’d watch it with as much awe a thousand more, the way she effortlessly spun the webs which were both large, fine and intricate. 

“What would you do without me, huh?” She winked and her tail started swaying happily as soon as the cookie manifested. She took a large bite out of it instantly.

“Yum! But an hour without treats? I might die.”

“A whole lot worse, that is for sure. You are ever adorable, Nams.” Especially with tail wagging like that; so cute! Muffet never tired of seeing Nami’s body language when she was happy. With a bit of reluctance, she left Nami’s side once more to climb into her bed of webs, making sure she was getting in as close to the same pose she had earlier as possible.

“That’s an hour if you finish the painting by then. So no rush, of course... but the longer you take, the closer to death you come, it seems. But I’m sure you’ll be fine! How do I look?”

“Would that be so wrong?” She already had dozens of paintings of Muffet, and nothing made her think she wouldn’t keep adding more. “Hmmmm~”

“What couldn’t I call you? Or more accurately; what could I call you that would do you justice? My beautiful wife talented in many fields. Caring, suave and even sweeter than the exceptional treats she makes? You’re a good masseuse for sure. Oh and modest, can’t forget that.”

“For you, it only seems right.” She got back to her web-weaving now as Nami described her, and it was almost a shame that her smile getting wider and wider with each sentence and her SOUL glowing brighter, too, would be so temporarily hidden from Nami’s eyes. Until Muffet finished setting up the web, and turned back around to come lean around Nami’s easel and give her a kiss.

“It’s easy to be modest when I have a wife as wonderful as you to inflate my ego for me.” With a hand wave reminiscient of a street magician performing a magic trick, Muffet manifested a small cookie in her palm for Nami.

“Good point! Hmm… The second one, for sure, no doubt. I know all about your not sitting! It’s unique and looks great; part of why I want to paint it.”

“And what a back it is! No, no noo. I would never call you lazy. Not me.”

“Is your plan to fill your room with custom paintings of me in every mundane pose you can think of?” Or the not so mundane, which she was sure Nami would be thinking of too at the same time Muffet herself was thinking it. So, naturally, she turned back to wink.

“Then what would you call me, sweetheart? Light of my life? My darling gorgeous, what sorts of adjectives would you use to describe me if not lazy? Don’t skimp out on me, here. I’m all ears, and so are the spiders I’ve noticed hiding in the rafters.”

“I spend a lot of time thinking about you! And painting, and this time they’re both the same thing.” She nodded enthusiastically along with each pose. “Yes!” Was not a good answer to ‘this or that’ but she said it anyway. “They’re all good.” 

“Lazy? To your face? Never, absolutely not.”

“If they are all good, then you should have no trouble deciding which one I should remain in. Of course, both of them will look a bit different in a sitting position, but not too different—I don’t need to actually sit to be sitting.” Something that only really made sense if you were Muffet, a spider, or maybe exclusively if you were both.

@actuallymuffet​

“All right so like, I was thinking you could be sat on some webs to look kind of suave and alluring, but also playful, you know? But most importantly you should make sure you’re comfortable because this could take a little while.”

The Marai spoke. looking past the easel she had set up in the studio with a big grin.

“Though, I know you don’t struggle getting comfortable.”

“You clearly spent a lot of time thinking about it, darling. Are you thinking more of a pose like this, or like this?” With each ‘this’ she struck a different pose that she thought might fit the vibe Nami was going for, then with a few chittery giggles started stringing up a mixture of SOUL and normal webbing from the floor to the ceiling.

@actuallymuffet​

     “’Tis a peculiar shape you have, and I do not mean that with offense. I’ve merely never seen one such as yourself before.” It was likely the stranger had heard this before, but Y’shtola’s mind was an inquisitive one. If she saw something she didn’t recognize, she would pursue 

     “With this many limbs… A spider? ‘Tis a beautiful form.” Her tastes were also unusual. Had she not already familiarized herself with this world, she might have assumed this to be a foe of some sort, particularly with her vision impaired as it was. Well… Aether could be found in most things, so her sight wasn’t terrible as long as the object of focus was near. 

“‘Tis a good thing no offense was meant, or you may not have survived the night,” she said with a three-eyed wink and a very chittery giggle, copying the others manner of speech not out of mockery but just because it was fun. It’s something she has heard hundreds of times before, she had to keep herself entertained when it happened somehow.

“A spider indeed!” She proudly held out three of her arms to show off the limbs in question. “Much larger and more beautiful a spider than any other... just don’t tell the ones in my household I said that.” Again a three eyed wink, but this time from the other side!

@actuallymuffet​  🕷️

“Miss Muffet, this one’s for you!” Kay holds out a card covered in spiderwebs drawn with glitter glue, (much like Kay herself, who is also coated in a fair amount of glitter.) “I drew all the spiders myself!”

“Oh, if this isn’t the most SOULwarming thing!” Literally, almost! Her SOUL was glowing through her shirt as she took the card in hand. Normally, she’d be wary about touching glitter (it gets everywhere...) but this was Kay we’re talking about here.

“I didn’t think so… Not good enough? I didn’t say that, I was just here admiring this lustre.”

After a moment she leaned into her, sticking her tongue out so she new she was only joking around with her. 

“Should we like, look for them? Can you use your spider sense? Summon the spiders, babe.”

Muffet stuck her tongue out in return, before quickly pulling it back in lest it get iced over by a stray diamond snowflake. That might not actually do anything, but Muffet didn’t know that, and didn’t want to take chances.

“If I had to guess, the tenant is likely huddled somewhere warm, and hopefully indoors. And if they’re indoors...” she said, gesturing to the nearest diamond-covered wall.

“...They cannot get out, can they? Dork.” And then she stood upright again.

@actuallymuffet​

“Hey babe!”

The marai called over enthusiastically, still very much wrapped up for winter in her coat and thermal tail… sock. Currently she was hunched over next to a web that was practically sparkling.

“Check this out!”

“Can you make webs like this?”

Muffet was also wrapped up for winter, to a much greater degree than Nami was. Full knee length fluffy coat, tall boots, ear muffs, and mittens on each of her hands. She was not a fan of the cold! But she was stuck outside for now anyway, so she had to deal with it, and tried to keep positive airs as she approached the web in question.

“Mm. I am going to have to say no on that one, Nams. Are my webs not good enough anymore?”

“Yep! I’m your dork though.” 

“Well when I said with my hands I mean like, with my hands.” And she waved said hands about in a dramatic demonstration for how she usually performed hydromancy. “Not like, with my hands. You know? You know. That being said; the mittens do make the fine control a bit harder, but…” She grabbed both of the spiders cheek and turned her head from side to side gently “They’re so comfy! Oooh, who’s my cute spider~”

And stand back she did! Or slither back, whatever. Either way she watched Muffet with a big grin on her face

“My one and only~” And the one and only person in the city who could say something like that and even try to take herself seriously still. And further proving that one and only point was the cheek grabbing and head turning, which made Muffet smile in a very particular way to show off her fangs.

“And were you just about anyone else, I’d either kill you or eat you or both for doing this~” She was at least twenty percent serious. But since it was Nami, it just made her SOUL glow bright.

Once her work was done (for now) she stepped back again too, nodding at her acceptable level of work. “Now time for you to tag in, I suppose? Oh!”

Nami nodded sagely as he completely necessary and definitely not false labels were listed off. “Definitely have much less joy sparked in your life, I’m guessing.”

“And don’t you forget it! Of course I do! They don’t call me Honest On Task-” But that’s about as far as she got before she couldn’t help but laugh at herself. “I think it looks great! I definitely don’t mind handling the centre, though.”

She returned the hug with both arms because she wasn’t wielding any huge bladed power tools, rubbing her cheek into the spider’s for a moment after the kiss.

“I have! I Can’t remember if it was last year or before then. It might have been before the festival was a thing. I didn’t use any tools though, just my hands! And you know how good I am with those.”

“Oh, Nami... what am I going to do with you...” she said... before joining in on the laughter with Nami. “You’re a lost cause, ahuhu~”

“I do know you are very good with your hands. But are you going to work with the ice with your hands still covered in thick mittens? Might make it difficult... even with your hydromancy. But still, your help will truly be invaluable, darling. Just let me finish up this other half, so stand back~”

Difficult to see or not, Nami was incredibly attuned to those eyerolls, she’d experienced hundreds of them at this point. A tease wouldn’t have done anything either way; her dork levels were unlimited.

“Yes! To the chainsaw I mean, I never get distracted. On Task Nami is what they call me.”

She drifted over, taking a look at the area in question. “Hey, this is coming along pretty nicely! But sure, I can patch this up, they don’t call me On Task Nami the Ice Surgeon Tidecaller for nothing.”

But despite her dorking around she did a very proficient job of attaching more slivers and blocks ice. Being able to freely control water was almost cheating, really. She placed her emmittened hands on her enfluffied hips and looked very satisfied with herself. “There!”

“On Task Nami,” she repeated, and nothing else. “On Task Nami the Ice Surgeon Tidecaller,” she repeated again after the added unnecessary and strictly false labels. “Whatever would I do without you?”

“You’re the best, ma cherie. You really think it is coming out okay so far? I’ll admit, the center I’m not very confident in...” The center she left largely untouched, as that was planned to be the silhouette of a Marai at the center of the spider web.

“I may need you and your artistic talent to help with that part,” she said, getting close enough to pull Nami into a quick hug with just half of her arms (using the other three to hold the chainsaw safely away from her, even though it was off) and planting a kiss on her cheek.

“I am the Tidecaller! Carrying things away and getting carried away is basically in the name, babe.” At the mention of ruining it she tried her best to give a look of mock offence but she just ended up laughing instead. 

“Ruin it?! I set it upon the path to completion! I basically drew out the soul of potential that lurks inside all raw material.” She did a big spinning flourish then place a hand on her chest. “Because I am an artist~”

She made sure her earmuffs were on tight as the tool powered up and the spider started carving away at the block. It was- as she had hoped- even more satisfying to watch her wield the thing, she felt like something had awakened inside her. 

So satisfying that she got a little lost in watching her. Eventually though her hands did start glowing and she waved them to get her attention. 

“I don’t have any notes I just wanted to say you look good using that thing.”

Even if her pupils were incredibly hard to see, especially when nowhere near up close, Muffet hoped that Nami would be able to feel the eyeroll directed at her for the rapidly rising dork levels pouring out of Nami like a tsunami. But now was no time to tease, now was the time to start carving out a spiderweb into this block.

And she got a decent ways into it, about half the web roughly cut out, before she turned off the chainsaw at the sight of Nami’s glowing hand signals. “Hm?”

“You flatter me, deary. Is that your way of telling me that I need to purchase a chainsaw...? You’re not getting too distracted, are you?” Speaking of distractions, she took a moment now to look over her work.