I hoped I was raising my children well. I remembered how different some individuals I knew had grown up, and how different they turned out.

One of them had grown up uncomfortable, with no place to impose self-isolation for comfort, and never got to exercise. At the same time, they never got to interact with anyone or anything either.

Another had grown up comfortable, with good visibility and things to look at and room to exercise and the consistent interaction.

One of them had been very aggravated and unable to rest or relax, and injured itself constantly while trying to run and climb over and over.

The other had been very passive and gentle, and liked to rest alongside me for hours at a time, unmoving unless hungry.

No matter what someone's species was, it was obvious to me that one's past experiences shaped who they would become.

One of those individuals was male, one was female.

Looking at their lives, it was only expectable by everyone that they'd turn out how they did. Why thier personalities developed how they did.

What few people knew is that they were using human psychology to psychoanalyze spiders. Even so, it was perfectly accurate. Who cares what someone's species is? But that was Earth, and I don't know if the same rules applied here.

Djraine was raised in a terrarium at a pet store called Prehistoric Pets, which only sold reptiles and insects, and the food, housing, and toys needed for raising them. She grew up alone, but got to see people who would periodically pet her or feed her themselves, and tap on the glass. The workers would feed and pet her themselves sometimes, when they weren't busy. Socialization was important for thier business. A spider or scorpion is what it is, and I had purchased Sting from there too, but a social insect can put many people afraid of their kind at ease, and that helped to teach understanding and respect.

Malas was raised in a small cup with a screen attached to its top, and kept on a small shelf among many other tarantulas in a lit glass case. They didn't interact with each other or have the ability to see anyone or anything around them, and the cups were only opened once in awhile to have a cricket thrown in. Unlike Djraine and her hidey holes made of tree bark, Malas had nothing. When I brought him home he kept climbing the cage and attaching his claws to the screen on the top until they broke and he fell- and he did it over and over again until he didn't have any left. That's what ultimately killed him- the inability to secure himself to something to molt properly. He asphyxiated.

But I had them again, and they were smarter now- well maybe Djraine wasn't but she was smart anyway. Malas was still rather ignorant, but this was a world of magic, so hopefully he could get one of the abilities that I was at least somewhat obsessed with from a television show. If he got that ability, and exaggerated it, he'd be fine. Plus, we could all take better care of him in this life. His previous life's last year was with me, but it was his life up to that point that could have gone better.

...

Aneis had been building a web wall behind the back of the hill the cave was built into, in standard erratic and admittedly terrifyingly insane traditional black widow fashion. I had been worried about the scalewolves for awhile, and it would be unrealistic of me to be oblivious to the fact that my children probably picked up on it. If we had a defensible hive, then we could be a bit more active in exploring this world. We wouldn't get lost anymore, either. At least not in our own forest, though it would also point us out and give easy pathways to reveal our secrets.

If only we had more combative members, and people skilled with this current world's available technologies, such as blacksmithing. I had given myself a mission now, and it was about time I got to it. I could give birth to rose hair tarantulas, though they are very passive and only get aggressive when eating small prey. I could birth prehistoric wolf spiders, which were highly aggressive but didn't actually want to be. It was more of a defensive thing in a world of giant monsters from before time and beyond nightmares. I could birth black widow spiders, but they were very individualistic, solitary, and reclusive. Humans I could give birth to as well, but I never liked that species, any of the times I was one, so there wasn't a point.

Garden orb weavers weren't something that would be good for defense at all. Emperor scorpions would be magnificent, but since Sting didn't molt, I wasn't able to acquire his aspects. So, Sting and Sun were out of the question regardless of their instincts. If only we had some trap door or funnel web spider genes! They could easily protect whatever areas we decided were ours. The tarantulas and wolf spiders would have to suffice- at least tarantulas were born equipped with the ability to attack at range using nothing but their hair as an arrow barrage. It was probably too much to hope to somehow acquire a goliath bird eater spider to combine with the wooly mammoth to create a real guardian. Sure, that was Sting's caste, but...

Djraine was healed enough, but I thought she should stay back anyway. Someone else should come out with me this time... Dulcet, Lyre, and Bander might be good choices! The worst thing that happens is they get educated on the right way to behave around humans and do better after. I really didn't think there was any kind of threat from that little village. But my anxiety kicked in and I already argued with myself. Maybe instead of Bander, I could bring Sting. Plus, Sting can't make webs and it would be a good idea if the full range of my current children might be known by that little city, which I wished I knew the name of.

The two redheads did know how to make webs, but they didn't use it as other spiders did. To a rose hair tarantula, a web is a refrigerator. It doesn't generate cold, but it does keep their slain prey from decaying as quickly, and it wasn't sticky, but a soft mat that covered the ground. It wasn't like a funnel web, trap door, or modern era wolf spider's ground web that revealed invader locations, but it still served a purpose.

That's when I noticed that I couldn't see through Sting's eyes. I found him shortly after, being led to another cocoon in the back chamber. He was changing form again? I didn't even get the information about it from any dings. Shore wasn't needed at the corn all the time, so I got his attention and took him instead. We would just have to find food on the way to the village. He carried my hoe with him. Time to go on a social call!