Page 12 of Spinning Out of Control

Teracht blushing was ridiculously cute. “What? Come on, we’re both guys here, and this is for educational purposes anyway.”

“I do not believe it’s designed to fit with human anatomy,” Teracht said quickly. “Even in the monster world, we don’t really use them the way that humans do.”

“How do you use it then?” I asked, oddly curious now.

His blush got deeper. “Our penises do not have much sensation in them. We stick it inside of the female, and it breaks off with the sperm still inside of it.”

“Ouch.” I couldn’t stop a flinch. Spider sex did not sound very romantic. Really, talk of breaking things during sex didn’t sound fun in any way. “Uh, you said it’s not there.” I waved my hand in the general vicinity of where his groin would be, trying to move on from the very uncomfortable feeling between my legs. “Where is it?”

“Um…” I swear that none of his eight eyes were looking at me.

“Fuck, I’m sorry,” I said, rubbing at my face with my hand. How fucking rude could I be, demanding he whip out his monster dick? “You don’t have to show me anything, I was just curious.”

Teracht let out a soft sound that might have been a laugh in his throat. “It pleases me that you are so curious,” he said. “I will show it to you, but maybe later? If that’s all right?”

“Yeah, of course, no problem,” I said, letting my eyes roam over his segmented body again. Moving along when both of us were obviously uncomfortable felt like the best option. “Can I keep touching you? I’m curious what your… fur? feels like.”

Teracht hummed softly in amusement. “I believe it is more like hair than fur. But you can keep touching, and perhaps you can tell me.”

“Okay,” I said, glancing down at the bulbous parts. “Let me know if I’m about to touch anything I shouldn’t.”

Teracht made another sound. I couldn’t figure out if it was laughter or something else, but he held still for my hand to travel down his stomach, over the ridges there, and then brush the swollen middle part of him where his legs all connected. He inhaled but did not move. It was firm like muscle beneath my touch, and he was right in that what looked like fur was almost more like hair. It was sleek and fairly soft, though very tough. My hand traced over it, then to a spot where one of his legs attached to his middle. He gave a little squirm, and I realized in delight that he was ticklish there. I filed that away for later, not wanting to take advantage of his trust with this first exploration.

I took a few steps to the side, watching Teracht for any sign of discomfort, but he held still except for turning his head slightly to watch me as I moved around him, letting my hand brush over the larger back segment of his body that had no legs to support it. This too felt very strong, though a little hollower and much lighter than I had expected, almost like a water balloon. I wasn’t sure he would appreciate the comparison though, so I kept that to myself, tracing my fingers over the fine patterns of the hair there, which I figured must be to camouflage him in dim light. “These are kind of neat. Do all atauri have these markings?”

Teracht nodded. “Yes. Each one is different, and some are more subtle than others. I am not as flashy as some others of my kind.”

I wondered how many other kinds of spider creatures there were. I knew there were a ton of different spider species on Earth, though some of them were exclusive to specific places. I trailed my fingers over the marks, towards the tapered end of his… hindquarters? I wasn’t sure what to call it as I took another step to see him better from the back. At the end of that bulbous part was a strange sort of mound with six little raised areas on them. I reached out my hand to touch them, and Teracht jumped. “Sorry,” I said quickly. “Did I hurt you?”

He shook his head. “It is all right. Those are my spinnerets. Maybe don’t touch those, there are a lot of intricacies there, and they are a little sensitive.”

“Yeah, no problem,” I said. “I’d love to see how they work sometime though.”

Teracht nodded. “I will spin for you later if you’d like,” he offered.

“Great!” I said, examining the spot with just my eyes instead. Each of the six areas looked like they were covered with some sort of little hairs or barbs. I had never had a reason to look closely at the back end of a spider before. “How many kinds of webbing can you create?”

Teracht looked thoughtful. “I don’t really know,” he said. “I have quite a few different types, and many of them can be combined together as well.”

“How does your body know which one to do?” I asked.

“I push an internal button,” Teracht said. I blinked and turned to look at him. His face was deadly serious before he broke into a fit of giggles. “I’m sorry, bad joke.”

I snickered too, picturing tiny little spiders inside of him hitting a button in a factory to change the type of webbing.

“I couldn’t tell you exactly how I do it,” Teracht said. “It’s instinctual. But I’m sure it has to do with proteins and other things mixing a certain way for each one.”

I was even more curious about his webbing now, but I supposed it might be rude to keep lingering on it when he had promised to show me later, so I just went back to my exploration. The pattern on his hind end was very interesting, and it felt strange but rather nice to trace my fingers over it. I crossed back around to the front of him, and he gazed at me with his unblinking eyes. “Can I touch your ears and hair?” I asked curiously.

“Yes.” Teracht lowered himself to the floor to rest on his haunches like a cat doing loaf, inclining his head toward me. His ears were smaller than mine and did not have the cartilage shaping them that mine did, but they were surprisingly cute, and I ran my fingers over the lobe of one. Teracht made a soft noise almost like a purr.

“Your ears are small compared to human ones,” I said, stroking it again.

“Yes. My hearing is similar to that of humans, I would think,” he said. “I do not rely on it as my main sense for hunting.”

I nodded, then slid my hand up to brush lightly through his hair. It felt similar to the hair on his spider body. “Does your hair stay up naturally like this?” I asked, finding I could move it around a little bit, but it still stayed sticking straight up.

“Yes,” Teracht said. “My hair is made from a similar protein as my webbing.”

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