Dev’jill wakes up from her dreamless torpor and smiles at the boy still wrapped around her backside.

“Master, it’s time to wake up,” she says, gently poking his side with the top of her middle legs. He grumbles in response. “Five more minutes, mom,” he says, before opening his eyes wide as he realizes his situation. “Wait, I’m so sorry Dev’jill, I didn’t mean to— hey I told you to not call me that in private!”

Dev’jill clacks her mandibules with amusement, and grabs the young man and brings his ear close to her mouth. “Maybe I like calling you master, have you thought about that, Jerry?” She whispers, and her lover shivers in response, right before she places him down and slaps his ass. “Now go wash yourself. You need to get ready for university.” Jerry gulps, and heads away from Dev’jill’s room, putting an extra sway in his step, his long hair swaying from side to side.

Dev’jill chuckled to herself at the boy’s antics, before heading for a bath herself. Honestly, having hot water all the time was the second best thing about living with humans, the best thing being, of course, Jerry. Laying in the specially made tub to accommodate her size, Dev’jill takes the time to meticulously wash the fur on her back and legs, as well as clean her spinnerets. After, she dries herself using her own webs, and then excitedly picks one of the dresses- the third best thing about living with humans- to wear today. Going through the various styles and colors. She decides to go on a classic “maid” style, with a mostly black design and white frills and accents that match her own natural pattern. Humming to herself as she puts it on, she steps back into her sleeping quarters to find Jerry already there waiting for her, sitting on the stool for his hair care.

“My my you look just delectable today, Jerry.” Dev’jill says, grabbing a brush and starting to work on untangling his hair, with both the brush and the tips of her claws. “I could just eat you right up,” she whispers into his ear, watching his face brighten in the mirror in front of him, “maybe I will, later.” Jerry squirms, and Dev’jill clacks her mandibules with amusement again as she focuses once again on his hair. Alas, she finishes not soon after, and then comes the worst part about living with humans.

Curling all six of her legs so that she is low enough to the ground so that Jerry can comfortably reach her head, she says “I’m ready, master.”

With a sigh, Jerry grabs the muzzle on the dresser. “I’m sorry, Dev’jill.” He says, as he fastens it around her mandibles, preventing her from moving them at all. Jerry takes an extra moment to hold her head to his in a passionate embrace, before gathering his strength and climbing atop her back. They head into his university in silence, Dev’jill ignoring all the hostile stares she gets from the random passersby. The general opinion of otherkin had plummeted after the disappearance of one of Jerry’s classmates, Charles, and his father, Sebastian, blamed otherkin for it.

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Charles had disappeared in an expedition to “acquire” an otherkin of his own after all.

Once they arrived on campus, Dev’jill brought Jerry to where his friends were waiting for him. “Good to see you, Jerry.” One of them said, “when are you gonna get rid of that spider of yours? Mayor Sebastian is making a push to get rid of every monster, both in the city and out, and I would think you would want to be on his good side.” All of the humans spoke as if Dev’jill couldn’t understand them, as if she was no better than an animal.

All the humans but Jerry, that is.

“I would, alas she is too important for my father’s business to get rid of so frivolously.” Jerry says, putting on the accent he ever only uses with his friends. Turning to her, he waves his hands vaguely at her while shooing her, so she curtsies like she practiced and heads back to the manor.

She spends most of the day working on producing silk for Jerry’s fathers industries, occasionally stepping in to help one of the newer weavers with the unfamiliar strand. Apparently humans really enjoyed the feel of saltcide silk, and by just being there she helped Jerry’s father, and by extension, Jerry himself, grow richer. Despite living with the humans for almost an year now, Dev’jill still didn’t really understand why that was good or not.

It was evening, when Dev’jill was looking at the slowly appearing stars from the mansion's roof, when Jerry met with her again. “Hello, love.” The saltcide says, nuzzling the human's neck. “How was your university?” Jerry huffs, annoyed, as he sits in between her frontmost legs. “More of the same. More people spreading anti-otherkin sentiments, more people gently telling me to get rid of you.” Dev’jill starts absent-mindly running her hands through Jerry’s hair, making sure to scratch at his scalp with the tips of her claws just like he enjoys. They sit like that, looking at the stars for a while, until Jerry says “Hey, Dev’jill.”

“Yes?”

“Have you ever felt like you’re in the wrong body?” Dev’jill takes a deep breath at that.

“It is said that before the fires, or the war as you humans call it,” She starts, and Jerry knows better than to interrupt her when she gets in a story-telling mood, “that us saltcide couldn’t choose our moltings. This is no longer true.

“Our lives are divided into two sections, our maturing stage where we molt as we grow, and our adult stage, where we don’t molt any longer, unless we take specific concoctions to do so. In between those two stages, we get to pick a body type, Kan, or soldier, and Dev, or weaver. Until we decide on an option, it is recommended we take a special concoction to prevent us from naturally molting into one or the other, and once we decide on our specific configuration, be it full weaver, full soldier, or something in between, we spend the next two years taking our chosen concoction.” Dev’jill says, taking a deep breath. “Some decide to let nature decide for them, but the option to change is always there, even if you already took a concoction once, though the effects are less pronounced.”

“So, yes you have felt like that before.” Jerry says.

“Have you, though?” Dev’jill asks. It’s Jerry’s turn to take a deep breath.

“I think so, yeah. I don’t think I like my body very much.”

“Very well. Do you have a name you want me to call you, that isn’t Jerry?”

“... could you call me Julliette?”

“Julliette, may I kiss you?”

Juliette nods, and Dev’jill kisses her girlfriend for the first time.