After the incident with the two armies, Alison hadn't been too keen upon exploring the outer edges of the mansion's grounds again, but it seemed that any appearances from the Dark and Confederate armies were rare because, after that first incident, Alison didn't manage to see so much as a single soldier from either side of the quarrel ever again. This was fine by her, but she still couldn't help but wonder what the Sorceress was doing, keeping two large armies at the edges of her estate like that. Were they really all just living out in their in the wild like Cash had said? How were they all able to fit? And who thought that such a living arrangement was a good idea? And why?

At most, Alison figured that, if the Sorceress really was trying for some type of mass-conquest, it would make sense for her to want to bring in some real army men. That much was logical. But as for why she chose to have them live on the outskirts of her forests? Well, at best, it was to keep them far away from her so that they would never think to rebel against her. And perhaps that was why both of them lived in the same area instead of being kept far apart. Alison was guessing that perhaps the real reason the Sorceress kept the Confederates and the Dark Army close, but not too close, was to ensure that they would spend most of their time squabbling with each other, which would keep them distracted.

Dorian had used similar tactics, after all. Every once in awhile, whenever any of the court vampires seemed to be getting too antsy, or ready for some sort of uprising, Dorian would quickly arrange for some other dispute to rise and that would always distract any negative attention away from himself. It was part of the reason he'd been able to keep his throne for so long without any major rebellions. Of course, Alison couldn't say for sure whether or not this really was what the Sorceress was playing at, but it seemed like the most logical conclusion at the moment. She was keeping two armies ready for war, but also keeping them distracted with one another so that they would never think to rebel against her and would not be bothered by why it was taking so long for anything of real significance to happen within the mansion.

But then, at long last, something somewhat exciting did finally happen within the mansion, and that was that the mansion finally got its next honored guest! It all began on a typical night, Alison and JPG relaxing together in the automaton lab.

"-going to see if it works," JPG was right in the middle of showing off her latest invention to her vampire companion. It was a periscope, of sorts, the base connected to her work table and the top reaching all the way up to one of the windows in the foyer. In short, it was a spy device. It was JPG's way of trying to see anyone who was coming into the mansion without ever having to actually go upstairs to check. It was an impressive feat because even though it wasn't particularly hard to build a periscope, given that this one had to go all the way down the red hallway and then through the floor to an open window, all while remaining undetectable, it had taken quite a bit of effort and engineering on JPG's part.

"Ah! It works!" JPG declared, eyes glued to the periscope's bottom. "I can see the front doorsteps and part of the road leading outward. It's not a very wide view and it's kind of hard to see because it's so dark out, but it works! The door's lights cover at least a foot in all directions!"

"Let me see," Alison replied, hopping off of where she was sitting on JPG's workbench to join JPG at her side. The body of the periscope was tied to a pipeline that went from the ground of the corner of the lab up through the ceiling. JPG's periscope did not emerge from the same place the pipe did, but JPG had since turned that pipe into something of a support column for the periscope. Alison extended a hand to gesture for JPG to move aside, but JPG quickly held up her own hand to stop Alison.

"Wait a sec! I think I see... a black carriage? No, wait! A whole bunch of them!" JPG sounded genuinely confused.

"But the last ball was two weeks ago! My father shouldn't be bringing in more human prey already!" Alison voiced JPG's confusion.

"I don't know," JPG's eyes were still glued to the periscope. "Give me a sec and I'll see what comes out of the-HOLY COGS AND GEARS!"

"What?! What?! What is it?" Alison fought the urge to just shove JPG aside, all of her internal alarm systems going off in reply to JPG's panic.

"SPIDER! GIANT! HAIRY! FEMALE! SPIDER!" JPG replied, then she shot backward away from the periscope, accidentally activating her jetpack at the same time and nearly sending herself right through the automaton lab's walls. (She'd since upgraded her jetpack while in the new lab, giving it the ability to hold more fuel for a longer, steadier period of time). From the look on her face, though, it seemed like she wouldn't have minded if she'd shot through every wall in the mansion and right out the other side and far away from the spider woman.

"What!?" normally, Alison would've been more concerned for JPG's wellbeing at the moment, having never seen the girl looking so panicked in all her life, and her having literally just crashed into the wall at top speed, but the periscope overrode Alison's concern so, instead of going over to JPG, she ran over to the periscope. The vampire's jaw dropped.

"Spiders..." JPG hadn't been lying, bluffing, misinterpreting or overreacting. Sure enough, emerging from that long line of black carriages was an entire swarm of the half-woman, half-spider creatures that Alison hadn't seen in a very, very long time...

After making sure that JPG hadn't broken anything after crashing into the wall, Alison exited the lab at once to go talk to the spiders.

"Are you mad?!" JPG cried, chasing after Alison before she could reach the door.

"They're friends of mine," Alison replied. "I have to go see them, ask why they're here," then before JPG could say more, Alison had exited the lab entirely and begun making her way down the red hall. JPG was too nervous to go after her, so she instead resorted to going back to her corner of the lab and peeking out of the periscope again, hoping Alison didn't get eaten alive by these savage and terrifying spider-freaks! JPG was so freaked out, in fact, that she hadn't even noticed that she had cracked one of her jetpack tanks and squished the other in her impact with the wall!

But while JPG stayed back, hidden deep within the automaton lab, Alison climbed the staircase to the foyer. She was recognized at once.

"Alison?!" and the ones who recognized her were none other than Kira and Haruko, Alison's two favorite spider-women. Alison felt something tear at her heart as she looked at her two old friends, but she didn't know if it was guilt, sadness, longing, fear, embarrassment, distaste, distrust, regret, nostalgia, or some combination of all of that. Instead, she could only stare as two of her oldest, closest companions flocked over to her.

"Surely it is! Alison!" Kira cried in amazement and joy. She and Haruko smiled broadly at the vampire and Alison could only smile weakly back.

Although Kira and Haruko were treating her politely now, who could say how they really felt about Alison? She'd pretty much just up and vanished from their lives and she had been gone for at least a few years by now! The vampire really had no clue at all what they thought about her. What truth lay behind those friendly smiles? Where they mad that she had just sort of vanished from their lives? Were they sad? Did they miss her? Were they hurt or indignant? Confused? Interested? Angry? Had they even noticed? Or did they just not care at all? So many questions, and not a single answer and Alison wasn't even sure how to even start to ask. They had just been apart for so long! Alison didn't even know where to start, let alone how! And in that moment, a morose laugh echoed inside of Alison's head...

And to think! Once upon a time, these two spider-women had been some of Alison's closest friends! Once upon a time, she'd known them almost as well as she knew the back of her own hand. Once upon a time, they would spend hours and hours together, talking and playing cards. Outside of a few woodland fairies and sprites, these two spider-women had been Alison's most trusted companions. They had talked about everything together, playing any manner of card game imaginable! But now, it was like she was meeting them for the first time again. Oh, sure, physically, they looked no different. They were still both stunning and sexual, hands intertwined like always, and they still wore the same skimpy black outfits that they always did, but there was an unspoken aura of change between them now and Alison almost didn't recognize them. She remembered names, faces and long nights spent drinking and playing, but it was all rather distant and hazy.

But at last, Alison finally found her voice long enough to reply and stop staring.

"Kira! Haruko!" the vampire gave the spider-women polite but guarded smiles and another flash of guiltiness tore at her heart. Polite but guarded? Since when had Alison ever not trusted Kira and Haruko enough that "polite but guarded" was all they got from her? They used to get genuine and elated smiles, but now Alison couldn't bring herself to do more than treat them with the same distant respect she usually reserved for the others that visited Dorian's court. It made Alison feel bad, but luckily, neither Kira nor Haruko seemed to even notice this change in Alison's demeanor.

"Oh! Yes! Alison! It's good to see you again! It's been so long, hasn't it? Where have you been, anyways? What have you been up to? Why haven't you come to see us sooner? We've missed you! Have you missed us? Do you remember how we used to play cards all the time at your father's parties? Will we ever go back to doing that again? We miss it! We really should take some time to catch up! Unless you've already moved on to bigger and better things? Oh, you must tell us everything! It's been far too long!" back and forth, the couple went, both of them trying to engage Alison in polite and friendly conversation. It was actually kind of sweet of them because it told Alison that they bore her no ill will for all of her years of silence in their regard, but Alison found herself unable to answer even the more simple and superficial questions.

Instead, the vampire gave a rather vague and general reply before slowly turning the conversation around to the spider-women.

"How about you?" the vampire asked, after she gave an oversimplified summary of her life up to this point. "What brings you here?"

"Ah well, it was all thanks to Jorogumo, really," Kira began.

"She's our leader," Haruko interrupted, to explain for Alison. "She was in the first carriage. She's already gone to the roof to build her web."

"Ah," Alison nodded. Although she had missed Jorogumo, JPG having been at the periscope when Jorogumo came in, Alison could already guess what the spider goddess had looked like.

"Yeah, well, you see, she was invited to live in this place by some weird lady called the Sorceress," Kira continued once Haruko finished her explanation and Alison sucked in a breath. Although this did not surprise her in the slightest, she still couldn't help but feel that old curiosity and suspicion ignite in her heart once more.

"She promised us all a great deal of power, protection and prey if we moved in here," Haruko chimed in.

"So of course Jorogumo agreed!" Kira nodded.

"You know Jorogumo would never turn down an offer of a steady supply of fresh meat!" Haruko laughed a little, a sadistic grin crossing her face.

"And nor would we!" Kira smirked in agreement. "So here we all are! Your new roommates!"

They seemed quite pleased, but the moment they mentioned the Sorceress, Alison was on guard again. Adding to the list of vampires, werewolves and soldiers, the Sorceress was now recruiting an entire nest of giant, man-eating spider-women. Not suspicious at all, huh?

"And why did the Sorceress invite Jorogumo, exactly?" Alison asked once Kira and Haruko finished telling their tale. "What was it that Jorogumo had that attracted the Sorceress to her?"

"Well, to be honest, we don't quite know," Haruko answered, sounding a little bit self-conscious.

"The Sorceress only spoke to Jorogumo," Kira explained. "And we only know what Jorogumo decided to tell us. She is our goddess, after all, so she isn't likely to have told us everything that the Sorceress said."

"But don't you at least have a guess about why the Sorceress chose Jorogumo?" Alison tried not to let her questions seem too obvious.

"Perhaps she found our race impressive?" Kira suggested.

"So, for an alliance?" Alison replied.

"Perhaps," Kira repeated. "May I ask why you are so interested?"

"Because I've talked to a few of our other housemates and I'm trying to figure out what we all have in common," Alison replied, managing to answer everything and nothing with that openly honest, yet also deceptively vague, statement.

"Hmmm, well, in that case, I'm assuming that the Sorceress chose Jorogumo for a reason similar to the one for why she chose your father," Kira said slowly as Alison gave a brief description of the other chosen people who lived at this estate.

"It could be that she's trying to start up her own little kingdom," Haruko agreed. "She did mention something about conquering and creating an empire, so she probably is just choosing all of us to act as her first batch of allies!"

The two spider-women continued to bounce ideas off one another while Alison only listened. Although she did remember the Sorceress promising universal domination, hence her reason for coming to Dorian's castle in the first place, Alison just hadn't ever really thought that the Sorceress had been serious. Now, though, she was having second thoughts. Alison remained silent for a little longer, trying to listen to what Kira and Haruko were suggesting, trying to see if any of their other theories about the Sorceress' plans made more sense than Alison's theory.

But after awhile, Kira and Haruko grew tired of theorizing, unbothered by it the way Alison was, and they brought up a new subject.

"Sorceress aside, we are your new housemates from now on and I think it high time we took the chance to catch up!" Haruko said.

"Yeah, Haruko and I were thinking you could join us for a game of cards next time Dorian has a party. Like old times?" Kira added. Then they went back and forth again, but this time they were pleading with Alison instead of trying to theorize with her.

"You always liked to play hard, and we miss that!" Kira said first as she began to plead with Alison.

"Yeah! Some of the men who play with us now can't take it! They get so weak so fast that it's not fun anymore!" Haruko agreed. "But you, Alison, you had always been so much stronger than them! You could always last far longer, and that's what made it fun!"

"So please, come play with us again! Even if only for a little while! Do it for old time's sake!" Kira begged. "We need a proper reunion party! It's high time we got to see each other again! It's been far too long!" Alison, meanwhile, took it all in with an unreadable smile.

To some degree, it relieved her that Kira and Haruko were so adamant about all of them getting back together again just because it meant that neither of the two spider-women bore any ill will towards her even though she had ostensibly shut them out of her life for years on end. But at the same time, their eagerness discouraged her too. Their eagerness reminded Alison that, while she might've gone through a big emotional change through her relationship with JPG, Kira and Haruko hadn't changed at all. They were still the same flirtatious creatures Alison left behind.

While Alison, herself, felt like an entirely new creature, they were still the same unrepentantly man-eating monsters that they always were. They never had the same realization that Alison, herself, did, and because they did not know about Alison's little change of allegiance, they thought it was all too easy for her to come back to them. They were able to go back to the good old days because, for them, those days never left. Those days were only a memory away. They didn't realize that Alison was too far gone to ever be able to fully go back to the way they used to be because the Alison that they had loved back then had been a very different girl. For her the good old days were lifetimes away, a far greater distance than for Kira and Haruko, and neither of them even knew it.

Alison had had good reason for ditching the spider-women after all. Kind, gentle and friendly as they were with Alison, the same could not be said for their human victims, and even though their method of eating wasn't as violent as that of a vampire, it still resulted in innocent blood being shed. It was something she couldn't overlook anymore. Nice and polite as they were to Alison, Alison could never forget what they did to their prey. Now, Alison did respect the spider-women's rights to eat whatever they wanted, Alison just didn't do it herself.

What's more, Alison knew full well that this card game was going to double as a reunion party and, no doubt, the spider-women were going to grill her for every last little detail she could spare. They wanted to know what she had been up to for so very long, and Alison couldn't blame them. But at the same time, there was just so many things that she could not share. There really was a lot to talk about, that much Alison didn't disagree with, but she didn't even know where to start. Since she no longer truly knew where she stood in relationship to Kira and Haruko, she wanted to put some thought into every question they threw at her. She didn't know what was safe to say and what she ought not to reveal.

But in the end, despite feeling emotionally distant from her two old companions, Alison finally allowed herself to be suckered into one little game of cards. The next time Dorian threw a party, which was bound to be very soon, Alison would play one single game with them.

"I suppose just one couldn't hurt," Alison had said slowly, and she really did mean it. As different as she and the spider-women were, one little card game wasn't going to jeopardize her newfound sense of mortality and allegiance. Kira and Haruko had been delighted to hear this agreement.

Two nights later, Alison found herself inside Dorian's throne room for the first time in a very long time.

"Ahhh, just like old times, eh Alison?" Haruko sighed happily, shuffling her deck as Alison finally stepped onto the scene.

"Sure," Alison replied with a weak smile, sitting between her two friends-turned-strangers.

"Awww, our princess still not feeling very well?" Kira teased. She chalked Alison's reluctance up to her general sense of introversion, not having a clue that the real reason went far deeper than that.

"Well, don't worry about that! We have a cure!" Haruko laughed. She nodded at Kira who obliged to raise two large bottles of whiskey out from underneath the little table at which they sat. Then she produced a few wine glasses and several shot glasses.

Three card games, multiple removed articles of clothing and a lot of shots later, Alison was feeling a lot better than before. The drinks were going to her head now and her previous worries were beginning to float away. She managed to keep herself focused and alert, but she could feel herself getting lighter and lighter. It made her feel nice, but it definitely made playing cards a bit trickier, especially when the game was against the likes Kira and Haruko, who practically lived off this kind of thing. It was a struggle to win the game, and they weren't going easy on her.

"Remember, Alison, you can't outdrink us!" Haruko sang, taking two shots at once just to make a point.

"You're out of practice!" Kira agreed with a laugh as she tossed another card onto the pile. Alison could only glare because, technically, they weren't wrong. While Kira and Haruko had been drinking and playing cards every night of their lives, Alison couldn't remember the last time she'd had any sort of alcohol. Her tolerance was embarrassingly low while the spider-women's were as high as ever!

"So, any cards?" Kira demanded playfully when Alison couldn't think of a witty remark to give in response to her earlier jibe.

"Unfortunately not," Alison grunted, but her anger was only a show and they all knew it.

"You know what that means!" Haruko purred, leaning in closer to Alison the moment she heard Alison's rueful confession. Alison's frown slowly turned into another mysterious smile, then she nodded. Almost seductively, the vampire princess reached downward for a piece of clothing to remove, but then, just to mess with her two companions, she made sure that her article of choice was only a sock.

"You're no fun!" Haruko pretended to grow cross as Alison made a big deal out of slowly removing her one sock before tossing it aside.

"Better luck next time," was Alison's only reply and she gave Haruko a downright devious little smirk.

"Now that's the Alison we know and love!" Kira declared, slapping the vampire's back playful and Alison actually laughed in reply.

In the end, however, the spider-women still got what they wanted. Alison managed to win the game, but not before stripping down to a point in which all she had on was a bra. It had been with great delight that Kira and Haruko had watched Alison remove her corset and they had fawned and swooned loud enough for half the ballroom to hear.

"Shut up," Alison growled good-naturedly as she tossed her corset onto the ever-growing pile of her removed clothing.

"Make us!" came the teasing reply, making a big deal out of eyeing Alison's bra. Alison only held up her remaining hand of cards.

But in the end, she did manage to win. By this point, Haruko and Kira were both totally naked, pale skin almost glowing in the candlelight of the ballroom. Alison had to admit that they had incredibly amazing bodies. But at least some of the awe was lost in amusement on Alison's part because it really was never too hard to get Kira and Haruko to strip down completely. They hardly ever wore that much clothing to begin with! But that was just how they liked it! So while the spider-women sat around in nothing but their own skin, giggling like fools and waving seductively at anyone who looked their way, Alison reclined in her seat, proud of the fact that she'd been at least able to retain once piece of clothing...

The drinks were really making her head spin now and, just for a moment, neither JPG nor the Sorceress nor anything else in or about the Sorceress' mansion existed. Instead, it was only Alison, the vampires, Dorian's castle, the spiders, and a wicked game of strip poker with a lot of whiskey to boot. Through a drunken haze, Alison had been transported back to the past and she almost thought that she was in the old ballroom for a second, completely forgetting how different this ballroom looked in compared to the one she left behind years ago. She was lost in a time when her life had been far simpler, though also far more boring and empty...

The lights were bright and the music was loud as Alison contemplated her two old companions. Suddenly, it had only been a few days instead of a few years since last she had engaged in such playful foolishness. The spider-women were grinning seductively at her, just like always, just like before. Alison actually almost felt happy. Maybe she hadn't quite enjoyed the life she used to live, but maybe the alcohol was doing something to her sense of nostalgia as well because, just for a moment, Alison felt good to be in this situation. Despite her past discomforts, Alison found herself thoroughly and genuinely enjoying getting the chance to catch up with Kira and Haruko. But the vampire supposed that was what enough good liquor did to a person. Even the worst memories could shine brightly with nostalgia after enough drinks.

The vampire continued to smile serenely, sharing a few more laughs and drinks with her companions, but then at last Kira seemed to think that it was time to take Alison away. She was too drunk for her own good so, gesturing to Haruko, both of the spider-women quickly got dressed and, after helping Alison pull on her clothes again too, they helped her walk from the ballroom. For all the fun they'd shared this night, it was time to go. Alison needed to sober up, or she'd be drunk even into the next night, and that was so not a good look for her.

From a distance, Dorian watched the trio go, puzzled but pleased to realize that his daughter had not only come to one of his parties of her own free will, but seemed to have enjoyed herself. Or at least, that was what he'd assumed, given how much time she'd spent playing that game with Kira and Haruko, not that he spent too much time watching it when his adoring court was a far better sight to behold.

Kira and Haruko led Alison from the ballroom and back to the foyer with the intent of taking her upstairs to where they knew her bedroom to be. Alison, though still being supported by them, had slowly regained some small amount of sobriety during their short walk away from the ballroom, and managed to ask a coherent question.

"You two live on the roof, right?" she asked. Kira and Haruko both nodded. "Do you think I could see your webs?" the vampire asked next. It was a strange, random question, but as Kira and Haruko knew no harm would come to Alison, they agreed at once and took the vampire up to the roof.

Two things startled a bit more sobriety back into Alison then. The first was just being greeted with the cool night air, far different than what had been passing around the stuffy little ballroom earlier. The second thing was Jorogumo's master web.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Kira sounded proud when Alison made a noise of awe at it. "We all helped make it too! After you left us, we came up here to join Jorogumo and the others and each of them were helping build the web. It really was a group effort!"

Kira and Haruko both continued to extol Jorogumo, the web, and how every spider-woman had helped make it, but that wasn't what had incited the reaction from Alison. It was what lay tangled in one of the web's knots. A big, bright, red gem, just like the one in Dorian's necklace, only this one was a shade brighter. To put it simply, if Dorian's gem had been a garnet, Jorogumo's was a ruby, though Alison somehow already knew that, in the same way Dorian's was no ordinary garnet, Jorogumo's was no ordinary ruby.

"Oh! That little number?" Kira asked after Alison pointed it out. "Jorogumo said she found it on the body of one of her victims back near the start 1915. Just earlier this year, in fact. It had been some pompous, arrogant little adventurer, not much of a looker, and next to nothing to his name, but that gem had caught her eyes and she decided to take it. The adventurer was just an afterthought, a little snack. The gem was Jorogumo's true objective and subsequent prize!"

"She said that the adventurer had gone through some great trial to get it. A fierce naval battle! But, well, we all know that when Jorogumo wants something, she gets it, no matter the deceit and trickery she must use to get it..." Haruko trailed off, a wicked smile spreading on her face.

"Anyway, after Jorogumo managed to seduce the adventurer and eat him, that little gem became a trinket, a trophy, and it's been with her ever since. She always spins it back into her master web just because she likes it so much," Kira finished, looking up at the dark red object that glittered dimly in the moonlight overhead. She could still remember the day Jorogumo had returned to the spider court with that gem, so incredibly proud of it that she threw a little celebration for it. It had, literally, become a crown jewel in her collection after that, always resting near the center of her web on a little pedestal she had made just for the gem...

The drunkenness slowly began to wrap itself around Alison's mind again, the initial shock of seeing that eerily familiar gem fading away. With nothing else to see except other, less impressive webs, Alison allowed Kira and Haruko to take her back downstairs and inside the house. Other spider-women, some still in human form while others had returned to their hybrid states, watched the trio walk by their webs, but just like Kira and Haruko had already known, not a single one of them made any attempt to harm Alison. They only ate men, after all, and Alison was no man. Additionally, since Kira and Haruko still did consider Alison a friend even after all this time, they would've protected her even if any of the spiders had tried to take a bite out of the vampire. But they were able to pass on safely, so it really was a moot point anyway.

Kira and Haruko parted ways with Alison once they were back inside. She had made it clear she wished to go to bed, but Kira and Haruko were not done partying yet, so at the top of the foyer steps, the trio parted once more. Kira and Haruko were very fond in their goodbyes and even Alison couldn't help but offer up a smile. This time, it was genuine. Or at the very least, the liquor had put enough of a stint on her mind that she was suddenly living in the past once more, when she and the two spider-women were still very close.

"Goodbye and goodnight, my dear," Kira told Alison, kissing her cheek warmly.

"We wish you all the best and we hope to see you again soon," Haruko said next, kissing Alison's other cheek once Kira was finished.

"It has been a great pleasure getting to see you both again," Alison replied, smiling. She continued to watch them go even after they were out of her line of sight then, at last, she slowly turned back to her own bed in the master bedroom. By the time her head hit the pillow, she had forgotten all about Kira and Haruko's rooftop tour and Jorogumo's web. She had forgotten all about the big red gem that rested within the web's silky strands and the fact that it was now the year 1915, about two decades since Alison had first joined the mansion...

AN: More foreshadowing, more buildup, more characters and character development, more gems, more timey-whimey theory, more of the Sorceress recruiting everyone, and just more of Alison in general. After all, Kira and Haruko did say that Alison used to play cards with them, which I think is a really intriguing thing that I want to know more about.

Partly, I want to know if Alison actually liked the spiders or if she was just being polite and partly, I want to see this game unfold because I honestly can't see someone as distant and dignified as Alison playing drunken strip-poker, yet that's what Kira and Haruko's line about playing hard with Alison implies. Also, more queer Alison and more queer women in general, in EtN or anywhere, is always a good thing!

On that note, I like to think that the Jorogumos are bisexual but homoromantic. They'll sleep with males or females, but they will only enter in lasting, romantic relationships with other females since they eat males. (In my fic, Haruko and Kira are lovers, though there really isn't much to support that within the series and it isn't even that obvious here. I'm sorry!) But I'm up for debate about these headcanons!

Also, I know bras were only just invented in 1889, but I don't know the exact layering of a Victorian-era woman's clothes, so let's just pretend that Alison was wearing a bra under her corset under her dress. It would make for a very long round of strip-poker if everyone wore that much clothing, no? LOL.

And JPG is me when it comes to spiders. My arachnophobia is crazy bad.

Also, I know this story makes the spider-women seem really old, but I can't find any info about how long the Jorogumos live. It's at least 400 years, though, because the one page I did find said that a Jorogumo was only created when an orb-weaver spider reached age 400.

Going off of that logic, I like to think that the Jorogumos have really long lifespans. I also like to think that they age slowly, spending most of their time looking like sexy young women (though I think they do go through "little girl" and "old lady" phases, but those are far shorter in comparison). This would explain why they look no different to Alison even though they've been apart for years. What's more, such a long lifespan would also explain why Alison could disappear from their lives for like 20 years and they wouldn't even think twice about it. 20 years is short for a creature that's already at least 400 just by virtue of being a Jorogumo (if we're assuming the EtN Jorogumos are supposed to be exact copies of the ones from actual Japanese myth).