As Jelin walked up to Scar to inspect her changes he realized that Claw hadn't shown up yet with the leftovers from lunch so he tossed the bug he was still holding to her.  She was in the middle of stretching when he threw it but almost as soon as the bug was in the air her arm snapped out and she caught the bug in between her finger and thumb.  Everyone present seemed slightly surprised by the action and stared at the struggling bug still held in her fingers for a few moments before Jelin smiled a little and began laughing.

<Well.  I think we can say that your sense and instincts have definitely improved now.>

She smiled at his comment and then threw the snack in her mouth as Jelin approached to see if he could find the visible differences.  Careful inspection was required for some of the changes but the easier ones to note were her slightly more pointed ears, the golden flecks in her previously solely brown eyes, the tiny spikes on the outsides of her legs, the slight extra volume to her hair, and the slightly elongated canine teeth.  It definitely pointed to a slightly wilder look in a subtle way.  Now that she had gone through two evolutions, he took the chance to examine the big scar over her eye as well and saw that it indeed had not diminished anymore through her evolutions.  It did kind of match her now so it was part of her beauty but it also told him that their only real chance for restoring the limbs lost was to put their hopes on Conk.

Claw soon arrived with the food for Scar and as Scar ate he decided to go ahead and talk about her future evolutions and the parallels with Claw.  He considered involving Queenie and Legs but one was resting in the hive and didn't seem to be much interested at the moment while the other was running around again doing...something.

<So I think it's pretty obvious that 'Wild' was a great choice for you and Claw should try for it as well.  I also saw 'Dancer' in there, which means that all of our dancing practice has actually been worth doing.  I don't think either of you should get it, though.  Unless you want to, of course, but I doubt it will really be worth it.  I also so both 'Jumper' and 'Climber' in the options.  

I have my own thoughts on those but what do you two think about them?>

<They...help to jump and climb better?>

Claw tilted her head a bit at Scar's answer but ultimately nodded her head in agreement.

<That's...not wrong, I guess.  I was looking for a little more, though.  They likely are both going to be mostly about improving your legs, since that's what you use for both of those things.  Jumping is usually more about the pushing movement and the ability to handle the impact while climbing is usually more about the pulling movement with grip strength and stability.  In both cases you would probably need to be able to handle your weight a bit better, have better senses of balance, be better able to judge distances, and so on.  In other words they are likely to be very similar with only a few differences.  You might be able to pick both but it's probably a good idea to only pick one.

Claw, you've been doing a lot of the same or similar things as Scar so there's a good chance you'll have some of the same or similar choices.  So when it comes to not just these two but eventually others that end up being very similar in what they're likely to do to you during evolution, you should figure out which one matches more with what you want and not bother with the other one.  Going through more evolutions during each stage is a good thing but too much of a good thing can also be a bad thing.  Going through too many early evolutions can end up making it just as hard or harder to evolve later as skipping too many. 

So for now think about which of those two you want more than the other.  Like I said, whichever you pick will still likely make you better with the other as well compared to now so it's going to be which of the two is more important to you and what you want.>

As he finished talking he suddenly noticed that Legs was next to him now and nodding along as she listened.  Once she looked his way and saw him watching her she smiled and gave him a hug, somewhat to his surprise, before shouting through the link.

<Time for sleep now!>

He still couldn't fully understand her but it made him smile and giggle as she dragged him over to their sleeping spot and started snuggling him into her embrace.  The other two watched for a moment as they seemed to still be thinking about what he had told them then they, too, joined the small snuggle pile to sleep for the night.  Even with the three of them there, he felt a little lonely without the other two joining in as well.  He took a little longer than normal to finally fall asleep while hoping that Conk's and Scratches' evolutions wouldn't take too much longer.

He felt like he had only just fallen asleep when he was woken up by the cracking sound molting from a completed evolution.  He blearily opened his eyes and looked over to see Scratches stepping out of her molt and stretching.  The other girls also woke up and watched her as well, none of them bothering to move in their sleepiness.  Scratches finished stretching, did a few flexes of her various limbs, walked one quick circuit around the inside of the room, and then approached the cuddle pile.

<I know you probably aren't sleepy but tomorrow we can check out all of your changes.  Goodnight.>

Scratches didn't really say anything and just joined in the pile as he drifted back off to sleep, feeling happy that Scratches was back.

When they woke up the next morning they found scratches already outside holding some threads in her hands and concentrating on them with a fierce intensity.  Jelin approached her slowly, not wanting to ruin her concentration, and started to examine her.

[Child Magic Arachne]

Looking closely, he could see that her previously solid black spider half was now lightly flecked with grey and her hair seemed a bit longer and darker than before with the tips being just a little lighter than before.  He couldn't see any other physical differences immediately and decided to try and figure out what she was focusing so intently on.  Looking closer at her hands, he finally realized that his [Mana Sense] was reacting to her hands.  After a few more minutes his [Mana Sense] told him that mana was starting to seep into the threads.

Scratches finally let out a breath he didn't even see her holding as she relaxed her focus and then smiled at him.  That allowed him to note one more small physical change.  Her eyes were darker now, almost black, but had some silver flecks in them.  It almost felt like they had gone through the first step towards looking like a starry sky and he thought it was a good change for her.

<Those are some really pretty eyes...>

<Thank you?  This will take some work but I think I put magic in things now.  Hopefully it will help me figure out what to do with the molted shells, too.>

<Wait.  Did you pick that just because I asked you to try and figure something out?>

<No.  You talked about magic threads a few times.  Conk already has some magic.  Then when she was showing me and talking about some of the plants I though that seems like magic.  So I was looking at the shells and my webs and some plants and some other stuff and thought maybe having magic could help with all of this stuff.  So, when I realized I wanted magic myself and remembered that there was an evolution that might make me learn it faster and make whatever magic I got stronger, too, I decided to go for it.  It's still a lot harder than I thought it would be, though...>

<I see.  Hmm.  Well, we're monsters.  The evolution should provide monster magic which should come kind of naturally.  How about you just, I don't know, start the magic then let it do its own thing.  It's not like you can't still try to push the magic like you have been but knowing what the magic is meant to do might help.>

<Hmm.  I'll try that, then.>

<Good luck.  I think I'm going to go wait for Conk today.>

He waved at her as he walked away, wishing her luck in her endeavors.  He made a quick trip over to the closest web to pick up another bug and then sat near where Conk was for the rest of the morning as he worked on improving his psychic capabilities.  It was just as he heard through the link that Claw was back with lunch that Conk's shell split down the back with a loud cracking noise and her eyes opened.  As she stood up and to get clear of her old shell and stretch, Jelin smiled.