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Kondraki leaned back in his chair as he flipped through the recent photos on his camera. It was once again time to delete all the bad shots before he went and printed out the rest of them. Throughout his years as a photographer, Kondraki had found many types of bad photos: blurry shots, pictures with a poor composition, and (his personal favorite type of bad photo) ones where any number of his coworkers interrupted the shot and ruined an otherwise fine photo. These could be salvageable if the presence of the intruders in the frame didn't distract from the focus. And unfortunately, some of his coworkers were extremely distracting when on camera.
Kondraki glanced over at the man sitting across from him. Clef was busy minding his own business, typing on a large clunky laptop. "Hey Clef, why does your head always look like a tarantula in photos?" Kondraki asked. "I mean, I know why, but why a tarantula specifically?"
Clef glared up at him. "Why exactly do you have photos of me, Konny dear?"
He rolled his eyes. "Chill out Al. They aren't pictures of you, per say. You just happen to be in them."
"Ah, okay." Clef dropped his accusatory tone. "Uhhh, I dunno, I just like them, I guess. They're scary and-"
"I wouldn't call them scary." Kondraki mumbled, cutting the other man off.
"Of course you, the guy who studied bugs his whole life, doesn't have any problem with them." He scoffed.
"There are tons of people who aren't afraid of spiders or tarantulas! That's not just a me thing." Kondraki sighed and mumbled underneath his breath. "And they aren't really bugs either."
Clef grumbled. "Konny, y'know, you're a difficult person to talk to."
"This is the one thing I'm all that difficult about." He sighed. "But, sorry, I guess, you can go back to telling me whatever you like about tarantulas."
Clef leaned towards him. "No, no, no. I never get to hear you go all Mr. Know-It-All on someone. 'Cause I just think they're cool. You clearly have more to say."
"Alright, fine, whatever," Kondraki leaned back, rubbing his hand along his jaw. "Hmm... The tarantula... It is a bit of a freaky looking creature, with all its eyes and those big fangs. But most species aren't that dangerous. The ones native over here in the Americas aren't super aggressive and there's only a few that have really dangerous venom. It isn't an animal that wants to start fights with anything much larger than itself. It prefers to threaten and scare things away before it gets into danger. It can be a quite vulnerable animal at times too. Whenever it molts and loses its exoskeleton, it's left entirely defenseless as even its fangs are too soft to do any damage..."
"It's said all the time for a reason, but they are more afraid of us than we are of them." Kondraki ended his ramble with a smile. "They're cute little critters. I think it's a fitting animal for you."
Clef blinked at him. "...I see."
Kondraki cocked his head. "Ah, did I say something weird?"
Clef waved his hand through the air. "No, you're fine. I... I like hearing you talk about the things you're passionate about. I was just thinking about what you were saying."
Kondraki awkwardly smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I'm always happy to talk to you Al."