Robin stared at the box in front of his eyes, slowly panting. He felt better already, actually, now that he considered it. He seemed to be catching his breath much faster than he should have been from how hard he was running. There might be something to the “Rest Room” after all. Robin willed the box to disappear, feeling rather smugly old-hand about the process.

Robin slowly walked forward, away from the door, and slowly bent over, lowering the fire extinguisher to the ground. The mantis adjusted grip slightly, staring at Robin with oval-shaped eyes the entire time. As Robin completely sat the red can down and backed away, the mantis scuttled to the top of the can in a burst of motion and reached out with its claws towards Robin. Robin hurried backwards, taking care not to fall on the stone like he did the last few times he backed up too fast.

The mantis didn’t seem aggressive. If anything, it seemed almost infantile in the way it was reaching up with its foreclaws, like a toddler wanting to be picked up by parents. Robin’s eyebrow twitched. The darn thing just wanted to be on the tallest thing in the room, and it had already established that Robin wasn’t a threat. Well, at least it wasn’t going to attack him intentionally.

...probably...

Robin took a deep breath. The Rest Room wasn’t the same as the restroom he remembered, in the same way that the Tropical Forest Mantid Room had changed but remained familiar. To begin with, the toilets still existed, but they looked like they were made out of some kind of white stone. The partitions between the toilets were completely gone. Where the partition had been, though, was a series of faintly glowing runes in a vertical line where the partition had been placed against the wall. They kind of reminded Robin of the Pokémon Unown. The toilet lid (which also looked to be made of the white stone) had similar runes going around the side. The row of sinks were gone, but there was a single copper basin set into the wall. It looked like it had water already in the basin, though Robin couldn’t see any drain. Gross. So one person could wash their hands in clean water, and… then what?

The room was larger than it had been. Before, it had been a small, 3-toilet facility restroom of the standard type, devoid of any creature comforts. Now, it was a large stone room with three exposed toilets, a weird copper basin that Robin wasn’t planning on trusting, and a couple of cabinets that were used to store extra toilet paper, cleaning supplies, gloves, and the like.

Okay… This is happening. I missed the promo already. I bet people have already completely dissected it frame-by-frame. Why are you thinking about the promo when there is a giant orchid mantis staring at you? Were there ever any mantises in Solar Savior Silver? Robin couldn’t remember any. The only mantis that was coming to mind was Zorak, and that wasn’t even the right show.

Robin felt himself panicking again, and took a moment to consciously breathe. He opened up his menu again, this time focusing on skills.

Skills Level Learning 5 Perception 4 Bug Taming 1

Although the actual scratches had closed, Robin felt his scalp twinge in sympathy pain as he read the words in the box. Bug taming? Was this thing supposed to be a pet?

He stared at the mantis.

The mantis stared at him.

Robin sighed. Without shifting its gaze in the slightest, the mantis jumped directly at him, flipping through the air to land with all four legs immediately grasping his stomach area. Even as Robin tried to back away, the vivid pink mantis scurried up to his shoulder, and then leapt directly upwards to the ceiling, where it clung, staring down at him.

Robin calmed his breathing. Man, was he getting tired of things jumping at him. He hoped that wouldn’t continue in the future. It might have been easier to get out of the way if he would have thought of dismissing the box first, he thought, feeling embarrassed for his earlier smugness, and then embarrassed because he was embarrassed when no one could see him, and…

Robin calmed his breathing. Why did the museum make him leave his anxiety medication in the infirmary? It was a “take as needed” medication, and he was old enough to make his own choices! He refocused his attention on his skills again. Robin froze. There was something new.

Skills Level Learning 5 Perception 4 Bug Taming 1 Delay Reaction 2 Delay Reaction You may delay an effect, good or ill, for a duration of no longer than 1 minute/skill level. All delayed effects will occur in full at the end of the duration. Your entire person may be affected, or outside effects with a size of no larger than 1 cubic foot/skill level. Effects with a higher level than the skill will reduce the duration of the delay by 1% per level difference.

That was odd. Robin tried to will it to activate, just like he willed the boxes to appear.

Robin immediately felt his anxiety disappear. It was like he had no fear, just caution and knowledge. He looked around the room confidently. The mantis wasn’t going anywhere, it seemed, so this would be a good time to inspect his surroundings. He went over to the basin first. It looked like a normal copper basin, hammer dings, the kind that you saw in a rich person’s house who was trying the “farmhouse chic” look in decorating. The water in it looked clean and fresh, though, so Robin took a moment to wash the dirt from the floor off of his hands. The water was colder than he expected, but despite that and the lack of soap, the filth came off easily, settling to the bottom of the basin. Robin looked at his hands. They felt… clean. Extremely clean, scrubbed them with an exfoliating brush-clean. He looked at the filthy film he had washed off of his hands. It was gone, and the water looked as pure as it had at the beginning. Robin felt a small smile creep across his face.

This was magic!

Robin took a sip, cupping his hands together to drink from the basin. It tasted like normal purified spring water! Robin drank more, before deciding to go and inspect the contents of the cabinet. He walked over to the cabinet. Had it always been made of wood? Wasn’t it one of those cheap plastic shelves before? He wasn’t concerned. Robin reached out to yank the cabinet open when suddenly a wall of mental noise hit him.

Why was he doing this? Mantises will eat you. Do you really think extra toilet paper will help you? Nothing can help you. Why wasn’t he running for help? You can’t run. Why didn’t he try calling for help!? Who could help you here? What kind of idiot just runs away, turning his back to a bunch of predators? Mantises will eat you. Your friends would have done better. Mantises will eat them, too. Almost anyone would have done better being stuck in this situation than you. Mantises will eat everyone. Robin saw his father, yelling, the noise permeating the walls. Robin knew he was right, he had always been the worst at avoiding being eaten, he had no hope of…

The mental noise passed. Robin found himself in the fetal position on the floor. Robin sat up from the floor, blinking. What was that!? Was that two minutes worth of anxiety and fear? Robin told himself that he would never use the skill like that again. Robin stood up completely, dusting himself off. The mantis stared at him from the ceiling. Robin checked his skills box, and sure enough, the skill had leveled up to 3. But… It also looked different than it last had. There were 12 spaces now, with Learning, Perception, Bug Taming, and Delay Response taking up four places. Was there a limit...?

Skills Level Learning 5 Perception 4 Bug Taming 1 Delay Reaction 3

No point in worrying about it right now, he decided. Robin dismissed the box and reached back out to open the cabinet.

The cabinet was definitely made of a more solid material than it last had been. The cheap lock that had been added to it (and never actually used, just left dangling in a perpetually unlocked state) was still present on the thick wooden door it had become. It looked comically insufficient on the oaken monstrosity. The cabinet swung open easily enough. Robin’s eyes widened as he saw the contents. This would do. This would do quite well.