Opal continued staring at the human. When it didn’t wake up or move, other than to squeak out strange murmurs, Opal continued staring. This was normal. She stared at things often. She had five eyes, after all, and none of them blinked. So she settled, and she watched. She felt a connection to the large thing, yes, and it had shown that it was no threat to her, even when she tested it by gripping its shoulder far tighter than was necessary to maintain her grip. But it… he? Opal was not sure how she knew that. He had some kind of molt in his thinking, but the effort wore him out.

That was normal, too. Molting was hard. He didn’t even climb to a safe high place before doing it! He was too big to hide and too stupid to have claws. Opal didn’t understand why she cared about the human, or even how to quantify the emotion of caring about something that was not her, but… she did. She stared at her stupid human.

He moved! She stared at him, ready for any sudden movement. He didn’t move, but she was ready for it. She knew that when he did move she would have to be fast to make sure he didn’t leave her behind or try to eat her on pure instinct. She stared long enough that she actually felt restless.

Opal crawled over the ceiling towards the basin and then hopped down to the wall, scurrying to the basin. It did not look like it had any predators or fish in the water, though she wasn’t sure what kind of monster a fish might be. She didn’t like to drink water like this. It left her exposed, but there wasn’t any dew on the walls for her to drink. She leaned over and stuck her mandibles by the water, slowly drawing it into her body. She kept her eyes on Robin the entire time.

After she had imbibed her fill, Opal decided that it might be better to stand on the human. She could keep a better eye on him that way.

*****

Robin felt Opal in his mind before he felt the pinches on his chest and stomach. She felt...curious, and he could feel that her attention was on him. He read and dismissed the notifications. An artset, huh? That was a definite success. It seemed related to Solar Savior Silver, too! Better upgrade that to a massive success. Robin pulled up his stats menu. Everything seemed the same, and his PHSTAM and MENSTAM were back to full. He flexed his fingers and slowly sat up, hoping Opal would get the idea.

She did not. She remained clinging to his stomach as he slowly stood, standing exactly as she would on the ground or while hanging upside down from the ceiling. She stared at him. She seems a little washed out… maybe she’s getting ready to molt! Oh man, should I stay in here for that…?

Robin knew how vulnerable mantises were while they were molting. They had to climb out of their old skin and then wait for their new skin to harden in the air. Until it did, they were squishy and far too bendable. If they were forced to run in this state, their limbs could bend and harden into the bent shapes. This was almost always a death sentence for the mantis in the wild, and usually in captivity, as well. Robin had been well-versed on mantis care in one of the many training courses before he was allowed to come to this remote facility.

Not that he had needed it.

Robin did his best imitation of a “big brother” voice and said, “Opal, will you hop on the cabinet while I do some more stuff?” He pointed at the cabinet hopefully. He approached it slowly, still holding his arm out to point.

Opal stared at him. Robin sighed.

Everything in the Ysari System seems to focus on willpower for activation. He focused on the cabinet, and tried to will Opal there. After a moment, Opal twisted her head to look at the cabinet. She reached her foreclaws out like a toddler towards the cabinet. Robin held in a giggle. She was surprisingly cute. He stepped a little closer to the cabinet and she touched it with her foreclaws, trying to get a grip. Robin stepped closer and she hopped fully over.

“I better not encourage that, or you’re gonna get lazy!”

Opal climbed to the top of the cabinet and turned to stare at him. Robin focused on the connection between them, and it felt ...okay. Robin supposed that the best way he could relate the the emotion she radiated was the same tension that he had felt when playing a competitive multiplayer game, when the stakes of pride and honor had been high. There was no real danger, but he had still felt tense and adrenaline-filled, wary-but-not-afraid of every corner and shadow. Opal felt similar. She’s a predator. Being relaxed isn’t really in her nature.

Robin spoke conversationally to Opal as he sat down beside the toilet seat on the floor. He peeled back the labcoat, untucked his shirt, and then took off his belt. It’s a nice belt, Robin reflected. I wonder if that will make a difference. It was a leather belt, old and worn. Robin wasn’t sure what kind of leather it was, or what animal it had come from, but it was the one physical thing he had from his namesake, his paternal grandfather (never “grandpa”). Grandfather Robin had been what Robin’s mother called a “helicopter hunter”, a massively obese mountain of a man, and he had probably made the belt himself. When given it as a gift, Robin treasured it, and wore it everywhere he was able, even though it was still far too big and he had to loop it almost 4 and a half times. His father had always acted like a different man when his grandfather was around... Robin looked at the dark grey, deeply wrinkled leather of the belt, running his hands through the wrinkles.

Robin shook the face of his grandfather from his mind. He looped the belt through the cheap, light metal from which the buckle was made and looped it over the tip of one of the curves of the toilet seat. He tightened the belt, cranking it down as hard as he could. Robin knew he had no chance of accidentally breaking the belt. He had used it to make a swinging-rope for the creek by his father’s house in the past. Robin inspected his work and stood up.

“See this, Opal? I call it the…”

Opal stared at him. She was not bothered by his sudden silence.

“...Horseshoe Whip! I call it the Horseshoe Whip! You can use it to make secret rescues. Like, if someone falls off the boat and there are sharks swimming around the boat, you can throw this to them, it’ll make them invisible...” Robin paused. He sighed. He laid down the seat the right-way-up on the ground, and then sat down on it.

Opal moved in a burst towards the ceiling, hopping from the cabinet straight to the ceiling, twisting as she went. Robin stood up quickly. Opal froze for a half-second and then began dancing. Robin burst into laughter.

“I’m sorry, Opal! I just needed to see if it would work.” He concentrated on happy thoughts, and soon, Opal slowed her dancing. Robin could feel her returning to her normal state, the sudden disappearance of her bonded human fading from her concerns. Her dancing ceased after a moment, and Robin smiled at her. “Okay, where was I?”

“Okay, I call it the Horseshoe Whip. You can use it to make secret rescues. What is a secret rescue? Well, sharks, I’m glad you asked!” Robin cringed to himself, but the formula was easy to remember and imitate. His father had watched it all the time. “I bet some of my ideas would sell for a sweet million. I should write them with one of my ideas.” Robin powered through the distracting thoughts and continued.

“If someone has fallen off of a boat into shark-infested waters, you can throw this to them, rendering them invisible to the sharks, and then pull them out in much greater safety and style!” Robin near-shouted, slightly out of breath. “You could use this to watch wildlife, sitting on it after tying it to a tree! In fact, if you tied it to…” A text notification had appeared. Robin smiled. This was exactly the result he was hoping for.