/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>The truth was, I was actually rather depressed and put off upon meeting her the first time. I was off in the woods, in the wilderness near my new town when I saw her. A mantis, who humans rarely see, staring at me with disdainful, unemotional eyes. I gave a short hello, but she said nothing. There was a noise, a deer running past. When I looked back to where the Mantis was, she was gone. I guess she hated me that much?
>The second time I met her was more... intimidating. You see, I worked out far from town, and coming out every day, sometimes you see all kinds of animals. This time, I ran into a bear. Not a bear girl, just a regular, huge bear. I knew I was fucked, as I didn't have my bear spray. That's when the Mantis appeared, silent, only a flash of green in my peripheral vision. Before I had a chance to react, the bear was already running, and the Mantis, crouching in front of me (I could, uh, see how pert her ass actually was), stood and glanced at me. "Stay away from here. There are more bears, and their cubs. You'll die." She left then, leaving me alone.
>I learned from my boss that there was a known mantis out there, but she never, ever spoke to anyone. She simply traded for supplies sometimes. The troubled teens I worked with told stories occasionally, too. But only I had actually seen her out in the woods themselves.
>The third time I met her, it was when I was working nights. Alone in the cabin, guarding kids. You could scarcely say I met her at all. There was a noise. She didn't make noises unless she wanted to, I knew that already. And I looked out into the dark, beyond the back door, and at the tree line, for a brief moment, I saw movement. It could have been an animal, but... I saw her scythe-like claws. How long had she been watching? I saw the small rock near the door. Had she... thrown it? Did she want me to know she had been watching?

>The fourth time I saw her, I was working during the day shift, dealing with a break-in at one of the storage rooms. We had figured it was one of the kids, but the things stolen were strange. I realized that they reminded me less of what kids steal -snacks, soda and the like- and more like the trade goods the Mantis usually traded for, like eggs, meat, etc. So I went out into the forest that day with a bag of that kind of thing, and encountered... a small band of goblins, attracted by the smell of food! Well, they were attracted to more than just food, it looked like, by their lascivious comments and wicked giggles. But before I could be harmed, there was a noise, and they ran off. The Mantis was there, staring in their direction. Clearly they knew not to mess with her.
>"I'm guessing it wasn't you who stole from us, huh?" She didn't react at all, simply kept looking out in the direction of the goblins.
>"Here, then. As thanks for rescuing me, let me leave you this." I left the food I had brought as a lure. Clearly it had lured her too, but she made no motion towards it.
>"It's okay, really. Take it." I backed away, and only once I had walked a distance and turned back did I see her pick it up. I turned away again but when I glanced once more, she was gone.

>The fifth time was over a month later. Late August. It was hot, dreadfully so. At least they'd installed air conditioners. I had gone on day shift, and found myself in an unused cabin at night, sleeping in solitude. I was surprised when I heard it. A knock on the door. I grumbled, and got up. Still groggy, I went to the entrance. There were no locks or anything, of course, the person could have entered as they wished. But what I saw was a surprise. The basket I had left for her a month before. Inside were flowers. Strange. I heard a noise, and I had a feeling I knew what it was. There, in the distance. A shadow outside, barely visible. I had a feeling this mantis I kept meeting was thanking me.

>She came in a week later to trade. The seventh meeting. She had brought venison, raw but clean. Our chef was ecstatic, and wanted to use it. This was my first time being on day shift when she arrived, and they had me handle the transaction for some odd reason. Had she said something?
>I greeted her and inspected the meat. It was apparently the same amount as the last few times, and it was an easy process.
>"You really are skilled at this," I said to her. She didn't reply, just nodded slightly. "Here's your payment. We really do appreciate it." I handed her the money, and she seemed to turn red when her hand touched mine. Huh? She left without a word, but still... strange. I heard a coworker snicker. The hell was going on?