Chapter 1 : Morning
Fiona had a thin grimace on her face as she stood at the edge of the archway that led into the front siting room. Gazing into the room, her eyes narrowed in suspicion as her ears slowly pointed themselves straight back.
Situated in the far back corner of the room sat the subject of her attention, a motionless Tessa.
Although the mantis had been offered a room of her own, she had decided of her own accord to take up residence in this room instead. And was currently sitting cross-legged atop a large round, deep brown colored beanbag-like backless cushioned chair.
Originally a table had been placed in this corner and that was where Tessa had first set up her new home base. By gathering together many of the large potted plants from around the room, and setting them up around this table, she had built herself a nice, dense little jungle to sleep in.
Amused by this, Anton had bought her the cushioned chair to use instead of the table and she took to it immediately. And now content with being surrounded by her little indoor wilderness, she refused any and all of Mica's or the dark elves efforts to move her to her own more traditional room.
"What are you doing?" asked Mica as she came up beside Fiona.
"...Watching the bug." mumbled Fiona in a hushed tone.
"Why? What is she doing?" whispered Mica as she peeked around the corner.
"Nothing. That's the problem. She's not even moving at all." said Fiona in her same soft tone "She's just sitting there. Completely still."
"...That's because she's still sleeping." grumbled Mica as she took on an annoyed expression.
"It's like she's a statue. Can't even tell if she's breathing..." continued Fiona "It's so creepy... We need to get rid of her!"
"You're an idiot..." sighed Mica as she flicked at the tip of Fiona's ear with a loop of her tail.
"Ow! Dammit! Will you quit doing that!" growled Fiona.
"Nope." said Mica smugly as she stepped around her and made her way over to the sleeping mantis.
Although it had only been a week that Tessa had now been living in the house, a marked difference could already be seen in her condition and demeanor. As she had not only begun to put on a bit of much needed weight, but she had obviously become quite comfortable around her new companions as well. This didn't happen immediately though, as for the first few days after her arrival she had remained overly alert to everything that was happening around her at all times, and no one had noticed her ever actually going to sleep or even relaxing in anyway. This soon changed however, due primarily to Anton reining in both Kianna and Mica who, while well meaning in their efforts, were clearly smothering the poor mantis with attention. This went so far as them not even wanting to let her go outside for fear that she may wander off and become lost.
Once she was given a bit of space though, Tessa began to behave more naturally and it quickly became apparent just how different from other people she really was. And one of the first realizations that was made in this way, was that the reason she wasn't sleeping was because she apparently wasn't comfortable with being made to lay down in a bed. Instead, when left to her own devices, she slept in a rigid upright state either while standing or, more often than not, while sitting down in a cross-legged almost meditative-like stance with her head lightly bowed and her four arms folded up in her lap, just as how she was currently positioned right now.
Another thing she really did not appreciate was being in a room with the door closed, this unfortunately included the bathroom, and this was more than likely the reason she preferred the open sitting room to any of the empty bedrooms upstairs.
But despite those rocky first few days full of misunderstandings, and once she was finally given a bit of freedom to do things her own way, Tessa now seemed to feel safe and happy enough in the house to regularly let her guard down and sleep in her strange manner.
Despite the fact that she was sitting upright, Mica could still tell that Tessa was indeed asleep due not only to her main eyes being closed, but also because when sleeping, her large insectoid eyes would take on a darkened appearance as she apparently shifted the many tiny lenses inside them inwards so that they were technically facing themselves. In this way they wouldn't pick up on any movement around her and were thus essentially closed.
Stopping just in front of the mantis, Mica slowly waved her tail back and forth over Tessa's head, right above her antennae. Having learned it was best not to startle the mantis by touching her while she was asleep, she and the others would instead use this method to wake her up by dousing her with a fresh wave of their scent.
Within moments Tessa's antennae began to rise upwards and wave themselves back and forth as she began to stir.
Yawning softly, Tessa kept her main eyes closed while her insectoid eyes brightened in a wave of color as the lens inside them shifted themselves outwards and became focused on Mica.
"Morning, sleepyhead." said Mica with a smile "Ready to start the day?"
Tessa was still for a moment before she flicked her antennae back in a dismissive manner and darkened her eyes up again as she blatantly made to go back to sleep.
"Wha, hey! C'mon now, it's time to get up!" exclaimed Mica as she used the broad side of her spade to tap on the mantis' head between her antennae.
Annoyed now, Tessa scrunched up her main eyes before opening them up just enough to glare at the kiochi.
"You know, if you go back to sleep you're going to miss breakfast." warned Mica with a grin "So you better get up if you wanna eat!"
Tessa remained still for a moment before unfolding her middle set of arms from her lap and using them to pat at her bent knees.
"No, I'm not bringing you a plate." said Mica as her grin broadened "If you don't get up now then you're going to go hungry."
Despite the fact that her facial expression never changed, it was still easy to tell that the mantis was now pouting as she folded both sets of her arms over her chest and middle in protest.
"Get as upset as you want to!" laughed Mica "It's not gonna change anything! If you stay in here, then you're not gonna eat!"
A thin, groan-like whine began to emanate out from the mantis as she vibrated her wings in annoyance.
"What's going on?" asked Kianna as she came around the corner and stopped next to Fiona "Why is Tessa buzzing?"
"Because Mica is trying to get her to get out of bed, and she doesn't want to." answered Fiona "Apparently she's still tired."
"Hmph, well if she didn't stay up so late chasing varmints, she wouldn't be so tired in the morning..." mumbled Kianna as she stepped into the room "Anyways. Guess what, Tessa! I've got a surprise for you!"
Turning to her, Tessa's eyes brightened once again as she flicked her antennae forward in intrigue.
"Check it out!" cried Kianna as she pulled a light green tank top out from behind her back and held it up in front of the mantis "Its the same color as you! So when you wear it, you'll still be-!"
The dark elf stopped sort with a sigh as the tank top was suddenly sliced in half, right down its middle.
"Seriously!? C'mon, Tessa!" said Kianna as she held onto the two halves of the destroyed tank top and planted her balled fists on her hips "You can't just run around naked forever!"
Folding her scythe away, Tessa crossed her arms back into place over her chest and middle before closing her eyes and turning her head away with an implied huff.
"...Honestly. How does a mute mantis even manage to pull off sass like that?" sighed Kianna as she narrowed her eyes "Who even taught you how to act like that?...Was it Master!?"
"Why do you care so much if she wears clothes or not? It's not like you can even see her goody bits anyway." said Fiona as she leaned her shoulder against the door frame "I mean really, if you didn't know any better you couldn't even tell she was naked."
"Yeah, but if you did know better you could!" countered Kianna "Like if another mantis saw her they would definitely know."
"...Okay, sure." said Fiona with a shrug "What are the chances of her running into another mantis around here though? Slim to none, I bet. Honestly, I say if she wants to be naked then just let her be naked. Who cares?"
"Yeah... Normally I would agree." sighed Kianna "But later today we're going back to Mr. Mokai's. And we can't take Tessa with us if she's naked!"
"Why not? That spider is another big bug after all." said Fiona "Maybe he'll enjoy the show?"
"Master Mokai isn't like that! He's an honest, happily married spider!" exclaimed Mica "He wouldn't appreciate such disrespectful behavior! And also, Isabella will probably be there too. So yeah, Tessa definitely needs to be dressed."
"...Okay, I'll give you the Isabella point. But the rest of that is nothing but wishful thinking on your part." said Fiona before turning her attention back to Kianna "Maybe if we show her other mantises wearing clothes, she'd be more willing to try it too?"
"...Oh, that's a good idea!" said Kianna as she immediately reached back for her phone.
Seemingly ignoring the conversation taking place around her, Tessa yawned again before glancing at the phone that Kianna was now holding up in front of her.
"Take a look at this, Tessa." said Kianna as she pointed at the images on her phone "See! These weremantises aren't exactly the same kind as you are, but they are all wearing clothes. And they look good with them on too. You could be just like them!"
Apparently intrigued, Tessa leaned closer and focused all her eyes on the screen in front of her. After a moment of staring, she flicked her antennae forward and began to use the tip of one of them like a finger to scroll down and expose more images.
With Tessa taking her time examining each and every picture, it wasn't long before Kianna's arm began to tire from holding out the phone. And when she finally began to droop from the strain, Tessa reached up with one of her middle arms and repositioned Kianna's limb back in its original place.
"Okay. Tessa, sweety." started Kianna as she shifted her shoulder from side to side "I can't just hold this up for you forev-!"
Pointing her ears straight upwards in surprise, the dark elf stopped short before narrowing her eyes in annoyance as a still preoccupied Tessa absently reached up and pressed two of her fingers against Kianna's lips to silence her.
"...Why you rude little brat!" grumbled Kianna as she pointed her ears straight back in full on irritation "How dare you!"
"Ha! Looks like she showed you who's the boss around here!" laughed Fiona as Mica chuckled in agreement.
"Hey. What's going on in here?" asked Anton as he came up from behind Fiona.
"Kianna's trying to convince Tessa to wear clothes, and it's not going too well." chuckled Fiona.
"Ah, I see." nodded Anton "Yeah, that does sound like a challenge."
