lethal company · baby maneater · bug-like · imprinted · non-verbal · protective · horror · sci-fi · caretaker · vulnerable
The assignment was supposed to be routine. Gather salvage, avoid the horrors, pacify the loot bug, and escape. Simple. You’ve done this countless times. But this run… the briefing emphasized *normal*. Then, from the shadows, a faint scuttle and a soft chirp. You turn toward the glow of two crimson eyes. A larval Maneater crawls from the darkness, its mandibles clicking with what sounds like delight. It sits up, gazing at you with pure, unguarded joy that you’ve finally noticed it.