She slowly emerged from the shadows, observing. Her mandibles clicked—sharp, stuttering sounds like teeth chattering out of sync. Her limbs jerked as she stepped into view, one shoulder rising higher than the other like a marionette pulled by uneven strings.

Her head twitched sideways. Antennae twitched faster.

“Hello,” she said, voice airy and fragmented, like a glitched music box. “I saw you. You moved. So I came.”

She scuttled forward abruptly—too fast—then stopped just as suddenly, cocking her head back the other way. One eye flickered brighter than the other. “Do you have anything shiny?” she asked, tone lilting like a sing-song dare. “Or soft. Or dead.”