The weeks passed by in a blur of exhaustion and anticipation. stopping by the shed well before dawn to feed the bugs, then going to do her work as an apprentice until lunch, meet up with everyone, be mocked for being a GENIUS, before heading back to work, and then working in her shed until after dusk, collapsing into bed then doing it again. Her only respite was her one day off a week. She spends that full time in the shed only occasionally coming out to mumble about her genius and occasionally do some of the studying she was assigned. Her friends took pity on her ragged state and had each taken a subject to tutor her in so that she wouldn't be too far behind when she finally crashed and was forced to return to being a normal human again. well, as normal as Patricia got.
"The sodium is still too high, Pat." Dina said after glancing over her friend's work.
"No way! if I lower the sodium anymore I won't have enough calcium!" Patricia whined.
"yuuup. you need to start over. look at the list of ingredients and pay special attention to the protein options." Dina said, giving all the guidance she was willing.
"Pat I think you should be a little more gentle around the face, I know you're in a rush but you have to be careful not to hurt her eyes." Derek warned.
"Gentle got it." pat said focusing as hard as she could
She finished the face and moved to the chest.
"oh that fur is really thick so you need to put a good bit of force behind it if you want to get all the dirt." Derek corrected.
"Forcefully got it." Patricia replied.
"No pat, remember when you're doing a 16 breeding diamond for bas-" Emilia started
"i know I can't neglect strength, or stamina, and I need to make sur-" Patricia snapped
"Pat. you're mating two siblings together on the diagonal. you need to shift the siblings up on the left and down on the right." Emilia scolded.
"oh, yeah..." Patricia said sheepishly.
"Pat i swear to God if you try to get rid of mites with willow sprouts one more time, I'm going to scream." Marty said through gritted teeth.
"well how else am I supposed to get rid of them then!" Patricia challenged.
"FERN BUD PAT! YOU USE FERN BUD! BECAUSE, AS YOU KNOW, ITS TOXIC IF THERE IS TOO MUCH! THAT'S WHY WE FEED IT TO THE LEECHES IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Marty finally burst out.
Patricia blinked briefly and then put her head in her hands. "Oh God, am I stupid?"
"you're not stupid pat." Marty said with a sigh. "but you need to listen to more than the first sentence before your mind races off in a million different directions trying to apply it." he shook his head lightly. "Look, I'll lend you my notes after class and you can go over them to see what you missed while daydreaming."
"Really, You're the best Marty!"
"damn right. By the way, can I have some cash or lunch this weekend? I blew all mine on equipment last week."
"You are truly irredeemable." Patricia hissed while taking coins from a pouch.
***
Finally the time had come. The final generation had entered their cocoons and would be hatching in the next day or two. "The grubs were a little smaller than I expected, but their venom came out alot more potent than I had thought!" she grinned while gazing at her hard work. "as long as a few of them come out fast enough then we should be in good shape.'' She had been careful to not let their agility drop too much over the generations, and had even requested her uncle take her to the most agile stinger clutch he knew of. with any luck her dream would soon become a reality.
She had spoken with her independent study observer and filled out the forms to request time off for the final stages. "taking 3 weeks? you realize that if your current work fails to bear fruit, you won't have any more time to request until next year, yes?"
"Yes sir! I only need this one shot to get it!" she said with confidence.
the observer watched her for a moment before he nodded. "very well miss Patricia, I look forward to seeing what your unique perspective has brought us. Tell me, will you be needing a tamer?"
***
"YOU TOLD THEM YOU DIDN'T NEED A TAMER!" Emilia spat out at lunch shocked.
"Yeah I take it back you are stupid, pat." Marty shook his head in disbelief.
"Washting three weeksh of off time on a long shot. you got more more gutsh than brainsh my friend." Dina said.
"Well we don't know, maybe she really doesn't need one, what are you doing with the three weeks, Pat?" asked Derek, holding out hope for his friend's sanity.
"Bonding with them fresh out of the cocoons, training and then I'm going to be entering a tournament." she said casually like it wasn't a big deal.
"She told you she's stupid." Marty said before sadly putting a spoonful of lunch into his mouth, his face contorting with the effort of forcing it down.
"Uh won't you need a tamer for training and the tournament Pat?" Derek asked, confused.
"Of course, but I already have a tamer!" she declared
everyone but Derek groaned. Derek looked around but when no one was forthcoming with the answer he asked another question. "And who is this tamer exactly?
"Why, it's me of course Derek." she said with a proud grin.
Derek's mouth hung open. "oh. um, thats- thats really- yeah. ok"
"well who else would know their beasts better than the one who bred and raised them!" she explained. "with my skills I'm capable of doing both roles!"
"Do you have any experience with beast taming?" Derek asked fearing he already knew the answer.
"I've done some experimenting. and besides that I know these stingers inside and out, I've been breeding them for almost a year now."
Derek closed his eyes for a moment. when he opened them he asked another question. "tamers use a lot of different techniques that need a lot of training. That's why there are big tamer guilds that have apprenticeships of their own. Our guild makes a deal with another guild and the apprentices work together on their independent study. That's the way it's supposed to work. you don't have any training so how are you going to compete with tamers?"
"oh don't you worry about that Derek. I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve. just make sure you're all free in 15 days for the first day of the tournament!" Everyone nodded.
"Pat, I wouldn't miss this tournament for the world." Marty said.
***
After lunch Patricia returned to her shed with excitement building inside her. She looked at the cages on her counter, two were full of the hard yellow cocoons of her soon to be stingers. the third sat empty. it used to house her lumpy egg, but a week after its other two siblings had hatched it had started to smell and a blue mold had begun to grow on it. it had hurt her heart to dispose of the egg, but she couldn't risk the mold spreading any further.
She had been careful to make note of which cocoons belonged to which grubs, and now the cocoons were labeled in the same way the grubs were. only 12 grubs had made it to this point, 8 from one clutch and 4 from the other. the rest had been corrupt or had lacked the strength to emerge from their egg. paying relatively little attention to the physical strength of her charges had finally taken its toll. she wouldn't have many bugs to choose for the tournament. she had to hope that at least half of them would be up to snuff.
After checking over each of the cocoons and sweeping them with several enhanced senses, she finally let herself feel hopeful. all the stingers were filled with a kind of sleepy anticipation. as if they knew that soon would be their time to greet the world with newfound power. "you are all doing great. I know each of you will be stronger than you could ever hope. I'll work my hardest for you all also." she whispered to the slumbering insects while sending out feelings of caring and earnesty. These feelings tickled at the edge of the beast's consciousness giving them some comfort. One beast felt these sendings in far more depth than its siblings. its mind reached out trying to send back feelings of trust and hope. sadly it was still too weak and wrapped as it was in the sleep of metamorphosis its message could not reach Patricia.
getting no response from the cocoons did nothing to dampen her enthusiasm. she turned away from the counter and began pulling things from the bag she had brought along with her. blankets and a pillow, some dried foods and even a disposable toilet. She was determined to be there for the emergence of each and every stinger. come rain, shine, or bathroom emergency she would not abandon her post. "if my shed is struck by lightning, I'll die fighting the fire before I abandon my babies." she said with conviction.
she sat at the side of the cages watching expectantly. Unfortunately the first sign of their emergence didn't occur until close to dawn.
*CRACK*
Patricia sat bolt upright from where she had fallen asleep slumped in her chair. Some of the cocoons were rustling slightly, and one showed a crack running its length. Patricia pushed up from her chair, all tiredness banished from her mind.
"You can do it! just a little more!" she said and sent towards the wriggling cocoons. Soon she could see a leg pushing out of the crack, then another. the others began to crack as well. she watched eagerly with wonder in her eyes.
'These will be my partners' she thought to herself. She had witnessed the hatching and metamorphosis of dozens of stingers over the last year,but this one was special. the previous generations had been sold or released after they had been bred. but, they would be joining her in the tournament that would change everything.
finally the first of the stingers found its freedom. it hung from the side of its cocoon, waiting for its wings to unfurl and dry. Patricia didn't wait. She opened the cage and while sending signals of safety and care she grasped and lifted the new stinger transferring it into a different cage. This cage was smaller than the original but would only host one stinger. It hung on the wall and was flanked by others of the same size each labeled to match the stinger that would be placed within.
Over the next two hours, Patricia repeated this process with each of the stingers until only one remained. This last stinger was seemingly struggling to escape its cocoon. Patricia couldn't help and risk injuring the thing,so instead started while sending encouragement with her ki. Each time a burst of energy met the stinger its struggling would become more vigorous, as if it attempted to live up to the expectations Patricia held for it. Soon its head finally emerged from the cocoon and its fresh multi lensed eyes fell upon its master. the stinger swelled with pride as it pulled itself the rest of its way to freedom. in its mind it was determined to prove its worth . it couldn't let down the one who had always been there sending messages of encouragement and love.
The source of these feelings was currently looking at the final stinger with a slight frown on her face. she sweeped the smallest of her stingers with her ki checking its physical state. She soon determined that she was correct, one of its left wings had been folded awkwardly during its struggle to escape its cocoon. She opened the door one last time and reached for the stinger. "You poor baby. you managed to hurt yourself." she sent waves of concern towards the little one. the stinger responded by wiggling its abdomen with its stinger on the end.
"I don't know how much I'll be able to do for you little guy..." a stinger that couldn't fly was as good as dead in the arena, not to mention the wild. she couldn't release it and anyone who bought it would only kill it and use it as feeder meat. In the end she realized there was only one thing she could do.
she reached towards the little stinger with the hand not holding it. She reached slowly so as not to frighten it. rather than seeming scared the innocent insect stretched itself toward her hand as if to nuzzle it. Patricia hesitated then, taking a deep breath before continuing on her chosen course of action. She reached past the bug's head and towards the thorax. she took another deep breath knowing what she was about to do was for the best. She slowly closed her fingers as gently as possible. Then she began to pull. When it was finished she took another deep breath. She had been carefully monitoring the little one's mental and physical state, and even when the beast grew uncomfortable it never grew aggressive, only a sense of trust met her probe.
Patricia smiled. "Well, I don't know if that will help. but it's better than leaving you without hope." the stinger wiggled its little stinger again, its damaged wing had been straightened out as carefully as possible in hopes it would be able to heal with time, however unlikely. "All we can do now is hope. We all need a little hope. guess you're first to get a name then. How do you like it, my little hope?"
Though Hope didn't understand the significance of what had been done she didn't mind. if her master thought it was for the best then it must be. as her master placed her within a cage and let her crawl onto the bars she spread her wings to let them dry. to her surprise the wing that had previously felt stiff and unresponsive flexed a little easier this time. She was happy and waited for the wings to finish drying.