RecommendedSteam player
I had no idea how much I needed this. Last year at the peak of the pandemic I was locked down for months in Melbourne, Australia and I spent the entirety of it working from home (I still am). At some point during this time I noticed something on the side of my monitor whilst I was working, and upon closer inspection, realised it was a brown jumping spider with a very similar pattern as the protagonist Buddy here. Naturally, I named my new friend Andre, and we hit it off immediately. I spent the next few hours watching him run along the top of my monitor while I worked, seeing where he was going and making sure he was okay. I had these little lenses that I'd bought for repairing small electronics and was using them to get a closer look at him, given he was about the side of a chickpea. He would almost model for me, occasionally looking back at me into the lens and sort of tilting his head like ? as he did, as if he was just as interested in me as I was him. He wasn't afraid, and would often jump to the lens to go for a walk on my hand. He was so curious, he'd even stand on top of my lower monitor (dual monitors, on top of one another) and face the upper one, reacting to things like discord notifications in the corner, or watching the mouse move across the screen. It got to a point where I could take him anywhere around the house and he'd stay on me until he knew I was offering another spot for him to jump to. I ended up building him a little home with some leaves from outside, blu tacked onto the back of a small lamp just next to my monitor. I put my hand out to collect him, he'd hop over, then hop again onto his leaves, and would genuinely return to sleep there every night as I went to bed. I'd be able to wake up in the morning and see him asleep under his leaf before soon noticing him back on the top of my monitor, staring or waving at me with his pedipalps. I essentially spent every waking moment thinking about this tiny creature and what it would do next. He was such a little daredevil and would always try to outdo his last jump in terms of height or distance as he was exploring. He'd fallen a few times trying to make the jump from his lamp leaf to my monitor, so you can imagine how proud I was when he finally made the jump for the first time. He even ventured up the wall and came pretty damn close to a much larger, scarier looking spider, but thankfully didn't try to start ♥♥♥♥ with it. After around three days, he stopped going back to his leaves. He would explore further and further, no matter how many times I'd bring him back, and he soon started sleeping on the window near the back door instead. It worried me because I felt as though he was outgrowing me, and that he desired bigger things, like a new adventure, ie. my backyard. I wasn't ready to let him go just yet, so I'd keep sticking my hand out near him wherever he was and returning him back to his leaf with the hopes that he'd want to stay. On the evening of the fourth day, I'd spotted Andre asleep a little too high up the wall for me to be able to reach. I didn't want to wake him, so I took myself to bed. That was the last time I ever saw him. This friendship started an obsession with peacock and jumping spiders that I never thought I'd experience. I suppose I dealt with the loss by completely immersing myself in research on the little guys, I became so fascinated with all the different species; like I'm pretty sure Andre was a 'Helpis Minitabunda', commonly known as a Bronze Jumping Spider. I'd even made like a mock "MISSING" poster for him and hung it up on my wall, cause I think I'm hilarious. I had made a new best friend in the most unlikeliest of places, and my heart is so insanely full love for a tiny spider I knew for four days. Since Andre left I'd always imagined he'd gone off on some great adventure somewhere, making new friends along the way, growing and learning through various challenges in life - perhaps even finding love - and it really warms my heart to think about. This game is that adventure. Thank you, so very much. 10/10.Show moreShow less
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