Random Saturday - The new flatmate

Warning: Spider pictures and more!

Years ago, we visited relatives of the ex. His young cousin (actually we were young as well then) had all kinds of animals - it used to be a farm in a village - mostly fowl, such as ducks in a pond, chicken, pheasants, but also rabbits. When we went looking at them, he suddenly put a white mouse on my shoulder. Of course, he had hoped for me to freak out and scream, but even if had felt the urge which wasn't the case, I wouldn't have done him the favor.
Instead I petted the mouse and told it how cute it was. It was, you know. I think I gained his respect that day, not that that had been what I was after.

I'll be honest, though, I'm not as cool around all animals, at least at first sight. If a spider jumps at me, I will probably jump as well, not because it's a spider, but because I'm startled. I daresay it would happen with any other animal (der Dekan has one or four stories to tell about that).

If I just have a visitor looking at me, however, I can react accordingly. Sometimes, a single stink bug makes its way in through the open window and it will get evicted gently but firmly.
Spiders are allowed to live with me, not having a phobia I do not see any need to burn the house down with them in it.

I think she was
really pretty.

Flying specimen are guided outside as gently as possible although things can get hectic if they are of the stinging kind and a not so little cat is getting excited about them.
Clothes moths and carpet bugs are an exception. Seeing them, I don't even think about my karma and let go of all mercy (although moths have become hard to catch without a trap).

If I don't let the shade down on the window behind my bed all the way - so that I can look at the moon for example - I sometimes get late night visitors, moths and grasshoppers. Ponder was utterly fascinated with them and would keep touching the glass very softly. It was a good thing that there was glass because Ponder may have seemed very friendly, but I've seen him squash and eat more than one spider.

Those stripey bumps - der Dekan.

Der Dekan, too, is interested, but he's more the kind to lurk for a long time and then pounce with feet going in all directions. I have seen him trap visitors in here, but he usually lets them go again, looking after them with eyes as big as those of a child in front of a Christmas tree. He could at least knock them out gently to give me the chance to put them outside, but to put it less nicely, he's absolutely useless in these matters.

Yesterday, however, we had a visitor that surprised me because I had never seen one around here before.
Let me start with this page from one of my favorite books, "Daddy Long Legs" by Jean Webster.
Judy, the protagonist, is in college and writes to her mentor.

That describes it pretty well except this isn't a college.
I was woken up by somecat demanding breakfast at 5 a.m. I had only slept about four hours at that point and wasn't quite my alert and energetic self yet - stop laughing! -, but I noticed something big and black hanging on the ceiling which very clearly wasn't a spider. At closer look, it was a centipede which baffled me, about 2 inch long and way out of my reach.
I would say he had fewer legs than in the drawing, but was fatter.
The next moment, however ... plump! I honestly was amazed how loud that sound was when the centipede fell down right next to me. No cups, no tea table, no hair brush (although there is one on my nightstand). Instead I ran back to my bed for my tissue box for lack of a bowl in my bedroom (note: always keep a bowl and a flat piece of cardboard in your bedroom), but too late, he was already gone. I think he went under the wardrobe and I probed around a bit with a broom, to no avail.
What really bugs me is that I was sure he was just trying to hide from me interviewing him about what he could bring to the household and how he expected to pay his rent. I swear if he throws his shoes all over the place, I'm going to get mad.

While writing this, I'm still completely clueless where he is. He could be anywhere, so I guess we will have to live with him for now. Der Dekan hadn't even noticed him, but if he's to stay, there may be an encounter of the many-legged kind. Oh dear, I hope he's not a tap dancer!

I'm not overly concerned about him, but I don't like the idea of stepping of him, in the middle of the night, for example. I also don't like the idea of the brat trying to chase/kill/eat him and I'm not keen on finding him in my bed (that would be the jump thing all over again).
Is it weird that I wish I had been able to take a picture of him?