More smug grinning. "Laser welder," Mal answered. "Kinda upgraded it a bit. You don't wanna piss him off or he might cut yer foot off." He might've been joking. It was hard to tell, sometimes.

"He's Six 'cause I made five others and didn't wanna give 'em all names til I could figure out what sort of naming scheme to go with. Three spiders, three scorpions, each with a different task, though they can all tidy up." Sometimes things fell off the table and rolled under the desk, or got lost in the corner. Having a little critter able to fetch them for him was rather useful.