damn, that was a nice reference to the disco elysium video game

“Incredible. A new species. The chitinous shell, the impossibly long legs, the delicate, veined wings folded tight against its back. It is a creature unlike any you’ve ever seen, a marvel of evolutionary design. The scientific community will be astounded. Your name will be etched into the annals of entomology. You lean in closer, notebook and pen at the ready, to jot down the physical characteristics. And that’s when it hits you. It… it looks exactly like a stick. The profound truth, ugly and unshakeable, settles in your guts like a stone. Of course, you didn’t find it. Nobody found it. You were just the first one to stop and stare long enough to realize that the stick wasn’t a stick.”

Sick reference bro

I immediately thought of the Phasmid too! So this is me catching your perfectly worded reference and making a sly reply to let you know I’m in on the joke and we are both very cool for having encountered that piece of media.