Challenge #02306-F116: Expressions of Exasperation
.jpg)
any day is a good day when you're not on fire
alien looks over nervously -- Anon Guest
Humans have such interesting ways to express disappointment with their life at the moment. They can range from the simple and insincere, "Kill me," to the complicated and difficult to explain to newcomers, "Today... the spiders flakked me." One can never tell which of the multitude of expressions any given Human would use.
Qosyk, the roommate of Human Jae, kept hearing different ones for every bad day that Human Jae had. They were not frequent downturns, but they were always varied. The first, Qosyk would always remember. Human Jae came back to their shared quarters just as Qosyk had settled into hir sleepy sack. This was not the typical exchange.
Qosyk said, "How has your day been," in a display of casual non-information gathering. Ze expected the usual, "Same old same old," but didn't get it.
Human Jae said, "What a wonderful day for the creative spirit," in a blank monotone, and then tipped themself from vertical to horizontal across their slumber platform. They bounced a couple of times, but otherwise remained immobile.
Concerned, Qosyk checked to make sure that Human Jae was still alive.
"I'm okay," said Jae, face-down in the duvet. "For limited definitions of 'okay'... I just had a real bad day."
That should have been it. A definite signal from the Ships' Human that they had had enough for that day and would like to go sulk in a pillow fort for a while. But such was not the case. This Human had a different saying for every single horrible day they had had.
"I need a diving board and a singularity to use it on."
"Can I wake up from this nightmare yet?"
"I need to acquire my own weight in luxury chocolate ice cream."
"This has been a day for Murphy."
"Veni, vedi, vagivi."[1]
"Oh, for a time machine and a baseball bat!"
"Any day is a good day when you're not on fire."
"Where the flakk is the reset button?"
And of course, the universally popular, "Aaaaaarrrrrrrgggh!"
Qosyk adapted. They let Human Jae have an hour to be lax, and then prepared some of their favourite comfort food in the nearest food printer. Once the unsuitable food was consumed as a sort of plaster on Human Jae's emotional wounds, it was time for low energy, low involvement, easy entertainment that Human Jae thoroughly enjoyed in moments like these.
Human Jae would inevitably absorb Qosyk into the wrapping of soft, fluffy blankets that usually surrounded the Human. It was a mark of acceptance and pack-bonding. Besides, Human Jae insisted, some days you just needed to hug your best friend.
[1] I came, I saw, I cried. [and yes, I know I probably got it wrong]
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Elenathewise]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends!
Send me a prompt [41 remaining prompts!]