Challenge #02359-F169: Noisy Air
"What was that sound?"
"Oh, it was nothing. I'm just haven't gotten a chance to eat yet."
"Your body makes threat growls when it is hungry!?" -- Anon Guest
Working with Humans has its own hazards. The most common of which is encountering something the Humans consider normal, but the rest of known civilisation considers strange, new, or frightening. In turn, every species has their own unusual features, functions, or quirks that set them apart from everyone else. It's why the very concept of polite rude questions exists[1].
Humans were insane. They were deadly. They were strange, indomitable, and unbelievably friendly. If one chanced to meet a Human who was cleared to come into physical contact with one, then it was an odds-even bet that that Human would try to pet one. They also had a habit of not mentioning things until they became an issue.
Such as the hostile noise emanating from the otherwise smiling and laughing Human Jen as they worked on processing with Companion Xoq. Xoq was initially confused, since the noise didn't match the rest of Human Jen's body language or tone of voice. Xoq knew that Human Jen was eager to answer rude questions by then and asked, "What is hostile noise?"
"What?" said Human Jen. Then their processes caught up. "Oh yes. That. It's normal. I forgot breakfast -again- so my digestive system is making some noise to tell me I need food. It's involuntary and caused by my system attempting to process nothing, so it's moving gas around and making noise."
There was so much extra information nested in that statement that Xoq pondered even more rude questions. Especially about that 'again'. Being this Human's Companion was looking to be a more interesting job than anyone could have anticipated.
The primary concern surfaced first. "You forget to eat?"
"Not forget, exactly. More like... I have priority issues and self-care ends up getting bumped to the bottom of my list. I'm working on it, but I'm always a work in progress."
Xoq considered this, and hir job in making certain the Ships' Human had all they needed. "Would you like assistance in remembering?"
"Yes! Thank you!"
"Then," said Companion Xoq, "it is past time you ate some food. Let us be sure you have enough nutrients to continue."
[1] Questions that may be interpreted as rude, but nevertheless come from a source of relatively innocent curiosity. Answers can range from scientific informative explanation to "that is a taboo subject to my people". If the latter, further pursuit of an answer is no longer polite and may become grounds for a harassment charge.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / roxanabalint]
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