C.A. Jacobs

thededfa:

I was in charge of feeding the prisoners. This had been my task since the Queen had taken me and 2 dozen other Murania as hostages. The others had not survived long, but I adapted. Obeyed.

The Queen had taken a human. A rare being this far into the Deep, but one feared from one end of the galaxy to the other. According to the Encyclopedia of Sentient Beings Capable of Space Travel, humans needed a diet of roughly 2000 calories a sol served in traditional 3 portions a sol. Which meant that I had to approach the human three times a sol. I could not fail my duties.

The first attempt at feeding the large being ended with a tray thrown at my head with enough force that it would have caved my skull if I had not ducked in time. The human was raging, slamming their entire body against the containment bars with enough force to shake the floor and… and roaring. I cleaned the mess of nutrient paste as fast as I could and fled.

But five hours later found me trembling in front of the human’s cage with another tray of nutrient paste. The human had calmed and was glaring at me intently. I knew they did not speak Murania, but still I spoke my native language as I offered the food again. I did not get to speak it often and missed the sound. “Guria?”

The human tilted their head and to my shock, repeated the word, then repeated it again until they mimicked the sound perfectly, even with the slight whistle at the end.

I offered the tray. “Guria.”

They eyed it suspiciously so I tasted it, showing it to be safe. “Guria.”

They held their hand out and I gave them the tray, scuttling to a safe corner before they could attack me with it again.

They tilted their head again and scowled, then spoke in broken Common. “I thank”

I fled, claws scratching against the shiny floor.

Another five hours passed all too soon and I was back at the human’s cage with the final meal of the sol. They were moving slowly around the cage with their ear pressed to the wall, tapping with their knuckles. I watched them for a moment, confused at the erratic behaviour, but only managed a few seconds of observation before their head swiveled directly towards me and they stopped to face me.

I walked closer and offered the tray. “Guria.”

They took it. “How talk thank in you mouth talk?”

“Meesh Meesh.”

They opened their mouth and let out a loud, short bark, a laugh according to the ESBCST. (I studied it dutifully when they were brought aboard.) “Meesh Meesh!” They pointed to themselves. “Michael.”

My wings ruffled, the sound was so similar! I pointed to myself, “Mikel”

The human shook their head and pointed to themselves. “Me Michael.”

I jerked my head in an upward motion called a nod. “Yes, you,’ I pointed to them, “Michael.” I pointed to myself. “I, Mikel.”

They laughed again. “Michael, Mikel. Much same.”

I chittered. “Very similar, yes.”

Their eyes narrowed. “You work here?”

I bobbed sideways, a bit noncommittal, “As I must.”

“Must work?”

I searched for the simplest way to translate what I meant across the language barrier. “No work, in there.” I pointed to their cage. “Work, out here.” I hopped encouragingly. “You work soon, yes?”

The human bared their teeth and snarled. “No work. Fight.”

My wings flattened against my spine and I fled. Humans were so aggressive.

The next sol I completed my first duties and then found myself lingering outside the containment hall. I was apprehensive about what mood I would find the human in this time. I fluffed my wings out to convey confidence and clicked in with the human’s first meal.

“Mikel! Guria?” They were bouncing on the front part of their feet, hopping up and touching the ceiling, then dropping to the floor and pushing themselves up with their arms repeatedly.

“Yes. What are you doing?” I slid the tray to where they could reach and backed to a… well not safe but safer, distance.

“Work body. Stay strong.” They flopped over onto their back and turned their head to look at me. “Meesh Meesh.”

“Zuan.” I bobbed sideways before deciding to ask them the question I had been mulling over. “You’re Nice, mean, nice, mean.”

Michael laughed. “Yeah. Head bad.” They hooked their fingers like claws and shook them around their head. “Scare, tired, Fight.” They gestured to the bars and glared. “Not like.”

I nodded. “I know that feeling.” A chime sounded, signaling the Queen’s approach. I flattened myself to the floor and made way.

The Queen slithered in, her scaled body scraping against the floor with a sound that made my feathers stand up. She reared to her full two meter height and flicked her tongue out to taste the air.

“Human. You are mine now, you will serve the glory of me.”

Michael looked her up and down and whistled lowly then pronounced in exact Common. “Ugly. Mother. Fucker.”

I gaped at them in horror. They dared insult the Queen to her face?

The Queen hissed, but smugly coiled. “You will serve me, human. I know your kind. You are loyal. I feed you, I provide you shelter. I give you safety. You will love me.”

The human backed up, crouching into a fighting stance. “No love, mother fucker.”

The Queen wiggled and slid towards the exit. “You will serve me.” They paused to pat me on the head. “You have duties, tiny one.”

The next several sols passed in the same manner. I did my duties, I fed the human, we exchanged words. At night I tended my secret garden grown in glasses of water and composted nutrient paste from seeds and cuttings I snuck from the Queen’s hoard. The human was learning not only Common but Murania at a breathtaking pace. We could hold whole conversations now and I was no longer… completely apprehensive about approaching their cage. Michael had not acted aggressive towards me at all since the Queen’s visit.

The rare human plant called a “green bean” plant had fruited after several months of care and pollinating with the tip of my own feather. I was ecstatic over the first fruits of my secret labor and I felt that Michael would appreciate my excitement and maybe a taste of his home planet. Humans were said to be incredibly empathetic and sentimental.

That morning I secreted a pair of bean pods in my uniform and headed for Micheal’s cage. They seemed to notice something was different right away, peering at me with concern. “All okay, Mikel?”

I nodded and nervously whispered. “Secret, right?”

They lowered their voice and moved closer to the bars. “Yeah, secret.”

I showed him the beans. “I grew these. It’s the first harvest from the plant! It’s a huge secret, but I wanted you to have them.”

Michael stared at the beans with an expression I didn’t recognize for a long time before whispering, their voice strangely rough. “You get trouble for these?”

I nodded and tried to shove the beans into their hands. “Yes, a lot of trouble. Take them!”

They took them and smiled. “Meesh Meesh, Mikel. This…. This mean lot to me. I can’t say enough. Meesh Meesh.” They bit into one and grinned, crunching happily. “Very good! You do good!”

I chittered and ruffled my wings, pleased with the praise. “Zuan, Michael.” I gave them their tray of nutrient paste and fled.

The next day (human word for sol) I found a broken something in the Queen’s trash bin. It was silvery and had a lot of moving parts and made me think of Michael. I shoved it into my uniform and snuck it to Michael. They were overjoyed and immediately began fiddling (another human word I find pleasant to use) with it.

I found I enjoyed making Michael happy and kept my eyes out for things to gift them. A broken flute, a torn book, a shiny rock shard, a discarded pipe, a bit of string. It all was random junk, but Michael was still so happy for each item. It… was a pleasant feeling, almost like being back with my brood mates.

Then… Then the alarms sounded one morning and the ship rocked with an explosion. Frightened, I grabbed my precious green bean plant and rushed instinctively towards Michael’s cage.

Only to find they weren’t there. The bars were broken, bent outward and a piece of the wall was torn open, exposing sparking wires and smashed circuits. The lights were flickering and I could hear screaming. I decided to run for the escape pods and hoped that the Queen died in that explosion.

I had barely skittered into the hallway when I found Michael. They were fighting with a guard twice their size, but easily leaped around it’s bulk and stabbed it in the base of the skull with some sort of spear. A primitive weapon, but still deadly in the hands of the human. Michael rode the body of the guard down to the ground and leaped off, brandishing the spear at me.

Frozen in fear, I distantly realized the weapon was made from the shiny rock tied to a piece of pipe. I was to die from a weapon I provided then.

Except, Michael lowered the weapon and smiled. “Mikel! I find you! Come on! We get out of here!”

“Out… Escape?”

“Yeah! C’mon, I stole codes for ship!”

I followed them numbly, too scared and shocked to process that not only had a single human escaped a 1^st class prison cell with just bits of junk, but had also destroyed the Pirate Queen’s ship, and was taking me with them.

It wasn’t until we were flying fast and far from the wreckage, headed towards a Trading Station, that I found my voice. “Why… Why would you save me? I…” I didn’t know how to express the fact that I was nothing, tiny, worth only for cleaning while the human was strong, big, and apparently a fearsome and brilliant warrior.

Michael glanced at me from the corner of their eyes. “We friends, Mikel. Friends no leave friends. Also, you trapped like me. On other side of bars, but trapped same.”

“Friends? But Queen provided for you, you were supposed to bond with her?!”

The human looked at me incredulously before laughing long and loud, his head thrown back with the effort of it. “No Bond with Queen, she put me in cage. You! You give me food, you talk, teach, you bring me presents. You good friend. Queen Piece of Shit.”

“Oh.” Michael had bonded with me. And.. I with them it seemed. And we were free. “Meesh meesh, Michael. You’re a good friend too.” I hugged my green bean plant. “What now?”

“I thinking I turn in Queen head for bounty, use money buy good ship again. After, you want go home or you want explore?”

My wings flared in excitement. “Can I have a garden room on our ship?”

Michael grinned and tossed his arm (gently) around my shoulders. “Yes, you have garden room. Grow lots plant in space. Explore! Garden! New Planet! New Seed!”

Part 2

Part 3

thededfa:

When Michael and I arrived at the trading station we were immediately swarmed by a pack of humans that pounced on them, squeezing and punching and other violent forms of affection as they whooped at each other in one of the many, many human dialects. I had a brief moment of panic that they would abandon me to go with their own species, but they turned to me after a minute, their arm still slung around another human’s shoulders, and introduced me in Common.

“Mikel! These friends! Alice, Cooper, Rayla, and Mina. All one, this Mikel. They friend!”

The humans smiled at me, though one looked concerned and rattled off a stern sounding phrase in human. Michael looked like they had been struck and shook their head, making a negative noise. The other human, Alice, persisted and Michael seemed to shrink down, hunching their shoulders and hanging their head.

They turned pleading eyes on me. “Hey, Alice need ask question. Uh… Rules? Safe rules. Okay?”

I bowed respectfully. “I will answer any questions as best I can.”

Alice mimicked my bow and spoke in perfect common. “Hello, Mikel. Can I speak to you alone? I just have a few questions. It’s a matter of protocol and won’t take long.”

I clamped my wings nervously to my back but nodded. “Will… Will Michael still be here after?”

Michael made an offended noise. “I no leave you!”

She smiled softly. “Yes, he will be waiting for you. Come with me please.” She led me down a few hallways and into a room where she had me perch and offered me a glass of water. I accepted and gave a few splashes to my green bean plant, named Toots by Michael with some form of humor I did not grasp, before sipping it gratefully.

“Now, Michael said that you were on the Pirate Queen’s ship?”

“Yes, I was a hostage from Murania working there. I cleaned and kept the prisoners properly fed.”

“I see. And he said you helped him escape?”

“Yes, though I did not realize at the time that was what I was doing.” At her concerned expression I hastened to add, “I am glad I helped, I just wish I could have done so knowingly. You humans can do a lot of unexpected damage with a shiny rock and some pipe.”

She nodded. “That is true. You’re planning on exploring now that you’re free?”

I nodded happily. “Yes! Michael said he would use the Queen’s bounty to buy a ship for us, one big enough for me to have a whole room to garden in!”

“Wouldn’t you rather go home? See your family?”

I clucked sadly. “No, all of my broodmates died on the Queen’s ship. Many were killed and eaten in front of me.”

“Your parents? Cousins? Surely you have other family. Why don’t you want to go home?”

I felt pressured and scolded and I did not like it. I stood and fluffed my feathers irritably. “I was barely more than a fledgling when I was taken. If I returned to my home planet it would be unfamiliar and sad, and my remaining family would expect me to be someone I have long since ceased to be. I have spent the last several years being the perfect servant, doing what is expected of me, being what is expected of me. Maybe one day I will visit my home planet, but I do not want to be shoved into another role to play, even by well meaning relatives.”

Alice hummed. “So you really want to explore uncharted planets with a human?”

I hopped decidedly. “Yes! Human Michael is my friend, and I theirs I am teaching them my language and Common, they are teaching me about humans. I enjoy their company, and they enjoy mine! It is an excellent situation and I do not like your questions!”

She smiled and leaned back in her seat. “That is good. I am happy for you both.”

I squinted suspiciously. “You did not sound happy before.”

She laughed softly. “It’s protocol. Unfortunately, humans seem to be pretty intimidating to other species. We found there was a huge problem with other species going along with what we wanted out of fear, so we started a rule that before a major life altering decision was made by another species, we would have another human try question them to make sure it was actually what they wanted.” She leaned forward again and tried to make eyecontact with me. “That said, I need you to know that if you ever feel threatened by Michael, if he ever hurts you or makes you feel unsafe, my team will move you to safety, okay?”

I nodded. “That is appreciated, but I feel unnecessary.”

Alice smiled and handed me a slip of paper with a hailing frequency. “I feel it is too, but just in case, here is a way to contact us if you need to get away. Michael’s in the Ship Bay.”

I tucked the paper into the bow adorning Toots’ pot. “I thank you, human Alice. May I return to Michael now? I wish to give my opinion on what ship we might get for our adventures.”

“Of course, Mikel. And it is good to meet you. By the way, the hailing frequency will reach a non human who is experienced with dealing with humans.”

I nodded and clicked out of the room. Michael had better not get that stupid T91Z he had been talking about. The sublight engines were shit and the extra hull plating did NOT make up for it. Hull plating would not ‘do for shit’ if the sublight engines gave out a month of propulsion hours from a light speed route.

As I awkwardly hopped along the hallway I suddenly realized that I was no longer forbidden from flying. Nervously, I spread my wings and flapped, propelling myself a few meters ahead. I chittered in excitement and continued hop gliding towards the ship bay, loving the stretch in long neglected muscles.

It was nice that humans tried to protect me from other humans. They were kind like that. Humans were big, loud, strong, vicious, and aggressive, but they were also kind, loyal, and protective.

If a bit stupid at times.

“We are NOT flying the Deep in a fucking T91Z, Michael!” I squawked indignantly.

Michael bumped their head on the stabilizer strut and backed guiltily away with a muttered. “But hull plating…”

“Fuck. No.” I strutted towards a much more practical CB39. Fuck was a human word I very much enjoyed. It was perfectly emphatic and versatile and was the only word in the four languages I knew that could succinctly sum up the emotions a stubborn human would inflict.

Several hours, a few shed feathers, a shouting match, and a satisfying bargaining episode with a very nervous ship dealer while a large human loomed over my shoulders with their arms crossed, Michael and I boarded our new BE73 named Mike’n’Mike.

I carefully set Toot’s pot in the piloting bay and stood back to look at our new ship.

“Look good home.” Michael tapped the wall with their knuckles.

I preened contentedly. “It does look like a good home.”

Look out Deep, Mikel is coming for you with a fucking human at her back.

Part 1

Part 3

thededfa:

xandurielx:

thededfa:

Huhui had been reasonably terrified when they had discovered a human had been assigned to work with them on the financial records. Meeting a human for the first time had been as shocking and intimidating as the stories say. She was almost twice their height and covered in muscle that they knew could crush them with little effort. She looked them directly in the eye and bared her teeth when they met and Huhui flattened their ears and ducked their head in deference. 

She was surprisingly easy to work with, though unsettling. She had the focus and silence of a stalking mieraih once she started working and Huhui had to pause their efforts quite often to check that she was not stalking them instead of account inaccuracies. 

Huhui had been at work for several hours when the human suddenly stood, using her momentum to shove her seat backwards. Huhui scrambled out of their own seat as she stretched to her full height and held her arms out to emphasize her size and… opened her mouth wide and showed all of her teeth. By the gods Huhui was going to die, she was threatening them. 

They keened and flattened their ears and body against the floor, holding out their forward set of arms in the ‘please don’t kill me’ position. Everything was quiet for a long, long moment and Huhui dared to peek up at the human. She was crouched in front of him, her brow furrowed.

“Hey, you alright?” She spoke softly.

“You’re… you’re not angry?” Huhui let an ear flick forwards hopefully.

“Oh shit, I forgot about the yawning thing. I’m sorry man. I wasn’t trying to threaten you, humans yawn and stretch if they stay still too long.” The human held out a hand. “Lemme help you up.”

Huhui let their ears swing forward and put their hand into hers, their fingers tiny against hers. She gently pulled them to their feet and eyed them in a curious manner.

“Hey, sorry if this is rude… but… do you want to ride on my shoulders while I run down the hallway?”

Huhui blinked several times before flicking their whiskers forward in excitement and bouncing on both sets of hind legs. “It would be everything I have ever dreamed of!”

This is the kind of story I need to be made into a series, if I felt I could do it justice I would myself but the little talent I have doesn’t extend to something like this

     Leader Nashini of the Space Freighter Unia was secretly fretting. A human had requested employment on her ship just a pawful of days ago. She had an excellent resume but had displayed a lot of threatening behaviors. Bared teeth and direct eye contact were bad enough but without mobile ears or a tail it was difficult to get an accurate read on the human. But, one didn’t really say no to a human, especially one who was qualified, and Leader Nashini had hired her and put her in accounting with Crew Huhui. 

     Crew Huhui was polite and deferential and most importantly, what the humans referred to as “cute”. Hopefully that was enough to protect them from any violence the human felt. Human’s supposedly pack bonded easily and were as protective of pack adjacent as they were of pack so if she bonded to Crew Huhui the rest of the crew should be safe as well. Or as safe as someone could be around a human.

     Cries of alarm snared Leader Nashini’s attention and she hurried to the doorway of the command center, her whiskers picking up heavy vibrations in the air that were rapidly getting closer. She looked down the corridor and instinctively shrank back.

     The human was running, her heavily muscled legs propelling her precariously balanced body forward at frightening speeds. Her teeth were bared and she was making a loud whooping cry that made Leader Nashini’s ears flatten backwards. She scrambled for balance as her hind legs threatened to give out on her when she saw Crew Huhui who was clinging to the back of the human!

     Crew Huhui had both sets of hind legs wrapped around the human’s broad torso and one set of forearms was wrapped around the human’s neck while the other set was waving wildly. For a brief, terrifying second Leader Nashini thought that Crew Huhui had attacked the human, thus dooming them all to be torn apart with her bare hands, but Crew Huhui had their ears and whiskers forward, their tail lashing behind them in joy. Crew Huhui was feeling joy. While riding on the back of a charging human.

     Was human aggressiveness contagious? Leader Nashini watched the pair charge down the corridor, staring after them for a long minute before moving to her communication console and sending a query to Homeworld.

     Is human aggressiveness contagious?

     Heavy footsteps pounded past the doorway again, this time both Crew Huhui and the human were making the loud whooping noise.

     Additional query: What does “yeehaw” mean?

Part3?

thededfa:

“While there are no scientific studies that can provide a concrete answer to this question, anecdotal evidence and the vast amount of sentient species asking this question leads us to hesitantly answer that: While human aggressiveness is not contagious, beings that spend a lot of time around a human may begin to show a certain confidence and recklessness beyond their norm. This change is even more pronounced in beings that form close bonds with a human, and seems to be permanent.”

Leader Nashini twitched her tail irritably and logged her personal anecdotal evidence to the mainframe for the Homeworld scientists to log. The answer was vague and unreliable without scientific backing, but for now it was worrisome. So far Crew Huhui was the only being on the ship affected by the human’s…. recklessness, but how long until the rest of her crew were affected? Although, from a pure efficiency standpoint, Huhui was performing much better than their counterparts. But the…

There was a shriek followed by a loud laugh from the corridor. Probably Huhui dropping from the ceiling onto the human to startle them. They were going to get themselves killed. Nashini just knew it.

A notification from the communication station pulled her from her dark musings and she trotted towards the helm quickly. The communication officer ducked their head respectfully gestured towards the comm station.

“A hailing from a passing ship self identified as Mike’n’Mike.”

She wiggled into place and stood on her hind legs before opening the feed. “This is Leader Nashini of the Space Freighter Unia hailing from Homeworld.”

There was a moment’s pause before a green Muria appeared on the feed. “This is Co-Captain Mikel of the Exploration Ship Mike’n’Mike. We’d like to ask if you are open to trade.”

“Just a moment.” Nashini said and glanced at the cargo log that Crew Huhui had provided before she had even asked. “We have some rations, luxury items, and biological cargo that is open for trade.”

Co-Captain Mikel turned on the visual feed and seemed to converse with someone off screen. They turned back to the screen and raised their blue crest in excitement. “We have maps of several fringe world systems, some valuable data on habitable worlds, and scientific samples from unclaimed planets. Are you willing to trade?”

Leader Nashini barely suppressed a full body wiggle of joy, those were very valuable, very marketable! “We are willing to trade!” Her tail lashed out of the camera view. She glanced at the docking report that Huhui had again provided without prompting (what were they doing on deck anyway?) “If you would dock at airlock 3B, you may board and we will begin negotiations.”

Co-Captain Mikel glanced off screen again as if listening to someone, then hop-nodded. “That is acceptable. We will see you in a few.”

The feed cut and Nashini rested back down on all four hind legs. She cocked a head at Huhui, who was gazing at the proximity maps with widened pupils and forward whiskers.

“Crew Huhui, why are you on deck? You are an accountant.”

Crew Huhui’s ears flicked back in embarrassment but they respectfully looked a little to the left of Nashini’s eyes and said, “Human Crew Jayne remarked once that having a variety of skills made a being valuable in many situations. So I am currently under training for Communications and Navigation.”

Leader Nashini’s ears swiveled in confusion. Multiple classifications was…. practically unheard of. “Well… I commend your enthusiasm for your job.”

Crew Huhui gave a quiet purr of happiness.

“Summon Crew Jane if you would, I would like them and you to accompany me to negotiate with Co-Captain Mikel.”

Crew Huhui nodded and raced off in a quick but entirely undignified manner and Leader Nashini trotted at a much more civilized speed towards meeting room 3B.

By they time she arrived Crew Jane and Crew Huhui were already waiting with tablets and a pitcher of water in the room, and the decontamination chamber showed that two lifeforms were about to enter.

Leader Nashini had just settled at the head of the table when the door opened and- gods past and present help her- another human ducked through the door. He glanced around the meeting room suspiciously, before nodding at Crew Jane and letting Co-Captain Mikel bounce out of the decontamination chamber.

They settled at the opposite end of the table and the human bared their teeth. “Hello, I Co-Captain Michael.”

Crew Jane barked out a loud but short laugh, which relieved Nashini’s sudden fear at the aggressive greeting. Nashini swiveled an ear towards her in question. The human obliged the non verbal question and leaned over to quietly murmur, “The ship is named after them both, Micheal and Mikel to Mike’n’Mike.”

Nashini didn’t quite understand the humor, but Crew Huhui looked just as confused, so maybe it was a human thing.

Co-Captain Mikel perched on a seat and ruffled their feathers to look bigger. “May we begin?”

Leader Nashini slid a tablet with the available cargo list over to pair. “If you would just tap the items you want, my accountants can begin compiling an agreeable trade.”

Co-Captain Michael slid a similar tablet to Crew Huhui and spoke a few strange words to Crew Jane. Crew Jane bared her teeth and replied in the same language, something that made Co-Captain Michael chuckle but lean over Co-Captain Mikel’s shoulders to look at the trading tablet.

Crew Huhui showed Nashini a quick compilation of things they found and she curled her tail under the table to keep it from flicking. The Discovery Rights to an entire Mining Class planet! That was worth her entire ship’s contents alone, and probably her ship as well! She selected the Discovery Rights and the map data and slid it back across to the odd pair, they probably wouldn’t agree to that much, but Nashini could find the planet on her own if she needed to. Co-Captain Michael raised his eyebrow at the items selected and murmured to the Muria in his odd language. The Muria hushed him with a clicking noise and re fluffed their feather before speaking to Nashini.

“Do you have live plants, cuttings, or seeds?”

Crew Jane nodded and spoke over her Leader, pointing out a few items on the tablet. “We also have some equipment for agriculture in space, I don’t know what you’d need them for, but there’s artificial sun light that can be calibrated to 7 different sun types, atmospheric bubbles, and chemical additives to mimic the native soil and water needs of most datafied planets.”

The Human and Muria conversed in a clicking, whistling language before sliding both tablets across to Leader Nashini. She couldn’t suppress the surprised mrriirp the data caused. They were willing to trade the Discovery Rights and map data to an entire Mining Class planet for… for… What was that human phrase? For peanuts!

She carefully signed the agreement and sealed with with her biometric data and flicked her whiskers forward. “It is an absolute pleasure doing business with you. If you would like, you can leave your communication data with Crew Huhui and send us requests. We would be happy to add your ship to our trading partners.”

Mikel chirped a triumphant noise at the human and raised her wings and crest in a decidedly aggressive manner, but the human just raised their hands in a peaceful gesture and laughed.

Nashini watched the human back down from the being half their size and decided that humans were just too weird.

Co-Captain Michael leaned forward and said in coarse Common, “We would be happy if become trade partner. Good money for both, yeah?”

Leader Nashini agreed and they exchanged information quickly. That done, Human Michael lunged towards Human Jane and they bumped into each other with a thump that had Nashini scrambling backwards out of their reach as they wrapped their arms around each other and squeezed picking each other up and talking in their odd human language as they tried to toss the other to the ground. The Muria listened with her head cocked before settling her wings on her back comfortably.

“They are litter mates, as you’d put it.”

“Then… Why are they attacking each other?” Leader Nashini’s ears were clamped against her head.

“They are playing.”

Nashini watched the humans a bit closer and saw, that yes, they were playing, much like younglings would pounce and scuffle as kits, but these humans were almost 6 umrat tall and adults! She shrunk back and fled, in a dignified manner, at a crunching noise and an, “oops” from Crew Jane. She was not dealing with this right now. She was going to celebrate the deal of a lifetime with an entire bottle of crema and some imported ‘catfish’ from Terra. Crew Huhui could deal with the humans.

Huhui backstory Huhui part 4
Mikel Part 1, Part 2