Humans are Weird – The Dark
Fourteenth Trill felt his anxiety easing as the local star slipped further and further away around the curve of the planet. The gentle evening breezes stirred just enough to send wave after wave of sounds washing over his sensory horns giving him a constant perspective on the surrounding forest that was completely lost in the glaring light and stultifying heat of day. One of the local insects began to chirp, one of the things with too many eyes that lived in the epiphytes in the mid-level branches of the canopy. The sound created brief waves of clarity, making every ripple in the bark of the trees stand out in stark relief. The surrounding insects responded, it was probably their mating season or some such bit of trivia he should have remembered from the daily safety meeting, and the forest was suddenly clear around him. Fourteenth Trill winged along a fading thermal and wondered how he had ever been as afraid of this world as he was the first day he had arrived. His attention caught on the soft pulsing of a giant mammal against the more reflective bulk of a tree and he changed his flight path.
“Bruce!” Fourteenth Trill called out. When the human didn’t respond he heaved a sigh and strained to make his voice deeper. “Bruce!” Fourteenth Trill bellowed out, setting his ribs vibrating with the effort.
The human jumped and his head swung around, eyes darting about in their cavernous sockets trying to locate the small Winged.
“I am above you,” Fourteenth Trill called out, and then remember how sight dependent humans were, “it’s Fourteenth Trill.”
The human’s face broke into a grin and he waved a hand in the gesture that meant he accepted Fourteenth Trill’s landing request. The Winged decided on a shoulder landing as the human was not wearing a hat and happily settled into the warmth of the giant human’s micro-climate. Fourteenth Trill waited for the human to initiate polite conversation, but the wing-beats stretched on with only the sounds of the night forest and the human’s heartbeat and breathing filling the silence. Fourteenth Trill recalled suddenly that humans often liked to sit in companionable silence, he had read it in a book, and decided that such an odd behavior did sound interesting enough to indulge in. He settled down into the soft fabric of the human’s shirt and drank in the shape of the forest around them. Fourteenth Trill was taking mental notes on a nest of local granivores in a nearby tree when a sudden movement of the human’s head caught his attention. Now that his attention was focused on the human Fourteenth Trill noted that Bruce’s heart rate was slightly accelerated, his breathing was even but, his eyes were darting around. After a few moments observation Fourteenth Trill realized that the human was attempting to focus on the loudest sounds, but was undoubtedly failing due to the lack of light. Moreover the human’s pheromone profile was washing against his sensory horns with, not fear, but perhaps heightened caution.
“Are you afraid Bruce?” Fourteenth Trill asked in surprise.
“What?” Bruce angled his head, and one eyeball to look down at Fourteenth Trill. “Afraid...no. I mean not really?”
“Then why are you exhibiting stress symptoms?” Fourteenth Trill asked, giving a poke at where he knew a particularly active pheromone gland to be located from his anatomy drawing class.
Bruce blinked at him a few times and then turned his eyes to the forest around him.
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,” the human murmured in an odd rhythmic tone, “and through their vastness creatures creep.”
Fourteenth Trill knew full well that there was some cultural context he was missing here, but he pondered that and a thermal suddenly rose under his mental wings.
“You are completely blind right now,” he said with sudden realization. “Without the light you can’t have any sense of depth perception! Oh! Do you need me to guide you back to the lighted area?”
Bruce have a low laugh and shook his head.
“Nah Trill,” he said, “I came out here to just chill in the dark. Yeah, the big dark wood might set my nerves on edge...maybe a bit more than I bargained for, but when it gets to be too much, I can just follow the path back. I’m barefoot and I can Undulate my way back to the light easily enough.”
They fell back into silence now and Fourteenth Trill was watching his friend with fascination as well as drinking in the night forest. The merest breath of an idea was stirring in his mind, an image he wanted to capture. A human in a forest at the very safest time of the day cycle, yet terrified in his deafness. Yes, the strange contrast of a massive, usually bold human shivering back from a familiar landscape merely because of the falling darkness would make a very strange, very striking image. Now just how to capture that sense of irrational fear of, fear of...well fear of the dark.
“Bruce!” Fourteenth Trill called out. When the human didn’t respond he heaved a sigh and strained to make his voice deeper. “Bruce!” Fourteenth Trill bellowed out, setting his ribs vibrating with the effort.
The human jumped and his head swung around, eyes darting about in their cavernous sockets trying to locate the small Winged.
“I am above you,” Fourteenth Trill called out, and then remember how sight dependent humans were, “it’s Fourteenth Trill.”
The human’s face broke into a grin and he waved a hand in the gesture that meant he accepted Fourteenth Trill’s landing request. The Winged decided on a shoulder landing as the human was not wearing a hat and happily settled into the warmth of the giant human’s micro-climate. Fourteenth Trill waited for the human to initiate polite conversation, but the wing-beats stretched on with only the sounds of the night forest and the human’s heartbeat and breathing filling the silence. Fourteenth Trill recalled suddenly that humans often liked to sit in companionable silence, he had read it in a book, and decided that such an odd behavior did sound interesting enough to indulge in. He settled down into the soft fabric of the human’s shirt and drank in the shape of the forest around them. Fourteenth Trill was taking mental notes on a nest of local granivores in a nearby tree when a sudden movement of the human’s head caught his attention. Now that his attention was focused on the human Fourteenth Trill noted that Bruce’s heart rate was slightly accelerated, his breathing was even but, his eyes were darting around. After a few moments observation Fourteenth Trill realized that the human was attempting to focus on the loudest sounds, but was undoubtedly failing due to the lack of light. Moreover the human’s pheromone profile was washing against his sensory horns with, not fear, but perhaps heightened caution.
“Are you afraid Bruce?” Fourteenth Trill asked in surprise.
“What?” Bruce angled his head, and one eyeball to look down at Fourteenth Trill. “Afraid...no. I mean not really?”
“Then why are you exhibiting stress symptoms?” Fourteenth Trill asked, giving a poke at where he knew a particularly active pheromone gland to be located from his anatomy drawing class.
Bruce blinked at him a few times and then turned his eyes to the forest around him.
“The woods are lovely, dark and deep,” the human murmured in an odd rhythmic tone, “and through their vastness creatures creep.”
Fourteenth Trill knew full well that there was some cultural context he was missing here, but he pondered that and a thermal suddenly rose under his mental wings.
“You are completely blind right now,” he said with sudden realization. “Without the light you can’t have any sense of depth perception! Oh! Do you need me to guide you back to the lighted area?”
Bruce have a low laugh and shook his head.
“Nah Trill,” he said, “I came out here to just chill in the dark. Yeah, the big dark wood might set my nerves on edge...maybe a bit more than I bargained for, but when it gets to be too much, I can just follow the path back. I’m barefoot and I can Undulate my way back to the light easily enough.”
They fell back into silence now and Fourteenth Trill was watching his friend with fascination as well as drinking in the night forest. The merest breath of an idea was stirring in his mind, an image he wanted to capture. A human in a forest at the very safest time of the day cycle, yet terrified in his deafness. Yes, the strange contrast of a massive, usually bold human shivering back from a familiar landscape merely because of the falling darkness would make a very strange, very striking image. Now just how to capture that sense of irrational fear of, fear of...well fear of the dark.
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