Humans are Weird - Big Stretch
“Are you absolutely sure that Human Friend Rocko is not signaling for help?” Shiftsback asked from his work station somewhere above Rollsrolls.
Rollsrolls shifted in annoyance, not at the very logical question, when Human Friend Rocko did what he called his ‘dynamic stretching’ it really did look like nothing so much as a desperate call for help, but because the makeshift workstations in these field camp allowed for such limited visual contact that most questions lost vast amounts of context. There was no way to tell if Shiftsback was getting increasingly concerned at a change in Human Friend Rocko’s behavior, or if Shiftsback was merely still agitated from his last inquiry.
Rollsrolls lifted himself up and scrambled out of his tepid work pool to Shiftsback’s. He lifted his best distance perceptive appendages and absorbed the view of the massive mammal swing all four primary appendages around in frantic, but very patterned circles.
“Yes,” Rollsrolls stated firmly, reaching over to pat Shiftsback in a comforting gesture. “I know it looks like a panicked call for help but humans do have that fussy thing with the fluid turgidity you know. Keeping that healthy requires some odd movement patterns.”
“Their circulatory system?” Shiftsback asked with the eagerness of his own personal first contact still obvious in the set of his appendages.
“If you angle it that way,” Rollsrolls said with a vague wave.
“Their internal fluid systems,” Shiftsback explained, and Rollsrolls firmly patted him to silence before he could go on in detail about the humans needlessly complex internals while he focused on the human in front of them.
“Human Friend Rocko is fine,” Rollsrolls said firmly.
“But he said his vertebra were acting up last night,” Shiftsback said with an adorably concerned wriggle. “He asked me to keep an appendage up for distress movements today!”
Rollsrolls made the mistake of showing a bit of curiosity in his more lax dangling appendages and Sihftsback surged on it.
“Oh! Vertebra are very important! They are what allow that upright walking movement. Human Friend Rocko damaged his at his last station by lifting too much mass against gravity and-”
Rollsrolls simply turned and dropped back down to his station, letting himself fall into his tepid, and somewhat stale tasting work pool with a splash. He saw Shiftsback’s lagging end peeking over the edge at him and Rollsrolls waved tiredly up at him.
“It is very nice of you to spot Human Friend Rocko for injury signals,” Rollsrolls gestured, being very careful not to broadcast any annoyance, mainflow knew that humans needed friends to watch them. “It is even better that Human Friend Rocko trusts you to do that.”
Shiftsback’s lagging end gave a happy jiggle.
“Let me know,” Rollsrolls paused to choose his terms carefully, “if there is any negative change in his movements,” he finally decided.
Shiftsback gave another happy wriggle of agreement and his lagging end disappeared back into his work station. Rollsrolls flexed his appendages out and went back to work. It really was, it truly was a good think that the members of this team were integrating so well. He could only wait patiently for Shiftsback to develop a more holistic understanding of human movements.
Rollsrolls shifted in annoyance, not at the very logical question, when Human Friend Rocko did what he called his ‘dynamic stretching’ it really did look like nothing so much as a desperate call for help, but because the makeshift workstations in these field camp allowed for such limited visual contact that most questions lost vast amounts of context. There was no way to tell if Shiftsback was getting increasingly concerned at a change in Human Friend Rocko’s behavior, or if Shiftsback was merely still agitated from his last inquiry.
Rollsrolls lifted himself up and scrambled out of his tepid work pool to Shiftsback’s. He lifted his best distance perceptive appendages and absorbed the view of the massive mammal swing all four primary appendages around in frantic, but very patterned circles.
“Yes,” Rollsrolls stated firmly, reaching over to pat Shiftsback in a comforting gesture. “I know it looks like a panicked call for help but humans do have that fussy thing with the fluid turgidity you know. Keeping that healthy requires some odd movement patterns.”
“Their circulatory system?” Shiftsback asked with the eagerness of his own personal first contact still obvious in the set of his appendages.
“If you angle it that way,” Rollsrolls said with a vague wave.
“Their internal fluid systems,” Shiftsback explained, and Rollsrolls firmly patted him to silence before he could go on in detail about the humans needlessly complex internals while he focused on the human in front of them.
“Human Friend Rocko is fine,” Rollsrolls said firmly.
“But he said his vertebra were acting up last night,” Shiftsback said with an adorably concerned wriggle. “He asked me to keep an appendage up for distress movements today!”
Rollsrolls made the mistake of showing a bit of curiosity in his more lax dangling appendages and Sihftsback surged on it.
“Oh! Vertebra are very important! They are what allow that upright walking movement. Human Friend Rocko damaged his at his last station by lifting too much mass against gravity and-”
Rollsrolls simply turned and dropped back down to his station, letting himself fall into his tepid, and somewhat stale tasting work pool with a splash. He saw Shiftsback’s lagging end peeking over the edge at him and Rollsrolls waved tiredly up at him.
“It is very nice of you to spot Human Friend Rocko for injury signals,” Rollsrolls gestured, being very careful not to broadcast any annoyance, mainflow knew that humans needed friends to watch them. “It is even better that Human Friend Rocko trusts you to do that.”
Shiftsback’s lagging end gave a happy jiggle.
“Let me know,” Rollsrolls paused to choose his terms carefully, “if there is any negative change in his movements,” he finally decided.
Shiftsback gave another happy wriggle of agreement and his lagging end disappeared back into his work station. Rollsrolls flexed his appendages out and went back to work. It really was, it truly was a good think that the members of this team were integrating so well. He could only wait patiently for Shiftsback to develop a more holistic understanding of human movements.
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