Humans are Weird - Bigger
“The extraction process is very involved,” Second Sister explained as she pulled out the beautiful little canister.
Second Father and the first three Cousins had spent the entire growth season designing the shape, the patterns, and the scent profile of the containers to be pleasing to both humans and Shatar. They had decided on a shape roughly the size of the seed pods that produced the products the containers held, with concessions for making it able to sit evenly in the flat surface of a human cupboard. The surface was etched with representations of the leafs and flowers of the plant.
“Oh! This is nice!” Sift exclaimed and she heaved herself up on her hind legs and sniffed at the container. “And you say you managed to distill the volitiles without sacrificing the nutrient profile?”
“It is not a distillation process per se,” Second Sister corrected her. “It is more a-”
“What is that smell?” a human voice suddenly demanded, “It is delicious!”
“Mary!” Sift called out, “Come flick your tongue over this! The Shatar have developed a simply delightful scented nutrient blend just in time for harvest gifts!”
Mary came over, balancing her single hatchling on her wide, round hips. She looked eagerly at the items that Second Sister showed her, but visibly lost interest when it was explained that the fluid was meant to be applied topically.
“This looks interesting,” Mary said as she swayed her towering form away from them with an apologetic bob of her very round head. “But I came to get the snacks I stored in the community fridge.”
“Is your little one eating solid foods yet?” Second Sister asked, tilting her triangular head in interest even as she carefully placed the container back in the basket.
“Nope!” Mary announced as she bent herself around both the very, very plump baby on her hip so she could reach into the low refrigeration unit provided for day use in this community space. “These are snacks for me! I have the nursing munchies you know!”
“Yes,” Second Sister observed, falling silent a moment and resting her hands on her basket as she examined Mary, tilting her head this way and that.
Mary happily munched down on the layers of bread, protein, and leafy greens she had brought from her home-nest, seemingly unconcerned with the scrutiny. Granted most of the human’s attention was given to preventing her little one from snatching the snack for himself. Finally the Shatar straightened and gave an attention click. Mary glanced at her with a smile rounded by the food in her mouth.
“Are you larger by mass than you were last time I was in this area?” Second Sister finally asked.
Mary paused in her chewing and blinked rapidly.
“Oh!” Sift exclaimed. “Yes, Shatar don’t really understand proper chewing. Don’t worry Mary I can answer this one for you, just focus on enjoying that bread!”
“You smell,” Sift said turning to the Shatar, “When a female has to carry their offspring inside of them, the joined zygote stage you know, well that takes a lot of energy. We reptile types don’t do that nearly as long as a mammal but we still have to prepare, our bodies I mean, metabolically.”
“How do you know so much as to answer for a human?” Second Sister asked.
“A reasonable question,” Sift commented, “and that is actually why I have been spending so much time with Mary and her family. I wanted to observe the process of, well I think you Shatar would say watching a First Sister become a First Mother.”
Second Sister curled an antenna to show she was following.
“The point is that in order to reproduce inside yourself you need a lot of stored energy, just in case something goes wrong an you can’t eat because of localized food shortages or even gastric illness,” Sift went on. “The solution is to build up fat deposits. Very easy if you don’t have an exoskeleton to worry about having to shed. My mother, at least my father says so, though he is biased naturally-”
“Naturally,” agreed the Shatar with an amused set to her mandibles.
“He says she had the fattest tail in the colony by the time my clutch was laid, and it stayed that way so that she had to deliberately exercise it off after we were walking!”
Sift felt her throat puff up a little in pride at the memory.
“But isn’t Human First Mother Mary finished with this reproductive cycle?” Second Sister asked.
“No, no, no!” Sift exclaimed. “She is a mammal remember! She is burning copious calories producing all that milk from her mammary glands! Her body won’t let her mass go down until that stage is well over. Until then her thighs are going to be round and plump! Humans have no external tail you know, so they can’t store it there.”
Mary finished chewing the sandwich and gave them a smile as she arranged her child on her hip.
“A fine explanation,” she said to Sift. “Caio friends!”
Second Sister watched the human leave and her frill rippled uneasily.
“Did we offend Human First Mother Mary?” she asked.
“Not that I saw,” Sift replied. “Why do you ask?”
“Her pheromone profile shifted dramatically during our conversation,” Second Sister said. “I am not very familiar with human pheromones but hers did seem offended.”
“Well if she was, it almost certainly didn’t have anything to do with us,” Sift assured her. “Personal knowledge informs me that Mary is very open to my discussing her biology, and why would any thinking person be offended by a discussion of how successful her body was at supporting her offspring?”
Second Father and the first three Cousins had spent the entire growth season designing the shape, the patterns, and the scent profile of the containers to be pleasing to both humans and Shatar. They had decided on a shape roughly the size of the seed pods that produced the products the containers held, with concessions for making it able to sit evenly in the flat surface of a human cupboard. The surface was etched with representations of the leafs and flowers of the plant.
“Oh! This is nice!” Sift exclaimed and she heaved herself up on her hind legs and sniffed at the container. “And you say you managed to distill the volitiles without sacrificing the nutrient profile?”
“It is not a distillation process per se,” Second Sister corrected her. “It is more a-”
“What is that smell?” a human voice suddenly demanded, “It is delicious!”
“Mary!” Sift called out, “Come flick your tongue over this! The Shatar have developed a simply delightful scented nutrient blend just in time for harvest gifts!”
Mary came over, balancing her single hatchling on her wide, round hips. She looked eagerly at the items that Second Sister showed her, but visibly lost interest when it was explained that the fluid was meant to be applied topically.
“This looks interesting,” Mary said as she swayed her towering form away from them with an apologetic bob of her very round head. “But I came to get the snacks I stored in the community fridge.”
“Is your little one eating solid foods yet?” Second Sister asked, tilting her triangular head in interest even as she carefully placed the container back in the basket.
“Nope!” Mary announced as she bent herself around both the very, very plump baby on her hip so she could reach into the low refrigeration unit provided for day use in this community space. “These are snacks for me! I have the nursing munchies you know!”
“Yes,” Second Sister observed, falling silent a moment and resting her hands on her basket as she examined Mary, tilting her head this way and that.
Mary happily munched down on the layers of bread, protein, and leafy greens she had brought from her home-nest, seemingly unconcerned with the scrutiny. Granted most of the human’s attention was given to preventing her little one from snatching the snack for himself. Finally the Shatar straightened and gave an attention click. Mary glanced at her with a smile rounded by the food in her mouth.
“Are you larger by mass than you were last time I was in this area?” Second Sister finally asked.
Mary paused in her chewing and blinked rapidly.
“Oh!” Sift exclaimed. “Yes, Shatar don’t really understand proper chewing. Don’t worry Mary I can answer this one for you, just focus on enjoying that bread!”
“You smell,” Sift said turning to the Shatar, “When a female has to carry their offspring inside of them, the joined zygote stage you know, well that takes a lot of energy. We reptile types don’t do that nearly as long as a mammal but we still have to prepare, our bodies I mean, metabolically.”
“How do you know so much as to answer for a human?” Second Sister asked.
“A reasonable question,” Sift commented, “and that is actually why I have been spending so much time with Mary and her family. I wanted to observe the process of, well I think you Shatar would say watching a First Sister become a First Mother.”
Second Sister curled an antenna to show she was following.
“The point is that in order to reproduce inside yourself you need a lot of stored energy, just in case something goes wrong an you can’t eat because of localized food shortages or even gastric illness,” Sift went on. “The solution is to build up fat deposits. Very easy if you don’t have an exoskeleton to worry about having to shed. My mother, at least my father says so, though he is biased naturally-”
“Naturally,” agreed the Shatar with an amused set to her mandibles.
“He says she had the fattest tail in the colony by the time my clutch was laid, and it stayed that way so that she had to deliberately exercise it off after we were walking!”
Sift felt her throat puff up a little in pride at the memory.
“But isn’t Human First Mother Mary finished with this reproductive cycle?” Second Sister asked.
“No, no, no!” Sift exclaimed. “She is a mammal remember! She is burning copious calories producing all that milk from her mammary glands! Her body won’t let her mass go down until that stage is well over. Until then her thighs are going to be round and plump! Humans have no external tail you know, so they can’t store it there.”
Mary finished chewing the sandwich and gave them a smile as she arranged her child on her hip.
“A fine explanation,” she said to Sift. “Caio friends!”
Second Sister watched the human leave and her frill rippled uneasily.
“Did we offend Human First Mother Mary?” she asked.
“Not that I saw,” Sift replied. “Why do you ask?”
“Her pheromone profile shifted dramatically during our conversation,” Second Sister said. “I am not very familiar with human pheromones but hers did seem offended.”
“Well if she was, it almost certainly didn’t have anything to do with us,” Sift assured her. “Personal knowledge informs me that Mary is very open to my discussing her biology, and why would any thinking person be offended by a discussion of how successful her body was at supporting her offspring?”
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