Humans are Weird – Blissful Isolation
Notes the Passing Changes was for the most part content as the plants around the colony reacted in their sluggish, early spring way to the slow steady rain. The spring rains were within expected limits and the flooding had not reached the raised dry sanctuaries that had been prepared in the fall. Notes the Passing Changes did not think that a single one of the main biomass clusters had been cut off, nor had the connecting tendrils been frost damaged. Notes the Passing Changes decided that it was more than past time to offer thanks to the humans who had been the primary force in digging the channels and mounding the soil that allowed this comfort and efficiency.
Most of the humans in the colony had participated in the work the previous fall, however they had done so because Pat had put forth a great effort to convince them that maintaining Notes the Passing Changes’ mass against the losses from winter rumination was a benefit to them the whole colony, and Pat himself had done far and away the greatest amount of physical labor of any of the humans. Moreover the human male had been out in the spring rain this very morning to check the barriers that controlled the necessary but potentially dangerous flooding in some of the orchards. Notes the Passing Changes had observed that in repairing the barriers Pat had gotten thoroughly soaked. The nutrient and mineral rich water of the flooded orchard must have worked its way under his hydrophobic outer layers and soaked his inner absorbent layers by the way the human had been walking at the end of the task.
Yes, Notes the Passing Changes mused as the necessary awareness began to flow into the communication ecosystem in the human’s house, now would be a very good time to extend a friendly tendril to the wet and tired human. Growing awareness in the leaves of the plant the humans favored for this form of communication allowed Notes the Passing Changes to determine that the leaves of the plant were a dark green to human eyes. Apparently they had some issues with a very pale yellow or white face forming from leaves, and maintaining enough chlorophyll in an indoor plant in winter was a bit tricky but could be managed. The plant was particularly well today as the moisture content in the air of the human dwelling was both warmer and had a higher moisture content than usual. Notes the Passing Changes carefully abstained from tapping into the plants sight, though it was a tricky maneuver mentally, and carefully vibrated the sound producing tendrils that were now left semi-permanently in the vascular system of the plant.
“Yo! Notes!” a cheerful human voice greeted him. “Come on in!”
“Sandy,” Notes the Passing Changes greeted the female human as the visual feed from the room integrated with the central awareness network. “I would like to extend my thanks to Pat for his efforts in preparing my biomass for the spring floods. I have been very comfortable so far and have lost no relevant mass.”
“Well I’m sure he’d love to hear that,” Sandy said beaming a smile at the plant which Notes the Passing Changes had formed into a rough impression of a face. “He’s in the shower though so you can just chant with me till he’s out.”
“He is in the shower?” Notes the Passing Changes asked, making sure to add surprised and curiosity to the tones.
“Aye,” Sandy said with a glance of sympathy at the door of the bathroom from where the warm moisture was issuing. “Poor lad was chilled to the bone.”
“He was wet,” Notes the Passing Changes said in a thoughtful tone, “so he is resolving the issue by an extended period of greater wetness?”
Sandy nodded.
“Hot water warms you up,” she said when Notes the Passing Changes did not indicate that he understood. “Human skin pick up a temp change way better from water than from air, and he had to get the muck and grit off of him.”
“Surely he has had ample time to both raise his internal temperature and cleanse the nutrients from his skin,” Notes the Passing Changes observed, angling the leaves representing his eyes at the bathroom door. “He did not appear to be hypothermic.”
“It’s an, emotional thing,” Sandy explained. “We don’t always have time to shower as long as we’d like. He was cold, and dirty, and miserable. Well the water fixes the cold and the dirty, but after you are all clean? Well, nothing helps the miserable fade away like leaning yourself against the wall, turning the water on as hot as you can stand, closing your eyes and just letting the water flow. He’ll come out when he’s not thinking about the cold and the clouds and sloshing thought cold, black water in wet socks anymore.”
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