Humans are Weird - Giggles
The spider walks in this part of the colony were doubled tiered and massively reinforced. Spacestation grade carbosteel beams wrapped around the lower levels of the massive human rooms at about a third the height of an average adult human. The dark carbosteel beams of the upper tier were replace by clear tubes with communication windows. The humans had formally named it sub-adult interaction access, but everyone called it the ‘petting zoo’.
Fff’sss trotted happily along the tube and gave an idle thought thread to wondering if she wanted to know the source of the faint, oddly unpleasant smell that lingered in some places. Human Friend Susie and Human Friend Bobby were leaning their heads together examining the dark surface of the ‘sandwich board’ the human young used for writing practice. They were alternately reading out something they had written on the board and then making that high-pitched sound that was something like an amused chitter.
Fff’sss reached the point where they could reasonably be expected to hear her and called out to the two small humans.
“Hello children!” she called out.
Both humans gasped as if frightened and gave startled jumps. Then, instead of turning to greet Fff’sss Human Friend Susie spread her arms as if to hide the surface of the sandwich board and hissed at Human Friend Bobby.
“’Rase it! ‘Rase it!”
Human Friend Bobby obediently snatched up the rag that was attached to the sandwich board and scrubbed frantically as something written in the soft powder markings. Presumably when they thought the marks had been well enough effaced they spun and ‘grinned’ widely at Fff’sss, both of them still chittering.
“Hello Friend Fizzy!” they said together.
Then they glanced at each other and chittered more intensely.
“Greetings small human friends,” Fff’sss said, “what is that sound you are making.”
They increased the sound for a moment and then grinned at her.
“Gigglin’,” Human Friend Bobby finally said.
“With a g,” Human Friend Susie corrected him.
“I said the g,” Human Friend Bobby protested, only to get ‘thumped’ by Susie.
“At the end,” Human Friend Susie explained. “There’s gotta be a g sound at the end.”
“Giggling?” Fff’sss asked, striving to enunciate the depth of the g sound that human language required.
The two small humans burst into intense laughter at this.
“And what was making you giggle?” Fff’sss asked.
She wasn’t sure if they little humans simply weren’t aware of how Trisk eyes worked, or if they were simply bad at ‘erasing’ things written on the sandwich board, but she could clearly see the short series of numbers they had written.
However instead of answering her they both turned to look at the sandwich board, burst out giggling louder, and sprinted to the far side of the room to burrow into the pile of pillows there. Fff’sss patted her paws on her forelimbs in amusement. Clearly these young sapients were being ‘naughty’. Though how writing a few numbers could be considered naughty she didn’t know. Nevertheless they were clearly done interacting with her so she trotted along the spider walk until she reached the exit and moved up to the adult level so she could speak with the parents of the little ones who were currently sitting around a table drinking mild stimulants heated to almost dangerous levels.
“Hey Fff’sss!” Human Friend Megan called out, waving the drink at her.
“Greetings Human Friend Megan,” Fff’sss replied. “Might I ask a question about your children's behavior?”
Human Friend Megan emitted a groan and began the precarious operation of unfolding her full length to stand.
“What’d they do now?” she asked.
“Nothing harmful,” Fff’sss assured her. “They were simply ‘giggling’ at some apparently random numbers they had written on the board, and they apparently made some attempt to hide the numbers from me. As if the numbers, or the act of writing them, was transgressive in some way.”
Both adult human laughed and Human Friend Robert nodded his head.
“Yeah, the cousins visited and one of the older ones brought word of the latest funny numbers from the main colony,” he explained.
“What are the funny numbers?” Fff’sss asked, interest ruffling her hairs.
“Oh, they change every few generations,” Human Friend Robert explained, leaning back as if he expected the explanation to take some time. “It’s always a cultural connection of some sort that associates the numbers with something , mostly something vulgar or forbidden.”
“Sometimes it is a code used by law enforcement,” Human Friend Megan offered. “Sometimes its a bodily function.”
“Yeah, good old number two has really fallen out of favor as a funny number the past few generations,” Human Friend Robert said with a mournfully sigh and a thoughtful silence fell over the humans.
Fff’sss waited the polite six seconds and asked.
“What do these new funny numbers represent?”
“No clue,” Human Friend Robert replied cheerfully.
Human Friend Megan shrugged her shoulders in confirmation of their ignorance and then their conversation and attention drifted back to the topic they had been discussing before. Whatever the imagined transgression the little ones thought they were preforming the adults of the species clearly found it of little consequence other than amusement.
Fff’sss trotted happily along the tube and gave an idle thought thread to wondering if she wanted to know the source of the faint, oddly unpleasant smell that lingered in some places. Human Friend Susie and Human Friend Bobby were leaning their heads together examining the dark surface of the ‘sandwich board’ the human young used for writing practice. They were alternately reading out something they had written on the board and then making that high-pitched sound that was something like an amused chitter.
Fff’sss reached the point where they could reasonably be expected to hear her and called out to the two small humans.
“Hello children!” she called out.
Both humans gasped as if frightened and gave startled jumps. Then, instead of turning to greet Fff’sss Human Friend Susie spread her arms as if to hide the surface of the sandwich board and hissed at Human Friend Bobby.
“’Rase it! ‘Rase it!”
Human Friend Bobby obediently snatched up the rag that was attached to the sandwich board and scrubbed frantically as something written in the soft powder markings. Presumably when they thought the marks had been well enough effaced they spun and ‘grinned’ widely at Fff’sss, both of them still chittering.
“Hello Friend Fizzy!” they said together.
Then they glanced at each other and chittered more intensely.
“Greetings small human friends,” Fff’sss said, “what is that sound you are making.”
They increased the sound for a moment and then grinned at her.
“Gigglin’,” Human Friend Bobby finally said.
“With a g,” Human Friend Susie corrected him.
“I said the g,” Human Friend Bobby protested, only to get ‘thumped’ by Susie.
“At the end,” Human Friend Susie explained. “There’s gotta be a g sound at the end.”
“Giggling?” Fff’sss asked, striving to enunciate the depth of the g sound that human language required.
The two small humans burst into intense laughter at this.
“And what was making you giggle?” Fff’sss asked.
She wasn’t sure if they little humans simply weren’t aware of how Trisk eyes worked, or if they were simply bad at ‘erasing’ things written on the sandwich board, but she could clearly see the short series of numbers they had written.
However instead of answering her they both turned to look at the sandwich board, burst out giggling louder, and sprinted to the far side of the room to burrow into the pile of pillows there. Fff’sss patted her paws on her forelimbs in amusement. Clearly these young sapients were being ‘naughty’. Though how writing a few numbers could be considered naughty she didn’t know. Nevertheless they were clearly done interacting with her so she trotted along the spider walk until she reached the exit and moved up to the adult level so she could speak with the parents of the little ones who were currently sitting around a table drinking mild stimulants heated to almost dangerous levels.
“Hey Fff’sss!” Human Friend Megan called out, waving the drink at her.
“Greetings Human Friend Megan,” Fff’sss replied. “Might I ask a question about your children's behavior?”
Human Friend Megan emitted a groan and began the precarious operation of unfolding her full length to stand.
“What’d they do now?” she asked.
“Nothing harmful,” Fff’sss assured her. “They were simply ‘giggling’ at some apparently random numbers they had written on the board, and they apparently made some attempt to hide the numbers from me. As if the numbers, or the act of writing them, was transgressive in some way.”
Both adult human laughed and Human Friend Robert nodded his head.
“Yeah, the cousins visited and one of the older ones brought word of the latest funny numbers from the main colony,” he explained.
“What are the funny numbers?” Fff’sss asked, interest ruffling her hairs.
“Oh, they change every few generations,” Human Friend Robert explained, leaning back as if he expected the explanation to take some time. “It’s always a cultural connection of some sort that associates the numbers with something , mostly something vulgar or forbidden.”
“Sometimes it is a code used by law enforcement,” Human Friend Megan offered. “Sometimes its a bodily function.”
“Yeah, good old number two has really fallen out of favor as a funny number the past few generations,” Human Friend Robert said with a mournfully sigh and a thoughtful silence fell over the humans.
Fff’sss waited the polite six seconds and asked.
“What do these new funny numbers represent?”
“No clue,” Human Friend Robert replied cheerfully.
Human Friend Megan shrugged her shoulders in confirmation of their ignorance and then their conversation and attention drifted back to the topic they had been discussing before. Whatever the imagined transgression the little ones thought they were preforming the adults of the species clearly found it of little consequence other than amusement.
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