Humans are Weird – Swung
Prodsendlessly swayed her appendages to maintain her velocity against the stream and hummed the song she had learned at the last ‘campfire’ the humans had hosted. She felt the stream bed brush the tips of her appendages and flexed, bunched, and rebounded slowly up towards the surface. The taste of the water around her changed as the horizon fell and revealed the local star, warming the thin atmosphere and stirring the wildlife that teemed in the shallow stream.
Prodsendlessly tasted the shift in the water as the rich taste of silt based soil changed abruptly to notes of a granite that came from full unds away from the local bedrock. Soon she was able to see the abrupt ninety degree angle of Human Friend Billy Bob’s quay. She warbled happily and rolled to swim up to it. The rough surface provided an easy climbing surface, even as she left the comforting support of the water. She shuffled onto the pleasantly cool and damp surface and idly abraded the leading ends of her gripping appendages on the textured stone as she drank in the surrounding area. It was really far too early to enter the main house. Any human who wasn’t still asleep would be enjoying the peace before the young of the multi-generational community roused and bathed the compound in chaos.
Something towards the direction of the falling horizon and the now perceivable local star registered as distinctly different and Prodsendlessly decided to shuffle in that direction. As she neared the area that had previously been a flat area used by the humans for vigorous recreation it became clear that some significant mass had been added to the space. She felt soil grains in the surrounding grass that indicated someone had been digging and fairly deep at that. The soft green ground cover abruptly ended at a beam carved from one of the local trees and treated to resist water-rot.
Prodsendlessly patted the material as she passed over it thoughtfully. The treatment was chemical and tasted rather harsh. She would have to ask if it was toxic to Undulates. On the other side the native soil had been replaced with sand and a quick delving proved that there was an artificial drainage mat under it. Clearly the base was meant to let the water from the frequent rains pass easily to the river and not linger. Prodsendlessly came to another wooden beam, this one anchored upright in the soil and began climbing it. Like the quayside this beam allowed for easy grip and she reached the top just as horizonfall brought the full power of the local starlight onto it. She ambled along the top of the horizontal beam until she heard clanking under it and rotated her center of mass until she was clinging to the underside of the beam and prodding at the chain that was embedded there. She felt the swaying chain and decided that something more difficult in the way of climbing was in order before she dehydrated and needed to scoot back to the water. Some distance away a human form was resolving into one of the younger adults.
Prodsendlessly eased herself down the flexing length of shaped metal. To her surprise and delight the chain didn’t end at the ground but rather at a broad, comfortable observation platform. It tasted comfortably of humans and human clothes showing it was clearly meant to be a seat for the fat deposits they kept just below their center of mass, however it fit the Undulate form quite nicely as well. The entire structure made delightful creaking sounds around her as the starlight warmed it, causing the materials to expand.
“Prods! How did you get up there?” Human Friend Sally May announced herself, the sound soon followed by the smell of one of the caffeinated beverages the humans put so much effort into crafting.
“I climbed,” Prodsendlessly explained, gesturing to indicated her path up the support post.
Human Friend Sally May directed her gaze over the path and then gave a vague snorting sound before easing herself into one of the seats further down the support beam. Prodsendlessly wasn’t sure what the sound translated to exactly, but she had learned that humans weren’t frequently precise with communication before they had completed the caffeine consuming ritual. At the moment Human Friend Sally May had wrapped all of her stubby gripping appendages around the cup. She was staring in the direction opposite the now visible star and sipping at the drink, while occasionally kicking the ground, making her seat sway gently. When Prodsendlessly determined that she had consumed enough of the beverage she gave a polite hum. Human Friend Sally May glanced at her, her face wrinkled into a smile.
“What is the purpose of this new structure?” Prodsendlessly asked.
“You didn’t swim all the way upstream in the cold just to ask that,” the humans said with a laugh as she kicked against the ground and set her seat swaying to the gentle clanking of the chains that suspended it.
“I did,” Prodsendlessly insisted.
“Really?” was the only word the human said but Prodsendlessly had been swimming through the humans’ pools long enough to read her body language far better than their sound language and the angle of every appendage suggested mild disbelief and an invitation to continue speaking.
“I had not sounded this structures existence when I left my own pool,” Prodsendlessly explained, “but I did intend to come here and...chat… is the word I think. This structure makes a delightful conversation course.”
Prodsendlessly jangled the chains she was clutching in demonstration.
“I can taste the delight pheremones of not only our children but what appears to be half the children in the colony, and that is despite the materials still tasting new,”the Undulate explained. “What is this?”
Human Friend Sally May showed all her teeth and began flexing in a way that pushed her higher into the air.
“Just a swing set,” she said. “Took us awhile to get the beams made. It’s a super old, traditional bit of play stuff for kids. Some folks say it mimics swimming, some say flight. Whatever it does to kids brains they like it, and it’s not to dangerous.”
“I sound the reasoning,” Prodsendlessly said. She had expected to discover it was some form of device to enhance play. “But you are clearly using it, why do you keep insisting it is for your young?”
Human Friend Sally May laughed and let her motion slow.
“They get priority I guess,” she said. “You can’t really ask for a turn from a kid if you are an adult.”
“That is why you snuck out here while most of the children would be sleeping!” Prodsendlessly said in understanding.
“I did not sneak!” Human Friend Sally May said, her strips flushing with irritation. “I just came out of the house really quietly in case I woke…” her voice trailed off and she stared contemplatively into the mouth of her beverage container.
Then she snorted and took a sip.
“Yeah, yeah, I wanted my turn so that’s why I snuck out here, ya’ happy?”
“I am,” Prodsendlessly assured her.
Prodsendlessly tasted the shift in the water as the rich taste of silt based soil changed abruptly to notes of a granite that came from full unds away from the local bedrock. Soon she was able to see the abrupt ninety degree angle of Human Friend Billy Bob’s quay. She warbled happily and rolled to swim up to it. The rough surface provided an easy climbing surface, even as she left the comforting support of the water. She shuffled onto the pleasantly cool and damp surface and idly abraded the leading ends of her gripping appendages on the textured stone as she drank in the surrounding area. It was really far too early to enter the main house. Any human who wasn’t still asleep would be enjoying the peace before the young of the multi-generational community roused and bathed the compound in chaos.
Something towards the direction of the falling horizon and the now perceivable local star registered as distinctly different and Prodsendlessly decided to shuffle in that direction. As she neared the area that had previously been a flat area used by the humans for vigorous recreation it became clear that some significant mass had been added to the space. She felt soil grains in the surrounding grass that indicated someone had been digging and fairly deep at that. The soft green ground cover abruptly ended at a beam carved from one of the local trees and treated to resist water-rot.
Prodsendlessly patted the material as she passed over it thoughtfully. The treatment was chemical and tasted rather harsh. She would have to ask if it was toxic to Undulates. On the other side the native soil had been replaced with sand and a quick delving proved that there was an artificial drainage mat under it. Clearly the base was meant to let the water from the frequent rains pass easily to the river and not linger. Prodsendlessly came to another wooden beam, this one anchored upright in the soil and began climbing it. Like the quayside this beam allowed for easy grip and she reached the top just as horizonfall brought the full power of the local starlight onto it. She ambled along the top of the horizontal beam until she heard clanking under it and rotated her center of mass until she was clinging to the underside of the beam and prodding at the chain that was embedded there. She felt the swaying chain and decided that something more difficult in the way of climbing was in order before she dehydrated and needed to scoot back to the water. Some distance away a human form was resolving into one of the younger adults.
Prodsendlessly eased herself down the flexing length of shaped metal. To her surprise and delight the chain didn’t end at the ground but rather at a broad, comfortable observation platform. It tasted comfortably of humans and human clothes showing it was clearly meant to be a seat for the fat deposits they kept just below their center of mass, however it fit the Undulate form quite nicely as well. The entire structure made delightful creaking sounds around her as the starlight warmed it, causing the materials to expand.
“Prods! How did you get up there?” Human Friend Sally May announced herself, the sound soon followed by the smell of one of the caffeinated beverages the humans put so much effort into crafting.
“I climbed,” Prodsendlessly explained, gesturing to indicated her path up the support post.
Human Friend Sally May directed her gaze over the path and then gave a vague snorting sound before easing herself into one of the seats further down the support beam. Prodsendlessly wasn’t sure what the sound translated to exactly, but she had learned that humans weren’t frequently precise with communication before they had completed the caffeine consuming ritual. At the moment Human Friend Sally May had wrapped all of her stubby gripping appendages around the cup. She was staring in the direction opposite the now visible star and sipping at the drink, while occasionally kicking the ground, making her seat sway gently. When Prodsendlessly determined that she had consumed enough of the beverage she gave a polite hum. Human Friend Sally May glanced at her, her face wrinkled into a smile.
“What is the purpose of this new structure?” Prodsendlessly asked.
“You didn’t swim all the way upstream in the cold just to ask that,” the humans said with a laugh as she kicked against the ground and set her seat swaying to the gentle clanking of the chains that suspended it.
“I did,” Prodsendlessly insisted.
“Really?” was the only word the human said but Prodsendlessly had been swimming through the humans’ pools long enough to read her body language far better than their sound language and the angle of every appendage suggested mild disbelief and an invitation to continue speaking.
“I had not sounded this structures existence when I left my own pool,” Prodsendlessly explained, “but I did intend to come here and...chat… is the word I think. This structure makes a delightful conversation course.”
Prodsendlessly jangled the chains she was clutching in demonstration.
“I can taste the delight pheremones of not only our children but what appears to be half the children in the colony, and that is despite the materials still tasting new,”the Undulate explained. “What is this?”
Human Friend Sally May showed all her teeth and began flexing in a way that pushed her higher into the air.
“Just a swing set,” she said. “Took us awhile to get the beams made. It’s a super old, traditional bit of play stuff for kids. Some folks say it mimics swimming, some say flight. Whatever it does to kids brains they like it, and it’s not to dangerous.”
“I sound the reasoning,” Prodsendlessly said. She had expected to discover it was some form of device to enhance play. “But you are clearly using it, why do you keep insisting it is for your young?”
Human Friend Sally May laughed and let her motion slow.
“They get priority I guess,” she said. “You can’t really ask for a turn from a kid if you are an adult.”
“That is why you snuck out here while most of the children would be sleeping!” Prodsendlessly said in understanding.
“I did not sneak!” Human Friend Sally May said, her strips flushing with irritation. “I just came out of the house really quietly in case I woke…” her voice trailed off and she stared contemplatively into the mouth of her beverage container.
Then she snorted and took a sip.
“Yeah, yeah, I wanted my turn so that’s why I snuck out here, ya’ happy?”
“I am,” Prodsendlessly assured her.
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