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Zoutaleaux t1_jbfkkma wrote

My separation/mourning ceremony was beautiful and helped give me closure. The elders told me I would eventually find a new community among the aliens and rebuild my identity with them, and my parent group reminded me that I would always have a place in the Universal Community. I felt lucky I was so independent minded and able to tolerate the break better than many would have, and I was excited to continue my education in interspecies relationships and galactic politics. But it was still difficult to be alone, and it didn't help when I was told my assigned roommate was from a predator species. At least their species was social and omnivorous, so it could have been worse.

After a long journey I arrived at Station Alpha-1, located in a system held and operated by the Galactic Species Alliance for the purposes of furthering interspecies cooperation and cultural exchange. First year scholars were housed in the station itself, and after processing I found I had arrived first to my shared quarters. I nervously reviewed information about my roommate's species. They were known as Solarians in the standard GSA nomenclature, and the species self-designation was Human. All of their habits, traits and customs were alarming but nothing adequately prepared me for meeting one in the flesh.

The door abruptly slammed open as the creature stalked into the common room, scaring me out of my skin and making drop my dataslate. It was almost my height, also bipedal, though with a much smaller build. I froze but it must have heard the clatter as its head whipped around, instantly zeroing in on me. It had front facing binocular vision, sharp and focused, and it locked both its glittering eyes on my facing eye. It advanced toward me aggressively, baring its teeth as it came. With my nonfacing eye I could see my resting platform extending behind me and I realized I was pressed up against it with nowhere to go. I took a breath to calm myself as it approached to within one meter, before it extended a limb towards me.

"Hi! I'm Cal! Nice to meet you roomie." After a moment it tilted its head and said "Hey, are you okay?"

I calmed myself, and gathered my courage. Everything was fine. This institution is dedicated to interspecies cooperation. This human is not here to be violent. "Why are you extending your limb toward me?" The human's limb dropped to its side.

"Oh, sorry -- human greeting custom. I'm not used to interacting with aliens. Sorry if I made you uncomfortable!"

"This was a normal human greeting custom?"

"Uh ... yes?"

I forced my muscles back into life. This was fine, just a misunderstanding. I huffed softly. "Its designation was Cal?"

"Well, I am a 'he,' not an 'it,' but yes."

I ducked my head in apology, while keeping him in view the whole time. "I had not yet refreshed myself on human sex/gender expression. Our definitions of analogous things differ somewhat but 'he' the acceptably closest analog for me as well. I am called Night-Wind."

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Zoutaleaux t1_jbfrl1x wrote

"Well Night-Wind, pleased to meet you. I admit I didn't do much research upfront on you or your species, I thought I'd experience it first-hand myself. Maybe I should have been a little more cautious. I want to make sure we get off on the right foot. I am here to learn and make friends so I hope you will help me understand how to interact with you according to your preferences."

"It is fine. This is my first separation, and I admit I am a bit nervous." I decided I should guard my feelings and try to project more boldness. "That is my purpose here too. Please do not worry. I certainly am not!" I laughed, proud of my ability to sound authentically bold.

The human seemed unsure. "Okay, if you say so. Well, anyway, how was your trip? Have you come far?"

As we traded notes, Cal began talking over his shoulder, rapidly searching through the entire living quarters.

"What are you looking for?" Surely this human couldn't have misplaced something so quickly.

"Oh, I'm just exploring. I've been to a lot of space stations but never really stayed in one. This is pretty nice!" He darted over to the window, a large oval in the outer bulkhead and gazed out at Longva-III, the planet we were orbiting. "I can't wait to explore the planet and this station. I'm so curious as to what I might find. I hear the flora is fascinating and some of it is extremely dangerous!" "Hmm, I wonder if anyone Well Dives here. I'd love to jump from here down to planetside."

I was slightly horrified. Was this human deranged? Did he perhaps have a recent head injury? I cleared my throat. "Well, I'm sure the Institute has a plan in place for structured, sensible, safe field trips so that we can learn about our surroundings."

"Hah, sounds boring! But I'm sure we'll find some time to have fun." Cal returned to the sleeping area and looked over at my belongings. "Wow, what is that? That's amazing!"

I swiveled an eye to see what Cal was referring to. "Oh, that is a memory stone, one of my parting gifts."

"It's so shiny! The way it scatters the light -- so many colors!"

"Well, I suppose it does catch the light in a pleasant way." He seemed fixated on the mundane object. "Do you not have any possessions?"

"Oh, yeah. I got here ahead of my luggage, but I was told it should arrive by the station-evening. Listen, I'm not sure what your feeding cycle is like but I'm kind of hungry."

My fear spiked for a moment.

"I mean, I was thinking about going to the he nutrition center and getting some food. Are you hungry? I thought maybe we could go together."

"Oh. Yes Cal, that sounds good. Lead the way." He flashed his teeth again as I followed him out of the room. It was remarkable to watch him stride boldly down the corridor, practically acting as if it was his station. But as I brought up the rear, I realized something had shifted with him. He kept glancing back to make sure I was still near. In his eyes, he and I were already part of a group. The "roomie" collective. I relaxed further and felt better. What a strange creature; occasionally terrifying but somehow, his presence was reassuring.

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Minecraft-god69420 t1_jbgasrw wrote

Moar

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adonis190 t1_jbhlc84 wrote

Datos que recuerdo de los humanos. Prefieren experimentar dolor a pasar 10 minutos de aburrimiento. Enseñan sus mandíbulas cuando están felices y cuando estás enojados cierran sus bocas por completo. Pueden sentir si algo o alguien los está observando, y cuentan con una reacción en el sistema respiratorio de corta duración cuando se menciona el nombre del humano en específico. Es un misterio entre la alianza que aún está siendo investigado. Pueden darle una personalidad y tomarle afecto a cualquier cosa desde otras especies hasta objetos animado e inanimados. Con un regreso de ese afecto en más del 80% de los casos. Un hecho aterrador de alto secreto es una aparente habilidad para saber lo que pasó, pasa y sucederá en todo el universo o universos. Aún se investiga está habilidad recopilando todo el material hecho por los humanos y manteniendo en secreto para evitar la fuga de tecnología y como hacerla. Es una de las únicas razas conocidas que aún convivan con sus ancestros de millones de años después con distintas variantes. Es la única raza que a pasado por cada una de las ideologías, culturas, etapas y culturas con ligeras diferencias de cada raza conocida. "Si hay una nueva raza descubierta es seguro que hubo un tiempo y cierta población humana con sus mismas formas de pensar y actuar". Son completamente contradictorios, son amables, crueles, inteligentes, estúpidos, aventureros, temeroso. Cada ser humano puede tomar cualquier pensamiento sin problema y son fáciles de integrarse en cada cultura.

Baje la tableta con los ojos confundido acerca de esta información. "Es real esto?" No podía imaginar algo así o que una raza prefiera sufrir dolor a aburrimiento. La puerta de deslizó con un humano entrando mirando a su alrededor y fijando su vista donde estoy. "Hey amigo" "Amigo, ni siquiera te conozco"

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