Imagine an alien species that evolved to be semi-aquatic watching humans (a species evolved to climb and run on land) jump eagerly into the water to swim with them. No safety equipment, no flotation devices, just a thin modesty suit and sheer glee.
And humans, by the alien’s standards, are terrible at swimming. Just…truly awful. They can’t hold their breath for long, their bones and muscles are dense, their lungs make them too buoyant, their hair creates drag, their gangly limbs are slow and clumsy, and they can’t open their eyes underwater because the water will hurt them.
And yet the human laughs and splashes with their alien friend and alien can’t help but marvel as the human seems to adapt in real time right in front of their eyes.
The human streamlines themself to glide through the water as best they can, trying their best to turn their grasping hands into paddles, their feet into flippers. The human watches and copies how the alien moves and mimics them, learns and copies them until they move almost gracefully.
Often, they break away from these learned skills and become a land mammal flailing in the water again, but something about the human willingly defying their nature, learning to be more than they are in a bid for connection with another species, makes the alien light up with something that feels an awful lot like fondness.
A common thing I see on here is "adrenaline is unique to humans and terrifying to everything else".
Now I know realistically it's unlikely other alien species don't have some sort of survival hormone as well, but in the chance that they don't I feel like there's a lot of untouched potential for this.
Because adrenaline has been discussed for fight-or flight situations before; mothers protecting their children, people lifting cars or buildings off other people, surviving in bullshit situations out of sheer willpower; but the way we play with it has to be a cause of conversation amongst other intergalactic species too.
Like we have rollercoasters, theme park rides, horror movies. We jumpscare each other and teach our kids little hunting games like tag, hide-and-seek, and red light green light. We play video games where we hide from a pursuer in a threatening environment and our bodies react like we're actually being stalked in real life, and we do it on purpose.
Because most other earth animal species have adrenaline (or epinephrine), but none of them really seek it out for thrill purposes like humans do. It makes you wonder what aliens would think of us, since we're apparently little freaks that like to be scared on purpose.
Funnily enough, when they first meet past the edges of the Sol system, the aliens like the humans.
None of the humans were prepared for this.
The humans prepared for decades- for centuries! to contact life out in the black, and be judged harshly for their past. To be judged and found wanting.
The aliens, almost to the one, seemed delighted with humanity and everything they entailed. Good, bad, and ugly.
“You see, we heard you calling out for long, long, long… we could not find where you called out from. Now we have! You called for so long, and now we meet you! It is good to know you! We have tried so hard to find you and say, Hello!”
The messages Earth sent out, just in case there was anyone out there to hear, to extend reassurance that they simply were not alone was received always with delight. And they sparked a soft race to find the origin of such a kind and curious signal into the vastness of the universe.
Bobole shown in natural patterns, with a kula and a sloman silhouette for reference.
The second most widespread domesticated predator the slomen have would be the rounder than round big-maw.
They come from temperate climates, where they roam the forests, eating animals of many sizes (usually based on pack size). Most often, they are seen in pairs (commonly of siblings), but this rule isn't unbreakable. Sometimes, packs reach over 6 members that stay together for a long period of time before they eventually separate into smaller groups. This adaptability might be why their domestication came quite naturally. From the bobole's point of view, slomen might have been great hunting buddies.
Bobole are intelligent hunters that rely on visualizing the path of their prey more than on communication between members. This makes them both adaptable and stubborn when working in bigger groups or with slomen. The usual strategy is for one individual to stay low, watching the target, while others chase it in the other's direction. The unmoving bobola waits for the moment the target is close enough to strike it. In case it fails, the one chasing will still be available on the other side to mayhaps save the hunt.
With smaller prey, they can be useful chasing the target for slomen too. But with their stubborn attitude toward their technique, it's more common for them to help keep the watch on prey and track it.
In an active hunt, the slomen direct the bigger prey to the usually-larger-breed bobola to deal the first hit, keeping the animal in grasp for a person to kill it with a weapon.
Some breeds are very territorial. For this, you will rarely see them in Ciwa, where you could consider them outlawed. Not because they could hurt a person, but because a kula could be at risk. The sacred feral population must live on.
Unlike a dog, bobolas are not as flexible to train. Little funny tricks are meant for a kula. These orbs are loyal and follow direction, but they take a lot of time to do their natural behaviors in ways most useful for people.
The easiest is for them to protect family members from threats, which is why many cultures have at least one devoted to the household kids and follow them on their mischievous journeys even when they sneak around the adults. Of course, one must establish what a threat is early on. Nobody wants an anxious bobola who bites their aunt.
In some regions, if you were to visit a village, chances are you would see them sitting by every third settlement, either sleeping or watching you. Sellers might even take them to the markets to keep thieves away.
Now, you might find these orbicular animals somewhat similar to the put-tut, but they are hardly related. Bobola are actually genetically closer to the 'slomland' bird than to slomen themselves. Just like with the raptorial shape before the mammal overtaking on earth, the upright biped is popular with convergent evolution. However, since vertebrates of the continent don't have true tails to balance them horizontally, most bipedal animals here keep their head high.
This creature has been pretty much designed for a looong time now, but I never got to actually rendering it.
Aliens not understanding how men are the 'stronger' gender, women are the ones who bleed once a month, loosing an average of approximately 62 men of blood in their lifetime. They are also the ones who endure childbirth, a concept entirely new to aliens as they are all laid as eggs, none having to go through the horrific torture that they have been told is a pregnancy.
Their human crew members tell them that the female body has to house and grow another human for nine months which is accompanied by all kinds of pains. This all ends with having to push said human out of themselves without sufficient amounts of painkillers. This process is also, in some instances, deadly either for the baby or mother.
They also learn how painful it can be for a man to have his genitals attacked when one of the crew members stupidly attempts ship repairs entirely by himself.
Which of course, inevitably leads them to believe being a 'pussy' is considered a compliment and that the number of balls you have correlates to how much of a coward you are.
