Essence of Humanity
Notes: I just finished reading Stranger in a Strange Land and fell in love with it, and was faced with the common reality I find myself faced with that there is no tickling content for it. Thus, I couldn't help but take advantage of this conversation about laughter that keeps occurring in the books, because this is all my mind could think of whenever it happened lol.
Grok = to understand fully and completely in its essence (a Martian word).
Summary: Mike struggles to grok laughter, and Jill shows him a trick that works for all humans—even those who don't understand humor.
There were many things that the Man from Mars still did not understand about Earth, though he was learning at such a rapid rate that, in some areas, he had quickly advanced beyond his fellow water brothers. The basis of mechanical engineering, mathematical proofs, and advanced chemistry, for instance, all clicked rather quickly, and he had a hard time understanding how they could not for anyone else; the information was all there, after all. But there were other traits, much more complicated notions or concepts by his perception, that seemed to come so naturally to others that he still struggled with.
One of these was laughter, an ability so simple that Jill and Jubal often stared at him for several moments after when a joke didn’t land, as though trying to comprehend his staunch stoicism. He wished he could understand it as well. He understood the mechanics of humor, on a more basic level. It involved misdirection, irony, something going wrong in a manner that was exaggerated or dramatic. But he did not fully grok it, and as such, it continued to bother him immensely. Not nearly as immensely as it bothered his water brothers, he noted.
“It’s just something that comes naturally,” Jill was trying to explain to him one afternoon. They sat together by the pool, Mike’s legs hanging in the water. He felt the gentle, steady current of it against his skin as the warm breeze pushed at it and considered sinking in fully. All that stopped him was the knowledge that it would be much more difficult for Jill to talk to him in that fashion, something he understood that she was intending to do. “Like sneezing or burping or sleeping.”
“I don’t sleep,” Mike pointed out, somewhat unhelpfully.
Jill frowned. “Yes. I know. That was a poor metaphor. What I mean to say is that it’s just something you do. You don’t really think about it. When you’re a baby, you laugh off instinct, mostly. No one has to teach you what is or isn’t funny, so I’m not really sure how to break it down now.”
Jill did this often, and it was a trait that Mike had learned to accept, and even found himself endeared by, though he couldn’t understand it. Jubal was much better at breaking things down. He seemed to understand humanity at, what Mike was discovering, a much more integral, conceptual level than most others. Jill usually only knew how to explain things by habit. It was just the way things were done. Because that’s what you’re supposed to do! I just want to do it, and so I do. And other phrases along those lines. It was confusing how many things people seemed to do that they rarely took the time to grok fully. It was, perhaps, one of the most fascinating things he had discovered about humans.
“So babies understand this humor, then?” Mike clarified, finding it a bit incongruous with other information he’d been given. From his understanding, babies acted purely off instinct and had a great deal of trouble comprehending language or ideas. He couldn’t imagine how a baby could hear a joke and be able to comprehend why it was funny but not be able to understand simple commands such as eat or quiet.
There was a soft chuckle at that, and Mike felt his usual pang of curiosity about what was possibly funny about a simple question. He liked the sound of Jill’s laughter, though, light and almost melodic at times, so the curiosity didn’t bother him too much.
“No, no,” Jill said, shaking her head with a smile. “At least, not when they are very young. They might understand funny faces or gestures, but even then, that can often frighten them instead.” Mike could understand that. “No, they…” and then her eyes widened and she jerked up straight, turning to him with enthusiasm. It would have been startling, but Mike quickly processed the actions as joyous in nature and calmed himself. “Hey, Mike, I might have thought of a way to help you laugh.”
He couldn’t follow what would have led her there, but he was excited nonetheless. “I see. What is the idea that you propose?”
Her joy wilted slightly as she considered him. “Well… actually, it may not be something you entirely want. Or, I don’t know. You do seem to do well with physical contact. You see, it would involve me touching you, in a way that you might consider strange. It will feel… weird.”
“Painful?”
“No, no, not painful.
“No, no, not painful. Sort of pleasant, but not?” Jill’s face was scrunched in concentration as she fiddled with her fingers in her lap. “It’s probably best if I just show you. You may want to move away at first, but just allow it to happen, at least for a few seconds so you can see what I mean.”
The assurances were only working to make him more nervous about whatever this supposed method was. He couldn’t imagine why he would want to move away if she was telling the truth about it not being painful, which he had every reason to trust as water brothers simply could not lie to one another. “Proceed,” he said after a moment, turning to face her seriously.
“I’ll need access to your torso,” she said, lifting her own arms in indication. He followed suite, keeping them held overhead. It was strange how nervous she seemed. It was only serving to unnerve himself, though Jill tended to be among the more anxious of his water brothers, with the threat only occasionally proving to be as large as she was making it out to be.
She reached forward and placed both of her hands on his sides. This merely registered as warmth and dull comfort, something he had experienced many times before. Then, she began to wiggle her fingers as though her hand was a spider scuttling in place against his shirt.
Something sparked inside of him, a sensory experience he wasn’t used to. He couldn’t find the language needed for it in English, and he wasn’t sure if there was language for it in Martian. Before thinking, he slowed down, allowing time to still as his mind worked through the moment. He knew Jill wasn’t always fond of him slipping out of time like this, but when he came across something this puzzling, he often couldn’t help it.
It was… pleasant. That was the best word he could come up with for it. It wasn’t painful, that was certain, but it was intense—an intense pleasure, one that, as Jill had predicted, he did feel some urge to get away from. He knew there were certain pleasures that were so sublime they could be difficult to bear. Thus far, he had only experienced this emotionally—submerging himself in water came close, or the first moment Jill had offered him a glass of water. But even though this was physical, there were emotions that were being brought up. Adrenaline, the urge to panic, or a feeling of being overwhelmed. A warmth in his stomach, his hair standing up on end near his neck and shoulders. And finally, the strangest thing—the urge to smile.
This was what was puzzling him the most. His body both desired to move away and yet at the same time, it His body both desired to move away and yet at the same time, there was something bubbling up inside of him, a light, gulping movement, similar to sobbing, but not quite. He recognized belatedly that this must be laughter.
He returned to the present, a mere few seconds passing in his time away. A part of him wanted to resist this strange, foreign reaction, but if it was laughter, that was what they were seeking to prompt in the first place. He resolved to let the reaction come to its full conclusion as its own rate, which for right now was only a slight smile, a crinkling of the eyes, and a tightening of his stomach in preparation for whatever noise was coming.
A glance at Jill told him this was the correct response. Her eyes were glowing, her own mouth open in unabashed glee as she watched him. Her fingers sped up in her enthusiasm, and Mike forced himself to quell the panic that rose as the sensation increased. It was strange how something so pleasant made him feel so strange and ungrounded.
“Mike?” Jill asked. “Is it okay if I move to a different area?”
This was news. He had assumed this might have been related to his sides, considering she had requested access to them, but maybe this sensation could be prompted in multiple different areas. He nodded, recognizing that his own speech might be impaired by the reaction prompted from this action.
Her fingers crawled up his torso, landing under his arms and continuing there. The adrenaline feeling increased drastically, his smile bursting into a grin. This spot seemed to work better for this method. He could not hold his reaction anymore, and so a sound finally emerged—laughter. He was sure that was it. It sounded so similar to Jill’s laughter, though his was deeper, slower, more similar to Jubal, perhaps, though his was always tinted with a hint of irony. Mike wasn’t sure how he was doing this, considering that he had no idea how to make this sound, but it seemed his body had figured it out for him.
“Mike!” Jill exclaimed, flushed with excitement. “It’s working! You’re laughing!”
Mike nodded, still unable to speak. There was an increasing urge to pull his arms down, though he didn’t want this experience to stop. It was so strange and unfamiliar, and he wanted to explore it further. And the laughter… it felt pleasant too. His shoulders shook with it, his face broken open in a wide grin as he let out deep chuckles.
Jill had only been using lighter movements at first, almost like a caress, though the sensation was clearly a different one. But now, she skirted her fingers behind to hold his arms and pressed her thumb down hard in the center, wiggling the tip. Mike had been under the impression that this method was caused by light touch, but this rougher, more firm touch worked even better, and without thinking, his arms came down, his laughter growing in pitch. Viewing himself objectively, he noticed that there was a more desperate tone to the sound, though he did not find himself in any distress. Strange.
“Jill!” he said, because her fingers were still wiggling, his arms not inhibiting them in the slightest. He tried to think about what he wanted. Not for it to stop, necessarily. “P-Pause!”
Instantly, Jill’s fingers went still. Even despite this, the mere presence of them under his arms was enough to set his body on edge. Every slight twitch of her fingers, however minute, prompted a touch memory of the last few minutes and brought the smile back to his face. He quickly lifted his arms for her to remove her hands, unsure if he could fully articulate himself if he was still experiencing this sensation in any capacity.
Now the joy was gone, and the nervous expression was back on Jill’s face. “Was that alright? I didn’t mean to go too far, or anything. I was just excited is all.”
Mike placed a hand on hers, squeezing it lightly. He had been watching more TV lately, as well as the movements of his fellow companions, and he had picked up on this as a fairly common method of reassurance. It seemed to work, her tense shoulders easing. “You did not do anything wrong. I just wanted a moment to speak to you, and I was finding it hard to do so through the laughter. It was pleasant.”
“Oh?” She tilted her head, brows furrowing. “You mean you enjoyed it?”
That was not what he had been expecting. “Was it not supposed to be?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess it depends on the person. It can be overwhelming for a lot of people—makes them feel out of control?”
Mike nodded, though he only sort of understood. The desire for control, and the helplessness at losing it, was such a human concept that he still struggled sometimes to grasp its purpose. Though, he could grok the need for controlling oneself, and the sensation had certainly made it difficult to perform actions he might have easily been able to later. But he could not imagine worrying about controlling the actions of a fellow water brother—the trust there was too large to be breached so easily. “I see. It was overwhelming. But I mostly found it pleasant. Is it something that happens all over the body, then, like pain?”
“Generally, yeah. But not everywhere. Like, hands aren’t really ticklish.”
“Ticklish?”
“Oh!” She smacked her leg, an expression he had learned to discern as surprise, not a desire to hurt. It was a strange function of humanity, one he found both confusing and endearing. “I didn’t even think to tell you what it was called. What I was just doing to you—it’s called tickling. And when someone is susceptible to tickling, they are ticklish.”
Ticklish. Tickling. Mike tried them out, speaking them slowly. They were pleasing to the ear and rang a bell of recognition. “Is that not an expression of joy? For something to tickle you?”
She laughed, shaking her head. “It is that, too. I suppose Jubal does say that sometimes. I suppose it’s because tickling makes you laugh, as you saw.”
For a moment, Mike stayed quiet, merely absorbing this information. At last, he turned to Jill, eyes sparkling with an idea. “Are you ticklish?”
The reaction he received was not what he had been expecting. Jill’s face became quite red, and she smiled and stammered a bit, her arms crossing over her stomach. It was a defensive stance, and an embarrassed one, neither of which made any sense in reaction to the question. “W-Well,” she said at last, shoulders ducked forward. “I suppose… that is to say… well, everyone is ticklish! A little bit! Or, well, I shouldn’t speak so generally. Not everyone, but most people.”
“And you are one of them?”
She nodded, shyly.
“May I try it? Tickling you?”
If her face had been red before, it was bright red now. “Well, Mike,” she said slowly. Her nervousness was evident, though it was difficult to tell if it was from excitement or fear. “I am very ticklish.”
He nodded. “So, it should work well, then.”
“But it! Well—!” She blustered a few minutes more, before finally relenting, “I suppose it would be fine. For just a moment. But some people are so ticklish that they get overwhelmed very easily, so I cannot stand it too long. And I won’t be able to help myself from squirming.”
“Would you like me to hold you still?”
Though he could not understand why any of this was embarrassing her so, there was something nice about making her smile so widely and seeing how the red flushed her cheeks. She seemed to enjoy the attention, though it was difficult for her to bear. She nodded, though she couldn’t seem to meet his eyes. “That’s probably for the best. But you must stop when I say so and let me go immediately!”
He agreed easily—both of those requests he had assumed to be a given. He moved closer, tugging her arms overhead and wrapping an arm around her biceps so that they could not move down. He did so quickly and efficiently, and he noticed her breath quickening, her eyes dilating slightly. Her current expression of being matched what he knew to be signs of arousal from his research, but he chose to ignore them in this moment. The knowledge that some of the feelings Jill held towards him appeared to be romantic in nature was not unknown to him, but as he was still struggling to fully understand these concepts, he had chosen to ignore them for a moment.
He brought his hands under her arms and rested them there for a moment, as she had done with him. Even this simple gesture caused her to tense, her eyes squeezing shut, her grin widening. Interesting. He would spend time trying to grok that later. He wiggled his fingers as she had done, being careful not to use too much force yet. It did not seem that he needed it.
Though it had taken Mike himself a little bit to give into his laughter, Jill did so right away. She burst into a fit of wild giggles, immediately squirming in his grip as she had promised he would. He held her easily, which only seemed to increase her laughter.
“Mihihike!” she squealed, arms tugging against his hold. “Ihihit tihihickles!”
“Good,” he said, brightening at the confirmation, though he wouldn’t have needed it based on his own observations. He was pleased to know that he was just as skilled at this technique as needed. He made a mental note to ask Jubal about the method later; perhaps he would have even greater information about this tickling, such as when it was to be used, and for what purpose. “You seem to be more susceptible to the tickling than I was. So, more… ticklish?”
She let out a noise that sounded close to a squawk, arching back lightly and sliding in his grip. He was having fun exploring the different areas under her arms, as each seemed to prompt a different reaction. “Dohohon’t t-tehehease!”
This was puzzling. To his knowledge, he hadn’t been teasing—or at the very least hadn’t been intending to. “I don’t know what you mean,” he admitted honestly.
She shook her head, returning to his giggling. Experimentally, he reached down and tried a new spot, one that she hadn’t tried on him. He wiggled his fingers over her stomach, to great success. She squeaked and yelped, her laughter growing in pitch, and when he moved below her naval, the tickling seemed to grow so much that she managed to slide quite a way out of his grip before he secured her once more. “Mihihike! Okay, okay stahahap!”
As quickly as he had begun, he released her. She brought her arms down, rubbing the areas to remove the last of the phantom sensation. “Goodness,” she breathed, tugging her shirt down where it had gotten rucked up in her squirming. “You’re awfully good at that.”
“You’re awfully ticklish,” he parroted, and she blushed prettily once more.
“What did I say about teasing?”
“I’m sorry,” he said, though he didn’t feel as panicked about upsetting her, as he could tell her distress seemed to be more of a farce than anything. “Is saying that you’re ticklish teasing?”
“Oh, forgot it for now.” She smiled, a brighter one that was much less desperate than before. “I’ll teach you about it another time. I think the one lesson is enough for now.”
He nodded, allowing her to turn the conversation to other topics, the bright sun warming his face and bringing a pleasant mood to the afternoon. Later that evening, he decided, he would spend time musing over this moment, hoping to grok it in its entirety.
For now, he was happy to have, even momentarily, cracked the human skill of laughter.