HaSO: I'm just an employee on a space ship but I've been recruited to watch my human coworker's juvenile sibling???
continuing a poor alien's adventures with humans
[ID in alt and at bottom]
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Kell needs someone to watch their sibling for a week, and Faja is conveniently on-planet. Ae does not know how to care for a juvenile human.
All language is in universal interplanetary (UIPL) unless otherwise specified.
===
There’s a buzz, and Faja looks down at aer watch. It’s Kell, the human ae has been getting to know as they both work aboard the Yenna.
Kell: You’re on-planet this cycle, right?
Faja: Yes.
Kell: Great! My parents are going out on a work trip and we’re looking for someone to watch my sib.
Faja: Um
Kell: They know ASL, you know ASL, you’ll be fine!
Faja: What about UIPL?
Kell: …they know a bit but they’re mostly still learning. Best stick with ASL I'd think.
===
Somehow Faja has ended up in the human settlement that Kell was raised in. While ae’s not the only alien there, the amount of humans is astounding. Ae follows behind Kell as they lead aer to their home. It’s one of the many low, sloping huts built into the ground, leaning with the flow of the constant wind, instead of trying to fight against it. Larger buildings stand starkly against the horizon, unrelenting in their rectangular geometry, made of concrete and rebar. Kell, ever interested in engineering, explains their deep, sliding foundations, massive dampeners that allow them to remain upright even in the daily gales.
All too soon, a small human—Faja’s own hight—bursts out of a hut and dashes towards them, hands flying.
“Kell! You’re back! Who’s this?”
“Faja, this is Steffen, S-T-E-F-F-E-N. Steffen, Faja, F-A-J-A. They know ASL. Use A-E/A-E-R/A-E-R-S pronouns for writing and speaking, OK?”*
Steffen nods seriously. “OK! They sign?”
“Yes, pretty fluent.”
Faja jumps in here. “No, still learning! But nice to meet you, Steffen.”
Steffen ducks their head into Kell’s shoulder, and Kell smiles fondly.
“Ok, lets go inside.”
===
Faja should never have agreed to watch after a human youngling. Ae knew human's were much more sturdy than Faja’s own species, but Faja really didn’t want to learn to what extent that sturdiness reached. Steffen, however, seemed happy to find out.
“It’s ok,” they sign from the second floor balcony railing, “I do this all the time!”
Faja isn’t so sure.
“This is what juvenile humans eat,” they sign as they pull out a fourth cream-on-a-stick from the freezer, “it’s important to regulate body temperature.”
The look on Steffen’s face is the same as Faja’s siblings when they have been sneaking animals into the house. Faja decides that be the last ice. Steffen tsks and runs outside.
“It’s fine!” they unlock the sand tricycle and hop on, “Kell would let me if they were here.”
Faja squints. There is no way Kell would let Steffen ride the dunes without a helmet and the heat of the day. Right? Humans could overheat, yes?
“Maybe next time,” ae signs back tentatively. Steffen pouts but hops down.
“Let’s go shopping, then!”
===
Faja slumps down on the seat of the transport that will take ae back to aer temporary housing, mercifully juvenile human free.
Kell laughed when Faja regaled them with all Steffen had gotten up to. It wasn’t funny, though. It wreaked havoc on poor Faja’s nerves. Ae will never, never, watch a juvenile human again.
===
[ID: digital drawing of three figures on an alien planet. A human stands with a younger human on their hip, and a shorter avian alien looks up at them. Nearby are sloping yellow huts and in the background are pointy mountains and tall buildings. end ID.]
It's not the end of the world, but it is the end of the world as we've known it. Here's how to make sense of it.
Published Nov. 4, 2021.
Excerpt:
“Even if we continue to really frack up climate and ecological action in the short run, massive action is now inevitable. Our great-grandkids are not going to be hunting alligators through Arctic swamps. It is not too late for us, or for them, and the odds are running more and more strongly against the very worst outcomes we once imagined. The scope of possible impacts is vast, and the scale of risk is difficult to comprehend, but there is a very, very, very long distance between the kinds of disasters we know we’ve already set in motion, and humanity being scoured from the face of the Earth.
Second, unjust as it may be, the consequences of failure will fall more lightly on some than others. We live amidst vast wealth and unprecedented capacities. While no place is safe (if by “safe” we mean unlikely to suffer consequences), many places can be made relatively durable in the face of changes in the climate and biosphere. Some places, at least, are already trying to ruggedize themselves and make the need to change into an opportunity to thrive. There are pathways to sustainable prosperity that also deliver the ability to bring much larger resources to bear in minimizing the dangers communities face” (Steffen).
@ Tatort Fandom: wisst ihr, wer mich richtig fertigmacht? Steffen.
Steffen, der Julia Bootz in Blutgeld zum Hochzeitstag gratuliert und die schöne poly-Konversation aus den Fugen bringt. Steffen, das ultimative Plothole im Stuttgarter Tatort, der über sechs Folgen etabliert wurde, nur um dann nie wieder erwähnt zu werden. Was würde ich geben, um die frühen Drehbuchautoren zurückzubekommen, nur um zu erfahren, was mit Steffen geschehen ist.
Aus dem Kontext lässt sich schließen, dass es da wahrscheinlich mal eine Love-Triangle-Situation gab, aber das wird einfach nie richtig erklärt und das macht mich völlig wahnsinnig.
War Julia eigentlich noch mehr in Steffen verliebt, war aber von Sebastian schwanger und hat sich deshalb für ihn entschieden? Das würde erklären, warum ihre Beziehung so verspannt ist, aber wir werden es wohl nie erfahren.
Die wirklich interessante Frage ist allerdings:
Soll ich Steffen für das Poly-AU zurück holen?
Oder Julia einfach mit Moritz/einem kompletten (wahrscheinlich weiblichen) OC/jemand ganz anderen verkuppeln? Ich fände ja Julia/Emilia Alvarez spannend...
(Julia/Sebastian/Thorsten als geschlossene Triade ist ein anderes Poly-AU, hab ich auch vor, aber nicht hier)
