Challenge #02851-G294: Three Whacks With a Wet Noodle
Deathworlder parents mete out appropriate punishments to misbehaving deathworlder children. Chastisement to non-deathworlders is often much lighter, even if handed out by the same caregivers, and for good reason.
Human parent to human children: “Present butts!” (brandishes foam bat)
Human parent to non-human children: “I’m very disappointed in you” (pins children with The Look)
All children: “Wow, I got off easy compared to the other group” – Anon Guest
[AN(&PSA): DO NOT BEAT YOUR CHILDREN FOR FLAKK’S SAKE! That is abuse and there are other ways to educate your kids on the right ways to behave. InB4 “I got hit as a kid and I’m fine” - no, you are not. You think it’s okay to hit kids]
Managing misbehaviour has many faces. Greater Deregulations across known space have entire manuals covering all the details of child misbehaviour and the tortures that were the “appropriate” response according to the administration. As is always the case with Greater Deregulations, there are factions rebelling against these guides for being “too soft” and part of a “nanny state” whilst campaigning to be as violent as they like so long as murder isn’t involved.
Greater Deregulations are almost unanimously civilisations in which needing medical care is a criminal offense. Or at least, it’s a criminal offense for those unable to afford it. It’s best not to use their example when raising a young cogniscent.
Some Humans from the Edge are hardly any better, but they are at least working on more sympathetic methods of encouraging proper behaviour in the young surrounding them. When dealing with Edge Humans on a ship that also has young, it is advisable to also have a Registered Carer in the same room. It was only an accident of circumstance that prevented Carer Greix from interfering with Human Pam’s idea of educational chastisement.
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Challenge #02845-G288: Mimicry of Comfort
It is a well-known fact that humans, especially human young, are excellent mimics. However, in addition to mimicking sounds, young humans also mimic words and phrases. While the ship’s adult humans set about repelling an invasion, the crew had to hide with their offspring, a human too young to do battle, but still old enough to repeat back everything their parents said when they were scared…
“It’s OK, I’m here” and “they can’t get past my ‘rents!” and “you take deep breaths, and I’ll give you a hug” and other such things, repeated tirelessly to comfort the crew until the crisis ended. – Anon Guest
They saw it coming, which was a good thing. It was also a cruise ship, which was a bad thing. There was a lot of territory for the adult Humans on board to defend. A lot of vulnerable cogniscents to defend as well. Those who were too squishy to face the incoming foes were sequestered into a safe, soft arena with easy access to the life pods. In the unlikely event that it all went to crap, they would all be able to bail out in less than minutes. Some of the Human neonates were hopping in and out of the waiting pods like it was a game.
As a Havenworlder, Frinn was with the smallest and most vulnerable of the Humans. Most of them were pre-verbal and many of them were still navigating the finer points of the bathroom. Their hygiene needs kept the few Human guardians in the room busy. Anxiety was the overall atmosphere among the Havenworlders waiting for the inevitable. The mood was something the young Humans picked up on, but not how anyone might rationally expect.
Any normal Galactic Citizen might expect young to echo the mood of the adult majority, spreading hysteria amongst all present. That was not what happened. The children all imitated what their caregivers did when they were upset. It was quite a thing to witness. Frinn’s first comforter was a toddler who pressed their soft toy into her arms. They then spent some time wrestling a soft blanket around Frinn’s shoulders. A soft blanket that potentially weighed more than the child. Frinn was more than a little late in helping the toddler, since stress made her foggy at best and barely present at worst. However, other similarly small children pitched in.
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Challenge #02844-G287: Therapy For Monsters
I’ve been wondering how the Galactic Alliance treats pedophiles who want help with, well, not being pedophiles anymore… – Anon Guest
[AN: Eliminating pedophilia in its entirety begins with not normalising the sexualisation of younger bodies, infantilising sex play(and partners), the eradication of most, if not all, adult characteristics in adult partners, and so on. Once it’s not culturally normalised, the entire predilection may also vanish. So let’s take this as a statistical anomaly in the future of my dreams]
The first step to getting help with a problem is recognising it as a problem. Throughout history, people like Van had justified their appetites by pointing at a distant point in the past when it was all allegedly perfectly normal.
Pre-shattering Humans pointed to the Medieval lords. Medieval lords pointed to the ancient Romans, who pointed to the Greeks, who pointed to another distant people less able to defend themselves. Back and back and back, to before the time of the written word. It was never normal. It was people who only cared to take what they wanted, who used the actions of other such statistical outliers to justify what they did.
At least Van was willing to admit she was a monster. At least she was willing to state as much in her own words and out of her own mouth. Worse monsters would jump through hoops and history to make their lusts perfectly normal. I was sure to tell Van as much. She had taken the first step. As a Therapist, it is my job to help her through all the subsequent steps.
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Challenge #02843-G286: Storm Damage
The tour-group had gone to the plains of the region known as the United States and was at a museum that told of such things as the Great Depression, and how humans had caused such damage to their lands that this region even suffered a catastrophe known as the Dust Bowl, when a loud warning blared out. A particularly large tornado was on its way.
Fortunately, the place had shelters to survive even an F5 so no one was hurt, or killed, but physical damage isn’t the only thing that can occur before, during, and especially after, a major storm like that has passed through. – Anon Guest
Bad news: Deathworlds were host to extreme weather. Good news: The Deathworlders are already prepared for this. The sirens were creepy and deliberately designed to be alarming in more ways than one.The natives knew what they meant and many of them could be relied upon to help get any Havenworlders to safety.
There’s always a few who are blasé to all but the most extreme of dangers, and even then they’re never truly panicked. This has caused some upset and confusion amongst visitors. There’s only so much that visitor’s guides can prepare people for. Especially when most visitors only glance at the most important bits to them and leave the rest unviewed.
Public Service Announcements have helped the locals to help the visitors immensely. In this case, the Havenworlder tourists were ushered to a shelter and distracted from the noise of the storm. At which point, the people who were used to the tornadoes left to survey the damage. They assumed that the big danger was over and all would be well. Public Service Announcements can only do so much, after all.
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Challenge #02842-G285: It Happened So Fast
For some, killing is easy. They feel absolutely nothing for it. For others, killing is like ripping apart a piece of their very soul. He wept. Tears sliding down his face as the body lay on the ground before him. He’d agreed to be a guide to the small mixed group of haven worlders and death worlders through the shopping center, but he had never thought it would end up in a confrontation. The person was raving, either they were insane, on some sort of drug, or they really did have hatred towards those who were not like them.
The fight didn’t last long, he’d not realized the item he’d grabbed was sharp, he was just trying to defend himself and the ones with him. And now the being lay deceased before him and the mixed group with him were traumatized. And all he could do is stand there and weep. Because what he’d been forced to do hurt to the core. – Anon Guest
It happened so fast. She had been guide to Havenworlder tourists and thusly had defensive training, focussing on the field of education[1]. So, when the angry raving individual came at them with the obvious intent to cause harm to the soft and squishy aliens in the room, Lila had acted on instinct. Grab the nearest inanimate object and use it to make the enemy stop.
She had intended to block and redirect the charging body with it. She didn’t know she had a plasma knife until the body fell to a complete standstill. Killed in one desperate strike that wasn’t intended to kill. Intent or not, the potential attacker was now cooling gently before their eyes.
Lila turned the plasma knife off and put it down by her feet. Render weapon safe, check. Next, she turned to her Havenworlder tourists. “Who has taken their calm meds? Show hands.” All showed their hands. Good. They would be physically well for the meantime. “Who has their offensensitivity filters on? Show hands.” Again, they all showed their hands. Charges safe, check.
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