Challenge #02738-G181: Stick Together or Fall…
The strength of the team is each member, the strength of each member is the team – Anon Guest
Humans have so many sayings about their pack action. There is no I in Team. Teamwork makes the dream work. We stand together or we fall apart. If you needed any further proof that Humans are pack animals, there you go. It’s coded into their daily axioms.
It comes to the fore when they work together as teams. They come to know each other’s strengths, and bolster each other’s weaknesses with them. They seem to have a group mind when they work together.
Slor had to ask them how they did that. Certainly, there were advantages to pack-bonding, but that was not what Slor wanted to know. That was why he waited for the Human Pack-bonding game to come to a close. As far as Slor could divine, it was Symbolically Kill The Other Team By Moving A Projectile Into A Specific Area.
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Challenge #02737-G180: Learning the Hard Way
A telepath reads a human mind. They were almost overwhelmed while reading this: https://youtu.be/yBLdQ1a4-JI – Anon Guest
Human contact is not for the uninitiated, especially when one is a Melil. Their species is one of the few that developed natural telepathy. It was something of a shock to all that their gift could be used to read the thoughts of other species.
That said, other species do not have the mental capacity of silencing their unbidden thoughts like the Melil can, and asking them to do so is worse than counterproductive. Worse so with Humans. Imagine being the poor Melil who encountered the very first Human.
Now imagine being a Melil teen who decided that the new restrictions were too restrictive and struck out on hir own for the Edge Territories to learn for themselves about the dangerous new cogniscent life form eking out an existence there. Which is exactly what Beni was doing.
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Challenge #02736-G179: Falling? Flying!
My god these two are too f*cking precious. Welp (cocks gun) let’s make sure it stays that way. – Anon Guest
He’d never been a fan of damsels in distress. He much preferred the kind of girl who could go down snarling. So when they were sent to rescue some muckety-muck who had been abducted by some other nonsense group, Kudge had never expected to meet her halfway. She was filthy, dishevelled, and bore a weapon she had clearly stolen from her captors. Most of the blood staining her clothing was from other people.
Kudge had never expected to fall in love at first sight either, but there he was. Plummeting. Normally the fast talker of the troop, he had only one thing to say- “Wow.”
Luse was the one to step between him and her as she wound up to cause some serious damage with, “Hey, hey, no. No… We were sent to -ah- fetch you back? Honestly thanks for making our workday shorter, but please don’t kill the brains of this group or we’re in serious flakk.”
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Challenge #02735-G178: Life and Pie
The elderly human was sitting on the porch of their home here on Earth when a shuttle neatly landed on the wide gravel road not far from the garage. They were curious, didn’t get many visitors out here on the farm. Once things had settled and were quiet again, the door opened and soon the alien stepped out. The alien, a middle-aged being, smiled and greeted their old friend and went to sit with them for a while. The did promise, as duties permitted, they would visit after all. So, it being a pleasantly sunny day, and duties were light, it was a good time to sit, have some tea, and chat about the past when they were shipmates, and some of the more interesting times from back then. – DaniAndShali
Even Humans slow down, though it’s hard for some species to tell the difference. Even Humans grow old and age. Even the most formidable among them grow frail. Science has made the descent slow and gentle, but it happens nonetheless. It has even happened to Human Dav “Deathwish” Lyonn.
Age has wearied him, but the years have not condemned. Yet. Ze keeps hir livesuit in operational condition and has made a few modifications as concessions to hir declining mobility. As part of hir exercise regime, Human Dav is making apple pie. It’s the kneading and rolling that’s important. Not the lengths of extravagance that ze’s come to perform with the crust.
Humans will add anything to mandatory activity in order to make it more enjoyable simply because it is mandatory activity and therefore boring and uninteresting. This is why Humans invented cheese sauce shortly after they discovered the health benefits of broccoli.
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Challenge #02734-G177: Sub-telepathy in Action
Ever worked in an call centre? or in retail? How about gone shopping in the middle of the day? Sat down after a busy day just wanting to relax?
what do all these things have in common. How you seemingly know you won’t be able to relax, even if there is a Lull, It Spontaneously gets Busy, as if everyone gets the same Idea to do the SAME thing right at the same time. be at the same place as you at the same time, or know that you’re no longer busy at the same time and decide to call you/visit you/ask for your help.
there has to be something linking all these people, because there is no particular reason for it from an outside influence – Adam in Darwin
Telepathy is difficult to accomplish naturally. Sub-telepathy, on the other hand, is easier than one might think. Pack-bonding species tend to develop it as yet another survival instinct. Of course, it can backfire spectacularly.
In a survival situation, it’s beneficial to the pack to get the feeling that one’s pack-mate is experiencing extended trouble. Help can arrive in shorter order and the pack functions better as a whole. The feeling of Packmate Needs Me is subtle and can be mistranslated into the wrong action.
Which explains how Humans can have days that go entirely sideways, and simultaneously backwards through a bramble bush. Human Si was having such a day. It began, as such days generally do, with an anxiety-induced early morning. With a project of minor urgency decided on as something to get out of the way to make the day easier. It never works like this. Let’s watch the sub-telepathic signal at work…
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