Working Through Writing Excuses Episode 8.3

Pets! I love reading about how animals interact with characters in stories, but I'm so bad with it myself. I know the way I interact with my cats is not necessarily the way the average person interacts with their pets, and it makes me nervous to write characters who have pets or service animals or other animals that they interact with on the regular, because who knows how "wrong" I'm getting it. But meh, let's give it a go.

Writing prompt: Write a human interacting with an alien, and the alien has a conspicuous companion animal who is critically important to the alien’s life.

Steve was nervous, as usual, while entering their new ship. They were never particularly comfortable around others who were not of their species, or their planet, and a spaceship just exacerbated not only the strangeness of the situation, but also highlighted all the ways the sentient races didn't truly understand each other. It was their third spaceship since they had begun their travels from their home planet, but it had yet to become any more comfortable or easy for them.

In the bag that hung behind their head-stalk, the reassuring weight of their quanaco settled and gave them some warmth. The creature was one of the few living things that Steve had been able to bring with them from their home planet, and they hadn't known what they would do if they hadn't had Vikka with them through all the changes in their world. They could only hope that their newest bunkmate would be able to understand the importance of the quanaco better than the last one had.

Steve found their way to the newest berth that would be their sleep space and entered cautiously. So far, no one else was settled into the space, and so they had their choice of sleep surfaces. As usual, they chose the one closest to the exit portal, allowing them the easiest path to freedom if and when their bunkmate required "space." Steve had never understood the phrase that the humans used so frequently. Everyone on the ship had the entirety of space available to them outside of the ship, and between all of the planets; why did a need for "space" mean that Steve had to leave their comfortable bunk? Nevertheless, it was easier to make way than to make waves, as their first captain had said. (Steve still wasn't entirely sure why waves were such a thing to be avoided, either, as sound waves were the source of so much good in the universe, but they had learned to stop questioning. Eventually.)

Steve relaxed their top tentacles to allow their bag to slide down and land softly on the bunk. A small squeak sounded from within, and Steve quickly manipulated the straps to open the bag and allow Vikka's head to pop up. "There, there," Steve crooned subsonically, running the tip of one tentacle over the soft fuzz on Vikka's head. "We'll get your habitat set up in just a moment, once our trunk arrives." The quanaco trilled in response, eyelids closing lazily. Then her eyes opened wide, suddenly, and she let out a sharp, subsonic bark - stranger approaching. Steve froze, tentacles tensing as they awaited the stranger that had gotten within Vikka's range.

Soon, a human male entered the berth, looking around warily as they crossed the threshold. "Oh!" they said, sounding surprised. "I guess you got in first. Uh, nice to meet you, roomie." The human continued to the other sleep surface, dropping a backpack onto the surface with considerably more force than Steve had, and rummaging around within the contents. Vikka had ducked her head down at the stranger's approach, but had cautiously poked out again, watching the human with curiosity but not, Steve noticed, fear.

It was a good sign. Vikka was well-versed in the pheromones of anger and fear, and would alert Steve to any stranger who came close exhibiting those traits. Steve had had several unpleasant experiences in the past with beings who had not taken kindly to beings of his race and planet, and their family had decided that a quanaco was required before Steve was allowed to take another mission away from the home planet. While Steve had initially resisted, they had quickly bonded with Vikka, and now they couldn't imagine travelling without her.

The human cleared their throat, and Steve turned cautiously around after checking with Vikka one last time. She gave no indication of danger, so Steve straightened and faced the human. "Um, hi," the human said. "I guess we'll be bunking together for a bit, so I should probably introduce myself. Um, can you understand me OK? I know some of the universal translators aren't great with some of us who have what we call accents, so I don't want to be accidentally offending you or anything." The human had put the ends of their two tenta- arms, Steve reminded themselves, together, and was squeezing them tightly. Steve recalled that this was frequently a sign that a human was feeling distress, and they felt more kindly toward this newest roommate.

"Do not fear," Steve said, working to keep their voice in the sonic range so the universal translator could pick up and amplify their voice for the human's hearing. "I am able to understand human, even when it is non-standard. Do you have a name I may use?" Steve had learned in some of the early species relations classes that it was best to ask for a name, rather than assume that one would be given freely, and that the name Steve was able to use may not be the same as the name a being used for themselves. It had all been very confusing.

"Oh, good." The human's relief lit up their face light a blooming fireplant, and Steve hoped that this was an indication of how easy the human would be to read going forward. "Um, yes, I do! My name is Steve, he/him. What can I call you?"

Steve froze, their tentacles fluttering in surprise. "Oh, dear. This could be...you see, my name is also Steve, though I do not have the male gender pronouns." The two roommates stared at each other blankly, until the silence was broken by Vikka, of all creatures. The quanaco had climbed out of her bad and was standing on the sleep surface, unhidden by her Steve's body. She stared at the human Steve, then gracelessly hopped down from the sleep surface and trotted on her six legs over to the human. The human Steve stared as the quanaco stood in front of him, coming up to the middle of his leg, until she let out a single, audible bark. Her Steve recognized the sound, and began to laugh.

The human Steve turned between the quanaco and his roommate, his confusion writ large across his face. "Uh, what is...what was...the hell is that thing? Should I be worried?"

Still laughing, Steve undulated forward on their three other tentacles and scooped up the quanaco, which was still staring at the human Steve expectantly. "No, human-Steve, not at all. This is Vikka. She is the safety companion from my home world, and she has decided that you are more than safe. You, it appears, are now family." 

The human Steve still looked baffled, but a smile was beginning to spread across his face as well. He reached out a hand toward Vikka, then hesitated. "May I pet her?" he asked, looking between both his roommate and the quanaco for permission. It made Steve feel that much more kindly towards him. Vikka solved the problem by stretching her long neck out and knocking her head into the human Steve's hand, and he began to laugh. "I guess so!"

"I think," said Steve, watching their personal safety detector demand attention from their new roommate, "that this may be a good match this time."