Imagine meeting a species that displayed all their emotions via dermal colour displays. And how humans would react to them -- Adam in Darwin
As first contact situations go, the meeting between Humans and Acrodontids could have plausibly gone better. When it comes to meeting Humans, it's a minor miracle that they don't shoot on sight. Those who don't shoot on sight are the ones who tend to enthusiastically pack bond. It's still a matter of debate as to which is worse.
It took three seconds for Human Jin to go from cautious to exuberant enthusiasm, and only because it took them that long to recognise the Acrodontids' possession of both chromatophores and independent eye orientation. The reaction was, "Holy shit, you guys are the coolest aliens I've ever seen? Can I hug you?"
A combination of natural and artificial selection processes means that most Human spacers are also fond of lizards. This, in turn, means that any lizard-based life-forms have an increased chance of close personal contact by a walking heat source[1]. Interestingly, this rarely ends in disaster.
This was a close one. The Acrodontid named Rrauk asked, "What is 'hug'?" and Human Jin, overcome with a case of automatic adoption, moved in to demonstrate.
There was an intense collection of seconds in which the spectators winced, anticipating the initiation of a war. Rrauk tensed in the Human's grip, initially fearing attack and then... relaxed as they realised that the grapple was not hostile and, in fact, comfortable and warm.
Cold-blooded species love having Humans around for just this reason.
Rrauk slowly returned the embrace. "This is nicely warm," she said.
Human Jin noted, "Sweet, you guys change colour. You're amazing."
Of such fragile threads, lasting alliances are woven.
[1] Some featherless Saurians have also encountered this phenomenon. Ambassadorial teams are advised to keep small Human children well away from all Saurians for other reasons.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / nevarpp]
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