"Are you alright?" The same question they got lots of times when tears would fall down their cheeks. Of course, they understood the Galactics were not used to seeing a human crying when nothing was wrong, obviously. They were sitting with their friends watching a video that showed incredible sunrises and sunsets from various worlds with a background for these wonders being the sound of an orchestra increasing the richness of the experience. And, as always, they wiped their cheeks and said softly to their friends. "It's... just.. so beautiful." -- Anon Guest
Human Pal was an emotional cryer. As in, more than the standard emotion made hir weep. Tears sprang readily to hir face at the drop of a hat. Not just sadness or anger, but also joy, wonder, and pure aesthetic adoration. The old term for it was 'crybaby'. Newer, more understanding terms include "hyper-responsive tear ducts" or the more abbreviated, "tearfully emotive". Pal is... unusual, even against the Human baseline for unusual Human behaviour.
Thus, when ze enters a new place, ze prefers to introduce hirself and hir weepy eyes to as many people as possible. Ze also introduces all the concepts via the local free Infonets. Nevertheless, for the first two months of a new habitat, the one question everyone in her new community asks is, "Are you all right?"
Fortunately livesuits have chemanalysis built into their liquid vacs, so when out on a mission, the crew need only check their HUDs for status updates. The very instant the Galactic Alliance learned that Human tears had different chemical makeups depending on the emotion behind them, they added chemanalysis to tear vacs in every human-compatible livesuit. It was important information, helpful to those who might miss other cues. Outside of a livesuit, however, the question always remained.
"Are you all right?" asked Threx. Considering that they were on a new planet and there could have been something that interacted with Human Pal's allergies, this was an important question. Surprise allergens were always an unwelcome surprise on a planet that otherwise registered as habitable to the scanners.
Human Pal was sitting on a high branch and staring out over a vista of soft pastel colours, caused by both foliage and flowers on this world. There were stronger colours, too, but pastels seemed to rule. "It's so soft," sighed Human Pal. "It's... so... beautiful."
Gemstone-hued creatures somewhere between 'bug' and 'bird' flitted between blooms, just adding to the sparkle of it all. Any other Human would be beside themselves with paranoia, but Human Pal was weeping. Ze may be weeping with a smile on hir face, but ze was weeping nonetheless.
Threx, more or less used to this display by now, said, "Ah. You are being illogical. Are you in need of comfort or companionship?"
Human Pal's voice wobbled as ze said, "I'll be fine... thanks."
[Big thanks to Paladin for sending me a bunch of coffees]
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / mythja]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends!
Send me a prompt [74 remaining prompts!]
