I love your stories of young Pib and the family that's living and working on a ship full of havenworlders. I've decided that Pib's naughty could be useful sometimes. Which is why the havenworlders take a large portion of it in good humor while the child is so young.
Oh, I know by some of your stories you like us to put the prompts in so here you go.
@internutter/challenge-02853-g296-sticky-plus-parts-equals-trouble
The pirate ship had them captured and cornered. The havenworlders were in one area with the door locked, the humans were being forced back by sheer numbers. Suddenly, there was an odd smell. It smelled like... burning candy. Smoke was coming out of the pirate engine room and there was little Pib. Having pulled apart panels, had accidentally caused a fire, and was trying to put it out by throwing on it the only thing the child had with them, swiped bags of baking chocolate. -- Anon Guest
[AN: I'm starting to think Pib needs their own tag]
It wouldn't be so bad if these particular space pirates hadn't learned GalStand from the equivalent of 80's Saturday morning cartoons. "Surrender, fools," one of them crowed. "We have you in our power. There is no hope of rescue, no mighty hero to swoop in to save you now."
Human Lun winced. "You know... you should learn a few things about Piracy before you take on a ship with Humans aboard. First is that Humans don't give up. And the second... make sure you know how many Humans are on board."
Human Orgo, straining to prevent the pirates past their current choke point, said, "Oh shit. Pib's on the loose. Did you kid-proof your space ship?"
Human Lun let out a fearsome cry and redoubled hir efforts to take down as many pirates as possible. The Human drive to protect their young was formidable indeed. Out of stunner charges, Lun was hitting them with anything that looked like a better weapon. Up to and including pieces of ex-pirates.
This was the furthest thing possible from a Code Giggle. So terrifying that it had a much older name. Mama Bear. The most dangerous creature in the universe is a caregiving parental equipped with the knowledge that their progeny is in danger. Yet it was not Human Lun who won the day.
A fun fact about Livesuits. Early models obfuscated all possible influences from the outside and were therefore, ironically, more dangerous. Early users were in more peril because no hazard signals could be detected. It was therefore standard to filter any possible hazard through to the internal environment. The hazardous part was kept out. The signal of danger was allowed in.
Thusly, Human Orgo -wearing a full combat-rated livesuit- was able to say, "I smell burning candy."
Across the tight battlefield of corridor and doorway, Humans Orgo and Lun exchanged a look. Their faces were both open books with large print, and the page currently on view said, Oh shit!
The pirates, inexperienced with parents, toddlers, or Humans of either kind, tried to press the advantage. "You idiots, your ship's probably on fire!"
The pirate ship was not on fire. Pib had accidentally started it by looking through access panels and playing with the contents. But, since they were also raised as a spacer, they weren't going to just leave it like that. Fire, Pib knew, was bad. It had to get put out and blowing on it was not enough.
Fire was best smothered. Pib knew this. They needed something that could go soft and cover the entire area. Fortunately, Pib's first stop had been the Jaunty Merchant's pantry, and they had filled their coverall with bags of chocolate chips as adventuring supplies. The chocolate worked, but the heat that caused the flame continued, and soon Pib was out of chocolate.
This was a big naughty.
Their Rennies found Pib looking for marshmallows shortly after this point, and Pib helpfully pointed out their attempts to fix the problem without quite mentioning the cause.
The pirate ship was functionally dead in the water, and now they used their breathless superlatives to beg for a tow to safe harbour.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / songbird839]
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