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#pack bonding
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Human: Hi Buddy!! AWWW DRAGON! COME ON DRAGON!! *gives all the pets*
Alien: ..... that is a carnivore that can bite at 1,100 psi force .... why are you calling it buddy
Human: Oh hooo hoo what is that *scritches* huh?
Hyena: *jumps*
Alien: *alarmed* !!!!!!
Human: >:( no you can't have the camera
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spacexchaos · 1 year
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Human: we have pack bonded!
Alien: we’ve known each other for a week?
Human: pack bond :)
Alien: I mean I suppose, I’m glad we have become-
Human: if you ever need me to kill someone for you, just give me a call ;)
Alien: I.. Pardon?!
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marlynnofmany · 1 year
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Friend-shaped
“She’ll want to pet it,” said a smug voice from the next room. “Humans will pet anything.”
“Even spiky things?” asked the skeptical voice that I recognized as Zhee. “I’ve never had a human want to pet me, and this thing is much worse.”
As curious as I was to see our newest cargo and judge for myself, I first had to finish setting out food for the animals in the next bay. I lugged in bags of dried pellets and fish jerky as the door slid shut behind me, cutting off the sound of Zhee insisting to the delivery person that there was no way under several suns that I would want to touch this new mystery animal. We’d see about that.
I stashed the pellets in the appropriate closet and pulled out a sheet of jerky for each of the three fangy monstrosities that twined around each other, trying to hypnotize me through the bars. I ignored the moving pattern of stripes that probably worked on prey from their world. Working quickly, I set the sheets down on the floor outside the cage, spaced as far apart as possible, then used a gravity wand to lift them through the bars without losing a finger. Left one, right, one, then the middle, to keep the beasties from all jumping on the same treat.
A chorus of happy growls and chewing noises filled the air. Success. I put away the gravity wand and reflected that I absolutely would have liked to scritch all three terrifying predators on the head, but I valued life and limb too much for that.
On to the next room! The doors opened and closed in quick succession. I passed other people loading and uploading various crates, but I only had eyes for the terrarium that looked like it was made of force fields instead of glass. Or maybe some room-temperature version of hard water, given that the person chatting with Zhee was a Waterwill. They had some pretty bizarre tech.
“Ah, here’s the human!” the Waterwill said happily, her voice burbly and vaguely female. “What do you think of your newest live cargo?” She extended what passed for an arm from her column-of-goo body. Beside her, Zhee spread purple pincher arms in a silent display of “ta-dah.”
Inside the tank I saw rocks, sand, a puddle of algae, and the ugliest little ball of snot and spikes that I had ever encountered. Protruding eyes struggled to focus on me like a wall-eyed Chihuahua that had rolled through the most unfortunate of trash piles.
“Wow,” I said, bending down for a closer look. “That’s an animal, all right.”
The Waterwill bobbed up and down. “And is it not, as you say, cutesy-wootsy?”
Zhee made various clicks and taps that were probably skepticism. I couldn’t blame him.
“Well,” I said, struggling for a tactful answer, “It sure is a little one. Looks a bit scared.”
“They always get twitchy when they’re moved around before egg-laying,” the Waterwill said with a dismissive wobble. “It’ll settle down when everybody stops walking by. It’s non-toxic. Maybe once it’s calm—”
The rest of her sentence was cut off by loud snarls from next door, carrying through the hall while both doors were open at the same time. It sounded like a brief squabble over fish jerky, no cause for alarm.
For me, anyway. The animal in the terrarium made a piercing squeak and tried to burrow under the rock, its spines growing visibly longer and flinging droplets of moisture as it trembled violently.
“Oh, that’s bad,” said the Waterwill, all cheer gone. “It could sour the eggs. Everybody be quiet! Move slowly!” She waved two armlets at the other people carrying boxes, who did as she asked.
Zhee was making a whistle that was probably a curse in his own language, or maybe someone else’s. “We’ll get blamed for egg troubles. Would dim light help? I’ll hit the controls.” He moved off on quiet bug legs.
“What else helps?” I asked. “Wait, there’s a manual for this, right?” Without waiting for a response, I unfolded a screen from my pocket and looked for the newest files. There it was. Easily searchable, too.
While I spent a moment on that, the room dimmed and quieted into a soothing nighttime. The other crewmates grabbed the remaining crates, left, and shut the door. I heard someone say to leave oncoming boxes in the hallway for the moment.
“It’s still stressed,” the Waterwill said. “We should have brought another one to soothe it!”
“Hang on, I found the sound files,” I said. “Here’s the soothing one.” At the press of a button, a brief gurgle played, then cut off. “That’s it?”
The animal turned toward me, then back to the rock. No change.
I asked the Waterwill, “I don’t suppose you can make that sound?” When she hesitated, I tried myself. Hard to do without any water around to gargle, but I managed an awkward warble in the back of my throat.
The animal’s shivering stilled.
“Keep doing that!” the Waterwill said with an urgent wave.
I did, feeling silly. But the animal liked it. The trembling ended, and the spines started to retract. When I paused for breath, the creature held perfectly still, then when I started again, the spines continued shortening. After a few moments, it was a slimy ball of green with eyes that stuck out, and soon enough those finally closed. When they opened again, they weren’t bulging any more.
A head lifted from the goo, with a cute little face that chirped curiously.
“Aw, look at you,” I said to it. “All calm and happy.”
It oozed over towards me, moving much like Waterwills did, without any legs. It nuzzled a hatch that I hadn’t noticed in the side of the tank.
“You said it’s non-toxic, right?” I asked, not waiting for a response. I’d skimmed the manual. The hatch opened easily for me to stick my hand in and stroke the slimy little head. It purred like a babbling brook.
“Told you,” said a voice behind me.
Zhee hissed.
I turned to see him handing over credits with a displeased tilt to his antennae. “Did you just lose a bet?” I laughed.
Zhee threw his pincher arms into the air. “It was covered in spikes! No fair changing shape like that.”
“Well, if we’re going to be fair,” I said. “I would have sacrificed a hairbrush to pet it through the spikes, if it liked that kind of thing.”
“Of course you would,” Zhee muttered.
“Righto,” the Waterwill said as she stuck the credits into a wallet pouch that floated among her other miscellaneous bits. “I can see it’s in good care here. Guess I’ll be off.”
I gave the creature one last stroke, then eased my hand out and closed the hatch, waiting to make sure it stayed calm. When it settled back into goo, I stood and joined the other two in soft-footing our way to the door. “I’ll keep an eye on it,” I promised.
“And a hand,” Zhee grumbled.
“I’ve petted worse,” I told him.
“I’m sure you have,” he said. “And I don’t want to hear about it.”
~~~
The ongoing backstory adventures of the main character of this book. More to come!
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jpitha · 1 year
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"Potatoes?" "No, poisonous"
"Potatoes??"
"Yes, they contain solanine."
"Beef?"
"I'm going to stop you right here. We may be omnivores, but we were never predators, we don't eat flesh if we can avoid it."
"Okay, we'll do vegetarian. Tomatoes?"
She sighed "No, nightshades. They're all poisonous to us. It's the alkaloids."
"Rhubarb?"
"No, Oxalic acid"
"Okay, well I don't like Rhubarb anyway unless it's in strawberry rhubarb pie. Oh! Strawberries?"
"Too acidic."
"Hmm, that leaves out all the citrus too." Derek sighed. "Is there any human foods you can eat?"
Fellmeli thought a moment. "I'm not sure. Starbase?" The base's AI heard the request for attention. "Yes Fellmeli? How can I help?" Fellmeli swore that since the humans came onboard the starbase's AI started to act more like the Human's AIs. More outgoing, warmer, behaving with more agency.
"Derek and I want to share a meal. Is there any human foods I can consume safely?"
There was a long pause. "One moment please, Fellmeli, I'll check."
The pause grew longer, Derek began to fidget. "I'm sorry Fellmeli, we can just go to the canteen and eat together, it doesn't have to be the same--"
"Fellmeli?" The Starbase AI said. "I have finished my query. You can safely consume the following human foods: Chamomile tea, Bananas, chicken eggs, wheat - though I am informed that overindulging in wheat will give you gastric distress - white sugar, dairy products barring cheese and buttermilk, and most pressed nut oils - except cashew. I hope this helps!"
Fellmeli was saddened. it wasn't a long list. She looked over to Derek and instead of being sad, he was excited. "What is it Derek?"
"WAFFLES! I'm going to make you waffles! You'll love them, come on!" and he dashed off to his quarters with her following behind, excited but bewildered.
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dephlogis · 1 month
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On today's episode of 'Humans will Pack Bond with anything' Meet
GERALD
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This is a pumpkin I painted for our company contest back in the beginning of October, and he is still alive and kicking this far into February.
We were informed that corporate is coming, and that Gerald cannot be present. There was public outcry from this announcement, and I have heard multiple plans put into place to hide him away and save him. There has also been several email chains about how integral Gerald is to the workplace.
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aziraphale-is-a-cat · 2 years
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Pack Bonding
So a fun trope in Humans Are Space Orcs is the human bonding with random animals and no other species understanding it, but honestly reversing it may be funnier.
I'm not saying make humans not pack bond, I'm saying make aliens pack bond too, and be horrified by the concept of a predator bonding with anyone. This goes back to a post I made called Biodiversity and Extinction where I talked about the possible fauna of other non-Deathworld planets, and how the environment I hypothesized may effect this.
In a Kind world, there would be less competition so animals wouldn't be as scared or scary, so pack bonding could probably occur between the sentient species and the animals. Pack bonding would be between two docile species in a way that is beneficial and non-aggressive. They'd likely have no experience with pets who have behavioral issues.
Earth's species generally have instincts that make them avoid or attack eachother and pack bonding between any of them, sentient or not, would be seen as an anomaly, a genuinely terrifying concept. A dangerous species bonded to another dangerous species.
A sentient predator species with stamina and stealth teamed up with a select version of a canine predator who can smell you from miles away and chase you faster than you can run, bred and trained to obey their every command.
A human and their German Shepard.
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vampireapple · 1 year
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In Memoriam
Humans remember their dead. They remember their loved ones. They remember historical figures. They remember strangers. Death does not mean a human is forgotten.
.  .  .
Gerkun perked up as he scented the mess hall. The human crewmates were back! The three of them had taken leave and gone to earth for a human holiday. He made his way over to the table to eat with them.
“Hello, how was your trip?” he asked cheerfully.
“It was great,” Sam replied smiling.
“Long,” was Ron’s reply.
"It was nice to be home," Ethan said.
Gerkun noticed a new mark on Ethan’s arm. “Oh no, are you injured?”
Ethan looked at his arm. “Oh, no. I got a tattoo on leave.”
Gerkun had heard of humans marking themselves in such ways. He had never seen it in person. It looked like an image of an earth plant, vibrant colors and earth marking underneath.
“Why did you get this tattoo?”
“For my grandma, to honor her.”
“Ah. She must be very important on earth.”
Ethan laughed. “In the grand scheme of things? No. Unless you count winning first place in the Newcount County Fair Pie Contest for 47 years in a row as ‘very important’. I just miss her.”
Gerkun did not understand the reason for the tattoo, but he did understand being separated from clan. “Ah, yes. Distance is a hardship.”
Ethan blinked. “Um, yeah, it is. Didn’t mean to mislead you though. My grandma passed about four years ago. I got this to honor her memory.”
“Passed? Where did she go?”
“She died.”
Gerkun paused, trying to understand this new information. “So why remember her?”
Ethan jerked back. The other humans stared at Gerkun.
“Excuse me?”
“She is dead, therefore no longer important. Why-”
Gerkun cut off as Ethan yelled, stood, and tried to strike Gerkun with his chair. The only reason he did not make contact was because Ron and Sam both stopped him. Ethan continued to yell, even as he was held back.
“Don’t you ever (censored) talk about my grandma again you (censored) piece of (censored)! I will (censored) end you!”
Gerkun rapidly backed up, wanting to get away from the angry human. Ron was able to pull Ethan away and out of the mess hall.
Sam glared at Gerkun. “You’ve heard about human pack bonding, right? That doesn’t end when someone dies. Never insult a dead human, especially a family member.” She took a deep breath. “For your own safety, I suggest you avoid Ethan until… forever.”
Gerkun watched her go, stiff with fear. Yes, he would avoid Ethan. And any other human for the rest of his life.
.  .  .
The humans of the ship had what Kersurth thought of as ‘Human Bonding Time’. The humans called it ‘Weekly Chillout.’ Kersurth would often attend simply to listen to their stories. Humans told a lot of stories. Most were horrifying. Kersurth was addicted.
This week the humans had gathered the comfortable chairs around a table filled with snacks. They were waiting for one more person. Shortly after the unofficial start time Jessica walked into the room. She thunked a large glass bottle on the table.
“This week is the one-year anniversary of my aunt’s passing. To honor her memory, I want to tell family stories or legends. To make it extra special I am sharing my family’s moonshine with you creations.”
The five other humans made awed noises, looking at the glass bottle appreciatively. Jessica pulled out six very small glass cups, filled each other with the clear liquid from the large glass bottle and dispersed them amongst the rest of the humans. Once each human had a glass they raised the hand holding the glass, knocked them together, yelled “Cheers!” and drank the liquid in one swallow. Each human made various noises of satisfaction.
Kersurth had no idea why the humans were doing this, or what the liquid was. Humans had such strange customs.
“Thanks Jess,” Michael said. “Is this the stuff you’ve been bragging on?”
Jessica nodded. “Yeah. Secret family recipe starting from the days of Prohibition in the Appalachian Mountains, and perfected in the next few generations.”
Alanna refilled her glass and then tipped it in Jessica’s direction. “I, for one, truly apricate the bounty you have gifted us with. I was going to share the story of when the pigs got loose on the farm when my prissy aunt and cousins were visiting. But, in honor of this fine ‘shine, I’ll share the story of my great, great, great….”
Alanna paused and stared at her fingers. She used them to count as she spoke “my great, great, great, great, great grandpa.” She looked up and smiled at the rest of the group. “He was a bootlegger during Prohibition.”
Adam raised his little glass. “Here, here!”
Alana tapped her glass against his before continuing her story.
“My grandpa didn’t actually make the booze. He lived in Michigan at the time, and he was part of the team that got booze from Canada and took it to Chicago. He was on the second run. The cops were in on it, too. The ‘leggers would pay them, and in return the ‘leggers would only spend six months in jail, on rotation. So, on paper it looked like the cops were doing good work, which kept the Feds off their backs.”
Alanna added a few more stories, including the time her ancestor used his 8-year-old daughter as distraction by putting her on top of the booze on a donkey lead cart. The group was laughing by the time Alanna was done with her stories.
Kersurth had rarely seen them laugh so much. It was a little disturbing. He also understood very little of the story. He assumed he was missing a lot of historical and cultural context.
Justin smacked his glass down on the table and refilled for the fourth time. “Okay, in continuation of the alcohol and ancestors, I have a story about a great, great, something uncle of mine. He’s the reason its illegal to drive a tractor drunk in the state of Kansas.”
The following story Justin told had Michael and Alanna laughing so hard they were wheezing. Erica fell out of her chair and it took her a moment to collect herself enough to get off the floor.
Again, Kersurth did not understand the humans. They seemed to find the stories entertaining, but why bother to remember them? The ones they spoke of were long dead. Why bother to remember them?
Humans were weird.
.  .  .
Veertomic was very pleased to have been selected to study human social behavior. They were complex, and seemingly half the rules changed depending on the region. It was fascinating.
Today was a special day. Her sponsor, Daniel, was taking her to a memorial. She had seen memorials before, for soldiers fallen in battle, for great heroes, of people of historical significance, even cemeteries filled with small memorials to the dead humans. The great pyramids in Egypt were just elaborate tombs. For a species brimming with life they had a weird obsession with death.
Which made today so interesting. They were going to a memorial site where a ceremony was going to be held. The location was a small garden. A new plague had been erected, with a lot of names on it. A man stood and gave a small speech. A fire had happened at this location, one hundred years ago to the day. 107 people had lost their lives and 54 people were injured. They were dedicating a new plague. The man read the names of all 161 victims of the fire. Then there were 11 minutes of silence, one minute for every hour the fire burned. All in all it was a touching ceremony.
Veertomic had so many questions. She needed to be very… delicate in how she approached Daniel. He was even tempered but she found humans could be volatile over the topic of death.
“I would ask a few clarifying questions about today’s ceremony.”
Daniel raised his eyebrows. “Shoot.”
“You were not related too any of the deceased?”
“No, I’m not.”
“And you didn’t know them?”
“No, this happened waaay before I was born.”
“And you don’t know anyone who was related to any of the victims?”
“No.”
“Then… why attend?” Why are they important Veertomic does not ask, but that’s what she really wants to know.
Daniel looked somber. “Because they deserve to be remembered.”
“Why?” bursts out of her, and she cringes, hoping she didn’t make him mad.
Daniel doesn’t get mad. Instead his facial expression, body language, and tone convey ‘this is a very important human thing’ as he explained further. “Those 107 people died in a horrific was that should not happen to anyone. It was a tragedy that should be remembered. They had family, friends, hopes, dreams, ambitions. They lived and they should be remembered.”
.  .  .
AN: My Grandma passed in January 2020, my favorite uncle passed very unexpectedly in March 2022, and a friend passed from cancer in June 2022. My other story, Grief, delt with that. This story is more about remembering and honoring those who have passed.
The uncle from Kansas comment is from Tumblr user @patternsinnoise. Just Shower Thoughts posted about people being forgotten within three generations, and patternsinnoise replied "Tell that to my great, great uncle, who is the reason that it’s illegal to drive a tractor while drunk in the state of Kansas”.
The story about the pigs, and the bootlegger grandfather are based on actual stories from my family. My great grandma really was used a few times to throw off suspicions.
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sporksaber · 2 years
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I love packbonding headcanons in humans are space orcs works, it hits just the right spot in the soft, squishy clump of muscle beneath my ribs.
I especially love the idea of other species on board the ship with the humans being very confused at the human's incessant need to do things for them or be around them. Like, theyve gone through everything they can and are unable to figure out anything more than their need for packbonding. So they bring it up to the human to the human to find out what exactly it entails and how important it is.
The human replies, "your continued health and comfort is now directly connected to my mental well being," and the other species is decently terrified of what they've gotten into.
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theresidentaliennerd · 4 months
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Excerpt: can you guess what I'm talking about?
This species also has unusual pack bonding urges and rituals. They frequently bond in groups that congregate around rectangular devices that show images. Pack bonding is also not just limited to within their species but involves other, smaller predators and even prey animals.
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hyperfixations-anyone · 11 months
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Throwing my penny into the Humans are space orcs thing
Phobias.
There's no purpose or justification for them, some humans will just be mortaly terrified of something for no reason. And aliens are so confused by it because aliens are very logical species, they can’t fathom why one would be scared of something unless it was for survival.
“Human Andrew I require your presence in the labor- human Andrew what are you doing?” Asked Tuuk
“Spider.”
“Hm?” He followed the quaking crew members finger down to the floor where a small spider sat “Oh yes, the many legged arachnid creatures from your planet, i suppose one must have infiltrated the ship with our delivery of Earth flora. But that does not explain why you are standing on the table holding a cylindrical object?”
Human Andrew was about to explain himself when the Australian abomination moved causing the poor human to scramble backwards on the table, brandishing the bug spray, which he had smuggled on board, in attempts to defend himself from the small attacker. Tuuk had hoped he was prepared to face whatever shenanigans humans could throw at him, but watching the 6'2, 210 pound Chief biologist be reduced to sheer terror was something he couldn't have seen coming. Surely the small arachnid couldn't kill human Andrew? Or could it?
“Human Andrew are you in danger!? If this small of a creature is a threat to you should I be concerned? How lethal is it? Do you need help killing it? What do I do? Has it bit you?” Tuuk frantically asked, looking between the Human on the table and the potential danger below him.
“Uumm well no. I'm fine Tuuk, it's kind of embarrassing even, i just don't like spiders. This one's probably not even venomous they just….freak me out.” Human Andrew responded, with a look that Tuuk had learned indicated some amount of embarrassment.
“….. may I inquire as to why you are hiding from it then? Are humans evolved to be afraid of all spiders due to the few dangerous ones?”
“No, some people actually love 'em, I have a friend who has a tarantula as a pet, I just have a phobia with spider- it mOved again! Tuuk would you step on it please? I really hATE SPIDERS!”
After Tuuk had moved the arachnid into a container in the labratory (“it could be useful to study” “I aint studying that thing, keep it away from my desk”) he infromed the alien crew memebers that some humans are irrationally scared of certain things even if those things pose no actual threat. Just another illogical and backwards thing that if course the humans do, they concluded. However human Andrew did notice that from then on, his bug spray was always well stocked and that the other crewmembers made an effort to keep any bugs away from him fear of “another episode”.
Just wait until they learn about fear of the dark.
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blurring-ramblimgs · 1 year
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When others say that humans pack-bond with anything, they aren't joking.
Today, me and a small family of five [with one out and about] wandered into a fauna store that sold ferns and flowers. I was partaking in exploration with the young human, a female who just turned fourteen. We found ourselves wandering the isle where fake animals were seated, most included gargoyles (a common human myth) and rabbits. (a small herbivore with large ears) They seemed to have been made of a sort of stone, Maybe porcylen and were beautifully painted, so well painted it could be confused for a life animal.
This young human, took care to a fake cat (A feline of sorts, with a heart shaped face and small body.) It was a cream tabby, as she told me and had light gray-blue eyes, the young one's favorite colour. She quickly picked up the toy and held it close to her chest, overlooking its face and staring into its weirdly realistic eyes. Not before long she began to BEG her parent, a female, for the item. The pre-mature human had never begged before and it was admittedly, a weird sight to see.
The parent of course, said no and she reluctantly placed it back, but not before continuously seeming.. upset? About it, claiming that it wasn't her fault she managed to form such a quick attachment to the item. The female continued to complain and pout, (again, i had never seen this behavior in the human, neither had the mother.) Soon, her female parent gave in and allowed the young human to have the fake feline.
As we approached the car (a vehicle that runs on gas and uses its wheels to roll) I noticed how... happy she was. A huge contrast from before.
The human then told me that as she rode In the car she felt a physical pain at the idea of not acquiring the fake feline. (now named, Essi) I found it very confusing as to how quickly the human created a pack-bond to the fake creature. She quite literally rotated it for about a few seconds and glanced into its eyes. For this reason, I must also wonder if.. items that have realistic eyes accelerate their pack-bonding habits? If anyone knows otherwise please share your own research!
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readingnreccing · 1 month
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Stop One Heart From Breaking by inexplicifics
the witcher | explicit | 43k | jaskier x geralt x eskel x lambert | complete | pack bonding 
Jaskier's been a ruined omega for six years now. He's been bought by more alphas than he cares to count, and sold on again; he knows how this works. Being bought by a witcher is a new level of terror...and then it turns out it's not just one witcher, but three. Jaskier is fairly sure he's going to die. And then it turns out that witchers really don't act much like human alphas at all.
This story is so wonderful and tender and loving. Jaskier is a "ruined omega" and sold in Omega auctions to whoever bids the highest and they can do whatever they want to him. Jaskier doesn't have much hope when it comes to alphas, in his experience they are all very violent. But then Geralt buys Jaskier from the auction and takes him to Lambert and Eskel. (Which just makes Jaskier even more worried, because now there's three alpha witchers). But the witchers are different from all alphas he has ever met. And they treat him well, respect him, protect him. And as much as Jaskier is afraid of trusting them, he feels safer than he's ever felt.
This story is so wonderful I don't even know what to say. Jaskier has Trauma, and his witchers are so good and loving and patient with him. Their relationship develops so well and honestly. It really is a feel good story. The hurt all happened prior to the story, and the whole fic is the comfort. (The smut is also super hot). - Also, all 4 of them are together, not just with Jaskier.
Author’s tags: Past Rape/Non-con, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Recovery, Cuddling & Snuggling, Kaer Morhen's Fanon Hot Springs (The Witcher), Explicit Sexual Content, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Pack Bonding, Omega Verse, Alternate Universe, Bathing/Washing
Remember to leave feedback to the author! <3
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eyeofnewtblog · 1 year
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Things that happen at home:
So my parents have a weird dynamic that (works best for them) involves living in two cities because their engineering careers took a sharp turn they weren’t expecting. Basically my mom has gotten a degree after each birth, and my dad got his PhD knocked out before I was 8 years old. (I attended their respective PhD graduate ceremonies at 7 and 28 respectively)
Now, back in the 1980s, they were both socially aware engineers, they knew my mom would have to job hop, to catch up to the steady progress that my dad was making, they knew that my mom was going to face discrimination for being female. They knew. They prepared. (Be aware that I’m only making conjectures about my parents lives based on context clues, not actual shit they’ve told me because “our money, our careers, our business, you’re lucky we tell you anything at all” which is completely fair) so, my mom has had about 20 different employers vs my dads 3, but she makes twice as much as him.
Now, to be fair to my dad, he’s flat out said he’s completely comfortable doing exactly what he’s doing until he’s 80 and actually hated the idea of retiring. My mom? Couldn’t care less as long as the bills are paid and she doesn’t have to deal “emotionally and socially stunted butt faces”
Basically the reason my dad isn’t more high up is because he refuses to put up with bigotry but is basically untouchable because of the work he already put in, and the reason my mom makes more money is because she just leaves whenever asshats get to hard to deal with.
Don’t get me wrong, engineers can be so good to work with as long as they’re willing to explain exactly what they want done and why it needs to be done that way; I personally love working with plumbers and electricians and mechanics that should have gotten better education opportunity, for this exact reason.
Anyway, I’m not actually sure where I was going with this, but to sum up from the first paragraph, my parents live in different cities, a ten hour drive and two hour flight apart, and they make it work. Yeah, they have tiffs, but it’s not impossible for anyone, you just have to find what works best for you as a couple.
My parents are my inspiration and if losing a child in the first two years of their relationship (relationship, not marriage) didn’t break them, nothing will.
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marlynnofmany · 1 year
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Irrational Attachment
I directed the delivery guy to put the last high-tech crate next to the others in our very full cargo bay, and I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. This was a big order. I noted the final count with a good old-fashioned Earth pencil.
The delivery guy, a fellow human much beefier than I was, smirked at the pencil and clipboard. “Really living in the space age, there,” he said. “Don’t you guys have tablets and scanners?”
“Oh sure,” I replied. “But one has a cracked screen and the other's got a faulty battery. You know how it is.”
His response was eclipsed by the arrival of the sparkly purple conglomeration of limbs that was my coworker Zhee. I was used to bug aliens by now, but I was amused to see the brawny human edge back a step.
Zhee didn’t notice. “What is ‘pack bonding’?” he demanded, clicking to a stop and looking at the two of us expectantly. “They were telling jokes that made little sense.” He waved a pincher arm over his shoulder. “Then it occurred to me that I have a pair of qualified humans here I can ask. Why do people joke about humans caring too much?”
The delivery guy straightened up, all bluster. “Oh, it’s a bunch of radiator wash, really. Lots of species are social. Really, we wouldn’t all have space ships out here if everybody couldn’t cooperate!”
“Well, sure,” I said. “But there’s a difference between cooperating and getting attached. Didn’t you have a teddy bear as a kid?”
“Yeah, as a kid,” he scoffed. “We’re talking about grownups here.”
“Grownups do it too,” I told him, barreling on as he started to object. “We give names and personalities to ships and cars and space probes. We put googly eyes on machinery, and keep pet rocks. We build people out of snow, lending them our own clothes, and we’re sad when they melt away. We have ancient history of granting a bear military rank, and recent history of doing the same to a cleaning droid. We care about things.”
He was still shaking his head and looking stubborn, so I pulled the pencil from my pocket. I held it in front of his face with an intense stare.
“I can tell you that this pencil’s name is Steven,” I said. “Then I can do this—” I snapped it in half. “—And I can watch a little bit of you die inside.”
His expression was that of a person shaken to his core. “What the f— Why would you do that??”
I looked down at the broken pencil. “You can’t tell me humans don’t care.”
Zhee clicked a pincher. “But it’s just a pencil.”
“It was,” I said. “Now it’s Steven.” I pulled a roll of tape from a different pocket. “And now I have to nurse him back to health and apologize.”
~~~
The ongoing backstory of the main character in this book. No pencils were (permanently) harmed in the creation of today's story. 
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jpitha · 5 months
Text
Don’t worry, I know someone.
Gev, Palitan, and Vivian stood in front of the door. It was at least three meters tall, 2 wide, and made of metal. It was inscribed with words in at least 4 different languages.
It was unfortunate that nobody knew any of them.
“Well, It’s clearly a warning.” Gev gestured towards the text. His furry, clawed hand tapping the lowest text, which was at their eye level. “Whoever made this would not have done it in so many languages if it wasn’t something important to be read by everyone who came by. I’m sure whatever is behind this door is dangerous.”
“No, it’s clearly a proclamation. Something some ancient Ruler wanted to be known far and wide. Information that was important to their peoples. They might have ruled a large swath of land, home to many peoples who spoke many languages. It’s designed for intelligibility. That’s why it’s in so many languages.” Palitan’s upper tentacles stroked the sunken carved letters while Vivian made a face. Her archeological training was screaming in her head at them touching this clearly ancient thing.
Gev’s laquered claws slid in and out of their sheaths. “It’s unfortunately really that we’ll never know what it says. We could learn so much about these people.”
Vivian looked up from her notes. “Why wouldn’t we know what it says?”
Gev laughed his barking cough of a laugh. “The people who wrote this are millennia passed. There hasn’t been anyone who has spoken this language in at least one thousand solar cycles. Viv, you humans need to understand that sometimes there are just things in the universe we’ll never learn.”
Vivian scoffed. “Well, then if you think you’ll never learn this, you won’t mind if I give it a try. You can continue your survey.” She began unpacking a portable sensorium from its carrying case.
Palitan’s chromatophores swirled and flashed confusion. “Vivian, you’re not a linguist, you’re an archeologist. How can you learn an ancient language?”
”I’m not a linguist, but I know some. Don’t you network Palitan? Don’t you make friends outside of your discipline?” Vivian didn’t look up from the case as she clipped together a framework and started attaching recording devices at regular intervals.
Palitan’s swirling colors stopped, and they settled on the cool blue of curiosity. “I mean, I do but… I have a feeling humans do it differently.”
Vivian chuckled. “I doubt it Palitan. Humans are just human. We’re not some kind of strange and special people.”
Gev’s fur rippled. “Now you’re being modest. I’ve seen your homeworld, and its gigantic moon. Another planetary body that large that close? It must have done something to your development.”
That was enough to make Vivian look up from her work. “Gev, you’re telling me that moon power makes humans unique? Do you hear what you’re saying? Can you hear how that sounds?”
Gev’s small ears - looking oddly like teddy bear ears - waggled. He was being deliberately silly.
After about a tenth of a cycle of work Vivian had the sensorium completely set up. The framework was positioned around the door and the projectors and emitters were in place. She signaled to their ship in orbit, and it dialed a connection that she provided in the ansible. As Gev and Palitan watched, there was a short tone, and the holoprojectors resolved the image of someone. It was a Gren, tall and imposing with their reverse articulated legs and many sets of eyes. It turned and looked around and seeing Vivian their mouthparts opened wide in their version of a grin. “Vivian! You old battlestar! How have you been?”
Smiling, Vivian put her hands on her hips and faced the Gren directly. The sensorium sensed her reaction and focused on her. “I’m doing well Tami’tarr. I’m pleased to see you’re still taking my calls.”
“How could I not, Vivian? Your calls always show me something… interesting. What do you need today?” They gestured towards the door. “Something to do with this I presume?”
Vivian nodded and walked over to the projection. Standing next to them, Gev and Palitan marveled at how it looked like the Gren was here next to them. They knew about the sensorium of course. Ever since the humans came onto the scene they brought their multi-sense recording device with them. They especially liked using them in interviews so that the whole room could be recorded. The sights, sounds, smells, even touch and temperature could be recorded and played back so anyone could almost be where the event was recorded. They were unaware of them being used as a projection device however. Vivian took out a small digital pointer. “It’s a door - we think - looks like pre-fall Heliman. None of the languages carved into the door are Heliman however. I know they had relations with a few of the sapients in their nearby section of space, but we don’t recognize any of the languages here. Do you?”
“Hmm.” Tami’tarr peered at the words on the door. His body made a rumbling noise that Vivian couldn’t help think sounded like a contented purr. Tami’tarr always liked a mystery. He leaned back and gestured with his own pointer. “Here, near the top. This one looks like it’s Late three hundredth dynasty Uutipan. I can’t read it though, I just recognize the shape of the words. Do you know Professor Filomina at Brekin University?”
Vivian nodded. “I met her two years ago at the conference. You were there. I think you introduced us.”
Tami’tarr’s mouthparts waggled a nod. “Ah yes, you are correct. She can translate Uutipan. I don’t know if she understands all the way back to the late three hundredth dynasty, but she’ll know it better than me.”
“Thanks Tami’tarr. I’ll give her a ring.” Vivian reached up and patted Tami’tarr through the sensorium.
“Let me know what she finds. I must admit I haven’t seen something like this before either.”
“Of course, Tam. Talk to you soon.” The Gren disappears as the connection is broken.
Vivian spends the next solar day making calls, making small talk and describing her problem. Gev and Palitan spend the time taking measurements and gathering other information on the site. “Vivian is wasting her time.” Gev shakes his head irritatedly. “She should be helping us take measurements. The words are untranslatable.”
Palitan’s color shifts to a acquiescing yellow. “That may be Gev, but she has gotten permission to run the dig in her own way. If we could translate the text, it would be helpful. We can afford to have her burn a day going through her address book pestering her friends.”
‘Hmmph. That’s their problem.”
“What? Vivian?”
“Humans in general. You tell them something can’t be done and their first reaction is to go ‘I bet I can actually do it.’ They wind up wasting time and resources on things that were declared impossible a century ago.”
Palitan says nothing, but continues to work.
Just before evening meal, Palitan and Gev save their work and upload their measurements and notes and make the way back to the door. Now, Vivian is talking with a K’laxi they’ve never met. They’re one of the few sapient species that is actually shorter than the human and they’re both standing very close to the door, looking at the bottommost carvings. The K’laxi is talking very animatedly as they walk up.
“…haven’t seen things like this in decades! I can’t believe you found another example Viv! This completely upends our research on what we knew about the late three hundredth dynasty! You’ve given me enough here to write three papers at least. You’ll get co-authorship of course.”
Vivian laughed. “I appreciate your generosity Lem. Let me know when you need my notes.”
Lem snapped their pad closed and stood. “As soon as you have them compiled please.”
Vivian bent straight and stretched. “You got it Lem. See you soon.”
Their tail flicked and they winked and the holo disconnected. Vivian stared disassembling the sensorium.
“Have you given up Vivian? Ready to continue the work we were assigned to do?” Gev’s fur bristled. “Well, too bad, we’ve completed the measurements. I’ll be sure to let the head know about this.”
Palitan’s color switched to a pale pink of surprise. “Gev! There’s no need to be hostile. The head stated that Vivian’s main job was to learn more about the people who built this.”
Gev’s head bobbed vigorously. “Indeed. And spending all day calling the entire galaxy to translate a door tells us nothing about who built this site!”
Vivian finished putting the sensorium away in its case and stood. She calmly walked over to Gev and Palitan. Palitan was only a little taller than her, and Gev was nearly two meters tall and was more than a bit intimidating. She looked down at her pad.
“This door shall remain open from dawn to dusk without exception. The offices herein will be open according to the hours mounted on their doors. All who enter shall surrender their weapons. A chit will be provided verifying their ownership. Those with appointments with the Head Builder are to check in with the front desk before proceeding to the Builder office.
“What’s that? What are you talking about?” Gev looked down at her irritatedly.
Palitan nudged Gev with one of his tentacles. “It’s the translation of the door.”
Gev looked down at Vivian and at the translation she showed him. All of the different languages were translated and sure enough, they said what she read off to him. It was a protocol note on what to do at the Builder Administration building.
Palitan gestured excitedly. “Gev! That means this was a Builder building! Part of the original Empress! Not only did they have local influence, but they either traded with, or were a part of the full empire. We’re far away from a Gate too, I wonder if one was destroyed, or they just flew a long way.”
Vivian nodded. “See Gev? Now that we know what the door says, it opens up so many new questions that we can try an answer. Even though the door is ‘just’ protocol rules, it implies so much more.”
“Hmmph.” Gev says nothing but his ears twitch.”
Palitan’s coloring changes to an impressed green. “Vivian, this is amazing. You figured all this out in just one day!”
“That’s just is Palitan. I didn’t do it. I knew people who could help. I wound up calling five different experts while you were working. It pays to know people.” Vivian picks up the sensorium case. “It’s not what you know, but who you know.”
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therandomartmaker · 1 year
Text
“I’ll be signing off here, soon.” - InSight, Dec 20th 2022
“So, Human Andrea? Why we have landed on the [Planet of the War God]?”
The human before xem, entrenched in gear and insulated materials, face unseeable through the dark transparent mineral making up what they see through, spoke, “I was wondering if someone had, well, returned something.” Xir observed the lingering periwinkle across her nape and shoulders, tinting the usual peppy green she exuded.
“What is there to return? Humanity had never inhabited the [Planet of the War God], I believe. You achieved mass FTL travel before you learnt planet terraforming.”
“Hah,” the female laughed, “We may not have inhabited [Mars] but we did send… rovers. To see what it was like. We had planned, or discussed at the least, the inhabitability of it.”
They trudged through the barren dirt, Andrea staring determinately in one direction, likely observing a tracker of some sort on their HUD. Xir curiousity eventually got the better of xem.
“What, exactly, are you looking for, Human Andrea?”
The woman huffed, amused, “Well, I’m looking for the rovers, of course.”
“But why? Surely, by now, the rovers would’ve broken down?”
“Oh, probably.” Andrea’s body language, from what they could observe, was amused. Deeply so, even. The spike of yellow-green, followed by a melancholy purple deepened from the prior periwinkle cemented the fact. Deeply amused by xir confusion yet quite sad about their topic of conversation.
“I’m looking for InSight, mostly, but Sojourner, Spirit, Perseverance, or Curiousity are fine too. Maybe i’ll find Opportunity, but… Oh! Well. My scanners are showing that all of them are still here.”
The spike of wistfulness was unexpected, an almost positive tint to her words.
“You had said you were wondering if someone have returned something, why ‘returned’?”
“I was wondering if someone remembered them.” Here, it was sadness.
Xir blinked, or at least, that’s what xey believed how Human Andrea would describe xir Sight-Reset. Xey were blinded by the [spectrum of the sky] that flowed through her green.
“You are sad, that no one seems to have remembered these inconsequential rovers, yet you are… happy? That they are here for you to find?”
A spike of irritation, quickly washed away by resignment. “We humans pack bond to anything, Scylla, they’re not inconsequential to me.”
Xey do not believe that long-[powerless][dead][lost][depleted] rovers had impact on Human Andrea’s life, short as her existence (in terms of a human) had been. Still, xey trudged forward with the young adult, silent and grave as Human Andrea walked, a [ceremony of the dead] march, for comrades lost.
If xey had a phrase to describe it… ah, what was that saying in the [Lands of the Pariahs] of their home?
‘For as long as you exist, in memory or in bone, there is neither death nor [death in memory]’
Some notes about this for clarification and other stuff below :D
Andrea means Manly, and i thought it was fitting when i searched up the name halfway through writing.
Scylla, the alien, is a synaesthetic species wihout ‘eyes’ Xey are capable of seeing emotion (although everyone’s emotions have different colours. There is no universality to it. Someone’s anger could be a deep dark blue, for example, not a plain red.)
The ‘body language’ Scylla is referring to is, in fact, the synaesthesia that ripples with Andrea’s movements and emotions.
Scylla is indeed named after a deep sea greek monster, no i do not know why, but it is a nickname, not xir actual name (andrea gave it to xem after failing to pronounce xir actual name several times)
The phrases or words in square brackets are words that are being transliterated (if i’m using that word correctly) they are essentially words that i would’ve liked to have an english word for, or thought wouldn’t have the same terminology for an alien species.
Yes, i chose to make xem use ‘planet of the war god’ because i wanted to.
‘Spectrum of the sky’ is ‘rainbow’ if that wasn’t obvious.
the four phrases/words in a row were for long-dead except meant to be a more ‘general’ term for ‘loss of existence’ where ‘loss of existence’ wouldn’t have been gramatically or thematically correct.
‘Ceremony of the dead’ is indeed ‘funeral’ and, ‘death in memory’ is for a word i wish exists. It would make my poetry so much easier.
The ‘Land of the Pariahs’ mentioned is a barren desert on Scylla’s homeland. Nomads travel it, and are known for the hundreds of stories passed down, growing generation by generation, of pictures and pieces of lives once lived.
Scylla thinks the rovers had no impact on Andrea because they were a good few decades ago, actually. The newer ones were later retrieved, but Andrea had heard about these ones from grandparents etc. and fell in love with them.
This was written upon my knowledge of InSight’s loss of power, because of the dust build up on it’s solar panels. I pay my respects to the lander, and wish whatever tiny sliver of existence it had a peaceful future exploration of things that we do not know.
Finally, thank you for reading this! I hope you have a nice day/night and may we one day give our rovers and drones and landers their respectful resting places.
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