Strange Species: Part IV

Strange Species

Part IV: Little Ones

We all started to play in the pool together only for Tyrone to come out a few minutes later. He was wearing nothing but shorts and had a towel around his shoulder.

“Do you want to swim with us?” I asked in English, swimming to the edge.

He nodded his head very quickly. “I put my swimsuit on just for that.”

“But those are shorts.”

“They’re swimming trunks.” He explained.

So that was why Caroline had give me shorts along with my swimsuit, they were really swimming trunks? Swim suits were more complicated than I thought.

He dipped his foot into the water only to retract it immediately.

“It’s so cold!” He said.

“I’m okay?”

“Yeah but Itharii are made to swim, you don’t get cold easily in water like humans do.”

I felt so sad at the news, I’d really wanted to play with my new human friend… But Allison quickly came to help us! With their powers they warmed the pool and it was finally hot enough for Tyrone to join us and play tag as humans called it. He even taught us a game he called ‘Marco Polo’ which was fun!

When dinner was finally ready, we decided to eat outside along with many of the others. Although the main meal was land meat, which we couldn’t eat, Caroline had prepared fish for my zuzuk, Kulaat and I, like she always did when I couldn’t eat her food.

“There’s something we wanted to tell you. We thought it would be better in person rather than say it over the phone…” Tzama-zuzu said as we ate dinner before looking at Zukii-zuzu for a moment. She reached out and they held hands.

“What is it?” I asked.

“We’ve decided to have another clutch.” Zukii-zuzu answered.

It took me a second to realize what they’d just said.  “I’m going to have little broodmates?” I screamed, beginning to wun loudly.

“That you will.” Tzama-zuzu said, dragging me closer and rubbing my head gently. “We’ve decided that I’ll lay the eggs when we get back home and Iro-nunu will be the one who fertilize them.”

I hugged my zuzuk, so happy to hear the news. I just had to tell everyone! I got up and made the rounds; telling Annabelle, Tyler, Allison, everyone really! I looked around for Rowan and saw they were laying on the ground, an older human male sitting on a chair next to them, talking.

“Rowan!” I said hurrying their way. “I’m going to have little broodmates! My zuzuk are having another clutch!”

“Hey Ahti. That’s really nice.” They said, showing me their teeth.

I looked at the male next to Rowan. He didn’t look like Rowan at all, I’d always thought their titi or zuzu would be like them but even bigger.

“Hello, I’m Ahti! Are you Rowan’s titi?”

“Titi?” The man echoed.

“It means father in Ibariat.” Rowan explained.

“That I am, are you one of her friend?” He asked.

“Her who?” I asked, looking around for ‘her’ but couldn’t find a her he could be speaking of.

“Her, Rowan…” Mr. Mongeux said.

“But Rowan’s not a her, Rowan’s a they, like me!”

“Honey…” Mr. Mongeux looked at Rowan. “You shouldn’t be confusing the nice little Itharii like that.” He said and I didn’t understand what he meant.

“Daaad…” Rowan sighed their ears flattening on their head. “I told you a thousand times before… I’m not a girl. I didn’t feel like a girl before I transformed and I sure as heck am not one now.”

“Right.” Mr. Mongeux said, shuffling around. “I’ll be right back…” He excused himself before going for the bathroom, my eyes following him.

“Your titi is silly. He thought you were a her!”

“He’s not bad… He just doesn’t get it.” Rowan said, lying flatly on the ground. “Even though I was assigned as a girl, I never felt like it fit. Being a boy didn’t really fit either. I was just myself; weird, awkward and not really fitting in anywhere…” They sounded really sad so I wrapped my arms around their neck and held them very tightly.

“I probably don’t make sense.” They muttered.

“I don’t understand how humans do gender, it sounds very confusing. But if being a they is what you want to be, that’s good then.” I said.

Rowan let out a snicker. “I kind of envy you Itharii, you just get to pick what you want to be and it’s your normal. We humans just get lumped without our consent in one category based on how our body looks and we’re supposed to be happy about it.”

I tightened my hug around their neck a little tighter than I thought I could.

“Becoming like this wasn’t all bad.” Rowan said after a moment. “There’s times it sucks but at the same time I don’t have to deal with being all grossed out about my own body, hating my breast or that stupid time of the month… Ugh… Guess it’s worth scaring away people.”

“But you’re not scary, you’re all nice and cuddly!” I said, making Rowan laugh. “Plus there’s a nice rumbling sound you make when we sleep together that most humans don’t make that I really like!”

“You’re sleeping together?” Rowan’s titi said. I hadn’t seen them come back. Their eyes were wide and staring at Rowan.

“Relax dad, we’re just catching Zees. Ahti doesn’t like sleeping alone.”

“I don’t know how humans do it. It’s really stressful.”

“Oh alright…” He seemed relieved but I didn’t understand why. What did he think we were doing?

“Rowan, do you want to meet my zuzuk?”

“Sure, why not.” They got up and followed me to my zuzuk, Rowan’s titi also following.

“Zuzuk, Kulaat, this is Rowan, they’re my new best friend.” I said, wrapping my arms around Rowan.

“Hey.” Rowan said, their voice all strong and gruffy.

“You told me Rowan was human.” Kulaat said with a frown as she examined Rowan.

“They are. They’re just one of those humans who don’t like like a human. I know they’re really big and have big claws, but they’re really nice.”

“Yourself… well?” Rowan asked, speaking Ibariat and looking at Kulaat. They had began taking lessons at Ravenhold and I’d helped them., but they still did know more than a few words “Scary yourself?” They tapped their chest.

“Your Ibariat is terrible!” I snickered, answering back in English. “Don’t mind Kulaat, she’s just shy and she doesn’t know much about humans.”

“Well, I don’t bite.”

“They really don’t. Because Rowan is the best human I know!” I said throwing my arms around their neck.

Strange Species: Part III

Strange Species

Part III: Meeting Humans

My zuzuk, Kulaat and I snuggled in the hot tub as we talked about all the many things that had happened. As we did, Allison came toward us along with a smaller human who looked like them.

“Hey Ahti.” They said.

“Hello Allison!”

“This is my little brother Tyrone. Tyrone, that’s my classmate Ahti.”

“Hi, hello, eh.” The Tyrone answered. “It’s really nice to meet you.”

Much to my surprise he flapped his hand and I did the same, excited to see a human do it too.

“Allison told me about you. I really was looking forward to meeting you.” He said, speaking in Ibariat. He wasn’t very fluent, but it was so rare for a human to speak it!

“‘You speak Ibariat?” I asked, surprised.

“A little, I’m learning in school.”

I let out a wun at the news. “That’s so great!” I exclaimed. “Oh and this is my clutchmate Kulaat. Unlike me, she’s a girl.”

“You’re pretty.” Tyrone said and Kulaat shrunk at the words.

“She’s shy.” I said with a laugh. “She doesn’t meet many humans.”

“I don’t know any Itharii but I always wanted to meet some. You’re all so nice.”

We kept talking for a minute and I introduced him to my zuzuk and he introduced me to his titi.

“Kulaat’s having her coming of age ceremony this december, but I still don’t know what I want to be. Do I want a big belly full of eggs or a big crest? Would I look good with a crest?”

“I think you would look cute with a crest.” Tyrone said.

Allison came back from upstairs, I hadn’t even noticed them leaving, and Tyrone’s titi asked them to come with them to the sunroom. It was a little sad to have my new human friend leave so soon but I would see him soon I hoped.

Only a minute later another family came to the hot tub, this time it was Sanjay’s. There was him, his zuzu and two siblings, one of whom was still tiny. Well, tiny for a human, she was big compared to a little Itharii.

“Hello, would you be okay if we join you?” Sanjay’s zuzu asked.

“Of course not, there’s plenty of space.” Zukii-zuzu said before introducing herself and the others.

“I’m Amrita, this is my oldest son Sanjay, my daughter Sana and finally little Vani.” Sanjay’s zuzu said.

She helped little Vani remove her clothes until she only wore a little piece of clothing similar to my own swimsuit. The bigger ones only raised their pants legs and soaked their feet into the hot tub, sitting on the edge. However little Vani suddenly didn’t want to go in, clinging to her zuzu.

“What’s wrong honey? Feeling a little shy?” Amrita asked, her little one burying her face in her zuzu’s neck.

“Is this her first time meeting an Itharii?” Tzama-zuzu asked.

“Oh no, we’re friend with a nice family of Itharii we met through her daycare. She just get shy around strangers.”

Little Vani was kind like Kulaat was. She was really strong and courageous, she’d go out at night alone even, but with people she was shy.

“We don’t bite little human.” Zukii-zuzu said. “Would you like some kuroo? We brought some for Ahti, but I’m sure they won’t mind sharing.”

“I don’t.” I said.

“You can have some, but just a bit, dinner’s soon.” Vani’s zuzu said.

“Yes, I want some. I love kuroo.” Vani said, a little less shy. She let go of her zuzu and went into the water, swimming across the hot tub and sitting in Zukii-zuzu’s lap.

Tzama-zuzu reached out of the hot tub and into a bag she had been carrying earlier. She opened it and I saw it contained a bounty of snacks. She took out a block of kuroo and snapped a piece of, giving it to Vani.

“Would you like some too?” Tzama asked Kulaat and I.

“Okay.” She said.

I liked Kuroo but it wasn’t my favorite thing. “Kulaat, I want to show you another snack!”

“Okay…”

I got out of the tub and helped her out. I looked around and found Charlie at the kitchen, helping make dinner. I took her hand and guided her toward the kitchen.

“Charlie, Charlie!” I called out running toward her.

“I’m here.” She said with a smile, her eyes turned to Kulaat.

“Why is the human baring its teeth at me?” Kullat asked, looking at me. “What did I do?”

“Nothing, humans when they like you they show you their teeth.”

“Are you sure about that? It’s not going to bite me?”

“Yes! And Charlie’s a female, you can tell by the small bump on her chest. And she’s very nice, she gives me pudding.”

“Everything okay?” Charlie asked, clearly wondering what was happening as she didn’t speak Ibariat.

“Yes. Can we have some pudding?” I asked.

“Oh sure.”

We followed her to her room where she kept the pudding. It wasn’t one of the things that was normally delivered to the house so she bought it herself. At first she had given me lots at a time but it was so good I just had to eat it all and that had hurt my tummy.

“Here you go.” Charlie said, giving us a smile once more as she gave us a pudding cup and a plastic spoon to go with it. “Dinner’s soon so you shouldn’t spoil your appetite, I’ll give you more later if you want.”

“Thank you!” I took the cup and opened it.

“Are you sure that’s the right thing?” Kulaat asked. “It looks strange.”

“It is, you’ll see.” I dug the spoon in the delicious mixture and brought it to her mouth. She hesitated before putting it into her mouth.

“Oh, that is good.” She said, letting out a pleased wun before taking the spoon and trying it again.

Caroline came to get Charlie back, leaving us with our cup to share. We weren’t even finished that two of my classmates started yelling at each other from upstairs. I think it was Allen and Sage. Odd, normally they didn’t argue that loudly.

Kulaat shot me a concerned look. “Does that happen often?” She whispered.

“Sometimes,” I answered.

it wasn’t always the same people; sometimes it was Charlie and Jaeger, sometimes Amber and Mace, sometimes it was Amber and Yikaru, or Amber and Jaime. Come to think of it, Amber argued a lot….

“humans are very loud when angry, I think it’s because they can’t hiss so they have to talk louder instead.”

“Ooh… Should we do something?”

“Do what?”

“I don’t know…”

“They’ll stop soon.” I said.

It didn’t take long for the shouting to stop and Jaeger to run out of the house. Although they had stopped, now the adults were yelling at each others.

“See, I told you.”

“Living with humans doesn’t sound fun.”

“You get used to it, and they probably think we’re the strange ones.”

“It’s gotten really loud here, why don’t we go outside?” Tzama came and asked. “They have a pool, we could play some games.”

“Okay!”

Strange Species: Part II

Strange Species

Part II: Clutchmates

Since Annabelle was still very tired the next day she didn’t go to school with the rest of us, staying home. Instead it was her clutchmate Emma who came with us. Emma told us they were identical but they really weren’t…

Because we had had to miss a class with Mr. Rook two days before, because he wasn’t available, our class was rescheduled to five for that day so we could see him and catch up before lunch time.

We arrived and lined up in the dojo like usual, Mr. Rook coming to us wearing his costume.

“Who are you?” He asked, stopping in front of Emma.

“Emma Yeun, I’m Annabelle’s sister and standing in for her until she gets better.”

“And you’re here to take her place in this combat class?”

“More like take notes, but I can probably handle myself a bit; I’ve got a black belt in Judo, did three years of mixed martial arts and ranked third in a national fencing competition.” She said, moving her shoulders up.

Mr. Rook let out a laugh.

“You know what? Let’s see what you’re made of.” There was a concerned whisper among the class. “Relax class, I keep the tough love to my real students.” Mr. Rook looked at us before pointing at Mace. “You’ll do.”

Mace and Emma took place in the middle of the mattressed arena. Mr. Rook gave them the signal to start and they began sparring. It was like fighting but you didn’t hit each other for real, so it was kind of like a game and Mr. Rook had began teaching me the different moves after our first class and I was getting better at it, even if he said I needed more spunk, whatever that was.

Everyone seemed surprised when Mace ended up getting pinned to the floor, Emma an arm around his neck. He tapped out.

“Not bad.” Mr. Rook declared.

“Hope that wasn’t the best here.” Emma said with a smirk.

“Far from it. But you know, if get yourself some super powers you could make a good student here.”

“Last I’ve heard you and the Raven didn’t have any either.” She replied.

“Or a few billion dollars and some high-tech friends to give you the boost.”

“Fair enough.” Emma said with a grin.

Mr. Rook, rather than showing us some new sparring techniques and having us practice them for the rest like he usually did, gave a reminder lesson on everything we had gone over in the past month.

When Mr. Rook’s class was over with lunchtime came. I followed Emma around the cafeteria and she went to get a grilled chicken salad with a iced fruit juice before sitting down with the others.

“You know, your clutchmate doesn’t like salad.” I said. “You’re really not identical are you?”

She let out a snicker. “It’s just a saying because we developped from the same egg.” She explained. “We grew up differently, but we were born as two tiny identical baby. Wish I could show you pictures.”

“Kulaat and I were identical when we were larvas. But all larvas are really identical.”

“Who’s Kulaat?”

“She’s my own clutchmate. I miss her.”

Emma wrapped an arm around my shoulder and drew me closer. I put my head against her shoulder.

“I know how you feel, I missed Annabelle everyday she was gone. But I’m sure you’ll see your little clutchmate very soon.”

“I hope so too…”

I didn’t eat much of my fish sandwich that day, feeling a little too sad to have any appetite. Instead I just laid against Emma’s shoulder. She and Annabelle were very different, but she was just as nice as her.

The rest of the classes of the day went by slowly, I just wanted to go home and call Kulaat and my zuzuk. When we were finally home, I tried to call but they didn’t answer. Rowan must have seen I was feeling sad because they offered to play Sankinu with me. Even Emma and Annabelle joined us! All my favorite humans were with me, it was hard to stay sad.

Not long before dinner time, Mr. Martin came into the house for a surprise inspection, said it was to make sure we were keeping the house in good shape as we were supposed to. Which we were, we had a whole cleaning schedule. It was big but with everyone’s powers it was easy; Caroline could just mop the whole floor with her power, Jaime threw all the dust away with her mind and so much more.

After he explored the whole house, being unhappy with Amber, Yikaru, Sage and Allen for having very messy rooms and said that Annabelle wasn’t supposed to have her little snake without permission but he let it all slide.

He went for the door but instead of leaving he opened it and let tons of humans through. I just froze, trying to understand what was happening.

“Ahti? Are you there?” My hearts stopped as I recognized Kulaat’s voice. I looked around and saw her.

“Kulaat!” I ran toward her and embraced her. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too.” She replied in Ibarian, she leaned closer and her nose touched mine, rubbing together gently for a moment, the act sending little pleasurable sparks through my body. When we split apart, my Zuzuk came to my side.

“Zuzuk!” I called out and the two of them came forward and hugged me simultaneously.

“We missed you so much.”

“Don’t call them that in public.” Kulaat said, pouting. “You’re embarrassing me with your baby talk.”

“Relax, nobody here speaks Ibarian.”

“They have a nice little soaking area, why don’t we go take a dip?” Tzama-zuzu offered.

I agreed and along with them I undressed and went into the little hot tub our house had. However unlike my Zuzuk and Kulaat, I wasn’t naked under my clothes. For the past weeks I’d chosen to wear the little swim suit Caroline had given me, it had stopped the naked comments, even if I still didn’t understand the problem.

“What are you wearing?” Kulaat asked.

“It’s a swimsuit, humans wear them to go in water.”

“But why?”

“I don’t know… They don’t like being naked but I don’t understand why… But it is cute!”

I made sure to show Kulaat the back and front sides of the swim suit, I think it was called a bikini bottom. It was orange like me, but paler and it was covered in adorable little black dots.

“So what have you been up to Ah-nee?” Zukii-zuzu asked.

“I don’t even know where to start! Everything here is so different!”

So I tried to explain to them everything that had happened in the past month. It was only one month, but it had felt like so many more, like a dozen month of things all in one!

Strange Species: Part I

Ahti Arc II: Strange Species

Part I: Personal Interactions

Three weeks later

I woke up with Rowan’s big powerful arms around my body, holding me tightly. In the past few weeks, they had become my new sleep buddy. I felt really safe and comfortable with them, and their body was so warm. Sometimes they’d even make this strange ‘purr’ like noise that made their chest feel strangely rumbly, but it was nice.

“Rowan are you awake?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Good morning!”

“My god you two are loud…” Allison mumbled from the other bed. “I’m trying to sleep here…”

“Good morning Allison!”

In answer they groaned at me, like one of those zombie from those strange movies Allen loved to watch, before covering their face with a pillow. Humans are very strange sometimes…

Rowan and I got up and went into the kitchen to get breakfast which Caroline was already making. I liked Caroline, she was always giving me food and my Zuzuk always said that if someone like you they’ll feed you. And you can’t not like someone who give you food! Unless its zork pie, then you can because it’s gross.

“Is Annabelle back yet?” I asked looking around.

“Not yet.” She said.

I let out a few whines at the news. She’d been gone for days and I missed her a lot. Caroline gave me quick hug and rubbed my head gently.

“I’m sure she’ll be back really soon. We all miss her.”

I sat down, still feeling a little sad.

“You know what? I’ll make you some Narik just to cheer you up.”

“You will?” I asked, mouth wide.

“I’ll try. I looked it up way back, I don’t have quite the right flour but I’ll do my best to try to make them right.”

I was just so happy that my worries faded as Caroline and I worked on making some Narik along with a lemon glaze like my zuzu would make them. In the end they turned a little different but they were still very nice! We only had a few minutes to enjoy them before having to go to school but I made sure to pack some for snacking.

School went by as usual, first foreign language which for me was Spanish, then homeroom, then sciences and then world history. In the past month I’d gotten a lot better at human-style school and a lot smarter too.

When we were going home, I noticed Rowan and Yikaru going away from the group and the house.

“Rowan, are you going somewhere?” I asked.

“Yeah, private thing with Yikaru.” They said.

“Oh okay.” I said, looking down at the ground and feeling a little disappointed they were busy, with Annabelle gone they were my only close friend left. “Have fun!”

“Sure, yeah.” Rowan said before leaving through the door. “You too.”

Without Rowan, I didn’t know what to do with my evening until I got Tyler to play some board games with me, he liked them too. He’d even introduced me to a special type of board game he called a ‘Roleplaying game’ in which you and your friends played a character, pretending to be them in a fantasy story while Tyler controlled the setting and the bad guys. I played a little itharii magician who was travelling the world to save their clutchmate from an evil curse. But without Annabelle there, we couldn’t play that…

Just as we were eating dinner, the door opened and Annabelle of all people walked through it! Well, she didn’t really walk, because she was in a wheelchair, but you know. I jumped up from my seat and ran toward her, screaming her name. I wrapped my arms around her body and held it with all my might.

“I missed you so much.” I said. I was so happy to see her that I left out a series of soft wuns.

“It’s good to be back.” She said, rubbing my head gently. “Could you please wheel me to my room?”

“Of course!” I said, going behind and pushing the chair into her and Yougen’s room. “You missed so much! Sanjay made an indian dinner, it was really good but Charlie didn’t like it. I heard Jaeger made a new friend from another class, I made a lemon pie the other day with Caroline. Oh and Charlie pranked Jaeger, it was kind of mean but funny.” As I explained to her everything she’d missed, both in the house and in class, she put down the bags she carried on her knees on onto her bed.

“Ahti would you mind if I speak to Amber alone?” Annabelle asked once she was done putting her things away.

“Okay! I made tea, do you want some?”

“I’ll pass but thank you.”

“Okay, see you later!”

I went into the kitchen to continue dinner and I noticed there was a new human I hadn’t met before. I looked at her chest and found bumps, which meant she was a female. The others clearly were interested in seeing her. After a while she looked at me.

“Hello!” I said, waving at her. “I’m Ahti.”

“I’ve heard of you.” She said, mouth wide open and exposed teeth. “I’m Emma, Annabelle’s twin sister.”

“What’s a twin?”

“It means we were in mama’s belly together and were born at the same time.”

“So you’re like clutchmates?” I said eyes wide.

“Guess we are.”

I let out some wuns at the news. It was so rare for humans to have a clutchmate. They had to be so lonely… But Annabelle wasn’t!

“I’m up for anything.” Annabelle said coming up the stairs, catching my attention. “Unless it requires braincells, concentration or any kind of energy whatsoever.”

“TV it is!” Amber declared. “That or go fish.”

“I’ll take TV. Hopefully there’s something loud with guns and explosions on.”

They went to sit on the couch and claimed the television for themselves so I joined them, cup of tea in hand, Emma being taken by someone else. Annabelle asked Amber if she could get Imugi and she did. Imugi was the name of Annabelle’s little snake. Snakes were an animal we also had on Ithar except ours had thick skin instead of scales.  

“I love snakes.” Allen said joining us.

“I don’t think the nope rope likes you though.” Amber said, it was her silly name for snakes.

“Will it hurt me?” I asked. I wanted to pet the little Imugi but didn’t want to upset her.

“Nah, you’re nice.” She answered.

Before I could try, Imugi went for the television remote control.

“I think Imugi wants to watch TV!” I said with a laugh. It was silly, snakes don’t watch television! Annabelle also laughed and picked the remote.

“Alright, what do you want to watch?” She asked her snake. She changed the channels slowly and Imugi began nodding her head at one particular channel; Planet Horror.

“Personally, I prefer a good action movie but this’ll do,” She said.

The movie that was playing featured two humans on a couch, lying one against the other, they were Raelip! I felt a little lonely, all of a sudden. Humans are strange, they don’t raelip their friends for some reason…

“Can we do that as well?” I asked Allen.

“No, only close humans do that.” He said.

“Are we not close?”

“We barely know each other.”

“I consider you my friend though.” I said. He moved his head from side to side and had a weird expression. “It looks fun.” I pleaded, letting out a little whine. I missed Kulaat, she was always there when I needed someone to raelip…

“Fine.” Allen said, letting out a long breath of air out.

I leaned against them, head on their torso, gently moved by the rhythm of their breathing. It was nice and I couldn’t stop myself from wunning in satisfaction. Annabelle and Amber soon excused themselves and Allen and I were left alone to watch the movie. It was one of those scary ones I’d often seen Allen watch before.

“I don’t understand why you like to be scared. That doesn’t seem fun…” I asked.

“Sure it’s scary, but it gets your adrenaline flowing and that’s exciting. Plus it’s just a movie, so you’re completely safe to experience that.” He said, moving his shoulders up.

I paused and thought it over. It made sense in a strange human kind of way…

“But why do you always watch scary movies? Don’t you like to watch other things?”

“I do, but I guess horror movies makes me feel like I’m back home?” he said, moving his shoulders.

“Why, is your home scary?”

He laughed at my answer. “No, it’s just something my friend Zoe and I did all the time. My step dad doesn’t allow me to watch anything above a PG rating so I’d sneak to Zoe’s house to watch her dad’s collection of horror movies. Her dad’s a huge collector and he’s got thousands. Lots of them in old formats I didn’t even know existed; VCD, betamax, laser disks and some of them on old timey movie projector rolls.”

I nodded and we watched the movie some more only for the bad human to show up behind one of the nice human female.

“He’s there!” I shouted, pointing at the screen. “Quick spray him!”

“Humans can’t do that.” Allen reminded me.

“Oh no! Run!” Thankfully the girl took my advice. “Do you think she’ll make it?”

“Well, she’s clearly the final girl.”

“What’s that?”

“Y’know, the one who survives. He’s managed to fight off the bad guy once and get away, and she’s avoided death. So those two will survive and probably fall for each other,”

“How do you know that?”

“It’s a common trope in these old movies; the girl who doesn’t drink, smoke or have sex tends to survive.”

“Oooh. You’re smart about these things.”

Sure enough, the movie ended like Allen predicted. With the bad human punished and the male and female humans having survived the whole thing. I asked Allen if we could watch another and he agreed. If I watched more, maybe I would understand ‘horror’ better.

But we didn’t finish the movie, falling asleep on the couch while still raelip. I woke up only to see Jaeger coming down the stairs even though it was still very early..

“Hello Jaeger!” I greeted him.

“Hi Ahti—” Jaeger began but didn’t finish his sentence. Instead he showed us his teeth, looking at Allen strangely. “Sorry for disturbing you two, I’ll let you both get back to having fun with each other.”

Allen went straight up, pushing me aside.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, I gotta go get ready for class.” They said, leaving me there.

What had just happened? I didn’t get it. And it was way too early for class, we hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet!

Outlands: Part VIII

The Human Outlands

Part VIII: Worry, worry, worry.

Although the next morning was normal — Well, Sage had hurt themselves but Allison told me they’d take him to a doctor so it was okay— it all changed when lunch arrived and Mr. Rook came to see us while we were eating to do what he had done in our previous class with him to our new friends. When it was finished, Jaeger even had blood coming out of his mouth!

So me and a few friends brought him to see a doctor, Caroline and Charlie included. As he saw the doctor, we waited in the other room. I found myself shaking, what if Jaeger was seriously hurt? You don’t bleed for nothing…

“Are you okay, Ahti?” Caroline asked, putting her hand on my shoulder, surprising me.

“Yes, but what about Jaeger, is he going to be okay? What if his arm is broken, is it going to heal, what if he doesn’t? I Jaeger going to leave us? I don’t want him to leave, I just met him and he seems nice. I don’t want to lose a friend…” I said, letting out a few whines at the idea of losing a brand new friend.

“Hey relax, little one.” She said, rubbing my head with her finger. I came closer to her and pressed against her as she gave me a hug. “I’m sure it’s nothing serious, beside I’m sure the doctor knows how to treat anything.”

“Really? You’re not just saying that for me, right?”

“I know Jaeger’s going to be fine. He’ll just need a day or two and he’ll be back to top shape.”

A day or two? That was way too fast for someone to heal! But Caroline looked confident, maybe humans were different? Jaeger came out not long after and he didn’t look too distressed…

***

After classes ended, we all went back home to relax. Since I was feeling well, I didn’t take a nap right away I had some time to have fun before that. I went to my room and looked around my thing until I found what I wanted; a still unopened box. With it in hand, I went downstairs. Finding Annabelle with Tyler, at their computer.

“Annabelle, do you want to play with me?”

“I’m sorry, I already promised Tyler I’d do this thing. Maybe later?”

“Okay.” I dragged my feet a little. I’d really wanted to show my favorite game to my best friend. But she wasn’t the only human friend I had!

After looking some, I found Rowan outside in the backyard, speaking with Yikaru in a corner, sitting on a bench hidden behind the bushes. I hadn’t talked to Yikaru a lot in the past few days, so I didn’t know her well but she seemed very shy, she was often alone and away from the others.

“Rowan!” I said coming up to them “Oh hello Yikaru!” I made sure to show her my teeth.

“Ahti?” Rowan said, looking at me strangely.

“I’ll talk to you later.” Yikaru mumbled before leaving us. My eyes followed her as she went back inside. Why did humans always leave so strangely when I was there?

“Is she your friend?” I asked.

“It’s complicated.” They said, exhaling a lot of air in one go. “So, what can I do for you?”

“I wanted to know if you wanted to play Sankinu with me?” I answered, showing them the box.

“What’s that?”

“It’s my favorite board game. I play it all the time with Kulaat and my zuzuk. Before I came here, I got a copy in English specially so I could play with my new human friends.”

“Sure, why not?” They said raising their shoulders. “But how do you play?”

“I’ll show you it’s very simple.”

We went inside where I quickly opened the box and set down the game field on the floor between Rowan and I along with the cards.

“We’re explorers who have to work together to reach the magical city of Sankinu. You chose a character which has its own deck of special cards to help the journey, but there’s a villain who tries to stop us, but we don’t know who until the game begin we also don’t know the terrain until then.”

“Who plays the villain?”

“It plays itself, all the cards tell you what to do on the villain’s turn.”

I kept explaining the rule and the different characters, and how the game always changed each time depending on what we had. Rowan seemed to struggle a bit at first but they understood the rules quickly enough. As we played, Charlie came out of her room holding the Nibbles in her arms. People went to see it but she told them to keep away.

“It’s the Nibbles!” I said waving at it as they passed by to sit on the couch. “But I don’t think it likes me, it keeps getting away.” I then whispered to Rowan.

“It’s probably just shy. It’s a prey animal, it’s afraid of things it doesn’t know.” Rowan said, putting a card into play. “Your turn.”

I played my turn but focused on the Nibbles, seeing it eat an apple along with Charlie.

“Do you think if I give the Nibbles an apple it would like me?”

“You probably shouldn’t feed it without Charlie’s approval. It might be bad.”

“You’re right.” I said, feeling sad.  

I focused back on the game for a time until I saw that Charlie had come close —having left the Nibbles with Sanjay— and looked at our game. She had a cup filled with a light brown paste, which she dipped a spoon into before bringing it to her mouth.

“Want to join us next game?” I asked.

“Eh, sure.” She said.

“What are you eating?”

“Butterscotch pudding.”

“I don’t know what that is. Is it good?”

“I like it.” She said with a shrug. “Do you want to try?”

I nodded and she sat down next to me, dipping the spoon into the cup and bringing the thing out. She turned the spoon toward me and I ate the pudding. It was amazing; sweet but also a little salty, with a rich taste and a creamy texture but it was also a little sticky.

“Oooh that’s good. Is there more?”

“Sure, want a cup?”

“Yes!”

She got up and went to her room before coming back out, giving me a full cup with the paper lid still attached. She opened it and gave it to me along with a spoon. I couldn’t stop myself from wunning, it was that delicious!

***

After a fun evening of games and food without a nap, I lied down for a long night of sleep, my whole body exhausted from staying up for so long. Earth days are far too long for me.

I woke up in the middle of the night with a loud screeching sound woke me up, sending my hearts beating and my brain into alert mode. In the moonlight, I couldn’t see anything, Jaime was sleeping peacefully on her bed so that hadn’t been her. I looked around and outside to find the source of the noise but couldn’t. So I left my room, making sure to walk on my tippie-toes and looking around for danger.

In the upstair living room, I found Rowan curled up into a ball and lying on the floor in front of the television, which played some strange movie.

“Rowan?” I called out but they didn’t answer. “Are you okay?” Again they didn’t answer, making my hearts beat deeper. What if the noise had been them getting hurt?

I quietly approached touched them. Rowan jumped on all four, looking around until their eyes fell on me.

“Are you okay?”

They looked around for a moment.

“I must have fallen asleep.” They yawned. “What are you doing up?”

“There was a scary noise and it woke me up.”

“I’m sure it was nothing.

“I can’t sleep, I’m too scared. Can I sleep with you instead?”

“Why not?”

They nodded toward the stairs and we went down and into the room they shared with Allison. They climbed into bed, taking most of it and I joined them. They quickly put their arms around me, their whole body curling to embrace me.

“Are you comfortable?”

“I feel safer with you.”

“I see. Goodnight.”

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Outlands: Part VII

The Human Outlands

Part VII: New Human Friends

Even when the class with Mr. Rook came to an end I still didn’t understand what was happening, I really had to ask him for better instructions next time. Since the class was over, it was now time for the midday meal, were after asking for suggestion I tried something new again, Amber which called a fish taco. Which was nice, it was really spicy.

During the next class a new student joined us, a male human called Jaeger with a funny looking nose. And even better, two more joined the next class! There was the male Allen, who looked a little scared, maybe it was also their first time away from their zuzu and titi? Then there was Sage who I think was Female but like Rowan used ‘they’ as their pronoun. It would have been nice to have another alien, but having new friends was also nice.

Once classes were over for the day, and although I was very excited to meet them for real, they went to the administration building with Allison so I had to wait until they were back.

“Guys I need help!” Caroline said once we were home. “We just have to throw a party to welcome the others. I’m going to make a cake but I need people to help with the rest.”

“Can I help?” I asked.

“Of course.”

Sanjay, Mace and Yougen also joined us in making food. I learned how to make ham sandwich even if I didn’t know what a ham is. Meanwhile Caroline and Charlie made a cake, just like my Zuzuk made them. It was nice to know that even if there are many things separating Itharii and Humans, we did have cake in common.

Once the others came back, we all went to the backyard where some of the others showed off their powers to the new classmates. As I watched the demonstration, I noticed that Allen was looked at me.

“Hi.” I said, making sure to show my teeth like humans like it when you do.

“What are you?” He asked, the hairy bit above his eyes lowering.

“I’m Ahti.” I answered, but Allen was distracted as the other new Male, Jaeger, came up behind him which had him jump, but surprisingly, he didn’t hiss.

“Allen, how about you go read up Itharii culture for a bit before expecting them to answer all your questions.” Jaeger said.

“Erm, right.”

Allen left and I stared at him. What had just happened?

“Allen has already offended a couple of people today, I figured I’d prevent him adding to the track record.” Jaeger explained. “I’m Jaeger,”

“I’m Ahti. I was hoping another of the new people might be another alien but I guess I meet more humans this way.”

“Erm, I’m not human technically speaking.”

“You look pretty human to me.” I said examining him. The more I looked, the more he seemed human. Sure, his nose was a little odd for a human, but humans are very varied; some have dark skin, some have pale skin. They have different nose, lips and eyes shapes.

“Most humans don’t have this sort of thing,” He said tapping his nose.

“Still looks human enough.”

He looked at me like I said something silly before laughing.

“I’m a chimera.” He said. Was that supposed to mean something bad?

“What’s a chimera?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got to go…”

With that, he went away and back into the house. Were humans always this strange? Rowan and Annabelle didn’t usually just go away like that. Since there was a pause in the demonstration, I decided to go swim. The pool was cool, but not too cold either. After a few minutes of swimming, I noticed that Sage was sitting with Allison and decided to go talk to them. I lifted myself out of the pool and went to their side.

“Hello! I’m Ahti.” I said, remembering to show my teeth and let them touch my hand, which took them a moment to take.

“Well, I’ll be back in a minute. You two play nice,” Allison said, also leaving. Why were all humans just leaving?

“I’m Sage.” They said, before examining me. “Have you gotten anything to eat yet?”

“You’re the first person not to comment on not wearing clothes in the pool.”

“Oh. I know that’s a normal thing in the Western world, but in my country it’s pretty common for people to use public pools and hot springs naked. It’s not something that bothers me.”

“Oh, maybe I should go visit.”

“I don’t think you would enjoy it much,” They said with a laugh “We are an island but the ocean around us is very cold. The sun is never really at it’s full height like it is here, and we have a lot of snow.”

The thought of snow made me excited. There wasn’t any in Vaal, so I’d never seen it but it always looked so strange and fun. You could build castles with it and have fun.

“Oh, I’ve never seen snow, what’s it like?”

“Erm, cold and wet. It melts if you pick it up. Makes for fun snowball fights.”

How could it be fun to fight? I didn’t get it.

“Why are you fighting? That sounds mean.”

“It’s a game not a fight. You condense a bunch of soft snow into a small ball,” They explained, doing some movement with their hands“And you try to throw them at each other. Avoiding the face obviously. It’s really silly and fun.”

That sounded so strange, maybe even painful, but if Sage liked it, it couldn’t be bad, now could it?

“Oh, can we play it if it snows here?”

“Sure!” They said with a smile before getting up and going to the food table. “What can you eat?” I asked, learning my lesson after Allison.

“Not landmeat.” I said looking at the table. I still didn’t know if ham is a land animal. What kind of animal was it? Was it fuzzy like the Nibbles? Was it a lizard? Before I could ask Sage, Allison had come back gave me a plate with everything but the ham. I guess hams were land animals.

“Sorry I took so long.”

They started talking and the people showing their powers to the new classmates drew my attention. The demonstrations were so pretty, how could I not look?

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Outland: Part VI

The Human Outlands

Part VI: Explanations Required

I went to bed early after the party finished. That time I even slept truly alone for the first time. Unless you count Mr. Hopper in my arms and Jaime sleeping in the other bed. It was a little scary but I didn’t get any bad dreams that night so I was okay. When I came out of my room and went downstairs, I saw that there was this strange creature on the ground. It was furry with horns, looking a little like the bush hares I’d seen a few times back home but it was bigger, its ears had fallen down and it had spots.

“Hello little thing.” I said greeting it. “I’m Ahti.”

I went down to its level, going on all four and reached out to touch the creature but it recoiled away from my hand.

“You’re not one of the strange humans who don’t look like humans, are you?”

It didn’t answer, so maybe it was just an animal. With humans, it’s hard to tell really.

“I see you’ve met Nibbles.” Charlie said, coming up next to me.

“It’s so weird…” I said examining it. Earth is strange, things don’t look anything like they look in the pictures I’ve seen of Ithar; not the plants, not the fishes, not the animal. There’s so much things on earth with hair, it’s weird.“Why is everything on earth so fuzzy? You can’t even see its skin. Even some of your bugs and flying animals are fuzzy, it’s weird… They look like plants.”

“Wasn’t there any furred animals on Ithar?”

“No, they have skin, scales or carapaces like animals normally do. But you’re fibrous like plants.”

Having hair must be inconvenient; I mean doesn’t it get stuck everywhere? Get in your eyes? Become heavy when you get wet? Blubber is way better to keep you warm than hair, it doesn’t get in the way and it helps you swim too.

Since the strange Nibbles didn’t want me to touch it, I gave up sat down at the counter where Caroline gave me a human thing. It was some kind of strange cake coming from a mold. I didn’t recognize the taste but it was okay.

The others started coming out, some of whom went for the cleaning room. We normally used baths at home, but I figured out how to use the ‘shower’ as Annabelle called it rather quickly. It just sprays water on your head and you have to use it before it drips off you and goes down a drain.

Once I was clean, it was time for our first class of the day; exercise. We had to change into special clothes there and Annabelle had to help me put on the human style shirt since they don’t have a front opening. They’re kind of like pants that you put on your torso really, but they have a wrong and right way to be put on. Humans like to do things very strangely and in a really complicated way.

The physical education class as the others apparently called it was very different from what I did in school, normally in Vaal we played games but here the giant human female who was the teacher instead had us do these weird things she called ‘push-ups,’ ‘Sit-ups’ and more movement, which weren’t very fun… But at least when that was done, she let us do whatever we wanted. I looked around, but didn’t recognize what the others were doing.

“You look lost.” One of my classmate said. It was a male called Sanjay.

“It’s just that I don’t know any human games.” I had to think for a moment, trying to think what we could do. And then I figured it out: “We could play Tavzi!”

“You’ll have to explain the rules.” Annabelle said. I hadn’t noticed Rowan and her coming closer.

Tavzi is pretty simple; you just need a ball and a wall. You have to throw the ball at the wall and the other team just need to send it back to hit the wall before it hit the ground twice. If they can’t you get a point.

“Sounds simple enough.” Annabelle said. “What are the teams?”

I looked between Rowan, Annabelle and Sanjay. It didn’t take long for me to decide. Although I liked Annabelle, Rowan was big and strong and also a friend.

“I want Rowan on my team. They’re big and strong.” I announced.

“Guess that makes us partners.” Sanjay said, going next to Annabelle.

We got a ball from the storage and played the game. Sanjay was pretty good at it, but he wasn’t as good as Rowan and I. In the end, Rowan and I beat them two to one set.

“Good game.” Sanjay said, trying to catch his breath “But next time, we’re going to crush you.”

“You can try.” Rowan answered.

The bell rang not long after and we changed out of the dirty uniforms and back into our normal clothes. The next class was just down the corridor and we went there. There was a big scary looking birdman, he was different than the one whom I’d seen when I’d arrived. This one was called Mr. Rook and he was pretty mean, taking turn fighting everyone until he stood in front of me and I just stared at him.

“It’s your turn.” Annabelle said, giving me a small push.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“You need to fight him.”

“But why? I don’t want to fight him. He was a little mean to Rowan and the others, but maybe it was an accident. Maybe I can talk to him instead?”

“It’s the point of the class, to teach us how to fight.”

“Oh… Okay…”

I stepped forward and Mr. Rook took position.

“Ready?” He asked.

“I think so.”

Mr. Rook started moving and quickly he threw something at me but when it hit me it just fell down on the ground after a brief blue-zaru colored flash. He tried again, this time throwing some kind of ropes but they also fell limply at the ground.

“That didn’t work. Do you want to try again?”

He came to a stop not far from me. He took out a long rod and hit me with it but that didn’t work either.

He sighed. “Show me what you’ve got.”

What I had? What did he mean by that? What did I have he wanted to see? He just stared at me, like he was waiting for something… Oh right, I was supposed to fight. I didn’t want to hurt him so I made sure to do it gently. I pointed at him with my arm and let out the power. It hit him with a slapping sound.

“Was that good enough?” I asked. “Do I need to do it stronger? I really don’t want to hurt you.”

“You know what, we’re done.”

“Okay. Did I do well?”

“This going to be a long fucking year…” Mr. Rook whispered even though I didn’t understand why he said that. “You can go back to the bench with the others.”

Was that it? I didn’t get it. I probably should’ve asked for instructions on what I was supposed to do…

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Outland: Part V

The Human Outlands

Part V: Human Weirdness

Being in a human cafeteria was intimidating; there were a lot of people, hundreds even, and I didn’t know anything. One by one, I examined the counters, trying to understand the foods being offered, some of them more understandable to me. Sadly they didn’t have the things I’d grown used to eating in Johannesburg…

Also most of it used land animal meat which scared me; I didn’t want to be sick.

After a few minutes I was drawn to one of the counter, the sign said ‘teppanyaki’ but I didn’t know what the word meant. Unlike the others, that counter was strange, the cooks making the food right before you, tossing it around a flat heated surface. They were really good, handling multiple orders at the same time.

The humans around me ordered things but I didn’t know what they were. But It had to be really good because lots of people went for it.

“What can we get you?” One of the two cook asked, a human male. His features reminded me of Mace and Annabelle, maybe they were of a similar ethnic group? I didn’t know…

“I don’t know…” I said. “I’m not familiar with human food. Do you have something without land meat?”

“We sure do! Can you eat seafood little one?” The man asked.

I nodded.

“Alright, I think we can hook you up then.” The man said, putting a bunch of stuff on a flat grill, which included some noodles, some vegetables and  curled up pink things, which he doused in sauce. Once it was all cooked, he set it up in a bowl.

“There you go.” He said, giving me the bowl. “Shrimp yakisoba noodles with gyoza and miso soup.” He explained, giving me two other items; a cup with broth and a pair of dumplings. The whole thing smelled amazing

“Thank you!” I said.

“You’re welcome little one.”

I took my cabaret and looked around until I found Annabelle and the others sitting at a table.

“Hey, what did you get?” She asked me.

“I don’t know. Yak-something noodles and shinks, I think it was called.”

“Shrimps.” She corrected me.

“Yes, that was it.”

“Well, it looks good.”

I nodded and started eating. I still didn’t know what shrimps were but I knew that they were delicious. They kind of tasted a bit like Run’tuk; which were like big larvas my Zukii-zuzu love to make.

“So, what do you think?”

“It’s good. But I wish they had Ibarian food.”

“Hey, what do you guys think about having a party this afternoon where we can show off our powers?” Caroline asked, coming closer.

“That sounds fun.” Annabelle said.

“I’ll do it too.” I said.

“Great, see you at five in the backyard.” She said before leaving the table along with Charlie.

Annabelle and I finished eating and we then went to the administration to get our things. I even got a money card but I didn’t know how much dollars were worth… The only human currency I knew were Rands, but they probably didn’t have the same value.

That done, we went back home and not too early; I was getting really tired as it was almost time for my afternoon nap. I don’t know how humans can stay awake so long; earth days are just so long…

Once inside, I lied down on the couch, which was big and comfortable and had all those tiny pillows. Since the house was calm, it didn’t take me long to fall asleep.

After a short dream about home, I woke up after about two hours and found out that someone had put a blanket on me.

I looked around but the place was empty. I could hear noise coming from the backyard so I went over there, finding most of the my other classmates there. They had music playing and some food, which I took some, I was hungry again.

After a quick snack, I looked around and saw Annabelle talking to some human males. I decided not to disturb her and instead went toward Rowan, who was alone their legs hanging inside the the pool.

“Hello Rowan.” I said.

“Hi.”

“Do you like water?” I asked, looking at their legs gently swinging about in the water.

They nodded.

“Do you want to swim with me? It’s always more fun with friends.” I said showing my teeth. I don’t know why but humans like it when you do it.

“Sure I guess.”

Having my friend want to swim with me made me really happy. I quickly removed my clothes before diving in.

“Want to play Zutv?”

“What’s that?”

“You have to chase the other and touch them. If you do, it’s their turn to chase you.”

“Oh, so tag?”

“I think.”

“I can do that.”

Them wanting to play with me just made me happier.

“I’ll be the riton. That’s the chaser.”

“Alright.” They said before swimming away. They touched the end of the pool and I did the same on my end before we began.

In the water, Rowan was kind of silly looking; they just paddled awkwardly like an Iravii who fell in a pool. Still, they were strong enough that it was fast enough I couldn’t stay idle, still played risky so it’d be fair.

“You’re good.” They said, their breathing much heavier.

“Of course I am, I’ve been swimming since I was a little larva.”

“A larva?” They said, blinking their pupils rapidly. Which was a sign of confusion I think.

“You know, before you pupate and become an imago.” It took me a moment to remember; humans are born as imagos, they don’t have larvas… “Wait, no, you don’t have those.”

“What’s it like being a larva?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t?”

“Duh.” I said, using a human expression I’d heard often. “Larvas aren’t smart, they just eat and grow.”

“Oh.”

“You don’t know a lot about Itharii do you?” I asked.

“No, but you don’t know much about Humans either.”

“That’s true.”

I’d had some biology classes on humans but it was mostly just the basics, plus I’d been too busy practicing English to really research human customs.

“Everyone ready to get started?” Charlie asked really loudly.

“Oh we better go.” Rowan said, swimming to the edge and climbing back up.

I on the other hand stayed in the water, just swimming to the edge of the pool where the others were.

Charlie decided to show her power first. She threw some things in the air and they came back. Which I guess was her power? I didn’t really know.

Caroline went next, she turned to the pool, raised a hand and just stared for a second.  

Around me, I felt the water change texture becoming thicker like jelly. Before I could react, the whole pool’s water went up and I followed along with it until it was several meters up in the air where it formed into a sphere.

I stayed in the bubble for a moment, trying to think about how to get out safely until I remembered my powers. I activated my armor, which also allowed me to fly. Carefully, I floated myself down and onto the pool’s edge, trying not to think about the height.

I don’t like being in the air. Land or water is much better…

I looked around and found Caroline.

“I was swimming.” I told her.

“Opps. Sorry…” She apologized. “Wait, why are you naked?”

“I was swimming?” I answered, not sure why she asked.

“Don’t you have a swimsuit?”

I didn’t know what that was supposed to be.

“A swim what?”

“Swimsuit.” She repeated, but I still didn’t understand what she meant. “Clothes you wear to swim in?”

“Why would you wear clothes to swim? They’re going to be wet.” Wet clothes aren’t fun; they’re heavy, they stick to your skin and they become stinky.

“Well, it’s really awkward having you buck ass naked.” I didn’t get it. What’s so weird about being naked?

Still, I walked away and put my clothes back on. “Humans are weird…” I muttered to myself.

I mean, I didn’t understand them, they didn’t understand me, but I had to live with them. This was going to be a funny year…

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Outland: Part IV

The Human Outlands

Part IV: Human School

The others seemed to know where they were going so I followed them into a brick building and to its second floor. We took seats, Annabelle and I sitting right by each others, and the teacher came in.

Our first teacher was a dark skinned human male, he walked with a bit of a limp as he got to his desk.

“Good morning students.” He said facing us. “My name is Joshua Martin, although most of you have probably known me better as Defender.” I hadn’t but I didn’t know a lot about superheroes. “Which I’d like to point out that despite what the media seems to believes has no ‘the’ before it.” He then added.

“You may address me as Mr. Martin from now on.” He said before starting to explain the hows and why of the class; We’d mostly work individually and Mr. Martin was there in case we needed help. Once he was done explaining, he gave us a test on English and Mathematics.

The English test itself was pretty easy. But the mathematics one was much harder; I wasn’t used to human numbers so I had to translate the equations back and forth between human math and our maths. Thankfully humans also used a base ten system so that saved me a lot of trouble.

Once the tests were done, Mr. Martin called us one by one to his desk to discuss academics. Soon enough my turn came and I joined him.

Mr. Martin was really tall. Like even for a human he was tall. I felt so tiny sitting in the seat by his desk; he had about two heads over me.

“Good morning, Ahti.” He said. “How have you been adjusting to Ravenhold so far?”

“It’s different. But not bad different.”

“That’s good to hear. How did you feel you were doing during the aptitude test?”

“The English part was easy. But the math was hard, I don’t normally use human maths.”

“I see. That does explain a few mistakes; nothing major, just some misplaced decimal points and what I believe to be an error or two in translating numbers.”

I nodded.

“Well, I’ll see that the test is translated to Itharii mathematics so you can take it again tomorrow, that way I’ll know where you really are on your mathematics skills. However you’ll have to start using human mathematics if you want me to help you”

“I can do that.”

Practicing human math seemed like a good idea; after all I had to know how to communicate with my new friends.

“If I may ask; how old are you Ahti?” Mr. Martin asked.

“In Earth years?”

“Obviously.”

“I had my thirteenth name day in August.” I said.

Ithar years I’d have been a little under nine years old but the Vaal community had decided to switch to earth years; both for age purpose and for our religious festivals which were based on the seasons.

“What is a name day? Excuse me, I’m not too familiar with Itharii customs.” Mr. Martin asked.

“It’s okay, I don’t know a lot about human customs.” I answered. “A name day is the celebration of the third day after the last member of a clutch come out of metamorphosis; that’s when my Zuzuk gave our names to Kulaat and I.”

“I see.” Was all he answered. “So, that’s like a birthday?”

“I think? It’s the day we count our age from.”

I was technically older; it took about three earth months for a little one to go through its first few stages of life; hatching as an egg, the larval phase and then metamorphosis. It was only when we were done that we received a name and started counting our age.

“That’s similar to human birthdays. Do you speak English at home?”

“No. But I studied very hard before coming here.”

“Well, I’m happy to report you scored very well on the English test; Your reading comprehension was rated at a tenth grade level which is impressive.”

“Is tenth grade good?”

“Yes, that’s the normal grade level of human teenagers aged fifteen to sixteen. Which is even more impressive since English is not your first language.”

I nodded. “We speak Ibarian at home, but sometimes Kulaat and I also speak Zulu or Afrikaans together.”

“You can speak four languages fluently?”

I nodded again. “But I’m better than her. Tzama-zuzu speaks lots of languages; Ibarian, Ztot, Ku’rik, English, French, Zulu, Afrikaans, Japanese and Spanish.” I said, numbering those I remember off the top of my head.

“Tzama-zuzu would be?”

I couldn’t help but snicker which made Mr. Martin raise a brow.

“You don’t have to call her that. You called her mommy Tzama. For you it would be just Tzama or Tzama-tun if you want to be very formal.”

“I see.” He said with an embarrassed smile. “As I said, I don’t know a lot. Since class assignments were only decided two weeks ago so I didn’t have time to learn more about your culture.”

“It’s okay. You seem nice.”

“Well, I’ll try to be less silly in the future. Is there anything you’d like to ask me?”

I took a moment to think before shaking my head. Mr. Martin dismissed me and I went back to sit at my desk.

The period ended quickly and I followed the other to the parahuman history class which was in the same building.

I couldn’t help but be ecstatic when our teacher walked in. Like me, he wasn’t a human. Rather being one of those furry ape people from another world. Seeing another alien made me really happy. Ravenhold seemed like a nice place but there were so many humans so I was alone.

Although that made me wonder about something; were Gimelians really aliens? I knew they came from another world but it was still an earth, even if it was a different one so did they count as aliens?

My thoughts were interrupted by the Teacher.

“Good morning students.” He said, his voice was really deep and I assumed he was male. As he continued his intro he took out a stylus and wrote something in his species’ language on the board.“My name is-” He said something but I wasn’t sure how to write his name down. “-of course, that is a an unpronounceable mouthful for homo sapiens. Instead you may call me Professor Apex.”

There was a pause.

“Get it; Ape-X, Apex.” He then said and the gears in my head turned.  

I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the pun. However none of the others seem to find it funny, not even Annabelle sitting next to me. Maybe she just didn’t get it.

“See his name is Apex because he’s like an Ape and he’s also the top, so he’s the apex.” I explained in a whisper to her.

“I see…” She whispered back.

It seemed to me that humans don’t have much of a sense of humor. How could none of them find the play on word funny?

Humans are weird…

“Bah, you kids have no sense of humor. Except you little Itharii, I’m already liking you.” Professor Apex said, almost as if he knew what I was thinking.

Introductions over with, he started his lesson; going through the big events of the last century, which was very welcome because I wasn’t good at history so the introduction was much needed.

And there was a lot to memorize. Earth’s history was long and pretty violent, it was nothing like Ithar’s history. It was almost as if humans were constantly fighting…

After a long and busy period, with me frantically trying to take notes so I’d remember everything, class ended and the time for the midday meal came about.

And it was just in time; I was starving.

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Outland: Part III

The Human Outlands

Part III: Nightly Anxiety

I woke up in the middle of the night, my hearts beating. I reached out for Kulaat but she wasn’t there so I panicked. Only after a minute did I remember; she was on the other side of the world. I hesitantly took a peek outside of my covers; the room was dark, the blinds pulled all the way over the window and only the thinest crack of light passed under the door.

The only sound I could hear was that of Jaime’s breathing. I could see her on the other bed. She hadn’t hung out with us earlier, I didn’t know why. but I had the feeling she didn’t like me…  

I got out of bed, walking on my tippie toes to make sure nobody could hear me, and went out into the common room. There wasn’t any light on but the sky was clear and the moon wasn’t too small, basking everything in a zaru glow. Unlike humans who had really bad night vision, I could see well if the stars and moon were uncovered.

My spit gland were at the ready, waiting for potential predator to make their move. But there weren’t any.

I wasn’t sure what to do so I went for Annabelle’s room. The door was locked and I didn’t have my card with me. I didn’t even know if my card would have worked; it wasn’t my room…

I felt frustration build up inside; I was stuck…

It took me a minute to remember that I could always use my powers…

It took me a few tries but with them I moved the lock into an open position and the door unlocked, letting me in. Annabelle’s room was identical at it’s base. The two occupants hadn’t really added any decorations to it.

Although it was really dark, it was easy to find Annabelle; Yougen’s bed had a wheelchair next to it.

I snuck toward her and lightly shook her awake.

She got up abruptly and sparks began dancing between her fingers. Then her eyes settled on me and she visibly relaxed.

“Ahti? You scared the life out of me.” She whispered before she closed her hands and the sparks went away. “Why are you here? What time is it?”

I hadn’t checked but it was really late. Or early depending on your perception.

“I’m scared…” I said, looking down. “Can I sleep with you?”

She took a moment to answer, as if processing what I’d just said.

“Sure, but put some pants on first.”

“Okay…”

I wasn’t sure why, but humans are weird when it comes to be naked. It’s like it’s really scary for them.

I left her room, went back in mine and grabbed my pants and put them on before grabbing Mr Hopper, my plush, and going back to her room. She had sat down on her bed and opened the light on her bedside table.

“All set?”

I nodded, holding my plush tight against my chest. That seemed to make her smile.

“Alright, hop in.”

I sat down and laid down by the entrance side, she closed the light and lied down behind me, wrapping her arms around me protectively. It was kind of weird, she wore a shirt but her arms were uncovered and touching my bare skin, something I wasn’t used to. It was just so different from Itharii skin.

Still she was big and warm. So I felt comfortable sandwiched between Mr. Hopper and her, I closed my eyes and went back to sleep.

“Good night.” She mumbled.

“Night.” I answered.

Secure in her embrace my worries faded away and I fell back asleep quickly.

I woke up first, the sun had barely began rising over the horizon. I slipped out of Annabelle’s arms and left the room before sneaking back into my own, putting my plush back and getting dressed. Some of the others including Amber, Allison, Charlie and Caroline, most of whom I hadn’t really spoken to, were awake and making food.

I went to the kitchen counter and climbed onto the stool, which was really high.

“Morning Ahti. What do you eat for breakfast?” Caroline asked.

“Utza’i or narik, usually.” I answered. By the way Caroline looked at me, I guessed she didn’t know what either of those were. “Utza’i is a soup made with beaten zetz eggs and utz weeds. A nari is like a fried ball of dough covered in syrup.”

“Oh… I don’t think we have any Itharii ingredients in the fridge…”

“I can eat human food. Just no land meat it makes my belly hurt.”

“How about scrambled eggs? Chicken eggs.”

Chicken eggs were one of the human foods I ate often. Although we ate a lot of Itharii foods at home, production wasn’t that high yet so we used earth substitute; Rice was very similar to izatu grains so we made noodles with it or just at it as such.

“That works.” I said.

After a very quick cooking time, she gave me a plate along with some tea which was nice and I ate it really quickly before asking for another.

While she took care of that, I grabbed one of the fruit left in a bowl on the counter; it was big and orange. I bit into it and it tasted pretty foul. Amber however went to my rescue, taking the fruit and removing the skin without a word. The inside was made of sweet and juicy cells that split into wedges, which I really liked.

Once I was done, I left the counter and sat down on one of the couch. Mace had put television on so I watched that, not really understanding what the people were debating.

Annabelle was the last to wake up, she went for the counter but once she got a cup of tea and an egg sandwich, she came to me and sat down.

“About last night, were you okay?” She asked in a whisper. “You seemed a little panicky.”

“I’ve never slept alone before.” I answered, looking away. “I just got a little scared…”

“Really? You’ve never slept alone?”

I shook my head. “I share a bed with my clutchmate Kulaat at home and sometimes with my zuzuk. So when I get scared at night, they’re there for me.”

“Does that happen often?”

“Sometimes. I just wake up and my hearts are beating like crazy and I feel like there’s something out there… Kulaat thinks I’m a big baby because of it…”

“Hey, it’s okay to get scared a little. Beside, I’m sure you’re really brave in reality, you wouldn’t be here if you weren’t.”

“You really think so?”

“Of course I do.”

I couldn’t help but hug her. In answer, she wrapped her arms around me.

“Alright, I better eat my breakfast and get ready before class starts.” She said, letting go after a minute.

“Okay.”

She came back a few minutes later, having changed into what I presumed were day clothes; a hooded jacket and those blue pants humans really love. As a group we left for our first day of class.

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