Maybe We're Both Delusional And Just Hallucinated The Same Thing. Maybe We Are Crazy.

Maybe we're both delusional and just hallucinated the same thing. Maybe we are crazy.

I'm not Mandela Effecting you Strawberry Pull 'n' Peel Twizzlers existed. Not forking "Twisted Strawberry Blast", Google is gaslighting me. Legitimate strawberry flavored Twizzlers like the Twists but they were Pull 'n' Peel. Wikipedia would neither confirm nor deny their existence. Tell me I'm not wrong I swear I'm not crazy. They must be hiding it. They erased my favorite Twizzlers for some reason and they want everyone to forget. BUT I REMEMBER. WHERE ARE THEY?

Hate. Hate this. The English language is so cursed.

pronouncing 'Penelope' the way you'd pronounce 'antilope'

I saw your humans are space orcs post and wanted to ask a question

Since, generally, humans are regarded as friendly pack creatures, what do you think aliens would think of humans who kill their own family members to protect themselves/others?

I ask this cause I was thinking about all those stories about women in the past who killed their abusive husbands and fathers to protect themselves and their siblings and or children.

That's a really serious question and topic, but it would no doubt come up eventually if aliens were to be watching and observing the human race. I can try my best to come up with a scenario where that might come up.

⚠️ DISCLAIMER ⚠️ I am in no way, shape, or form claiming to be an expert on this topic, or saying this is what happens in most scenarios! I am doing my best to think of a way that this interaction might go for the sake of storytelling and nothing more. Again, I am not an expert, and I may make mistakes or say something that may be completely wrong. Thank you for understanding.

⚠️ CW: mentions and discussions of physical abuse, death, murder, and alcohol and gambling issues. Please read at your own risk ⚠️

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The alien captain walks their rounds of his ship, making sure everything is running smoothly and greeting his crew mates and companions as he walks by. As he exits the bridge of the ship and closes the doors behind him, he spots their human crew member, a female of their species and the mechanic of the ship, coming from the direction of the engine room. The captain notices that she is not wearing her uniform correctly. The pants of the uniform are on normally, but at the waist, the rest of the uniform is wrapped tightly around her hips. The sleeves of the uniform are tied together in the front of her body, holding it in place. On the backside, the rest of the upper half of the uniform is hanging loosely, reaching down to her lower thighs.

This is a normal occurrence for this human. Her body temperature apparently rises up much faster than most of her species when in warmer environments and she tends to sweat a lot heavier than most of her kind as well. In order to regulate her temperature more and keep as cool as possible, she wears her uniform like this, with a thin white undershirt without sleeves and thin straps across her shoulders underneath of it. This often leads to oil, dirt, grime, and other substances covering her exposed skin. The female human normally takes her showers after doing maintenance work anyways, so it strangely doesn't seem to affect her as much as the captain would think. It's like she barely even notices it's there most of the time.

The captain calls out to the human to get her attention. "Heading to your quarters for a shower, human Kira?" He asked, a friendly smile on his face.

"Howdy, Captain." She says, exhaustion evident in her voice. "That engine was real rowdy today. It wouldn’t play nice with me, kinda felt like I was tryin’ to wrangle a wild bronco!"

The captain nods. He'd gotten used to Kira's accent and mannerisms over the 3 years she'd been on his ship. She is from the south part of her country, back on planet Earth. Her accent is extremely different but apparently most common compared to the other humans that live there. "I see. Is it cause for concern?"

Kira shook her head. "Aww, don’t worry 'bout all that, Captain! She’s as healthy as a horse and rarin’ to go. I made certain to check and recheck everything real good—levels are just fine, and she’s got a heap of fuel. That oughta get us to Mineora just fine." Kira smiled as she said this.

The captain chuckled. He started to love how the human referred to the engine and certain parts of the ship as "she". It's happened on multiple occasions now, and he remembers that a previous mechanic they had on the ship did the same thing. According to both of them, humans do this very often in regard to the vehicles that they build and work on.

"This is fantastic news, thank you human Kira." The captain said, smiling once more.

As Kira returned the smile and they both turned to go about their business, the captain noticed something on the human's left arm that stood out to him.

"That looks like a particularly rough oil stain, human Kira." He commented, noticing fifteen thick black lines close together on the human's forearm. "Better scrub extra hard to get it off." He chuckled softly, trying to joke with the human mechanic.

The human stopped to look at what the captain was referring to. "Oh, this?" She asked, moving her arm to look at the lines and moving it up a bit for the captain to see better. "This ain't oil or dirt, Captain. It's a tattoo. I’ve had it for a good while now. I'm mighty surprised you just now noticed it."

The captain was a bit shocked and squinted his eyes to get a better look at the marks. "By the goddess of space herself, you're right. I'm incredibly sorry. Disregard my poor attempt at a joke."

The human waved it off. "Don’t worry ‘bout a thing. I’m covered in grease and grime most of the time, so I get why you’d think it’s just another mark on my skin."

The captain nods, thinking of something he was told once regarding human tattoos. "I've been told before that humans get tattoos to symbolize something. Is there any particular reason for those lines?"

Suddenly, the human's face grew dark. As if a shadow had passed over her head. A troubled look grew on her face, like she was thinking on something that she didn't find very pleasant.

"Human Kira?" He asked, his concern for his crew mate growing rapidly. "Are you alright? Are you sick? Why do you look like that?"

She shakes her head. "Naw, I’m good, Captain." Her voice was softer and she spoke more slowly. "It's just...I ain't too keen on thinkin' 'bout that."

The captain realizes he may have said something that caused her to be acting this way. "I am truly sorry, human Kira. I did not mean to bring up something so horrible for you. Disregard that question as well. I am seemingly making quite a few errors today..."

The human shook her head. "Nah, don’t you worry 'bout that. It’s all good. I get it, you’re just tryin’ to satisfy your curiosity. I know you been tryin’ to wrap your head 'round humans, so it’s only natural you’d ask that." She smiled softly as she said this, but then her face grew dark again.

"I’ll tell ya ‘bout it." She says after a slight moment of silence.

"You really don't have to, human Kira." The captain said hurriedly. "If it bothers you so much, I don't wish to inflict further discomfort on you."

The human sat down on one of the chairs nearby in the adjacent break room. The captain followed, his concern still evident on his face, wanting to ensure that she was alright.

The female human looked up at her captain, her auburn eyes distant and cloudy, not at all seemingly present in where they were. As if she were in another place entirely. The shadow across her face was still present, only adding to the distance in the human's eyes.

"Ya know I'm on yer ship 'cause of my criminal record, right?" Kira asked.

The captain nods. "Correct. Though I must say, you haven't had any issues to speak of ever since you stepped on to my ship. It makes me question why you ever had a criminal record in the first place."

Kira scoffed. "I ain't had no reason to do nothin' that'd get me in trouble. Though I gotta admit, I don’t know much ‘bout the laws out here in space, so who really knows?"

The captain smiles softly. "I will be sure to let Grimmplar know you require that knowledge. I shall mention it to him later on, however. You were saying?"

Kira nods. "Anyways, back on Earth, 'fore y’all even made contact with us humans, I didn’t have a very pleasant life, I reckon. I grew up on my daddy’s farm, and we was right poor. Mostly ‘cause of Daddy’s drinkin’ and gamblin’ problems. He’d spend most all our money on booze, and when it came time to plantin’ seeds and we didn’t have the cash we needed, he’d go off and gamble it away to get more. Mama passed away after havin’ my little brother, ‘round the time I was 8. Daddy was a handful even ‘fore Mama died, but he got so much worse afterwards."

"He'd always say that gamblin' was just a way to get more cash for seeds, crops, and all that jazz. But I knew better. I'd be stuck at home with my brother, takin' care of him and cleanin' up the place, makin' sure everything was nice and tidy-like. Time and time again, he’d roll back home with nothin', and we'd have to ask our neighbors to lend us their seeds. And if we managed to grow somethin’ and wanted to sell it, we’d have to give our neighbors 50% of the profits since it was their seeds. During that time, Daddy got a bit better, but good grief, was he strict. If I slipped up on even the smallest thing during the season, he'd be right there to whip the livin’ daylights outta me and make me work twice as hard to make up for it. All the while he was inside watchin' football and drinkin' til he passed out. I kept my brother out in the shade, always stickin’ close by, tryin' to keep him away from Daddy."

"After a bit, our neighbors stopped givin' us their seeds. Said we was relyin' on 'em too much an' it was a waste of good seeds. So Daddy had to go back to gamblin' fer more cash to keep his drinkin' up. By then, it weren't even fer the crops, an' it ain't never been 'bout takin' care of me or my brother from the start."

"Well, after I grew up a bit, reckon I was 'round 18, I started realizin' that he wasn't treatin' us right at all. Used to think it was just how he was raisin' us, and he’d say it was buildin' character, gettin' us ready for the real world. But after takin' care of the house, cleanin' up everyone else's messes, and tendin' to the crops only to barely scrape by year after year—nearly a decade by then—I just wanted it all to end. I needed to break Daddy's hold on my brother and me, but I didn’t wanna do it just for my own sake. Felt like I needed to give my brother a better shot at life, a new pace instead of livin' in that hellhole."

"So, one night while Daddy was passed out in his chair like usual, I snuck into his room and grabbed the revolver he kept hidin' in the bottom drawer of his nightstand. Not much of a secret spot, I reckon anyone coulda got their hands on it if they looked hard enough. But I checked to see if it was loaded, crept downstairs, and stood in front of the TV, facin' Daddy, sound asleep and none the wiser."

Kira took a shaky breath and closed her eyes. Then she opened them and continued. "I hesitated at first, ya know? My head was just buzzin’ with all kinds of thoughts and doubts. Was I really fixin’ to take a life? And if I’m honest, this was Daddy we’re talkin’ about. Sure, he’d done some downright terrible things to my brother and me over the years, but did he really deserve to meet his end?"

"After a few moments I shook those thoughts off, fueled by hatred and anger of a decade of abuse and torment, I raised my arm holding the revolver, aimed, and fired at Daddy. Shot him right in the head. He died instantly, of course. Barely any human can survive a bullet to the head at almost point-blank range."

"After I stared at Daddy's corpse for a few minutes, it dawned on me what I'd done. I chucked the revolver aside and sprinted upstairs. I barreled into mine and my brother's room, scooped him up, and grabbed the bags I had packed the day before. We hightailed it outta that house and never glanced back."

"A few days later, the cops found us hidin’ under a bridge over in the next town. The folks in the neighborhood called ‘em that night after hearin’ a gunshot and said they saw someone skedaddlin’ from the scene. When they figured out my brother and I was missin’, they started lookin’ for us. They cuffed me and took my brother to an orphanage. That was the last time I ever laid eyes on him."

Kira took yet another shaky breath and blinked back a tear. She shook her head and looked up at her captain. "Next day, they put me on trial, charged for Daddy’s murder. I ended up locked up for 15 years. Each of them lines there? That’s a year behind bars, for takin’ out the one who was a real threat to us and done us wrong for years. My only regret? Not bein’ able to take care of my brother better and not tellin’ him I’m sorry for makin’ us orphans and takin' Daddy's life."

The tears in Kira's eyes were more visible now, threatening to fall off of the edges of her eyes. She grabbed a hankerchief from the pocket of her uniform and dried her eyes. The captain secretly hoped that it was a different hankerchief than the one that the human female would use while working. But that would be a different issue to discuss later.

"Forgive my bluntness, human Kira," The captain said softly. "But I was not aware that humans could even...act in that manner. I initially thought that you humans were friendly pack creatures based on my previous understandings and research. This is most shocking news."

Kira gives her captain a small smirk. "Well, usually we’re more or less friendly-like. But you see, the human mind’s as fragile as it is strong, Captain. There’s plenty of stories out there like mine. Some folks got it worse, and maybe others ain’t sufferin’ as bad, but their stories still matter. Folks can be greedy, mean, and downright cruel. But then there’s them who can be kind, sweet, and caring too. It’s kinda like a balance, ya know? You never really know what someone else is dealin’ with, or what kinda thoughts they got rattlin’ around in their head."

The captain ponders this new information as Kira continues. "You know, when folks come together, we can make some downright amazing things happen and face just about anythin’ that comes our way. You’ve seen it yourself, Captain. But, now hold on, there’s another side to that coin. When we’re all alone, starin’ down an enemy or some kinda threat, we can feel real small, backed into a corner, and fear just takes over. That’s when our survival instincts kick in. That’s where the saying ‘fight or flight’ comes from. Our instincts say we gotta either fight our way outta the mess to make it through, or take off and save our hides for another day. And them instincts can drive us to do things we wouldn’t normally do when we’re thinkin’ straight, like hurtin’ someone. Even the ones we hold dear..." Kira trails off a bit.

The captain nods in understanding. "I see. This is most intriguing. Though I must apologize for pressing you with my questions when you were obviously not in a positive mindset."

Kira waves her captain off. "No worries, Captain. That was more'n 18 years ago. I'm 36 now, been aboard yer ship for the last 3 years. Had plenty of time to think back on things sittin' in that prison for 15 long years. It ain't exactly fun, but it's just a distant memory these days."

The human female turns, looking out the wide rectangular windows of the break room. She remains in that position for a few minutes. Then she turns back to face her captain.

"I sure do wish I could see my brother again. I wonder where he's at...hope he’s doin’ fine." She says softly.

The captain stands. "I am sure that he is alright, human Kira. You freed the both of you from your father's horrendous treatment and gave the both of you another chance at life. You did what you had to, given the situation and the information you've provided me."

He calmly walks up behind her and gently puts his hand on her shoulder. "I assure you, wherever your brother is, I am sure that he will be thankful for what you did for the both of you."

Kira nods, turning around to look back out the windows at the vast space outside of the ship. The stars shining brightly, the distant planets glowing dimly from the sun's light. She'll see her brother again. One day.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you Anon for that ask! Loved thinking about this interaction and I spent the entire day thinking on this. I will admit, I didn't intend on turning this into an entire story, but at the same time I've always wanted to write a story of my own, so this gave me a fantastic excuse to write this out! Ended up giving the human, Kira, an entire backstory for this, too!

Please let me know if you liked this! I feel like I did okay, but I know for sure that I'm not a professional author and definitely didn't do an exceptional job. If you have any comments or suggestions, please don't hesitate to let me know!

September is cool and all, but who’s ready for OCTOBER THIRST?

eveeyones got it wrong your mid 20s arent for going to the club or partying or picking up new crafts. your 20s are for discovering how much more autistic you are than you thought you were in high school