Ch50 Spilt Milk
by
“But I wasn’t finished. Ruby said it was all I could eat.”
“AHAHAHAHA.”
“I don’t see what is so funny Pebbles.”
“Aha, aha… Tofu, you’re the first person I’ve ever seen get cut off from the buffet and not the bar. They’re set up to serve big hungry mutants like me, and you still made them flinch!” Pebbles started laughing again. I wasn’t sure how my being denied food was funny. I’d even offered to pay a second time, but apparently that wasn’t enough.
“Well, I’m going to go then.” Mikey had wisely left ages ago, and Zaps and Buzzer had both wandered off somewhere in the Cyborg Panda, and Ruby had needed to get back to work greeting guests.
“Oh stop pouting and sit. Didn’t I have a free lesson on social crap to teach you?”
“Are you sure you are sober enough for that right now?”
“Oh shush, I’ve barely had like twelve. Man you get snippy when you’re hungry,” he took a sip of beer, “Now then. Here’s everything you ever needed to know about social interaction. You ready for this? Got your pen and paper?”
“I won’t forget Pebbles.”
“Good, cause all that crap they taught you, all the stuff you’ve pieced together since you crawled outta that hole, all the weird shit people do, it all boils down to one, thing…”
“…Which is?”
“Respect.” He took another sip of beer.
“I don’t understand. I thought respect was merely one of many factors.”
“And all those factors boil down to respect. Here, pick any social event you’ve ever had, and I’ll explain how it boils down to respect.”
“Alright. Frankie from the Espada. Even after Sanguine basically abandoned him during our rescue of Jasper, he still went back to the Espada afterwards. I never understood why he did.”
“Pfft, that’s an easy one. Dipshit like Frankie can’t get respect anywhere but the Espada. No one respects a loudmouth small-time purist a-hole who has to wave his power around like a baby-rattle to get attention. Let me guess, he tried to stab you with it the first time you met him right?”
“Yes.”
“HA! Knew it. That’s also why Sanguine abandoned him, you know. Didn’t respect him enough to care…. come to think about it, I haven’t heard much about either of them lately. Sanguine’s pretty subtle, but Frankie can’t keep his mouth closed to save his life. Maybe someone finally got pissed off enough to off him.”
“Most likely. Alright, what about how Nicole can fight really well against rats and other animals, but can’t fight against people?”
“She respects the sanctity of human life. If she accidentally injured someone she’d be infringing on their health and wellbeing, and she respects them too much to do that.
“What’s sanctity?”
“Respect for something that a higher power says is worth respecting.”
“A higher power? Like Hellion?”
“Pfft, ahaha!” he nearly choked on his beer, “Yeah sure, but don’t let her hear that. Her head’s big enough as it is.”
“Hmm… so, when Mikey’s grandma said to bring food when you are visiting someone’s house, that is also respect.”
“Oh definitely.”
“What about ribbing? When you and Buzzer and Zaps insult each other.”
“Simple, we respect each other enough to know that it’s all in jest.”
“…What about when people who are mutants don’t wear their armbands?”
That caused him to pause for a second.
“…Because they think you aren’t respecting their humanity. Y’see Tofu, we people are social creatures. When the first group of cavemen fended off a sabertooth tiger for the first time, it wasn’t because they were stronger, or had weapons or what have you. It was because they all stood together, screaming with their fists raised, and the tiger turned and ran. Ever since, we’ve relied on each other, and that’s why respect is important.”
“Because if you don’t have it, you get ousted from the group, like Frankie.”
He nodded, “Yes, and no one wants to be ousted from the group that is humanity.”
“…I understand… how do I get respect Pebbles?”
“Pfft, don’t you even worry about that. You’ve earned it several times over since you put on that mask, not least of which when you dived into a vampire filled sewer to rescue Buzzer with me. You’re one of us Tofu, no doubts about it.”
“Oh, that’s good… I think I’m going to start heading home Pebbles. I have a lot to think about. Thanks for teaching me.”
“Ha! No problem, I am a font of wisdom after all! Don’t forget to tip the nice lady.”
“Okay. Thank you for dancing for us ma’am.” I handed a fifty dollar bill to the woman who had been dancing on our table since they cut me off from the buffet.
“Aw, thank you hun. Any time.”
I left the Cyborg Panda and took a bus home, since Mikey took the van back hours ago. Pebble’s concept of respect was… difficult to process, but it seemed correct. Everything humans did was in some way, shape, or form connected to their society, and their place in that society was determined at least partly by respect. The way Pebbles phrased it implied that it was a straight-forward affair, but I was already making correlations to previous concepts I’d come across. Take kayfabe for instance. Wrestling matches seemed like a simple fight if you knew nothing about them, but if you watched one you would quickly come to realise that it is much more a performance than a straight-up fight. Because of this, they could designate large auditoriums, sell tickets, attract an audience much larger than the one who would only be interested in a straight fight, and even create careers and jobs and expand the human social system. All because everyone respected the lie of it. Without that, the entire system might collapse, and then no one would benefit. Neither the audience nor the performers.
This went deeper than I had previously imagined. I would need to go back and start correlating previous events to the concept of respect… but maybe in the morning.
I made it home without incident, stored my new souvenirs, watered my plant, made a sandwich, and then sent a few final messages to Nicole and Tim before crawling under my bed. It had been a long day.
I woke up early, as normal, feeling mentally refreshed. Today I didn’t have anything special planned, so after I went to Adder’s morning training, and filed my report with Sandra for the latest incident, I was going to maybe do some cooking and let Nicole test it for me. Apparently my sense of taste was off in comparison to most humans, which made it difficult for me to judge whether or not my creations were a success.
I filled out one of the spare reports, then headed for the door. Outside in the hallway though, I ran into a neighbor. It was the woman with brown scales, Natasha, as well as her two sons. She had them each by a hand, and seemed to be in some distress.
“Hello Natasha, Ollie, Lucas,” I nodded to the three of them. I’d become somewhat acquainted with them over the past weeks, since they lived on the same floor as me, and Natasha seemed friendly with Cindy.
“Tofu! Hello. Hey, do you happen to know where Cindy is today? She didn’t answer her door.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t. She might be at morning training already. Would you like me to send her a message?”
“I already did, but she didn’t answer. I was going to ask if she could babysit for me, my normal sitter canceled… hey, do you think, you could maybe watch them for a while? If you aren’t busy?”
“Um…”
“I’m really sorry to ask, I just have a really important interview I need to get to.”
“Interview? Don’t you already have a job with-“
“Ah! Um,” she directed her eyes at her two kids, before leaning in to whisper, “they don’t know about the business.”
“Ah.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“I’m just, trying to find a new job that’s a bit… safer, y’know? It shouldn’t take more than an hour or two, it’s just at seven so I need to get going. Please? I just need someone to keep an eye on them in case they try to burn the place down.”
“Um, I suppose I can…”
“Thank you! Seriously, thank you so much! Here’s my key, you can just sit on the couch and watch t.v, they’re always tired in the morning anyways. And my fridge is stocked, feel free to make yourself breakfast. Again, thank you so, so much! I’ll be back soon.”
She eventually kissed her two sons goodbye (to their chagrin), and waved at them as she left on the elevator. I’d gone along with it since she’d said I could have breakfast, but strangely I was suddenly unsure of myself. Natasha obviously loved her sons, and now I needed to make sure they stayed safe. I hadn’t had much interaction with children, although I’d talked a bit with Cindy about her babysitting. From her description, it didn’t seem too hard?
I turned to Ollie and Lucas. They stared up at me, apparently waiting for me to make the first move.
“…Want to watch some t.v?”
They both shook their heads, no.
“…Breakfast?”
“We ate already,” said Ollie.
“…already,” mirrored Lucas.
“Do you play Gribblin Tamer?”
“We don’t have phones,” said Ollie.
“…phones,” mirrored Lucas.
“Ah…”
“…” “…”
“…Want to see my knife collection?”
Nicole
Nicole woke up, feeling like something was off. At first, she thought it might be because she was sleeping cushioned by a bed. But after a bit of thinking, that wasn’t it. Then she thought it might be the embarrassment of having run into the sewer yesterday, and she was somewhat still embarrassed about it, but that wasn’t quite it either. She felt different. Physically. It took her a little while to realize what it was.
She wasn’t hungry.
She blinked a bit. That can’t be right. I’m not even close to full size yet.
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