at-the-bottom-of-an-ocean:

Humans as Aliens Prompt: Need for Physical Contact

“May I sit with you?”

She looked up. Not very far, for the human standing before her was quite short. 

“Of course. Are you calmed, Robin?” she asked the human. Robin nodded, taking the seat next to her.

“I’m fine, Yano. Just shaken, you know?” Robin responded, running a hand through her thick, curly hair. 

“Shaken?” asked Yano, and Robin chided herself, for Yano was of the Traanan race, who had difficulty understanding nonliteral speech. 

“Um, just like… still a little scared.” 

“Why are you still scared? Though the event must have been frightening at the time, the criminal has since been detained and therefore cannot harm you.”

Robin rubbed her eyes, and sat back on the couch, sighing into the perpetually warm Q’tslrian silk. She held out her arm, and Yano’s ears perked as she watched Robin’s fingers tremble. 

“I can’t make it stop. I keep thinking about how close it was,” she said, pulling her hand back and clenching her fists. 

“The sudden realization of one’s mortality in such a violent manner must have been quite shocking. Especially since it would have been a senseless murder. Your low status as a security officer would have made your death meaningless,” conceded Yano.

“Thanks,” Robin deadpanned. 

“I hope my words have helped you,” said Yano kindly. 

Robin laughed, leaning back and closing her eyes. “I think I just need a good nap.”

“Then by all means, nap if it will help you.”

Robin pulled her feet onto the couch, and leaned her head on Yano’s arm. Yano’s ears perked again, having seen the humans assume such a position with one another, but only after great trust has been established, and never to another species. 

“I have seen humans engage in this manner of physical contact before. May I ask what this accomplishes?”

Robin shrugged, indicating confusion and apathy. It was a strange gesture to feel against her arm. 

“Humans are touchy. We just like to keep one another close.”

The term close did not make much sense in this context, Yano noted, as Robin had used it to indicate both physical proximity and emotional connection. Human languages tended to have fewer words than other languages, especially the languages of Yano’s own home, which accounted for the necessity of extreme specificity. But human languages did something unique in the galaxy, whereby many of their words had double meanings by definition, and double meanings by context. 

It made translating difficult, but Yano believed she understood, at least somewhat, as she put her arm around Robin’s shoulders, and the little alien sighed quietly, warm and heavy against her side.