In Alien Hands: Meeting Merle

Day 2 Lunch -Merle

"Holli... Come on out, you can't sulk in there forever." I spoke softly to her through the door. After a few moments, I slowly opened the door. She had covered herself and hid in her bed. After I had reached her, I took a risk and touched her shoulder.

She flipped over and glared at me. I looked back at her, careful not to startle or look upset, as I had seen my father with his human. They couldn't seem to stay angry if you remained calm and collected, and she was no exception.

"I'm gonna sit out on the couch and read, you can come out if you want to." I slowly rose to my feet and walked back out. I made sure she could see me from the bed, I didn't want to startle her.

After a bit of reading, i could hear her climb out of bed, leave her room, and hook left towards the rest of the house. I used my hearing to keep track of her whereabouts while maintaining the illusion that I was disinterested. Humans tend to ignore the fact that other species have more abilities than them, it wouldn't surprise me if i found out she hadn't considered my hearing was better.

I heard a drawer slide open, the foraging drawer I had set in the unused dining room. The large dining tables were too big for a small human to comfortably eat from, and eating with a human was a great way to bond with them. I had eaten breakfast in the kitchen. I didn't want her to form any kind of bond before the vet came, it would make rebuilding the bond much more difficult.

She had found the treats i stuck in the first few drawers. The thing was designed to take an hour to complete, I had 30 different drawers in the garage to challenge her further once she had those memorized. As of now, I was pleased with her progress. She ran after being released, some humans attack the vet per their owner. She also came out of her room relatively quickly, preferring being out in the open over boredom.

I smiled when I heard her struggle with the last drawer. It was much different than the others, and required a bit of trial and error. When I heard this, I moved her cushion back to the couch, I had pushed it off so the vet's assistants could sit. Once she was done, I motioned her over, concealing my excitement when she obeyed me and took a seat.

Still slow and methodical, I put my book down and pulled out the flashcards. My family used these standard, the only one we changed was the picture of us, and even then we had ones with each of our faces.

We used them to teach humans our names, and the words for various objects. Humans don't do well when they don't understand their world, you can either conform to a strict schedule or teach them a few words. Teaching these words allowed for a varied schedule. They were mostly items a human would use, baths, beds, toilets, people, Dog-men, etc. Teaching her these simple words will let her feel more in control of the world around her, even if she really has no choice.

She picked up on her and my name quickly, which was good. As expected, she wasn't pleased with the name change, but there was no changing it back. It'd take a few sessions to teach her all the words, but the hour we spent doing this was a great first step. Teaching also helps humans adjust to their new owner, I could already see she had calmed considerably, even after this morning.

After we finished, I could tell she was hungry. I got up, less cautious about spooking her this time, and went to cook something for the two of us. She followed me to watch, not terribly upset that I closed the gate. I was in a good mood by this point, I loved cooking and everything had gone better than expected. I slipped her bits of the meat I was cooking, pleased to see that she liked it. I grabbed her slow-feeding fork again, I couldn't be sure that she would eat this slowly either. I filled her cup with some water, and we both sat down at the coffee table to eat. I purposefully took small bites so we'd take about as long, but midway through i grew concerned.

Holli was drinking very little water. I could see that her lips were dry, she needed to drink more. I used human body language (ours is far more nuanced, we use our ears and noses) to try and get her to drink more. She seemed to eat fine, and she drank her juice this morning, so it must have been the water. I dumped it in the plant and poured her some of my polkë, which is a dog-man drink. It was fine for humans to drink, just not as healthy as water. To my relief, she drank that down. I decided to give her some electrolyte drink, which was heavily sweetened to hide the bitter taste. I'd grab some after lunch.

After we had both finished, I took the dishes back to the dishwasher. I poured some electrolyte drink into a cup and popped on a lid for her. It was impossible to spill, it could be chucked off the roof and not spill a drop.

I had realized she probably needed to use the toilet. I got her home late last night, but she hadn't gone this morning either. I was unfortunate that I got stuck with a house with only one bathroom, but this would have to do. I called her up the steps and watched as she struggled up them behind me. I showed her to the bathroom, she seemed to be eyeing the tub.

"I'll give you a bath later tonight, but not right now" I said, well aware and glad that she couldn't understand most of that. She was not going to be happy with me tonight, but hopefully not as upset as earlier. They never take the vet well, and fewer take the bath well.

I showed her how to use the stool to reach the toilet, and left the bathroom. She figured the ribbon out fast enough, but I doubted if she realized it didn't work both ways. She'd need me to open the door and wash her hands. I heard her struggle with the stool after finishing, but decided to wait for her to realize it on her own. After a couple minutes, I heard her knock on the door.

I opened the door, being sure to block most of it and stop her from trying to walk past. I grabbed the wipes from the counter, wiped her hands, and tossed the wipes. I led her out to the spare room, which had a bed and several toys to keep a human busy for several hours.

"This is the spare room," I said, opening the door so she could see. " if I ever need to leave you here alone, you'll stay in here" I shut the door and led her down the stairs again.

Okay guys this one ended up a bit shorter! I don't generally have a word goal with these, I write what needs written and stop when I've reached a stopping point. I *might* work on Crashed tonight, but you probably won't get a new part until tomorrow or the next. These are designed so that you could realistically only read every other part, but let me know if it is too repetitive for you who read all of it. I might do a format where it switches perspectives, but they happen after each other. So part 1 would be Holli, part 2 Merle, instead of each being half a part. Let me know!