In Alien Hands: Meeting Merle

Day 11, Grene's assessment -Merle

"She's a sweet heart, Merlin!" My brother called to me from the living room. I was in the kitchen, cooking, as was customary with guests. I loved cooking anyways, I'd probably have offered it I were the guest.

Grene was testing Holli. He was an expert on human behavior and psychology, as he had decided to be after getting Lyndsey, his human. We all chose our careers after getting our humans, another tradition in the family. This meant pretty much every human he came across immediately took a shine to him. It was quite the enviable talent, especially after seeing Holli cower and cry the first night I had her.

My brother had known Holli for all of ten minutes, and she was letting him touch her. She wasn't completely comfortable by any means, so I wasn't that hurt, but it was still annoying.

"Surprisingly trusting. I get why you were so shaken up about her the other week." I didn't have much of a response to this statement, so I stayed silent. I was still mildly embarrassed by my panicked behavior.

"Her behavior now isn't at all reflective of her behavior when I first arrived. She was hiding and scared, didn't even wait until you opened the door."

"Yeah. She's made strides with me, but she acts like I just bought her when strangers come into the mix."

"Sounds like she just needs socialized. We can work on that while I'm here. "

I was finally finished cooking, so I plated up three portions. Holli seemed hungry, excited to get her food. She took her slow feeding fork happily and began eating. I still felt a bit bad giving her that fork, but judging by how excited she got when presented with food, it was still necessary.

I was surprised when Grene seemed amused when Holli struggled with the fork. I shot him a disapproving look.

"Listen. If you can't laugh with her, and take everything seriously, she will too." He had a point. I started watching her. She tried to wrap food around the small fork, but was unsuccessful. She then tried to use it as a shovel, eventually opting to dip her head underneath the fork rather than bringing it to her mouth. This didn't work out, the food dropping on her cheek. I made a mental note to not make this meal again before joining Grene in the giggling, it was too difficult for her to eat.

Things got cuter when Holli shot us a dirty look. Humans are adorable, even more so when they try to play angry. Those little features, twisted into a look of adorable rage, set both my brother and me into a fit of laughter, which Holli soon joined us in. Humans have a tendency to join in on things like laughter, they are very empathetic in that way. After several minutes of laughter between the three of us, we resumed eating.

"How about you hand feed her?" Grene had been watching Holli eat. " it'll be good to see how she reacts. Teach her to trust you, too. " It seemed like a good idea, so I went and grabbed a normal fork for my pet.

She hardly paused before taking the food, happy to have the food. She probably hadn't eaten more than a bite or two before I started feeding her, so she seemed immensely pleased. While I went, Grene explained the plan for the rest of the day.

"So, I say we invite some people over. This seems like a nice neighborhood, maybe we could have a barbecue out back?" My brother had all of the great ideas. If we invited a few neighbors, they could have a few pleasant interactions with her and lay the groundwork to socialize her.

"Sounds like a plan."

Published 12/28/18