Humans Are Encountered

Rejection

Zork'ak noticed several humans were missing when xe walked into the lab. Adam was one of them.

Reese, Wren, and a human that Zork'ak had recently learned was named Lyle were working together and talking; Steve and Carrie were across the room, away from everyone else. Steve's muscles and movements were still tense; Carrie was still carefully and quietly following him. The other three, though, seemed much more relaxed as Xe walked up to them.

Wren looked up when xe leaned next to the bench. "Hey, Zor."

"Hello." Xe looked to where Reese and Lyle were discussing with a material heating in front of them. There were several compounds spread in front of them, and they were using their tablets. "You all seem well today."

She shook her head, looking over Lyle's shoulder. "Yeah. We all talked. Steve's the one being a jerk over nothing. The rest of us are fine."

"It is that easy for your emotional attachment to change?"

She looked back at Zork'ak with those big blue eyes and shrugged. "People can be irrational. So yeah. Our moods and decisions are kind of swift. Steve's still being weird, but it's not my problem. Adam's not even make things awkward, and even if he was, that doesn't affect the rest of us."

"That is interesting that your emotions are so resilient."

"Sometimes they are." Zork'ak wanted to ask more about it but decided to wait until Adam returned. He understood best the way to translate human emotions into a way that a Klyl would understand.

Zork'ak noticed another human from the neighboring laboratory walking up behind the group of girls. Wren's head popped up, and she saw him, too. He lifted a finger to his lips, and she nodded, grinning and moving away from Lyle slightly. Lyle and Reese did not notice.

He crouched down and slowly walked up behind Lyle with his hands out, roughly grabbing her waist and making a loud noise. She screamed, twisting away as Lyle, Wren, and the male laughed.

"Caiden! You're such a jerk!" She turned around to face him, but she was laughing, too.

"Sorry. I needed to ask you a question, and you're just so easy to scare."

"I am not." Lyle crossed her arms.

Reese looked at Wren, who nodded. Reese screamed and grabbed Lyle's side this time, and Lyle again yelled. They were all laughing hard this time, and Lyle was feigning anger.

"What the hell do you want?" Lyle turned back to work.

As Caiden leaned down to pull up a design on her tablet, Zork'ak leaned towards Wren. "What did Caiden do to Lyle?"

Wren turned around grinning. Zork'ak hated the way xer body tensed at the sight of her beautiful face. "Lyle's really easy to scare."

"What do you mean by 'scare?'" Zork'ak was starting to realize how much xe depended on Adam.

"Um," Wren's eyebrows pinched together, "it's like if something makes a loud noise or touches you or makes you feel like you're unsafe for a second. That's like a quick, silly scare. Sometimes being scared is like a safety mechanism so when you're scared, your heart starts beating really fast and there's a lot of adrenaline."

"So causing a loud noise that Lyle did not expect created a primal protective state?"

"Yeah, you could say that."

"And this was amusing to you all?"

Wren's smile grew. "Yeah, it's pretty funny. It's kind of like the 'it's funny when people get hurt' thing. It's hard to explain."

Zork'ak nodded, and Wren moved to her bench on the other side of the room. Xe watched the humans, but quickly concluded that xe should work on xer reports in xer quarters instead. The humans were working, not interacting, and Zork'ak found that xe wished to be alone.

As Zork'ak moved towards the exit, Wren jumped out from between storage containers where xe had not seen her. Xe dropped back, xer poisonous outer layer pulled over xer scales and xer four sets of talons bared.

Wren's eyes were wide, her mouth open. "Zor, it's cool. I was just joking."

Xe straightened, allowing the poison to retract into xer pores. "I do not believe that the 'surprise' factor is an amusing situation for Klyls."

She nodded, and xe moved towards the door again. "Zor, wait. Where are you going?"

"To work on a report until second meal." Xe exited the room, making it half way down the hallway until xe felt Wren's hand grab xer extremity.

"Zor?" Xe turned around, looking at where her hand was wrapped around xer scales. She was staring up at xem, her blue eyes portraying a type of sadness. Xe was caught up in her pale skin, her carefully styled white blonde hair, her soft sloping nose. "Why have you been like this? We used to spend so much time together, and now you only spend time with Adam. Faradae even asked me what happened to you."

Xe didn't know why, but xe felt like xer body need it restorative phase. It was what Adam had explained was called 'tired.' He told Zork'ak that sometimes he was tired, and that was why he liked to go for walks alone. Xe was now experiencing this feeling. Xe did not want to be around the humans or speak to another being.

So when Wren repeated her question, Zork'ak did not attempt to walk away for the third time. Instead, xe said, "I care about you."

Wren paused, surprise on her face. "Well, I care about you, too, Zor. That's why I miss you."

"No." Zork'ak took a deep breath. "I care about you the way Adam cares about Steve." Her eyes widened slightly. "I have been spending time with Adam because he was aware of my feelings and helped me understand these emotions Klyls do not have."

Wren kept watching xem. "Zor, I, I care about you, but I don't, I just don't think, it's not that you aren't great-"

"I understand, Wren. It is logically ideal for you to not be involved with a Klyl. This is the explanation for my absence. Being around you and feeling this way was tolerable at first. I enjoyed your presence. The persistence of these emotions, though, make it physically difficult to be around you."

"Zor, I don't, I don't understand."

"It makes it difficult for me to breathe around you." Zork'ak was feeling absurdly human. "It makes my body react in ways it should not. I am unable to correctly focus or analyze as I should. I was aware of the likelihood of you returning my feelings, and this is why I chose to withhold such information. I would prefer, though, if you would cease to force me into these situations. My job is to watch your group behavior. Please allow me to complete my research."

She nodded, her mouth tugging downward. She was slowly backing away, and it was causing physical pain to Zork'ak, the look on her face and having the negative confirmation. Xe forced xemself to turn away, to walk to xer office.