Solitude ch 3

It was a bit of a rocky start, but how often had first encounters been smooth throughout human history? Derrik was still a bit shaken by the whole ordeal, not sure what to take from it. She seemed very 'human', though the term, scientifically, was a bit bias. To him, it implied that what he witnessed from this intelligent creature was something that was not expected from anything but a human, and it did not sit well with him.

Her... race? Species? Her PEOPLE were easily as far along the evolutionary process as Homo Sapians, and they probably had their own word for 'humanity', a fact that rattled Derrik a bit, though he knew it shouldn't. He was a scientist, a person who did not hold biases, but lack of a suitable example left him with nothing more than the sense to get over such things. One thing was for certain, nothing he could say would offend her, because they had no way to properly communicate.

After Derrik had knelt there for a time, holding his face against the soft blue skin of her finger, he looked her in the eye and said, "Don't worry about it, I forgive you." with a truly relieved and happy smile, she replayed, saying something in an enchanting, though somewhat loud, voice. She rolled her 'R's, and her 'S's were very pronounced and drawn out, but despite not knowing what she said, her face and attitude gave him the strong impression that she somehow understood him, and responded to him with a "Thank you."

After a rather awkward hour or two of attempting to get messages across to one another, concluding with what turned out to be a bathroom emergency that Derrik managed to find an answer for in the erosion chamber, the two of them simply sat across from one another, legs crossed, examining the other silently. Derrik frequently saw her hands make motion of wanting to reach out, but she clenched her hands and kept them in her lap. He could tell she wanted to touch him, likely even pick him up and quench her curiosity. He wasn't sure he was up for something so trusting just yet, but he decided he should give a display lest her curiosity get the better of her and he be prodded by fingers as big as his arm.
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Siyyu watched the human as he watched her. After her little outburst, she was sure he would have been terrified of her, but when he held one of her fingers and lay his head against her skin, she had an overwhelming feeling that was hard for her to describe, but she was saddened, gladdened, and relieved all at the same time. Then the human looked her straight in the eye with such a sense of understanding, that when he spoke to her in his language, Siyyu felt like he was saying, "Don't worry about it, I forgive you." Siyyu replied wholeheartedly, "Thank you."

For some time now, Siyyu had been struggling to keep her hands to herself, not wanting to upset the human with her curious prodding. She had seen the humans gaze go over her body many times, noticing that he would stare her chest for longer than the rest of her, and then turn away and fidget in different ways. She was a bit flattered that it seemed to find her attractive, but she also found it amusing that he seemed to be having problems with his own curiosity.

Suddenly, the human started to stand up, rising slowly to his feet, hands out in the open, most likely trying to portray that he wasn't being hostile. Siyyu sat up, looking attentive, but even she knew that her face had a look of intrigue on it. Once the human stood his full height, he spread its arms out. First, he started by turning his head to one side and flexing the fingers on that hand. He was spreading them, clenching them into a fist, holding them up one at a time, turning his wrist in a all possible ways, then did the same with his elbow and shoulder. He turned to the other side and did the reverse with the other arm.

Siyyu chuckled a bit, then realized it was doing this because he was aware of her curiosity. She watched with amusement and respectfully kept to herself. After the human made a full rundown to his feet, he removed the white coat he had been wearing and started speaking to her.

Of course, she had no idea what he was saying, but she watched its body language and listened to the words. He would place his hands on his chest and say something like 'D'rik'. After it did this about five times, Siyyu had the inclination that he was telling her his name, so she responded by saying 'D'rik' to see what he'd do. When she did, he looked very excited and paced for a second or two, then turned back to her doing the same thing again, but instead of re-iterating his name, he pointed to her.
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"Sahyuu" was her reply. Derrik once again had a rush of invigoration as he marched back and forth. She now knew his name and understood the exchange to give hers upon the first inquisition. This was exciting!

He paced back and forth, wondering what he should do next. She was, for all intents and purposes, his guest, and she would probably have questions about him, nay, humans in general. So why not put on his historical archives from college? he still had all his college stuff on his terabyte mini-drive.
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D'rik then ran off to one of the doors. "Where are you going?" she said without thinking, she watched him run to a small capsule of some sort and disappear inside. It then rose very rapidly to the second floor where the human dashed out and headed into another entrance. Siyyu had gotten up onto her knee to see if she could see where he went. Almost immediately, D'rik ran out again, with something attached to a string in hand.

Siyyu watched D'rik run to a room surrounded by glass windows. Siyyu approached out of curiosity, and saw he was doing something a computer terminal. D'rik looked up with a grin and pointed to the opposite wall, which Siyyu turned to investigate.

At first nothing was different, but then a device lowered from the middle of the ceiling, stopping an arms length above her head height as she sat, and a blue screen was projected onto the empty wall. The screen changed a few times, until two human figures were displayed, each in what she assumed was formal clothing. They were posed in such away, Siyyu thought they could be dancing. From all the photos she saw, it was usually a male and female pair, unless it was a sport, and she was a little confused as to why.

After the photos of human activities, she saw all sorts of animals, from small furry creatures, to massive gray animals that looked like they would come up to her thigh based on the scale of the humans next to them. There were fish, and insects, and birds and dozens of other creatures and plants that appeared to come from the human home world, though none of them were as vibrant as the animals she was accustomed to on Alarie.  Siyyu watched these pictures and video clips for a good half-hour before watching a similar slide show of human artwork.

There were many styles that Siyyu liked, others that were hard to make out, and then those that were just plain odd. There were many paintings that depicted landscapes or people, then there were drawings of stone garrisons with towers and armored figures engaged with shields and swords, there were people wielding fire, ice, even lightning as weapons as they fought terrible beasts. Siyyu herself had always liked fantasy settings and liked these most of all.

Another half-hour had passed from watching this, and Siyyu was wondering what else D'rik could show her. This time, there was only one thing to appear on the screen, a black box with what looked like a list on one side, and an array of symbols such as arrows, a box, and two parallel bars. When the tiny white pointer hovered over the arrow the room suddenly filled with the sound of stringed instruments.
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After running her through his 'Biology' finals review and 'Art Appreciation' folders, Derrik opened his music player and started his play list, opening with some classical. after a few songs he made a transition to country, then every few songs he did the same with jazz, blues, disco, trance, rock n' roll, and metal. Derrik watched Sahyuu from behind, and noticed with each style of music she kept to the rhythm in a different way, much like he did himself.

As he stood behind the terminal, Derrik realized his own fatigue after such a long and exciting day, but he couldn't just go to sleep after all this build up. He decided he should stay up as long as he could, and hoped that she would go to sleep soon too, assuming she needed sleep. Then Derrik had an idea, 'If I could keep her attention on something else for long enough, I could pass off going to sleep as being exhausted. I'm sure her people need sleep too.' Derik closed out the music player and went to his 'Film Appreciation' folder, looking for one of his personal favorites. A trilogy of fellowship, great wizards, brutal orcs, a dark king, a ring that bound it all together, and showing that even the smallest of stature could have the greatest determination.

Derrik made his way down to the first floor, noticing Sahyuu was watching him once he came into her peripheral. He held up his hand which was holding a remote control and hit the play button. He had already set it up to play all three movies back-to-back, so all he needed to do was look like he was watching it with her. He was asleep before they reached the elven village.
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Siyyu was enthralled by the movie. She had no clue what they were saying, but the ring was obviously important, and powerful considering it destroyed the short, hairy humans weapon when he swung at it. The cute blond one reminded her of a schoolmate when she was a child. When the white haired human fell into the abyss with the monster, Siyyu teared up a little. The ending was riveting; a grand last battle between one of the humans and the ugly beast-thing as the one with the ring left with only his best friend it seemed.

Once it was done, Siyyu turned to D'rik to display her excitement about the movie but found him hunched over and asleep. She was a little upset that he had fallen asleep so suddenly, but didn't know how long she was knocked out while he was awake, so he might have been tired for a time now. Thinking how tired D'rik must have been quickly made her tired as well.

She looked at the sleeping human again and thought he looked rather uncomfortable, so she put her open palm across his back and with her other hand, carefully lay him back. She slowly slid her hand out from under him until only her pinky finger remained under his head. From there, Siyyu made herself comfortable while giving D'rik his personal space.

She watched his tranquil face and the rising and falling of his chest as he slept. The thoughts of Jeuno and her crew members was pushed to the back of her head, all that she had seen today was surely only the beginning of what D'rik could show her about humans. As her eyes grew heavy and her mind cleared of thoughts, she smiled as she fell asleep next to the human.
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Derrik didn't want to get up just yet. His vivid dream of fighting the Dread Knight to free the Ice Goddess was too good to give up. His imagination kept going even as his eyes fluttered open, replaying where the Ice goddess gave him a kiss and her blessings for his deeds.

The lonely researcher gave an abrupt yelp as his eyes focused on a table-sized blue face. He was still breathing rapidly when he remembered it was Sahyuu. Derrik took a deep breath to calm himself, and looked down to see he had been lying on her small finger.

He remembered that he had fallen asleep sitting up, so she must have lay him down and used her hand to support his head. He smiled a bit, appreciating that she would watch out for him, a complete stranger. On the other hand, she might just be acting nice because she felt guilty about what happened.

A sudden growl from his stomach made him realize he hadn't eaten for at least 12 hours according to his watch. With that, he headed towards the back of the lab to a 35 foot tall, 60 foot wide hangar door. After entering the proper code, it lowered into the floor slowly until Derrik could walk in.

The room was a massive storage facility, stocked with more equipment than Derrik could ever hope to use up on his own, and more than enough to replace what Sahyuu had broken yesterday. He made his way to one of roughly sixteen identical containers about the size of a truck trailer. They each contained a months worth of food for fifty people, but for some reason they were still sending a new one at the end of each month. How the UEC couldn't keep track of 49 re-assignments was beyond Derrik.

After inputing his order to the panel next to a rail and a five minute wait, his Scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, hash browns with ketchup, and morning tea slid out onto the rails. He ate quietly contemplating this and that until the thought of Sahyuu's eating habits came to the front of his mind. It had only just occurred to him that she would most likely need food, not that there was a shortage in his situation, but he wondered how much she would need to eat a day.

She was at least six times his scale and the pods were built to hold enough food for 90 meals a month for 50 people, but her metabolism was an utter mystery to him. What if she ate more than 49 people could in a day? What if her people had an allergy to some of this stuff? Why did the eggs always come out so bland? Derrik shook his head to focus on the potential problem at hand, he placed his empty plate in the return slot of the container and headed back to the lab.

Sahyuu was still sleeping soundly as he approached and he saw now that she had a smile on her face. Derrik couldn't help but smile as he watched her, it was as though her happiness was his, which probably wasn't too far off considering the first time she woke up.

Derrik sat next to her hand and watched her as she slept. Just then, from over the speakers, Derrik's wake-up call turned on the radio, "...believed the world would end in the year 2012, but we're still here, aren't we? Anyway, now for something to wake up ANYONE who's listening." only seconds later, loud and fast metal music blared from the speakers before Derrik had a chance to reach the elevator.
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Siyyu bolted upright as her ears were bombarded with wailing instruments, loud, rapid drumming, and  screaming voices. She covered her ears as she saw D'rik running out of the elevator and dash into one of the rooms. A second later, the loud noise stopped and she pulled her hands away from her head. D'rik stepped out of the room and said something in an apologetic tone as he stepped towards the elevator.

'It might be for his convenience normally, but he takes so much time using it. If I want to gain his trust...'

"D'rik!" he stopped and turned to her attentively. Siyyu scooted closer to the railing and held both her hands up as flat as she could. She watched as he looked at them, then at her face, then down at her hands again, looking a little apprehensive all the while. Siyyu decided he didn't trust her enough yet and started to lower her hands when he shouted something, holding out his hand as if to tell her to stop.

He stepped up to to the edge of the platform and brought his leg up to the lowest rail. Siyyu brightened a bit and put her hands back up, letting him take the step off. D'rik took a deep breath and climbed over the rail, lowering his foot onto her fingers. Soon enough he was standing in her palms. Not wanting to take advantage of his trust, Siyyu lowered him to the floor right away and let him step off.

D'rik turned to her and gave a thankful nod. Siyyu's stomach gave a growl for attention and her face turned purple from blushing at how loud it was, taking note that D'rik started chuckling. Then he waved at her as he turned away and walked toward the other end of the lab.

Siyyu was curious as to why D'rik motioned for her. She couldn't stand in this room and was forced to follow him in a crouch. He brought her to a wide and low entrance that wasn't even as high as her hip, and walked in ahead of her. She crouched as low as she could, but the doorway simply wasn't tall enough for her even though it was completely open, so Siyuu had to half crawl under the entry.

She was able to stand her full height in this room and see everything in it, but all she saw were massive containers. One such container D'rik walked over to and began to manipulate a panel. Siyyu could faintly hear the whirring of machinery coming from within the container and saw that D'rik was waiting patiently by some kind of ramp that led into it. Minutes later, a tray the size of D'rik's chest rolled out, piled high with small gray-brown discs. He picked one up and bit into it.

Once he swallowed he said something that sounded like 'Beef' and took another bite. He pointed at the tray, then at Siyyu and bit into it again. She took the hint and picked up the  tray, taking a pinch and dropped a half-dozen or so of the 'beef' into her mouth. It tasted just fine, if not a bit mediocre. Siyyu only had to chew a couple times before she swallowed them and said "Not bad, could have been better though," her tone must have carried her message, since D'rik laughed and nodded an agreement.

D'rik provided her with more human food, such as some kind of green vegetable, and small pods that seemed to be made entirely of starch with something that seemed to be cheese and butter.  Then Siyyu watched as he thought for a moment, then he returned to the panel. Only a few seconds wait and a large brown block slid out.

He seemed rather surprised about it for some reason, perhaps he had never seen a portion this big of, whatever it was. He took a thin knife-like utensil and  cut off a corner which he promptly put into his mouth. Just from him chewing, Siyyu saw a smile come across D'rik's face, prompting her to pick up the block and take a bite. She was so enthralled by the taste that she put the rest in her mouth though it was hard to chew.

She swallowed what she could and kept the rest in her mouth. It was so sweet, so new, it put a smile on her face with her realizing. A warmth started to spread from her stomach, a nice, kind warmth. She felt as though she should share it, just share it with anyone.
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Derrik watched as Sahyuu turned to him smiling brighter than he had seen before. His eyes widened when both her hands reached out to him and before he could even try to turn, he was lifted into the air above her head as she sat down. "Hey! This...I'm not too good with...Heights..." Derrik stammered as he started to breathe rapidly.

It didn't look like she had even come close to understanding his panic as her smile was as big as it started, she was possibly in some kind of trance brought about by the chocolate. Just as Derrik was going to start crying for help, he was pulled right up against her cheek and pressed against her form by her hands. His legs held against her collarbone, and his torso against her jaw.

He was a little shaken by the ordeal at first, but he slowly calmed down, relaxing against her warm body. She had an odd scent as he zoned out from what was going on around him, and he started to nuzzle against her. Only moments ago, he had been on the verge of a panic, but now he was more comfortable than he had been in years. If he could let the moment linger on forever, he would have.
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Siyyu got a grip on herself and realized D'rik was pressed against her face. She pulled him away and lowered him to the ground and started to bring her hands back when she felt something holding on to her thumb.

She looked down to see D'rik with his arm wrapped around her thumb and a look of indecisiveness on his face. He took a few breaths and one last deep one before looking at her in eye and held out his arms.

Siyyu was a little hesitant at first, but seeing that he seemed comfortable with it, she cupped her hand under him and lifted him to chest level. She noted that he was holding on to her thumb very tightly, giving her the impression that he was afraid of heights more so than of her handling him. With her other hand, Siyyu stroked the back of his head and let him hold on to her other thumb with his open hand.

D'rik was breathing heavily with his eyes closed, he obviously had problems with with his situation and she was torn that he seemed to forcing himself to let her hold him. With her middle finger she stroked his back and witnessed him shudder and chuckle from the light contact.

'He's ticklish!' she thought to herself as a mischievous smirk spread across her face. She lightly stroked his back again and he shuddered once more, laughing a little louder. From there, Siyyu held him carefully in one hand and sought out any spot she could find that would make him chuckle, and watching him laugh lead to her own enjoyment as she began to laugh with him.

The only sound that permeated the base for a time after that was Derik's and Siyyu's shared laughter as they became that much closer...