POV - TAD

Pushing the collect button with a snap I exited the Shopping Screen. It was now obvious to me that the Shop either put up some sort of barrier around you as you shopped or it somehow transported you into some sort of mini dimension, like a minor dungeon instance, where you were insulated from the greater System.

This was apparent as I was now face to face with a very surprised Prowler.

And there were the two little faces peering over her shoulders, blinking at me as well. That was reassuring to see. If she had set out to ambush me I doubt she would have brought the kids for the outing. Oh, unless it was like some sort of homeschooling outing. I shut down that line of speculation. Focus Tad.

We stared at one another, no doubt all sorts of thoughts racing through both our minds. Mine was racing so fast I didn’t even know what I was thinking.

A series of thuds interrupted our silent soliloquies.

Oh, that would be my purchases. Six packs of 30 cannonballs were reasonably bulky. I had a brief moment of trepidation. I had no back-up plan for transporting these if they didn’t fit in my Bucket of Holding.

Ah well, I didn’t take my eyes off this predator for a moment. Up close she was even more fearsome than ever. Her dark black fur was short and sleek and the steel blue stripes that broke up her form emphasised the curve of her muscles. Her face was dominated by large expressive solid blue eyes with long thick lashes and, it was my turn to blink, she had double eyelids, with a thin transparent nictitating membrane that opened and closed horizontally under her outer lids.

Her ears were small and cute that, just like the earthly otter that she resembled so much, sat high up on her head. A button nose was twitching madly. Thankfully her mouth was closed and not snarling at me. I could see the tips of some impressive teeth though, not quite concealed by her muzzle.

Her ruff, very similar to a tiger’s beard, had initially flared out in surprise. It was settling down now.

My spade was just beside me, in easy reach. I was intensely aware of it and had this strong impulse to grab hold of it for comfort, like my childhood blankie. I resisted this crutch knowing that she had seen me use it as a weapon. Instead, I held out my hands, open, palm up in a welcoming gesture.

Keeping my eyes on her I spoke in a low and calming way.

“Greetings. My name is Tad. I mean you no harm.”

She twitched in surprise and then relaxed her somewhat threatening crouch until she was almost lying on her belly. She spread her front paws, mirroring me. Her paws were four fingered with three shorter webbed fingers opposite a larger thumblike digit. All were tipped with short thick black claws which came to a wicked hook.

“Sssfsszz shss rahzzra. Sss Hsss Essis shhess?”

I scratched my head. Okay. This was definitely some sort of hissing sibilant speech. She was definitely sapient.

I had no clue what to do next. I was no animal whisperer. I had enough trouble communicating with females of my own species let alone this first contact type scenario. I was woefully underprepared.

She hissed again.

“Sss hsss err raaah.”

This time I also picked up a feeling. An enquiry. An intense, interested emotion. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. Oh, I had an epiphany. Maybe she was an empath, communicating with emotions. And she was projecting her enquiry at me.

I frowned. How on earth did I project? How did I emote? I mean, I knew how to do it on my computer, but here I had no controller, no codes. Maybe I could just exaggerate my expressions?

And I noticed that she had withdrawn slightly as I frowned. Oh, Opps. Mixed messages. I shrugged slightly. I needed to be careful. Perhaps it was an instinctive sort of amalgamation of body language and emotion and intensity.

I concentrated. I wanted to be friendly. I had nothing to hide. I was not threatening her and I was not competing with her. We even had common enemies.

She coughed a chuffing bark.

Yes, I hated the StormSheep too.

Huh. I had answered a bark I couldn’t even parse. That was incredible.

A feeling of amusement washed over me. Oh, she had felt my incredulousness. That was incredible too. I smiled. This was wonderful.

And the amusement disappeared as fast as my grandma at the mall. Huh?

Oh. I had shown my teeth. Maybe that was a threat? Or a challenge? My confusion must have also been transmitted as well, because her ruff settled just as rapidly as it had flared.

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I was apologetic.

She was understanding. They were small teeth.

I tried introducing myself again. I was Tad.

Yes. She agreed, little, but still bitey.

Hmmm. That wasn’t quite what I was trying to say. That was my name. I projected enquiry, gesturing at her and raising my eyebrows. What are you called?

Joyful hunter silently strikes from shadows

“Sssheeeraah”

Hmmm. I got the meaning loud and clear. In fact that hiss sounded somewhat like ‘Sarah’ and didn’t that name mean joyful as well? I vaguely remembered a Sarah at school, otherwise unremarkable yet bubbly, confident and content.

“Sarah?”

I received the impression of acceptance. She was okay with my approximation. And this was weird. I was in a totally foreign universe, communicating with a completely new species, a monster even, and she had a rather prosaic human name? This was jarring.

I queried her again.

Yes. Joyful. “Ssrah”

Okay. I shrugged.

What next? I was at a bit of a quandary.

Rest up. Heal. Hunt. Feed. Protect.

Ssrah had no such problems. She had a very clear plan mapped out. More immediate than long term though. Still way better than me. Maybe I should sit down and make up a five word plan as well?

Hmmmm. I gestured at my eyes and then at her. “I want to [Inspect] you. Is that okay?”

Yes. Look intent, acceptance.

I triggered my Skill, concentrating on just her health.

CREATURE:

River Monster

NAME:

Ssrah / Sarah

Joyful hunter silently strikes from shadows

SPECIES:

Waterprowler;

LVL:

6

HP:

133/576

And she was still called up by the System as a Monster. This was not right. Monsters were not sapient. They were monstrous. This was just something I instinctively knew. That resonated so strongly.

I was not arguing that sapient beings could not act in monstrous ways. No, not at all. There were plenty of monstrous humans after all. But sapience is something that can be reasoned with. That will adjust its behaviour according to the expectations of others. It speaks of cooperation, of investment and of preparation. It is the basis of civilisation. That which is monstrous is diametrically opposed. There is no reasoning with monsters. And monsters care nothing for others. Why was the System persisting in labelling this sapient, intelligent being as a monster?

No, it was the System that was the monstrous one. I needed to make a complaint. Open a support ticket and…

OPEN SUPPORT TICKET

Please enter the nature of your Suggestion / Issue / Complaint / Concern.

>

----------------------------------------

Please be notified:

All tickets will be addressed in order of receipt.

If you would like a System Representative to contact you to discuss your SICC please tick the box here. ⃞

If you are concerned that the System time reporting is erroneous please be reassured. We are constantly monitoring energy levels and are able to replace guttering Suns with minimal disruption.

If you are concerned your Sun is at the end of its projected lifecycle and we have not notified your Level Ruler Entities of programmed core replacement then please tick the box here. ⃞

If your Sun has expanded out of schedule please hang up and dial 19251920513 ext 911 immediately.

Oh. Okay. I could lodge a complaint. How about that. I scratched my head. Probably a waste of time if the System bureaucrats were as efficient as old Earth’s.

For all I knew the waiting list could be massive. I shrugged and lodged the complaint anyway.

Thank you for lodging a Support Ticket

You are 253,856,159th in the queue

Your reference number is S1350HUD39,853,486,157.1

You have reached us during a period of unprecedented activity.

Expected wait time to resolution is 208.6 years.

Thank you for your understanding.

And that was a waste of time. Way worse than ringing the municipal authorities over a blocked drain.

I brought my attention back to Ssrah. She was healing up at only around 3HP per hour. That was better than my natural regeneration but still not great.

I summoned a Health Potion. This would be a test of her willingness to trust me. I offered it to her. Something beneficial to help her regain her health.

She could obviously read the flavour of my intentions towards her quite well as she had no hesitation in taking it and quaffing it back. Hmmm. I’m guessing it would be quite hard to lie to an empath. You would need to deceive yourself at the same time or they would see straight through the falsehood. This would certainly simplify life. And probably reduce a whole lot of misunderstandings as well.

Thinking about it, I gave her another potion. This would increase her HP to 433 over the next two hours. That was much more acceptable.

And her teeth were super impressive.

Now what?

Oh that's right, next she planned to hunt. Well I guess that was so she could feed.

Hey, I had the Shop right here.

Let's see what other gifts I could befriend her with.

Hmmm. Not sounding too creepy I hope. I just want to cement an alliance. Get an ally.

And someone to talk to as well.

Even if it was more hss spit than talk fest.