Celia was quickly absorbed in the story, that much I could tell. She was a little unclear on the use of ‘spoons’ so instead of holding it properly between fingers, she was using it like a gardening trowel and just ‘scooping’ cookie bits and milk into it. ‘I’ll help her with that later, it’d be embarrassing for her right now.’ I thought, after all, I wanted her to come back, and people don’t go back to places that embarrass them, besides, it was just us, so what did it matter?

It didn’t.

So I ignored the minor gaffe and munched on potato chips, ‘swappers’ or ‘shape shifters’ as we’re less properly called, can absorb nutrients directly, so we don’t really need flatware manners.

Her eyes were big on her face as she continued scooping more of the chocolate milk and cookies into her mouth. “This is so… good.” She said and stared down at the bowl after stirring the spoon around in the milky remnants in search of any hidden cookie remnants. “So this is… taste?” She asked.

“Yes. Now do you see why I come to this planet and imitate their dominant land animals?” I asked with a little stray smile on my face.

“Yes. So vacation is for eating.” She concluded.

I unpaused the episode that I’d paused for her when she first spoke.

“Yes. But it’s also for napping. For drinking delicious things. For watching t.v. and just… kind of doing whatever you want, whenever you want, however you want.” I said, and her face went blank for a moment as she tried to process this.

‘Poor thing, I think I broke her brain.’ I would have laughed if it weren’t so sad, at least to me. She had both her hands on the bowl while looking between the wide screen t.v. and the bowl.

“Would you like more cookies?” I prompted.

“Oh, ah, yes please, if you’re offering, it’s bad manners to refuse an offer after all and I wouldn’t want to be rude on my first visit.” A little rose blush came to her cheeks.

I held up my hand and teleported the remainder of my cookie supply into my palm. I yanked the top open and dumped the double chocolate sandwich cookies into the bowl, splashing some of the remaining chocolate milk out onto my coffee table, and said, “Eat up. And don’t worry about it if you can’t finish. I don’t know how it is in other people’s homes, but in the House of Kayobi Taida,” I placed a dramatic hand on my chest and thrust the finger of my other hand toward the ceiling, “vacations have only the rule of… relax and enjoy yourself!”

“Oh, well I’ve never been to anyone else’s house before so-” Celia cut herself off as she realized what she’d said, the light blush on her cheeks became as red as the brightest rose.

I stopped, “Wait, really? Never?” I asked.

Her mouth closed.

I’ve practiced being human ‘a lot’. I understand pretty well all their feelings, emotions, senses. I have ‘practice’ with how they work. Celia Norn however, did not. This isn’t to say we don’t share most, if not all of their emotions, but our expression is far more ‘visual’ and we can easily conceal it. Our bodies shift through a range of colors, and that’s easy to disguise with a little effort.

Human bodies are far harder to control. And if you don’t even know quite what they do?

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Well, good luck keeping them from doing what they do.

“No… yes, I mean, no I’ve never been over to a… friend’s… house before.” She said, her eyes were blinking rapidly.

“Not even when you were little?” I asked.

“No.” She answered, but that was all she said. I thought for a moment she’d explain, after all, swappers are very social, so…? But there was nothing.

When I realized she’d said all she would about it, I grinned and playfully slapped her shoulder, “Well you’re here now, so don’t worry about it. Vacation is about fun and not about worrying about the past. You can’t take advantage of the present if you’re not living in it!” I exclaimed and ruffled through the big bag of mostly broken yellow chips and when she opened her mouth, to speak, I had one in hand and flicked it away and onto her tongue.

The unfamiliar salty flavor exploded on her tongue and she crunched down on it with immediate greed. She had some water coming from her eyes, and they were locked on the bag like it was filled with tinpot dictators whose offices needed a paint job. “You want?” I asked and held out the bag with the crinkly top open to her.

“Yes, please.” She said and shoved her hand into the bag like she was afraid I would change my mind.

She shoved a bunch of them in her mouth and crunched down all at once, the scattered remnants that missed her mouth scattered around between her lap, the couch, and the floor, and I saw her apology coming a mile away.

“Don’t worry about it.” I preempted her, “The place was just cleaned, so it’s fine.”

“That… doesn’t make any sense.” She said, but then as the boar mask came off of a character she asked, “Why is he so… that’s what they call a ‘pretty boy’ right?” She asked.

It might have been her first time to Earth, but the Agency makes sure we’re briefed on any intelligent species basics ‘just in case’. Thankfully the Earth still wasn’t advanced enough to get interstellar travel, but who could say when that might change? So… we knew the basics of their looks and dress at least.

“So… why is he pretty? And why wear the mask if he is?” She asked.

“I don’t know. I still haven’t seen much about him. Maybe he’s just so desperate to be taken seriously as a tough guy that he’s angry his pretty face gets in the way. So he wears that mask, that way only his tough guy voice and attitude comes out?” I guessed.

“I like that character.” She said.

I wasn’t surprised. She went back to eating my cookies and chips, and slurped the milk down from the bowl, spilling some of it as it ran down the sides of her mouth and dripped on the floor and added a few fresh drops on the couch.

She smacked her lips, “Mwahhhh.” Celia added and set the bowl down. “I really couldn’t eat another bite.” She said with a big, appreciative smile on her face.

“Good, I’m glad you’re full.” I said with a return smile, I was particularly glad, since I now had no chips and no cookies left. We went without further food until the entire first season was done, and as the last credits rolled and it was thoroughly dark out, Celia slowly rose to her feet.

“Wow… that was… something. So this is what vacations are like?” Celia asked, and I wiped the chocolate from around my lips by wiping the back of my pajama sleeve across my mouth.

“Yes. Yes it is. And hey, you’re welcome to come by any time.” I urged her.

“Wait, really? Like I could just ‘show up’ at your place and you’d let me in and we could eat more cereal and drink more chocolate and…” She stopped when I gestured to the television.

“There are more seasons, and a lot more shows, come by when you like and yeah, you can watch more with me. I’m usually here.” I smirked a little, truth be told I barely left the place, I only really went out for necessities, when I couldn’t get someone to do the errand for me.

“O-OK then. Thanks for having me.” She said and made for the door.

“Yeah and… Celia… try to relax a little, you don’t have to work so hard.” I said with a smile, then just as she reached the door, ready to leave, I gave her a hug.

Her mouth dropped open briefly, then closed, and she finally managed to say, “Yeah ah, I’ll try.” Then out the door she went, and the door was closed between us.

I didn’t have to worry about her going out alone at night here, while we weren’t supposed to take any lives off the clock, not even those of common criminals or whatnot, that didn’t mean we couldn’t protect ourselves.