“We’re coming back here every single day of our stay,” DH said, grinning as they watched TO finish their second helping. “I’ve never seen them eat so much in a single sitting.”
Ramanar’s ears flushed blue, perking up in joy as they watched TO eat, “Well, there’s not many who focus on food for NuChilacians, so I’m glad my work’s paid off!” They said. “I got some recipes from the Chilacians on Apoikia, but there was something about them that just didn’t hit right. Given I have a limited test group here, it took a while to figure out the problem. I mean, Chilacian food is *fine*, really, but there’s just something about it that doesn’t hit right for us.”
“Why not?” TO asked as they ate their last morsel.
“Well, the issue was the texture, mostly.” Ramanar said, “The taste was mostly fine, but we got used to a certain textures. Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t like different textures, but there’s a certain mouth-feel that seems to orbit around the texture of the meal cubes from training. Merging the tastes of Chilacian food with a combination of those textures seems to hit all the right spots.” They shook their head, “My partner said it probably had to do with early conditioning to the food we were used to, but that’s well out of my field of expertise.”
“Partner?” TO asked. “Is your partner another Synth as well?”
“NuChilacian.” they say, “And no, he’s not.” They said, “My Partner is a lovely Panarth, and he works in the engine room.”
TO frowned and reached for their communicator to check what that was, but then realized that they couldn’t use it like that right now. It didn’t matter in the end, as they remembered that the name “Panarth” was the common name for another wide-ranging species called MegaParnathropoda.
“A climate controlled environment is not really the environment they like to stay in.” TO said as their ears flicked back.
“True. They normally prefer more extreme environments, but that’s why he works in the engine room. Or the exhaust systems. Or just about anywhere that’s more dangerous for anyone else to go.”
“Right.” TO said. Another synth- no, Chilacian-, no, NuChilacian who had a mate of a different species. It seemed to be very common. “Do you know Azizi?”
“I know of it.” Ramanar said, “why, do you need them?”
“Well, no, but I knew that they have a NuChilacian partner, and I wanted to know if all of you were in the same pod.”
Ramanar’s ears twitched in amusement, their lips quickly twitching up in a smile that TO recognized as the same kind that they used around non-Chilacians. It occurred to them that perhaps this NuChilacian had been doing this for so long around so many other species that it was just reflexive at this point. Would it ever be so reflexive for TO themself?
“We don’t really bother with that kind of complex hierarchy,” they said. “I mean, Pods and Ankyras, and the whole formality in the way that pods form?” They shook their head, “No. It’s honestly a bit of a bother, at least for me.”
“... Avery is our Ankrya.” TO said as they glanced at Avery, “What’s wrong with-“
“Oh! oh nothing’s wrong with it!” Ramanar said, their ears twitching down, coloring slightly as they realized they may have said something they shouldn’t have. “No, nothing wrong with it at all! But we just don’t bother with it a lot here.” They shrugged, “Most of the ‘pods’ if you want to call them that are really just...” Their ears flicked back and twitched as they considered how to phrase this, “Ok. Look. We have big families here, and lots of the people in those families aren’t NuChilacian.”
“We have the same.” GiDi said as they glanced at Pearla.
“I know. And that’s good!” Ramanar insisted. “But, look.” They sighed, their wings tightening around their arms. “I don’t mean any offense. If you want to do the whole pod thing and have an Ankyra, go for it! But...” They shrugged, “We just have lots of close friends, and we consider them family. Some of our friends cycle. Some can’t. Most are capable of pack bonding, but that’s not essential. We just choose the people we like, and we make those people our families.” They shrugged. “It works for us, and it feels a lot less complicated.”
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“But what about the whole Shatter-Sickness thing?” TO said, “I mean, does that kind of set-up have any effect on your Ankyra in that way?”
“Well, again, we don’t have ‘Ankyras’.” Ramanar said. “Just some of us don’t cycle. As for ‘Shatter Sickness.’” They shrugged. “We know about it, obviously.” While the Chilacians like to keep to themselves a lot, they were happy to send us information to help us. Most of the information I’ve read about it was mostly preventative."
Preventative didn’t help TO if Avery already had Shatter Sickness. Yes, at this moment Avery seemed fine - they were eating well, and they had seen themself that morning. Still, they had only been around Avery a short time since their friend had woken up, and until TO was certain that they would be fine, they still wanted to get to Apoikia
“I didn’t mean to offend you or anything.” Ramanar said, “I think there’s a small group that formed a pod, but even then it’s small, and I think the only difference is that they purposefully call themselves a ‘pod’ and have an Ankyra. Most of the others have decided to just go with this more casual setup.”
“How many others?” GiDi asked? “How many other NuChilacians are there here?”
Ramanar let out a long breath as they closed their eyes. “I wouldn’t know offhand.” They said, “The ones that stick around? I’d say there’s a hundred, maybe a hundred and twenty, maybe?”
TO’s eyes widened. “A hundred and... that many?” They asked, “How are there that many-“
“Well, it’s not a lot, really.” They said, “I mean, I thought the same thing when I first learned that, but...” They frowned and looked around, their eyes landing on all the different booths around them. As TO followed their gaze, they saw that there were several other NuChilacians in different booths. Some were simply walking around, and TO even saw one NuChilacian with a blue-skinned humanoid, their ears flicking with lust as they gazed at someone who was obviously their mate. TO’s own ears burned, and they looked away. The last time TO had seen anything like that, it had been Flit and Snout, and they weren’t supposed to see that! Watching a synth like them being so at-ease in public with their affection made a jolt of panic run through TO.
“This seems to be the place that most of us decided to stay.” They finally said, “Here or Apoikia, anyway. It’s comfortable here, and there’s so many of us that we’ve had the chance to build the ship to accommodate us!” They gestured around. “The sound doesn’t echo off the walls like it would in most other places. The lights don’t flicker and give us headaches. We’ve been able to make a whole community that’s made for *our* comfort.” they shook their head, smiling as they looked down at some of the food they’ve been preparing. “I’ve even had time to make food *specifically* for our species. I’ve been able to work to make food that appears to our taste, dietary needs, and textural preferences.” They gestured to some of the small shapes, which it seemed they were about to fry in oil. “Judging from recipes that I got from Apoikia, this stuff would never work out there; their tastes are different. But us? NuChilacians who came from a training center? We need more subtle tastes and smells, and the textures we prefer are very different from what you’d find in nature.” They smiled at the food. “This place, it’s made for us. Not for Synths, and not for Chilacians. It’s made for people like us.” they looked back at TO “And... because of that, a lot of us stay here. It’s comfortable.”
“Comfortable on a spaceship?” Pearla asked, “I mean, I know it’s technically not a spaceship, but- “
“In an artificial living facility, yes.” They said, “Climate controlled down to the last detail. I’ll tell you this: I’d rather stay here for the rest of my life than have to live on a planet again.” They shuddered. “It’s too open. Too big, and too uncontrollable.”
“But there’s so much that can go wrong on a ship!” Pearla said, “I mean, if one of your systems breaks down-“
“We can fix it.” Ramanar said quickly. “If an asteroid is heading towards us, we can move. We don’t have to worry about storms, earthquakes, floods, or volcanos. You can’t just move your planet, can you!? No, if someone is coming at you from outer space, all you can do is either get off the planet, or hope you survive it.”
“... so you’re just planning to live here?” TO asked, “On Scraprock?”
“I do live here.” They said, smiling, “And I’m very happy here. Happier than I’ve ever been in my entire life. I have a family, a mate, I feel comfortable, and I can play around with food just to make it look *Fun*!” They held up a delicate-looking piece of food which looked like a bloomed flower. “look, I spent hours figuring out how to make this bloom like it does. Is it necessary? No! But it’s fun. It looks pretty.” They smiled at TO, “I can just... focus on making my food nicer, if I want to, and that’s considered valuable here; important.” Their ears suddenly dipped. “I mean. Not that everything you do has to be important or valuable.” They said quickly. “I... keep having to remind myself of that. If I struggle with it too much, I try to learn a new thing just because I can.” They frowned as they looked around. “Apparently, it’s not healthy to just worry about being useful.” They huffed, “I don’t get that, though. I mean, everything should add some value to life, even if it’s not practical value, right?”
“Right.” TO said, even though they weren’t entirely sure what Ramanar was talking about. “But... that aside, you’re happy here? You’re happy living here, and making this food?”
Ramanar nodded, “Yes.” They said “I’m very happy here.” They said as they put the small fried flower on a round, green edible plate, and passed it to TO. “I’m happy with things being peaceful and calm. Well, as calm as it can be.” Their ears flicked once more in amusement. “I hope you’ll be happy here too, for as long as you end up staying.”