A Study of Hummus

Is it better to say that nights passed? Or Days?

Alice allowed the testing schedule to resume. Slowly, it seemed, the physical tests changed. Things not meant for humans.

Patcht's psychological tests seemed about the same, though. Word association, scenario responses. Alice always got the impression she was a little disappointed by the responses. Though... that may just have been a misreading of body language she realized.

Or, Patcht just sort of hated her job. She never hung around in the lab a momemt longer than necessary.

It was harder to learn the other names. Patcht, Lainyng... four others. They told her them. But they just... didn't stick in her mind for some reason. Everything else they said, sure, she'd make small talk, they were pleasant enough, but she'd ask for their names again and all she'd get is a minor headache.

Was she that bad at languages? High school Spanish hadn't been any good, but not remembering names?

There were three others that had popped in from time to time.

Counselor Grerbe, though it hade been just to ask one of the unnameables something. She seemed... aloof. Like a lecturer in front of a big class and no particular person to address.

And... A ... Moha-lol? With some sort of feedback for Lainyng. She was a doctor-medical-doctor something. Which struck Alice as odd, because when she tried to remember the name, her mind kept replaying the thought of her own head being chopped off then poping back into place. Amputation was hardly the main practice of Human doctors. And hardly worked for these goo aliens. Maybe it was just. A funny thought she couldn't get rid of.

And Haerub. Someone who had wandered in after-hours. Or, less wandered in, and more gave Alice a major surprise when suddenly the lab light flicked on and half the machine were going just as she was falling asleep. While the surprisingly dark violet slime had apologized - well, surprising given the scale of tones she saw when wandering the halls - she didn't seem to have a thought for coming back during normal hours. And she turned off everything and left without a word a hour later.

Other than that. It seemed like she was mostly a Not-Topic brat. Ken'di - for her rash declaration of wanting to be her girlfriend - was actually pretty nice. Maybe it was the feeling she wasn't trying to be formal. Maybe it was that she didn't wait for Alice to ask things before talking.

Maybe it was just the fact that Ken'di knew how drop a proper F-bomb in English.

~

"NO, I'm going to do it this time. Just you watch." Alice searched the dustier racks again for something just the right size.

"At least you haven't tried to blame the material," Ken'di was kicked back behind the counter, legs up, on a stool that honestly looked ready to fall any moment.

"Why would an illiterate person need to blame the material?" choosing black, low-cut top, she dusted it off as she went back to the shelf of off machinery at the rear of the store, the vacumn-sealer-looking-thing still on the desk.

"Just don't ruin any copies of my big sellers."

"If I find any, I'll let you know so you can actually display them," The text display - it was similar to a phone screen. More tactile. It's buttons actually felt like buttons before they disappeared on the next screen. And the text was useless. More of that pokemon script. At least she was remembering the shapes a bit better.

Ok. This pair was squash and this one was stretch. Select stretch to add more material... set the dial thing to small... feed the fabric in... hit the button... and... start pushing...

Nothing.

Select stretch. Speed dial. Feed in fabric. Hit button. Pull?

Nothing.

"Ken'di. It's not em-bigger-ing. It's broke."

"Are you pulling the fabric?"

"Yes."

"Are you keeping your ass away from the ass-eater?"

"I'm not fingering the vore-hole, Ken'di."

There was a clatter form the front of the store and then Alice found Ken'di suddenly hunched over her shoulder - breathing. Probably for her own comfort. Whe wrapped an arm around to the other side of her head to it another button.

"Again."

Select stretch. Speed dial. Feed in fabric. Hit button. Pull.

Warm fabric started to appear.

"Did you push first?"

"Defiantly not," Alice concentrated at passing the right amount of fabric through with her fingers.

"Sure, hun." She gave the girl a quick peck on the cheek, before starting to retreat to the front counter.

"Oh no you don't use flippant earth techniques on me, girl," letting the machine turn off, Alice stretched an am out - a move she still was getting used to - and first poked her girlfriend in the back of the head accidentally then adjusted to wrap a hand around it. Not be able to properly reel her arm in quickly, she just sort of arced the additional length of her arm to the side, "You do it proper or not at all," before bringing her lips to Ken'di's to give her a good an demonstration at to where a human tongue could go in a mouth as she could.

Alice eventually released - not having to come up the air took a lot of puch out of the gesture.

"You taste like a test tube," Ken'di had apparently been so unengaged during the kiss that she was no comfortably sitting on the desk in front of Alice.

"But, like, a sexy test tube, at least, right?" It was a fine time for a drama-pout.

"Fuck yeah."