Was woken in the middle of a most intriguing dream by Argent, the cat who thinks he's Vejiita - small, noisy and continually fighting Quyn (the dog, ten times his size and built like an incredibly shaggy ambulatory coffee table)...
I can't really complain: if he hadn't woken me I may have finished the dream but probably wouldn't have remembered it (gave up keeping a dream journal after Kai was born - simply couldn't make the time anymore). It's only a tiny snippet - in it I'd had a brief meeting with Duncan (see below) to arrange a training session, and was walking down a long, broad flight of stairs, my arms full of books and a laptop, on my way to a lecture...
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I was a member of Yuuzen's species (I know I've made him a variant of my version of Zaabon's species - ye gods this could get very complicated! - so I have to be specific. Definitely Yuuzen's species, but not actually Yuuzen….), starting at a university on Earth. I don't know exactly when, though it must have been some time in the future as the fact of an alien being onworld wasn't considered anything that unusual...
I'd been on Earth for about two weeks - long enough to know my way around the university complex (it looked old to me) and start getting used to the very different conditions and environment here.
I found everything very dull - literally. My eyes were adapted for a much brighter sun, and I found colours here quite dark, but with a yellowish cast, which made things (and people) look dingy. My sense of smell was - not exactly non-existent, but definitely less acute than human. Taste was also muted, though that didn't worry me: for me, food was a means to refuel the body, and I was bemused both by the incredible varieties of terran cuisine and by the way humans used meals as social occasions. My hearing was - different, sharper and capable of a much wider range than a human, but I couldn't hear loud noises. Anything over a certain (quite low) decibel level was simply inaudible.
My tactile senses were different, too: I was able to close down touch receptors (if that's the right word!) at will, effectively 'numbing' chosen parts of my body. My kinaesthesia was well-developed, as was my perception of those around me, their position and movement - I was acutely aware of what was happening in my immediate vicinity (and could act to defend myself if necessary).
I found the gravity here a little lighter than at home, and I was very aware of my body - the fluid way it moved, how strong it was (considerably more than human: I knew I had to be careful to keep myself under control to avoid hurting anyone, it was one of the things I'd been warned about before leaving home), how different it was to human bodies… I'd also been warned not to engage in physical intimacy with humans - at least, not until I'd become accustomed to the planet and its natives - though right now that idea was less than appealing…
Nevertheless I had to workout regularly - if only because of the lighter gravity. One of the first things I'd done was to find a sparring partner, a big, bearded biker called Duncan, incredibly 'laid back' but a fine martial artist who treated me like a normal person (rather than an object of curiosity).
I was gradually getting used to the curious - and lascivious - glances from my fellow students and learning to ignore the snide comments and innuendo, finding it surprisingly easy to maintain a calm, equable attitude in my dealing with humans. The academic work wasn't too hard (I was studying anthropology and human psychology) - at the moment, anyway - and now that I was settling into university life I was reasonably comfortable with the way things were going.
My main problem was not being taken seriously because of the way I looked!
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It's been a loooong time since I've had a dream like that - I'd almost forgotten how much fun they are!
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Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor
pontificated this at 12:57 pm
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