bunnies Elevator7009 • 1 month ago • 91%

Personally found the background music very distracting, I suggest muting the video. Finally, my plight of looking for "jumping bunnies" "hopping bunnies" "jumping bunny" and other permutations of that phrase on YouTube and only turning up with [this one great video](https://youtu.be/RlveKVGw0fY) which I've seen a million times, children's songs, and videos that contain bunnies but very few/no hops is done. My search has turned up a video of bunnies hopping that isn't the one I've already seen a million times.

Otome Isekai+ Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 100%

Normally would not blatantly advertise but the Fediverse is so tiny and so is !otomegames@kbin.run. r/otomegames is lovely, but they are non-Fediverse and I'd love to be able to talk to people here about otome instead of having to run back to Reddit. (Used to post at !otomegames@kbin.social until kbin.social went down.)

Fox News Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 100%

Most likely screams of happiness, according to the comments.

Tycoon Games Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 100%

Especially stuff not mentioned in the tutorial, or that isn't intuitive at all. If it is relevant, I just hit Worthy Village (the one you get after schools/healthcare/garbage/taxes) and saved and quit to go eat dinner. I've enjoyed my time so far.

Fedigrow Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 100%

I assume !newcommunities@lemmy.world is for just that, and promoting new instances is unacceptable there. Where is an appropriate place to advertise a new instance? Asking for one that is not my own. Decentralization is cool and I literally just found out about the existence of https://fanaticus.social/, a sports instance, from checking the !olympics@sh.itjust.works sidebar. I'd like to help this sports instance get attention and bolster its existing communities. I don't know where to go besides finding big preexisting sports communities and mentioning its existence there.

Computer RPGs Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 100%

I'm currently holding off on buying it because it's the kind of game that will eat up my life in a way I just don't have time for right now, and I figure the price will drop or it'll go on a better sale than it has been on before by the time I have time to play. Also worth mentioning spoiler formatting: ``` ::: spoiler Spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3: Something Happens This paragraph talks about something that happened at the end of the game! This paragraph also talks about something that happened at the end of the game! ::: ``` appears as ::: spoiler Spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3: Something Happens This paragraph talks about something that happened at the end of the game! This paragraph also talks about something that happened at the end of the game! ::: for both Kbin and Lemmy folks, though if you are on an app there is a chance it won't display properly for you as [some Lemmy apps don't implement this](https://lemmy.world/comment/11514952).

Life Simulation Games Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 88%

[https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/life-by-you-is-cancelled.1688889/](https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/life-by-you-is-cancelled.1688889/) [https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2024/06/paradox-interactive-completely-cancelled-life-by-you/](https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2024/06/paradox-interactive-completely-cancelled-life-by-you/) Thought people should still see this news (I linked the original post) if they are into life sims but don't subscribe to [!thesims](/m/thesims@lemmy.world). Also need to post something here to give it activity in the last 7 days so I can list it on active communities at [!newcommunities](/m/newcommunities@lemmy.world).

bunnies Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 100%

I probably should not have been laughing when the bunnies fought and the person put an object between them to stop it and started massaging the two against each other. I blame the background music.

!royalpython@lemmy.world /c/royalpython@lemmy.world

Otome Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 100%

I normally wouldn't blatantly advertise like this on a community for the same purpose, having two different communities to increase diversity and have a safe place for people to go to in case one community's instance goes down is great, but otome is pretty niche especially on the Fediverse, this is a rather inactive community with more subscribers than an active otome community, and I'd like to talk otome without having to go back to Reddit (r/otomegames is lovely, nothing against them, just want to make the full break from Reddit which is *hard* when some niche communities don't have a decent following off of it). The last post here has been from a lovely person who subscribes to !otomegames@kbin.run, and before them a 9-month old post. I am aware the community is fairly new, but I also used to post on !otomegames@kbin.social (on kbin.social) until I found out it was having federation issues that might not get fixed, so I opened a new one. But I have a record of actual activity on the Fediverse and otome posting (though I dropped off due to lack of activity on kbin.social, not realizing it was partially due to nobody seeing it—some posts can only be seen if you go to https://kbin.run/otomegames@kbin.social, and apparently not just due to the "nobody is subscribed so of course it didn't federate" issue), so you can likely trust I'll keep posting on this new community too.

New Communities Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 96%

Otome games are video games targeted towards women, where a female protagonist can romance male love interests as a major part of the game. :::spoiler Why you might recognize this community I've been posting over at !otomegames@kbin.social (at kbin.social), even advertising it here, until someone pointed out they couldn't see any posts unless they went to https://kbin.run/m/otomegames@kbin.social. I checked and kbin.social has been down for a long while. I deleted the advertisement, made a community on kbin.run (which has been steadily running ever since I joined it about a year ago, and others have let me know they can see my posts), and now here I am advertising the kbin.run version! ::: !otomegames@kbin.run [Alternate link](/c/otomegames@kbin.run). For any other Kbin/Mbin users browsing that want to advertise a community, the link I used here is `/c/otomegames@kbin.run`, not `/m/otomegames@kbin.run`.

Automation and Factory Builder Games Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 100%

store.steampowered.com

Steam tells me some are up to 90% off but I cannot find those ones…

Lemmy Moderators Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 100%

Mod has not touched their Lemmy account in 11 months. I would like to eventually hand it over to someone willing so long as they keep it about bunny rabbits, but as for now… I'm active and post a decent amount, including on !bunnies@lemmy.world, and have done so for awhile.

Fedigrow Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 100%

!bunnies@lemmy.world (bunnies@lemmy.world) has one mod who has not touched their account in 11 months. How do I request ownership/mod of the community? Also, is there anywhere to solicit mods from? I mostly want it because I know I am active, and would be interested in turning it over to someone else as soon as I find someone who wants to, and who will keep it actually bunny rabbits instead of turning it into a NSFW for Playboy Bunnies.

bunnies Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 92%

blazingmammothgames.itch.io

Comic [here](https://xkcd.com/1682/).

bunnies Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 100%

!bun_alert_system@lemmy.sdf.org [/c/bun_alert_system@lemmy.sdf.org](/c/bun_alert_system@lemmy.sdf.org) Community name is a reference to [this](https://xkcd.com/1871/) comic. *As far as I can tell* (not a mod there), it seems to be different from this community by intending to be for only pictures of real bunnies, and not just anything bunny-related? And even if I am wrong, well, great to have two bunny communities on different instances in case something ever happens to one of the instances. lemmy.world is big and we want to *de*centralize on the Fediverse instead of having everything on one big main instance. I am subscribed to both now!

bunnies Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 90%

traject.itch.io

Shamelessly stolen from a [!freegames](/m/freegames@feddit.uk) [post](https://feddit.uk/post/14595513)

Wizards Elevator7009 • 2 months ago • 84%

Found via a friend of a friend, and anything about wizards goes, so…

Humanity Fuck Yeah! Elevator7009 • 3 months ago • 97%

Not mine, but by several people on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/toffeecape/134819739852/cosmictuesdays-gifsboom-baby-armadillo) ([Archive.org link](https://web.archive.org/web/20240627180508/https://www.tumblr.com/toffeecape/134819739852/cosmictuesdays-gifsboom-baby-armadillo) in case the tumblr link pushes a sign in)

bunnies Elevator7009 • 3 months ago • 100%

I am so pleased that [@bunnies](https://kbin.run/m/bunnies@lemmy.world) ([!bunnies](/m/bunnies@lemmy.world) for Lemmy users) welcomes wild bunnies too. If I recall correctly, you could occasionally find a post about them on r/bunnies and r/rabbits but both were intended purely as communities for *pet* bunnies. Wild bunnies are cute too ;-;

Pretty amusing video of a guy making a prosthetic for snakes to use that moves with legs. Yes, I know it should be "their" and not "there", but the video title is just like that.

Free Video Game Giveaways Elevator7009 • 3 months ago • 100%

[Another Tomorrow](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/another-tomorrow/id1525569733) $5.99 -> Free [Forever Lost: Episode 1 HD](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/forever-lost-episode-1-hd/id542364897) $2.99 -> Free [Incoherence](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/incoherence/id1615817813) $3.99 -> Free [Recursion](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/recursion/id1658817293) $3.99 -> Free [Station 117](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/station-117/id1638136526) $1.99 -> Free All of these are premium titles without any ads. In-game hints are included without any micro-transactions.

Free Video Game Giveaways Elevator7009 • 4 months ago • 83%

apps.apple.com

$1.99 -\> free

Free Video Game Giveaways Elevator7009 • 4 months ago • 90%

apps.apple.com

Self-describes as a cat meme card game. $3.99 -\> free.

Yawn starts at [0:08](https://youtu.be/ScooYMHKRYA&t=8), rest of video is just snake lying there and not moving.

bunnies Elevator7009 • 4 months ago • 100%

Cute, heartwarming animation. I personally find the music a bit sad and unfitting, so you may want to watch on mute (or not, music is subjective). The sound is just music, so you won't miss any cute sound effects.

I missed several of these. I'm still alive and active, though! Weekly what are you playing post!

bunnies Elevator7009 • 4 months ago • 96%

11 seconds. Flop at [0:04](https://youtu.be/BqljCfa4Emo&t=4)

Free Video Game Giveaways Elevator7009 • 4 months ago • 100%

store.steampowered.com

Ends May 23 @ 1:00pm. 4X turn-based fantasy strategy game. Control every aspect of your civilization as you struggle to save your homeworld Auriga.

Free Video Game Giveaways Elevator7009 • 4 months ago • 89%

Ends 5/23/2024 at 11:00 AM

Free Video Game Giveaways Elevator7009 • 4 months ago • 88%

apps.apple.com

A noble circle's journey through Flatland, a two dimensional world. Inspired by the novella "Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions," Edwin Abbott Abbott, 1884. Played this awhile back, it was fun.

Humanity Fuck Yeah! Elevator7009 • 5 months ago • 91%

Not by me, originally on [tumblr](https://roach-works.tumblr.com/post/655792961061355520/n1ghtcrwler-darael-tharook) by multiple people (and an [archive.org link](https://web.archive.org/web/20210704191316/https://roach-works.tumblr.com/post/655792961061355520/n1ghtcrwler-darael-tharook) to the post in case tumblr pushes a signup). [Transcription](https://www.reddit.com/r/CuratedTumblr/comments/sua4wn/hfy_eyes/hx8ulez/) originally done by [u/ElliePlays1](https://www.reddit.com/u/ElliePlays1/) on Reddit, cleaned up a bit by me. * * * _Image Transcription: Tumblr \[1/2\]_ * * * **manyblinkinglights** id wreak mayhem for a really good scifi where sight was considered as exotic and numinous as telepathy by the protag species * * * **roachpatrol** \#everybody else uses sonar or long whiskers and that thing with the sensing electrical impuses#meanwhile: humans can 'see' which is a thing which is like and yet unlike ordinary perception#it would also only ever come into play in the same frivolous 'VULCAN STRENGTH' sort of way as Spock's extra attributes#for maximum effort vision would be faithfully written as 100% an asspull in the best way what the fuck dude this is awesome i want this too now * * * **curlicuecal** Okay, but what about those deep sea fish that produce light at a wavelength that \*only they can see.\* Predators that can somehow sense toy in a completely indectable and unfathomable manner to you; they might as well be psychic. * * * **manyblinkinglights** YES, EXACTLY-vision is SUCH an asspull?? Sometimes it's ""dark"" and we can't see anything.And also we're impired for plot reasons! Sometimes ALIEN WEAPONRY or otherwise-innocuous ship components are ""too bright"" and yet we yell and try to hide, subject to some sort of obscure, tortuous imperative. The rest of the time we can UNERRINGLY tell when anyone is trying to play pranks on us, the names and emotional/physical status of EVERY SINGLE BEING IN THE ROOM (or, when outside civilized warrens, ""line of sight"")- and yes, of course, can't forget about our nigh-mythical fighting arts revolving around insane dodging skills. And SNIPING. And also, god, fuck-don't forget about completely arbitrary """"atmospheric disturbances""" (fog, smoke-the new "ionic interference") ALSO plottasactically rendering our abilities moot. * * * **glimmerbulb** Plus, some people have some powerful Vision than others, but some people have a very short effective range of Vision. However, humans have come up with devices that "change the angles of refraction" of the "light" so that the naturally impaired have their skills enhanced-but they can always be knocked off their faces or be broken. Also some people are terrible at normal Vision work, but have excellent night vision and are skilled at working under adverse conditions. Oooh, and human art is almost entirely Vision based. Think about non-seeing aliens trying to access the majority of human art! * * * **manyblinkinglights** IM!!! SCREAMING!!!! GLASSES. Glasses are SUCH another great Weird Alien Gimmick. God-you get all used to your Human friend and their bizarre abilities, you just start to really trust in and rely on them in tight places and problem-solving a little bit, then you get fucken marooned on a fucken planetoid somewhere and they just in this very small little voice, after you have pulled them from the wreckage and sat down to go over your options, inform you that they've _lost their glasses._ * * * **roachpatrol** Oh my god and an episode where we’re up against Evil Humans and our heros turn to their humans like ‘you can see them, right, you can tell when they’re near? you can counter them?’ and our hero is genuinely shaken and worried— they’ve got high-tech military mechanical enhancers, the devices strapped to their heads let them see _anywhere_, they can operate in near-absolute ‘darkness’, they can operate in near-lethal ‘brightness’, they can see through walls— not doors, not glass, but _walls_. Then we have a heroic scene where the crew’s human is the scrappy, desperate underdog for once instead of the cool and collected superbeing. It is super cool. The human and the captain probably mack wildly on one another in medbay after this. Roll credits. * * * **gutterowl** Person 1: I dunno, dude. This ‘light’ stuff sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo to me. I mean, how do we know it’s even real? Person 2: Seriously, how can something be a wave _and_ a particle? That doesn’t even make sense. Mysterious Human: Even if you cannot perceive the light, you can feel its warmth– Person 1: Oh my god, please shut it with the mystical hoo-hah. You’re insufferable. * * * **roachpatrol** Mysterious, somewhat exasperated Human: the ‘light’ enters the sensitive paired apertures in our faces, passing through biological lenses and chambers to stimulate specific nerves we call ‘rods’ and ‘cones’. one set of nerves tells us the volume of light we’re perceiving, while the other estimates the wavelength frequency. the total input creates in our mind a continuous sonarscape of immense complexity, where we can perceive ‘textures’ that are impossible to understand with mere sound or touch. this is why my people’s communication devices are small, flat, silent boards: we ‘read’ the patterns of light they emit as language and ‘watch’ the patterns of light they emit as sonarscapes. Captain: okay…. sounds fake, but okay… * * * **gutterowl** And they just keep on making up new bullshit rules for how light works, like Navigator: Warp drive engaged. We are approaching 90% of the Lorentz limit. Human: What now? Navigator: Oh, uh, it’s really complex, but lemme try. So, matter can only move so fast through space, right? Like absolutely, nothing can ever ever possibly go faster than like about 3 hundred million meters per second– Human: Ah yes. The speed of light. Navigator: …oh for fuck’s sake. * * * **roachpatrol** Captain: My god! Time! Has… frozen! Human: Fuuuuuuuuck. Captain: What? Human: Remember how light is a wave _and_ a particle? Captain: Yes, we mention this every episode. Human: Yeah, light’s frozen along with everything else. I can’t see shit. Captain: My god! Our sonar doesn’t work either! The soundwaves— they can’t propagate through this frozen air! We’ll have to use just our whiskers! Human: _Fuuuuuuuuck_. * * * **gutterowl** The fanfiction for this show has to be amazing. “Shh. Don’t try to hide your needs, Captain,” Hue Mann soothed. “My sight has told me all about your traumatic memories of the war.” “What?” Captain gasped. “But…how…?” “The light knows all,” explained Hue. “Time slows down at the speed of light. It sees all of the past..and all of the future.” “And what is it telling you now?” questioned the Captain. Hue leaned in close. “It tells me, ‘Mate with them now, you lovestruck fool!” “Damn you, Hue Mann. Damn you and your penetrating ‘eyes.’” “Oh,” breathed Hue, voice husky and sexual. “That’s not _all_ my eyes can…penetrate.” * * * **em-kellesvig** goddamn, you people amaze me. * * * **kowabungadoodles** I love the idea that the protag species has telepathy as ‘boring normal standard’ senses and they can’t understand why human thoughts seems so strange, fragmented, occasionally blank… until they realise that a great of human thought is ‘visual’ and so can’t be heard… * * * **annlarimer** “Lori, what do your Human eyes see?” “Coupla billboards, and it looks like it might rain.” * * * **jacquez45** This keeps getting better * * * **vassraptor** This is so cute. Your human crewmember is getting a crush on another human. Time to observe the humans’ weird yet endearing courtship rituals. “Tell me all about them! What do you like about them?” “Well, they have these amazing eyes…” “Yeah? Better at the the wavemapping thing than yours?” “…I don’t know how good their eyes are at seeing. They’re just this beautiful shade of brown.” “Wait. You wavemap each other’s wavemapping organs? And have opinions about what nice frequencies they refract the waves at?” “Yes? What’s so strange about this?” “I thought your ‘vision’ was passive. Do you listen to each other’s ears too? And like the smell of each other’s noses?” “Like you’ve never touched someone’s whiskers with your whiskers.” “…That’s different.” * * * **actuallyasisterofbattle** Hang on though, how do you explain photovoltaics if they don’t know what photons are? * * * **tharook** That’s a point; any space-faring aliens would (reasonably) have to have a good knowledge of electromagnetism and electromagnetic radiation. (And, potentially wave-particle duality and other quantum physics.) They might even have their own ways of detecting and measuring it (photodiodes, CCDs, radio telescopes, whatever) despite not being able to perceive it themselves just as we developed ways to measure things we can’t detect (like ultrasonics, heat (infrared), radio wavelengths etc.). So our vision might not _necessarily_ be so mystical as telepathy to us, but more like how some species of fish are sensitive to EM fields as well as sonar mentioned above. But our eyes and brain can do a lot of processing, still, and have an advantage over other ways creatures might perceive their environment. Pertinently to space travel, sight works in a vacuum and (theoretically) infinite distance. Instead of a sophisticated EM sensor array, fleets could simply install a human and a window. * * * **darael** There’s potentially quite an interesting plot there where our nonhuman protagonists are entirely familiar with electromagnetism in the abstract, in the same way that humans are familiar with magnetism despite not having (much) direct sensitivity to it, but it takes them a while to work out that it’s how we do that weird “seeing” thing we keep talking about,and even longer to get the hang of what frequency range we use to do it. And they might still be baffled by optic lenses. * * * **n1ghtcrwler** But think about the discovery of humans. You have this space-faring race kicking around, doing their thing, discovering new worlds and civilizations. They have all this advanced technology to hide themselves from all known senses so they can enter into the lower atmosphere of a planet and observe for a bit, cloaked from being noticed until they’ve decided whether or not the new race is ready to be introduced to galactic society. And they show up at this blue world way out on the edges of civilized space, and detect life, and drop into the atmosphere fully cloaked and ready to research, and suddenly a scientist sends out a distress message to the rest if the crew: Millions of Earthlings have immediately begun observing \*them\*. * * * **roach-works** i still love this thread and i want to further suggest: what if all those UFOs everyone’s been seeing all this time are just merrily zipping around under the assumption that we can’t fucking perceive them at all, because their saucer-shaped cloaking field hides them from just about every kind of sonar or radar or emp device. and sure, maybe if some of us humans had a really, really complicated photon measuring machine and pointed it at just the right spot, we might be able to get a reading that light is behaving a little bit strangely, very briefly, in one tiny part of the sky (where most light comes from!) but those things are the size of a suitcase, so obviously we don’t have them. except also those things are the size of grapes and we have two of them built into our skulls.

Western Hognose Snake

Humanity Fuck Yeah! Elevator7009 • 6 months ago • 94%

Originally made by swanjolras on tumblr, however that tumblr deactivated or renamed itself. [Currently-working tumblr link (it's a reblog)](https://curiosityandcode.tumblr.com/post/145100433806/swanjolras-gosh-but-like-we-spent-hundreds-of) and a [Reddit screenshot](https://i.redd.it/bmp1zsyl7ejy.jpg) --- *gosh* but like we spent hundreds of years looking up at the stars and wondering “is there anybody out there” and hoping and guessing and imagining because we as a species were so *lonely* and we wanted friends so bad, we wanted to meet other species and we wanted to talk to them and we wanted to learn from them and to stop being the only people in the universe and we started realizing that things were maybe not going so good for us— we got scared that we were going to blow each other up, we got scared that we were going to break our planet permanently, we got scared that in a hundred years we were all going to be dead and gone and even if there were other people out there, we’d never get to meet them and then we built robots? and we gave them names and we gave them brains made out of silicon and we pretended they were people and we told them *hey you wanna go exploring*, and of course they did, because we had made them in our own image and maybe in a hundred years we won’t be around any more, maybe yeah the planet will be a mess and we’ll all be dead, and if other people come from the stars we won’t be around to meet them and say *hi! how are you! we’re people, too! you’re not alone any more!*, maybe we’ll be gone but we built robots, who have beat-up hulls and metal brains, and who have names; and if the other people come and say, *who were these people? what were they like?* the robots can say, *when they made us, they called us discovery; they called us curiosity; they called us explorer; they called us spirit. they must have thought that was important.* *and they told us to tell you hello.*

Humanity Fuck Yeah! Elevator7009 • 6 months ago • 97%

Originally written by [injuries-in-dust](https://injuries-in-dust.tumblr.com) on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/injuries-in-dust/185290161126/injuries-in-dust-give-a-bored-human-a) ([non-tumblr link](https://mediachomp.com/bored-humans-in-space-science-fiction-story/#google_vignette) in case tumblr pushes you to make an account), not by me. --- “Boredom is a dangerous thing to a human.” “I don’t understand,” Chuul’s mandibles clicked nervously, “why not simply take the tool from the human.” Minxx’s antennae stood straight up, a sign of shock, fear, or surprise, “You don’t simply take something from a human. If you do they will either turn the ship upside down trying to find it again, or they will replace it with something else that will lead to more destruction. “I speak quite literally by the way. Human-Mark used to have a tool he called an “Hex Key” he used it to remove the doors to the clothing storage areas in his quarters because he was bored. When he lost it he literally turned the ship upside down by reversing the gravity.” Chuul’s tentacles curled up defensively, “Gravity controls are locked, how-” “No one knows how.” Minxx shook her small wings as the memory of suddenly falling upwards returned to her. “but his reasoning was that the tool would fall out of whatever hiding place it had come to rest within. He had not considered that all tables, chairs, equipment, and personnel, would also fall. It took weeks to clean.” To be fair to the human, Mark had only intended to reverse the gravity in his own quarters but had, quote, “pushed the wrong button.” A sentence which would send fear through any intelligent creature in the known galaxy. To be completely unfair to the human, there were still stains on the ceiling in almost every room of the ship from dropped food, chemicals, various other liquids, and even a couple of empty bowels. Some races just didn’t find the idea of resting comfortably in their sleeping quarters, only to be suddenly awakened as they fell ten feet toward a ceiling which had now become a floor. Mark was no longer allowed near environmental controls. Minxx continued, “He did not find this “Hex Key.” However, he did find the screwdriver and it seemed to please him when an owner was not located. The captain let him keep it since it seemed that it would keep him from doing any more strange things to locate his original lost tool. We did not consider-” she trailed off as her wings quivered again. There was silence between them for a few moments, Minxx was almost unwilling to continue and Chuul was almost too afraid to press for more details. Slowly, but surely, Minxx calmed herself enough to speak again. “we did not consider what he may be able to do when armed with a leverage optimiser.” “We were given shore leave while the ship was being fixed after the gravity incident. Thank goodness the captain took out act’s-of-human insurance or it would have cost the profits from our next five cargo hauls.” The premiums were high, but it was worth it. “After 14 rotations, human-Mark began to complain over the lack of stimulation, he called it “bored.” On the 15th rotation he disappeared for some time and he had hoped he had found some new activity to occupy his time.” Chuul did, but at the same time didn’t, want to know, “Had he?” Minxx waved her antennae in confirmation, “he had. He was located in one of the cargo holds, using the screwdriver to dismantle one of the mining probes. To, quote “see how it worked.” It was almost 90% deconstructed.” Mark had claimed it was almost 10% REconstructed, as he was trying to put it back together again, but couldn't quite remember where all the parts went. In Mark’s words, the captain was a “glass half-empty kinda guy” (whatever that meant) and wrote DEconstructed on the claim form for a replacement probe. Chuul’s natural camouflage kicked in and they took on the colour of the chair they were sitting on. “Those probes have no screws for the leverage optimiser to use, how did he-” Minxx’s wings shivered again, “no one knows how. He just did.” Chuul was silent for a moment. He’d never served on a ship with a human before. He’d heard they made things “interesting” and if you ever got into trouble, a human was the very best thing to ever have on your side. It was why they were so many job opportunities for humans in the alliance. All the same...the thought of a human causing such damage and destruction just because of a lack of mental, or physical, stimulation was a more than a little frightening. What if the human wanted to see how the engines worked, or the weapons?!! “Maybe I should transfer to another ship.” Minxx’s antennae curled, a smile to her race. “You are safe. The captain has found a way to occupy our humans free time. During our last stopover, he commissioned a shiny orb be constructed.” Chuul coked their head, “what is a shiny orb?” Minxx’s curled antennae moved up an down; a sign of mild laughter. “It is nothing. A sphere made of shiny metals, humans do like shiny things, roughly two feet diameter made of a collection of gears, levers, screws and switches which appear complex and should have a function, but do entirely nothing. The captain handed it to Human-Mark and stated: “see if you can fix this.” and Mark has been “tinkering” with it during his off-duty hours for almost 24 rotations now. He can take it apart and rebuild it as many times as he likes, but it will never perform any task.” Chuul was just thinking about how their captain must be a genius, when the door to the mess hall opened and Human-Mark entered. He was carrying the shiny orb under one arm, and his screwdriver in the other hand. He looked around, seemingly not noticing any of the crew members. He smiled when he spotted an empty liquid container and sat down at the table with the cup. Chuul and Minxx watched curiously as Mark set the orb on the table in front of the cup. He used the screwdriver to tighten one small screw and flipped a switch. At once there was a whirring and clicking of clockwork, a blinking of lights hidden in the depths of the machine and even a TING from a small bell. Then a small funnel-shaped piece of metal opened up in the side of the machine and poured a small amount of hot, black, liquid into the cup. Mark jumped to his feet, pumping the air and yelling loudly enough to send Chuul’s camouflage reflex off again. He grabbed the orb, abandoning the cup of steaming hot liquid, and moved to the door. Minxx stared after them, “Human-Mark?” Mark only paused for a second in the doorway. He was prominently displaying his predatory teeth. Chuul had read about these “smiles” but it was still disturbing to see. “Can’t stop Minxy. I gotta let the captain know I fixed his coffee maker.” With that, he left. Leaving Chuul and Minxx frozen in place, dumbfounded. Wherever Chuul was going to transfer to, Minxx began to hope she could get a posting on the same ship.

Weekly what are you playing post!