Alien Curiosity

[a-and-b-snz]

Since people seemed to enjoy my post from yesterday, I thought I'd share another small sci-fi scenario with you guys, that I wrote last year! Please read this with your favourite characters in mind. A is a curious alien, and B is their human friend.

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Imagine a sci-fi future where humans and aliens are fully integrated, both working and playing together. As a species we're relatively similar, with one notable exception - the aliens have a biological inability to sneeze. They're taught about it in school when learning human anatomy, of course, but to those who've never met humans, the phenomenon is completely... alien. (haha.)

Now imagine A, and alien, and B, a human, relaxing in A's private quarters. B is one of the first human friends A has made, and so far they've gotten along great. And then B's breath snags in the middle of their sentence, then snags again when they try to speak.

"Are you okay?" A asks, a little alarmed.

"J- Just- Hhih... hep'TCHEW!"

A is overcome with excitement and disappointment. Excitement, because they've never seen a human do that in person before. Disappointment, because B was too quick to bury their face behind their arm, shielding A from getting a good view.

"Wow!" A says, "that was incredible!"

"Huh?" B sniffs, then chuckles. "Oh, I forget you guys don't do that."

"Are you unwell?" A asks, wracking their brain to recall their training. "Or have you recently been exposed to an allergen?"

"Nope," B says, amused by how animated A has become. "Sometimes it just kinda... happens."

"Will you do it again?"

"What?"

"Will you sneeze again?"

"Well, sure, at some point in my life, yeah."

"I mean, right now?" A leans in a little closer. "I wasn't paying proper attention before."

"But I don't- I don't really need to sneeze right now."

"Couldn't you do it anyway?"

"A, it's not something I can control."

"Oh. Of course."

A looks so dejected that B can't help but feel almost guilty. "Look," they say, "maybe we can coax one out." They smile as A's face immediately lights up.

"How?"

"You have to give my nose, like, the right sort of tickle. Trick it into thinking there's something irritating up there that needs pushing out."

A frowns. "We'll put something up there?"

"Don't have to. Sometimes, when I need to sneeze and it just won't come, I can rub the outside, and it works. Like this." B takes both their index fingers and draws light spirals down each side of their nose.

"Can I try?" A asks, and B nods. Cautiously, they extend their long, thin fingers and begin to stroke B's nose as lightly as they can. It gives an involuntary twitch.

"Woah." B blinks rapidly. "That's..."

"Am I doing it right?" A asks after a moment, as they begin to work on the tip of their nose.

"Yeah, that's actually working reahhhly well." A dips down to the septum and B gasps. "Ohh, f-fuck."

A feels a small stir of satisfaction. Light, irregular breaths. That's a classic indicator that-

"A, I'm- I'm gonna- ahh!" B's head tilts back, but A's nimble fingers don't let up. "Gonna... Gonna- Hheheh- huh'ESCHIEW!" They jerk forward. Not only can A see it this time, they can feel it.

"Uh... bless you," they murmur, recalling Earth tradition.

"Shit." B scrubs their nose, which is still buzzing, threatening to explode again. "I'm so sorry, I didn't expect that to happen so fast-"

"Can I try again?"

When B looks up, they find A's eyes wide and shining. "Um..." they swallow, taken aback. "Yeah, I guess so."

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Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear which characters you imagined in their place 🥰 If you enjoyed this ambiguous format, then you can find similar posts of mine here: 1, 2, 3, 4. Love ya!

 

[MIN]

Oooohh! This was so much better than I was expecting! I love how B treats the whole experience as an annoying fact of life til they realise just how fascinated A is by it and turns into a bit of a softie and let's A experiment, so cute! Love that the method of inducing was nose stroking aswell though, that was a fave part of mine!

[a-and-b-snz]

1 hour ago, MIN said:

Oooohh! This was so much better than I was expecting! I love how B treats the whole experience as an annoying fact of life til they realise just how fascinated A is by it and turns into a bit of a softie and let's A experiment, so cute! Love that the method of inducing was nose stroking aswell though, that was a fave part of mine!

Happy to surpass expectations, haha! I love it when one character indulges in another's interests, despite their personal disinterest. I just think it's a really cute expression of affection! And as you've probably noticed given the common theme of most of my posts so far, inducing is one of my favourite tropes ^-^ I love all sorts of different methods, but sometimes you just can't beat good ol' fashioned finger-rubs!