Milk Chocolate #16, Pistachio #29, Whipped Cream
Title: Budgie
Story: Systemverse
Flavours, Toppings, Extras: Milk Chocolate #16 (panic), Pistachio #29 (fuzzy/feathered friends), Whipped Cream
Rating: G
Word Count: 1968
Characters: Natalie
Summary: An unhappy trip to the market changes with the discovery of a small creature…
Notes: This is my first post, if you don't count the intro, so can I please get an author tag, for jessence7?
Market was a wonderful day in Tau Base; Natalie spent hours just mulling over obscure gadgets and the latest in outrageous Venusian fashions, weaving in and out of a crowd alternately bright in civvies and familiarly drab in blue-grey System uniform. There was even a little cafe between Spencer and Patton where she could stop for a break, buy one of those nice striped pastries with the durian filling, and just sit back and watch the crowd pass by…
On Luna, Market was a day for enjoyment and stocking up on the non-essentials.
On Terra, Market was a nightmare.
Something sharp cut across Natalie’s bare forearm and she yelped, the sound swallowed up by the ruckus around her. When she looked up, eyes wide, whatever it was had vanished, replaced by a chattering group of shoppers. Her eyes couldn’t pick out a single figure; they were just a watery blur of colour passing by, and for a moment, Natalie’s whole body shook with the shivers she’d been repressing.
Around her, the wide skyway resounded with the cries of vendors hawking their wares, chatting and laughing browsers, and the squeal of children, all amplified in the too-hot Terran air by the impassive scrapers surrounding them. The exact same scene that had played out on some of the other skyways Natalie’s taxi had flown over, and under, and by. Caf and cheap perfume from the nearby stalls plugged her nostrils. If she’d had any idea how different…
Rot it, I should have listened to mother!
Not that her mother would even know she was gone… this ‘work vacation’ had resulted in Natalie seeing as little of her mother as she usually did. The hotel room, bare and devoid of life, felt even emptier than their unit, and much duller.
A large black bag swung dangerously near the teenage girl’s head and she ducked away quickly, locking down the sudden urge to strike.
“Have to move.” It took her a minute to realise she’d said it, and then that she’d yelled it. Her face flushed in embarrassment, but no curious or disapproving faces turned her way. Probably no one even heard her.
These Terrans…
A new scent assaulted her nose, as a man walked past with a mug of something. She stared at him incredulously - how could he even keep hold of that, here? - then steeled herself for a brief upward surge. Finally, she staggered to her feet, less than gracefully, and the world dipped and swam before her.
A few hard blinks and a quick swipe of her hand dispelled the tears.
That oil-slick feeling in her stomach flexed again…
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said to herself, calmly, deliberately, and utterly unable to hear her own voice above the din, “You will not let anything on Terra conquer you. That’s just stupid.”
Now she was standing, people had backed off a little. Against her better judgement, Natalie closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the pillar behind her, the pitted metacrete creeping past her cropped hair to cool her scalp. She gritted her teeth and made herself focus… and count… three breaths in… three out, all the visuals blocked out, until she felt… calmer.
Panic surged when she opened her eyes to the unfamiliar crowd again, but she felt more clear-headed now, less… numb, robotic, where the panic didn’t touch her.
Just think, you came all the way to… wherever this is… before you broke down. That’s got to mean something good… doesn’t it? Maybe I’ll find a nice cafe…
Yes, and maybe I’ll get mugged.
A nervous laugh bubbled out of her throat at the thought, and this time, someone did notice, but glanced away disinterestedly. Let them try. Lunarians had no need of the ‘cardet’ things Terrans used.
Feeling oddly better, jittery in a light-headed way, she ventured out into the crowd, which… let her. She weaved through them to the first stall that caught her eye - it had only a couple of customers browsing, one of them a woman with similar features but much darker skin to Natalie’s own. Ground-dark, she’d heard her mother call it once.
“Our ancestors were the same,” she’d added, and a much younger Natalie had frowned, not understanding how it could be so.
Natalie pushed the unbidden memory aside, and walked up to the stall, unconsciously wiping her hands on her shorts.
Square, metal constructions covered the table, hid its shape. Too many people in front of her to see anything but iron bars, so the teenager pushed her way through to it, and saw…
Things. Living… things.
She almost knelt to examine a cage to the right of the vendor, but remembering her mistreatment, instead looked up to one of the hanging constructions, her forehead creased in a frown.
The thing inside - the being, she corrected herself - was definitely alive. Pear-shaped with two short, stick-thin legs and a fan-like protrusion spread out behind those legs, its body tapered up into a small head with some kind of bony growth where a nose should be. When it saw her, it cocked its head and moved on a knotty, brown bar that was set in the centre of its… home?… and made a strange noise at her.
It’s intelligent?
She stared, fascinated, and when she moved closer, the being inside made another noise at her, bright and sharp and audible even over the marketplace din, and moved from side to side on its bar. Was she scaring it?
“You like the bird, miss?” A voice shouted, and Natalie yelped, then shot back into her regular straight posture.
“Yes… I mean… that’s what this one is?” She stammered, feeling the heat rushing to her face, and just wanting to die. “Called, I mean?”
The vendor, a man with dusky skin and hair so bright it must have been dyed, gave her an odd look. “You’re an off-worlder?”
“Tau Base, Luna.” Natalie answered promptly. The facts were reassuring.
He laughed, displaying neat white teeth. “’Course you are, you’re too pale to be anything else.” Some irritation must have broken through on Natalie’s face, because he quickly added, “No offence taken, right? You get the same sun, I know, I know.” He held up his hands in mock surrender.
He was charming, but Natalie wasn’t fooled - though she decided to ignore it all the same. It wasn’t the first time…
“This one is called a bird?” She prompted, pointing to the little being. “Is that one a male or a female?”
“Maybe ze’s an androgyne,” the vendor said in a jocular tone.
Natalie gave him a ‘do I look stupid?’ look.
“Okay. He’s a budgie, we keep ‘em for pets. Good breeders, too. And they’re smart - they can learn Standard and you can teach them things, like sitting on your shoulder or finger. I hand-reared most of them, so they already know how.”
Natalie bit her lower lip as she considered this. “A pet? They have no other purpose?” She eyed the cage with renewed interest.
The vendor shrugged. “I have food birds for sale, but you can’t get much meat off these ones. Isn’t worth the attempt.”
He nodded to her, and turned away to serve another customer, who pointed at a pale blue… budgie. Natalie watched as he exchanged conversation - he was definitely the friendliest vendor she’d seen here - and unhooked the contraption, exchanging the entire thing for… what was the word? Money. No - cash.
She looked back to the budgie. Hers was green and yellow. It peered at her and fluffed its… hair? Then it let loose with a series of happy sounds. A pet… presumably it lived in its metal box, which seemed cruel. Maybe it could be taught to be free in a room, or maybe it was used to it and the metal construction was just a carry-all.
The outside world had dimmed around Natalie as she stood staring thoughtfully at the being. A pet; something to care for and tend to. A companion by her side, or at least on her shoulder. The idea appealed to her - strange Terran creature or no - and it looked so cute with its fluffed-up hair and warbles. She bit her lip again. Her mother was always on duty these days anyway, so it wasn’t like she didn’t know how to take care of everything - Natalie was the one who began and applied herself to her studies, who made the meals and shoved the dishes in the wash after nearly every meal. She cleaned most of their three-person unit, usually saving the task to fill the long space between the end of her studies and when her mother returned home, tired. It wasn’t as if she had to, she just saw it as a challenge, and didn’t like mess anyway. Or boredom. Her parents had instilled good values in her.
And she didn’t want to be alone…
The bird hopped off its bar and onto the floor. Leaning in - careful not to disturb it - Natalie watched as it stuck its head into a box at the bottom of the cage, filled with some grainy things. Food, evidently. She could handle that, and its water. If it drank water? The stuff in the next box looked like it…
She was going to need a lot of information.
She was silent a while longer, her mind arguing for and against, but finally her loneliness and her fascination won out.
“Excuse me,” she called, loud so that she could be heard over the roar of the crowd. Had half the City turned up to Market?
The vendor smiled at her. It looked so easy to do, and Natalie didn’t trust anything so pleasant that came so easily. “Made your mind up, miss?”
“Yes, I’d like this one.” She placed a hand on the cold metal of the cage, and made a note to replace it with something more comfortable for the budgie. “You accept credit here?”
“’Course…” He told her the price, which didn’t even make her blink, then held out a scanner. Natalie couldn’t resist the amused smile that came to her face when she held out her wrist and he just… stared.
“Scan my wrist, my chip’s in there. I’ve got enough.” She wondered if anyone on Terra used the chips, or if this man just hadn’t met anyone who did.
Somewhat dubiously, he scanned, and his expression blanked in surprise when he found the appropriate sum transferred to his store account. But he didn’t say anything about it, just set the scanner back down and unhooked the metal box for her.
“Thank you! Where can I find information about budgies around here?” Natalie asked, trying to sound casual as he handed the box over to her. The green and yellow budgie inside was silent, probably wondering what was happening. She’d teach it to talk, she decided. There was more than enough time.
As she’d thought, he was happy to discuss their care, and she learned what she needed. What kind of food to buy. That their hair was called feathers. What cage would be appropriate. She had more than a faint suspicion by the time another customer showed, that he likely wouldn’t have sold the budgie to her if he’d known she was that clueless, but he cared about imparting the proper information. Natalie had to wonder if the stall wasn’t just for money…
Either way, when she finally turned to leave for the dock, she had a buoyant feeling inside, and the market no longer bothered her.
The budgie chattered happily to her as they made their way back through the crowd.
Story: Systemverse
Flavours, Toppings, Extras: Milk Chocolate #16 (panic), Pistachio #29 (fuzzy/feathered friends), Whipped Cream
Rating: G
Word Count: 1968
Characters: Natalie
Summary: An unhappy trip to the market changes with the discovery of a small creature…
Notes: This is my first post, if you don't count the intro, so can I please get an author tag, for jessence7?
Market was a wonderful day in Tau Base; Natalie spent hours just mulling over obscure gadgets and the latest in outrageous Venusian fashions, weaving in and out of a crowd alternately bright in civvies and familiarly drab in blue-grey System uniform. There was even a little cafe between Spencer and Patton where she could stop for a break, buy one of those nice striped pastries with the durian filling, and just sit back and watch the crowd pass by…
On Luna, Market was a day for enjoyment and stocking up on the non-essentials.
On Terra, Market was a nightmare.
Something sharp cut across Natalie’s bare forearm and she yelped, the sound swallowed up by the ruckus around her. When she looked up, eyes wide, whatever it was had vanished, replaced by a chattering group of shoppers. Her eyes couldn’t pick out a single figure; they were just a watery blur of colour passing by, and for a moment, Natalie’s whole body shook with the shivers she’d been repressing.
Around her, the wide skyway resounded with the cries of vendors hawking their wares, chatting and laughing browsers, and the squeal of children, all amplified in the too-hot Terran air by the impassive scrapers surrounding them. The exact same scene that had played out on some of the other skyways Natalie’s taxi had flown over, and under, and by. Caf and cheap perfume from the nearby stalls plugged her nostrils. If she’d had any idea how different…
Rot it, I should have listened to mother!
Not that her mother would even know she was gone… this ‘work vacation’ had resulted in Natalie seeing as little of her mother as she usually did. The hotel room, bare and devoid of life, felt even emptier than their unit, and much duller.
A large black bag swung dangerously near the teenage girl’s head and she ducked away quickly, locking down the sudden urge to strike.
“Have to move.” It took her a minute to realise she’d said it, and then that she’d yelled it. Her face flushed in embarrassment, but no curious or disapproving faces turned her way. Probably no one even heard her.
These Terrans…
A new scent assaulted her nose, as a man walked past with a mug of something. She stared at him incredulously - how could he even keep hold of that, here? - then steeled herself for a brief upward surge. Finally, she staggered to her feet, less than gracefully, and the world dipped and swam before her.
A few hard blinks and a quick swipe of her hand dispelled the tears.
That oil-slick feeling in her stomach flexed again…
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said to herself, calmly, deliberately, and utterly unable to hear her own voice above the din, “You will not let anything on Terra conquer you. That’s just stupid.”
Now she was standing, people had backed off a little. Against her better judgement, Natalie closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the pillar behind her, the pitted metacrete creeping past her cropped hair to cool her scalp. She gritted her teeth and made herself focus… and count… three breaths in… three out, all the visuals blocked out, until she felt… calmer.
Panic surged when she opened her eyes to the unfamiliar crowd again, but she felt more clear-headed now, less… numb, robotic, where the panic didn’t touch her.
Just think, you came all the way to… wherever this is… before you broke down. That’s got to mean something good… doesn’t it? Maybe I’ll find a nice cafe…
Yes, and maybe I’ll get mugged.
A nervous laugh bubbled out of her throat at the thought, and this time, someone did notice, but glanced away disinterestedly. Let them try. Lunarians had no need of the ‘cardet’ things Terrans used.
Feeling oddly better, jittery in a light-headed way, she ventured out into the crowd, which… let her. She weaved through them to the first stall that caught her eye - it had only a couple of customers browsing, one of them a woman with similar features but much darker skin to Natalie’s own. Ground-dark, she’d heard her mother call it once.
“Our ancestors were the same,” she’d added, and a much younger Natalie had frowned, not understanding how it could be so.
Natalie pushed the unbidden memory aside, and walked up to the stall, unconsciously wiping her hands on her shorts.
Square, metal constructions covered the table, hid its shape. Too many people in front of her to see anything but iron bars, so the teenager pushed her way through to it, and saw…
Things. Living… things.
She almost knelt to examine a cage to the right of the vendor, but remembering her mistreatment, instead looked up to one of the hanging constructions, her forehead creased in a frown.
The thing inside - the being, she corrected herself - was definitely alive. Pear-shaped with two short, stick-thin legs and a fan-like protrusion spread out behind those legs, its body tapered up into a small head with some kind of bony growth where a nose should be. When it saw her, it cocked its head and moved on a knotty, brown bar that was set in the centre of its… home?… and made a strange noise at her.
It’s intelligent?
She stared, fascinated, and when she moved closer, the being inside made another noise at her, bright and sharp and audible even over the marketplace din, and moved from side to side on its bar. Was she scaring it?
“You like the bird, miss?” A voice shouted, and Natalie yelped, then shot back into her regular straight posture.
“Yes… I mean… that’s what this one is?” She stammered, feeling the heat rushing to her face, and just wanting to die. “Called, I mean?”
The vendor, a man with dusky skin and hair so bright it must have been dyed, gave her an odd look. “You’re an off-worlder?”
“Tau Base, Luna.” Natalie answered promptly. The facts were reassuring.
He laughed, displaying neat white teeth. “’Course you are, you’re too pale to be anything else.” Some irritation must have broken through on Natalie’s face, because he quickly added, “No offence taken, right? You get the same sun, I know, I know.” He held up his hands in mock surrender.
He was charming, but Natalie wasn’t fooled - though she decided to ignore it all the same. It wasn’t the first time…
“This one is called a bird?” She prompted, pointing to the little being. “Is that one a male or a female?”
“Maybe ze’s an androgyne,” the vendor said in a jocular tone.
Natalie gave him a ‘do I look stupid?’ look.
“Okay. He’s a budgie, we keep ‘em for pets. Good breeders, too. And they’re smart - they can learn Standard and you can teach them things, like sitting on your shoulder or finger. I hand-reared most of them, so they already know how.”
Natalie bit her lower lip as she considered this. “A pet? They have no other purpose?” She eyed the cage with renewed interest.
The vendor shrugged. “I have food birds for sale, but you can’t get much meat off these ones. Isn’t worth the attempt.”
He nodded to her, and turned away to serve another customer, who pointed at a pale blue… budgie. Natalie watched as he exchanged conversation - he was definitely the friendliest vendor she’d seen here - and unhooked the contraption, exchanging the entire thing for… what was the word? Money. No - cash.
She looked back to the budgie. Hers was green and yellow. It peered at her and fluffed its… hair? Then it let loose with a series of happy sounds. A pet… presumably it lived in its metal box, which seemed cruel. Maybe it could be taught to be free in a room, or maybe it was used to it and the metal construction was just a carry-all.
The outside world had dimmed around Natalie as she stood staring thoughtfully at the being. A pet; something to care for and tend to. A companion by her side, or at least on her shoulder. The idea appealed to her - strange Terran creature or no - and it looked so cute with its fluffed-up hair and warbles. She bit her lip again. Her mother was always on duty these days anyway, so it wasn’t like she didn’t know how to take care of everything - Natalie was the one who began and applied herself to her studies, who made the meals and shoved the dishes in the wash after nearly every meal. She cleaned most of their three-person unit, usually saving the task to fill the long space between the end of her studies and when her mother returned home, tired. It wasn’t as if she had to, she just saw it as a challenge, and didn’t like mess anyway. Or boredom. Her parents had instilled good values in her.
And she didn’t want to be alone…
The bird hopped off its bar and onto the floor. Leaning in - careful not to disturb it - Natalie watched as it stuck its head into a box at the bottom of the cage, filled with some grainy things. Food, evidently. She could handle that, and its water. If it drank water? The stuff in the next box looked like it…
She was going to need a lot of information.
She was silent a while longer, her mind arguing for and against, but finally her loneliness and her fascination won out.
“Excuse me,” she called, loud so that she could be heard over the roar of the crowd. Had half the City turned up to Market?
The vendor smiled at her. It looked so easy to do, and Natalie didn’t trust anything so pleasant that came so easily. “Made your mind up, miss?”
“Yes, I’d like this one.” She placed a hand on the cold metal of the cage, and made a note to replace it with something more comfortable for the budgie. “You accept credit here?”
“’Course…” He told her the price, which didn’t even make her blink, then held out a scanner. Natalie couldn’t resist the amused smile that came to her face when she held out her wrist and he just… stared.
“Scan my wrist, my chip’s in there. I’ve got enough.” She wondered if anyone on Terra used the chips, or if this man just hadn’t met anyone who did.
Somewhat dubiously, he scanned, and his expression blanked in surprise when he found the appropriate sum transferred to his store account. But he didn’t say anything about it, just set the scanner back down and unhooked the metal box for her.
“Thank you! Where can I find information about budgies around here?” Natalie asked, trying to sound casual as he handed the box over to her. The green and yellow budgie inside was silent, probably wondering what was happening. She’d teach it to talk, she decided. There was more than enough time.
As she’d thought, he was happy to discuss their care, and she learned what she needed. What kind of food to buy. That their hair was called feathers. What cage would be appropriate. She had more than a faint suspicion by the time another customer showed, that he likely wouldn’t have sold the budgie to her if he’d known she was that clueless, but he cared about imparting the proper information. Natalie had to wonder if the stall wasn’t just for money…
Either way, when she finally turned to leave for the dock, she had a buoyant feeling inside, and the market no longer bothered her.
The budgie chattered happily to her as they made their way back through the crowd.