A Slice of Mars by Guerric Haché

Author:Guerric Haché
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction, slice of life
Publisher: Guerric Haché
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

20 - Dhapree

“Alone for two weeks? You didn’t get, you know, depressed?”

Dhapree tried not to roll her eyes. She was feeling tense, and it made her unnecessarily snippy. Not only was she self-aware enough to know that on her own, but her interface displayed a small graphic in the upper right corner of her vision to keep her appraised of her own mood. It was surprisingly easy to forget that one’s mood was in fact one’s mood, and not the state of the world at large.

They were only halfway through Homestay, and it was difficult not to experience some low-grade stress. Her need to tend to Pumpkin was one of the few things keeping her stable in a home with four other humans.

They all had their ways of coping. Hett had given himself the challenge of home-cooking the parlour’s dessert pizzas and sharing the process on social, as well as taking suggestions for other dessert pizza recipes. The suggestions he got from social were a mixed bag, but with the entire planet at home for Homestay, there were plenty of people taking an interest in what he was doing - and by extension, in the restaurant. Qirao had been helping him on comms, when she wasn’t watching narratives all around the world ebb and flow , or trying to chitchat with Dhapree for reasons Dhapree herself couldn’t fathom . Homestay was the moment of highest webwork activity all year, and with little else to do, apparently things tended to get very heated.

San was quietly keeping busy with books and games, and Pumpkin had taken to cuddling up next to them for a nap. Those two seemed to be the smart ones in the flat.

And Diego had decided he was going to relentlessly question them about their life experiences. Or, as he put it, interview them. It was supposedly for his academic work.

Supposedly. She couldn’t tell if he was actually taking notes.

Dhapree managed to speak with only a slight sigh. “No, I never got depressed when I was bubbled alone. I had plenty to do.”

“You don’t need the interaction?” He’d followed her into the kitchen when she was getting a snack to pepper her with questions. He seemed genuinely puzzled. That might be more a factor of youth than being an Earthling, since she knew people of her disposition existed on Earth as well. “Your, um, dispositional thing -”

“It’s not a thing . My brain doesn’t find social interaction intrinsically rewarding. It’s partly a difference in the limbic system.” She frowned, watching her cat sniff her way around a chair that someone had left a bowl of duck curry on. That could very quickly go wrong. “And I don’t feel like I’m missing social interaction. I’m good at keeping busy.”

“But what about -”

“No what about.” She locked eyes with him, the frustrations from a dozen long-forgotten angry conversations with ignorant strangers flashing through her brain. Being in constant proximity to so many humans was exhausting and fraying, and when the edges frayed, that frustration was the sort of thing that bled in.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.