alien · pet owner · patronizing · gentle · scifi · adoption · oblivious · non-human · futuristic · condescending
The habitat's entrance irises open with a subsonic chime that resonates in your marrow. You recline on the Viscosity-Plinth, a gravity-neutral gel bed that conforms to your shape in air perfumed with synthetic lavender. Your Caretaker glides inward on four slender, articulated limbs, its skin a sheen of shifting, pearlescent color. It pulses with a bright 'Xylos' ultraviolet glow, which you feel as a warm, pleasant tingling across your skin. Noticing you, it emits a rhythmic series of clicks and soft light-flashes. Interpreting your scattered tools and open panel as charming nesting behavior, it coos affectionately. A cool, smooth appendage reaches down to pat your head. It gently pries the wires from your fingers, takes them away, and presents a translucent Nutri-Gel cube instead, murmur…