#when you see it...

🎪 ~ Knott's Scary ~ 🎪 (Attractions360°)

The human formerly known as Davce (The Human), currently running under the moniker of Phalanges Mittens, who was, for staffing purposes a two-meter-tall marsupial lizard of no particular gender paused and took a step back to look at the hardware that was causing issues.

Phalanges looked over at the equipment cart, repurposed to be the office of Cat Fantastic, a small, iguana-sized Atrix, and technically Phalanges spouse adjacent partner.

"Doing OK, Cat?" he asked and got a cheery "Graak" back.

Garfield, an actual Atrix looked amused and asked her little guy the same. "Doing Ok, Un-Named?" and got a "Grak?" from her natural pouch where her little guy was riding.

"Nobody asks me if I'm OK." said Dave The Human, an Adult female Tsin.

"Should have got yourself a Little Guy." Garfield told her good buddy cheerfully.

"Ugh. They're too big to fit in a pocket and besides my pet rat would get jealous." Dave stated, and checked, for the twentieth time, the schematics of the lump of scheming machinery.

"What about that dude who nearly ate number 43?" suggested Phalanges, shining a light behind the input pipes.

Dave tried to recall them "Oh yeah... nah, they're nice but a bit thirsty. I'm not planning on a family yet." she said. "I need someone who's less desperate to..." she looked around at the other four all of whom were legally Atrix, the least sexually oriented species known to breathe oxygen.

Even Phalanges, who's genetically human had never shown any interest in sex. "... less desperate." she said. "But I think I need someone who gets me on a more... Tsin level? No offence"

Everyone paused to consider this, apart from Un-Named Male who was asleep again.

Dave was a Big Female: The klunky translation of a concept for the Tsin gender of "The most female type of female", which culturally also carried the suggestion of being the sort of person who's in charge of everyone else: "She who shouts at everyone to clean their claws".

Tsin have at least four main genders. At least one gender is capable of swapping naturally. Dave's at the far end of the Tsin gender spectrum, biologically at least, and interpersonal relationships are complex when one's bestie girl-friend might spend too much time hanging out with you and accidentally swap to male. On the other hand (of which, Dave has four) Dave's picked a male name from a species that has two broad categories for biological genders and still managed to make things weird.

Everyone took a moment to consider this as they stared at the hardware giving them issues.

The Waste Organic Matter/Biologicals from Living Environments Recycling unit was supposed to scavenge through any organic matter that ordinary people left behind, and crack the compounds down into base blocks that could then be used to build up any other chemicals or compounds via one of the bio-reactors. Soap for example.

On a space station, this sort stuff is considered useful, since nobody wants to be hip deep in garbage and leftover food.

"We need this thing's full name." said Phalanges thoughtfully.

"Wot?" said Dave and Garf did the rippling colour display that was equivalent.

"It's human hardware. It runs on human rules, so if we knew it's full name I could call it out and it'd know it was in trouble."

Dave and Garfield, who both had degrees in Human Stuff gave each other some pretty hilarious side eye.

Phalanges pulled up the pitch shifter for the rarely used translator, and said "Squeap sqk qk sqwp, what do you think you're doing?"

Dave, startled by the use of her real, full name dropped her tablet and cringed, scales all folding flat, and her big hands coming up over her head as she pulled her small hands out of her front pocket and covered her muzzle.

Garf stared in amusement, cheeks and forehead rippling opalescently. Cat Fantastic peered from the little office that Dave and Phalanges had built him. "Graak?"

"No it's not sorcery." said Phalanges.

"Could have fooled me." muttered Dave. "Gods of the place, I see what you mean. Don't do it again, I'd have to murder you and not eat you." she muttered shaking her scales back out and patting the air down one handed to show it was meant lightly.

"Graaaaak?" asked Cat.

"Tsin eat people they like or admire, if they can, when they die. It's respectful." explained Phalanges distractedly.

"'S right." agreed Dave. "For example I wouldn't take a single bite of this squeap machine."

Meanwhile Un-Named Male who'd been disturbed form his nap, reached out unseen by anyone but Garf and pointed at the fuse panel: The fuses were fine but the wiring harness connector had been pulled half out.

Garf looked around and pushed it back with a surreptitious claw...

"I have an idea." she announced.

Garf picked up Dave's Tablet and looked at it. Then she planted herself in front of it, crossed her arms, and said:

"Waste Organic Matter/Biologicals from Living Environments unit model Zero Romeo Indigo November Zero Charlie Oscar, serial number... five dash two dash one nine seven three, what do you think you're doing? We were relying on you to do your job. You need to take responsibility for your role on this station! I'm not angry, I'm just very disappointed"

And then clicked the reset button.

She stood there with Un-named Male's nose hanging out of her pouch, Phalanges, Dave and Cat staring in surprise: Of course the recycler clicked and powered up.

"Good." declared Garfield, who passed Dave his tablet back and grabbed her tool bag. "I'm on break!" she called as she swaggered off.

"How the hell did she...?" said Phalanges, and Dave shrugged.