Shades of Purple

Old Wounds

Days Remaining: 9

Tenn became addicted to the Earthen TV series during her imprisonment. Being overly emotional and social creatures, hyoomans had a sort of predilection for genres such as romance and drama. Irkens, being half-cyborgs who were taught not to feel anything, naturally found those genres disgusting and hard to understand. 

Love is such an odd emotion amongst their species that it's often seen as a weakness, something only a Defective would feel... Except for their Tallest, that is, because the Control Brains were more flexible with their PAK's emotion processors, allowing them to feel a broader range than the average Irken soldier.

Even without those processors, though, there were still certain things that she failed to understand about hyooman courtship rituals. The famous 'soap operas' had nothing to do with the fatty-acid cleansing bar instead involving a woman picking a male, then breaking up with him and making a fuss about it only to shed their dignity and return to the ungrateful bastards; Tenn only had to watch one episode for fifteen minutes to yell obscenities at the female characters.

"Oh, you can't find the right man? That's your biggest problem? Well, try being forcibly wed to a bipolar tyrant who wants to use you as a smeeting factory, bitch! See what a freaking free woman you are then!" That said, she threw an empty cardboard case at the screen.

"Man, you've been isolated for so long that you're arguing with fictional characters?" 

Tenn quickly changed the content and put on another random series, blushing deeply. "Leave me alone," she uttered bitterly at her mate, who was serving himself a significant amount of ice cream. She didn't see him, but she felt his weight right next to her and heard him noisily eating chocolate ice cream.

"What are you watching?"

"Gray's Anatomy."*

"Is it interesting?"

"Somewhat. It's mostly about hyooman medical drones."

"Oh, Red and I found one whose main character is a self-centered jerk*."

"Reminds you of someone?" She heard a grunt. Tenn smirked for a few seconds until she felt something cold and humid against her cheek. Sigh. It was futile to keep arguing with an overgrown smeet.

The following silence was... awkward, to say the least. She had the feeling he wanted her to say something, but she had nothing to say to him. Instead, she focused all her attention on the T.V. Tenn twitched her lekku. Was it just her, or had he just shifted a bit closer? Tenn moved away.

"So... Any word form Ilk?"

"You tell me. She's supposed to be calling you and Red to inform you about the status on Sobr."

"She hasn't been able to since that last transmission. I guess she's trying to keep it low." Tallest Purple made a face when the medical drones started opening up a hyooman. "Gross! How can you see that?!"

"It's the closest thing to blood I've seen lately," Tenn said simply. She missed the rush of adrenaline in the heart of a good battle. She wasn't counting the fight against the Berserker, of course, because that was just luck; her husband hadn't let her get in harm's way ever since. "Hey, there's something I've been wondering."

"What is it?"

"How did you get this hyooman platform?" Tallest Purple sighed.

"What can I say? Someone got curious about it, started watching silly human films, and it spread like wildfire from there. We wanted to get rid of it, but we casually saw an episode of Dr. House and realized we could learn about the hyoomans' diseases. It might help keep the hyoomans in check, and who knows? Some of those illnesses could be used to keep conquered species under control."