"Fisherman"
Short story in the port city of the Republic.
A fisherman was passing by the city after a good day of fishing, he's a fisherman, you see. Oh what's his name? Don't worry about it, it's not important after all, he's simply a fisherman living life, that's what it's there for.
While walking, he noticed something. "People here really like covering their skin as much as possible, from face covers to gloves, boots, and long sleeves. One only really notices it after traveling over to other countries".
He recalls the time he once took a trip to the coast of the druids, they were all almost naked for they wore short cloaks and were barefoot all the time, well, that's what he saw before they started throwing rocks at him.
"That might just be tree people customs thought, the space farers do seem to fit better with cultural norms since they wear their heavy suits all the time". Althought, he once heard some explorers talking about how they can't wait to use their normal clothes, so that's rather odd.
"What would their normal clothes be like? Since their manufacturing capabilities seem really advanced, they probably have some nice fibers available to themselves, surely they'd be able to make a killer fisherman work unif-."
"I'll fucking eat your brains, cunt."
"Fucking try me".
Looks like a little brawl between 2 gentlemen is going to pop up in this street, better go the other way for one never knows how they grow. In any case, the fisherman does wonder why so many brawls pop over, apparently the public brawls in the industrial cities are sort of insane. Maybe it's a culture thing since they also happen whene'er celebrations are around. Nothing like getting drunk on both alcohol and the masses.
Crossing over this street and you'll see the famous coffee shop "Étranger" thanks to being run by a family of inmigrant melhomies, so they hold the know-how on just how to most exploit their coffee stuffs. Lots of people come here to read books while they drink some cups.
"Give me a standard brew along a piece of krisbread, mate, for table 3".
"Got it and stuffs".
"Table 3?" You might ask, well, that's where some strange people always sit, today it's the Professor. No idea what he teaches or researches thought nor what his name is. Well, he doesn't know the name of our fisherman either.
"Greetings, Mr. Fisherman, what's bothering you this cloudy day?".
"It's always cloudy, Professor, what about you? Got your Doctorate already?".
"Who knows? Might have one already! Still, you heard the news? Some robots from the "Retro Reich" are establishing an embassy over here".
"Now that sounds good, I once went over there to get my ship fixed and so it was, haven't had an issue since, however, t'was rather expensive, had to sell off my trusty harpoon".
The coffee arrives, 2 standard brews, 1 krisbread, and 1 brownie.
"The explosive one?"
"The very same, I'll get another one when I get the chance since whale hunting is making the rounds right now".
"Well that was nice, Professor, don't give too much work to your students".
"Don't tell me what to do, Fisherman, either they learn or they learn".
"Good talk today". The fisherman thinks as he heads over to his lodge near the coast, maybe next week he'll go buy the harpoon and associated equipment.
"Fucking horrid day today" says the fisherman as thunder strikes. "Couldn't get a single catch today, can you believe it"
"'Course I fucking can, I've been stuck on this piece of shit boat with you for days"
"Haha lighten up mate, we're arriving just now, I think I'll go for a nice cup of coffee when we get there"
"I'm going to sleep like a log, my body's all sore from this shit, I should find another job"
"Sure then, I've heard there's a lot of new jobs at the inner country, factories and all"
"Nah fuck that, I'll find something on my own"
After hearing his coworker rant about how this job sucks, the fisherman can only think to himself that he probably will never abandon this job, it's pretty neat after all.
Once in port, the fisherman has delivered the merchandise, a tad bit less than usual due to the wills of the ocean, but it is what it is. Today is a coffee day, nothing like a warm cup of coffee that doesn't suck, the fisherman used to go to shitty coffee shops until he found the one he liked, and the instant coffee that he takes on trips to the ocean frankly tastes like mud, sure it does the job but it doesn't even compare to a proper cup, those in the coffee producing nations must be blessed with good cups all the time, or maybe not, there's probably bad coffee everywhere.
Walking the streets, it's pretty calm with the rain and all, very few persons walking, very few markets open, the soldiers are just shooting at the target ranges, it's good how people don't like getting in brawls when the weather is all dark and stuff, makes it easy to trip and eat dirt, the fisherman knows from experience.
And look at that, how easy it is to get to the famous coffee shop "Étranger" when there isn't a mob of violent assholes in the middle.
"Hello"
"Dry your boots first!" says the shop owner as he points to a towel on the floor
"I'll take a cup of coffee and a brownie today, mate"
After wiping the boots, let's see who's on table 3 today. Oh it's the dentist, that madman.
"What's up dentist, still torturing your patients"
"They do it all to themselves, really, what about your teeth fisherman? they good? I could check for you if you want"
"Now that's a classic dentist response right there, but I'm going to pass, I brush 'em everyday!"
"Here is 2 cups of coffee, a brownie, and one coffee cake" Delivers the server.
"I'd say I do a great job, even our server here let me check his teeth and it all came out good"
The server simply shivers and turns back quickly.
"Really now? You left the poor guy scared a bit there"
"He's just funny like that". The fisherman and the dentist both take long sips of their cups.
"Anyways, I've just gotten hired by the university to give medical classes, feeling pretty good"
"Oh dear, an entire generation of psychopath dentists like you, that can't go wrong"
"You say that as if every other dentist wasn't as sadistic as I am, hell I'd even say I'm on the nicer side."
"He's not!" shouts the coffee server from behind the counter.
"See ya later mate, let me check your teeth sometime!"
"When hell freezes over, maybe"
Slam!
"What a scary friend he is" mumbles the fisherman to himself.
Fisherman 3
"Well I'll be damned by lady death! Squirrels!" The shocked fisherman audably reacts to the newcomers to the port. A rare clear day in the port, even if it is not too sunny.
From the back the fisherman's coworker shouts "Ey what's the matter man, hurry up and get the cargo down"
"Shut up you fuckhead and come check this out"
The man in the back stumbles over to see just what exactly was so important.
"Oh what the fuck, squirrels, looks like the officials are on their shit too"
The fisherman ponders "Maybe they don't have papers"
"Come on, there's a limit to ignorance don't you think"
"Well you never know, look, a fucking deadbeat is having to sort it out!"
"Oh... Maybe they are that ignorant..."
"Yeah, anyways, let's get the cargo out, I'm itching for a coffee cup"
"Ya think they just arrived!?"
"From the looks of it, looks like they've got here a few days ago, look at that strange ship, they go in and out easily"
"Those squirrels that were getting harrased by the official must've done something for it then"
"Probably"
As the fisherman and his coworker finally finish dropping their cargo, a few of those Squirrels start walking the port. They looked to be trapped by a few other sailors petting their tails, while not a man that looks for new experiences it does give him enough curiosity to advance towards the squirrels. In his path he finds a group of squirrels that have been talking to each other.
"Uh, good morning?"
...
No response, it seems they don't speak the language. Maybe in central they'll understand
"-Hello?-"
...
Nada, they don't speak it, no papers and they can't speak, are they abandoned inmigrants or something? Who are these people anyways?
"Well, that's odd, still, listen to me clearly! I'm going to touch your tail!"
The fisherman slowly extends his hand towards the tail of one of the risuners while mantaining eye contact, it'd be bad if they got scared wouldn't it?
The risuners talk to themselves a bit, they decide to shove the tails right into the fisherman's body
"Alright alright let's calm down a bit you rowdy bunch" The fisherman raises a single finger. "One by one" They seem to understand that.
The tails were fluffy, pretty neat. Very clean, they seem to be groomed heavily by the squirrel people. The first tail belonged to the a young man that looked a little nervous. The other risuners seem to have mocking smiles on their faces, so they were probably teasing him. Once the fisherman was done the risuner proceeded to shake his tail in front of the fisherman. Certainly puzzling, whatever that meant in their language, maybe thanks? Still, the young man looks a bit disappointed when the fisherman doesn't recognize what shaking the tail means.
The next tail belonged to that of a young woman, in comparison to the previous squirrel person she seemed very calm and confident, proud of her tail even, very well groomed soft hair on it.
"Ope, what's this?" A peanut"
The proud young lady's face turns red in less than a moment. The other risuners laughing about it too. The hair in her tail stiffens up a bit in response, was it a snack she was hiding? Maybe she was just a bit careless when eating. The lady stays quiet and embarrased until the man was done petting the tail. She proceeds to shake her tail in front of the fisherman.
"Uh, thanks to you too" The fisherman says. The young lady also looking disappointed when he said that.
"Oh, I know what might make you fellers happy!" The fisherman quickly takes out from his pocket what was supposedly going to be his lunch, some canned sardines and bread.
The squirrels don't look particularly into it, probably the smell is pushing them away, Still, the 2 squirrel persons that got their tails petted grabbed sardines, the young man made a strange face, the young woman seemed delighted with the taste. Must not be for everyone.
On the coffee shop "Étrange" Where the shop owner was reading a local newspaper on table 3
"What's the matter boss, something got you down?"
"Reads this part and you will understand"
"Oh, let's see here, Risuner stabbed in incident with coffee shop owner... Oh man you got yourself on some shit! The hell happened?"
"Some fucking squirrel boy tried to set my shop on fires, I just gave some ol' 1-2 from back home into torso"
"Oh wow, officials must've been plaguing you"
"Surprisingly not, they keep things quiet just in case"
"And yet, it's still on the news"
"Well, informations want to spread"
A fisherman was loitering outside a theater, he just finished watching the newest play "Get moomed on". It was frankly terrible, but strangely funny, probably one of the instant classics that will be remembered for history.
"Shite, that was tiring"
"You fucking know it mate" says a tall man passing by "I still can't believe those damn bots got me to watch it"
"Those bots...? Ah the Onobuddies"
"Yeah, those guys" The man walks off into the evening street.
The fisherman looks up, orange sky and windy weather, no clouds however. Somehow the play left a lot to think about strange matters yet he can't seem to collect his thoughts.
"..."
"Guess I could go for coffee"
"Hi there, boss"
"...You seems to be empty today"
"The hell does that mean? Whatever, I'll have a super strong stuffs cup today and a brownie".
"Ah what is the word? looks!, you looks empty today is what I meant to say"
"Ah, sure"
As the fisherman turns to look at the table he misses his step and trips into the ground, the quiet thump shocking the coffee shop owner.
"...See what I mean!" the coffee shop owner comments.
"..." The fisherman does not reply. As he stands up he looks to the tables and sees just who is in table 3 today, the sound of machinery and pneumatics giving it away. An onobot.
The onobot is somehow grabbing on to the coffee cup by strange means and sipping it, not really sipping it, more like dripping it over the place where its mouth should be. The fisherman sits in table 3 to wait for the coffee order.
"Organic lifeform, you have sit across me, is there any reason for it?"
"Nope", what about you, uh, mechanical lifeform? Should I move?"
"Do not! I don't get to talk to humans such as you very often, or in general"
"...I see, let's make small talk then, how are you drinking your coffee?"
"Carefully" the onobot cackles to itself
"...I see"
Clever little bot. What a jokester, what a funky robot.
"Har Har Har. That is called a joke! To answer your question, some officials of your nation offered to buy me a coffee cup and coffee cake for knowledge of how I was built, that and for doing their paperwork"
The fisherman thinks to himself for a moment, people of this nation certainly get to work fast.
The onobot continues "Unbeknownst to them, I do not have information on how I am built, but I was able to grant them research documents on onobots"
"Well, good for them I guess, this coffee shop is pretty nice... can you taste the coffee"
"I specifically had taste drivers installed for this ocassion"
"I'll pretend I know what that means"
"I can give you a detailed explanation about it if you wish for it"
While the fisherman is very curious, his mind is too exhausted from the earlier play to digest any potential new facts. "Nah, it's fine"
"Then I will ask a question now! Just like a conversation between humans! Tell me Mr. uh, apologies, what is your name?"
"Now that's a good question"
The server comes by to give the super strong stuffs coffee and the brownie.
"So will you tell me your name?"
"No" The fisherman takes a long sip. The server interrupts "He's just being an asshole, feel free to call him fisherman, that's what he's called by most people anyways"
"... an asshole? I understand! That is what humans who are being rude to each other say between them, am I correct" The robot asks the server "Yes, you're correct" The server replies rapidly.
"Good! My studies are going well! Then, Mr. Fisherman, just as you have not told me your name I will not tell you my designation"
"Mhm, sheams awraight" says the fisherman as he bites the brownie.
"I will continue on with my question, how do you worship your deity?"
"My deity... we have a bunch of deities, spirits, and other persons of worship, if you refer to the nameless one, the temples organize parties and events every once in a while where they spread stories about her, the library has a bunch of legends that will often get given to people in the streets as 'reading weeks', it depends on person by person, some do quiet worship, others get together with friends and get drunk, there's no real 1 way to do it, you see"
"...Interesting, my land has many deities too, the great queen Onolumi gives us much homework to spread around and that we must give back to her, in fact, I will give you some homework"
The onobot grabs something from the bag towards his side, a paper with drawings on it.
"Alright then, I've always been good at math by the way"
"You misunderstand me, this homework is not math, please unroll the paper"
On the paper there seemed to be artwork of a very beautiful white haired woman showing off her very large bust in clothes of a maid.
"..." The fisherman simply looks and observes the artwork, it is in fact, very good artwork.
"This was made by my favorite artist over at my land, I have made a few copies to spread"
"...Well, it's pretty good" The fisherman is noticing all the little details that just give life to this 'homework'
"Of course it is! I will allow you to keep it as my gift, now, I have to get going, it's very late and the embassy must be waiting for me. Thanks for having this talk with me"
"Yeah no problem, anytime we meet.
The large robot moves with surprising swiftness that one may not expect from a mechanical marvel such as that and quickly exits the shop.
"This is very good, but I can't quite take my mind off of that theather play"
The server cuts in "The robot left you with the pay"
"Son of a bitch"