They thought human companion animals were mostly quiet. Then the new human security officer brought in their pet husky! -- Anon Guest
[AN: I have not met nor do I know any huskies, but I gather they have a highly justified reputation for supreme drama. Or opera, which is pretty much the same thing.]
The first impression of Human Fulk's pet, Bobbie, was Holy Powers, that's a flakking wolf! And there were very many Galactics who made the same conclusion. Thus, Human Fulk's official introduction for Bobbie was, "She's not a wolf, but her cousin plays one on the entertainment channels."
Wolves, being wild animals, were not suitable for working in entertainment. Therefore Huskies, close enough to pass as a wolf to people who'd never seen wolves before, portrayed them in dramas. The only problem was that the acting dogs were wagging their tails, necessitating movie magic to place still tails on their doggy butts.
Additional information about Bobbie was Fulk's warning of, "Bobbie's a lot on the talkative side." Causing Companion Thork to expect Bobbie to actually speak GalStand.
Bobbie did not speak GalStand. Or even GalSimple. What language she spoke was an esoteric linguistic curiosity that Fulk called Dramatic Husky.
Fulk did their duty to allay the crew's worries. Warning people that they had to trim Bobbie's toenails, so they might hear her rendition of the Tragic Toenail Clipper Aria. Or when Bobbie returned muddy from a planetside expedition, Fulk warned their fellows that Bobbie would be delivering a diatribe about the injustices of bathtime.
It took them all some weeks and significant research to realise that this was Terran Humour.
Bobbie would howl and grumble about being taken for a walk. She would 'sing' about an empty food bowl. She would grizzle about not receiving enough pets. She would complain -vociferously- about not having any of the food that was bad for her. Mostly because someone else was eating it.
And she would act like she was being murdered every time Fulk clipped her toenails.
She was not actually saying words, but she was very, very vocal about most of her life. Almost more vocal than she was dramatic.
The worrying part was that the rest of the crew were starting to understand what Fulk meant by Bobbie being 'talkative'.
[Photo by Karen Kasparov on Unsplash]
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