The humans were laughing about something. That was, by itself, potential cause for alarm. The contents of their conversation, heard between bouts of laughter, was even more alarming.
"And then, he looked up into my eyes and froze."
"And then?"
"Then he turned, realized that he had to look UP into your eyes, and looked like he was about to mess his pants!"
"And he said something, right? I didn't catch it."
"He apologized for the inconvenience, said he didn't mean anything by it, and then turned and ran."
"We're not THAT scary, are we?"
"We were both blankface, and I don't know about you, but I was about ready to rip one of his ears off for going for my bags like that."
"Oh. I was going to bounce his head off the pavement to knock him out real quick so we could walk away."
"Aw, you're sweet."
"Why his ear?"
"To hold him still so you could get to him, of course."
"Makes sense."
"Haha! This vacation is WAY more fun than I expected it to be!" -- Escla
On the plus side, the visiting Humans were happy. On the minus side, a close encounter with Attempted Robbery was not on the usual visitor's itinerary. Security Officer Thane caught up with the group. "My pardons, cogniscents. Is there something you would like to report? A crime?"
"It's only a crime if they do it, right? Attempted whatever only counts if its damaging to life or lifestyle[1]?"
"Poor little thing was only trying to lift my dummy wallet." The almost-victim showed Thane his wallet. It was full of food and medicine coupons[2]. "Even if they had stolen it, it was no big deal."
"Hopefully, they've learned something today," said a different Human. "More than, pick a different victim."
"There is no offense? No damages?"
"None. It was more amusing than anything."
One minor disaster down, one more to go. Thane activated some tracker programs to isolate the wannabe pickpocket and round them up for therapy.
[1] One of the peculiarities of Alliance law is the No Harm No Foul codicil on attempted crime. Attempted theft, for example, may not necessarily carry criminal offense if the perpetrator was prevented from committing the crime and they were not attempting to steal something that could have impeded a victim's life or lifestyle. The big crimes that are always criminal are: murder, wrongful captivity, cogniscent trafficking, cogniphagia, and poisoning.
[2] There's always some kind of medicine that is problematic to obtain.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / snickerdoodle]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends!
[105 remaining prompts] Please don't send any more prompts for now. Thank you.