The cooktop
Another Hayven Celestia fic, where a geroo, unfamiliar with particulars of technology keeps triggering the safety switch. Well, a certain ringel is happy to help her out!
Sita stared at the screen in front of her. She put on a movie, but she wasn't paying attention to it. The geroo was far too frustrated for that. Her ears hung low, and the corner of her mouth nearly raised in a snarl. She was trying to cook some lunch, but she couldn't figure out how the hotplates worked. They were black, touch-activated, and try as she might, she wasn't fluent enough in ringelese to know what the instructions were telling her.
No matter what she had been told, speaking ringelese was nowhere near as hard as reading it. That skill was in another universe altogether.
She ran her claws gently over her head, trailing through her short fur. The small sensation was relief enough that she succumbed once again to the sunk cost fallacy.
She rose again from the low couch to return to the kitchen, standing over the hot plate, barely at waist height. It was a plate of glass, black and wide, with thin white circles indicating the hidden heating elements below the glass. Sita knew how to work an induction top but not the older cooktops, apparently.
She pressed the on button, the interface lit up. It locked, as indicated by the little square in the corner just under her paw. Sita knew how to disable that, pressing a pad down carefully on that light and waiting five seconds. It cleared with a beep, then she moved her paw to activate the furthest cook section.
It locked her out again.
"Fuck," she swore, slamming her fist down with barely controlled rage on the nearby countertop.
"Something wrong?" asked a familiar voice behind her. It sounded tired.
Sita turned around, ears low. She would have been amused that saying 'fuck' would summon the nearest ringel to her, but she was in too sour a mood to appreciate the irony. She tried to look apologetic and sincere while fury still clung to her paws. "I didn't mean to wake you, Ko."
Ikaekio sauntered over, eyes half-lidded as his banded tail swirled behind him. "Eh, wasn't quite asleep, couldn't seem to feel comfortable."
Sita watched the ringel yawn and stretch his arms in ways that would dislocate her shoulder. She couldn't imagine how Ikaekio couldn't be comfortable, she'd seen him scratch his ear with his lower paw, when he didn't want to let go of his body pillow. She even saw it stretch behind him and wiggle those nimble digits that no geroo could. Ringel bodies were so flexible she'd compared them to a dish towel in previous conversations.
"I see... I was hungry," Sita mumbled.
"There's a salad in the fridge."
Sita shook her head, ears crimping up in frustration. "I'm... not in the mood for salad. I wanted something warm. It's just too cold all the time."
Ikaekio nuzzled his muzzle - without warning - straight into Sita's soft belly. "You're plenty warm," he said as he slicked his paws through her fur and grabbed around her, just below her thick tail.
Sita refrained from a flinch. She had become somewhat used to ringel antics, or greetings, whichever term seemed to suit best at the time. Regardless, she knew that the lewd grabbing was already the mid-way between a ringel greeting and her cultural ideals. This was tame for even a casual greeting at that.
"I just wanted to cook noodles, or poach some meat, or something for myself. I was trying to be independent."
"Hmmm..." Ikaekio looked at the cooktop surveying the lights with bleary eyes. "Seems like you locked yourself out-"
Sita jabbed her pad at the button, holding it until the cooktop released the safety lock. "I know how to undo that. The problem is that I keep triggering it, and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Is it some safety feature? Is it faulty? What's wrong?"
Ikaekio leaned his head on Sita, ear pressing up against her ribs as he watched the appliance. Sita wondered if this was just placed in convenience, or if he was trying to listen to her heart. No doubt it beat furiously with her frustration.
He let her go with his arms, but his tail took up residence around her nearest ankle like a ball and chain. "Show me what you're doing."
Sita reached over to turn on the far back top, wondering if the technology would suddenly work now that someone was instructing her. Much to her relief, and frustration, the cooktop locked again.
Ikaekio laughed. "I know what's happening. Your belly's touching the glass and tripping the safety. Just wear an apron, and it will stop the trigger."
"What? How does that work?" Sita asked in surprise.
Ikaekio unlocked the top and demonstrated. "See, if you press say... here..." he demonstrated with a single pad pressing on the top, "then over here..." he pressed another pad down, and the lock reactivated. "The glass can detect when there are two separate contact points, and will lock you out. There's an edge of safety, but your belly sticks out too far and touches the sensor area."
Sita's muzzle hung open as she stared at the cooktop, then at her belly. "... that's it? Why? Why is that even a thing on this? Why would two different points of contact trigger a safety lockout?"
Ikaekio's mouth opened up to explain something, then froze as his eyes looked up to Sita. He quickly shut it, frowning as he pondered his words.
"I promise you, we clean that cooktop thoroughly," was all he said before quickly escaping to his bedroom, tail releasing from Sita's ankle.