A Tentacle Monster and a Lust Demon Walk Into a Bar...

Fun meant things that were enjoyable. This did not help Goodall understand what the point of bouncing on these devices was. Maybe if he...?

A large tentacle appeared coming out of the floor next to one of the floor-trampolines and pushed it downwards. He let the elasticity of the trampoline carry the appendage upwards a little bit, then pushed it down again. He did this at about the rate that Eliana was bouncing on her trampoline.

He didn't feel any different. The experiment was not a success. "I DO NOT THINK THAT WAS EFFECTIVE. I DID NOT EXPERIENCE FUN." the tentacle retracted back into extradimensional space. "LET ME TRY SOMETHING ELSE."

Another large tentacle sprouted from the boundary between four of the trampolines, then tried to reach out and wrap around Eliana's waist, so that he would be loosely holding on to her while she bounced. His thinking was, he would be able to feel this "fun" sensation through her if he maintained contact.

Goodall thought he was starting to feel it. Through Eliana he could feel... Something like amusement? It was pleasant, whatever it was. Was this "fun?"

Baffling. What could have happened in humans' evolutionary history to make their brains reward them for jumping around and nearly killing themselves? Or to make striking objects enjoyable, for that matter? Did humans even evolve, or were they invented? Because that was starting to make more sense to him right now. This "fun" was too weird to be explained by natural processes.

Eliana seemed to stop experiencing the fun when they got off the trampoline, which meant Goodall stopped experiencing it, which made him a little sad. He liked that feeling, and he only got to experience it through her in a brief burst. Now he was feeling a mixture of curiosity and anticipation through her. He stopped holding on to her, and that tentacle around her waist slipped out of her three dimensional space.
But he was getting excited for the batting cage. Even if he didn't think striking things in three dimensional space would be enjoyable for him personally, Eliana seemed to think it would be fun. Goodall wanted to feel the "fun" again. His hatted tentacle followed her closely.

"I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS MORE FUN THAN HITTING INANIMATE OBJECTS. I HAVE MUCH TO LEARN ABOUT FUN."

Goodall was also curious what role the winged mammal wpuld play in this ritual. He hoped it didn't involve injuring the bat. He didn't like hurting things.

"YES WILL HUG," he said. "CAN FEEL WHAT YOU FEEL IF HUG." Once again, a tendril wrapped around her midriff.

Eliana mentioned war. She was experiencing a sort of aggression, but it wasn't like what he had felt in memories passed on to him from the war. It wasn't an all-consuming hatred and a need to destroy and to cause pain. It was... Light hearted, almost. Goodall hadn't known such an emotional state could exist. A light hearted and fun aggression aimed at inanimate objects.

Goodall could only start to imagine the evolutionary pressures that would lead to this sort of emotional response. Did the ancestors of humans, the proto-humans, regularly engage in war with small spherical creatures? Was this why striking the orbs generated the 'fun' response?

But it was generating the fun response. Goodall could feel it the fun. He could feel the pleasure that resulted from successfully striking the orb, of overcoming the challenge whenever she landed a solid hit.

After a particularly satisfying strike, Goodall asked, "DID YOU EXPERIENCE A FUN FROM THAT"

"I CAN FEEL THE FUN. I DID NOT RECOGNIZE IT." That sensation whenever she hit a ball - it was satisfying, but alien to him, even when he could feel it himself through her.

"VERY DIFFERENT," he said of his own realm. "WE FEEL LOTS OF EMOTIONS YOU WON'T DO UNDERSTANDS OF. EMOTIONS WITHOUT WORDS." Unfortunately, humans didnt seem to have any way to directly read the emotions of other beings, so they wouldn't ever be able to understand some of the things he felt. It amazed Goodall that these creatures could maintain a society without perfect knowledge of each others' emotions.

"YOUR THREE WAY REALM IS CONFUSING TO US," Goodall concluded. He did not know the word for 'dimensions.' 'Way' was roughly the same thing though, right?