TW: accidental harm (vehicle edition)
I was a person that liked learning things.
I craved knowledge like how a lap dog craved affection, or a cat craved independence. It was essential to my well-being and growth. It was my jam-on-toast breakfasts in the mornings, it was my toothbrush and hair routine, it was just as much as a necessity to me in the same way as food, air and water were.
I was curious to a fault, but naturally, there were still so many questions that mystified me, that eluded my grabby little hands and nose for knowledge. I couldn't know everything in the world, and sometimes that just downright bothered me.
For example, if the universe is always expanding, then what kind of space is it expanding into? Did we invent math or discover it? Is it possible to know what it truly good and what is truly evil? Is the earth in itself, alive?
It was questions like those that would render me immobile and frustrated in my bed, staring at the ceiling as my brain ticked ever onwards and yet my weary body demanded sleep. It was what made me have all-nighters watching documentaries on YouTube about a single fact that'll never have any purpose in my life whatsoever; like that Dr. Seuss invented the word 'nerd.'
Dad said that my imagination and thirst for answers was too active for me to handle, sometimes. It was too much, too big for my little-in-comparison body ever since I was a young girl, and it was chasing me straight into young adulthood. I was inclined to believe him.
There were existential questions that were unanswerable - either no one was there to record it or it was just frankly impossible to discern - and there will always be debates, always be theories, always be me withering in agony because I wasn't able to know; but actual answers with solid evidence? No way. At least, not to my knowledge.
There was no doubt that science had come a long, long way since the Stone Age, but it still couldn't quite keep up to speed with a brain. Not all the questions in the world could be answered, and sometimes I had to force myself to remember that during those late, insomniac nights.
However, mind-breaking questions like what's at the bottom of a black hole couldn't put a flame next to the biggest question that's ever mystified me on that first day of summer;
What is it about this guy's hoody smelling nice?
Okay. It was a lie, I do kind of know why.
Humans are animals, right? So despite being an evolved species, basic animal instincts do still have quite a hold over us - it was what told us to run or fight when there's danger, it was what told us what's good to eat or not. It was all about survival and it all depended on our senses: touch, sight, hearing, taste, and, the one that was currently kicking me upside the head; smell.
It was no secret that romantic partners liked smelling each other's clothes. In fact, it was so common that scientists even conducted multiple studies on it. It was all about classical conditioning and familiarity and all that good kush. Our nose was telling us that this was safe, this was secure and then all of our happy endorphins would get released.
But this dude was a stranger. I didn't have the classical conditioning to his scent. I'd never even met the guy.
Which brought me to my next theory that intruded my brain while I walked down the streets of Ninjago City; the dude had a conflicting Major Histocompatibility Complex from my own.
I'd learnt about it in biology back when I was still at Jamanakai Girls Private Institution, and I was so engrossed by the proven biological theory that it'd stuck with me ever since; hence this... scientific ramble my brain had fallen into on my walk home.
The MHC was directly related to the immune system and basically acted as a bloodhound for compatible partners. When two people had a conflicting MHC, it meant that they each had natural immunity to different diseases than each other, which in turn provided genetic advantage in their children. It also meant that they smelt really, really nice to one another. Think soulmates, but biology.
Because; animal instincts. Hurray.
